Finnick's POV
I am sickened by the Capitol. Everything they do, everything they say; even how they look. It disgusts me.
I watch the Reapings. I process all the tributes in my mind; I will not begin mentoring until next year, but Mags says I'm here to 'show me the ropes'. What I don't add is that I am only here to satisfy the Capitol citizens.
I've been doing it for one year now, and I cannot rub the sick feeling off my skin. My stomach does not stop churning, and whenever I look into a mirror, I want to throw up. I feel even less human.
Everything about the Capitol is repulsive.
The tributes arrived days ago, and have just begun training. They are always, always the same - large Careers and starving poor districts.
But the shock of white-blonde hair surprises me. The boy, who at my Victory Tour, was trying to communicate with a girl - his twin sister - across the crowd without even speaking. I had completely forgotten about this strange pair, but his shocking white-blonde hair brings back the faded memory.
He watches me, pale grey eyes grim and serious. They hold no fear, only determination. They study me, and I feel uncomfortable, exposed, as if this boy was judging me, or calculating my every move.
But the memory of this boy pulls back the faded picture of his twin sister from my memory, and how her pensive eyes looked at me and saw me for who I really was.
.
He gets a six in his training score. His grinning hologram is the exact opposite from how his eyes look at me. It unnerves me, how this boy - Enkol Enkeli, his name was - stares at me whenever we pass.
At the interviews, he is charming and funny. He jokes around with Caesar effortlessly, and captures everyone's attention - especially at one part.
"So, Enkol, is there anyone waiting back at home for you?" Caesar asks, raising his electric green eyebrow.
"I've got two lovely ladies waiting for me back at home." Enkol answers, flashing an easygoing grin to the audience.
"Two ladies? My, Enkol, you're quite the player!"
Enkol laughs, a laugh that seems so carefree and joyful - but I know it's just for the show.
"My two sisters." He answers, grinning once again. "They're the only two girls in my life."
"Ah, so I see. And what does your mother think about that?" Caesar asks, smiling.
He's silent for a second, a pause, a hesitation.
"There used to be three girls in my life." He pauses for a split second. "But my mother passed away three years ago."
The whole audience 'aws' and makes tsking noises, shaking their heads as if they understood his situation.
She probably died from the Shock; I remembered seeing the tape. The stormy night, the deaths.
"I'm so sorry, Enkol. You still have two lovely ladies waiting for you back at home, though, am I correct?" Caesar asks, his tone sombre, but quickly brightening the mood. "What are their names?"
"The youngest is Donnie. She's four years old right now." Enkol smiles faintly, but his smile is sad. "And the second is Anxol. She's fourteen - she's my twin sister."
Everyone oohs and ahhs, completely missing the point of the sentence. The boy is fourteen, has no mother - and possibly has no father as well - has to support his four year old sister, care for his twin sister, and now he's forced to play in these Games that will probably leave him dead, and leave his two sisters all alone. And yet, the Capitol is only awed at the fact that they are twins - uncommon in Panem.
They don't understand. Oblivious. Sickening. Disgusting.
"Twins, now you say!" Caesar exclaims. "I am positive that you will win for your two sisters, am I right?"
"Of course I will." Enkol smiles, but there's a grim determination in his eyes.
The crowd cheers and whoops, a new twist to the story to make it all the more exciting, but they don't truly see the depth of his story.
When Enkol passes me, his grey eyes look up to meet mine. But instead of that analytical look in his pale grey irises, his eyes are troubled.
.
The night before the Games, I am sleepless. I wander around the Training Centre, wanting to move. I don't want to be enclosed in the fourth floor, where the female tribute stares at me with lustful eyes.
I hear quiet footsteps behind me, and I whirl around, only to see the male District 5 tribute - Enkol.
Has he been following me?
"What do you want?" I growl, sick of his calculating eyes. I don't want to remember them when he dies, do not want to see them in my nightmares.
"Follow me." He says simply, not answering my question.
I eye him suspiciously.
"Come on, Odair. I'm not going to kill you. You're a victor, and I'm a tribute. You're a Career, and I'm lowly district scum." He says, exasperated. "The odds are completely in your favour right now."
I decide that I like the sarcasm in his voice, the way he outright says the truth without any fear in his tone.
"You can even bring a knife with you, if it makes you feel any better." Enkol rolls his eyes. "But I, for one, would not be touching anything made in the Capitol."
He spits out the word Capitol, like it has a bad taste in his mouth.
I like much more now.
I give him a small grin and follow him.
He leads me to a small, deserted room, with only one table and a few chairs. It was the room where Mags negotiated with the other mentors about an alliance.
Enkol sits down, and I do the same.
"I have a proposition for you, Finnick Odair." He starts off, all business.
"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow, ready to hear what he says.
"I want you to protect my sister."
"What?" I say, completely taken aback. I was expecting some sort of alliance request or something.
"Protect. My. Little. Sister." He says, pronouncing each word slowly. "Keep her safe."
"B-but why?"
His eyes darken, the pale grey turning into a stormy black.
"The Capitol is planning to kill her. I know it. I'm going to die, and so is she. It's too late for me, but she's still got some time. I want you to protect her."
"What?"
He sighs deeply and rolls his eyes.
"Let's start from the beginning, then."
.
He tells me everything. About his family, about where he came from. He gives me these vivid descriptions and chokes on his words when he tries describing his home. He tells me about his parents, burnt black. He tells me about his twin sister, and how she screams and stares into nothing.
I don't believe him. I can't, it's not possible. There's no way they could've came from somewhere else. This is all just some sob story to get him into an alliance with District 4.
"You don't believe me." He finishes simply, catching my look.
I shake my head, my mouth failing me.
Enkol pulls something out of his pocket, and I tense. And then I see what he's holding out for me to see. It's a handcrafted wolf, every detail meticulously carved out.
"I'll bet you've never seen wood like that." He says lazily. "Not even in District 7."
I glare at him, but he's telling the truth. The wood is a strange pearly beige colour, and is much smoother than any wood I've ever seen. It smells like ashes and ice - a strange combination, especially for wood.
"Twist the head open." Enkol urges me.
Tentatively, I do. Out tumbles out hundreds of small rocks.
In a closer inspection, I realize that they're not rocks - but jewels. Tiny little gems no bigger than the cuticles of my nail, see-through and glistening even in the dim lighting of the room.
"What is this?" I whisper in awe, examining the tiny jewels.
"We call it crystal sand." Enkol smiles at my awestruck expression. "It's found back in my home."
I can hear the longing in his voice as he speaks of his old home. Of the place he left.
"I bet you can't find it anywhere in Panem." He whispers, challenging me. "Not even you, the mighty Finnick Odair, can find it anywhere else."
I look up from the miniscule crystal to glare at him, though I know that what he's saying is true. I've never seen it before; not in any district, not in the Capitol - and trust me, I've seen all there is to see in Panem. If any place had these crystals, they surely would've been mentioned.
"Do you believe me now?" He breathes, a touch of desperation in his voice.
The exotic look that he and his sister both have. The crystals. The hauntingly vivid description that was so real and honest that it couldn't have been made up. It's farfetched and completely insane, but my mind cannot think of another explanation.
Slowly, I nod.
.
I just want to feel human again. I want to be able to feel something besides the revolt and disgust in my stomach, and I want to feel love and care and happiness. I want to feel like I am helping, and not just some sort of useless rock that does no good in shielding the ones I love the most.
"Please, just protect my sister." Enkol pleads. "That is all I'm asking of you."
"Why should I?" I ask, stubborn. Selfish. Still in disbelief.
Enkol advances towards me, eyes dark again. Despite the fact that I am twice as wide as he is, two heads taller, three years older, and have a body count, Enkol scared me.
"You," he growls, "are different. You are caring, and you are the one who will actually believe me. You understand."
"You have kindness and mercy in you. You are gentle with others, yet I know you are strong. You are protective and you are loving." Enkol continues, his voice softening, despite the fact that he pokes my chest for emphasis.
"You know, I've been looking for someone who could take care of my baby sister. I've been watching you, and you know that." Enkol growls, but I can see tears starting to form in his eyes. "I love her, and I need someone to protect her when I can't. You have no idea how much I'm risking for her; absolute no idea how big a leap of faith I am taking by trusting you, the playboy Finnick Odair, with the one person on the earth that I have left."
I think about my own little sister, baby Bea, whose green eyes are almost identical to mine. I think about how I caused her death - hers and Casper's and pa's. I think about how much I love Bea, and if I was in Enkol's shoes, knowing all that he knows, I would do the same. I think about the desperation and the fear, and I realize - Enkol and I are more alike than we thought.
I think about Bea's dying eyes that I caused and of Anxol's pensive eyes that saw me when no one else did.
"You are a good person, whether you believe it or not." Enkol says softly. "And most importantly; unlike everyone else here, you have a heart."
Funny. I thought I was the only one who didn't.
"So please. I am begging you to just do this one thing for me." He gets down on his knees, a final sign of defeat, eyes filled with desperation. "Just please, protect Anxol."
I stare at this boy, who is so much like me, yet so different. The boy who would do anything for his sister, who had the weight of the truth on his shoulders. Who will die in a few days, and knows it. Who put his sister ahead of his own life, and only wants her safety. She lives, unknowing, because he protects her from everything - even the truth that he knows will drive her mad.
Enkol loves his sister, and his love is something I admire. I envy.
And I believe his words. And I hope, that maybe, this will balance out all I have done.
"I promise."
Thanks for reading!
Quick message, since I'm in a rush - sorry about the really rushed chapter and pretty terrible explanations. Sorry!
Managed to post a chapter up today! I almost thought I wouldn't be able to make it since something pretty big came up, but here it is! Kind of doesn't matter since the chapter stinks, but better than nothing!
Okay, thanks, bye! Next chapter tomorrow!