The Perfect Truth: A Finnick Odair Novel

Chapter 7

A/N: i couldn't bear the thing where mags kisses finn on the lips in the book so i just wrote cheek instead im sorry guys

Warnings: death, killer fog, violence, fluff, flirting, most likely swearing

Word count: 1878

A new sense of fear runs through me. The fog targets our nerves. I yank Peeta forward, and he stumbles. By the time I get him to his feet, both our arms are twitching uncontrollably. And Peeta's legs: he can't even walk a step.

'Ryn!' My head whips round as Finn pulls me from my frozen horror. 'I'll carry him. You take Mags.'

I nod and let her get on my back. She's heavier than expected, and I'm not exactly big, but I think I've carried heavier. But my arms weren't spasming then. They are now.

I notice Finn, in the lead, is veering towards the seawater by the Cornucopia. I try to lengthen my stride, but my right leg gives away. I scramble back to my feet, but by the third time I crash to the ground, my leg won't cooperate. Mags rolls off beside me, and I grit my teeth in frustration.

'You take both,' I gasp to Finn, who's hovering a few feet away, silhouetted by the moon. He shifts on his feet, and now I can see his eyes, sea green and almost like a cat's in the way they almost glow. Maybe because they're filled with tears.

'I can't,' he says. 'My arms aren't working.' I see a tear roll down his face. 'I'm sorry, Mags, I can't.'

What happens next is so fast, I can't even move to stop it. Mags hauls herself onto her feet, kisses Finn on the cheek, and hobbles straight into the fog. She's seized by wild contortions, and then I can't even look. The cannon blasts, and I start to move. Dragging my useless leg behind me, I feel a lump in my throat for a woman I hardly knew, dead by the Capitol. By President Snow. By me, in a way.

And then there's just the animal's desire to survive. Moonlight glinting on Finnick's bronze hair - he moved in front at some point. Beads of pain peppering me everywhere. My leg turned to stone. Finn collapses, Peeta slumped on top of him. I carry on, unable to stop myself, and trip over their prone bodies, falling to the sand, my face in the water. It stings, and I jerk backwards. It's like rubbing salt in a wound. It is, in fact, and it gives me an idea. Slowly, I dip my hand in and see a milky substance leaching out of the blisters, the pain diminishing. Quickly, I strip off my belt, then my jumpsuit, putting one limb at a time. The jumpsuit seems to be half dissolved by the fog, but my undergarments and shoes are strangely unaffected, so I leave them on.

Once I'm done, I glance around. Peeta's followed me and is sitting in the shallows, eyes closed, so I choose not to disturb him. Finn, however, is lying face down in the sand, the first touch of water leaving him unwilling or unable to purge himself. Something tender rises in me. He lost Mags, who was half his family. He's been taken away from his home after being told he would never enter an Arena again. He's been made a goddamned prostitute. I crawl over to him and roll him over onto his back. He moans, his eyes puffy and red rimmed - with tears, I realise.

'Finn, hon,' I whisper gently. 'Get in the water. It hurts, but after a while it's a lot better.'

He shakes his head minutely, eyes still shut.

'Then I'll have to drag you,' I sigh, looping my arms beneath his armpits and dragging him a few inches to the water each time. Peeta recovers and cuts away Finnick's jumpsuit, and we submerge him in the seawater, one limb at a time. Once we've got him fully submerged, he keeps up this quiet but steady, heart breaking sort of whimper, his arms locked around my waist, so I lie down in the water beside him, stroking his hair like he's a child. I never thought I'd end up doing this when we got into the Arena, but then I never thought we'd end up like this; lose Mags like this.