･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.
The rain was falling faster and harder, what had been just a few drops a moment ago became hard to see through. Despite her earlier words, Johanna was already struggling back to the district three tributes when she realized Odette wasn't behind her. When she turned around, searching for her through the rain and the darkness that it seemed to have brought, Johanna saw her standing when she'd left her, a hand in front of her nose and mouth.
She wanted to speak, wanted to tell her that they had to move or they might drown in the blood. Opening her mouth had been a mistake, the taste of blood filling every sense. Instead, she grabbed Odette's arm, dragging her through the rain. She didn't know where they were supposed to go. Was it raining everywhere?
She'd lost her sense of direction, and was grateful when the other two had come looking for them. Johanna didn't know where to go, so still gripping Odette's arm, she led them in the direction she thought was opposite of the forcefield.
They were all struggling. The blood made everything slippery. Johanna couldn't see a thing, she could barely breathe and had to fight the urge to gag at the taste. They should be moving faster, but they couldn't.
If possible, the rain seemed to fall even faster. How had this happened? The sky had been clear just moments before it began.
Johanna slipped on a rock, only able to hold herself upright because she let go of Odette. When she looked back she saw the girl had fallen. It was clear she was far from okay, her tears falling so fast the blood couldn't stick to her cheeks. She had no intention to get up again.
Johanna crouched, grabbing both her arms as Beetee and Wiress moved past them. She hauled her up and Odette shook her head, trying to say something before crying even harder when she choked on the mouthful of blood. If they just stayed, they'd die. Johanna wasn't planning on that, not even if she had to drag Odette away by her hair.
So she set them in motion again, going behind Beetee and Wiress, extra careful to not slip again. There had to be an end somewhere. It felt like they'd been struggling through the terrible rain for hours when she saw sand. Actual sand-colored sand, rather than the red the earth below her was. She just had to push a little further and they were in the clear.
Sure enough, they erupted from the jungle, gasping and covered in blood, but they were away from the rain. Behind them, between the trees, they could still hear it falling.
Johanna sucked in a deep breath, spitting blood out as she let go of Odette to regain her breath and check her weapons. They'd survived the blood rain. Fucking blood rain, what was wrong with people?
And what was wrong with that fucking woman? Wiress kept repeating 'tick tock'. When Johanna turned back to look at her, she was standing at the very edge of the jungle, shaking her head. "Come on," she said, getting tired of being a babysitter. "You can't keep standing there. Go wash the blood off."
They'd found water, at least. The woman didn't move, instead speaking louder. "Are you fucking kidding me? I dragged you out of the fucking rain, and now you're going to act like this? Forget it."
This was ridiculous. That was a grown woman, she could take care of herself. Johanna didn't have the energy or patience anymore to play nice. She Saw Beetee move towards him as she turned, needing a fucking moment. If they didn't find the others soon, she might leave them. Forget the alliance, she just needed some peace.
"Johanna!" For a moment she thought it was Odette, because she'd been awfully quiet and who else would be needing her?
It wasn't, though. When she turned around she saw a tall boy with a trident, and couldn't believe her luck, no matter how ironic. "Finnick!" She called back, walking towards the jogging man.
"Whoa," he said as he saw her. "What happened to you?"
Johanna scoffed, kicking the sand with her shoe. "Well, I got them out," she said, noticing two other people were jogging towards her. District twelve. At least they were both alive, looking a little bit too well. "We were all the way deep into the jungle where I thought it was safe." She almost laughed at herself. Safe. As if anywhere would be safe. "That's when the rain started. We thought it was water, it turned out to be blood."
Wiress walked out of the salty water, looking almost clean. "Tick tock," she said, eyeing their new allies, but not approaching them.
"Hot, thick blood was coming down on us," Johanna ignored her, like she'd become almost good at. As Wiress reached out to her, she pushed her arms away, pacing away from her. "It was choking us, we were stumbling around gagging on it blind." As she kept talking, so did Wiress. The anger rose easily again.
"What's wrong with her?" Katniss asked, finally stepping up from behind Finnick.
It was Beetee who answered, still crouched in the water, wiping at his neck. "She's in shock," Finnick extended his hand to help him up, and Johanna rolled her eyes, pacing again. At least they were no longer her concern. "Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?"
"We can get some."
Out of nowhere, two hands wrapped around Johanna's shoulders, startling her. "Tick tock," her grip was firm, her tone urgent. There were so many other people to bother, and she still came to her? "Tick tock!"
"Stop it," Johanna snapped, wringing Wiress' hands off her body. She'd had enough of her. Wiress didn't stop saying those same two words, faster, louder, as she struggled to keep her grasp. What was her problem?
"Hey!" Johanna heard someone call. "Get off her!"
Finally, Wiress' grip broke, and Johanna pushed her to the ground. "Leave me alone!" She snapped again, only to be pushed backward herself. "Hey!" She turned to see Katniss. "What are you doing?" She pushed her back, not even really having touched her when Finnick had grabbed her, dragging her backward. Was she being serious? She got two cray people through the jungle alive for her, so what if she wasn't as gentle with one of them? Katniss didn't have to sit through almost two days of fucking tick tock.
"It's okay, it's okay, easy," Finnick said as he pulled her away from something bound to escalate. Johanna didn't care.
"I got them out for you!" she snapped at her, as Finnick repeated his words. "Let go of me," she told him, wildly moving in his grip to get out. She only noticed they were in the water when she splashed water on her own face.
"Are you going to kill her?" Finnick asked, only half teasing.
"No," she huffed, pushing his arms off her. The water was cool, the permanent flush finally lifted for a moment as she waded deeper into the water. She'd never admit it, but she was grateful Finnick was there. It was nice to see a friendly face, especially when he was the only reason Katniss wasn't shooting at her yet.
She didn't necessarily like water, but it calmed her down anyway. It was cool against her skin and the movement was soothing as she began rinsing the blood off her. She wondered if she'd ever get it out. "So what happened to Blight?" Finnick asked after a while, pretending to look for fish. They both knew he wasn't going to catch anything, not with Johanna still washing up.
"He walked into the forcefield. At least it was a quick death." She didn't dare ask about Mags, his district partner. He'd never leave her, and she hated that they weren't all going to make it out after all.
"Odette?" He asked, almost hesitant.
She hasn't seen her since they burst from the jungle. "I got her out," she straightened anyway. Odette had been struggling, and then she was just gone. She couldn't be, she'd never run away. there hadn't been a canon, so she couldn't be dead.
Seeming to follow her train of thoughts, Finnick nodded towards the beach, where a small person was sitting. Odette had never looked small. "I'll go help her," he said, and Johanna was grateful for that. She shouldn't be worrying about anyone else. Well, except maybe Katniss, but that was certainly more anger than worry. If anything, she had the sheer audacity. Attacking her after she'd brought them the two nutjobs she wanted? Blaming her? She'd like to see her sit through the following days with them.
"Johanna!" She turned around at the sound of Finnick's voice, who didn't seem to be having any luck with Odette. She closed her eyes for a moment. She couldn't do this. But she would. For Odette.
Certain she was far from clean, she waded out of the water anyway. It was wrong, seeing her covered in blood. Someone so sweet, so gentle, should be kept away from all the horrors they've faced. When Johanna got closer, she saw that she was crying like she knew it, too.
Never before had she seen Odette cry as hard as she was at that moment. Perhaps not anyone. She barely seemed able to breathe, loud sobs ripping through her body as she could barely stand, looking as if she might literally fall apart at any moment. "What happened?"
Finnick looked as lost as Johanna. "I don't know, she was crying when I got here. It's a miracle she's standing."
Johanna focused on Odette instead, easily slipping into an even and calm tone. She'd never known how... easy it could be to care for someone. "Odette," she said. "What's wrong?"
"I don't- I can't... The blood- I'm-" her own sob interrupted her, closing a stained hand over her face, but dropping it just as fast when she cried even harder. "I can't..." then she seemed to notice Johanna. Perhaps recognize her. "Johanna." It was a plea, although she didn't know for what.
"Hey," she stepped closer, grabbing her face to force her attention. Odette was shaking, her face slick with tears. "It's okay. We need to get the blood off, alright? You'll feel better."
"No!" she said, her own bloody hands closing over Johanna's. "I can't, I can't, I can't go in there." The sound coming from the woman was terrible. Not even in her worst nightmares had she heard a thing quite as heartbreaking. She didn't know what was going on, didn't know how to make it better.
"Odette, you can't walk around like that," and she couldn't, the smell was already horrendous, it wasn't doing her any good, and it couldn't be healthy.
Johanna couldn't stand to look at her like that: crying as if her soul was leaving her body and covered so much blood it seemed miraculous she was even standing. It was terrifying, because it was a possible outcome. A possible outcome that hadn't seen likely until that moment. Until she was crying so hard she'd washed her own cheeks clean, shaking as if she'd never stop again. that blood, covering almost every inch of her, could be her own. She could be crying in pain, struggling to stay alive and Johanna would feel just as hopeless as she did. While it had always been a possibility, she'd never truly realized it. She couldn't watch Odette die, not now, not ever.
Odette was still mumbling no's, how she couldn't. "You have to," Johanna interrupted her. "You have to get the blood off you. We'll just go until our knees, okay?"
"I can't go in there," it was the first coherent sentence she'd said. "I can't. I can't swim, I can't-" she inhaled shakily. "Please don't make me."
Odette didn't keep her soft protests, sounding less panicked anyway, as Johanna continued. "Just until our knees. The water's quite nice, actually. It's about time you took a break from the heat. How does that sound?"
"Terrible, don't make me go," and at least she was speaking again, at least she was listening. "I can't, Johanna, I can't swim, I can't get in the water, I can't-"
"You don't have to swim," she didn't understand what was happening. What the big deal was. She'd been in the very same water before, just a day before. But she didn't need to understand, she needed to hold her a little tighter, swipe the still streaming tears off her face. "Do you trust me, Odette?"
She sniffed, and even despite whatever was going on inside her head, she said: "Yes." To her surprise, she actually followed as Johanna lead her to the water, stopping before the water hit their knees because she started crying harder again, to begin the task of getting the blood off both of them.
***
It hadn't been easy, but with a lot of negotiation, reassurance, and force, they were clean. After drinking as much as Odette could stomach, she'd sat down on a rock. Johanna was sitting next to her, watching. Her eyes were red and swollen, a stray tear still slipping past every few moments. Her hair was a tangled mess resting down her back, waiting to dry. Johanna could see the salt crystallizing on her cheeks, the sand in her hair.
Johanna knew she should speak. Offer comfort. Something. Anything. But what was there to say? In the end, they were still in the arena, and in the end, Johanna was more upset with everything than she would ever be able to comfort her.
It was no surprise when Odette spoke, her voice soft and hoarse from the crying she was undoubtedly still trying to hold in. "How are you?"
Johanna couldn't help but laugh at that. At the sweet woman, who was still crying, who was asking about her. "I should ask you that."
"I'm serious," she sniffed, wiping another tear away before she turned towards Johanna. "You were in there, too. It couldn't have been easy."
She shrugged. It hadn't been, but that didn't mean she wasn't okay. How would she even tell her she wasn't when Odette had fully broken down and was still trying to hold herself together as best as she could?
The rocks they were sitting on were close together, but Johanna was still surprised when Odette's head rested on her shoulder with a sigh. It couldn't be comfortable for her, but Johanna wasn't about to protest. "I'm sorry," Odette muttered then, her hands rubbing over each other. "You needed me to not break down and I did. I don't want to put any more pressure on you."
"I do want to know what exactly happened," Johanna admitted, feeling Odette stiffen. "But not right now. You should know by now that I'll always take care of you."
She meant it. Perhaps she only realized it at that moment, but she would always be there when Odette needed her. Against her shoulder, she felt her smile. "I love you," she said it as softly as she could, hoping no one else would ever hear it. It felt less like a secret than a fragile thing shared between the two of them.
They'd quickly become her favorite words to hear Odette say. She didn't doubt her for a moment. How could she, when Odette had done nothing but proven it? When she made Johanna feel like that. Love wasn't familiar to her anymore, but she doubted there were other words that described how she felt about Odette.
She wanted to say it back, but it was a big and scary word, with even scarier consequences, even with Odette. Especially in the hunger Games. A public declaration was the last thing she wanted. So she didn't say anything, enjoying the few more moments of silence and peace they had.
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.