SHout out to ReadBooksWriteThings and Sparky She-Demon for reviewing. I loved your reviews this time! Long reviews make me so happy, ReadBooksWriteThings, and Sparky She-Demon, your review really made me laugh.

I stepped off the train, my fourteen year old body now fully grown and able to keep up with Effie's brisk pace. Haymitch walked with us, as did our two new tributes, Leevy and Lennox Caroway. Twins.

When they were reaped, I was outraged. Haymitch explained to me on the train that President Snow is probably just trying to get under my skin by reaping first a married couple, then twins, and that I shouldn't hold it against Effie. But I was horrified. They were fourteen, like me, and I knew Leevy very well from school. They lived in the house next to my old Seam house. I knew Leevy sometimes watched Hazelle's kids for free when she was out working, and Lennox always tried to scrape up enough money to buy cheese from Prim. Now that I was rich, I tried my hardest to repay them. I always stopped by to buy some fresh flowers that Leevy picked in the meadow and made beautiful arrangements with. Lennox sold what vegetables and herbs they managed to grow, and I always made sure to buy a heap of them, since my mother used the herbs for healing purposes, and his vegetables were often better than the ones sold by the shop in town.

We hadn't learned much about the Wonder Twins in the past few days that we had been on the train. Just that they were some of the kindest souls out there. Leevy had an eye for beauty, which wouldn't help much in the arena, but she was very likeable, so she would hopefully get a lot of sponsors, based solely on her personality. Lennox had a bit of muscle, and he was just as likeable as his sister.

Both of them were scrawny, just as scrawny as I was before the Games, and probably even more. They looked sickly, their cheeks hollowed out and their knees and elbows poking out dramatically. I remembered when Prim looked just like that, and it hurt my heart. I made it my goal to get as much food into them as possible without them getting sick.

I left them at Beauty Base Zero, where their prep teams were waiting. Venia waved to me when she made eye contact. I waved back, but got out quickly before anyone else noticed my presence.

Haymitch, Effie, and I travelled up in the elevator. Effie pushed the 12 button, and I pushed the 4 button. I leaned against the wall, hoping to hide it from both Haymitch and Effie. Neither of them were really paying attention, though. The elevator stopped.

"Well that was fast," Effie chirped. I hid a grin behind my hand. The doors slid open and I stepped out, pressing the 'close door' button as I did. "Oh, dear," Effie said. "This isn't our floor,"

Haymitch raised an eyebrow. "This is District 4's floor."

I smiled cheekily at them as the doors finished closing. I dropped my smile, exhausted by my facade.

The floor seemed deserted, except for District 4's escort sitting on the couch, drinking a mug of something. Coffee, perhaps. "I'm looking for Finnick," I informed her.

She smiled at me warmly. "He's in his room,"

I thanked her and turned around and made my way over to Finnick's suite. I didn't hear anything on the other side of the door, but I knocked anyway. Mags opened it. I gave her a hug and peaked inside. Finnick was laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hi, Finnick," I said. He shot bolt upright and jumped off the bed, taking a few large steps towards me. He wrapped me in one of the largest hugs of my life. I wrapped my arms around his waist and tried to pull myself even closer, my head turned sideways and my ear against his chest. I could hear his heart thumping beneath his shirt.

I had grown a lot over the off season, but not nearly as much as he had. My 5'7" was nowhere near his 6'3", so I had to look up at him, my head reaching just above his shoulder.

"I've missed you so much, Katniss," He told me. His chest vibrated a bit when he spoke. Mags walked out of the room, trying to give us a bit of alone time.

"I missed you, too." I said. He pulled me over to the bed, and sat with his legs out in front of him. I curled myself tightly into his side, and his arm went around me automatically. "Are you okay?" I asked him. I wasn't sure how sensitive he was about Annie, and I didn't want to bring up a sore point, so I hoped he understood. He did.

"It's been… tough. She was my first girlfriend, and I think I loved her. And Snow just…" he trailed off, staring at the wall. "It's been almost a year, and I'm definitely getting better." He said firmly, coming to an abrupt stop. "What about you? How are you?"

I let out a long breath. "Snow's really trying to get under my skin." I said.

"Is it working?" he asked, looking down at me.

"Yes," I told him honestly. "He reaped twins this year, a married couple last year… this isn't another coincidence.

"You're right, it isn't," he agreed. "It's alright. He does this from time to time. He chooses one victor and tries to hurt them as much as possible. He'll move on soon."

I felt one singular tear drip down my face, and I watched it land on his leg. Finnick looked down at me, concern written on his face. Then he pulled me into his lap and wrapped one arm around my waist and the other gently caressed my hair. "It's alright," he told me. "Cry it out. I won't tell a soul,"

That made me sob more, as if I was waiting for his permission. He pressed his face to the top of my head, his lips pressed up against my hair, but not really kissing me. I hiccuped, and his grip tightened on me, as if he was trying to protect me from it. The thought made me smile.

"I know them," I muttered. "My tributes. They used to be my neighbors,"

"Any chance one of them is strong enough to make it?" Finnick asked, trying to be helpful.

I shook my head. "Neither of them are real fighters. They'll both get heaps of sponsors, though. They are genuinely the nicest people you will ever meet. My only hope is to drill enough survival facts into their brains as possible, maybe go down to the pool one day and teach them to swim, stuff like that." I scrubbed the tears off my face harshly, but Finnick grabbed onto my wrist lightly, stopping me.

"No use in that, love," he said, gently dropping my wrist by my side. My heart thumped in my chest. I won't lie: it's not like I hadn't thought about Finnick. I most definitely had. But he was older than me, and I was so young, and he had just lost Annie. I knew 'love' was just another one of his pet names, and I really shouldn't read too much into it. We would never end up as a couple, and if we did, it would be years into the future.

He handed me a tissue, and I blew my nose. I heard the elevator ding outside, and the escort's voice trilled in through the thin door.

"My tributes are back," Finnick told me apologetically. I smiled sadly. "You can stay here for as long as you need to pull yourself together. Or if you just want to stay, you can. I don't think anyone would object to having you over for dinner."

I shook my head. "No, I should get back to my floor. I'll leave in a minute."

Finnick nodded, a small smile on his face. He gave me one last, quick hug, and then left his room, closing the door behind him. I stayed there, lying on his bed for a few more moments, calming myself down and urging my eyes to go back to normal faster, but they were still red and puffy. I pressed my nose into his blanket, taking in the smell. He smelled just like I remembered District 4 to smell like. Salty, and a little bit sweet. There was also quite a bit of the smell of sweat mixed in with his sheets, which I originally thought to be odd, since he had only been here one night, but then I remembered that he had nightmares just like I did, and he probably sweat a lot in his sleep.

When I felt relaxed enough, I stood up to leave, then remembered how Finnick was addicted to Morphling, and decided to do a quick search of the room to make sure he made good on his promise. I didn't find anything after a speedy but thorough scan, so I decided to make my way back to my floor.

…

When the timer got down to zero, a decent amount of the tributes ran toward the Cornucopia, including Leevy, who I spewed curses at the whole way. The boy from District 11, the girl from District 9, and the boy from District 6 got into a fight while Leevy searched around frantically for anything to help her. She was busy watched the District 9 girl kill both her opponents, and almost missed the boy from District 5 running at her with an axe. Leevy grabbed a knife of her own and threw it, her form way off, but it caught him in the leg and the boy fell to the ground. She stole his axe and swung it above her head before bringing it back down on the boy. She then grabs a pack, the knife, and the axe and took off running to find Lennox. Not much later, there was a cannon sound, signalling the end of the bloodbath. I counted them. One, two, three… only three. Their faces flashed at the bottom of the screen. Just the boys from 11 and 6, and the District 5 boy who Leevy had killed. That was very odd. Usually there were a lot more kills in the Bloodbath. This was going to be a very long Game. The Careers didn't seem very aggressive this year, so that must be a piece of it.

I pulled myself closer to Finnick and we watched as the Games continued. Lennox had managed to grab some fishing gear by the edge of the Cornucopia, and went about finding a water source. Cashmere's tribute, Satin, found a sickle in the Cornucopia. The District 2 girl grabbed a spear. Finnick's girl, Britt, ran away from the Cornucopia, but grabbed a knife first. Mason from 2 got a sword and ran after the escaped tributes. The District 7 girl died falling off a cliff in the late afternoon.

Not much happened in the following days, but Britt, Finnick's girl, found some lion mutts and worked on taming them. She managed to trap them in a nearby cave, and tied them up with rope that her sponsors sent her.

The third night in the arena, the District 3 boy attempted to poison Lennox, who was now reunited with Leevy, and in an alliance with the two District 3 tributes, Webster and Freya. Leevy saw it happen and switched the two bottles while their backs were turned. Webster drank and was dead in minutes. Freya accused them of poisoning her District partner and went off on her own.

She did just fine on her own. Beetee was her mentor, and he sent her some landmines, which she placed strategically around the Career's camp, where Satin, Silver, Mason, Layla, and Michael slept peacefully. Mason woke up a few minutes later, as he was supposed to be keeping watch but had fallen asleep. He stood up to walk around and keep himself awake when he stepped right on a mine and was blown sky high.

The next day, two of the girls who were in an alliance together (from Districts 5 and 10) worked together to drown Freya in the lake. The Careers were still stranded in their camp, trying to figure out the landmine pattern.

That's about when Leevy died. It was late afternoon, and she hadn't eaten in four whole days. Normally, this would be fine. She had gone that long without food before. It made her slow and weak, but she would live. I tried to send her food, but the parachutes couldn't land inside the cave, and she was too weak to climb up out of their cave. Lennox was out looking for something to eat. So I watched the District 10 boy get closer and closer, and see the food all piled up outside their cave, so he crawled down and saw Leevy lying on the floor of the cave. And he drew his knife and killed her.

Michael, the DIstrict 4 boy, got into a fight with Britt and the District 10 boy. Britt overpowered both of them with her mostly trained mutts.

That night, there were several faces in the sky. Mason, Freya, Michael, the District 5 girl, the District 9 boy, and Leevy all died.

Finnick wrapped his arm around me, just as he did before. I felt tears pricking at my eyes, but it didn't seem to hurt as much as the last tributes did.

"It gets easier as you go," Cashmere whispered next to me. She handed me a pink, fizzy drink. "Here."

I stared at her. She was really going to give a fourteen year old alcohol. Was she really going to try and teach me to drink away my problems? I wasn't opposed to it, it was just very unlike her.

Finnick and I exchanged a look. Then he took it from her and took a sip. He chuckled. "It's just a Shirley Temple, Katniss."

Cashmere laughed. "I'm sorry. I should've made that clear. There's no alcohol in it. It's just cherry flavored soda."

I smiled and accepted the cup.

Day 5 was interesting. The District 1 tributes, Silver and Satin, had always been a little wary of each other. Gloss told me they were in a relationship, and Silver was almost downright abusive to Satin. The abuse seemed to continue into the arena. Silver lunged at Satin, a knife in hand. It was hard to tell if he meant to kill her, or if he was just going to throw a few punches, but he never had the chance to do either. Britt threw herself on him from behind, jumping over the landmines, and they both rolled to the ground. They scuffled on the ground a bit, and I could see just how tense Finnick and Cashmere were. Silver landed on top, his knife pressing into her neck. Suddenly, Britt wrenched one hand free, pushed the knife blade away from her neck with her bare hand, and let out an ear piercing whistle. Three large lion mutts sprang at Silver, pulling him away from their master and tearing him to pieces. It was several minutes before his cries ceased and his cannon went off.

That night, there were three faces in the sky. Silver, Layla from District 2, and the girl from District 10. Layla had killed the District 10 girl, and while Layla slept, the District 11 girl slit her throat.

A feast was announced the morning of Day 6. The Cornucopia was to be completely replenished with food, weapons, and supplies. Not many people went. Britt rounded up her twelve mutts and went (she now had names for them all, ranging from Taka to Winston. There was even a pair of them that she named Kat, short for Katniss, and Finicky, a play off of Finnick's name. This caused an uproar amongst the Victors, as they all wanted lions named after them.) Britt was able to get in and out fast, a herd of lions hiding just outside, waiting for her command. Also attending was the District 8 girl, who threw a tomahawk and managed to nail Lennox in the head.

I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking about the house next to ours in the Seam. The shutters closed, a small fire cooking a stew, and all you can hear is the scream of their mother, begging for her children.

That night, after seeing which tributes died that day, (the District 11 girl shot an arrow through the District 8 boy's head, The District 9 girl committed suicide, Britt set her lions on the District 11 girl and Lennox was killed), I made my way to Finnick's floor, the District 4 Victor trailing behind me. I could tell he didn't really approve, but he wasn't going to stop me, either.

Titania was waiting for me at the kitchen counter, her supplies all laid out in front of her. She gave me a hug, then got to work tattooing a second name on my arm, directly below the first. Caraway.

The next day, the District 8 girl killed the District 6 girl, and that was the only death. On day eight, Britt and the DIstrict 8 girl engaged in a knife fight, which ended in one of her lions, Cairo, jumping at the 8 Girl and pushing her off a cliff. Britt stood by and watched in horror as Cairo plummeted off the edge, too.

Britt was distraught. She had begun to think of these mutts as pets, instead of Capitol beasts. I felt sorry for her. The Capitol would terminate all eleven living lions as soon as the games ended, whether she died or not.

The Games ended on day 9, when the District 7 boy, who had thus far been keeping a low profile, tried to find the end of the arena and ended up crashing straight into a forcefield, where he died.

It was just down to Britt and Satin, and it was easy to see who the winner would be. Satin, after all, did not have a pack of lion muttations following her every command. But she did put up a good fight, and managed to wound Teslie and kill Angus.

Trumpets sounded throughout the arena. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Victor of the 68th Annual Hunger Games, Britt Lee!"

When the peacekeepers came out into the desert to pick up the newly crowned Victor, she held on tightly to Merlot, the littlest lion, and begged with them not to hurt the mutts. "Please," she said, tears streaming down her face. "Please leave them alone. Set them free in the Wilds. Just don't hurt them, please!" The other mutts crowded around her, snarling at the peacekeeper, who sedated first the Victor, then all eleven mutts.

Finnick stood up and stretched. "Well, guess I have my first Victor," He held out a hand for me and pulled me up. "Would you accompany me, Katniss? After all, there's a lion mutt named after you."

I grinned and followed him into the elevator.

"They're going to kill the lions," I said, once the doors closed.

"I know. And it's going to destroy her." He responded, hugging me tight. I remembered how she screamed and cried when Angus and Cairo died, and I felt sick knowing just how attached she was to all of them.

The doors clicked open and we found ourselves on the medical floor, where Britt was lying on a hospital bed, a mask over her face, while the doctors operated.

"Excuse me, sir," Finnick flashed a seductive smile at a nearby nurse who was wheeling a cart of something out of Britt's room. "Could you tell me what's going to happen to the mutts?"

The nurse smiled back, abandoning the cart and edging closer and closer to Finnick. My hand clamped tightly on his. I knew how disgusted he must feel with himself, but he was doing it for his Victor. "I know the one is already dead. The injured one. Teslie, was it?" Finnick nodded, so he continued. "The rest of them are still alive for now. Gamemaker Crane is going to speak to President Snow, and see what he has to say about it." The man got even closer to Finnick.

"Thank you for the information," Finnick winked, his smile frozen in place.

"Oh, you can thank me tonight," he said.

"Mr. Globe, then? 221 Golfer Avenue? Ten o'clock?" Finnick asked. The man nodded, and wheeled his cart away.

"I'll be right back," Finnick said, once the man was gone. He walked quickly away from me and in the direction of the bathroom.

A surgeon exited the room, his eyes landing on me. "Katniss Everdeen," he said.

"That's me,"

"We had a question for Mr. Odair about the Victor." he said apologetically.

"Well you can ask me. I'm standing in for Finnick while he is… preoccupied." I smiled sweetly at him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

He blushed and nodded. "Ms. Lee lost quite a lot of weight while in the arena. We were wondering if we had-"

"No," I cut him off. "You don't have permission to alter her body. She looks fine just the way she is. She'll gain weight soon enough."

He opened his mouth to argue, but closed it just as quickly. He glanced down and consulted his clipboard. "She lost a hand at the beginning of the games, when she first caught the lion mutts. Permission to replace her hand with an artificial one?"

"Yes. But ask her first, make sure she's alright with it."

The man nodded and turned away. Finnick returned a few minutes later, looking pale.

"Are you alright?" I asked. He clamped down on my hand with his own, and I stared up at them.

"I just destroyed the bathroom. But yes, I'm alright."