Black & Blue || Finnick Odair

7

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' It's beautiful, isn't it?
How it all hurts but we never give up. '
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Water. It's dangerous and yet looks so beautiful. It gives off the air we breathe and yet if you breathe it in, you die. And currently that's what Venus was doing as she tried to swim. Her arms clumsily pushed through the water, getting her nowhere as her breaths became shallow. She couldn't swim, she'd never been able to. Water entered her mouth, causing her to choke as she tried to stay above the surface.

She could hear the yells coming from the cornucopia, and from around her. The girl knew she couldn't let herself die in the first couple of minutes of the games, it wasn't her. She was a fighter, it was seen loud and clear in her first games. She wasn't about to give up. Venus thrashed around in the water, slowly moving towards the rocky walkway.

Soon enough her hand hit the rocks, her fingers tried to grip onto the slimy stones with little success. Venus struggled to pull herself up, her hand slipping again causing her to crack her head on the rocks; her skin instantly splitting. She hissed loudly, wincing at the feeling of blood running down her face. The girl took another shot at getting up, kicking her leg up before pushing herself onto the platform.

Pushing herself up, she began running up the walkway towards the cornucopia where she watch Finnick running up another ledge; Mags standing towards the middle of it pointing into the water. Venus didn't worry too much about it as she walked into the cornucopia, grabbing a set of boomerangs and a bladed staff; along with a weapon's belt. The girl tucked away her boomerangs into the belt, before she walked towards where Katniss and Mags were standing; Finnick nowhere in sight.

'Where's Finnick?' She asked as she paused beside Mags before wiping her wet hair from her face.

The elderly woman pointed into the water where Finnick was swimming towards where water was thrashing around. She watched on silently, not wanting to get back into that water for a long time. Suddenly a cannon went off as the water stopped moving, Finnick pushing himself to save whoever was in the water. But as Venus heard her name get called from behind her, she turned to find Johanna calling her from the water line.

She knew she had a choice, to stay with Finnick, Peeta and Mags or go with Johanna and Scout. But as she waved Johanna and Scout off, she decided to stay with Finnick and Mags; knowing that Johanna could survive on her own, and if she needed her it wouldn't be hard to track her down. She looked back towards the water where Finnick was dragging Peeta through the water, the Baker's son having difficulty breathing. As they breached the walkway, Katniss and Venus helped pull him up before doing the same with Finnick who instantly noticed the large gash on the District Ten girl's face.

'What happened?' He asked quietly between breaths.

'Hit my face on the rocks, nothing to worry about,' She brushed him off.

'Ve-'

'Fin, I'm fine. We have to go.'

The brunette looked away from her childhood friend and scanned the surrounding forest, before motioning for everyone to follow her as she began walking down the path; her staff being held horizontal to the ground by her side. Finnick shook his head at the girl's stubbornness, picking Mags up in a piggyback before he started to follow Venus. But as he noticed Peeta and Katniss at a stand still behind him, silently speaking to each other, he turned and looked at them with an annoyed look.

'If you want to survive these games, she's your only chance,' He called before she began running after the girl from Ten.

It was then the pair from Twelve finally followed them, sprinting up the causeway to try and catch up to the other three. As soon as they hit the beach, Venus ushered them through into the forest with a quiet yell.