Cage me like an animal • F Odair¹ •

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"You didn't kill me,"

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*Finnick POV*

Finnick Odair hated the Capitol. He always had, even as a child, and hated them more each year he had to come in contact with its citizens. They had two redeeming qualities, though, which were these: they would do almost anything he wanted if he went about it the right way, and they were filthy rich. Not that the second one meant much to him anymore. He had more than enough money to survive, and after that, money meant nothing to him. Still, the fact that the money was there was a useful bonus for him sometimes.

Finnick thought about this as he sat in the sitting room of a rich woman he had only met two days ago, in nothing but a thin sheet he had wrapped around himself, his eyes glued to the television, watching as Rowan Lindell of District Seven and Cara Savera of District Six attempted to heal an unconscious Athena's stings, to no avail. Not that he could blame them; they didn't have the right supplies to tend to Tracker Jacker stings. Besides, they had both been stung once, making matters more difficult. If anything, he was grateful that they didn't kill her so she wouldn't slow them down, grateful that the stings themselves didn't kill her, grateful that she managed to make it out of the encounter with the Careers in one piece.

Finnick couldn't really be surprised that Athena chose to form an alliance with Rowan and Cara, now was he very surprised about her standing against the Careers; it had always been clear to him that an alliance with the Careers was not something she wanted. Could the situation have been handled better? Yes. But it could have been worse. At Athena she was alive, and she was quick and clever and strong, able to handle herself, but none of that would matter if those stings weren't tended to properly quickly.

Kai, by some strange miracle, had managed to come out of the ordeal completely unscathed, without a single sting to be seen. The same couldn't be said for the other Careers, but that wasn't Finnick's responsibility as long as Kai was okay. That left Athena to take care of, which wasn't surprising if he was honest with himself.

She was always the more difficult tribute, he thought, a little more fondly than he should have.

And yet he still worried for her, was still flooded with relief to see her alive, still wanted her to win so much that he was finding it difficult to dismiss it as something innocent. But he managed it anyway, because the other option was ridiculous. He was her mentor, choosing the other option crossed a line Finnick didn't think he could cross. A line Finnick was rather scared to cross. The other option wasn't even an option, not for someone like him, not since his forced arrangement with Snow.

In any case, what mattered now was getting Athena out of her current situation. All she needed was the right medicine, but she also needed a sponsor who was willing to pay for it.

"Finnick! Darling! Where have you gone?" a high-pitched voice called from the bedroom, giggling. "Don't tell me you've run away from me!"

Finnick could barely hold back the shudder that threatened to pass through him. Forcing his voice to speak in that low, seductive purr that everyone liked so much, he called back, "I'm in here, sweetheart. I could never leave you for long."

Ironically, he would be leaving her in two days and would likely never see her again. Snow wanted him to keep the Capitol happy. The only way to do that was if he moved from client to client, never lingering with one for very long. After two years of this, Finnick didn't know why they still believed that he truly loved any of them, but Finnick had also been around Capitol citizens enough to know that not many of them were very intelligent.