"THIS ENTIRE ARENA SEEMS TO BE LAID OUT LIKE A CLOCK," Katniss explained as the new group of seven allies made their way up the small rocky path that led from the beach to the Cornucopia.

Aella opted to stay quiet and listen to whatever the Girl on Fire had to say. Katniss had clearly figured something out before Aella had quite literally dived on to that beach in the middle of a brawl and interrupted them all going about their morning in the arena. She didn't regret it despite the looks of displeasure she'd caught Katniss giving her—as if the woman knew Aella was one more person she'd have to fight when the time came.

Of course Aella wasn't going to tell Katniss that the time wasn't going to come and she had to reign in her sharp words whenever she caught her scowling at her.

Whatever Katniss had figured out though had helped them—would help them massively. She wasn't entirely sure on the ins and outs of it all. All she knew was what Finnick had told her of quickly as they'd walked across the beach together a few moments ago. She knew it both started and ended with Wiress going clinically insane and singing the words 'tick tock' over and over again.

He wasn't wrong. Something had scarred Wiress' brilliant mind so badly she'd slipped into some kind of hysteria. Aella had merely pressed her lips together and watched the woman with a small grimace as she repeated the words 'tick tock' over and over again. Her eyes were bleak. Aella hadn't been able to find a single thought there.

She looked away from Katniss Everdeens back as she led the way back to the Cornucopia and instead examined the large sea of water that surrounded them.

At first she thought the design of the Cornucopia set out in a large circle was just for aesthetic purposes. She was quick to remember that the Capitol and the Gamemakers didn't do anything without reason—especially during the Quarter Quell. The arena was set out in that way purposefully and it seemed Wiress had been the one to finally figure it out.

Aella looked at each sector marked and split with the same rocky pathways she was currently walking up from the beach to the Cornucopia. Each sector had two launch pods inside—twenty four in total with twelve sectors. The pathways weren't pathways at all but rather the hours of a clock.

It was genius and so was Wiress.

"There's a new threat every hour but they stay only within their wedge." Katniss explained what she'd realised, "It all starts with the lightning. Then blood rain, fog and monkeys. That's the first four hours. At ten that big wave heads from over there."

So, unbelievably, clever. Quarter Quell indeed.

Aella looked to the direction in which Katniss pointed. It was the direction she had ran from that morning and she shuddered before mumbling under her breath, "Don't we know it."

Johanna glanced sideways at her, eyes glimmering in a twisted form of amusement that Aella shared. Neither woman said anything else on the matter. They just held eye contact until Finnick walked past them and to Wiress in front of them. The older woman stopped and she turned back on herself to look out across the arena silently as they reached the Cornucopia.

"Wiress you're a genius." Finnick said casually and Aella nodded in agreement with him. She placed her hand fleetingly on the woman's shoulder as she passed with a small smile on her lips.

"Look, the tail points at twelve." Peeta said as looked upward.

"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight." Katniss says at they all come to a stop.

Aella frowned, "So does that mean it's approaching twelve now?" She asked, "Does the Cornucopia turn like a clock would and we just haven't realised it?"

She glanced fleetingly at Beetee before looking back at that sector of the jungle. Her eyes danced fleetingly over the heavy blood stains on the pathway leading down to the beach and her throat bobbed. Drew's body had long since been removed but she could still see his corpse lying there.

Everyone else seemed to be looking at it too as if remembering how they had watched her kill him.

It felt like a lifetime ago but in reality—or what she thought was reality—it had only been twenty four hours ago. Time had been warped and twisted within the arena. Each hour felt like a day. That was the catch with the Games, when you were in the arena there was no way of telling what time it was. The ultra-realistic sun might've been high in the sky in the arena but the moon could be at its peak in the real world.

That was how twisted reality was in the Games. Even something like the daylight cycle was manipulated at the hands of the Gamemakers. They could force the tributes into twenty-four hours worth of daylight if they wished or thrust them into the darkness of the night for three days like they had done one cruel year and they would be none the wiser.

It was all power control and it frustrated Aella.

"Twelve o'clock on the outside and on the inside?" She said.

"An interesting theory," Beetee said to her before looking at Katniss and asking, "The lightning strikes where?"

He had been carrying a coil of wire in his hands since Aella and met them on the beach. Clutched to it protectively, more like, and when Aella had asked Johanna about it she'd merely told her it had taken an ax in the back to retrieve it. Something had been left unsaid in Johanna's eyes though, something Aella read and understood perfectly.

Somehow, beyond what she could ever imagine, that coil of wire was their ticket out of this arena and that tree.... It was starting to make sense.

Katniss pointed forward unsuspectingly toward the tree Aella had nearly died to the night prior, "That big tree."

The six of them—because Wiress had truly slipped off of the earth—stared up at the abnormally large tree that stood out among the others. There was even a ring around—as if the lightning that struck it had decimated everything around it except the tree itself. Something bubbled up inside Aella as she stared at it. She pressed her lips together, gripping the handle of her machete as Beetee nodded, some unreadable expression dancing in his eyes.

"Good."

Aella turned her head and met Finnick's gaze wordlessly. It was easy for her to read his eyes but for anyone who didn't know him would've thought his expression was blank. Her mind pushed back to three nights ago where she was ushered into Johanna's apartment with the rest of the allies of the rebellion. She could picture Haymitch sitting in the chair opposite her as she chugged down a bottle of whiskey in pure self-loathing, still reeling from her individual assessment and her altercation with Drew prior to the Tribute Dinner.

"It's all good and well having a plan to form a rebellion but how do we actually get out of the arena?" Finnick said. He was the voice of reason for everyone. He asked the questions they all wanted to know but were too afraid to ask, "The Capitol aren't going to let however many of us walk out alive. They're going to make us fight until the death."

The smile that pulled at Haymitch's lips unsettled Aella and she chugged at the whiskey again. Instead of replying to Finnick, he turned to Beetee and said, "This is where you come into it, my friend."

Beetee nodded in understanding as if he already knew what it was Haymitch was talking about. It was nice he knew because no one else did and in her destructive mood, Aella snapped.

"Would you care to enlighten the rest of us?" She said sharply. Her words cut into the air like a knife and her eyes sparkled with irritation.

Haymitch leaned forward in his chair and he looked around at those who had elected to join the rebellion. He nodded once, seemingly to himself before he said, "Heavensbee will put a coil of wire at the Cornucopia that Beetee will use to blow out the forcefield of the arena." He told them all clearly, "We all know electricity is not the Capitol's strong suit, especially when they don't channel it in the right places."

He was right. Aella had noticed on more than one occasion how the lights in the Tribute Centre flickered frequently. It was hardly noticeable but to someone who hailed from a District that supplied power and electricity to the entirely of Panem it was easy to spot. The Capitol put their money into all the wrong things—everyone knew it—and this being their weak spot might just be the way to ensure their escape. They were going to exploit the Capitol and she couldn't wait.

"How will we know when?" Johanna asked skeptically.

"Like I said, we'll be sending in sponsor gifts with clues attached. When we're ready we'll send in a time and day in code. All you've got to do is stay alive and keep both Katniss and Peeta alive until then. Once the forcefield is broken a hoverjet will be waiting to pick you up. Our window of escape will be short and you must ensure your trackers are out before you get on the jet otherwise we risk the Capitol tracking you to District Thirteen..."

So that was their how completed. All they needed was the sponsor package they'd been waiting desperately for. Aella hoped it would come later that day. They were all together now and for she, Johanna and Finnick their end of the deal just became a whole lot harder. Not only did they have Katniss and Peeta to keep alive, they had Beetee also because without him there was no way they'd know how to break the forcefield.

She and Finnick held eye contact for a few more moments until Aella broke it to walk past him. She followed Johanna as Peeta bent down to draw a circle into the gravel under the shelter of the Cornucopia itself. Aella only listened to him as she inspected what was left on the weapons rack. She doubted they would be graced with a re-stock like they were in every other Games. It only happened six or seven days in when everyone started running low on food, water and healing supplies. They weren't even blessed with that this time around.

Around them, Wiress' voice sung out an old nursery rhyme in a chilling way. She repeated it over and over again like a broken record as she sat at the edge of the Cornucopia and rocked back and forth. Aella glanced at her sympathetically before clenching her jaw and picking up the last four daggers that were left. She equipped them in her belt with the two she'd managed to keep following her fight with Cashmere.

Wiress' song continued.

"Hickory Dickory dock. The mouse went up the clock. The clock struck one. The mouse went down. Hickory Dickory dock,"

"So twelve to one lightning." Peeta said, marking out the sector with his machete, "Then one to two is blood. Then fog. Then monkeys."

She didn't know what they were talking about when he spoke about the blood, fog and monkeys. She could imagine it was worse than it sounded and she didn't care to find out.

She rejoined the circle, standing between Finnick and Johanna as Peeta continued to create the diagram. Finnick acknowledged her, his eyes lingering longer than what they should've but she didn't react. She barely felt his gaze on her, she was so focused on their plan at that moment in time. It was for the best, too, as the cameras watching them zoomed in on them in particular, looking at the closeness of them.

Finnick knew she should've been keeping neutral with her. He knew he'd been staring too long, too frequently. Knew he was showing too much of his hand when he kept checking in on her. He knew he should've been treating her as a friend like how he was with Johanna but he couldn't. He'd been forced to watch the Careers chase her into the jungle the day prior and Cashmere drive a knife into her stomach an hour ago and it had scared him.

She wasn't as untouchable as she seemed. Neither was he, or anyone else in the arena but he wasn't in love with anyone else. The urge he had to protect her had only tripled since they'd shared that last night together, confessing their undying love in sweet whispers.

Knowing she recognised and reciprocated that love...he struggled to keep it contained. All he wanted to do was kiss her, hold her and tell her he was glad she was safe but he couldn't. He knew the risks that even their friendship put against them, never mind their love.

The last thing either of them needed was for President Snow to figure out those feelings went much further than friendly affection. If he did they'd be screwed. He'd do everything to drive them apart in that arena—to find a way to manipulate their love and turn it into their biggest weaknesses. 

"Hickory Dickory dock. The dog barked at the clock. The clock struck three—"

"And then ten to eleven the wave." Katniss said over Wiress, all of them trying to tune out to the unnerving way she sang the lyrics. Aella saw Johanna rubbing at her temple out the corner of her eyes as Katniss looked at her, "What about everything else? Did you guys see anything?"

"Hickory Dickory Dock..."

It was almost enough to drive Aella insane.

"Nothing but blood." Johanna shrugged.

Aella glanced at her best friend with curious eyes, "You have to tell me about this blood rain."

Johanna grumbled and shook her head, "Horrible stuff."

"Aella?" Katniss said, her brow arched. She looked at her and rose her brows, "Did you see anything?"

Aella shook her head and folded her arms across her chest, "Aside from nearly being killed at that lightning tree and drowning in that wave, no," she shrugged her shoulders, "I hauled myself into a high tree and didn't move all night. Pretty lucky, I guess."

Finnick chuckled under his breath and glanced sideways at her, "I knew you'd scale a tree."

She sneered at him jokingly, "Shut up, I was on my own and tired. Either that or I risked collapsing in the middle of the jungle."

Johanna watched them with an amused grin. Katniss felt inclined to listen to what Finnick would respond with seeing a smirk rise on his lips but Peeta broke the chain of their conversation.

"It doesn't matter what else is out there as long as we steer clear of whichever sector is active, we'll be safe." He said over Wiress' tune.

"Hickory Dickory Dock. The cat went up the clock,"

Aella cradled her head in her fingers delicately for a fleeting second while whispering to herself, "Oh, my, god."

"Try listening to it all night." Johanna hissed in her ear. Aella merely scowled at her.

"Yeah, relatively speaking." Finnick responded to Peeta but the sound of a sharp gasp interrupted them suddenly. Wiress' tune stopped altogether and although it was beginning to drive Aella to insanity she wished she could hear it again when her eyes snapped upward to see Gloss pulling a knife out of the older woman's throat.

Boom..

"Shit!"

Before anyone could react Aella's fingers had curled around the handle of a dagger and she had launched it through the shelter of the Cornucopia
toward Gloss. The blade embedded in his chest only seconds after he'd killed Wiress and the sounding cannon echoed out as his body fell backward into the water.

Her sharp instincts kicked into overdrive and she charged past Peeta, her machete already out and in her hand. She was the first to react and move, a skill not one of the remaining tributes harboured. No one was as quick as she was aside from Finnick but even then he was a few paces behind.

Aella grabbed Katniss' shoulder and pulled her back as Enobaria and Brutus sprang from the water in a surprise attack. They crept up on them so stealthily Aella cursed herself for dropping her guard. She swung for Enobaria but the woman managed to dodge her every attack. Beside her, Finnick fought against Brutus.

Aella pushed Enobaria back far enough but the Career woman changed her direction entirely and launched an attack against Finnick. Neither he or Aella anticipated it and her heart lurched in her chest as she sprung to his aid. Finnick barely managed to dodge the woman from Two and Brutus saw, pushing him back with jab after jab. Aella was fighting by his side in seconds, Johanna falling in line beside him and the Deadly Trio fought the lethal pair from District Two.

To their surprise, they stood down rather quickly. Brutus and Enobaria turned on their heels and retreated as quickly as they came—sensing a failed plan—and both Katniss and Peeta attempted to chase after them.

Finnick managed to grab Peeta by the shoulder and pull him back but Katniss slipped through them. Aella swore loudly after Katniss as she watched her run after them. A string of explicit curses followed her as she chased Katniss across the Cornucopia, Johanna following her incase she needed the additional strength.

They didn't make it very far, Aella had only managed to make it to the path before the ground started to shake under her feet. She and Katniss came to a startling stop, legs and knees shaking as the sound of electricity churning to life took them by surprise. Aella flung her arms out for balance as the Cornucopia began to spin. She and Katniss met each other's gaze, eyes wide in fear as the speed began to pick up.

Aella lunged for Katniss's outstretched arm but the speed the Cornucopia span at knocked them off their feet before they could meet. Aella grunted as her body crashed against the jagged rocks, Katniss and Johanna yelling. It took everything in her to keep her from hitting her head but the rest of her body sang in pain. She reached out blindly and dug her fingers into the ground, hanging on for her life as the speed increased at such a rate it nauseated her.

Aella dropped her forehead to the ground and squeezed her eyes shut. The water surrounding the Cornucopia—water they were all dangerously close to—splashed up and around viciously, soaking them all to the bone and making the rocks under their hands slippery.

A few feet to her left, Katniss' fingers slipped and she fell backwards towards the crashing water with a panicked scream. Aella cursed loudly, shouting the girls name as the responsibility of keeping her alive fell down to her. She made a split second decision, letting go and falling with Katniss. She caught her hand at the last second and gripped on tightly despite the water spray soaking both of them.

They grunted strenuously, gripping to each other with all their might as Aella reached out to keep them from falling in with one hand. Johanna slid down the Cornucopia, thrusting her ax into the ground to keep her anchored in and she grabbed Aella's hand creating a chain of three.

Aella screamed under the strain of trying to keep ahold of both Katniss and Johanna. The sheer force and speed they span at blew her soaking wet hair into her face and she looked down at Katniss feeling her beginning to slip. She squeezed hard enough to break her fingers and prayed that she didn't fall.

"Hold on!" Johanna shouted down to them both.

Aella looked up at her, her eyes narrowed as she yelled back, "What do you think we're trying to do!"

A heavy weight pulled Aella down suddenly and she turned her head to see Katniss with a panicked expression on her face. Her fingers slipped through her own and she shook her head wildly, "Katniss, hold on!" She screamed over the force of the waves.

Aella tried to anchor her body as close to Katniss as she humanly could. She didn't dare try to pull her closer, nor did she dare let go of Johanna's hand to re-adjust her grip on Katniss' hand either.

She was stuck and when Katniss's hand slipped out of her own entirely she panicked.

Aella let go of Johanna's hand, desperate to catch Katniss as she shouted, "No!"

Johanna's eyes widened as she tried to grab her best friend, "Aella, grab on!" But Johanna missed and she could do nothing but watch as they both fell.

Katniss disappeared into the water first and both Aella and Johanna shouted as they watched her fall. Aella's legs fell over the edge of the Cornucopia and in a last attempt she reached out and managed to grab Johanna's foot. She clung on with every ounce of her strength, screaming under the strain of the harsh waves that crashed against her legs and threatened to drag her under.

Aella screamed her best friend's name in pure panic and Johanna managed to angle her head to see the fear light in her eyes. Just when she thought she was going to fall, the Cornucopia stopped spinning, slowing down just as quickly as it sped up.

The waves around them crashed and lulled until they settled and Johanna pulled Aella back up to a safe place. She fell on to her back and looked up at the sky while exhaling deeply. Her heart pounded in her chest wildly as she took a second to compose herself.

She pushed herself up to her feet, rising on trembling knees, when she heard Johanna moving beside her. The woman offered her hand to help her up and Aella's knees buckled but Johanna held her steady with her hands around her, "You good?" Johanna asked her.

"Yeah," she exhaled heavily, nodding, "yeah....shit, Katniss—"

She regained enough composure to search for the woman who had fallen in. To her relief she found her already trying to pull herself out the water across the Cornucopia and both women ran after her, careful not to slip on the wet rocks.

Katniss was laid flat against her stomach on the pathway, coughing heavily, when both Johanna and Aella reached her. They bent down to her level and Aella slapped her back in an attempt to help her cough up the remainder of the water in her lungs. Peeta sprinted over to them, bending down between Johanna and Aella and the two women stood to their feet and stepped back as he took over.

"You okay?" He asked her worriedly. His tone made Aella's heart lurch as he spoke to her lovingly. The way his eyes softened as he looked at her confirmed what Aella had never thought. When she saw them on the television all those times she always thought that they had been acting. They weren't head over heels in love for one another but they did care for one another deeply. It was clear Peeta and Katniss did share some form of love and it warmed Aella's usually cold heart.

Johanna sighed, looking between Katniss and Peeta, and said, "Let's just get what we need and get off this bloody island."

Aella watched Finnick and Beetee round the corner of the Cornucopia, his eyes wide and she inclined her head in reassurance.

She looked at her best friend then and met her gaze before nodding, "Couldn't have said it better myself."

•   •   •

The following hours that passed in the arena felt like they went on for days. Aella had no way of keeping record of the time aside from looking at the sun's positioning in the sky but it didn't seem to move. Every time she looked up it was in the same place and it slowly began to chip away at her sanity.

The longer they sat and waited for their signal from the outside the more the tension in their group had started to build. It was very obvious that Katniss didn't want to be anywhere near the four Victors that joined the rebellion to get her out of the Games and it made it harder to actually gain her trust.

The hours that they had Aella spent trying to get some rest. They'd found a secluded spot that they deemed safe away from any of the known active sectors on the outskirts of the jungle but still on the beach. Finnick had caught some fish with his trident and Peeta had retrieved enough water for them all. Aella had barely finished the fish Finnick had caught her before she had fallen asleep.

They let her rest for a few hours, head leaning against Finnick's shoulder as she used him as a pillow.

When she woke up she strode into the sea to freshen herself up. Exhaustion still gripped her and her body was sticky with dried sweat from the night and day prior. Her suit was still blood stained from the wounds she'd taken under Cashmere's hands. She washed herself up as much as she could when Peeta joined her. What started out as idle chit-chat became Aella's ticket to ensuring Katniss and Peeta didn't stray too far from them.

He was far more willing to talk to her than Katniss was. It helped that she actually got on with him surprisingly well. She knew Katniss wouldn't ever leave Peeta behind and vise-versa. If she could get Peeta to trust her he'd be less inclined to leave.

Their conversation was short but it was what Aella deemed to be a good start. Peeta left her to return back to Katniss' side—her eyes hadn't once left them both as they spoke but knowing what she did, Aella couldn't blame the protectiveness.

She continued to wash up in the water as much as she could, thinking about the rest of their plan. The stakes were still higher than ever. The death toll was now greater than the tributes still alive and she knew aside from the six of them there was only Brutus, Enobaria and possibly Chaff still alive. It definitely made it harder. No longer were they stumbling into one another anymore. They would have to hunt each other out and Aella had no desire to do that.

They had a plan to execute. They didn't have time to go searching for the pair from Two.

Finnick ventured to the water's edge silently, watching her think. He'd pictured himself in a similar position with her before except they were on the beach back home in District Four and they were happy, not stressed in the arena of the Hunger Games. He watched her rub her eyes vigorously before splashing her face. He knew the short hours of sleep she'd gotten wasn't enough but they didn't have the time.

She looked up from her hands, feeling his stare lingering on her back and turned to face him. She arched her brow lightly, trying to keep as much as a neutral expression of her face as she could, "Can I help you?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, willing his face into cool boredom and said, "We've been sent a sponsor, a loaf of bread between us."

It took everything inside her to keep her face from slipping out of that cool exterior. Her heart was pounding in her chest while she merely nodded—trying to look anything but interested.

She walked out the water and up the beach with him side by side. His arm brushed against hers, fingers inches away from each other. They were so close it was painful. Aella's resolve had reached its breaking point.

If they hadn't of spent that night together—if they hadn't of gotten a taste of each others lips on their own or felt the way their bodies reacted under the others touch—she'd of been fine. But she knew what it felt like to feel complete. She couldn't stand to not have his touch and it drove her mad. She craved it so desperately.

Sal's wise words from all those years ago echoed through her head. She finally understood what she had been talking about. She knew what it felt like to be with your soulmate. Knew she would settle for just a day with Finnick if it meant she could have him. He was right there, the one person she loved most on this earth and yet she couldn't have him. 

It was torture of a whole new kind.

"Stop looking at me like that." She mumbled quietly as they walked. The sun shone off her face. Her sun kissed glow enchanted him. A light tan dusted over her usually pale face and soft freckles danced over her nose. Her cobalt eyes shone in a way he'd never seen before and he was once again stunned by her natural beauty.

"I can't." He responded helplessly.

"The cameras." She said, glancing at him fleetingly, "He'll know."

He pulled his eyes away from her captivating gaze and looked around them, shaking his head, "I'm beginning to not care for the consequences, Ella."

"Well you should." She responded quietly.

A smile tugged at his lips and he bumped into her playfully, "Says the one who dragged Snow through the mud with no regard whatsoever."

She shook her head and mumbled, "That was different."

He stopped and turned his body to her. His brow arched high as he looked at her carefully, "Was it?"

Her head tilted back slightly as she met his gaze and beheld the way the sun danced across his skin. The golden glow made his sea-foam green eyes shimmer and her breath hitched in her throat. She was enchanted. His damp hair hanging loosely over his forehead tempted her like never before. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides and before she could even register what she was doing she raised her hand and ran her small digits through his blonde tresses. He leaned gently into her touch, the both of them blissfully unaware of the cameras that pointed to them in that moment in time.

Under the shelter of a low hanging tree on the jungle edge Katniss Everdeen watched them and her disengagement from their conversation caused Johanna to turn and follow her eyes. A small smirk curved across her lips seeing them until she realised where they were and what they were doing. She enjoyed seeing them share their moments of peace together when they were hidden but out in the open like they were she felt the ultimate need to protect them.

She didn't want to interrupt their moments but she had to, for their own sake.

"Hey! Finnick, Aella." She yelled, "Come on."

The couple jumped apart and walked over to the group inconspicuously. They'd already seen them but no one made a point to say anything. Katniss remembered how Haymitch told her on their first night within the Capitol that Aella was Finnick's biggest weakness. She knew it worked both ways but what she'd do with the information she still didn't know.

Aella and Finnick stood side by side as they joined the circle. Peeta, Katniss and Johanna sat on the sand as Beetee leaned against a thick tree branch.

"So besides Brutus and Enobaria, who's left?" Katniss asked.

Johanna handed Aella a small square of bread which she took instantly, a glimmer in her best friend's eyes only she recognised.

"Maybe Chaff." Peeta shrugged, "Just those three."

Five rebel tributes, two Careers, Katniss and Peeta, Aella thought to herself. Nine of them left—nine of twenty-four still surviving after one full day. She didn't know what to make of those odds, didn't know how many had died to pods or mutts and how many had been killed by another tribute.

"They know they're outnumbered." Finnick said aloud, his hand held to his trident and he leaned into it, "I doubt they'll attack again. We're safe here on the beach."

Aella shook her head in disagreement with him, "They were outnumbered before. It didn't stop them."

"So what do we do? We hunt 'em down." Johanna snapped in frustration.

Aella felt it, too. Chaff would hopefully find his way to them sooner rather than later. It was a waiting game from then. If Brutus and Enobaria did decide to attack there was little chance of them two emerging alive unless they came when they were all sleeping which wouldn't happen.

Aella was about to say she didn't feel like hunting the pair through the jungle when a high-pitched feminine scream echoed around them. She narrowed her eyes as she searched for the voice until a girl screamed, "Katniss, help me!"

Katniss jumped up immediately, "Prim? Prim! Prim!"

"No—" Finnick tried to catch her as she ran into the depths of the jungle but he missed her elbow by a margin, "Katniss. Katniss, wait!"

"Shit," Aella swore watching her run again, "Katniss!"

Again, the black haired girl took off through the jungle after Katniss. She followed her blindly, pulling her machete out of its holster incase anyone or anything jumped out at them. She sprinted after Katniss, barely keeping her eyes on her figure meters ahead as the screaming of the young girl continued to echo around them.

Katniss drew to a stop ahead of her as she shouted for the girl. It took Aella a moment to figure out who Katniss was shouting for—whose voice it was that screeched in their ears so loud. Once she had it figured out confusion pulled at her. The screams of Katniss' younger sister continued to echo out around them. The same sister Katniss volunteered for in the very first place though Aella had no idea how they'd gotten the sound of her sister's screams.

The shouting and screaming ceased and Aella slowed to a stop, calling Katniss' name as she approached. The older teenager turned to look at her, eyes wide as she beheld Aella standing in front of her.

She arched her brow, chest heaving a little as she held her machete and said, "You okay?"

"Ella!"

Aella's entire body ran cold with fear as it gripped her heart with an iron fist. The colour drained from her face as Finnick's high-pitched voice pounded in her ears. The urgency of his tone—the pain behind it—made her feel physically sick.

But Katniss recognised that tone. She'd seen his eyes widen to match mere hours ago when Aella had fought Cashmere on the beach. It was the same... it was all the same but Aella wouldn't know that. She wouldn't have heard him screaming her name when Cashmere stabbed her.

She looked around quickly, head whipping as she searched blindly through the shrubs and trees for him "Fin?" She barely whispered, stumbling forward before she shouted, "Finnick!"

"Ella!" He shouted again and his voice screamed out loudly.

Aella stumbled into a run, shouldering into Katniss as she knocked into her. Katniss couldn't even get her name to pass her lips as she watched her run. All she could do was follow her and hope she would listen through that blinding fear that had settled on her face.

Aella's fingers began to tremble as tears prickled at her eyes. She could feel her body running into overdrive with every echo of his panicked and pained voice. Her chest tightened at the thought of him in danger. What had happened in such a short space of time? Had he followed her following Katniss and gotten lost? Had Brutus and Enobaria caught up to him? She felt the familiar signs creeping up on her. She knew she was seconds away from falling off the edge of a cliff and straight into a freezing cold river...knew she was panicking and if she didn't stop—

"Finnick, where are you!" She screamed desperately. Her voice came out raw and the fear that pulled through her words was unmistakable. In those seconds their jig was up, forced to light at the notion of him hurt. They failed the test President Snow had requested be pitted against them when he'd seen Finnick sprint across that beach earlier.

Finnick's voice didn't stop. It didn't lessen or ease out, instead it grew more and more intense until she physically
couldn't stand it. It pushed and pushed her until she stopped running altogether and screamed his name so loud the entire arena heard it. Finnick himself heard it and the pain and sheer terror behind it tore his entire soul in two.

"Aella. Aella!" Katniss yelled as she reached her finally. She pulled back on her shoulder and forced her to meet her gaze. She looked into her tear stained eyes intensely, "It's just a Jabberjay. It's not him."

Jabberjay or not the pain and suffering in his voice was real. The sound was real.

Her chest heaved deeply as she struggled to breathe properly and she shook her head, "How do you think they got that sound? Jabberjay's copy."

Katniss didn't have the chance to tell her they were his screams from that morning when he'd ran across the beach to get to her. Her own personal torture began again when a male voice called out to her. She tried to think of anything but Aella's words.

Instead, she searched for the birds that voiced those sounds that tortured them. They circled and circled, staring up at the heavy trees above them but no birds, until—

They appeared from nowhere, a large flock sweeping in and charging towards them. Both women ducked as the birds swarmed them, fighting to get to their faces. Aella tried to swipe her machete to kill them but she moved blindly, covering her head and face with her arm as the feral birds attacked. She gave in before long and grabbed Katniss' arm, pulling her through the jungle back toward the beach.

The flock followed and circled their heads as they ran. Low hanging tree branches swiped at their faces as they attempted to shield themselves. Aella could feel her skin slicing under the talons of the birds, the sharp edges of the trees. She did her best to ignore it, to ignore Finnick's voice and the fear that sluiced through her. She focused on running, her long and unbound hair whipping behind her.

She pulled Katniss through a shrub of trees and cleared them to see Finnick standing a few hundred feet away. The four of them stood still and they waved their arms about wildly but they never moved. Under the screeching and screaming of voices terrorising them she couldn't make out what any of them said. She only saw their lips move as she neared.

She held Finnick's gaze but his wide eyes slowed her down. He gestured for her to stop with his hands. Katniss passed her, running toward Peeta as Aella slowed into a walk, confusion pulling at her. Just then, Katniss slammed into something rock solid yet totally invisible.

Aella cleared the space between her and Finnick with hollow eyes. He could see the silver still lining them as she stared at him, so much confusion swirling there. She reached her hand out slowly and rested it against an invisible force. She watched the way the forcefield reacted under the pressure of her touch. Finnick's hand rose to hers and pressed into the barrier separating them. She expected to feel his skin meet hers but it didn't.

The screaming of the Jabberjay's raged on—reverberating off every solid crevice in her mind and for a second she closed her eyes, tuned herself out and went completely numb. She felt the pressure in her skull building, felt the weight on her chest closing in, in, in.

He could do nothing but watch her fall apart. He shouted as loud as he possibly could to try and tell her it was okay but it was no use. She couldn't hear his voice for the noise that pounded in her mind. His terror filled screams reverberated in her ears and she shook her head gently.

When she opened her eyes again and met his gaze he knew she was gone.

"Aella!" A new voice shouted, full of pain and sorrow, "Aella, help me!"

Josh...

The colour drained from her face when she heard it. Through the forcefield both Finnick and Johanna heard him too and his stomach dropped.

Aella turned her head and looked at the Jabberjay's surrounding her. That all he was; a stupid Jabberjay but it had been three years since she had last heard his voice and his pain pushed her over the edge entirely.

If they had been his final pleas when those Peacekeepers shot him mercilessly....

She fell toward that icy lake with such speed she couldn't even take a breath before she hit the water.

She dove toward the forcefield and pounded her fist against it violently while screaming. Tears ran down her face as the sound of her brother's voice screaming her name tore her apart. She couldn't feel anything but deep, gut-wrenching, anguish and she pounded the forcefield over and over and over again.

Finnick could do nothing but watch her from the other side. He tried to shout to her, tried to calm and soothe her but he knew she had little chance of hearing him.

"Finnick, help me!" Aella sobbed, face tight as she smashed her fist so hard against the forcefield she left blood in her wake. She didn't ease up and more and more blood smeared across the barrier separating them. Aella's fifth knuckle broke, the sound of bone snapping barely registering in her mind over the tightness in her chest, "Get me out of here. Please. Please, get me out of here, Finnick."

She couldn't breathe and the pain that split through her body, the mixed screaming of Finnick and Josh crying out for her help... it all became too much. Aella sobbed violently before she released a soul-shattering scream. She fisted her hands into her hair as her knees buckled underneath her weight and she fell to the ground, curling into a ball and covering her ears with her hands.

Her brother whose voice she hadn't heard in years... all she could picture was his pale body on that dark floor, his lifeless eyes. She had done that to him. She had failed him and her mother and her father.

She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until she could no longer breathe and by then she was deep into a panic attack with nothing and no one there to help anchor her out.

It was a rare kind of torture and one that completely shattered her mind from the inside out.

Finnick dropped to his knees with her on the other side, his hand never once leaving the forcefield as he tried to shout out to her but it was no use. He knew she couldn't hear him and the sound of his voice combined with her brothers tore apart his soul. He could only watch as she rocked back and forth and lost herself completely.

Within seconds they had completely unhinged her and he worried he wouldn't be able to put her pieces back together. He knew the immeasurable pain he felt looking at her was nothing compared to what she was feeling and when the hour was up and the forcefield broke all he could do was pull her into his arms and cradle her bleeding and broken fingers.

There was nothing behind her eyes after that hour had passed. No one was there. Aella had withdrawn so deeply Finnick was afraid he wouldn't be able to pull her back but he tried. He tucked her trembling body into his and placed his hand to her face, careful to avoid where the claws of the Jabberjays had scratched her face. He merely rocked them side to side gently, whispering in her ear. It didn't matter what he said to her.

All that mattered was that she heard his voice.

•   •   •

A/N; Finnick & Aella are killing me, I love them so much...the love they hold for each other is truly something else.

Next update Monday!