The Tribute From the Ocean (A Hunger Games Fan Fiction)

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I had slept for seven days. That's what everyone had told me after I woke in s plain, empty, white room.

I sat on a bed in a white gown that barely covered my back and stared into a mirror.

Half of my hair had been replaced by scarring on part of my head and to the left of my nose, my skin had been burnt off by the lava. They had done surgeries and skin grafts, they said, but I didn't remember anything. They had worked the last seven days to try and make me presentable for my interview.

My arm had been burnt and scarred and was now bandaged. I was told it got the worst of it.

I spent the last hour staring at my dull reflection in the mirror trying to piece together the events of the last two days in the arena.

All I had gotten was that Brandon was dead and with some miracle I had won the games.

"Your mentors are here to see you now." Someone who had met me when I woke told me. I nod and make my way to the door. My legs hurt and were stiff. I looked nothing like whoever I was before the games; when Finnick and Annie had last seen me. I definitely didn't look anything like the girl I had once been back home fishing and walking on the beach.

I look down the white hallway which mimicked the room I had just been in.

My eyes met Finnick's and his face fell, similar to how mine had when I'd first waken up and realized I was alive.

For the first time since I had woke up, I had been genuinely emotional. My bare feet padded on the ground as I tried to run to meet Finnick. His arms held me close to him and right enough so that I couldn't leave. Tears slipped down my cheeks and at this point I didn't care.

"It hurts. Everything. It hurts more than anything." I cry.

"I know." He whispers. "I know."

He waits for a few minutes before pulling away and looking at my face.

"Riverlily is going to get you ready." Finnick tells me. "They want to do your interview today."

I stumble backward and clutch my hands in each other. Finnick puts one hand behind my back and holds me up.

"It'll be alright." He tells me though neither of us thought it would. I remember what I told me before I had entered the arena.

You never leave the games.

I now knew what he meant.  I let him guide me with a hand on my back. Annie had smiled sympathetically on me and offered her hand when I nearly fell.

They had both helped to escort me to a small room l met Riverlily in.

"You'll be okay?" Finnick asks. I nod just barely.

"I hope so." I admit and go into the room lined with grey. There were velvet seats and a few long mirrors I tried to avoid. Riverlily was on the other side of the room with a tight, neat bun set on top of her head. Her makeup was as shiny as ever but her eyes were dull when she looked at me.

"How are you doing?" She asks me with a light smile. I focus hard on the world around me to keep from swaying and manage to smile back at her.

"Just a little hungry." I shrug though I wasn't too hungry.

"Well good. I have tea and cookies for us after we get you ready." She smiles at me and motions for me to come to her.

"Where is the rest of my prep team?" I ask her as I walk toward her.

"They all thought it would be best to not have a lot going on around you before the interview. Might be a little hard to handle." She tells me with a slight frown. "I don't understand it since they are about to bombard you with cameras on the interview."

"I guess that doesn't make a lot of sense." I say softly as she examines my face.

"They told me to show off your scarring. They want you to look stronger." She says.

"Did they want a Before and after of the hunger games?" I ask sarcastically. Riverlily looks at me with a sad expression and sits me in one of the chairs.

I couldn't see half of what I used to. I guessed I had lost my eye and they had replaced it with a fake one. It felt different and unnatural.

Riverlily brings a small table with wheels on it to me and starts her work on my face. She paints me with the pale color of my expression now and tries to make me look confident by adding thin eyeliner and glitter on my eyelids. She didn't add makeup on the scarred side of my face.

She did good on my makeup, for me to look so ugly. Even with the tattered side of my face, I did look pretty and it was weird. She starts on my hair, which she does in a thick majestic braid down my back. I cringe at How straw-like my hair had became. Before she started on the braid she had used multiple treatments on my hair but it was still brittle. She put enough products in it to make it look decent though.

"Look at you." Riverlily smiles and shows me the mirror. I don't smile, nor show any happiness. I wish they hadn't left my face so... natural. After seeing the look on my face she pulls me into a hug and smiles sadly. "It's going to be okay."

"Is it? Does it really get better?" I ask and turn to face her.

"Look at Finnick and Annie." She smiles at me through the full length mirror in the wall.

I try and smile back but that was the thing. It was Finnick and Annie. They hadn't lost each other. They didn't go through this pain.