☆°.˙ ▍𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐘𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘

⎰𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧⎱

          𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐔𝐑 to the water and they both sat down and looked out into the ocean as he kept his arm around her.

          "It's not going to do you any good to keep it in there. You have to get it out. Tell me what's wrong, Fleur." Finnick stated softly as he looked at Fleur who was holding back her tears.

          "I broke my promise, Finnick." Fleur stated sadly as she closed her eyes and took a couple of calming breaths to keep the tears at bay.

          "What promise?" Finnick questioned as he turned Fleur to face him.

          "I made a promise to Jonah. Well, technically I made it to myself but I always say I made it to Jonah." Fleur replied as she let out a shaky breath. "I promised that I would keep Ben safe, that nothing bad would happen to him. And then I heard his screams, Finnick, and all rationality got thrown out."

          "Fleur, it's not your fault." Finnick replied.

          Fleur let out a dry laugh, causing Finnick to flinch at the sound. "It's not my fault? Yes, it is Finnick. I'm alive but Jonah isn't. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Jonah had lived instead of me. Ben would've have grown up with a father. That's what would've happened."

          "Fleur, do you think your brother would be able to live with himself if he let his thirteen year old sister kill herself? He wouldn't." Finnick argued.

          "You know, I was so worried for these Games. It's a Quarter Quell and Ben was finally eligible for the reaping. And then the announcement came. I was horrified because I had a fifty percent chance of going back. But, I was relieved, to a certain extent. Because it would not be Ben in the Arena." Fleur revealed before soft sobs started to escape her lips and her hands covered her face, not knowing how Finnick would react to her revelation.

          Finnick gently pried Fleur's hands away from her face before he gave her a look of understanding. "Fleur, it's not wrong to feel what you felt, because you care about Ben and you were worried for him. You would rather be in the Games than have him in the Games, because you love him and you care about him, just like I — ." Finnick paused as if he was having a mental battle with himself.

          "Finnick?" Fleur questioned softly, her eyebrows furrowing at Finnick's obvious apprehensiveness with the statement he was planning to say. "What's wrong?"

          "Just like I love you." Finnick finished before he averted his eyes away from Fleur.

         Fleur's lips parted slightly at Finnick's statement before she recalled her conversation with Johanna from a couple months ago.

          "You love Finnick, don't you?" Johanna asked Fleur.

          "I don't know what you mean." Fleur replied.

          "Come on, you and I both know you have feelings for him, whether you know so or not." Johanna replied.

          Fleur just shook her head in disagreement. "Even if I did, he definitely doesn't feel the same way."

          "Fleur, the man looks at you like you are the stars. Like you are everything to him." Johanna replied in annoyance before shaking her head. "One day, you both will realize your feelings for each other and will finally admit that I was right."

          Fleur glanced at Finnick who avoided her eyes. She took a deep breath before gently turning Finnick's face to look at her. She looked into Finnick's sea green eyes that reminded her of the ocean from when her Victory Tour in District Four. 

          Fleur swallowed any doubts she had, knowing Finnick meant what he had said about loving her, and pressed her lips to Finnick's. Finnick's eyes widened in surprise before kissing back softly. A warm, fiery feeling spread across Fleur just before the two pulled apart. Finnick looked at Fleur with a smile which she couldn't help but reciprocate. 

          "I love you too, Finnick." Fleur stated. "Guess this means Johanna can tell me 'I told you so'." 

          Finnick glanced at Fleur with an amused expression. "She talked to you too? Did you like the poem I wrote for my interview?"

          Fleur nodded as she recalled the words and the feeling that erupted inside her when he read it out.

          Johanna let out a chuckle as she watched them look out into the ocean from where she was sitting on the beach with Beetee, Katniss, and Peeta.

          "Whose Ben?" Katniss questioned. 

          "Fleur's nephew. Her brother's kid. Fleur basically raised him since she was thirteen." Johanna explained before she sighed. "I want someone who'll love me like they love each other."

          Katniss looked at her in surprise before turning to glance at the two people who sat in the water, hand in hand. "But all the people in the Capitol. . . " She trailed off.

          "I don't understand, either." Peeta muttered. "He flirts with everyone."

          "They've been in love with each other for years, Twelve, the only person his heart belongs to is Fleur. True love, I guess you could say. Anyone can see how they look at each other. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Fleur nephew realized that his aunt was in love by now." Johanna stated before remembering her conversations with the two of them. "Guess this means I can tell them 'I told you so'." 

          A cannon blast brought them all back together on the beach. A hovercraft appeared in what looked to be the six to seven o'clock zone. They all watched as the claw dipped down five different times to retrieve the pieces of one body which was torn apart. It was not possible to tell who it was. 

         Fleur's eyes widened before shaking her head and hoping that she would never have to figure out what was in that section. 

          Peeta drew a new map on a leaf, adding a JJ for jabberjays in the four to five o'clock section and writing beast in the one where they saw the tribute being collected in pieces. They had a good idea of what seven of the hours would bring. And if there was anything that was positive to the jabberjay attack, it was that it let them know where they were on the clock face again.

          Finnick weaved another water basket with Fleur's help and a net for fishing, while Katniss cleaned the fish that Finnick caught. 

          The moon glistened brightly and began to fill the Arena with a strange light. The tributes were about to begin to eat their meal of raw fish when the anthem began and the faces of the dead were projected.

          Cashmere and Gloss. Wiress. Mags. The woman from District Five. The morphling from Six. Blight. The man from Ten. Eight people dead. Plus seven from the first night. Almost two-thirds of the tributes were dead in a day and a half. 

          "This has got to be some sort of new record. Over half of us dead by less than two days." Fleur muttered.

          "They're really burning through us." Johanna added. 

          "Who's left? Besides us six and District Two?" Finnick questioned.

          "Chaff." Peeta replied. 

          A parachute came down with a pile of bite sized square shaped rolls. "These are from your district, right, Beetee?" Peeta questioned

          "Yes, from District Three." Beetee replied. "How many are there?"

           Finnick counted them and turned each one over in his hands before Fleur arranged them into a neat configuration, almost obsessively. 

          Katniss glanced at Finnick and Fleur in confusion as she recalled that they had done the exact same thing the last time they got bread.

          "Twenty four." Finnick answered.

          "An even two dozen, then?" Beetee asked.

          "Twenty four on the nose." Finnick replied. "How should we divide them?"

          "Let's each have three, and whoever is still alive at breakfast can take a vote on the rest. I'm mean we're not going to have four, now are we?" Johanna suggested causing Katniss to laugh a little. 

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          They waited until the giant wave flooded out of the ten to eleven o'clock section, waited for the water to recede, and then went to that beach to make camp. 

          They would have a full twelve hours of safety from the jungle's horrors. There was an unpleasant chorus of clicking, most likely from some evil type of insect, that came from the eleven to twelve o'clock section. 

          Whatever made the sound stayed within the confines of the jungle, but they kept away from that section of the beach in case they were waiting for a carelessly placed footstep to swarm out.

          Peeta and Katniss volunteer to take first watch while the others rest. Fleur closed her eyes, the fight on the Cornucopia and the jabberjays took a toll on her streghth. Her mind drifted off into a memory from years ago in District Four. 

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

⊱ ────── FLASHBACK ────── ⊰

          "Isn't the sunset beautiful, Fleur?" Finnick questioned as he and Fleur sat on a beach in Distrct Four and looked out into the ocean.

          "It is. I love it." Fleur replied softly. 

          "I'm going to go into the water, come on." Finnick stated as he jumped into the water as Fleur stepped back to avoid getting splashed. 

          Finnick popped his head back above water and frowned once he saw Fleur still on the sand, not making a move to join him in the water. 

          "Come on, Fleur." Finnick called out to which she shook her head. 

          "No, Finnick. I'm not coming in. I don't know how to swim." Fleur replied as she crossed her arms across her chest. 

          "Fine, it's no fun doing it alone." Finnick said as he outstretched his hand. "Help me up." 

           Fleur nodded and took his hand, not expecting to be pulled into the water. In her defense, no one had ever played a trick like that on her. 

          "Finnick!" Fleur angrily exclaimed as she looked around the water wildly, memories from her Games coming into her mind. 

          Finnick's smile fell off his face once he saw the panic hidden in her eyes. "Fleur, are you okay? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Finnick apologized as he made Fleur stop looking around wildly and focus on him. "Just focus on me, nothing can hurt you. Not now, not here."

         Fleur nodded as she focused on the green of Finnick's eyes, instantly feeling calm and safe. 

          "What happened that you're so scared of?" Finnick questioned. 

           "In my Games, there were mutts in the water that almost killed me while Jonah was fighting another tribute. They started to attack me and I had to stab them and kill them to save myself." Fleur replied. "I just keep thinking that they're going to come after me in the water."

          "They can't hurt you here. Just keep calm and think of something that makes you happy. Remember that those mutts can't hurt you. They're gone and the Capitol don't use the same mutts again." Finnick promised. "I can teach you how to swim if you want." 

          Fleur looked at the kindness in Finnick's eyes along with the worry and nodded, knowing that if she got over the irrational fear of the mutts attacking her, it would help slightly with her nightmares.

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

           Finnick sat up with a sharp cry as he heard the first crack of the lighting storm. His fingers dung into the sand and he glanced at Fleur in worry. A look of relief washed over his face as he saw Fleur sleeping almost peacefully next to him.

          "I can't sleep anymore." Finnick stated as he tore his eyes off Fleur's sleeping body. "One of you should rest." Finnick glanced at Peeta and Katniss and took in how their arms were wrapped around each other. "Or both of you. I can watch alone."

          It's too dangerous." Peeta objected. "I'm not tired. You lie down, Katniss."

          Peeta made Katniss lie down and whispered something to her before making his way back to Finnick who was fiddling with the tip of his trident. 

          "How long have you known Fleur?" Peeta questioned the bronze haired man, bringing him out of his thoughts. 

          "Almost eight years." Finnick replied. "We met at a party, I think I was annoying her or something. You know, she never talked much to the Victors so I was just having a one sided conversation with her. But, we somehow clicked. Like we knew we could trust each other and she opened up to me."

          "You've known her a long time, then." Peeta stated to which Finnick nodded. 

          "Yeah, we met Johanna three years after that, and boy was she annoyed at us. Kept saying how we should confess our undying love for each other or something." Finnick replied with a small laugh as he remembered Johanna's annoyance.