The Flying Fish (Exocoetidae)|| Finnick Odair X Fem!OC

Entrance

After the absolute chaos of the interviews, with Peeta dropping the bomb that was Katniss' pregnancy, and then the alliance of the victor's where they all joined hands, Cress and Finnick were sitting in silence, staring at the floor.

"Pregnant, huh?" Finnick looked over at her. "Do you buy it?"

"No," Cress answered without thinking. "She's not pregnant." Finnick blinked, like he wasn't expecting that answer from her.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, his brows furrowing.

"I can't explain it, but she just doesn't... seem pregnant. That's my best explanation for it." She shrugged her shoulders.

"If you say so." Finnick had a small smile curling on his lips, and Cress felt the beginnings of a blush creeping up her cheeks. She quickly sombered up as she remembered what was waiting for them tomorrow.

Death. Blood. Weapons. The fucking Arena.

"Hey, Cress, it's gonna be okay," Finnick said softly, putting his hand on her shoulder. Little did he know that Cress had already resigned herself to dying to let Finnick win. She didn't want him to die for her sake, and she knew that's how he'd go out, so she decided to die instead.

Simple.

"I know," she whispered back, looking up at him. "We're going to be fine."

They fell asleep, basking in the delusion that both of them would make it out when they knew that the Capitol needed a sob story for the ages. What better way than to have one of them dying and the other be broken about it? While Finnick slept beside her, both of them unable to sleep alone, she found herself wide awake and staring at the ceiling. If Finnick died, she didn't know what she'd do. How would she cope after Ferric's death, she couldn't lose Finnick too.

If she did, well, her mind might just break and she'd go insane.

No time to dwell on those thoughts though, she had to sleep.

An hour later, and she was still fucking awake. She'd even told her body to go to sleep, but it wasn't listening. She couldn't go into the Games tired, that would totally fuck her over! She rummaged around the desk beside her and found her sleep gummies, taking one of them. God she loved these gummies, but she didn't use them often. She had a chronic fear of addiction after watching her mother become a slave to alcohol, so she'd never resorted to coping using alcohol or morphling out of fear. She didn't want to become her mother.

She eventually passed out beside Finnick, inelegantly sprawled out in a starfish position, her one leg over Finnick's leg.

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She's woken up by Finnick, who motions towards the door. Sorrel was standing there with Finnick's stylist, Cress couldn't remember her name for nothing, and he looked stone faced.

"Come on, Cress, rise and shine," he muttered, patting her shoulder gently.

"Five more minutes, Finn?" she mumbled, swatting weakly at his arm.

"No, Cressie, get up," Finnick said, a small smile on his face.

She reluctantly got up and followed them out, the impending dread of the separation from Finnick growing with each step she took. As they arrived at the hovercraft, Finnick pulled her into a hug. "See you in the Arena, Cressie."

"See you, Finn," she whispered, before she was tugged along by Sorrel, who seemed antsy. "What's wrong, Sorrel?"

"Nothing, nothing, just... come on." She looked back at Finnick, who was already watching her intently as she stepped onto the ladder. The electric current freezes her in place, and suddenly she's back to when she'd just won the Games, covered in blood, and frozen on that stupid ladder. She felt the doctor on the hovercraft inject the tracker into her arm, and she unfreezes, taking a seat and looking out the window forlornly.

Sorrel urged her to eat, to drink, but she could only manage a few bites before she felt absolutely nauseous. Taking a deep breath, she began to think of strategies for the Arena. Her and Finnick had already discussed their allies, she had the general idea of what would happen. She didn't know what the Arena would even look like, but she figured it would be catered to her and Finnick, so probably a body of water somewhere, a major one. Maybe a tropical setting, with a beach of some sort, that could help them out in the long run.

They arrived at the Launch Room and she followed Sorrel into the compound, sitting down on the table and staring at her hands as he gathered up her messy curls in his hands, tying it into a loose knot that hung at the base of her neck. He slipped a sharp knife from his sleeve and put it in her hair, securing the knot. Before she could ask, he answered.

"In case you don't make it to the cornucopia." He then helped her into her jumpsuit, this year a blue suit made of a sheer material, a sort of belt around the waist with a zipper that went up the front. She patted herself down to check for pockets of any kind. No such luck, however.

They sat in silence, Cress staring at the floor with a blank expression on her face.

"Cress, look at me." Her head jerked up and she met Sorrel's intense gaze. "You need to remember, alright?"

"Remember?" Cress tilted her head as she tried to understand what he was talking about. Before she could ask again, the tube opened, a sign that it was almost time for launch. She stepped into the tube and looked back at Sorrel, her brows furrowed.

"You need to remember who the real enemy is, you can't be blinded." She blinked, looking confused.

"Huh?"

"Just focus! Stick with Finnick, alright?" The platform began to rise, and she crouched down as the doors opened.

"Sorrel?" The Peacekeepers ran in, two of them, and one clocked the back of his head, knocking Sorrel out. "Sorrel! Sorrel!" The platform rose and she couldn't see him anymore, her breathing fast and shallow. What were they doing to Sorrel? Why did they knock him out? Oh God, oh God, oh fuck, this was bad, so bad.

The light hit her eyes and she flinched back, squinting to see in face of the blinding light of the sun. She adjusted, coming out of the dark tube, and she looked around. She saw Finnick first, and she felt a knot in her chest loosen when she saw him. Katniss was three people to her left, Peeta six to her right. Finnick was twelve people away on her right, and she can't say she really appreciated the distance. Brutus and Enobaria were two people apart, while Cashmere and Gloss were very close together, right beside each other.

She looked towards the cornucopia as the countdown started, taking in the loot. There was a bow, for Katniss, a trident, for Finnick, and a bandolier of knives that looked real pretty to her right now. She also saw an axe, for Johanna, but she couldn't see Johanna right now. She was probably on the opposite side from her. She saw a curved sword, maybe for Peeta? She had no clue what kind of weapon Peeta would use, but she imagined that it would be heavy.

Now she took in her surroundings. They were all on pedestals, in the center of a lake that had stones running through every two pedestals. She was beside Beetee, who seemed to be doing the same thing as her. It looked like a tropical setting; her guess had been right. There was a massive tree in one of the slices, separated by the stone lines, but she didn't see anything else that could help her out.

"Ten. Nine. Eight."

She clenched her jaw and prepared to dive. Her and Finnick had an edge her, they knew better than any of these tributes how to swim. They'd be the fastest in the water, but she wouldn't put it past the others to run along the wet rocks, no matter how stupid that was.

"Six. Five. Four."

She gulped, closing her eyes for a moment as she tried to focus on the sounds around her.

"Three. Two. One."