The blood rain begins to lighten as I reach the rocks. Another large outcropping of stones, lying against the side of a hill: probably the remains of an ancient landslide. I quickly scan the exterior, and on the far side, think I find what I am looking for. A small cave lies sheltered underneath a natural stone awning. More importantly, a small trickle of clear water flows down the rocks and out toward the jungle.

"A Spring!" My canteens are long since empty and the exertion has built a burning thirst in my throat. I slip on the night vision glasses, raise my weapon, and crawl inside of the dark cave. I scan my surroundings briefly, only to quickly realize that I am thankfully alone in here. The cave extends for perhaps fifty feet back inside the side of the hill before coming to a stop at a solid wall of rock. A crack in the wall produces a tiny stream of water that drips into a pool at the back. I greedily bend down and dunk my head into the pool, gulping the water until I can't take another sip. Spring water is usually safe because it is naturally filtered through stone and sand. If I'm wrong at this point, it probably won't matter anyway because I'll be dead from dehydration in a few hours if I don't drink.

After my fill of water, my attention turns to my injuries. I dip a canteen into the spring, roll up my sleeve, and gently pour a stream of water over my arm. The blood and dirt wash away, revealing three long gashes cut into my right forearm. Nothing too serious, but they'll definitely have to be patched up to prevent infection. The question is patched up with what? I rip a small strip from the bottom of my t-shirt, wash it in the spring, and then wrap it around my arm like a bandage. The cool clean water feels so refreshing on the wound that I don't hesitate to dunk my left wrist into the spring as well. The skin underneath the tracelet was burned by the melting rubber, and now the salt from the drying blood rain combined with the constant rubbing of the tracelet is proving to be very annoying.

The magnetic interlocks should have been deactivated when the tracelet was shorted out. Now, it's just a matter of picking the lock. But again,with what?

I'm too tired to think about it right now. I have not stopped moving in over ten hours and need to rest, if only for a little while. I lean back against the cool stone of the cave wall as my eyes grows heavy.

"Can't sleep for too long. Just a few minutes….Lizzy…needs…me…."

I feel so foolish, standing on beach like this in my dress blacks, but Lizzy told me that she has been dreaming of a traditional District 4 wedding since she was a little girl. Far be it for me to be the one who ruins that for her.

Her father will perform the ceremony as has been the tradition for these people since ancient times. He stands behind me in the warm sand. The rest of the Odairs form a mob that separate me from Lizzy. It is their job to make sure that I don't see her until the time is right. I've never really been familiar with District wedding rituals. It was something that was not covered in my martial education. Every motion and every word has significance so deep that the average Capitol peon with their neon clothes and lacquered hair would be far too shallow to understand. It's not about the glitz or glamour for these people. It's about the love. I made sure that Lizzy explained every single step of the ceremony to me again last night before we parted. I wanted to get everything perfect: both for her sake and mine.

Just as I try to take one last deep breath, Lizzy's father leans forward and grabs my hand.

"Just remember, boyo," he says in his friendliest district accent, "after this, you'll be my son as well. Don't disappoint me."

"Any final pieces of advice?" I ask back in a whisper.

"Learn to duck. Odair women like to throw things when they're angry." He points to a small scar on his forehead. "First time me mother caught me drunk."

I manage an awkward laugh before he hits me hard on the back.

"Welcome to the family, Ares."

"Thank you, Sir." A blast from a conch shell and the entire crowd of family parts like a biblical sea. There she is, the love of my life: clad from head to toe in vibrant cream colored silk decorated with brilliant polished shell and coral beadwork. As it has been for generations, Lizzy made the dress herself with the help of every other woman in her family. It will become something saved and treasured that will be in her possession until her dying day. Her long, red hair is braided with intricate knots that must have been tied with a master's hands, delicately interwoven with more polished shells.

As she begins the walk towards me and her father, Aunt Annie walks a few feet behind her carrying a fishing net woven from grass, however, it is not grass from District 4. Another man wove this net in District 13 almost twenty years ago for a different wedding. When Lizzy chose Annie as her net-bearer, Annie donated an incredible gift that in District 4 is almost unheard of, her wedding net. That was the last straw for Finnick Jr. The idea of a Snow throwing his father's wedding net set him into a rage that caused him to take to the sea. He hasn't been heard from in days.

Lizzy slowly steps forward until we stand side by side. Annie hands me the net with a kiss to my cheek. As Lizzy explained it, this will be the first step to joining us together for the rest of our lives, I have to catch her. I throw the net over her head and pull her next to me. As she stands just a few inches away, smiling through the grass knots back at me, I throw the net over my own head, and we are locked together.

Mr. Odair begins the ancient words of the ceremony.

"Love is force as unstoppable and immovable as the tides. To fight it, would be as foolish as a man trying to stop the waves from crashing to the shore. We are gathered here together today to bond this man and this woman together forever in the most sacred of ways. If any witness here thinks this be wrong, let him speak now or forever be silent….

"Good thing Finnick isn't here…"

Mr. Odair turns to me.

"Ares, do you solemnly swear that from this day until the ending of the word, to be the Navigator of Elizabeth's heart, to guide her away from the shoals of pain and sorrow, and be her anchor against all storms?"

"I swear."

"Elizabeth, do you solemnly swear that from this day until the ending of the word, to be the Navigator of Ares' heart, to guide him away from the shoals of pain and sorrow, and be his anchor against all storms?"

"I swear."

Mr. Odair produces a simple clay bowl which he hands to Annie. She walks into the surf and fills it to the brim with seawater before returning and handing it to him.

"From the sea, we all came and one day to it will return." He dips two fingers from his right hand into the bowl and then holds them in front my mouth. I kiss them as he says, "As the brine touches your lips, take it as a reminder of where we once came and that the joy of this union should be savored until it is time for your return." He dips his fingers back into the bowl and then places them in front of Lizzy. She kisses them as he repeats, "As the brine touches your lips, take it as a reminder of where we once came and that the joy of this union should be savored until it is time for your return."

Right on cue, all the witnesses begin to sing in beautiful harmony:

As I pointed my ship's bow away from home…

I asked Heaven, "Must I sail alone?"

Lizzy's eyes fill with tears of love and joy. It is everything in my power not to taste her lips right then and there, but she told me that this would be terrible luck. The song must finish before our first kiss.

Through sun and storm, through wind and wave

It is your love that will always save…

"By the power vested in me by the sea's holy judgment, I now pronounce this man and this woman to be married! You may kiss the bride.

Lizzy and I jump forward, wrap our arms around each other, and kiss with a passion that will never die. Nothing could spoil this moment. Nothing accept…

My eyes shoot open, and the pain returns. I am back in the cave. A tear has run down my face during my dream. I reach up with my fingers, wipe it away, and then taste it. Its saltiness reminds me of Mr. Odair's prophetic words.

I look out the opening of the cave. The blood rain has stopped, and the bright afternoon sun has returned in its place. I reach over and grab my rifle, knock out the locking pins, and field strip it down. I grab the bolt carrier from the receiver and slam it on the rocks. The firing pin slides out the back and into my hands.

I feel it for a few seconds. It seems impossibly light.

"Must be one of those alloys of his personal design that Ohm was talking about…Time to see how good you really are, Rikard." If I break this pin, the entire rifle becomes useless. Risks have paid off so far today. Why stop now?

I hold out my left wrist, and insert the pin into the lock on the tracelet.

As I begin to work it in the lock, Mr. Odair's words pass through my thoughts again:

"Do you solemnly swear that from this day until the ending of the word, to be the Navigator of Elizabeth's heart, to guide her away from the shoals of pain and sorrow, and be her anchor against all storms?"

Finally time I started living up to that oath. Ohm's taunts finally seem to make sense to me now.

"Ares, the God of War, himself," he has repeated over and over again.

That's the real reason that Ohm saved me for last. Not because I was the youngest of the Sixteen, but because I was the only one who was a real warrior. He's tired of slaughtering old, worn out exiles. He spent the Revolution locked in slavery, unable to fight in any way against the Snows. All he could do was lead another group of Soldiers to the last refuge of his master, and this was never good enough revenge. No, the last Snow is now a force to be reckoned with, and the Avox finally has the resources to fight back. He wants the glory this time.

I jerk the firing pin to the right and hear the click I've been waiting for. I reach down, pull the tracelet free from my wrist and throw it against the cave wall as hard as I can.

"You want a real fight, Rikard Ohm?" I find myself speaking out loud. "You want the blood of a Snow who can actually fight back? You want your own personal little war? You've betrayed my nation, kidnapped the innocent, murdered the helpless, and now you've tortured my wife right in front of my eyes…" I place the firing pin back in my rifle, reassemble my weapon, slam a fresh magazine into the receiver, and slide the bolt forward with a click. "You want a war? I'll give you a war you won't believe…"