Athena Daverns and Finnick Odair discovered what love felt like at the young age of 12 with each other. They were each other's world and when one was away from the other, they felt as if they could not function.
At age 14, Finnick Odair's name was c...
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"Athena?"
Finnick had walked into Athena's room to alert her that it was time for them to join their mentors and Octavia for dinner. He was surprised to hear soft sniffling as stood by the door.
Athena's eyes widened at the sound of his voice. She quickly wiped away the tears, swallowing down her sobs.
"Finnick, hi." She faked smiled as she looked at him, hoping that he didn't hear the sound of her crying just seconds ago.
"What's wrong?" Seeing his concerned expression, her smile fell.
"Nothing. I'm fine."
"Athena..." Finnick walked closer to her, determined to find out what had made her sad.
"Seriously, Finnick. I'm totally fine."
"No you're not, Athena. And that's okay. It's okay to not be okay. Why were you crying?"
"My family, Finnick. I'm never going to see them again." Athena gave up acting like everything was fine, because nothing was.
"Don't say that." Finnick's eyes softened at her saddened expression, and he immediately pulled her into his chest. Athena's arms wrapped around him, her head resting on his chest. Finnick's arms were tightly her frame, rubbing her back.
"You can win this thing, okay? And when you do, you'll see them again."
"Even if I do, my family still won't be complete. You'll be gone." This caused the tears to fall out of her eyes again. Feeling the wetness on his shirt, Finnick pulled back slightly.
"Please don't cry." He brushed away the tears, the thought saddened him that he's been having to do that more often.
"Let's go to dinner, okay?"
Athena nodded, sniffling once again. Finnick slowly pulled away, taking her hand. He walked her out of the room, leading her into the dinning room where a large table sat.
Everyone else had already been seated, food covering their plates. Finnick walked them over to to empty chairs, allowing Athena to take the one next to Jax.
Both teens filled their plates with food from the table, Octavia watching excitedly.
"So! Tomorrow is your first day of training! You two will get to train before the Games. There will be three days of this. On the third, however, you will go in the room one by one and show off your strongest skill to the game makers. Then, they will give you a score from 1-12. You two will want to make sure to freshen up on any skills, and maybe try and learn new ones while you're there." Octavia finished with a smile.
Athena nodded, looking back to her plate that she hadn't touched. She mainly pushed bits of food around with her fork, being in no mood to eat.
"Athena, sweetie, you need to eat the food." Octavia looked up and down from Athena's plate to her face that was taken over with a glum expression.
"I'm actually not hunger at all. I'm sorry, may I be excused?"
"Well-"
"Yes. You may." Jax nodded to her, cutting off Octavia because he knew her answer would not suit.
"Thanks." Athena nodded to Jax, standing up. On her way out, she brushed her hand over Finnick's shoulder, then returned to her bedroom.
After changing into more comfortable clothes that were suitable for sleeping in, Athena sat on her bed, staring blankly out the window.
"Hey, kid." Athena looked up to see Jax walk into her room slowly. She hummed in repose, her gaze returning the the duvet she sat on. Jax took a seat next to her, examining her face.
"What happened at dinner?"
"I wasn't hungry."
"That's bull and we both know it."
"Well, what do you want me to say? This whole thing is too much and the overwhelming feeling that I'm going to die is just increasing by the second!"
"Hey, Athena. You're not gonna die."
"How can you say that?!"
"Because I have faith." Athena scoffed, shaking her head.
Jax sighed, changing the subject. "Look, I was going to tell you and Finnick at dinner, but I guess I'll tell you here. I have some advice for you for training. When you're in there, put on a mediocre performance. By that I mean don't show off. If other tributes see you excelling, they'll see you as a threat and you'll be at the top of their kill list. That being said, don't go making a fool of yourself because they'll think you're easily disposable and once again you'll be at the top of the kill list. If you show an average performance, you will be forgettable and that's what you want. Why put a target on your back? So stick to natural training. Figure out how to get water, make sure you can identify which berries are poisonous, think about how you'll get food. I'm not too worried about that last one though because we come from the fishing district, so I assume you can easily catch a fish right?"
Athena nodded, "Good. The same goes for when you get scored. Put on a mediocre performance, reach for a number around seven. However, you're interview is a different story. As I said before, this is a good place to get sponsors. If they like you, they may help you out. Got it?"
"Yeah. Thank you, Jax."
Jax lightly smiled, and before standing up, hugged Athena. "You're gonna do great, kid. Just remember everything I told you." Jax squeezed her shoulder, then left the room letting her have time alone.
-
Athena hugged her pillow as she laid in her bed, the room pitch black. She tried ignoring the thoughts that flew her head regarding her family and the games. She built a barrier in her brain, one she hoped was strong enough to keep the thoughts from breaking through it. And for the moment, it was.
She began to analyze what Jax had told her earlier. She knew she had to keep her performance mediocre at training, making sure not to show off in front of the other tributes, especially the vicious ones. Then she thought of one problem- how am I going to ace my interview? It was clear to her that she needed to be humorous. That was how she wanted to be. That was the type of person she was before all of this. When the type came, hopefully the words wold flow out of her.
Athena was ripped from her thoughts as the door to her room slowly opened. The light from the halls crept into the once dark room, causing her to squint. More and more light entered her room, until all at once it disappeared.
The room was pitch black, the only thing illuminating it was the lights of the buildings outside of her window. This allowed her to see a figure grow closer and closer. At first she was anxious, but within seconds, Athena knew exactly who it was allowing her to calm down.
Finnick slid into bed next to her, his bare chest pressing against her back. Athena turned to him, examining his face. He lifted his arm, bringing it around her figure, and pulling her into him.
The two said nothing, both knowing this would happen at some point during the night. Not even minutes later, sleep had overtaken them both.
That night, they slept peacefully in their love's arms, despite the chaos that was soon to come.
