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Finnick shifted from his spot on the roof, positioning his gun so that it aligned with President Snow’s head, watching what lay below. Snow had been tied to a post in the middle of the square of where the tribute parade was held. Above him stood Coin, who was delivering some grand speech he couldn't find himself paying attention to. Rather, his attention lay on Katniss, standing a few feet away from Snow with a bow over her shoulder. He hadn’t know that Katniss would be here nor that she was going to execute Snow, only that he was being held here. He lowered his gun slightly, suddenly unsure if he should kill Snow, not wanting to take this away from Katniss who had been planning to kill Snow for a while now he was sure.
“Mockingjay, may your aim be as true as your heart is pure.” Katniss readies her bow, training it at Snow’s head. Despite deciding to leave Katniss to kill Snow, Finnick does not move his gun. While unlikely, she could always miss and she only had one arrow. Suddenly, Katniss’ bow turned abruptly upward and the arrow flew, finding its mark in Coin’s chest. Snow burst out laughing and without hesitation Finnick trained his weapon on the President and fired without stopping. He could see the small figure that was Katniss but couldn’t make out any more detail. Only when the gun stopped firing from lack of bullets did Finnick pull it away, admiring his more than dead target.
It was then that he saw Katniss reach for something by her shoulder, whatever she was attempting to grab fumbling from her grip and after simply standing there for a moment she reached down to pick it up only to be tackled to the ground by Peeta, Finnick feeling his breath hitch. He was going to kill her. After all that time he had spent trying to keep her alive, trying to keep him from harming anyone in the group he has to watch as he finally succeeds in Snow’s mission even after death. He checked to see if he had any ammunition on him but he had emptied it all on Snow. He watched helplessly as the two rolled a few feet, ending with Peeta on top of her, holding her down by her shoulders. But instead of killing her right off, he lifted her off the ground just enough so he could shake her. Finnick watched the whole ordeal with confusion, waiting for the moment Peeta snapped and ended Katniss’ life. But that moment never came as he slumped over, his entire body seeming relaxed, though only given a moment of reprieve before guards pulled him off of Katniss. Another set of guards grabbed her and dragged her from the stage.
Finnick couldn’t help but think of how strange that was before he realized guards had likely been sent for him too. He turned to make his way back down the building when he saw that guards were already closing in on him. How did they get here so fast? But he wasn’t here to fight, not that he had the bullets to do so anyway, so he threw down his gun and kneeled on the ground with his hands behind his head, allowing the guards to rush forward and shackle him as if he was going to suddenly become uncooperative. They marched him around the capitol before throwing them into a single room. He immediately recognized Katniss sitting on the bed, just barely able to register how she was wearing the poor excuse for clothing, a simple tattered shirt and worn pants, when she spotted him she threw herself at him, Finnick staggering slightly at the sudden impact. He had almost forgotten that he was assumed dead when he was left in those sewers.
“I thought you were dead,” she gasped, grabbing tightly onto his jacket as if he would fade away if she didn’t.
“I’m alive,” was all he said as a way of comfort, before adding with a slight smile, “And I’m the one who killed Snow,”
“Thank you,” As she pulled back and moved to the bed with movement weaker than she had shown moments prior, Finnick suddenly noticed the blood that stained her shirt.
“What happened?”
“I fought the guards,” she said in her normal monotone voice, moving to sit down, “the bleeding stopped though,”
“They haven’t tended to you?”
“I haven’t seen anyone since I was thrown in here,” Finnick considers this. So, what? They were being held in this room without outside interaction or aid? Were they waiting for the two of them to die or did they not have the jail space to hold them and settled for the room in the training center? He couldn’t make sense of it so he sat down next to Katniss. He decided to ask a different question with a more readily available answer,
“So, why’d you kill Coin?”
“She was going to host another Hunger Games,” As Katniss spoke a hardness entered her voice, a sharp anger underlining her words. But she wasn’t just angry, she was outraged. An outrage mirrored by the feelings that rose in Finnick as the words left her mouth.
“Why the hell would she do that?”
“She said the districts would call for bloodshed and the way to please them with the least amount of lives lost was to hold another Hunger Games with the capitol children,”
“Well screw that! It was a good thing you killed her,” They sat there in silence for a while, a quiet anger radiating from the both of them as Katniss relived Coin’s words and Finnick’s entire perception of the former president changed. Finally, Finnick broke the silence with another question,
“When Peeta ran at you, I thought he was surely going to kill you, why didn’t he?”
“He wasn’t trying to kill me, he stopped me from taking a nightlock pill,”
“Oh.” Oh. “Well that’s definitely an improvement from trying to kill you,” Katniss made a vague noise of agreement but seemed to have quickly lost herself in thought, her demeanor changing as she got visibly upset. Shouldn’t have brought him up . He searched for something to distract her but Katniss’ distraught over Peeta only reminded him of Annie, Annie who surely thought he was dead. Annie who lost her husband only so recently after getting married.
“How’s Annie?” he asked finally, scared of the answer.
“She’s holding up, she’ll be better when she sees you,”
“If she sees me,”
“They have to let you out, you killed the man they were planning to execute anyway,”
“Maybe,” Finnick said, but he didn’t know what kind of punishment awaited either of them. Suddenly he wished he had the rope he would routinely knot and unravel back in District 13 simply to keep his hands busy, to dedicate himself to routine.
Weeks passed, trays of food and medication appearing for the both of them, Finnick often having to encourage Katniss to eat despite her stubborn opposition to it. Only once did she hide the fact she had ditched her pills for him before the withdrawal stuck and she decided to remain on them, being weaned off by whatever outside force provided them so she was able to handle life without them. They talked but more often than that they simply sat in silence, subject to the depressing air that seemed to cover the room, existing in solitary knowing what the other was facing but unable to help each other. You can’t save someone from drowning when you’re drowning yourself.
At some point, Katniss began to sing, hours upon hours of songs and with each day her voice got stronger and more beautiful. It made the days in their small living space more bearable. Sometimes Katniss would recount what happened after Finnick had split from the group, only sparing the details that she could bear to bring to mind. Leeg 1, Castor and Homes had all died in the sewers. Katniss’s sister died in a bombing. It was Gale’s fault.
Eventually, as Katniss lay huddled in the bed and Finnick with his eyes closed leaning against the wall, the two of them heard the door open. Finnick opened his eyes to see Haymitch at the door, simply giving Finnick a curt nod of acknowledgement before he moved towards the unmoving form of Katniss.
“Your trial’s over, both of you,” he says, adding the last bit as if he had only just remembered he wasn’t just addressing Katniss. “Come on. We’re going home.”