The Assassin (Finnick Odair X OC)

Chapter Twenty-one: The New Home

Jewel frowns at that. "So you struck a deal with him before the games? That seems risky."

"Well, it paid off. He got to control what I did during them and I can't be controlled after." Treacherous thoughts are starting to get the best of me - all of the regrets that I'm beginning to have. I should have not taken that deal. I should have not let Alice kill James. I should have - no. I need to stop. "I - I'm not sure if I want to keep on being Viper. At the very least I'm going to take a break."

Her eyes soften. "That's okay."

I let out a sigh of relief that I didn't know I was holding in. I wasn't sure if she's going to be happy with this or not. It's good to know that she'll still stay by my side regardless of business. My mind shifts onto Viper and my conundrum with her.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I don't know if I have the heart to go right back into working for the highest bidder. Well, I was sure that I wasn't ever going to kill someone again and then I killed Keller. For whatever reason, his death didn't affect me as negatively as I thought it would. It made me rethink my plan of pretending that Viper doesn't exist anymore. Now, I'm deciding between two choices. I can either dissolve her entirely, which could have some dangerous repercussions. Including Jewel, I pay around seven people throughout Panem for information. My disappearance would leave some of them stranded and without income, and I'm not an asshole. I don't want to expose them and threaten their wellbeing. Also, if I stop being Viper, Snow will think I'm weak. The other option is to keep her active but try to cease or at least not do my own killing directly.

I speak after a few seconds. "I don't know what to do with Viper."

"I - why can't you just pretend that you got killed?" She asks. "It wouldn't be hard to fake your death."

"I can't make Snow think that I'm as fucked up by the games as I am." I admit. Jewel exhales at that; I think that was the first time that I verbally acknowledged just how bad the games affected me. "I think I'll just delay until people start asking questions and then make a decision."

"Okay, I assume you have enough money to wait for a while." She nods.

I nod to that.

Something flickers through Jewel's eyes. It's something that I can't explicitly make out, but it shows that she wants to tell me something. "What?"

She lets out a small huff. "I just - don't feel pressured to do anything that you're not comfortable with, regardless of Snow. I'll go and fucking kill him if I need to."

I smile at the idea of that. "That wouldn't hurt."

"It might hurt him." She replies, chucking a little.

My smile widens a little.

Jewel waits a few seconds before she speaks, her voice a little happier than it was before. "Oh, guess who moved all of the shit from your house into this new place?"

My eyebrows raise. "Really?"

That was my day plan, actually - to move everything from my old house into this new museum-like establishment. I may not like the decor at all, but it is a much better house than where I was living before. There is a lot more space and, frankly, I would be stupid not to take advantage of it.

Jewel nods, her eyes brightening at my clear happiness for what she did. "I left the furniture and most of your decorations, but I brought all of your clothing and such. I even found your motorcycle and parked it out back."

A small laugh escapes me. "I stashed that in a bush before the reaping."

"A fucking prickly bush too." Her voice turns serious. "And I emptied out your shed into the basement of this place."