6 months later
"So it's pretty easy. You start at District 12 then you go down, you skip 4, end up in the Capitol for some ridiculous over-the-top Capitol party and then you finish in 4 with a fancy dinner," Buck explained as they walked through the District.
"And who's coming with me on the tour?"
"Finnick and Tyler, because they were your mentors. Moxie and Tigris will come from the Capitol to help you. I'm coming as well."
"You? Why are you coming?" Taiya asked.
"Because besides your two little friends I seem to be the only one you'll talk to for more than 10 minutes," Buck sighed.
"I talk to people," she grumbled and Buck snorted. "I do!"
"You talk to Annie and Kenna. That's it, even then they do most of the talking. You've only let your cousin into your house once in the six months you've been back, poor kid rocks up every day and tries again. Plus, you've been avoiding Finnick and Tyler as much as possible. Finnick is working his ass off to try and help you. He comes to your house morning and night to cook you food and he's lucky to get two sentences out of you."
Taiya stopped and glared at him. "You promised. You promised you wouldn't lecture me about anything. That's what you said to me when Finnick forced you to come and check on me those months ago. I let you in because you swore to me you wouldn't try to force me to feel better and now you're here lecturing me about who I talk to. I can't be around Finnick and Tyler without wanting to burst into tears and scream at the same time! Being around them reminds me of being there, it reminds me of losing the first person I really became friends with! So just back off Buck!" she yelled, storming off.
As she stomped towards the entrance of Victor's Village she stopped in front of the mayor's house when she saw the mayor's wife gardening. The mayor and his wife had been desperately trying to win her approval. They weren't all that popular in District 4 yet, but the approval of the District's golden girl, the daughter of the former mayor and most recent victor would go a long way to cementing their new status amongst the citizens.
As she saw where exactly Mrs. Triton was gardening, she saw red. "What are you doing?" she snapped.
"Oh!" the woman gasped, not having noticed her approach. "Taiya dear!" she laughed, straightening her outfit. "Just a bit of gardening."
Buck caught up and placed a hand on Taiya's shoulder, hoping to calm her down, but she shrugged it off. "Do you realize where you're gardening?"
"On top of the old sunflower patch!" the woman smiled, she hadn't noticed Taiya's anger.
"Calm down," Buck whispered.
"They were my mother's sunflowers," Taiya hissed.
"Well, you should be thanking me that I pulled them out, sweetie! I'm sure your mother was a lovely woman but sunflowers, urgh, who's idea was that? Sunflowers are just awful," she laughed.
Taiya did not laugh along. She let out a roar and lunged towards the woman, only to be held back by Buck who grabbed her and lifted her off the ground as she thrashed in his arms. "They were my mothers! You dug up my mother's sunflowers! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to rip your head off!" Taiya screamed insults at the woman who just stared at her in shock.
"Don't mind her, she just really passionately loves sunflowers," Buck tried to joke to Mrs. Triton.
"I'm going to gut you like a fish!" Taiya screamed as Buck dragged her away.
"TYLER!" Buck yelled out, hoping to attract someone else's attention.
Hearing the yells, Tyler opened the door to his house to see what the commotion was about. Seeing Buck trying to drag Taiya away, he quickly ran out of his house to help. Just as Taiya flung her elbow back, aiming for Buck's face, Tyler caught it, stopping her before she could injure him.
"Pin her arms," Tyler said to Buck, who quickly adjusted his grip to hold her arms down. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'm going to murder her!" Taiya yelled.
Tyler looked over at the shell-shocked Mrs. Triton who was still standing in her garden and groaned. "All right. I've had enough of this. You got her?" he asked Buck who nodded. "All right come with me," he stormed off. "It's alright Mags, we've got this," he assured the older woman as she came to help.
"Let me go!" Taiya fought against Buck's hold.
"Not a chance. You're out of control and we go on tour in two days. We're dealing with this today," Tyler replied angrily as he banged on the door to Finnick's house.
Finnick arrived and opened the door, looking at the three of them in confusion. "What's going on?" he asked nervously.
"We're all going to your dock, bring a towel," Tyler explained as he marched through Finnick's house.
Finnick took one look at an enraged Taiya, trapped in Buck's grip before quickly following after them.
As they reached the dock, Tyler waved his hand at Buck, who quickly passed Taiya over to him. Tyler grabbed her arm and took a few more steps forward before he flung her off the end of the dock and into the water. As soon as she hit the water, her mind instantly cleared. Slowly rising back up to the surface, she pulled herself up onto the dock and Finnick handed her a towel before stepping back away from her.
"Better?" Tyler asked and she nodded silently, wrapping the towel around her as she looked down in shame. "Feel pretty stupid?" he asked and she nodded again. "Want to explain what the hell that was about?"
"She dug up my mom's flowers," Taiya said quietly.
"It's her house now Taiya she can do what she wants. I'm sorry but you're out of control lately. There's a reason Buck chaperones you on every walk you go on lately. You can't keep lashing out at people, they don't understand."
"I'm sorry!" she apologized, a tear falling down her cheek.
"Look, we've done it your way for six months and it's not working. You need a change. We're doing things my way from now on." Taiya went to protest, but Tyler held up a hand, silencing her before continuing. "You don't have parents telling you what to do anymore. So I'm going to tell you. You're not going to isolate yourself in your house anymore. That's not helping anyone. From now you're moving back in with Finnick. Both of you have gone downhill since you started avoiding him and it's not doing anyone any good. You're going to move back in here and you're going to talk to him, nicely. You're going to let him help with your nightmares, just like you helped him. Every morning you're going to get up, eat breakfast and then meet me and we'll do a form of training. You will start speaking to that nice cousin of yours that comes by every day trying to see you. You can spend time with your two friends within the confines of this village. If you want to go outside the village one of us three is to go with you. I watched you in the Capitol, you're able to keep your rage in check, you're just choosing not to, but from now on you will keep it under control. When you're not doing one of those activities you'll be with one of us, doing whatever activity we chose, no more moping. You will be on your best behavior for the entirety of the tour and this routine will continue when we get back until I'm satisfied. Am I understood?" Tyler asked. "Am I understood?" he pressed when she ignored him.
"Crystal," she muttered bitterly.
*********************
Taiya was slumped at the bench while Finnick served up their dinner. They'd spent the rest of the day moving her things back into her old room.
"Seafood spaghetti with seaweed bread," he smiled proudly.
"Thanks," she pulled the plate towards her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know Tyler was going to do that today. It was a little harsh."
"I needed to hear it," she sighed. "I'm miserable. I'm so alone. I sit in that house all day by myself missing people that are gone."
"You're not alone, you'll never be alone," he said sincerely, reaching across to place his hand on hers. She quickly withdrew it and reached up to wipe her eyes. "Buck told me you're associating Tyler and me with memories of the games."
"I know it's not fair," she sniffled. "But it's how I was trying to cope."
"Did it work?" he asked and she shook her head. "It's ok to feel broken like this. Trust me, I know how it feels. But I had you by my side, helping me through it."
"I don't have anyone," she cried. "My mom and dad are dead. Theo is dead."
"You have people, I promise. You have me, I promise you, you won't be able to get rid of me. You have Tyler, Mags, and Buck. You have Shark, Annie, and Kenna. You just have to trust us enough to let us back in."
*********************
Taiya burst awake, a scream ripping through her throat.
"I've got you, I've got you," a voice whispered in her ear as they held her.
"Get off me! Get off me!" she roared, fighting back.
"Hey, Taiya, Tay, look at me. It's Finnick, it's Finnick. Relax, it's me."
Taiya calmed down as she looked up to see it was Finnick holding her. She wasn't in the games, she was safe. She let out a sigh as she dropped her head onto his shoulder, letting the sobs rack through her body.
"It was just a dream," he assured.
"It wasn't a dream," she hoarsely replied.
"I know," he nodded. "Are you going to be ok?" he asked once she had calmed down. As soon as she nodded, he stood up to leave.
"Wait," she grabbed his arm. "I don't want to be alone. Please?" Knowing what she was asking, he quickly nodded. Slowly he lowered himself into her bed, not wanting to ruin the process they were making. As soon as he was in, she scooted away from him slightly, but deliberately let her hand linger close enough to his so that their knuckles were touching. That way she'd know he was there.
*********************
"We're going for a run," Tyler declared as he opened the front door the next morning. "We won't train quite the way we used to for a while, we'll build up to that when you're in a better place but today we're running."
"Ok, I'll go put on shoes," she nodded before trudging her way up the stairs.
As she came back downstairs, she caught Tyler and Finnick's conversation.
"Even just last night she improved. At dinner she wouldn't let me touch her and then later she asked me to stay with her."
"That's really good Finnick. You know her better than anyone. I'll let you decide how you want to go forward."
"Just don't overwhelm her. You push her too far she'll go 10 steps back."
"You ready yet?" Tyler yelled up at her.
"Yep, coming!" she snapped before coming back downstairs.
*********************
Taiya was all sweaty when she got back from her run. Tyler walked her over to Finnick's place, making sure she was following his instructions and not heading back to her own place. They hadn't spoken much on their run, which was much more comfortable after their conversation yesterday. As they reached Finnick's front door, it flung open, revealing a smiling Finnick standing in the doorway.
"I have something to show you, come on!" he went to grab her hand before quickly stopping and electing just to usher her into the house.
Frowning in confusion, she followed him, Tyler coming after her. Finnick ran through the house to the backyard, hurrying them along.
"Look," he pointed out a brand new garden bed for sunflowers.
Taiya's jaw fell open. "What is this?"
"I spoke to the mayor's wife, she hadn't thrown out the sunflowers yet. These are the same sunflowers your mom planted. I planted them in here for you, just like they were at your house."
Taiya let out a breath and slowly stepped towards them, running her fingers over the petals. These sunflowers were one thing she and her mom shared. She remembered watching her mom plant them when she was nine, on the 10 year anniversary of her aunt's death. She sat there with her mom, wearing gardening gloves as she dug out the holes for her to plant the flowers in. It was her fondest memory with her mother.
Taiya looked over at Finnick. "Thank you," she smiled softly, before turning back to the flowers.
*********************
Start of act 2! This will include some time jumps, but I'll make them clear at the start of every chapter. Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment! It's a long path to recovery but we'll get there.