You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

The Mutt

"Little sister. Big brother. However old we grow."
— faded

...

Coral Newport, with braids in her strawberry-blonde hair, skips around school. Reef Newport struts alongside her. They are eight years old.
Reef notices a group of boys playing and races off to join them, leaving his twin sister with a smile and a simple "See ya later!"

Cora keeps on skipping until she sees Ocean Newport, her big brother, with a girl.

Her ten-year-old brother is talking to Pearl Seahart, who is eleven years old. She's got sun-bleached hair and tan skin. She's the sort of girl that thinks she's better than everyone else. So Cora watches them, just to make sure her brother is okay.

Pearl starts jabbing her finger into Ocean's chest. It looks like she's saying mean things to him.

Cora begins to skip over to them.

When Pearl pushes Ocean to the ground, Cora runs over to help.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Pearl exclaims. "Your little sister is here to protect you, huh? But, she's not really your sister, is she?"

"Yes I am," Cora defends as she helps her big brother to his feet.

Ocean doesn't need help getting up or defending himself, but he lets his little sister think she's helping him. He already knows she's a protector, that she wants to help people.

"But you're not. You have different parents," Pearl explains in mock innocence.

"No we don't."

"Your real parents, guppy. But, I guess that doesn't matter, does it? Because your real parents are dead."

Cora closes her fists and says nothing. Ocean places a hand on the girl's shoulder. A simple gesture, but Cora understands that he means to keep her out of trouble.

Coral Newport is prone to trouble. She's gotten in enough trouble for her arguments with Finnick Odair, a boy in her class, that she doesn't need any more.

"Isn't that right?" Pearl asks. "Your parents are dead and so you live with your fake family," she provokes, smirking as she sees the anger building in the younger girl.

Ocean squeezes the nine-year-old's shoulder. Cora focuses on her breathing.

"You live with your fake family and play make-believe all day, pretending to be just like everyone else. But I know who you are. You're just a bunch of rejects. You and your fake brothers—"

Cora doesn't give Pearl a chance to finish, opting to deck her instead.

The mayhem that ensues is a blur. By the end of it all, Cora is sitting at the kitchen table with her family. Her knuckles are bruised and covered in fresh scabs.

Her little brother, Sean, is two years old and doesn't know what's going on. Her dad, Harp, is a mix of disappointed and amused. Her mom, Evangeline, is proud but wishes Cora had stood up for the family in a more peaceful manner. Evangeline is pregnant with the soon-to-be newest member of the family. Cora hopes it's a girl, she has too many brothers.

It's not until later that night that Cora begins to feel bad about what she did. She's glad she stood up for her family, she doesn't feel bad about that. But she keeps getting in fights, arguments, or trouble of any kind. Her parents, the Newports, keep telling her that she needs to learn to control her temper. She doesn't know how to do that.

She tiptoes down to Ocean's room.

"Ocean?" She whispers.

The boy, who had been asleep, answers groggily.

"Yeah?"

"Am I a bad person?"

Ocean wakes up quickly, sitting up in his bed. "Why would you think that?"

"I keep hurting people."

"Oh, Cora, is this about what happened today?"

"Kind of..."

"Cora, you were protecting me. That's not what a bad person does."

"But I hurt everyone I get mad at. Even when I'm not protecting you."

Ocean gestures for Cora to come and sit on his bed. She does and the two sit next to each-other, leaning against the headboard.

"You just need to control your temper. Plus. You don't hurt everyone you get mad at."

"Name one person," the little girl snarks.

"You don't hurt Finnick Odair."

"I throw rocks at his head."

"Small rocks."

Cora laughs and Ocean smiles.

...

Ocean Newport was a gentle person. A reasonable person. That's who he's always been. Even after his parents died, he remained kind. He was peaceful, like the sea in the early morning. The calm to Cora's storm.

Even when he was unreasonable, he was quiet about it. He cared about his family and loved deeply. The loss of two sets of parents hurt him, but he stayed strong for his siblings.

The loss of his little brother shook him like nothing else. He had failed him. And yet, he didn't let that break him. He stayed strong for his siblings. He stayed strong for Finnick and Lyra. He stayed strong for Mags. He stayed strong for Annie (after they began to get along).

Ocean Newport was a gentle person. And that was why it killed Cora to see the monster Snow made him when he showed up as a mutt in the games, killing tribute after tribute until he was finally decapitated by the girl from District 8.

That District 8 girl, Idris Webber, won the games that year, not Isla Fillies. Isla had been killed by whatever monster they had turned Ocean into.

Coral Newport wouldn't speak after she watched her big brother die. Finnick did his best to help, but he was hurting too. Ocean was his friend.

He sat next to her on the couch, that night, until she finally fell asleep. They were as silent as they were when they found out Ocean was missing. There was only one difference, now.

Ocean Newport was dead.