Never In Your Favor - Finnick Odair

2

She woke up with a scream. The same way she'd opened her eyes for the last almost eleven years now. At least she could find a sense of comfort in a routine.

When she was little, any time Kaianna had a nightmare, her mom had always been there, to lull her back to sleep, and reinstate her peace. Now she was nearly twenty-six years old, and her mom was long gone, as well as her father, as well as her baby sister. President Snow wasn't too fond of the way she won her games. A fate another victor had known too well.

Kaianna had never understood Haymitch Abernathy's need to drown out his life with booze. Not until she had won the games herself. Not until she had to pay the same price that he did. At times the girl wondered what she was doing. Why she still living. It's not like she had anything to look forward too, or anything to protect. It was just her, and it had been that way since she was in the top three of her games. That's when she realized that she couldn't trust anyone else. Her eyes focused on the doorway, as her previous mentor, had made her way through it.

"It's alright Mags," Kaianna sighed tiredly at the panic expression on the frail women's face, "just another dream."

The elderly woman, was really the only one who had even an inkling of the girl's trust. Mags sat on Kaianna's bed, and rubbed her back in comfort. The mentor was a woman of few words but, she always got her point across. Both were on edge at the president's recent announcement. The one that clued them in on the fact that, they -as well as every other victor- would be pushed back into the reaping pool. Going through the experience before gave them none of the comfort that someone might expect it to.

"Hey," She looked into the woman's salt colored eyes, and felt the worry tinted over them, "it's gonna be ok Mags, I promise. You can't go back there, I won't let you."

Kaianna wrapped her arms around the woman's brittle bones, sending the burning feeling of tears, right back down her throat. Nothing any one could say, would calm her down. Nothing would calm any victor down because whether or not they chose to go into the games, they had nothing but a pure hatred for them when they made it out. That's just it. They made it out. So, they'd never have to do it again. That was the reward. That was the promise.

However, President Snow wanted them all to understand, a small group of individuals, -Kaianna, as well as last years district twelve victors, being included- especially, that promises were meant to be broken. Trust, leads to demise. The odds were never in your favor.

The pair sat quietly for a little while, every now and again exchanging a comment or look of disparity. Then, it was time to go. Kaianna had her hair slicked back in a low bun, just like her mother had done it for the last reaping she had attended. Her dress was white, and flowed just above her knees, with the sleeves hanging slightly, leaving her shoulders bare. She matched the look with a pair of tan sandals that wrapped all the way up around her calves. When she exited her house in the victor's village, Mags was standing with a sad grin.

"Don't look at me like that," Kaianna smiled softly. She felt suffocated, by the tension in the air, so she tried her best to ease it even a little. That's all anyone could do, "if we're gonna go out, we might as well go out with a bang, yes?"

The girl hadn't noticed a certain pair of sea green eyes that were scanning her outfit from behind her. Finnick Odair hadn't spoken to the girl more than once. He was fourteen, and she at just sixteen was meant to mentor him through his games alongside Mags.

After just two days with the boy, she had found the familiarity in the look of hunger in his eyes, to be too much to bare. Besides, what was left for her to lose anyway? Having nothing to do in recreating a story much like hers, was a simple decision for Kaianna to make, because she had already lost everything there was to lose. All she had left, was her morals. Or, at least the small part that was left of them. After watching him win, she had hoped his feelings had changed, and she was  completely oblivious to the fact that they very much had.