unforgivable ➸ finnick odair

T H I R T Y O N E

yes i am combining the capitol appearance and district two while completely skipping district one. *insert ariana's 'and what about it' gif"

District Two hated her.

Of course they did. Rhys had so nearly gotten that glorious victory - one misstep in that fateful final fight, one arrow that hit true to its target, and he would've been the one standing on these stages and giving these speeches. He would've been the one waking up with nightmares of bloodstained skin and red dripping off gleaming blades. He would've been the golden victor, and she would've been a face on a screen, a body in a coffin.

Maybe he even would've been the one knocking on Capitol women's doors and the president's poisonous command, smearing makeup over finger-shaped bruises.

She stared into the eyes of his family, his parents and his sister, and wondered if they knew that she would trade places with him in a heartbeat. Better to be a body in a coffin than to be a victor with a body available to the highest bidder. In a sick, twisted way, Rhys was the lucky one.

His sister's eyes were fixed on her. Her name was Riley, Electra learned, and while the eyes of her parents were filled with bitter hatred, her gaze was blank. She could see Rhys's face in hers, staring at the stage as she stood there, giving a speech about the boy who could've had it all.

I wish he was here, she wanted to scream. I hate this, I hate this, I wish he was here and I was the dead one, can't you see? But they couldn't see. All they could see was the victor, the killer, the thief who stole what could've been their win, the thief who stole their son's, brother's, friend's life. They couldn't see the broken, jagged edges - a blessing and a curse.

Electra continued to read her speech. She wondered if he could hear her, somewhere in the sky. She wondered if he was glad to have escaped her fate.

---

"You look beautiful, El," Eleanora said, red-painted lips stretched into a wide smile, gleaming artificially white teeth on full display. Electra tilted her chin up and exhaled, nodding at her escort with her lips tight and tilted up ever so slightly.

"Thank you," she murmured, steadying her arms at her sides. The dress she was wearing was silver, a callback to her tribute parade outfit and the ensuing ridiculous nickname - Shining Silver Star. She was certainly shining in this getup, bodice decorated with glittering sequins and large skirt flaring out elegantly as she stood. Titania had once again outdone herself.

It was a far cry from the dress she had donned for the customary interview, which kicked off the Capitol leg of the tour. Silver, but not nearly as sparkly - much more demure and modest, neutral makeup instead of the sharp metallic sparkles that lined her eyes. Caesar Flickerman had played the game for so long that he guided her through the interview with ease, letting her be on near-autopilot the whole time. She laughed, she smiled, she gave them enough flimsy truths to satisfy the ravenous citizens of the Capitol and she concealed the bitter hatred in her eyes with practiced ease.

Now it was time for the ball-like dinner to end the long and arduous tour, before she finally returned to Five. There, the district would attend a dinner to mark the end of the Harvest Festival, and after that it was all over.

Together, she, Sean, Desiree and Eleanora strode into President Snow's expensive, glamorous mansion, already packed with equally expensive and glamorous Capitol citizens. The party was in his banquet room, and she was struck speechless the moment she walked in.

The first thing she noticed was that the ceiling looked like the sky. Stars twinkled above her against a backdrop of black, and she couldn't help but smile a genuine smile. The night sky was something special to her - in the arena, seeing the sky fade to black was a sign that she had survived another day. It has been a rare comfort to fall asleep under the watchful gaze of the stars. Her life had been irreversibly changed for the worse in so many ways by the Hunger Games, but she clung to this one good thing to come out of all that trauma.