AN: I will preface this chapter by saying that it and probably the next few chapters will have time skips for the duration of Annie and Pluto's games. It definitely won't be as detailed as the event of Aurora's, almost the entirety of part four is establishing important context for the events of Catching Fire and Aurora's involvement in it.
Love you all
xx
...
The days of training flew by and with Finnick and my own instruction, Pluto seemed to be succeeding. He gained favour with the Career tributes and though it would not be my first move, Finnick had greatly encouraged him. Annie appeared to be doing well in many of the survivalist elements, improving greatly in creating snares identifying edible plants. Secretly, no matter how much I disliked Pluto, his and Annie's combined skills would create a duo to be reckoned with. Annie, however, was insistent on staying as far away from the Career troupe.
"Horace, from Two," She began tentatively, "He's going to hurt him, I just know it," She must have been referring to Pluto, even with the boy's condescension of her, she seemed to like him.
Their private and final training session with the game makers seemed to go well, now all that was left were the final scores. We awaited the judgement in the small living room, Annie and Pluto's stylists stood around with flutes of champagne and were chatting animatedly in anticipation. Sylvia had decided to sit in between the two tributes and was attempted to hold a conversation with the two unwilling participants. Finnick and I sat on a chair in the corner, his head resting on my shoulder and our hands clasped together behind our backs. We could trust most of the people in this room to keep our secret, however, there were a select few on Pluto's prep team that were prone to gossip- even an inkling about our relationship could get either one of us killed.
"It's starting!" Sylvia shrieked, gripping both Pluto and Annie's hands and shuffling to the front of her seat.
The scores so far had been impressive, given that most of them were from Career districts, Horace had performed the best, with a score of Nine. Now it was finally District Four's turn to shine. "Pluto Portello from District Four with a score of..." The announcer began in suspense.
Finnick squeezed my hand.
"Ten!"
Sylvia squealed in delight, tackling the boy into a hug, the room burst into applause, each person congratulating the boy on his efforts. Finnick stood up and embraced him, clapping him on the back with pride, "Congratulations," I smiled stonily at him, moving to sit beside a nervous Annie.
"And now for the female of District Four, Annie Cresta with a score of..." Caesar paused for dramatic effect, "Seven!"
"Annie!" I gushed with pride, throwing my arms around the girl whose mouth hung open in shock, "What did you do in there?"
"I-I shot a crossbow," She said mutedly, "Pluto taught me how when we were training together,"
My eyes snapped over to the other tribute in surprise, "In exchange, she taught me how to make a fishhook, I found that she's a surprisingly fast learner," He explained nonchalantly, gazing at the girl with what looked like, admiration?
"I had a good teacher," She responded with a shy smile. Finnick and I exchanged anxious glances at the new friendship blossoming between the two tributes, which meant it would end in one of two things, heartbreak or betrayal.
"Congratulations," Blaze smiled at an elated Annie, who at the man's words had a tinge of pink developing on her cheeks. She wrapped him into an excited hug, causing the man to spin her around as she lifted her legs up in the air.
Their hard work was starting to pay off, but I knew this was only just the beginning.
...
The following day brought the interviews, perhaps the element that Annie was the most anxious about. It was with good reason, I had been anxious before my interview in front of the crowds, I supposed it would be even worse for Annie. She had suffered with large crowds for a long time, even at school, she was known to be socially anxious, taking solace in my sister and Clementine Ford.
At least that was before the accident.
I had awoken from more nightmares, tossing, and screaming in the bedsheets that suddenly felt like they were constricting me to the bed. My lungs felt on fire as I writhed, begging for respite. Finnick ran in from his bedroom with his unkempt bed hair and lack of a shirt, immediately diving into the bed beside me and cradling me until my laboured breathing began to even out.
"I'm right here, I love you, I'm not leaving," He kept repeating, muffled in my hair which he was stroking soothingly. My arms stretched around his neck, gripping the hair at the base of his neck desperately as my breathing began to fall into rhythm with his. It was perhaps the only moment of comfortable silence either of us was going to get on this trip.
He was so busy with President Snow's suitors, and I was so busy training with the other to get any time to breathe. We'd fallen into a comfortable routine, however, every time he returned from an appointment, we'd take the time to shower together. He said it was symbolic to him, he was washed clean of everyone's touch, everyone except for me, "Your hands are all I think about," He had whispered into the base of my neck as his hands ran up the sides of my bare thighs, resting on my waist and pulling me closer into him. He'd always struggled to touch me around the time of the games, he believed that the time of year made him feel dirty or unworthy, I always tried my best to make him feel the opposite.
After he had calmed me, we fell back into the cover, my arms wrapped around his waist and my head buried into his chest. "Have I told you," He began smoothy, I could hear the grin in his voice, "About when I realised you were the girl I was going to fall in love with,"
I pursed my lips glancing up at him to find his eyes already on me, "Go on," I responded just as smoothly as he did, "I need another reason for my ego to be inflated,"
Finnick chuckled, squeezing me tighter as he did so, "We were ten years old and way too competitive for our own good-"
I scoffed, "Speak for yourself,"
"Don't interrupt me, I'm trying to inflate your ego."
"Very well," I laughed, "Continue,"
"You'd shown up to training in what you normally wore, but you'd cut your hair, I had no idea what I was so fixated on it that day- you'd cut your hair before, why was it affecting me so much? This might sound a little abrupt, I knew you were pretty before, I had even told you so, but that day, that was when I realised just how truly beautiful you were,"
"I-"
He slapped his hand over my mouth causing me to roll my eyes. "I was so distracted by it when we were sparring together, just watching the way that your hair moved or the way that your face lit up when your perfected motions with your trident. I didn't even mean to win, I was so distracted by you that I didn't realise your hand had slipped from your trident,"
"And then you brutally lacerated my face-"
Finnick sighed at my final interruption, "You're really ruining the romance of this situation, you know that?"
"I have a gift,"
It was his turn to roll his eyes.
"I couldn't even look at what I'd done after that, you'd remember, I ran into the bathroom crying. I thought you'd be so mad at me, I thought you'd hate me forever and worse than that- I thought I'd seriously injured my best friend in the whole world. It wouldn't have surprised me if you never spoke to me again. And then, you knocked at the door, like nothing had even happened, even with blood covering half your face and getting matted in your hair- you cared about me more than yourself, it was maddening to see you in that state."
He shifted into a seated position, which I reciprocated, "You and I both know that it was serious, any higher and I could have blinded you. Yet still, you were the one making sure I was okay, you were the one trying to get me home, do you remember what I said?"
A small smile graced my face "I don't want to go home, I want to be with you,"
His thumb traced the scar that he had left over my cheekbone, "It wasn't until later that week that I realised I hadn't just meant it in that present moment. I wanted to be with you for real, I wanted you to hug me and kiss me and laugh at my stupid jokes. I wanted you to push me around in a wheelchair when we get old and have too many children to handle. I wanted you to love me forever and for you to love me for everything after forever ends,"
I wasn't sure when I started crying, but the tears ran down my face shamelessly.
"I was always you Aurora," He whispered, clutching either side of my face, "Always has been, always will be,"
"For forever?" I whispered, the gap between our faces narrowed.
"And everything after that." He assured me, closing the gap with his lips.
I couldn't help but smile into the kiss, as his hand guided my hips. My thighs rested on either side of his lap as my hands ran to tug at his hair, he hummed gratefully at the tension, his hands running up and down the sides of my body. I broke the kiss, running my lips down his jawbone and to the skin just below it. "You're perfect," He whispered with a gentled moan, as I continued kissing further down his to the nape of his neck.
A loud bang at the door caused the two of up to rip away from each other, "You two better be decent it there!" Gaia called from the other side of the door, Finnick groaned banging the back of his head on the wooden headboard in frustration. "May I remind you that there are two tributes in sore need of your help,"
"We're just about ready," I sang in response causing the woman to laugh in disbelief.
"No, we're not," Finnick called out after, "You've just delayed us by another hour at least!"
I let out a loud laugh, standing up from the bed, "Don't tell me you're feeling rebellious Mr Odair,"
He gripped my hand and pulled me back into his strong arms, "Don't tell me you're not attracted to it, future Mrs Odair."
...
Annie's interview was a disaster.
All it had taken was for Caesar Flickerman to ask her about her friends back home, her entire body fell stiff and she began to tremble. I noticed the sheer frustration and disappointment in her eyes and her shut down, she had tried to open her mouth to respond, but all that came out was a choked sob. Finnick had pushed past eight peacekeepers to help her off the stage, she had collapsed on the ground in his arms, leaving me to deal with Pluto.
"Is she ok?" He uttered, his arms folded as he acted nonchalant about, but I knew he was concerned about her.
"You need to focus," I told him sternly, "Like we practised, fluent and eloquent. Not what Finnick would say, what would you say? I know you can do it- we all do." I encouraged him, turning away to find Annie and Finn.
I was stopped by Pluto stiffly wrapping his arms around me, "Thank you for everything," He uttered, "I will protect her in there, I won't let her out of my sight, I promise you,"
I hugged him back, genuinely. I had tried so hard to hate him this whole time, but he was what I had feared, human, a good person who cares about people. He was more than a Career who complied to the games, he was Annie's friend, Finnick's friend, perhaps even mine.
I was going to lose one of them, maybe both.
"Pluto Portello!" Caesar Flickerman roared causing the crowd to erupt into cheers, he walked out confidently, waving as he went- playing to the crowd just as Finnick and I taught him.
His interview ran smoothly, Caesar congratulated him on his fantastic score, he'd asked about his training and preparation, about the things he was passionate about. Pluto spoke well, he knew exactly what to say to get people to like him, everything was going according to plan. "Perhaps we will have a District Four victor after all," Caesar remarked casually causing the audience to laugh.
Shit.
Pluto's face darkened, "Excuse me?" He asked, that ice I was so familiar with returned to his voice.
"Bail, bail, bail," I whispered from backstage, gripping the closest hand to me, which happened to be Blaze's.
"Oh, I apologise, Mr Portello, you must know I didn't mean it like that,"
"No, that's exactly what you meant," Pluto shot back, his arms folding over his body, "I have known Annie Cresta for a great deal longer than you, Mr Flickerman. Believe me, she is not only the strongest girl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting – she is more than capable of taking the position of your precious victor. Mark my words, District Four is a true force to be reckoned with this year,"
Flickerman's face paled, detecting the threat in Pluto's words, "I certainly don't doubt that- we shall wish you the best of luck," Caesar repeated his Pluto's name one more for the crowd, which erupted into even louder applause.
He exited the stage with a deep frown on his face, "You told me to be myself," He defended with a shrug.
Annie tackled him into a gleeful hug.
I shrugged in response, a playful smile on my lips, "Thank god, they like you more than I do,"
death is coming my dudes, hold onto your tissues.