Ocean Eyes - Finnick Odair

Forty-nine

Marissa rests her head tiredly on Finnick's shoulder, staring numbly at Katniss, who admits that her mission to assassinate President Snow is all a lie.

"Katniss, we all knew you were lying about Coin sending you to assassinate Snow," Gale is the first to break the heavy silence that fills the room after Katniss' confession.

"You knew, maybe. The soldiers from Thirteen didn't."

"Do you really think Jackson believed you had special orders from Coin?" Cressida asks. "Of course, she didn't. But she trusted Boggs, and he'd clearly wanted you to go on."

"I never even told Boggs what I planned to do," Katniss argues.

"You told everyone in Command!" Gale says. "It was one of your conditions for being the Mockingjay. 'I kill Snow.'"

"But not like this! It's been a complete disaster."

"I think it would be considered a highly successful mission," Gale replies. "We've infiltrated the enemy camp, showing that the Capitol's defences can be breached. We've managed to get footage of ourselves all over the Capitol's news. We've thrown the whole city into chaos trying to find us."

"Trust me, Plutarch is thrilled," Cressida agrees with Gale.

"That's because Plutarch doesn't care who dies. Not as long as his games are a success."

"All of the soldiers chose to be here, Katniss," Finnick speaks up, and Katniss turns to Marissa with tears in her eyes.

"But I killed them all," Katniss says. "And I killed Mira. I'm sorry."

"Snow killed Mira," Marissa says quietly. "He killed all of the soldiers from thirteen. We all knew the risks, and I'm sure they would've died in any other squadron. It's not your fault. But they died so you could kill Snow. You need to finish your mission for them."

"But-"

"What if it was Prim, not Mira? You'd kill him in a heartbeat if he laid a finger on Prim. Don't waste Mira's life."

Finnick places a hand on his wife's shoulder as she speaks and squeezes it.

"What do you think, Peeta?" Katniss asks the boy from District Twelve.

"I think... you still have no idea. The effect you can have," Peeta slides his cuffs up the post they're attached to and pushes himself into a sitting position. "None of the people we lost were idiots. They knew what they were doing. They followed you because they believed you could really kill Snow. Marissa is right. Glimmer, Marvel, Clove, Wiress, Rue. What do all those deaths mean? They mean that our lives were never ours. There was no real life because we didn't have any choice. Our lives belong to Snow, and our deaths do too. But, if you kill him, Katniss, if you end all of this, all those deaths, they mean something. Cinna, Chambray, Boggs, Castor, Jackson, and Mira, they chose this. They chose you."

Katniss stops arguing now, Peeta finally convincing her when nobody else could, and she instantly springs to action. She and Cressida look over a map together, planning to take Snow out with the squad, and Marissa stands up and walks over to Peeta. She sits down beside him, and he smiles a little, sympathetic.

"Are you okay?" He asks quietly, searching her face for any emotion. She doesn't show any reaction, and she hasn't displayed any emotion since breaking down the night before in Finnick's embrace.

"No," she shrugs her shoulders, her face still void of any feelings. "I broke your nose."

"Yeah," Peeta nods, laughing a little bit. "I guess we're even now... I remember knocking you down in the arena, breaking your nose. It's not shiny."