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All us Career tributes were standing in a circle, watching each other with narrowed eyes. Our trainer went off to bring us something. I shook a bit when I felt the tall District 11's girl staring down at me next to me.

"So Lillianne," Cybele says to break the silence, crossing her arms, "We haven't seen you fight. You do realize tomorrow we show the gamemakers what we an do, right?"

I look up at her from across. She smiles smugly. I shrug.

"I have my talent. Don't you worry about that." I reply, leaning back a bit. Everyone turns to look at me. I gulp silently.

"Do you, now?" The girl from Eleven says, a tone of suspicion in her voice. I nod.

"Well, you wouldn't mind training with us in hand-to-hand, do you?" Garett asks a bit sarcastically. I tense a bit, and I see Demetrius wince beside me.

"Wait! Lillianne!"

Demetrius pushes past me without another glance. I stare at the back of his head with a glare. I turn back and fix my training shirt down to see Cashmere grabbing me away from the elevator.

"Demetrius! You will wait for Lillianne!"

I hear a sigh. I don't turn back at him. She pulls me to the corridor before the elevator hall and she turns to me.

"You need to fight today."

My eyes widen. "What? I can't fight, you know I can't-"

"You will. It's an order. The Careers will want to see what you can do. Lead them on. You can't afford to lose their alliance over secrecy."

I stare at her in fear. "But-"

"No buts. I don't know how you fight, but as long as you show them something, satisfy them."

I'm at a loss for words. She sighs and fixes my pink ribbon around my bun and moves my bangs out of the way.

"Lillianne. You need to trust me."

"….Just empty hand?"

She grins. "Yes. No knives. Not 'till tomorrow at your presentation. Today, fight with the Careers at least for a while."

I nod, clenching my teeth. She rubs my shoulders nervously.

"Okay. Go with Demetrius."

She pushes me away and I stagger back, then jog to the elevator to meet Demetrius's cold and unforgiving stare.

"Sure. I'll train with you guys." I say cooly. The stronger team members - Two and Eleven - raise an eyebrow in surprise at my answer. I wink and stand straight. Our trainer returns with some silver wristbands and hands one to each of our group, eight kids. Dezzy, the girl from four, asks the question before I can.

"What are these for?"

The trainer seems excited at the question. As he's wrapping the final one on me, he explains. "These are 'Holos'. "

"What are Holos?" Demetrius asks.

"Holos," The trainer says. "Are a new invention by Capitol technicians. They are a hologram that is an almost exact replica of a living, breathing person. They can be touched, they can be seen, they can be heard, and they can even be smelled. For instance-"

He presses a button on my own Holo bracelet and steps back. In a few seconds, a mirror image of myself stands before me. I gasp. It stares back at me, only her eyes are silver.

"Now, hit her."

"You want me to hit myself?" I question a little too hysterically. He chuckles.

"If you want another setting, then-" He presses another button and I disappear from view. My mirror image is replaced by the person I least wanted to see this morning.

A likeness of Demetrius is glaring at me in the center of the circle, arms crossed.

"That….that's me."

I turn to Demetrius - the real one - staring at the Holo image before him. The trainer gestures at me.

"Go on ahead, One. He'll fight back, I assure you."

I step cautiously to the center of the circle and Holo Demetrius puts his hands up. I put mine up shakily.

"C'mon, Princess. Show us your 'talent'." Cybele calls out icily. I narrow my eyes at the Holo Demetrius and remember this morning.

"Cornelia left us a message. She said she and our mentors have gone to talk to some sponsors. Cornelia's specifically going to keep track." Demetrius drilled as I sat down at the empty table. I nod.

"Okay."

I reached for a cinnamon role and took a bite out of it, looking down at the empty plate below. Chewing quietly, I don't look up at him as he messes with his steak and eggs. Silence ensues. Finally I get the courage.

"Demetrius, about last night-"

"Nothing happened last night." He said firmly. I look up, eyes wide.

"But-"

"Nothing. Happened." He repeated. I threw down his fork.

"Will you just-"

"Look, Lill-"

"Listen to me!" I shouted at him, standing up. He looks up at me, sighing. My fists are clenched.

"I'm sorry, okay? I had no right to kiss you, or for you to kiss me, or whatever! I want to apologize!"

He stares at me, his face unchanging. "I kissed you. I take it back. I'm sorry I caused so much turmoil in your conscious."

"Demetrius-"

"No, Lillianne. We're done talking about this. Besides. It's time for training."

He gets up and tosses down his napkin, walking away.

I swing at the hollow, missing barely. The hole is about to punch me back when I crouch down. I kick it in the stomach and it stumbles back. I get back up, and the Holo stops.

The trainer claps. "Very nice! Who wants to go next?"

Everyone's hands shoot up except for mine. Cybele catches on to this.

"What's wrong, One? Tired?"

I blow the bangs out of my face and smile at her. "Nah. I think I wanna go tie some knots." I look over at the trainer and wave. "Thanks, sir!"

I walk off, feeling the stare from Cybele behind me. I find myself at the knot station at the far end of the warehouse. Good, I think to myself, maybe now I can think.

The trainer comes to teach me a few basic knots and snares, and I do alright. I can see he is a little frustrated when I only do a bit above satisfactory, then leaves me so he can help a younger kid from District seven. I look down at the ropes in my hands, and try to fix the knots. I make a bigger mess.

I have a fit and just give up, messing the knots up more and throwing them down. I brought my knees to my face and put my head down.

"Don't beat yourself up for it. They're just knots, geez."

I look up from my spot and see Alex sitting beside me. He's sitting in the same position I am, his face close to mine. I smile a bit.

"It's not the knots," I grumble, putting my head back down. He nudges me with his headful of curls.

"Then what?"

I stiffen. "I- I can't tell you."

He shrugs. "It's okay. You don't have to. Besides, I need to show you how to tie that knot right."

I sit cross-legged, looking at the tangled mess of rope before me. I give him a questionable look. He chuckles and sits in front of me cross-legged as well. He begins to unwrap it.

"It's not that hard," He says, watching the rope, "You just have to remember where you started."

I nod, observing as he undid the disorder of the ropes. When it was just two strings again, he looks up at me.

"Okay. Ready?"

I sigh, then nod slowly. Then surprisingly, he reaches for my hands.

At his touch, I feel a tremble in spine. He blushes a bit, I can catch it, but he ignores it and grabs my hands. "Alright, now get the ropes and I'll guide you through."

I do as he says, but I'm not looking at the ropes. I'm staring at him.

"Do the basic knot," He says, maneuvering my hands as such. His fingers intertwine with mine as he gets a little more complicated in directions. Finally, the knot looks like the trainer's, and I smile in triumph.

"Yes! We did it!" I say. We look up at each other, grinning, but then our eyes widen. Our hands are clasped together, fingers interlaced with each other. We stay together like this as we stare at each other, until I break the bond, sliding my hands away from his own. He scratches his head, trying to hide the blush in his cheeks.

"I-"

"No, its ok-"

We laugh a bit at the awkwardness.

"Is everything alright, Lillianne?"

Both Alex and I look up to see my District partner standing before us, arms crossed. We stand up quickly, Alex giving me his hand to help me up.

"Uh, yeah. Everything…" I look over to Alex, grinning, "Everything's fine."

Demetrius and Alex stare off at each other, and it's me that has to break the tense silence. "Demetrius- is everything okay? What happened?"

"Nothing, I just came to find you. I needed to talk to you." He says, still not breaking his glance with Alex. Alex nears my face, bending down to meet my eyes.

"I think your friend is missing you a bit." Alex sarcastically, flicking the stray hair in my face. I laugh a bit at the gesture. Demetrius grabs my wrist and pulls me towards him.

"Well if you don't mind, Twelve," He firmly replies, and I land beside him harshly, "Lillianne and I are going to get lunch together."

"But-"

He cuts me off, meeting my eyes with a hard look. "I really need to talk to you."

I sigh. "Alright."

He's about to pull me with him when I free myself from his grasp and move towards Alex quickly.

"Hey, thanks for helping me figure out the stupid knots." I say rushed. He smiles.

"It's nothing. Anytime."

"No really," I continue, "Thank you."

Then I reach over and give him a quick peck on the cheek. Not quick enough, it seems for Demetrius, because he pulls me away quickly.

But no matter how hard Demetrius pushes me to look away, I watch Alex as he puts his hand to his cheek in a daze, watching his blush creep to his full face.

The "Holos" are not the "Holos" in Mockingjay, but they are a key piece to the story. Review!