Puzzle Pieces • Finnick Odair

C H A P T E R 3 7

They all sit in a circle on the beach under the cover of a couple of trees.

"So bedsides Brutus and Enobaria, who's left?" Katniss asks.

"Maybe Chaff. Just those three," Peeta answers.

"They know they're outnumbered. I doubt they'll attack again," Finnick states, "we're safe here on the beach."

"So what do we do? We hunt 'em down?" Johanna asks, anger still evident in her voice.

A girls scream is heard, 'Katniss, help me!'

"Prim. Prim! Prim!" Katniss cries hysterically, standing immediately.

"Katniss! Katniss, wait!" Finnick follows her and, being the fastest, teaches her quickly.

Finnick follows her through the jungle, "you okay?"

"Finnick!" Jessica's voice is heard, "Finnick!"

"No! It's not her! It's not real, Finnick."

She tried to reason with him as she ignored the voices she heard herself but, hearing Jessica's voice full of fear, his mind was clouded, not thinking clearly.

"No, no, no. Princess!" He shouts for her.

He runs further, following the scream, Katniss followed, "it's not her, it's just a jabberjay. It's not her."

"Exactly. Jabberjays copy."

A man screams, Katniss whispers a name, "Gale."

They had both realised they had to get away from the birds as a large group of them swooped over, chasing them, screaming in their loved ones voices. The birds came all the way down, close to their ears. They were running away when they spotted the others stood still. They ran over before bumping into the invisible wall.

Finnick looked desperately into Jessica's eyes, even though he could see she was safe, he couldn't focus, the sound of her cries and screams echoing in his ears as he slid down onto the floor. Jessica sat down too. As Finnick put his head in his arms, he angles himself slightly, seeing Jessica talking to him through the wall, though he can't hear.

She places her hand on the invisible wall, "its not real Finnick, they are just mutts."

She was forced to watch him, unable to help, as he held his head in his hands tightly, begging for the voices to disappear.

When the force field disappeared and Finnick came back to the real world, he stared blankly into the distance, his shaking hands clasped together tightly, until his eyes met hers. She was kneeled in front of him and his eyes immediately softened, glossing over.

She placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her, "Finnick, hey, look at me. It's okay, You're okay. It's over. It's over now, I'm here," she soothed.

He said nothing in reply, instead nuzzling his head into the crook of her neck as she rubbed soothing circles on his trembling back with one hand, the other on the back of his head, holding him in place to reassure him that he was okay.

Johanna tried to comfort a startled Katniss before losing it, "Hey, how does that sound, Snow? What if we.. what if we set your backyard on fire? You know, you can't put everybody in here!" everyone looks at her, shocked, apart from Finnick and Jessica who expected nothing less, "whatever. I'll get you some water."

They all walked out of the jungle and back onto the beach. Finnick and Jessica sat in the water, the waves coming and washed over them every now and then. Finnick had his head rested on Jessica's chest. Jessica had her chin resting on his head, both arms wrapped around his body comfortingly.

Back on the sand near the tree line, where Beetee, Peeta, Katniss and Johanna sat, the two girls were talking.

"Who did they use against Finnick?" Peeta asked curiosity taking over his better judgement with the easily angered girl near him.

"Jessica, well he called 'Princess'," Katniss turns to Johanna, "I'm assuming that's her?"

"Yeah. She's 'his princess', his girl. They love each other more than they know," Johanna answered, a small smile on her lips.

Meanwhile, back in the water, Finnick pulled apart from Jessica so he could face her, "everything I said, I meant." She waited for him to expand, which he did, "at the interview with Caesar."

She gave him an encouraging smile as she thought about his words, knowing there was more he wanted to say. He sighed, "I don't know what's real anymore."

"I'm real," she says softly, meaning it.

He looked into his favourite sodalite blue eyes, "if I kissed you, would it be real?"

She didn't answer, instead, she leaned into him slowly, close enough to feel his warm breath on her lips. He closed the gap, smiling into the kiss, all the years of built up feelings were poured into this kiss. They moved in sync, their lips fitting together perfectly as if they were built just for each other as the waves crashed gently against their lower bodies.

She had one hand in his hair, one resting on his chest. Finnick was holding her face with one hand, his other hand around her waist, pulling her as close as humanly possible. They pulled apart for air.

"I think I love you," she says the words she has been feeling for so long as they fell out of her mouth in a nervous word vomit.

"I've always loved you," Finnick Odair admits.

AN: when the boys fall in love first>>>