Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? Here's the last of the original triple update plan. We are now at the last day of training folk! Then we get back to focusing on canon events and less on world building and character development…probably. Also, I just realized, for a book and movie called the Hunger Games, the actual Hunger Games don't occur until half way through. So…yeah. I'm really sorry if you're waiting for the Games to finally start but I'm actually enjoying my attempt at expanding on world building and character development. Hope you guys are too!
Like always, I enjoy comments, in fact I thrive off of positive comments and love constructive critique ones cause it shows an author that their readers are actually paying attention and enjoying their work.
Thanks for continuing to read this story! Virtual hugs and cuddles to y'all.
Disclaimer: I still do not own anything except any OC's that may come up, any world building that has not yet been officially stated by the books or the movies, and any plot points/structures that have not been used in the books or movies.
Warning: No beta, we die like Rue.
Chapter 13: You're Playing with Fire (Don't Get Burned)
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Val yawned as he ran through the motions of testing and purifying the various samples of water provided at the station.
"Late night?" Katniss asks, tone light yet somehow accusatory at the same time.
He stifles another yawn while glaring at her bright eyed, bushy tailed demeanor. "Look, I already apologized at least a hundred times for not grabbing you to join me and Clove during our "midnight rendezvous." Can you let it go already?"
"You only apologized 87 times and no, I won't," she replies plainly.
"You actually counted?" he asks, surprised.
"That's not the point and you know it," she snaps at him.
He sighs, putting down the bottle of iodine and cup of river water back down on the table before facing her. "I thought you liked Clove? You liked her enough to want to be friends," he calmly says while crossing his arms.
She puts her own iodine and water sample down onto the metal table. It makes a loud clatter that seems to echo throughout the training hall but doesn't draw anyone's attention. "Yeah, I would, if we were living in a world that wasn't separated by Districts where kids live in fear of being chosen for a death game because of a tyrannical government ruled by a rose obsessed overlord."
He rolls his eyes, too tired for her dramatics. "So then what's the problem?"
"My problem is that you are continually stacking the deck against yourself and it's going to get you killed," Katniss responds as she crosses her arms and glares. "I would greatly appreciate it if my older brother didn't die before, during, or immediately after the bloodbath."
"And how, dear sister, am I stacking the deck against myself?" he asks, tone flat. " If anything, I have a better chance at surviving than most of the tributes here."
Katniss doesn't even bother to word her answer. Instead she points to where the Careers have gathered by the hand to hand combat station to continue their intimidation tactics. Kai is glaring in their direction as he throws and pins down a red-faced Marvel. Once his eyes meet with Val's, he drags the thumb of the hand he isn't using to choke Marvel out, across his neck.
"He really seems to like using that gesture," Val comments, tone light and joking.
Katniss scowls. "Come on Val. Take this seriously."
He shrugs as his gaze roams until it meets with Clove's, who's bored out of her mind watching Kai flex his muscles at her with an almost drooling Glimmer standing beside. She gives a small wave that Val returns with a smile. Katniss slaps him harshly on the shoulder, drawing his attention back to her.
"See! This is why you're going to get yourself killed!" she says insistently.
He frowns. "Because Kai hates me and Clove is my friend?"
"Yes!" she shouts as she throws her hands up in the air in exasperation like she can't believe someone so smart and so able to read people like a book could be so stupid and oblivious.
"You do know this could work to my advantage right? Clove's my friend so she's not going to directly or indirectly cause my death. Kai hates me, but because of his arrogant Career mentality, he's more likely to draw the hunt out rather than kill me immediately because it won't feel like a victory," he calmly explains, returning his attention back to the water samples.
"It's like talking to a brick wall sometimes with you," she groans out.
"Pot meet kettle," he retorts.
She scowls and turns her attention back to the water samples as well. The argument ends there and an uncomfortable silence settles around them.
After a few moments, Val tentatively asks, "Wanna go back to the plant life station? See if we can't screw around with the poison ivy this time?"
For a moment, she doesn't respond and Val fears that he may have been put on her temporary shit list. Then, for a terrifying moment, she puts down her materials and turns to face him with a blank expression. Val pales as her eyes seem to glare daggers into his soul. Finally, after an almost heart attack, she smiles.
"Last one there's gotta toss the ivy," she laughs out as she starts booking it to the plant life station.
Val startles at the sudden change before quickly shaking it off. He rushes after her not wanting to be the poor sap suck on the other end of whatever scheme she's cooking. "Hey! That's cheating!"
Katniss merely looks over her shoulder to stick her tongue out at him much to his indignation. Their display draws the attention of the rest of the tributes. Many look at them in ire or jealousy, some even look at the two with longing and lost hope.
XXXXXX
Regardless, it's rather smooth sailing for the siblings for the rest of the day despite the little "hiccup" that occurred when one of the trainers accidentally got on the wrong end of the scheme Katniss had concocted with the poison ivy. The trainer had to be rushed to the medical ward and the two were given a stern talking to by the supervising trainer and then banned from the station for the rest of the day.
Afterwards, Val and Katniss hopped around to other survivalist stations such as the ones for traps, rope and knots, tracking, and shelter construction. Meanwhile, all round them, the Careers, barring Clove, split up and started messing around the other tributes. They must have realized that their original tactics of showcasing their killing abilities were no longer as intimidating.
The effects dulled by how some of the other tributes, mainly Val, Katniss, and Thresh, weren't taking any of the crap that they were dishing and it was encouraging. Like the other non-Career tributes were taking hope in the fact that if three tributes from the poorest Districts were able to stand up to the champions of the wealthier Districts then maybe they had a better chance at surviving than they first thought.
So now the Careers were taking the direct approach in their intimidation. They get up in other tributes faces in whichever stations they were at. They started interfering with their training in combat stations like spear and knives, making sure they were sparring partners in swords and hand to hand. They called out names, made threats, purposely tried to cause accidents that could result in minor bodily injury.
The siblings did their best to ignore it - Val because he decided to err on the side of caution after Katniss' outburst and Katniss because she's not as reckless or trigger happy as her brother believes her to be. It wasn't until the two decided to circle back to the fire station that shit started to go down.
XXXXX
Katniss jumps again as a spark flies up from the flint she was using. Val laughs to himself.
"Still jumping at sparks, girl on fire?" he teases.
Katniss moves to retort but stops when a hulking shadow that now looms over their crouched forms.
"Careful there, Everdeen. Wouldn't want you to get burned," Kai's voice sneers out from behind them.
The two turn and look at a snarling Kai who's trying desperately to assert his waning dominance by looming as much of his well-muscled but still non-bulky form as he physically can.
"I'm really starting to get tired of asking you which Everdeen you mean, dipshit," Katniss deadpans, her attitude all nonchalant as she rolls her eyes and returns her attention to her original task.
"What did you just call me?" Kai snarls, fuming and completely red in the face.
She sighs and puts down the flint. "And now you're hard of hearing too? Guess you Career folk really aren't all that," she taunts.
"Katniss," Val says sharply, giving her a look of warning as Kai's face slowly turns purple from rage and possible lack of oxygen. It's a warning he hopes she heeds because they do not need any trouble right now, especially not from Kai. All a confrontation with him would do now is enlarge the targets already on their backs.
He then spots the rest of the Career Pack making their way over to them. Noah and Amber seem more visibly hesitant to get involved with whatever shit Kai's trying to pull. Marvel actually looks annoyed by what's happening while Glimmer looks ready to jump in and defend Kai's nonexistent honor. Clove is the only one who is just as worried about the situation as he is. She's already making a beeline for Kai to try and run interference before he blows a fuse...or Katniss runs her mouth.
"Whatever, you're not even worth the trouble. All you do is talk, talk, talk like some kinda macho man with something to prove cause he's got such a small dick that he's clearly trying to overcompensate for it," Katniss scoffs, completely ignoring Val's warning.
"Katniss," Val hisses again in warning as metaphorical steam comes out of Kai's ears. He looks pleadingly at Clove, who quickens her pace. "Kai," Clove says, tone full of warning as well as she reaches out with a hand out to pull the fuming, purple faced Career away.
Unfortunately for Val and Clove, Katniss had to get one last jab in. "Whatever. It's not my fault this dumbass can't even take a hint. But that's probably because the only thing filling that empty head is his ego and even then it's just hot air."
"You little bitch! I'm gonna kill you!" Kati explodes, shoving Clove away with enough force to knock her down as he reaches out to grab a startled Katniss by the throat.
Val quickly intervenes. "Don't you dare touch my sister, you piece of shit!" he roars out as he pushes Kai hard to have him stumble back.
This only makes Kai madder. "You! You keep getting in my way just like Evans!" he shouts out, ready to Val down like a raging bull. "I'm gonna gut you just like that little shit was!"
"Kai! Wait!" Clove cries out, springing off the floor and grabbing his arm before he could do anything stupid.
"What!" he demands, pausing his charge to face her.
"You can't do anything stupid," she calmly says.
"And what would you propose I do?" he snaps at her.
Katniss whistles, impressed. "So the big, scary monkey does know how to use proper grammar."
"Not helping," Val hisses while Clove sends a sharp glare in her direction. She raises her hands up in surrender as Clove returns her attention to Kai.
"Why don't you challenge him to a spar instead? At the hand to hand station," she suggests, "It's legally allowed and you can even show off to any potential sponsors."
Kai calms down enough to go from raging bull to fuming human. "You. Me. Fight. Now," he grits out while jabbing Val in the chest with each word. He then turns away and stomps to the hand to hand station where a trainer wearily tapes his hands.
Val glares at Katniss who at least has the decency to look chastised. The two then get up and move towards the hand to hand station but Katniss is stopped by Glimmer who stands in her way.
"You aren't going anywhere, you little hooligan," she says haughtily, "I demand a match with you as well. You must pay for your insults against Kai."
"You his keeper or something, ya skank?" Katniss asks, ticked off by the prim and proper airhead before her.
"Hmph! I would expect nothing less from someone of such...low background as you," Glimmer says with her nose up in the air, looking down at Katniss like she's the dirt under her shoes. "In fact, why don't I allow you the opportunity to choose the station for our match. Just to give you a fighting chance."
"Oh, it's on," Katniss snarls, ready to pummel this little princess into next week. But she's stopped by Val who shakes his head at her, silently telling her 'No, she can't go around beating Careers up no matter how much she wants to.'
Before she can protest, he looks pointedly at the obstacle course that neither sibling had yet to attempt due to the set up being similar to their hunting paths back home. She smiles and looks back to Glimmer who still looks rather smugly at her.
"Alright then. Let's do the obstacle course since it's the only station I haven't done yet," Katniss responds with a devious expression that has a flicker of worry cross Glimmer's eyes.
Glimmer shakes it off and scoffs, "Very well then. I do hope you look forward to losing as I'm sure the only obstacle you've ever overcome was grubbing for charity like the low lives you are in your back water District."
She then whips around and stalks off to the start of the obstacle course which is set up nearby the hand to hand station. Katniss goes to follow but is stopped by Val gently grabbing her arm to hold her back.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asks her, brow furrowed with worry.
She smirks. "Don't worry bro. I got this."
"You didn't forget Haymitch's warning, did you?"
Katniss gently loosens his grip on her arm and takes a step back. "Don't worry Val. I got this."
She gives him a thumbs up before walking off with a pep in her step. Val sighs at his growing headache before reluctantly heading to where Kai impatiently paces on the mats.
The Career Pack is torn on which station they should go to and thus which Career they should be supporting. Clove heads off to the hand to hand station, presumably to support Kai but actually to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Marvel follows after Glimmer like a love sick puppy who's still hopeful its master will someday love it more than the other dog. Noah and Amber decide to make themselves scarce as their survival instincts scream at them that this entire situation will end terribly.
Val arrives at the station and offers his hands to be taped by the trainer. Kai stops pacing like a caged animal and snarls, "Finally. Thought you were gonna get cold feet and run off like the coward you are, Everdeen."
Val doesn't bother to dignify that with a response, silently testing the tape and stretching out his muscles as he keeps a close eye on his sister who's warming up next to Glimmer who's actually checking her nails and hair instead of warming up like she's supposed to.
Glimmer looks up from her nails and catches sight of Kai and Val on the mats. "Yoohoo! Kai! Make sure you watch me closely as I beat this lowly hooligan back down where she belongs!" she shouts out with a cheeky smile and a wave.
Val blinks in surprise at the display while Katniss twitches in annoyance. "Careful there sweetheart, cause if you don't, Imma knock you off that high horse of yours," she snarks at Glimmer who huffs and puffs at her.
Val looks to Kai as they move to stand six feet apart on the mats. He's scowling and looking pointedly away from Glimmer who's pouting at him as she and Katniss position themselves at the start line. Kai notices Val staring and snaps at him, "What the fuck are you looking at?"
"Just thought you'd be happy to have a good looking girl like Glimmer as your fan, since you seem to be such a "lady's man" after all." Val shrugs as he gets into a fighting stance. "But I guess you're just playing a role like everyone else is," he continues to say, making Kai twitch with indiscernible emotion at his observations, "I wonder how much of your bravado is real and how much stems from some anger towards this Cato guy you used to know."
"Mind your own goddamn business!" Kai shouts out as he lunges at Val with a fist aimed at his face.
Val dodges to the side just as the buzzer for the obstacle course sounds out. Katniss shoots off down the course with a speed that can only come from having to run after prey and from aggressive predators through rough terrain. Glimmer quickly shakes off the surprise that had overcome her and races after her with the calculated speed given through the vigorous training of the Academy. They dart off towards a metal section consisting of moving beams and rods that they dodge, duck, and jump over.
Kai and Val engage in a dance of punch and dodge where Kai continually tries to land a hit while Val continues to dance around him as he dodges each attempt.
"Stop being a coward and fight me!" Kai grunts out as his fist once again misses Val's face. He's starting to tire from the physical exertion but is still going strong.
"It's not cowardice to avoid getting hit, merely strategy in order to gauge my opponent and find a way to beat them in an efficient manner," Val pants out as he too tires from dodging Kai's high punch count. He's looking for a pattern, a weakness, something, and so far, he's got nothing...yet.
Kai roars as he jumps at him and misses, fist coming down with a loud smack against the mats. "You're just like that little shit, Evans. Running around like a coward and looking down on everyone with that smug face of his," he pants out.
Meanwhile, Katniss is jumping across metal disks floating in a pool with the ease of a rabbit with Glimmer managing to keep pace with her. The two jump out of the pool at the same time and race towards a section with water raining heavily down on mud slick ground. Katniss rushes through with ease, only slightly tripping when her foot lands at the wrong angle while Glimmer slips and slides across. The distance starts to grow between them.
"You seem really obsessed with this Cato guy. What did he do to you, man? Did he steal your girlfriend? Make fun of you in school? Get you in trouble with your family?" Val lightly snarks, catching sight of Clove giving him a look of alarm. He smiles at her as if to say don't worry, he knows what he's doing.
And he does, because as Kai's anger grows his movements become more erratic, like a bull seeing red and blindly charging in.
Val smirks. "Is his ghost haunting you or something? Maybe you have some regrets weighing you down?" Then he goes in for the kill, which is also a complete shot in the dark. "Or maybe it's repression."
The shot hits as Kai roars out in fury and redoubles his efforts to just land one hit. "Shut up!"
"Oh! Right on the money! I wonder what kind of repression we're talking about here." Val says as he ducks around the flurry of punches and darts around in circles, making Kai spin frantically around to try and keep him in sight. His actions now taunt Kai which serves to raise the level of his anger and increase the franticness of his movements.
"Is it family related? What? Did your mommy and daddy not give you enough love? They compare you to him one too many times? You were just never good enough?"
Punch. Dodge. Kick. Dodge.
Katniss and Glimmer are now climbing a rope wall up to a platform with bars to grab and carry themselves across the wide gap with only a net to catch them below. Glimmer struggles and gets caught in the ropes. She tries to pull her limbs out of the mess but only gets more twisted up in them.
"I wonder if it's friendship related? Did you want to be his friend, maybe his only friend, but you just suck at emotions and got all intimidated by how many he had? Is that why you keep trying to act all possessive of Clove? Cause she was his friend?"
Punch. Dodge. Punch. Dodge. Punch. Dodge.
Katniss completes the climb and instead of grabbing the underside of the bars to climb across, she pulls herself up to stand onto the rungs and races across like there isn't a twenty foot plus drop underneath her.
"Or maybe it's something else. Maybe you wanted to be more than friends-"
An enraged roar followed by a weighted punch cuts Val off as it manages to catch him in the shoulder. He goes down like a rock, back hitting the mats with a heavy thud. Kai quickly takes advantage by grabbing Val by the throat and straddling him between his legs, their faces are inches apart. The whole situation would look very compromising if it weren't for the fact that Kai was currently choking him out. There's also a brief moment where Kai is replaced by an image of Gale. Val quickly shakes that highly inappropriate and ill-timed thought out of his head.
Meanwhile, Glimmer managed to untangle herself and start crossing the bars but Katniss has already made her way to the wood wall on the other side with ropes to climb down. She quickly pulls a rope up with a glance back to see Glimmer's halfway across the gap.
"Not so tough now, Everdeen," Kai spits out.
Val cringes away from him and is considerably calm despite his current position. "Dude. Ever heard of breath mints?" he manages to choke out.
The jab works as Kai's grip loosens so he could potentially punch Val out but he never gets the chance as Val grabs Kai's right forearm with his right hand. He shoves his left arm out to grab onto Kai's shoulder, quickly rotates his hips to the left so he's perpendicular to him, and brings his left leg up and around Kai's head to meet with his right leg as he rolls Kai onto the ground and brings him down into an arm lock.
At the same time, Katniss uses the rope she's gathered up to propel herself down the wall as swiftly as possible. Glimmer's almost completely across the gap by the time she hits the ground. Then she's off like a bullet across the finish line. The resounding buzz startles Glimmer into losing her grip on the last bar and she falls down onto the rope net.
"Give up yet?" Val pants out as he keeps hold of Kai's arm and pins his neck and body down with his legs.
Kai thrashes violently in response, his legs kicking up into the air to try and get Val in the face but Val merely tightens his grip. Kai's elbow makes a dangerous creaking noise as Val continues to apply steady pressure with the intent to break his elbow if he doesn't give in. But Kai refuses to give in, thrashing every which way to break the hold regardless of whether his elbow breaks or not because he is not giving in, especially not to this District 12 loser.
Unfortunately for Kai, the decision is made for him when the trainer calls out for Kai to stop moving this instant and for Val to let him go as it is clear he is the winner of the match as his opponent is unable to break his hold.
Val quickly lets go and scrambles away from Kai who pulls himself up, heaving and panting and ready to charge at Val again but he's stopped by the trainer and Clove standing in his way.
"This isn't over, Everdeen. Not by a long shot," Kai threatens as Clove delicately herds him away like one would a wet, angry cat.
He storms past a weary Katniss who quickens her pace over to Val. The siblings watch as Glimmer sidles up to Kai, trying to comfort him and be comforted in return, but Kai shoves her to the floor. Marvel rushes over to help her up but Glimmer pushes him away and runs off after Kai.
"Poor guy," Katniss comments as she watches Marvel glare at the floor before storming off to the spear station.
Val looks at her, eyebrow raised in skepticism. "What happened to all that talk about not showing empathy for our fellow tributes?"
"Oh, I still 100% believe that but..." she shrugs, "One sided love like that is just really sad to look at."
"And you're a romance expert all of a sudden? Remind me how it is you got into your relationship with Peeta again?" he can't help but tease her as she flushes red in embarrassment.
"When are you ever gonna let that go?"
"How about never? Not even when I'm dead cause I'll just come back to haunt you over it," he jokes which unfortunately was the wrong thing to say as it quickly sombers the mood.
The siblings stand around awkwardly for a few moments.
"Let's go back to the fire station," Katniss suggests, "Cause I refuse to leave this hall without having successfully made a single fire."
"Even if it's a tiny one?" Val responds as he follows her back to the fire station. He takes note of how the other tributes are now even more weary of them, the Careers barring Clove especially so.
"I don't care if it's the most tiny ass fire in the history of fires. I. Am. Making. A. Fire," she rants while snatching the flint off the station's table and getting back to work on the tiny pile of branches she left behind.
Val watches on, amused, as Katniss tries over and over and over again to lit just one fire. After what might've been her 100th attempt, the sparks finally catch and a small flame appears at the top of the pile. She cheers at her success and pulls Val into a silly little celebration dance which promptly ends when the flame disappears just as quickly as it appears.
Her cheer instantly becomes indignant anger. She kicks the pile of branches and storms off to the combat stations again to take her anger out on some dummies. Val hums and follows along as the two continue to hop along combat and survival stations throughout the rest of the day.
The tributes continue to give them a wide berth of distance, weary glances boring into their backs which seem to weigh more heavily than the stares of before.
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Val leans against the railing of the roof balcony as he takes in the view of the Capitol spread out before him. Even though the buildings are all the same, the lights have changed color schemes from the muted pastel of last night to the bright neon of tonight. The wind whips at his hairs as it whistles all around him.
His mind slowly works through the lecture that Haymitch had given them during dinner. Apparently he'd heard about the spectacle that the siblings had put on during training. Now all the tributes were in a bit of a tizzy, especially the Careers. Because while they had known the siblings were not the average tributes from 12, they didn't know they could be on par with the Careers.
Despite Effie's tittering about how this was a great opportunity and made the Games more exciting, Haymitch ripped them a new one over taking unnecessary risks and while he gave them permission to show off and shake things up, he did not say they were allowed to overturn the whole box and shake everything out so that it all broke into pieces on the floor.
He gave them one last warning to watch themselves and to remember to play their role if they have any chance of increasing their odds of surviving. Not another step out of line, no more following their instincts or emotions. Tomorrow would be when they went over their game plan for the judging and interviews. Until then, he was going to go stare at a bottle of vodka and hope it got him drunk through the power of suggestion.
"So this is the famous escape balcony everyone's been talking about."
Val turns to see Katniss casually making her way over to him, hands in the pockets of her impractical yet somehow practical dark red dress. She's looking all around her, taking in the gardens and the view as she joins him by the railing.
"Well I don't know about the escape part. The Capitol's taken quite a few measures to ensure the safety of all tributes," he muses as she leans against the railing next to him.
"Do I wanna know how?"
"...Probably best if you don't."
"Fair enough..."
"So you beat Glimmer at the obstacle course...how bad was it?"
Katniss snorts. "Oh it was so bad. She got caught in the ropes of all things and don't even get me started on the mud. I didn't think it was possible to skate across mud like ice and there she goes, proving me wrong."
Val smiles brightly. "Ha! Yeah. I managed to catch the tail end of your run and the look on her face when you crossed the finish line and she fell into the net. Priceless."
Katniss pouts and whines, "No fair! I wish I could've seen her face." Then her expression takes on a mischievous tone. "But I will say, your fight with Kai was brilliant. I don't know what you said to him but you somehow managed to make that dickhead madder than a bull in a room full of red."
"What can I say. Empathy has its perks. Means I know what makes people tick," he responds with a shrug.
"You were also pretty cozy there for a hot sec. That was a pretty compromising position you two were in," Katniss says, nudging him as she gives a shit-eating grin.
Val grimaces at the mention. "Yeah. How about we never mention that again thank you very much. I am and will never be interested. Even if you gave the guy an attitude change and paid me a million bucks, I still wouldn't want to even be in the same room, let alone the same District as him."
Katniss nods along, sagely. "That's right," she says in dramatic realization, "You're a one guy kind of guy and you already got a guy in mind. And I'll bet you were even thinking of him when you were being pinned down."
Val's grimace deepens as a blush spreads across his face. Katniss gapes at him in shock and then that shock turns into laughter. "Oh my god Val! I was joking!" she gasps out between laughs, "Holy shit! My older brother is a kinky little bastard."
"Katniss!" Val shouts, scandalized and blushing all the way down his neck.
Katniss only laughs harder at his reaction. And then she abruptly stops as a look of disgust crosses her face. "Eww...I can't believe I'm learning the details of your non-existent sex life." She shudders in disgust. "I don't even wanna think about what I would know when you do get one."
"If, Katniss, not when. If," he corrects.
Then a silence settles around like a weighted blanket. The tension that had always been sitting below the surface, rising up again as their thoughts steer back into dangerous territory. The two can't even look at each other for a moment. They both turn their gazes away from the other as the wind whistles around them, not knowing of how to broach the subject and both thinking that it's still much too early to be talking about it again. Better to delay it to tomorrow after the judging or maybe even the day after when the interviews were over all that was left was to talk before they're sent into the unknown.
Unfortunately for Val, Katniss decides that they can't keep putting off the conversation till the next day. So she breaks the silence.
"Hey Val?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you trying so hard to sacrifice yourself for me? For your perceived notion of my "happiness"..." she looks to him for an answer.
He looks out to the bright city landscape spread out before them. "You really wanna talk about this now? When we're just two days away from being sent to the arena?"
"Well when the fuck do you want ot have this converastion, Val? The night before? Because we will, no, we need to have this conversation before we run out of time. You know as well as I do that anything can happen in that arena and I refuse to leave things unsaid with you," she says, forcefully.
Val lifts his head up to the night sky. It always amazed him how no matter where he was, whether it be 2 or 12 or even the Capitol, the night sky always looked the same. His silence prompts Katniss to continue speaking.
"You've already made too many sacrifices for us Val, especially after dad died in the mining accident. You've kept us safe, you've kept us together and happy and whole. Just let me do this one thing for you," she says, insistently, almost begging.
He presses his lips into a thin line as he tries to come up with a response. Her almost begging has him shaken and thrown off balance because Katniss Everdeen never begs. Not since their dad died and she begged him and then their mom to come back to them.
"I may have kept us together, but you're the one who brought us hope. I was already growing weary, losing what little hope I had left...and then you came in with that loaf of bread and suddenly it was like I got another new lease on life. A bit of hope that reminded me again that things can get better," he finally answers.
It's obviously not the answer she's looking for as she stomps the ground like a toddler having a tantrum. "Stop doing that!" she shouts, almost desperately.
"Doing what?" he shouts back, scared at the wild look in her eyes, the tears that are starting to gather.
"Stop trying to play the martyr. Stop trying to sacrifice yourself for me, for Prim. You already saved Peeta by volunteering. You already saved me by making it so I wouldn't have to see him die. Yes, Val, I know exactly what you were trying to do when you volunteered," she says when prompted by the shocked look on his face. Her expression softens. "Val...I already got my chance to be happy and I already knew I wasn't going to live long anyways. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you give up your chance."
Val still tries to counter her pleas, even if he wasn't trying to fulfill a life debt to the Everdeens, he's still her older brother. And older brothers will do anything to protect their younger siblings no matter how much they might object.
"I don't have a chance. I never did," he says as calmly as he can. "Not when I knew I was living on borrowed time and it's better that I do this one thing to protect you and get you back home then to have another die just so I could live."
"Oh my god, Val! You really don't see the effect you can have, do you?" Katniss shouts out, throwing her hands up in frustration at the apparent pigheadedness of her brother. "You don't see how the entirety of District 12 became more lively, more bright after you came into our lives. I'm worth nothing. I provide nothing. I'll never amount to anything more in life than becoming another jaded Seamer but you." She leans towards him to stab a finger at his chest. "You can become someone and I refuse to let you squander this chance out of some misguided attempt to repay a debt that never existed in the first place."
Val looks away, not wanting to continue this conversation at all. What effect? He doesn't want to have an effect on anyone, he doesn't even want to be someone, at least not the way Katniss seems to think he has been and should continue being. That's only going to bring unnecessary attention and look at the consequences it had wrought on his family in 2. And it's with that thought that Val's mind immediately jumps back to something that had been bothering him ever since the Opening Ceremony.
"Do you think President Snow knows?" Val asks, seemingly out of nowhere.
Katniss blinks at him, thrown off by the abrupt subject change. "W-what?"
"It's just..." he hesitates, unsure of whether he really wants an answer to the question he still hasn't quite asked, "That look he gave us, gave me, back during the Opening Ceremony. It felt like he knew who I really was. Like he could tell just by looking."
"No, definitely not," she waves him off after gathering herself after her earlier emotional display. She tries to play nonchalance but inside she too was nervous. Did President Snow, the source of all her brother's heartache, really know who he was? No. He couldn't. Not when Val's changed so much in the past 10 years. "He was just looking at us like that cause no one's ever done what we did, especially dressed as we were in the history of the Games. I mean, come on. Two tributes from 12 looking all confident and not at all like their gonna keel over while on fire?"
And besides, Snow's probably never even seen so much as a photo of Val as a kid so he definitely wouldn't even know what he looked like now. Right? Right. Because she's always right, no matter how many times she's actually wrong, she's right. And if Val tries to say otherwise, well, that's what her fists are for.
"You're right. Cinna wanted us to be a game changer and I guess we can say, mission accomplished," he agrees with a tone that sounds more like he's still trying to reassure himself rather than actually being reassured by her words.
Katniss nods resolutely, refusing to give him the chance to doubt himself again.
"Now..." she says as she stretches her arms out, "What say we head back in? It's starting to get kinda cold."
"Yeah, sure. My room again?"
She slaps him on the back with a grin. "Oh hell yeah! Your bed's way more comfortable than mine."
Val smiles back, doubts creeping away. "Just don't kick me off again. My back still hurts," he says jokingly but still somewhat serious as he works out the kinks that still remain from the sparring match with Kai earlier that day.
"Well then you shouldn't have gone through with that macho man challenge against Kai. I swear, you men and your fragile egos," she scoffs, exasperated by the intelligence of the men around her.
He groans, "I think you've been spending too much time with Clove."
"Ha! More like I haven't been spending enough time with her," she laughs out, slapping him on the back again which makes him jump from the pain of slapped sore muscles. "She has the best stories of when you were kids like that one about the forge, your mom, and a squirrel."
"WHAT!" Val shouts, turning to grab Katniss by the shoulders with a panicked expression. "She told you that? We both agreed never to speak of that incident ever again! What the fuck!"
Katniss pushes his hands off with a gleeful expression. "You finally said fuck!" she giddily states, "It only took me 5 years!"
"W-wha-" Val steps back completely flabbergasted, before blinking and protesting, "I-I've sworn before."
She nods sagely as she crosses her arms. "Well yeah, but not because of me. You're always such a big brother, tryna watch your language around me and Prim," she says with a fond yet exasperated expression.
Val frowns with his brow furrowed like it always does whenever Katniss says or does something that any sane older sibling would never approve of. "That's because I'm your big brother. And Prim's still too young to be swearing like you and I do."
"You do know she's already said fuck quite a few times this past month right?" Katniss responds with a cheeky smile that only spelled trouble whenever it appeared.
His brain crashes at that tidbit of information. "W-what!" he sputters out as his brain restarts, "Katniss! What did you do!"
Katniss merely laughs out loud at his reaction.
"Stop laughing! How dare you corrupt our innocent little Primrose like that!" Val shouts as she doubles over, almost in tears from how hard she's laughing. His brow twitches with irritation.
"Alright. That's it. Come 'ere you little shit!" he threatens as he advances upon her.
Katniss, finally gathering herself enough to stop laughing so hard, dodges his attempts to grab here. "Ha, ha, ha. How about no," she smirks while sidestepping another grabbing attempt.
"Katniss!"
Unfazed by the impromptu game of tackle tag, Katniss turns to the direction of the rooftop access door.
"Race you to your room, big bro!" she shouts as she runs for it, "Last one there's not getting back in!"
"Hey! Katniss! Get back here!" he shouts as he chases her laughing self around and across the rooftop.
Eventually, the siblings are both laughing as they run to the door. Their spirits are high and hopes no longer as fleeting as before as their fears and insecurities of what's to come fade away, just for tonight. Even though they know that tonight is not the end of their conversation about sacrifices and life debts. But for now, they let it go for another day.
Because tonight is the night they have left to believe that maybe, just maybe, they'll be able to get through this together, without having to let the other go.
And that's the end of the training days! I hope you guys enjoyed it and are looking forward to the judging and interviews because I'm looking forward to giving more depth to a bunch of different characters in the next two chapters. Even though I made Kai out to be the canon Cato of this AU, I still want to make him a somewhat sympathetic character because a lot of the antagonists in this trilogy aren't inherently bad. They're just made bad by the circumstance they find themselves in and have to adapt or die. Which I hope you guys can see through my character building.
Regardless, we're two chapters away from the Games! The next two chapters will probably be part of a double update due to the fact that the judging will be its own chapter and that in itself is pretty fast. Then it'll be the interviews where I only plan to go in depth with two characters and super in depth with our protagonists. So I hope you guys don't mind being patient until then. I swear we will get to the Games before the new year. Until then, cheers!