Breathe in, Breathe out • F Odair² •

V

"Where's your sense of adventure, Wise One?"

This chapter is for YoGabbaGabba55 CocaLastic siriusblackismybtch and LizzieWorthington
For being the best readers, always commenting stuff that makes me laugh. And for slogging through hundreds of thousands of words. This is for you ❤️

•∘♔∘•

The thing about knowing that she was going back into the arena was that it left Athena with a lot of clarity. Regardless of how little she wanted to do it or how scared or worried or hurt she was, she knew exactly what she needed to do from now up until the Reaping. From there, due to the fact that she had once been a tribute and was a mentor for five years, she knew more or less what the drill would be during training. And though it was anyone's guess what the actual arena would be like, she knew the essentials of how to survive in there. And she would have Finnick by her side once she was in there. So besides a few variables that were up in the air, the path she needed to take was very clear.

Every other morning, Athena and Finnick would be up early to go on a run throughout the entire district. The headmaster had agreed to let them use the facilities almost immediately, so every day, they would spend hours using the academy's training facilities, from workouts they built up speed, endurance, flexibility, balance, and strength, using various weapons, improving survival skills, and more. They alternated every other day between using the facilities before and after school hours. She hated being back at the academy so often, but she got a kick out of passing by Calypso every day, either on her way in or out of class. Every time they passed each other, they high-fived each other, and it was a part of her routine that she enjoyed. Both Athena and Finnick worked at the docks regularly, and they spent a lot of time with Mags (Finnick had pulled some strings the way he was typically very good at doing, and soon it was confirmed that so long as Mags herself was not the female tribute, she could mentor the two tributes alone) working out the best angle at which to approach the Games, from the arena itself to the opening ceremonies and the interview. Alayne sent them the tapes of every living victor outside of District Four, and Athena, Finnick, and Mags spent hours studying each one closely, learning all that they could from it.

District Four felt different after the announcement, especially Victor's Village. The atmosphere was much more tense, more on edge; this was more pronounced by Penelope's and Talisa's deaths hanging over their heads. The funeral came around in what felt like no time at all, a little over a month after the announcement and their deaths. Athena had thought she'd be planning the funeral mainly on her own, and while she oversaw and had a hand in everything, everyone in Victor's Village ended up helping in one way or another. Roman, Casper, Noah, and Murphy all helped with the catering. Lillian helped her decide what would go on their graves, particularly the quotation that would be engraved upon them. Mags and Annie helped pick out flowers, along with any other decorations that needed to be picked out. Her mother, Calypso, and Finnick all aided in other organisational things that needed to be done. They all shrugged off her thank you's, insisting it was nothing, which was partially a good thing, because she found it difficult to properly express her gratitude to them.

Practically all of District Four came to Penelope and Talisa's funeral, which was no surprise and had been planned for ahead of time. The death of a victor was no small thing; the death of two was even bigger, and though Penelope and Talisa had been very closed off from other people, especially anyone not in Victor's Village, after their Games, it seemed everyone wanted to pay their respects. It was the same thing for Siren's funeral. And just as with Siren's funeral, Athena knew cameras were filming this event and broadcasting it to the Capitol. As such, on the day of the funeral, Athena found herself sitting in between Finnick and Calypso, dressed in black, in a Justice Building so packed with people that there were still not enough chairs, so people in the back needed to stand. The burial had been an awful, sordid affair. The caskets were closed, but Athena still felt like they were too exposed, under the gaze of hordes of people who had never given Penelope and Talisa the time of day before this. Still, as the caskets were lowered into the ground, Athena had to fight off both tears and nausea with great difficulty as it hit her that Penelope and Talisa were gone forever.