Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters used in this story...but I wish I did. Don't we all.
I wake up early in the morning. The sun is barely rising over the city. I decide to take a shower since I'm already up. When I'm done, I change and go to sit on the bed to wait for Effie's call. I'm trying really hard not to think of home so I think about today. It's training day. We will have three training days for us to get ready and acquire some skills that will be useful during the Games. It's also important because it will help us for the sessions with the Game makers. The session is for us to show them our strong points and they will give us a score which can determine the amount of sponsors we collect. I think about what I told Gale yesterday, about me being useless and know that it's true. I have no skills other than playing the piano. But I will try. I really am, for the promise I made…
My thoughts are interrupted by the knock at the door, well several knocks. "Wake up Madge. Today's going to be a big, big, big day!"
It sure is, I think. "I'm going," I yell back, but smile to myself. I'm starting to be fond of Effie somehow; it's kind of weird how her perky character lifts my spirits. I shake my head to clear my thoughts as I put on some slippers and head to the dining room.
When I enter I find the room empty, except for Effie and the attendants. I sit down and I'm immediately served a huge platter of eggs, bacon, sausages and many other delicates. We are being stuffed with food like cows before slaughter.
"I'm going to go wake up Gale," Effie tells me, "And see if Haymitch will be so kind to please us with his presence." She walks out leaving me to eat. I'm grateful that at least she is making an effort to help us unlike Haymitch, who we have rarely see and who hasn't told us anything useful at all so far.
I decide not to eat too much since I'm going to be training and really hard. I take only tiny bits of everything and wait for the others to arrive. After a few minutes Gale comes in. He's wearing a normal V-neck t-shirt and gray pants. Now that I notice, his appearance has changed a lot from when we were home. His face is much clearer and his black hair looks glossy and smooth. Of course even back home he was handsome no matter what he looked like.
"Good morning," he tells me with a smile. Well, he's in a good mood today.
"Morning," I say, "Where's everyone else?" I noticed neither Effie nor Haymitch had come behind him.
"Oh, Effie went looking for Haymitch. She told me to come and eat," he says unconcerned by the situation and sits down.
He sees me frowning and asks, "What?"
"We need Haymitch," I say, "I know you don't like him and believe me neither do I, but once inside the arena he's the only one that will be able to send us help."
"I know. Still, I wish we had someone better that that drunken dick," he says smiling. I try to keep a straight face but fail, giving a small chuckle.
"Do you mind if I ask you something about Haymitch?" he says, his face turning serious all of a sudden.
"What about?" I ask. I barely even met Haymitch, much less know about him. Mom doesn't like to talk about aunt Maysilee so she never says anything about him either; although I have the feeling she appreciates him for helping her in the arena.
"Well, I was thinking back when we were in the train and he said you reminded him of someone. When you said your aunts name, he sort of froze and I was wondering why?" he says, his eyes fixed intently on me.
"Oh," I say, because really what can I tell him? Or can I even tell him? Can I tell him how they were allies in the Quell but she ended up dying and Haymitch coming home? I mean, it's the truth but it hurts to talk about it with anyone, even my parents. I could tell Haymitch didn't like to talk about it either because of his reaction, and it's perfectly understandable. I could see the pain it still caused him by the haunted look in his eyes.
Gale is waiting for my response and I'm trying to think of a way to tell him, when Effie comes in followed by a hung-over Haymitch.
"Well, isn't this nice. Since we are all here let's eat and then you can talk strategy," Effie tells us and they sit down.
We fill up our bellies until we are all satisfied, even Haymitch. He seems a little distracted but he's as sober as I've ever seen him. When he is done, he pushed his plate away and says, "Okay, so today is training. First I want to ask or mostly have to ask, if you want to be coached separately."
Gale and I exchange glances and he says, "Together is fine. Besides, we've decided to be allies."
"Well isn't that nice," Haymitch says in a sarcastic voice. We just stared at him with annoyed looks so he goes on. "Okay, now what skills do you have that could help you in the arena?" he says and grabs a glass of wine taking a small drink.
So much for being sober, I think. I look at Gale and nod for him to begin, since I have nothing to say on this subject. He frowns at me but says, "I can use a bow and arrow and set up snares."
"Good. The snares will be useful for catching food and the bow… well I can't guarantee there will be some in the arena. We can only hope. What about you blondie?" he says looking at me. His stupid nicknames are really frustrating me.
"I can't do anything other than playing the piano, sorry. You might as well give up on me if you want," I say not really caring if he insults me about it.
Gale starts to say something but Haymitch cuts him off. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm not going to do that and you better loose that I give-up attitude. You've already made me reduce my drinking so that comes with a price. I'm going to do my job right, and one of you will be coming out of the arena," he says with a serious face. "I owe it to Maysilee to at least try to get you out," he continues but looks away as he says this, wanting to hide his face from us.
"I told Madge we should find a weapon she's able to handle in training, that way she won't be as defenseless in case there's a need," Gale tells Haymitch, who turns back at him and his eyes flicker to me for a moment before looking back at him.
"Okay. Just make sure not to show how good your skills are," he says, "Oh and you should stick together in training." He has on a serious face so we both nod. "Now, head back to you rooms. Training is at ten."
We get up and as we are heading out Haymitch catches my arm, "No giving up okay?"
I look into his eyes and actually see concern in them. "Okay," I say and he releases me.
Gale and I go in silence to our rooms. I don't know what he makes of what Haymitch told me. He seems like he has something on his mind, but he doesn't voice his thoughts. Just as we get to our rooms he speaks up. "Haymitch is right, you know."
"Yeah, I know," I sigh and enter my room without looking back at him.
When I enter my room, I see an outfit laid out on my bed. Cinna must have sent it for me to wear to training. It's a long sleeved tunic, tight black pants and leather shoes. It's not really my taste, but I put it on and pull my hair back into a ponytail. When it's almost ten, Effie comes to get Gale and me. She leads us to the elevator that goes below ground level where the training rooms are at. It stops and as the doors open, we enter a huge gymnasium filled with weapons and obstacle courses.
When everyone arrives, Gale and I join the circle of tributes where the head trainer, Atala, explains the schedule and reads the list of stations. There are many stations with weapons, but there are also some earlier ones such as camouflage and knot-tying. I look around and for the first time, I really examine what kind of competition we are going to face. My heart sinks as I see the careers. All of them are almost twice as big as me. The boy from two catches me staring and I look away fast because I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks. My best chance is outlasting everyone else.
When Atala finishes everyone spreads and head into different directions. Gale turns to me and asks, "Where do you want to start?"
I look around and se the Careers have gone directly to the most dangerous and vicious looking weapons. Better avoid them, so I say, "Let's start easy and then we'll go try out some weapons."
He nods and we decide to go to the plants station first. For the rest of the day, we go from station to station making a great effort to learn something useful. The more skills we learn, the better.
On the second day of training, we mostly practice with weapons. My ability with a sword is really awful, but Gale isn't so bad with it. We head towards the knives and spears deciding the sword won't work for me. I'm pretty decent throwing knives, not as good as the girl form District 2 but still pretty good. I can throw the spear from a couple of feet but not for very long distances. I want to head over to the archery section, but Gale can't go with me because of Haymitch's orders not to show our best skills. I suggest we split up for just this once but he's doubtful.
"Are you sure?" he says and when I nod he says, "Okay. I'll be at the knot-tying station."
I noticed he particularly liked that station. Maybe it's because he's a wiz with snares as far as I've noticed. We part ways and I'm relieved to see none of the other tributes are here. The instructor shows me the basics first. He shows me how to hold the bow and how to load an arrow. I've always been curious to try because of the great ability Katniss had with it but I know it takes years of experience to get as good as she is. In my first attempt to hit the dummy I fail and send the arrow flying towards the right, but after a few tries I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I load another and surprisingly the arrow lands right of the forehead. Lucky shot, I think.
"Nice," I hear someone say behind me.
I turn and see the boy from District 2 towering over me. He has blond hair and blue eyes and through his shirt I notice his toned muscles. "Thanks," I say shyly and turn back.
"I'm Cato, District 2," he says walking to stand inform of me, somehow demanding my attention.
What's up with him? I think, but instead I say, "I'm Madge, District 12."
"Yeah, I know," he says, "You made quite an impact on the opening ceremonies." There's no jealousy in his voice but there's something there I can't quite get.
"Well, it was mostly due to our stylists," I say indifferently. I'm feeling a little uncomfortable by him and I have a feeling he wouldn't be someone I would like to have as an enemy.
"Yeah, but I bet that had sponsors lined up for you," he says, his eyes lighting up at the word sponsors and things click silently into place. "So I, well we, were thinking that it would benefit us to have you on our team," he continues.
I am taken aback by his words. Is he suggesting for me to join them? The Careers? I'm not quite sure I heard right. "Why?" I ask incredulous.
"Well, because of what I told you. You have sponsors, we have strength. Plus, you also made quite an impression on me," he says with a vicious smile and touches my check with his hand.
I flinch back suddenly revolted by him. "Don't touch me," I say in a strong voice.
"Oh, and with a character too," he says, "I like that." He reaches for my arm now and grasps it, clearly provoking me.
I jerk my arm away. "I said don't touch me," I say in an angry voice now. Who does he think he is?
"Didn't you hear her? She said not to touch her," says a voice behind me and I exhale in relief.
"Just talking man," Cato responds bringing his arms up as in defeat.
"Well, it didn't look that way," Gale says, his face set in hard mask.
"This is none of your business anyway dude," Cato shoots back and then turns to me, "So about the offer?"
"No, thanks," I say acidly. I don't want anything to do with him even if it means losing the Games. There are other ways of winning.
"Suit yourself," he says and as he walks away he turns to Gale, "You better watch out twelve, I'm going to be coming for you." He gives him another menacing smile then heads toward the swords station.
"Stupid dick," Gale says under his breath and turns to me, "You okay?"
"Yeah and thanks for saving me there," I say to him. "Sorry I made him angry, now he's going to be coming for you."
To my surprise Gale laughs. "It's cool. I'm going to enjoy killing that douchebag. He has to learn to respect other people," he says with a tight smile.
I shudder at his words. "Will it really be that easy for you?" I ask not trying to be rude but honestly curious.
"No, only him. The others…" he says and looks around the room, "Well, I don't know."
I nod understanding. I don't think I'm capable of killing anyone here. I just don't have neither the strength nor the will to do it. I look around the room and my eyes linger in the camouflage station where the little girl from eleven is at. "Hey, Gale," I say.
"Yeah?" he says looking at me although I'm still looking at the girl from eleven.
"I was thinking. I mean I know it's stupid, but…" I stop not knowing how to phrase the words.
He sees and follows my eyes that are on the little girl. "You want her as an ally don't you?" he asks with a small frown.
I nod saying, "I know it's crazy but I feel kind of protective of her. Haymitch would kills us though." I imagine his reaction when we tell him we decided to ally with a twelve year old girl from District 11.
"He might kill us, but we are already headed towards the arena, besides I don't think it's crazy. I've been thinking about it myself,'' he says as we gaze at her.
She looks so small and innocent, how could we not. "So, you're okay with it?" I ask looking at Gale with a hopeful smile.
"Yeah, I am," he says returning my smile, "Who cares what Haymitch says? It's our decision who we want as allies."
"So, should we go talk to her?" I ask looking back at her.
"I think we should. Come on," he says and we head over to the station.
When we get there it's just her and the instructor. She is painting a pattern of leaves and twigs on her arm, and it's so good her arm almost disappears behind the pattern. "That's cool," I say approaching her.
She looks up pausing in her design noticing us and says, "Thanks, I try." She seems a little nervous but continues on painting.
"I'm Madge by the way, District twelve and this is my district partner Gale," I say nodding to him and he gives her a nod. "What's your name?"
"Rue, District 11," she says with a small smile.
"Well, Rue, we were thinking that we need someone like you in our team," I say in a sweet voice, not wanting to intimidate her.
"You do?" she asks in a surprising voice yet excited too. Her eyes widen big and shiny, I can't help but smile at her.
"Yes," I say and nudge Gale to say something. He's letting me do all the talking.
"Absolutely," he says with a genuine smile, different from the others I've seen.
"So what do you say Rue? Want to be allies?" I say offering her my hand.
Her eyes flicker from me to Gale and back again, but then she smiles and takes my hand and says, "Allies."
A/N: Here is the next chapter guys. Hope you liked it, I think it's the longest one so far. It had some creepy Cato and sweet Rue; I couldn't leave her out of course. I think it was very important for her to be allies with them and you'll see how it plays out later in the arena scenes. I'm so excited to start writing them because I have tons of ideas for it and for the romance. Also, please let me know if there are any typos you found, thank you.
Thanks to the readers and for your comments! REVIEW!