HAVEN RAN DOWN the hallway of the medical center, her blonde hair streaking behind her. She ignored the calls of a nurse telling her to stop, only having one thing on her mind. The girl kept running, everything around her a blur.
She finally halted in front of the only door with the light on. Before she could walk in, a peacekeeper stood in front of the door, blocking her. "Sorry. No unauthorized persons allowed." He stated firmly.
"That's my brother! How the hell am I unauthorized?" She continued to yell at the peacekeeper, who still refused to move. The blonde continued arguing with the peacekeeper, until a doctor walked up, telling him to let her in.
Haven had been so focused on getting into the room, she hadn't processed what would be on the other side of the door. Her twin laid in the hospital bed, covered in bandages and hooked up to several wires. "Sawyer, oh my god." She breathed out as she went over and wrapped her arms around her brother, who blinked his eyes awake.
"Wh-what happened?" He mumbled, looking up at her. "Well, you died." Sawyer looked at her, confusion in his eye. "So did Thalia. There were two cannons. They rushed you both to the hospital, but she didn't make it." Haven explained, Sawyer nodding. "Does that mean...?" Sawyer trailed off. "Yes. You won. Also scared the living shit out of me." She replied with a smile.
"Nice. The Cleary's have a perfect record of winning battles to the death." He laughed, before slightly wincing in pain. "Hey, don't make me want to kill you now, you just came back from the dead." Haven chuckled, lightly slapping him on the shoulder.
A few moments later, the doctor who'd let Haven in the room entered, along with the other district four victors.
"Glad to see you're awake Mr. Cleary." The doctor spoke. "You've still got a long road of recovery ahead of you though. The injury you sustained on your arm was from a dirty weapon, and therefore quickly got infected." The doctor explained. "I'm going to have to amputate it, and you'll stay here for a few weeks to fully recover." The doctor said. Sawyer's eyes widened at the word 'amputate' and he groaned as he threw his head back onto the pillow.
"As for the rest of you, visitors aren't allowed in the surgical ward, so I suggest you say your goodbyes for now, and head home." The doctor said to the rest of the group. Haven opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by Garrett. "Haven there's nothing you can do to help him for now, let the doctors do their job. He'll be home in a few weeks." Haven nodded, although she still looked hesitant.
The other mentors bid their goodbyes to Sawyer, letting Haven go last. "Don't you dare die on me again." She jokingly scolded. "When you're out of surgery, get one of these idiots around here to get you a phone and call me." Sawyer laughed and nodded. "Got it. Tell mom and dad and Ash that I'm good, and that I can't wait to see them." He said, Haven nodding.
She gave her twin a hug, before walking out the door, waving goodbye.
➸
HAVEN LAID IN HER bed on the train, where she'd been tossing and turning for hours, peaceful sleep evading her no matter how hard she tried. Everytime she would fall asleep, images of her brother dying in the arena plagued her.
Giving up on sleep, Haven put on a robe and quietly stepped out of her room, walking to the very last car of the train. She sat down on the couch curved against the window, staring out at the dark sky.
"Hey." Haven whipped her head around, startled by the voice. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Finnick laughed, sitting next to
her. "I heard you walking in the hall, figured you could use some company. Brought you this." He spoke softly, handing her one of the mugs he was holding.
"Thanks." Haven smiled, taking a sip of the warm tea. "I noticed you always sit back here on the train." Finnick commented. "Yeah, I like the view. Helps clear my head too." She replied.
"Figured I'd sit out here since I couldn't sleep. I would fall asleep, and I just kept seeing it over and over again." Haven said quietly. "Saw what exactly?" Finnick asked, looking at her sympathetically.
"Sawyer. Him fighting Melody in the arena. Him dying. The cannon." She whispered, barely audible, a fear tears slowly streaming down her face. "And I can't stop thinking that he's gon-gonna die again." She choked out.
Finnick took her face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe the tears off her cheeks. "Haven look at me." He spoke gently, the blonde looking up to meet his eyes.
"Sawyer's okay, and he's not going to die again. The doctors just have to do the surgery, and then he's coming home. I promise, it's going to be okay." He spoke, Haven nodding, dropping her head to his shoulder, the Odair boy gently stroking her hair.
"I'm sorry, I'm such a mess." Haven groaned. "Hey, it's okay. Your brother just came back from the dead, no one's expecting you to be perfect." Finnick smiled.
He stood up, grabbing the Cleary girl's hand. "C'mon." He said, leading her out of the car. Haven turned to walk into her room, but he stopped her. "I'm not letting you be alone." He spoke, opening his door, ushering her inside. Haven nodded, giving him a faint smile.
The Cleary girl climbed into the bed, Finnick following after her, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders. "Goodnight Hav." He whispered. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you Fin." Haven replied softly, before closing her eyes.
➸
"HAVEN, THE PHONE IS RINGING." Shane Cleary called up to his daughter. The girl sprung off the couch, running to answer it. "Hey." Sawyer spoke. "Sawyer! How'd the surgery go? How do you feel?" Haven asked. "Good and good. I miss you guys. How's home?" He replied. "A little too quiet without you." She laughed. "Don't worry, the doctor said I can come home in two weeks, and I'll make up for lost time." He said.
"Is that Sawyer? Let me talk to him." Cecile called from the stairs, walking towards the kitchen. "Alright, I'm passing you on to mom. Love you." Haven spoke, before passing the phone to her mother.
Haven walked out of the kitchen, and heard a knock on her front door. She opened it, Finnick standing on the other side smirking at her. "Go put on a bathing suit under your clothes." He commanded. "Why?" Haven questioned. "Don't ask questions Cleary, just go do it." He scolded playfully, pointing to the stairs.
Haven ran up to her room, putting on a bathing suit as Finnick had told her to. She bounded back down the stairs, finding Finnick laughing with her father. "I'll bring her back in a couple hours." He said to Shane as he opened the door.
"Where are we going this time?" Haven questioned as they walked out of her house. Finnick had been keeping her busy since they returned from the Capitol, not letting her dwell on her nerves about her brother.
"Not telling you. Makes it more fun." He smirked, and Haven let out an annoyed groan, rolling her eyes at the Odair boy.
The pair walked down to the beach, but kept going beyond their usual spot, eventually reaching a narrow pathway surrounded by rock on both sides.
"C'mon, it's a bit of a tight squeeze." Finnick said as he stepped in, extending his hand to Haven. The two made their way through the passageway, exiting on the other side.
"Wow." Haven said. A waterfall poured out of the top of the rock, into a pool below, the blue water sparkling in the sun. "See, aren't surprises better?" Finnick responded, before taking off his shirt and shoes and jumping into the water.
The Odair boy emerged from the water and shook his wet hair. "You look like a dog when you do that." Haven laughed at him. She discarded her clothes that she had on over her suit, before getting into the water.
Before she could fight back, Finnick had slung her over his shoulder, and dunked both of them under the waterfall. "Finnick! Put me down." She shrieked. The boy somewhat obliged, lightly tossing her back under the waterfall.
"You're crazy." She said. "I know." He laughed, swimming backwards in the water. The two stayed for a while, swimming in the pool, and shoving the other into the water when they weren't paying attention.
"It's getting late, we should probably head back." Finnick said, pulling himself out of the water. The two put their clothes on over their wet bathing suits, before going back through the rock passage.
They reached the Victor's Village, and went inside Finnick's house. Finnick handed her a towel, as well as one of his shirts and a pair of old pajama pants. Haven went into the bathroom and changed into the clothes, the large shirt hanging off of her small frame, and the drawstring of the pants pulled tight to keep them from falling.
Haven went and sat in front of the fireplace, using the heat to dry some of the moisture from her hair. Finnick was rummaging around in the kitchen, eventually entering the living room holding two bowls of soup. He handed one to Haven, before taking a seat next to her in front of the fire.
"This is good, did you make it?" Haven asked. Finnick shook his head. "Mags did. Must've dropped it off right before we came back." He replied. "I should've guessed. You're not the best cook." Haven teased.
The two sat talking in front of the fire, until the flames dwindled down to small wisps of fire. "I should probably head home." Haven said, standing up. "Good idea. You need to get some sleep, I'm taking you somewhere else tomorrow morning." He replied.
"Another surprise?" Haven laughed. "You bet." Finnick smirked as he opened the door. The Cleary girl stepped outside, walking across the street to her house. Finnick watched, waiting til she opened the door, waving as she shut the door behind her.
➸
TWO WEEKS LATER, the Cleary family eagerly waited by the door as they heard the Capitol car pull onto the street. Due to his delayed return, the usual celebration in the square was foregoed. When Sawyer stepped out of the car, all notions of order went out the window as Cecile ran up and embraced her son, the other members of the family following suit.
"Happy to have you home." Shane smiled, giving his son a clap on the back. Cecile gave him another squeeze, before leading him inside. "I made your favorite chicken." She told him. "Thanks mom. You have no idea how happy I am to be back." Sawyer sighed.
The Cleary family sat down at the table to eat, finally complete again. Haven and her siblings joked and laughed with their parents, happy to be reunited, and none spoke of the Games.
Haven went to bed that night a few hours later, after bidding her family goodnight. For the first time in weeks, the Cleary girl was able to sleep without nightmares plaguing her.
// author's note
I FINALLY UPDATED🥳🥳 sorry i am #lazy but thank y'all for so many more reads !!!! i promise i'm gonna try & update more frequently. i already started writing the next chapter woo woo.
kk that's all u guys rock
- abby
k meme time
all the victors bc they were forced to kill other children for entertainment:
me attempting to write my ideas down into a coherent chapter
kk bye<3