𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦.

●・○・●・○・●

It was early in the morning. Juniper felt vibrations in the ground and disappeared into the jungle- followed by Lennox and Nina with the spile. That's when the wave hit. 

"So, last time you and Finnick were on watch?" Nina asked. Juniper looked to her and noticed she had a smirk on her face.

"What's that look for?" Juniper asked. Nina rose her eyebrows up and down again. Lennox sighed.

"You were stuck together for two days and you seem to be getting along well." Lennox said. "Last night you guys were talking for a while, I sat up and saw him hugging you."

"You know, earlier that day he put a knife to my throat, so." Juniper sighed, taking some more water and taking the spile when the three were done. "Don't get any ideas."

"That's what I tried telling her." Lennox laughed. Lennox had seen a lot that has happened between Finnick and Juniper. All in all, he just didn't want Juniper getting hurt by him. Again.

"Oh shut it, its girl time now. Go back to the group." Nina put her hand on Lennox's back and shoved him forward. He rolled his eyes playfully and walked ahead of them, making his way back onto the beach. Juniper and Nina stayed put.

Juniper crossed her arms and looked at Nina, who was just smiling. "I know there's something between you two, you just don't want to admit it."

"Please. We've hated each other for years."

"There's a thin line between love and hate. They are the strongest feelings, sometimes they can be depicted as the same- in certain scenarios..." Nina hinted at Juniper, who turned her head away. 

"Me? With Finnick? You must be joking." Juniper said, getting no answer from Nina. Juniper turned to Nina who had a smile on her face- holding back a laugh. "Please tell me you're joking."

Nina shrugged. "I'm not saying anything. It's just weird how you deny it, but every time you are near him, you're looking at him like you're..." Nina didn't need to finish her sentence for Juniper to realize what she was going to say.

"What!" Juniper shouted in disbelief, not believing what she was hearing. "No, I do not like him. I hate his face. I hate when he touches me, I can't stand when he talks- don't even get me started on that. I hate the color of his eyes and how he looks at me. I hate the way it-"

Juniper stopped herself and took a deep breath. She hated the way it made her feel, how he made her feel. She hated it, she hated him. Even if every single time he touched her hand, she would grow warm. She hated how he called her darling. She hated how he nicknamed her June. She hated how her heart sped up when he was around.

Juniper Plinth hated Finnick Odair.

Most of all, she hated how much she had to convince herself that she hated him.

Ninas foot tapped, waiting for Juniper to say something or at least realizing what she was going on about.

Nina wasn't one for pushing her friends, however, she would push Juniper. Nina didn't like how Juniper constantly closed herself off when somebody got close, how oblivious she was, and how much she felt as if she didn't deserve anything. 

Juniper would talk to Nina and Lennox about her romance issue, especially after what happened a few years back between Snow and the suitor he had set up for her. Juniper felt as if she couldn't be loved in that way, but Nina knew different.

The way Finnick Odair looked at her was just proof.

"So? You hate him?" Nina asked softly, taking a step towards Juniper who had grown silent. She seemed to be fighting with her heart or her brain, Nina couldn't tell.

"Nobody could see me like that." Juniper said, which resulted in Nina sending her a disappointing look. Juniper shrugged. 

"How do you know if you've never even tried?" Nina asked. "Sorry, I know your history with this kind of stuff. One bad experience can ruin it completely, but you can't let it. You can't let him win."

Juniper knew Nina was referencing Snow. Snow had ruined Juniper's perception of love. He had done it on purpose, too. 

"I'm scared, Nina." Juniper admitted, looking towards the beach. "I'm scared if it doesn't work out."

"You're already considered enemies, how worse could it get?" 

Nina was right, Juniper didn't want to admit that though. She was stubborn, she would give herself that. Juniper's knuckles turned white from being balled into fists. Nina sighed, taking Juniper's hands in her own.

"I don't want to force anything, but think about it, okay?"

Juniper nodded. Nina smiled, walking out of the jungle and followed where Lennox disappeared to a bit ago.

Juniper wanted to kill Finnick, she wanted to kill him before he made her love him.

"You sure are giving the people watching a show, what a sappy interaction last night." Johanna laughed. She stood in the water next to Finnick, who was spinning his trident around in his hands.

"Please, that was nothing."

"Really? You guys were hugging, holding hands..." Johanna could keep the list going of all their interactions recently- Katniss had definitely filled her in. Finnick rolled his eyes.

"She's an ally, I can't just watch her fall apart and do nothing about it."

"Sure. Enemy, now ally? Pick a word to describe her."

Finnick stayed silent and didn't answer.

"Don't tell me you're talking to him about it, too." Finnick and Johanna turned to see Lennox with his hands on his hips. Johanna laughed and turned back to face the water. Lennox joined the group.

"I don't like her. She's ignorant and only cares about herself." The words left Finnick's mouth like they were poison on his tongue. 

"Oh, don't worry folks. We got an upgrade. He went from saying hate to he doesn't like." Johanna laughed, elbowing Lennox in the side. 

"Hate, dislike, same thing." Finnick said. He looked down into the water, seeing a few fish swim by. 

"Nina always says 'there's a thin line between love and hate.'" Lennox recalled Nina's word she used to describe the two District Four tributes time and time again. "But if you hurt you, I'll break all the bones in your body."

"Love is a very strong word to use to describe my feelings for Juniper." Finnick said.

"Hate is a strong word, too." Johanna shrugged. "Just admit you have a thing for her, it's a safe space." Johanna cracked a smile, hitting Finnick in the arm.

"I hate the way she looks at me and how she calls me names in Spanish." Finnick admitted. "Do you know she's been calling me 'my love' all this time?"

Lennox coughed and didn't say anything. Finnick glared at him. Lennox definitely knew.

"Do you hate her for it or do you hate the way it makes you feel?" Lennox asked. This question silenced Finnick, making him turn away from the two of them. 

Finnick didn't even know anymore. He had such strong feelings for Juniper Plinth, he didn't know what they were. He was so sure it was hatred, but was what they were saying right?

Finnick always said he hated the way Juniper sounded. He hated her songs, hated her voice. But he couldn't lie, he just had set that to annoy her. Was it how he really felt?

She made him feel hatred, desire, and lust. But something even worse, she made him feel love. 

The most dangerous feeling to Finnick of all. He had made sure to not let anybody in to his life like that, it made him feel weak. Juniper Plinth had made him feel weak. He would never want to admit that to her- or anybody for that matter.

Finnick looked at the trident he held in his hands. If he had just killed her before, she wouldn't be making him feel this way. If only he killed her before she made him love her.

"Tick tock!" Katniss yelled, holding Wiress in her arms. Finnick, Lennox, and Johanna turned to see the interaction. Johanna threw her hands to her sides. 

"Great, it's like a disease. It's spreading."

"The arena, it's a clock!" Katniss turned to all of them, Peeta and Beetee got up and followed her. The group gathered to hear Katniss' explanation. Nina had walked out of the woods just in time to join them.

"Where's Juniper?" Lennox whispered to her, asking. Finnick listened in.

"Thinking." Nina smiled. Finnick looked at the way her face was lit up, it seemed mysterious. He couldn't pinpoint why. "She's alright, just give her some time." Nina whispered. Lennox nodded.

"It starts at midnight. Lightning hits that tree right there." Katniss pointed to a giant tree. "Each sector has one, but that is the one that gets struck."

"So there's twelve sectors with twelve different threats. Each hour is something different." Lennox asked- making sure he had it right. Katniss nodded. 

"I want to go to the cornucopia. We can get a look at the entire arena, and we can figure out what time it is." 

Everyone started grabbing their things. Johanna and Lennox grabbed their axes, Peeta grabbed his machete but also kept an arm around Beetee- who was having trouble walking still. Katniss and Nina readied their bows when Juniper walked out of the jungle- silent.

Finnick grabbed his trident off the ground and looked to Juniper, who began talking to Lennox.

"What? No." Juniper looked at the group then at the cornucopia. "I'll just stay here and guard the beach."

"We can't leave you here alone." Nina said. 

"You won't have to even touch the water, we just walk along the rocks." Lennox promised. Juniper wanted to disagree, but she didn't want to be a problem. She also had a job, protect Katniss and Peeta. She couldn't really do that from the beach.

"Fine, but if something goes wrong. I'm blaming you." Juniper narrowed her eyes to Lennox who shrugged. She had an odd feeling about this.

Katniss led the way, the rest of the group followed. Juniper went last, when she stepped on the first few rocks on the path, she looked ahead and saw the rest of the way she had to go. Finnick turned and saw her struggles.

"Take my hand." He reached out, Juniper died his help and took another step forward. Her legs were shaking. "Stop being stubborn, just let me help."

Juniper looked at his face, his hand, then back to his face. She reached her arm out and interlocked their hands. He helped her balance and the two continued on. The more they walked, Finnick could feel her entire body shaking through their hands. She was terrified.

When they had finally made it to the middle, Juniper ran all the way to the centre, staying as far as she could from the water. She held her chakram in her hands, trying to stay on high alert- but every time she saw the water her brain would fog.

"It all starts with the lightning, then the blood rain, then the fog, and monkeys. That's the first four hours." 

"The tail points to the tree." Peeta pointed out. There seemed to be twelve identical trees for each of the sectors, however, only one of them mattered.

"Which tree?" Beetee asked again. Peeta pointed to it. Beetee eyed it with his wire in hand. Juniper noticed the computing going through his brain, but she couldn't get herself to understand. "Good, good."

Wiress had begun singing a song. Nina had tried calming her down but she just kept singing.

"So, twelve to one is lightning." Peeta said, with his machete drawing a circle in the sand to represent the clock. Juniper had completely zoned out looking down at the sand. "One to two is blood rain. Two to three is fog. Three to four is monkeys."

"Ten to eleven has to be the wave." Katniss mentioned. "Is there anything else we know? Did you guys see anything else?"

"Nothing but blood." Johanna remarked, recalling the horror they had gone through in the jungle. 

"Can't imagine what they have in store for us in the other sectors." Juniper didn't even want to think about it.

"I have a plan." Beetee started.

"Yeah, well-" Someone had began speaking but they were quickly cut off. Wiress had also stopped. When they turned to see- a knife was sticking out of her neck. Gloss was standing above her.

Nina had a spear sticking out of her chest.

Nina had fallen to the ground and a cannon went off, followed by another. Katniss drew an arrow and shot Gloss straight in the chest- making him fall backwards into the water. Another cannon.

How did Juniper not sense them?

Brutus had come from the right side. Lennox grabbed his axe and charged at Brutus. Finnick ran to help Lennox but a knife had come flying towards him and embedded itself in his leg. Enobaria was with them.

Juniper noticed in the corner of her eye Cashmere begin making her way up. Before Cashmere had a chance to attack Katniss. Johanna pushed her out of the way and Juniper intercepted the knife throw.

"Cashmere." Juniper said, Cashmere smiled, taking two pocket knives from her belt and holding them in each of her hands.

"Juniper." 

Cashmere had run to the side of the cornucopia, away from the others. Johanna had tried grabbing Juniper, but she was already running off after her. Another cannon had went off.

Juniper had made it to the tail of the cornucopia that's when Cashmere attacked her, launching herself onto Juniper. Juniper was tackled onto the ground back first and Cashmere straddled her- attempted stabbing her, but Juniper sliced open her wrist. Cashmere's hand went limp, dropping the knife.

With her other hand, Cashmere attacked again, but Juniper kicked her legs up in the air and Cashmere flew forward onto the rocks. Juniper had a perfect opening to kill her- but she didn't.

"Don't go soft on me now, Plinth!" Cashmere smiled. "I thought we agreed to go all out."

Juniper knew she was right. They both would go all out on one another if they had the chance. But with their discovery of the clock as the arena and Beetee maybe having a plan, this might be their road to escaping. 

The chance was right there, if Juniper could at least save Cashmere. She wanted to try and do it.

Juniper swung her arm weakly at Cashmere who was now standing in front of her. She wasn't going to hurt her.

"You can do so much better than that!" Cashmere announced, swinging her arm at Juniper. Juniper jumped back, but a cut had appeared on her forearm. Cashmere's eyes seemed to jump to behind Juniper, and with that, she threw the knife at her. Juniper watched as the knife went flying past her and looked back to Cashmere. She was running.

Juniper noticed Brutus on another line of rocks, running back into the jungle. She picked up Cashmere's knife. Juniper made her way around to where Brutus was running off. She had caught a glimpse of Katniss and Johanna.

The entire middle had started spinning rapidly, sending Juniper flying onto the ground. She dug the knife into the ground to keep her hold. She noticed Johanna had done the same with her axe, but Katniss had no way of holding on.

Johanna was screaming at Katniss to grab hold of her hand. A moment later, Katniss had tumbled into the water. Juniper's body was shaking. The waves were growing around them from the speed they were turning. Katniss was under.

Katniss was going to drown if this kept going. She couldn't die. Juniper let go.

"Juniper!" Johanna screamed, but Juniper's hearing was now muffled. She was in the water. Her heart was racing, but she needed Katniss.

Juniper opened her eyes. The rushing water made it hard for her to see, but she noticed Katniss slowly sinking. She must've been struggling to breath. Juniper swam down. The darkness of what was below them had haunted Juniper for so long, but she needed Katniss out of there.

Juniper grabbed Katniss's forearm and pulled her up. The weight of the water on top of them made it difficult. Juniper wouldn't be able to carry her, but she could help her float. 

Juniper shoved Katniss up by under her arms to the surface when the spinning had grown a bit weaker. The force of the corncopia seemed to grow momentarily, and they were pushed back away from each other.

"Juni." Papá? Juniper looked down at the void beneath her. There was no way voices could emerge down there, especially her parents voices. They were dead. 

Juniper looked up and over, noticing Katniss had just emerged on the surface, kicking herself up. Juniper began swimming up to, but she felt a force grab onto her foot.

 She looked down, but nothing was there. It was just the sea.

"Juni."

Juniper tried swimming up again, but nothing. She was running out of air. She kicked, trying to get up, but the darkness beneath her seemed to be growing. It was like her nightmare was coming true.

Juniper had began drowning. The wave had consumed her, her last sight of land being Lilo calling to her. She kicked and flailed, but nothing worked. She wasn't strong enough to fend off the storm.

"Juni, come to us." She heard her mother say. Juniper stopped moving, wanting to let the sea take her. She could see her parents again. She could apologize to them for her selfishness.

Juniper opened her eyes. Lilo. She couldn't leave her. She was her top priority.

Johanna ran to Katniss and comforted her, patting her back slightly- helping her cough all of the water up. Peeta ran to Katniss' aide as well, helping her get up.

"Where's Juniper?" Finnick asked, he had just finished a lap around the small island. The only people there were Finnick, Lennox, Beetee, Peeta, Katniss, and Johanna. Everyone looked at Johanna and Katniss.

"She jumped in after Katniss." Johanna said. Horror flashed through Finnick's mind. He looked down into the water.

What if she had another panic attack while being in the water? What if she was sinking? What if she wasn't able to make it up? These thoughts consumed Finnick's mind entirely.

"She helped me up, she's down there."

Finnick threw down his trident and went to dive in the water, but was stopped by Lennox. Juniper had emerged by another line of rocks. Lennox took a deep sigh. She was safe.

Finnick took no time running over to her and pulling her up. She was coughing up water. She gave him a thumbs up, assuring him that she was fine and she sat up straight. 

"You care that much about me?" Juniper whispered. Finnick furrowed his eyebrows, not getting what she meant. She raised her hand to his face and wiped away a tear that had just dropped. "You're crying."

"No, I'm not. It's just the water. It was splashing up in my face. I don't care."

"I think you care much more than you say you do." Juniper said. Finnick stood up rolling his eyes. Juniper followed.

"Let's just get what we need so we can get off this stupid island." Johanna said. Everyone agreed, grabbing their things. 

Juniper noticed Lennox standing off to the side, looking out at the water. 

Nina.

Juniper walked over to him, standing next to him and just looking up at his face. He had no emotion, but Juniper could tell he was upset. Before she had a chance to say anything, Lennox spoke up.

"When the cornucopia started spinning, I