"OW!" Finnick's voice echoed through the tunnel as he landed on the ground. That was the fifth time he'd fallen.

"Stay on your feet, Odair, seriously," Gloss rolled his eyes as he kept walking.

"You're doing it on purpose," Finnick accused in a whiny voice as he pulled himself up and trudged after the man.

"Oh yeah, I'm purposely slowing us down by making you fall over," he scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Think Odair, think."

"You tripped me up!" Finnick insisted

"I have big feet, it's not my fault if you trip on them because you stand too close."

Finnick grumbled a bit under his breath but didn't say anything else to annoy Gloss. It wasn't worth the argument.

As soon as Finnick got closer though, Gloss knew it was time to strike again, with a quick flick of his foot, he sent Finnick sprawling to the ground once again.

"AGAIN!" Finnick yelled. "I saw you fling your foot back then, don't even try to deny it."

"I deny it," Gloss shut down as he put his hands on his hips in frustration. "Get up man, seriously!"

Fed up, Finnick lunged forward on the ground and made a feeble attempt to grab hold of Gloss' leg.

Gloss just frowned and lifted his foot so Finnick fell down again.

"Get up," Gloss turned around and continued walking, not even looking back as Finnick pulled himself up. He figured he'd give Finnick a little break for a bit, it wasn't worth getting into a full-on fight in these tunnels. He'd wait until they were above ground.

They'd turned a couple of corners when Gloss excitedly spotted the ladder he'd originally descended into the tunnels on.

"Here it is!" he pointed out to Finnick as he stopped in front of it. "This is the ladder I came down on. Or at least I'm 65% sure it is."

"65%?" Finnick raised an eyebrow.

"Meh, a ladder's a ladder," Gloss shrugged dismissively.

"I fell off the last ladder I tried to climb," Finnick recalled. Stupid lizard mutts.

"You fell off a ladder?" Gloss deadpanned, he was not impressed. "That's pathetic. Learn to climb a ladder man, it's not that hard. Do better," he snarked as he grabbed on and started climbing up.

"What's up your ass today?" Finnick complained as he followed after Gloss.

"What did you say?" Gloss feigned innocence as he took a step back down, deliberately standing on Finnick's fingers.

"AH!" Finnick yelled, yanking his hand back. "What the hell?"

"Oops," Gloss sniggered before he quickly sped up the rest of the ladder. He didn't want Finnick to retaliate by grabbing onto his ankle.

As soon as he got up, Gloss stood and waited as Finnick exited after him.

Trident boy blinked a few times as he looked up at the sky above him. He'd been underground for a while and was not feeling great. But at the sight of the sun, he felt marginally better. The last time he was in the open, the sky had been filled with smoke. There was still smoke now, but it was less than before.

"You good?" Gloss asked.

"Yeah," Finnick nodded. "Let's get to the hospital."

"Hang on," Gloss grabbed the man by the shoulder. "Just stand here," he manoeuvred Finnick away from the opening of the tunnel, he didn't want him falling back in.

"What are you doing?" Finnick asked with a frown. He wasn't sure what was happening right now.

Gloss didn't answer with words, instead, he lashed out and shoved Finnick's shoulders, sending him flying off his feet and onto his back.

"Ahhh," Finnick moaned, grabbing onto his back in pain. He'd been bashed around way too much in the past couple of days. "What the hell was that for?"

"You ever leave Taiya like that again man, I swear to god, I'll kill you," Gloss warned, looming over Finnick menacingly.

"Oh," Finnick looked down in shame. At least all the attacks underground made sense now. "Look I know. I messed up. It was a really crappy thing to do. I feel awful."

"Good," Gloss nodded curtly.

"She's really mad at me," Finnick added sheepishly.

"Oh well that I know," Gloss snorted. "I was worried she was going to try to stage a mutiny in 13 to get sent here. And I would've had to help and I really didn't feel like doing that. It was bad enough I had to help her kidnap Plutarch."

"Wait, hang on, what?" Finnick eyes widened and he quickly sat himself up. "She kidnapped Plutarch?"

"Did she not tell you that?" Gloss tilted his head. "Personally, I thought it was a little much, but she seemed to have fun, and it worked out how she wanted it to… you know, before she got shot."

"No, she did, she told me," Finnick stumbled to his feet. "But I thought she was joking. You guys kidnapped Plutarch!?"

"Well yeah," Gloss shrugged like it was no big deal. "She jumped out of a cupboard and attacked him with a knife. We couldn't have him go and dob on us, so he was our hostage until she was away on that hovercraft. I was keeping an eye out and he didn't tell anyone in command, he really wanted her to go and star in some of those propos. But I haven't seen Plutarch for a week, so who knows, maybe he told someone. Doesn't matter anyway."

"Doesn't matter!" Finnick repeated incredulously, before looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone around to listen in. "You two kidnapped one of the coordinators of the rebellion!" he hissed.

"You shouldn't have run away," Gloss defended himself as he walked forward, making sure he bumped his shoulder against Finnick's on the way past. "She was obviously going to find out. Tyler had her baking cookies with Peeta, she was going to get bored eventually and go searching for some real entertainment. Plus she's a busybody, she was always going to find out. Now hurry up, she's probably already making a pill of herself in the hospital."

"Right," Finnick nodded and he quickly began to march forward.

Gloss just rolled his eyes and began walking in the opposite direction. "You're going the wrong way!"

"He's coming! Quick hide it!" Buck hissed urgently.

Taiya immediately ceased spinning her knife and discretely laid it by her side.

Apparently, the day before when she was completely out of it on morphling, she'd thrown a hissy fit when the doctors tried to take her knives out of the room. Peeta had to negotiate a deal with the medical team that he'd personally supervise them and make sure she didn't get her hands on them to get permission to keep them.

She really loved those knives.

As soon as Tyler and Peeta were out of the room, Buck had snuck her one to play with.

Tyler let out a loud sigh as he entered back into the room and slumped down into one of the chairs, immediately letting his head fall back.

Buck and Taiya quickly exchanged a glance out of the corner of their eyes before they returned their gaze to Tyler.

He wasn't focusing on them, he was staring at the ceiling.

When Tyler finally brought his head back down, he froze upon realising he was being stared at.

"What?" he frowned.

"You've got blood on you," Taiya sang with a mischievous smile.

"Oh," Tyler lifted his hand to wipe some flecks of blood off his brow.

Taiya's grin got even wider when she saw the state of his knuckles. She couldn't wait to see the other guy.

"I'm going to clean that up," Tyler muttered as he stood up and walked over to the bathroom to wash his face.

Taiya's jaw fell in disbelief. Why did he not go into details the second he stepped into the room!

She didn't want to rush him though, so she waited patiently for him to come back out after washing his face off.

"What?" he asked when he noticed her and Buck still watching him.

"Details! We need details!" Taiya squeaked in excitement before immediately grabbing onto her chest in pain.

"Careful," he warned numbly as he retook his seat. "I beat up Gale."

"Tell me everything!"

"That's basically it," Tyler shrugged.

"Come on," she whined. "Paint a story for me. It's the best thing that's ever happened in the history of ever!"

"I dragged him outside. I punched him. I punched him again. Then a couple more times. He hit me once. I hit him again. I went inside and came back here."

Taiya huffed dramatically as she fell back against her pillow. "I'm going to have to ask Beetee if he can get me the camera footage. You suck at telling stories, Ty."

"Yeah, well, I'm not feeling great right now," Tyler admitted, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay?" Taiya asked nervously. Tyler was never not okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he forced a smile.

He had to put up a good act for her. But inside, he was terrified. Taiya was lying in a hospital bed. Finnick was still missing.

He was exhausted.

Mentally and physically exhausted.

He wanted to find Finnick. He wanted to find Kenna. And then he wanted to get his family back to District 4.

They weren't built for this kind of politics. This was a family that spent their days throwing food at each other on the beach. They shouldn't be part of the central force of the war.

He knew that if they didn't get out soon, they'd be stuck.

Coin was not what he considered a good leader, but she did listen to her advisors to some extent. Plutarch was one of those advisors, and his appreciation of the effect the two Odairs could have on the Capitol citizens was evident. He'd want to use them to win over Capitol citizens.

Tyler just wanted his family to be free. These kids deserved the life he couldn't have.

"Do you need a nap?"

Tyler snapped his eyes open to look over at Taiya. That reminded him of one of the first things she'd ever said to him. She was just a child then, but he remembered. He knew she didn't remember, but he'd never forget the kindness the mayor, her father, had shown him that day. He'd so desperately needed that after the proposition he'd had to hear from Snow on his victory tour.

He knew Taiya was Caspian Ambersnow's daughter. He knew that. But in his heart, she felt like his. Tyler Silvergaze's.

He'd known from the get-go that she was in danger from Snow. Sometimes it just wasn't worth caring about people when you were a victor. It hurt too much when they were taken away. But Tyler couldn't bear to watch another young love get snuffed out. Not after he'd had to watch Aila die. So despite all his efforts over the years to isolate himself, he let someone in. He let her in, so he could keep her alive.

Then he had to watch as she was reaped. Not once. But twice. He had to watch her go into the arena with her best friend the first time, and then the love of her life the second.

The anger he felt when he watched her volunteer after they'd all agreed no one would, he could have killed her. It was her, Annie or Mags. He loved all three women, he didn't want to lose any of them, but she should have let Mags volunteer. It would've been less complicated. The second Plutarch pitched the idea of the alliance, and the hope of breaking them out, Tyler was on board. Where Taiya hesitated, he did not. He had Finnick working overtime to get her to commit. If anyone could convince her, it was him. Her now husband had always been the only one who could break past the defensive wall of fear she'd built up.

And now he was missing.

"You okay, Taiya?" Buck asked, his voice breaking through Tyler's depressing train of thought.

"Dandy," she huffed.

"Tay?" Tyler sat forward in his chair. "You need to tell us when something's wrong."

"It hurts," she admitted, her bottom lip wobbling.

"I'll get the nurse," Buck immediately leapt up and raced out of the room.

"Tay?" Tyler asked again. There was something else. He could just about see it brewing under the surface.

"I feel helpless," she admitted. "I can't do anything. I should be out there looking for him, but instead, I'm stuck here. It's just so hard to stop my mind thinking," she sniffled as she turned her head to look at him. "He's missing. That happened. I was right there and I couldn't do anything. I didn't even know he was in trouble."

"You were bleeding out Tay," Tyler scooted his chair closer to Taiya's bedside. "You couldn't have helped him even if you wanted to."

"But what if he needs me?" Taiya turned her head to bury it in the pillow.

Tyler sighed as he placed his hand on her arm. "You know what he'd want? What he'd tell you if he was here?" he asked.

Taiya turned her head back out to look at Tyler. "What?" she croaked.

"He'd tell you that you need to get better."

"You don't know that, you're just guessing," Taiya scoffed.

"Well of course I am," he laughed softly. "Doesn't mean it's not true."

"It really does hurt though," Taiya grimaced as a wave of pain hit her.

"I know, Tay. I know," he murmured, gently rubbing her arm.

"I'm really glad you hit Dale. I hate Dale."

Tyler let out a small scoff. "Yeah, you were right. Dale's a dick. He had no clue why I punched him the first time. After that, I had to tackle him."

"You tackled him!" her eyes lit up. "Tyler that's so cool! I tackled him too!"

"You tackled Gale? When?" Tyler frowned, he didn't recall that happening.

"Dale," she corrected. "Just the other day. I overheard him plotting against Peeta, but I can't have that. So I tackled him."

"Gotta protect the bread boy," Tyler smiled softly.

"Gotta protect the bread boy," she echoed.

Taiya was driving Tyler insane.

He wasn't going to say anything, she'd had her morphling dose upped again so she was drunk on the drug. But if he had to listen to the new song she'd made up one more time, he was going to cry.

Buck had cleared out of the room 40 minutes ago. He was sitting in the waiting area, a safe distance away from whatever it was that Taiya was calling music.

Tyler had attempted to follow suit, but the moment he stepped his foot out the door, Taiya burst into tears. So there he sat, in her room, wishing he was temporarily deaf. The solo version of the Certified Legends band was not so talented, unfortunately - not that adding Johanna would realistically improve the sound. All he could do was hope that the hospital staff would come around soon to collect the cutlery, that would take away her drumsticks at least.

"Ooooo, we're in the Capitol, where everyone wears wigs
First, I was angry with my husband, oh no now he's gone
Finnick's missing, in this Capitol con
The girl on fire was set on fire
But now we need to find Finnick in the Capitol tunnels
Gale's running free, but I won't cower
Because I'll find him and punch his face for an hour"

"Did you like it?" Taiya turned to Tyler, her face beaming as she waited for his approval.

"That was a lovely song, Taiya," he smiled through the pain.

She immediately dropped her cutlery and turned to look at him. "Thank you," she placed a hand over her heart as her eyes welled with tears.

"Alright, settle down," Tyler chuckled.

"HOLY SHIT!" Buck's loud voice boomed down the hall and Tyler was instantly on his feet. He grabbed a knife and stood in front of the bed defensively. Taiya, whilst high on morphling, recognised the defensive strategy Tyler was playing, she knew they might need to make a quick getaway, so she quickly unplugged her morphling drip and removed the leads that were taped onto her body before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She was ready for a hasty exit.

"Holy shit Glossy boy, you did it! Finnick! How are you?!"

She felt it. Her heart skipped a beat. Her breath caught in her chest. Time seemed to freeze at the mere mention of her husband's name. He was here. The boulder of worry that had been crushing her chest ever since that night felt heavier than ever, it wouldn't lift until she saw him. The echo of Buck's voice saying his name rattled around her mind. Finnick. Gloss had found him. She hadn't even known he was in the Capitol, Buck had simply said he was fishing. He was fishing for Finnick.

A surge of adrenaline coursed through her, banishing the weakness from her limbs. With her newfound burst of energy, Taiya threw herself off the bed, and she felt her heart restart. It was pounding in her ears as she shoved past Tyler and sprinted out of the room. As she burst into the corridor, her rush immediately transformed into an abrupt halt. The boulder that had sat on her chest lifted. There he was. Her eyes widened as they landed on his figure at the end of the corridor.

He looked exhausted and stressed, she could see it in his posture as he conversed with Buck. Hearing the commotion she'd made when she ran out of the room, he looked over in her direction.

The ache she'd been feeling in her heart healed with a spark that had ignited in her chest when their eyes met.

"FINNICK!" Taiya shrieked, her cry piercing through the air. The pain that shot through her chest from the sudden movement was nothing compared to the feeling of pure joy and relief she felt rushing through her veins.

"Taiya," he breathed out in relief. His feet stumbled for a moment before he was off, he was racing towards her.

"Finnick!" she cried out for joy as every fibre of her being propelled her forward. Taiya was sprinting towards Finnick, her heart racing with exhilaration. As they met in the middle of the corridor, they collided with a force so strong that it could rival the strongest winds in District 4, enfolding each other into a tight embrace.

Their arms wrapped around each other just in time for Taiya's legs to give out, but they refused to let go, clinging to each other as they stumbled backwards into the wall. The impact jarred them, but in that moment, they were oblivious to the world around them, they were both lost in the overwhelming rush of emotions that surged through them with being reunited.

For Finnick and Taiya, time stood still as they held each other, their hearts were beating in unison, their breaths were in sync. All the pain, anxiety and uncertainty that had tormented them in the days they'd been apart seemed to melt away. All they felt was relief.

Finnick could feel Taiya shake in his arms, the feeling of having her there in his arms was a feeling he never wanted to end. He held her tighter, vowing with himself to never let her down again. This was what mattered more than anything to him.

She was alive. He was alive. They had won.

ShiaraS46: OMG you're from the Philippines? That's so cool! I loved it sooo much, didn't end well for me, but I loved it! I want to go back. And yeah, they will find out, but not straight away. And you'll definitely be getting those pow wows!

Mim31: Merci, je me sens mieux ! Et j'aime tellement Gloss !