kill for your love - the hunger games

(025) the victor without a last name

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act two.

(chapter twenty-five, the victor without a last name)

training centre, 75 ADD.

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THE SECOND AND THIRD day of training followed Juniper's makeshift schedule. The former was filled with survival and the latter was riddled with trying to find allies. 

The days differed immensely. The second was quiet and peaceful. Everyone left Juniper to her own devices as she wandered over to the survival stations. She was alone as she sorted through the poisonous plant cards. She was on her own as she successfully made a fire. And she was only accompanied by the District Eight tribute, Woof, at the edible insects, but he kept mumbling to himself as he eyed the bugs like they were food. Overall, the second day was not noteworthy. 

But the third was filled with Juniper moving from tribute to tribute. She already had a vague idea of who she was allying with due to the plan, but she still maintained a good flow as she partnered up with Enobaria at the sword training, though there was little conversation. She joined Cecelia at the knot-tying and when Finnick came over, he dragged her to the fish-hook station where Mags had spent most of her time. And whilst Juniper loved her time with the pair from Four and enjoyed Cecelia's presence, she still felt an ache in her heart as she stood with a certain blonde at the archery range.

"Arrows aren't really my thing..." Cashmere mumbled under her breath as she eyed the bow in her hand. 

"Neither." Juniper shrugged as she loaded an arrow up, testing out the string as she toyed with it. "We're probably going to make a fool of ourselves."

But they didn't, surprisingly, as the two women managed to at least get a few arrows into the dummies. They wouldn't, however, dare to fight with the flying birds like Everdeen did on the first day and stuck with the still targets. And as no-one else was using the range, it allowed the two Victors' to talk quietly amongst themselves.

"I'm assuming you're with Odair for the arena," Cashmere muttered as they both walked towards their targets to retrieve their arrows. 

"And I'm assuming you're with Gloss, Brutus, and Enobaria."

Cashmere looked at the Hale woman sadly as the inevitable crashed over them. They were on different teams. Cashmere was a Career, Juniper was... well, Juniper was part of the rebellion. Juniper's task was to destroy the Hunger Games. Cashmere's was to give them a good show. And so, there was no possible way that both Cashmere and Juniper could team up, could defy all odds because they just couldn't. They were two sides of a coin. Together, but never facing each other. They couldn't face each other.

But would Cashmere's death break her? Cashmere was sure to die, certainly, as she wasn't part of the plan simply because she was a Career. And therefore, it led to the question: would Cashmere's death break her?

No. No, it wouldn't. Juniper realised that then as she stared into the woman's green eyes that were filled with sadness. She would miss Cashmere, sure, but it wouldn't break her. Juniper Hale had been broken before. She knew what that was like to be constantly defeated, to constantly lose and this wouldn't be an example of that. She would be mad at the circumstances, despise whoever would kill the woman, but she would move on.