Summary: At first she thought it was a dream then she thought it was an ill-fitting simulation, and lastly, she realized she must've ticked someone off to end up here. SI/OC district 4 centric pairings undecided

Warnings: Obv violence, gore, death, language, etc

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games

Bright and early the next morning at 10 am sharp, all twenty-four tributes were lined up in two straight lines.

Girls on one side, boys on the other as they faced forward awaiting for the training center's doors to open. When the overhead light flicked over to 10, a man appeared accompanied by three more peacekeepers and a dark-haired woman who appeared to be assisting.

"Today," the man started, voice booming as it echoed down the hallway," Is the day you begin your training as in five days from now you all will be inside the arena of the 68th Hunger Games."

There were a pause and Andromeda had to wonder if he expected them to cheer when he said that, though no one made a move or sound to do so. His dark-haired assistant behind him coughed, prompting the man to continue. "You will have three days here to learn and hone skills to help you prepare for the games. There are various stations you may go to and I suggest you start off at weapons, the best way to kill someone is to know how to hold a knife first."

"Now then, there are other stations too, hand to hand combat, poison making, and hunting along with-," he took a glance at the unlucky District 5 pair, "-less skill-intensive stations such as painting, or knot tying just to name a few." Her and Ajax shot one another a look when he dismissed knot tying as that was an essential skill that was hounded into every District 4 child since the time they could walk.

"There are the Gamemakers there, as well as some of our generous sponsors who will be watching over the proceeding, but I assure you to pay no attention to them, just pretend you are unimportant ants. The fun will come during your private session when you can show off your talents which while it may be fun to test out your knife skills on one another it is against the rules to badly maim or kill a fellow tribute, save that for the games when the cameras are rolling."

A few more words were shared before they were all ushered into the training center. Entering the area it was massive. There was something to do on every inch and corner of the room. From a swimming pool to rock climbing wall, track to run on, a kitchen to cook in and so much more.

There were training dummies everywhere for every kind of weapon they had. There was a mini forest, a river, faux mountain ridges, sand dunes, and even a chamber covered in snow and ice. On the smaller tables, there were memory games, information cards, and various other smaller items that didn't need their own rooms for.

Andromeda didn't need much more to go flying towards the various bits of equipment and stations. The others seemed to do the same as she noticed District 1 and 2 went straight to the weapons area, laughing and smiling to one another. That was how it usually went it seemed, 1 and 2 doing what they could to intimidate the other tributes right off the bat.

She noticed most of the tributes stayed with the district member and so, not wanting to be the odd one out located Ajax who had surprisingly chosen to head over to the climbing wall. Falling behind him with a casual pace he noticed her approach as he shot her a look, "Are you approaching me, Andromeda?" He asked causing her smile to his unknowing words.

"Something like that," she replied as she adjusted the gloves on their training outfits.

Aydan and Danea along with their entourage appeared bright an early at 7 that morning to dress them in the uniforms. While the tributes didn't have to wear the standard issued uniforms, many stylists opted to let go with that, their stylists refused to even consider that. As Danea stated, 'it is the most offensive of insults to assume a stylist fashionista as herself would dare to let her tribute to wear some trash the training center deemed was fashion,' or something along those lines.

Of course, there were limitations to what they were allowed on their training uniforms. There couldn't be anything that was unfair to other tributes, which Aydan complained about saying that if other stylists cared enough then they could all add extras on, and there were no weapons allowed too. And so Ajax and herself were dressed in simple dark clothing, the leather of some high caliber, slip-on but form-fitting shoes and a set of fingerless gloves to wrap it all together.

"Don't look now but-" she kept her head down but listened in as Ajax spoke under his breath, "-up there the Game Makers are watching us, so are the sponsors no doubt." From her peripheral vision, she noticed the open room that was situated quite a way above them all and indeed from his words it seemed that many heads were turned their way.

"What's the game plan then?" she asked as he has already begun to climb up the wall forcing her to follow quickly, "We didn't have time to think of anything last night," she added recalling the events with Jules.

The dark-skinned male glanced over to her noting that she had been able to keep up with him despite his head start and his obvious more muscle, "Not bad there Andromeda," he grinned, "Not sure yet, although I don't think they can hear us we should discuss things at the top or at least till we are out of range of prying ears, right?"

Her admission of silence was his answer as they found themselves racing one another to the top of the towering wall. It was perhaps fifteen minutes later when they reached the upper ledge, pulling themselves up as the sat behind the second wall of rocks, which were meant to be the 'extreme challenge mode' or something.

Although several eyes had wandered to them and their apparent success at climbing, a feat neither thought much of as District 4 had numerous rocky cliffs that kids, again loved to play on; the pair paid no mind to them, instead of watching the others below. With one eye on their fellow tributes and the other one the room of spectators, Ajax finally spoke.

"Do we play the role of lovers here too? Or hint to something?" he questioned eyeing the District 8 boy who was trying to swim in the pool and was doing a very poor job at doing so, "There are plenty of sponsors here and it would be a shame if they lett our plan slip to the public so I believe the best option is to continue to imply but not admit."

He agreed to her response with a hum, "If that's the case then," she felt his fingers slide over hers letting them rest atop of her own as if to let people take it as an accidental touch or one with purpose.

Andromeda made no comment but left her hand trapped beneath his, "What interests you here then? I'm not sure if we should reveal all our cards, but we need to prove we are more then Capitol favorites right now," she watched the Careers play around with the throwing knives below, "We are going to need allies."

"That is if we remain together."

Turning to him, she twitched her fingers almost yanking them away but he held on to them, "I'm kidding, I'm not letting you go just yet." The look he gave her filled her with an uncertain feeling but relaxed slightly as she fought to the urge to leave, "Where should we head to next? I think we've wasted enough time up here, we're starting to receive questioning looks."

He hummed before letting go finally, "Race you down? To the pool, let's go outdo that 8 boy." Not needing anymore prompting, Andromeda all but threw herself off the wall ledge, scaling down it. She hadn't won the race, having decided to put all the equipment back while Ajax decided to use that time to dash over to the water.

"Don't tell me you're a sore loser," he laughed, grabbing a few of the towels as they made their way to the pool's deep end, "Can't blame me, the games aren't supposed to fair."

Rolling her eyes she huffed, "I'm not, I just think it's rude to leave all the ropes out."

"That's what the Avoxes are for."

"Not the point."

"Suit yourself," he tossed the towels at the pool's side, "I wouldn't dare challenge another District 4 tribute to a swimming competition, not too district unity, but then again," he raised his brows, "You only live once." And with that he jumped in, splashing the water over her as she let out a surprised shriek.

"Ajax!" she exclaimed, getting into the room temperature water in a less messy way, having glanced to the Peacekeeper and the pair of Avoxes who hadn't escaped Ajax's cannonball with a wince, "You will be the death of me," she muttered under her breath yet somehow he had still heard her.

Popping his head up from the water he chuckled, "You never know, I don't wanna be but if that's how it ends up well," Andromeda didn't share his enthusiasm choosing to ignore the comment instead.

The rest of the first day of training went, sort of swimmingly.

After making a mess of the pool and drawing the eyes of both their fellow tributes and the game makers, the pair chad dried off and made their way to the survivalist areas. While Ajax was less than thrilled to be seen in the 'weak' stations he hadn't been able to find in her reasoning why it couldn't hurt, just for a bit.

They had decided, after a minute of debate to go to the poison station, a compromise that could demonstrate that they weren't, as Ajax put it, 'cowards'. It was more of a memory station then a hands-on 'make-your-own-poison' area put it was useful, Andromeda filing away the information as quickly as she could before she then relented to being taken to the spear throwing.

She herself had never been taught or trained in that sort of weapon use. Although it was a common tool when catching fish, as Ajax explained, she again was never apart of the actual capturing process. Andromeda mostly maintained the docks and helped with the de-scaling and cleaning process. It made her handy with knives but long-ranged weapons were not her forte as she proved to the boy after he had her try and throw it at one of the dummies.

To her credit, it had gone straight into a dummy, just not the one she was aiming for. Instead, it got jammed into the dummy four dummies down from them. Ajax laughed at her attempt although she commended her on her arm strength, saying that at least she had the muscle to hold the thing. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the girl from 2, boy from 1 and most curious of all, the boy from 7 all give her looks ranging from approval to interest.

Like she assumed, Ajax was stellar with the spear and javelin, being able to throw the later at an alarming distance. It even had to be pried out of the ground after it had taken down one of the dummies and jamming it straight into the floor. A permanent hole was now in the marble.

Day one concluded with them cementing their position in the games. They were serious and should be taken as competition.

When they got back to their floor, dinner had already been set out for them with just about everyone, minus their prep team waiting for them. Ajax and she quickly changed out of their training clothes before returning to the dining area and being bombarded with questions.

Dinner was a much more lively affair then the previous two nights, from an outside perspective it almost seemed like they were a mix match group of friends when in truth one or two would be dead by the end of the week, there had been others that had done this many times before, and the others wouldn't care if they lived or died.

Once it was over she excused herself from the table, heading back to her room to get a head start on sleep. However, like the previous night, it didn't go to plan as not even an hour later a knocking came from her door.

Throwing herself from the warm escape of her bed, she opened the sliding doors to reveal her nightly visitor. She had partially thought that it was going to be Jules again, drunk and crying yet she was not met with a head of green hair.

Instead, before her very eyes was Finnick, a charming smile on his face and hands holding what appeared to be very expensive chocolates that could only be bought in the Capitol and two glasses of alcohol. "You busy?"

Andromeda gave a look over before rolling her eyes and cracking a smile, "I was but if that's what I think it is, I think I have room in my schedule."

He laughed as he walked inside her room, "I'm glad then, couldn't eat these all without you."

"You're just saying that so you don't have to go back to the dining room with two glasses."

"Ah, you've caught me, thank you for saving me from such humiliation," he retorted before the two of them broke down in laughter as they sat on the bed with each other. It reminded her of old times, and by the way, he was laughing, not the fake one he displayed for the cameras, he felt the same.

"What brings you to my humble domain? Besides filling me up with alcohol that is," she said with a grin.

"How was training today?" He asked but not in his official stern mentor voice, but rather in an almost concerned tone.

A part of her wanted to chuckle, "Do you want the same response I gave Jules and the others or-?"

"The truth," he responded almost immediately, "I want you to tell me the truth because-" he looked directly into her eyes, "-I need to help you."

She scoffed, "Help me? Should I expect you're giving Ajax the same treatment then? Because that would be a bit unfair if you aren't. Favoritism doesn't look good as a mentor and-"

"You know what I mean and why I'm doing this for you." He leaned in closer, "You're my friend Andromeda. You've known me, the real me, you're the only one who I can trust."

He sighed, "In the arena, you know what I thought of? What kept me going and made me think that I could do it? That I had to live?" She didn't want to answer, not because she didn't know what the answer was, but because she didn't want the answer she was thinking to be true.

"Finnick, please, don't I-"

"It was you." He said with a small but almost cruel twist of one, "It was always you. I would think back to when we would wander around 4, menace the shopkeepers, and when we could slip away just you and me. It helped, the training we did? It saved my life."

She closed her eyes, recalling snippets of his games. While it was mandatory to watch and she knew he'd win, she hadn't paid too much attention to it. Seeing someone who'd grown close with for so long and see them get hurt, strive, and almost kill someone? After having to watch her brother, Andromeda could barely stand it.

"I saw, the District 1 boy with the knives, right? It was a similar style to how I would fight you." She stated as he nodded in response, "Yeah, after getting beat by your close combat, I was able to pick up a thing or two, and well."

His voice trailed off, both knowing the outcome with the fight between that boy from one and Finnick. One was alive and one was not. And it wasn't hard to tell who was the victor.

"What I'm trying to say Andromeda is that I want you to win."

"Well, that's not very-"

She was abruptly cut off by him grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. Tufts of gold and honey-colored locks tickled her nose as part of her face found itself buried against his clavicle, "I don't care what the rules say about favoritism, no one follows it, not even with tributes of their own districts."

There was a pause as he just breathed. She could hear his heart pounding against her as she found herself relaxing in his arms despite the slightly uncomfortable position, "I want you to win out there. Not for the District, not for the Capitol or the president, but do it for us. For me, for your parents, and for your brother. Show them you can do it, that you are a survivor because I know you can do it. Out of everywhere out there, you can do it."

He shifted his head on top of hers so his cheek rested upon her crown, "You know how the games work, you've dissected them and analyzed them. You were born in District 4 and you know how to play the game if it wasn't evident already. You may be small but you're strong and your body's ability is on par with the other Career tributes."

"I know you'll win, because above all else Andromeda," he pulled his head away as he slid down so their foreheads touched. Eyes locking and breath shared, the air smelling of chocolate and champagne, "You're smart. Even if you don't need me, and I know you don't, I'll be here for you. No matter how you need or want me. I will stand by you, root for you, and I will do everything in my power to aid you in that arena."

Closing his eyes he let out a low cry that rippled from his throat, "What I did that day when I pushed you aside. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to I-I-" His shoulders began to shake as his words became a jumbled mess, spilling forth in intangible sentences.

Andromeda let her own eyes closed as she pulled her arm around his shoulder to embrace him. She didn't say anything, just holding him close as the tears flowed from his eyes and the soft sound of cries echoed in the room.

That night, Andromeda did not get much sleep, once again. But like last time, she didn't mind too much.

Day two of training was a bit smoother than the first.

Andromeda was a bit sluggish at first though no one seemed to notice, or if they did they didn't mention it. Although by the way, Ajax was staring at her, he knew something was. Not like he had any room to talk, given how according to Volanta and Danea had gossiped about her fellow tribute was seen departing Jules's room early in the morning.

There was a brief mention that Finnick hadn't slept in his room but apparently that wasn't uncommon of him. Other than that, nothing out was stand offish.

Entering the training room, she was quick to notice that several of the other tributes were absent. Not many, those of District 11, the boy from 6 and that boy from 7 were not there but from the looks of it, no one seemed to care.

Ajax noticed this as well, nodding in acknowledgment, "My guess is that 11 are doing personal training with their mentor."

She agreed to come to the same conclusion. It wasn't uncommon for tributes to not appear to train after the first day. Some opted to have one on one training with their mentors, some admitting defeat and opting to recluded in the comforts of the Capitol before they were killed, and a few to keep a few tricks hidden up their sleeves.

Guessing that must've been the case for the four missing, the pair moved to their first activity, knife throwing.

Needless to say, Andromeda did not due to well, especially compared to Ajax who seemed to be a master of long-range weapons. An interesting thing considering her ease with close combat made the two the perfect pair if they decided to stay as one in the Arena.

There were a few other booths that they went to before they parted ways as she wished to take a look at the survival stations and he hoped to try his luck against the tribute from 2 who seemed fairly close to the same size as him.

Making her way to the camouflage station she glossed over the notes and materials that were on the table.

Most of the items were new and unopened, some looking like they had been collecting dust for several years. It wasn't until she tried to get paint out of one of the tubes she realized that it was very much the case considering the inside had completely dried out.

Just lovely, she thought to herself as she huffed in defeat.

"It's all dried out, huh?"

She whipped around to find her eyes staring directly into a forest of green. Soft freckles smiled back at her as dark blonde locks tickled her nose. She didn't even have to look at the girl's District crest to know who this was: the girl from 2.

"It is, unfortunately," she said finally, hoping her fumble of words didn't seem obvious as she took a step back from 2.

The girl slid over to her side as she pouted slightly, "That's a shame, I was looking forward to trying my hand at art." If the girl had noticed Andromeda's mistake she didn't notice it, something that seemed to be a common here in the Capitol.

Tossing the paints in the trash she looked over to the girl who began circling the table as well as her, "Do you enjoy doing the painting?"

There was a laugh that seemed too real to be fake, "Not at all, in fact, I am awful at it." There was a moment of pause when it seemed the girl's eye caught something occurring behind Andromeda but seemed to snap out of it rather quickly, "Would you like to know why I came over here though?"

Leaning over the table she raised her index finger in a 'come here' motion, as Andromeda found herself leaning towards the girl's face. A part of her knew what they looked like, especially from an outside perspective but for some reason, all sense seemed to fly out the window when her eyes met 2's.

Their faces were less then a few inches apart, so close she could feel the other girl's breath battling her own she would've drawn away if the girl hadn' moved her hand up to her chin to pull her closer.

Her fingers were soft and delicate yet the grip she had on her was harsh and demanding. Drawing her face past her to where their mouths reach the other one's ear she heard her voice. It was faint, like a cool summer's eve as she spoke in a hushed voice yet from the proximity almost seemed like she was yelling.

"It was so I could see you."

The interaction perhaps lasted no matter than a few seconds before the pair pulled back and resumed what they were doing before. It took a moment for Andromeda to come out of her daze as it finally hit her that the room around her had grown silent.

Turning around slowly her eyes caught the look Ajax was giving her, and it wasn't good.

She knew at that moment, she fucked up.

Day 2 ended rather abruptly as right after her encounter with the girl from 2 as Ajax dragged her to one of the simulation rooms. It was the one place where they could openly talk with one another while still be training, as well as not garnering unwanted attention from others.

It was also the one place where neither Peacekeepers nor avoxes could go as it could endanger themselves or others. Flipping through the simulations he pulled up one of the random generators as he handed her one of the long swords on the wall.

She gave him a look, "You do realize this is far too big for me to use right? Hand me that one," she told him eyeing the Roman Gladius sword that was off to the side.

Grabbing the sword by its rounded handle he tossed it rather dismissively towards her, "Longswords are the easiest for beginners to use you know."

Adjust her grip on the weapon and giving it a practice swing she nodded. Andromeda was used to using knives and other small blades and while she's never used a sword before, as one can not easily get such a thing in District 4 the gladius was similar to one of the knives she was used to and thus decided to give it a try.

"Good thing I'm not a beginner then." Whether he knew she was bluffing or not he said nothing grabbing a spear and a spare, which he hooked to his back, he started the simulation countdown.

Once the timer was down to three the pair switched to defensive positions, back pressed against one another as the first glowing figure appeared. One by one more appeared as it quickly became a test of stamina rather than skill.

"What level are these fighters?" She asked swiping down one of the orange holographic with easy, knowing full well it wouldn't be so easy in the actual Games.

He sighed, "I had thought it was going to be harder, I guess 6/10 was too low." Ajax flung his spear at a pair of fake archers, nailing both of them in the head as the collapsed to the floor in broken pixel particles, "We only have three minutes left I think."

Andromeda let out an exasperated sigh, "I see." Dodging on a kick from a girl like holographic she swung the sword decapitating it with little effort. If it weren't for the burning in her wrist she might've been able to go on longer, "You didn't just bring us here to cut down pixels."

There was a chuckle, "Always straight to the point," unhooking his spear he shot her a glance as she covered for him, not that it mattered much given the lack of gravity to the whole simulation. "Then I'll be honest. What was that?"

"If you're referring to 2 I don't know," she responded sidestepping an attacker as she tripped it causing its face to shatter on the ground, "She came up to me, and sai she wanted to say hi to me. That was it."

He banged his bear on the floor, "I doubt that. Did you learn anything from her?"

Shrugging Andromeda shook her head, "She's cunning and has a way of drawing your attention to her. She seems like she should be from 1," he looked at her, "Oh and she's awful at painting."

"Lovely. That will come in handy in the arena," he stated sarcastically, noting that there was less than two minutes of the simulation left.

"You look like you were having a splendid time with her partner over at the wrestling station." Whether or not he thought she was implying something or if it was even intentional, "Nothing happened, it was just playful fighting. What you and that girl did was not 'safe for work'. It looked like you two were lovers."

She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips, "Don't tell me you're jealous?" Avoiding another hologram who had taken the form of a young boy she moved out of the way as it charged at Ajax, "You have nothing to fear, I'm your partner alright? Besides, there were no cameras nor Capitolons, wasn't it you who said it was good to imply things?"

"You're right," he responded calmly, swinging his spear at the childlike hologram, jamming the end into what would be considered the skull as he stalked towards he not even paying it any mind as it dropped to the floor shattering, "How foolish of me to assume anything else."

Opening her mouth she tried to clarify only for the lights to flicker on, prompting the simulation to end and everything returns to normal. Outside the glass there was a tapping on the glass, it was Finnick.

Glancing at the time the two realized the next portion of training began: mentors.

Finnick took Ajax first, saying something about the teen needing to blow off some steam and that he would train her after dinner around 6. And thus leaving Andromeda to her own devices for the next 5 hours.

Or at least that was what she thought.

The moment she entered the fourth floors he was bombarded by her styling crew as well as her stylist, Aydan. Confused and surprised she asked why they were there considering the next time she would need them would be tomorrow when she exhibited her skills to the Game Makers and then the Interviews that same day.

The man rolled his eyes as Volanta grabbed her arms and yanked her towards the large tv projector. Locaon followed behind, sauntering towards the pair as they came up behind Andromeda wrapping their arms around her shoulders.

At her sides, in her peripheral, Aydan and Oseren appeared. "May I ask what this is exactly?" She asked as the red-eyed woman pranced around the room flipping through the channel to pull up some sort of fashion-related thing. Behind her, Locaon began twirling her hair between their slender fingers as she found herself pulled to the ground and nestled in their arms.

"Do you not want to spend time with us?" Oseren asked, his ombre colored skin flickering under the light of the room to reveal a hue emitting from his body.

On her left, Aydan placed his hand on his chest as if such a realization hurt him, "I'm shocked Andromeda." If it weren't for the position Locaon had her in she would've tossed her head to the side and left.

"You said you wanted to get to know everything about the Capitol, didn't you? Well, nows your chance," he gestured to the screen that displayed everything from fashion to makeup, to politics, the names of the elite, and countless other bits of information.

"This-" she began before the words caught in her throat as she began to read and process every bit of information she could as Locaon spun her around to face them. "What do you want to learn first?" Their voice was earnest as they threaded their fingers in her locks, "There isn't much time till dinner, only four hours or so."

Looking back to the screen she shook her head, "This is too much I-" she pulled away, "What do you want from me? As payment?" If there was one thing both lives had taught her, 9/10 people want something in return.

There was a giggle from Volanta who placed her claw-like nails on her shoulders, "Aww Andromeda, don't you trust we are doing this out of the goodness of our hearts?" She gripped her tighter, "But good job, the first lesson about the Capitol, nothing is free."

Oseren cleared his throat, "we aren't here to scare her," he gave a sideways glance, "too much."

Aydan, on the other hand, paid the conversation no mind, "It's nothing to worry about now, we won't collect any payment until after the Games given that you've won."

Whether she wanted to or not, Andromeda didn't have much of a choice as the next four hours consisted of learning everything the four could cram into her brain regarding the Capitol and the Games. At least everything that wasn't considered cheating by terms of the games.

And if anyone asked why her prep team was there, they were preparing her for the interview for tomorrow. Which was exactly what happened when Jules, Finnick, and Ajax entered the main room as they were, conveniently reviewing color palettes and pattern theories.

Dinner was rather fast, neither Finnick or Ajax interacted much which left just her and Jules to make conversation as her prep team had to leave to work on designs alongside Danea. Luckily for her, Jules was great at keeping a conversation going even if she, at points wanted it to end.

Once dinner was over, Finnick was quick to sweep her up as her fellow tribute excused himself to his room without so much of a glance. Noting the oddity of his behavior, once she and Finnick were in the private training rooms, she questioned him.

"Did something happen with your session?" she asked fastening her gloves on.

The older teen looked away, "Nothing, I guess I was too hard on him," before she could ask for details he brushed it off, "Now then, it's been a long time since we've gone one on one with one another."

He gave her an award-winning smile, her mind flashing to when they were kids as he continued, "Let's see how much we've grown."

The next morning was harsh.

The session with Finnick lasted well into the morning, having stopped at around 2 when a poor avox slipped in and gestured that they had to leave.

However, it wasn't just how long they were at it that made the next day harsh but rather how hard Finnick had pushed her. Admittedly she needed it, considering this was the first time in years that she had a training partner.

He was good.

It was evident that Finnick had improved from his time with her and being in the games. He had easily overpowered her much to her surprise garnering a smile from the teen and a simple, "We aren't kids anymore, come at me with the intent to kill alright?"

And with those words, she came at him with everything she had.

When she had entered the dining room every muscle in her body ached and her back was killing her. Glancing over at Finnick who seemed to be having trouble sitting on his left leg she knew that she'd been able to get him back for the bruise he had served her the night before.

Smiling to herself when Jules asked if he was alright and if he needed to see a doctor while Ajax, who seemed to return to his normal self, asked if he had a long night, implying something that made her friend blush a moment before telling him off.

Breakfast was a fast ordeal as soon after both she and Ajax had to dress and go to the examination room. Once there they had to wait till they were called in by the Game Makers one by one to display skills and get a rating.

Going by numerical order, District 1 went first followed by 2 and so forth. Being the eighth person to go, as the males of each district went first, she watched as the girl from 3 walk out of the testing room rather quickly as Ajax was called.

Giving him a nod and a small smile of good luck he went into the room, the large silver doors slamming behind him with a loud 'boom'. All around her tributes seemed to be lost in their own worlds. Some, like the boy of 8 puking in a corner while the girl of 6 cried softly to herself.

Looking down at her own feet, not wanting to make eye contact with the others Andromeda found herself thinking. In less than 48 hours at least a fifth of the people in the hallway would be dead, and from the dejected expressions of some of the people, they knew it too.

Looking over at the empty seats which previously hosted the tributes of 1 to 3 she was curious about how they did. The boy from 3 seemed confident with his skills and if the arena happened to involve the technology of some kind no doubt he would be a formidable opponent. The girl, on the other hand, seemed less so, but nevertheless she didn't want to underestimate her in case she ended up being like another Johanna Mason (whose games haven't even occurred yet in canon although Andromeda wasn't sure which one that was).

Her fellow Careers were confident too, entering and leaving the room with smiles and laughs, egging on another on. What did surprise her was that even though one was supposed to return to their floor to prepare for the interviews later that evening the four Careers waited until 2's girl had finished.

There had been some hesitation from her teammate who had cast a look to Ajax who shook his head before the four left together paying no one else any attention.

"4"

The loud monotonic voice stated over the hallway intercom prompting the doors to open to Ajax who gave her a nod and raised his hand to high five her as she passed him. Raising her hand to meet his, the moment they touched his fingers gripped her own, squeezing them for a second before letting her go.

Without much time to respond or react Andromeda was already inside the room.

Taking a moment to look around the room she found the weapon she was going to display. Noting that the Game Makers, as well as the wealthiest of the sponsors who had bought their way in, were watching her, a nicety afforded to her due to her District's career status and it being so early in the judging.

Grabbing hold of the sword she used the other day she made her way over to the simulation area. Punching in the numbers that Finnick had advised to use she set the countdown at 30 seconds. Noticing what looked like a broken spear thrown to the side of the area she knew that Ajax had a similar idea as herself.

Unlike projectile weapons like throwing knives and a bow, which could demonstrate accuracy and strength, close combat was harder to display. There were dummies that were available as well as trained Peacekeepers, however the latter you were in no ways allowed to maim or kill which made things difficult. The simulation was the next best option for her.

That said, there were many issues with it as well. Like what happened the day before, the simulation might stretch out too long or the opponents too weak to truly count as anything worthwhile. And on the opposite side, the simulation might be jacked up to the highest level which runs the risk of getting beaten or even loosing to a bunch pixels which would certainly look bad.

Trusting that Finnick gave her the correct numbers she took one last breath as the countdown ended prompting a flash of orange and red pixels to charge at her.

Finnick had told her to base her simulation on the number of opponents rather than time base. Not only as a way to keep the Game Makers invested, as anything longer than 5 minutes with the same skill or weapon may prove boring, but to keep it from going to slow for herself.

Andromeda had opted for 23 opponents to spawn randomly in succession with one another and without any time limit until she defeated them all. It was fast-paced, with every one she took down another reform and sprung to attack her. There was no way she had set it to the highest level, something that apparently most of the Career victors couldn't tackle, but it was still difficult nonetheless.

She found herself almost slipping up with the knife thrower and the archer, long-range being a weakness to her close combat style but had taken them eventually. The last fighter took the form of a man with broad shoulders and a large form. There was no face like the other holograms but for some reason, the silhouette looked vaguely familiar to her. The weapon in its hand took the form of a long black rope, it was a whip.

A memory came to her mind as she realized what or at least who it was trying to imitate as she swung her sword at its head only for it to duck and trip her from below. Losing her footing Andromeda twisted her right leg up to kick the pixeled figure down causing it to indeed fall like her. However, instead of falling to its side or on it's back it falls on her, impaling itself on her blade as it disintegrated causing the simulation to end.

Leaving her the victor of the fight.

Storming out of the room once she was dismissed, almost knocking the boy from 5 over who was up next she stomped over to the elevator. Caught inside her head she hadn't even noticed that Ajax was right behind her, having waited for her session to end before returning to their floor.

"Something went wrong Andromeda-"

Not even listening, cutting him off by means of storming out of the elevator she made her way to a certain green-eyed blonde. Bumping past Jules who, for once, stepped out of her way as Aydan and Danea stood off to the side she went straight at Finnick.

Gracing her with a smile he started, "You finished early how did the-"

Never having the chance to finish his words as she lunged at him, tackling him to the ground as he hissed, face full of confusion. There were gasps in the room but she paid them no mind as she blocked either side of his face with her hands, nails digging into the animal rug below.

"You knew didn't you?!" she screamed at him, face red and adrenaline pumping through her veins like fire, "How could you I-I don't even-!"

In a fluid motion, her center of gravity was flipped, as her back was slammed on to the ground with a 'thud' as pain vibrated from her back where her bruise was. Above her golden locks fell over her face and a look of concern met her eyes, "What. Are. You. Even. Talking. About?" He asked her as she struggled to get up only for him to pin her arms down with his own.

Her face, red and blotchy, eyes bubbling with tears she didn't even realize were forming seemed to yank her back to reality as she tried blinking through hazy vision. "I-I-" she looked away unable to meet his but refusing to look at the others there who were watching everything take place.

Eyes wandering over the shocked and freighted one of Jules and the disappointment in Aydan she shook her head, "I-I'm sorry Finnick, it was just the Games messing with my head. It was nothing." trying to reassure them that everything was indeed alright now and there was nothing to worry about Finnick let her up as she nursed her back.

While Jules and Danea seemed to pay it no mind, chalking it up to interview jitters and excitement to the games, the look that both Ajax and Finnick shared with her told her they knew otherwise.

As the rest of the prep teams arrived, having no knowledge of what occurred they whisked her away to get her fitted for the Interviews as they waited for the training results. Out of the corner of her eye, she winced, noticing the pained expression of Finnick who had limped to his room.

"Focus! Andromeda!" Volanta stayed, clapping her hands in front of her to get her attention, "This is important! How will you win the Games if you can't be here in reality?" She whined rolling her eyes.

Apologizing Andromeda nodded, "Sorry, you're right I have to focus on what's happening here and now if I'm going to win."

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Notes:

That assistant with the center head is supposed to be Atala (before she took over during Katniss's games btw)

The Center head is meant to be written as an idiot, which is why he didn't recommend for them to start off learning survival tactics like how Atala did for the 74th games.

The training uniforms being different from the others is something from the books where the stylists designed things, especially for their tributes. The movies were the ones that had them all be uniformed. (I went with a mix of both obviously)

"Are you approaching me?"- Jojo's Bizarre Adventure reference to where Dio asks if Jotaro is approaching him….it's also a meme and I wanna add a jjba reference in every fic

Technically I believe only game makers were allowed to watch the training sessions but I feel that some sponsors may be both/paid enough money to watch it take place, therefore, it is a mix of sponsors and game makers watching.

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A/N: Originally the training days were gonna be a week-long, but I did some research apparently it only lasted for 3 days? So I decided to stick to canon with that.

Also, I promise that the games will actually start soon! The next chapter is the interviews and after that is last day prep, so I'd say Chapter 14 we will enter the blood and gore, maybe.