The Price of Peace (Finnick Odair)

Mentors to Tributes

Evadine Ripley thrived her years following the 66th Annual Hunger Games. She often performed for the rich Capitol Elite, giving the money she earned to the poorer families of District Four. She moved in with Finnick when they were sixteen and eighteen. The capital loved to watch their relationship progress. 

Every once in a while, President Snow would request a private performance. She would be invited to his home and he would ask her to sing very specific songs. Lucy Gray's songs. 

Snow had developed a strange obsession with her, it was her own doing really. She had no idea what delusion he had crafted, but the longer she was alone with him, the more she worried that one day he would ask for more than her voice. 

He had this habit of trying to get her to stay in the capitol. He wanted her there all the time, to remain where he could see her, where he could control her. She never did, always running off with Finnick right after their mentorship ended.

Half the capitol believed that President Snow was in love with her. Finnick certainly did. Evadine didn't have an opinion on it. Sometimes he would look at her like he was seeing someone else, sometimes he would gaze at her as if she were a mirror to admire himself in. Occasionally he would make an odd remark after noticing a habit of hers. When caught humming to herself when alone he would whisper, "Just like her." 

Evadine had an inkling who the her was, which led her to believe Finnick might be half right.  

When she was eighteen, her best friend Annie was selected to participate in the Hunger Games. She had to watch, feeling the same terror Finnick felt, unable to help as her friend was forced to fight for survival. 

Year after year, they were dragged to the capitol, forced to mentor a child who would most likely die. Mags, Finnick, Evadine, and Annie were the only survivors from District Four. 

They became a tight-knit family. The Capitol had killed Finnick's family in what appeared to be an accident when he refused to be filmed while making love to his Evadine. Apparently, there was a high demand for pornography between the young star-crossed lovers. 

Evadine walked right into President Snow's office after she found out. She cried so pretty, batting her eyelashes, and gripping his hand, begging him to help them. She played the victim perfectly and wielded the old man's infatuation like a blade. He agreed never to ask something so vile of them again if she would sing for him. 

Annie's family also died one by one when she refused to become a prostitute for the Capitol. 

The other victors were all they had left. Mags took on a motherly role for the three young Victors of District Four. They would have 'family dinner' every night, cooking together in Mag's kitchen. 

Years passed like minutes and the day Evadine turned eighteen, Finnick brought her to the pier where they met. He smiled nervously as he stuttered out his fond memory of the day. 

"You wore a green dress, the same color as your eyes, and you had white flowers braided into your hair. You were so... damned beautiful. I couldn't speak, I couldn't breathe, I could only stare at you and it felt like everything else was just... background noise." He had smiled at her, brushing his nose against hers in the practiced motion they had done a thousand times before. 

He basked in her blush as his hand gripped the small bag in his pocket. 

"I knew from the moment I saw you that there was nothing in this world... but you. I have loved you from the moment I heard your sweet voice and I will love you until the day I die, Evadine Ripley. I am yours completely... and... I-I was wondering... If you would be mine too?" With that he had bent down onto his knee, kneeling before her in worship as he pulled the beautiful ring that once graced his mother's hand. "Will you marry me, my Evadine?"