Fear of the Water - Ch 18
Finnick deals with the fallout from Annie’s breakdown (some sexy Capitol Finnick) (Henry Cavill was my fancast for Finnick before the movie came out)
My AO3 - Chapter 1 - Jonsa - Coryo - Discovery of Witches
(ANNIE)
When I wake up, I’m in a white tube. It’s small so small and I’m strapped down – arms, legs, body, even head. There’s a whirring, buzzing sound coming from within the walls. Then there are voices.
“Aw, shit, she’s awake.”
“Should we put her back down?”
I struggle against my bonds. Are they going to kill me? Why am I here? What are they doing to me?
“Yeah, she’s gonna fuss.”
There are footsteps now – coming toward me. I try to tear my arms out of their bonds but nothing happens. I scream. The voices yell to one another and I scream and I scream and I scream. I don’t want this. Finnick and Mags said it was over now and I was safe and I don’t think they’d lie to me but maybe they did or maybe they never said it at all I don’t want to die.
There’s a sharp pain in my right thigh. Then it goes dark.
(FINNICK)
We’re supposed to go back to that damn waiting room with the grey walls and floor-length windows and fake orchid.
I skulk around in the hallway after the others have gone inside, hoping to catch a moment alone with the female doctor who flirted with me. She comes out through a doorway which she locks behind her. She’s too distracted by the papers in her hand to notice me. I clear my throat and she looks up.
“Mr. Odair. Shouldn’t you be in the waiting room?”
“It’s a bit stuffy in their for my taste,” I say. “Especially after all that drama.” I straighten up and close the space between us.
“Yes, that was really something,” she agrees. Her eyes rake my body up and down. She has to turn away.
“Have you ever seen anything like that before?”
“I haven’t personally.”
“No?” I’m not nearly as smooth as I usually am. I’m too anxious to be charming. “Annie’s something special then.” I step up behind her and move her hair away from the side of her neck. “Like you.” I press my lips to the side of her neck and she nearly collapses. I keep my arms tight around her waist and pull her against me.
She gasps my name.
“Will you tell me something?”
“What?” she asks breathlessly.
I flick the tip of my tongue over the pulse-point of her throat. “What are you planning to do with Annie Cresta?”
“Anthea!” We both look up. Her male colleague is standing at the other end of the hallway. He’s a good ten years younger than she is, but he has an air of superiority about him. And he looks pissed.
The woman – Anthea, I guess – goes ramrod straight and tosses off my arms. “It’s not –”
“We need to talk,” he says simply, his glaring eyes locked on mine. Anthea hustles down the hall and through the door the male doctor came through. He and I maintain eye contact as long as possible, until the door shuts behind him.
I growl under my breath. “Fuck.”
I’ve definitely made things worse. If that other damn doctor hadn’t come in . . .
Mags is pacing around the room with one of her hands over her mouth when I come in. Proteus stands a few feet away from me, apparently deep in thought. Eefa has made a surprise visit, which she clearly regrets. No sign of Broadsea, but that’s no surprise. He’s probably passed out in his own puke by now. I normally wouldn’t care but I feel that since Eefa made it here, he should’ve at least tried.
Proteus raises an eyebrow at me, silently asking what I found out. I shake my head.
The same two doctors as before come out to speak to us after about twenty minutes of waiting. They’re much more serious. “She did suffer trauma to the head while in the Arena,” the man says.
“But you don’t think that’s what’s causing her issues,” Proteus says.
Anthea nods. Gone is the quivering woman in the hall, replaced with someone cold and angry. She’s going out of her way to not look at me. “The tasks we had her do when she first woke up didn’t indicate any neurological or physiological issues. We did scans, too, after her tantrum at the recap, and they didn’t show anything out of the ordinary.”
“Tantrum?” I repeat.
“Then what’s wrong?” Proteus asks over me.
“We believe it’s mental illness,” the male doctor says.
None of us know what that means. We don’t have mental illness in the districts, at least not the words to describe it, but the Capitol has words for everything. They have enough leisure time to think about things like that, to come up with ailments to explain their every mood.
Our faces must betray our inability to understand because they take a different route.
The female doctor is the one to speak. “We are going to have Annie Cresta declared mentally insane.”
“What?” I spit.
Proteus speaks over me again. “Isn’t that a bit premature? She hasn’t been out of the arena for long.”
“We believe a swift announcement is in her best interest at this time,” the male doctor says.
“Her closing interview with Caesar Flickerman has been canceled,” the female says, totally ignoring our reactions. She may have succumb to my charms and looks before, but now she seems immune. “President Snow will make the announcement during that time slot instead.”
I don’t know what to say.
“What would you like us to do in the meantime?” Proteus asks after a moment, voice totally neutral. The crease between his eyebrows is the only sign that he’s troubled by all of this. The only sign.
I could kill him.
“She’s currently under anesthesia, but I recommend you board the train back to your district soon,” the woman continues. “Before anyone gets wind of this.”
“Why?” Eefa asks, brows creased.
“What do you mean, Why?” I ask.
“Why are you declaring her insane? What exactly is wrong with her?”
“Why do you think?” I snap. The first thing I hear her say in a week and she asks something stupid like that?
“I’d like to hear the diagnosis,” Eefa says.
The woman doctor sighs and looks down at her clip board. She knows we won’t understand any of it. “She shows symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention def –”
Proteus holds up his hand. “That’s enough.” He has no idea what any of it means, either. “Eefa?” he asks, turning to her. She nods, satisfied with what she’s heard. Maybe she was making sure they covered their bases; we generally accept that mad people are mad, but you need real proof to declare a victor mentally insane before the whole country.
“There is one piece of permanent physical damage I ought to mention,” the female doctor says. “Due to the stab wound in her abdomen, she won’t be able to conceive or carry children. There’s too much tissue damage.” No one really cares about that right now. What we care about – what I care about – is getting Annie out of here without adding to the damage that’s already been done. “I thought one of you ought to tell her once you’re back in your district and she’s had a chance to calm down.”
“I think you should get ready to leave,” the male doctor says. “She’ll be up in –” he checks his wristwatch and bobbles his head as he does the math in his head “– ninety minutes, give or take.”
“Yes,” Mags says distractedly. “Yes, of course.” She blinks several times. “I’ll start preparing. And have Brae send for the train. Proteus, please get Annie’s stylist so we can get her ready to go.” The others go – Eefa practically sprints out – and I want to move, too, but my muscles won’t let me. Mags’s hand finds my shoulder. “She’s alive, Finnick. That’s what matters.”
I nod again because I can’t think of anything to say.
“Go. Clean up. Clear your head. I’ll be along in a few minutes. I just want to check in on her.”
When I get upstairs to our rooms, Greer rushes towards me and starts making a lot of gestures. I’m not sure what she’s asking until she runs her hand down her hair in a smooth, wavy motion. Like the way Annie’s hair falls.
“Annie?” I guess.
She nods.
I’m too tired to explain it all. “She’ll be all right.”
I start undressing before I make it all the way into my room, discarding my clothes as I go. Somes picks them up as he follows behind me.
I blast the water in the shower to its highest setting and make the temperature as cold as I can bear. I only take hot showers in the Capitol when I’ve just seen a patron. Different temperatures for different problems. It helps me compartmentalize. Keep my head straight.
I’m good at that. Compartmentalizing, keeping my mind focused on the task at hand. I always have been. A lot of victors simply can’t do that – it’s why they turn to drink or drugs. But I haven’t. And I won’t.
I don’t notice the slip of paper folded on my pillow until I start dressing. The paper is off-white and thick – the sort of expensive, heavy stuff they only use in the Capitol. I open it up, and the custom watermark at the top of the page informs me that this is from C.X.S.
President Snow has left me a handwritten note of congratulations.
The others have all gotten them, too.
Mags says he always does for the victors of the winning district. Etiquette, she says, is the most important thing to Coriolanus. Not for the first time, I wonder how well Mags knew him when they were young.
Broadsea whips a lighter out of his pocket and sets the note on fire before dropping it in an empty metal bin. He hasn’t even opened it. Eefa drops her own note into the bin; Mags gives Broadsea her letter to burn, too. I don’t know if she’s read it. Proteus tucks his away in his jacket pocket and tells me to do the same if I want to be smart. I don’t have a reason to save it; I’ve already memorized every word. But I decide to keep it anyway. In case I ever need a reminder.
Mr. Odair,
Congratulations on your very first victor. This is an exciting time for your fellow victors and all of District 4. It is an especially important time for you, as this is your first time mentoring a victor.
Of course he adds a little statement of regret at the end of my note containing a veiled threat:
I hope that you will not be bogged down by the weight of responsibility. It would be unfair for anyone to expect a young man such as you to take on the burden of Miss Cresta’s care.
It seems innocuous enough, but it’s another little reminder to stand back and just let things unfold. Men like Finnick Odair don’t get involved with that sort of thing, and girls like Annie Cresta never really go home.
My best regards to you and your new victor,
President Coriolanus X. Snow
17 notes
·
View notes
I was tagged by @athimbleful and @amymel86
Thank you very much!
Ao3 name: FedonCiadale
Fandoms: GoT, HP, Lucifer
Ships I’ve written for: Jonsa, Dramione, Deckerstar, Nedsei
Number of fics: 23
1. Fic you spent the most time on: As things stand now: To go South, but The Phoenix Potion comes second.
2. Fic you spent the least time on: Probably At the weirwood tree, because I wrote it in one afternoon after the trailer for season 7 got out (oh the wonderful times!)
3. Longest fic: To go South is the longest by far (110 128 words)
4. Shortest fic: My series on the Girl in Gry, all three drablles of about 500 words: The girl in Grey (500 words), A song to soothe a beast (500 words) and Pearls of Water (494 words)
5. Most hits: To go South (48 834)
6. Most kudos: To go South (1 041)
7. Most comment threads: To go South (237)
8. Fave fic you wrote: This is a good question.... I sort of love all my fics and I hate them... because they never turn out in exactly the same way as I imagined them? I usually love the fic I am working on at the moment. And sometimes I am surprised when I revisit old fics and think: That is not too bad.... haha.
Bittersweet is probably my dearest Jonsa baby, and I will finish it at some time, when I’m done with other projects. The Phoenix Potion is my Dramione baby, that has been in the making in my head since Draco Malfoy stared at Hermione Granger at the Yule Ball in the fourth book.... This is very funny, because I’ve shipped Dramione so much longer than Jonsa, but Jonsa is the pairing that actually made me write and not just daydream.
My favourite one shot is Pearls of Water .
9. Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: Rewrite? None tbh. When it is done, it is done. Expand? I want to expand on The Phoenix Potion. I have several ideas about Neville and Pansy outside of the main timeline of Phoenix Potion and I might give them a try, because they have grown dear to me since starting the fic.
10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning:
I plan a one shot “Casa del Papel” AU for Dramione with Draco as the professor and Hermione as the inspectura....
I plan a short story about Neville and Pansy coming together in my Phoenix Potion world and a story about their wedding which should feature the broom closet incident....
And I want to finish my Bran is Bloodraven series (which will take one or two one shots)
And obviously I want to finish Bittersweet once I am in full Jonsa mood again - which I am sure will happen
And now have a tease for my next chapter of Phoenix Potion:
When the children made to board the train, Draco held Colin back. “Just to give you some advice, son, if you have a crush…”
Colin rolled his eyes. “…don’t try to get her attention by insults and sneers. I know this, dad. There is no need for you to tell me this every time.”
Neville thought it was superfluous as well. The probability of Colin trying to imitate his dad in that respect was zero in his opinion.
Rina hugged her mum. “There is no need for your love advice either, mum. I promise I won’t throw the avis spell at some unsuspecting person just because I am jealous.”
Hermione flushed. “It is pretty bad behaviour.”
Draco shook his head. “Of all your actions, that is the one that haunts you?”, he asked.
“It is only the most likely to be reproduced. I hardly expect my children to have to do some of the stuff I did during the war.”
O.k. now for tagging I tag @scullylikesscience @kitten1618x @orangeflavoryawp @kittykatknits @what-would-wonderwoman-do @starryar
And whoever else wants to play!
19 notes
·
View notes