Fall Away

By the time I finally got into the training arena I was the last one there. I’d sent Finnick down earlier, saying I needed a shower and for him to just go on without me, and I did my best not to tip him off that I was there when I made my way in so he could stay focused. I needed to focus on training today. Yesterday had been about alliances, but Finnick said he’d already sorted that out. It felt a bit like it had two years ago, when he’d been my mentor – handling my alliances, focusing on getting all the plans ready before the Games started.
I couldn’t just skim over strategy, though – I had to see what the others were focusing on in the training arena. The tributes from District 2 – Enobaria and Brutus, I remembered – scared me the most. I didn’t miss the way Enobaria’s tongue ran over her sharpened teeth every time she made a simulated kill at one of the stations, like she enjoyed it just a little too much. Then again, she and Brutus had volunteered to go back in for the Quarter Quell, so it probably shouldn’t have surprised me.
Cashmere and Adri were busy working at the archery station, and I quickly looked away. I didn’t want to see Adri at all right now, much less with Cashmere by his side. The morphling addicts from District 6 were sitting near the camouflage tables, absently swirling their fingers through all the different paints and staring at nothing in particular, their gazes distant, and off in the corner watching them stood the girl from 12. Katniss. I knew her name, of course – everyone did. All of Panem was torn between thinking she and Peeta had tried to eat the berries because they really were in love, and thinking that she’d done it with something much bigger in mind. A rebellion. Overthrowing the Capitol, spreading the message to all the Districts.
I shivered even though I wasn’t cold. Katniss was a couple of years younger than I, but there was something about her that exuded maturity and bravery and composure. She looked strong enough to lead the Rebellion, without a doubt, and as much as I was completely in awe over her, there was a part of me that envied her as well, because she was everything I wasn’t.
A hand gently closed on my shoulder, and I jumped and whirled around, barely managing to bite back a yelp. There was a part of me that felt like President Snow could hear my thoughts, would know if I agreed with the thought of the Rebellion, and the idea terrified me. To my relief, though, I turned around to see Finnick staring at me with a concerned look on his face, as if worrying over why I was even jumpier than usual.
“You okay?” he asked quietly, making sure no one else could hear.
I nodded and straightened up, trying to look more composed. “Yeah, yeah, fine. Just…eyeing everyone else up.”
“You should start warming up at some of the training stations. I know you had trouble starting fires last time, so you might want to practice a bit. Remember how cold it got at night in the arena?”
I nodded, trying not to think about the nights I’d had to strip down naked in a sleeping bag with Adri to keep warm. “Yeah, okay. If you need me, I’ll be filling my hands with splinters and screaming at some sticks,” I said sarcastically, heading over to the fire making station, hearing Finnick’s chuckles grow fainter behind me.
As I grew closer, though, I saw that the station wasn’t actually empty. A muscular-looking blonde boy was sitting with a relaxed posture, fiddling with the flint and twigs but not actually using them. He straightened up a bit as I sat down next to him, casting me a wary smile. “Hello,” he said tentatively, as if trying to gauge if I was as insane as almost everyone else here seemed to be.
I returned the uncertain smile. “Uh, hi. Mind if I use the station, too?”
“No, no, go ahead.” He shuffled back a little bit, making room for me to share the fire pit he’d build but hadn’t yet lit and handed me a few sticks and some flint.
“Thanks. You’re Peeta, right?” I asked, taking the sticks and flint and adding more leaves to the fire pit he’d built, seeing a few sparse areas that needed more kindling.
“Yeah. Winnie?”
I nodded. “Congratulations on the wedding, by the way.”
Peeta’s expression twitched uncomfortably, mouth settling into a frown. “We had to call it off. Didn’t seem fitting, once we found out we were coming back for the Quarter Quell.”
There seemed to be something else, though – something he was being awfully shifty about. “The wedding was President Snow’s idea, wasn’t it?”
Peeta’s mouth opened, then snapped shut reflexively, before he nodded slowly. “That obvious?”
I shrugged, finishing up with my adjustments to the fire pit and starting to grind the sticks together, my technique rusty after not using it for so many months. “Only if you know what Snow’s like. He wanted the same thing from me and Adri.”
This seemed to surprise Peeta. “I would never have guessed. You two seemed so in love.” He paused, and I nodded, thinking he had finished speaking, until he suddenly added in, “But I guess that explains it.”
I glanced up at him so quickly my neck cricked. “Explains what?”
“You and Finnick,” Peeta supplied, confused by my unawareness.
I glanced up at Finnick, surprised to see him still watching me out of the corner of his eye from across the training arena, where he was lining up for the archery station. He gave me a little half-grin as I met his gaze before turning around, looking a little embarrassed to be caught. Huh. That was new. I’d never seen him embarrassed before.
“I didn’t think anyone would pick up on that,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say. It was a lot easier than mentioning that I’d turned Finnick down almost two years ago, and certainly easier than explaining that, just maybe, there’d been a little part of me that had regretted turning him down all this time.
“Everyone picked up on it. Haven’t you seen any of the Quarter Quell coverage talk shows? Everybody’s talking about whether or not you and Finnick are, or ever were, a thing. They’re calling you ‘Finnie’.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “’Finnie’? Cute.”
“It’s not cute when you hear some of the jealous women complaining about how you’ve taken Finnick away from them,” Peeta said, laughing along with me.
I grinned down at the fire pit, focusing my attention on the stick rolling between my palms in hope of seeing some progress. I liked Peeta, but I felt like that was a common thing. He seemed to be one of those people that everyone just always liked from the first time they spoke to him, without exception. I wished the Quarter Quell hadn’t happened – it would have been nice to see a friendly face when all the victors gathered for Capitol celebrations.
“Here, you have to put more pressure on it. Like this,” Peeta explained, reaching over and grabbing another stick, showing me as he spun it between his hands with more tension held in his knuckles.
I watched him carefully before nodding and trying it myself. Sure enough, within a few moments, bursts of smoke began curling up from the base of the pit, sparks catching to the leaves and starting to glow warm.
“Hey, look!” I cried excitedly, tugging at Peeta’s sleeve gleefully and pointing to the fire.
Peeta laughed. “I can see that.”
I blushed, suddenly realizing how stupidly happy I was over a simple fire. “Sorry, I’m just really glad. I was never much good starting fires.”
“Peeta!” A voice called, and I glanced up to see Katniss running over to his side. She pulled to a stop next to him and eyed me warily, distrust in her eyes – the same distrust she seemed to hold for every single victor in the training arena. I could feel her protectiveness rolling off her in waves, her desire to help Peeta survive to the end, and I reflexively shuffled back from them, as if to show her I meant neither of them any harm.
“I was just, um…leaving,” I stammered, trying to stand up as quick as possible but accidentally tangling my legs together, stumbling as I scrambled to my feet. My arms shot out on either side of myself, trying to find something to grab onto, and I somehow managed to find it. My fingers dug into a bony shoulder, and I glanced up to see Enobaria glaring down at me, fang-like teeth bared. I hopped backwards, accidentally stepping into the fire pit. I let out a howling shriek, my calf fully immersed in flame, and fell forward, my knees taking the brunt of the impact.
I cast a shaky glance at my leg to see a network of shiny red blisters forming along my shin, some of them already bursting, and the skin had an eerie charred look. I sucked in deep breaths as quickly as I could, doing my best not to cry, but I could feel hot wetness pricking at my eyes, threatening to spill over onto my cheeks.
And then, in an instant, Finnick was by my side, his cool scent surrounding me in a cloud and his hands gently holding my shoulders up as he leaned over me, carefully inspecting my leg. “Are you okay? Can you stand up?”
I nodded, aware of the growing crowd of tributes watching me, sizing me up. I tried to haul my weight onto my feet but my legs gave out under me, knees still sore from the impact and burned calf screaming out in protest. I cried out, before I could stop myself, and Finnick’s arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me to him, stopping me before I could fall again.
“Okay, let’s get you to the medical center,” Finnick murmured, scooping me up bridal-style and making sure to leave my burned leg untouched to avoid irritating it further.
I looked back over Finnick’s shoulder as he walked away, meeting Peeta and Katniss’s gaze. “This was fun, let’s do it again some time,” I called out sarcastically.
The concern in Peeta’s eyes faded away as he laughed, and even Katniss’s lips quirked up in a quick smile.
“Winnie! Winnie, are you okay?” called a disturbingly familiar voice.
“Get out of the way,” Finnick growled, his grip on me tightening protectively.
Adri ignored him, pushing his way closer to me and inspecting my leg carefully. “They look like they’re only second degree burns, she should be okay.”
“Not when they cover such a large part of her body. Besides, these are verging on third degree – her skin is obviously charred. She needs treatment as soon as possible, so if you’d kindly get out of the way,” Finnick hissed.
“Let me take her.”
“You’ve done enough!” I yelled, so loud that everyone in the arena suddenly stopped to look at me. I flushed red, wishing I hadn’t been quite so loud, but too angry to spare much thought to it.
For a split second Adri looked sad, but then his expression changed to pure anger, and he turned to walk away wordlessly.
My fingers curled around the fabric of Finnick’s shirt and I buried my face in his shoulder, trying not to think about anything, trying to erase Adri from my thoughts completely. Finnick pressed a light kiss to my cheek before murmuring softly in my ear, “Hold on, don’t cry – not like this. Let’s get you out of here first, okay?”
I nodded, sniffling quietly as he walked out of the training arena with his thumb stroking soothing lines onto my hip as he carried me.