Peace- Finnick Odair

Rooftops

After the parade was over, Cas and Zia were lead to their floor in the tribute center, where Finnick, Mags and Annie were waiting for them.

"You guys did great" Mags signed. Zia nodded at the woman in thanks

"Why don't you guys get into something more comfortable, then we can talk about the plan moving forward." Finnick suggested, and Zia couldn't agree more. She really needed to get out of these heels. She made her way to one of the tribute rooms and closed the door behind her. It was a beautiful room, she could tell the designers were trying to make someone from district 4 feel at home. There were framed photos of the ocean and various sea creatures, the walls were painted a teal blue and the lamp shade was made from a woven plant native to district 4. She made her way to the dresser and searched through the clothes for something comfortable. She decided on a pair of grey sweatpants and an oversized green sweater. She stripped off her dress and stepped into the shower. She audibly sighed as the warm water feel over her body. She washed off all of the makeup and put on her new clothes. She wanted out into the main room still drying her hair. Everyone else had settled around the table for dinner. She took a seat in the empty chair next to Finnick. They all silently enjoyed their meals, not wanting to discuss battle strategy just yet. After the plates were cleared they made their way to the living room couches.

The night was filled with arguments and compromises. Theories on the other tributes and talk of their own individual talents. After a couple hours they decided to call it quits and each retreated to their own rooms. Zia tried to sleep, but her body was to wired. She decided to go for a walk around the tribute center. No one was awake and the night was peaceful. She almost forgot where she was, almost. She decided to go to the one place that she always managed to feel the most at ease, the roof. Whenever Finnick had a nightmare, him and Zia would climb up to the roof of her home in Distric 4, and talk. The sounds of the waves hitting the shore and each others company would always calm them down. Though this wasn't the roof of her home overlooking the ocean, it would hopefully still provide the same mind clearing abilities that hers did. As the elevator doors opened and she stepped out onto the tiled roof, she noticed a figure sitting with their legs through the railing, dangling over the sprawling expanse of the Capital. The ding of the elevator caused the figure to turn around and even in the dark she knew who it was.

"Finnick?"

"Zia? What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep" she shrugged "you?"

"Yeah same," he paused for a second, "I had another nightmare." Zia made her way over to him and had a seat, dangling her legs over the edge next to him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She questioned softly. He didn't respond for several seconds, she knew better than to push him after a nightmare and from the looks of it, this one had been particularly bad. After several more seconds he whispered so quietly she almost didn't hear him

"I can't loose you Zia."

"Hey, Finnick look at me" she placed her palms on his cheeks and slowly turned his face to face her. There were tears in his eyes dangerously close to spilling, she knew how much he hated to cry. "I am not going anywhere."

"Yes you are," his voice cracked "they are going to send you in there and I can't save you, I can't help you, I-" his voice cracked again "I can't loose you Zia. Your all I have left"

"Hey no, look at me, you have Mags, and you have Cas and my mom and you have Annie. You have people Finnick."

"They aren't you." He said softly. She pressed her forehead onto his. She remembered the first day they met. It had been after school, Zia and Cas had been picking flowers for their mothers birthday dinner that night, when a blond boy walked up to them. He asked what they were doing. When they told him about their gift he asked if they were going to find any sea lavender because he thought it was the most beautiful flower in the world. Zia had told him that they had a garden of sea lavender behind their house, Finnick asked to come see it and the girl couldn't have been happier. She loved showing people her and her mother's garden. When Savanna Greyling saw her children bring home a little blonde boy with a big smaile to show their garden, she knew he was special. She knew that he would be special to their family, and boy was she right. The trio became inseparable, Finnicks parents had died when he was young and they Greylings became his family.

The memory made Zia smile, this boy had weaseled his way into her life and she couldn't be more glad that he did. She kissed him on the forehead and wrapped her arms around him. As they sat together the noises of the Capital spun around in her head, she thought about what was coming. She couldn't pretend that she wasn't scared, hell, she was terrified. She was either going to die in that arena or loose her brother. There was no way to get out of this, no loopholes, no plans. Finnick was going to loose either one or both of his best friends in one foul swoop. Nothing about this was fair, nothing about the Capital was fair, nothing about the games were fair. But that's what life was liked here in Panem. Fair wasn't a word in their vocabulary. Sitting there on the roof, with Finnicks arms around her and hers around him, Zia made a promise to herself, to her family, and most importantly to president snow. If it was a show he wanted, it was a show he was gonna get. She was going to beat him at his own game. She didn't know how, but both her and Cas were going to make it out of this alive, no matter the cost.