once upon a time • finnick odair

xx. am i too late?

Finnick didn't know what happened. All he knew was that there was a siren, and he, along with everyone else, was forced down to the bunker even more underground than the one they were originally in.

He sat in one of the beds, not knowing what else to do, and played with the one thing he had managed to save throughout all of this chaos.

"Hey. Can I sit?"

Finnick looked up to see Katniss looking at him and moved to sit upright to make room. "Yeah."

Katniss noticed the photo in his hands. "Devon?"

He looked much younger in the photo. The white streaks that Katniss often saw in his hair before the Games were nonexistent, along with the wrinkles in his eyes and stress lines on his forehead. He wasn't happier, but he was younger.

Finnick smiled. "He's handsome, right?"

Katniss didn't know how to reply, and bluntly went to the topic. "Snow's using Devon to punish you." Finnick didn't seem surprised. "He's taunting us with them. I didn't understand until just now watching that stupid cat."

Finnick looked at where Katniss was looking and saw her cat running around to catch the light.

Peeta.

Katniss was being haunted by Peeta.

"After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act," Finnick started. "We all expected you to continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta's heart stopped and he nearly died that... I knew I'd misjudged you. You love him." Katniss looked at him in confusion. She didn't seem to know how she felt about him either. "I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't even know yourself. But anyone paying attention can see it."

"How do you live with it?"

Finnick shrugged. "I drag myself out of nightmares and there's no relief in waking up. But... it's better not to give in to it. It takes 10 times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart."

Katniss's eyes landed on the picture again. "You really love him, don't you?"

Finnick smiled softly. "Yes. Yes. I do."

"How ... how did you meet?"

Finnick looked down at the picture and began to speak.

***

Haymitch did not know what kind of a conversation Katniss had with Finnick, but he knew that she was extremely distracted for sure, especially when the kid wasn't paying attention to a single thing anyone was saying.

"So Katniss, it's '13 is alive and well and so am I,'" said Effie, her perfect Capitol accent echoing throughout the tunnel they were walking through. Katniss didn't respond. "Katniss? Katniss. Never one to waste it in rehearsal, I know."

Effie muttered something under her breath, and the group finally came outside after a long time, all of them wincing at the sunlight.

And when Haymitch came into the light, he saw masses of white roses spread around the ground, covering every inch and not leaving any area without one.

"Why would they drop these?" Gale grumbled.

Katniss looked around wildly, and she whispered two words that Haymitch knew were true. "For me."

"Ready to go, Katniss?" asked Cressida. She didn't seem to mind Katniss' current state of mind. "We're gonna do this, just like District 8. Tell me about the roses. Tell Snow 13 is alive and well."

Katniss looked out at the sight before her, at all of the roses, before breathing out shakily. "He's gonna kill Peeta."

Cressida sighed. "Let's try again. Can you speak up? We don't have a mic on you. '13 is alive and well and so am I.'"