I have been stalking Finnick and Annie blogs all day...it's unhealthy. Gotta love tumblr. :) So, this is a super quick update/short chapter but the next one should be a lot more detailed. Anyways, happy reading!

Ramblings: excerpts from TheAwakening Kate Chopin.

Ungodly Hour: The Fray.

I waited, rocking back and forth. I could almost picture the bombs hitting Thirteen. I could picture Finnick's blood, splattered across the ground of District. My heart raced and there were times I couldn't stop myself from screaming. Peacekeepers came for me, hiding me away in solitary. Madness overcame me and I clawed at the stone walls. I shrieked for what seemed like hours. It wasn't until a new day did they come pull me from my isolation. I searched the faces of the old, caged victors. Was he alive? Worry drove me mad. I muttered new tales of death. I was desperate to keep quiet, for fear they'd take me back to my lonely cage, but I couldn't stop.

My lips spoke without prompting. My utterances were constant and hysteric. "There came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He was naked," I whispered. Stop Annie. Panic overtook me as I spoke of the imaginary man from the fictional woman. I could only think of Finnick, dead Finnick. "His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him." I kept seeing his image. Suddenly my hands began to grasp at my throat. An odd strength reached my fingers as my gripped tightened.

"Goodbye. 'Good-by – because I love you,'" I gasped, now sobbing. It happened every time I fell into the darkness. I tried to pull myself free from my own lock, but I couldn't. "The water was chill, but she walked on. The water was deep, but she lifted her white body and reached out with a long, sweeping stroke... She did not look back now, but went on and on…" I couldn't stop. I choked on my words. All I could remember was the woman walking out into the sea and never coming back, ignoring her fear. I should have gone. I should have done the same. Why didn't I? Why didn't I sink into the ocean like her? He would have been ok.

The guards stopped me. My thoughts on mortality controlled me…something I hadn't realized until the bruises appeared.

I was going to die here…but by my own terms.

…

They ushered us into the barracks, the lowest of grounds in the gloomy District Thirteen. They looked more like caves. The ceiling shook as bombs fell, but we were safe. We were all safe and the caverns were quiet as people fell asleep. They told me to rest, but I couldn't. Instead, my mind stormed with my darkest thoughts. Was she alive? Did they hurt her for his crimes? No. They needed me to cower down to them and crawl back for her. Hope, after all was greater than fear. I tossed and turned on my mattress, and when sleep never came…not that I wanted to dream, I let my fingers tangle into a new rope. My ears pricked when I heard someone approaching my corner of the barrack. I sat up, only to see Katniss standing over me. "I needed someone to talk to," She whispered. She told me the things she found out about Peeta. I wanted to seem shocked, but all I could offer was sympathy.

I didn't speak I just gave her sad glances and nodded when she spoke. There wasn't much to say. "This is what they're doing to you with Annie, isn't it?" She asked, her gray eyes watching me fearfully.

I smirked bitterly, "Well, they didn't arrest her because they thought she'd be a wealth of rebel information." Everyone thought she was mad, and even when they found out she wasn't…They knew our games. "They know I'd never have risked telling her anything like that. For her own protection," I muttered, feeling an immense amount of guilt as I thought of my sweet Annie locked away.

Katniss shook her head with a terrible look of frustration and despair, "Oh, Finnick. I'm so sorry," She whispered, looking to the ground. She must have saw Peeta. Her features contorted into a new look of worry and then another grimace.

I frowned. "No, I'm sorry. That I didn't warn you somehow," I say, remembering our rescue from the Quell. My offered consolation didn't please her then.

She gulped, with a look of disbelief. "You did warn me, though. On the hovercraft. Only when you said they'd use Peeta against me, I thought you meant like bait. To lure me into the Capitol somehow," She said letting her voice trail as she stared into the distance of the darkness.

They were bait, but they were also to crush us and break us in a way that was most painful. "I shouldn't have said even that. It was too late for it to be of any help to you," I said tying a more complicated knot that always got a smile from Annie, "Since I hadn't warned you before the Quarter Quell, I should've shut up about how Snow operates." I pulled on the rope, letting the knot fall. "It's just that I didn't understand when I met you. After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act on your part. We all expected you'd continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta hit the force field and nearly died that I—" I stopped myself from rambling on. It wasn't kind, my first impression of Katniss.

"That you what?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow, but fear welled in her voice.

I shook my head, setting the rope aside and pressing my palms against my eyes. I sighed, "That I knew I'd misjudged you. That you do love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't know yourself. But anyone paying attention could see how much you care about him." The last part I shrugged off, like it was a casual statement.

We didn't speak for a while until she asked, "How do you bear it?"

I almost laughed. I looked at her in bewilderment. Surely, she was smarter. I shook my head violently, "I don't, Katniss!" I snapped, "Obviously, I don't." I told her tossing my hands in the air and letting them slap down on my mat. I hid my hands in my palms and pushed my hair back, sighing sadly. "I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking." Because there wasn't. I was tortured constantly. Her perfect image was everywhere, and she was trapped. All I could hope is that she was still well. I looked up seeing the fear in Katniss' eyes grow. I shook my head, offering another spout of sympathy, "Better not to give in to it. It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart." I told her, picking back up the piece of rope. I ran it through my hands. I could still remember her nimble fingers wrap around mine when she taught me to net. A mourning smile crossed my lips and then faded. "The more you can distract yourself, the better." I told her, still twisting the rope around my fingers. "First thing tomorrow, we'll get you your own rope. Until then, take mine." I passed it to Katniss and she smiled but only slightly.

"Thank you," She whispered. She got up. I didn't want her to leave. I didn't want to be left alone with my thoughts, but what would we talk about. We'd only mourn together. I sat alone on my mattress, envisioning Annie beside me. But she wasn't here.

I fell asleep for a short amount of time. I had a dream. It was so quick though, it almost felt like reality.

She stood in front of me, her beautiful, tiny frame. Her fingers touched her radiant smile. Her eyes watched me with a shyness. She looked down, chin touching her tan shoulder. She bit her coral colored lips and watched me from her long black lashes. "Annie," I breathed. Her deep green eyes met mine again. Her soft dark curls whipped around her and the noise of the ocean drifted behind us like beautiful music. She held up a hand, as if she were reaching out to me. She opened her mouth, and sang the song we had both come to know well, "Please set me free, my dear." But the voice wasn't hers. I don't know who the voice belonged to. Suddenly the music stopped and Annie was on a pedestal, a beautiful necklace wrapped around her neck. She smiled at me. I reached out to her, desperately wanting to hold her. Her body swayed away from me, and fear crept into her eyes. Her hands tugged at the twisted necklace. It was rope. She began to sob and then looking up at me one last time. She jumped from her pedestal. I shouted for her, running to catch her. A cannon sounded. Her scream was the last thing I heard.

I didn't save her.

I woke up in tears and sweat, with the image of her lifeless body hanging from the scaffold terrorizing me.

I didn't save her.