A/N: I'm redoing chapter's 16 - 19. If you're just starting here, don't worry about it! And the chapter that was up for about 5 minutes was me accidentally uploading 'Trident' to this. Sorry for the confusion!
I wake up to the sound of Gloss laughing. I sit up, startled, but quickly pull the blanket up to cover my naked body. "What if I was Mags? You would've given me a damn heart attack. Get your ass out of bed." Gloss smirks. "I wasn't sure if you two were actually fucking."
Finnick groans, rubbing his eyes. "Gloss? What the hell." He looks at me, and presses his lips to mine. "Morning. Last night was... amazing." I just smile at him.
Gloss fakes gagging. He throws a bundle of clothes at me. "Get dressed or something. Cashmere had me bring this for you. And hurry up too." I put on the grey slip dress, and throw one of Finnick's button down shirts over it, leaving it open. I think I'll make a habit out of borrowing his clothes. I touch up my makeup in the bathroom, and braid my hair down my back. All of the other mentors are waiting downstairs. Johanna grins at me when she sees us.
Cashmere shakes her head when she sees us. "Every night? Jeez, Odair. What did you turn her into? She's not even seventeen yet."
I groan, and bury my head in my hands. "Let's get out of here." Nothing's happened overnight. They even show a bit of Gale, hunting and stuff. I can tell the Gamemakers will want to pull something on him and the boy from 7. Gale decides to go for a walk. He only has one backpack, and made a bow and arrow and a wooden knife. He walks straight into the path of the boy from 7 in a clearing in the forest. He looks like he's twelve or thirteen years old, and is starved. He's limping and has a gash on his right forearm.
"Can you k-kill me? Please. I know I'm not gonna win." He stutters. I turn to Johanna and raise my eyebrows, confused. She shrugs. "The Career tributes- they're scary. And I watched your cousin kill the boy from 1. He didn't look like he was in pain. Could you do it so it won't hurt."
Gale sighs. He's just as confused as we are. "I guess. Are you sure?" The boy nods, and gives him his water bottle. "Sorry." Gale says, before shooting an arrow into his chest. The canon goes off a second later. Gale's knees buckle and he tries to catch his breath. "Get a grip, Hawthorne." He stands up and hikes off towards the mountain.
"What was that about?" I ask Johanna. She just shakes her head. That was too weird. Or maybe he just knew that he was gonna die, and figured it would be best to get it over with. That makes 5 people left. I have a 60% chance that a person I care about is gonna win. The girl from 1 got a 9. Cato's brother got a really high score in training as well. Can this just be over with already? They cut to the girl from 1. She's doing something. I can't tell what it is, maybe some type of advanced snare. Dahlia is in her shadow, hiding a few meters away. One wrong step and she'll be exposed. I can tell what Dahlia wants to do. She's gonna surprise attack and kill her. I grab Finnick's hand. This'll either go great or terrible. Frankly, I don't know which one.
Dahlia tiptoes out and takes a knife out to throw at her. A perfect hit would be her back, or the back of her head. She trips over a tree root and misses, the knife whizzing right by the girl's ear. She whips her head around, her blonde hair hitting the other side of her face. "You've got to be kidding me. I thought you could do better than that. Stand up. You're pathetic. If I'm gonna kill you, I want at least a little bit of a challenge. Don't make it that easy." She rolls her eyes. Dahlia stands up. The girl sighs. "Try again. Throw a knife. You people from 4 are way too chicken. You at least should get a try before your hovercraft comes for your corpse."
Dahlia throws one, and it would have hit the girl straight in the forehead, but the girl from 1 ducks. She picks up the knife. "Sweetie, this is how you throw one." She aims for her stomach, but she falls to the ground and the knife impales the middle of Dahlia's thigh.. There's an arrow in her throat. The canon goes off, and Gale appears. Dahlia's eyes widen.
"Hey, I'm not gonna kill you." Gale puts his hands up in defense. "Seriously. I punched your brother in the face once, so I sort of owe it to him to keep you alive for a little."
"He punched you in the face?" Blight asks Finnick. "Why?" I groan.
"Well Gale isn't Katniss' cousin. That was made up. Because she was doing the whole lovers thing with the boy from her district. They're really good friends. But Gale likes her. He has for a while. And when he found out that we were dating, he punched me in the jaw." Finnick explains. My stomach drops, and I remember when he kissed me before he was sent into the arena. I need to tell Finnick. But not right now. I'll do it when the Games has a winner.
Gale slowly removes the knife from her leg, and takes his first aid kit. He cleans the wound. It looks bad, but nowhere near as bad as Peeta's was. Gale wraps a few bandages around it. "And then there were four." Dahlia sighs. "Why are you doing this? Seriously. Don't bring Finnick or Katni- your cousin into this."
"Honestly?" Gale frowns. "I don't really know. One part of me thinks that if for some reason I win, and I had killed you, my cousin would never forgive me. But really I have no reason to kill you. It's not like this is a fight to the death or anything." He jokes. Dahlia smiles at him.
"Holy crap." I whisper in Finnick's ear, "I think he likes her." Finnick just groans.
"She better not. Juliette will kill her if she-" Finnick cuts himself off. Probably not the best choice of words, considering their situation.
"I don't think I'll last too long anyways." Dahlia points to the bandage that's soaked red. It must be really deep. Finnick jumps up as if the couch is on fire, and over to the sponsor screen, and sends something, I'm not sure what. I feel sick to my stomach. The parachute arrives a few moments later. It's some type of cream, and what appears to be a medical sewing kit. Dahlia opens it up. "They're watching us." She smiles. She tries to apply the cream, but she can't do it, with out crying out in pain.
"Want me to sew you up?" Gale asks. She shakes her head. Dahlia threads the needle and gives herself makeshift stitches, joking about being a doctor. Dahlia tries to stand up but she can't. "You should just camp here." Gale tells her.
"Me? What about you?" She asks Gale, frowning.
"I guess I'll stay if you want." He shrugs. "It's not like I have a train to catch or anything." I think the Gamemakers are speeding up the clock in the Arena. It's not even noon here. Dahlia feels better and decides to light a fire. She stands up, and then falls flat on her bottom. Someone somewhere threw a spear at her, and ran. I can see that it's a male. Cato's brother. Gale didn't catch who it was. And now Cato's brother is gone. It hit Dahlia in the middle of her torso, right where Marvel hit Rue. I know she's going to die. Finnick squeezes my hand so hard, I think he might break it, or cut off the circulation. I don't try to shake him off. He needs me. "Holy crap. Dahlia." Gale helps her lay down, her head resting on a log. Johanna tells Haymitch to get the liquor out.
"If you win, just please tell Finnick I'm sorry I couldn't come home. And tell him to stop blaming himself for things that are out of his control. Nobody's mad at him." A tear rolls down Dahlia's cheek. "And tell him I know the truth, but I'm not mad. I'm proud of him."
Finnick groans. He lays his head on my shoulder. I run my hand through his hair. "It really wasn't your fault." I whisper. He doesn't respond.
"Of course I'll tell him." Gale smiles sadly. "I'm not too good, but I guess I can try." He holds onto her hand, and sings the Valley Song. I've known the song since the time I could talk. Everyone in 12 has heard it. I can't help but hum along. When he's done singing, Dahlia just smiles peacefully and then her eyes close. Gale doesn't let go of her hand when the canon goes off. He waits a few seconds, kisses her forehead, and walks away.
"Can I have that bottle?" Finnick pleas to Haymitch. He passes it over to Finnick without a moment's hesitation. Finnick gulps down at least half of the bottle, before I snatch it from him.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?!" I ask Finnick. He just stares at me. His lack of response worries me. "Please don't do something stupid."
Johanna pulls Finnick up, practically dragging him. "Alright, Haymitch Junior. Let's go talk. Outside."
*Finnick's POV*
I start to feel remorseful that I drank all of that. My head is kind of fuzzy, and the vodka doesn't help me feel numb like it usually does. I just feel empty. I don't think it's fully hit me yet. I killed my kid sister. And she's okay with the fact I'm a whore. Johanna sighs, sitting down on the floor outside. I sit down next to her. "Look Finn- before you say anything, let me talk." I decide to humor her, even though I'd much rather be punching a wall. Or a certain President. "I've been there before. I totally get it. You know that. When Matthew was put in the Games two years after me... I thought that Snow had made the Gamemakers blow him up. But it was another tribute, not him. When I told Snow to fuck off, I was done with that crap, he killed them all." I try to digest what she's saying. I knew that Snow put her boyfriend in because of a mistake she made, but he hadn't directly killed Matthew.
"Jo... You mean he didn't actually want to kill Dahlia?" I ask, confused.
She shakes her head. "He wants you to be angry."
"I am angry."
She rolls her eyes. "Snow thinks you'll want to get some type of revenge on him, and then when you do, he'll kill them all- Juliette, your sister and dad. Annie." Annie. I groan.
"I really did love her." I lay my head in her lap.
"I know. But you can't even dare to go back to her. Besides, I've seen the way you look at Katniss. You love her too." She tells me. "Now get back in there. She's gonna need you when Gale's canon goes off." I feel a little better. Or at least, I don't want to murder Snow as badly as I did 5 minutes ago.
"I think I should get some water first." I need Johanna's help standing up, the liquor's hit me full on, and I don't think I can walk in a straight line.
*Katniss' POV*
I frown when I see a very tipsy Finnick Odair stumble back in. I don't get to have an opinion on what he does. It's my job to help him through this. I get a large bottle of water, and give it to him, helping him sit down in a chair. "In the future," I tell him, "Don't drink on an empty stomach."
"Yeah yeah." Finnick rolls his eyes, in the same way Haymitch usually does. He drinks half of the water bottle, and then passes out. He'll be fine. The Gamemakers must be in a rush to end it. They cut to Cato's brother, who's camped out in the forest. Alyssa's on the other side, by the mountain. Gale is walking around aimlessly, by the Cornucopia.
I hear the noise before I see it. Gale's shocked expression is almost as loud as the erupting volcano. Alyssa is right by the base of the volcano. The eruption is fairly quick. I see Alyssa sprinting, a few yards ahead of the lava rolling towards Gale. Her leg is badly burnt, worse than how mine was when the fireball hit me. I cringe. Gale throws his stuff on top of the Cornucopia, and slides down to grab her. He throws Alyssa on top of his shoulder, and carries her to the top of the Cornucopia, where his bags were. I jump up, and get her burn medicine, the strongest one. It costs as much as three hours with me. I send a tin with the message: Don't give up. The odds are in your favor - Katniss.
Alyssa smiles, looking relived when she gets the tin. Gale just grimaces. "What'd you know, she found time to stop screwing her boyfriend and help us." I frown. That stings.
"Give her a break, Gale." Alyssa rolls her eyes, letting out a moan of relief. "You know, I don't know how there's gonna be a winner. I'm not gonna kill you or Dahlia."
Gale sighs. "Dahlia's dead. The boy from 2 killed her." Alyssa shakes her head. "She's dead, goddammit!" I look over at Finnick, thankful he's still passed out.
"I'm going to kill him. No, that's not strong enough. I'm going to end his life in the most painful way he can imagine. Slowly and intimately. Until he's begging for death, he welcomes it as an escape." Alyssa's eyes turn hard and cold. The eyes of a victor. She could win this. A part of me is still having trouble comprehending that Gale's still alive, he still has a chance. I said my goodbyes when his name was called on Reaping Day.
They fall asleep on top of the Cornucopia. There's no sign that Cato's brother knows where Gale and Alyssa are. Even so, he's outnumbered two to one. It would be dumb to attack. But they're so exposed. It bothers me. Cato's brother could pop and kill one of them and anytime during the night, and the other would wake up too late.
Haymitch drags me outside the room and into some abandoned room. "Which one do you want to win?" He asks me.
"What do you mean?" I'm confused by his question.
"I mean exactly what I asked. If you had to go in there right now, and you could only save your Gale or Alyssa, who would you save?" My ex-mentor rolls his eyes. I think about the question for a while. In a perfect world, I would bring them both home. But in said perfect world, there wouldn't be a Hunger Games in the first place. Haymitch notes my lack of an answer. "Until you figure it out, you won't be happy with the winner." Haymitch turns to walk away, so I can think.
"Who did you choose?" I ask him.
Haymitch turns around. "Alyssa. Your cousin doesn't have the will to survive. It's as simple as that. Also, you better tell Finnick about-" he cuts himself off.
"Tell me about what?" A much perkier Finnick asks us.
"Well," I purr into his ear, "I bought some new lingerie. I figured it wouldn't hurt to get out mind off this stuff tonight."
Finnick and I decide not to have sex. We're both still pretty sore from last night, anyways. But we go to my apartment, to say our goodbyes to Blight, Johanna, Mags and some of the other mentors. All the mentors who don't have tributes left are allowed to leave. The only people staying are Haymitch, Finnick and I, Cashmere, and Gloss. As well as the two District 2 mentors. The five of us are staying on my floor. District 2 doesn't seem to have the same bond that rest of the districts have. I don't question it. District 2's a lot more friendly with the Capitol then the other districts are.
I lay in the bed, my head on Finnick's chest. I sit up, and look him in the eyes, clasping his hands in mine. "Please don't be mad at me." Finnick tries to say something, but I shush him. "When I was saying goodbye to Gale and Alyssa, I hugged Gale. And before I could stop him, he kissed me." I see the expressions change on Finnick's face - from confusion, to hurt and then anger. "I didn't kiss him back. It only lasted a second. But I just felt like I needed to tell you."
Finnick's face softens considerably. "Thank you for telling the truth." He says, in an oddly neutral tone. It worries me. "Goodnight, Katniss." He kisses my forehead. As soon as he leaves the room, I bury my face in my hands. I just ruined the only good thing I had. Something warm trickles down my cheeks. It takes a moment for me to realize those are my tears. I strip down to my underclothes, and pull the blanket up to my chest in the dark, empty room. I don't even try to fall asleep. A few hours later, Finnick slips into bed next to me, and wraps his arms around me. The clock my by bed says it's three thirty. His body betrays him, and around four he murmurs my name in his sleep, grabbing my tightly. I bask in the warmth of his hold, and try to memorize the feeling. I don't know when I'll be able to lay in his arms again. That thought plagues my mind as I try to dose off to sleep.
"Wake up." I hear Finnick murmur, kissing my forehead. I didn't sleep a lot, and waking up seems like an impossible task. "Katniss." He frowns. I groan, and pull the blanket over my head. "Do you want me to get Haymitch to wake you up?"
I sit up, horrified at the idea of that. "I'm up." I say. "Wait, so you're not mad at me?"
"After yesterday?" Finnick asks. I nod. "Of course not. It's not like you initiated it. Besides, we all make mistakes, or experience things we regret." He sound awfully self-reflective. "Now come on. They have a victor to crown."
Alyssa is still asleep on top of the Cornucopia. Gale is laying next to her, propped up on one arm. He's watching her, but it's cute, not creepy. There's the sound of someone dropping something heavy. Alyssa jolts up, wielding a knife. Gale's eyes widen. "Alyssa. There's no one there." She exhales, and puts her knife away. Cato's brother is walking leisurely towards them. He carries a sword, and that's it. His shirt has been tattered, and it's now basically sleeves and a neckline.
"Well well well... What do we have here? It's the two losers from District 12. Alyssa, right? You're just another pretty face. And whatever your name is. Pretty boy. The cousin. You're just... how the hell are you still alive?" He looks at them, confused.
Alyssa raises her eyebrows, and bats her eyelashes. "You think I'm pretty?" The camera zooms in on her leg- it's healed and almost back to normal. If only my mother had the supplies the Capitol did. She'd be even better than she already is. Gale shoots Alyssa a look. But she just shakes her head, mind your own buisness. "Well, you're not too bad yourself. You know it's too bad that there's only one winner. The two of us could have been something special." She bites her lip. "Well, Marcus. What'd you say? If you're gonna kill me, you might as well enjoy yourself first." Marcus. Hm. I didn't know that was his name.
"She isn't serious, is she?" Cashmere asks, confused.
"Well all I know is she's hot. Odair, I get why you go for the younger ones." Gloss grins.
Cato's brother - I should refer to him as Marcus. Marcus, he shrugs. "Why the hell not. Come here, why don't you?"
Alyssa grins, and nods at Gale. "Throw the sword over there. That comes later." She tells him. When Marcus throws it behind the Cornucopia, Alyssa slides down the side of the golden structure. She puts his hand on his cheek, and leans in to kiss him. Well shit. My eyes never leave the screen. It's a long kiss too. When she finally pulls away. "You don't know how long I've wanted to do this." Marcus grins cockily. He strokes her cheek, and I hear Alyssa gasp. None of us noticed he stuck a knife in between her ribs. I see her face pale and the blood trickle out. He twists the knife a few times, and then takes it out. She's a goner. The canon goes off. They don't show Gale. We're all caught off-guard. I take a large knife meant for cutting beef, and hurl it at the wall.
"First you kill a placemat, now a door? Nice improvement." Haymitch guffaws sarcastically. He must be so used to his tributes dying, that it doesn't bother him anymore.
"Don't." Finnick warns him. He turns to me. "Hey, breathe." I try to take a deep breath. I feel nauseous.
"Why don't you get some air sweetheart?" Haymitch suggests, a little more sympathetic. I nod, and slowly stand up.
"Come with me?" I ask Finnick. The idea of leaving his side is terrifying, now more than ever. Gloss mutters some sexual innuendo, but Cashmere chastises him. Finnick nods, standing up, and squeezing my hand supportively. We're really gonna need each other these next few days.
We barely get out the door, when Cashmere runs after us. "You want to watch this. Trust me." She tells me.
Marcus has a sword, and Gale has a bow and arrow. They stand about fifty feet away from each other. "Well, well, well. And then there were two. But there can only be one winner..." Marcus trails off. Gale rolls his eyes. "Your cousin killed my brother. It's only fair that I avenge his death. Would that be right?"
Gale shrugs. "What if I kill you first?"
Marcus just laughs. He seems genuinely amused at the thought, and I find that a little disturbing. "Oh please. You haven't killed anyone. You wouldn't hurt a fly." Oh, how wrong he is. "Do you even know how to shoot a bow and-" He isn't able to finish the sentence, because Gale's shot an arrow right above his eye. That's how I kill. The canon goes off a minute later. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have the winner of the 74th Hunger Games.
A/N: I really felt like Gale winning has more potential story lines. Sorry to disappoint anyone if they don't really like this.
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