Calm Before The Storm {Finnick Odair}

Rekindling and Reconciliation

After sending their tributes to bed, Ambrosia following behind them, the two mentors were left alone in the apartment. They stood in silence for a few moments before Finnick beckoned for Hebe to follow him, striding out of the apartment and out towards the elevator.

There was no laughing and joking as they ascended the floors of the training centre, not like there had been when they snuck up to the roof the night before Hebe's games. She felt the tension hanging heavy in the air just like it had for the past two days, and as painful as it may be, she tried to focus on that rather than the feeling of shooting upwards in that elevator.

The flashbacks to the games had gotten better as time went on, and now they very rarely came back to her in daylight. Instead it was all concentrated into her nightmares. But, despite this, she still had to battle to keep her grip on reality, especially when she was faced with objects and scenarios that were acutely similar to her games, such as Anise's blood splattering onto the glass of the elevator.

The one positive about the Capitol elevators is that they were fast, so before she knew it Hebe was stepping out of the glass cylinder and out into the cold night air, Finnick following behind her.

They walked to the edge of the roof, stopping by the barrier so they could see out over the rooftops of the Capitol.

Hebe took a deep breath, before tapping her companion on the shoulder, and signing to him.

"Are there any cameras up here?"

"Yes," Finnick signed, "There are cameras. No microphones though."

Hebe looked at him, uncertain, "Are you sure?"

"I'm certain. I asked Beetee to double check. If we face outwards the cameras won't be able to pick up our faces." Finnick said aloud, and Hebe nodded in response. She trusted Beetee's technological understanding much more than her own.

They fell back into familiar silence for a few moments longer before Finnick finally asked her:

"So. What happened?"

Hebe opened her mouth to respond but he cut her off before she could, his voice quiet as he rambled from topic to topic.

"Because, I thought we were, y'know, quite close on your tour. And then suddenly you won't go near me. I left you all those messages, I asked Juno and Annie what was wrong with you and they didn't know. You just...disappeared. And I was so worried that something had happened, that I had done something. And then all of a sudden, 6 months later, you're sending me birthday gifts?! I mean, I didn't think I did anything wrong-"

"No. You didn't do anything wrong. Just, let me explain." She said emphatically, looking up at him for permission to continue without further interruption. He nodded at her.

"When Snow came to see me," Hebe began, "To give me that... job. That wasn't all he said. He gave me a warning just before he left, that I shouldn't get too close to you, and that the Capitol 'weren't stupid'."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finnick asked, incredulous.

"I think he was trying to tell me not to let anything get in the way of our jobs." Hebe explained.

"But you didn't start ignoring me until after the tour-"

"I'm getting there. When Snow had the party, at his mansion, he called me into his office. I thought it was just to discuss details. But when I got in there, he started asking all these strange, roundabout questions, and then he told me I had disobeyed his rules." Hebe sighed, steadying her breathing. "He brought up footage of us on the train. The night I went to you after a nightmare."