THE SIREN'S SONG 𓇼 F. ODAIR

68 ~ the 76th hunger games

As soon as Carolina and Peeta walked onto the train, they received fresh, black stamps on the back of their hands reading 451 and were handed uniforms. The uniforms were tight, dark black suits with thick armor around the chest. Once Carolina was dressed, the lead soldier on the train handed her a spear that Beetee had created specially for her and left her alone for the rest of the journey.

Carolina tried to use her time on the train practicing with the new weapon.

The spear was long and made of steel yet was extremely lightweight. It came with a wristband with two buttons on the top. The first allowed the spear to return to Carolina's grip no matter where she was and how far she was from it, while the second would compact the spear into a small baton. She also realized quickly that the tip of the blade would move to the side of the spear that she used more force on.

The first thing she thought about when she saw it was how excited she was to show it off to Finnick, which made her pause. Carolina ended up spinning the spear anxiously the entire ride to the Capitol, thinking about how she would react to seeing Finnick again.

As it turned out, not well at all.

By that evening, Carolina and Peeta were in the Capitol. Peeta was the one to get off of the train first. His arrival set off an alarm in the minds of each member of the squad. Katniss's eyes widened, and she seemed to be frozen in her tracks at the sight of the boy, while Boggs did the opposite. The squad leader immediately set into action, moving to call President Coin to figure out why she would send Peeta Mellark of all people.

With all the drama surrounding Peeta's arrival, hardly anyone realized that Carolina was there too. That was until Finnick started screaming at her.

"Lina?" he shouted over the people surrounding her. "Absolutely not, get back on that train and go home!"

"Excuse me?" Carolina scoffed. "What kind of welcome is that?"

"I'm not welcoming you," Finnick shook his head, his eyes anxious and never leaving hers for a second. "Leave, Lina. I don't want you here. I don't want you to get hurt."

"And you think I want you to get hurt?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why can you be here and I can't?" Carolina asked, her voice growing loud enough to finally gain the attention of the other soldiers in the squad. "And why do you just think you can leave me without saying goodbye? How could you?"

"Lina, I didn't mean to–"

"Lina!"

Carolina's head shot in the direction the call of her name came from and saw Fletch walking up to the two of them. A bright smile was on his face, but his eyes showed that he had picked up the slight tension between the couple. Once he was close enough, he clapped a hand on Finnick's shoulder.

"How about you keep Mellark company?" Fletch said. "He must be extremely confused right now, and he trusts you."

"But Lina and I–"

"You and Lina can talk all night long," Fletch said, "but right now, go make that boy feel welcome."

Finnick looked between Fletch and Carolina for a long moment before sighing and leaning down to kiss Carolina on the cheek.

"It is nice to see you," he whispered. "I just wish it was under different circumstances."

Carolina watched as he walked to stand by Peeta's side. Already, he was talking animatedly to the boy, which seemed to scare him slightly. When she turned back to Fletch, her face twisted in annoyance.