He and She

Part 4

"We'll be alright. Cause its all we know and its only change.  The sun sets on the old but we're nocturnal anyway. And this is how we know that it'll be ok." The Eden Project, Times Like These.

When she woke up about five hours later, she headed toward the beach. She didn't speak a word to Finnick, didn't even grab something to eat. But of course, Finnick followed her and sat by her on the sand.

"Three more days till the reaping." She said. " I have a weird feeling about this one. I kept seeing images of these gold berries throughout my dream."

"Gold berries? Is that a type of rare berry or something?"

" I don't think so. I've never heard of gold berries before. It might've just been a silly dream but I think we have to pay attention to these games."

"You can count on me sweetheart." He said with a smirk.

The next three days he tried to make up what he did to Kai. Even though she had told him that it was fine, he spoiled her and made her laugh every hour of the day. He would tickle her or tell her a really bad joke just to make her happy. As a reward she would make him a different dessert every night, because of his love for sweets, and countlessly tell him she loved him.

"Any desert tonight my love?" He asked during lunch as they were mentally preparing themselves to leave  for the capital with the tributes later.

"We'll be leaving tonight silly. But I could make you something quick." She said with a smile and as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hmm how about...brownies? I think I have all the ingredients."

"Yes Chef. The kitchen is right this way." He picked her up and put her over his shoulder as he carried her to the kitchen. She protested and laughed, demanding to be put down but he ignored her and sat her on the counter. They shared a few passionate kisses before he asked what all they needed so he could retrieve them.

When they finally put the brownies in the oven the kitchen was a little bit of a mess thanks to Finnick starting a play war with the flour. They laughed as they cleaned and helped each other get rid of all the flour on them.

"You remind me of a cloud." Kailani laughed.

"You don't look any better marshmallow."

     Before they knew it they were at the capital watching the tribute parade start for the games. The tributes this year looked decent. They laughed at their tributes as they saw the boy and girl in fish costumes and a couple others with their ridiculous get ups. They just prayed that the careers wouldn't be to advanced so that maybe the boy or girl from district four could win. Suddenly the roar of the crowd brought Kailani's and Finnick's attention to district twelve's tributes.

"That girl," She whispered to Finnick "She's the one."

Finnick was confused and slightly distracted by the flames that were sprouting from district twelve's tributes.

"Her?" He said in the language they shared."I bet she doesn't know the first thing about surviving these games. Especially with Haymitch as her mentor. That drunk really needs help."

"Don't talk badly of him. That's his way of coping with the nightmares. You would've done the same if we didn't meet each other. You know damn well we'd go crazy without each other."

"That's why I'm glad to have you, darling." He said and kissed her cheek.

They didn't sleep in the same bed like they did at home. He didn't want to risk them being seen and Kai agreed with him. They were a little sad and missed each other profusely but they wanted to be safe and not sorry. After the tributes had done their interviews and had their training, it was time to start the show. Sadly district 4's girl tribute died trying to get a weapon from the cornucopia. The boy was smart enough to run away. The careers had made an alliance with the others and some outsiders like Peeta Melark. Kai thought it was a stupid idea but Finnick thought it was  great way to win. Then Peeta or another could eliminate all the other tributes in the alliance when ready. Sadly, their male tribute soon was killed when he couldn't out run Cato. Before they knew it, it was down to five tributes.

"Finnick!" Kailani yelled all of a sudden. Fearful he ran to her in the dinning cart, panting with his heart beating rapidly.

"Kai!" He yelled when he entered the room. When he saw her standing in front of the tv he sighed, visibly relaxing.

"The gold." She said with wide eyes." And the berries. Why hadn't I seen it sooner?"

Finnick saw what she meant. Katniss had a gold pin with some type of bird on it and a girl had just died from eating nightlock berries.

"How?" Finnick asked, astounded.  He just went along with Kai because he didn't want to upset her any further but now; now he had no idea what to think. He was speechless.

" My dream, remember?" She replied, slightly concerned.

"Yes but.." He trailed off

"You didn't believe me did you?" She smirked at him." I guess you should listen to me from now on."

What Kai didn't know was that there would be two "star-crossed lovers" as victors. Anyone could see that she didn't love him, unless they were capital citizens. Kai prayed for Peeta to find real love that night. He was a nice boy. He deserved love and it was obvious Katniss wasn't giving it to him.

Finnick and Kai were so happy to be home. They could spend the whole day together now. Do whatever they wanted. The only difference was the peacekeepers. They were actually doing their jobs and there were more of them ever since the 74th hunger games. Never the less, they still carried on. Seeing the games again made them cherish each other the whole first week they were home. The games were no laughing matter and it brought up a lot of bad memories for both of them.

But, that eighth day, Finnick woke up to screaming.

Screams of horror was all he heard. He was quick to wake up and react as soon as he could. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to calm her down but she kept crying.

"Kai! Kai!" Finnick yelled, trying to get her to look at him.

"Kailani!" He held her face this time and made her face him.

"Finnick! The war! We forgot! We forgot!" She yelled and cried more.

"What war my love? What did we forget?" He asked desperately. He hated seeing her like this. She was always comforting him after his nightmares.

"We forgot about the quarter quell." She sobbed. Then the red head passed out in his arms with a lone tear rolling down her cheek.

He was in shock. What did that mean? It was just a quarter quell right? Why would they be affected? He just held her tiny body in his arms and rocked both of them back and forth. He did that throughout the whole night until he passed out himself.