You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

The Games

"How do I say goodbye to someone who's been with me for my whole damn life?"
– Dean Lewis

...

Cora launched from her pedestal and to the storage center, grabbing a backpack and some spears. Reef and Mauve saw her, grabbed their own supplies, and ran after her.

Reef bumped into the girl from District 1. He didn't even hesitate before stabbing her with the trident he found and running off.

The first cannon sounded. The first kill.

The three ended up in a house, secluded, but not too far from the well. They practiced a bit with the weapons they found and went through the supplies they brought.

Mauve and Cora traded weapons. Cora seemed to have a knack for knife-throwing, while Mauve wasn't too bad with the spears. Reef was being uncharacteristically silent in the corner, sorting the supplies.

They had several ingredients for food. First-aid supplies. No water. It seemed that that would only be found in the well.

...

By the end of the first day, fourteen children were dead. Cora, Reef, Mauve, the boy from District 1, the boy from District 2, the girl from District 2, the girl from District 3, the girl from District 6, the boy from District 10, and the boy from District 12 were left.

Cora offered to take first watch.

Mauve slowly walked over to Reef and guided him from where he'd been sitting for the past few hours, to a pile of itchy blankets and pillows they found in the house.

"You're being quiet," she mentioned to him in a whisper. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shuddered. "Why?"

"Talking about things helps–"

"No," he interrupted her. "Why are you talking to me now? When I've killed someone?" He shuttered again, looking like he was about to cry.

She thought about how to phrase it for a moment.

"I've not known you long," she began slowly, still in a quiet voice. "But, in the time I have known you, you've always been smiling. You've never shut up, despite my constant requests. I admire you so much for that. That smile of yours in the face of death. And, now that it's gone, I admire you even more. Because you felt it, instead of being a heartless killer. But your silence scares me. Because that's not how you are."

"...You admire me?" The ghost of a smirk appeared on the boy's lips as he looked up at her.

She breathed a laugh and shook her head. "Is that really all you got from that?"

"No," he smiled. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," she smiled back.

When Cora woke Mauve up for her turn on watch, the blonde was curled up with Reef. Cora smiled a tired, but knowing, smile before laying down next to her brother. Of course he, of all people, would fall for someone in the games.

...

The next day started off smoothly, but the three began to get thirsty. Reef volunteered to go to the well.

He had already killed someone once. So, if he had to, he could do it again. No use bloody-ing up the girls' hands unnecessarily. He wanted to save them the broken conscience.

The trip to the well went without incident, much to the relief of the group. When the emerald-eyed boy returned with the water, they immediately rationed it.

They kept some in bottles for drinking. The rest, they used to make bread with the ingredients provided in the backpacks.

The three relaxed for much of the day. Mauve taught Coral and Reef how to say phrases in her gibberish. Reef looked at her like she was made of starlight. Cora just smirked at the two. The sun set as they hid in their house.

They were happy, relaxing and talking until the door burst open, revealing the boy from District 1, the boy from District 2, and the girl from District 2.

Immediately, the career pack began attacking Mauve and the Newport twins.

Cora jumped for her knives while Mauve grabbed her spears and Reef began swinging his trident.

Mauve managed to spear the boy from District 2 through the heart, killing him while she only received a decent, but manageable, cut on her face.

Cora threw her knives, one directly hitting the girl from District 2 in the temple, killing her instantly. She received a worrying slice to the neck, but it wasn't fatal.

Reef, while fighting the boy from District 1, forgot where he was. Suddenly, he was in the bloodbath, killing without a second thought. And that memory scared him. And he froze. That gave the District 1 boy just enough time to stab Reef through the heart with his sword.

"NO!" Cora screamed when she saw, throwing a knife that logged itself in the District 1 boy's neck, killing him.

Reef Newport was dead. And Cora didn't even get to say goodbye.

Mauve, with tears in her eyes, screamed. "Cora, we have to go!"

"I can't leave him!" The girl screamed back.

Mauve took the back end of her spear and knocked Cora out. She carried the girl and some supplies to another, more secluded house. They had no time to waste. They couldn't stay in the house where Reef Newport had been killed.