The spear ripped through the mannequin's fabric like it was tissue paper. Lyssa turned to watch Elister Rutford wipe the sweat from his forehead, with a dangerous smirk on his face.

"Weak and clueless kids, huh?" the girl commented under her breath.

"Watch your knots" admonished Jendy, next to her. Lyssa obeyed.

It was the first day of training.

"Can I join you?" asked Helios, standing there.

"Do as you wish" replied Lyssa. The boy sat down and took a rope.

"It's scary, isn't it?" he said "Elister. Seventeen years old, powerful muscles, a good aim and moreover a certain bloodthirstiness.

"He wouldn't scare me even if he sprouted jaws two meters long and was able to formulate an intelligent sentence" said Jendy, arousing the giggles of the other two.

"You two have a lot of grit" said Helios "I guess you've been allies since the Reaping.

"Are you trying to join us?" Lyssa asked defensively "Or is it your survival tactic to flatter the other tributes to make them like you?/

The little boy looked at her with eyes that glittered.

"Am I that petty to you Trinket?" he asked in turn "Well, know that I'm not that kind of person. You're just a couple of chicks with your heads screwed on right " he pointed at Elister and three other guys with him "Do you think those guys will back down from killing us all out of nobility of spirit? They are children of perverse people and, as much as it goes against what I believe in, they are like their parents.

"And you?" asked Jendy "What will you do in the Arena?

Helios sighed.

"I've seen enough cruelty during this war. It might not be me next week" he answered "But I want to take a little shit from the people who put us here.

He grinned. Lyssa smiled too. A shadow overtook them: Clarisse sat several meters from them with a small knife, while she was sharpening it. Lyssa and Helios lowered their heads, but Jendy continued to watch her.

"Do you want to join us?/

Clarisse gasped then shook her head and left.

"Forget it" said Helios "she'll die for sure, she's not worth making friends with.

Jendy nodded, but continued to scan Clarisse Snow's figure with pity.

\\\\\

"I can't take it" mumbled Effie, avoiding the plate that Cinna handed her. They were in their special room, although it still looked like a prison: two metal chairs with handcuffs on the arms were placed in the middle of the room; there was an adjoining bathroom and a bunk bed leaning against the wall. Finally, a large screen, now turned off, attached to the wall in front of the chairs.

"Effie, please don't serve me dead-said the patient designer. Effie shook her head again and Cinna gave up. She stood up and placed her plate on a small table.

"If it's your special way of sucking yourself" he said pointing her finger at the ex-escort "know that I won't let you do it.

The friend shook her head again and turned her back on the designer, curling up in her bed.

"Do what you want" the man did "I'm going to see if they have any anti-depressant pills.

He went out. Effie shrugged her shoulders and stared at the ceiling. She heard the door open again.

"Didn't they have them?" she asked, sitting down but Haymitch was in front of her. He lay down again with his heart in his throat.

"Hey princess" said the former mentor "Peeta is desperate, you should talk to him.

Effie didn't answer. Haymitch walked over to the bed and sat down on the bottom bunk.

"I guess a sorry would sound mean" he continued, sighing.

"Sorry for what, Haymitch?" Effie asked sharply "for sending my granddaughter to her death? For locking me in a cell like a beast for slaughter? For the huge debacle you and your friends will be gloating over in a few days?

"Nobody's going to gloat" retorts Haymitch "do I look like the type? Katniss, Peeta, do they look like the type to gloat over a murder?

"Don't play dumb" said the woman "You think I don't know who voted "yes" to the Games?/

The other did not answer. Effie laughed without mirth, running a hand through her golden curls.

"Have you ever noticed, Haymitch, that the world doesn't revolve around you or Katniss? Around your complaints, your problems, as if the others didn't have any?

She sat back down and hid his face in his hands.

"There" she huffed "now I find myself talking bad about Katniss.

"You know, honey, I remember you being nicer" Haymitch said, getting up and looking the other in the eyes.

For the umpteenth time, Effie shook her head.

"The war has changed us all" she commented gloomily "Why are you here, Haymitch? You wanted to see how bad your former lover was?

"I'm here because I care about you" answered the man.

"Of course" commented the former escort "Go away.

"At your orders" Haymitch mumbled and left the room, leaving Effie in silent tears

\\\\\

Peeta wandered aimlessly through the halls of the presidential mansion. Annie had just finished a call with her baby and nanny and was now resting and Katniss was who knows where with her demons. The only person the boy felt he could reason with had self-enclosed in a silence full of pain and protest; but Peeta knew full well why Beetee was acting this way.

"Defendant Portia Kellaghen is charged with treason to the president and to Capitol City, thus sentenced to capital punishment.

Peeta's ears perked up. He turned to the door behind him and pushed open the doors. A large screen, the government kind, was broadcasting a replay of the execution of the boy's stylist. Cinna was standing in front of it. Peeta silently approached him. He saw the executioner raise his gun and pull his finger on the trigger. Cinna gasped. Portia's proud, glittering eyes faded away as the body slumped on the cold stone tiles of the main square.

"Were you there?" asked the designer after a long minute of silence. The boy looked at him with bright eyes then nodded.

"I was on the tribune of the president" he said swallowing. Cinna nodded in turn, wiping her eyes. But it was no use, tears soon ran down his face.

"She didn't have to die" he murmured "she hadn't chosen the revolution, she hadn't...-

He sniffled. Peeta felt suddenly understood: he hadn't been able to talk to anyone about the pain of Portia's death; not with his cellmates, not after Katniss and Haymitch who had always been his private club, not with Effie who had greeted him at the Capitol City station after a warm hug and then never saw him again.

"He was a special person" he said as he started to cry too. The two men embraced each other.

"I was going to lose Jendy too" sobbed the designer. Peeta shook his head.

"I won't allow it" he promised.

"You can't stop the Games Peeta" Cinna whispered.

"I won't let it" repeated the boy "I swear, Cinna.