Waiting there for your name to be called felt like agony. You were sat inside a hall, next to Ethan. He was scared, more so then he had ever shown back in the apartment.
Even despite Annie and even Finnicks attempts at soothing his nerves.
Every tribute was there sat with their partners, or in their allied groups in the careers case.
Currently, Marvel had entered the room. Glimmer, who had just been in had been sent back to her apartment.
You could see Cato sat, mansplain with his arms on his knees. Clove at his side sat up right. Her lips pulled into a tight line.
She was almost nervous looking. Out of the four careers, she was physically the weakest.
Catos eyes met yours, watching you take in everyone's appearance. A small smile cracking on his face.
He had no nerves on him whatsoever. He looked calm for the first time. No anger, no frustration. You wished you could be like that.
"Clove Kentwell." The same female robotic voice called.
Instantly she was on her feet, rushing towards the entrance to the hall. You didn't know how anyone didn't have to be dragged in screaming.
As she went in Cato stood up, walking in front of your bench. "Doing good there fish girl?" You frown, glaring up at him.
"Fine." He lets out a huff. "You're gonna use the trident right?" You nod. He looks away for a moment. "You'll do fine. Better then have the people here." He shrugged.
You roll your eyes. "Thanks." He only smiles sarcastically. "You're welcome."
After a long five minutes of silence, Cato was called in. He turned back to look at you, giving you another wink, before going into the hall.
You turn your attention back to Ethan who was staring between you and the wall in surprise. "If anyone else had spoken to him like that he'd have ripped them up or threatened to come time to fight..." he whispered leaning his head on your shoulder.
"Guess I'm just lucky.." you whisper back, wrapping an arm around his shoulders giving them a squeeze.
After an even longer wait. Watching more tributes begin to flood into the hall to show their skills. The robotic voice came again.
"Y/n L/n." You took a deep breath as you slowly rose to your feet. Your attention turned to Ethan who gave you a confident smile, and thumbs up.
"Good luck!" He mouthed, as his hands dropped back into his lap.
As you walked into the hall, immediately your eyes were drawn upwards to a large, purple lit room. Full of fancy looking people.
You shook your head. Don't let that be what nerves you out. Instantly your eyes then fell to an array of weapons, all lined in up on the same station as their training sections.
Your eyes found the trident, and you quickly reached down, picking it up. Your eyes returned to the people up on the top, as you stepped forward.
"Y/n L/n. District four." You called out, your grip tightening on the trident as you felt your hands begin to clam up.
One of the men nodded towards you. A glass of topped up wine in hand.
Start.
You turned from the men to where four dummies stood. The same ones from practise. The ones you have taken down before. The room was silent in anticipation, waiting to see what you would do.
You began to move, you swung your trident hard, slamming it through the dummies head before ripping it clean off.
You can do this.
You moved again, doing the same action as you had to the other three, without fail. You then twisted round, slamming the trident into the arms and managing to (with some struggle) get them off.
You then moved backwards. You need to hit the dummy in the stomach. You tightened your grip, preparing to throw it. As long as you hit the dummy it doesn't matter.
You forced your arm forward, the trident flying from your grip, into the dummies lower stomach. You missed the target, but you still hit the dummy.
It could still be fatal to any tribute.
You turned from your show, some of the men were still watching, but others had started talking amongst themselves. Laughing at whatever from the Capitol had caught their attention.
The man who had told you to start still had some attention as he looked over your work, a small nod of approval.
"Thank you for your time." You call up, placing the trident back where you had got it from, and leaving the hall through the exit.
God you really, really hoped Ethan could pull this off. You had managed to, you believed in the boy.
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Sitting there next to Finnick felt like pure agony as you awaited for Ethan to return. Annie was pacing biting her names whilst Finnick, was eating grapes.
To your surprise, Tigress was sat there too, a small look of disgust at Finnicks posture. "You did good Y/n. It was a good show."
"You didn't do too bad. Shit aim but.. still good." Finnick shrugged adding on to her offering you a smile.
"That's what Cato said." You frowned leaning against the sofa, staring at the television screen. Instantly Finnick sat up a bit more, eyeing you.
"You... spoke to the career for two?" You nod. Should you tell him about the offer for an alliance.
"How long have you two been speaking?" He questioned, brows furrowed. "Nothing I've seen other than you two sparring and you knocking him over."
"A couple of days. He offered an alliance on behalf of the other.. careers too." You confessed. Annie stopped her pacing, staring at you.
"That's not a good idea." She murmured. "Careers only look out for themselves-"
"This could be good though." Finnick said thinking out loud. Annie turned to look at him, stunned at his thought.
"Think about it. Y/ns good with a trident. Get her in a group with them not just her chances, but their chances increase too." He said sitting up, using a hand to gesture towards you.
You look down feeling the idea swarm in your head. Maybe it could work.
"And if need be, you could always... run. Ditch them and hide if you feel endangered or a chance presents itself." Finnick said.
turning to Annie gently nodding at her. She seemed a bit more relieved at that idea.
"But if she runs it's a bad performance. I'd suggest she sticks around. In all honestly I think she could put a trident into Clove, maybe even Glimmers neck."
Suddenly the doors opened. In walked Ethan his fists tightly clenched. His eyes cast down. "I don't think I've done very well." He murmured.
Finnick let out a dramatic sigh. As Annie stood still, not quite meeting his gaze. Ethan, at the lack of response looked even more upset, heading towards his room, shutting the door.
After another hour, the broadcast had started, announcing the scores of all the tributes after their 'evaluation.' Annie had quickly left the room, collecting Ethan, sitting beside him on the sofa gently squeezing his shoulders.
"As you know the tributes were rated on a scale of 1-12 based on their performance after three days of practise. The game keepers would like to propose their ideas based on the scores." The blue haired man spoke through the television, holding a piece of paper in two hands.
"District one! Marvel.. nine." Of course he would get a high score. You shivered slightly.
"Glimmer! A score of.. nine."
"District two! Cato.. ten." Again, not surprising. Maybe you should partner up with them. If they all had such high scores, and if you could get one too, you'd have a good chance.
"Clove! .. nine."
As the list went on eventually the man reached your district. You took a deep breath, tightly shutting your eyes.
"District four! Y/n.. eight." No way. Finnick put a hand on your knee giving it a squeeze. "Not bad for using a trident." He mocked jokingly.
You scoffed teasingly smiling as your attention returned to the screen. "Ethan!... five."
A decent score. Definitely not the worst but not the best. Yet Ethan seemed to take it harder then he should have.
Annie attempted to offer him some comfort only to be shaken off and ignored as he rubbed his eyes before tears could fall. Ethan was then up on his feet, and out of the room before anyone could speak.
You stopped paying much attention to the tributes scores, until they reached twelve.
You were interested to see Katniss and her score, she was smart. It was obvious she was also a talented marksman.
"Twelve! Peeta... eight." The same as you, you weren't surprised from his display of brute strength.
"Katniss.... Eleven." God the highest score thus far. The highest in the game. You knew that the careers would not be happy, hell they'd be throwing a fit now.
You could tell the score had silenced everyone. It was clear now, you shouldn't worry about the careers, but Katniss.
She was the hunter in the game this year.
"Don't be put off by her. You're just as talented, and just as good." Tigresses voice broke you out of your trance, staring at her nails.
"listen. Tomorrow the mentors can work personally with their tributes before the games. You and I will go down and work on your aim more." Finnick spoke up after some silence. His eyes still trained on Katniss on the screen.
"What about Ethan?" You spoke up. "Annie's taking him earlier in the morning."
After a depressing dinner, sat with Finnick, Annie, and Tigress, you left to the garden. You hadn't seen Ethan since his score came out.
He was depressed clearly convinced that he would die. He had no shot, but you didn't believe that. Not for one minute.
He was a smart boy. Smart and kind. Someone would sponsor him, and he would be smart to follow the things he learnt on how to survive.
As you came outside sitting down by the fountain, almost inevitably Cato was there too. He was looking around; until his eyes caught yours.
Was he waiting for you? He shifted slightly,
giving you more room to sit besides him. You offered him a smile as you settled.
"I made up my mind. About the alliance." You spoke up.
He turned to you eagerly. "What did you decide then sea girl?"
"I'm in." A smile crossed his face as he threw an arm over your shoulders giving you a squeeze. "I knew you would. And with a score like you got? The others want you more too."
You felt your cheeks flush at the suddenly done contact. He noticed your face, and removed his. Leaning backwards against the stone.
"Pity 'bout your district partner though. Hope he goes quickly." He tried to comfort as he shrugged his shoulders.
Still an asshole.
You gave him a slight glare. "Don't. He'll be fine."
"Not everyone can be the winner though." He answered shrugging again. Shifting his head to look at you. "Don't give up your future for someone else. That's for wimps."
You look at him. "What if it was someone you really cared about? You wouldn't give up so they could have a shot?"
He looked stricken for a moment, before shaking his head.
"I have to win and go home." He stated. You nod your head slowly.
He then rose to his feet, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He seemed perplexed for a minute as he turned to look at you. Unsure of what to say.
"You did good, for someone not used to weapons and stuff."
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U know what. I'm on x games mode RIGHT NOW!
The final chapter for the Sejanus chapter is coming today.
Another chapter for Treech
And another for Tanner!!
and I WILL FINISH THE CATO FIRST HUNGER GAMES BOOK PART BY SUNDAY 🤬🤬🤬🤬