Yes I am terribly sorry for taking forever. I've been watching the Olympics all day till 12 pm and I've barely had time to even touch the computer.

Katniss' POV

Today is the day when the humans invade. Queen Coin says those pirates will return with more ships. According to her scouts, the humans will arrive sometime this evening. Everyone is preparing for the attack except me, Finnick, mother, and Prim. We are prohibited to participate, for obvious reasons, though I'm kind of glad because I know I cannot hurt another human ever since I laid eyes on Peeta Mellark.

That reminds me…there's a good possibility that Peeta might be on one of those ships. Maybe they didn't kill him. Why would they knock him unconscious instead of murdering him? Surely he has to be alive. I need to escape this cell if I'm to rescue Peeta. I must. I can't bear the thought of him not with me right now, let alone raising his child alone.

Then it hits me. Darius is our guard. He and I have always been on friendly terms with each other. Maybe he sympathizes with me, and he'll let us go. Maybe.

Everyone in our cell is asleep.

I can see Darius sleeping through the crack in the large stone that seals us from the outside world.

"Pssssst. Darius! Darius! Wake up!

"Uh…wha? Who's there!?"

He immediately positions his spear as if waiting for an attack. Typical.

"Relax. It's me."

"Oh, Katniss you scared me! What do you need anyways?"

"Darius, I need you to let us go. I beg of you."

"You want me to disobey the Queen's orders? I'll let you go, I hate her anyways. Where are you planning to go?"

Darius will never let me go if I tell him that I'm going to rescue Peeta. He will never allow a pregnant lady do such a dangerous feat.

"Coin is going to kill me after the battle ends. I plan on going somewhere far away to raise my child in peace."

"Fine…but please be careful."

He pushes the boulder out of the way, which awakens Finnick, Mother, and Prim. They stare at the guard wide eyed.

"Huh?" says Finnick.

"You're free to go."

"But my grandmother would never-"

"I know. But I hate her. I feel this is my way of showing her that she can't control all of us. You four must all leave immediately. Go somewhere faraway; because once this battle is over, the Queen will punish you!"

We immediately exit our confinement and we enter the main cavern which is completely abandoned except for a few children hiding among the rocks. Apparently everyone left to fight. We are soon faced with the vast blue sea again.

"Where are you going Finnick?"

"Away from here. I'm going to see Annie." And he quickly swims away, leaving just me, mother, and Prim.

"And you mother?"

"We're…following you. I thought you had a place in mind."

"I'm so sorry…but I won't be coming with you."

"What!? Why!?"

"I'm going to rescue Peeta."

"But you're pregnant! You'll get yourself killed!"

"Mom, I have to. I can't leave Peeta. I love him too much. I can't live out the rest of my life without him, and I can't raise the baby alone. I don't want my baby to live its life without a father like me and Prim."

Mother stiffens from what I said, and her eyes start to water.

"Katniss! Please let me come with you! I don't want you getting hurt!" cries Prim.

"I'm sorry. This is something I must do myself."

"Promise me you'll come back."

"I promise, from the bottom of my heart."

Peeta's POV

Sometimes I wonder how many times I've thought of death ever since I arrived in this hell hole. Every day, it's always the same. She always comes in; torturing me in ways I cannot even wrap my mind around. I cannot tell the difference between dreams and reality. Reality is my worst nightmare.

And he's been coming in too. Torturing and raping the girl next to me. I can barely remember her name, since my mind is in a complete mess. All she does is stare at the ceiling, body shaking, and wrists bleeding from the cuffs attached to the wall.

All I want right now is to be free of these binds and kill my torturers. Dozen of ideas drift through my mind of how to dispose of them once and for all.

Suddenly my train of thought is interrupted when Cato enters the room, a huge grin on his face. My blood boils in rage at the sight of him.

"Well sweetheart, did you sleep well last night?"

Last night. Just kill me.

Cato leans down and crawls over the girl, pulling down her filthy dress and begins groping her. I cannot watch. Hearing her pained moans though put me into an uncontrollable fit of rage. Cato notices and taunts.

"I bet you'll like to join in too."

I've had enough. Six months of this will be the death of me. As Cato continues his torture, I pull on the cuffs around my wrists. It's so dark in here that I don't know the state my hands are in right now, and I don't care. Then one of my hands slips through. And then the next. Maybe the blood has allowed me to slip through.

I don't think Cato notices because he's too busying molesting the girl. But I'm free. To do one thing.

I grab Cato's hair and punch him across the face. He lands on the ground, groaning in agony. I go on top of him, and repeatedly strike him over and over. Cato kicks my groin, emitting a pained gasp from my lips. I lie on the floor while Cato leans down on me and snickers.

"Think you can get away Lover Boy? How pathetic…not even that bitch…Katniss, loves-" as soon as he says her name, I wrap my hands around his neck to squeeze the life out of him. He gasps, and his eyes widen in terror. His attempts of pulling my hands from his neck are futile. This fucker will die. I squeeze even harder, and his face turns blue. He ceases to struggle and just stares at me, sheer horror evident in his eyes, which seconds later, turn lifeless.

Even when he is long dead, I still squeeze my hands around him, afraid that he will somehow return back to life. Back to torment me.

"Peeta, he's dead."

I turn my head towards the source of the voice, and I see the girl, Johanna, her eyes showing disbelief.

It's over.

I release Johanna from her bonds, and I grab Cato's sword, holding it tightly as we wait in the room in silence. Minutes turn to hours, as I think of a plan to bust out of here. Then I hear yelling, and screaming outside and I realize it's the perfect opportunity to escape. We go outside into the middle of a chaotic scene.

All around us there is men scurrying about, shouting orders to each, gripping their weapons like their life depended on it. Some men shiver in total fear.

Then we hear it. The singing. Their sweet melodic voices, their song as clear as a bell. Alluring and angelic. Deadly.

Some men foolishly go towards the sides of the ship, and soon, I notice the sleek, wet body of a woman on a balcony, face to face with a sailor. The man appears completely mesmerized by the lady, as if he's been hypothesized by her. The man leans in to kiss her, but the girl grabs his face, and drags him overboard. Other men notice, and soon, more mermaids appear, seducing everyone with their slender, erotic bodies. They entice me too, but my emotions are soon replaced by fear, then anger, and finally complete hatred.

One by one, each mermaid drags a sailor overboard, and the entire ship erupts into chaos. Swords are raised, and gunshots are heard. The mermen arrive next, launching out of the water to grab unsuspecting victims along the way.

A wet hand grabs the balcony, and a girl appears. Though this girl is very familiar with her swirling dark chocolate hair, and grey doe eyes. She climbs over a side and lands on her feet. She tentatively walks towards me, while I back away from her to the other side of the ship. She says my name in that sweet song of hers.

"Peeta."

"Katniss."

But as soon as I say her name, a desire over floods me. A desire to kill. I grab her neck tightly around her as she struggles for breath.

"What have you fucking done to me!? Traitor…"

Tears flow down her rosy cheeks, and I instantly feel a pang of guilt. I lessen my grip on her, and then I'm suddenly shoved backwards into the water. I am then face to face with another familiar face, with fury written all over his face. Surprisely, I find myself able to breathe underwater…

Gale's POV

I glare into the eyes of the man who tried to murder Katniss. He tried to murder my closest friend, the love of my life. No fucking way in hell I'll ever let this creature take her away from me.

Then I notice something. He isn't struggling for breath like the other humans I've drowned. No…he's breathing. What does this mean? What the hell is he? No matter…

"You fucking tried to take her life. MY LIFE! She's all I have, and you fucking wanted to take her from me!"

His blue eyes gaze at mine blankly, and I punch him on the cheek, sending him flying off towards some rocks. He hits with a thud, and glares at me vengefully.

I'll just have my fun with him. I thrash him around the boulders with my tail, and I grab his throat, and pull him even deeper into the sea. As we go under, a change appears all over his body. His pants rip off of him, revealing a fish tail, and I let go for him from utter shock.

How did he turn into one of us all of a sudden? How is that even possible? Then I remember what happened to Mr. Everdeen and now I realize…Katniss must have mated with him. Why on earth would she mate with him? This thought enrages me even more, and I am determined to bring him down.

His eyes darken, and he hisses, revealing a pair of razor sharp teeth. He smacks me away from him with his tail, but I lunge forward to give him more blows to the face. We struggle through the rocks, then after giving me one final blow, he swims off away from me. I give chase until he reaches the shore, and his tail transforms into a pair of legs and at this point I cannot reach him. I swim into the depths in disappointment.