Pearl Heart {Finnick Odair}

Chapter 1

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A tortured scream cut through the night, waking Finnick from his nightmare. The screams were familiar to him, he hears them almost every night.

He untangled his legs from the blanket before sprinting to the next room. Skipping to a stop at the doorway and seeing the source of the screams, Amelia, tossing and turning in her sleep, scratching at her skin, as if something was under it.

Finnick knew that particular nightmare well. It was the most frequent one, involving flying insects with sharp teeth.

Pain....

Ever since her Game, Amelia has been afraid of pain, no matter how big or small, emotional or physical, it frightens her to death. It doesn't help that 'The Pain Scale' messed up her nerves, lowering her pain tolerance. Getting a small paper cut would feel like a knife going through her finger.

Finnick was the only one who knew how to wake her from this nightmare. Quickly making his way to the corner of the room where a rocking chair sat, he grabbed the blanket that was draped over it. The blanket was hand knitted by Amelia, made of only the softest wool that Panem had to offer.

He sat down on the bed before wrapping the blanket around her and bringing her to sit on his lap, by now she had stopped moving around, but had started to shake like a leaf in the wind. Finnick held her close to him, stroking her hair and whispering lovingly things into her ear, succeeding in calming her down. He eventually broke the now peaceful silence.

"Was it the same one?" Though he knew it was, Finnick just wanted to get her talking so she wouldn't sink back into her horror filled mind.

Amelia nodded her head the slightest with a mumbled yes before pushing her head further into Finnick's chest. The soft woollen blanket soothed her mind from the nightmare she has all too often, about the last day in the Arena, when she felt the Tribute from District 1's pain when his flesh was ripped from his bones. While having her nightmares, it seems to get into her head that the Mutts were really there, crawling around on her skin and eating away at it, so she would subconsciously try to scratch her skin hoping to get them off. The soft blanket rubbing against her skin gets rid of the thoughts, plus the warmth that Finnick's body provides helps to remind her that she was no longer in the cold Arena.

Finnick slowly fell back onto the pillows, bringing Amelia to lay on top of him. She immediately moved her head to lay on top of where his heart is, the soft beating of Finnick's heart helps to slow her own. Finnick found that she did this a lot, he would always allow her to do so, it gave him an excuse to hold her near.

Finnick wrapped his left arm around her waist and had the other softly moving fallen hair behind her ear, before resting it on the side of her head, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"Go back to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up." He whispers softly, running his thumb over her brow and down her face, the soothing gesture helped Amelia to fall asleep, and having Finnick there helped to fight off the nightmares.

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True to his word, Finnick was still there when Amelia awoke next. They were still in the same position from last night, though Finnick's right hand moved to her upper back. Amelia look up at his peaceful face as he continued to sleep, she was worried that her constant nightmares where keeping him from his sleep, but she remembered that he has his own nightmares and would say that they went away whenever he was with her, it made her happy that she could get rid of his nightmares, just as he helps get rid of hers.

Deciding she wanted to do something for him, she silently moved his arms from her and slipped out of bed, so she could head down stairs to make breakfast.