the ruler [THE HUNGER GAMES]¹

Twenty.

    TRAINING is nothing like the first time around. Half of the tributes don't even bother turning up. Cashmere and Gloss, of course, take everything very seriously and spend most of the time in the knife throwing station to stop me from practising. Its also proving to be very difficult to get Katniss to like Jacinth when Katniss spends most of her time with Wiress, Beetee and Mags and avoiding Jacinth entirely.

"This isn't going to work," he whispers to me as I pushed him towards the 'survival skills' section.

    "Either it's gonna work or I'm going to have to kill the both of you to stop you being so stubborn," it's a joke and he knows it, but the threat is still there.

    Katniss is setting a snare under a bush, her tongue resting between her teeth as she focuses on getting it right. I clear my throat to try and get her attention. Once, twice, then kick the edge of the snare to set it off prematurely.

    "What the hell?!" she's sitting up and the redness is rising in her cheeks.

    "Katniss stop pretending you couldn't set a snare in your sleep," I roll my eyes, "and start pretending to like Jacinth so you two can get along in the arena."

    Her blue eyes meet Jacinths and they stare each other down for a second. The hesitation is so clearly all from her side, I know that he will trust whoever I tell him to if it means he doesn't have to team up with the District One's. I just need Katniss on my side.

    "I don't bite-"

Katniss cuts him off, "yeah Fawn said yesterday."

Jacinth glances at me and watches my shoulders visibly deflate, "you know what? I give up. I can't force you guys to be friends, but he's coming with us in there whether you like it or not."

I'm walking away before either can object and make my way to the throwing station that Finnick has saved for me in a gap between one of the siblings being there. He hands me a large knife that has sharp edges but comes to a point more like a dagger than a normal knife. It feels light in my hands, the technology different to the ones they used in my games. I spend a few moments getting the feel of the weapon before pressing the difficulty level I want on the interface outside the room.

Difficulty level 12/12.

The glass doors slide open and I slowly wander in, sliding a few throwing blades in my pocket from the table by the door. The doors blur out and i'm left well and truly alone with my skills. From all corners of the room come orange holographic projections of men with different weapons. The dagger finishes those off, swooping under fake arms and cutting through cubed legs. Then another jumps at me from a ledge above my head, the dagger enters its chest without a second glance. Too easy.

I shouldn't have spoke so soon, because then they have five or six projections coming for me at one time and I have to start throwing knives. They are out of my pocket and flying towards their targets in seconds, clattering to the ground once the projection is 'dead' and fades away. This carries on for a minute or so more, me having to find ways to grab old knives off the floor whilst stabbing and slashing with the dagger in my other hand. None of them get close enough. The dagger flies into the last one's chest and then I can hear the technology shutting down because the exercise is over.

The doors clear and the feeling of eyes on me forces me to turn around. Every person who had bothered showing up to training today is stood there, including Peeta who is smiling at me and Katniss who looks shocked at my talent. Maybe she didn't watch as much of my Games as she told me.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Peeta says as I leave the station, cheeks red from embarrassment that all of these people had been watching.

"Like that'll ever happen," I scoff and glance around the room, "wanna go and get lunch?"

Unlike normal games, the lunch room was more of a jolly affair. Everybody mixed and chatted about their lives since they'd won the games, they mixed on tables and laughed like they wouldn't be killing each other in three days time. Fawn supposed she was a part of that though, so she couldn't blame them.

I sit with Peeta and Katniss who was still so hesitant to mix with the other victors. It seems that the both of us were looking out for the blonde boy, so at least he had twice as much a chance of winning.

Peeta took a jam tart off of my plate and glanced around the room, "look at us. The new kids."

I raise an eyebrow at him, "Me? oh I just felt bad for you losers," I tease.

He gasped in offence and stole another tart, "mean."

I smile at him and kick his leg gently under the table. Knowing what we were doing on the roof last night made being here with him feel ten times more invigorating. We are throwing the rules right back in Snows face right under his nose and he can do nothing about it before the games start, where we are in danger of dying at any moment anyway. I love it.

"Hey Fawn!" Finnick called from a table where he sat with Johanna, Wiress, Beetee, Mags, and Blight.

I looked over at him and sighed, pushing the rest of my dinner towards the District Twelve tributes, "have it. I'll be right back."

I make my way over to their table and slide into a chair next to Johanna. Jacinth is sat with the careers, which I'll have to talk to him about because that will not help his case with Katniss.

"What is it?" I ask.

"We've got our first orders from the rebellion. From Plutarch himself."

My eyes widen and I glance around at my friends. So it's real, this is the chat Finnick was talking about before the parade last night. I suddenly feel more excited for the games again.

"They want Katniss. No matter what happens, Katniss is the leader of this rebellion," he sighed when he saw my face which had turned sour quickly, "look, I know you wanted to help Peeta. Maybe we can help both of them. I don't think she'd do anything without him anyway."

"Why just her? He's just as much a part of this as her. They're both clueless, it's not fair to murder him without thought because Plutarch says so," I object.

"Fawn, calm down. You're not thinking straight," he says gently.

I stand up, shaking my head, "no. I'm prepared to die for this but I won't have you sacrificing him without running it by them first. She won't do anything for you if he's dead. I won't do anything for you if he's dead."

I make my way back towards the table with Katniss and Peeta on it and ignore Johanna as she makes a comment about 'that girl being in love is going to ruin this rebellion'.

Peeta glances at me when I sit down and stare at the table, sending a pang to my stomach, "are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm good," I lie, smiling at him.

I go about the next few days of training only really paying attention to Katniss, Peeta and Jacinth. The others try to get my attention but I need to take time to think about what to do. There has to be a way to save both of them, for Peeta to live and have a happy life after the war is won. He's the only decent person to have won the games, I think he's earned himself that. When the personal evaluations come around I ask Persephone if I can take my parade outfit with me and spend my ten minutes ripping up the uniform and putting it on a dummy that I paint with bloody red lips and scribble 'Poison Snow' across the chest. Plutarch smiles as I leave. I get a twelve in the scores.

Let the games begin.