Reconvening in the treeline on the beach, Dahlia remained silent as she mourned Alaric's death while their remaining allies gathered in a circle. The group had just lost two key members and their absence was greatly felt by all the survivors. Though her tears had long since dried up, Finnick remained diligently by Dahlia's side, his stance protective as he kept an eye on both her and Katniss.

"So besides Brutus and Enobaria, who's left?" Katniss questions the group, some kneeling in the sand with her and others reclining against the branches of a tree.

"Maybe Chaff." Peeta pipes in from behind her. "Just those three."

"They know they're outnumbered. I doubt they'll attack again." Finnick adds in his expert knowledge, glancing briefly down at Dahlia who nods her silent agreement. "We're safe here on the beach."

"So what do we do? We hunt 'em down?" Johanna asks impatiently, eager for these Games to come to an end.

Nobody gets the chance to answer before the sound of a girl screaming interrupts their schemes. The voice that follows is young, too young for any tribute in these Games. It was the scream of a child, "Katniss, help me!"

"Prim!" Katniss yells in reply, recognising the girl's voice as her sister's. Before anyone could stop her, she was sprinting from the beach shouting for the young girl. "Prim! Prim!"

The group is roused to their feet, following in pursuit of Katniss. But the person closest to the distraught girl is Finnick, who is the quickest to give chase. "Katniss! Katniss, wait!" He calls loudly, running faster than the rest of the allies in order to get to Katniss. He trusts Dahlia in the company of Johanna, Beetee and Peeta but he needs to keep the Mockingjay safe so he can get his love out of this arena alive. Arriving in a clearing with a yell of the girl's name, he finds Katniss staring wide-eyed at her surroundings. "You okay?"

"Finnick!" A woman's voice screeches, a distressed wail following after. His body freezes at the horrific sound, the colour draining from his face in fear.

Katniss knows the thought process he's going through, because she had just experienced the same thing. "Finnick!" She exclaims, trying to stop him as he runs past her. "No! It's not her."

"Lia!" He cries desperately, sprinting further into the jungle to get to her. "Lia!" He had just seen her, she was fine. Why did he leave her behind? He should've made sure she was with him at all times, shouldn't have let her out of his sight. He had never heard her sound so tortured. "Lia! Lia!"

"Finnick! It's not her." Katniss explains, harshly grabbing the man's shoulder and forcing him to listen to her. "It's just a jabberjay. It's not her."

"Well, how do you think they got that sound?" Finnick retorts, paranoid that something terrible had happened to Dahlia in the mere moments they were apart. "Jabberjays copy."

This time it's a male voice calling Katniss' name, one she identifies as Gale, while a different female screams for Finnick. Annie, the girl he regarded as a sister. The jabberjays swarm the two tributes, swooping down and taunting them with the haunting wails of their loved ones. The horrible sound follows them as they retreat back in the direction they had come from. Finnick tries to block out the screams as best as he can, but Dahlia's voice pierces his ears.

He should've protected her.

She's lost too much.

He failed her.

But he can see Dahlia in the distance, a look of concern plastered upon her face. It's his light at the end of the tunnel, leading him out of the darkness. His face brightens slightly at the mere sight of her and he sprints even faster to reach her. He can almost hear her, almost hold her in his arms. Just a few more steps...

Dahlia is forced to watch as Finnick runs into the force field, a thin barrier separating the lovers from each other. His gaze widens in anguish once he discovers the distance between them. Curse the Capitol for their insistence on keeping them apart. Tears spring to his eyes as he punches and hits at the force field, willing it to break so he can reunite with his little flower. She's all he ever wanted and all he will ever need.

Now, with her devastating screams ringing in his head, he realises how badly they need to topple Snow's regime. As long as he's in charge, Dahlia will continue to suffer as she does right now. He'd joined the Alliance to follow her. And now he'll join the Rebellion to fight for her. As he's always done.

Rocking back and forth on his knees with his hands pressed firmly against his ears is the position he remains in for the rest of the hour. Every minute he spends trapped in this nightmare is another scrap of his sanity stripped away.

Dahlia leans her forehead against the force field, wanting to be next to Finnick as soon as the hour is up. It's torturous for her and Peeta to be forced into watching their loved ones suffer knowing there's nothing they can do.

The moment the force field is lifted, Dahlia is at Finnick's side and engulfing him in a tight embrace. His body quivers with shuddering breaths, his fingers clinging harshly at her skin just to reassure himself that she's actually there.

"I'm okay. You're okay." Dahlia whispers repeatedly into his ear, letting him hold onto her for as long as he needs her. Johanna approaches the pair, worried for the mental state of her friends. She kneels down next to them, placing her hand on Finnick's back comfortingly and eying Dahlia in concern. Although appreciative of the girl's presence, Dahlia waves her away, realising there's not much else they can do to ease Finnick.

Rising to her feet, Johanna's attention is then caught by Katniss' rambling for the safety of her sister and Peeta's reassurance that Prim was unharmed. "Your fiancé's right. The whole country loves your sister." Johanna confirms harshly, not the best at dealing with emotions. "If they tortured her or did anything to her, forget the districts, there would be riots in the damn Capitol." Katniss was unsure if those words did anything to comfort her, but Johanna had tried to help in her own unique way and that was the nicest gesture she'd made so far. But Johanna wasn't finished, declaring loudly, "Hey, how does that sound, Snow? What if we... What if we set your backyard on fire?" She directs these words upwards, hoping they are captured by the cameras inevitably recording their every move. "You know, you can't put everybody in here!"

The group stares up at Johanna in disbelief, even Dahlia, who remembered causing a similar scene at the end of her own Games. Though her words were much less... rebellious.

"What?" Johanna asks more quietly upon noticing the collective stare. "They can't hurt me." She mutters softly with a hint of bitterness in her tone. "There's no one left that I love." Katniss' eyes dart from Johanna to Dahlia, both girls who had won the Games and then lost everything. Katniss realised that was the fate awaiting her if she got out. She too would lose everything. Johanna sighs at the silence greeting her words and mumbles, "I'll get you some water."

As Johanna strolled away from the group to collect water, Dahlia helped Finnick stumble his way to the beach with the rest following behind. Upon reaching the sand, Finnick immediately tugged Dahlia with him into the water and sank to his knees. The waves lapped at their bodies therapeutically, running soothingly over their connected hands. Finnick's eyes closed slowly, breathing in time with the flow of the water. Dahlia didn't speak, just letting him hold her hand for comfort and waiting for him to be ready.

"When I close my eyes, I can pretend I'm back in District Four." He murmurs, so lightly his words almost get carried away by the wind. But Dahlia heard him. She would always hear his voice, no matter how loud the wind howled. "Once all this is over, I'm going to take you there. You'll love it."

Dahlia would love anywhere so long as Finnick was there too. But, eager to distract from his pain, she focused all her attention on him and urged, "Describe it to me."

He didn't need to be asked twice. His district was his pride and he spared no detail as he told Dahlia exactly how their life could be. Colourful markets and morning swims, refreshing sea-breeze and heavenly sunsets. He'd get her a house on the beach, bring her shells and pearls every day. They could act like kids, love as freely as they dared. But most importantly, they would be free. Finnick was describing the dream that had kept him going for years. The image that rescued him on his darkest days. A life with Dahlia where he could love her as she deserved. This is the fantasy they were fighting to turn into a reality.

Meanwhile, Katniss was watching the pair from the shoreline until curiosity got the better of her. "Who's Annie?" She asks Johanna, who was newly returned from collecting water and had plopped down next to her on the sand.

"Annie Cresta. The girl Mags volunteered for." Johanna clarifies, glancing away from Katniss as she recalls the connection Annie has to Dahlia and Finnick. "She won, like, four years... Five years ago."

"Is she the one that went a little..." Katniss trails off but makes implications to Annie's rumoured fragile mental state. Johanna nods with an affirmative hum but doesn't elaborate further. "And, she's not Finnick's..."

"Oh, God no!" Johanna exclaims, shutting down any notions of a relationship between Annie and Finnick. "Look... you know how Dahlia's sister died in the Games, right?" Katniss nods slowly, unsure of where Johanna was going with this. "Annie was the Victor of those Games. Lavender Blossom was her ally." The revelation was shocking for Katniss, but Johanna wasn't finished. "And Annie's older sister, Cove, was Dahlia's ally."

Katniss' eyebrows furrow at the odds of something like that happening and mutters under her breath, "But that... That can't be--"

"Coincidence?" Johanna interrupts with a knowing smirk. "It's not. Dahlia promised Cove that she would look after Annie, which is difficult if you don't live in the same district. So she asked for help from the only person in District Four she felt she could trust."

"Finnick." Katniss states confidently, finally understanding the tangled web that had been weaving in her mind.

"Ding ding." Johanna chimes unenthusiastically with a tight-lipped smile. "Annie's like a little sister to Finnick, but nothing can compare to the love he has for his little flower." Katniss remembers hearing Finnick mention that nickname when he made the dedicated speech during his interview. Back then, it hadn't even clicked in her mind who it could've been. Now, there is no room for doubt. "Love is weird."

Katniss looks away from Johanna to the pair lost in their own world. Then her eyes flicker over to Peeta. The boy she had denied having feelings for, yet was willing to risk everything to save. She definitely agrees with Johanna, love is weird.

Beetee suddenly sits up and declares firmly to the two girls, "I have a plan."