Finnick barely got any sleep during the night.
I had been wading the shoreline, spearing at small fish that caught my eye when he awoke, screaming and dragging himself up from his lying position. Immediately I abandoned my job, bolting over to the man, and cradling him protectively until he realised, I was beside him. It had taken him a while to calm down after that and even then, he had been scratching at his hands and picking his nails with anxiety. By the time the sun was rising, he was hissing in pain and drawing blood around his cuticles.
The best thing to do was stay busy, forget about Atlas and focus on filling our stomachs and guarding our safe position on the shoreline. We had gotten to work weaving bowls to carry water, a third was filled with shellfish we'd scavenged as the small fish we'd speared in the water. Another mat was woven and stabilised over the top of Katniss and Peeta using large sticks to protect them from getting sunburnt. Finnick and I would be more immune to the sensation, but the heat of the early morning was enough for me to shed the top half of my wetsuit, leaving me in nothing on my torso but my sports bra and the bloodied claw marks on my shoulder.
Every so often I'd noticed the man's gaze flicked down to my exposed stomach with concern before his eyes would move back to become engrossed in the task at hand. At first, I paid it no mind to it, but now, I had begun to think something was terribly wrong. "Finn," I began slowly as the man's head snapped away from my appearance for what felt like the hundredth time in a day.
"Rory," He responded in a similar fashion, drawing out the last syllable of my name in a childish way.
"Is something wrong?"
He choked on his words before responding, "No, nothing is wrong, why would you think that?"
"Because I can tell when you're lying- and you just did, that and the fact you keep looking at my stomach like my guts are spilling out of it or something,"
"Just admiring,"
"I'm engaged, you know that?" I said teasingly, displaying the very ring that the man had proposed to me with only a short while ago. Finnick quirked his eyebrow challengingly and I reciprocated the gesture, a smile playing on my lips.
Finnick smirked and I felt him suddenly turning on the Capitol-adored playboy-charm "Oh I know," He sang, standing up from his weaving and stepping into the sunlight where I was. He, much like myself, had taken off the top half of his suit, leaving his torso shirtless- the sunlight bouncing off his bronze skin. "You know, considering that at least one of us is going to die, I should probably let you know that your fiancé is a total asshole,"
"Is that so?" I feigned offence, cocking my head to the side, "And tell me, Finnick Odair, what is so horrible about my fiancé?"
He hummed lowly, enjoyment clear in his eye, "To start with, he's completely full of himself, a chronic flirt- it's a good thing he's pretty otherwise I have no idea why you'd be interested in him,"
"Careful Odair, it's starting to sound like you have a crush on my fiancé," I teased, tracing my hand over his chest and brushing past him and over to the shade, "Besides, there are other good things about them,"
"Such as?"
"Well, I don't think many of them would be appropriate to say, the whole world is watching, remember," I responded with a grin, sitting back down in the sand as Katniss stirred herself awake. She mumbled something under her breath about 'flirting being the last way she'd want to wake up' before greeting us with an exhausted expression. "Morning, girl on fire," I waved to her, taking an oyster from the basket of food we collected before she awoke and carefully shucking it with one of the knives strapped to my belt.
"They're better fresh," Finnick advised her, taking some for himself to eat and settling down beside me in the shade. She nodded, in acknowledgement reaching out to take on before hesitating, taking in the sight of scratch marks on her arms. "If you scratch, you'll bring an infection,"
"And I'd rather you drown me right here and now than have to deal with you covered in pus," I told her honestly, clapping her shoulder as I reached for another piece of shellfish.
She stood up, wandering wordlessly over to the water and rising it over her arms. I could see the displeased look in her eyes, even from a distance as she stomped determinedly over to the sand, screaming into the sky "Hey Haymitch! If you're not too drunk we could use a little something for our skin," She held out her arms, showing off the awful scabs residing on them. I laughed aloud, applauding her boldness. Almost comedically fast, the parachute appears from the sky, revealing a container of strong-smelling ointment, she sighed with relief as she rubbed the cream into her blisters, turning them into festering discoloured marks on her leg. I scrunched my nose in disgust as she threw the canister to Finnick.
"It looks like you're decomposing," Finnick responded, holding the container away from himself stubbornly. One look from me, however, and he began to rub the stuff on his arms with surrender.
"Poor Finnick, is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" Katniss taunted in a high voice, the two of us snickering over his discontent.
"It must be," He responded sarcastically, "The sensation's completely new, how have you managed it all these years?"
"Just avoid mirrors, you'll forget about it," Katniss waved his remark of casually, the three of us smiling as if we'd known each other our whole lives.
"Don't worry Finn, you're still pretty to me," I responded, catching the ointment as he tossed it in my direction. The feeling of it on my skin is instantly relieving and the tension in my shoulders from fighting the pain suddenly dissipated. As we fell into silence, I glanced in Peeta's direction. He was curled up in a ball, arm outstretched to where Katniss had been lying. After being on guard all night, I envied him, I was utterly exhausted, "He looks so peaceful," I sighed, nodding in his direction, "I almost don't want to wake him up,"
A mischievous grin made its way to Finnick's face, the kind he used to make after he'd snuck up on me for the millionth time, "Let's do it together, put our faces right in front of his," Katniss was quick to agree and I couldn't help but grin at the interaction between the two. The three of us leaned closed enough that our breath could move the hairs around his face and I pursed my lips to suppress the laughter ready to burst.
"Peeta, Peeta wake up," Katniss said in a soft voice. His eyes barely twitch before they shoot open altogether and the boy let out a scream, jumping back as the three of us fall back into the sand. The beach is quickly filled with our careless laughter as the boy attempts to regain his composure. All it took to set us off again was the suppressed laughter Peeta was masking with a frown, and we were back on the ground. In an awful situation, we'd found time to let Katniss and Peeta live their youth, though it was cut short by a parachute from District Four. A loaf of bread as Plutarch had cryptically alluded to before we had been planted, we'd have to wait until we managed to reunite with the others, Wiress and Beetee especially, only when we were together would we be able to decode the rebel's message.
Finnick snatches the bread out of my hand like a seagull, causing me to snicker. He mumbles something about pairing the bread with shellfish before his ranting is cut off by a violent scream from the other side of the beach. My head snapped up, as a cannon fired in the distance and before I knew how to react, Finnick had interlocked his hand with mine. Katniss drew her bow, cautiously stalking out of our makeshift shelter and further down the beach to get a better look at the intruders on our territory, Peeta is quick to follow her. Finnick and I wrapped up the leftover food, picked up our weapons and followed after the two younger victors.
I recognised them almost immediately, Lorelei and Johanna may have been covered in dark blood, but even from a mile away, I could have seen the way their hands itched to clasp around each other's as they led Wiress and Beetee to the water. "Johanna!" Finnick exclaimed sprinting over to the woman whose head turned our way.
"Finnick! Rory!" The woman cried back, as we ran towards her, my arms engulfed my two friends immediately, holding tighter to Lorelei's figure with despair. Atlas had been like a father to her, and the anthem revealing his death had not yet played, for all she knew he was safe. Lorelei had always been a smart woman and it didn't take her long to realise what had become of her oldest friend.
"Was he in pain?" She questioned, her voice broken and heavy.
He was, excruciatingly, I could still recall the sound of searing flesh and the pained cries that erupted from his as he spasmed and fell to the ground. Atlas had experienced the worst possible way to die, but I couldn't destroy Lorelei's spirit by telling her the truth, evidently, neither did Finnick who responded before I could, "No," he said placing a hand on Lorelei's shoulder, "He wanted me to tell you how much he loved you," He added and Lorelei nodding, tears swimming in her eyes and making clear trails down her blood-stained face.
I knew that wasn't what Atlas had whispered to Finnick before he sacrificed himself, what Atlas had shared was something worse, darker, a final secret that only Finnick could know. Lorelei was quick to excuse herself and the woman fled towards the water, diving below the surface before anyone could protest. It took me a moment to realise that we were missing two people, "Where's-"
"Hit the forcefield," Johanna answered stoically before I could finish asking, she brushed off our sympathetic looks, "You know, he wasn't much but he was from home. Worse, he left me alone with these two," She snapped, her foot nudging Beetee's weakened figure.
"What happened to them?" I asked, placing my hand on a delirious Wiress' shoulder to prevent her from moving away from the group.
"He took a knife to the back when I was getting him out of the cornucopia, and she-" Johanna prodded her finger in Wiress' direction, the woman mumbling the words 'tick tock' under her breath repeatedly, "yeah we know- tick tock, Nut's is in shock," Johanna sighed, watching the dazed woman stagger around on the shoreline, gripping desperately at Katniss' shoulders.
As she stumbled towards Johanna once more the girl groaned, shoving Wiress into the sand forcefully. "Johanna or Lorelei," Finnick mumbled in my direction, nodding between the two women, Lorelei had only just resurfaced her hands strewn in her hair, eyes unwavering from the horizon. Johanna had moved to defend herself against an enraged Katniss, her hand twitching for her axe.
"Strangely enough, I'll take Johanna," I responded, charging towards the shorter woman. Anger and violence I could deal with in spades, grief was a different battle altogether. Besides, Finnick and Lorelei needed each other, they had known Atlas and each the longest out of anyone, the bond they had was similar to the one that I shared with the woman I was carrying towards the waves. "Claws away, Jo." I warned her calmly as she continued to rant.
"I got them out for you!" She yelled in the direction of a confused Katniss and Peeta, I suppressed an amused laugh, watching Katniss subconsciously link her pinkie finger around Peeta's. As she struggled in my grasp, I plunged her body into the water without warning. She writhed in my grasp as I pulled her back into the air. "Bitch," She scowled, though I wasn't sure if it were directed at Katniss or myself, "Give me one good fucking reason why I shouldn't kill them right now,"
"Because we still need them, honey," I told her soothingly, assisting her as she tried to scrub herself clean of dried blood, "Katniss is damn good with her bow and Peeta has his own set of unique skills. Besides, he's a real catch," I told her jokingly as we watch the boy lift a fully grown Beetee over his shoulders to help him into the water.
"Sure," Johanna responded, "But he's not really I type, if you know what I mean," She uttered, her eyes trailing in Finnick and Lorelei's direction, lingering on the petite woman wringing out her hair, the water around her staining red with blood. I opened my mouth to respond before Johanna interrupted once more, "Say one more thing about that and I'll pin you to a tree with my axe," She snapped, her hand gripping my wrist threateningly.
"I might be into that," I drawled, stalking away from the woman to give her some space, "Please try to refrain from maiming our allies,"
As I turned away from her she shouted "No promises," in response, causing me to snicker.
Is this rushed? Yes. Do I care? No.
Also I think everyone should know that I've placed my entire will to live on the hope that the new Percy Jackson TV series will be good. Hands will undoubtedly be thrown if it's bad.
(Update: I have so many thoughts - but all in all I LOVED IT. Walker, Leah and Aryan absolutely killed it! I felt like a proud mum.)
(Update of the update: And if I hear any slander about ANY of them I will hunt you down)
Love ya'll