I'm new to writing Hunger Games FanFiction, so Hello! I hope you'll all give my story a read and tell me what you think.
Like everyone else in this fandom, I read these books and fell in love with this story and these characters. This is categorized under my two favorites, and I'll tell you why. Katniss is the strongest female character I've ever read, and Finnick has to be my favorite male character ever written.
It wasn't until I read through the books a second time that I began thinking of this story, and it was also, coincidentally enough, when I started to really dislike how Finnick's death was handled - also the fact that it happened at all.
And this has to be one of the longest notes I've written at the top of a new story. I'll shut up now.
None of the recognizable characters are mine. They belong to Suzanne Collins. This first chapter incorporates portions of Mockingjay, directly after Finnick's broadcast but before Peeta and Annie are brought back to District Thirteen. I don't own any of it. It's just a catalyst. The setting is also not mine, but the story and other OCs (yes, there will be a few) are all mine.
Also, I edit all my own stories, but I'm human, so I've probably missed something. See any mistakes? Let me know and I'll fix it.
Enjoy!
There was One Other
Finnick and I try to station ourselves in Command, where surely first word of the rescue will come, but we are barred because serious war business is being carried out. We refuse to leave Special Defense and end up waiting in the hummingbird room for news.
After his revealing broadcast, I'm not expecting Finnick to be anymore open than he already has been. Everything he's said has only solidified my belief that most of the Capitol's citizens are extravagant, overstuffed, stupid little sheep.
"They're not all bad," he says as we wait to hear about the rescue team gone to get Annie and Peeta. "To most of them, we merely exist to keep them entertained, yes. But there are some who are more like you and me than you would think."
It's like he's read my mind or something.
Even after everything I've just learned about him, I think he must still be foolish to believe such a thing. Us in the outer-lying districts are cannon fodder to the people in the Capitol. I'm not expecting him to tell me anything that will surprise me.
But he does.
"She wasn't like her father," he says to begin, knotting his rope slowly and unknotting it. "It was a year and a half after Annie won her games. Halfway between the 71st and 72nd. I was twenty, and I'd been traveling between District Four and the Capitol for four years. My father and I were trying to keep up like everything was still normal, but by then, I could already see in his eyes that he knew something was different about me. We were all trying to help Annie after what she'd been through. Then I got summoned back to the Capitol."
A sense of dread fills his voice, and I'm suddenly afraid of what he's going to tell me. Just a short while earlier, he was baring his soul to all of Panem, and I don't think I'm ready to know about anymore of his conquests — even if he is trying to tell me something important. All the salacious details and sordid descriptions are things I don't really need to think about right now.
"I didn't — The way I felt about Annie was still — And she was still so young. I knew she would be all right. But I was still afraid for her. My mother and father, and my brothers. There were still people that I cared about and would fight for, and Snow knew that. So naturally, I didn't hesitate when I was called back. Except this time, it was for much longer than I'd ever stayed."
"How long had you stayed before?" I ask, shocked at myself that I would even want to know.
He shrugs. "A day here or there. Always during the Games. The longest before this was probably a week, and that was for some stupid party for a wealthy family near Snow's house."
"And how long was this one time?"
He knots his rope again into an intricate form, silent for a few minutes before he tugs to pull the rope free. "About a month."
This, I'm not expecting, and I gape at him. "A month?" I repeat, and he nods.
"It was just before the victory tour came to the Capitol that year. After Johanna won."
I'm so curious that it's literally bubbling beneath the surface of my mind. "And exactly what did you do for a month? And with who? Who is she? Is she one of the Capitol citizens you were talking about earlier?"
He shakes his head. "No. No, I wouldn't do that to her. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here."
His forgiving tone makes me a little angry, especially given the hell that we're all currently going through right now.
"What's so special about her?" I ask, not meaning to sound cruel and failing.
With his rope caught between his fingers, Finnick lifts his sincere sea-green eyes to me. "It's because she's dead, Katniss."
He begins a new knot silently, leaving me to still wonder exactly who she was and how she died.
Did Finnick love her the way he loves Annie?
No. That's not possible. Though I haven't met this girl he loves, I don't think anyone else could stir in him the things I've seen because he doesn't have Annie.
So why is he telling me this now?
Then without me saying anything else, he starts talking again, about her.
"Her father was a Legislator who worked with Snow, so it was very likely that he would be dead one day if he got too ambitious. Her mother died when she was about eight, and she had to take care of herself because her father was always in meetings. I thought it was odd when she told me that, but it was because her father didn't like that she was a girl. He had wanted a son, and when he found a man he thought would be better in that role, he made arrangements for that man to marry his daughter. The man he picked apparently didn't want to marry a girl who knew nothing about men, so when he brought this up at a meeting with Snow, our great President naturally thought of me. That's when he sent for me."
"How old was she?" I ask, fearing the answer without even knowing it.
"Barely sixteen."
And now she's dead? How long has she been gone? What happened to her?
Something else makes me angry. "Her father was making her marry someone she didn't even know?" I ask.
Finnick nods. "And because I was stuck literally between protecting the people I loved and defending myself, I couldn't refuse. Either way, I lost. She wasn't what I was expecting, especially because she didn't know who I was."
His mocking tone surprises me even more, and for some reason, I laugh.
"She didn't know who you were?" I tease lightly.
He shakes his head, smiling the same as I am. But then he stops smiling and starts knotting his rope again. "In fact, she was terrified of me when she first met me. She hit me with a crystal vase when she found me in the front room of her house, and it took me the rest of the day to convince her that I wasn't going to hurt her."
I shake my head too, holding up my hand for him to stop. "Okay, I'm confused," I say. "If she didn't know who you were and she tried to kill you when she met you, then how . . . ?"
He grins, knotting but now clearly more distracted. "There's more," he says. "I'm not finished."
I sit up and reach for the rope, needing my own distraction while he tells me this new story. "Tell me," I say.
As he starts, it's like I'm there with him. A silent observer to this defining point in his life.
I plan on having quite a few of these scenes with Finnick and Katniss, hence the pairing. They are friends after all. They'll all be this short also, until this next portion of the story has been told.
I also plan on updating this at last every few days to once a week while I'm still writing it. Because this chapter is so short, the next one should be up tomorrow or the next day.
You might be wondering where this will all fit in. Yes, Annie will make an appearance. No, I will not be splitting her and Finnick apart. But this new presence will show her worth also. Just give it a chance.
Lastly, while I've written for other fandoms, this is one near and dear to my heart. I hope I do it justice.
Thanks for reading and we'll see you in the next chapter, hopefully.