Diana Potter and the Hunger Games

Training

The other tributes were childish.

Especially the Careers. They purposely set themselves up to look better than they were, even though the girl from 1 looked too small for the sword she wielded and the boy from 2 could only toss a knife if he focused long enough.

Diana sighed and turned back to the fire building station she and Seamus were visiting. The young boy did not know the first thing about survival, and she refused to leave him alone to go work on the weapons. They had three days to learn as much as they could, and even Diana needed a review on survival.

Since they had begun training, bright and early, a few tributes had broken down in tears. The others seemed to already know who they were going to ally with. Tributes from 5 and 10 stuck together while going from station to station. Diana watched the boy—or man from 11 keep looking at her and Seamus, muttering to his tribute partner.

"Are we going to ally with anyone else?" Seamus asked, following her gaze once he had gotten a small fire lit.

Diana led him to a station for poisonous plants as she shook her head. "No. I can't trust anyone here."

Seamus stilled. "Why do you trust me?"

An echo of his words rolled smoothly off her lips. "Why do you trust me?"

"Because... because... I saw your eyes when we first met. And then you told me I'd be alright." His brown eyes held unshed tears, and he sniffed before looking away.

Diana pulled him close, rubbing his shoulder. "And I meant it. If anyone is going to win, it's going to be you."

~*~

By the end of the second day of training, the pettiness of the careers annoyed Diana. They seemed to have a personal vendetta against the girl from 6. On multiple occasions, Diana had caught them doing things to make the girl trip or stumble. Her sad blue eyes would fill with tears each time and she'd disappear for the better part of the hour before coming back.

She couldn't be much older than Seamus, fifteen maybe, but her slight form made her look much tinier.

Diana threw the knife with all of her anger and annoyance, wrinkling her nose when it imbedded itself three inches from the bullseye. The trainer said something, telling her to put her feet a certain way and square her shoulders.

Despite how much she played Quidditch, and how good she was, small targets were much harder to hit than throwing a ball through a giant hoop.

"Ow!"

Diana spun away from the station as she saw Seamus kneeling next to the girl from 6. She was gripping her leg, her cheeks glistening with tears. The Careers stood around them, laughing at her.

"Should be more careful," the boy from 1 said—Diana thought she had heard his friends calling him Stark.

"Ms. Potter," the trainer breeched softly. The woman held her hands out before gesturing to the knife.

Diana looked down, realizing just how tight she had been holding the weapon. She handed the knife to the trainer before making her way toward Seamus and the girl. "What happened?" she demanded as she leaned down to help the girl up.

The girl looked at the Careers, her tanned face growing extremely pale. "N-nothing. I t-tripped is all."

"Mm-hmm," Diana muttered, letting Seamus take the girl. She turned to the Careers. "This isn't the arena."

Stark stepped up and looked down at her from his nose. "What makes you think I don't know that, huh?" he snarled.

Diana flinched at his breath. "Leave the girl alone. In fact, leave all of us alone. We'll be able to fight soon enough." She looked at his district partner and motioned to Stark. "Get him to brush his teeth tonight."

"That's it!" Stark grabbed Diana's throat, lifting her into the air.

Without thinking, and without so much as a wave from her hand, Stark was forced to let go as was thrown across the training room. Gasps and shouts could be heard as he slammed into the wall, immediately passing out.

Diana coughed and gripped her throat. Seamus stepped in front of her, placing his hands on her arms. "Are you okay, Diana?"

"Yeah." But she wasn't. All she could think about were two things.

One: when had she gotten that powerful?

Two: what the hell was the Capitol going to think?

~*~

A/N: Hi! Sorry it's a day late. Please leave a review if you've been enjoying this story or if you have any constructive criticism!