Hey there. Boy I really am getting to it this week. This will be my third or fourth update now. I'm in such a Hunger Games mood. I bet it has nothing to do with the Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie. :P This little one-shot is not my original idea... I know: GASP! It's Shellbell0944's idea, and it will stay that way. It takes place from her story: 'Working Out' in chapter ten: Cornucopia. Loved her chapter, thought that Katniss would react differently. All you need to know is that, Peeta's been training with Haymitch and Katniss so that they are like the Careers for the 75th Annual hunger Games: Quarter Quell. They've been doing a variety of warm-ups and practices and this one was by far the most extravagant. I totally reccomend reading it if you haven't already. It's worth it.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I don't own the Cornucopia Training idea. It's a shame I wasn't smart enough too. I'm kidding I love Suzanne and Shellbell0944.

Today when we get to the Meadow where Peeta, Haymitch and I have been training (With major snare and trap help from Gale) I see that Peeta has set up a life size Cornucopia scene. "Peeta? Is this what I think it is?" I say in disbelief. Though it might look pretty in the meadow it's definitely not pretty in my meadow. I know the nightmares are going to be prominent in my sleep tonight.

How could he even think to bring the worst part of my life back to me, to my district, to my safe place? "Yes." He replies unsurely. "I thought we could sprint from the crates for our training today. The tent is going to be the Cornucopia, and we can put supplies in it and around it to practice getting to them." Peeta has set up twenty-four wooden crates in a large circle around a massive black tent which is full to the brim with our weights and fake weapons.

It's a good training tactic, but I'm mad that he thought to do this with Haymitch and I. There is no way I'm going to be able to make it through the day without breaking down. He knows this.

But as much as I hate to admit, it might be easier on us if we get ourselves in the mindset of the bloodbath before we're fighting in it. It's more of a mental exercise and test to see if who's ready or not for the brutal war than it is a physical one. This technically qualifies Peeta as a genius. And I hate him for it.

Before we try anything with the Cornucopia, I take off down our routinely jogging path. After an hour or so of jogging, weight lifting, and stretching, we forgo our tops. I'm not nude underneath of course. I'm wearing the black sports bra Cinna sent me when he found out we were training.

We're conspicuous to varying degrees. Haymitch's slight beer belly continues to protrude, while Peeta… and I'd be lying if I said he didn't look good. Occasionally I catch him glancing over at me, and I feel like he's hoping for the same attention.

Well I'm too mad at his ingenious-ness to repay the favor. And anyways, Gale wouldn't approve.

Halfway through our last set of lunges I notice Peeta's gaze snap over to the entrance to the meadow and I follow it until I see Gale walking over to us. Peeta's content attitude quickly disappears as Gale gets closer. Meaning, Peeta orders us to start our final pushups.

I ignore him to walk over to Gale.

I know Peeta will hate that I'm not doing my pushups but, I don't really care. My bra is definitely doing more than I want it to, to make up for my lack of pushups, that is. I meet Gale's eyes and blush when his eyes plunge downwards giving my body a full scan. I suddenly feel self-conscious, whereas I never have before with him. "Boy I'm glad you didn't dress like that while we hunted in the woods. I would have trapped myself." He whispers to me when he hugs me as 'hello'.

I laugh at the thought of Gale trapping himself. "It's a good thing I didn't own clothes like this back then, huh?" Gale makes a sound like he's not sure how to answer. I can tell he's fighting to keep looking at my eyes.

"What's going on?" He asks looking at the setup around the meadow.

"It's a Cornucopia." I tell him angrily. "Peeta's idea. Not mine."

"Of course." He says it like there's no other way. He jumps into another topic. "Two days in one week. Are you impressed?"

"I am. And not to mention very happy." I smile up at him. His gaze slips and I chuckle. "Do you want to do the countdown for us?"

Gale looks upset that he's been asked to do this. I understand. He already had no way to protect me in the Arena already and him doing this is- even if it's just for practice- sending me to my own demise, again. "Only for you."

We head over to where Peeta and Haymitch are getting ready for the trial when Gale looks at Peeta, smirks, snickers and then goes: "Did you know you were getting sunburnt?"

I try to stifle my laughter, but when Haymitch starts his laugh with his infamous guffaw I let it out like a damn broke. Gale joins in when he sees my enjoyment in Peeta's humiliation. Peeta huffs in frustration and forces his shirt onto his sweaty skin to avoid more burns. We each take a quick sip of water and then go to assigned crates. Haymitch informed us that we needed to try different strategies of getting together if we placed on different platforms.

Gale starts the countdown and Peeta and I practice waiting and then sprinting towards our Cornucopia and grabbing one or two weapons. We work out different scenarios: working as a team to gather supplies and flee, splitting up and using our strengths to get the supplies and take down the occasional ghost tribute, trying to get weapons and only manage to kill both tributes from 1 and 2… every other combination all four of us can think of. Haymitch ops out because he claims he will definitely be mentoring us this year. AKA the Capitol and Snow won't see it any other way.

"Peeta, this doesn't feel real." I say to Peeta before Gale starts the hundredth countdown. Peeta asks for elaboration. "The Bloodbath is a mind game as much as it tests physical ability."

"So am I supposed to gather twenty-two other people to come here and act as tributes for the sake of our benefit?" Peeta asked me, voice lining on sarcastic and sincerity.

I begin to wish I didn't bring anything up. Having this begin to feel real isn't something I want to experience right now. And I definitely don't want Gale involved in it then.

"You can go ask Gale's siblings and Prim to come and join us if it will help." Peeta suggests.

I open my mouth in shock. Nothing escapes from it but a loud, high pitch whimper. "I will never allow Prim or any of my children to be involved in the Games. Never! Not if I can help it. How dare you even think of something as horrid as that? I couldn't believe you earlier today when I saw this here, and I can't believe you now."

"Katniss, I'm sorry." Peeta says quickly trying to get his apology in before she continues speaking. "We won't do that. But you need to practice with people, no matter if you like it or not, you're going back in the Arena and you need to have the mindset of a Career, not a scared Tribute. This is for you. I'm just thinking of you! I'm sorry."

I cannot believe him. I turn around and sit on my crate facing away from him. It takes me a little while, but I know he's right. And he's being selfless. "Alright, fine. But the Hawthorne's and Prim stay out of it."

"If people won't volunteer on Reaping Day, why would they volunteer for this?" Gale asks. But a second later he shakes his head and walks over to me. "Alright Catnip, let's get going."

I throw my shirt on and take his hand. "Where should we start?" I ask as we start towards the Seam.

He smiles. "My friends."

Gale and I amazingly return with Thom, Bristel, Rooba's twenty-four year old son, Patrick, and all of Gale's other pals from school: Nigel, Chad, Auesten, Graham, Grover, Vincent and a few others that overheard and surprisingly did volunteer.

When we return to the meadow with all the boys chatting happily behind us, Haymitch, I observe is digging through my lunch bag. "While I was waiting, I ate your apple." He says unapologetically. I scowl at him and stalk over to Peeta.

"Peeta? What did you bring?"

"I bought some more supplies. Backpacks, rope, sleeping bags, food…" I gape at the level of seriousness Peeta is putting into this. I nod mutely and tell Gale to describe what we're doing today. He thanks them for coming and asks them to each choose their own pedestal.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I think to myself. It's crazy and cruel to do it in the Capitol and Arena, it's inhumane to do it with your own neighbors in your own backyard. Everyone looks ambivalent about doing this scene with us as they choose their crates. Gale trots over to me and takes the platform next to mine. I smile and reach for his hand. He extends his and we pretend to hold hands.

My heart starts beating faster as Haymitch begins to count from a megaphone. Reality starts to fade away and I begin to feel like I'm under the dome again, I glance at Gale who's next to me and beg for him to stay safe. He looks at me and gives me a thumbs up. He'll be okay. I focus on the bow near the mouth of our Cornucopia.

This is preposterous, that we're doing this. Are the other people scared like I am? No. They haven't experienced it like I have. That's good. Wait. Except Peeta. "Three… Two… One." I jump off my pedestal and run to the weapons. I pick up a backpack on the way and keep running towards the Cornucopia when I see a disturbing sight.

I drop my backpack and run over to Thom being tackled by Nigel. "Get off of him." I screech. I pry Nigel off of Thom and punch him in the gut. "Run Thom, go, go, go! Run!"

"Stop! Reset!" Peeta calls out calmly. I look around and see that everyone is staring at me. That including Haymitch, Gale and Peeta.

"What? Why? What did I do?" I ask accusingly.

"A) you dropped your supplies. B) You went to go help another tribute. That ensures yours and my death in the Arena."

I glare daggers at him. "At least I'm being humane." I mutter. Thom gives me a hug.

"I'm so sorry Katniss." I shake my head and tell him its fine. Everyone puts back their weapons and goes back to their spots.

"Three… Two… One." I dash towards the backpack again but see Patrick grappling for a knife against a boy whose name I don't know. I sneak up on the boy and tackle him to the ground.

"Stay. You're dead." I whisper threateningly in his ear. He obliges. I give Patrick a high five.

"Stop! Reset!" I glance around. People are shaking their heads at me.

"Aw come on! What now?" I ask Peeta impatiently.

"Was he an ally?" I shake my head. "Then no high fives."

I scowl and go over to Gale. "This is hard." I admit to him. He pats my back.

"No one is going to get hurt, okay." He tells me.

"Okay. Just stay safe." He laughs and promises me that he won't get hurt.

"Three… Two… One." This time everyone is beginning to enjoy the thrill of it. Each time I become more distracted by their eagerness. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. I feel so betrayed by my district. Do they even know what they're doing right now?

Soon after we've done this a few more times, each time me doing something 'wrong', people start trying to tackle Peeta and I first. Though it's horrible, it gives us a chance to practice our hand to hand combat. We grapple, we wrestle, we fake injure the other 'tributes' and manage it of there alive… most of the time. More and more we start to see playing pretend dead and more battling. It's starting to look more real to me.

"Come on Katniss, loosen up." Haymitch yells to me from the side. I probably should. Everyone else is starting to laugh and be more energetic. So I try.

And I succeed.

Everyone's spirits seem to be high now.

"Three… Two… One." This time I don't see him coming but Gale has somehow found his way to me and tackles me to the ground. He pins me with a foam knife to my throat.

"Yield." Gale commands, but I shake my head. He lowers his face to mine; our lips were a mere inch away from the others. "Yield." He says again. I shake my head and smile. His lips touch mine briefly.

"Stop! Reset!" Peeta yells loudly, obviously a few feet away from us. Gale jumps, as did I and helps me up.

"What now?" I ask Peeta in frustration.

"That's no way that's plausible Katniss." He says. "In fact, let's all change positions." He instructs our group. We all move except for Peeta and I because that is how it will be in the Games. Gale and I exchange a longing look before the next countdown. He's now the furthest away from me. And everybody was watching what happened.

Why did Peeta have to take away the happiness I had inside of me today? I was already against the idea of this mock Cornucopia, and Peeta just diminished my ray of sunshine inside this dark period in my life. Damn him.

I sit down on my pedestal while Haymitch's gong rings out. Gale comes beside me and takes my face in his hand. "I'm sorry." He says sweetly.

I take this opportunity to jump back into action. I pounce on him and hold him down with all the body weight I can muster. "Yield." I demand.

"Of course." He groans. And we waste no time in kissing each other fiercely. He turns us over so he's on top, and I'm completely okay with this until we start up another momentum which has us each switching pretty rapidly. Never once do our mouths break off until we hear multiple gasps.

"I thought he was tackling you." Peeta says out of breath like he just ran over when he saw us from across the field at the other end of the circle of pedestals. "I came to help."

I guess it could have looked like wrestling. Me and Gale stare at each other and laugh. We untangle ourselves and brush the dirt off our clothes. Close to ten people are staring at us. Some happy and some confused.

"No he wasn't." I clarify. "I don't need help."

"I wasn't." Gale adds as if it's necessary. "She's got all the help she needs."

"I see." Peeta said sadly. "Well I think we practiced enough for one day. Thank you everyone who came over here to help us." He announces to everyone. "We would like to thank you by giving out any of the food that was used here today."

This is why I could forgive Peeta so easily when he had upset me. He was selfless and doing things for the greater good. I knew that when he won the Games this time around he would use his heart for the people of Panem. It would be to a greater scale than this, and it would make a huge difference. That made his mistake a lot easier to forgive.

When were all walking back towards town, Gale and I split off so I can drop him at his house. "It would be better if he were easier to hate." He admits.

"Tell me about it." I say. "If I could've just hated him in the Arena, we all wouldn't be in this mess now. He'd be dead and I'd be a happy, little victor all by myself."

He looks at me briefly and lowers his head. 'You wouldn't be happy.' He says wordlessly.

'No, you're right. I'd hate myself forever if I didn't try to bring him home.' I 'say' back.

We walk side by side without saying anything for a few minutes. "Where would we be Katniss?" Gale asks me suddenly.

I pause, not knowing what to say. Where would I be with my pretend cousin who wouldn't be my cousin if it weren't for Peeta? 'Would you still have kissed me?' My eyes question him.

'Would you have kissed me back, Catnip?'

'Possibly.'

He smiles.

'Would I have let myself open up to you?' I ask myself more than him, although he seems to sense my lingering question.

'You were starting to. I saw your eyes dart to the hills after you volunteered. You were thinking about running with me. You wished you had then. You still wish you could.'

I look away because I know how right he is.

'Katniss, where would we be if Peeta wasn't a part of your life?' His eyes long for the answer.

I break our silent conversation. "Hunting. Like every Sunday." I say to him. This is as much as I can honestly give him right now.

'That's all?' His eyes ask.

'You know I chose you over Peeta. What's the point in discussing this?'

'Because I love you.' His eyes say. He realizes how far in we've gotten ourselves and I can tell he didn't mean for that to come across to me because he turns his face away from mine. I turn my face away from his too because it hurts too much to let him know that I love him when I know that I won't ever be able to return it back to him.

And I come back around to that point where I'm mad at Peeta again for his stupid idea of the Cornucopia, which was brilliant, but still lead Gale and I to this destructive conversation. How come every time we share our feelings something Peeta did or said kills the mood and makes Gale hate me even more.

Sure I would hate it if I didn't come home with Peeta on my back as co-Victor, but this…. This mess between Gale and I isn't worth it. I hope that by eliminating myself from the Games mid-way will make things easier for everyone. Especially Gale. Because maybe then, he'll know how much I love him.

'I love you Gale.' I turn towards him.

But he's already inside his house, door completely shut.

Well? What did you think? Meet Shellbell0944's standards? Was it in character? Review, review. Go on, get to it. Thanks Shellbell0944 for letting me do this. I owe you one. :)