Thank you HogwartsDream113, X The mad girl back home X, MrsMKT68, Just A Guest and Joe for reviewing!

Just clarifying, Finnick is fifteen now. His birthday was halfway between his Games and the Victory Tour - around three months after his birthday.

XVI. Deaths and Reconciliations

I can't do anything but watch as Althea Yule, the brutal killing machine from District One drives her axe into Maxwell's bony figure. "You go, girl!" I hear Cashmere yell at the screen. Gloss' tribute isn't here to save mine anymore. The poor guy had stepped into a trap and triggered a bunch of man-eating worms. It was quite the horrific sight.

My tribute's scream pierces through my headphones and echoes in my head. My feet and my butt are rooted on the spot as I watch her bring her axe back, then shoves Maxwell headfirst onto the ground, preparing for another swing. A moan escapes my lips as I watch the life disappear from him when his body is split into two.

The cannon booms.

My screen turns black.

He came fourth in the Sixty-Sixth Hunger Games.

My knuckles begin to turn white as I clutch the sides of my seat tightly. I watch as the girl cackles, flips her hair and smirks. Her white-blonde hair glows in the light of the mentor's room and her blue eyes look at me, as if they're staring right through my soul. "Hello, Finnick."

"I-Indiana?" I stutter out.

She runs the palm of her hand along the side of her axe, then lifts it with ease. "Yes, Finnick?"

"You… You're dead."

"Really?" she questions. "I think you're smart enough to know that I'm not dead, Finn."

"No," I murmur to myself, and rock back and forth. "No, no, no. This can't be happening. No, you're dead!" The loudness of my voice continues to increase with each word. "You're not real!"

Indiana takes a confident step forward and grabs my chin with her thumb and index finger. "You really are handsome, Finnick," she whispers, softly. I swallow the lump in my throat and stare at her with a wide-eyed gaze, too terrified to move. The blonde girl leans in closer, our noses touching. "It's no wonder you had so many sponsors… That trident must've cost so much money."

She lifts her eyes up to mine and it's like we're have a staring competition. "You ruined that for me!" she bellows and spits in my face. A sharp pain floods through my veins and I let out a hiss, as the blade of her axe sinks into my stomach. I can feel the blood seeping out and sticking to my shirt.

"I'm sorry," I gasp out. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

"You ruined my life!" Her pale, milky skin is now flaming red as she shouts at me in rage. "I should have won. Not some scrawny, pathetic kid!"

"I'm sorry," I moan.

A sharp slap to my face brings me back to reality and I see Amphitrite standing in front of me with her hands placed on her hips. "Are you okay?" she asks, in concern.

The Mentors' Room is silent. The twins, Cecelia from Eight, and the male from Five stare at me, blankly. Instinctively, I bring my hand up to my stomach and breathe out a sigh of relief when I find the skin to be closed. "I… I'm fine. Let's go home."

Cashmere sends me a sympathetic smile and gestures for me to call her later. I nod, curtly and walk my way out of the room, shaking, with Amphitrite trailing behind me.

"You'll have to get used to it," she says, while we're returning back to District Four.

"I know," I reply, quietly.

"You're going to have to come back every year, you know?"

"What?!" I bolt out of my seat. "I thought it was like, a rotation thing or victors volunteer for tributes they have connections to."

Amphitrite hesitates before answering. "That usually is the case but… Snow's orders. You have to come every year while the rest of us rotate."

Of course, it was Satan.

I sink back into my seat and cradle my head in my hands.

I don't question it anymore.

Althea Yule is announced Victor of the Sixty-Sixth Hunger Games.

Thank God there's no paparazzi.

This time, I can actually walk through the crowd without being trampled over by the Capitolians. None of the people from District Four gather either, with the exception of people dragging goods to the central market.

Not even Marlene and her family.

As Amphitrite and I walk the path to the Victors Village glumly, the empty hole in my heart hasn't filled up yet. I could've sent Maxwell a warning, or something to help. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to talk to Marlene again - or even see her.

A grin does however spread as I spot Mags on her rocking chair, knitting away. "Mags!" I yell at her and envelop her into a hug. "I missed you."

She chuckles and pats me on the head, like I'm a kid. "How are you, Finnick?"

I release a dejected sigh and she smiles at me, sympathetically. "I'm sorry," she apologises. "You should go see Annie and Rhea. They've been missing you."

I scoff at the thought of Annie missing me. "Annie wouldn't miss me."

Mags, however, sends me a knowing look - that I don't know what it's supposed to mean - and shoos me off. "I know you missed me, Finn. I missed you too but your family's not you without you."

Kissing her cheek, I hear a familiar giggly erupt from behind me. I laugh as Rhea jumps onto my back, holding onto her legs to refrain the two of us from falling. "Finnick!" she squeals.

Mags chuckles at our frivolous actions, as I carry her to our house and swing her down. "How are you guys?" I ask, as we enter the kitchen.

Mother stands by the oven, cooking what I assume to be dinner. Her expression lights up when she sees me. "Just in time, Finnick! How was the Capitol?"

"It was… good," I manage to say, when I realise that anyone from the Capitol could hear me.

"Good, good. Finn, can you go get Annie? Ask Rhea where she went."

Rhea giggles at the mention of Annie and mother rolls her eyes. "What's so funny?" I question.

She giggles again. "Annie has a boyfriend."

"She doesn't have a boyfriend," Mother scolds Rhea. "She's too young."

"Annie's in the training center with her boyfriend, Finn."

It doesn't take very long to reach the training center. It's only about a ten minutes walk. Fisherman greet me and I wave back. The Peacekeepers turn a blind eye on me. The training center is relatively empty today. A few older teenagers are wrestling in the middle of the building, laughing raucously. Several of the younger ones seclude themselves in their own spaces, training themselves.

"Yo, Finnick!" calls out one of my mates from school, Oliver. I nod in reply. A few girls blush as I walk through the center and giggle within their groups, as I send flirtatious winks at them. One daring and extremely shameless girl prances up to me with a trident and runs a hand down my chest. She leans forward, giving me a mouthful of her mousy brown hair, and murmurs, "Want to teach me?"

She hands me the familiar weapon and I run my hand down the sleek handle of the trident. I grin, coyly and lean in towards her. "Or maybe… I could teach you something else."

The girl giggles and glances down at my lips. "I'd love that." She leans in further, and at the last moment, I pull away. It almost feels natural to flirt with girls now. "Maybe later," I reply, with a grin and hand back the trident. The boys in the center bellow in laughter and slap me on the back, encouragingly while the girl blushes a beet red.

I smirk and take a few long strides to the girl with jet black hair and blue eyes. I force myself not to walk away from her and act like a coward. Stopping a metre away from her, I shove my hands into my pockets and rock on the balls of my feet. "I'm sorry," I apologise.

Marlene lets out a deep breath and her shoulders slump forward. "Not your fault. You can only do so much, right?"

"I could've done more," I insist. "I told you I'd try and I didn't try hard enough! I should have gotten more sponsors or something."

"Shut your mouth, Odair. You did what you did and it's over."

Ignoring her glare, I continue on like she hadn't spoken at all. "I should've tried. Man, I'm such a bad mentor," I groan.

"Hey, Odair," she snaps. "I appreciate your sympathy and all that but not everything's perfect. I'll… I'll try and move on, and you will too. He didn't even mean anything to you - if he did, then barely."

Rather than screaming, we are whispering furiously at each other. "He didn't mean anything?! It was my job. I was his mentor."

"You didn't do a very good job at it, now did you, Odair?"

I gnaw at my bottom lip to stop myself from making a sarcastic remark and glare at her. I decide to say something less rude. "Well, I'm sorry your brother died because of me."

"He didn't die because of you!" Marlene looked like she was on the verge of ripping her hair out. "He was fucking murdered by Althea Yule, the priss from District One. You had nothing to do with it."

"I… I'm sorry," I manage to say.

She sighs, frustratedly. "You really are a nice guy."

"And that's supposed to be a bad thing?"

"No. But it is when you're too nice," she states and pats my shoulder. "You toughen up a bit and I think we could be friends."

I watch her walk off, dumbfounded by her utterly absurd behaviour. "What the hell," I find myself muttering to myself. Realising why I was in the training centre, I set off on my mission to bring Annie Cresta home.

I can't help but wonder which one Annie's boyfriend is, as I spot her sparring with a boy whose dark blonde hair is matted to his forehead with sweat. It's dagger against sword. Well, I guess I just found out who. The boy stands at a height of five foot seven, as opposed to Annie's five foot five and seems to be gaining the upper hand. I don't doubt for a second that it's because of the larger weapon he wields, and the strength he has over Annie.

"So is this the boyfriend I've been told about?" I ask, crossing my arms across my chest.

Annie lets out a squeak and snaps her head towards me, allowing the boy to point the sword to her neck. He smirks. "Win for me, Cresta."

"Finnick!" Annie cries out, indignantly. "I could have won that!"

I raise an eyebrow at her. This is the most amount of recognition I've received from her all year.

"Whoa, dude," the boy says, "You're Finnick Odair."

"Yes, that's me."

"You were amazing last year!" he exclaims. "I want to be just like you one day."

I laugh, bitterly at his optimism. "So, are you gonna introduce me to your boyfriend?"

A rosy blush forms on both of their cheeks. And I find that the blush that blossoms on Annie's cheeks, annoys me. An unnerving feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. "He-He's not my boyfriend!" she denies. "His name is Ayden."

The boy waves at me, grinning and I roll my eyes. "Come on, Annie. We have to go home."

"Wait, you guys live together?" Ayden frowns.

"Yep."

He narrows his green eyes, suspiciously, at me. "Isn't that… What about…" He sighs. "Never mind."

I raise my eyebrows at him and slip my hand around Annie's slim wrist. "Got a problem with it?"

Ayden shakes his head. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Annie."

Her eyes light up and she smiles a smile I haven't seen in ages. "Bye!"

The unsettling feeling returns and I drag her away from the training centre. "What's your problem?" Annie snaps at me.

"My problem?" I reply, sharply. "I'm trying to get you home. You're the one who was with your boyfriend."

She snorts. "What, are you jealous?"

Scoffing, I roll my eyes and ignore the churning in my stomach. "No."

Yes.

A/N: Have you guys seen Mockingjay teaser trailer?! It's amazing!

I hope you liked this chapter :) Hopefully I'll be able to update a bit more often in the next three weeks, since it's my winter holidays. Please review your opinions! :)