RENEGADE [THE HUNGER GAMES - FINNICK ODAIR] - DISCONTINUED

CHAPTER 9

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Hunger Games trilogy all rights go to Suzanne Collins. I do however own Quinn and her story.

The whirring of a little silver parachute, had Peeta running to retrieve its contents with the hope of saving his friend. His hands shook uncontrollably as he struggled to pry open the lid but as his eyes darted back to a fitting Quinn and a distraught Finnick, he felt a pair of hands pull the sponsored item from him. Katniss had always been good at hiding her emotions and so the boy from 12 had no idea how she was feeling in that moment but he was grateful for her serenity.

Placing the note addressed to the girl lying in Finnick's arms, Katniss slowly removed what looked to be an ointment and assumed that it was to be applied to the hundreds of bite marks that littered the girl's limbs. If the girl from 12 knew anything it was the excruciating pain that they were about to put her ally through. She handed the tub to Peeta before ripping one of Quinn's sleeves off.

"What are you doing?" Finnick asked in shock as the Everdeen girl shoved the sleeve into a semi-conscious Quinn's mouth.

"Help me hold her down."

Peeta's face faltered as he bit the inside of his cheek and approached the girl. As soon as the ointment made contact with her bloodied and battered skin, consciousness slammed into her broken body, causing her to jolt forward against the restraints of her allies. A muffled scream escaped her gagged mouth and tears began to pool on her cheeks as she thrashed her head from side to side and the ointment turned to foam, bubbling in the depths of the mutt bites. The boy from 12's eyes began to water in sorrow as he muttered apologies as if they would ease the agony he was inflicting. Katniss and Finnick closed their eyes and grimaced as they held her to the floor with all their might as she continued to struggle.

The veins in her head and her neck tried to force their way through the thin layers of skin that held them in place. Her heart pounded as every instinct in her body told her to fight; told her to avoid the pain. Her face grew red and her throat burned with every scream that bubbled out of her mouth and yet the pain only grew deeper, damaging her very core. Until, nothing.

*

Her eyes flew open as she gasped for air and shot up before groaning at her aching limbs. Glancing around, she realised that it was still light in the arena so calculated that she hadn't been out long.

"Hey...how are you feeling?" A soft voice spoke from beside her. Peeta.

"Like I've been hit by a train." She mumbled in response as her fingertips grazed over the rapidly healing bite marks that darted across her skin like freckles. Her brain shuddered as it remembered the pain before she had slipped into unconsciousness, it was something she would never forget.

"The ointment came with this note. It's for you." The boy from 12 spoke again, handing her a folded up note with her name scrawled messily on the front.

Frowning, she unfolded the slightly damp sheet of paper:

People need you more than you think. Pull something like that again and I will kill you myself. Be strong, Bumble Bee.

- H.

Quinn rolled her eyes in response. She knew that she had been reckless and wouldn't bother to deny that it had been a suicide mission but as soon as her blue eyes landed on the final sentence, her heart felt heavy. Be strong, Bumble Bee. It was something that her father used to say to her before Snow got to him. A tear glided down her cheek as she remember him, remembered his sacrifice and a lump manifested in her throat as she remembered what Finnick had said to her when she had teased him about Mags:

"I might take them up on the offer, after all everyone needs cannon fodder." Quinn spoke coldly before whispering, "But you would know about that wouldn't you?" And nodding towards Mags.

"Is that what your family were?"

The truth remained hidden from everyone but Haymitch who had been a friend of her father's. To Quinn her family weren't cannon fodder, their deaths were a constant reminder that she wasn't to be controlled, a reminder that her mistakes have consequences. Her mother's death had come as a complete shock to her, it had been a week since she had refused Snow's plans; a week since she had refused to sell her body. She could recall the day perfectly - it was a Tuesday afternoon, autumn and as she approached her house in the District 5 victors' village she pulled her scarf closer to her neck. Screams could be heard from two houses down, causing her to feet to run faster than her body and as she burst through the door, she was met with the sight that remained burned to the back of her eyelids to this day. In her nightmares she still saw her blood-soaked scarf and her tears that landed on the ever paling cheeks of her mother. Her mother was her fault and Quinn had grown to accept it but her father? He had sacrificed himself for his eldest daughter:

"Quinn, promise me that you won't do this!" Jack Larkin pleaded with his daughter as he clutched her tiny hands in his.

"I have to! I don't have a choice, he'll hurt you like he did mother..."

"Now you listen to me." Her father spoke authoritatively as he pulled her closer to him, bending down to meet her eyes. "If Snow wants me then he can have me. I've lived to see you blossom into a beautiful young woman and I will not live to see you broken by that man. Promise me, Quinny?"

Quinn stared silently into her father's eyes, memorising his laughter lines and the blue eyes that matched her own before refusing to endanger him. She couldn't lose him too, she wouldn't. "I'm sorry, Daddy." she whispered before turning to leave the room.

"Be strong Bumble Bee, no matter what."

That was the last words she had heard fall from her father's ever-smiling lips. The last time that she saw him alive. Be strong Bumble Bee. It wasn't until she had reached The Capitol that Quinn had discovered that her father had sent a letter to President Snow for her, refusing his proposition once more. That was the final straw, it had broken her and prompting her to kill her client in a fit of anger; to resort to the animal she had become during her games. It had devastated her that anyone would care enough for her to sacrifice themselves and so it was that day that she built her walls high. The Ice Queen was forged by the death of her father and from that day on the young girl refused to let anyone close to her, refused to allow anyone to care for her to that extent.

The day she returned from The Capitol, she had enlisted the help of Johanna – the closest thing she could call to a friend under her knew façade – and used all of her remaining resources to protect the remainder of her family. They weren't cannon fodder, she didn't sacrifice them out of boorishness, she sent them to District 7 with new identities; she tried to hide them. As much as it hurt to lock her heart away, she knew that is was what was best for herself and anyone who knew her. Quinn was a curse, anyone who was stupid enough to get close ended up dead in her hallway. Her grandmother, her sister and both her brothers had fallen victim to her curse, despite her best attempts. They had remained hidden for a year, happy in their new lives regardless of the gaping hole that Quinn's absence had left. They worked hard in District 7, had friends and a future but as soon as Snow grew tired of the girl who refused him to no consequences, he decided to sweep the Districts in a final effort to find the remaining Larkins before opting to leave the insubordinate victor alone - truly alone.

Awarm hand clasped hers bringing her back to reality as she wiped away thesalted drops that painted streaks on her pale skin. She turned to Peeta with aforced smile but the look in his eye told her that she didn't need it - toldher that she would never need to pretend to be anything she wasn't and so shelet the smile slide off of her features allowing herself to muddle through heremotion silently. Tranquillity swept over her as she forgot her surroundings,forgot that she was in the arena. Peacefulness washed over her as shesat in the company of a friend.

A/N

Sorry its been so long since I updated! University is killing me :(  

let me know what you think! There will be another update this weekend, I am working on it right now and Quinn will be reunited with Johanna. 

Is there anything that you guys want to see happen? Post your ideas in the comments and you never know, I might write them in ;) 

xx