Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, I only own the characters I create like Lily, Brandon, and any others.

Training

Lily's POV

When we found Rue she was surrounded by others, I was surprised she was popular, and then I heard what they were saying to her.

"How long do you think you're going to live?" I heard kids shout at her,

"I bet she won't make it past the bloodbath" another kid said, I looked at Brandon, he looked furious, then I saw Rue she was up against a wall crying.

I know who she was named after, in my mom's games there was a little girl named Rue, she was talented and intelligent, and she lasted a long time. But she died at the hands of District 1, a spear through the stomach, but she was kind to my mother, she was young to. I knew my mom saw my Aunt Prim in her. If I have the chance I will defend Rue till my last breath.

"Cut it out!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, everyone stared at me even Brandon, "Do you remember the 74th games" I asked. Everyone shook their heads, "do you remember Rue, she was small and she looked weak, but she survived longer than most. Who says Rue won't do the same?" I walked over to where she was, "Get up honey" I said kindly, Brandon was right behind me, I helped Rue up. Then she surprised me by hugging me, and then out of nowhere the girl who ridiculed me in the hallway earlier was on us, she pushed me out of the way and grabbed Rue.

"Oh honey, did that mean girl scare you? Oh don't worry I'll protect you." Rue pushed away from her

"Lily" she yelled, I just stood there,

"My name is Christina silly girl, not Lily." She told Rue.

"Lily" she yelled again this time she got far enough to latch onto me. She hugged me around my waist I hugged her back. Christina was glaring at me,

"You think you can corrupt that poor little girl, while you got another thing comin trust me you..." she was cut off by Brandon,

"Come on Rue we're going to Lily's house" he told her kindly. She smiled at me and I ruffled her hair which made her giggle.

"Let's go" I told her sweetly. We half ran from the school, there were kids everywhere, there were almost thirty girls trying to flirt with Brandon while we ran, finally we were on my street. I ran through the front door and found my mom sitting on the couch looking really upset.

"Honey" she asked "is that you?"

"Ya mom, it's me."

"So you know" she asked

"Ya we saw the announcement today" she then turned towards me, her eyes widened when she saw Brandon and Rue.

"Why are they here" she asked in a strained tone

"They need training, they don't have enough experience."

"Ok, show them the training area outside, I'll come out to help the little girl find a weapon. What are your names?"

I answered before they could, "This is Rue and Brandon Mellark, they are my allies, Sunny's comin later. Are there any other victor's children or relatives that could join with us?" I asked hoping there were more.

"Yes, there are a few, that's what I'll do, I'll convince them that their best bet would to be an alliance with you. Go train, if other kids come help them train to."

"K bye mom"

"Bye honey" she said as she walked out the door.

"Will your dad wonder where you are" I asked Brandon.

"Maybe, can I call him?" he asked.

"Sure, the phones in the kitchen." I told him, "Come on Rue, you wanna help me set up?"

"Sure Lily" she said with a smile.

I led her out to the shed, there were tons of weapons, dummies, and targets. I showed her where everything was, "Carry this out please" I handed her a dummy for sword practice. I decided to carry out weapons. I was carrying four bows, four quivers filled with arrows, six swords, four sets of throwing knives, and two daggers when Brandon came out of the house. He ran towards me,

"Need help?" he asked in an impressed tone.

"Sure, that would be awesome."

"Here" he said taking the swords, daggers, and throwing knives from me, "Why do we have so many weapons?"

"I don't know what you're good at" I replied, he smiled at me,

"I'm good at everything naturally" he said with a smirk.

"Really" I asked pretending to sound impressed, "Can you shoot an arrow?" I asked with a smile.

"Umm, no but you can teach me right?" he asked with a charming smile, oh great he's trying to charm me.

"Sure, but we need to focus on Rue, she'll be one of the first to be hunted by the careers." He frowned at me, "Sorry, just trying to help" I said touching his shoulder

"Thanks, I appreciate your help" he said kindly. I removed my hand quickly and walked over to Rue.

"Hi" she said with a smile that could brighten up the worst day,

"Hay sweetie" I said, she giggled, she was adorable, I would protect her no matter what. After years of visiting the games I know almost all of the kids we're going to be facing. Some of them are my friends to, I know some other district members we can ally with, Districts 11, 6, 9, and 4. I know District 4 is a career district, but the members are kind, and they don't want to be careers. But the other career districts will be a problem, the kids are charming, beautiful, major flirts, and amazing with deadly weapons.

"What weapon should we have you try?" I asked her, she just shrugged. "How about a bow?" she smiled, I told her how to string it and she was pretty good. "Great job" I told her every time she shot, she didn't miss the target once.

"Thank you so much" she told me.

"For what honey?" I asked, all I taught her how to do was string a bow.

"For everything, teaching me how to use a bow, letting us come to train, being so kind, and giving my brother someone to…" she was cut off by a frantic Brandon running towards us.

"There's a few kids at your front door he said grabbing my wrist and pulling me away from Rue. "They said they were here to train, that your mom sent them. But they said they wanted to talk to you about the alliance." He looked worried.

"Ok" I said, when we got to the door there were three kids waiting. Three boys, two looked my age, then there was a younger boy who looked the same age as Rue.

"Hi, are you Lily, Lily Hawthorne?" one of the older boys asked me.

"Ya, come on in, we're training in the backyard." I said kindly.

"K thanks…… Wait. I have a question, can I talk to you in private?" he asked looking worried.

"Of course, come on we'll go in the living room, Brandon take the others out back and see if you can find them a weapon. I would give the youngest one a junior bow about the same size as Rue's. Wait what are your names?"

"I'm Roy" the one that wants to talk to me said, "this is Jake" he gestured towards the other eldest, "and this is CJ his real name is Christopher John." CJ smiled at me, they all had the Seam look to them, straight jet black hair and gray eyes.

"Ok then, let's go talk while they train" I said to Roy.

"K" he said in reply.

"We'll be out back" Brandon said to me.

"K we'll be out soon" I said walking over towards the couch to sit down. "So what's up" I asked Roy.

"Ummm, well there's another twist this year, you know there's gonna be a lot of us right?" I nodded, " They have a different plan for this year, the arena is going to be…" he stopped.

"What" I asked nervous now what was going to happen with the arena.

"There's going to be more than one." My mouth dropped open.

"What?" I screamed. "No, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening. How are they going to do that?"

"It's going to be a large arena, huge, there are going to be different sections, each having to do with previous arenas."

"Oh god no, that's horrible, this is going to be hard. Most won't survive, that's the point isn't it? They promised any from a district could win, but most will die because of the arena." "Brandon come here!!!" I yelled, he ran into the house looking worried.

"What's wrong, are you ok?" he asked walking towards me.

"Explain please" I said to Roy, he explained what the capital was planning, I saw Brandon's face grow pale.

"This is not good, we're going to need all the training we can get, let's get started…" I cut him off.

"Brandon, Sunny's not here yet, can you help me look for her?" I asked, Sunny has never been late before only early, where could she be.

"Um, sure let's go." He said looking confused, of course, he doesn't know Sunny like I do.

"Who's Sunny?" Roy asked.

"She's my cousin, she's going into the games with us." I said annoyed, "Go outside and practice you'll need all your stren…" I stopped talking, because from where I was standing I could see a shape in the distance running towards our house, Sunny. I ran outside I was slightly aware of Brandon and Roy yelling after me, but I didn't care. I felt someone grab my wrist, it was Brandon, he looked worried.

"Lily is that her?" he asked, I just nodded. When I began to run again, to my surprise he ran with me. We caught up to Sunny, she was breathing hard, she looked scared.

"There's been an announcement concerning the games." She said, "They have decided to bring us there early, the Reaping will occur tomorrow." I felt like I was going to faint, god no, no, no this can't be happening. I felt Brandon's hand tighten around my wrist.

"Sunny, Rue, CJ, they want us all dead." Was all I could say before everything went black.