training academy

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3rd Person's POV

"How was school?"

Ryker asks as he walks beside me.

"It was okay. Mom is a great teacher. I'm just glad I don't have to see anybody."

Ryker chuckles, "You are so antisocial."

I nod with a smile then frown as I look up at the huge building ahead of us.

"Well I can't be anymore."

Ryker smiles sadly, "You'll be okay. You'll do great."

"I hope so..." Adeline mutters as she begins to walk away from Ryker.

Ryker frowns watching her disappear into the building but not before looking back at him with pleading eyes. He knew she didn't want to be there.

Who did?

Behind those doors, you train for life or death. You come out different. Some people stronger, some depressed, and some mad. Not furious but mentally unstable. You see things, hear things, learn how to cope with death and violence.

Behind those doors, you are turned into a cyborg.

A killing machine.

All for entertainment.

...

"Agōgē... a term used by the Ancient Greeks. It was rigorous education and a training program mandated for the Spartan boys. Agōgē involved cultivating loyalty to Sparta through military training, pain tolerance, hunting, and social communicating preparation. Today this program is still being used to build strength amongst the future leaders... you all. You will start out learning the basics... history of the Hunger Games, benefits of the war, downfalls of society."

Adeline peeks around at the small class. The room only held about 10 students. She knew there were other rooms of students but why were there so little of them?

Catching the eye of a brunette boy who looked her age, Adeline looks down at her desk then back up feeling his eyes on her. The boy winks and chuckles as she quickly looks away once more.

Adeline wasn't sure what to think about the students. It was only her second day and either her classmates were ecstatic to be there or like her... scared shitless.

"This program is split into two forms of training. Physical and Theoretical. Simple things will be introduced such as climbing, knots, swimming... once you all have conquered those we move on to the theoretical side. This will focus on the mental and psychological side of things. An example is stage presence. After that is complete, this class will be split up... girls will meet the first and third day, boys the second and fourth. On the fifth we will all come back together and on that day you will each be paired up to fight your own sex. On the sixth day you will fight the opposite sex. The last part of this program will be a theory based test as well as a physical exam. The theory based test will reveal how you think on your feet, you will see old clips of past games and then you must reveal the pros and cons of the situation as well as what you would do. The physical exam is a test of your speciality that was picked up in basic training."

A hand is raised.

"Yes?"

"What if we don't get to graduation?"

"If you don't get to graduation then I assume you have either volunteered or been reaped... and if those are the options than the only two outcomes are becoming a victor or death. If you become a victor then there is no reason for you to continue on training. Any other questions?"

...

"How was the academy?"

Adeline shrugs while scooping a spoon of soup into her mouth, "It was fine... all we did today was learn to tie different rope knots... I made a noose. Seemed pretty fitting."

"Adeline!"

Silence fills the dining area. Marina clears her throat before smiling sadly.

"It's getting late. I'm going to give Avalon a bath and set him to sleep. If you need me after that, I'll be in the watch room."

The two watch Marina pick up the young toddler and hurry out the room. Adeline begins to feel bad as she hears light sniffles coming from her mother. She bites her lip thinking for a moment before feeling eyes on her.

Adeline frowns looking up at Ryker who was shaking his head staring a hole into her, "What?"

"Don't say stuff like that. Especially not around your mother."

"Why not? It's true. Aurora-"

"Is still in the games. It's only day four. She's a strong girl, we all know this. Don't give up on her when she's still fighting."

Adeline nods slowly immediately feeling terrible. It wasn't that she gave up on Aurora so fast. It's just that she saw the look Aurora gave Finnick when they reunited... Aurora was going to protect Finnick just as she would with her siblings.

Ryker sighs knowing exactly what Adeline was thinking. He didn't want to say it but he knew the young girl was smart, and she probably already figured out that her older sister didn't plan on coming home.

"Why don't you go wash up and get ready? It's almost time for us to watch again."

Adeline nods and gets up from the table. She walks into her bathing room and gets herself ready for bed. After that she finds herself in the watch room. She walks past her baby brother who had been sleeping on the chair beside her stone like mother.

Her mother hadn't gotten up from the chair the first two days. She was glued to the screen that would switch between tributes throughout the games, just waiting to catch a glimpse of Aurora.

There were specific times throughout the day where the town was forced to watch the games. Whether it was Claudius and Caesar speaking, a recap of day one events, re-runs of the parade/interviews/scorings, or live action. Which is what was scheduled in about an hour.

On the third day, Ryker convinced Marina to get away from the screen once they had seen Finnick and Aurora save a girl and become allies with her. He told her that now they had numbers so the other tributes were least likely to mess with them. Of course he didn't tell her that the other careers were larger in number.

As the hunger games signal comes on, the projector reveals Caesar and Claudius. The two joke about if they were in the games, how they wouldn't be able to handle two days or no hairspray. Adeline couldn't help but roll her eyes.

People were dying.

Children were dying.

And the Capitol was making a mockery of it.

It disgusted her.

As the night continues on, live footage is shown of the games. Many tributes are followed as the game makers bring out different threats and experiments.

They watch as Aurora falls into a trap and is injured pretty badly. Finnick helps her out but he can't do anything to help her other than wiping her bloody cuts, scrapes, and bites. Adeline tries to stay strong as her mother cries beside her.

She hopes that someone would be a caring sponsor and get Aurora medicine. If Adeline could afford it, she would. Aurora falls asleep as Finnick runs his hands through her hair staring at her worried. He looks up at the sky with pleading eyes but says nothing. It was almost as if he was sending a cry for help silently.

After another round of following other tributes, the live feed ends and the re-runs of day one begin. Ryker picks up Avalon and takes him to his room after kissing Adeline on the forehead. Adeline whispers goodnight to her mother who found herself sitting on the floor in front of the projector.

The young girl sluggishly walks up the stairs to her and Aurora's shared room.

Tears fill her eyes as she rubs her arms feeling a chill go up her spine. It was so cold and so quiet without her big sister.

She only prayed that tomorrow would bring some kind of miracle to Aurora... and Finnick too. Even if she was indirectly upset with him for her sisters' choice, she didn't want the blonde boy to meet his end.

Aurora and Finnick were fighters.

...

The next day at training, Adeline's class is taken to the large screening room in the building. Nelle, her instructor... trainer... whatever she was, would be showing them past games and going over where the tributes went wrong. As her class is walking through the corridor, Adeline can't help but look into a couple classrooms and notice that there were about 20-30 students in each. Sure they were split by age but looking around at her own classmates, she noticed herself and four others looked the same age while the remainder were older.

As they get to the screening room, Nelle goes to set up the projector. Adeline sighs sitting down in the back of the theater. She taps her fingers on her chin while looking around.

"Why is our class so small?" Adeline mutters to herself gaining the attention of a girl with spiky short hair.

"You don't know?"

Adeline wanted to roll her eyes, but she didn't want to make an enemy the first week of training school.

"No... tell me."

The girl turns in her seat which happened to be in front of Adeline, "We are the only students in the program who have or have had family members in the Hunger Games. I heard Nelle speaking to another trainer about it. They believe that there must be some kind of gene in our family that I don't know passes on strengths? I'm not completely sure."

"So they think we what... have a chance at being victors if we are reaped?"

"They hope that we volunteer... bring honor to our district."

Adeline's feels her heart drop. She would never volunteer. Not ever. There is no way in hell. It was wishing for a death wish.

The girl looks at Adeline's shocked face and chuckles darkly, "I'm assuming you're not going to be volunteering anytime soon?"

Adeline laughs nervously, "No... I've already been reaped before and that was enough to make me want to pass out."

"Oh yeah... you're an Evermore. The one whose sister volunteered for her."

Adeline just nods while twinging her fingers together at the uncomfortableness that started to creep up on her.

"Both of your parents were victors right?"

"Y-yeah... yes." She clears her throat after letting out a stammer.

"Hmm I guess maybe the gene theory maybe be right."

"What are you bothering her with, Rye?"

The girl turns her head to see the boy Adeline had been looked at the other day walk over and plop down beside her.

"Shut your mouth, Nik... I'm merely having a conversation."

'Nik' rolls his eyes while letting out a humorless laugh, "Right... the girl looks terrified." Staring back at Adeline, Nik grins, "Don't let her get into your head. She's merely trying to find out your weakness before tearing you down and ripping you apart. It's what she's good at. She's a snake..."

Rye glares at Nik so hard Adeline thought he would set on fire.

"She's not bothering me."

Both of them turn to Adeline. One smirking in accomplishment and the other smiling in amusement.

"Not yet..." Nik holds out his hand to Adeline while bowing his head down slightly, "Nikolai Gage..."

"Adeline-"

"Evermore... I know. Everyone does. You're quite the celebrity."

"Fantastic..."

"Don't worry, by everyone I just mean the ones who pay attention." He boops his nose before sitting back in the chair beside Adeline and staring ahead as Nelle steps on the stage and begins to speak.

Adeline glances over at Nikolai in pure confusion.

What did he mean by that?

What did we think about this chapter?

It was kind of short I feel like 🙃 BUT one last chapter for Part 1 then we can move onto Part 2. I think I'm gonna do about 5-8 chapters each part and see how that goes. So that means each update will become a longer read... I'm sure you guys won't be upset about that.

Anyways fav character so far?

Who do you relate with?

After reading this chapter, if you were in the games would you wanna be in the training academy?

Ships?

Future predictions?

Any ideas or special requests...

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Part 1
Her Cruel Tragedy

"I made a noose... seemed fitting."

• • •

Part 2
His Wicked Games

"You okay Finn?"

"Finn?"

"Finnick is kind of a mouthful... you don't mind, do you?"

. . .

"Please... please don't leave me."