Author's Note: Hey Everyone.
So I figured since I'm heading back to TAFE/College next week and will be facing even longer, more involved days that are most likely going to leave me brain fried, I had better finish posting up all of Part 1 while I still have the time and letting you all know now that while I will be writing Part 2 during every spare moment that I have, don't be expecting any updates anytime soon.
Sorry, but TAFE/College is important and I need to focus on it... even though this semester might just possibly kill me. Five days, 9 til almost 6 being stuck in front of a compute/virtual machines, switches and routers... I'm going to die or my brain is definately going to be fried. Though hopefully not, but anyway, I've given you the heads up, so hopefully when I do start posting up Part 2 you'll all be coming back to read it and Part 3... whenever it's done. I really need to stop setting myself up with these series fics. They're going to kill me along with the damn CISCO switches.
Ok, so Chapter Ten is mostly about Annie's Private Session with the Gamemakers, though mainly this whole chapter is about Annie and Finnick. There is tiny, miniscule bit of smut at the end of this chapter, but it's so tiny, I really shouldn't need to warn you about it but since is going somewhat disney on us and I don't want my account deleted, my warning is here for all to see.
Ok, enough chatter from me. Sorry this is another short chapter, but I will be posting chapter eleven fairly soon, probably tomorrow. Only two more chapters to go until the end of Part 1. I'm torn between being delighted and somewhat depressed about this. Anyway, please enjoy!
Chapter Ten
I wake up early, after probably the best sleep that I've had since my name was reaped. I stretch my stiff limps the best I can, as I'm currently pin under Finnick who is currently acting as deadweight on top of me.
Despite it being hard to breath, what with his weight being on top of me, I couldn't image myself anywhere that I'd rather be right at this moment.
I smiled as I gently traced his handsome features; his regal nose that is ever so slight crocked – you only notice that it was crocked when you're as close to him as I currently am and I only notice because I'm the one who broke it. It's a funny story that my grandmother loves to tell anyone who is willing to listen, much to the embarrassment of Finnick and me. – high cheekbones and perfectly arched eyebrows.
I run my finger over one of his cheeks then his chin, wondering what he'd look like with a beard. I've never seen him with a beard; I haven't even seen him with even the vaguest hint of a whisker growing on his face. The Capital did something, something to make sure that he grew no facial hair beside from his eyebrows and his hair on the top of his head. To do this, they gave him a large dose of the drug that is given to the boy tributes before they enter the games to keep them clean shave through out. It's just in Finnick's case the drug last something like a year, while with the boys... or rather the boy winner, he'll probably have a beard starting to grow out after a couple of mouths of being home again.
Anyway, I find this to be a pity due to the fact that I think he'd look good with a beard. Not a big, long one, but one that just shadows his chin and cheeks.
"It's weird to watch someone while their sleeping." Finnick commented drowsily.
"You're not sleeping." I counted, continuing on tracing his features.
"I was." He said as he kissed my finger that had just run over his lips. He opened his brilliant green eyes to stare down at me as he slowly rolled off me and on to his side, but he kept his arm wrapped firmly around me.
"You are so beautiful." He informed me and I went bright red. I know, I could feel the heat of my cheeks.
"Shush." I grumbled and tried to push him away.
"You are." He insists still, kissing my cheek.
"Hush." I whisper trying to keep myself from giggling as he kissed his way to my neck, finding the spot there that makes my knees weak.
"I've missed you." he groaned as he continued to kiss my sensitive spot at the base of my neck.
"Then don't ignore me and you won't have to miss me." I replied, a little coolly. He lifted his head from my neck and looked at me sheepishly.
"I'm sorry. I was just…" he trailed off before shaking his head. "Forget it. I was being stupid. I'm sorry. I won't ever do it again. That is, if you won't push me away either?" he looked at me with pleading eyes and I saw how much I had hurt him yesterday when I had shoved him away from me.
"You're forgiven." I say with a nod and he looks relieved, leaning into kiss me. I let him kiss me for a moment, before rolling away from him.
"Where you going?" he demanded and I laughed.
"If you must know, the bathroom, plus I have to get ready. Training remember."
"Oh, right." He pulled a face. "Have you thought about what you're going to show in your private session with the Gamemakers?"
I shook my head before heading off for my private bathroom. I spent about half an hour in there, getting myself ready for the day. When I come out Finnick has already left my room, to get ready for the day himself and also so as not to be question by anyone about why he was in my room this early in the morning.
Breakfast was a busy affair, being drilled about what skill Merle and I were going to show Gamemakers to impress them into giving us decent scores. I personally wasn't expecting an overly high score myself. There isn't really anything impressive about throwing a spear, especially when there is barely any strength behind it. I can throw far and I always hit my target, but my throw just has no strength behind it, I won't take down another tribute with any spear I've thrown. My throw is that of a fisherman, not a warrior.
I spend my morning at the knot-tying station for no other reason than it gives me peace of mind. Strange, I know, but there is just something about tying pieces of rope together that has a calming affect on me. It's the same with Finnick.
When he came back from his games, the first night he came over to Grandma's house because he couldn't handle things anymore, I gave him a piece of rope to knot. It was the same piece of rope my grandmother gave me after my parents tied and I was a mess. I gave it to him and to my knowledge that first night he spent at Grandma's, he spent it knotting that piece of rope over and over again. He still has it. I see it occasionally, sticking out of his pocket for when he's off somewhere that he knows he'll become stressed or it'll be tucked under his pillow in case of nightmares.
I saw him fiddling with it at breakfast this morning, out of sight from the other District Four victors, knotting it and unknotting it over and over again under the table.
I wish I had it now, but I make do with the different ropes at the knot tying station.
They start calling us at lunch time for our private sessions with the Gamemakers. District One is called forward first and because it's boy before girl, Jeopardy struts out of the dinning room to meet with the Gamemakers before his slightly sulking sister.
I try to remain calm as I wait my turn to meet with the Gamemakers but by the time my turn is called my finger nails are destroyed, some bitten so badly that they are actually bleeding.
All the same I walk out of the dinning room with my head held high while tyring not to trip over my feet. I straighten my hair that is thrown into its usual high tail at the top of the crown of my head, lift my chin just a little high and walk into the gymnasium.
I swallow thickly when I feel all Gamemakers eyes on me, but I manage to walk calmly to where the spears are set up in the weaponry section of the gym. I hear a mumble of conversation as I do this. I know they're talking about my light build and lack of obvious muscle, but I ignore them and pick up a spear, a light weight one. I know, I know, but I've tried to throw with the heavy weight ones and they barely make it a metre when I throw them.
I walk to the centre of the gym, lining myself up with the dummy at the furthest end of the room. I hear more muttering, but I force myself to block it out. Instead I think of the ocean, of the waves and the wind and the cries of the seabirds flying around my head. Deep, slow breaths, in and out, in and out.
The spear is out of my hand and has embedded itself into the furthest dummy, only for it to moments later fall out and hit the floor with a clank. I wince. I hit the target but I hadn't killed it. I glance nervously at the Gamemakers, watching them take notes and mutter about themselves. Some were shaking their heads.
Run, two voices in my head say, they sounded like Grandma and Finnick. Run Annie, show them how fast you are.
I take a deep breath and walk to one end of the room, the muttering stops and I can feel all eyes on me as I lower myself into a set position for sprinting.
I close my eyes, breathing in reassuring breaths. I love to swim more than I do running, but… I do love the wind in my hair, the speed that I can make my legs run, the power that I use to do so.
I glance towards the Gamemakers and notice that one of them is now holding a stopwatch in his hand.
He holds up three fingers towards me, before slowly curling each one down to his palm. As soon as his last finger curls down and he is now holding up a fist, I run. I run the full length of the gym and then back again. I can now hear murmurs of satisfaction and when I look over to they are nodding and smiling as the Gamemaker who was holding the stopwatch shows them my time.
"Thank you very much Miss Cresta. You may leave." An elderly Gamemakers informs me. I give all the Gamemakers a nod before leaving the room as fast as I possibly can.
When I'm safely in the elevator I allow myself a few moments of worry. They were impressed with how fast I had been able to run, but just how impressed? There is no way that I've scored anything higher than a six, an extremely low score for someone from an Career district.
As soon as I reach my floor, I'm immediately surround by everyone, questions being shot from all directions, all so loud and jumbled that I couldn't comphrend what was being asked.
"Let her breath." I heard Finnick yell over everyone else and suddenly the crowd around me takes at least three steps away from me and I'm able to gain my breath and think.
"So, how did it go?" Marlin asked and I swallowed thickly.
"Um," I immediately start seeing worry cross everyone's face, though it did vary from face to face.
"What did you show them? Your spear throwing?" Marlin asked, guiding me to the dinner table where Merle was sitting. He gave me a wave, which surprised me but I returned the gesture anyway.
"Uh, yeah, I did, but they weren't overly impressed by it. I mean, I threw it and it hit the target, the furthest one in the room, but it um, the spear, it um, it fell out of the dummy." I saw even Merle wince as I said this.
Marlin closed his eyes and Finnick had gone a little white. Grandma who had come to sit by me, squeezed my shoulder gently.
"Well, that's that then." Marlin sighed.
"No, it's not." I say quickly and everyone looks at me sceptically.
"I ran." I added quickly. I see Finnick immediately brighten at this and others in the room look a little more hopeful.
"And?" Marlin asked waving a hand for me to continue.
"They seemed to be impressed."
"How impressed?" Marlin pressed.
"Well, one of them had a stopwatch and they were all crowding around it to see my time." I say. "I know it's still not that great but at least we know to expect something a little higher than a three, right?" I say anxiously.
"We'll see." Marlin said, looking thoughtful, "we'll see." He got up then and headed for the elevator, called it before disappearing within it.
"What did you do?" I asked Merle.
"Ah, threw a couple of spears, stabbed a couple of dummies with a sword. You know usual Career stuff." He actually looked a little sheepish as he said this.
"You'll probably get an eight." I say trying to be soothing, "maybe higher."
"Yeah, maybe. Any idea what your time was?" he asked un-expectantly.
I shook my head.
"I don't know. But I don't think I ran as fast as I usually can. I didn't warm up or anything, so." I shrugged, nerves gnawing at my stomach.
"Maybe, but I still bet you're one of the fastest runner's they've ever seen. Pity they don't have a pool here, then they'd see just fast you really can go. You'd score a twelve for sure." He said with a shrug as he downed the orange juice that he had just been handed by an Avox.
He stretched as he got up from the table before heading for his room. I stared after him somewhat perplexed.
"Why is he being nice to me all of a sudden?" I asked Grandma and Finnick – who was now sitting opposite us.
"Probably sees you as a threat and wants to know all that he can about you, your weaknesses and strengths, stuff like that so he can plan exactly how he'll kill you when the time comes. Or maybe he wants to become allies with you and then kill you later on when the time comes." Finnick informed me rather bluntly.
I give him a look and kick him under the table.
We have dinner shortly after that before we all go and sit in the sitting room to watch the scores being announced on the television. I'm on the floor, my back pressed against the sofa, between the legs of Grandma and Finnick. As I watch the photographs of each of the tributes flash up on the screen, I feel my nerves grow and grow.
It'll be five. My score will be a five. The lowest score a Career has ever received.
Jeopardy and Serendipity from District One score an eight and nine between them, while Cole and Jade from District Two both score tens. Wonderful.
The boy and girl from District Three score two sixes, a slightly higher scores than average for kids from District Three. I wondered what they both showed the Gamemakers. Did they create an incredible trap?
Merle scores a nine, but that's not a huge surprise, but we all gave him a large clap all the same. My score is up next.
I dig my destroyed fingernails into the palms of my hands. An eight flashes against my picture and I feel my mouth drop in disbelief.
An eight? For being able to sprint from one end of the room and back? Were they serious?
I receive a loud round of claps, though the faces near me look just as startled as I do.
"How fast were you running?" Coral asks as she beams at me.
"I-I…" I had no idea. I glance back at grandma who looks torn between being delighted and worried by my score. Finnick's expression is much the same as Grandma's but he shoots me a wide grin when I looked his way.
I escaped to my room soon after that, taking a quick shower before falling into an exhausted heap on my bed.
I was joined in bed a few hours later by Finnick. He seemed distracted and determined to smell and hug every inch of me to him. He was also quite wet, like he had just gotten out of the shower but hadn't dried himself off properly.
"Tried drowning yourself again?" I asked worriedly, his nose buried deeply into my hair.
"Hmmm," I ran my hands over his bare skin – he was naked for all but a pair of loose shorts – hoping that the wetness that I was feeling was water not blood, though I didn't smell any of the salty, rusty smell that accompanies it.
"I'm fine Annie." He says after awhile, after I've search him all over for any injury he may have caused himself. "I just wanted to get here as fast as I could."
"Bad?"
"I've been with worse." He replied and then he was kissing me roughly, rolling me under him. I let out a gasp of surprise before wrapping my arms around his neck and kissed him back.
For the next few hours, it was just us. Nothing else in the world mattered, nothing in the world could hurts us, all that matter was us. Him and me, together, lips, bodies, hearts, everything simply joined together to become one.
"I love you. I love you so much." He whispered into my ear as he held me close to him, his hand running over my bare skin.
"I love you too." I whisper back. He gives me a sly, cocky smile as he says.
"Quite right. How could you not?" I hit him playfully before gasping as he somehow got himself even deeper within me.
He grinned widely, so filled with love and happiness that I could not remain angry at him for long. And after a moment, I had completely forgotten why I had been irritated with him to begin with.