Peeta never announced that he loved Katniss in his interview. Haymitch never got the "star-crossed lover idea."
I understand that some... most of you probably hate Marvel since he killed Rue in the first book but before reading this story you have to remember that Marvel had a family as well and had people to come home to. He might have had siblings. Sister and brothers. These are the Hunger Games and only one could survive. He knew what he had to do and did it. So, he killed a few people. But so did Katniss! KATNISS KILLED PEOPLE TOO! So... ya. Don't hate me for liking Marvel.
Disclaimer: Suzanne Collins was the creator of the Hunger Games, not me. I do not own anything.
…...
(PS: They didn't hold hands on the chariot. Haymitch never got the idea so he didn't tell them to stay together and she doesn't acknowledged Peeta's presence.) The first day of training-
MARVEL POV:
Glimmer and I are the fifth to last people who get to the training center. Immediately we seek out the rest of the careers gathered in the middle of the floor. I go up to the obvious leader of the alliance.
"Cato." the District 2 male intrudes himself. "And, I'm guessing your District 1."
"Yes, I'm Marvel and this is Glimmer." Gesturing to her.
"My district partner, Clove is checking out the stations."
We meet up with District 4 shortly after. The female tribute is Lilia and the male tribute is Kurf. District 12 is the last one to enter and I can't help but notice the male tribute. He has a stocky build and towers over most of the others. He'd be a great addition to our group. Cato must be thinking the same thing because when he is out of earshot he says "Look what we got here. A real rare for the coal district."
then when Clove points out the girl I nearly forget to breathe. She is absolutely beautiful but I can't see her very well since she's dragging behind the male.
"Ya, she looks capable." I say.
"I meant the male tribute." Oh.
I walk up to get a better look but I still can't see. I lean to the side a bit and I can clearly see her now. We lock eyes and she gives me a questioning look. I get embarrassed and look to the side to see Cato and Kurf giving me a weird look. My cheeks heat up as Kurf comes over and nudges me with his elbow.
"Oooooo. You totally love herrrr!" He says in a singsong voice. Quite loudly.
"Shut up, Kurf! She's gonna hear you!" I whisper-yell.
"Dude. I was just kidding. Don't needa go all mama on me." He's using that annoying singsong voice again. Then he burst out in laughs and giggles. What, is he five? How could he be so lay back? Does he not understand what is happening right now?
KATNISS POV:
I swore I heard Kurf say "You totally love her" to Marvel. Does he mean me? No. No, he doesn't. But I blush at the thought anyways. When Cato catches me blushing I mentally kick myself for not only letting him see me blush but also blushing in the first place. What the heck was I thinking?
KURF POV:
Cato signals me to come over.
"What is it?" I ponder.
"You think that girl likes Marvel?"
"Who?"
"District 12, Stupid!"
"Oh. I guess so. Uh, maybe. Why?" I ask but know clearly where this is going.
"Because I think Marvel just got us loads of sponsors and an easy kill."
MARVEL POV:
"Hey, Marvel, come over here." Kurf whispers motioning for me to come stand beside Cato and him. I grudgingly peel my eyes off 12 and walk over.
"Yes?" I ask.
"We need you to spend more time with the girl in 12." Cato says.
What? What the heck is he talking about? Cato seems to read my mind because he starts to explain.
"If we can get the 12 girl and you together− as in, Lovers− we can get sponsors." It takes me awhile to process what he saying but eventually I get it. Worriedly, I ask a very, very dumb-sounding question.
"Are we gonna kill her?" Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
"No, you are. Take her with us until there are only a few people left then when she's sleeping or somehow distracted beside you, you're going to take the knife and stab her in the heart." Cato says all this with a level tone. Like his just telling his friend to help him with a prank or something.
Before I have a chance to respond Cato says "Now go and make her love you." He has an evil grin on his face that could frighten someone 5 times his size. I understand why he is the one in charge.
XXX
KATNISS POV:
I am walking slightly behind just as the training begins. Peeta and I split and I walk straight to the rope tying station. Apparently, not many people participate in this section because the teacher is very excited when I show up. I start off with the beginners and when the teacher finds that I already know the basics he starts showing me and difficult knots. I especially have trouble with the Palomar Knot. While I'm fidgeting with it District 1 male comes over.
MARVEL POV:
I come in beside her and start my session. Since I'm from District 1 I don't know much about rope tying— when I was back home I did more of the sawing and screwing type of thing— so I started with beginners session. After about five minutes of figure out the Reef Knot, I find myself struggling with the Clove Hitch. But finally...
"Yes!" I get it right. As I proudly gaze at my accomplishment it slowly undoes before my eyes and then the rope pops completely off the practice pole.
"Noooooo! Dang it." I cry out.
Suddenly I hear a gigantic burst of laughter from my right side. I turn to see the District 12 girl leaning over her table gasping between laughs. Her laughs are not the girly little giggles girls usually do to avoid looking crazy. She laughs completely and utterly out loud. It fills the air. She looks so ridicules, so amused, so high… that I can't help but join in. Soon enough, the teacher joins in and our session is suddenly the most enlivening in the entire building.
KURF POV:
Cato and I are at the archery station when I hear a loud, continued laugh that booms through the large building. I miss the heart of the dummy by a mile. I wouldn't have gotten it anyway. Cato elbows me and points his finger directly behind us. I turn and am surprised to see District 12 and Marvel doubled over on the ground laughing and gasping for air. I am even more surprised when I see the trainer laughing uncontrollably as well.
"The kid did it." I say to Cato but keeping my eyes glued on the two noisy scrunched up bodies on the ground.
"Yep." Cato is chuckle quietly and shaking his head. "He got her to trust him."
MARVEL POV:
Finally, after what seems like ages, the laughter dies down and the gymnasium goes back to the standard hushed small talk and rhythmic thumps of knives, arrows, spears, hatchets, and who knows what else striking their targets. Wow. Such a sad excuse for standard. But it seems a bit too quiet after the recent flare-up. I try to make some polite conversion.
"So, District 12, what is your favorite part of this adventure so far?" Stupid. I sounded like a freaky interviewer.
"I've got name! And how could you call these warped games an adventure?" I am surprised at her sudden outburst. She went from an outgoing, amusing girl into, well, kind of hardcore. She stands there intently looking at me waiting for an answer.
"Well, um… er… I didn't mean like, an adventure, like, in a good way. I meant, um... in a bad way. A bad adventure!" Stupid. Stupid. Oh god. A bad adventure? So stupid. She just shakes her head at me. Her face completely void of emotion. I mean, no anger, no confusion, no disgust. Just nothing. Then she turns around and walks away.
KATNISS POV:
What? Irritation fills me. Irritation that I feel way more than two pairs of eyes on me. Irritation that I have no idea what Marvel just said. Irritation that I actually was laughing like some wasted drunk like Haymitch. Why did I do that? For a moment I think I started… trusting him. The thought brings shivers up and down my spine. I can never let anyone sneak their way into my unyielding shell again. Not including Gale and Prim of course. I don't notice that I've been involuntarily walking to the archery station until I walk straight into District 4 male in mid-shoot.
KURF POV:
"Whoa!" I also hear a girl scream as I get knocked down. I can tell the girl has a hunters reflexes because she quickly pulls me under her to break the fall. Great, I've been training for a day and I have already been used as a throw pillow.
When I recover from the shock and my vision clears I see who used me. I should've known. It's 12.
She quickly, and I mean really quickly, rolls off me mumbling a few apologies.
When we are both standing I properly greet District 12.
"Hello madam." I do my best sophisticated look and even a bow. When she doesn't laugh or show any emotion at all, really, I drop the act.
"I suppose you're gonna join us at the archery station?"
KATNISS POV:
I know if I did then I would have been going against the only useful advice Haymitch has even given us but…
"Sure."
I had to let my anger out somehow. Mostly anger directed towards the Capital for putting putting me and trying to put my sweet, little sister in this hellhole. I'm surprised steam wasn't coming out of my ears.
I pick out a slender wooden bow with a narrow, engraved dragon crawling up the length of the bow, its tail spiraling at the recurve. The bow is extremely flexible, strong, and best of all, surprisingly very lightweight. The wood chosen was one from the yew tree. It was obviously taken from a very young part of the tree. The string is made of durable rawhide and the arrows are wooden with feathers at the end to balance it. The familiarity of the feel brings me back home. I take my open stance. Feet shoulder width apart.
KURF POV:
Cato and I watch as she controls the weapon with such warrior-like confidence that she resembles a born fighter. She aims. We are holding our breaths. She shoots. The arrow sets out straight through the heart of my dummy. That moment, when Cato and I locked eyes, we both knew that she did not only resemble a fighter… she was a fighter.
The trainer seemed to notice too because he took away the unused target practice boards that he had up for her and replaced them with a dummy. She took it out in a heartbeat. Several dummies. All straight through the hearts and necks. Every single tribute and trainer had stopped what they had been doing and was looking at her. At 12. But she didn't seem to notice. It was like she was in a whole different world. The trainer puts out 2 rows of dummies to keep her occupied and disappears into a closet at the corner of the gymnasium. He comes back just as she is taking out the last dummy. He rolls a pale green machine covered with a layer− a few layers of dust. Everyone is silent. He borrows two other trainers to help him take the machine off the platforms. The hulk of junk thuds as it hits the floor. The trainer takes a big bag of fake birds off of the rolling platform and puts every single one of them into a large pipe sticking out of one side of the machine. He tells everyone to stand back as he slowly flips up the ON/OFF switch.
The machine starts shooting out birds one at a time. Piece of cake for her. Slowly the amount of birds getting spitted out go from one to the maximum. A dozen at a time.
CATO POV:
All eyes are on 12. Even the gamemakers. The birds are pitched. She aims. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"She shot every one… and all straight through the eye." Glimmer says.
Marvel comes up behind Glimmer, "She's amazing."
Clove walks up beside Marvel and she speaks for all of us. "We need her."
"She trusts Marvel." Clove adds. The lunch bell rings.
XXX
KATNISS POV:
I smile proudly at my accomplishment for a second then hand in my equipment since the trainer obviously has nothing else for me to learn and practically skip to the cafeteria. I get some sweet bread buns, coconut shrimp, and some of kind fruity-tasting drink with little black, bead-shaped things on the bottom. I immediately walk to an empty table near the corner away from everyone. While eating, I hear two pairs of quiet footsteps coming towards me. When I see who the pairs belong to I start getting up to leave but notice that there is a career at every table surrounding me. I am forcefully pushed back down to my seat. Crap.
KURF POV:
I honestly feel sorrow for her. As her grey eyes go wide searching back and forth for an escape, she looks like a vulnerable, helpless puppy. I start regretting the plan of cornering her. Why didn't we just approach her like civilized people? Oh, ya. Because we are the big, bad careers.
"Hello, 12 that was quite a show you put on back there." Cato says.
"I did not do it to put on a show, '2.'"
"Your name?" I ask.
She mumbles her name. Katis? Catnip? 12 usually name the girls in the family by the titles of plants.
"Well, Catnip, my name is Kurf from Dis−" I don't get a chance to finish. Anger appears on her face and before I have time to react she takes my arm and twists it behind my back then pushes my face against the table, using her hand to hold my head down.
KATNISS POV:
That just pushed me over the edge. Words cannot explain the how furious I felt. The fury started controlling my actions and my speech.
"If you ever call me Catnip again I can assure you that you will be the first to die." Rage building. I take his arm and push it in until his shoulder will not give anymore. I was watching as Kurf holds in a yelp when someone pulls me back from behind.
"You're going to get in trouble!" A familiar male voice whispers. Marvel effortlessly picks me up and sets me down on a nearby table. When I try to charge again he holds me back and keeps me there while I calm down. Then he suddenly asks me about joining their alliance…
KURF POV:
"I'm guessing that wasn't her name." I say as Lilia helps me up.
"No, and her name is Katniss. And you would know that if you watched the reruns of the reapings." Lilia says.
"Careers aren't supposed to watch reapings." I say. It's like an unwritten rule.
"Well, I am not a career. I was not put through training year after year. I cannot throw a knife. I cannot handle a bow and arrow. I cannot tell the difference between poison oak and normal plants. I can't do… anything." Her eyes start getting glassy but she quickly turns her head and blinks them away. But, nonetheless, I saw those. I felt a strong pang of sympathy there because I know she is telling the truth. We used to go to school together and never, throughout all those middle and high school years have I seen her carry a weapon except in PE but even there, she failed miserably at everything she tried. She would get made fun of for her lack of skill, stealth, and accuracy. She couldn't even swim. I was never one of the people who teased but I didn't do anything when it happened. And that was a lot. I just laughed along like everyone else.
"I can teach you some archery if you'd like." I didn't even hear Katniss walk-up behind me.
"I tried but−" Lilia starts.
"Well, you needa try harder." Katniss says. Lilia looks a bit taken aback.
"Look, Lilia, I am not going to sit here and do nothing. You are my ally Cato is going to kill you if you get a bad score." Katniss and I both cringed at the word kill. Worry suddenly washed over me.
"K-Katniss is right, Lilia. Let her train you."
"You need training too, Kurf. I'm sorry, but you are horrible with a bow!" She says. Then, suddenly, she burst into laughs. She looked so high, so crazy; I couldn't help but join in. Lilia tries to keep her laughs to mere giggles but we looked too mirthful she was left with no choose.
MARVEL POV:
I look over expecting to see someone choking but only see three people doubled over on the floor laughing so hard they're crying. Tears are running down their faces and they are yelling things like: My stomach hurts! I can't breathe! Help me! I'm dying! etc.
LILIA POV:
Katniss is so incredible. I have known her for about a minute or two and she has offered to help me and someway managed to squeeze humor to our messed-up lives. She has already won my complete trust.
KURF POV:
Just earlier I was wondering what Katniss had said to Marvel just a few minutes ago to make him laugh so hard. Now I know why. Her happiness is contagious. The only thing absolutely horrible about her is that she is incredible. She made us all feel like a family. She made us care. And that is definitely something that you don't want to do here… because in the Hunger Games, we are all enemies.
KATNISS POV:
Kurf, Lilia, and Marvel are like family to me. Don't ask why; it feels like I've known them my entire life. I watch out for them. And honestly, at this point, I don't want to see any of them die nor do I think I can kill any of them.