In the early morning hours after the tribute interviews, Abbie finds herself curled up in a chair in the main room of the District 4 floor. She'd attempted many times to sleep, but she always wound up tossing and turning, thoughts of what was to come in mere hours keeping her awake. Finally she gave in, and left her bedroom, picking a chair closest to the window and taking a seat, staring out at the nightlife of the Capitol.

She looks over with a frown when the elevator dings, and the doors open, revealing a tired looking Finnick. She looks him over and sees that his hair is a mess, and his shirt is partially unbuttoned. Her eyes return to the window.

"Good night?" she asks, managing to startle him. He looks at her with wide eyes, before schooling his face into a mask of calm.

"You should be asleep," he comments, and she gives him a look. "Yeah, that was stupid," he sighs, walking to the couch and flopping down onto it with another tired sigh. The pair sit in silence for an extended amount of time.

"Do you know how hard it was for me to get a job on the boats back in Four?" Abbie asks, and Finnick looks at her curiously. "It took so much convincing from me and my brother, and even when I went out with them for the first time, they still didn't want to let me keep going. They said I was too weak, and it's too dangerous for a girl to do a man's job."

"Why did you want a job on the boats anyway?" Finnick asks, making himself more comfortable on the couch.

"It pays the most," she answers, simply. "When my parents...," she trails off. "Reed, my brother, thought he could support us on his own. Taking any Tesserae wasn't an option. We're all each other had left, you know?" she asks, looking over at him. "Putting my name in that bowl more times wasn't worth it to us, and putting anymore of Annie's name in was completely out of the question."

Another round of silence.

"I could die tomorrow... Well, today," Abbie says, not mournfully, but simply as a fact. "If I do-," she starts, but Finnick puts his hand up to stop her.

"Abbie-," he begins.

"No, just listen. I need a favor," she says, moving to the edge of the chair, looking at him pleadingly. "I need you to check in on them."

"You're not going to need me to do that," Finnick says, rising to his feet and walking over to her. He kneels down in front of her and takes her wrists in his hands. "You're going to come out of this alive."

"You're the one I got closest to here. I need you to check in on Annie. Get her to keep talking," Abbie says, ignoring anything that Finnick says.

"She needs you," Finnick says, stressing the last word.

"Tell her that I want her to keep talking. For Reed, and Lana... And me," Abbie says, tears filling her eyes. "Please, Finnick."

"Okay," he whispers after a prolonged silence. Abbie smiles slightly and rises to her feet, and Finnick does the same.

"Thank you," she says, softly, and Finnick merely nods with a grim look on his handsome face. "I should go try to salvage a little sleep. I have a feeling I won't be getting much in the arena."

With that, Abbie slowly walks to her bedroom, leaving Finnick standing alone in the main room of the apartment, feeling so stupid for getting close to a tribute.

-ADITO-

"I believe in you, you know," Theta says, in the launch room while she brushes Abbie's hair back into a low ponytail. Abbie smiles slightly, looking at her stylist in the mirror.

"That makes one of us," Abbie says, clutching her churning stomach, looking her reflection over, eyeing the outfit she adorns for the arena. Almost all black, made of thick material, and the shoes are tight, dark boots.

"Don't underestimate yourself," Theta says, frowning at Abbie. "You're strong, you're brave... You're a fighter. And best of all, you have something to fight hard for," she continues, and turns Abbie around to face her. "To go home to your sister. She needs you. And you need her."

Abbie merely nods.

"You keep that thought in mind when it gets tough in there," Theta says, and Abbie meets her eyes.

She resists the urge to vomit when a deep voice echos through the speakers of the room, announcing that the stylists have thirty more seconds with their tributes.

"I'll be watching, and rooting for you the whole time. Only you," Theta says, placing her hands on Abbie's shoulders. One of her hands slides down Abbie's arm, and she fingers Annie's seashell bracelet. "And so will she," Theta reminds her, and Abbie nods, a more determined look crossing her face. Abbie's surprised when Theta pulls her in for a quick hug, and she barely has time to return the embrace before Theta pulls away.

Abbie takes a large breath before slowly stepping into the launch tube that will take her to the arena. Her heart races mercilessly when she begins to rise, and she looks to Theta who gives her an encouraging look before placing her hand on the glass of the tube, and it remains there until Abbie is out of sight.

Back in the viewing room for the District 4 mentors, Finnick sits on the edge of his seat with Mags next to him. His leg bounces quickly with anticipation and fear. Even the feeling of Mags' aged hand gripping his doesn't comfort him.

When the platform Abbie stands on arrives in the arena, she isn't blinded by light, or smell any type of fresh air. She looks around her surroundings quickly, and finds that she's never seen an arena like this before.

This year, the arena is a large, cave-like structure, complete with the dripping walls, stalactites, and stalagmites. The area around the Cornucopia is massive, with numerous tunnels surrounding it.

Abbie's blue eyes search frantically for Jonas, and when she finds him five tributes away from her, she sees that he's already looking at her, as if waiting for her to find him. He sends her a quick, meaningful nod, that she returns, and she begins scoping the contents of the Cornucopia. Twenty-four packs are laid out in front of the large structure, and the weapons and food lie a long way past them. And included in the weapons, Abbie spies a silver box, propped open so she can see the exquisite throwing knives inside.

The throwing knives she swears are meant for her.

19

18

17

16

15

Abbie hears the voice counting down the seconds before the bloodbath will occur, and her eyes remain focused on the knives. Solely on the knives. A deafening explosion across from her startles every tribute when the District 8 girl falls off of her platform. All eyes remain glued to that spot for a few moments.

8

7

6

5

Abbie forces her brain to focus on the knives again, and not the spot where a girl who was alive just a few seconds ago, had just died.

4

3

She takes these last few seconds to ready herself, absentmindedly touching Annie's seashell bracelet.

2

1

The gong rings out, and most tributes waste no time bolting from their platforms, Jonas and Abbie included. Abbie, who reaches the packs first, grabs two, quickly tossing one to Jonas who had shown up not far away from her. The sounds of screams fill her ears, but she forces herself to pay them no mind as she races to the weapons.

Unfortunately for Abbie, when she reaches the box of throwing knives, the District 1 girl arrives at the same time.

"I don't think so, four," she snarls, quickly swiping one of the knives from the box, and swinging it towards Abbie. Unfortunately for the District 1 girl, Abbie's best skill is hand to hand combat, so its easy for her to knock the girl's arm away, and kick her hard in the stomach, sending her to the ground.

"Grab your knives and lets go!" Jonas shouts to her, spear in hand, and Abbie does exactly this. She quickly snaps the box shut and grips it tightly in her hand before taking off into one of the tunnels with Jonas.

Luckily for the two of them, holes in the ceiling let light shine through, lighting up the tunnels so they can see. After running for a good few minutes they finally slow to a walk, both of them panting heavily.

"You good?" Jonas asks, looking her over, and Abbie nods.

"Yeah, you?" she asks, looking at him, and noticing that his weapon of choice is a spear.

"Yeah," he says, with a nod.

After a long search, the two tributes find a small cavern, and they share a look before going inside.

"Alright, lets see what we got," Jonas says, taking a seat on a large rock, setting his spear aside, and Abbie sets her bag down. She opens up the box of knives, and sets to work on tucking each knife securely into her belt. "Sunglasses?" Jonas questions, pulling a pair of dark glasses out of his pack, looking at them strangely.

Abbie glances up, grinning in slight amusement at the glasses.

"Like we'll really be needing those. Its dark enough in here already," she scoffs, securing the last throwing knife into her belt. She then begins rifling through her own pack.

"Its gonna be pitch black in this place at night," Jonas realizes, making Abbie hum in agreement.

"What fun this is turning out to be," she mutters, quietly.

"What do you have in yours?" Jonas asks, gesturing to her pack, and Abbie shrugs.

"Bandages, iodine, some crackers, a flashlight, and a water bottle," she says, taking said bottle out of her pack, before huffing. "An empty water bottle. Grand. What do you have?"

"Those glasses, some matches, crackers, dried beef, and... a sleeping bag?" he questions, pulling the rolled up sleeping bag out of his pack, but not unrolling it. The two then begin shoving everything back into their packs. "What should we do?"

"Finding a source of water is probably our best bet," Abbie says, wisely. Jonas nods, rising from his seat, throwing his pack over his shoulder, and grabbing his spear. He extends a hand, helping Abbie from her seated position, and after grabbing her pack, the two cautiously set off in search for water. The two walk in silence, listening closely for any sounds that could lead them to a source of water.

"How many people do you think are left," Jonas asks, hesitantly, effectively breaking the silence. This question makes Abbie pale slightly, and she swallows hard, before simply shrugging. She doesn't trust her voice not to crack at this point.

The youngest tribute had been from District 7. A girl of 12 years old. Abbie's heart breaks at the realization that the young child probably didn't survive the bloodbath.

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," she finally says, and the pair continue to walk in silence after that statement.

The two nearly jump out of their skin when the sound of a cannon goes off. Abbie, quite literally, and rather ungracefully jumps right into Jonas. If it hadn't been for Jonas' quick reflexes, they both would have toppled to the ground. He helps Abbie resume her upright position, and Abbie runs a hand through the locks of hair that have escaped her ponytail. She sends Jonas a sheepish grin, a grin that Jonas snorts at.

Nine times.

The cannon goes off nine times.

"Fifteen," Jonas whispers. "There's fifteen of us left."

-ADITO-

"What is that supposed to be?" Jonas asks, quietly, but mockingly, and Abbie glares at him.

"Its a dog," she hisses, at him, turning off the flashlight. The two tributes are engulfed in darkness, night having fallen about an hour ago. Jonas and Abbie had found a small, enclosed area inside of the cave, and holed themselves up inside once it was beginning to grow dark, mutually deciding that they would continue their search for water the next day.

"Didn't look like any dog I've ever seen," Jonas scoffs, and Abbie glares in his direction. Her glare lessens, when Jonas yawns quietly.

"Go ahead and sleep, I'll keep watch," she murmurs, and Jonas feels himself frown slightly.

"Are you sure?" he asks, and Abbie huffs out a laugh.

"We're as good as dead if we don't sleep," she points out, and Jonas nods in agreement, before realizing that Abbie can't see him do so.

"Okay," he says, hesitantly, laying down on the cave floor, using his pack as a pillow. "Wake me up in a few hours, then I'll take over."

"Alright," she agrees, stretching her legs out in front of her, taking one of the knives out of her belt, twirling it in her hands.

"Wake me up if anything happens," he says, lifting his head. "Or if you start to get tired."

"Okay," Abbie says, rolling her eyes slightly.

"Oh, and if you kill me in my sleep, I'll be so mad at you," Jonas says, and Abbie snorts.

"I'll keep that in mind. Go to sleep," she orders, and Jonas lays his head back down. Jonas shuts his eyes, and just as he feels himself begin to drift off, a nightmarish scream startles him back awake.

Both District Four tributes jump to their feet, weapons in hand. Abbie's hand tightens around the handle of her knife, loosening when the scream is suddenly cut off. The two are startled slightly when the cannon goes off, signaling the death of another tribute.

Fourteen left.

The sound of hollering and laughing breaks the two out of their trance-like state, and Jonas grabs Abbie's hand. He pulls her deeper into the enclosure, stopping only when their backs hit the wall. They both ready their weapons, in case they're spotted. When the Career pack practically dances past the small enclosure, Abbie and Jonas let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.

"I can't believe I'm actually here. I can't believe this is actually happening," Jonas whispers, after a long minute of silence. Abbie looks in his direction with a frown, before her eyes move in the direction of the cave floor. Her eyes drift up again when the Capitol's anthem begins to play. She and Jonas move to the mouth of the enclosure, and poke their heads out, looking up at the top of the cave's ceiling.

Faces begin to flash across the top of the cave.

The boy from 3.

The boy and girl from 6.

Abbie frowns sadly when the little girl's face from District 7 appears.

The boy from 8.

The girl from 9.

Both from 11.

Both from 12.

Once again, the cave is flooded with darkness. Abbie and Jonas slowly creep back into the enclosure, and both slowly take a seat against the wall, right next to each other.

"I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight," Jonas mutters, and Abbie nods slightly.

"Yeah, me either," she speaks up, resting her head against Jonas' broad shoulder. Jonas is startled slightly, his eyes drifting in her direction, but he looks forward again. He slowly lets his head rest on top of Abbie's, deciding to get comfortable for the long night ahead of him.

Neither of them notice that their hands are still tightly gripped in one another's.

-ADITO-

A/N: Annd I'm back! I'm not gonna make any excuses because there's nothing that can be said about my absence, except life slapped me in the face. I promise to update far more regularly. I'm so sorry for how long I've been gone. Now, you might have to have a little patience because I do have other stories to update. But at the same time, I've just started reading other Finnick Fanfictions, and I'm kind of hooked on him again. Who knows? I might have to update this piece before attempting my other stories.

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