Tidal Wave; A Finnick Odair Fanfiction

Catching Fire; Victory Tour

Y/n's POV

I always wondered what life was like before the Hunger Games. It was a brutal punishment designed to keep the district from rebelling, and the tradition had gone on for 74 years. Every year, two tributes from each district, a male and a female, would be selected to fight to the death in an arena. To make things worse, the event was televised, so mothers and fathers and siblings and friends would be forced to watch whoever they knew die. So like I said, it was brutal. And I knew how cruel the games were firsthand.

I won the 67th Hunger Games which occurred 8 years ago. I was only 16, but I guess that's better than being selected at 12, right? Anyways, my games took place in an alpine biome. There were rocky cliffs, rivers, meadows, and the huge lake in the center of the arena that the cornucopia floated on. My games were a difficult part of my life, and I wouldn't have gotten through it without my best friend and mentor, Finnick Odair. He won his games two years prior to me at the age of 14, which made him the youngest victor ever. Since then, the two of us had become closer due to the various tragedies we've faced. It was weird though, having feelings like these for my best friend, but thankfully Finnick returned them, and we got together after a few years of us trying to figure out what we wanted. However, we had to keep them hidden. If the Capitol found out that we were together, he'd just become someone else they could use against me, and me the same for him. What I didn't know though was that things were about to become a lot worse.

"Finnick!" I call out into the house as I closed the door behind me. "You up yet?!"

When I didn't get a response, I trekked deeper into the house towards Finnick's bedroom, where I found him still asleep and snuggled up in blankets. I admired how peaceful he looked, wishing I could have had the same type of sleep the night before. Nights were always the hardest for me, and usually I would have spent the night here at Finnick's house. But I knew he needed his space just like I did, because after all, the victory tour was happening today. While I didn't want to wake Finnick, we had to be down at the town square in an hour, so he needed to start getting ready. I shook his shoulder softly, urging my boyfriend to wake up, and he did, but following that he did something unexpected. Finnick's eyes shot open, and he grabbed my wrist, flipping me onto the bed before pinning me down under him.

"Y/n?" Finnick murmured sleepily. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were......."

"A peacekeeper? The nosy lady from down the street? Mags? Fin, I'm the only one who ever has the nerve to wake you up," I remind him. "Katniss and Peeta are stopping here on their Victory Tour today. We're supposed to meet them, remember? So I need you to get off of me."

"Admit it. You love being in my bed," Finnick teased.

"Only when you have no clothes on," I joke back and slide myself to the edge of the bed. "I'll meet you outside in 45 minutes. Please don't be late."

"I never am," Finnick retorted.

Finnick was true to his word. 45 minutes later he met me outside of his house, which was right across the street from mine. The two of us lived in the Victor's Village, a street set up to house District 4's victors of the Hunger Games. An older woman named Mags, a girl my age named Annie, and 3 other males lived in the village. While I knew and spent time with Annie and Mags, and obviously Finnick, I didn't talk much with the other victors.

"You think the peacekeepers will let me have a word with Katniss today?" I question.

"Um, I'm not sure," Finnick responded. "How keen are you to having your head taken off?"

I laughed. "Finnick, I'm serious. I'd really like to talk to her."

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I mean, you are a victor, so that should give you an edge," Finnick put forth.

"That's all I needed to hear," I tell him and send a small smile in his direction. "But uh, you do know what today means, right?"

"The tributes for the next Hunger Games will be announced in about a week. And then we'll have to teach two new kids on how not to die," Finnick spoke.

"You know we have to mentor them, right? I mean, Mags is old, Annie hasn't been the same since her games, and all of the other victors are assholes who won't bother to share anything. If we want these kids to have a shot, it's gotta be us," I declare.

"I know," Finnick breathed out. "I just wish that we didn't have to. All I want to do is forget about the games and just live my life. Live our life."

"You and me both," I agree and kiss him quickly, only after making sure that no one could see us.

"All right. Let's get this stupid tour thing over with," Finnick grumbled.

Katniss and Peeta gave a beautiful speech about how the games only strengthened their love for each other, and part of me was jealous of that. They were able to showcase their romance to Panem while I had to keep my relationship with Finnick a secret. But I pushed all of those thoughts aside, and as soon as the speech was over I made my way towards them. As a victor of the district, I had a pretty good spot in the audience, so I was able to catch up to them pretty quickly.

"Katniss!" I shout and jog to catch up to her. "Hold on a second. Do you have a minute to talk?"

"I'm not sure," Katniss admitted.

"I'll go distract Haymitch and Effie," Peeta offered and squeezed my shoulder, sending a smile Katniss' way before heading off in the other direction.

"I'm not sure if you know me or not, so I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm Y/n," I greet her.

"Yeah. You won around 8 years ago," Katniss recalled.

"Yep. That's me," I confirm.

"I remember watching your games as a little girl. My whole family rooted for you," Katniss told me.

I smiled. "Really? Why?"

"Well for one, you were from District 4, which is a wealthier district, but you didn't let that get to your head like the other Careers. And I remember you saying in an interview that you had a younger brother to get back to. What was his name? Nathaniel?" Katniss guessed.

"Nate," I correct her as an overwhelming wave of sadness engulfed me. "His name's Nate."

"Right. I just remember thinking you and I were so similar since I had my younger sister Prim. She's the whole reason I pushed myself to win last year," Katniss stated.

"You volunteered for her," I remember. "That was uh, that was really brave. It's weird, when you think about it, because you never think you or someone you know is gonna be reaped because the odds are so low. But then it happens, and you don't know how to feel or what to think. So for you do that......"

"You're not the first one to say that, but thank you," Katniss murmured.

"Anyways, I know you've gotta head out to District 3 soon, so I won't keep you long. I just wanted to talk to you about mentoring. It's gonna be you and Peeta's first year doing it, and while I have no doubt that Haymitch was a great mentor, I thought you'd want some tips to help you out," I figure.

"That'd be great, actually," Katniss confessed.

"Cool. Okay so as you know, there's always a day or two reserved for training. A lot of people suggest that you try a little bit of everything to make sure you can survive off of your surroundings and be versatile in weaponry. But I think it should be the opposite. Tributes should find something they're good at and stick to it. Like why use a bow if you've never shot before? Does that make sense?" I quiz.

"Yeah. It does," Katniss answered.

"Good. So like I was saying, practice one type of weaponry, maybe two, but always make sure your tributes know the survival skills: firemaking, knots, scavenging," I list off. "Because as you and I know, those skills are crucial."

"Katniss, we've gotta go," Peeta announced from the other side of the square.

"Thank you for talking to me. I appreciate it," Katniss revealed and shook my hand.

"No problem," I return. "I uh, I hope you and Peeta do well. I know how difficult it is to be in the spotlight after killing people, but it'll all be over soon. Oh, I should warn you though, the Capitol is pretty intense. Just stick with the people you know and you'll be fine. Good luck."