Waves Breaking Over Rocks Part 2

Chapter 8

Finnick

"So that's the plan? Get Katniss out?" Triton asks.

"And Annie." I tell them, reassuring, not only them, but myself as well. I swear, if they don't get her out in time...

"Come on, she'll be missing you." Gabriella says, winking, luckily in a friendly way, or I would have given her a black eye.

I walk out of the room, followed by my mentors. I stop walking the second I see Annie, standing still, her eyes empty.

"Annie?" I walk closer to her, then take her shoulders and try to look into her eyes, trying to find her in the endless sea of green. "Oh well, you two can go now. This might take a while." I tell them. They leave and I sit in front of Annie. Oh, she's so beautiful, even when she's Away.

I walk around the room, trying to wait until Annie gets Back. I think about what could have possibly triggered her reaction. It could have been anything here. I walk past a bouquet of flowers of different beautiful colors. I pick the one that's closest to Annie's eye color and walk to her. I move her hair behind her ear and place the flower there. And then I do what I always do when she Leaves. I wait for my love to return.

Three hours later...

"Finnick? Finnick, love, wake up." I hear a soft voice call. I open my eyes but it's still dark. At least I can still see Annie, standing over me, looking peaceful.

"I'm up, Annie." Something changes in her eyes and she looks in deep thought. That thought seems to be hurting her a lot, and if anything is hurting my Annie, I want to know.

"What's wrong?"

"It was Garcia. She- she told me that you didn't love me. She told me you only loved her. I didn't want to believe her, but it was still hurtful." She doesn't cry, but her voice trembles.

I hate her. I hate Garcia almost as much as Snow. But everyone already knows that, or at least Annie does, and she's everyone to me.

"Let's go to bed and I'll show you just how much I love you."

We made love that night. Garcia was sleeping in her apartment today. It was beautiful, but now I'm close to sleeping and she fell hours ago.

The next day...

"Come on! Time to talk to your mentors!" Garcia tells me as I walk down the hall. It's true, tomorrow are the interviews and we need to decide what to say. It's not like I'm going to be playing anything else than what I already am, the Capitol sex god.

"So Triton, what should I do?" I ask him, as if I don't know already. I never really liked Triton that much. He always seemed too untouched by the Games. He was a volunteer when he was 18. Over the years I got used to him, and he became sort of like an uncle for me, one that never visited except for when it was your birthday. Gabriella was a bit better. She was never my favorite, either. She lacked the sweetness that Mags had but she cried as much as I did when I won my Games. We sort of bonded over the fact that Mags was our mentor, though. Gabriella doesn't care for Mags the same way I do. Mags is like a mother to me, but she cares about her, nonetheless.

"I'll do the same thing as the last Games, remember? You were somebody else's mentor, then."

"Yeah, I remember. So you're going to go with the whole 'I'm Finnick Odair and I'm the best and all the girls love me', angle."

"If I have to."

"You need to practice then. You're not like the rest, you can't improvise."

"You remind me of Gabriella when I told her about my first client."

"She offered to practice?" The memory is the main reason why I like her. I look away, though, because the memory is a really sad memory that I really don't want to relive.

"She didn't want me to lose my virginity to Garcia."

"You declined?"

"Of course I did."

The next day, in the interview hall...

"First off, Cashmere and Gloss! District 1's glorious brother and sister!" Cesar exclaims, presenting the two Victors. I feel sorry for them. They are perhaps the only Victors whose fate was as bad, or worse, as mine. The worst part is: Cashmere is a darling when she wants to, and Gloss isn't as mean as he looks. They only have each other, too. They were prostituted, same as I am, only their way is different. The Capitol citizens like to watch pleasurable things almost as much as experiencing them and, both Victors being gorgeous, they found a way to watch exactly what they wanted. They're forced to... do it... only with each other. It's as cruel as or crueler than what they do to me.

Anyway, seemingly unaware of their situation, Cesar continues with the questions.

Cashmere starts crying at one point and, although most of it is fake, I can see those are real tears. Gloss simply keeps talking about the honor that the Games bring, but he's broken. He was broken by the Games as much as we were. I decide to make a list of people that were broken by the Games.

1. Annie

2. Me

3. Mags

4. Annie's family

5. My mother

6. Gabriella

7. Cashmere

8. Gloss

And those are just a few of the people that have been hurt by the Games...

It's Enobaria's turn now. She talks about the glory of the Games, not using the strategy that most Victors had agreed on. We were supposed to try to stop the Games. If they had told me to go out and fuck Cesar, I would have. It's not like it would be the first time. Sadly, I'm useless in the talking sense. I can't convince the citizens with much more than my face.

Brutus goes by, talking about the same awful ideals as Enobaria. Beetee goes by and talks about the legality of the Quell. He does defend the fact that it should stop, with scientific reasoning. Wiress just sits there through the three minutes. I almost cry because she has the same faraway look as my Annie and I can tell that she's thinking about things that no one understands. I know I must add her and Beetee to my list; they've suffered as much as anyone.

1. Annie

2. Me

3. Mags

4. Annie's family

5. My mother

6. Gabriella

7. Cashmere

8. Gloss

9. Beetee

10. Wiress

"And now, Panem's hottest bachelor: Finnick Odair!" The words ring in my head as I walk to the stage, too conscious of my exposed chest. Bachelor, bachelor, bachelor, bachelor, bachelor.... I should be married, I should be married to Annie.

"Hello, Cesar." I tell him, shaking his hand.

Something clicks in my mind, and idea, a simple thought that could work, something straight from the bottom of my heart that would certainly please the crowd. I whisper my idea to Cesar, who acts professionally even after having bought me once.

"I believe that you have a message for somebody out there, a special somebody..."

"That's right."

"Then please proceed."

I think of all the good things, all the things we deserved but didn't get. I think about how I really feel about her, about my undying love for her, and I put it into words.

"My love,

You have my heart,

For all eternity.

And if I die in that Arena,

My last thought will be of your lips."