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Finnick let out a breath of relief as he watched Ansel climb up onto the rocky terrain of the cornucopia, having been worried that the boy would fall seeing as he didn't have the best balance. Finnick distinctly remembered Ansel falling off of the gauntlets during training. He made sure to quickly grab Ansel into a hug after that, gasping the boy tightly. “You’re okay?” He rhetorically asked, gently squeezing Ansel’s arms as he pulled away from the hug.
“Yeah, yeah.” Ansel nodded, smiling softly up at Finnick as he balanced himself on the rocks. It always warmed his heart to see how much Finnick truly cared for him. He would never push away Finnick's efforts to protect him as Ansel knew he wasn't that strong, therefore, he welcomed all the help he could get.
“Good. Now go grab a sword.” Finnick smiled, pointing his chin towards the middle of the cornucopia where some weapons resided. The group was actually fairly surprised that the careers hadn't camped out in the cornucopia as they so often did during the Hunger Games. However, seeing as all tributes had been in the games once before and knew what to expect, as well as the cornucopia being in the middle of the water, it made sense that the careers wouldn't do the expected.
Ansel nodded in agreement before following the command that was given to him by Finnick. His other sword had fallen out of his hand and gotten lost when he was blinded by the blood rain, so it would do the boy good to get another one. The District Five male directed himself over to the sword rack, where he picked out a relatively large blade, but it was small enough for him to not be weighed down. But as he began to inspect a few more weapons, he heard the sharp intake of breath from Wiress. Ansel quickly turned around and looked back at her, only to see that her throat had been slit by Gloss. The male gasped in shock, although he hadn't been able to think too much of the death of his ally as not even a second later, a spear tip was being pressed against his back.
“So we meet again.” A dark voice chuckled and Ansel didn't even have to look to recognize that it was Brutus who had spoken.
Ansel let out a quiet squeak, sadly, not loud enough for Finnick to hear. His heart pounded loudly in his chest, fear taking control of him. He had already fought Brutus once before and wouldn't have escaped if hadn't have been for Johanna. He didn't know how he'd be able to survive another fight with the male.
“I'm going to enjoy this,” Brutus commented darkly as he pressed the spear harder against Ansel's back. The tip broke through skin slightly, some blood already beginning to leak out.
“I bet you will.” Ansel muttered, ignoring the pain in his back as he reared back his arm before slamming his elbow right in the middle of Brutus’ gut. The male groaned in pain as he clutched his stomach, but only for a moment as then he was recovering and attacking Ansel once more. “Finnick!” The boy yelled out, said boy immediately coming to his aid as he wrestled Brutus off of the much smaller boy. Katniss, having seen their struggle, shot Brutus, who quickly went around the other side of the cornucopia to hide. Katniss quickly jogged after him, leaving the two boys with a brief moment alone. But Brutus wasn’t dead; he had only sustained an injury. Ansel was still a target.
“I should've killed him when I had the chance.” Finnick growled, anger making itself known in him as he thought of the male who had hurt the one he loved for now the third time.
“I'm fine and that's all that matters right?” Ansel spoke, not wanting Finnick to dwell on things too much as they hadn't any time for that. “But let's just get out of here.”
Finnick paused, thinking over what Ansel had said - obviously in a war with himself as he debated what he should do - before he eventually nodded his head. The two then walked of the cornucopia to see Johanna along with Beetee, holding back Peeta from running after Katniss. Ansel glanced to his left to find Cashmere, dead, with an axe in her chest.
The group didn't get to rest for long as all of a sudden, the ground was moving out from under them. All the tributes went flying, tumbling down the rock floor of the cornucopia as the island spun around wildly. Ansel looked down just as Cashmere’s body flew off and into the water. From just one look, he knew that one would not survive the fall. He also knew that if he was to be launched into the rocky waters, he would be dead as well.
Ansel groaned as he held on tightly to the rock, his grip slipping as before he had never been that strong, and now that he also had an injured arm, it was impossible. “Finnick!” Ansel cried out desperately as his hands began to lose their grip.
“Watts just - hold on!” Finnick shouted back as he looked down at Ansel in worry. There was no way he could help the boy out of this situation. “Grab on to my leg, it'll be sturdier.” Finnick advised as his leg would be a much easier thing to hold on to.
Ansel glanced at Finnick's left leg which was a bit away from him. He'd have to jump to grab it and if he didn't...well Ansel didn't want to think about that. “I won't make it.”
“Shit.” Finnick cursed under his breath, noticing how one of Ansel's hands had already lost its grip and the other one would soon be joining it as the boy pummeled into the water. “You just have to jump, Ansel. I believe in you.”
Ansel, himself, wasn't all too sure, however, there was no other option. “Okay, I can do it.” He whispered to himself, taking in a deep breath as he prepared himself. Using his feet for leverage, Ansel pushed himself off the rock as he jumped upwards and towards the left. He landed with an “Oof,” as he grasped Finnick's leg tightly, wrapping his arms around it. Ansel breathed a sigh of relief as he closed his eyes. “I did it!”
Finnick laughed breathlessly, “Good job, Watts!”
Ansel's eyes widened as he looked up, quickly yelling out a, “Finn, watch out!” Finnick hadn't been looking up, therefore, he hadn't noticed that the weapons inside the cornucopia were flying out of it. It was a good thing Ansel had, however, as Finnick then quickly rolled themselves out of the way of incoming knives, the weapons just barely missing them. Finnick now had Ansel to thank for his life.
Thankfully, it wasn't much longer before the island finally stopped spinning. Finnick helped pull Ansel up, the boy quickly running to the side to heave as all the spinning had made him feel nauseous, Ansel having always experienced motion sickness. The fast spinning island didn’t help; after all, it was faster than anything Ansel had ever been in before.
“It's okay, babe, let it all out.” Finnick soothed as he rubbed and patted Ansel's back. Ansel stood up triedly once he was finished, wiping the remnants on his face with the back of his hand. He then fell into Finnick's arms, the exhaustion now finally creeping up to him.
“I'm tired.” Ansel whined as Finnick sat them both down on the ground, legs crossed with Ansel sat in his lap, head leaning on his chest.
Finnick chuckled softly as he pushed Ansel's hair away from his face, it being matted from both water and sweat. Finnick watched as the male's eyes fluttered shut, looking around as Peeta helped Katniss out of the water as it appeared she had fallen in. “We have to get back to the beach soon, Ans.”
Ansel simply hummed in response, eyes already closed as he cuddled deeper into Finnick's chest. “Five more minutes.” He whined, sleep lacing his words.
Finnick smiled down at the boy before leaning down to press a kiss against his head. “Okay, five more minutes.” And as Ansel drifted off into a quick nap, Finnick couldn’t help but truly realize how beautiful Ansel looked, even after facing a near death experience. Finnick was in love, and he really only wanted Ansel to know that.
━━
AUTHORS NOTE (ANGIE) : this chpater was written by me with some help from -diggorys. We hope you guys are enjoying this story as it's nearing its end.
But let us know how you liked this chapter and what you think will happen next!
