Reputation (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 4

     Atlas stands still at the foot of the elevator, Diamond already leaving her to talk to Cinna. Her eyes travel around the room, taking in the sight of all her friends she'd be expected to kill. Atlas knew she was in better shape than any of these people, her toned arms and sculpted muscles showing that. So Atlas knew she had the ability to kill anyone of these people but the problem was if she wanted to.

     As her eyes drag across the closest people she had to family, they land on Plutarch Heavensbee, the new head game maker. Recalling Diamond's words, she walks over to him.

     As she approaches, he seems to sense her and turns around, smiling at the girl. His hair is laid neatly on top of his head and his eyes shine, not with malice but with what seems to be joy. Atlas wonders how he can be so joyful at sending the capitols biggest celebrities to their deaths but whatever.

     Besides the inappropriately placed joy, the man doesn't seem too lethal. As she reaches him, she holds out a hand for the man to shake. He grasps it gently and shakes it, making Atlas' jewellery clank against each other.

     "Plutarch, it's nice to meet you," Atlas lets a charming smile grace her face, one she's had to put on for years.

     "Likewise, miss fox," Atlas tries to hide the grimace that overtakes her face as he addresses her by her last name.

     "I imagine it must be a lot of pressure to be the head game maker, especially after what happened last year," Plutarch doesn't seem to be shocked about Atlas' knowledge of the last game maker's demise, most likely privy to the sources Atlas has available. Instead, the man just smiles an unsettling smile.

     He nods, "It certainly is, having to create an arena for big names such as yourself. And of course, the girl on fire."

     Atlas watches his eyes shift towards the chain on her neck and he smirks, glancing over the girl's shoulder. Atlas turns to see the girl on fire herself, standing quietly next to a horse. Atlas makes a move to turn back around but her eyes instead latch onto Finnick making his way to Katniss. She quickly turns back to Plutarch.

     "I'm sorry to cut this short, it's been great meeting you Plutarch," Atlas says, turning away from the man.

     She hears him call from behind her, "I'll see you soon Miss Fox."

     Something about the statement unnerves her but she continues her path to Finnick Odair himself. She observes his revealing outfit, the golden net not leaving much to the imagination. Of course, it was nothing Atlas hadn't seen before but she still felt her cheeks heating up just looking at him.

     As she walks up, she can hear the crunch of a sugar cube and Finnicks charming voice, "Unfortunately I think that's true." 

     Atlas quirks an eyebrow at Finnicks words, wondering what Finnick had done to try and rile the girl. In his defence, the girl's innocence was slightly funny. Finnick glances over his shoulder and locks eyes with Atlas for the first time since the quell was announced. At that moment, a million words are shared between the two of them but they both simply share solemn smiles as Finnick opens his mouth to speak.

     "Atlas," funny how a single word can make someone's whole world crash down. For the first time, the reality of this quell was dawning on her. Finnick simply uttering her name made her realize how quickly their deaths could come and just how quickly she would lose her only peace in the death of the blonde in front of her. But she doesn't say any of that. Instead, Atlas smiles sickly.

     "Finnick," he seems to have a similar realization as his gaze turns sour and he quickly turns on his heel, muttering something about Peeta quietly.

     "Sorry about him," Atlas says to the girl on fire, noting the more grown look Cinna had styled her in, "He can be a lot."

     Katniss seems to laugh slightly but it comes out as more of a scoff, "I noticed."

     "Did Cinna finally style you in something victor appropriate?" Atlas laughs, gesturing to her own revealing outfit before waving her hand over Katniss' dramatic one.

     Katniss looks like she's going to be sick as she responds, "Finnick asked something like that too."

     "I'm sure he did, he always had an eye for beauty." Atlas looks the girl up and down.

     Katniss hums in response, busying herself with the mane of the horse in front of her. Atlas bites her lip, thinking about her next sentence carefully.

     "You're lucky you know?" Atlas stands with her arms crossed and watches as Katniss scoffs loudly.

     "I wouldn't call having to fight for my life against a bunch of innocent kids lucky."

     Atlas feels a pang in her heart at the girl's words, "No, your lucky you're not one of us."

     Katniss' eyebrows furrow and her eyes turn towards Atlas angrily, "Well, I won just like the rest of you didn't I?"

     "Yeah, but they didn't have time to sell you and your boyfriend out to the capitol citizens. Trust me, they would've loved the two of you," Atlas's words don't have any underlying tones in them, instead her words convey just how much distaste she held for the city.

     Katniss seems shocked by her words, looking sadly at Atlas and scanning her sorrowful eyes over the other victors.

     Atlas glances over her shoulder nonchalantly and sees Peeta coming to stand next to her and a smile breaks out on her face, "Hi Peeta."

     Peeta smiles back and lightly hugs the girl. As she's pulling away, she places a light kiss on Peeta's cheek before winking at Katniss and walking away, her heels clicking against the hard floor, leaving the star-crossed lovers behind her to discuss her presence.

     As she approaches her chariot, she sees Mars stepping up into it, a blue vest and dress pants adorning his surprisingly toned body. He may have been a father but he still did hard work in the district. If anyone else asked him why he'd claim it was a way to pass the time but years ago when Atlas asked, he told her it was a way to get his mind off the memories that haunted him. There was an understanding between the two victors, young and old. They had gone through the same thing.

     "Miss Fox," Mars smiles as he puts out a hand to pull Atlas into the chariot. Atlas smiles and grabs his outstretched hand, her heels tripping her slightly but she stands up quickly before she can fall. She can hear Mars stifle a chuckle and she shoots him a dirty look which only makes him laugh harder.

     She lets out a sigh and looks ahead but directly ahead of her is the chariot for District 4 where Finnick is already turned around to look at her. He puts up a hand to his mouth and sends her a kiss. She catches it before sending one back. Finnick makes a show of jumping to catch it, causing him to almost fall out of the chariot. Mags grabs him by the arm, waving a finger in his face. Mags then turns to Atlas and smiles. She smiles back and Finnick turns around just as the chariot starts to move.

     "Here we go again," Atlas mutters and Mars pats her hand that's clutching the front of the chariot tightly, offering some reassurance.

     "You've won once right? You can win again."

     With Mars' words, Atlas straightens her back just as the blinding lights hit their faces.

     "Yeah, you're right," Atlas's eyes look straight forward and out of the corner of her eye she can see the lights on their outfits turn on, "I've done it once I can do it again."

     "Yes. Yes, you can."

A/N
This chapter is dedicated to the commenter who commented on the last chapter to ask for an update. My Wattpad is so glitchy so I can't even find the notification for the comment and I can't see the actual comment but I remember seeing it so thank you.

Update: I found the comment, thank you -prxmqueen-