Sorry for the delay in updating. I've been preparing for the upcoming chapters, which are going to be...emotional.

PROMO: also i've read some really awesome stories lately that people have sent me and here are some awesome ones: "Welcome to the 78th Annual Hunger Games." by: mocking-potter, "Snow is Falling" by: Mockingfire, and "Me and My Friends" by: Norma Jean the Dancing Machine. I've read a lot of other really great stories, but those are the ones fresh on my mind. :)

Alright well, you've waited long enough (unless you skipped this part then you didn't wait as long as those who read this note) so ENJOY! and Happy Reading :)

The Fighter: The Fray.

We were foolish to think things would be easier. Finnick was so good to me, but I kept finding myself falling into my own darkness. Simpler things often triggered it, but Finn was patient. He often brought me back with stories he'd make up, silly ones, usually about home, fables the sailors told with mermaids and the underwater cities. He would help me rationalize, then seal my sanity with a kiss. But sometimes it was the kiss stealing away his peace. He still thought about the other women, but he refused to stay away from me. That's when we both came back, in the sanctity of belonging to each other.

"What did they do to you?" He asked me one night. The dark of our compartment hid the fear in my eyes. I had been rambling, humming the old wedding song. Sometimes I would whisper the tale about the man in the clouds. He would float high above us, never say a word, just reach for his lover and wait for her to come home. But his lover was the woman of the ocean…she was restless and would never come home. Finnick would try to calm me. He held me and whispered stories of our past to me, waiting until I came back, but that night our love didn't suffice.

I was still lost. "They didn't touch me." I croaked when I came to, trembling in his arms.

He stroked my hair, "Did they hurt you?"

I shook my head, the past was shrouded with veils of mindless mutterings and stories of nonsense. "I don't remember," I whispered.There's a man in the clouds, and he lives in a dream.He searches for her, the woman of the sea. "...be strong," I muttered mindlessly, trying to come back to him. I held his face, beautiful.

He frowned, the handsome man. But his frown was replaced with a small smile. "Yes Annie." He kept his arms tight around me, eyes longing for me. I knew I had to get back. Something told me to run back.

I reached up and touched his face and he became very still, "Are you my Finnick, or theirs?"

"Yours," He told me, his voice was straining, eyes staring. He looked troubled, his sea green eyes darkening.

I touched his chest, then his neck, then his face, my eyes focusing, unfocused, "So this is all real?"

The handsome Finnick, my handsome Finnick, grabbed my hand and kissed my fingertips, "Yes my love."

"Do you love me?" I asked, searching his face. The woman of the sea was slowly fading away. His gaze could intrigue Desdemona. His touch could hold down Juliet's flittering heart. His kiss could revive Ophelia. Easy, simplistic victories…his defeat was in finding me. The lost can't save the lost.

He pulled me into him, "With all my heart." He said, kissing me on the lips.

I let my fingers trail over the planes of his face and his lips, "And I love you?" I asked him quietly. Yes. Yes I did. It was coming back, slowly. He was the man in the clouds, crying for her, but she was hiding in the water.

He smiled, kissing me again. "Yes." It was real. Finnick held my face in his hands, "Waiting for the woman of the sea." He said, kissing me over and over.

I came back.

But I wasn't here forever. I couldn't stay. No matter how desperate I was to stay with Finnick, my old Finnick that was finally here with me, I couldn't. But he never let me go, even when I was in another world, he held my hand. Some days it was, at least, easier to come home to him. It made him happy when I could stay longer, when it was easier for me to stay, when I was the girl he remembered. "Hello, Mr. Odair." I said, in the hallway when we walked through the hallways to the dining hall.

He grinned, gripping my hand tighter, "Hello Mrs. Odair." He stopped our steady pace and kissed me.

I laughed at his gumption. The citizens of Thirteen didn't appreciate our affection, especially when it stopped the flow of traffic. I missed him. I missed making him smile. These days I only caught him grinning when I recognized him for longer than an hour. "Don't let my husband see you…jealous type." I muttered, kissing him again.

Finnick's deep laugh echoed. He led me through the food line and then to a table, meeting a small group of people he seemed to know. Eventually Katniss appeared with Gale, the boy who saved me. I didn't speak much around them. I let Finn tell his stories, giggled when I fell back into memories of swimming in District Four. He told my favorite one. We were out by the ocean one afternoon and he took my hat, running away with it. I chased him into the water where I collided into him. He swam off, floating farther away from me. "Finnick come back here!" I called, giggling. He shook his head, telling me to come get him. He was confident nothing would catch him, until a sea turtle swam right up and snatched the hat from him. I laughed, with the rest of our table. He was so charming around them.

It wasn't until I saw the faces of Johanna and Peeta, I slipped into another dark spell. Peeta approached the table last, and there was a great amount of tension looming in the air. "Sure he can sit here. We're old friends," Johanna announced when the guards escorted Peeta to our table. "Peeta and I had adjoining cells in the Capitol. We're very familiar with each other's screams." She said brashly.

I was too. And soon, it was all I could hear. I wanted to return but Peeta's screaming for help and Johanna being tortured devoured my safe thoughts. I was back in the Capitol and I couldn't leave. I was naked on the dirty floor, waiting, just waiting for them to kill me. Part of me would plead for them, begging them for their safety, but the other part of me was trapped in a much darker cell.

"Remember how much you loved staring up at the stars?" His voice invaded my thoughts. "How you loved hearing the waves break," Ripping through the depths of my twisted daydreams, "You listened to me talk for hours, but I knew you always loved the silence more," His soft muttering pushed me back to childhood. "You and your mom used to hide in the dunes and marshes, it was a game you played," He told me. I saw the woman. Tall, slender, long, dark, flowing hair…she had the prettiest smile, calling for me, pulling me from the tall waving dunes. "You have a beautiful singing voice. You used to wear white flowers in your hair…" There he was. "There you are," He whispered with a small smile.

"Annie, did you know it was Peeta who decorated your wedding cake? Back home, his family ran the bakery and he did all the icing," Delly's voice chimed. I was back in Thirteen. I could see and hear them clearly.

I looked to Johanna, she was safe, and then to Peeta, who past the old bruises and scars, was also safe. "Thank you, Peeta." I told him with a small smile, "It was beautiful."

Peeta's familiar smile returned, "My pleasure, Annie." His voice was gentle, like it used to be. Maybe he was back too.

Finnick reached around and pushed my hair from my eyes. He studied my face and smiled, reassured and relieved, "If we're going to fit in that walk, we better go." I nodded with another tiny smile and placed my hand in his. Finnick takes our trays and then leads me from the table. "Good seeing you, Peeta," He says in good nature.

"You be nice to her, Finnick," Peeta told him, watching me with a new intensity, "Or I might try and take her away from you." He smirked, all goodness gone from his smile. Finnick pulled me closer to him.

Although he said it with a light tone, I knew Finnick was enraged, "Oh Peeta, don't make me sorry I restarted your heart." He didn't say anymore on the subject and neither did Peeta. Instead, he focused on me. We were safe for now. Things were becoming clearer. We were going back to normal, until news of storming the Capitol spread across Thirteen. My heart sank at the rumors.

"You're different." I told Finnick when we walked around the halls of the District.

He seemed confused, but carefree still. "How so, my love?" He asked, swinging our arms leisurely. We were almost at our compartment for Reflection hour.

"Things are different with you…you're not telling me something." I said in a quiet voice. I opened the door to our small, temporary home.

Finnick shrugged, "Don't be silly." He smiled, grabbing a small book he usually scribbled in from its normal spot on top of the government issued dresser. He sat on the bed, leafed through it and ignored me.

I sat down beside him, "Finnick, don't do this… tell me, what are you hiding?" I begged, grabbing his shoulder…but I already knew.

He looked up from his book and then at me with a blank, innocent stare, "Nothing darling." He said, putting the book back.

"Finnick…" I stared at him disbelievingly.

He didn't rush over to me; instead, he roamed the compartment, scanning over details. "Annie, you're being paranoid," He muttered.

I shook my head, becoming angry, "No. You're not telling me something Finnick, come on, I know you better." I said, keeping my voice as calm as possible.

Finn looked at me, but this time with a lie swimming in his eyes, "Annie, I swear…"

"Don't do this! Don't do this to me Finnick!" I shouted, furious now.

But Finnick didn't budge, "Annie, you're being crazy." He snapped. We were quiet for a long time, as he slowly understood the impact of his words, "No…Ann…" He stammered.

I glared at him, taken aback, anger turning to tears. The demons of my mind laughing, rejoicing as the last person I loved saw what the world saw in me…nothing except insanity. "Now I'm crazy to you too, my love?" I asked softly.

Finnick shook his head, walking towards me, "You know that's not how I meant it." He said, reaching out to me, but I dodged him.

"No, I don't know that anymore Finn. I don't know anything right now," I said sitting on the edge of the bed. Images of the room were morphing into the walls of my cell. The voices were laughing at me, as they listed the names of people who were ready to go, people who were already gone. They laughed and I was reminded I was the mad girl from District Four. Poor mad girl. Finnick would never truly be mine, they told me. I shook my head. It wasn't real. What wasn't real? Them? Or him? Or all of it? "It's all so confusing." I told him quietly.

Finnick sat down beside me and silence slowly began to overpower the devil that inhabited my mind. "Annie, I love you." He said, placing his hand atop of mine, "I don't think you're crazy. I think you're tired." He explained quietly. Then he looked at me with sad, weary eyes. There was a glimmer of hope in the sea of green. "That's real." Handsome, but so tired, so worn down, Finnick was. His bronze hair was always tangled. His usually golden tan skin became pale and lucid. His sea green eyes, dark, weighed down by the sleepless nights. Handsome even in the confinements of Thirteen, but misery had taken its fair toll.

I watched him with a broken heart, "You're going with them…to fight, aren't you?" I asked quietly.

Finnick's look of concern became a look of terror. "Who…? H-how did you-?" He stammered.

"Did you really think I'd never find out?" I muttered, turning away from him.

"Annie, I was going to tell you."

I shook my head. It was insulting how foolish he thought I was, "No you weren't." I knew Finnick. He wouldn't tell me. It was another way to protect me. He wouldn't save me this time. "What were you going to do Finn? Just leave me here, waiting for my missing husband? Leave me here and let me wait to hear that you're dead. Wait, so they can bring you back to me in a box?" I asked quietly, body shaking with internalizing rage.

He seemed speechless. "Annie, it's not like that this time. I have to go." He said, grabbing my hands.

"Why?" I snapped, pushing him away from me. "They need you again?"

This was one of our worst arguments. "Yes!" He shouted desperately. "They need me and I want to go. Annie, I have to fight. I have to." He held my face in his hands focusing only on me, "This is my last redeeming shot. I should have protected you better. I know what they did to you. I know how it felt to watch me not come back all those years…to wait for me," His eyes frantically searched mine, "Snow has to be stopped…he has to be killed. You didn't deserve what happened to you! You didn't deserve any of that! Neither did your parents! Neither did mine! Don't you want justice?" His voice was broken, his hope crushed, and his pleas strained.

I shook my head. "No. I just want you. That's all." I forced myself to make eye contact. I wasn't weak anymore.

"You have me Annie, forever. I'm yours, I'm all yours…but I have to do this. For us," He pleaded. I hated fighting with him. I hated the thought of him leaving, but like me, like when we were younger, he couldn't stay. So I would wait. "I'm coming home. I promise." I touched his face, taking in every feature, every perfection, every imperfection. My sweet husband. My sweet love. He kissed me. He kissed me and my heart broke at the thought of waiting on nothing. But he promised to come home.

There's a man in the clouds, and he lives in a dream.

He searches for her, the woman of the sea.

There's a man in the clouds, and he fights for his love.

He fights all might, but she's gone, his belove.

There's a man in the clouds, and with trembling lips,

he kisses the sea, the waves, and the ships.

But the sky is too vast, and she knows it can be,

because she is trapped, bound, chained by the sea.

There's a man in the clouds, and he swore to come home,

but the sea was too cruel and left her alone.