Enchanted; A Finnick and Annie Fanfic ♥ (Currently Revising/Editing)

Chapter 5: He's Got a Strategy

I stayed in my room every second I could after he left. My mother didn't expect me to go to school, and no one at school really expected me there. They all knew how close Finnick and I were. My mother brought me breakfast and dinner every day, but I hardly ever touched it.

Almost every day my mother would come into my room and ask if I wanted to come in the living room with her and watch the Games, and I'd reply with a sob. It amazed me that I hadn't cried myself out. After a week or so, she didn’t ask anymore, so I assumed the Games had begun and she'd accepted the fact that I didn't plan on watching it. Everyday she'd bring me food, and I’d look at her with sad eyes for an update. And every day she’d nod at me, the sign that he was still alive.

One day, she came into my room without food. I sat up and gave her the usual look, hoping that the lack of food wasn't a bad thing. She sat down next to me and laid a hand on my leg. Please, dear God, don't let her tell me what I think she's about to tell me.

"They're down to the final eight," she said with a soft smile.

"And Finnick?" It was the first time I had spoken since he left. My voice sounded odd, and very crackly.

She nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "He's still there. Doing great, actually. He's got a strategy."

"He does?”

"Yeah. Come watch, sweetheart. I...I think he's got a good shot at this."

The thought didn’t really occur to me that the last few tributes to go where usually the hardest to watch. My mother helped me up and led me into the living room. She wrapped a blanket around me after I'd sat down on the couch.

I wasn't even close to being prepared for what I saw. Of course, I saw Finnick, but it was like he wasn't himself. Some other person that looked kind of like him had taken his place. He looked ten years older but too skinny. He had dried blood on his cheek and both arms, and he had a huge gash across his chest still covered in fresh blood. The look on his face was...deadly. Insane. A combination of the two.

"Oh my god..." I whispered. My mother sat down next to me and put her arms around me.

"Don't worry about him, sweetie," she said before kissing my cheek. "He's fine. This'll be over by tomorrow."

"How? You said there’s still seven others left."

"Well, he started out with some knives and a sword and was doing okay, but then his mentor somehow got enough sponsors to get him a trident. Gosh, he's so good with that thing. He'll make nets and set them up so he can trap the other tributes. And after he traps them--"

She didn't have to finish. I looked at the TV screen just in time to see Finnick's trident piercing another tribute through the chest. I head the boom of the cannon, signaling the end of that tribute’s life. Six left.

I bite my lip to keep from screaming. I tasted blood.

I didn’t know exact how to feel about the whole thing, because less tributes meant it was more likely for Finnick to come home. But at the same time, seeing him like that…I was worried he would be different when he came home. His kisses and saying ‘I love you’ might not mean anything to him after having to go through the Hell of killing other people.

Somehow I had fallen asleep. I woke up from a nightmare that had something to do with Finnick, but I couldn't remember exactly what had happened. My mother was gone, so I assumed she'd gone to bed. The only light left on was the TV.

I woke up at the wrong time, of course. Right in the middle of the final battle. Finnick was there, but the first thing I really noticed was how big the person he was up against was. At least twice his size, he was one of the giant 18 year old Careers that had volunteered. I think my mother had mentioned his name was Indigo. Even without the sword he carried, he would still be a monster and could probably kill Finnick with his bare hands.

Finnick ran from an open field into the wooded area, trident in hand. It looked like he was almost smiling. He had blood all over arms and face, a mix of his own and the other tributes' probably, but he didn't look scared at all. He looked as if he knew exactly what he was doing.

And it didn't take me long to figure out that he did.

He continued to run through the woods, cleverly avoiding trees, Indigo following close behind him. Finnick was slowing down, a smug smile spreading across his face. Then he stopped dead in his tracks, and the second before he threw his sword, Indigo was entangled in a net. He wiggled and trashed, cussing up a storm. And Finnick just watched him struggle and smiled until Indigo dropped his sword.

And the second he did, Finnick pierced his body with his trident, and the cannon fired.

My stomach had butterflies. I could barely breathe. I screamed for my mother, and she came running in. I was nearly hysterical. He'd done it! He'd won! And he was coming home to me.

He was coming home for good.