You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

The Reaping

"I did love you even when you left me alone."
— Quoteshacks.com

...

Ambrosia's color this year was apple red. Finnick and Cora intertwined their fingers as they sat. They had three people to lose. They used to have three more.

Cora found Sean and Crane standing next to each-other in the boys' section. Annie was in the girls' section making conversation with two dirty blondes. Blue was alone in the surrounding crowd.

"Ladies first," Ambrosia announced in her twittery Capitol voice.

"Hope Gulligan!"

Hope Gulligan was fourteen years old. She was rather bratty and self-righteous. But she was so young. And only two fourteen-year-olds have ever won the games.

The right thing to do would be to volunteer for her. Spare her the pain. Be as noble as a fourteen-year-old Coral Newport. That would be the right thing to do. Be selfless and suffer for the good of others.

But, for once in her life, Cora didn't care about the selfless thing to do. She would've happily watched Hope Gulligan die if that meant her loved ones were safe. The eighteen-year-old just didn't care about the right thing anymore. Not when it had only ever caused pain.

Annie Cresta, however, did still care about the right thing. And she raised her hand and shouted "I volunteer!"

Cora squeezed Finnick's hand tighter. She didn't listen as her seventeen-year-old friend walked up to the podium and introduced herself. She just stared and tried not to cry.

The redhead wouldn't look at her.

When the time came to draw the boy's name, it only got worse.

"Crane Marin!"

Not even a second after, a voice that Cora hadn't heard in months shouted "I volunteer!"

It was Sean.

There were gasps in the crowd. Ambrosia squealed in delight when she realized that a twelve-year-old had volunteered. Let alone another Newport.

Crane looked like he was about to break down, but was trying to hold it together for the sake of his loved ones. Cora understood exactly what he was feeling.

Finnick squeezed her hand even tighter. He was feeling the same thing.

...

Sean resumed his silence on the train. He hadn't said a word since volunteering and giving his age and name. He just had this determined look on his face.
Annie was noticeably scared but had that same determination.

But neither of them were determined to win. They were determined to save the other and die in the process.

Cora wanted to scream. She wanted to break things. She wanted to burn Panem to the ground. How much more would be taken from her? From Finnick? From Blue?

She was going to lose someone she loved in just a few weeks. Would it be her little brother? Her best friend? Both?

But she held herself together. Willed herself to have a hardened, calloused exterior. She would save one of them. She wouldn't lose both.

Finnick came to the same conclusion. He loved them just as much as Cora did. He wouldn't lose both.

Mags stayed back home with Blue. Crane promised to help out, but he was also taking care of the Crestas as they watched their only child get sent off to die.

...

Later that night, Cora found Sean in his room. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in for a tight hug. Then she released him, still holding onto his shoulders.

"I need you to promise me you'll try to win. I know you won't sacrifice Annie. I'm not asking that. I love her too. But I need you to not give up. I don't know what's going through your mind but, if Annie or you don't come home—" She took a deep breath to stop her rambling. "Just try, okay?"

Sean nodded and hugged his sister again. He would try. They both knew he had no chance. But he would try, if only to help keep Annie alive. If only to ease his big sister's mind. He would try.

...

Cora stared out the train window at the slowly passing stars, gripping the windowsill so hard that her knuckles turned white. Everything hurt. It was all too much and she knew that there was more to come.

She wished that she had just died in that arena. Or in the hurricane that had killed her birth parents.

She didn't hear Finnick approach, but he now stood next to her.

"They're too good for this world," the nineteen-year-old muttered bitterly.

Cora didn't acknowledge him. Not because she wanted to ignore him, but because she didn't know what to say.

He was right. They were too good for this world. So were her parents, and Reef, and Ocean, and Lyra. Finnick's parents too. And just look where that got them.

They stayed in silence for a while.

"I want to be angry at them," Cora whispered eventually, pain coating her voice like a film. "They know how much we've all lost and they're gonna make us lose them too."

"But you're not angry at them."

"I can't be angry at them. I love them. Even as they're leaving, I love them."

"Me too, Cor, me too."