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The twins sat in the row before Conway, and Mace used this to his advantage to try and talk to her. Each attempt failed for Conway blatantly ignored him. He glanced around at everyone, eyeing them all individually before looking at Conway for what seemed to be the fifth time in ten minutes. She raised her eyebrows at him, causing him to laugh and spin back around. He got under her skin easily, and he knew it too.
'He is obsessed with you isn't he?' Caspian muttered into Conway's ear, leaning close to her. 'That's like the thousandth time he's turned around to look at you.'
'What can I say?' Conway joked, causing Caspian's eyes to squint shut as he laughed.
Sitting silently, and patiently, Conway watched as they called for Mace Barlowe to present himself for his assessment. He rose to her feet with his head held high and stridded his way into the training centre, giving his sister a small wink.
Next, Ruby was called in. Followed by Odius Barkley and Delilah Katz from District Two, then Ash Monroe and Weiss Bracher from District Three. Caspian went next, gently squeezing Conway's knee as he rose to his feet. It wasn't long until he was walking out with a small sheen of sweat covering his forehead.
'District Four, Conway Evros. Please report for individual assessment.'
Conway entered the training room with a false sense of confidence. She presented herself before the Head Game Maker, Lilith Sallow Clem, an older woman with wild blonde hair and piercing green eyes that watched Conway's every move.
She performed what she was confident in; snares, knots and lifting. With what little time she had left, she sparred with one of the trainers. She managed to successfully knock his spear from his hands and pin him to the floor rather quickly with her legs. All of her time spent working on the dock and hauling large crates and nets aided in her ability to overpower the grown man. The look on her face gave away to the audience before her that she was just as shocked as them. She was proud of what she did and was greeted with scattered applause on her way out which put a small smile on her face, however, her satisfied expression fell once she stepped into the hallway and was pounced at.
Nearly leaping out of her skin, Conway punched Mace on the shoulder as he laughed and cowered away from her.
'You're freakishly strong, you know that right?' He asked her as her head swivelled around at a million miles an hour. 'What are you looking for?'
'What are you doing here?' She asked him, grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him further down the hall and away from the doorway knowing Caspian could walk back for her at any minute, or better yet another tribute could walk out and their possible planned alliance would be out the window. 'You're going to get me into trouble.'
'From who? Caspian? Finnick?' He was mocking her worried expression. 'I wanted to know if you had your answer yet?'
Conway crossed her arms. She was an idiot.
'I do... But I have some rules if we're going to make this work.'
Mace ever so slightly fist-bumped the air and nodded his head rapidly, making Conway worried it was going to fall off of his neck and tumble to the floor.
'Okay, anything. You name it,' he said to her, his excitement shining through.
She fought the small quip of her lips to keep them pursed into a thin line. 'One— you cannot harm Caspian at all. He is my ally, therefor he is yours by association.'
'That's a pretty big word there Princess.' Conway turned around and began to walk away, but Mace grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, apologising. 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay? So, Caspian is off the table, what else?'
'Weiss, from Three...'
'The child?' Mace asked, his eyes widening. 'No, sorry, no. She's a liability. She'll only slow us down.'
'The only way I'm going to get away with being your ally is if I take Weiss on with me, it won't create suspicion. I promised Finnick I would ally with her, and I don't break my promises.'
'We're going into an arena to murder each other with our bare hands and you're worried about breaking promises?' He asked her.
'No Mace, we're going into an arena to murder each other with our bare hands and you should be worried about my District partner who looks at you like you're a piece of meat. I keep my promises, and I promise to keep you safe from Caspian as long as you remain faithful to my wishes.'
Mace frowned, understanding he may have gotten more than he bargained for. He asked, 'Is that all?'
'Yes... I do have a question,' Conway muttered, cocking her hip as she switched legs to lean on. 'What happened with your friends from Two and your sister?'
Mace scoffed.
'Those idiots? Please, I don't need them getting me killed on the first day,' he said and placed his hands on his hips. 'Ruby can barely throw a knife six feet. My grandfather runs faster than Odius and he's buried back in District 1, and don't even mention Delilah's talent of throwing up at the sight of blood. It's a clusterfuck of Careers this year, I've got a better chance with you than them.'
Conway stood there with slightly wide eyes as she took in all the information Mace had just dropped on her. What was she to say?
'Well, I'll let you deal with that,' she muttered and turned her ear in the direction of the sound of the training room doors opening. 'I'll see you in there?'
Mace nodded and held his hand out. Hesitantly, Conway grasped it firmly and shook it.
+
'Caspian Lordail from District Four with a score of... Eleven.'
The room erupted into cheers. Conway grabbed Caspian's hand and offered him a smile as Finnick clapped once, and loudly, before slamming his hands down on Caspian's shoulders and squeezing them tightly.
'Yes! Yes...' Finnick muttered, nodding his head. It was just what had hoped for. 'Excellent work in there.'
Conway nodded at Caspian encouragingly. Her nerves shone through her uneasy grin, so Caspian let go of her hand and gently patted her leg in reassurance.
Seeing her face appear on the screen, she cringed. It was odd seeing herself on the hologram. Never would she have ever thought she'd see herself in this situation, and spent many years avoiding looking in the mirror, yet now that she was there, she couldn't look away from herself.
'And Conway Evros from District Four with a score of... Ten.'
Her eyes grew even wider as everyone in the room exclaimed in surprise. Conway was frozen, there was no possible way that was her score. She couldn't believe the news as Caeser Flickerman, the man with bright green hair, continued to read the scores of the Tributes as if the most groundbreaking news of the century hadn't just dropped on them all like a bomb.
Those around her were carousing in joy.
Finnick wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind and pressed a firm kiss into her hair. She reached up and grabbed onto Finnick's arm, looked at Caspian and breathlessly muttered, 'Thank you for helping me during training.'
'You're the one who earned that score, not me. Be proud of yourself,' he said with kind eyes, something that Conway realised was rare to find in the Capitol. He leant forward and grabbed two glasses, passing one to Conway and Finnick before leaning back over and grabbing one for himself. 'To Conway—'
'And Caspian,' Conway quickly added.
Caspian raised his eyebrows as they all gently clinked their glasses together. Finnick watched his two tributes with a deep-seated sense of pride as they high-fived after placing their glasses down. It would be hard to see their struggles over the next couple of weeks, and he hated to think of the challenges they would face, but he knew as long as they helped one another, either one had an exceptional chance to make it out alive.
+
'Stay away from the cornucopia. Run in the opposite direction. Caspian will get you the weapons you need and he will find you,' Finnick said, watching Conway as she moved around the sparring mats with her spear twirling in her fingers with a flair that seemed to have been lingering under her surface all this time. 'Are you listening?'
'Yes,' Conway teased, turning to face him. 'I hear you loud and clear.'
'Do you?' Finnick asked, crossing his arms. 'What did I just say?'
'Run for my life and let Caspian risk his life to get me a weapon and supplies.'
'Hmm. So, you were listening,' he mused as his eyebrows shot up.
Conway leaned on her spear and watched him carefully. 'Why do you care so much?' She asked him.
His attention remained on the trident in his hands as he replied, 'I'm your mentor.'
'A Mentor wouldn't risk the life of one of his tributes to protect the other. What happened to you treating us equally?' She huffed, slamming the end of her spear into the ground. 'What promises did you make to my grandmother that were so grand, that you're willing to sacrifice Caspian's life to keep me alive?'
'She's been through a lot of loss, Conway.'
'You don't need to tell me what she's lost. I was there. I witnessed it. I lived it.' Her tone was strong, and quite frankly it worried Finnick. He hadn't intended to insult her. 'Stop holding me to the expectation that I'm going to win.'
Finnick snapped back, 'You can win!'
'Will you stop?' Conway asked, her voice reverberating off the walls of their small training room. 'I have a very small chance of winning this, Finnick, and I don't want you to be disappointed in me when I die.'
'I wouldn't be disappointed in you, Conway. I have been with you for the last week now and I am still yet to be. You are smart. You are kind with your actions and you are altruistic... Conway, you have a chance to come back home,' Finnick said, inching closer.
'I'm going to die in the arena, Finnick. Accept it... I have.' They held each other's gaze for only a few seconds, but in that short period, Finnick saw the haziness and mist gather in her eyes. 'I've had enough for today,' she muttered before placing her spear on the rack and leaving Finnick to stand there alone.
~