04: The Training

As soon as Baekhyun got out of the elevator and stepped into their room, the sound of Victoria's soft snoring reached his ears. Taking off his jacket, he carefully placed it down on a nearby chair and made a beeline for the large bedroom in their temporary living quarters. The door was slightly ajar, and he peeked in, his gaze falling on a lump on the bed. It was Victoria, sleeping soundly and without a care in the world, her limbs spread out like a starfish. Her costume for the parade was lying on a messy heap on the floor, and her previously braided hair was now set loose, forming a sort of distorted halo around her head. Baekhyun walked in, and carefully poked his finger on the sensitive part of Victoria's exposed leg. She twitched.

"Mmmff...go away..." Her face was pressed against the mattress, voice muffled and garbled. Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

"Vic, get up. I need to tell you something."

"Hmm, yeah, yeah, eggs...hmm..."

"Vic. Seriously, wake the up." Baekhyun started shaking her leg furiously, and Victoria let out an annoyed grunt.

"Alright, alright, chill...! I'm up, I'm up!" Victoria pushed herself up off the bed, shaking Baekhyun's hand off her leg before fixing her position to face Baekhyun.

To Baekhyun, Victoria was like the sister he never had. When they were still in elementary school, Victoria was the type of little girl who saved the quiet and lonely kids from the bullies. She was a superhero, for lack of a better term, and Baekhyun was the typical, tiny smart kid who wore thick-rimmed glasses and practically asked for a beating from the less-gifted in the brain department. Which never happened, thanks to Victoria. From that day on, Baekhyun stuck like glue to Victoria, and even as they reached eighteen years, that fact never changed. They knew each other so well, most of the time, words weren't needed to converse with the other.

Which is also the reason why Baekhyun didn't even flinch or feel terribly and deeply scarred to see Victoria in only her underwear. He sighed, massaging his temples and gestured towards Victoria's bare torso.

"You're , Vic."

"Yeah." Victoria nodded her head lazily, yawning as she stretched her limbs over her head.

"...you do realize that I'm a man." Baekhyun deadpanned, closing his eyes.

"Oh, Baekhyun, stop joking. So, what'd you wake me up for? I was planning on getting a long sleep since training starts tomorrow."

Baekhyun stood up and quickly retrieved his jacket from the other room before tossing it at Victoria's face, earning a surprised yelp. "I met 12."

Victoria pulled down the jacket from her face, finally covering her body as she stared at Baekhyun curiously. "12? You mean..."

"Hm." Baekhyun nodded his head.

"...what were they like?"

"They were nice, I guess...especially Kyungsoo." Baekhyun felt a small smile growing on his face as he remembered the amusing expression on Kyungsoo's face.

"Kyungsoo? The small guy?"

Baekhyun nodded again, standing up and starting to head out of the room. He heard the rustling of fabric as Victoria pulled the jacket over her head, and the soft padding of her foot against the floor. Victoria grabbed him by the elbow, and he turned around.

"...so we'll do it?" Victoria's voice was quiet, but a certain determination mixed with a hint of slight panic laced her voice. Baekhyun bit his lip as he looked down at his toes.

"...yeah, why not? I'm tired of this , anyway." He mumbled under his breath, suddenly feeling nervous.

Baekhyun felt Victoria squeeze his arm gently, and he smiled. He let himself be pulled into a hug, and the action made him relax. Victoria rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"We can do this. We will do this." Victoria whispered, and Baekhyun nodded.

Right after the Parade, it was also a tradition that the tributes undergo training for a week. It was one of those things done for the Games to ensure an interesting battle. If none of them knew how to fight for their lives, then the Capitol might as well just execute them all on the spot. Basically, the  training part served one purpose only, and that was to, at the very least, prepare the tributes for the inevitable bloodbath.

Baekhyun, alongside Victoria, stood in front of the elevator, waiting. Victoria looked at ease, but Baekhyun couldn't say the same for himself. He felt really uncomfortable in the dark, body-hugging training uniform. Having no choice but to wear the blasted thing for a week whenever they train, he could only fiddle with the hem of his shirt, eyes trained on the little black screen at the top that displayed the floor where the elevator was at.

It finally reached their floor, and as the doors opened, Baekhyun suddenly felt his heart jump. He recognized Kyungsoo (he had black hair now) and Jongin standing quietly at the side, faces unreadable. Before Baekhyun could take note of how Jongin had his fingers wrapped around Kyungsoo's wrist protectively, the tallest person in the elevator, the male tribute from District 4, clicked his tongue in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Are you getting in or not?"

Baekhyun stared up at him, his mouth refusing to say anything. If it wasn't for Victoria hurriedly pulling them both into the elevator, Baekhyun would have stayed glued on the spot. Once they walked in, the elevator was packed. Baekhyun could feel his back pressing against the tall boy who spoke earlier, and it bothered Baekhyun to no end, but he couldn't move, so he remained quiet, fingers squeezing the life out of Victoria's hand. Beside him, Kyungsoo glanced at him in acknowledgment.

Finally the elevator arrived at the ground floor where their training would be held. The doors opened, and Baekhyun almost stumbled out face-first when the tall girl from District 4 literally pushed him aside. Victoria almost retaliated, but Baekhyun held her back, and surprisingly, Kyungsoo and Jongin did, too.

"Calm down, Vic, I'm fine." Baekhyun mumbled, and Victoria looked at him with concern before sighing, ruffling his hair.

"I'll get that ." Victoria muttered darkly, and Baekhyun couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Move out of the way, peasants. Unlike you, I'm not here to dilly-dally and make friends. Out of the way."

This time, it was Kyungsoo who got pushed aside. Krystal sneered at them in disdain before flipping her red locks and walking away into the same direction that the District 4 tributes, Sulli and Chanyeol, headed to. Sehun followed behind Krystal, his face still remaining expressionless. Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo, and he saw him frowning deeply.

"I cannot believe she just called us peasants." Kyungsoo noted, brushing his shoulder and still glaring at the direction that Krystal and the others took.

"Well, if you take our districts into consideration, technically speaking, she's not wrong." Baekhyun commented in an offhanded manner, and Kyungsoo looked at him strangely. Jongin chuckled.

"As much as I'd love to push that witch off a cliff, she's right about one thing. We do have something else important to do, so putting all technicalities and peasant issues aside, let's go." Victoria led the way, and Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Jongin followed.

The training room was huge. Like, really huge. The ceiling was probably two to three floors high up, and if Baekhyun ran around the room, he'd probably take ages to go back to his starting point. The room was divided in half. One side had a multitude of training stations that ranged from camouflage, hand to hand combat, hunting, basic survival, martial arts, and many other things that Baekhyun could simply not process. The other half, separated by a thin but sturdy looking dark glass, was empty save for the tiny gadgets placed randomly on the ceiling and walls that reminded Baekhyun of surveillance cameras.

Above the room, one side of the wall was made of glass, and on the other side were the authorities of the Capitol in charge of the Games. From all the posters littered all over his district and the Capitol, Baekhyun could tell from one glance which of the men in colourful tuxedos were the President and the Gamemaker. Before he could stare any longer, Victoria nudged him on the shoulder, catching his attention.

"So...what are we going to do?"

"Huh?"

Victoria smacked him on the head before gesturing at all the stations, some of which were already occupied. "The training. What are you going to do?"

Baekhyun looked around, and as soon as his eyes fell on Kyungsoo, he straightened up. "Archery. Kyungsoo's there."

Victoria looked to the archery station, and nodded her head. Baekhyun started to walk ahead, but not before seeing Victoria dash to the empty camouflage station. Baekhyun quickened his steps, and just as he arrived at Kyungsoo's side, the smaller boy had set an arrow free, the stick lamely falling on the ground and emitting a disheartening clattering sound. Kyungsoo stared at it glumly.

"That was bad." Baekhyun commented, and Kyungsoo jumped in surprise, turning on Baekhyun abruptly. He had a somewhat scandalized look on his face that amused Baekhyun to no end.

"I was...I just...uhm." Kyungsoo stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he gripped the bow in his other hand firmly.

"No need to feel bad, though. We're all here to trai--

Baekhyun's words was overpowered by the collective gasp that came from career tributes. The tributes from District 1, 2 and 4 were huddled around the martial arts section, and inside the roped area of the station that served as a ring, Baekhyun recognized Sehun from District 1, and Zitao from District 2, engaged in a hand-to-hand combat. Baekhyun couldn't really tell who was winning or not. All he could see were limbs flying at an inhuman speed, and then Zitao suddenly flipping in the air while Sehun rolled on the ground and slid his foot underneath Zitao to try and trip him, and then back to the blurry image.

"...wow, they're good." Baekhyun looked to his side to see Kyungsoo watching with wide eyes.

"Well, they're career tributes. It's no surprise. They trained for the Games."

"It's illegal." Kyungsoo added, and Baekhyun scoffed slightly.

"And so is subjecting innocent people into a battle to the death, but hey, no one's complaining." Baekhyun shrugged, turning back to the archery station and picking up another set of bow and arrows.

He walked up the shooting range, and adjusted his weapon. He felt Kyungsoo occupy the spot next to him, and a wave of silence fell on them. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Kyungsoo starting to set up his own bow. Baekhyun focused back on his own practice, and his lips.

"Relax your grip on the bow, Kyungsoo. Don't grip it too tight or your shot will have a tendency to lean to the side. Also, focus on one point. Don't lower your bow as soon as you release your arrow or you'd have a hard time doing continuous shots."

Kyungsoo hummed in response before putting up the bow and pulling back the string. "So you've done this before?"

"Nope. Just some theories I thought of just now." Baekhyun heard Kyungsoo's soft laughter, and couldn't help but smile as well.

"Well, that's helpful, Baekhyun. I'll keep those in mind."

Baekhyun released his arrow in response, watching as the arrow sailed in the air for a short while before falling short of his target. He clicked his tongue, but his attention was soon yanked away as Kyungsoo fired again, and Baekhyun swore he heard the sharp twang that the string emitted. Kyungsoo's arrow zoomed through the air with such a speed that Baekhyun wondered if Kyungsoo used a bow or a gun. The arrow deeply impaled itself on the target, and Baekhyun turned to see Kyungsoo grinning in triumph.

"I did it! Your tips helped, Baekhyun!"

Baekhyun clapped his hands softly, honestly admiring Kyungsoo's literally fast-learning ability. Somewhere in the training room, he heard Victoria yelping in an undeniably amazed tone. He stepped out of the archery station slightly and scanned the area for his best friend, and felt his jaw go slack.

Victoria was standing just outside the knife station near them, and she was shamefully ogling Jongin inside. Kyungsoo sidled up to him to see what was going on, and even without looking, the way Baekhyun suddenly felt Kyungsoo's weight against him told him that Kyungsoo was equally surprised as well.

Jongin had a knife in his hand, and though his moves were a little sloppy and slow, he was engaged in some sort of shadow knife combat, totally focused and serious. Considering the time that they had all started training, Baekhyun was amazed at how fast Jongin (and Kyungsoo) learned. He could understand why Victoria was just standing there, eyes wide with amazement. If Jongin really had an opponent at that moment, Jongin would have easily won.

"Tsk. Show off."

Baekhyun looked behind him, and saw Chanyeol, the male tribute from 4, scowling in disapproval. He was gripping a spear in his hand, and his eyes remained glued on Jongin, who continued practicing with the knife, his moves slowly becoming more fluid and natural by the second that it seemed like he was dancing. Chanyeol suddenly yanked his gaze away from Jongin, and it fell on Baekhyun's face, who was frowning up at him.

"What are you looking at, twerp." Chanyeol muttered, before turning back to his station and twirling the spear in his hand.

Baekhyun made a face before pulling Kyungsoo back into their station.

"Kyungsoo, let's practice. Stupid career tributes thinks they're made of freaking gold. We'll show them." He hissed angrily, and Kyungsoo looked at him strangely.

"We?"

Baekhyun glanced at him before nodding in determination. "We're teaming up with you."

Kyungsoo opened his mouth to answer, but Baekhyun cut him off.

"Jessica, our mentor, already talked to your mentor last night. They said that whether you liked it or not, we'll be a team in the arena." Baekhyun kept his voice low, and Kyungsoo frowned.

"Well, who said we didn't like it? We'll team up." Kyungsoo explained, and Baekhyun gripped his bow firmly.

It was time to show the Capitol ers who they really are.

During the whole week, the training of the tributes was uneventful save for a few snide remarks from the careers and a snappy retort from either Victoria or Eunji, the female tribute from District 9. It amused Baekhyun how annoyed the careers would get whenever a supposed 'peasant' answered back to them.

Before the first day of training had ended, Baekhyun gave up on archery, leaving it to Kyungsoo who was quick in mastering the weapon. He watched in awe as the smaller boy was already adept at firing continuous shots, his hold on the bow unfaltering even as he walked around the target range, shooting still and moving targets. Baekhyun felt proud for Victoria as she slowly but surely mastered the knife with Jongin's frequent guidance. Whenever Baekhyun took a rest by poking around in the camouflage station, he'd watch as Victoria and Jongin sparred each other with blunt, wooden knives (and sometimes, Kris from District 8 would join them). Majority of the time, Jongin won, but Victoria had her fair share of glorious moments, too.

Halfway through the week, Baekhyun still hadn't fully mastered anything in the training room except for the hunting station, which majority of the tributes didn't even bother to try except for Luhan from District 9, Yixing from District 7, and Minah from District 6.

On the last day of their training, they weren't allowed into the training room. Instead, they were lead to a large waiting room, and one by one, each tribute was called to enter another room. Victoria was called before Baekhyun, and she smiled slightly at Baekhyun before following the Peacekeeper who led the way.

After ten minutes, she finally came out, her hair now tied up into a ponytail and her limbs slightly glistening with a thin sheen of sweat. She briskly walked towards Baekhyun, clapped him on the shoulder, and exited the same way the previous tributes did, but not without whispering to him.

"Remember the empty half in the training room? They're judging our skills, and televising it. Good luck."

Victoria was leaning on the wall with her arms folded across her chest. She perked up as Baekhyun exited the room, an inquiring look on her face. Baekhyun just shrugged his shoulders, wiping his paint-smeared hands on his dark pants. He had resorted to just demonstrating everything he knew for the fifteen minutes given.

"It was so-so, Vic. You know I didn't nail anything during training."

Victoria pouted a little, but nodded. She remained leaning on the wall, though, even as Baekhyun made a move to head to the elevators to head up their room and  rest before the next day, since, well, the day after tomorrow was when the Games would start.

"Vic?" Baekhyun called out, and Victoria waved him off.

"I'm waiting for the others, Baekhyun."

Baekhyun knew who 'others' meant. During the one week that they trained, they had 'scouted' for other possible allies in the games, just like what Jessica had instructed them to do, and so far, the only ones they trusted totally were Kyungsoo and Jongin from District 12, Naeun and Jongdae from District 5, Minah and Junmyeon from District 6 and Luhan and Eunji from District 9.

Baekhyun proceeded to sidle up to Victoria and lean on the wall, too, eyes trained on the door. It suddenly opened, and Sulli came strutting out confidently, her wild black hair tamed down by a headband. She gave one glance at Baekhyun and Victoria, before walking to the elevator. After another fifteen minutes, Chanyeol came walking out. He didn't even look at them.

"Those tributes from 4 are such snobs." Victoria commented, and Baekhyun hummed in agreement.

Soon enough, the tributes they were waiting for arrived. Naeun had paint smeared all over face and hair, Jongdae had a cut on his hand. Minah looked pretty fine, and so did Junmyeon. Luhan looked exhausted, and Eunji had her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her knuckles looking red. They participated in small talk just to pass the time, and soon enough, Kyungsoo was coming out of the door.

He was frowning deeply, but soon relaxed upon seeing the other tributes whom he could call 'friends', or at least, the people who he could be at ease with and not worry about dying or betrayal. He sauntered over to them, and Baekhyun held out a hand, to which Kyungsoo gladly clapped his hand on.

"How'd you do in there?" Baekhyun asked, and Kyungsoo shrugged his shoulders.

"I was going to do archery, but all the arrows were broken in half. I don't know who the dip is that did that, but, yeah...I had to improvise." Kyungsoo sounded disappointed, but Baekhyun could only focus on the fact that Kyungsoo sounded adorable when he cursed.

"Well, whatever you did in there, I'm sure it's okay. I mean...I just beat up the punching bag for ten minutes." Eunji cut in, earning an amused look from Kyungsoo.

Jongin came out last, and Baekhyun found it funny how Kyungsoo's eyes widened as he saw Jongin's tattered shirt.

"Jongin! What happened?!" Kyungsoo stepped forward, but Jongin smiled at him, quickly closing the distance and placing a hand on his shoulder to keep Kyungsoo from jumping.

"I snagged my own shirt on my knife, but I'm okay."

Baekhyun found it a little endearing and somehow ironic how genuine Kyungsoo's concern for Jongin was. The way his little fingers wrapped around Jongin's wrist, slightly tugging on him to move closer so he could inspect for any signs of damage, made Baekhyun smile a little.

"Hey, lovebirds, we need to go back up to our rooms. They're going to air the results later tonight." Victoria chimed in, and Kyungsoo's natural body reflex had the decency to make him blush slightly at the teasing remark.

"Not lovebirds. What is up with everyone thinking that." Kyungsoo mumbled under his breath, letting go of Jongin and stomping ahead to the elevator, his cheeks still tinged a light shade of pink.

Baekhyun laughed airily, and Jongin walked beside him. Baekhyun looked at him, amused. "Everyone?"

Jongin nodded, a little shyly, which only made Baekhyun grow more curious about him. He was always so confident. "Jonghyun-hyung and Taeyeon-noona keeps on calling us that, too."

"Well, it's easier to see things when you're just a spectator." Baekhyun stuck his tongue out, and Jongin rolled his eyes.

They all rode the elevator together, and proceeded to talk in a friendly manner, but despite this, they all had one thought in mind which they all fought hard to not think about.

Following the interview the day after tomorrow, it was official.

The Games would begin.

_{A/N: Aaaaaand I've risen from the ashes of procrastination and author's block.....that did not make sense but I digress. =)) This whole chapter was just basically things from Baekkie's POV and pure word vomit on my part because I jUST WANT TO GET TO THE ARENA PART.}

_{So....yeah, don't worry, even I'm disappointed with this chapter. It's so...ugh. But hey, there are slight ChanBaek & KaiSoo moments so yay? /slapped}

_{P.S. The thing that Baek and Vic were talking about in the beginning....it's not about the Games. /winkwinkwink}

_{P.P.S. Sehun's runing my life I hate that annoying y dip i hATE YOU OH SEHUN}