You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

Six Years...

"How much they loved each other, these kids."
— Unknown

...

The months had passed. Finnick had just turned twenty-one, Johanna had begun to heal, Cora had tried to go about life as usual. She was in love with Finnick, but she could never be with him.

Little did she know, he felt the same way. But even that couldn't change their circumstances. And so, it was best to just keep on living like nothing was there. Because nothing could be there.

Cora was sitting with Blue in the living room of Mags' mansion. The freckled boy had turned eleven during his sister's time in the Capitol. She missed his birthday every year.

He used to resent her for it, especially after Lyra was killed. But, slowly, the curly-haired boy was beginning to understand.

This understanding didn't stop him from being angry. Even if he was lightening up on Cora and Finnick, he was still so angry. And he had every right to be so.

He never knew his parents. His three big brothers and one big sister were all he had. All he'd ever known. And they were all destroyed by the Hunger Games. He watched each of his brothers die on national television. He watched his sister be destroyed by her survival.

Reef, his big brother, died when Blue was just five years old. When he was seven, he had to watch Ocean, his oldest big brother, die as a Capitol mutt. 

When he was eight, Lyra, a girl he viewed like a big sister, was murdered. When he was nine, he watched Sean, his youngest and last remaining big brother, die in the games and Annie, another girl he viewed as a big sister, go insane.

Cora, his big sister and last remaining sibling, was always in the Capitol. She had to be gone, he knew that. It was for his own good. So he didn't end up like his brothers.

Blue Newport had to grow up quickly. In the span of less than five years, he had just about everyone he'd ever loved in one way or another.

Now, he helped take care of Annie and Mags. Both women helped take care of him as well, but weren't always able. And they would never replace his real family. Crane also helped the best he could, but even he wasn't enough.

The brown-eyed boy missed his siblings. It was made worse by the fact that he was being to forget what life was like when they were still around. And there was only one person who could tell him what they were really like. His big sister, who was back home for two weeks before the 72nd Annual Hunger Games.

It took him about a week, but he managed to put aside his anger and swallow his pride for just long enough to finally as the question.

"Cora?" The eleven-year-old boy broke the silence.

"Yeah?" She responded, trying not to look too hopeful at the possibility of conversation with her little brother.

"What was Reef like?"

Cora wanted to cry when he asked that. Her twin brother was such a strong, constant presence in her memory. She didn't think about how Blue might not have even been able to really remember him.

"He... he had this presence that would just fill the room. When he was around, everyone knew it. He was constantly annoying Ocean," she laughed, tears in her eyes.

"He would tease Sean a lot. He thought it was adorable how close him and Lyra were. Oh, I remember... He loved you. He would pick you up and swing you around. He played with you all the time. While Sean was with Lyra, Reef would take you to go hang out with his friends."

"I don't remember that..." Blue sighed.

"He would pick you up and announce that the two of you were having a boys' day and just run off with you to who knows where," the twenty-year-old woman smiled, telling her little brother more. She missed those days.

The last-standing Newports kept on talking about the wild boy for a while. They were nearing exactly six years without him. He used to be such a big part of their lives. And now he was gone. Same with Ocean and Sean. They were just gone.

...

"Cora!" A boy with emerald green eyes runs up to her, a smirk proudly shown on his face. "Guess what me and Sheldon just did!"

Sheldon is one of the boy's many friends. Cora honestly isn't sure which friend he is referring to, the boy has so many.

"Oh no." The six-year-old girl says, bight smile on her face. She's looking forward to whatever the story is.

"We made a dock out of sticks and driftwood!"

"Is it sturdy?"

"No!" He grins like a madman.

"Did you walk on it?"

"Yes!"

He tells her about how they almost fell in, the dock was so bad. This would've been fine except for one very important detail. He doesn't know how to swim yet. Harp is going to teach him next week.

"Did you die?" Cora asks, pretending to be concerned.

"Nah, I'll never die!" The boy proclaims. "I'm too cool for that."

"Okay, Reef," she smiles at her new twin brother. She knows it's not possible. But, the way he says it, she almost believes him.

...

Coral Newport lingered just outside the graveyard. Blue had wanted to talk to Reef. Cora had said that Reef would like that. And so, there they were. The woman was still too scared to set foot inside... The longer she avoided it, the scarier it got. But she wasn't ready yet.

Someday, she would be. She could wait until someday.