Fame • Finnick Odair

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Finnick Odair won the 65th Hunger Games.

He was mentored by Mags Flanagan so Lyra hadn't seen her in a while. Winning the competition at fourteen made him the youngest victor in the history of the games.

Finnick's success was due to a combination of his extraordinary physical skill and his widespread popularity among Capitol citizens because of his good looks. Finnick had been well prepared for the arena so his parents must've had him receive some sort of training outside of their casual schooling.

He had good fighting skills with spears and knives which he initially gathered from the Cornucopia.

He also received many gifts during the games, including a trident which could have been the most expensive gift ever seen given to a tribute. He was very liked by the Capitol, being the attractive underdog that year. He used the weapon in combination with a net woven from vines he gathered throughout the arena by snaring and immobilizing his opponents before spearing them.

Though he didn't ally with the Careers, he was your typical career, he won with pride. Proud of his victory, of surviving, of bringing honour to his district and family.

He stood before each District and read off of cards provided by our districts escort with a proud smirk on his face. However, as his tour went on, Lyra noticed how after each district, his eyes lost their light more and more. As if the pride was slowly dissipating and instead being replaced by self-hatred and disgust.

The realisation that the life of a Victor is a lie, that life didn't get better after you win the Games. That nobody ever really wins, you just survive. Nightmares must've caught up to him.

By the time he was returning to District 4, he seemed to have lost that pride. He seemed to have realised the truth about the games. And whilst he was grateful to have the opportunity to come back home alive, he realised he wasn't proud.

And he hated himself for once feeling proud of his actions, for not feeling bad when he ended the life of a fellow child. He hated that whilst he was committing the act, he didn't feel any guilt.

But he stuck a fake smile on his face as instructed.

Upon arriving home, his family weren't at the station to welcome him. He shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it and instead assuming that they wanted to welcome him back in private.

However, he was shocked to find that when he returned home his parents refused him. They refused to move into the Victor's Village with him. They claimed the Capitol had changed him into a different person. They hated what he did in his Games.

So when Finnick moved into the Victor's Village after being kicked to the curb by his family, he was left with the large house all alone.

He'd lie in bed at night, his original trident propped against the wall for protection, left to his own thoughts.

He'd wake from nightmares of his victims, their families, their futures he'd taken from them. He got out of bed one morning, bags under his eyes from sleep deprivation, to answer the knocking at the door.

"Hey Mags," he smiled softly at his mentor. "Come in."

He opened the door and moved aside for her to come inside. "What've you got here?" he asked as Mags passed him the tin container.

The elder woman signed, 'muffins. The girl across the street made them.'

"The Holland's?"

'Yes, Lyra brings me some every Saturday.'

"Lyra? The redhead, right?" Finnick asks curiously. Mags nodded in reply. "I've seen her at school, and round the market."

Finnick passes Mags one of the muffins and takes one himself. Mags had been coming to check on him every other day. To make sure he was still breathing, still functioning.

Finnick had only met two of the Holland family members so far. Lyra, who doesn't seem to like him very much from their few school interactions, and Caspian. Finnick had been leaving his house to buy some stuff from the market at the same time as Caspian and the latter had politely greeted the young Victor. That was the extent of it so far. He'd only been living in the Victor's Village for two weeks anyway.

He sent his family a portion of his riches every month. No matter how much they hated him, he wanted to make sure they were alright and looked after. It was just his parents living there now but he used to have a sister. Used to. She died a few years ago, she got very sick and there was nothing they could do but watch her fade away.

He had seen them around though. He'd had that short conversation with Caspian, seen an older man (presumably their father, Jared) leaving their house to see Mags during the day sometimes, and seen the redhead (who he knew as Lyra) at school and occasionally taking a small child, who he knew to be Cole, to the beach with her.

In fact, he seems to see a lot of Lyra. He was almost always awake, dreading the moments of sleep he got as they were plagued by nightmares. In the early hours of the morning, when you'd assume most people would still be asleep, he'd be mindlessly staring out the window at the sea and he'd see Lyra leaving in sports clothes for a morning run. Every morning around sunrise without fail. Like clockwork. He also worked out that she goes to the beach every evening. Sometimes with her little brother, mostly alone. He found it amusing that when the girl went alone she would climb the fence to the beach. He had to admit, she does it flawlessly as if it were second nature.

He didn't mean to be nosy, or even rude, but he needed a distraction. Something else to think about, something other than the images that haunted his mind. And he found that, being directly opposite his own house, the Holland family were often his alternate option to think about.

Finnick lost himself in the arena, and he couldn't seem to manage to find himself again. He did learn one thing though. It takes ten times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart. He's still in the process of putting himself back together, but when he does he can't let himself fall apart again.

He felt truly and utterly alone in the world. The only friendship he had now was with Mags, and a brief one with the other victors. Not that she was bad company or anything, he loved the woman to bits, but he missed the family atmosphere that had always brought him peace and happiness. First his sister died and now his parents push him away entirely, abandoning their only child.

He often found himself envying the Holland family across from his house. Although they had lost people too, they seemed to recover alright. Because they still had each other, a safety net, comfort. Cole was safe for a few more years yet. Neither Caspian or Lyra are safe from the Games, Caspian still has two more Reapings, and Lyra has four. She's his age, he'd seen her around school a lot. It was impossible to miss the girl with her fiery red hair and freckled tan skin. She's smart too, always has her head in a book in lessons and elsewhere, except for when she sat with her friend at lunch. There were always rumours about her too, being part of the Holland family and all. They're practically District 4 celebrities and high schoolers are very big on gossip. Despite being an infamous Holland, she only seemed to have one friend. Annie Cresta. She's in the year below Finnick and Lyra but the the two girls seem close nonetheless. Annie has some friends in her year who she spends time with too: Sophie, Mavis and Florence. If you ask Finnick, he'd tell you they're bitches. Because they are. They're your typical popular mean girl type. He's always been confused how Annie and Lyra are friends whilst Annie is friends with the three girls, they've always been rather hostile towards Lyra.

The Holland household seemed to have a homey, warm aura to it because of the family living inside. Their love and laughter filled the walls.

His new house just felt cold and empty and dark. And alone. Very alone.