Allied Hearts - Finnick Odair

Chapter 17

The water continued to whirl and crash against its surroundings. Finnick had found his footing and had began to walk away from the whirlpool that had sucked him under - Cooper began to do the same on an opposite end of the arena.

As Finnick trudged above the water he noticed something beneath his feet, he considered sticking his trident into the unknown object just to be safe but decided against. It could of been anything.

Cautiously he waited for the mystery object to expose itself holding his trident above his head for if needed.

A swirl of blonde curly hair knotted itself against a rock as Finnick crouched down to see who it belonged to.

'Callissa?' Shock and panic arose in his voice as he recognised the injured soul. Dropping his trident to the floor the clang was heard throughout the hall making the audience around me gasp in shock, thinking the boy was going to brutally murder his opponent with his bare hands. Alia doubted this, hoping his better nature would shine through.

His veiny hand reach down below the surface to grab onto whoever was beneath it, as he thrusted his arm back a spluttering blonde came thrashing up desperately trying to break free from the grasp. Her elbow met with his thigh which would surely leave a bruise but Finnick didn't falter and stood up tall keeping his hold of the girl.

'Callissa?!' He released his grip causing me to release a grateful sigh that she was okay. Finnick hoped the girl would recognise the voice and not elbow him again.

But now it was between them two. They'd seen each other. Their mission was to kill every other tribute with no exceptions. This was what I had been dreading this whole time.

Her wound had been affected greatly by the impact as it poured with blood and trickled into the water causing it to turn Scarlett. Every so often she would wince in pain and whimper.

'Are you hungry?' Finnick surprised the crowd by asking a generous question before digging in his bag to find some left over food and handing it over to his rival.

Callissa gladly dug into some bread and tinned peaches, it was the first thing she had eaten since being in the games and you could definitely tell as she rapidly stuffed her face.

'I have this too.' His hands outstretched to where she sat holding out the little pot of medicinal ointment, her face expressed confusion as she tried to figure out what it was. 'Put it on your wounds, it'll help the healing process and hopefully sort the infection.'

'Why are you doing this Finnick?' Although she asked the question she still took the magic pot and began to apply it, you could tell it was hurting as her face contorted with every spread.

'For Alia. Good luck.' And with that statement he picked up his trident and dashed off leaving a bewildered Callissa on the rocks with her food and medicine.

He didn't kill her.

What did he mean for Alia? Why would he do that?

I looked up to where my father sat, his face upturned in disgust at the event that just unfolded before his eyes.

'They're meant to kill each other!' His pale old hands slammed down onto the table in front of himself, causing everything on the table to bounce up and fall.

'Aw he loves you Alia.' A plum resembling woman gave me a side hug as I flushed red for what felt like the millionth time. Her dress was purple and poofy and looked awful, I can only hope to grow up gracefully and not like any of the Capitol residents.

It had been about 15 minutes since Callissa and Finnick's encounter when footsteps began to creep about where the injured girl sat. She didn't appear to hear them as she swirled the water beneath with her fingers waiting for the ointment to set. All of a sudden Cooper stood behind her, grabbing her hair and thrusting her head backwards he took out a pocket knife and slashed it against her throat.

Callissa fell to the ground with a thud, her neck bleeding out as her eyes sat still.

My breath hitched in my throat as I hoped for some movement from her, my fingernails suffered the impact as I chewed down hard on them nervously. Move Callisa, move, I thought constantly.

She didn't move.

And just like that I had watched a friend die and bleed out, no mercy spared for her life by a blood thirsty tribute.

'I knew she wouldn't make it.' No sympathy was given by anyone sitting by the table making my stomach flip at the ignorance. A family had just lost their daughter, I had just lost one of my only friends.

Snows face had started to turn with joy as a smirk fell on his lip. 'Now let's just hope Cooper makes the next one look as easy.' He had already placed his chances on who was winning, or at least he was trying to convince himself.

I sat at the table motionless, no expression fell on my face as I resonated in sweltering shock. I felt my pale skin turn a greenish colour as the nausea set in.

It had all happened so quickly, a life could just be taken so suddenly like that. It was torture as I was left to watch the rest of the games. There would be one more screening after today's, the final would be held tomorrow and all I could do was pray that Finnick would see it through.

The weather turned as I witnessed via the screen as blazing hot sunshine blasted down on the tributes causing them to work up a sweat. Every step they took, beads of sweat would fall to the ground.

Finnick was aimlessly wandering through the arena planning on finding a place to reside safely for the night. It needed to be away from sight if he wanted to survive another night.

Cooper had a big grin plastered over his face at his victory as he ran through the arena. The sunshine hadn't bothered him as adrenaline pumped through his veins. The final girl tribute was also running through the arena when they crashed bodies into one another. Both took a stumble back before regaining their footing quickly.

The girls brown eyes were wide with fear whilst Cooper didn't feel the same. His eyes were alight with excitement at the chance of killing another innocent. Lunging forward he plunged a makeshift knife deep into her stomach between twisting the weapon in her skin. Blood began to pour from her stomach as well as her mouth. Her body was shutting down on itself before she fell into a body of water. Crimson liquid surrounded her as she bled out, her eyes remained wide as she died. It was a chilling sight that would never leave my mind.

The canon sounded twice, Callissa and the other girls life was over and it was confirmed with the booms.

The screen shut off quickly as people eagerly started to chat amongst themselves about the events that just happened and speculating what the final would contain.

Their conversations weren't settling in my mind as thoughts of Callissa swirled around. The memories were unforgettable. Her cheeky smile was a sight to see, the gorgeous golden curls that bounced each time she walked represented her personality perfectly. She was so joyous. She would be missed by many I'm sure, my dear friend.

I'll never be able to forget her vicious and cruel end to life. Feeling vengeance build up from the tips of my toes to the top of my head I seethed in anger.

My face remained stony at Snow, his big grin infuriated me. It was his fault. I would always blame him for Callissa's death, he would never ever be forgiven by me. I hated him.

And so I sat for hours in that very chair, not saying a word. My facial expression not changing. Just still. Until Ava came and dragged me to bed, she tried to ask questions but I never replied.

My rebellion starts here.