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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It had been two days since Finnick and Athena set camp on the mountain. They had come to the agreement that it was time to pack up their things and get going.
"Ready?" Athena nodded in Finnick's direction, following as he began to descend the mountain.
It was a relatively short trip down, it still being daylight as they reached the bottom. Their hands intertwined as they continued to walk through the empty side of the arena. There weren't many tributes left, making Athena nervous because the end was near.
They stopped by a stream to gather some water and catch their food. They had caught some beautiful fish, making the decision to just eat them raw or risk making a fire.
"Should we set a decoy?" Finnick nodded.
"Yeah, I don't want to risk getting sick."
The two ventured off into the woods, gathering the perfect twigs and sticks, setting them in one big pile.
Finnick got down on his knees, placing a stick onto the pile. He twisted his hands at a fast pace, until smoke started pooling out.
"Alright, lets go." Finnick got up, taking Athena's hand again and the two set off in a sprint.
As they reached a decent spot, they sat down, digging into their fish. At this point it was pitch black, so they needed to stay extra aware.
"How many tributes are left?" Athena whispered, finishing off her fish.
"I'm not sure. Not many. Just us, the careers, and like three more tributes."
"You think one of us can win?" Her eyes traveled up, gazing at Finnick's emotionless face.
He sighed, meeting her eyes. "I think so."
Athena shook her head looking down. Everything was beginning to overwhelm her. The idea of either dying in the next few days, or loosing Finnick.
"I'm not ready to to die, Finn." Finnick's eyes softened as he dropped the remains of his fish. He crawled over to her, his large arms wrapping around her small frame.
"I know, A. I know." He whispered, burying his face in her hair. Even though they were in arena where kids were just dying to kill them, Athena felt safe the second Finnick's arms touched her.
"I love you. So much." Finnick lifted his head, gazing at her.
Athena nodded, "I know, Finn. I love you too."
Athena's eyelids grew heavy, and soon she was no longer able to hold out sleep any longer. Hours past, Finnick keeping watch as he listened to the light, steady breathing of Athena. However, his head snapped to the side as he heard a noise.
Carefully, he removed his arms from Athena, placing her down. He stood up, dusting himself off. He carefully looked around the woods surrounding, them, trying to see what had caused the noise. As he heard the noise again, he set off into a walk in the direct. He looked back at Athena after every step. His grip tightened on his trident, looking around the forest.
Then all at once, a career flung out from behind the tree, Her sword connecting with Finnick's trident, thanks to his instant reflexes.
As soon as the weapons came in contact, Finnick screamed out to Athena.
"Athena, run!"
The career widened her eyes as the girl woke up. Athena noticed Finnick fighting off the tribute, getting ready to help, despite his protest. However, she soon realized the rest of the career pack would be close.
So, instead of running to safety, she ran to find the rest of the scattered tributes. The career noticed her flee, and yelled out to the rest.
"I've found them! She's heading in a different direction!"
She soon lost track of Finnick as she sprinted through the forest in attempt to find the other attackers.
"Well, well, well." Athena's head whipped to behind her, hearing the voice of the girl from District 1.
"Look who's running away." She chuckled, gripping her weapon as she neared Athena.
"I'm not running. I was trying to find you." Athena moved a piece of hair from her forehead laced with beads of sweat.
"So, brave. It's a shame. You should've ran. That way you might've made it out alive." At the end of her sentence, the tribute grunted as she sprinted to Athena. Athena's hand shot to her daggers, but was too late. The girl had knocked Athena to the ground, taking out a knife and placing it over her heart.
Athena shifted, which revealed how loose the tributes grip on her was. Athena mustered up all go her strength, throwing the tribute to the ground and standing up to gain her composure.
The tribute immediately stood up, picking up her knife. The girl sprinted at her, but this time Athena was ready. The girl went to stab her, but Athena hit her wrist, the knife falling out of her grasp. Athena kicked her stomach, causing her to stumble back.
The tribute grew angry, stalking towards Athena once again. Athena threw a punch, but the girl ducked, running under Athena's arm. Coming up behind her, the tribute wrapped her arm around Athena's neck, holding her in a choke hold. This time tight enough so she couldn't escape.
"No more escaping. I finally get to kill you. You know, I've been waiting to do this since training? First, I'm gonna kill you, then we'll kill your little boy toy, Finnick. It's truly a shame though, he's such a looker that one. Almost makes me not want to kill him, but we will. How did you manage to find someone so... pretty?" The girl shook her head, sighing.
"Say hi to him in hell for me, kay?" With that, the girl tightened her grip on Athena, cutting off all air supply.
Athena's face grew red as she clawed at her arm. Then all at once, her grip released. District one let out a breathless grunt, collapsing to the ground. Since Athena had yet to get out of her grasp, she was brought down with the lifeless form. As she made impact, Athena's eyes immediately trailed to the girl's dead body, seeing an ax buried deep into her back. Hearing approaching steps, she looked up, seeing Rose approach.
"I told you I'd gain your trust. Come on, we gotta go." Rose grabbed Athena's arm, hoisting her up. She quickly ripped her axe from the body, running ahead.
"I have to get Finnick!"
"There's no time! There's two more careers surrounding us. Finnick will be fine!" Rose gripped Athena's hand, bringing them out of the woods. As they reached the end of the forest, they ran down the dirt path in the pitch black, getting as far as they could from the careers. Not once did Finnick leave Athena's mind.
A new alliance was formed that day as Athena and Rose escaped the terror of the careers.
