Chapter 19
After being brought back to the living (which she now had in common with Peeta) everyone needed to asses the threats. They couldn't tell time anymore.
Finnick and Peeta helped Reyna up, who hissed as the cut on her shoulder started to burn. They walked a little distance away from where they were, to a dryer spot on the sand.
"So besides Enobaria and Brutus, who's left?" Reyna asked, leaning back against a tree trunk.
"Maybe Chaff. Just those three, though." Peeta answered.
"They know they're outnumbered. I doubt they'll attack again." Said Finnick, arms crossed and back against a trunk, like his partner. "We're safe here on the beach."
"So what do we do? We hunt 'em down?" Johanna asked skeptically.
That's when the screams started. "Katniss, help me!" Katniss' head immediately shot up, panic filling her eyes.
"Prim! Prim! Prim!" She shouted, up on her feet in a flash and diving through the undergrowth in half of that time.
"No!" Finnick yelled. "Katniss! Katniss, wait!" He chased after her. And who do you think chased after him? Reyna did.
She streaked after Katniss, soon becoming engulfed in the jungle and separated from the other two. Katniss was screaming for her sister, and Reyna decided to follow those screams back to their owner–hopefully.
Finnick ran after Katniss, not realizing Reyna had gone in after himself. "Finnick! Finnick!" He heard her scream, filling him with dread.
"No, Finnick, it's not her!" Katniss warned, but how could he listen? All he heard was the love of his life screaming for help.
"Reyna!" He shouted, sprinting to her voice.
"Finnick, stop! It's just a jabberjay, its not her."
"How do you think they got that sound? Jabberjays copy."
Then the birds swarmed, filling the air with the screams of loved ones.
Reyna didn't understand how, but the couldn't get back into the wedge where Finnick and Katniss were. So she ran back around to the others and started beating on the force field (which had magically sprung into place.)
"Finnick!" She shouted, pounding on the wall.
The two trapped inside the wedge looked terrified. And they had every right to be. But Peeta, being the only real human there, tried to comfort Katniss, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
By the end of the hour, Finnick was reduced to a man with shattered eyes. He was on his hands and knees, shaking, a position which promptly collapsed when Reyna could finally get to him.
"Finnick, it's me." She murmured, taking his head in her hands. "Open your eyes for me, love." His brow furrowed, but he did as she said. He was met with a warm smile. "That wasn't so bad."
She ran her hands through his hair, always gentle, tugging the knots out slowly. In the background she heard Peeta comforting Katniss, but her main concern was Finnick. "You were dying." He croaked out, touching a hand to her cheek softly.
Reyna hugged him, letting him bury his face in her hair, letting him make sure she was alive. And she was. Oh, she was alive, and full of newfound hate for President Snow, Plutarch Heavensbee and every single person that enjoyed her love's suffering.
"It's over. The hour's gone, the hour's up. You're alright."
"Are you okay?" Johanna asked Finnick quietly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine." He answered, staring blankly at Reyna, like he still wasn't sure if she was real.
"Your fiancée's right, the whole country loves your sister." Johanna said to Katniss after standing up. Reyna helped Finnick do the same, but comforting wasn't exactly her expertise. In fact, it was Finnick who had always soothed any of either of their families' siblings after a scraped knee or a jellyfish sting. "If they tortured her, or did any thing to her, forget the Districts. There would be rioting in the damn Capitol."
"Johanna's right. Everyone loves Prim." Murmured Reyna, softly.
"How does that sound, Snow??" Jo shouted up at the cameras she knew the President was watching them from. "What if we set your backyard on fire?? You know, you can't put everybody in here!"
Beetee, Katniss, Finnick and Peeta just stared at her, but Reyna leaned over to Finnick and said quietly. "Am I the only one that thinks that was both awesome and stupid of her?" He didn't reply.
"What?" Johanna asked quizzically, glancing around at each of them. "He can't hurt me. There's no one left that I love." When nobody answered, she sighed. "I'll go get some water."
Finnick got up without a word, going to sit in the water. He even left his trident sticking up in the sand. Reyna started after him, but Beetee held her back with a hand on her arm. "Leave him be. He needs space."
"He doesn't need space, he needs a friend." She hissed quietly, walking over to him and joining him in his wave-brooding. Ah, yes, there's nothing like wave-brooding for couples to grow closer. Actually, a romantic dinner, going to see a movie, there are lots of better things. Moving on!
Reyna sighed, putting her hand on his, in the silt. He hesitantly took it, glad that his hands had stopped shaking when he sat in the water. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked quietly, looking ahead the same as him.
"Not much to talk about. You're all that I have left, after our families were killed, and you were screaming for me to save you."
"Was I also screaming obscenities?"
"No...?"
"Well, then that's something that isn't accurate. I'd be making even Capitol parents cover their children's ears."
He let out a quiet chuckle, and that was progress.
Johanna returned to the others, startling the already-shaken Katniss. But she did give her a coconut shell full of water, to which Katniss gave a quiet and maybe a little surprised, "Thank you." Jo crouched next to Katniss, fiddling with her axe. "Who is Reyna, really?" The girl from 12 asked.
"She volunteered for Mags, but didn't know Finnick would be the male Tribute. We've known each other for a while. She won the Games eigh–nine years ago. She and Finnick have been friends since he was about seven, I think. He–He prostituted himself, gave everything to Snow so Reyna could be free from it. And our dear President still killed both their families." Johanna said, finally sitting. She looked at the two of them, Reyna holding Finnick's hand to comfort him, with what could only be described as bitter happiness. "Love is strange."
Beetee piped up suddenly. "I have a plan."
A/N: Hello everybody! I know this chapter wasn't the best, so I'll try for better in the future. I just want to thank all of you for being so supportive and amazing, it really means a lot when readers give me awesome feedback. That's what keeps me going. Also, I'm thinking about writing a Doctor Who fanfic. Thoughts? (No, seriously, it's not a trick question, I want your opinions!)
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