°•°

AS THEY FINISHED CLEANING THEMSELVES UP IN THE WATER, Wesley's eyes move over to Arya who still had blood coming from the cut on her head. She must've done it when she hit her head on that log. Wesley frowns as he makes his way over to her. "Your head." He says as he gestures toward it. Arya knew what he was referring to but she just lets out a small sigh.

"I'm fine." Arya mutters, crossing her arms against her chest. Wesley rolls his eyes, not about to let her walk around with an untreated wound.

"No, you're not." Wesley denies and he could see that she was a bit annoyed. "It looks deep." He points out, moving closer to her to analyze it. Arya tilts her head back.

"It's just a cut."

"Do you guys have any supplies with you? Ours was lost in the fog." Wesley admits as he looks at the trio. The bag had dropped during the run from the fog. It was either lose the bag or die.

"We have fresh water." Peeta tells him with a nod of his head. "We can use it to clean the cut." He says, grabbing the spile from Katniss and putting it into one of the trees. Arya sits down against the tree, resting her head back.

After a moment, Peeta had walked over to her with some of the water gathered into a small container. Arya grabs it from him as soon as she sees him go to dip his fingers in it. "I can do it." Arya says, taking it and bringing it toward her. Peeta nods his head, backing up slightly.

"You really don't like having anyone's help, do you?" Finnick teases her, raising an eyebrow at her. Arya doesn't reply, just focusing more on what she was doing. Wesley watches her, shaking his head a bit.

"You're not even getting everything." Wesley points out as he gestures to her head. Arya slowly moves her gaze back up to him, narrowing her eyes.

"You know, I think I like you better when you don't talk." She admits as she stares up at Wesley. The man just smirks, chuckling a bit before heading over to where Katniss was. Arya sighs as she brings her hand back to her head.

Finnick watches as Wesley walks away before moving over to where Arya was. He stops in front of her, gaining her attention. She just stares at him, silently wondering what he wanted. "Let me help." Finnick says, holding his hand out. Arya glances toward it, clenching her jaw. She didnt really like people touching her, but it was just her head.

And it would be easier to deal with something she couldnt see if someone did help her. So, Arya nodded her head, holding the container toward him. Finnick grabs it, bending down next to her. Arya moved back a bit, not used to the close environment they were in. Moving a bit closer, Finnick meets her eyes. He clears his throat a bit. "Is this okay?" Finnick asks her, lifting his hand up. Arya slowly nods, breaking their gaze.

Finnick starts to wipe the blood off of her head, focusing on what he was doing. Arya could feel his soft breath on her skin which just made her more tense. It didn't seem like finnick felt the same as he kept moving closer to her. Arya tried to keep her eyes averted, looking anywhere but at finnick but it was hard when he was right in front of her.

Trying to take her mind off of the close proximity, she decides to say something. "I'm sorry." Arya gains finnicks attention but he doesnt really stop what he was doing. He just got a sort of confused expression on his face. Probably wondering how he got her to say that. "About Mags." She adds, clearly noticing that the woman had passed. This time, Finnicks hand froze.

His eyes dropped and she knew he was still grieving the loss. Finnick meets her eyes momentarily, pain in his. "Oh. She was never gonna make it." He denies, knowing he was foolish to think otherwise. Maybe if it was a different outcome, but this arena had too many threats.

Finnick went back to wiping her head, trying to bring his mind off of it. He had cleared his throat a bit as he kept glancing at her every few seconds. "It's hard losing people." Arya admits, fiddling with her fingers.

"You've lost someone?" Finnick asks her, although it wouldn't really be a surprise to him. Snow often killed someone you loved if you didn't do what he wanted.

"Too many to count." She mumbles underneath her breath. Their eyes locked on each other's for a moment. Arya couldn't really tell what he was thinking, all she could do was stare into his sea-green eyes.

Finnick brings his hand to her chin, his thumb accidentally brushing against her lower lip as he goes to turn her head. Arya didnt think she was breathing at that point. He analyzes the cut before ultimately pulling away from her. Arya didnt want to admit that she hated the lack of his touch. "There. It's better then it was." He admits and as soon as he says it, she was standing up, trying to move from where she was almost pinned against the tree.

He watched as she brought her arms around her, almost in a protective stance. Finnick stands up, brushing himself off. "What was that song you were singing?" He asks her, having overheard her earlier. Arya shrugs her shoulders, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I just overheard it." She mumbles, bringing her eyes down to the ground. Finnick nods his head slowly.

"Did that bang on the head give you some sense to join the alliance." He questions, changing the subject. Arya just looks over at him, snorting a bit.

"You are not my ally." Arya denies, shaking her head. Just because she was in the group, did not mean that it automatically made Finnick her ally.

"Did I, or did I not just help you?" Finnick points out as he crosses his arms. Arya scoffs rolling her eyes at the man.

"Oh, please. You did it to gain rapport." She tells him. Finnick chuckles, nodding his head as he takes a step closer to her, gazing down at the woman.

"Because everyone is just dying to be your friend."

"I make a very good friend." Arya admits, placing her hands on her hips. It was true, she would do anything for her friends.

"Says who? Imaginary people?" Finnick retorts, raising an eyebrow. Arya just slaps his arm before pushing him away from her.

"I wouldn't even want to be friends with a cocky prick like you anyway." Arya retorts, scrunching her nose up a bit. Finnick lifts his hand, tilting up her chin, only earning another slap.

"Oh, and you're a ray of sunshine." He teases, clearly getting underneath her skin.

"Go annoy Katniss." Arya mumbles, kicking at his leg but he moves out of the way before she can hit it.

"You're welcome, by the way." Finnick says as he tilts his head before doing a mock bow. "Your majesty." He finishes with a smirk playing on his lips. Arya rolls her eyes, sticking up the middle finger at him.

The man just laughs as he turns and walks toward Katniss. The woman was just staring at him curiously, raising an eyebrow.  Finnick notices this, a bit confused. "What?" He asks her, wondering why she was looking at him like that.

"Nothing." She says, shrugging her shoulders. Maybe she was just reading into things, she wasn't too good at telling whether someone liked another anyways.

"We shouldn't stay here for long." Finnick denies with a sigh, glancing around the area. Katniss freezes, her eyes going to something near Peeta. Finnick seemed to notice this, following her gaze.

"Peeta." She says, gaining the man's attention.

"Yeah?" Peeta asks, looking over at her. Katniss wasn't looking at him though, merely over his shoulder.

"Walk over here slowly." Katniss tells him and she could see that he was confused. But when he looks back uo, a monkey roared in his face making him flinch back, his eyes widen. Katniss looks around, seeing more of them appear.

Arya slowly turns her head, seeing one behind her. "Get to the beach." Katniss says, knowing they had to make a run for it or else they were done for. Letting out a groan, Arya clenches her jaw a bit.

"Of course there's monkeys." She mumbles to herself, grabbing the daggers in her hands. Arya takes a deep breath, narrowing her eyes as she watches the movements of the monkeys. They seemed to be scoping out an attack.

It didn't take long for them to start attacking.  But it was hard to keep track of everybody as there was so much chaos going on. Arya was trying to kill the monkeys while making her way to the beach but they seemed to be stopping her. Every step came a new monkey. She groaned as she stabbed one, kicking it away from her.

Honestly, it was good to finally be killing something that the Capitol made. She was just picturing Snow's face with every stab she made. The monkeys were vicious but she could handle them. Even when they tried to jump on her. It was a good think that one of them did have a long range weapon since all she had was her daggers, which she could throw but she couldn't lose all of them. She wouldn't exactly have the time to pick them up.

Finnick was doing a good job at killing multiple in one go. Arya kept glancing back at him since he was further than everyone else. Wesley was a bit in front of her while Katniss and Peeta were closer to the beach. Arya narrows her eyes, throwing the dagger in finnicks direction, hitting the monkey that was going to jump on him. He looks around for a moment before setting his eyes on Arya.

He nods slightly and she nods back before looking back around. She noticed a monkey coming toward her. Arya hated any sort of animal or mutation that the Capitol came up with. It was one thing for tributes to be trying to kill you, it was another when it was whatever they wanted to put into the arena.

Arya stabs the monkey, throwing it to the ground as she tries to take a few steps. It seemed impossible without another one coming after you. They just kept appearing and everyone already had enough on them. The beach was so close, they could see it. But it wasn't easy to get to. She threw one of her daggers as the monkey to her left, but she had to be careful, since she was getting quite low on them.

Her eyes look around, seeing the monkey that was sneaking up on Wesley as he tackled another one. Arya felt like she couldn't get there in time, not what was in her path. She tried to warn him but he was so focused, he hadn't heard her. Rushing over to him, she dodges the monkeys in her way. Quickly pushing him to the ground, she wasn't quick enough to throw her dagger at the monkey. It had jumped on her, bringing her to the ground as well.

Arya feels the monkeys claws dig into her as she lets out a hiss of pain. She quickly stabs it, throwing it off of her. Her hand goes to her abdomen, her eyes squeezing shut for a split second. She looks down, seeing the blood start to pool. "Damn it." Arya mutters, stumbling in her step as she tries to stand up. Wesley, who had gotten up from the ground, noticed this.

"Are you okay?"

Wesley seemed to have came to a full stop which wasnt helpful, seeing as they were so close to the beach. "Yeah, yeah. Just go!" She tells him, pushing him forward. They rush through the trees, hitting whatever monkey came their way.

By the time they reach Katniss and Peeta, they saw a woman on the ground, holding the neck that had been clawed by a monkey. "Who is that?" Katniss asks, furrowing her eyebrows as she glances toward Peeta.

"A morphling. Help me get her." Peeta says as they both grab an arm. They all rush to the tree line, Arya almost falling behind but Finnick stayed behind her so that she didn't. As soon as they get to the sand, Arya stops running, trying to catch her breath.

Wesley and Finnick had turned to fight the monkeys, only to notice they hadn't come onto the sand. "Why did they stop?" Wesley asks, a bit confused as he watches the monkeys try and get them but somehow weren't able to. Finnick shakes his head as he stands up a bit.

"I don't know." He admits, furrowing his eyebrows.  Wesley looks over at Arya who had her hand pressed against the tree beside her, hunched over.

"Arya." Wesley says as he moves over to her quickly, grabbing a hold of her waist. She tensed under his touch, looking at the man.

"Wesley, I'm fine." She assures him, even though the pain in her abdomen was getting worse by the second. Arya didn't like being a burden on people so of course she would act like she's okay.

"You clearly look like it." He retorts with a small roll of his eyes. Wesley looks at her wound that was barely covered by her hand. Two long scratches that seemed to go deep. "That thing got you pretty good." Wesley admits with a sigh, frowning.

"I'm waiting for a 'you're welcome'" Arya tells him, raising an eyebrow at the man who just stares back at her.

"Hey, I didn't ask you to push me out of the way." He points out, crossing his arms. Arya rolls her eyes as she rests down against the sand, holding her abdomen.

"I saved your life twice now, you do realize that." She mumbles, wincing slightly. Arya could see the others glancing over at them but were more focused on the hovercraft that had come and picked up the morphlings body.

"And I am forever indebted to you." Wesley says, mostly in a teasing tone. He just bends down next to her, a sigh leaving his lips. "Why did you?" He asks curiously. For a woman who killed any tribute she came across, she was very selfless during the attack. "You could have just left me both times." Wesley points out. Arya shrugs her shoulders.

He replaced her hands with his own, trying to stop the bleeding that had gotten worse. Arya didn't want Wesley dead. If anything, she wanted him to get out of the arena. "Your my ally." She points out, biting the inside of her cheek. "And you are from home, I guess." Arya states as Finnick walked over to them.

"Oh, so he gets to be an ally because he's from district five?" He asks the woman, placing one of his hands on his hips. Arya glances up at him, mainly trying to ignore the blood covering Wesley's hands.

"He also has a likable personality." Arya retorts with a false smile on her face. Finnick gasps as he places his hand on his chest.

"That hurts, sweetheart." There it was again. Sweetheart.

"Cry me a river." She mutters, rolling her eyes. Wesley would be amused by their bickering if Arya wasn't bleeding.

"Can we focus on the blood coming from your stomach, please?" Wesley asks them, raising an eyebrow at the both of them. Finnick bends down, taking a better look at it while Arya just lets out a groan.

"It's barely a scratch." Arya says, even though she could feel just how deep it went.

"Say that to my hands covered in blood." Wesley retorts, clearly annoyed that she was trying to just brush this off. "I could go grab something from the cornucopia." He suggests. There must be still some supplies in the middle that people didn't take. He just had to get some and come back.

"You sure you should go by yourself?" Finnick asks him curiously. They didn't really know where the careers were and it was best to at least stick in pairs. Wesley considers what he said, narrowing his eyes a she looks around before landing on Katniss and Peeta.

"Peeta!" He shouts in his direction. Peeta glances over before jogging over to them with Katniss behind him. "I need you to hold pressure on her stomach, okay?" Wesley tells them man. Peeta nods his head, now seeing how injured Arya really was.

"Uh, yeah. Of course." Peeta says as he bends down next to Wesley. They swap places, Peetas hand pushing against the wound. Wesley stands up, a sigh leaving his lips.

"Finnick and I are gonna go over and grab some supplies. Katniss, you stay here and cover them." Wesley says, beginning to turn as Arya rolls her eyes.

"I'm not crippled." She calls out after them, hating how he thinks she needs to he taken care of. Wesley just smirks as he glances back at her as he still walks.

"No, you're stubborn." Wesley retorts before rushing off into the water with Finnick. Arya let's out a sigh, biting the inside of her cheek.

"You don't have to keep pressure, I can do it." Arya says, looking at Peeta who hadn't really been glancing in her general direction. He shakes his head, offering her a small smile.

"I've got it." Peeta replies before his eyes drift again. Arya glances toward katniss but the woman wasn't looking at her. It seemed like it was going to be a long wait for the others to get back.

No one had said anything in a few moments. Arya was just staring up at the sky, trying to take her mind off of the pain. Peeta was just holding her wound, making sure to not loosen the pressure. And katniss was staring at the cornucopia. None of them really wanted to initiate a conversation.  Peeta found it awkward, sitting in the silence though.

He didn't know what he would say thought. Arya had let katniss go but he wasn't sure whether or not Katniss trusted it or not. Peeta did not exactly want an argument starting, especially when Arya was bleeding.

"Look, I was just trying to protect Matthew." Arya pipes up, interrupting the silence that had bestowed upon them. Peeta glances toward Katniss who hadn't moved her head yet. "Snow doesn't take no for an answer." She denies. They would've known that if they had lasted more than one year as victors.

Katniss looks toward the woman, flickering her eyes over her. "Why did you believe him? Finnick." Katniss asks her curiously. Arya could've easily thought Finnick was bluffing and had just killed her. But she decided to let her go.

"Finnick and I have our differences. But I know he would never lie about something like that." Arya admits with a small sigh. Finnick may annoy her but she could trust him. He wouldnt lie to her. "Matthew is all I have, I can't lose him." She says. That was the whole reason she hadn't just told Snow to fuck off. Because she feared what he would do to Matthew.

"I get that. I don't know what I would do if I lost Prim." Katniss admits, looking down at her hands. Arya sighs as she just rests her head back against the tree.

"I think I judged you too quickly and I'm sorry. You seem like a pretty cool person and you did save my life so..." Peeta states with a smile, looking at Arya. She nods her head, pressing her lips together tightly.

"And yet you didn't judge Finnick enough. We should team up and just totally put that man in his place." She suggests, finally breaking a smile onto her face. Peeta couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head.

"Why don't you like him?" Peeta asks curiously. It seemed like from the moment he first saw them, they were arguing. He wondered if there was a reason or if it was purely just because they didn't like each other.

"I've just never really had a good interaction with him, that's all." Arya admits. It was never really a specific thing that led to her disliking him. She just never got past his cocky appeal he had to the Capitol. She knew it was probably an act, but it annoyed her nonetheless.

"He can be a bit..." katniss starts, trailing off for a moment.

"Cocky, annoying, entitled?" Arya finishes for her, raising an eyebrow. Katniss can't help but chuckle lightly, narrowing her eyes.

"I was gonna say frustrating." She admits. Arya shrugs her shoulders.

"Eh, my words work too."

"Look, I did doubt you when you let me go." Katniss admits, althought that was obvious to everyone. "But you could've let that tribute kill us and you didn't." She says. The tribute most likely would've killed peeta if it wasn't for Arya.

"Well, to be fair, finnick probably would've seen him as well." Arya points out, shrugging her shoulders. Katniss just raises an eyebrow at her.

"Are you trying to be suspicious?" She asks with a small smirk forming. Arya shakes her head with a smile. Peeta was the only one serious as he just stared at her wound for a second.

"Can i ask you something?" Peeta questions as he looks back at Arya. She just meets his gaze. "You dont have to answer if you dont want to." He assures her. Arya just stares at him curiously, wondering what his question was. Peeta was hesitant to say anything. "Why were you gonna..." He trails off, seemingly not being able to finish the sentence. But by the look on his face, Arya knew what it was gonna be.

"Kill myself?" She finishes for him and he hesitantly nodded his head. Arya lets out a small sigh. "Or get myself killed essentially." Arya mutters, even though either way it was really the same thing. "No matter the outcome in here, I'm dead. Snow wants me dead." She states, she thought it was obvious. There was gonna be a target on her head.

"Because you let me go?" Katniss asks, tilting her head. Arya shakes her head. Well, that was partially the reason but she had stirred the pot already.

"No." She denies, biting her cheek. Arya takes a deep breath, wondering whether or not to share this information. But what could it hurt? It deserved to be known. "Haymitch. You believe he's the first winner from your district, right?" Arya asks them, looking at both Peeta and Katniss. They were both confused.

"Well, I think he sort of mentioned there was someone else but I don't know much about it." Katniss answers. They werent really told much so honestly, she didn't know what was the real case. Arya slowly nods her head.

"He's not." She tells them. Peeta and Katniss shared a glance. They didn't really know what to think. Wouldn't someone have mentioned it before Haymitch? Why wouldn't anyone know of another District Twelve winner.

"Hey, we're back." Wesley announces making them look over, seeing the two jogging over. As they stop beside them, Arya gets a bit wet by the way Finnick is standing near her.

"Ew, don't drip all over me." She groans as she glares up at Finnick. The man glances down at her, just staring at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Finnick says, no sense of emotion in his tone as he flicks his arm over her, causing more water to drop. Arya narrows her eyes, angrily staring at him as she covers her face.

"What do you mean he's not?" Katniss asks, not wanting to break from the conversation they were having. Arya moves her eyes back to the woman, trying to ignore Finnick.

"There was a winner before him. A while back." She tells her.

"Who?" Peeta asks curiously. Wesley settles down next to Arya, taking out the supplies they brought to aid aryas wound.

"What are we talking about?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows. Peeta lifts his hand so that Wesley could have access to Arya.

"Arya said that someone won the games in District twelve before haymitch." Katniss says and both Wesley and Finnick seemed shocked as well. Arya was surprised that finnick hasn't found out from his Capitol secrets. But most people weren't stupid enough to say something about it. And it wasn't like Tigris was someone who bought time with him.

"Her name was Lucy Gray Baird." Arya tells them. "She was the first ever winner for district twelve." She states as Wesley tears a portion of her uniform to treat the wound.

"If she was the first, then why have we never heard about her?" Katniss asks her, still trying to figure that part out. Someone would have mentioned her.

"Because she was erased." Arya admits. No one really remembered her except people who were close to her. Or the certain people in the Capitol but most were either dead or silenced by Snow. "Snow wanted everything that had anything to do with Lucy Gray wiped." She states as she winces slightly with the way Wesley was wiping her wound.

"When did she win?" Peeta asks curiously, wondering just how far back this was.

"The tenth hunger games." Arya tells them. They were a bit shocked, especially since it was the game before Mags won and she had never said anything either. "It was before the victory tour, before tributes were treated humanely.  I mean, they would put them in a cage like zoo animals and just allow them to be stared at by Capitol citizens." She explains to them with a slight scoff. Yes, they had go endure some other sort of trauma, but at least they were able to sleep in actual beds before the games.

"But why did Snow erase her?" Finnick asks, piping into the conversation. He was more curious to the Snow part of it all. If this was something they could use against him.

"Back then, Snows father had passed and he was the heir to the throne but hadn't quite made it there yet. He was young and within the academy when they decided to make Capitol people mentors for the tributes."

"The Capitol were mentors?" Wesley asks her. It really shouldn't surprise them, given how they were so into the games now. Cheering and betting for who they wanted to win.

"Some." Arya says with a nod of her head. She tries to keep talking as Wesley stitched up her wound a bit, but it hurt like a motherfucker. "Snow was Lucy Gray's mentor." She tells them. Her grandma didn't know too much about everything that happened in Lucy's games. Arya got a lot of her information from Tigris.

"He helped her win the games, well more cheated." Arya mumbles as she crosses her arms. "There was a rebel attack before the games started, some of the tributes died from it. But my grandma didn't think it was actually rebels. People weren't watching the games. Not the districts, not really anyone in the Capitol. They were gonna end." She tells them and it obviously shocked everyone that the hunger games were once at a point of not continuing.

Unfortunately, that wasnt what happened though. "But then Snow came up with the idea of sponsors and making more of a spectacle out of it. Placing bets etcetera." Arya says, shaking her head. If it wasn't for his father and Snow himself, they wouldn't have had to go through the torturous games or lose anyone they loved.

"Of course he did." Katniss mumbles with a scoff, rolling her eyes a bit.

"Snow sent water to the tributes when they were attacking Lucy Gray. Since the drones weren't nearly as controlled as they are now, they would smash into anything they came into contact with. So, he saved her." Arya explains to them. Wesley found it somewhat amusing that the sponsors they got wouldnt even help them. But the Capitol probably didn't even care to fix them or take them out of the game.

"By the end, they didn't want a winner so they sent in a glass cylinder full of deadly snakes. But Snow had put Lucy Gray's scent in with them so they didn't attack her. Every other remaining tribute was killed." She finishes with a sigh. The only thing that Arya gave Snow credit for was that he was smart. But he only saved Lucy Gray in order to help himself.

"But I don't understand. If Snow helped her win, why did he erase her?" Peeta asks, not getting that part. If he was just her mentor, why would he care to erase her just because she won the games.

"Because he cheated, they sent him to be a peacekeeper. He was supposed to be in a higher district, but he chose twelve." Arya says, looking more at Katniss and Peeta. "He saw her and they reunited. Things were going okay but the rebels were trying to overcome the Capitol." She tells them. Most people didn't know of the rebels either, other than the ones who got hung.

Sejanus was just one of the few unlucky ones because of his so called friendship with Snow. "Snow's best friend, well they were never really friends. Not in his eyes. He was aiding the rebels. So, Snow got him executed" She states, fiddling with her fingers as Wesley starts to bandage her up. Katniss kept her eyes solely on Arya.

"And Lucy Gray?"

"My grandma doesnt really know what happened. All she knows is the mayors daughter was killed. But she believes it was Snow who killed her." Arya starts, biting the inside of her cheek. "They decided to run away together, to a little cabin on the outskirts of twelve. Maybe a few days later, Snow had made his way back to the Capitol." She tells them, it was clear that he was going back to his life of power. "And Lucy Gray didn't." She states.

"Did he kill her?" Finnick asks her.

Arya sighs as she shrugs her shoulders. That's all she could do. "No one knows." She tells them. Because that was the truth. No one knew. You could speculate. You could make a guess. But no one would ever really know unless she came back. Unless there was any sign that she had survived out there in the woods.

"Maybe she escaped, maybe she was killed." Arya suggests, looking at the group. "The only person who would know is Snow." And Lucy Gray herself.

"So, that's why you know Snow wants you dead." Katniss says, putting it all together. She must've really pissed him off by saying Lucy Gray's name during her interview.

"Because I reminded him of her." Arya says, nodding her head. "So do you." She admits, her eyes stuck on Katniss who was a bit confused now. "The song you sang for rue, that was Lucy Gray's." She tells her, making Katniss's eyes widen. "The mockingjays... just little details." Arya says. It was sad how those little things were really the reason why Snow was out to get her. Sure, she spit in his rules by winning with Peeta, but that was Seneca Cranes fault.

"I just learned the songs from my father." Katniss admits, she never understood the true meaning behind them.

"How does your grandma know all of this?" Wesley asks, if most people forgot Lucy Gray, how did she remember?

"We weren't always district five." Arya denies making everyone shocked. They didn't know someone could switch districts without it being a huge deal. "She was originally a part of District twelve." She admits. Peeta's eyes go wide. So, aryas family was originally district twelve?

"What?"

"As soon as Snow rose to power she knew she had to get away. If he wanted to rid everyone who knew about Lucy Gray out, he could." Arya says. Her grandma was very close to Lucy Gray and didn't want to risk her family. So, she knew she had to get out. "So, she bribed a peace keeper to bring her to another district, change her name and get her on the registry." She explains to them. Even though it did come with consequences in itself.

"It wasn't easy. She basically sold herself to make sure her family survived." Arya mutters, not really wanting to think about that part.

"So, all of this is because of some girl?" Finnick asks, scoffing slightly. He really didn't want to believe that the Hunger games continued solely because of this one girl.

"No." Arya denies, shaking her head. Blaming Snow's delusions and his taste for power on Lucy Gray would get you nowhere. Because that wasn't where it started, and that wasn't really what drove him mad.

"No, Snow had always been evil. Every decision he made, he chose it. He chose the path that led him here."

°•°

EVERYONE WAS SAT ON THE BEACH, eating the fish that Finnick had caught. Well, everyone except Arya. She hadnt touched it since it was placed near her. Her mind was just numb as she stared in front of her. Wesley seemed to notice that her part of the fish hadnt been touched. She was also just zoned out next to them. Wesley knew she wasnt really trying to make it out of the arena but she wasnt doing anything really.

Since she let Katniss go, her motivation seemed to have plummeted significantly. "Are you gonna eat?" He asks her curiously, meeting her eyes. Arya shrugs her shoulders, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"I'm not that hungry." She denies, although that was mainly a lie. Arya could feel her stomach rumbling but didn't want to give into the temptation. The others were now looking at her, probably wondering why she hadn't taken a bite.

"You should at least eat something." Peeta adds. They moved around a lot in the arena, they couldn't really afford to not replenish their energy.

"Yeah, I caught that for you." Finnick points out. Arya could see the slight smirk on his lips which just made him want to throw it at his face. She just narrows her eyes, placing a false smile on her lips.

"My hero." Arya mumbles before rolling her eyes. She gets up from the sand, brushing herself off. Walking over to the water, a sigh leaves her lips.

Arya was honestly surprised that Snow hadn't had her killed yet. She knew it was coming but it was probably gonna happen once she stepped back into the woods. She had come to terms with it. Arya just hoped it was a quick death and that it wasn't dragged out. If that happened, she probably would regret not going along with Haymitch's plan.

She hears someone walk up behind her. Arya glances slightly, seeing that it was finnick. Her jaw clenched as she scoffed.
"Do you have to follow me?" Arya asks him, placing her hands on her hips. Finnick seemed to sense her hostility toward him.

"Just making sure you're okay." Finnick says, raising his hands in defence. But Arya doesn't even look back at him, keeping her gaze in front of her. If she wanted someone babysitting her, she wouldve stayed with Matthew. He was always being overprotective.

"Yeah, well, I didn't ask you to do that." Arya retorts, annoyance in her tone. Finnick rolls his eyes a bit. That's what it was for. You didn't ask for someone to check up on you, they do it because they're worried.

"Why is it so difficult for you to allow someone to help you?" Finnick asks her.

"Because I don't need it." She retorts as she crosses her arms against her chest. Finnick sighs as he takes a step closer to her, placing his hand on her arm. Arya rips it from his touch, a hard glare set in her eyes. "Don't touch me." Arya sneers, clearly more wary of him now. Finnick seemed to get angry with the fact that she was being blunt and rude to him.

"Look, I didn't need to talk you down. I could've just killed you." Finnick points out. She should at least be a little grateful that he hadn't taken her out. He could've done that and saved Katniss that way instead of having to deal with Arya afterwards.

"Then why didn't you?" Arya snaps back, staring at the man. Finnick became quiet for a moment, taken aback. He shouldn't have been, he should've expected her to question him. "Seriously, finnick. You could've just done that but you didn't. You didn't want to kill me. Why?" She asks him, clearly seeing that there was more to it then what he was saying.

Arya truly didn't understand why Finnick even cared to talk to her down. He could've just killed her, like he said, but he decided not to. Finnick decided to let her go and for what? What was his actual reasoning? If it was the other way around, Arya wouldn't have kept him around. She probably wouldn't have even given him a chance to speak.

"Haymitch wants you alive." Finnick says after thinking of an answer. Arya couldn't help but roll her eyes at his lame excuse.

"Oh, you saved me because Haymitch told you to?"

"Yeah, i did." Finnick snaps back at her, glaring at the woman. He takes a step closer to her, looming over her for a moment. "There's no other reason I'd even keep you around." He denies. Arya kept her face neutral, free of emotion except for anger. She didn't allow it to affect her, even though she wasn't even sure why it was. Why Finnicks words meant anything to her.

Finnick was also not really telling the truth. Sure, Haymitch told him to keep her alive, but that wasn't the only reason that he was. That he had saved her instead of just taking her out. But obviously he was never going to say anything to her, especially with the way she attacked him for literally just talking to her and worrying.

"Well, maybe I should just leave then." Arya states with a scoff. There was no reason to stay around if no one in their little alliance actually liked her. "I should've just let that monkey kill you." She mumbles as she pushes past him. Finnick stood where he was for a second, blinking a few times to get a control of his emotions.

The others watch as Arya practically storms back over to them, sitting down. They could hear some of their argument and it was clear that the tension was growing between Arya and Finnick. "Is everything okay?" Wesley asks, being the first one to say anything just as Finnick reaches them. Arya rolls her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Just peachy." She mutters, brushing her hair out of her face. Peeta, who had opened a clam, notices a pearl within it. He smiles as he holds it up.

"Look, for you." Peeta says, holding it out for Katniss to take. Arya glances over as Katniss sent him a smile, grabbing it from him.

"Thank you."

"Where's mine? That's not fair." Arya points out with a small pout, looking at Peeta.

"Yeah, peeta." Katniss adds, deciding to sort of lighten the air between them. She was trying to understand Aryas reasoning and as she does, she sees that the woman isn't so bad after all. Peeta rolls his eyes playfully, shaking his head.

Someone screaming catches their attention. They all glance over, wondering where it was coming from. "That's new." Peeta says as they stand up, heading over to the edge of the sand. They watch as a huge wave takes over a portion of the trees. Aryas eyes widen as it was very clear no one would survive that.

When the familiar boom of the cannon went off, she shakes her head. The water settles down, hitting their feet. "At least we didn't get that one." She admits, placing her hands on her hips.

"I could totally survive that." Wesley teases, glancing over at her. Arya raises an eyebrow as she meets his gaze.

"Whatever you want to tell yourself." She mumbles, shaking her head. Wesley smirks, nudging her shoulder. Arya narrows her eyes a bit but loosens up, her gaze not hard or angry when she looked at him.

Finnick stared at them, flickering his eyes between the two. He didn't understand why she was actually nice to Wesley but not to him. Finnick hadn't actually done anything to her to gain this sort of annoyance. "Someone's here." Katniss's voice cuts off his thoughts. They all glance over, finnick looking through the tree.

But when he notices who it was, he doesn't try to hide anymore. "Johanna?" He asks, making his way down the beach a bit. Arya and Wesley share a glance but walk after him. "Johanna!" Finnick shouts, gaining her attention as he jogs toward her.

"Finnick!" Johanna yells back with a smile. Her eyes stop on him for a second before moving to the woman next to him. "Arya." She says, noticing the gash on her side. Johannas eyes widen slightly. "What happened?" She asks as she obviously was concerned.

But Arya didn't see how the woman could be worried when she herself didn't look particularly okay. "Says the girl covered in blood." Arya points out, gesturing to how Johanna was literally drenched in blood along with Beetee and Wiress.

Johanna glances down at herself for a moment. "It's not mine." She denies with a shake of her head. Johanna looks back at finnick, raising an eyebrow. "Surprised you two haven't killed each other yet." Johanna admits with a small smirk on her face.

"Oh, I'm getting there." Arya mumbles with a small scoff. Finnick rolls his eyes as he just glances away. He catches johannas gaze again and he could see the look she was sending him, along with the widened smirk. He clenches his jaw as he shook his head.

Johanna knew of something that Finnick had confessed to her. Granted he was drunk when he did it and only knew he spilled the secret because Johanna had teased him about it the next day. Finnick made her promise not to say anything, but it didn't stop her from giving him looks or smirking at him when she was clearly thinking about it. Especially when Arya was around them.

"Well, I got them out." Johanna says, deciding not to start an argument between them. "We were all the way deep in the jungle where I thought it was gonna be safe." She explains to them with a scoff leaving her lips. "That's when the rain started. I thought it was water. Turned out to be blood." She tells them. Arya raises an eyebrow. That explained why she was covered head to toe.

Wiress moves over to them, seemingly grabbing onto everyone as she mumbles to herself. "Tick tock." Arya looks at the woman but didn't really know what to say back. She wasn't really understanding what Wiress meant.

"Hot, thick, blood. It was coming down, choking us." Johanna says as she just pushes Wiress away from her. "We were stumbling around, gagging on it blind." She tells them. Arya tried to pay attention to what she was saying but it was a bit difficult.

"Tick tock."

"That's when blight hit the force field." Johanna stops, tilting her back for a moment as she closes her eyes. "He wasn't much but he was from home." She admits with a sigh. Arya wondered why she wasn't with him, it seemed they were gonna stick together as well. It seemed Johanna didn't have the same luck.

"Tick tock. Tick tock." Wiress says over and over again making everyone finally pay attention to her.

"What's wrong with her?" Katniss asks, wondering why wiress was saying the same thing over and over again.

"She's in shock. Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?" Beetee asks them as he looks up at the group. Arya just glances around, crossing her arms. There didn't seem to be many people left that weren't a part of their group. Probably just the careers and maybe two or three others.

"We can get some." Katniss assures him, looking over in Johannas direction who seemed to be getting annoyed by Wiress.

"Hey, stop it!" Johanna shouts as she pushes wiress away, causing the woman to land on the sand. Katniss rushes over toward her.

"Lay off her!" Katniss says, grabbing a hold of Johanna.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Johanna asks as she scoffs, looking in Katniss's direction. "I got them out for you!" She screams at the woman as Finnick tries to interfere with the two arguing.

"It's okay. It's okay." Finnick says as he grabs Johanna, pulling her away as Peeta does the same to Katniss. Arya just shakes her head, a sigh leaving her lips.

"Let me go, finnick!" Johanna demands as she thrashes against the man. Katniss turns her head to peeta, pure confusion set on her face.

"For me, what does that mean?" Katniss asks, furrowing her eyebrows. Peeta sighs as he shrugs his shoulders.

"You did want them as allies." He responds but that didn't really clear much up for her.

"Come on let's get you cleaned up." Katniss says as she brings wiress to the water. Arya crosses her arms against her chest as she moves to sit against a tree. Her eyes watch over everything as she bites the inside of her cheek.

She understood why Haymitch wanted so many allies but this didn't seem like it was going to work out. They were already at each other's throats, it was only a matter of time before somebody turned. And Arya was honestly good to just walk away and let herself be taken by one of the many things the game master has made.

Her eyes catch Finnick looking over at her. She just narrows them as she tilts her head. Finnick had his trident in his hand, shaking his head as he brings his gaze to it. Arya just looks down at her hands, fiddling with her fingers. She knew these games wouldn't last long, it was just a matter of time.

She was more curious as to what would happen in the end.

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