A/n: After a bit of more in-depth research, I found out that Cashmere and Gloss won the 63rd and 64th Games rather than 66th and 67th - turns out Gloss won before Cashmere, opposed to what most people believe. AND that Johanna won the 71st not the 68th/69th, so this story [Finnick's] won't change much. Originally it was supposed to be Finnick [65th], Cashmere [66th], Gloss [67th], OC [68th], Johanna [69th] and Annie [70th], so now I kind of have to swap it around. Now it's:

I. Chasing Impossibility [Gloss Delgado] - 63rd Games
II. Golden Beauty [Cashmere Delgado] - 64th Games
III. Trident Boy [Finnick Odair] - 65th Games
IV. An Act Of Pretence [Annie Cresta] - 70th Games
V. Female Warrior [Johanna Mason] - 71st Games

This is the third book, so I'll start on Gloss' story soon.

You'll change inside when you realise

The world comes to life and everything's bright.

From beginning to end when you have a friend,

By your side that helps you to find the beauty you are,

When you open your heart and believe in the gift of a friend.

- Gift of a Friend, Demi Lovato

V. Let The Games Begin!

Falling.

I can feel myself falling.

I hear the rush of the wind swish past and I realise I'm not falling. My pedestal clicks in and it takes a large amount of effort to maintain my balance. A new rush of humid air whips by and I almost lose my footing. No, Finnick, don't fall off.

We are surrounded by swampland. About ten metres from the ring of tributes, the rainforest terrain starts. Half of it is rocky and steep, but a rainforest nonetheless. Water will be easy to find. The golden Cornucopia stands in front of us, right in the centre. The sun's reflection glares at me and I have to squint to be able to see it, but fortunately, I'm right in front of the mouth.

Thirty seconds.

I'm between the male from District Twelve and the female from Two, whose name I still haven't learnt. Not that I even need to anymore. She glares at me in hopes of intimidating me, but I merely smirk and wink at her. I scan the circle of tributes and spot Maya, stuck between the pair from One. Well, shit. I catch her gaze and mime the action of pushing someone over, then nod towards the steeper part of the terrain. She nods and faces the Cornucopia with a determined expression.

Fifteen seconds.

We can do this. We are from District Four. Maya and I are used to wading and running in dirty water. This shouldn't be much of a difference. If anything, we should be at more of an advantage since other districts have only rainfall as water.

Three seconds.

What the fuck do I do? I think.

Two seconds.

An explosion. A billow of smoke is all that remains of the measly girl from District Ten, who had only been two pedestals to my right.

One second.

Everyone stares in utter shock, and the gong rings, bringing everyone out of their daze.

I step into the swamp, grimacing at how thick the mud is. It clings to my trousers but I venture on further. The boy from Twelve faceplants the moment he steps off - or rather, slips off. I don't run for the Cornucopia. I shove District Two's female tribute over while she's distracted with her surroundings. She screams at me, outrageously. Maya does the same with the other Careers.

I notice that the swampy water is deeper at the Cornucopia, which proves to be a disadvantage to shorter tributes as it is already past my height. I end up treading water and swimming a few metres. By the time I reach the Cornucopia, the mud and water has slowed me down a lot, yet I'm the only one there.

"Finnick!"

Maya, who is currently the closest to the Cornucopia aside from me, stands halfway between the pedestals and the Cornucopia. Best to hog the supplies, I think to myself. I grab not one, but four backpacks and throw them, one by one, at Maya who catches them with ease. She ends up sprinting towards the steep region, carrying three backpacks on her back and carrying the other.

"District Four!" Carter booms, as he trudges through the muddy water. "Dead! You're not getting out of this, Pretty Boy. "

Ignoring him, I think, knives. Where are they?

Rummaging through the Cornucopia, I finally find a belt of knives of all sorts and clasp it around the waistband of my pants. I hook a few other knives into the interior of my jacket, hastily and grab a few spears, along with a hefty sword.

Run! My conscience screams at me to run as fast as I can. I notice tributes missing; they've drowned, undoubtedly, or they have been strangled to death by the Careers, who are only a few meters away from the Cornucopia. The bloodbath will be starting soon so I don't bother with anyone in my way. Despite the weighty weapons I'm carrying, I manage to swim and sprint through the shallowest parts of the swamp and run in the direction where Maya had headed.

I don't even think of stopping when Maya jumps down from a nearby tree and joins me. "Come on!" she says as she sprints past me.

The excessive amounts of foliage and the moist ground makes it harder to maintain a steady pace whilst running. After what seems like ages, we stop in front of a stream.

"Should we go across?" I ask.

"I don't know…" Maya says, uncertainly. "Do you think there are piranhas or fish mutts?"

Before I can reply, she suggest, "How about we just go across? They wouldn't unleash mutts so early. The bloodbath is probably still going on so we should go across before it's too late."

The stream turns out to be as deep as an ocean should be. We use this chance to wash the grime off us. Even though our clothes are soaking wet by the time we're out, we're free of excessive mud.

I think we run for around ten minutes or so. We stumble every now and then, before we find a nice area to camp out. An isolated cave that has been enclosed on all sides, except the entrance, which is just big enough to squeeze me through. We're situated by a lake, giving us easy access to water and hopefully, it's far enough from the other tributes. It's hot and humid; hotter than it has ever been in District Four. I'm not completely sure whether the moisture on our skin is from the water in the lake or from sweating.

The repeating sound of the canon causes me to jump slightly in my spot. I count eleven.

"Eleven tributes down already. We are lucky this year," Maya murmurs softly and I nod. "Let's look at what we have."

All four packs are identical. We have a considerably abundant supply - matches, rope, iodine enough to last a month, six packets of dried beef, four empty flasks for water, four sleeping bags and night vision glasses. Add seven spears, a sword and two dozen knifes.

"We're loaded," I say.

"Yeah…"

It's silent for a while. We prepare the sleeping bags out for tonight and we sit, listening to the rush of water and the birds chirp. If only this could last forever.

By the end of the day, no more cannons sound. The anthem sounds and we gaze up at the holography that appears at the ceiling of our cave.

The girl from Two, the girl from Three, both from Five, the boy from Six, the girls from Eight, Nine and Ten, both tributes from Eleven and the boy from Twelve.

"What happened to Alora?" Maya questions me, with a shocked expression.

"Alora?" I repeat.

"District Two."

Oh. "Um… I don't know," I reply. "I pushed her into the swamp. Maybe she drowned in the deep end? Or the Careers finished her off. Who knows?"

She nods slightly and suggests that we should net together a flap for the cave's opening, so it's not as obvious to other tributes. We make knots with a bit of the rope provided, as well as leaves, twigs, sticks and anything else we find along the forest floor. We roll it around in mud for camouflage and tie it onto a sturdy rock nearby. It blocks the only source of natural sunlight but we light a fire to make up for it.

Within minutes, the temperature drops drastically. Oh, no. In District Four, we experience constant temperatures, with the rare hurricanes and torrential rainfalls. Maya and I are sent out to sea often, to catch fish, but even then it's hot but windy at the same time. Being cold is rare for us.

Our teeth chatter and goosebumps form all over our arms and legs. "I-it's freezing," Maya stutters out. The wind outside roars in our ears.

A clink catches our attention. A parachute! Mags and Shelley had sent us warm, thick blankets.

"Thank you" I manage to say through the constant chattering of my teeth and move the weapons and sleeping bags to the other side of the fire, towards the far end of our cave. "Come here." I drag a log over by the fireplace and sit on it with Maya, wrapping the blankets around us. I place my arm around her, rubbing her arm softly and our shivers come to an end soon.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

She nods. "Yeah. I'm fine… You should sleep. I'll take first watch," she offers.

"You sure?"

"Yes. Go to sleep."

I get up and kiss her forehead. "Wake me up in a few hours."

The moment my head hits the ground, I drift off to sleep.

When I wake up, it's broad daylight. Day two of the Hunger Games. The sun seeps in through the gaps of the net we've created and I notice Maya eating some of the dried beef. The gales have stopped during the night, I assume. "Why didn't you wake me up?" I accused.

"I uh…" the ghost of a smile appears at the corner of her lips as she says, "I fell asleep. Sorry."

I laugh, good-naturedly and shake my head. I should've expected that.

"Let's go out for a walk!" she exclaims. "We can catch some actual food instead of this… crap." Her nose wrinkles at the sight of the dried beef and her hand reaches up to her hair band. She pulls it out and shakes her head, letting her hair flow down past her shoulders. "I never liked tying my hair up," she mutters.

Grabbing a spear and her sword, she takes my hand and we take a stroll along the bank of the lake. Two cannons go off and we notice that the hovercrafts pick up the bodies from what we assume to be the other side of the arena. Maya and I end up having fun in the lake, shoving each other and splashing water in each other's face. Occasionally, we race each other. We swim different strokes each time and catch a few decent sized fish with Maya's spear. It's almost like we're home again. Almost.

We spend a few hours goofing around, making the most of our time before we head back to our cave, even though it's only a little past noon. We strip down to our undergarments and hang our sodden clothes on a makeshift clothing line, made of rope. Maya laughs, "The audience will love this. I mean, Finnick Odair half naked? They're digging this."

"Oh, really, huh? What about you? Any guy would love to see you like this," I state.

She bats her eyelids in an almost ridiculous manner, that makes me laugh along with her. "I didn't know you felt that way about me, Odair," she teases.

I wriggle my eyebrows at her and wink, jokingly. Hopefully, the Capitol loves our banter. We cook the fish with the fire and eat them for lunch, barely giving any thought in preserving them. We redress and sit in front of the entrance, basking in the sunlight and keeping watch.

We make casual small talk. We try to avoid the topic of home and we're so caught up in our conversation, we almost don't realise that we are in the arena. The silhouette of a human sized figure appears in front of me and I pivot around, finding myself face to face with the boy from Three. We stare at each other for a moment before he leaps off the rock.

I hear a grunt from nearby and I turn my head around to find Maya engaged in a fight with the boy from Eight who waves a mace around. This moment's distraction is enough for the boy from Three to sock me in the jaw, and it's surprisingly strong. I yell out a shout of pain as I bite my tongue in the process. Spitting out blood, I wrestle the boy and notice he wields a sickle.

He doesn't have much on me. He's taller but he's skinny. I manage to pin him down to the ground for a few seconds but he wriggles constantly, flailing the weapon around carelessly and I'm forced to release my grip on him. Kicking me in the back of the knees, he swings the sickle around, showing his lack of ability to use it. I dodge a few blows but I'm too slow for the sixth time he swings it. It slices my forearm and I grunt.

The boy grins at me, almost as if he's the devil. The cannon booms and my heart pounds rapidly. Maya! She stands up, shakily and grimaces at the dead body in front of her. District Eight's boy has a spear embedded right in his heart. The boy from Three pales and starts to run away from us a little too late. I pull out a dagger from my belt with my good arm, aim and throw. It lands right where I aimed for - the small of his back. His arms flail around, wildly and he gasps in shock and pain. Out of pity, I throw another at his neck and the cannon booms instantly.

I'm a murderer.

For the next few hours, we stay in hiding, taking care of ourselves. Maya had ended up with a twisted ankle, which she was used to, so that was a relief to know. We cleaned up my cut and applied the ice Mags had sent, to the bruise on my jaw. "Not much of a pretty boy now, Finnick?" Maya had teased me.

When the dead tributes are shown at night, I'm surprised to see Brock there. I had thought he would last longer. District Two is out of the Games early this year. I look away in guilt when the boy from Three appears.

"It was either you or him," Maya says, rubbing my back softly. "Don't feel bad."

The girl from Seven pops up next. She barely looks twelve, even when the picture is a close up shot of her face. She disappears within seconds and is replaced by the boy from Eight, who Maya killed.

She looks up, blankly. She shows no emotion and I'm jealous. I envy how mentally strong she is.

We skip dinner; neither of us have any appetite tonight so we decide to sleep.

"I'll take first watch," I offer.

Maya shakes her head and declines, "No. You know I can't sleep early. You go ahead. I won't fall asleep again, I promise."

I swallow the lump that has formed in my throat. "I can't," I say. "Whenever I close my eyes, I see him." My voice cracks while I speak and I force my unshed tears to not show.

"Same," Maya replies.

We are murderers now. We entered the arena just yesterday and our innocence has been taken away from us. The boys we killed couldn't have been much older than us. They were children, just like us, yet we still killed them anyway. The feeling of guilt is inevitable now.

"We did it to defend ourselves, Finn," she says, rationally, just like she always does. "We did it for ourselves. They were the ones who attacked us."

"I know… but they… I…" I can't say anymore because I don't know what to say anymore.

"Come here," she gestures for me to lay down and rest my head on her lap, and I do exactly that.

Maya runs her delicate hand through my hair and starts to sing.

"Sometimes you think you'll be fine by yourself,

'cause a dream is a wish that you make all alone.

It's easy to feel like you don't need help,

But it's harder to walk on your own."

I close my eyes and smile. The song Mother sang to us every night. I know the lyrics all too well.

"You'll change inside when you realise

The world comes to life and everything's bright.

From beginning to end when you have a friend,

By your side that helps you to find the beauty you are,

When you open your heart and believe in the gift of a friend."

Maya's voice is beautiful when she sings, and she says I sound nice too, when I sing. But I don't believe her; I believe I sound like a cat screeching. We usually sing this to each other whenever one of us struggles and whenever we have a nightmare. It would be our comfort. The boy from Three is erased from my mind and I see Maya, Rhea, Annie and I on our own little boat, a few months ago, joking around like we had the perfect lives.

If only we were back in District Four.

A/N: I do not own the song :) It's Gift of a Friend by Demi Lovato. Please review your thoughts on this chapter; constructive criticism is always appreciated! :) Don't be a ghost reader; reviews really do encourage me into writing more!

As a side note, I'll be starting "The Victors of Panem". It'll be a profile of every single victor of the Hunger Games, so keep an eye on that as well! :)