Author's Note: Not every victor decided to attend training so here's some more about their mindset and motivations.

Refusal

Luna simply did not see the point. Hal had tried to persuade her, force her hand even, but Luna was going to stay put. She knew Hal thought she had given up, and perhaps she had. Or maybe this was her final way of gaining some control over her life and not doing something she did not want to do.

She was not a fighter. She would only end up killed on the run to the Cornucopia, so she was going to avoid it. Run straight into the wider arena, into the jungle that still beckoned her in her dreams.

Porter was spending more time with her now. Luna knew that meant that the sponsorship efforts were becoming exhausted. District Five simply did not have the connections that many of the other districts had. It would soon be thirty years since Hal won and there had been no more victors, only promising lights that had been put out before the finale. District Five was not somewhere to produce victors and the sponsors understood that.

But it allowed the two friends to spend more time together. They had lunches together and drinks on the final day of training once Porter had done all she could with the sponsors and spent time reminiscing on the good times.

They had lots of good times and now they were coming to an end. Luna knew her life was ending. Hal was being reckless, Luna had tried to warn him, and Porter was trying to adjust to imminently living alone. This era of District Five victors was drawing to its spectacular close with all of Panem watching their downfall.

It was all for show and Luna was tired of playing their games. So, she refused to go to training. She did not want to look the other victors in the eye, knowing that they would be making a judgement on how easy she would be to kill. She did not want the mind games or to consider alliances. She would enter the arena alone, as she did some forty years ago and play the game her way.

….

It had been a difficult morning on Six's floor and Poppy and Max were running late for a sponsorship meeting. Their escort, Lola Amethyst was angry and panicked about making a poor first impression and Max had a headache.

But Levi had not wanted to go to training. He had done one day and claimed he could not see the point in another. He was bad-tempered, sullen and shouted at the escort. Poppy and Max had tried to ease the tensions but that only promoted an argument between all the victors and Amethyst who could not understand why they would defend Levi's behaviour.

Levi had to go to training. Poppy and Max were occupied with sponsorship duties, and they could not leave him unsupervised. They did not want to leave Claudia alone in the gym either. Poppy could not trust either of them not to turn their floor upside down in search of morphling given that they would have the entire day to themselves. They needed to be kept occupied and in the presence of the other victors.

In the end, it was Claudia's upset which changed Levi's mind. She wanted to spend the day painting, talking to Mags, and trying to make friends with Peeta Mellark again. Their first meeting had gone well, and Claudia was delighted that he seemed to enjoy painting as much as they did. He was a kind boy and she wanted to paint with him again.

Claudia had also seen Poppy's approval of her newfound friend. Her victor-turned-mentor had given her the task of making sure Peeta trusted them, and she was doing her job well. It gave her something to focus on whilst the worst approached.

Poppy never thought she would be relieved to meet another face in the Capitol, but it was a change in the usual conversation. She did not have to think about her fellow victors and morphling for the duration of the meeting. In fact, it was the last thing she spoke of as she tried to convince the pair of eccentrics that Lola Amethyst had found that Claudia and Levi were still a good bet, especially if they were feeling adventurous.

Levi had told Max that he was planning on running to the Cornucopia, to end it all quickly. So, Max was able to spin a tale of a victor determined to fight against the odds and make a brave move at the start of the Games. Poppy knew that Claudia was planning on hiding so was able to talk up her charge's survival and camouflage skills.

It was all a lie, but it was the Capitol, and the Capitol ran on lies. It would not matter. They got the sponsorship money, made a new contact to appease the escort and were able to call it a job well done.

….

It was another day of signing albums and merchandise on District Seven's floor. By now, Liev was tired of Blight's performance and was practically begging him to attend training to try to cement an alliance with District Three. But Blight told him it was planned already. Heavensbee would ensure it happened. He was not going to attend training. Johanna would do a fine job of making friends on her own.

Sawyer certainly did not believe that was the case, having heard from Haymitch about Katniss' continued distaste for Johanna. Apparently, she had more success with the boy. But Sawyer was not about to tell Liev that in case it prompted an argument. Nobody wanted a falling out when everything they had built up was about to end in the coming days.

So, Sawyer forced Liev out into the hordes of waiting Hunger Games fans outside the Training Centre to stir up some more interest whilst they waited for their escort to arrive with the details of a meeting she had set up. The woman was insufferable, as usual, but if she found them a useful contact, they would do their job and put up with her for the duration before sending her on her way again. They would soon be rid of her for good, but they had to wait for the right time.

Linden remained on the Seven floor with Blight, helping come up with amusing one-liners to put in the notes accompanying the albums for a few of Blight's 'luckiest' followers. As long as it created positive attention and distracted from everything else they were doing, Linden did not care if Blight went to training or not. It was his final few days and he had earnt a right to choose how he spent them.

But the severity of the situation hung over them and it was not long before the conversation turned to the most pressing issue.

"You will look after her, won't you?"

"Johanna or Poppy?" Linden asked.

"Both. Johanna at home and Poppy in whatever comes after," Blight replied.

"Of course. You know I intend to see this through. Do whatever it takes to be there at the end."

"Good. I'm telling you to. Live your life, let Johanna live hers however she wants. She deserves the best, whatever that is for her. And Poppy, there's no better than her," Blight said and then pulled Linden into his ear, "Take every chance you get and live properly together. You both deserve it."

Linden nodded, "It won't be right without you. You deserve more. To see this through, after everything."

"It's crap. There's no denying it. If I could escape, I would. But I can't. They'd shoot me and put you in the arena instead. So, I'm doing what I want now, taking joy in winding everyone up, being me, whilst I can."

"Good for you. I respect that. Liev does too. He just worries about you."

"He's got more than me to worry about," Blight replied. "We all do."

….

Sponsorship efforts with Barley and Mona were sporadic. They would make the deals they could and then the interest would fade. In the interests of his mental state, Barley would retreat to Nine's floor and await Mona's return a short while later.

Then the four victors from Nine would spend time together. Neither Barric nor Maizey had decided to attend training. They wanted to spend time with each other. They were not interested in the other victors or alliances. Their plan was to find each other as soon as possible after the gong sounded.

It would only be a matter of days before their new relationship was brought to a violent end and the victors wanted to make the most of every second they had left. That did not leave any time for picking up a scythe in the gym in front of the other victors who would decide how best to kill them. They had decided to leave some things a mystery and did not want to engage with any of the others.

Barley and Mona were not going to try to force the issue. In this all-victors' game, they did not see the point in training either. It would be all posturing, sizing each other up and putting on a front. There was no point. They would all be killing each other within a matter of days and the supposed closeness and unity of the victors would come crashing down, leaving the concept of district unity amongst the mentors in tatters. It was all a façade when the Capitol made them fight to the death each year. It was why they had remained on the outside. Forming bonds with only those from District Five, who shared their opinion and not allowing the others in. Now they would be spared the idea of shattering what the other victors had thought were close bonds, ties that would soon be broken for good.

Rebellion was not on their minds either. Whatever the other victors were involved in would not work. It had already sent them back to the arena. Nine's victors could not understand what they thought they would win. They had lived quiet lives, not put a foot out of line and they found themselves in the same torrid situation as the rest whilst the Capitol would remain all-powerful. Nothing was going to change, and a failed rebellion would only make things worse.

They would simply spend their remaining time together, pretending they were in District Nine in the Victors' Village. There would be no Training Centre and no interaction with the other victors. It was their way. It was simpler. It brought them peace and they would not be coerced into changing what they believed worked for them.

….

They decided to leave training early. They had done their bit. Charo and Adan had made their way around the stations, practised with some favoured weapons, spent time with some of the other victors and deciphered some of the clues about the arena.

It did not make them feel hopeful. There was a station devoted to fishhooks, there were insects which could be found near water and in tropical climates and neither of them could swim. Warm, humid weather would not be the problem it would be for some of the other victors. But if adapting to water was going to be important to their survival, they did not have confidence in their chances.

They watched the careers and were not surprised to find them in peak condition, ready for the arena. They were the victor tributes who were most likely to target them. Most of the others saw Ten's young victors as friends and confidantes. They would not want to target Charo or Adan.

The key players in the rebel alliance were doing what must have been asked of them. Beetee and Wiress pretended not to know how to start a fire to attract the Twelve girl's attention. Finnick was practically following her around until Mags intervened and set up the contact. Mellark had clearly formed a bond with Chaff and a somewhat strange connection with Johanna Mason.

An alliance of at least eight tributes or two separate subgroups which then met would be difficult to maintain and Charo and Adan realised that their involvement would be unlikely. The best they could try to do was find each other, stay together and shadow one of the groups and hope they would find themselves in the right place at the right time.

But it was stressful to think about survival in such a way. So Charo and Adan left the Training Centre gym early. Maria would understand and Aloysius would offer them the sad smile he kept sending their way. They would prioritise each other, as they always had done and spend their final days in each other's company, knowing they had done all they could for the cause, for Maria and for District Ten.