N/a: Hey guys! Just to clarify, Last chapter, Annie was hallucinating most of the time. So, Lucius from 2, and Jewel from 1 are both dead. All that's left is Devi and Annie. Let me know what you think of this one! Review please! Love you all! xoxo

Chapter 20- A Solution

Finnick's P.O.V

"You know, Finnick if she wins, she can be healed," Johanna says as she puts her hand on my forearm.

"I don't know. I can't tell," I say.

I've been practically dead for the past two days. My Annie has been diagnosed as "mentally unstable" and Demere kissed her. Let's just say my life has been hell.

"Some of us have been thinking," Johanna starts. "And the best way for someone to heal from this kind of thing is to forget it."

"Yeah like all the morphlings," I say.

"No, not quite. Morphling can make you numb, but can't make you forget. Annie needs to forget."

"Yeah, and?"

"They are developing this new substance that makes you forget certain things. Maybe, if we gave it to her, she could forget the Games ever happened."

"Yeah, but wouldn't she forget more than just the Game?" I ask.

"We don't know. Just an idea," Johanna says.

She's been the only one trying to help me the past few days. I haven't slept or eaten. I haven't even bathed. I don't know if I would call myself depressed yet, as I am still trying for Annie. I don't really know what emotion I consist of at the moment. At least I'm still trying.

"The entertainment is going to run out soon, Finnick. All that the audience has been seeing for the last two days are Annie's episodes. They are making a joke out of her, but it'll run out," Johanna starts. She lowers her voice to a whisper as we sit in the "mentor to sponsor" ballroom. It's the first time I've been out of my room. "Devi and Annie are the only ones left, and neither one of them want to kill each other."

"I know," I say.

"The Gamemakers are getting mad. The audience is getting bored. People are saying that this is the most boring Game they've ever seen," Johanna says.

I sigh, "Yeah, well, when they're laughing at Annie they seem pretty entertained to me."

"But that'll last only so long. Do you understand what I'm saying, Finnick? Can you not be depressed for like two seconds and pay attention to me?" I look at her, and she continues, "That dam in the arena can hardly last any longer. That's why there haven't been any earthquakes; one more, and the arena gets flooded."

"So they better kill each other fast," I mutter.

"Yeah, but they won't. Devi is too busy surviving and Annie is too busy…" She trails off.

"Talking to herself, screaming, and passing out," I say.

"Yeah, sorry. But anyways, what I mean to say is that nothing is happening. The girls aren't going to kill each other. Listen to me: the Games are at a standstill, nothing is happening, and there is a crumbling dam in the arena. What does that mean, Finnick?" She talks to me like a teacher.

It clicks. "The Gamemakers will break the dam."

"Yes! Exactly! The arena will flood. Can you believe that?" Johanna says. "One of our, um, friends in the Gamemaker room is telling us everything. They are so mad."

"I knew that the dam cracked, but they really are going to break it," I say in disbelief.

"I know! What if they both drown, Finnick?" Johanna says with her eyebrows knitted.

I smile, "I taught Annie to swim."

"I knew you would, but do you really think she's stable enough?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that two days ago, she asked to be killed. Remember? She just screamed and begged for someone to kill her. Poor thing, she was being rained on so much. She was soaking wet. Mud was all over her hands and hair. She was a mess."

"Stop," I beg.

"Do you think she is going to try?" Johanna says.

I look at her, a mixture of fury and confusion settling in.

"Why are you asking me that?" I counter.

She rolls her eyes, "Maybe because you know her better than anyone else. "

"I don't know Johanna. Can we please stop talking about it?"

She slams her hands on the table. I jump, and look up at her, confused even more.

"Damn you Finnick! I have been trying to help you! I have been trying to save the girl that you're in love with, getting your sponsors for you, sleeping with all the richest men in the Capitol so that they can give you something, and you aren't doing anything! All you do is sit there and mope. Snap out of it! This is bull! Do you know how hard this is for me?"

Then, I get mad, "How hard it is for you? Oh poor Johanna, helping out a life-long friend. How cruel life is being to you right now. Please excuse the fact that the only person I care about, hell that I live for, is in that arena right now, inevitably dying, begging for death, and I'm losing hope! Maybe you don't understand. Maybe you don't understand what it's like because there's no one left you love!"

Suddenly, as if in slow motion, her hand strikes my face with so much strength that I see stars.

Tears trail down her face as we sit there in silence, looking at each other.

After minutes of shock, she composes herself, and speaks in a whisper. "No. You don't understand. You don't understand the pain I endure. Do you know how much it hurts that the only person you love is in love with someone else?" She looks at me through tears, but I stay silent. She continues, "To love someone so much, and they don't even know, or care. And finally, when the other person could be eliminated from the picture, and the person I love could finally look at me the way I want him too, I have to save her."

I look at her for a while. Putting the pieces together, I look at her. She collapses onto the table, enveloped into sobs.

I don't know what to say. I sit there. I wait for her to stop crying. I don't know what else to do. I don't comfort her. I don't say anything. I just sit there.

After I while, she lifts her head, her tears making her hair stick to her face. A cold glare comes from her swollen eyes.

"Go, just go," She says. It's barely audible, but I understand it perfectly.

I stand, and walk away. I figure I should probably go back in there, comfort her, reassure her. As I think it through, however, there is nothing I could say. She and I both know that as long as Annie is still alive my heart belongs to her. I can't even think about moving forward or loving another. Johanna knows that. She has to know that.

My cheek stings from where she slapped it. I can feel a giant red mark swelling up as I walk back to my room. In the hallway, a drunk Haymitch and Chaff sit on the floor with empty bottles lying around them. They laugh at each other's slurring comments, and drink down the rest of what they have. Is that going to be me in a few years? Am I going to have to drink down the pain?

They look at me, still chuckling, and see my fresh mark. Both of them explode into laughter as soon as they see it, and start slurring again.

As I near them, Haymitch tries to talk to me. "Never piss off a girl, boy."

Chaff nods with a smile. "They'll slap the pretty right off of you!"

As if this is the funniest thing they've ever heard, they completely collapse on the carpet laughing. I will never get drunk, I think.

What if I have to drink away my pain one day? No. Stop it. Annie will survive. But what if she doesn't? She probably won't. Would it make the pain easier to endure if I just accept the inevitability of the situation? Finally, something clicks.

All my life, I have lived with Annie. My entire life has somehow been intertwined with hers. Whether it had been delivering her newspapers when she was five, or holding her in my arms when her father died, I was with her. We were one. Our lives were together. I realize now that I honestly don't know what my life is like without her. I have never been faced with the possibility of our lives being separated, except for my own Game. I can't live without her, because I know no different. And I don't think I can adapt to such an alien way of living.

Now, forced with the realization that she has a huge chance of dying, I have to figure it out. I have to figure out how we can be together, even though she isn't here. That can only mean one thing:

If she goes, I go.

If she dies, I die.

If she gets killed, I kill myself.