BLOOD ON MY HANDS || Finnick Odair

seventeen; victor.

The screams had woken him up from his daze.

He wasn't sure if he'd actually fallen asleep or if he was simply so exhausted and cold that his body had briefly given up. But guttural, pain-filled screams had broken him out of his stupor and left him trembling. At first, he thought something had happened to Cissy.

Instantly, he'd been alert with his frozen hands pressing her closer to his chest. His eyes had blearily opened though he was moving faster than he could begin to process. But the screams had continued.

Heart racing, Eden closed his eyes and settled back into the tree as he focused on the sound. There was hardly a break for breaths as the injured being seemed more focused on its pain. After being almost sure that he'd heard curse words thrown into the mix of agony, he felt a calmness wash over him.

It was Darius, and he was undoubtedly hurt.

Probably by the same mutts that had nearly killed him however many hours earlier.

The memory of that had him looking down at the slashed up portion of his calf. He almost threw up. While it wasn't incredibly deep, it was messy. Dried blood and mud was crusted all over his tattered pant leg, boots, skin; everything.

But it could've been worse, he reminded himself while tearing up the fabric of the nearest jacket. It could've been worse, he reminded himself as he wrapped the scraps around his wounded leg. It could've been worse, he reminded himself as he bundled Cissy up in the remains of everything else he had.

Jacket after jacket before finally covering that in the plastic sheeting they'd used to catch water for drinking. He fed her and coddled her until she'd fallen into a deep enough sleep that she didn't move when he set her down in the final jacket. That, he'd turned into a make-shift cradle. Attached it to various branches with rope and whatever else he could fine until she was laying on it in a way that she wouldn't fall if she rolled.

Admittedly, the thought of leaving her in the tree was something he would rather kill himself than have to do. He didn't want to leave her unprotected. But if everything went to plan, all the drama would be surrounding him and Darius so the Capitol wouldn't have to focus on anything else.

Eden settled a hand gently over her chest for a moment, tears filling his eyes. As they blended in with the mist dripping out of his hair, he let a few fall. Then he pressed a short kiss to her forehead, gritted his teeth, and began his descent to the ground.

It was time to finish the job.

•••••

His leg ached.

It had been just over an hour since he'd left Cissy in that tree. Each step he took away from her went against every instinct within him that was screaming to turn around and hide with his baby until Darius died of his wounds.

But he had spent the majority of his nights thinking of the way that sword had slid through Flora's chest. The way her eyes had widened as if she couldn't process what was going on. Her body crumpling to the ground.

The scene replayed over and over again in his mind until he no longer recognized his leg as the mangled mess it was. He hardly acknowledged it as it buckled with each step he took. Rage burned through him like a wildfire fire, fuelled by everything he had seen in his days within the arena.

He thought of Ivy and Volt, of Rin, of Lara and Beau and Flora and Cissy and the faces of all the lives he'd watched end. Of the moments that were supposed to have been beautiful and how they were turned nightmarish.

So yes, it would definitely be easier for him to wait it out, to sit in the tree until the final cannon went off. But he had made a promise that he had no intention of breaking. Only death was going to keep him from ending this with his own hands, just like he had promised Darius he would.