Never In Your Favor - Finnick Odair

10

"It's a dome," Katniss mumbled as she climbed down from the tree, "we're at the edge of the arena. We couldn't find any signs of fresh water."

Her and Peeta exchanged a worried glance, and Kaianna kicked a stone with a frustrated grunt.

"It's gonna get dark soon. We'll be safer with our backs protected," Finnick twiddled with the edge of his weapon, propping his elbow up on his knee, "we should set set up camp. Take turns sleeping. I can take first watch-"

"Not a chance." Katniss chuckled dryly.

Finnick put on his infamous smirk, digging his trident into the dirt to pull himself up, "Honey, that thing I did back there for Peeta? That was called saving his life. If I wanted to kill either of you, I would've done it by now."

Katniss looked to Kaianna, and Kaianna shrugged with a small smirk, "I- he's not wrong."

The young brunette from twelve flinched as Finnick picked his trident up with haste, and searched for a spot to stay.

"Why don't you get some rest," Katniss's tone turned soft as she spoke to her partner, "I'll take first watch."

"Just for a little bit." Peeta smiled weakly.

He took her lack of response, as a queue to go lay down, and followed her instructions immediately.

"Hey," The young girl's piercing blue eyes met Kaianna's in an unreadable way, "are you alright?"

The older woman took a seat next to her ally, and leaned her head back into the tree trunk.

"What do you think?" Katniss snapped.

"I'm sorry, are you mad at me?" Kaianna's tone was stern, almost as if she were reprimanding a child. In a way, she was.

"I- no-"

"Then stop acting like it," Her words came out cold, but she softened her expression at the apologetic one Katniss held. Kaianna stood up and brushed herself off, "don't stay up longer than you should. You're already dehydrated and over heated. Add sleep exhaustion to the mix and you'll have yourself one hell of a trip."

The young girl nodded, sending her ally away to get some sleep.

"How are you holding up?" Kaianna rephrased her question to the other half of the pair, as she sat down next to him.

"I've been better," Peeta smiled weakly, "but I'm not dead yet, so."

"Hey look at the bright side," Kaianna nudged the blonde boy's shoulder teasingly, "maybe they'll start calling you 'The Boy On Fire', huh?"

Peeta laughed as he remembered the sparks that flew once he made contact with the force field, "You should've lead with the fact that you were funny."

"I try," Kaianna shrugged, the smile from her face fading slightly when she made eye contact with Finnick. She couldn't read the look in his eyes but, it left her unsettled, "whatever, we should probably take the opportunity to get some sleep. Who knows when fire and ice will pipe up again."

Peeta sent her another small grin at her nicknames for Katniss and Finnick, and she returned one before laying back, and reluctantly letting her eyelids fall shut.

—————————————

"How's Peeta?" Finnick asked genuinely.

"He's ok, I think," Katniss nodded tiredly, "just dehydrated, like the rest of us."

Their conversation was cut off by the sound of the infamous anthem, that was meant to signify the listing of fallen tributes, being shown in the sky. Both Peeta, and Kaianna awoke at the sound. The woman from four cringed when she saw the face of the district ten woman she had impaled with her spear. She didn't know whether she should look away but, before she could truly bring herself to avert her gaze, the anthem was over. The projection in the sky, had faded away.