bittersweet | finnick odair

chapter nineteen

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Octavia Cressida waited by the train, anxious to see Athena for the first time in four years. She clapped her hands as Athena rounded a corner, escorted by a guard.

"Oh, Athena!" Octavia flung her arms around Athena, smiling profusely.

"Hi Octavia." Athena chuckled, patting her back.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but could we get on the train? I really want to go home."

"Oh, you want to see Finnick, I see how it is." Octavia raised her eyebrows, a smirk replacing the once genuine smile.

Athena's cheeks burned, as she started to blush. "Maybe..."

"Come on, kid." Octavia laughed, patting her back, and stepping into train.

The train ride back to District 4 took too long for Athena. All she wanted was to get back to the place she grew up and fling herself into Finnick's arms.

Speaking of Finnick, that was her biggest fear of returning home. Facing Finnick. She grew nervous to see her lost love after all these years. What if he didn't love me anymore? What if he found himself a new girl?

She then grew eager to see the man he grew up to be. Just like her, Finnick was no longer a kid. Then a new thought started to nip at the back of her brain. What if they didn't recognize each other?

Athena's what ifs were cut off by the train stopping. She looked out the window to see they had arrived back in her home district. The train was surrounded by a large crowd, each eager to see the tribute whose odds were in fact in her favor.

"Ready sweetheart?" Athena nodded, following Octavia to the doors of the train. They automatically slid open when the train had come to a complete stop.

The crowd began to cheer after seeing Athena, her name being called out by numerous people.

She grew a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, she could barley move. She furrowed her eyebrows as she could see a path open up from the back, continuing all the way down to her. Someone had been shoving through all of them, and as whoever it was grew closer, she could faintly hear a stern voice yelling at everyone to get out of the way. As the person neared, she could see the golden hair through all of the people. Finally making it to the front of the crowd, he stopped in front of Athena.

In that moment, it was if someone had taken away her ability to breathe. She immediately recognized the person in front of her, even though he had aged 4 years. As soon as she remembered how to breathe, Athena's voice trembled.

"Finn?"

"A!" Hearing her nickname Finnick specifically gave her, Athena sprinted over to him, jumping into his grasp. Finnick immediately caught her, his arms firmly holding her back as she sobbed into his arms. He himself began to cry as well.

Athena's arms were wrapped around Finnick's neck as she cried onto his shoulder.

"I thought you were gone, A. I thought I'd never see you again." This whole moment was surreal to him. After killing Casper and winning the Games, Finnick fell into a deep hole. Without Athena, he was lost. Jax worked so hard to pull Finnick out of it while dealing with his own dread and grief.

It took a year or two, but Jax had managed to help Finnick deal with the pain.

Finnick slowly placed Athena back onto the pavement, and as soon as he did, Athena smashed their lips together.

That was single handily the best kiss they had ever shared.

The kiss that marked their reunion.

-

When Athena finished moving her things into her and Finnick's now shared house in the Victor's Village (considering now she was technically a victor), she sat down on their shared bed, observing her new room. A couple tears fell down her face as she thought back to earlier that afternoon.

After their reunion, Athena and Finnick made their way to Athena's house to collect her items for the move. Finnick's mood deflated each step closer they got to the house, dreading having to tell Athena the truth.

Athena scurried into her house, looking around. It seemed as if no one was home, so she called out to her mother, eager to see her again.

"Mamma?!"

No response.

"Hazel?!"

No response.

Athena furrowed her eyebrows, searching through every hall and room in their house. No one was there.

Finnick slowly walked up behind Athena, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"Athena..." Athena turned around, looking Finnick dead in the eye. She knew something was up.

"Finnick. What happened." What would normally be used in an interrogatory way was used in a declarative as she made Finnick tell her what happened.

"There was a boating accident two years ago, your mother and Hazel didn't make it." He said in a soft voice, dreading what was next to come.

"I didn't let anyone come in here and take away everything. I lost the people I care about, so I'd always come here to think." Tears streamed out of Athena's eyes as she fell to the floor, processing the fact that she had lost both her mother and sister (not to mention her father who died when she was extremely young).

Finnick let her cry, crouching down next to her and burying her head into his chest.

And that was exactly what Finnick did now.

"Hey. I know someone who wants to see you." He whispered against her hair.

Athena lifted her head, "Who?"

Finnick stood up, placing his arm out. Athena wiped away the tears, taking his hand, and standing up.

The two exited the house, and Athena followed Finnick, questioning where they could be going. They walked a few houses down, stopping in front of one looking nearly identical. They walked up the stairs, Finnick's hard fist knocking on the door. Soon, it opened, revealing the one person Athena needed most at the moment.

Jax.

Athena gasped, flinging her arms around him. Jax chuckled, squeezing her back.

"It's a good thing you're alive, kid. I've been hanging on by a thread without ya." He smiled, opening the door wider.

As Athena and Finnick walked into Jax's home that looked the same as theirs, Athena couldn't help but think that things were back to being okay.