AUTHOR'S NOTES: While District 9 might have a reputation of being cannon fodder in my AU and many of my stories, this year is fixing to be a little different. I can tell you right now that some of the characters that have already been named will die in the bloodbath, and so Fox and Robin might not make it out of there alive. Or maybe they will. Who knows?
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 9: Truce and Allegiance

Lucia and Cadence turned in early that night, but for a long time Cadence lay there awake, contemplating the upcoming Hunger Games. He thought about Lucia, and how wonderful of a person she was—not just to him, but to everyone she met, it seemed. Perhaps this was what District 5 meant when they called her the District Sweetheart. The thought made him seethe slightly more in anger at the fact that no one volunteered to come to her rescue. Where were the days of District 5's formidable volunteer tributes and their chain of victors? They still had the highest non-career victor count in all of Panem, and the 3rd highest victor count overall. Cadence did not want that to slip away—otherwise District 3 or District 11 might outstrip them. Considering they had eight victors whilst District 5 had nine, all it would take was two little wins and the victor drought on '5 to continue for it all to change. It made him uncomfortable when he thought about it, but knew that he could change that record.

Whatever the case, Cadence woke up the next morning and was surprised when he did not see Lucia at breakfast. He wasted no time in asking Bethany where she had gone.

"She was up about an hour ago," the mentor indicated, "and I think she's already down at the training center. She said something about wanting to get an early start or whatnot."

Cadence wondered if she was just trying to get away from him, and so he ate quickly before heading down to the training center to see who was there. It was fairly early, and so not everyone was present just yet, but Lucia was there, and she seemed to have a remarkably powerful swinging arm. Her weapons of choice were light daggers or shortswords, and Cadence was skeptical about how accurate she might be with them in actual combat, but he watched her with a sense of amazement before finally approaching her. Most of the other tributes, contrary to Cadence's fears, were minding their own business rather than whispering behind his (or Lucia's) back.

"Lucia," he spoke up, causing the blonde-haired girl to freeze for a second and then turn around to face him. "Sorry I'm late."
"Don't worry," she smiled, "I wasn't here early to get away from you or anything. I just woke up early and felt like I might as well just get my day started."

Cadence nodded, but it made sense. Perhaps she had fallen asleep immediately unlike him, who had been awake tossing and turning for at least an hour or two after crawling into bed.

"Have you used these knives before?" he asked. Every tribute had to start somewhere, and so even if she had never touched a weapon in her life, that didn't necessarily mean she was too hopeless. If victors were determined solely by how much training they had received before the games, the entire victors' pool would consist of tributes from District 1 and District 2, with occasional folks from District 3 or District 5; maybe a rebellious District 12 renegade or two or something as well.
"Only a few times," Lucia admitted, "but otherwise not really. I'm a befriender, not a fighter."

Cadence sighed, for he knew that as well as she did. Still, it relieved him to know that there was at least some level of fighting spirit in her. She had been so accepting of her fate on the train, and so it surprised him for the better when he realized that she was not about to just lay down and die.

Today during lunch, the pair from District 5 were surprised when they found themselves surrounded both by the tributes from District 11, as well as Mani and Sudi from District 12.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked.

"We're just here to propose a truce." Xandra was the one to speak. "I don't want to say formal alliance because you probably know as well as we do how easily the tables will turn. But our alliance will leave yours alone as long as possible, especially if the pair from '9 are lining up with Serendipity."

"What kind of alliance do they have?" Lucia tilted her head.

"It's hard to tell at this point," Mani shrugged, "the others haven't interacted with '9 too much from what we've seen, but Serendipity definitely has something going for them."
Cadence was silent as he listened to the conversation, but mentally took in every bit of information these kids (as well as Lucia) were saying.

"So how is that going to work in the bloodbath?" Lucia asked.

"Just make sure you don't run into the fray too swiftly," Kilon shrugged, "maybe your buddy can keep you out of the careers' line of sight."

"I'll do whatever I can to ensure her safety during that time," Cadence promised.
"See? You're set to go." Xandra smiled. "I mean, sure there are private sessions and interviews which may shift some scales and odds a bit, and the arena's going to make or break how well some tributes do, but if the career pack has an informal alliance with District 9, I see no reason why we can't offer an informal alliance with District 5. You in?"

"I'm in," Cadence nodded, "mostly for Lucia. If Fox and Robin are only in it to save Serendipity's hide, then if you have to choose which of us to watch over, choose her."

"Cadence, I…" Lucia sighed. She didn't feel offended by Cadence's words; she just did not like him speaking the way he did about his own life.

"Well, after the bloodbath and the first couple of days, everything's more or less fair game," Mani indicated, "8 or 10 or so tributes will die in the bloodbath, and after a couple days it'll be down to about 11 or 12 tributes unless they do another arena where we all freeze to death; but otherwise I don't quite think they'll toe district lines that conveniently."
"Also…" Sudi warned, "Watch out for Ratchet."

"Ratchet?" Lucia tried mentally processing that name but was not sure where it was from."
"District 3," Kilon answered, "never trust a girl named Ratchet."

The plucky pair from District 3 seemed to be mostly keeping to themselves this year according to most of the other tributes' observations. It was unclear why the careers didn't approach them, for they appeared to be just as competent as the ones last year and the year before, both of which were years that District 3 aligned itself with District 2. Three years earlier it had also included District 4, and so the idea of a career pack that was "too large" was not on the books. Perhaps Faren and Serendipity knew something about them that Lucia, Cadence, and the others didn't.

Whatever the case, Cadence left the lunchroom with the truce from Kilon, Xandra, Mani, and Sudi fresh on his mind. Lucia went back to practicing with her knives, while Cadence started to follow Serendipity around. He did not trust that girl and knew her to be dangerous. However, the biggest reason he was so suspicious of her was because he couldn't shake this nagging feeling that she was the one who was going to kill Lucia at some point. He obviously had no way of knowing for sure, but he knew that whoever tried killing her would face the full brunt of his wrath.

"Maybe it's just me," Gabriela quipped, "but I think that District 5 boy has an eye for you."
"He wouldn't be the only one if he is," Faren winked. "I've seen your legs, Seren."

"More than half the country saw my legs a couple nights ago," Serendipity laughed, "you'll have to come up with a better excuse than that."

"I like the nickname though," Nazir quipped, "saying 'Serendipity' all the time is kind of a mouthful."
"Oh it's not that bad," Serendipity laughed, "but I don't think we need to make this about my name when I believe a certain someone challenged me to a sparring match a moment ago, hmm?"
"That I did," Faren stepped forward, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles. "You're on."
Serendipity twisted her neck, rolling her shoulders and then took a deep breath. "At your ready, Faren."

Faren proved to be surprisingly swift, although Serendipity seemed to have that over him. He struck harder, but she struck faster, and ended up linking together a series of hits that led into a sort of judo throw that obviously took the boy off of his feet. She offered her hand once all was said and done, and helped Faren back to his feet.

"I underestimated you," he chuckled, "at least this time."
"We've still got 5 more days for you to practice up and try again." She giggled, "I'm not some legendary unbeatable sensei or anything."

Cadence focused on his training, shutting out most of the external noise, including from the careers. He was fixated on his goal, and dedicated to bringing it to pass. What he did not realize, however, was that while he might not have been paying attention, his partner had rather keen hearing—and she was listening to everything the careers said to one another.