𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 | 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐫

TWENTY-EIGHT

xxviii. The Lovely Aurora Evans

Katniss Everdeen was probably the craziest person Finnick knew. She did things he couldn't even imagine doing. She volunteered. She shot an arrow at the gamemaker. She nearly killed herself to make a statement. She won the Hunger Games, twice. She stood up against Snow. She launched the rebellion. And most of all, she became the most loved and hated woman in the country.

Finnick couldn't understand how she still woke up every day. How she could smile at her little sister in the morning then witness thousands of innocent lives be murdered in the afternoon. How she could subject herself to a rebellion she knew nothing about. How she could still be alive.

He admired her greatly. She had a strength and resilience incomparable to that of anyone he's ever known, even Snow. Maybe that's why she was the Girl on Fire. Always getting burned but melting the Snow in the process.

He prayed for her some nights. It was a new, odd thing he had found that made him feel the slightest bit better. It was uncomfortable at first, begging into the empty air that things will get better when he knew everything now was only getting worse. But there was hope. It grew over the days, with every prayer and every smile that was given to him by the doctors and nurses. Soon their smiles were found on his own lips.

That was until he had heard the news.

The Girl on Fire was in the hospital. Probably burned so bright, she couldn't handle the heat.

He was glad she was alive, despite the circumstances. When she left for District 8, he feared she'd never return. Maybe she would've been better off not coming back.

He visited her before she left, showing her that cheeky smile he had stolen off the blond nurse that worked at reception. As a gift, he gave her a little dance, one that sent the two into massive amounts of laughter before it was time for her leave. But that was now just a distant memory because all he thought about now was her injury, whatever it may be.

Finnick stood outside the large white door of her hospital room. There was a small window, though he found it disrespectful to try and look in. So instead he stood still, a foot away from the door, a tray of food in his hands. It was lunchtime, probably the only time he could be able to visit. Otherwise, he would've been busy with the therapy appointments, the physical exams, or even just stuck in his bed, incapable of leaving it out of fear he'll find something he wishes he hadn't found.

He knocked on the door waiting a few seconds until the quiet voice of Katniss Everdeen came from the other side. Not the Girl on Fire.

"Come in."

Finnick swung open the door quietly to find Katniss sitting upright on the hospital bed, wearing the same matching gown as he did. Though, he didn't think it suited her very well. A small smile formed on his face once again now that he knew she wasn't paralyzed or deeply injured. She didn't seem nearly as relieved as him.