"No, no, no, you're doing this all wrong," Prim laughed and moved closer to Lucas and fixing his stance as he tried to aim for the target with the bow and arrow. She fixed his drawn back elbow and then put her hand over his that was holding the bow. "Now let go," she whispered and the arrow flew. When it hit the target it barely missed the center. "See, you would've killed them anyhow."
"Rose?" Primrose turned suddenly looking to the edges of the square that had become their training area. A lot of people had come the first day, but now only a few people lingered to watch the contestants train. And there he was, Ash was standing there wrapped in his coats. "What are you doing?" He demanded looking at her a little shocked.
"Ash!" She ran to him and the Peace Keepers started to come in. "I'm just saying hello. You haven't stopped any of the other contestants when their family was here," she snapped and the Peace Keepers moved off. She hugged Ash over the barrier and smiled. "Ash, I can't believe your here."
"Well, you didn't show up the net morning and then your face was all over the screen back home. I had enough money saved up to take me somewhere for a couple weeks, thought I'd come here and see you." Ash shrugged it off as if it were no big deal, but in Prim's head she was jumping for joy. The only way she found in herself to express that to him was to press her lips to his. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as the Peace Keepers' line would allow.
They continued to lose themselves in each other until someone cleared their throat. Prim pulled away and looked around only to spot her mother who was cradling a cup of coffee and glaring at them as she walked up. "Ash, great that you could make into town, but, if you know what's good for Prim, you'll let her train." Katniss looked at Lucas for a moment who was pretending that he wasn't listening to the whole conversation. His head was slightly turned too far toward the trio to actually be checking his aim for the next shot he was going to take at the target.
"Sorry Mrs. Mellark, I have to get to my hotel room anyways. The Peace Keepers have been trying to get me to leave as soon as I walked up." Good for them, Lucas thought bitterly. He let the next shot go and it flew to the cobble stone of the square lodging itself in the walk way. Prim sighed at the failure and walked away from Ash without much else then a polite goodbye. Katniss smirked at the outcome and then gave her farewells to Ash who shoved his hands deep in his pockets and hurried off. Lucas smirked as well, but he barely let it show through as Prim helped him fix his posture again as she had done in the beginning of the day.
Katniss watched clutched her coffee leaning over the barrier. She had done this for the past couple mornings and watched as Lucas tried to explain snares to Katniss. He made her laugh and smile. Katniss had never really hated Ash, but there was something about Lucas and the way he treated Katniss. Ash had always treated Prim like she was just a pretty girl, a pair of lips and a body, nothing more. Prim needed more than that. With Lucas she got much more than that. Lucas made sure to not touch her unless she touched him first. He had this certain gentleman-like quality. He made sure to always offer things to Prim like opening a door or even fixing her a drink when they were lying around the room. Katniss was sure she liked Lucas more and that Gale had raised his boy right even without a mother around.
"Watching them connect?" Gale asked as he slid in next to Katniss. He had a cup of orange juice and Katniss turned from him quickly as one of those quirky coincidences popped up again. Those odd things that Gale and Peeta had in common scared Katniss. Katniss had even begun to notice that Gale got up in the middle of the night and disappeared until morning as if he had never left offering to help out around the room or get breakfast for everyone.
"Yea, I guess I am." Katniss sighed in content as her lips curled into a smile. Lucas was daring Prim to shoot one of her arrows at a snare similar to a bear trap. She laughed and shook her head saying it wouldn't snap closed on the arrow because it moved to fast. Lucas continued to insist though. "They make a good team," Katniss whispered as Prim shot the arrow setting off the trap snapping her arrow in half. Prim sputtered in shock picking up the two halves of the arrow. Lucas was on the ground laugh at this point. Prim then launched the tail end of the arrow at Lucas hitting him the forehead.
"Yea, they do." Gale looked over at Katniss with the smallest of smiles. "They remind me of us," he whispered. Katniss didn't look at him and continued to look around the square. Sure, they were a good team, but were they like Katniss and Gale? She could only remember the two of them being serious. Prim and Lucas seemed to have found comfort in the fact that Katniss had a plan to get them out of the Games. Katniss had never been that confident in any sort of plan. Her eyes wandered to a girl and boy who were working diligently at knots at one station. They looked up every now and then but exchanged no words only working together at certain points to make each other better. They were like Katniss and Gale.
"They act like us," Katniss pointed and Gale found the couple she was talking about. A frown creased his features and he nodded. Yea, it made more sense that the serious couple was more like them, but when did they ever get the chance to have anything different? They had to be serious to survive and protect their families. They would've been like Lucas and Prim had they had the chance and the circumstances.
Gale began to wonder as Katniss looked at Prim and Lucas with this ethereal fascination if Peeta made her that happy. If she could compare herself and Peeta to Lucas and Primrose. He couldn't bring himself to ask the question though. Hell, it had taken him years to find the courage to kiss this girl. The courage to ask her such a question didn't exist in his head. Plus, Katniss had finally started talking to Gale again. There was no way he was going to ruin it so quickly.
A man came out from the Capitol building onto the stairs leading into the square. Everyone turned to look at him. The couple at the knot station even stood to face him. "This is your last full day of training. Tomorrow after lunch will be the trials." The man looked nervous as he turned away and headed back inside. Everyone went back to work and Katniss looked to Gale for a moment and sighed before walking away completely. Gale stayed put though.
"Here comes hell..." he whispered to himself and then looked at the big screen in the square that was keeping track of the kids with small cameras that couldn't be seen just like the games. He felt like he was already there watching his son struggle. They had a plan though. There was a possibility that it wouldn't be too long before their plan worked and they got all twenty-six of the kids out before they were scarred with the nightmares that now cursed Katniss. Gale found his son on the screen and waited for it to shift to call him over with a loud whistle. Lucas turned and told Prim to give him a minute with his dad. Then he dutifully walked to Gale who offered him a drink of his orange juice.
"What do you need Dad?" Lucas asked refusing the drink and leaning against the barrier.
"How's your arm?" Gale whispered and Lucas scowled. "Is it bothering you?"
"No Sir, it's fine. I'll make it through the Games. We'll follow the plan; then we're out, easy." Lucas stretched out his shoulder pulling his arm back over his head to make sure it didn't tighten up. "My arm is not what I'm worried about anyways."
"You better realize this isn't going to be like one of your crap simulators. It won't even be like this training. People are going to be trying to kill you as soon as you step off that platform. You and Katniss, you're the main target. Don't you dare take any of these kids for granted." Gale grabbed his son by the shoulder and he winced. "It is bothering you," Gale accused letting go of his shoulder. Lucas turned away not wanting to face him, so Gale ran his fingers back through his own hair and then left the orange juice there and walked off as the camera caught back up with Lucas.
Lucas stayed there and grabbed the orange juice making sure not to jostle his shoulder too much. He looked at everyone out there for the first time. Twenty-four opponents were all excelling at the station they were at obviously focusing on that for the trials the next day. The girl and boy from District 1 were sharpening blades of swords looking at each other every couple seconds with disgust. They were not allied partners. They would probably even take each other out as a first act in the Games. The District 2 girl was facing a pathway that had been marked off as a shooting rang. She pulled a gun up aiming the person shaped target at the end of the walk and firing. She hit the shoulder of the target and then found Lucas' eyes smirking.
Lucas put his hand on his shoulder holding it closer to him as if he could protect it. He had known that girl his whole life because of all the events they had to go to together as children of revolutionary stars. She knew his weaknesses as well. When she pointed at Prim she fired with one hand and hit the target in the head. The target even had it's head fall back and then float to the ground. The girl was Marcie and she was happy to turn back to her practice without even a look of feeling sorry.
District 3 looked out of their minds as they worked at camouflage though they looked in sync. They were obvious friends and continued to finish missed strokes from the other person's mistake. District 4 was the couple that were working at the knot station. When Lucas watched them closely he was able to tell what knot they were tying. The one that stuck out was the noose that they showed each other. They looked proud of the work in a way that was all so depressing. Their nods were careful and they quickly pulled apart the noose.
Lucas started to wonder if they planned on competing in the Games. There was a very real possibility that they didn't plan on lasting very long. Many of the kids had seen what happened to victors. Even after they won there was no escape. Stories of Finnick Odair still went around. Evidence of what Peeta had down to Katniss under the power of Capitol still scared away any sort of movement within the people that still weren't happy with their lot. Who wanted to live with the pain knowing you killed someone to help yourself survive?
When Lucas saw Primrose move out of the corner of his eye he got distracted. Lucas turned to her and shifted his shoulder slightly to be more comfortable. He would do it. He would kill people as long as they got out. They had family to take care of. One look at Katniss when she was around Prim and you knew that Katniss' children were the reason she held herself together. If that was ever let go of there would be no end to the madness. She survived for Peeta and lived for her family and the love she found in it.
The District 5 tributes had muscular builds obviously not having missed out on an opportunity to join a gym. They were throwing spears making sure that they never missed their mark. They didn't look at each other though. Lucas guessed they were friends, but they had accepted what the Hunger Games were. They were going to sever the tie they had to each other as much as possible. The less they thought they cared the easier it would be to face the moment when they had to turn on each other. District 6 was much the same though they pretended to be buried in books that told of the different types of berries and fruits that would probably be found in the Arena.
The tributes from District 7 seemed to have taken a break. They were sprawled out across the ground along with the couple from District 8. All of them had water bottle and were taking turns shooting into each others mouths. They looked like they had known each other their whole lives. All four of them looked strong and the pack reminded Lucas of the people that were called Career Tributes from the Hunger Games so many years ago. When the District 9 people joined them Lucas' heart sank. They were exactly like the careers. They were going to be the hunting party and now they were just predators getting to know their prey.
District 10 was trying to work with throwing knives flipping it in their palms a couple time as if they knew close hand combat, but when they tried to hit the target they failed miserably. They were happy enough every time they could get one to stick into the outer rings. Then again, that was all they really needed. They would just have to slow the opponent down. The rest of their obvious hand to hand combat would take care of the fight. The two slapped their hands together in celebration as they both landed one in the target and then they took off as if they were done for the day. The peace keepers let them go though.
The group next looked sad as they sat on the steps leading into the Capitol building. The District 11 group. They had sad expressions and were holding hands. The girl had tears in her eyes but the boy was whispering something soft into her ear trying to distract her. A small smile would pull at the corners of her mouth and she would nod just trying to choke back the tears. He took some dog tags from around his neck the peace keepers war and hung them around her neck with a gentle smile as if he would be able to promise her something. It only made her close her eyes and cry harder as she clutched the dog tags in her hands.
The boy from District 12 was going between stations and eventually found himself talking to Prim. She smiled at him, but in no way did it look like she favored him. She looked as if she was just enduring his company until Lucas returned.
The District 13's were right next to the two studying a book that they hadn't put down since they found out about the games. When Lucas got a sneak peak he realized it was a book filled with different formulas to make certain explosives. Whether they were going to make them or watch out for them, Lucas didn't care, but he had been itching to ask Prim if they should make them their allies. She would refuse of course, but so far their possible silent attacks scared Lucas more than any of the rest.
"Lucas," he turned immediately at Prim's voice especially because there was an intense worry behind it. The District 1 girl was heading straight for Prim. Lucas found the control in his head to walk and briskly moved to Prim's side grabbing a knife from one of the table along the way. "What do you think she wants?" Prim whispered, but Lucas had no time to answer. The girl stopped right in front of them and Prim's soft side was gone. "What do you want?"
"Listen, I don't give a shit whether or not your momma threw us into this," when Prim tried to cut her off she held up her hand. "Don't interrupt Rose. Like I said I don't give a shit, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Prim said a small thanks sarcastically and the girl nodded as if it were an actual compliment. "Here it is though, I want to be your ally." Prim jabbed Lucas in the ribs and he scowled at her before pulling her by the arm away from the girl.
"She's strong; we could use her help," Lucas whispered making sure that the girl didn't hear.
"I don't want to ally with one of Careers-"
"We're all Careers Prim!" Lucas turned away for a moment to put his head back on straight. "We've all been training our whole lives, so it'd be nice if we had one less person that's hunting us while we're trying to get out."
"What's to say she won't kill us as soon as the gong sounds?" Prim demanded. It sent Lucas' argument spiraling for a grip on the situation. "See, you can't promise that." She said it as if it were an accusation that he couldn't escape and for some reason he started to believe it.
"There's two of us though," he finally got out just barely getting back into the fight. "We can take her down before she takes us down."
"What if she targets one of us specifically?" Lucas looked at her in the eyes realizing her fear. It was there. This utter terror that shown out like a beacon for help. Prim was the target. No matter what all of the kids in the competition were going to try and take her down for the sake of getting back at Katniss because every one of the kids blamed Katniss, with no regret, for their situation.
"I won't let her hurt you," Lucas breathed and Prim believed him. She nodded carefully and then Lucas turned back to the girl. "What's in it for you?" You're not accepting it right away? Prim demanded in her head. He had gone through this whole big convincing thing with her and now he was going to take his sweet time interrogating the chick. Prim would rather be training. This was a waste of time.
"Whether I like you are not, word is that Katniss threw you guys in this." Prim boiled with anger at the girls words. The seething that she hoped she was hiding well made her cheeks feel warm and she clenched her hands shut tight. "No matter what, your momma," the girl pointed at Prim, "has got a plan to get out of this thing unscathed. I want in." Lucas looked at Prim for reassurance and Prim was the one to step forward and slap hands together with the girl to shake her hand making it a deal. "See you in the arena. By the way, the name's Serena. Good luck training folks." Then she walked off as if it never happened. She grabbed her sword and continued to train.
"Why would you make a deal if you don't trust her?" Lucas demanded as Prim headed for the Capitol building to leave training.
"It's one less person hunting us, Lucas."
"What if she tries to kill us first?" Lucas spat as they walked inside in the main hall. Lucas grabbed her arm finally stopping Prim just for a moment.
"Because, I'm going to kill her first," Prim said it so blatantly obvious that it made him sound stupid. It left him dumbfounded though as he watched her stalk off with her fists at her side shut so tight that her knuckles were white. These games were going to be the end of something, and if it didn't kill one of them physically; it would be mentally.