DIVING || OC x Finnick Odair

Chapter 1

I was lucky, I supposed. District Four saw the reaping as more of a celebration, as an honor at being able to send your children to compete against the other districts, rather than a day of dread, as it was in the poorer districts. To return home as victor in District Four meant bringing pride for your district, rather than bringing back the shame of murdering fellow children. I had woken that morning, my stomach aching with anticipation, rather than cramps from distress.

My shoulders reacted, rising slightly, as a warm weight rested upon them, an instinct that I had been trained to have since I was young, protecting a vulnerable part of my body. The instinctive reactions would be beneficial within the arena, but for now they did nothing but be vexatious.

I turned my head upwards, the corners of my lips upturning as I recognized the figure that stood behind me. My father, an aging man, wrinkles caused by too much smiling. He was fairly tall, and broad, so that he resembled a bear, although not the type of bear that you would fear. He was an eminent fisherman, known by everybody who had encountered the docks for being a pleasant man that would always offer to help. My heart swelled with pride whenever I announced that he was my father.

"Hey kiddo," he said gently, his voice deep and gruff. He removed his calloused hand, moving forward so that I would no longer have to strain my neck towards him. "It's finally the day."

My father was the reason I had trained as a Career. He had trained himself during his adolescence, worked harder than any of the other children in his division, spending any and all hours of his day perfecting his survival skills. He had been selected to be a Careers tribute, despite being one of the youngest in his division, but less than a fortnight before the reaping, he got caught in a fishing accident, losing his leg. He had been unable to compete that year.

It was his biggest regret, he said.

So he passed his goals to his children, in the hope of living out his dream through us. My elder brother, Dorian, had never been ecstatic about the training, instead fooling around with the other boys his age by the docks, training himself to become a fisherman, much like our father. He would age out of the system this year. My younger sister, Cove, was not yet eligible to be reaped. She was petrified of the Hunger Games, hiding within my chest whenever our family would sit down to watch the annual televised footage. My father had accepted that she would never be Career material and had allowed her to resign from the Academy shortly after enrolling. He was content with having only one of his children being a tribute.

We began our descent towards the docks in mostly silence, each buried within our thoughts as we watched the sunrise, listening to the seagulls and the sounds of the waves crashing against the rocks. It had become a tradition, once I had become of age to be reaped, for the two of us to spend the morning before the reaping fishing, a tradition that was meant to bring luck for the upcoming event. My heart sank at the thought that was perhaps the last time I would be able to spend the morning with my father, fishing rod in hand.

My father's boat wasn't difficult to find, having been docked closer to our house than the other fishing boats. It wasn't a particularly grand boat, not like the Capitol ships that were docked closer to the wealthier section of District Four. It was fairly small, with barely enough room for five people, and had once been painted a sky blue, although now it was covered in dapples of the color, having been worn down throughout the years.

We were soon seated within the dinky boat, my father beginning to row us away from the dock and further into the vast ocean, while I fiddled with the lines of our fishing rods, detangling them and ensuring all our bait was safely contained within buckets. Eventually we arrived at our fishing location, the anchor was secured over the side of the boat, and our fishing rods positioned to reel fish in.