𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍
-𝚃𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚘𝚛 𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚏𝚝 (𝚂𝚊𝚏𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍)
◦╳╳╳╳╳╳╳╱◇╲╳╳╳╳╳╳╳◦
It's been two months since the party. A couple of days since Snow told me if I stepped one foot out of line everyone I love would be killed. I have been careful. Not going out too far in the ocean, not going to the meadows, not talking about anything like the future where Snow doesn't exist.
I haven't told Finnick about the conversation at all. I have been clearing my head every morning for a long run. I start at the private beach and run through district 4 and make my way back to Victor's Village.
I have been going to the Capitol Thursdays and Fridays. I stayed overnight in a small apartment that was given to me by Snow. The best part about that apartment is that it is near Cashmere and Gloss when they have to stay in the Capitol too.
I haven't told Tigris why she was removed as a stylist and I don't think I ever will. She has been through a lot and knowing that her own cousin fired her because she was telling her own experiences, with a bit of what happened with him, will kill her.
Since I made it back in district 4 though, I have been training with Caspian and Finnick every Monday and Wednesday.
Casp's voice takes me out of the small trans I have been in. "Can I come with you?" He asks.
"Huh?" I ask, confused.
"I mean can I come on a run with you. I barely spend any time with you because you're either in the Capitol, running, spending time with Maise, or training by yourself and I am either at school or training with Finnick. I just feel like you don't have time for me anymore." He says, looking down.
I stand up from tying my shoes and walk over to him. I lift up his chin the little bit that it has too. He has gotten so tall. Trust me I'm not short. I am 5,9 and he has to be almost 5,8. "Casp. I'm sorry for making you feel like I'm not spending enough time with you, but everything that I am doing is making sure that you never have to go through what I went through, so you can have an amazing life." I say.
"But then why don't you train with me." He asks.
"I thought you wouldn't want to train with knives. You always took an interest in tridents, spears, and swords." I say.
"Yeah, but I want to train with you. One on one. No Maise down there and no Finnick down there. Just me and you. Like old times." He says.
I smile and pull him into a hug. My hand goes to the back of his head and I pull him close. "Like old times."
※※※
Caspian and I have been running for a while. We ran through the beach, the town square and now we are making our way to the meadows. We slow down as we make it to the tree with so many memories.
Caspian is out of breath and I laugh seeing him so tired. He sees me laughing at him. "You know I am only 11 and I'm not a victor." He says, rolling his eyes still out of breath.
"I know, but you need to build up that stamina little bro." I say, patting his back. I sit down in the shade of the tree and he moves to sit next to me.
We sit in silence until he finally decides to speak up. "You know I'm sorry for making it so difficult for you." He says. I turn my head towards him, my brows drawn together. He must sense my confusion. "I mean with mom and dad. You went through so much and I didn't know the extent of what was going on until now."
"Nothing is your fault, Caspian. You didn't know because you were too young. I kept it from you because I wanted you to have a normal childhood without you worrying." I told him. It's kind of upsetting that he thinks it's his fault that I wasn't treated right and that he didn't do anything about it.
"I still think you should have told me." He says, looking down. I lift up his chin and have him look at me.
I smile at him. "I'm sorry. I'll tell you anytime that I need you or that I am going through something."
A smile etches on his face and he pulls me into a hug. The thing is, I feel guilty. I say that I'm going to tell him if I'm going through something, but the thing that I'm going through right now has to do with him and his future.
"Let's go home." I say in a whisper. He nods his head and gets up holding out his hand for me which I gladly take.
"Last one home is a rotten fish!" He yells, running. I quickly follow after him. We run through the square, back through the beach, and he reaches Victor's Village before me.
I huff. "That was unfair." I say, pouting.
"Oh well." He says shrugging while walking into the house. I follow behind him and see Finn and Maisy in the kitchen making food.
Caspian sits next to Maisy and I move to wrap my arms around Finnick's torso. He leans into my touch and turns around.
"Good morning, beautiful." He says, pecking my lips.
"Good morning, seaweed brain." I say, laughing. He gives me a small smile and then turns back around.
I know he likes that nickname. He has more seaweed in his brain than he has a brain. I seriously think his brain is the size of a pea.
I sit down next to Casp and rest my head on his shoulder. "Hey Finn, is it okay if just me and Casp train today and you take Maisy swimming or something?" I ask.
"Of course I don't mind." He says, placing the plates with eggs and bacon on them. He sits down next to me and we try to have a normal breakfast as a family without thinking about what could happen.
※※※
I'm laughing so hard my stomach and face are starting to hurt. Caspian just tried to throw one of my knives and it came nowhere near the target. Honestly, I didn't know someone could do that bad.
The knife had landed in a wall on the right side of the target 10 feet in front of it. "How do you do that?" I ask, still laughing.
"I'm not good with knives!" He exclaims.
"I can see that!" I laugh. My arm is clutching my stomach trying to stop it from hurting. I take a few deep breaths trying to stop laughing and I do, but I still have a cheeky smile on my face.
"You know I want to see you try and throw a trident or spear." He says, crossing his arms.
"Caspian." I say, putting an arm on his shoulder. "I grew up throwing tridents and spears. I had to get food and money for us somehow. How about some sword combat?" I ask.
He huffs. "Fine." We walk to the center of the training room and we both grab foam weapons so we don't actually kill each other.
We both get into a fighting stance. I know he has been practicing with Finnick, but I have beat Finnick before. He makes the first hit which I block with my piece of foam.
I let him come at me first. Make him tired. Get him frustrated that I'm not fighting back. After a few minutes of him just throwing jabs at me, he finally backs up, moving his arm in a revealing position.
I swing my arm in the direction to the side that is blocked and when he sees this he moves to the side and I take my chance to swing my arm fast to his other side and hit him with the foam sword.
I smile at him while he stands there shocked. "There are a lot of things you want to take from that fight. First, you came at me and made yourself tired. Second, you left yourself in a vulnerable position. Lastly, you focused too much on where you saw me going. You should always try to think ten steps ahead of the other person." I say.
He nods taking in everything that I have said. "If you ever get reaped and put into the games you have to realize what I just did. I know a lot of those kids are going to do the same thing that you just did, but if you ever do get put in there, if you do what I do and absorb the hits, then you have a bigger advantage. Just don't get cornered into a wall or with multiple people. That leaves you open for a blow somewhere fatal." I say.
"Can we do that again?" He asks. I look at the clock on the wall and see that it is almost lunch.
"How about after lunch and we have a small break. You can go over everything that we just did and then maybe later you can try and use those skills against Finnick." I say with a smirk.
"So I can beat his ass." He says, turning around to walk to the stairs. I grab something easy enough to throw and soft enough that it won't hurt and throw it at his head. "Ouch!"
"You are only 11 still. You're not allowed to say ass until you are 13." I say.
"But it's a body part!" He yells.
"Still a bad word!" I yell as we walk up the stairs.
We make it to the living room and I see Finn and Maisy laying down on the couch. Maisy is laying on Finn's chest and is passed out and Finnick is just watching tv.
I smile and walk towards them. I pick Maisy up and rest her head against my shoulder and Finnick gets up. "We have to go over to Mags' house for lunch." I whisper, trying not to wake up Maisy.
They both nod and head over to the door to get their shoes on. I walk out of the house with Maisy still in my arms. Times like these remind me of when she was just a baby and couldn't talk or walk. How time flies.
When we walk into her house I see Cody and a smile overcomes my face. I set Maisy down on a couch and ran over to Cody and pulled him into a hug.
"Nice to see you too, Kiddo." He says, rubbing my back.
I smile and I sit down next to him and we start talking about everything that we need to.
"Oh! You should come over and watch Finnick get beat by Casp." I say.
"How is an 11 year old going to take down an 18 year old?" He asks.
"I have no idea, but I think he can do it." I say.
Mags come over and sign to tell us that lunch is done and that we can go over to the dining table. I walk over to the couch that Maisy is laying on right now and lightly shake her awake.
"Maisy you need to wake up." I say, softly. She just mumbles something and turns to face the pillows. "Maisy, seriously, it's time for lunch if you don't get up, you're not eating lunch and you're going to have to wait until dinner."
Her eyes shoot open. This girl loves her food. She raises her arms, signaling me to pick her up. I pick her up and I spin her around making her giggle.
She wraps her legs around my torso and we walk into the dining room. There are two chairs left in between Finn and Cody.
I set Maisy down next to Cody and I sat next to Finn. "Oh I see how it is." Cody says, crossing his arms. "You chose your little fish stick over there over me. Well guess what, I have my best buddy next to me. Isn't that right Maisy?" He says and Maisly nods her head.
"Hey! I thought I was your best buddy." Caspian says.
"You both are my best buds." Cody says. I giggle while they go back and forth about how Cody isn't loyal to Caspian.
I turn to Finnick and see him already looking at me and smiling. I smile back at him and he gives me a kiss on the forehead.
※※※
Casp, Finn, and Mags went over to our house while Cody, Maisy, and I stayed at Mags house. I'm cleaning the kitchen and dining table off while Maisy and Cody are sitting on the kitchen island.
"I cut myself the other day on some metal." Cody says. They are pretending he is hurt so Maisy can practice more on real people.
"Okay let me see it." She says. He lifts his hand and shows her his arm that doesn't have anything wrong with it. She examines it with gloves on. We had to get her small plastic gloves because the regular ones didn't fit her hands.
"Is it going to be alright?" Cody asks.
"I think it will be fine. I think you need a metal shot. Uhh.. Cori, how do you say the metal shot?" She asks me.
"Tetanus shot." I say, smiling at her as I wash the dishes.
"Alright. You need a Tetanus shot just to make sure you don't get an infection." She pulls out a fake syringe and places it where the cut is.
"Thank you. I feel so much better now." Cody says.
"No problem. If you feel weird at all you know where to contact me." She says. I giggle a little after she says that. She sounds like a mini doctor. It's kind of hard to take her seriously when she still can barely pronounce her r's.
"Okay guys, I think it's time we go back home and watch Caspian kick Finn's butt." I say, smiling.
Maisy jumps off her stool and runs over to me lifting her arms. I pick her up and she wraps her legs around my torso and lays her head on my shoulder.
Cody and I walk out of the house and head over to the house. "Do you really think a 11 year old is going to win against Finnick?" Cody asks.
"I think he will do good. Do I think he is going to win? No. He is going to put up a good fight though. It's just foam swords." I say.
"Is Finnick going to go easy on him?" He asks.
"Maybe a little, but I don't think a lot. If it was hand to hand combat I think he would so he doesn't hurt him, but this is just foam swords, so I don't think he will go too easy on him." I say. Cody just nods his head as we walk through the front door. Maisy gets out of my arms and grabs the stuffed rabbit that Caspian passed down to Maisy for her birthday.
I didn't know he still had it and I also didn't know that he had given it to her until recently when I saw her bringing it down to the basement with her.
We walk downstairs and I see Mags sitting in the Medical station looking at the two boys in the middle of the room wrestling. Maisy is holding my hand and has the stuffed bunny in the other. Cody is standing next to us looking amused.
"Guys!" I yell. They stop in their place and quickly stand up. "Are you guys children?" I ask.
"I mean I kinda am a child." Caspian says, with a smirk. Wonder where he learned that.
I look at Finnick. "Your excuse?" I ask.
"Umm. He started it." He says, pointing at Caspian.
"Screw you!" Caspian says, hitting his hand. "Cordelia, I have no idea how you put up with this guy," He says pointing at Finnick with his thumb. "I can get you a guy from around here and he will be much better."
I laugh while rolling my eyes and walking toward both of them. "That's cute, but Finnick is stuck with me right now." I say.
Caspian groans and turns around to go get a drink while Finnick stays by me. I look up into his eyes. "Can you just try and not hurt him? That is all I ask. Don't go too easy on him because then he will get mad, but also don't go to hard on him because then he will get upset and maybe not want to train anymore and I really need him to train, I-" Finnick cuts off my rambling with placing his hand over my mouth with a smirk on his face.
"I won't do anything to hurt him, love." Finn says, dropping his hand.
"Okay good because I need him to be in perfect health because I don't trust Snow at all." I say. Finnicks eyes show pity. I hate the pity that he shows. I don't want any pity from him. I want it to be like normal.
"Alright." He says. He places a kiss on my lips which I gladly reciprocate.
He goes back to the middle where Caspian is standing. They are talking quietly and I move to sit down outside of the Medical station. There are a couple of chairs down here mostly for Maisy and Caspian when they get tired.
I sit down and Maisy cuddles up on my lap with a blanket I didn't see her grab. I honestly don't know where it came from.
She's being really clingy today and I don't know why. I mean I'm not really complaining, but I am worried. Is she getting sick? Is something happening? I might ask her if something is wrong because most of the time when something is wrong she comes and lays in my bed.
Finnick and Caspian grab the foam swords and start getting ready to fight. I'm worried for Caspian. I know Finnick won't hurt him, but I don't want him to feel like he can't do it. I mean even if he gets Finnick into a vulnerable position there is no way he is going to beat him. I will be proud though.
Finnick starts off with the first jab. The foam is smacking against the others and it would be funny to watch if I didn't know it was to make sure Caspian was being prepared to go into the Hunger Games.
Finnick is moving his sword all around making Caspian block all of his moves. Finnick has a lot of stamina so it's going to be hard to get him tired. He needs to start making some move.
Finally Caspian makes a move to push Finnick away from him. I can tell Caspian's hand is getting tired and he needs a second to fix it.
Caspian is the one throwing his sword around now. He is making Finnick block all of his attacks. I can tell Finnick is surprised by this and starts to do more. Finnick isn't skilled in swords, but tridents are harder to wield than swords are.
Caspian finally gets Finnick into a position where he can strike, but Finn has really fast reflexes, so in the next second he blocks it and hits Caspian in the side.
Finnick and Casp give each other a hug and I see Finnick trying to see anything that Caspian is giving away about how he feels.
Casp walks over to me and I can't tell if he is upset at all or not. "Hey, bud, how are you feeling?" I ask.
"I... I think I did good. Did you see? I got Finnick tired and he started to think that I could beat him! He told me that I need to get faster though. I think I should work more. I also did what you told me to do, but it got boring and started to hurt my arm, so I started to fight him." He says.
I smile. "You did good, bud. I think it's time for you to go get a shower. You have been sweating all day long." I say and he nods and runs up the stairs.
I look down at Maisy and see that she is asleep. I pick her up and her head rests in the crook of my neck. She is gripping the small blanket and the bunny tightly and I turn to Finnick. "I'm going to put her to bed." I say.
"Okay. I'll be up in a minute." He says. I walk over to him and give him a kiss and walk over to Cody.
"Goodnight, Cody." I say, giving him a side hug.
"Goodnight, Kiddo." He says, giving me a kiss on the head. I smile up at him and say goodnight to Mags before walking up the stairs to Maisy's bedroom.
I set her on her bed and turn off her lights before going back to my room and taking a nice long shower. I'm in the bathroom brushing my hair and teeth when Finnick walks in with a sleepy Maisy in his arms.
I walk over to her. A worried expression must be on my face. She has been crying. She sees me and immediately puts her arms out for me.
I take her in my arms and rock on my feet back and forth. "What's wrong baby?" I ask. I move to sit on the bed and set her in my lap.
"I don't want to be by myself today." She says, crying.
"Okay. Do you want to sleep with us tonight?" I ask, wiping her tears. She nods her head and she climbs off my lap and lays her head on my pillow.
I quickly finish my things in the bathroom, but Finnick comes in and closes the door. "What is wrong?" He asks.
"I honestly don't know. I mean she hasn't acted like this in a while. How was she this morning?" I ask him.
"She seemed fine. She actually seemed really happy. I took her outside to the stores to get her another doll because she said she wanted one. I think I left her alone for like 2 minutes." He says.
I think about it. "Do you think someone said something to her?" I ask.
"Maybe." He says. I lean over the counter. My head is resting in my hand. "Hey," I don't answer. "Cordelia." He says. I look up and see him looking at me. "You didn't do anything wrong, okay. You have done everything you needed to, to make sure she is okay." He says.
"I just feel like I did something wrong." I say.
"You did nothing wrong." He says. He softly grabs my face and pulls me into a loving kiss. "Now let's go in there and ask her and then we can go to bed." I nod and we walk into the room.
I see Maisy sitting on the bed wiping her eyes sitting up on the bed. I walk over to her and sit down on the bed next to her.
She lays her head on my lap and I play with her hair. "Maisy?" I ask.
"Yeah?" She says.
"What happened today?" I ask. She sits up and looks at me.
"Someone said something about you." She says, pouting.
"What did they say?" I ask her.
"They said that you are a slut because you go around with Finnick here and then you go to the Capitol and hang out with the guys there." She says.
"Oh Maisy, you don't have to worry about anything that people say about me." I say.
"But they were being mean and I didn't like that they were talking about you. You're the best sister and I don't want you to have mean people saying things about you." She says.
"You have nothing to worry about. I promise you. I don't care what they say about me, but if you hear them say it again I give you full permission to say something rude about them too." I say, smiling at her.
She giggles. "I will." She says.
We lay back down in the bed and Finnick turns off the lights. I wrap my arms around Maisy, hugging her close. Finnick wraps his arms around my waist just to be near me because he knows that I need him near me or else I won't get any sleep.
I lay in bed with my arms wrapped around Maisy. It makes me upset that she thinks she needs to help me from people saying bad things about me. I know that a lot of people in district 4 are saying somethings about me that aren't kind.
All I need to make sure that those people don't get to me are the people that I love and the people that love me.
◦╳╳╳╳╳╳╳╱◇╲╳╳╳╳╳╳╳◦
𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲𝐲𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐨... 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟕𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝟒𝟏𝟖𝟎 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
umm sorry guys for the people who read the 70th games already ik not a lot saw it this was the one that was supposed to be posted sooo sorryy