Sea of Flames | f. odair

CHAPTER 22 | THE VICTOR

It was just them in the dressing room. But it wasn't really. They were always watching—the Capitol. She would never be free from them. She was a victor, the newest to add to their collection. They would rip her apart until they sucked every piece of her soul out of her body. What was left of her soul, that is. And she would give it to them, willingly, because she didn't have a choice.

She squared her shoulders. No slouching. "Lets go."

Finnick let her walk away from him.

Cassia waited off to the side of the stage, listening to the roar of the crowd pulsing the building and making the ground shake. Her mouth was still dry from what had happened in the dressing room. Frustration filled her when she thought about it. The way Finnick held her, shaking her back to reality, worry stricken across his face. She didn't want his pity or his help. The Games were over. He only helped her in the arena because he was her mentor, it was his job. Likely, he felt bad for her.

"The victor of the 70th Hunger Games, Cassia Sommers!" Caesar Flickerman introduced her, extending his arm to where she would emerge from the darkness of backstage.

The bright lights blinded her. Squinting, she reached where Caesar stood in a satin orange suit, his hair and eyebrows stained the same color. He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her to the sofa she had sat on during her three-minute interview. She glanced at the crowd.

Eccentric faces smiled and cheered at her, throwing flowers and gold coins onto the edge of the stage. A man with a very sharp nose and cheekbones bit his lip when she made eye contact with him, and a woman with short lime-green hair and jewels embedded in her skin screamed, "I love you!" when Cassia made brief eye contact with her.

"They love you!" Caesar laughed, showing his very straight, white teeth.

Cassia forced herself to smile. "I love them." That got her another deafening roar of the crowd. She thought her eardrums would burst, but thankfully Caesar got them quiet at the mention of re-watching her Games.

This was what she had been dreading most.

When it first started, she saw herself emerging from the catacombs, the sway of the long grass curling with the wind. The camera zoomed in on her face, highlighting the way her eyes darted around the field and the flush in her cheeks at the rush of adrenaline. When the gong went off, she bit her tongue so hard she thought it would bleed.

She laughed when the crowd did and smiled sadly when she heard people weeping. Many cried when Azalea and Griffin died.

The girl on screen that was supposed to be her looked like death itself. Her cheeks were hollow and covered in scratches and blood. Her lips were chapped and split, and the leg that got hit with the axe was far worse than she remembered. The bone was visible from the angle of the camera and the blood that followed made it look like she should have been dead a long while ago. Dirt was crusted on her face and in her fingernails and clothes.

Seeing everything happen to her all over again from a different perspective made her question how she had survived. She was a corpse walking toward the finale.

The Gamemakers got shots of her swimming under the water. There was a brief clip of Clio being swept by the wave and thrown against a tree, her back breaking upon impact. Ezra was the only one that managed to get away by some sheer luck.

It ended with a close-up of her kneeling in the bloody water, listening to Claudius Templesmith announce her victor. Her beaten, wild face was perplexed. Her eyes were dilated and her nostrils flared; Cassia looked like a savage animal. The human part of her was gone when she mercilessly killed Ezra, a dying boy trying to save himself.

No one decent ever wins the Games.

Caesar asked her a few questions, but the one that she remembered was when he asked, "Now that you've won, what are you going to do?"

She glanced down at her hands that were folded in her lap, thinking for a second. She looked up at Caesar when she knew what she wanted to say. "I made a promise to my family I would come back to them, and I intend to keep it."

Caesar gave her an emotional smile, his eyes watering. "And so you shall, Cassia Sommers, victor of the 70th Hunger Games."

After the interview, she was to receive a crown and bouquet of flowers from the president.

She stood on a balcony where they held the opening ceremony with the chariots. There were so many people filling the stands they looked like little dots of technicolor. When President Snow came from a set of double doors, she felt a shiver go down her spine.

His hair was as white as ever and his lips were unnaturally puffy. He lifted the gold crown off the velvet pillow it was on and as he placed it on her head, she could smell his overtly sickening sweet scent. She stared into his green eyes; a man that held the most power in Panem, a man that could have her killed in an instant.

He smiled at her. "Congratulations."

She smiled back. "Thank you."

He admired the crown on her head. "Wear your crown carefully, Miss Sommers. You never know when it might fall."

She knew that he knew about her private training session; how she scratched a rebel cry into the permanent cement with a knife they had given her. He wanted her dead, and he wanted her to know that. And he could do it—kill her. A year after the victory tour he could do it, say she was in a tragic accident. Everyone would mourn her, but they would move on. Yet, Cassia was aware of her own power. If she could make one boy fall in love with her . . . then why not all of Panem?

A/N: omggggggg my queen is rising! she's such a bad bitch i love her. i love how she isn't perfect too.

this completes part one of the story! i just want to take this little moment to thank you all for reading the story so far. after writing infelicitous i wasn't sure if people would want to read another finnick story but i think this one is so different from that one that it makes up for it in its own way. i really am excited to write cassia and finnick's story! this is just the beginning hehehe.

i would also like to reiterate the disclaimer that i have in the beginning of the story: there are darker themes to this book that deal with sexual assault, PTSD, depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, violence, and sexually mature themes. if you are not comfortable with any of that please consider reading a different book.

now, buckle up bc its gonna be a hell of a ride from here on out lol. xx