I had this idea forever ago when I started writing Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking, I hope you will like it. This takes place during Catching Fire and it's AU. The story starts just after the second fight at the Cornucopia.

The rating will be T but I urge everyone to proceed with caution because there will canonical violence. This is The Hunger Games, it won't be pretty. There will be heartache, murders, violence, deaths and blood. I don't think it warrants a M but if someone thinks I should up the rating, please feel free to tell me.

This is very clearly a hayffie story (who is surprised?) with some Odesta and Everlark as side pairings. How all those feature in the story, I will leave to your imagination for now as not to spoil the surprise.

I do hope you enjoy it. Have fun.

Human Tokens

1.

The lot of them tumbled on the beach, he and Katniss clutching at each other not to slip and break a leg in the moving sand under their feet. It was only when they were on slightly harder ground that Haymitch let go of the girl and sat down, his toes still in the water, before slamming his fit in the wet sand once.

"Dammit!" he shouted, feeling the need for an outlet to this helpless rage he was feeling.

"You're such a poet, Haymitch." Jo mocked with her usual bitter snark, stumbling a little further on the beach before dropping on her back, arms and legs spread wide while she regained her breath. "I would have gone for : fucking arena, fucking Capitol and fucking Snow."

"Fucking and Snow should never go in the same sentence." Finnick countered, helping Beetee out of the water with a grace Haymitch envied. That boy was practically a fish and if this arena wasn't a clear way to advantage Four, he didn't know what was. "You'll give me nightmares."

That triggered a round of snickers and chuckles and Haymitch lied down on his back, following Jo's example. He ignored Katniss' puzzled expression faced with their apparent aloofness and tried to relax a little, too wired up from their new brush with impeding death and the new dead friend to add to the list.

To be fair, he hadn't expected the Cornucopia to start spinning.

To be even fairer, he hadn't expected to find himself in the Third Quarter Quell either.

He could still remember the instant of hesitation when Effie had called out Peeta's name at the Reaping, the second of dread that had made him want to take the coward's way out and stay put like the boy had asked him to do. And then he had met Katniss' eyes and he had stepped forward, volunteering in a quiet bored voice.

It had been almost funny how their escort had frozen, her wide blue eyes searching his as if he had finally gone completely crazy. He liked her eyes. It was probably the only part of her she had never hidden in the name of fashion. Bright blue like the sky over his head and just as blinding as the glaring sun if you happened to look at the right moment...

Pushing those memories aside for now, he inspected his left arm where Enobaria's knife had caught him. The cut wasn't that deep but it was stinging and there was sand in it. With a sigh, he sat up and resigned himself to rinse it with salt water. Once clean, it didn't look so bad. He deeply regretted not succeeding in gutting Two's victor. Although he supposed he owed his life to Finnick and his trident because he was certainly not up for a fight against a Career. He had been a burden enough as it was, causing Johanna's axe to miss Cashmere by an inch.

"We don't know in which part of the arena we are." Katniss said, clearly frustrated. "I shouldn't have said anything about the clock."

"You had to, brainless." Jo retorted with less venom than before. She was warming up to his girl, Haymitch mused.

"At ten the wave will crash and we will know for sure." Beetee cut in.

"Let's hope it doesn't wash on us." Haymitch snorted.

"Yeah, 'cause hope is our thing." Finnick snorted.

"I'm hungry." Johanna said suddenly. "You've still got any bread? It's been a while since our last sponsor gift."

She said it casually but Haymitch glanced at Finnick all the same. Four's victor shrugged and turned to Beetee whose face was pensive and, maybe, a little worried. He knew what they were all thinking and that nobody was willing to mention for fear of alerting anyone : there should have been a bread shipment earlier indicating how many days and hours were left before the attack.

Their knowledge of the plan was pretty basic : protect the Mockingjay at all cost, stay alive, when the bread gave the signal fry the force field with the wire, and, of course, don't forget to dig the trackers out of their arms first. The sudden lack of bread communication wasn't a good sign.

Oblivious to what was going on, Katniss suggested tapping a tree since there was no food left.

"It's my turn." Finnick sighed. "I will go."

"It's okay, I got it." the girl insisted. In the end the two of them headed toward the trees, bickering like two children.

Haymitch resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

They were still far from the edge of the jungle when the announcement chime made them all freeze where they were.

"Attention, tributes!" Claudius Templesmith's voice boomed in the arena. Haymitch and Beetee locked eyes, instinctively glancing at the Cornucopia because such announcements almost always meant a feast but they had just had a fight at the Cornucopia and it made no sense to start another... "The Games committee would like to inform you of a change in staff. Our estimated Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee resigned earlier this morning. He is replaced by new Head Gamemaker Alyn Torenson who wishes you all the luck. May the odds be ever in your favor."

It was lucky that Haymitch hadn't been standing because, like Finnick, he would probably just have dropped on his ass out of pure shock and dismay. Johanna immediately started raging, kicking at the sand and sending it flying everywhere in a childish tantrum. Beetee simply buried his face in his hands. Haymitch closed his eyes and immediately started thinking up of schemes that had absolutely no chances of succeeding. They could go on with the plan, fry the force field but then what? Without a rebel hovercraft to pick them up – and there was no assuming a rebel hovercraft would show up if Plutarch was out – they were well and totally screwed.

"Why do we care?" Katniss asked with a frown.

It sent Jo in a hysterical fit of laughter that prompted her to kick more sand everywhere.

"Why do we care!" Seven's victor repeated. "We care because..."

"Jo, shut up." Haymitch growled. "They may be trying to play us. We don't know what's happening out there."

Maybe Plutarch had been arrested, maybe he hadn't. They had no way of knowing. And they couldn't afford to say something that would get the Gamemaker in more trouble than he already was.

"Please!" Jo scoffed. "Resigned is code name for dead. We're busted."

"What's busted?" Katniss insisted. "What's going on? Haymitch?"

He rubbed his face, thought about Peeta and the girl's family and wisely kept his mouth shut. "Never mind that, sweetheart. We don't want to worry the boy, yeah?"

It was lucky he and Katniss always seemed to understand each other without actually having to say the words because after a second, she seemed to realize whatever he had to say could mean trouble for Peeta and nodded her understanding.

There was a long silence during which no one was looking at anyone.

It was Finnick who asked the obvious question. "What do we do?"

It deserved to be asked, Haymitch supposed, even if the answer was equally obvious. Without any certainty of ever leaving the arena, they were back to square one and square one meant... In the corner of his eyes, he saw Katniss pocketing the spile before letting her hand hover no so subtly near her bow. Johanna's hands had already closed on her axes and she was watching the girl like a hawk. He, Finnick and Beetee didn't move but that didn't meant they weren't attentively studying each other.

Friends didn't matter in the arena.

As Finnick had so aptly put it right after they had managed to get away from the bloodbath, they weren't going to hold hands and wait for someone else to kill them. Although...

"We don't have to fight each other." he said.

Every eyes turn to him. Finnick and Beetee looked hopeful, Katniss and Jo disbelieving.

"That's your idea?" Johanna sneered. "We wait for mutts and the Careers to get us instead?"

He opened his mouth to answer but Finnick was quicker. "He's right. If we don't fight each other, we win either way. We might die but we die as us."

Katniss looked at him and Haymitch saw in her eyes what he was thinking. That was something Peeta could have said. She cocked her head to the side, silently seeking his opinion because she still didn't trust Finnick despite the fact that the boy had saved him twice from a certain death and despite Mags' sacrifice. He didn't blame her for her mistrust. Even though he knew those people were his friends, the arena made him highly paranoiac.

"Let's get some water." he suggested, getting to his feet to follow Katniss to the jungle. Finnick fell back to talk with Johanna. Once they were far enough and she started making the necessary preparations for tapping the tree, he lowered his voice. "I can't tell you."

"I get it." she grumbled. "I don't like it but I get it. I knew something was weird anyway. It doesn't change anything, you and I stick together." Her grey eyes briefly glanced in the direction of the group. "Are you sure about this? Because I think we should take off now, take our chance out there."

Despite what he had just said, he considered it. It would have been easier to let Finnick and Jo deal with the Careers because they were probably the only ones who had a chance in defeating them but then what? Then it would mean there would be the two of them, Beetee and Chaff out there to outlive. The Gamemakers would find a way to get a showdown and...

"I know them." Haymitch replied.

"Well enough to be one hundred percents certain they won't betray us?" she insisted. "They could be planning a trap right now. It's three against two."

He shook his head. "Beetee can't fight."

"But he can think." she argued. "And he's clever."

"He's clever but I'm smarter." Haymitch shrugged. Beetee was practical and used his brain toward practical things. Haymitch wasn't afraid of thinking outside of the box and he was a very good strategist.

"You're not exactly at your best right now." she scoffed, nodding at his shaking hands.

He smirked. "I'm well enough, sweetheart. Good thing your boy insisted on drying me out."

She tossed him a dubious look but was distracted by the water suddenly trickling out. She drank her fill and then gave him her place before signaling the others over. They had just finished making some water provision and were back on the beach when Beetee frowned.

"It's been a hour, there should have been a canon." Three's victor remarked.

They looked around but they could see no sign of activity in any of the sectors.

"New Head Gamemaker, new rules." Finnick declared with some bitterness.

There was another ping that usually preceded announcements and everyone minus Katniss glared at Finnick.

"You had to say that and jinx us, didn't you?" Jo snarled.

"Attention, tributes." Claudius Templesmith's voice was so cheerful Haymitch wanted to strangle him. "Rule change. Every tribute has been allotted a human token."

"What?" Katniss shouted, obviously confused.

"Shut up!" he and Finnick said at the same time, dreading what would come next.

"Human tokens do not have the status of tributes and cannot win the Games. The last tribute still standing will be crowned victor regardless of how many human tokens are left alive. However, it is left at every tribute's discretion to decide if they want to protect their token or not burden themselves with the liability. Human tokens can be killed and used as bait. May the odds be ever in your favor!"

It was funny how loud silence could sometimes be.

"Is this a joke?" Katniss asked. "They can't do that, can they? They can't just give us a random person and..."

"They never said it would be random." Finnick cut her off, his eyes growing dark with worry. He bent down to pick up his tridents and headed straight toward the jungle.

"Wait!" Jo called after him. "Wait, you don't even know..."

"And who else are they going to use?!" he snapped back over his shoulder. "Annie!"

His call remained unanswered so he tried again and again disappearing between the trees.

"Shut up, you idiot! You will get yourself killed!" Seven's victor shouted.

Johanna grabbed her axes and ran after him and, after a second of hesitation, Haymitch helped Beetee up and nudged Katniss in the direction they had taken.

"What's going on?" the girl growled. She saw him clutching his knife and took a hint though, she notched an arrow just in case.

"They want us to turn against each other." Beetee explained from behind them, out of breath.

"They won't assign us random people." Haymitch spat. "They will get people we love and those people will be targets on our backs."

"Well, for you and me, that's going to be tough." Jo cackled, tossing him a look over her shoulder. "I've got no one out there."

"Peeta." Katniss breathed out and, suddenly, Finnick wasn't the only one giving away their position by bellowing at the top of his lungs because Katniss joined right in, screaming for the boy.

"Shut up!" Haymitch hissed, shoving her hard enough that she stumbled against a tree. He pinned her there by a hand around her throat. He made sure not to squeeze or hurt her, it was just meant to make her silent. "Jo, get this moron to shut up too!"

Finnick wasn't easily deterred though and it took everything Jo had to contain him against a tree in a similar fashion he was holding Katniss.

"Look, we will find them, okay?" he told the both of them. "But we can't go about it like that."

"I'm leaving." Beetee declared in the resulting silence.

"What?" Haymitch frowned, his attention shifting from the girl to his friend. "Don't be stupid!"

"Look, I know who they will send." Three's victor declared. "And I also know you and Finnick and Jo... And I have a good idea of just how far this girl will go to protect a loved one, I watched it on TV last year. This will turn us against each other."

"We don't need to kill human tokens to win, didn't you fucking listen ?" Jo scowled.

"If you think that will stop any of you from killing for your token then you're an idiot." Beetee scoffed. "I'm taking off now. I need to find him."

"Who?" Haymitch frowned. "Look, we're going to go for Annie and the boy. Jo's right, I have no one out there and she doesn't either so that's settled. Let's just stick together and look for them. We can look for your token too on the way."

It was so obviously the best plan he didn't get how Beetee couldn't see it. Three's victor shook his head.

"Sorry, Haymitch." his friend said. "We both know what this rule means. We lost. I need to find my nephew and protect him."

"For fuck's sake, let him go!" Jo snarled, while Finnick tried to struggle free from the vice-like grip she had on his throat. "He will get killed out there and that's one burden less."

She ignored the glaring she got in answer.

Haymitch didn't manage to convince Three's victor.

And, naturally it was just after Beetee had limped out of sight that the arena seemed to burst with life. They heard the deafening noise of the wave crashing on the beach right at the same time the thunder boomed in another section and, closer, the distinctive little cries of the monkeys. Everything was happening at once.

There was a piercing scream nearby.

Finnick kicked Johanna's leg and ran in that direction.

"Annie!"

*evil cackles* So what did you think? Any prediction for the tokens? Did you enjoy that first chapter? Please let me know what you think!