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The Training Center had a tower designed exclusively for the tributes and their teams. This would be their home until the actual Games began. Each district had an entire floor. Rose just needed to step onto an elevator and press the number of your district. Easy enough to remember.

She had ridden the elevator a couple of times in the Justice Building back in District 7 but the one that stuck out to her was yesterday to say her final goodbyes to her friends and family. But that elevator was a dark and creaky thing that moved like a snail and smelled of burned wood. The walls of this elevator were made of crystal so that you could watch the people on the ground floor shrink to ants as you shoot up into the air. It's exhilarating and Rose was seriously tempted to ask Diana Reyes if she could ride it again, but somehow that seemed childish, at least more than usual.

Apparently, Diana's duties did not conclude at the station. She, Johanna and Blight would be overseeing Rose and Oliver right into the arena.

Diana constantly blathered about the fact that they were the first team she's chaperoned in a while that made a splash at the opening ceremonies. 'And the first team to try to kill each other before the Games even start'  Rose thought to herself. Diana was complimentary about not just the costumes but how both of them conducted themselves. And, to hear her say it, it brought hope radiate off of Rose's eyes. Diana knew everyone who was anyone in the Capitol and had been talking them up all day, trying to win them sponsors.

"I've been very mysterious, though," she said, her eyes squinting half shut. "Because, of course, Johanna and Blight hasn't bothered to tell me your strategies."

That's the moment it hit Rose. She didn't have a strategy, any basic idea of what to do and most importantly, she certainly did not have a plat.

Yet.

"Unfortunately, I can't seal the sponsor deals for you. Only your mentors can do that," said Diana grimly. "But don't worry, Blight has already started talking to some of them, I saw him myself a bit earlier" she paused "Well, I can't say the same about Johanna but if I need to, I'll get her on the table at gunpoint if necessary"

Sure, Diana seemed like a typical Capitol lady, all eccentric and well, Capitol-ish, but she had a certain admirable determination.

The escort lead the tributes to their quarters. Both quarters were way larger than the kids entire house back home. The were plush, like the train car, but also had so many automatic gadgets that Rose was absolutely sure she wouldn't have time to press all the buttons. The shower alone had a panel with more than a hundred options you could choose regulating water temperature, pressure, soaps, shampoos, scents, oils, and massaging sponges.

When you stepped out on a mat, heaters came on that blow-dry your body. Rose, instead of struggling with the knots in her wet hair, she merely placed her hand on a box that send a current through her scalp, untangling, parting, and drying her hair almost instantly. It floated down around her shoulders in a glossy curtain.

She then programmed the closet for an outfit to her taste. The windows zoomed in and out on parts of the city at her command. She needed only to whisper a type of food from a gigantic menu into a mouthpiece and it appeared, hot and steamy, before her in less than a minute. She walked around the room eating goose liver and puffy bread, observing the view over the city and her gaze training off to the horizon. Until there was a knock on the door. Diana was calling her to dinner.

Good. She was starving.

Venus, Amor and lastly, Oliver were standing out on a balcony that overlooked the Capitol when Diana and Rose entered the dining room. The girl was glad to see the stylists, particularly after she heard that her mentors would be joining them. Rose needed to discuss the strategies with them, because truly she had no idea what the plan was. But then she remembered; Oliver wanted to train alone.

Rose didn't really care about him, but how that decision affected her. She had to somehow subtly make him change mind. Besides, dinner wasn't really about food, it was about planning out their strategies, and she was almost positive that Johanna and Blight would help her change his mind.

A silent young man dressed in a white tunic offered them all stemmed glasses of wine. Rose thought about turning it down, but she'd never had wine, except the homemade stuff they used for coughs, and when would she get a chance to try it again? She took a sip of the tart, dry liquid and secretly thought it could be improved by a few spoonfuls of honey.

Johanna and Blight arrived just in time, right before dinner was served.

They were dressed up a little more formal than usual. Johanna had her hair slicked back in a ponytail and wore a long purple tracksuit while Blight was wearing an electric blue blazer and suit. They both looked classy and intimidating at the same time. Johanna didn't seem too happy about her shoes, though.

They took a seat at the table opposite Rose and Oliver, exactly like it happened on the train on their way to the Capitol. While the others made small talk about the parade last night, Rose concentrated on the meal. Mushroom soup, bitter greens with tomatoes the size of peas, rare roast beef sliced as thin as paper, noodles in a green sauce, cheese that melted on the tongue served with sweet blue grapes. The servers, all young people dressed in white tunics like the one who gave them wine, moved wordlessly to and from the table, keeping the platters and glasses full.

About halfway through her glass of wine, Rose's head started feeling foggy, so she decided to change to water instead. She didn't like the feeling and hoped it wore off soon. It was as if her reflexes left her and she was on slow motion. She hated that feeling, she felt as if she was pray. But mostly, she hated it because it reminded her of what their uncle did not so long ago. Was this how he really felt? Trying to numb the pain of Rose's parents passing by trying to numb his senses? Avoiding the truth and having to numb himself with alcohol just to avoid facing reality.

Rose blinked a few times when suddenly she heard Blight speak "Sponsors are lining up actually"

Rose's head popped up suddenly before Johanna continued "Yeah, there wasn't much need to start guilt tripping them into sponsoring" she smirked, taking a sip of wine and winking directly at Rose "I don't think I'll need to threaten anyone this year"

"Oh for heaven's sake" Diana exasperated a sigh while Blight just laughed.

Rose them looked towards Oliver, who on the other hand seemed extremely lost in his bowl, he hadn't looked up from his food in a while and he didn't seem to want to eat as well. Of course, Rose didn't feel bad for him. And even if she slightly did, she wouldn't allow herself to feel that way. He deserved it after all. After all those years and after him trying to choke her last night. Looking at him reminded her all those fights, those arguments, those childish remarks and insults that left a mark on her. Yes, he did deserve to die in that arena.

She then focused herself on the talk once again, which had turned to their interview costumes. At that moment, a girl set a gorgeous-looking cake on the table and everyone's attention turned towards that.

They ate the cake and moved into a sitting room to watch the replay of the opening ceremonies that were being broadcast. A few of the other couples made a nice impression- For example District 1's red jewel covered tunics were pretty eye catching; embroidered with rubies to mach the female's name. Then District 2 was quite intimidating, not the costumes but the tributes themselves. They had a bloodthirsty look in their eyes and Rose recognised the same look that the male tribute had in the reaping, ready to take lives. Then District 3 was more plain, just two outfits made from microchips. District 4 was another popular among the crowd; they had light blue outfits with embroidered seashells and the girl kind of looked like a mermaid. A bad District 7 copy if you asked Rose. But of course, the girl's looks carried them. Then District 5 was almost boring. They wore plain dark purple fits with blue and yellow lightning flashing. District 6 wore emerald costumes but behind them, there was District 7 who outshined them by far.

Rose saw the moment where the crowd was almost dead and cringed as she realised that she looked visibly annoyed on screen.

"Well, you see that my friend?" One commentator laughed sarcastically

"I do... indeed ladies and gentlemen there we have another flower outfit by the one and only District Sev-"

It was at this moment when suddenly Rose had pressed the flower on her chest and she smirked at the TV as she watched it all unravel.

"Wait, Claudius, what is that?" Caesar Flickerman pointed, eyes widen.

"What is happening, everyone" Claudius Templesmith joked but was left eye widened too.

Rose's dress transformation was truly one of a kind but those wings and fairy dust were what send them over the edge

"Ladies and gentlemen, for once.." Caesar paused, looking for words to describe it "I'm actually speechless"

The entire District 7 team roared with excitement. All except Oliver, who looked uttrly annoyed as he looked at himself on TV.

"She looks like a... what's is called?" "Like a fairy" the commentators laughed, admiring the scene. Then Caesar looked directly at a camera.

"There you have it, citizens of Panem, District 7's fairy! Am I right everybody?"

"But wait, Ceasar" the other commentator furrowed his brows "isn't that the girl holding that flower the other day?"

Ceasar looked closer, observing Rose's face "It is! Well what an interesting presence so far. I wonder what will happen next with-" he continued and then his voice faded as Oliver put down the volume of the TV.

Everyone on the team was thrown back by Oliver's move but as everyone let out a "why did you do that" he instantly snapped

"Do none of you understand how that's probably lost me sponsors?"

Johanna sighed angrily but before she could reply to him, Blight held her back "Oliver, I understand that what happened wasn't ideal for you-"

"Ideal? Now we call it ideal? Trying to put me down so that she can get just some more sponsors?" He pointed over at Rose who was also slowly starting to build up a lot of anger but decided to bite her tongue and not answer to him.

Blight continued, louder and clearer "But I do assure you that sponsors, as I said before, were lining up for you two today"

"Oh really?" Oliver mocked and Blight seemed to be losing his temper

"Look kid, you either work with Rose as a team-"

"Or what? You're going to pressure me-"

Blight suddenly banged the table with his fists and the silence after that lingered in the air as if it was a monster; no one wanted to disturb it. Oliver looked taken aback from it all and Rose could distinguish on his face the look of sheer panic, of fear for survival. The look of pray.

Blight slowly shook his head at Oliver and sighed "Kid... the arena will tear you to pieces. A helping hand for the first few days could end up being a lifesaver." he stared at him, trying to persuade him to change his mind "The other tributes will see you as an easy target if you're by yourself. At least until they break their alliance-"

"I dont care!" Oliver snapped once again "I'll kill them. All of them" he said as he started walking away, towards his quarters. "I'll kill them all if I need to"

"You can't!" Blight yelled after him but he didn't answer back.

Blight took a deep sign and leaning on the table, he massaged his temples. Johanna hissed in anger "I can't believe this"

Now, Rose, who was sitting on the couch was left completely speechless. The situation started seeming real now more than ever. She knew she wouldn't survive all alone in the Games. She needed an alliance. But, then again she wasn't that sure that she would form a good alliance after what happened at the opening ceremony...

"Tomorrow morning is the first training session. Rose, meet us for breakfast and we'll discuss exactly how we want you to play it," Blight said "Now go get some sleep, you'll need it."

Rose was so exhausted that she didn't feel like arguing. Rubbing her eyes, she got up and after whispering an almost silent "goodnight" she left for her room.

When she got there, she opened the door lazily, kicked off her shoes and climbed under the covers in her clothes. She had started shivering. It wasn't guilt, it couldn't have been guilt. She wouldn't allow herself to feel that. Especially for Oliver. After all, he would do the same to her, if not worse, if he had the means.

She pulled the covers up over her head as if this would protect her from the situation. But she could feel eyes staring at her, piercing through walls and doors and bedding. Everyone's eyes. Judging her. For everything.

She wondered if some of them would enjoy watching her die. People who don't even know her, laughing and smiling as she died.

That night Rose's slumbers were filled with disturbing dreams. The face of her district partner intertwined with gory images from earlier Hunger Games, with her uncle withdrawn and unreachable, her parents being dragged away by Peacekeepers, with Daisy emaciated and terrified. She bolted up screaming for her mother to run and only distant screams echoing. "To the square! To the square!"

Dawn was breaking through the windows. The Capitol had a misty, haunted air. Her head ached from the lack of sleep due to the nightmares. But anyways, she wouldn't miss the chance to enjoy the gorgeous sunrise in front of her. It calmed her down a bit, looking at the complex patterns that the clouds were creating in the sky, changing colours and shapes every few minutes. She smiled slightly at the scenery.

Slowly, she dragged herself out of bed and into the shower. She arbitrarily punched buttons on the control board and ended up hopping from foot to foot as alternating jets of icy cold and steaming hot water assaulted her. Then she was deluged in lemony foam that she had to scrape off with a heavy bristled brush. Oh, well, at least her blood flow was good.

When she was dried and moisturized with lotion, she found an outfit had been left for her at the front of the closet. Tight black pants, a long-sleeved burgundy tunic, and leather shoes. She put her hair in the single braid down her back.

Her mentors hadn't given her an exact time to meet for breakfast and no one had contacted her this morning, but Rose was hungry so she head down to the dining room, hoping there would be food. She wasn't disappointed. While the table was empty, a long board off to the side had been laid with at least twenty dishes. A young man, an Avox, stood at attention by the spread. When she asked if she could serve herself, he nodded assent. She loaded a plate with eggs, sausages, batter cakes covered in thick orange preserves, slices of pale purple melon. As she gorged herself, she watched the sun rise over the Capitol. She had a second plate of hot grain smothered in beef stew. Finally, she filled a plate with rolls and sat at the table, breaking oil bits and dipping them into hot chocolate. She remembered that she had to gain as many calories as she could while she was in the Capitol. It mustn't be that difficult, right?

Her mind wandered to Daisy. She must be still sleeping, gripping her pillow tightly as she slumbered. Just two mornings ago, Rose was home. Could that be right? Yes, just two. And now how empty the house must feel, even from a distance. What did her family, what did District 7 say last night about her debut at the Games? Did it give them hope, or simply add to their terror when they saw the reality of twenty-four tributes circled together, knowing only one could live?

Blight and Johanna came in, bid Rose good morning, filled their plates and shortly after, Oliver came in. It somewhat irritated Rose that he was wearing exactly the same outfit she was. Surely, after he was so mad that she stole the show last night, she believed that the stylists wouldn't put them in the most plain outfits possible. This act was going to blow up in their faces once the Games began. Of course, they must knew that themselves. But then Rose remembered her mentors telling her to do exactly what the stylists told her to do. If it was anyone but Venus, Rose might be tempted to ignore her mentors. But after last night's triumph, she didn't have a lot of room to criticize the twins' choices.

Rose was nervous about the training. There would be three days in which all the tributes practiced together. On the last afternoon, they'll each get a chance to perform in private before the Gamemakers. The thought of meeting the other tributes face-to-face made Rose queasy. She turned the roll she had just taken from the basket over and over in her hands, but her appetite was gone.

When the mentors had finished several platters of dishes, they whispered something to each other and with a sigh, Johanna spoke "So, let's get down to business. Training. First off," she looked over at Oliver "Decide now if you want to be coached separately or not."

Oliver only nodded, determined to keep on with the idea that he could survive all by himself in the arena. Rose shook her head at herself, hoping he would see her and that maybe will smack some sense into his brain, but it didn't work.

Blight raised his eyebrows as if to say 'okay then' and motioned Oliver towards the staircase so that they could talk privately. Johanna then nodded her head towards the living room balcony and Rose followed her.

There, they sat, overlooking the sun slowly rising over Capitol when Johanna broke the silence "All right then, give me an idea of what you can do"

Rose paused for a moment, her mind instantly stopping at the memories from the woods.

"Hunt" she said simply

"Knives?"

"Bow and arrow"

"Are you good?" Johanna simply asked, leaning over the glass on the edge of the balcony.

Rose had to think about it. She had been putting food on the table for years. That was no small task. And over all that, she was stocking up the dark market with game for all those years as well. She had a lot of practice with a bow and better aim than a lot of other hunters. But she still needed to learn how to set up better traps and snares.

Rose was now quite confident with her answer.

"I'm good"

Johanna rolled her eyes "Well that's a relief" she then turned to look at the younger girl "Well, I'll need something more than that"

Rose realised that since Johanna was going to help her, she had to know what she was capable of. She shouldn't underrate herself.

"I've been stocking up the market under the bakery for some years" Rose explained and Johanna seemed somewhat surprised "the traiders often comment that the meat is not touched since I always hit the squirrels in the eye. And sometimes I've handled deer-"

"Whoa there" Johanna froze and stared with wide eyes "You're the squirrel girl?"

Rose's eyes narrowed in confusion "What?"

"I've eaten those squirrels countless of times. Every time the mayor–" Johanna made a gag noise "–calls me over for dinner, he seems to enjoy having your squirrels as a main dish. Once, someone asked him how the hunter always managed to hit bullseye" she laughed "He said that the girl had her ways"

Rose would have never thought that she and her game could be a matter of discussion at the mayor's house. She was, let's say, absolutely astonished. "Well that was unexpected"

"But" Johanna stopped her "You have to do more than shoot squirrels in order to impress those game-makers."

Rose nodded understandingly "I know, but what can be so memorable that I outshine the other tributes?"

Johanna turned her gaze towards the distance as she thought about it "They're just a bunch of clowns" she started "but the Gamemakers would appreciate some excellent bullseyes"

Rose sighed "I can manage to do that but what if it's 'too boring'?"

Johanna turned to look at the girl, who visibly had started to become really anxious. Her breathing had quickened, she had crossed her arms, digging her fingers into them while she bit her lip.

"Look, we'll find the perfect solution" Johanna put her hand over the younger girl's shoulders, calming her down a little bit "We have three days until then, for now you just have to go to training"

That gave Rose a little bit of hope. Maybe she could find some allies today. Surely, she could.

"Now remember, you have to train the qualities that you're already good at and try to perfect them. Don't try, let's say, to use other weapons. Bow and arrow only"

Rose blinked, trying to process the information "Alright"

After that they headed back inside, where Blight and Oliver seemed to just have finished talking as well.

"Rose, I want to talk with you as well for a little" Blight said and Johanna narrowed her eyes, as if she knew something.

Rose turned towards him before looking back at Johanna, who did seem to know where this was going, but Rose was willing to see for herself. Looking at him again she said "Yeah" a little unsure.

Blight and Rose sat in the kitchen, as far as they could from the others. She took a seat at a chair while Blight stood with his back to Johanna so that she probably couldn't see what he was saying.

"Okay this is important Rose, so pay close attention" he told her, his light blue eyes piercing her soul sharper than an arrow.

"Johanna doesn't want me to tell you this" he looked back at her, who was throwing some gazes their way. Rose was suddenly way interested than before. What wouldn't Johanna want her to know? She was good all this time. Or was she? A thousand questions flooded Rose's mind at once.

"She... thinks" Blight sighed "that it would be a better idea if you showed your talents right off the bat"

Wait, that was correct. That was what Johanna advised her to do.

"She thinks it's a better idea to show the other tributes as well as the Gamemakers your talents from the first day." he stopped, biting his lip in thought and Rose's eyes roamed the room trying to find a reason as to why "Don't get me wrong, she has a good reason for saying that but I have a better solution" Blight said

"And that is?" Rose raised her eyebrows.

"She told you to train the qualities that you're already good at and try to perfect them, right? Well, you're going to do that, but not in front of the other tributes" he smiled mischievously

Rose was slightly taken back by his words "But how exactly am I going to do that?"

Blight smiled, already having his answer ready and his plan all thought out "So, the Training Centre is open until midnight, right?"

Rose nodded "Yes-"

"Wrong" Blight smiled "I know for a fact that the guy who does the night shifts at the Training Centre only appears there at the last 10 minutes of his shift."

Rose didn't understand where this was going at first but when it did, her mouth fell open, her eyes widening in an instant "What" she said a little louder than she intended and Blight shushed her, Johanna was still throwing them suspicious looks

"You'll need to train at night for a few hours. A little after midnight till about 4. That's the most I can do for you right now"

"Are you joking? This is amazing" Rose said in absolute awe. She thought that she wouldn't like Blight's idea but it was actually really good.

"Glad I can help, kid" Blight grinned and escorted the girl back at the living room.

There, Rose grabbed a book about animals and started reading it. She needed to learn enough about as much animals as she could in order to use as an advantage in the arena. About an hour later, she had already read about all the deadly animals that had appeared in previous Games. Then, she continued to the chapter of the friendly animals. She turned the page over and a wolf appeared. Friendly wolf was what it was about. It fascinated her that everyone thought that those were amongst the most deadly animals, even though she had seen for herself how harmless they were towards her many times.

She unknowingly turned her left palm up, looking at the scar that she got two days ago from the butcher. It was still healing.

Then, all of a sudden Blight spoke after a while. "One last thing. At training go sit alone if you want but in public, I want you by each other's side every minute," he said

Rose and Oliver both started to object, but they could hear Blights voice becoming angrier "Every minute! It's not open for discussion! You agreed to do as Johanna and I said! You will be together and you will appear amiable to each other. Now go, meet Diana at the elevator at ten for training."

Rose breathed out in frustration and stalked back to her room, making sure Oliver could hear her door slam. She sat on the bed, hating Blight, who an hour ago helped her, hating Oliver, just because of his existence, hating Johanna, who also agreed that herself and Oliver should get along and most of all hating the universe since the moment she was selected for those Games.

She hated the mentors decision, because, at some point, they were going to have to knock it off and accept they were bitter adversaries. Which she'd be prepared to do right now if it wasn't for that stupid instruction that they'd need to stick together. But that didn't mean Rose wanted to do everything with Oliver. Who, by the way, clearly didn't want to be partnering up with her, either.

She heard Oliver's voice in her head "You're a worthless huntress" and suddenly she was thirteen years old, boiling with anger in the middle of the school courtyard.

She punched her pillow just like she had punched his nose that day and with a deep breath she looked at the clock on her bedside table. It was almost ten. She cleaned her teeth and smoothed back her hair again. Anger temporarily blocked out her nervousness about meeting the other tributes, but now she could feel her anxiety rising again. By the time she met Diana and Oliver at the elevator, she caught herself biting her nails and stopped at once.

The actual training rooms were below ground level of their building. With these elevators, the ride was less than a minute. The doors opened into an enormous gymnasium filled with various weapons and obstacle courses. Although it was not yet ten, they were among the last ones to arrive. The other tributes were gathered in a tense circle. They each had a cloth square with their district number on it pinned to their shirts. While someone pinned the number 7 on Rose's back, She did a quick assessment. Luckily they weren't the only ones dressed alike.

As soon as they joined the circle, the head trainer, a tall, athletic woman named Reya stepped up and began to explain the training schedule. Experts in each skill would remain at their stations. The tributes would be free to travel from area to area as they choose. Some of the stations taught survival skills, others fighting techniques. They were forbidden to engage in any combative exercise with another tribute. There were assistants on hand if they wanted to practice with a partner.

When Reya began to read down the list of the skill stations, Rose's eyes couldn't help flitting around to the other tributes. It was the first time they've been assembled, on level ground, in simple clothes. Her heart sank. Almost all of the boys and even some of the girls were bigger than she was, even though many of the tributes had never been fed properly. You could see it in their bones, their skin, the hollow look in their eyes. Rose may have been smaller naturally, but overall her family's resourcefulness had given her an edge in that area. She stood straight, and while she was thin, she was strong. The meat and plants from the woods combined with the exertion it took to get them had given her a healthier body than most of those she saw around her.

The exceptions were the kids from the wealthier districts, the volunteers, the ones who had been fed and trained throughout their lives for this moment. The tributes from 1, 2, and 4 traditionally had this look about them. It was technically against the rules to train tributes before they reached the Capitol but it happened every year. In other districts they called them the Career Tributes, or just the Careers.

The slight advantage Rose held coming into the Training Center, her entrance last night, seemed to vanish in the presence of her competition. The other tributes were jealous of her, but not because she was amazing, because her stylists were. Now Rose saw nothing but contempt in most of the glances of the Career Tributes. Each must have fifty to a hundred pounds on her.

At some point, she caught the eyes of the District 1 girl. The blonde girl's gaze was cold and it made Rose feel uneasy. Her whole aura projected arrogance and pride.

Then Reya released them all and the Careers headed straight for the deadliest-looking weapons in the gym, handling them with ease.

Rose was thinking that she's lucky she's a fast runner when suddenly she felt eyes on her back and turned around only to find the District 2 boy looking at her. She remembered him from the reaping. How could she forget after all? He almost killed another boy.

The image of him punching continuously and blood flying everywhere was engraved in her memory, together with the cold and bloodthirsty stare he had.

Rose's eyes widened slightly, subconsciously, and her breath was caught in her throat. They were still looking at each other and his icy blue eyes were piercing hers. She felt unable to move. Like a lost baby deer on a snowy winter night; too frozen to even breathe, overwhelmed with fear.

And suddenly in that frozen state, like a hunter's arrow piercing the little deer, Rose remembered his name.

"Cassius Heath"

His eyes seemed to travel up and down her figure. His gaze was calculating but it didn't seem to be in a hostile way. Could that be right? How could he not be hostile after all? But Rose was sure there was something more behind his eyes, something she couldn't understand and that's what frightened her even more.

She snapped out of it, she had looked at the boy long enough. She turned her gaze towards the other Career Tributes who were showing off, clearly trying to intimidate the field. Almost all of them seemed arrogant.

Almost all.

Rose shook her head, telling herself she wouldn't look the careers' direction again for the day.

She turned around, heading towards the others, the underfed, the incompetent, shakily having their first lessons with a knife or an axe.

Blight had told her to keep a low profile, try different skills while she was with other tributes. And that she planned on doing.

She crossed to an empty station where the trainer seemed pleased to have a student. You'd get the feeling that the hammock-making class was not the Hunger Games hot spot. Rose spent about half an hour to that skill, and then decided to move to the edible plants test, which she swept without blinking an eye. After that she saw some tributes looking at her and remembered that she had to have a low profile for the time and moved over to one station that again wasn't that popular.

Knot-tying. The trainer showed her some simple knots in the beginning and after a while, another girl joined them as well. She had long ginger hair, just the colour of cinnamon, that braided down her back and hazel eyes with sparks of green in them. The girl asked the trainer if he could re-do the last knot he demonstrated since she had trouble with it for years, as she said.

After the trainer showed her how to do the knot, she looked over at Rose and unexpectedly, she smiled.

"Piper Sherwood" she held out her hand and even if Rose didn't expect it, she immediately shook her hand and was then slightly mad at herself. Her goodamn good manners were going to kill her.

"Rose Haywood" she smiled back and the girl's eyebrows raised at the similarity of their last names.

Rose looked over at her sleeve, where the number 6 was pinned and remembered the girl. She was in front of Rose last night at the parade.

At that moment, a boy came over and stood next to Piper, putting his arm over her shoulders. He also had the number 6 pinned on him, but unlike his district partner, he had dirty blonde hair and dark brown, almost black eyes.

Piper smiled up at him "I was just introducing myself to Rose" and from the girl's overly sweet tone, Rose knew where this was going.

"Well, I'm Hermes Miller" the boy shook Rose's hand.

She was smart enough to understand that those two probably wanted to make an alliance with her. Surely, not one person would go start conversation with random tributes out of the goodness of their hearts.

The trio concentrated on this one skill for an hour until all of them had mastered it. Then they moved on to fire-starting. It had been only about five minutes when Hermes whispered at Piper "I'll go speak to the 5s. They seem good enough"

He probably thought that Rose didn't hear him, but all those years in the woods had made her ears sensitive even to the faintest sounds. Piper nodded at her district partner and he left the girls alone, heading towards the spear section, where the tributes from 5 were.

Next to them, it was the trident station, where the District 4s were training. The girl threw a trident and missed by just mere inches but her partner laughed audibly. That made quite a few eyes turn to look at the source of the noice. The girl looked around, seemingly embarrassed a bit. Rose met eyes with her for a second. She didn't seem as arrogant as the other careers.

Piper looked at her "That girl –Marina Stoleck– she's not as bad to be honest" the redhead said, sitting down opposite Rose at the campfire. "Her earring fell off yesterday at the parade." Piper continued"And when I told her, she didn't have an attitude or anything and even said thanks" Piper shrugged and Rose furrowed her eyebrows.

Sure, that didn't sound like much but still, it seemed strange. Sure, there were much stereotypes surrounding the Career districts but it was true; most of the people there grew up in rich families and ended up being arrogant and cocky to every other tribute from a 'lower class' district. It seemed kind of weird to hear that some of them had basic manners. Most of them would be embarrassed to even give the slightest impression of being kind to 'lesser tributes'

Suddenly Hermes appeared beside the girls once more "Piper, I'll need you at the spears for a bit" he told her. Catching eyes with Rose, Piper sent her an affiliative smile before they both left.

After some time of Rose trying to light up that campfire, she had become quite frustrated and that was obvious due to her angry strucks of the flint and steel.

Someone sat opposite her, and Rose just thought it would be Piper until she looked up and saw a raven-haired boy and Rose recognised him immediately without even having to look on his sleeve, where the number 3 was pinned.

He had a certain glint in his eyes and he sat down carefully. He examined Rose'a expression, like a fox meeting with a wolf in the forest. Both of them cautious yet one of them confident enough in their intelligence to try to approach the other.

"Can I?" he smiled, looking at the flint and steel in Rose's hands and she handed it to him, confused as to why he was there.

He held the steel in one hand between his thumb and index finger and grasped the flint in the opposite hand with the sharpest edge toward the steel. He struck the steel against the sharp edge of the rock with a quick downward motion, directing the sparks toward the campfire. Quickly, some sparks fell down and he blew them to a flame.

Rose looked amazed but remembered not to let her guard down. She raised an eyebrow, trying to seem unimpressed. But in her mind that effortlessness seemed quite attractive, considering she had been fiddling with that flint and steel for about twenty minutes-

"Edward Flash" the boy smiled "my name" he added quickly and moved his hand closer for a shake, which she accepted.

"I know." Rose answered "I'm Rose-"

"Haywood? I know" he smirked slyly

Rose was kind of taken aback by him almost as much as from herself. Surely, he remembers her name for a reason. Maybe to approach her as an ally or maybe to get information on her as an enemy. But why would she remember his name out of a dozen other tributes? Well, she wasn't really sure.

"You've done your research, I see" Rose continued, studying his features and body language to understand where this was going.

"Maybe, or you just made an incredible entrance last night" Edward smiled approvingly, although he kept his gaze on the fire, not meetling her eyes.

Rose found herself wanting to smile at his words but didn't really know the reason.

Before she could answer they were called in for lunch. Edward sat with his district partner, a tall girl with long, jet black hair braided down her back and brown eyes, just like his.

Rose on the other hand, found herself sitting with the tributes from 6. They were quite lovely to be honest. —Well, as lovely as one could be while training for a deadly game— And Rose was right that night on the train, they did seem like a couple. The way they smiled, they spoke to each other. Death game or not, it was adorable watching them. A part of Rose imagined what their wedding would look like if they weren't in this situation. What it would be like everyone in the room if the Games did not exist anymore.

After lunch the Gamemakers appeared. Twenty or so men and women dressed in deep purple robes. They sat in the elevated stands that surround the gymnasium, sometimes wandering about to watch the tributes, jotting down notes, other times eating at the endless banquet that had been set for them, ignoring those same tributes. But they did seem to be keeping their eye on every district. Several times Rose looked up to find some fixated on her.

Just before Rose; Piper and Hermes left the spear station, Rose's last throw was almost bullseye. She wasn't bad at all, if she didn't have to throw too far.

Just then, they were approached by the tributes of District 5. The boy introduced himself first, as Newt Volt. He was extremely tall and one of the more muscular tributes other than the careers. He had brunette hair and tired eyes, yet he seemed wide awake and ready to strike.

As he was talking, Rose noticed a large scar on his left arm. That kind of scar can only be done by either lighting or high electricity. Newt realised that she was looking at it and covered his hand before giving her a weird look.

Rose decided not to give any further attention, mostly because she was kind of scared of the guy. She looked over at the girl, Electra Alenger. Her skin was darker than most of the other tributes this year. She had black curly hair in too many braids to count and her almost black eyes seemed to be travelling around the room all the time.

Rose's suspicions that District 6 was trying to form an alliance were correct. They were now an alliance of 5 tributes. But was that enough? The careers were 6 this year and have had the most training by far. Would 5 people be enough to compete? Rose wasn't so sure.

Back at the District 7 floor, Diana, Johanna and Blight grilled the tributes about every second of their day –separately from each other of course– and Rose told them about her new alliance. Blight's best guess was that District 6 tried to build a strong enough alliance to attack the Careers but from the impressions that Piper and Hermes had left to Rose, they didn't seem like the kind that would go for an attack. But then again, the sweet and friendly couple façade might be an act.

When Rose finally escaped to her room, she decided to watch some of the highlights of past Games in order to spot what strategies they had in common or what similarities made them win.

She took notes of every victor and their story. A great amount of them had won just because of their passive survival skills, not just their brute strength, which surprised Rose a lot. She actually had chances to win. During the next few days in training she had to focus on the survival skills more.

According to Rose's notes, 30% of the total victors won because of their use of blades. It was the most known weapon to appear, after all. There were three types of blades, and Rose knew that she had to learn how to use them if she wanted to have a chance on hand-to-hand combat.

That was it. Knives and archery was what Rose would focus on training that night. Everything else could wait, but she had to master those two skills.

Looking up at her bedside table, she saw that it was almost midnight. She had no time to lose. She got out of bed with a thud and scrunched her nose as the sound was louder than she intended. She slowly and quietly made her way across the room and got on the other side without making a noise. As quiet as ever, she sneaked out the door of the District 7 quarters and from then she headed towards the elevator.

At last, there was a moment of peace. But then again, there wasn't. Rose took a deep breath as the elevator door slid open with a ding. Now all she had to do was sneak in the Training Centre and leave before 4am. Easy enough.

Rose's train of thought came to a halt when the elevator made a ding sound again. Just as she stepped out in the corridor before the Centre, the elevator immediately left. Rose found it a bit strange but didn't further question it.

Suddenly, she heard a very faint noise behind her, inside the Training Centre. Slowly, she turned around and with almost silent footsteps, she approached the door. She had learn to be as silent as a tree from all those years in the woods.

The sound was heard again, clearer and clearer as Rose approached. It was as if metal hit rubber but not just hitting, piercing. It couldn't be arrows, it had a duration. Then the universe answered Rose's question as an angry grunt was heard and then once again the metal sound.

Spears.

She opened the doors, revealing a tribute on the other corner of the gymnasium. He didn't seem to have noticed Rose entering, nor did he notice her walking towards him. She hadn't realised who he was until about halfway there. His messy raven hair were one distinct feature of his, but his calculated throws of the spears towards the dummies and the missing by mere inches each time... It's was all distinct. Rose proudly smiled to herself at how quickly she realised who it was, but it also created other kinds of questions in her mind.

First of all, what was he doing there?

Another loud thud of metal was heard before Rose spoke "Need any help with that?"

The boy jumped instantly, gripping tightly the spear in his hands, until he realised who the 'intruder' was.

"Holy-" he breathed out with a slight chuckle "Trying to kill me, yet the Games haven't even started" he smiled sarcastically and then looked once again towards the human-shaped targets. Rose followed his gaze.

"Your aim is good" Rose looked at him and he seemed surprised "but you turn your arm a little on the right at the last second." She explained, running over so that she could grab a spear to demonstrate "You lose momentum when you do that" She then fixed her body in a throwing position and demonstrated. "When you throw it you have to move your whole torso as well. Not just the arm"

He copied Rose's position "Like this?" after a few seconds of calculating the shot, he threw the spear forwards into the air like a missile until it found a stop, hitting almost dead centre of the target and the sound of the wooden end of the spear wiggling could only be heard.

"Good job" Rose raised her eyebrows, impressed at how quickly he did that.

Edward on the other hand looked surprised himself. He blinked multiple times and a smile appeared on his face. Now facing Rose, he tried to play it cool but didn't know what to say other than " Well, thanks for the spear lesson Miss Haywood"

Rose also didn't know what to answer, she laughed, but his eyes also made her feel quite uneasy. She couldn't understand if it was a good or bad kind of uneasy, all she knew was that it couldn't be that good, but she liked it. The two of them had spoken a total of two times but she found herself wanting to talk more with him. She was lost in his eyes for a bit: swimming in a sea of questions, but a wave hit her.

"Wait, why are you here so late" she tilted her head towards the left, perplexed.

He raised his eyebrows at her "Could ask you the same thing" but then he cracked a smile again "I'm kidding"

Rose still confused, motioned for him to continue.

"Oh uh– I guess I shouldn't be telling you this, but I uh, kind of hacked the communication system and accidentally heard the guard guy saying he was leaving to grab something called doughnuts- or at least i think that's what they're called" Edward explained casually like he didn't just hack Capitol's network.

"And found an opportunity for more training, you know, without those slimy carreers observing me" he crossed his hands over his chest "What about you? Surely you didn't come down here randomly, did you?" Edward smirked, raising an eyebrow.

Rose copied his expression and in a semi-sarcastic tone said "I just wanted to see if the Training Centre was open this late"

"That was honestly such a bad lie" Edward almost laughed "Well I guess it's alright if you don't wanna tell me but-"

She sighed in defeat "The guard never comes during his night shifts"

Rose was instantly mad at herself for giving away that information

"Oh" was all Edward answered. One would even think that even he didn't expect from Rose to tell him that. "So, wait, there won't be security here tomorrow night as well?"

She didn't want to answer, but her gut for some reason made her do otherwise. "Yes, basically" she nodded, rubbing her hands as a self-soothing gesture. Normally, she wouldn't open up like that. But somehow this was different

No, she was smarter than this.

He simply nodded understandingly and even if the atmosphere was a little awkward the next few minutes, they continued on with the training, deciding to keep it to themselves about these training nights.

Rose decided to try knife throwing. She didn't want to try archery with Edward in the room. Sure she told him stuff that she shouldn't but giving away that she's good with a bow would have been too stupid.

The examined the throwing knives then got one, careful not to tighten her grip too much. She let herself get used to the weight of the weapon. Suddenly, she felt 10 years old, as she threw kitchen knives at the trees in her backyard.

With a deep breath and a stretch of her arm, the knife was thrown across the room, the blade making a whoosh sound while slicing the air and landing at the shoulder of the dummy.

For a first try, Rose was quite impressed while Edward behind her was losing his marbles. He watched her changing expression as throw by throw the blades pierced the dummy closer and closer to the middle. Finally on about the seventh try, she hit dead middle and erupted in cheers.

Edward found himself smiling as she cheered. Even at times like this, while training for a death game, there was a good side to it. He had met Rose.

But he had to face it. In the games, one of them must be killed in order for the other to survive.

Of course, Rose was also aware of this, but she secretly hoped that it wouldn't come down to them two to kill each other.

After about ten minutes, Rose headed towards the targets to get the knives for round two, but when she took the last one of them out of the dummy, she turned around only to find Edward standing where she stood earlier.

"You know, I really hope that it's one of us that survives this" he looked up at her, the faint smile on his lips not matching the words he just said.

Rose was taken aback from his sudden statement. She didn't know how to respond to something like that "Whatever happens I just want to get back to my sister" she answered, hugging herself at the sudden coldness in the room.

Edwards expression changed to a distant one and he lowered his gaze on the floor "Yeah, me too"

It was almost a whisper yet Rose heard it clearly. She wanted to ask him about his sudden change but she wasn't quick enough before he talked again

"Anyways, it's getting late, we should go" he forsed a faint smile "we don't wanna get in trouble, right?"

Rose furrowed her eyebrows, subcontiously taking a step towards him "No, but-"

"Same time tomorrow?" he arched an eyebrow, smirking. Then he took a step back before turning around and walking quickly towards the door

Rose tried to walk towards him but she wasn't fast enough and all she could say was "Yeah I guess but-"

"Goodnight Rose" was all she heard before a sudden silence filled the room and she realised;

What did just happen?

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