Puzzle Pieces • Finnick Odair

C H A P T E R 5 4

Katniss walked into the Command room with Boggs and heard Peeta's voice, "tonight, we've received reports of derailed trains, of granaries on fire, and of a savage attack on the hydroelectric dam in District 5." Peeta had purple bags forming under his eyes. "I'm begging for restraint and decency."

Beetee managed to overpower the Capitol's showing of Peeta, due to the power cut, as Katniss' video in 12 began to play.

The screen changed again to show Peeta before changing again. Peeta sees the propo with teary eyes, asking for Katniss. Caesar pushes Peeta to continue. He reluctantly complied, "the attack on the dam was a callous and inhuman act of destruction.." his voice is cut off by the propo again. "Think about it. How will this end? What will be left? No one can survive this. No one is safe now. Not here in the Capitol. Not in any of the Districts." A look of realisation flashes in his eyes. "They're coming Katniss," he warns, "they're gonna kill everyone. And in District 13 you'll be dead by morning," he manages to say as he's dragged from the room and the camera cuts off.

Coin calls a code red alert.

'This is a code red alert. Please, remain calm and begin evacuation protocol. Proceed in an orderly fashion to your nearest stairwell and descend to level 40. Blast doors will close in four minutes.'

The mechanical voice repeated the message over and over again as a steady beeping sounded, the lights flickered as people began hurrying down the stairs, screaming in panic.

'Blast doors are now sealed.'

Katniss reunited with her family, having found out Prim went back for her cat.

Once Finnick got to the bunker, he made sure to find everyone down there, ensuring they had all got there safely.

He checked that Mags (his mentor and friend), Jacob and Kylo (the love of his life's remaining family) and Katniss Everdeen (his friend) had all made it on time.

He then sat on his bunker ,alone, tying knots with the rope in his hand as the explosions continued and lights flickered. As people gasped and screamed, he remained unaffected. He didn't flinch, not when debris fell onto the floor beside him, or the bunk bed rattled, not even when the lights shut off. He had been through worse.

When the lights cut off completely, it's caused panic to rise further. Everyone turned on their light, resulting in the room being lit by a low yellow glow. People huddled together as the ceiling cracked and more debris fell.

After a while, things had calmed down and people were sat on both the top and bottom beds.

Katniss approached Finnick, who had been curled up on his bed, a picture of him and Jessica on the beach laughing in his hand. They stood next to each other, Jessica laughing at something he had said, her contagious smile etched on her face that he longed to see. Finnick had his arm thrown lazily around her shoulders, his gaze full of admiration on Jess and only Jess. "Hey," she spoke softly, interrupting his thoughts, "can I sit?"

"Yeah," Finnick nods, sitting up to make room for Katniss.

"Snow's using Jessica to punish you. He's taunting us with them. I didn't understand until now watching that stupid cat." Katniss thought back to her actions just moments ago when she had been taunting Prim's 'stupid' cat with a torch.

Finnick sighs, "after your first Games, I thought the whole romance thing was an act. Like mine and Jess supposedly was, except our feelings were never fake, she just didn't know yet and.. and I was too nervous to say anything," he let out a weak laugh, "I guess I was scared to lose her if she didn't feel the same way." He lifted his gaze from the picture to Katniss' eyes, "we all expected you to continue that strategy. It wasn't until Peeta's heart stopped and he nearly died that I knew I'd misjudged you. You love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't even know yourself. Jessie didn't for a while. But anyone paying attention can see it."

"She's always loved you too, you know." Katniss looks at the picture with a smile as she thought of the lost girl she had grown to like. Her smile dropped, "How do you live with it?"

"I drag myself outta nightmares and there's no relief in waking up. Not without her. But it's better not to give in to it." He paused for a second. "Takes 10 times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart."

AN: had to end with that iconic line. Couldn't resist.