saving serena , finnick odair (ON HOLD)

chapter five

"Can you pass me the jam?" The hostility in Finnick's voice is no surprise to the female tribute as her mentor looks expectantly at her. Nevertheless, Serena passes the jam to the man sat next to her without so much as a glance.

Things haven't exactly settled between the tribute and mentor. In fact, Serena's worried she's made it worse by sleeping in the same bed as Roman. When Finnick had come to wake her, his expression had simply shattered at the sight of their tangled limbs. If only he knew Serena and Roman have made a friendship far greater than love.

"Oh this atmosphere is suffocating!" Brisa exclaims and places her palm on her neck for dramatic effect. Serena resists to nod in agreement, but she can hardly breathe with Finnick's eyes burning holes through her skull.

"You're telling me, Brisa." Roman says lightly, a crumpled smile on his face as he tries to make light of the situation. To everyone else, the hostility comes from Serena's comment from last night. "Did you have a nice sleep?" Roman continues to talk to Brisa.

"I did thank you, my lovely." The escort smiles happily at her tribute before going back to butter a pastry on her plate.

"Dyra," Serena decides to speak up and looks across the table to her mentor. She smiles to let the girl know she's listening. "Me and Roman came up with an idea last night, we thought we'd run it by you before training." At this, Finnick pulls himself out of his self pity and focuses on the game talk.

"We were thinking about being friendly to the tributes in District one and two, let them know one of our skills so they want us, but also keep our best ones hidden." Roman begins, waving his hands around slightly as he talks. "Then, when the games start, we could lure one or two of them somewhere and take them out using the skills they never knew we had, maybe some close combat ones."

"That's brilliant. I don't think that's ever been done before. So you hope to eliminate two out of four of the careers before the games even fully get into things?" Dyra questions, eyes alight with hope for her two tributes. Together, they're smart and together, they could probably be twice as brutal.

"Yeah, that's the aim. But it depends on what the arena turns out to be like. It may be impossible to kill them without exposing our skills to the others." Serena adds, her eyebrows creasing at the small flaw in their plan.

"Well, I think it's a great idea." Kai remarks from across the table, and Mags and Brooke give nods in agreement.

"If you want close combat skills as your hidden skills, then Roman you should display your throwing knives to the careers. You're handy with a spear in close combat, right?" Finnick is back to usual quicker than Serena thought was possible as he talks to the boy. Roman nods. "Then you work on that spear with Kai in the evening training. Serena, reveal your spear skills in training today. I'll help you work with the swords." He looks intently at the girl, and she just nods slowly.

"The strategy is perfect." Dyra states and places some apple in her mouth. "The weapons will make them do a double take and by then, they'll be dead."

The rest of the meal is finished in silence, with futile attempts from Brisa to start conversation. It's all becoming so real for Serena. In less than a week, if she survives the bloodbath, she'll be slitting the throats of so many without a thought, like she's always been trained to do.

After breakfast, Roman and Serena go back to their rooms and shower, before changing into their training clothes. When they arrive at the elevator, Brisa is waiting patiently for the pair. She claps her hands in excitement when they come into view. "It's such a big day! Oh how exciting that the games are only a few days away!" All the two teenagers can do is smile politely, as the comment makes them feel sick with anxiety.