And I Was In Love. (Finnick Odair X Y/N)

Nightmares

I wake up at home, in my bed with Cory. I sleepily roll over and give her a hug. She feels as cold as ice, and I can feel her rib bones with my finger as I hug her. She rolls over, and my eyes dart over her face. Her cheekbones are sticking out sharply, and she has indents in her cheeks and eyes. Cory's so skinny and frail, like she's been starved. I sit up quickly, shivering from the cold moring air.
"Cory, wait there. I'll grab you some food. Don't move." I jump out of bed, ignoring the cold and running to the kitchen. There's some long life biscuits in the cupboard, I grab them out and turn to head back to Cory and my room. But she's right there. Right in front of me. I can see the bones in her arms. She looks as if she might blow away in the wind. Suddenly, the younger girl falls to the ground. I quickly get down to her level, placing the biscuits on the ground beside me. I look at her. My chest tightens with worry and panic.
"Cory!? Cory!? Cory, are you ok?" I shake her, tears falling from my eyes, "quick have something to eat. I look for the biscuits on the floor, but they are gone.
"Why did you go?" Her voice is raspy like nails running down a chalkboard.
"What? I- I didn't have a choice."
"Why did you leave me?" Her boney hands grab my arms, "look what you did to me! This is your fault!" She starts crying.
"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean to," I cry, hugging her frail body. When I let go of her, I realise she is just a skeleton. No skin. No organs. Just bone. My heart plunges into my stomach, and sweat drips from my brow. She sits up and unable to stand, I scurry back.
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME!?" Her skeleton lunges at me, attacking me as I scream for help.

I shoot up in bed, screaming and crying uncontrollably. I feel sweat dripping from every part of my body as I see someone come into the room. They say something but I can't understand them. I feel the bed shake a bit as they sit down and place their hand on my shoulder. I can't breathe. There's no air in the room. I reach my hand to my throat as my lungs beg for air. Someone's voice becomes clearer, so I focus on it.
"It's ok, it's ok, Y/N. Just breathe. Look into my eyes, and breathe." The voice says. I feel a hand hold my chin up. I look into the person's sea green eyes. I can hear more voices, but it sounds like I'm underwater. I focus back in on the first voice. I take a deep breath in and out. "Deep breaths, that's good." The voice congratulats on me. I look into the person's eyes and feel their hand on my shoulder. I began taking more deep breaths when I realised it was just a dream. Eventually, I'm able to breathe again, and I realise it is Finnick that had been talking to me.

I'm still trying to catch my breath when I manage to say, "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry. It's ok," he says in a reassuring voice.
I pull him into a hug and rest my head on his shoulder. He starts rubbing my back, and I hug him tight, grounding myself to reality.

Finnicks POV
"AGGHHHHHHHHH!!!"
I hear screams that wake me up. My heart races as my eyes dart around and see the arena. Taking a deep breath in, I close my eyes again. I open them and realise I'm in the Capitol and someone is screaming for help. My body launches out of bed and rushes out of the room. I run to Y/Ns room to find her sitting up in bed, crying and hyperventilating. I run over to her bed and sit down, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, hey, hey. Are you OK?" I ask. 'What am I even saying? Of course, she's not ok. If she were, she wouldn't be crying and hyperventilating.' I think as I look at her struggling to breathe. "It's ok, it's ok, Y/N. Just breathe. Look into my eyes, and breathe." I reach my hand to her chin and pull her head up so she's looking into my eyes.
"What's going on? Is everything OK?" I hear Teila ask from the doorway.
"Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry, I've got this. Go back to bed." I say, not taking my eyes off Y/N.
"Oh ok," I hear Teila say, Turing and walking away.
"So pathetic," I hear Ezra say as he walks away. 'God, I hate that kid, so cocky. He needs to be taken down a peg,' I think as I listen to his footsteps fading.

Putting my focus back on Y/N, "Let's take some deep breaths, ok?" I say. I start to take some deep breaths, hoping she will do the same. When she does, I congratulate her. We sit for a while, and I make sure she keeps breathing.

When her breathing calms a bit, but she's still trying to catch her breath, I hear her say, "Sorry."
I look at her, wondering why she would feel sorry after she almost stopped breathing from a panick attack. "Don't be sorry. It's ok," I say reassuringly. Y/N pulls me into a hug, resting her head on my shoulder. I rub her back in circles and stroke her hair.

After a while, she let's go of me and says, "Thanks, and sorry for waking you up because of a bad dream."
"You shouldn't be saying sorry. You almost stopped breathing," I say, whipping the leftover tears from her cheeks.
"Sorry," she says, her voice quivering.
"It's ok. Do you wanna tell me about your nightmare?" I ask.
She shakes her head and pulls her knees up, hugging them with her arms. I shift myself around her bed, so I'm next to her. Restinh my head on the headboard, I reach my arm around her to give her a half hug. I feel her rest her head on my shoulder.

"Was it about your sister?" I ask. Y/N looks up at me, giving me a 'how'd you know that?' face. "I get them too, about my brother and sister. They're twins. I miss them a lot." I look down a bit.
"Tell me about them, please?" She asks.
"Well, there's Axel. He's really into fishing at the moment. I've been trying to teach him how to use a trident to spear fish. He's not very good," I chuckle a bit, picturing him missing the fish everytime, "he doesn't give up, though. I'll give him that. And then there's Rey. Her real name is Avery, but she gets called Rey for short. She's pretty smart. And when it comes to anything that can be learnt from a book, she'll do really well. But the only problem is that the academy focuses more on the physical side of the games." I look down at Y/N, who is surprisingly still awake.
"They sound great," she says.

"What about your sister? Tell me about her. Please?" I ask.
She giggles a bit, "she's called Cory, short for Coryander, spelt with an 'y' not an 'I', is how she introduces herself," I see Y/N smiling. It makes me happy to see her happy, she continues, "she is my everything, she's practically my daughter, and she is my best friend. She's really good with people and she's so kind and brave and so caring. She is also smart and clever."
"I wonder where she leart all of it from," I say to her. Y/N smiles again, I feel a smile creep across my face, too.

"Got any other siblings?" I ask.
"Yeah, 3. There's my sister Ari. She and I used to be close. She stepped into my mums place and took care of me when I was young, but nowadays, she'd always be off at parties or drinking. Then there's Dev, who I was never really close with. He never really liked me, and I don't know why. Stevie and I were closer when we were younger, but nowadays, he's always drunk. But at least he works better than the other two." She finishes on a sad note.
"I'm sorry," I say.
"It's ok. It's nice to have someone to talk to about it, actually. I'm sorry for dumping all my problems on you," she looks up at me.
"It's ok. Do you wanna tell me about your dream now? It's ok if you don't, I just know it can help you feel better sometimes."

Y/N explains her dream to me, and I hug her tightly, reassuring her it is ok and that everyone has nightmares sometimes.
"You should probably get to sleep soon," I say, looking over at the clock that reads 4:27am, "Not gonna fall asleep in the kitchen again, are you?" I ask.
"So it was you that moved me? I thought I had hallucinated."
I chuckle a bit, "I'll go so you can get to sleep." I start getting up.
"Wait, can you stay with me for a bit?" She asks.
"Ok." I lean back on the headboard and slide under the covers bit. She does the same and rests her head on my chest. After a while, I notice she's fallen asleep on my chest. I lean my head closer to hers and feel the tiredness come over me. I close my eyes and fall asleep soon after her.

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When I wake up, Y/N is gone. I panick for a second before realising the shower is turned on. I let out a sigh and swing the covers off, place my feet on the floor. I stand up and stretch for a minute, and my back hurts from sleeping in an awkward position. I begin walking out of the room when I hear the bathroom door open.
"Oh hey," Y/N says as she walks out.
"Hi, how are you this morning?" I ask.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Sorry for keeping you up last night. But thanks for staying with me."
"It's fine. If you have another nightmare, just come find me. Or if you just want to talk, my door is always open. Figuratively to literally, it's usally literally closed."
Y/N laughs at my bad attempt at a joke, and I join in. She looks so cute when she laughs.

'I want her to be mine. God, that sounds possessive. I want her to be mine so I can protect her and keep her safe and happy,' I think to myself as I head back to my room after saying goodbye, 'I can't let her die in the games, I'll do anything to keep her alive. Ezra is not a nice person at all, so it's not too hard to pick which one I will be rooting for.'