Author's Notes: edited August 17, 2018


Chapter Nine – Training (Day 2; Part 1)


The moment that Prim and Peeta were stuck in the elevator, the former had already decided that she would go through with the entire charade her way. She ignored his apologetic looks and had resolved to ignore any of his attempts at any kind of apology too. She would prove to him that she was not weak. She would prove to him and her sister. She can stand on her own feet and fend for herself.

She stepped off of the elevator the moment the doors opened, and she made her way to the center of the room before taking a look around. She found the District One and District Four Careers already together, and she cautiously walked on over to them.

"Good morning," greeted Pan and Glimmer amicably, a gesture that Prim returned with a shy smile.

"We're just waiting for Two and then we'll start." Pan continued, "We'll be going through the stations as an entire group, so we'll be talking over the order in which we'll be doing things – more organized that way." She shrugged, and Prim had to wonder if the people before her didn't already know each other before the games. They were like well-oiled machines and they seemed so at ease with each other, despite the fact that they were going to end up killing the other at one point.

Glimmer, who was standing in front of Prim, smiled widely. "So Prim, you're a healer, right?" A nod from the younger girl prompted Glimmer to continue, "Where'd you learn?" The curiosity that shined in Glimmer's eyes was reflected in Pan's and Vox', while Marvel only rolled his eyes as he watched the other tributes that were excluded from their group.

"My mom was a healer." Prim replied. "She taught me some of the basics, and we usually treat the people at our district who couldn't afford going to the hospital." She flushed as Glimmer and Pan cooed over her, though Prim had the unsettling feeling that there was something else beneath the kindness that Glimmer portrayed. As a thought occurred to her, she opened her mouth to ask how they knew she was a healer when she saw someone in her peripheral vision stand by her side. She stiffened as the voice that was unmistakably Cato's rang in her ears.

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, she was being dragged away from the others, and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest as she wondered whether or not she should be fighting to get away. She sighed as she remembered Haymitch's words though. She would have to stick with his advice if she was going to prolong her life in the arena. While she understood that her chances of her winning were slim, she wasn't going down without a fight.

Cato stopped upon reaching the Archery Station. He pulled her closer to him, pressing her flush against his side. He could feel nearly every curve of her body against his, and he smirked. "Have you ever tried this, my Rose?" He asked her curiously, seriously doubting that she did. However, this was the games, and he understood that looks can be deceiving – especially if you looked half as beautiful as his Rose.

As Prim was pressed against him, a flashback of the previous night ran through her mind like a movie, and she couldn't help the way the blood rushed to her cheeks and how every hair on her body – that hadn't been removed by her prep team – stood on edge. When she was asked though, she had to wonder whether or not to tell the truth. She nibbled on her lower lip, her eyes resting on the different bows and arrows that were available to them.

"I've never killed before," breathed Prim subconsciously. It was the truth. As a healer, you were preoccupied with saving people's lives and helping them live. Death was never in Prim's agenda, and she only hoped that she would be killed in the arena before she ever had to take a life. For as high as she may make others think of her – with her skills and all – she was still but a girl. A little girl who can only heal and try to soothe people – she never once pictured herself taking a life.

Cato smirked and looked back, unsurprised to find that the rest of the members of The Alliance were already there. Having already worked with them yesterday, Cato understood who was good with which weapon. He met Glimmer's gaze and nodded towards the bull's eye in the distance.

"Why don't you work with Glimmer and see how that works out then?" He watched as Glimmer's eyes turned cold. She didn't like having to tutor someone. He could see the gears turning in her mind. She was fuming, angered at the fact that she was being ordered to teach some girl how to shoot properly. Knowing that her death – for really, who could stand a chance against the mighty Cato? – was at stake, she sighed, plastered a smile on her face, and hopped on over to Prim.

Cato backed away, leaving Prim in Glimmer's capable hands for the moment. He walked on over to the others, not once liking the way Marvel's eyes darted from his Rose to Clove. He made a show of standing by Clove and crossing his arms over his chest. There was something he couldn't comprehend in the District One male tribute's eyes, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Marvel, Vox," said he clearly, earning the attention of the two men. "You two work on your weapons." He turned to Clove and Pan, "You will be working with your weapons too. But in addition, you will be working with Rose." He frowned. "We don't need deadweight on our Alliance. Make it so that she can wield at least one weapon before the day is over." They all departed for their respective stations, leaving Cato with Clove.

Clove's smugness did not waver from the moment that they had left their floor. "If I hadn't known any better, I'd say you want her to survive." She said, brushing past him on her way to the knife throwing station. The way that Cato tensed only served to add to her amusement, and she understood that there was a possibility either Marvel or someone else from The Alliance may have caught on to some of her thoughts. She frowned. She needed to work on masking her emotions if she was going to stand a chance in the games. She took a knife, letting her gaze wander over to where Prim was, watching as Glimmer leaned close and seemed to be dishing out actual pointers. With a smile, Clove turned her attention back to the various targets before letting go of her weapon.


Shink!

The sound of the steel arrow grazing one of the steel panels made Prim wince. Just to prove what she already knew, she was hopeless when it came to archery. The closest she came to hitting the center of the target was the second to the largest circle, which would have been fine if it was intentional. But as she and Glimmer discovered, she couldn't pull it off for another time.

With an aggravated groan, Glimmer placed a hand on the top of Prim's head, making the younger girl feel extremely younger than she was. "Maybe another weapon is more for your form, Prim." She said with a small smile. Something in the girl's green orbs made Prim doubt the 'good friend' act that Glimmer was playing. She supposed it wasn't any of her business though, as she left the station. She looked around and found that all of the Careers seemed to be in their own stations.

Clove at knife throwing, Pan and Marvel at spear wielding, Glimmer in archery, and Vox and Cato at sword wielding.

Unsure of where to head to next, Prim settled for going to who was closest – Clove. This would be the hard bit, Prim knew. They were unaware that she had some experience at knife throwing, and she couldn't really control it as well as Clove could, and so she only prayed that she did not use up all of her skills. She scrunched up her nose in thought as she watched one target after another light up, and Clove hit them in the heart nearly every time. Her eyes widened as Clove finished, it seemed as if only one of the targets didn't have a knife sticking out of where its heart would've been. Instead of at the heart, the silver blade was sticking out of its head.

"Oh you're here," said Clove as she turned to find Prim. "Neat, huh?" She said, feeling proud of her accomplishment and Prim could only look at her in shock. Was this how the Careers were raised? To think of such things as mere child's play? The thought alone made Prim swallow the lump in her throat. Clove offered a hand to Prim, "Come on, I'll show you how it's done."

And so they went on that way, with Clove teaching Prim how to hold the knife properly to Prim giving a try. Out of the ten targets that lit, Prim had nailed five in the bull's eye, using only a part of the amount she usually used when she was gathering herbs. She thought it was understandable, seeing as the herbs were a lot thicker, and that the blade in her hand now was much sharper than the one at home – so even with just a fraction of her strength, she would still get good results.

"You're good." Clove's form did nothing to betray the suspicion that was raising in her mind. She was too good, and if any of the others found out – that is, assuming that they weren't watching Prim – then Clove understood that Prim would be one of the first to go once it was just them. If her suspicions were correct, then perhaps helping prolong Prim's life would be a good thing. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?" She asked jokingly.

Shooting her a polite smile and a slightly forced nod, Prim said, "I've held knives to work with herbs, but throwing them is…" She paused to think of her next word, "Different." Lying had never been her strong suit, because until that moment, there had been no reason for it. She only prayed that Clove was not some sort of lie-detecting person who can figure out whether or not she was being honest.

"Well, you've got talent then." Clove nodded, appeased by her answer. "You should consider showing that when you're up for your Private Session." With that, Clove returned to practicing by herself, leaving Prim to consider where she would go next.

From a distance, Cato had just finished sparring with one of Peacekeepers, and had drawn his attention to his Rose. He watched as she looked around, seemingly lost and confused as to where to go. He opened his mouth and was just about to move to get her when someone else caught her attention first. His eyes narrowed as he watched Marvel take a step back to give his Rose space to reach Pan. He didn't like the stare that Marvel was giving his Rose, and he made a mental note to himself to make sure to tell Marvel about it when he had the chance.

He hadn't realized that he had been staring for so long until Vox had come up beside him. The District Four tribute slyly tried to pry of the sword in Cato's hand, which resulted in Cato pushing him up against the wall with the blade by his neck.

"You think you can one-up me, four?" He seethed, eyes flashing dangerously. Cato didn't want anyone to doubt that he was the force to be reckoned with. With Clove's horrible implications and his own failure last night, he needed to prove to himself and everyone around him that he was no softy. He was brutal bloody Cato, and he wanted to make sure that they knew that. Not even The Alliance was safe from him.

Prim's head turned as a commotion was heard, and her gasp was echoed by none as she watched Cato nearly kill a member of The Alliance. She took a step back without noticing it, and she found herself stepping on someone's foot by accident. Flustered, she spun around to find that it was Marvel looking at her with that unreadable look on his face once more. Goosebumps ran down her spine as she backed away.

"I-I'm s-sorry." She stammered, trying to even out her breathing. She could hear the Peacekeepers' footsteps as they walked over to the two Careers and pried them off of each other. Closing her eyes, Prim placed a hand over her heart to calm it – and herself – down.

"It's fine," said Pan, a pleasant smile on her face. The smile revealed her dimpled cheeks, and Prim couldn't help but think her pretty. "Right Marvel?" She asked, and earned a nod from the quiet boy. She then waved Prim over. "So Prim, have you ever tried using spears?" She asked conversationally, as if using spears as a weapon to kill was a normal occurrence for everyone. And Prim supposed that for the Careers, it was. They were raised with the mindset of a brutal and coldblooded killer – someone who wouldn't bat an eye at killing.

And just like with Archery, Prim, Pan, and Marvel found that Prim had no future in wielding a spear. She could throw it alright, but could never hit within the designated spot of her targets. The best result that she had was when she hit one in the head, and only because it was standing right in front of her within a radius of six feet.

She was just about to try once more when everyone was called to Lunch. Prim had to do a double take as she remembered lunch from the day before. She would have to sit by Peeta, and she couldn't really handle being around him more than she had to. She only hoped that he didn't try to talk to her while they had their meal.

"What if he tries to force you again and you aren't so fortunate this time? You're still young, Prim. You're small, a girl, and you're so – so – so stupid! And you're weak."

Stupid and weak.

That's what he thought of her.

She was by no means a genius, but she wasn't entirely clueless either. She knew from the beginning that regaining her mother from her depression would be hard. Unlike her sister though, Prim was an optimist, and so did everything she could to keep her mother going and tried her best to pull her out of it. And perhaps she didn't go around yelling that she wasn't some small inexperienced child, but it hadn't exactly crossed her mind that anyone actually thought she was unintelligent!

It had hurt a lot to be called such hurtful words by someone you trusted. Perhaps she had been wrong to put Peeta on a pedestal and think that maybe, just maybe, he was unlike everyone else. That he would see her as more than a little girl from the Seam in District Twelve who lost her father and couldn't do anything without her sister and mother. She had gained this warped vision of him thinking of her as an equal…as a friend. But she had been wrong. She could see all his actions for what it was now. She may have been young, but she had to grow up fast because of circumstance, and that was something Peeta may never understand.

Katniss was not the only one burdened when their father died. While she was out hunting with Gale, Prim had to be at home worrying about her, caring for their mother, studying, and trying to help out those in the Seam who came for treatment. And if she was at school, she would be trying to balance school with keeping her mind from wandering to her mother, her deceased father, the patients she could be helping, and having a somewhat normal life by befriending other kids her age.

At one point, Prim had envied Katniss. Her older sister had Gale to share everything with. And while Prim supposed that there was Rory, they were both busy fussing over their own families. She had to make sure her mother hadn't wondered off, and he had to be there to care for his younger siblings while Gale and his mother worked. But Prim didn't hold a grudge against Katniss. She couldn't fault her sister for having at least some sort of leeway when it came to their problems. It was good to know that someone was looking out for Katniss other than Prim and herself.

Prim watched as everyone filed in, and she caught Peeta's eyes briefly before she looked away. She didn't want to see him, much less speak to him. She wasn't always one to hold a grudge, but she also wasn't one to easily trust in someone. Even when her mother had began to show signs of recovery, Prim remained on edge, though she made sure not to let Katniss in on it. It was better to have Katniss thinking that she was still very much dependent on her mother, and hadn't had thoughts of taking the healing practice into her own hands. Her older sister had enough on her plate, after all.

"We should go," said someone beside Prim, and she turned to find that it was a young girl with brown skin and eyes the color of hot chocolate. Her curly hair was pulled back by a seemingly complicated type of braid work, and it took a while for Prim to remember that she had yet to reply. She looked around first, unsure of whether or not it was alright for her to be talking and associating herself with someone else. She got her answer as Cato's tall person cast a shadow over Rue.

"You shouldn't have kept us waiting, Rose." Cato said, taking Prim's arm and pulling, not waiting for her to even utter a single syllable. Prim sent Rue an apologetic smile as she mouthed an apology, and she was glad when Rue gave her a tightlipped smile and a nod of understanding.

When they were halfway to the door, Prim tugged at the arm that Cato was holding. His grip on her was firm and she knew that she would earn another bruise from it. When he didn't give in, she tried again, which resulted in him turning around to face her, his eyes narrowed and irritation radiating off of him in waves.

Cato couldn't understand why he was all over the place. He wasn't always that easy to rile up, and he didn't like it one bit. The brief stint earlier was another fluke, he reminded himself as he stared into his Rose's frightened eyes. He raised a hand to caress her cheek softly and took a calming breath in when she flinched away from his touch.

"You're mine, Rose. My own personal angel." He gave her a searing kiss, knowing that there was no one other than the Peacekeepers in the Training Room with them. When he pulled back, he saw that her eyes were just fluttering open, and he smirked. "Remember that, okay?" He then continued on, her arm still in his tight grip. "You'll be working with me for the rest of the day."

As they entered the lunch room, he bent down to whisper in her ear, "I want you to ignore Peeta. I don't know what happened and why you two aren't so buddy-buddy now, but I like it. And I want things to stay that way. So any attempt he makes, shoot it down." He stood straighter, a smirk on his lips. "The things we talked about last night are still in place, my Rose."

Prim nodded stiffly before making her way to her assigned seat.