Chapter 47: The Moon and The Sea

President Snow waited, letting the time tick by while the table was cleared before he finally spoke. "How long have you known about Consul Redcliff and Consul Harada?"

"Not very long." She confessed. "I was about to inform you about it earlier before the dinner."

"Consul Redcliff is moving through the ranks very quickly, don't you think?"

She raised her brows. She would've answered 'yes' and said something to incriminate Scarus but somehow it felt too easy; she couldn't help but think that it was a trap.

"I'm not sure what you mean—I don't know how long it takes for someone to move up ranks."

"For someone like Consul Redcliff who was removed from the Elite Guards and then somehow managed to become a Consul," He paused, a fog overtaking his cold eyes. "It takes a while even longer than it would take a Peacekeeper."

She didn't say anything, waiting for a moment to observe the President while pretending she was in deep thought. He seemed like he was speaking from experience.

Questions on the tip of her tongue were swallowed as she only sat there silently.

She'd be stupid to ask him about his past; there was a reason why not many from his past were alive or anywhere at the top and she'd hate to find the reason why.

"I wasn't aware." She said, "I'll keep an eye on him and his father."

"Perceptive as always." He mused, though there was a flicker of suspicion but the troubled look on her face told him enough. "I'd like you to keep an eye on Finnick Odair as well when you have time—find out if he really has been around Alea." Her heart dropped and she balled up her fists while nodding. "There's an event you were supposed to attend tomorrow, isn't there? To feed the orphans in Alea."

"There is."

"Tell me if you see him."

"I will," He rose from his seat and she did the same, following him down the marble steps. "If I see him that is." She added.

"If you see him." He repeated. "He'll probably be more cautious if he is wandering in Alea." He stopped at the threshold of his office, waiting for the Peacekeepers guarding the doors to open them. He stepped in and waited for her to follow him in before signaling for the doors to be shut. "Find out what he's been up to."

"I don't think he'll tell me—he's different from the Capitol citizens." He doesn't trust her. She didn't say that out loud but she knew he didn't trust anymore. "He doesn't trust me."

It hurt to say it out loud; Finnick didn't trust her.

"No, but he is interested in you and so is Consul Redcliff and Seneca Crane."

"Oh." She said softly. "I didn't realize."

"Is your head full of flowers, Miss Reza?"

"Not at all. I j-just," She scrunched up her face into a frown. "I just didn't think about it."

President Snow turned his back to her. He didn't believe her. "I expect you to use that to your advantage and don't stutter—it's not like you to stutter."

She nodded. "And Seneca Crane as well?"

"If you have time."

But she didn't have time.

"I'll see what I can do."

He turned around and carefully regarded her before continuing. "And that thing I asked you before you went back to Five."

"About the bellora?"

She bit the inside of her cheeks and shook her head. "I searched the entire district and the outskirts—just the areas I was permitted to visit. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. I don't think it exists anymore."

He clicked his tongue and disappointment, motioning her to leave dismissively. "We'll talk later."

Bile rose again from the back of her throat as she stumbled into the car waiting for her outside.

Maybe she made a mistake.

Maybe she should've used her illness and crippled herself to escape everything. Cruel, yes but she would be much happier than she was.

Maybe Eugene would've been better at this all than her. He only had his brother to worry about, like Katniss. Sure, Katniss might've had a mother or father but that girl looked like she needed her sister more than she needed her parents and Sera needed everyone around her but she didn't know if people needed her.

Maybe Finnick could've been the one to change things for her. Maybe she could've been happy like Talissa and Huxley, married and maybe started a family but she never really thought about her future.

Finnick and her had gone past the point of no return, he probably hated her even if he held her hands under the table, snuck secretive glances at her, or smiled charmingly at her—it meant nothing to her because she wanted it to mean nothing.

He didn't need her.

And Scarus wanted her.

Laying traps and playing her game to get her interest; he had her interest. The bellora saplings in her apartment came to her mind, maybe just maybe she could slowly—

She shut her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek while digging her nails into the palm of her hands.

'Don't think about it, Sera.'

She'd be stupid to poison him so quickly. She would be the first to be suspected by President Snow.

Maybe she should've died in that arena and let Gaius win instead of slitting his throat as he struggled to breathe. She wondered, would Gaius have done things differently? Would he have worked with Plutarch for a rebellion he didn't really believe in for the sake of the people around him?

He would've. Gaius seemed noble enough. He came back for her and was there for her when she wanted to be alone. His mistake for trusting her.

Finnick wasn't that different.

Oh.

Oh.

She lifted her head from the glass and stared at her reflection. Finnick and Gaius were too similar.

No, Finnick was Finnick, not Gaius. She wasn't letting guilt cloud her mind. She didn't feel guilt for killing Gaius, not after all this time. She did what she had to. Gaius was part of her nightmarish past that she'd never escape. She killed him so she could live.

What if she had to kill—

No.

She couldn't.

She wouldn't.

But she already had enough blood on her hands.

Her allies. Those patients. Those traitors. Those people who trusted her. She did it because she had to not because she wanted to.

No matter how much she tried to convince herself, she still did it. It was as easy as plucking the petals off a flower.

The car came to a stop and she got out, smiling in thanks to the driver.

If she was struggling to stay afloat, she couldn't imagine how Katniss would feel once she was added to the board, and for a second, she pitied the young girl who only wanted to save her sister.

'Hypocrite.'

Pitying the poor girl but still laying down the foundation for her entrance. She really was a hypocrite.

Her eyes landed on a figure leaning against a lamppost, his silhouette cast in the soft glow and she stopped. She reached for the pin in her hair and paused when she saw him.

Finnick.

The last person that she wanted to see after the things went through her mind.

"You're still up," Sera said slowly, her voice measured and her face blank. "Don't you ever sleep?"

Finnick chuckled softly, the sound melting her resolve just a little. "You know I have trouble sleeping," he replied, his voice laced with a hint of mischief. "But if I did waste my time on sleep, I'd miss meeting you here."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere," She retorted, her tone sharper than she intended.

"It gets me everywhere." He retorted, his carefree composure breaking when he looked into her cold gaze. "Just not with you."

"I know you well."

"And I know you." He took a step forward and she resisted the urge to take steps back. "I know you're not happy to see me." His eyes flickered down to the pin in her hand.

Her heart skipped a beat, but she quickly dismissed the flutter in her chest and scoffed while putting the pin back into her hair. "I thought you were someone else."

"Like a certain Consul."

"Maybe but I don't think I can get away with murdering a Consul." She said with a sarcastic tone and a small grin on her face that she quickly covered up with her hand. "I mean—

"You meant what you said." He cut her off. "I think you'd get away with it. You already have."

Her face darkened and she looked away. He clamped his mouth shut, regretting what he had just said but he was honest. She had gotten away with far worse—he just didn't know how much.

"What I meant was that it's not appropriate for you to be around this time." She didn't meet his gaze. "President Snow is already suspecting you of something."

"Tell me something new."

"You might lose your life this time."

He shrugged. "It's not like I have anything else to lose." He said with a sad smile that broke her heart. "Well, almost everything…"

She looked away.

If only he knew.

But, it was better this way.

Easier for him and her.

She was being selfish—she was a selfish person. He said so himself. That gnawing feeling of guilt hurt a lot more than she'd ever admit and she hated how it had grown from a soft and dull ache to a festering wound that always bled.

She swallowed that guilt and looked back at him, trying her best to steel herself. "You know I have a lot to lose."

"I know."

"Do you?" Her tone was harsh but she was part angry and part confused. "What you did back there—"

"Was reckless?" He finished, not caring about her anger as he crossed the distance between the two. "Oh. I know. I know I was reckless, you or Gamemaker Heavensbee don't need to tell me how reckless I've been. I know I might've messed up but I had to do it."

There was a desperation in his gaze that she had never seen before. His conflicted words with so much pain and she almost lost her composure but she steeled herself, imagining that she was on camera as she plastered a cool look on her face with a cold gaze. She watched in despair as his face fell before he too masked it with a blank look of his own but the hurt in his eyes was evident.

"I sure do hope your reasoning was worth jeopardizing our plan." She said and tried to brush past him to leave but Finnick was quicker, catching her by her arm and pulling her back. "Finnick." She said his name like a warning.

"Sera." He breathed out, his lips close to her ears, sending shivers down her spine. "Please…just—"

Her breathing grew rough and her heartbeat became more erratic. She hated the effect he had on her that made her feel like she was still the same wide-eyed girl she had been when she came out of the arena.

"Let go." She whispered, cursing herself for sounding so weak but she was so tired. Her mind was a maze and she needed to lay down after the evening she'd had. "Unless you have a great reason why you were acting more reckless than your usual self then I don't want to hear it."

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Acting like what?"

"Like you actually care about the rebellion." He retorted, not caring about her anger.

He saw right through her, she should've been a little surprised but she wasn't. "It would be a lie to say I don't completely care at all. I care enough."

"Not enough." He spat out. "If you did, you'd see that there's more at stake here than losing your family."

"You know I'm not the person everyone thinks I am. There's no point in me pretending—I only care about my family and no one else so don't–don't tell me things I know, it's a waste of my time."

"Right because time is precious for someone like you…someone who's President Snow's left hand." He drawled out sarcastically. "…You know, you don't have to pretend to be this way…" His fingers tightened around her arm as he slowly pulled her towards him. "I'd prefer it if you actually showed me your true self."

She let out a soft laugh, throwing her head back. Her eyes went to where he was holding onto her. If she was any other Capitol girl, she'd have blushed furiously and fallen into arms and honestly, she wanted to but she couldn't allow herself to give in so easily.

Giving in would only hurt him in the long run.

Her smile dropped when she remembered why she pushed him away. It was dangerous for him to be so close to her, not when she was next to President Snow.

One wrong move, she'd lose everything, and she wouldn't put it past Snow not to hurt a victor no matter how much influence they might've had.

She bit her lip and looked down. "I think we should stop this game." She said,

The corners of his lips lifted. "Took the words right out of my mouth." He said, a little happier than before. "We should've ended this a while back if you had been honest with me from the start."

"That's not—" She cut herself off and sighed. "You know that's not what I meant."

"No?" He grinned and tilted his head to the side, acting like he didn't understand a thing but that spark of mischief told her enough. "Well, I think you meant what you said. Let's stop all of this. I don't want us to fight anymore."

"We're not fighting."

"If that's what you believe."

"We're not." She repeated with more conviction. "And if we were, I'd be more annoyed at your and Drusilla's meetings—if you two really did meet or maybe that was a stupid lie you made up to save your skin." Her Capitol accent quickly unraveled as anger seeped into her voice. She shut her eyes to calm down and tried to take a step back but he wouldn't let go as he feared that letting go would mean losing her forever.

"But you are annoyed." He pointed out in a soft soothing voice she'd rarely heard him use, surprising her so much that she opened her eyes to look up at him. He understood her, still, he had his reasons for what he did and said no matter how much Plutarch and Sera were annoyed, he didn't care. He had to do it. "I know you are."

She tilted her head to the side. "I'm not tired."

"I know when you're tired." Heat crept to her cheeks and she looked away. She couldn't lie her way out with him. "You are tired but you're more annoyed."

Loudly she sighed, trying to relieve the pressure in her chest. "...I almost walked into a trap, y'know? Scarus might've laid out a trap for me, and the worst part is I wasn't going to go down alone—"

"You might've taken me down with me." He finished for her, inching closer and she did the same, much to his relief. "But you didn't. I was lucky that Drusilla repeated what you told me or I wouldn't have repeated anything from that meeting—I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were."

"Then don't treat me like that."

"I've never treated you like you were stupid in fact," She was weary of him. He was like a lily of the valley, beautiful and harmless at sight but hiding poisonous roots. Neither he nor her were as innocent as they seemed, she knew that too well. He made her nervous. "I know you're smarter than you look."

He let out a small laugh. "You're weary of me. You think I'll ruin everything you've worked for and get in your way? You know I can handle myself—" She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off with a finger on her lips. "Like I could've gotten you out."

Her eyes trembled when she looked up at him. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as the haunting memories of that night with Scarus replayed in her mind. She swallowed away the tears and bile, shaking her head.

"No," She rasped out. "No, none of us can get ourselves out—how are you any different?! I couldn't even save myself." Her chest felt tight and she struggled to breathe. "…Annie was the only lucky one, even if she lost her mind."

"How long are you going to keep saying that?"

"As long as I can because it's the truth."

His eyes dropped dangerously low and for a moment he forgot how to breathe or speak. Her words hit him fast and hard, causing his grip on her to loosen; she took that chance to get away but he quickly snapped out of his daze and hurried after her.

He reached for her again and grabbed her by the arm again. She let out a sharp yelp of pain that she quickly muffled by biting down her lips.

His face paled and his eyes widened in horror as the smell of a familiar metallic scent filled his senses.

She wrenched her arm away from him and held it close to her chest while trying to even her breathing, slowly backing away from him.

"They're hurting you." He said coldly, not looking away from her.

"You don't have to worry about that." She turned away but he stopped her; his arms around her waist, hugging from behind. He was careful not to hurt her again. "Please…" She silently begged him to drop the subject.

"Sera." He whispered her name into her ears, sending shivers down her spine. "Please just tell me what happened." He turned her around to face him, meeting her teary red silvery eyes. It would've been easy for him to leave when she left the door for him but he couldn't. He didn't have anyone and the one person he had was slipping out of his fingers.

"...I had to stop him." She said slowly. Images of Scarus from that night burned into her memories and she choked on air. His faded scarred chest loomed above her as she lay there helplessly. He said he liked her hair short but she hated him. "I had to do something."

"Sera…"

Her chest felt tighter than usual. Her dress was suffocating her and she couldn't breathe. Finnick immediately wrapped his arm around her and started to rub her back while calling out to her. She was drowning and no matter how much he tried to reach out to her, she refused to take his help.

"Sera…" He called out again. He was panicking when she didn't respond and instead started to claw at her neck in a desperate attempt to breathe. He held her hands in his and forced her to look at him while trying to stay quiet. "Sera."

She gasped loudly before she said. "I hurt myself to stop him."

"Stop…him?" Finnick echoed. His heart dropped. Anger and sadness flooded him as he stared down at the weak and trembling form of the girl he loved. "Oh no. I-I didn't…know. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." He repeated it to her and himself a few times. "It's okay."

The weight of their shared burdens lifted ever so slightly. She finally let herself lean into his presence, choosing not to push him away—it wasn't like he was going to leave no matter how many times she pushed him away.

"It's not okay." She pulled back and looked up at him. She could already picture how she looked, blackened and reddened eyes and a tear-soaked face. "You don't understand—I did this to myself." Before she could help herself, the words spilled out of her like someone had turned a faucet on. "I did this…"

"No, you didn't…"

"Yes, I did."

"What—"

"I had to." A fog covered her vision as twisted shadows danced in her vision. "I had to or I'd be used and spat out like Cashmere—I saw what they were doing to her and I panicked. I thought taking out Minister Thistlewood would be the end of it but it wasn't…"

Like an overflowing cup, it all spilled out of her before she could stop herself.

"Sera…"

"It wasn't enough." She said softly to herself, no longer caring if Finnick was listening. "It wasn't enough and I had to keep going. Two years ago, I was almost cured and Scarus took that as a sign…" She paused and bit her lips as bile rose in the back of her throat. Her head felt light and the world around her spun. "President Snow allowed it. The Redcliffs are…a very influential family—you know, one of the most influential families in Panem, they…helped a lot during the first rebellion."

"So you've been poisoning yourself…" His arms wrapped her tighter. "...to stop him."

"I couldn't say no." She cried out, looking away from him. "I didn't want to lose them, my family. I only have them."

"But you're dying."

"I was going to die anyway!"

"Not like this."

"Sera," He let out a pained sigh and buried his head in the crook of her shoulder and she let him. "Please, stop this."

"I can't." She sobbed. "I have to do this." It wasn't just about saving her own skin, maybe at first but now she had been preparing for something else, something she couldn't tell no one, not even Plutarch.

He pulled back and stared at her. She stared blankly back at him. There was a determined look on her face that he didn't like.

"You're not going to stop even if I beg you."

"No." She said softly. "I can't. I need to make him pay."

"Scarus isn't worth it."

She only smiled in return. "You should worry about not getting caught in Alea. President Snow is going to increase his surveillance on you."

"You're not going to ask me about what I was doing?"

"No." She answered. She was curious but she trusted him to be smart. "You're smart enough not to get caught." The pain subsided a little and she tried to leave his embrace but he refused to move. "Look I have things to do tomorrow so let go." He didn't move at all. "Finnick."

"You're doing it again."

She shut her eyes and opened them again. "Doing what?"

"Drawing a line between us."

"There is no us…not anymore."

"Whose fault is that?"

"Mine." She admitted begrudgingly. "Now if you would move—"

He didn't move at all. He just stared at her blankly with a mixture of fear, concern, and affection. "Don't you regret it—the way it all ended."

She did.

Her regret towards him never left her.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She said under her breath, talking to herself. Her heart was heavy and her head hurt. "I don't understand why me?"

"We were friends first, did you forget?"

"No."

"You," He breathed out as if he was in pain. "Were my only friend for the longest time in this hell. The one person I could've relied on through everything and one day you just changed. Maybe I loved you more than a friend but you were still my friend. I didn't just lose the girl I loved, I lost my friend. It's not fair for me."

"It's not fair for me either." She retorted. "I loved you so much that it scared me but I had to make a choice."

"You chose your family over me."

"My aunt died because of Minister Thistlewood. It was a warning that he was going to come for Lissa, Nox, and Miel next. I couldn't lose them too."

"You wouldn't have lost them even if you let me stay."

"You don't know that."

"No, we could've worked together to find a way to protect your family. I know I would've stopped you from poisoning yourself!"

She gasped out like he had stabbed her. "You would've only made it harder for me."

He scoffed. "I don't believe that." He cupped her face and lifted her head gently. "I don't believe it was easier doing all of this alone."

It wasn't easy. Even with Zephyr and Emilia by her side, she was very much alone.

"You're the one to talk," She quietly voiced out her thoughts. "You're always alone."

"Not by choice." He reminded her as he held her head between his hands. "I never wanted to be alone. I lost my family the year I turned sixteen. A year later, I see you win. You don't know how bitter I spent that entire year leading up to the games and then I saw you—you had everything I once had and more, surrounded by people that loved and cared for you and I hated that. I was jealous and I lashed out before I could stop myself but you let me be a part of that even if it was temporary and then you took it away."

Guilt bloomed in her chest and she swallowed it all. She never really thought about that. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"But you did. You let me in, let me enjoy what a family is supposed to be like, and then you threw me out."

"I didn't mean to."

"You had everything."

"I just had more to lose."

"I'm not denying that but you still had more than me. I hated that." He said, his voice was soft and tender but his eyes were pained and teary. "I saw you—you were so indifferent off-camera even when you were being fussed over by your team and your mentor. You didn't care about anything, even at your Reaping, most people would've cried."

"You didn't."

"Because the Career's Academy told me it was an honor to be reaped. I didn't think it was right to cry—you didn't cry. You just accepted that you were going to die and I hated that. I hated that someone who didn't care about dying came back but I get it now, you're just numb to it all."

"I've known I was going to die for a long time, Finnick."

"That doesn't mean you can be reckless, Sera." He leaned towards her, their heads meeting. "Please, I'm begging you to stop this. Think about your family when you die, think about me—stop this…please."

Wind blew past them softly causing her to let out an involuntary shiver and move closer to his embrace. Drops of water suddenly started to slowly fall from the sky but neither made a move to take shelter. Slowly in the silence, the sounds of pittering rain started to fill the void along the synchronized beats of their hearts.

Nobody was around to see them stand under the dim lights in the rain as the fog started to roll through the desolate late-night streets of the Capitol.

Maybe she was glad it was raining heavier than ever as the rain mixed in with their tears; he still held her close, refusing to let her go.

"You're reckless too." She whispered, her voice barely audible as she took in huge gulps of air. "Wandering around the streets of the Capitol—he knows you're up to something."

Finnick's grip tightened, and his voice choked with emotion. "I'm not trying to get myself killed."

"And I am?"

Lightning cracked and the light above them flickered. Momentarily distracted, they both looked up. "I don't know anything so you tell me."

"I can't."

"Why not?" He asked. The pain was evident in his voice. "You can trust me. I want to trust you too."

She wanted to trust him. She really did but she was so afraid that one day, they'd use him against her. She was used to playing alone, Huxley had taught her that she needed to only trust herself, no one else. Even though she was out of the arena, her mind still felt like she was in a huge glass cage.

But this was Finnick.

Her first friend she made after being sick for so long and the boy she loved.

It was just like him to always reach out.

Maybe she was being unfair to him.

Maybe she could trust him.

"...I'm not just trying to keep myself weak." She slowly began as she chewed on the bottom of her lips. The rain had soaked them both and she could hardly feel a thing in the cold numbness. "I'm testing them—the poisons. They're all plant-based and mostly flowers that shouldn't exist anymore from different corners of Panem. I asked Cashmere for a few, she didn't know what they were for but she gave them to me because she needed a friend and I needed the poison."

"You used her." She shrugged.

At first, she did use Cashmere but the blonde was surprisingly easy to talk to and a good distraction from the hellish life she was living. Both of them fell back on one another. They both needed a friend.

"At first." She admitted. "But not anymore." She said, her teeth chattering. He pulled her as close he could and she fell into his embrace seeking warmth. "Maybe I was reckless. I wanted them all to fall quickly but you're reckless too."

"I'm looking Calliope Glassheart," He said all of a sudden, his voice and face devoid of all emotions and his stormy sea-green eyes trained on her cloudy silver ones as the wind and rain battered through the city streets. "You might recognize her or you might not. She's mostly known as the former muse of Director Walston."

She vaguely remembered the actress. The image of a pink-blonde haired woman with unnaturally indigo eyes appeared in her mind. Her voice was melodic but mesmerizing like those of sirens—at least that's how the children at the Orphanage described her the last time Sera saw her at some Gala she had hosted.

Calliope seemed sweet on the surface. Emilia didn't like her but Harp seemed sad whenever she saw the actress, Mica seemed to share the same sentiments. Sera was the only one who didn't know the actress and was indifferent to her presence, forgetting all about her being the one-time muse of the late Director.

Why didn't she look into Calliope more?

She felt a little annoyed at herself. It wasn't like her to let someone like that slip through the cracks. She should've paid more attention to Harp and Mica's reactions. They knew the Capitol's shadows better than her.

Despite the rain, her lips felt dry and she couldn't help but wet them. "Was she involved in their…activities?" She asked as the rain masked her voice but Finnick heard her or maybe he was reading her lips in the dim light; she couldn't tell.

"She was–is like me except she had better treatment." He answered with a bitter laugh and she reached out to him. He leaned into her touch with a sad smile, his heart yearning for her touch even if it was cold because of the rain. "She along with many other 'entertainers' in the Capitol are being prostituted by the ones above. Somehow, she managed to keep a list of them all. She has a ledger with the names of all the people involved in the prostitution ring in the Capitol and maybe beyond."

She'd always thought that she knew a lot about the inner workings of the Capitol and Panem itself but at that moment, she felt like she was fourteen again, still very naive without a clue about the world. The revelation struck her like a dagger, shattering her illusion of control.

"I-I didn't know." She breathed out.

"Now you know." He softly replied. "I was at your event to look for her, the same reason why I was at Alea and having tea with Drusilla Maslof—Drusilla's family is a sponsor for arts and they personally helped Calliope. I was looking for Calliope, more importantly, her ledger."

"Does Plutarch know?"

"Not yet." He admitted. "I only told him that he needs to be careful about who he recruits."

"The ledger—"

"The ledger will help purge out anyone that's running the ring or part of it." He paused to take a breath. He struggled to breathe; she couldn't help but caress his cheeks in comfort. "I don't want it to continue. I don't want those people to escape from one regime to another."

"But you're risking your life for this."

"You're not any different." He retorted softly with a wry smile and she dropped her hand but he didn't let her go. He got her. "We're both being reckless for the things we want."

"Finnick."

"Please," He silently begged, leaning his head onto her hand. "Don't push me away…not again."

Her body trembled against the cold wetness as she looked away from him. She really wanted him but the voices in her head screamed at her, cursing her for being so selfish.

Blood rushed to her head and for a second all she heard was static as a fog covered her gaze once more before clearing to reveal hordes of phantoms in the distance.

The twisted faces of pale men and women, young and old with some child-like shadows in the crowd. Some crawled out of the darkness accompanied by shattered sounds of broken bones and moans of pain followed by the putrid stench of decaying flesh and the familiar metallic scent of blood.

They cried when they saw her, with some cursing her name.

She didn't listen to them and focused her attention on Finnick. His wet bronze hair covered half of his face, casting shadows over his sea-green eyes that she loved so much. She gently moved it away and cupped his face before she leaned closer, standing on the tip of her toes.

The corner of his lips turned up; he leaned in. She missed him. Her heart softened, and without thinking, she closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against his.

All the plans and strategies she had come up with were swept away by the rain when his lips were on hers and his arms wrapped around hers. She melted into his embrace, the coldness fading away as warmth bloomed between their touches.

As the kiss deepened, the anger and frustration melted away, replaced by an overwhelming surge of love and longing. They clung to each other, refusing to let go.

When they finally pulled apart, her bright silver eyes met his sea-green eyes like the moon meeting the sea on a stormy night. He cupped her face into his hands and pulled her in for another kiss, she didn't pull away, matching his tempo, momentarily resurfacing for some air. He couldn't help but laugh between their kisses and she turned red, playfully hitting his chest.

Author's note: Some bits might be familiar but most of it is fairly new stuff that I wasn't initially going to include but I changed my mind and thought the old version wouldn't flow well with what I had planned for the ending.