Part IV


"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever."

Jacques Cousteau


District Four


Finnick Odair is her book buddy.

Even at seven, she realizes that she's lucky for some reason. Everyone in the district loves Finnick and she loves him too. He's very nice and he indulges her in stories about his father's fishing boat when they're supposed to be reading Capitol-sponsored books. He pulls her into a corner and pretends to read, but really ignites her fantasies about things she'll never see.

"Whales, Katniss," Finnick says one day toward the end of school. "Its eye is bigger than you!"

"No!" she exclaims.

Finnick rolls his eyes at her. "You don't believe me?" he asks. She shakes her head. "I'll take you sometime, when my father's not using the boat. Would you like that?"

Katniss nods her head so enthusiastically her braids flop on her shoulders. Finnick grins easily and opens the book when the teacher looks their way. However, he doesn't read. He leans in and whispers in her ear about monsters that rock the boats out at sea. Her eyes beam with excitement.

Her own father is a fisherman, but he never has the exciting stories that Finnick has for her. He just says that it's work. It puts food on their table. It will keep Katniss from taking tesserae when she's older. So, she gets her stories from Finnick instead.

"What do you use to slay a sea monster?" Katniss asks.

Finnick eyes the teacher before moving the book in front of his mouth. "A trident."

Katniss gasps. Tridents are expensive. Even the wealthiest fishermen don't have tridents. "How did you get one?"

"Passed down through the family," Finnick says. "From before the Dark Days. When I take you on the boat, I'll show it to you. I have to warn you, Katniss, I'm pretty good."

"Will you catch me a fish?" she giggles.

He tugs on her braid. "I'll catch you a whale," he teases.

They never get much reading done.


Katniss sits on her father's shoulders at the reaping of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Hunger Games. Her mother holds onto Prim, who's sucking some sea salt off her thumb to keep her occupied. She looks around and is just barely able to make out her bronze-haired book buddy in the group of fourteen-year-old boys. She tries to catch his attention, waves even, but he's not looking in her direction.

Their escort comes out and taps the microphone, silencing everyone, and pulls out the first name. It's a twelve-year-old girl who gets volunteered for almost immediately by an eighteen-year-old Katniss recognizes as one of the girls who practice fighting on the front lawn of the school with the wresting coach. It's a club, really, for kids who want to be in the Hunger Games one day, usually kids whose parents are poorer and they train so they can have the opportunity to win riches for their families. Usually, the tributes belong to this group.

"Finnick Odair!"

Katniss's heart breaks as she watches her book buddy step on stage. She looks around at the groups of boys, knowing that someone will volunteer. Her lower lip quivers when no one steps forward. A few people in the crowd begin to murmur.

What a shame!

The poor Odairs! He's their only child.

Finnick was always such a wonderful boy.

And then he's brought into the Justice Building and the door is slammed shut.

"What's wrong, little duck?" her father asks when he sets her down on the ground off his shoulders. She doesn't say anything and her mother leans forward to whisper in her father's ear. He closes his eyes, lets out a long sigh, and kneels in front of her. "Do you want to go say goodbye?"

Katniss nods her head. It's the only thing she can really do.

There's a long line to see Finnick. His parents, obviously, go first, and then a group of boys his age that she recognizes as the other book buddies. Finnick's classmates are usually so rambunctious and now they're mild and subdued. There's a group of girls in front of her too, but she only really recognizes Annie Cresta. She's Peeta Mellark's book buddy and if Finnick wasn't her book buddy, she'd think Annie would be her second pick. She's kind to everyone and pats Katniss's head has she walks down the aisle to Peeta, asking her about her day in a soft voice that reminds Katniss of an angel.

And, finally, the Peacekeeper lets her in.

"Finnick!" she squeals, running forward. He opens his arms and catches her, sitting down and pulling her with him. "You have to win!"

He chuckles but Katniss doesn't like the sound. His voice is usually calm and soothing, but now he sounds like the waters during a storm, thick and turbulent. She tears off her bracelet, which her mother made from sea glass, and hands it to him.

"Is this my token?" he asks. She nods and he kisses the top of her head. "Thank you, Katniss. That's sweet of you."

"Will you come back?" she asks.

"I'll try." And then he looks at her and sighs. "But, I want you to know something, okay? You're like the little sister I never had. I'm glad I got you as my book buddy."

She swallows her tears. She's got to be strong and then he'll come home.


Her parents tell her it's unhealthy, how much time she spends in front of the television, but she needs to make sure Finnick is safe. So, when they cut her off, she heads into the main square and watches on the big screens. Finnick joined up with the Career pack, but now that his partner is dead, he must be trying to rethink his strategy.

"Are you okay?"

She looks around. She's the only one outside on her blanket watching, the majority of the district viewing the Games on their televisions. She turns back around and Annie sits beside her, patting the blanket so Peeta can sit too. Annie pulls Katniss into her arms as they watch Finnick sit as lookout while the other Careers sleep, his eyes searching the arena.

"He's going to be okay," Annie says.

Beside her, Peeta nods but doesn't say anything. He's never said anything to Katniss before, so she wonders why he's here. Maybe he is just as close to Annie as she is to Finnick. She doesn't know.

They sit watching Finnick for an hour and then Annie stands. She has to go home. Peeta, however, tells her he'll walk Katniss home once Finnick switches shifts. Annie raises an eyebrow but says nothing more, turning and walking home along the water's edge. Peeta scoots closer to her on the blanket.

"I'm sorry about your book buddy," Peeta says, resting his hand close to hers on the blanket.

"He's not just my book buddy," Katniss says. "He's my big brother."

Peeta tilts his head to the side but says nothing more, looking up at the screen. Katniss is about to ask what he's still doing beside her – she could walk home herself, thank you very much – when she hears the sound of a parachute echoing through the speakers and Peeta's eyes widen.

She spins and when she sees the gift, she leaps in the air and starts jumping.

"He's got a trident!" she exclaims. "He can use it like he uses it against the sea monsters!"

"But," Peeta says softly. "They're not sea monsters. They're humans."

Katniss turns to him and glares. "It's not any different."

Peeta shuts his mouth and the two of them watch Finnick work on a net. He hangs it nearby and waits. No more than an hour later, he's snared half the remaining Careers, trapping them in his net and spearing each with his trident. With blood on his hands, he walks into the woods, heading for the remaining tributes.

"Poor Finnick," Peeta says later, when Finnick's shoulders slump as he looks at the body of the girl from District Twelve, caught in his snare with a gash from his trident in her chest.

Katniss doesn't see that. She sees that there are only a few more people to go before her book buddy comes home. "Poor Finnick?" she asks. When Peeta nods, she shakes her head. "But he's winning."


It takes two days and six hours from the time that Finnick received his trident for him to be crowned victor. Katniss has never been so happy for anything in her life. Her father sits her down after Finnick's interview and tries to warn her.

"He might be very sad, Katniss," he says.

But Katniss doesn't understand. Finnick is her book buddy, her only friend, and her big brother. He always has a goofy smile and a story to tell. And it was scary to watch him kill, but he had to. If he didn't, he wouldn't come home.

Annie promises to take her to see him at the train station so they can stand closer to the front. The thirteen-year-old holds on tightly to Katniss in one hand, Peeta in the other, to make sure her two seven-year-old companions do not lose their way in the massive cheering crowd.

Finnick looks the same when he steps out, except he's dressed in fancy clothes and they've gelled his hair. He stands beside Mags with his shoulders a little slumped, listening to the mayor's congratulations. And that's when Katniss sees it.

He looks tired.


After all the balls and celebrations, Finnick locks himself away in his new house for the remainder of the summer. When school starts again, he doesn't go. Annie begs and pleads with the teacher, and Katniss is able to join her and Peeta rather than get a new book buddy. It makes her sad, but Annie lets her sit in her lap and Peeta holds her hand.

But it's not Finnick.


On his fifteenth birthday, Katniss makes a card and asks Annie if she could give it to him. In it, she writes: Feel better, Finnick. You've got fish to catch!

Two days later, rumor has it that Finnick has been called to the Capitol.


When he returns, people in District Four shy away from him. Katniss doesn't quite understand. When she sees him coming down from the Victor's Village, looking like he's headed for a swim, she jogs after him as quietly as she can, despite her parents' pleas for her to stay away from him. She doesn't understand. He's still the same Finnick.

She follows him down to the edge of the sea and watches him sink under the waves, trying to scrub himself clean with bits of seaweed and even some barnacles that make him bleed. She starts to run down to him, his screams making her heart ache, when she feels a hand on her arm.

Peeta shakes his head. "Let him be, Katniss," he says.


She realizes that Peeta's been following her around since Finnick's reaping, but she doesn't say anything. She just watches him back. He stays just far enough away as to not be noticed, but just within reach to step in if she has a problem – like when she wanted to rush down to Finnick, or when she fell off the playground and scraped her knees. But, other than to help or watch her, he makes no move of friendship.

So she doesn't either.


There's a terrible storm when she's twelve.

Capitol guards come to Four and drag the nineteen-year-old Finnick Odair out of his house. Even with his muscular stature, he's no match for them, but he sure does try. The entire district watches as he kicks away Peacekeepers and snarls as the 'big guns' carry him away toward a hovercraft.

Annie makes a scene. Katniss knows she's been attempting to help Finnick, but that he's mainly just pushed her away. She screams for the hulking men to leave him alone. But they don't listen to her and Finnick is taken away.

During his stay at the Capitol, the storm rolls in and a boat is lost at sea. Her father, Mr. Odair, and many of the other men of the district sink into the depths of the ocean. The President sends a message to their screens about how sorry he is for their losses.

That year, Annie is reaped. Since she's eighteen, no one volunteers.


Katniss watches Peeta from afar as he descends into misery listening to Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith comment on Annie's skills and her odds of winning. With the brutal hulk from her own district, they say, she has a decent shot of making it far just by partnering alone.

But then her partner is beheaded right in front of her during the bloodbath and Annie hides in a cave to lose her mind.

Katniss desperately wants to return the favor to Peeta, but she has bigger things on her plate. She's taken out tesserae to feed Prim since her mother's been rendered useless since her father's death. Rumors are going around that Mrs. Odair has lost her mind, just like her own mother, and that weighs heavily on Katniss as well. Finnick has lost so much already and, although she hasn't been able to talk to him in years, she still feels like she owes him something. He came back, after all, just like she asked.

So, she watches Peeta sit on the blanket just like she did, watching Annie suffer. The dam breaks and she outswims the other tributes to victory. But, Peeta doesn't look happy when she wins and Katniss has a feeling that she knows why but she doesn't want to think that way.

Being alive is always better than being dead.

(Or so she thinks, until Prim looks like a skeleton.)


Her father taught her how to fish despite her mother's distain. Fishing is men's work and something Katniss shouldn't do. But, she's named after a water plant and her father thought it might be handy for her to know.

But she doesn't think of that. Instead she wanders the district looking in trashcans and snatching fish out of the buckets on the docks. But, it's never really enough.

She notices Peeta staring at her, but she keeps her head down. He's probably wondering why she didn't try to help him with Annie like he had with Finnick. Maybe he's angry with her. Maybe he hates her. She really doesn't care. All that matters is that Prim hasn't complained of being hungry despite not having any food. She doesn't have to be a healer to know that it's not a good sign.

Her stomach growls loudly during class and the children all giggle. Some of the boys tease her, ask her if she's joined the volunteer's club yet – they hear it comes with a meal every day, compensation for the fact that they'll die when they actually go to the Games. Not many people go hungry in District Four.

She is now one of the few.

Peeta comes and sits beside her at lunch the day one of the boys tauntingly holds a lunchbox in her face. She eyes him warily as he opens his lunchbox and ignores the cruel jokes and names sent his way by his former friends because he's sitting with her. He splits his tuna sandwich, gives her his whole bottle of fresh spring water, and hands her his seaweed snack pack without a single word. And he watches as she eats it.

She feels guilty, but she's so hungry she shovels everything down at record speed. When she looks back sheepishly, she finds him grinning. He goes into his backpack and withdraws a small paper bag.

"For Prim," he says, before standing up and going away.

Katniss has never felt so embarrassed in all her life. She's never done one nice thing for Peeta Mellark and here he is, feeding her as if they're best friends.

That day after school she sits by the pond waiting for Prim. A water lily lands on her foot and she lifts it up, spying the minnows tickling her feet. That's when it hits her. It's illegal to do for their own personal consumption, but she knows how to fish. When she stands up, ready to race home as soon as Prim is let of out her classroom, she notices Peeta watching her.

She looks down at the ground.


Once Prim is well fed, the rumors begin to matter again. The district seems to love talking about Finnick and Annie, and how Finnick's been seen coming out of her house in the mornings. It's such scandal. Katniss rolls her eyes at it. As if they're doing anything scandalous – Annie can barely talk from what she's heard. She didn't even do a final interview with Caesar Flickerman after her Games.

She wonders, although she'd never admit it, what those in the district say about her.

She wakes up every morning with a goal. Today is the day I'll thank Peeta. It never happens. Most of the time she gets so close and then she turns away. Once she even tapped his shoulder in class, he turned around, and she smiled and asked for a pencil instead. And he didn't even look upset. He looked thrilled.

By the time she's sixteen, she's made so little progress, she wonders what exactly she's thanking him for. He's just there. Always. And she's never there for him.

The mentors for the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games are Finnick and Mags. It's technically supposed to be Annie, but Four's victors decided instead to throw all the women's names in a hat and pull one out instead. Of course, it would end up being Mags, who suffered a stroke at the beginning of the year and is barely in better shape than Annie. It'll end up being Finnick mentoring and Mags helping in any way she physically can.

And, of course, it's the year her name is drawn.

Finnick looks like he's ready to jump right out of his seat and strangle their escort, who's called his name and Annie's name and now hers. His face looks sunburnt it's so red. But, the escort doesn't seem to notice and pulls the boy's name out of the ball. Katniss blows out a breath when it's not Peeta.

He does come to see her though.

After Prim is dragged away by Peacekeepers, Peeta steps in. They stand awkwardly, arms wrapped around themselves as if they don't know what to do. Finally, with two of their three minutes already wasted, Peeta walks toward her and wraps his arms around her.

"You have to win," he says. He looks to be fighting tears. "Will you come back?"

She shrugs. She's already told her goodbyes to Prim and she doesn't know if she's strong enough to outlast unless, like Annie, her arena floods. She knows how to fish, but how will her patience with a rod help her kill when a second's hesitation could mean she gets beheaded?

Peeta shakes his head. "No, listen to me, you're coming home," he says. He reaches into his pocket and withdraws a necklace with a bit of sea glass as the pendant, wrapping it around her neck.

"Why do you want me to come home?" she asks.

He shrugs. "You know why," he says.

But, she really doesn't. She knows that he's been watching her for years, always protecting her, but she doesn't know why.

When the Peacekeepers give their warning knock, he kisses her forehead. "Here's the deal, you win, you come back, and I'll be here like Annie was for Finnick. All you have to worry about is winning. I'll figure out the rest."

The Peacekeepers open up the door and Peeta, like Prim, is dragged out. "Katniss, I – " he starts, but his words are cut off by the closing doors.

On the train, Finnick pulls her away from the male tribute and shows her his bracelet, his token, the one she gave him nine years ago. But he looks conflicted.

"Tell me," he says. "If you win, do you have someone that can piece you back together?"

She thinks back to the Justice Building. She thinks back to when she was younger. Peeta's been piecing her back together for years. She nods her head.

"Okay," he says. He looks at her, as if trying to memorize her face, and then turns around. He walks to the doorway and then pauses. He sighs and then walks out completely.

When he's gone, Katniss looks out the window. District Four is so far off in the distance, it's almost as if she's looking out at the horizon. She can't see it, but she knows there's something out there if she swims far enough into the sun. She closes her eyes and thinks of a boy with curls the color of a spring dandelion, skin as white as the water lily's petals from when she was twelve. He is the Annie to her Finnick. If she swims far enough, she'll make it through the horizon, and he'll be there. Always.


First off, I want to thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing thus far. Schools been so hectic for me that I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and reply to any reviews for this story or They Shall Not Break, and I just wanted to tell you all thank you here.

Speaking of They Shall Not Break, I know some of you readers are reading that as well and I wanted to let you know that Part II is coming along, slowly but surely. Peeta is being a little stubborn with his narration. I've had the whole part outlined for a month and I just can't seem to get from Point A to Point B the way I would like to – I've got a document labeled 'TSNB cut parts' and it's 40 pages. Yikes, hate to see that. So, for those of you who have asked me about that, just be a little more patient. It's coming. I promise.

Anyway, I digress. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed District Four as much as I did. I always enjoyed the parallel SC made between Katniss and Peeta and Finnick and Annie, so I knew that's what I wanted to do here, which meant it was just as much about Katniss and Finnick (and Finnick and Annie) as it was Katniss and Peeta. I hope you all enjoyed it and didn't mind that it wasn't solely about Katniss and Peeta like the first three districts have been. This is the part that gave me the idea for this entire story when I found the quote for this part on Pinterest. My original quote for this part wasn't even a quote actually; it was "Paralian (n.) one who lives by the sea" and then I changed it at the last minute because none of the other districts had dictionary definitions and I thought the Cousteau quote fit with the 'always' theme, but I figured I'd give it here because I liked the word and thought if any of you wanted to use it for your stuff it would be out there.

Thanks for reading. District Five up next!