You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

Moonlight

"I'm not going to tell you to get over it. I'm going to help you get through it."
– Unknown

...

Cora drew in a sharp breath. No. She had just finished singing her lullaby to Lyra, who was fast asleep in her bed. Cora would not be able to sleep for a while yet.

This realization that, after months, she was finally beginning to heal from losing Reef– it set a panic in her heart. How could she be so selfish as to move on? If she moved on, she'd be losing him for good. She wouldn't even have his ghost, no matter how much it scared her, it hurt her.

He would be gone.

Shakily, she stood up and left the dark room, quietly closing the door. She tried to calm her breathing as she walked down the hall and towards the stairs.

"Cora, are you forgetting me?"

"No. No, I'm not. I'd never," the girl quietly defended, tears pricking at her eyes as her breathing got quicker.

"Are you sure?" The boy asked in her ear before disappearing.

"Yes, I–" she looked around, not seeing him anymore. "Reef? Reef!" She turned around, frantically searching for her brother. Spinning faster and faster, she collapsed against the wall next to the stairs.

"This is your fault," Mauve explained, slowly approaching the girl.

"I know..." Cora whimpered meekly, like a scared little kid against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"No, I don't think you do," the blonde went on. "See, if you had never tried to help Finnick, your brother would still be alive. I might still be alive. Did you ever think about that?" She began to get aggressive with her speech.

"Stop it..." The fifteen-year-old pleaded.

"I bet Snow made sure that your brothers' names were in the draw for the reaping. Just to make it interesting. Think of everybody you've killed without even trying, Coral. Me. Reef. It's all your fault!"

"I know, I know! Just leave me alone! Please!" Cora cried.

"So you can forget me too?"

But Cora didn't get the chance to answer. To tell her that she'd never forget her. Because Finnick walked up the stairs at that moment, and Mauve disappeared.

"Cora?" He saw the girl with tear-stained cheeks on the floor and rushed down to hold her shoulders. "Cora, what's going on?"

The girl just started crying harder and Finnick pulled her into a tight hug. "I killed them," she whimpered into his shoulder. "It's all my fault."

"What are you talking about, Cora?" The boy asked gently, still holding her.

"Reef. Mauve. It's my fault they're dead. I should've died in that arena, not them," she sobbed.

"No, no it's not. Why would you think that?"

"They told me," she whispered, scared to admit her hallucinations to him, but not caring to hide it in her moment of vulnerability.

"Oh, Cor," he whispered, understanding what she meant. After his parents died, he would see them everywhere. It took constant attention from Mags to get them to go away. He still felt responsible for their deaths, but he didn't see them anymore.

The boy held her for a little while longer. Just until her breathing calmed down. Then, slowly, he stood up, bringing Coral up with him.

"Come on," he urged gently. "Let's get you to bed."

The strawberry blonde would've argued with the golden boy if she hadn't been so exhausted from her breakdown. He led her to one of the many guest rooms and Cora felt like a bit of a burden to him. He had been through the games too. He had demons of his own. And yet, he helped her.

She thought back to when she hated him. Why did she hate him? Because he was annoying? There are much worse things people can do than be annoying. But, she supposed she didn't know that yet.

The guest room was beautiful with moonlight pouring in from two windows with their curtains drawn. Everything was the color of sand and varying shades of ocean blue, from the lightest pastels to the deepest navys.

There were nets and seashells strewn on driftwood dressers and countertops. It was all very similar to the decor in the new Newport mansion, which Sean and Lyra had been in charge of. Finnick must've let the two decorate his home as well.

In the middle of the room was an incredibly cushioned king size bed that matched the color scheme of the rest of the room.

Finnick led Cora to the bed. The girl slid in, not caring to change out of her day clothes.

"Goodnight," the boy quietly uttered as he made his way to the door. He wanted to stay with her. Make sure his— were they friends now? They must be— friend was okay. But he also wanted to respect her privacy and not intrude where he wasn't wanted.

"Finnick?" The girl murmured.

He stopped, just as his hand reached the door knob. "Yeah, Cor?"

"Will you stay with me? I don't really want to be alone right now..." She got quieter as she went on, almost ashamed to be asking such a thing.

But the boy smiled softly and made his way over to her, sliding into the opposite side of the bed.

"Goodnight, Cor," he whispered, lying on his back.

"Goodnight, Finn," she whispered back, laying on her stomach with her arms under her pillow.

...

The next morning, Lyra would wake up and bounce to her big brother's room, only to find his bed empty and undisturbed. She would run all around the house until stopping at one of the guest rooms and looking inside.

Inside the room, she would see sunlight spilling in from the windows, onto the side of the bed in the middle of the room.

In that bed, she would see her brother, fast asleep with a sleeping Coral Newport cuddled up to his chest. She would smile because they're finally getting along. And she would smile because they looked so peaceful, something she didn't usually see from them.

And then, she would leave them to rest, bouncing off in excitement to tell Sean what she'd seen. Something had changed between the two fifteen-year-olds. Something that some say could have only come about because of their shared experience in the Hunger Games.

Something that Lyra thought would've still happened, albeit a little later, even if they'd never been sent off to that arena.