A/N: Hey guys! So I basically just had this idea a few days ago and it bugged me until I finally decided to write it. I hope you enjoy it. I own nothing but my character, Rowan. Let me know what you think!

I am running through flat plains, eagerly trying to get to the Cornucopia before the tribute from District One beats me to it. I'm hungry and I haven't eaten a solid meal since the beginning of the Games so my running isn't up to par. I'm not completely sure why I think reaching the Cornucopia will even matter. District One is at least three times my size, especially considering the fact that I am slowly dying of hunger.

The tributes from One and Two and the boy from Four had been guarding the field and the Cornucopia since the minute we were allowed to jump down off of our platforms. I know that weapons are scattered around the field but my vision is blurry and even though I know I am propelling myself forward with all the strength I have, it seems like I'm stuck. I am shaken from these thoughts when District One hurls a spear at me. Miraculously, I manage to avoid the full brunt of its impact and take it through my left shoulder.

I know that I must be screaming and I fall to the ground before I'm even close to the mouth of the Cornucopia. This wound is the last of many that have been inflicted on me since the Games began. I tried to avoid the bloodbath at the beginning as my mentors, Mags and Finnick, had told me to but a tribute from District Eleven saw me heading toward the lake that had been my cover ever since. He had taken only a sword and he had gotten a few good swipes at me before I finally wrangled it from him. When I was able to dive into the lake, he pursued me only to discover that he wasn't a very good swimmer. I didn't officially drown him but I knew that the kill would be considered mine and it could only help me with sponsors.

Truly, I had gotten by on luck alone so far. I'd been hiding in tall reeds by the lake when I saw the girl tribute from Three eat a fish and die from it. That had been the beginning of my struggle for food in the arena. Being from Four, I was accustomed to seafood and I was unfortunately lacking in knowledge of edible plants. After seeing the girl from Three die from the poisonous fish, I wasn't willing to risk it. I cursed myself for not paying attention to the smaller training stations, like the one dedicated to recognizing poisonous foliage.

Other than my battle with the boy from Eleven on the first day and my impending doom from the fight I am about to have with the boy from One, I have escaped my interactions with other tributes nearly unscathed. As far as I can remember, as I am delirious with hunger and thirst, I have not killed another tribute.

As I grab hold of the front of the spear to pull it through, I wonder what Finnick and Mags are thinking; Finnick, in particular. I can barely feel the pain but I know that I am yelling and that One will be closing in on me, ready to finish me off. I get the spear a good way out before I finally collapse into the dirt. At least if I could have managed to free the spear, I would have it as a weapon but that's clearly not going my way. I look around me for one of the many weapons the Careers had scattered around the Cornucopia and my eyes focus in on a sword that's not too far away. I can get there. I don't have to die a coward.

I know that One had been offended when I refused to join their pack before the Games had ever begun. I know that Finnick believed I had been foolish for shunning them but I would be in this position now regardless of whether I had linked up with them or not.

I turn over, leaning on my elbows, and I suddenly scramble back, hoping to find the sword. One is here and he is aiming an axe for my neck to cut my head clean off. It is exhaustion, not skill, that makes my elbows give out and makes One miss my neck. Instead his axe cuts across my chest, slicing me open from shoulder to breast. I wonder for a brief minute how this is a boy and not a man, how small I am beneath him. Then my survival instincts kick in.

The hulking boy in front of me is just as exhausted as I am and probably as hungry. It is taking him a long time to get his axe back into position. I look behind me and see the sword. It is taking everything within me to not pass out, to not give up, but for some unfathomable reason, I think I have a chance at winning and so I have a chance to go home. I prop myself up and reach my right arm behind me. My hand wraps around the hilt of the sword. District One doesn't seem to notice this because he's getting closer to me, probably to kill me in some horrible and gruesome way to officially cement his victory. Instead I use all of my remaining strength and adrenaline to propel the sword through the air. My arms are strong, fueled by years of swimming. My body moves with it, even though it protests. I barely register that the sword sinks into the boy's neck and I am completely horrified as I watch his head fall from his body. I feel myself hit the ground and again I know that I am screaming.

I shoot up in bed and try to calm my breathing. It is the same nightmare I've had ever since I knew about the Quarter Quell and it has only intensified since I volunteered for Annie Cresta at the reaping. I wouldn't have, I sincerely wouldn't have but it was all over Mags' face. I had shaken my head and stepped forward before Mags had had the chance. Annie had been crying hysterically to begin with and when I volunteered for her, she only cried harder. I could hear her in my head now.

"Rowan, please! Not you!" I stepped forward and saw Mags trying to comfort Annie, one of the only other victors who has ever been my friend. But Annie became largely unstable after her Games. When I won the year before her, I wondered whether I would ever be right again but it is clear that Annie has it so much worse than me.

I was wearing a blue and green gown that had been gifted to me by my stylist from the Capitol for my Victory Tour six years ago. It was ill fitting because I had been eating ravenously since the announcement of the Quarter Quell. I'd almost died at age sixteen in the arena of starvation and I made a promise to myself that I would never reach that low point again.

As I stepped forward and climbed onto the stage, I heard our Capitol consort say, "Rowan Tamsin, the female tribute from District 4!" I had never bothered to learn this woman's name. She wasn't the same woman who had accompanied me to the 69th Hunger Games and so she was less than important to me.

My gown was blowing about my feet and I felt a growing chill as I saw the people standing before me in the square. Vaguely, I could still hear Annie crying and I knew that I had done the right thing by her, even if it meant my death. It would've been cruel to let someone like her go back into any sort of arena. She would have died brutally and the entire time leading up to it, her condition would have only grown worse.

"Now for the men!" our consort said cheerfully, even though there was nothing cheerful about this day. I watched her hand comb through the few folded up pieces of paper in the bottom of a fishbowl. I had been chanting to myself not to cry, not to cry, but when she said the name on that piece of paper, I almost lost it. "Finnick Odair." I gasped, my hand reaching to cover my mouth in shock.

There had been silence in the square at the calling of his name. Finnick Odair is one of, if not the most, popular victors in Hunger Games history. He is beautiful, powerful, and charismatic. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the reason I had sponsors and received anything in the arena, including a loaf of bread that probably saved my life. I have always admired Finnick. I've known and adored him for years. The last time I saw him was six months ago when the Quarter Quell was announced. I'd argued with him. I hate it but over the past couple of years, we've grown almost… distant because he is so beloved by the Capitol. Still, I know he is more than a swell lover or funny company. He is more than a pretty face.

Finnick arrived on the stage, standing opposite me. No one volunteered for him. He stared at me almost sadly and I knew that he understood why I had volunteered. For a brief minute, I avoided his gaze but when I looked around, I saw the image projected on every screen of me cutting off the head of the boy from District One. I had long forgotten his name. Or maybe, I had blocked it out. I looked at my feet until I was made to shake hands with Finnick.

Instead of just taking my hand, he grabbed it and pulled me into a hug. The shock on my face was probably pretty plain but I hugged him back and didn't flinch when his mouth brushed my forehead. We were friends, despite any arguments and also victors close to the same age. This had cemented us as a team and it doubtless made citizens in the Capitol cry for us.

They had immediately dragged the two of us thru the Justice Building, denying us the opportunity to say goodbye to any remaining family members. I just wanted to see Annie. She wouldn't be a mentor to us, not that we needed one now. I fought against the Peacekeepers to see her but there was no point. I saw a glimpse of my mother in the crowd as they closed the doors. She nodded at me with no show of emotion.

The first night on the train to the Capitol had been rough. I shut myself in my bedroom and finally allowed myself to cry about it. I don't have any family left, other than my mother and she clearly understands why I had protected Annie and to a certain extent, protected Mags. But she had deserved a farewell. My only thought of her now is how she will look when she receives my coffin, all dressed up from the Capitol.

The first night on the train had also been concluded by my usual nightmare. Sometimes I think to myself that Annie must have similar dreams because what drove her to madness is also what sometimes makes me feel unstable; the act of beheading. I can't imagine how terrible it would've been to see the person you came into the Games with beheaded in front of you but I had actually taken a life that way. I feel like it should be driving me insane more than it does every night. I feel like I should think about it every day. I took a boy's life. It will haunt me forever.

I had shot up in my bed, just like I have now, and the door to my bedroom had opened with such force that I thought it would fall off its hinges. Finnick bounded in and had obviously never even gone to sleep.

"Are you okay?" he had asked. "I heard screaming."

"Yes," I replied. "I'm fine." He came forward anyway and sat on my bed. I thought about moving back from him but I stayed close. I saw a doctor once a couple of years ago, who had informed me that touching someone else or just being close to them was a wonderful calming effect. When I had nightmares at home, I got close to my mom or Annie, when she was around.

"District One again?" I nodded. He remembers my nightmare from my Victory Tour and Annie's the year after. I find that kind of him. "Rowan, why'd you do this? Why did you volunteer?" I wanted to react like I was offended but the look on his face said that it wasn't an insult. The look on his face said that he might care.

"I saw Mags starting to go forward and-" Finnick's nod cut me off.

"Well, that explains everything. I guess our little family trio is going back to work." He winked at me and that made me smile. "I think we've got a good shot. You've gained weight since the last time I saw you." That wasn't an insult either. "I think that was a pretty good idea but you don't have to worry about eating. I'll make sure you don't go hungry this time."

"Please don't burden yourself by trying to look after me," I said, wrapping my arms around my knees. I didn't want to see his reaction.

"It's not a burden. We'll be a team." I shook my head in response.

"I don't want to do that to you. Let's just go our separate ways. You'll have a better chance at allies without me." He groaned.

"I know what you're doing and I'm not falling for it. Don't ask me to leave you behind, Rowan. You know that together, we'll be almost unstoppable. We could make it to the end." I looked at him and remembered why I liked him in the first place.

"And then what? I can't hurt you," I muttered. "I know I can't hurt you." I honestly can't believe I even admitted that to him. We're friends but the Games would turn us into adversaries. I knew that.

"Maybe you won't have to." The way he said it made me think he knows something I don't. "Think about it. We either go into this as allies or I just follow you around the arena. It's up to you." I laughed and he touched me on the arm before leaving.

Laying back down in bed now, secure in the fact that I haven't screamed tonight on the train, I know that I will give in to Finnick. I will join him as an ally because the idea of killing him makes me panic. The smallest thought of his blood on my hands, or anyone else's, makes me shake. I've got to make sure he wins. For Mags and Annie, he has to win.