The Reaper | F. Odair

Thirty-four

A/N: *opens door* "Ayo, y'all read Fourth Wing? THIS SHIT IS GREAT FANFIC MATERI- ... seems I forgot something...."

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It had all happened so quickly. Finnick found himself at the time being shoved aside by Alex, Alex had screamed at him as Aaron was screaming too. The claws of the mutt were already so deep, so when Alex got the thing off of him, he could already feel his head going light from the blood dripping out.
It was painful as he began to fend everything off as Peeta climbed the ladder. Finnick wheezed, ignoring the metallic taste and the horrible stinging in his side as he threw his trident or gutted another mutt attempting to pounce on him.

"Go!" Alex shouted, firing his rifle as Katniss had shot another mutt with her own bow.

Painfully, Finnick put the trident on his back, and he climbed, each step and stretching of his leg or arm for each step tugged at the open tear on his skin. He could only assume the cut was getting bigger each time.

Once they were out -- once Alex was dead -- Finnick found himself using his trident as a crutch when no one was looking. His hand could only cover so much, his fingers could only dig in and hold so much. Each step became more painful, but at the same time it became more numb. It'd be a strike of pain, then nothing, then another strike. It repeated for the hours they walked as they reached the store.

No one had even noticed.

Entering that store of Tigris's, Finnick purposefully found himself in the back of the group, desperately leaning against the window to keep himself standing. His vision had become a blur, his fingers and toes had no feeling in them.
He couldn't tell them. He couldn't become the reason that they had to stop and turn around all because he was injured -- it'd destroy the whole plan. His suspicions of the true plan couldn't go to waste, they couldn't just get there to end it when they were so close.

Life was flashing before his eyes when he was shown down the steps into that cellar. It was ironic almost, each step something new came into his head, and only when he found himself sitting and leaning on the floor did he find himself actually in the moment. It was quiet, only the occasional whispering or the shuffling of someone's hands or legs. His eyes would jump around as he tried to keep himself awake. He couldn't give up.

"Hey--" Don't give up yet. A painful wheeze had come out of his mouth, pulling the attention of the others as he then winced. A sharp pain hit his chest now. "I-I don't-- I...--"

Finnick's eyes grew blank from that normal life they had inside. His head fell slowly forward and he found himself falling onto his side, coughing and struggling to breathe. He felt cold, and it wasn't because of the cemented floor. He couldn't control his hands or body, it was as if everything had just shut down on him. Their blurred faces all obviously screamed at him to wake up as they dragged him to the center of the room, all clearly unsure of what to do. HIs skin began to feel numb, especially when he felt them rip off the black jacket he'd been given. He only just managed earlier, before all of this, to feel how deep those cuts were, but he could only wonder now how badly they'd gotten.

The others became more blurred than before. Finnick struggled to focus, he couldn't watch their lips enough to figure out what they were saying. Cressida and Pollux both seemed to rip open a bag while Gale and Katniss went looking for anything else to help and stop the bleeding. He gagged and choked on his cries from Pollux suddenly pushing something cold and wet against him, the liquid into whatever it seemed to be made his skin burn, his blood sizzle.

"FINNICK!"

A voice became clear to Finnick, and barely he could make out that familiar blonde he oh so loved. Aaron slid to his side on her knees quickly. Her lips moved rapidly as that buzzing came back into his ears, but despite it he could just still slightly hear her cries for him to be okay. He stared at her chap lips for a moment before looking at her eyes. He'd never seen such fear in Aaron's eyes before.
It was funny. Despite death being at his doorstep, he thought about what he'd been through in the past hours. The past couple of hours he'd found himself falling in love with the girl again through a damned war -- falling in love with a girl who hated him. Funny. One would think that when life flashed before their eyes, only the good things would come up, but Finnick found himself recalling all those horrible memories of Aaron that he now loved. He couldn't help but look at her as he wondered who she was in the past.
His eyes began to go dark as he thought about how bizarre it was. Despite Annie's death, all those years ago even then he found himself admitting the girl was very beautiful and attractive, but loving her had never crossed his mind at the time.