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"time is an illusion." - albert einstein
__________
Coralia and Finnick caught their breaths as Katniss and Peeta held the morphling in the water. Coralia wrapped her arms around Finnick.
"The fog, the monkeys...It doesn't make sense. I mean, the monkeys just... stopped. Like their time had run out." Finnick said nothing in reply; he seemed deep in thought.
"Finnick?" He turned towards her, smirking slightly.
"Marry me." Her eyes widened as Finnick spoke.
"W-What?" She choked out.
"Marry me. There's only one thing I know for certain in my life, and it's that I want to be with you forever. I want you to be my wife." If Coralia were in Katniss's situation, she would think this was a ploy. However, Finnick had no reason to lie about Coralia to the Capitol. She pressed her lips against his, and scrunched his hair in her hands. "Yes! Yes, I'll marry you." Finnick's head was resting on her shoulder, as Katniss and Peeta returned to the sand after the metal claw from the hovercraft had grabbed the morphling.
They were silent for a few minutes before the familiar sound of the silver parachute grabbed their attention. Coralia's lips parted in shock. As it came down towards her, she wrapped her hands around the metal.
"They haven't done anything like this since your games." Coralia notes, holding a brand new trident in her hands. Finnick smiled widely, and brought her attention to the note.
Keep fighting. Your TIME in the arena has been inspiring. A & M
Mags and Annie had come to her rescue. The word 'time' had been written boldly, which confused Coralia, but she was thankful for the weapon nonetheless.
"Let's find some food."
***
As they were eating the fish that Finnick had caught, they heard a girl screaming from the opposite side of the arena. A wave poured over the trees, and a canon sounded as the water reached their feet in the sand.
"That's new." Peeta furrowed his eyebrows. Katniss quickly grabbed an arrow out of her quiver, and readied her bow.
"Someone's here." She told them quietly. As the voices got closer, Coralia recognized them.
"Jo!" She yelled, sprinting towards the girl who was covered in blood. It wasn't coming from any wound; it was like it had been dumped over her head.
"Lia! Finnick!" Johanna shouted, waving at them. Coralia noticed that she had the tributes from 3 with her; Wiress and Beetee. Coralia embraced the girl soaked in blood.
"Tik tok." Wiress repeated, over and over again.
"Yes, I know. Tik tok." Johanna rolled her eyes.
"What's wrong with her?" Katniss asked.
"Shock." Beetee replied. Coralia noticed he had a large wound on his back. Johanna explained what had happened; the blood rain.
"That's when Blight hit the forcefield. He wasn't much, but he was from home." Coralia nodded, remembering the boy tribute from her district in her games. Blaze Keenwood. He was mean, and nothing but a bully, but it wasn't until his last moments that Coralia realized why.
Johanna became aggravated as Wiress rambled, and when Katniss and Johanna started yelling at each other, Coralia knew it would get ugly. Before it could get psychical, Finnick lifted Johanna over his shoulder, taking her away.
"Johanna isn't the enemy, Katniss." Coralia told the girl with the braid.
Katniss helped Wiress clean the blood off of her, while Johanna wiped the blood off of herself, a few feet away. Finnick was helping Beetee, which left just Coralia and Peeta.
"I, uh, heard what Finnick asked. I suppose a congratulations are in order." He smiled.
"I just hope we live long enough to see the wedding." Coralia remarked, sticking her trident in the stand. She could see Johanna walking towards them, considerably less bloody than before.
"Mrs. Coralia Odair..." Peeta joked.
"Did I miss something?" Johanna asked.
"Finnick asked Coralia to marry him." Johanna raised an eyebrow. "I'll never understand love."
***
Katniss has gathered them by the cornucopia, insisting that Wiress has figured 'it' out.
"This entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock, with a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge. It all starts with the lightning, then the monkeys. That's the first four hours. At ten, that big wave hits from over there." Katniss explained.
"That's why the monkeys randomly stopped attack us..." Coralia noted. It was why 'TIME' had been in bold in her message from Mags and Annie.
"Wiress, you're a genius!" Finnick exclaimed.
"But the tail points to twelve." Peeta gestured to the silver cornucopia.
"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight."
As Beetee questioned Katniss, Coralia noticed Wiress chanting nursery rhymes to herself.
"You wanna sit over here by the water? It always calms me down, but that may just be because I'm from 4." Coralia suggested, leading the middle aged woman towards the rocks that sat by the water. The woman continued to talk to herself, and Coralia stood next to her, making sure she was okay.
"Cora, come here for a second." Finnick called. She walked over to the group, seeing Peeta drawing a clock in the sand. He explained the time schedule; lightning, waves, blood rain, fog, monkeys...
The tributes turned around when they heard a gasp of pain, watching as Gloss stabbed a knife into Wiress's throat.
"No!" Coralia screamed. Before she could attack the man herself, Katniss had already put a bow in his chest. This was Coralia's fault. She got Wiress killed.
She didn't have time to mourn; she threw her trident and it landed in Cashmere's chest before she could hurt Katniss or Johanna.
The ground began to spin, causing the tributes to lose their balance. Both Johanna and Coralia screamed as Katniss fell into the water.
