Dead in the Water | An Odesta Fanfic

Chapter Fifteen

Contrary to popular belief, Finnick Odair didn't hate Annie Cresta.

Though, to be fair, most days he hated himself enough that he just didn't have room for anyone else.

Despite their arguments and the number of times Bay had been forced to physically pull the two of them apart before they killed each other, he didn't actually hate her. Sure, the whole self-righteous martyr act had been tough to swallow, and she definitely got on his nerves from time to time, but he couldn't help but admire her courage. Going into the arena was terrifying enough as it was, but going in knowing that, if everything went right, you wouldn't be leaving? That took guts, as much as he hated to admit it.

Truth be told, he'd been skeptical of her plan at first. Finnick didn't have siblings, but family loyalty only went so far here. He had watched enough reapings to know that kids rarely volunteered to take their sibling's place if they were chosen for the games. Sacrificing yourself to save your sibling's life just wasn't something that happened in this world. So of course Finnick had his doubts. If it came down to it, would Annie really be the one to let Kai go home?

But then he'd met Kai, and gods, Finnick really did love that kid. It was crazy, really. He'd only know him for what, five days? But Finnick would have been willing to sacrifice his own life to save him. Not that Finnick's life was worth much. The world would probably be better off without him anyway. But while he was still here, he knew he'd do everything in his power to ensure that Kai was the one to make it out of the arena. Between him, Bay, and Annie, he was fairly confident that they could do it, too.
But it wasn't just that.

A small part of him – a part that Finnick was almost too afraid to admit out loud – knew that if everything went as planned, his protection of Kai wouldn't end when he left the arena.

Finnick saw his younger self in Kai. Maybe that's what had sparked his overly strong and protective instincts. Finnick didn't have siblings, but he had sometimes dreamed of it – back in the beginning, anyway. An older brother who would stand up to Snow, who would rescue him from the clutches of the most brutal clients and take him right back home, where a kid his age belonged. But then weeks spent trapped in bedrooms across the Capitol had turned into months, and months had turned into years, and before he knew it, Finnick Odair was nineteen and more alone than ever. It had never been anything more than a dream. But if Kai escaped the arena, maybe Finnick could make sure he never had to have the same dreams.

He certainly wasn't the only one who had noticed the similarities between the two boys from District 4. People in the Capitol had seen it too, and if Finnick was being honest, that scared him more than anything else. It was still early in the games, of course. It wasn't certain that Kai would be the one to make it out of the arena alive, but he'd still heard the whispers. The way some of the older sponsors were eyeing Kai as if he were a piece of meat. The way their eyes lingered for too long in all the wrong places. It made Finnick want to vomit. Kai was a child.

He was nearly the same age Finnick had been.

Those older men and eccentric women with their terrible breath and wandering hands shouldn't be salivating over Kai as if he were nothing more than an object for their pleasure. He was just a kid. A sweet, innocent kid. Finnick wouldn't let it happen again. And if Kai Cresta made it out of that arena alive, Finnick swore he would have to be dead before he let anyone touch that kid. Even if it meant he would have to take on more clients, even if it meant he would have to get that "de-aging" surgery to make himself look younger than he actually was to please his patrons. It didn't matter. He would protect that kid.

The way no one had protected him.

But he was getting ahead of himself.

Ten tributes were dead. Annie and Kai still had to outlive twelve more tributes before he could come home. After the way Kai had spent the night crying over the deaths of those tributes, it looked like it was going to be slightly more difficult than they'd originally thought to get Annie and Kai to the final two.