A Rebellious Spirit | Book III

Chapter Twenty-Three | Nothing Could Be Worse

That night, Quinn couldn't sleep. She had set her window setting to the sea. A night time sky like the one that she used to be able to look at with the other orphans. She had begun to come to the understanding of her fate, she was going to die in the arena. She was going to join Jenson and Rosa, her parents...her brother, her sister; wherever it was they were. Whether she was entirely alright with that was a different story, but she knew that she couldn't deny it was going to happen. It was just something she knew she had to accept. Besides that, she still never officially made an alliance with anyone but Orion. Peeta had suggested that they try to team up in the arena, and Finnick had been all for being in a alliance. But it was never confirmed on anyone's part.

Quinn flinched as there was a knock on the door. A light knock that stood out against the sound of the waves know the window. Quinn sighed heavily and kicked the blankets off of herself before rolling over and getting up from her bed. She straightened out her pajamas as she walked towards the door. Slowly she pulled it open, she wasn't sure who she was expecting, but she wasn't all that surprised when she opened the door and saw Orion. The quiet chatter between Ciruss, Kelsey, and Mayslee still continued from earlier. It had been nearly a half hour since the scores were announced, and Quinn had gone to bed as soon as she could.

"In bed already?" he asked.

"Tomorrow's a long day." Quinn replied.

Orion glanced into her room, looking at the scene on the window. "Can I come in?"

Quinn sighed and stepped aside and let him in. "You really need to break this habit of coming into my personal space." she sighed, smirking a bit. "First my house in Four, then my flat in the Capitol, now this?"

Orion smirked as he stopped to look at the scene in the window. He stared at it for a moment, watching the waves and the white caps. Quinn sat down on the edge of her bed and looked at it too.

"Is this what Four looks like?"

Quinn shrugged, "Four is better. The horns, the louder waves all make it better." she stated, "They basically just took out the fog horns and called it good." she explained as he sat down beside her.

He was quiet for a moment.

"So what's the deal?" he asked, "How could you just do nothing?"

Quinn sighed heavily, "Because that's not what they wanted me to do." she said honestly as she shrugged. "Last time I tried to show off and make sure they didn't forget me, I sort of made them hate me." she said, smirking a bit as she remembered the look on their faces when labeled the target.

Orion smirked, "So you just..."

"I'm playing their game my way." she said simply.

Orion sighed and nodded, "I'm not surprised." he said scoffing a little. "But if you really did nothing, a six was pretty gracious of the gamemakers."

"Havensbee must like me then..." she said sarcastically. "As terrible as it may sound," she paused, "I'm glad you're going into the arena with me."

He raised a eyebrow sharply, "Why?"

She shrugged, "It's hard for me to make friends and allies."

Orion didn't say anything for a moment. The only sound in the room was the sound of the waves in the scene in the window. Quinn watched the waves for a moment and then looked back at Orion just as he began to talk again.

"I think you're the only one who still says friends." he said looking at her.

Quinn didn't need any clarification on what he meant. He meant that she was the only one who said they were friends. She had basically confessed to the entire country that she liked Orion, and now she was the only one pretending like nothing had changed. Like they really were only friends.

"We're going into the arena in one day, Orion." she reminded him.

He shrugged, "Then shouldn't that change anything?"

"Orion, I couldn't lose you like that." she told him, turning her eyes back to the window. Going into the arena with Orion as a friend was hard enough. "I wouldn't want you to lose me like that."

"That's rich, Quinn." he sighed, he wasn't convinced that was the only reason. "If this has something to do with...with some fear you have about something bad happening in the arena-- something bad is going to happy no matter what."

Quinn frowned. In her games, Snow did everything to break her down. He got rid of everyone she cared about. Quinn could feel tears starting to burn and threaten to spill down her cheeks. The thought of something like that happening again, the thought of something happening to District Thirteen-- to her family, and the thought of losing Orion was just too much. She couldn't stand the thought of it one bit.

"I'm sorry, Orion." Quinn's voice came out quieter than she had intended.

"Quinn," he paused, "Trust me, there's nothing my grandpa could do in the arena that would make going in there with you any worse." he said, "Because that's already the worst thing that could ever happen. Nothing could be worse."

"What about District Thirteen?" she asked, "He could bomb them-"

"Do you know how many bunkers they have?" he said in the middle of her sentence.

Quinn quickly used her thumb to rub away any tears that had begun to reveal themselves before she looked back at him. "Why do you even like me?" she asked bluntly in her normal tone.

"I didn't," he said with a long huff of air. "You honestly scared the shit out of me because you hated my grandpa possibly more than me." he stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "But then it sort of just...happened."

"I didn't like you at first either." she confessed, "I thought you were an arrogant person who just joined the Rebels as a trend." she explained simply. "Then you kind of came to my house and I had no choice but to actually spend time with you while running from firebombs." she said in one long drawn out sigh.

He chuckled.

"I thought you were going to die outside Twelve." Quinn brought up, changing the mood of the conversation back to something serious. "I wouldn't have gotten this far if you had."

"Yeah you would have." he replied, and as he was going to say something else there was a knock on the door.

"Quinn? Is Orion in there with you? It's getting awful late." Mayslee said from the other side.

Orion sighed and looked at Quinn, "Goodnight,"

"Night." Quinn replied as he stood up and went and opened the door to reveal Mayslee with her hands on her hips.

"You have a big, big, big day tomorrow and you are up chatting?" she asked.

Orion sighed and stepped past her, "See you at breakfast, Mayslee."

She watched him walk across the hall and into his room and close the door before she reached in for the knob and looking at Quinn for a moment. "You were just chatting, weren't you?"

Quinn felt her cheeks flush pink, "Yeah, Mayslee. That's it."

She sighed and nodded, "Well, goodnight, dear. Try to get some rest."