This chapter was so hard haha. I don't do well writing action. I would much rather write angst and sadness. Unfortunately, action is a major part of the Hunger Games so here we are.

I barged into Haymitch's room close to one in the morning. I had to wait for Katniss to fall asleep, and for several fear-filled hours, I was afraid she never would.

Haymitch was still up, as well. He sat in a chair in the corner, the phone to his ear. When he saw me, he hung up, slamming the phone down on the receiver. "What?" He demanded. But I could tell by his expression that he knew exactly what I wanted. He took my silence as confirmation. "I can't just speed the process up, Odair. I have no control over the situation."

"Why not?" I asked. "You're high up in the ranks, aren't you?"

Haymitch shrugged. "Plutarch isn't answering my calls. I've tried everything to reach him."

"You just can't contact-"

"Thirteen? No. My only connection is through Plutarch."

I sat down in a chair next to him. "Haymitch, we need to get her and Peeta out."

He looked at me. "Did you know? About the baby?"

I shook my head.

"I didn't either. But it's real? Peeta didn't just make it up to stop the Games?"

"They're real. She's eight weeks in."

Haymitch sighed, rubbing a hand tiredly across his face. "You know, if she told us these things earlier, then maybe we could have put together a plan to get her out sooner."

"I'm just as pissed about this as you are. More so, in fact. But we both know Katniss, and we both know she would never say anything." I told him.

"How did Peeta know?" Haymitch asked me.

I shrugged. "Apparently when she found out, she just needed to tell someone. And he was there."

"But you weren't? Didn't you live with her for the past few months?"

"It was just a few days after I left for the Capitol."

Haymitch sighed again, but didn't say anything. I briefly considered telling him that she knew about the rebellion—and probably more than she let on, too—but I decided to let that slide. We would be going into the arena in just a few hours alongside Peeta and all our closest friends. Prim and Gale were long gone, probably well on their way to District 13. I gave them brief directions, and encouraged them to talk to Haymitch, so hopefully they would be arriving soon. My family was still in District 4, but I couldn't imagine they would get hurt by Katniss knowing about the rebellion. District 13 would be working on extracting the families, anyway, as well as most of the victors. It simply wouldn't be safe. It would probably even help the cause if the Victors were siding against the Capitol.

"As much as it pains me to say it, Odair, you've become almost as important to the cause as Katniss." Haymitch said. I frowned slightly. "Obviously, Katniss will be our first priority, but you're right behind her. You know as well as I do that without you, she's going to be practically useless to the cause without her emotional support hubby."

I knew he was right. Katniss was fiercely loyal to her family. I hadn't been around when her father passed away ten years previously, but I had heard from Prim that it was an especially painful time in Katniss's life, as was expected. I had also heard the way their mother had reacted, completely shutting down, becoming unresponsive.

Katniss was raised mainly by her father—or who she believed her father to be—so she was most like him, but I couldn't help but wonder if she might have inherited some genetic qualities from her mother. Such as how pain and loss would affect her. If Katniss became detached, like her mother did, it would do the revolution no good. District 13 would not be appreciative.

"Please have a bit of faith in her, Haymitch."

He raised his eyebrows. "Believe me, I have more faith in her than most. But I can't deny the facts."

I stood up, not feeling particularly keen about talking about my own death and Katniss's lack of mental stability. "I need to get back before she gets suspicious."

Haymitch nodded. "Finnick, please believe me when I say I'm trying my best," He said. His honest words surprised me. They were free of his usual degrading sarcasm. "I've grown... appreciative of Katniss, and I think that your baby is going to be gorgeous with you two as their parents. I just can't do much unless Plutarch decides to help."

I stared at him a second longer, not quite sure where these sentimental words were coming from. "Thank you," I said. And I left his room.

...

The next morning, I was awoken by Effie knocking on the door. "Katniss?" She called. It was clear from her voice that she was crying. "Katniss, dear, it's time to get up."

I sat up and looked at Katniss, lying awake next to me. I gently took her hand, lying on top of the covers, and kissed it. She stared up at me. "Katniss, we're going to be in this together, alright?" I told her.

"Of course we are," She said, confusion lacing her voice.

I smiled at her. "I know you, Katniss. I know you don't trust easily."

"But I trust you," Katniss told me.

"I know you do, mostly, but this is the Hunger Games. I know you've had doubts."

"I don't want to. I just..."

"You're so cynical," I smiled at her. "But that's okay. I understand. I just want to make sure you understand that you don't need to be around me. You know I would never hurt you."

She tried to smile back, but I could tell it pained her. There really wasn't much to smile about today.

I gave her one last kiss on the lips, and stood up. She stood with me and followed me to her door. "I'll see you out there, love," I told her. She nodded, and repeated the words.

...

My new stylist got me dressed in a blue jumpsuit, with a large, chunky purple belt. I couldn't imagine any arena in which the belt would be an asset, but I recognized the material of the jumpsuit. Swim suits in District 4 were made out of a similar material. It was designed to keep the wearer's skin underneath relatively dry, and it also worked to reflect the sun's rays, and protect them from burns after hours in the sun. The arena had some sort of water element. I smiled to myself. That was good. That would give me an advantage.

I didn't eat the food set aside for me. I knew I should, but I couldn't bring myself to. Finally, the automated voice came over the speakers in my launching room. "Thirty seconds."

I glanced at my stylist. We had sat in uncomfortable silence for the past few moments, and it was clear we were both relieved to be moving on. I stood up and stepped onto the platform. The glass closed around me, and I waited there for the platform to lift me into the arena.

Eventually, it did, and the first thing I noticed was the ocean stretching out around me. The Cornucopia sat on an island several yards ahead of me. There were spokes made of rocks that cut the circular sea into wedges, two tributes per wedge. I glanced to my left. I was sharing a wedge with Brutus. Perfect. I saw Peeta, a few spaces to my right, and Katniss was directly across from him, just barely within my line of sight. I couldn't see Johanna or Mags. I would have to hope that Katniss or Peeta could find them.

I could make out the brilliant gleam of a trident, propped against the wall of the Cornucopia, directly in front of me. As far as I could tell, there were only weapons stacked around it. No food or supplies.

I finally heard the first canon go off, signifying the start of the Games. I dove into the water. That was the first major advantage I had. In order to make it to the Cornucopia, you needed to swim. And very few tributes knew how. I pulled myself onto the spoke nearest to me, and ran the remainder of the way. I was the first one there. I grabbed my trident, and turned abruptly, hearing someone move toward my left. I raised the trident, ready to strike, when I noticed the arrow in my face. Katniss.

I grinned, lowering the trident. "Good thing we're allies, right?" I asked casually.

She slowly released tension on her bow string. "Right."

I noticed the tribute running at her from behind "Duck," I instructed. She did so without question, and I threw my trident, striking the District 5 male straight through the chest. I picked up a second trident, this one was lying on the ground nearby.

"You look for Peeta and Mags, and try to find something useful, besides weapons," I said. "I'll hold them off."

Katniss nodded, and went to the farside of the Cornucopia. I followed her from a distance. At this time, several of the tributes had discovered that the purple belts were actually floatation devices, and were slowly making their way towards us. I watched Katniss shoot an arrow towards Brutus, but he caught it in his belt, and it started to ooze purple goo. But unfortunately, not blood.

Mags was bobbing in the water nearby, and I lifted her out and put her down on the dry land next to me. She pointed around to the other side, and I saw Peeta wrestling with the District 9 male. "Katniss, I've got him," I called. Katniss appeared at my side, and watched as both men went under the waves.

It was a slow few minutes of us watching, waiting for one of them to reappear. The first of the two that floated to the surface did so upside down, clearly did. Katniss gasped. It was hard to tell who the body belonged to. But then Peeta's head appeared above the water as he tried to swim towards us. I jumped in and grabbed onto my brother-in-law and pulled him towards the surface.

"We need to go," Katniss said as we climbed onto the beach.

"Where's Johanna?" Peeta asked.

"She'll manage on her own," I promised, tossing Mags up onto my back. We set off at a steady run. We maintained that pace for close to an hour, and Peeta would occasionally take Mags off my back to give me a break.

Just after he gave her back to me, disaster struck. We had slowed considerably, since Katniss climbed up a tree and determined that we were far enough from the Cornucopia to be relatively safe from the other tributes. While she was up there, she also determined that there was no source of freshwater that she could see throughout the whole arena.

We started walking again after her disappointing evaluation, and we had only moved a few yards before Katniss's violent scream stopped me in my tracks. "Peeta, stop!" She screamed, but it was too late for him. He turned around to look at his sister, but he couldn't stop himself from walking directly into the forcefield.

He was blown back several feet, and Katniss was upon him in a moment. I crouched down, allowing Mags to stand on her own so that I could assess the damage.

"Peeta-" Katniss's cry was cut short by her own panic. She placed her ear over his chest, her eyes wide. She looked up at me, desperation clear on her face as she pressed her fingers against his neck, searching for a pulse where there clearly wasn't one. I tried to gently remove her from her twin brother's body, but she wasn't budging. We were wasting valuable time. I wrapped my arms around her waste and hauled her off the ground, placing her next to a nearby tree.

"Stay there, Katniss," I commanded as I rushed back to Peeta's side. I immediately began performing CPR. I had done it several times before. I'd performed it on friends and neighbors and even some of my own family. Near-death experiences were almost common in District 4. Little kids and the elderly often drowned, overestimating their own strength and going out onto the dangerous waters to fish by themselves. Even perfectly healthy, perfectly capable adults would have an occasional accident that led to their death.

CPR was something my entire district was comfortable with.

I was used to doing it while the injured person's family and friends crowded nearby,, screaming and crying. That was something I had experienced before. I never considered just how difficult it would be to perform chest compressions while my wife crouched next to me, becoming more and more desperate by the moment.

Just one more set of chest compressions, I told myself. Just one more.

"Come on, Peeta," I hissed. My entire job was to keep him alive, and I was struggling to complete that simple task.

I spoke too soon.

Peeta inhaled sharply, and I leaned back, satisfied.

I stood up, allowing Katniss to absolutely smother him. My arms ached. I never felt it while performing CPR–my adrenaline made sure of that–but I could feel them now.

Peeta winced as Katniss helped him sit up.

"We're going to have to get him medical attention of some kind," I told Katniss. "I definitely heard a rib or two crack."

Peeta made a face. "I think I can feel that."

I rolled my eyes. "Well of course you can feel it." I kept the remaining sarcastic remark to myself. I decided to cut him a bit of slack, even if he continued to say stupid stuff like that. After all, he did just die.

Katniss helped him to his feet.

"We should keep walking, if you can," I said to him. "It's best if we keep moving. Besides, we might run into someone who likes us."