I am really sorry for not updating. It's been like, what, 24 days since I've last updated? I had to reset my computer to factory settings -which took hours- and I've just been really busy. And plus, my organization skills are nonexistent. So, for those of you who waited for the next update and still reads this story, I've decided to update every Friday. Due to the tardiness of this update, I'm going to either update later today, or tomorrow. Or maybe both, I'm not sure.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Hunger Games.

At training..

NICO'S POV

I know I should be getting the D12 tributes to trust me, but knowing me, I'll say something wrong and ruin the whole plan. It looks like Annabeth and Thalia are making progress, anyway.

Percy comes over and nudges my shoulder, "Hey, you should over and talk to Peeta. He told me he'd like to meet you," after seeing my expression, Percy adds, "He's a nice guy, Nico."

I sigh, bowing my head in defeat and walking over to Peeta. Annabeth, who's showing Katniss her dart throwing skills across the room, looks at my slouching posture and glares. I quickly try to look upbeat as I approach Peeta.

"Hi, I'm Peeta," the upbeat boy introduces, his smile traveling to his eyes.

"Nico," I reply simply, "I saw you over at the weights a few minutes ago, you're pretty good."

"Are you good at anything here?"

The question startles me, and I have to think about it for a moment. What am I good at? I obviously can't say I'm good at summoning skeletons from the ground. I look around, and none of the options seem very appealing. Knot tying- definitely not. Archery- not even a bit. I guess I could show Peeta a little sword fighting.

"Sword fighting, maybe," I reply at last.

"Okay, can I see how you are it?"

I nod, turning on my heels and heading over to wear Percy slices the head off of a training dummy. He smiles at me when I'm near him, and my eyes instantly dart away. I used to have a crush on Percy, and it's hard not to be reminded of it, especially when I'm near him. Immediately, I notice that the wary eyes of Annabeth, Katniss, and Thalia are all on me. I definitely can't back out now, or else I'll look like a fool in front of everyone. If I look like a fool, I'll be targeted in the arena, and Katniss and Peeta won't want to be our allies. How do I get into these situations?

I take a deep, wavering breath as I reach for the sword rack and pull out the sword directly in front of me. It has rough, black grip, and I can see my worried expression through the blade of the sword. I already look like a fool.

I turn to face the dummy closest to me, and instantly swing the sword at the dummy's neck. Somewhere in between my swing, my hand becomes unsteady, and I drop the sword. The sword skids across the floor, and Percy stops it with his foot. Can someone kill me right now? Percy hands the sword to me, giving me a smile that clearly shows his embarrassment towards my actions. I quickly take the sword from him, avoiding eye contact with everyone around me.

I focus my attention back to the dummy would've been headless had my luck cooperated with me. I raise my sword again, and, with a steady hand, swing the sword at the dummy's chest, cleanly slicing the dummy in half. If I were in any other situation, I would be proud, but how could I be proud? Nearly all of the tributes saw Percy practically destroy his dummy, and then see me slice my dummy in half after completely failing the first time? I should just be grateful these people are from a different time period. If this was Camp Half Blood, Clarisse and the Ares cabin would never let me live this down.

Why am I always so unlucky? I just wish Bianca was here, she wouldn't be looking at me as if I embarrassed her.

The rest of the day was uneventful, Percy tried knot-tying, Annabeth and Katniss took turns using the archery station, and Peeta showed Thalia how to camouflage herself. She'd kill me if she knew I said this, but I found it funny when Thalia painted her arm to look like a tree. Once a tree, always a tree, right?

That night at the D12 suite..

PEETA'S POV

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Peeta," Haymitch said as he downed a bottle of liquor, "You have to think about what'll keep you and Katniss alive, not what'll keep your newfound friends alive."

For the past half hour, Katniss and I have been trying to convince our mentor, Haymitch, to let us make the tributes we were with earlier our allies. Of course, once we told Haymitch about what Nico did, Haymitch fully disapproved, but he'll have to budge sometime, right? Maybe if he drinks enough liquor, Haymitch'll give in.

"These tributes are strong, Haymitch. They'll keep us alive. Yes, I know, one of them screwed up, but honestly, who gives a damn? We saw him swordfight once, he could be much better," Katniss says, who was glaring at the wall until now, when she focused her glare on our mentor.

"But that's the thing, you've only seen him swordfight once. You hardly know these tributes, they could far less skilled than you think, Katniss."

I could tell by the look on Katniss' face that she was getting really angry. "Haymitch," I said, "We only have one chance at these games, and we want to be prepared. Having these tributes as our allies is a good choice, I really don't see why you're disapproving of this."

"What are you going to say as they're about to cut your throat, Peeta? 'We thought you were trustworthy'? I don't know why-"

Katniss rose from her chair and grabbed Haymitch's bottle of liquor, "I think you've had enough. We don't need your permission, Haymitch. Honestly, I don't know what's your problem, and I really don't care. We choose who we trust, not you." She turned and headed back to her bedroom, throwing the bottle into the trash.

I looked down at my plate, my food completely untouched. I sighed after a moment, got up from my chair, and followed Katniss into her room.