Don't Drown | Finnick x OC

Relief

Isla's pov

"Is it just me," I puffed. "Or are we walking at a tilt?"

We had been continuing along the edge of the arena for some time now and nothing seemed different to me. Our surroundings were just as hot and vine filled as before. But still, something was off.

"Meaning?" Peeta asked.

I stopped and turned to face them.

"It feels like we're walking along a curve, almost like a giant circle." I tilted my hand to further convey my point.

Katniss looked at me, then looked at a tree near us.

"Hold on." She said, and began to climb.

"She's so... chatty." Finnick quipped.

I gave him a look.

We watched her climb for a minute or two before Peeta spoke.

"So, can I ask–"

He seemed to cut himself off. But he was looking at me, so I arched my brow.

"You saved my life back in the water, I think you've earned a question." I said.

"Well, you both have saved mine twice already so I'm not sure if that logic holds." He chuckled to himself. "But here goes. Your..." He seemed to cast around for a word. "...abilities. Is it triggered by all music? I mean how does the national anthem at the end of the night not trigger you?"

"It does." I said matter of factly. "I usually just try to be asleep for it, or get myself far away from anybody." I paused a moment before adding, "Or close to my enemies."

I smiled a bit ironically. The Gamemakers hadn't thought things through when they put in whatever they did to me. They hadn't thought about the music all around us. The notes of wind chimes, or a mockingjay's song, for example.

Peeta stared at me with a mixture of shock and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on. Finnick just gave me a pained look. He knew the ins and outs of whatever was in my head. He'd been the one to hold me when the dreams haunted my sleep or talk me back to reality if the fiddle began to play at home. I know he thinks he can do it here, but the music they play to induce battle is different. Whether he likes it or not, I plan on running like hell the second I hear the first note.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Katniss landed back on the ground with a thud.

"The forcefield. It's a dome. We're at the edge of the arena. I couldn't find any signs of fresh water."

That last part was what made the crinkle appear between my brow. There's no way the Gamemakers would put us all here without fresh water. This all would be over too quickly.

"It's gonna get dark soon." Finnick began in his commanding drawl. "We'll be safe with our back protected, we should set up camp. We can take turns sleeping, I can take first watch." 

"Not a chance." Katniss responded, immediately.

I rolled my eyes, knowing where this would go.

"Honey," Finnick began. "That thing I did back there for Peeta. That was called saving his life. If we wanted to kill either of you, we would have done it by now."

I somehow managed to roll my eyes even harder at the looping of me into this scenario. Finnick walked off, annoyed. Odds are he was looking for a food source. I left him be. He needed to cool off.

"He's a real warm and fuzzy kind of guy, isn't he?" Peeta made an attempt at a joke as I moved sit against a tree.

"About as much as your fiancé." I quipped and leaned my head against the bark, finally letting a little bit of the tension release in my shoulders.

It would be dark soon, I wanted to be asleep before the Fallen Tribute Song began.

Finnick's pov

I watched her sleep. She was sitting up with her back against a tree, but I could tell she was asleep. Her eyebrows twitch when she's dreaming. I was used to sitting up and watching her sleep. When she first came back from her games she had nightmares every night. She would try to apologize, tell me they weren't that bad and that I should sleep too; but I couldn't make myself. I just wanted her to have an easier time than I did.

I smiled a bit at the memory. We were still kids then, 15 and 16 years old, but I would sneak in her window at night.

I felt a wave of remorse for Katniss and Peeta. They hadn't even gotten to recover, not before they were thrust back into it. 

It was funny. I thought I had finally understood Katniss, and her relationship with Peeta. I swore it was fake, all of it. But she was genuinely so scared when I was administering CPR. If Isla hadn't held her back she probably would've killed me. Though, I'd never tell her that she was close to capable.

She sat next to me on the rock as Peeta slept also.

"How's Peeta?" I asked, softly, not wanting to wake either of them.

"He's okay, I think." She responded, her throat raspy. "Just dehydrated like the rest of us."

A few seconds of silence passed before the Fallen Tribute Anthem began to play. My eyes, instead of darting up like they normally would have, shot to Isla. She stayed asleep but her leg twitched in a sharp motion and her eyes squinched, like she was having a bad dream, but I knew what this was.

I flew up, reaching her and putting a hand on her exposed cheek and another on the leg that was twitching violently.

"Shhh it's okay." I whispered, hoping she could hear my voice and wishing that they'd turn down whatever damned speakers played so loud. "Fight it. You're here with me, just fall back into sleep."

I used a calming voice that normally only she got to hear. But, well, desperate times.

The song finished and the light from the projected images faded so we were back into our artificial darkness. The second the sounds stopped, so did her twitching. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back on the rock.

"What did they do to her?" Katniss asked with mild horror in her voice that she was probably trying to conceal.

I bristled at the thought of Isla looking any less tough and strong as she really was.

"Same thing they do to all of us. They were just more open about it."

She probably would have responded if it hadn't been for the beacon of the sponsored parachute that distracted us both. I glanced at Isla before following Katniss to look at it. I would wake her if it was important, she needed sleep more.

"What is it?" I whispered after Katniss opened the capsule.

"It's from Haymitch." She responded, still considering the odd shaped object in her hand. "I think it's a spiel."

"A what?" I asked, never having heard the term before.

I watched her grab a large rock and begin to pound the object into a tree. Peeta had woken and came up behind us. We watched with bated breath for something, anything to happen. Then it did. Water came out of the tap and I suddenly got it: it was in the trees.

"You're kidding me!" We all laughed with glee.

I ran over to wake Isla.

"Isla, love, you have to see this. Come on." I said as I shook her shoulder.

Out of instinct her hand grabbed my wrist in a vice-like grip, but she eased at once when she saw it was me.

"Fin, what..." She trailed off but then saw Katniss and Peeta drinking from the spiel. "Water!" She said with relief.

After drinking our fill and individually praising Haymitch for sending the thing, we drifted off, one by one. I meant to stay up but that was the first moment of relief I felt this past week. 

(She's finally updating! I'd apologize for the several months long delay but I have no good excuse, so I hope you enjoy these chapters. Here's hoping I finish up this summer.)