Making Bonds and Breaking Bonds

The next morning was the start of their allotted training time. The boys woke up and put on their training outfits, which were fairly simple. It was just a black t-shirt that fit both brothers just tight enough without being uncomfortable and a had '12' printed on the back with grey pants track pants.

"Slightly less flamboyant, not what I was expecting." Dean commented, looking himself up and down. Then he looked at Sam, it was almost strange to see him in clothing that didn't hang off of his lanky frame being 3 sizes too big. Almost everything Sam ever wore had been a hand me down from Dean, and he was a much larger build at Sam's age.

Sam and Dean ate breakfast, and were escorted onto an elevator that would take them to the training centre. Sam was being unusually quiet, not saying more than a "good morning" since breakfast.

"Sam, you ok? You're usually talking my ears off by now." Dean asked, poking Sam in the stomach. Sam just pushed the hand away and said he was fine. Then Bobby, who had remained quiet until then spoke up.

"Alright boys listen up, I want you to sort um' today."

"Sort um'?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, who you want to ally with, and trust me you will want an ally, who's gonna be easy, and who you'll want to steer clear of until the end." Dean hated the second part because he knew exactly what Bobby meant, which tributes were the weak ones and could be picked off quickly… He took a deep breath because hey, Bobby was right. They couldn't go into this blind, not with everything that was at risk, they had to have some sort of game plan.

"I can do that.. we can do that." Sam spoke up. Both brothers swallowed, it was starting, now becoming more real then before, it was all starting. Everyone in the elevator stayed silent for the rest of the ride.

Walking up to the doors that led to the training centre, Bobby stopped the boys, grabbing their arms.

"Just something before you go in, don't give em' everything you got, we need some tricks up our sleeve for the arena, ok?"

"Yes sir." Dean sighed

"Don't show off. Got it boss man." He finished as they walked through the doors.

"Don't be idjits!" Bobby yelled after them.

The centre was huge, every thing you could possibly learn about surviving in every climate known to man could be learned there. Sam and Dean had most of the defensive skills down, learning it from their father at a very young age. So they decided to start with something they were less familiar with, like fire building. Walking over to the station they noticed a petite blond girl working away at her own fire. Dean decided it was best to send Sam in first so he nudged Sam forward.

"Sammy, do that puppy dog thing you do, warm her up." Sam walked over to her, wide eyed, trying to look as innocent as possible. He flopped down beside her and started fiddling with the provided kindling and logs, making a teepee, which subsequently crumbled to the ground in his attempt. She looked over, eyed him and turned back around.

"You're doing it wrong." She commented.

"Could you show me?" Sam asked, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"Just ask the instructor" she said, annoyed. Sam looked down, and chewed on his lip, and looked back up, giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

She sighed, "Alright kid just one time and you're on your own." He flashed her a Winchester side smile and turned back toward his crumpled mess.

"Alright, put this here, and this one under it so it'll stay up, and put the smaller stuff at the bottom to light, got it?" She finished her fast explanation. As she continued to make Sam's fire she said something Sam didn't expect

"God, you're just a kid, you shouldn't be here." Never looking him in the eye.

"None of us should be here, we're all kids." He responded. The girl raised her eyebrows at the unexpectedly mature response.

"Besides, I'm not alone, I have my brother." He continued, nodding his head toward Dean, who was at the poisonous plant station. Looking back every once and awhile, keeping an eye on Sam. The girl looked over her shoulder at the slightly older boy. She had heard of the brothers, how they got reaped together, her mentor had made her watch all of the reapings, getting a 'scope' on her competition, she had felt bad for them. Especially when they called the younger one's name, the older brother went sheet white.

"Name's Sam" He said, continuing to fix his fire.

"Is it?" The girl responded, raising her eyebrows sarcastically. Sam waited, hoping she would give her name. A few minutes later she spoke again.

"Jo" She said. "Name's Jo"

Sam could tell she was reluctant, not an inherently trusting person. Then again who would be here? However Sam liked her, they continued to talk for a few more minutes before Sam called Dean over. Dean came over and sat next to Sam. Knowing Jo's name wasn't something that she willingly gave out Sam didn't introduce her with her name, waiting for her to make that decision.

"Sorry, is it bothering you?" Dean asked, referring to Sam. Dean got a jab to the stomach in response from Sam, which he dodged easily. The way Sam and Dean teased each other made Jo think of her co-tribute, Ash, who was currently at the spear station. He was like a brother to her, so she felt like she understood how the brothers were feeling. All three talked for about 30 minutes before there was a lull in conversation.

"You want to ally right? that's why you're over here." Jo said, the boys just looked at each other and back at Jo.

"Yeah" she said, nodding. "Well, me and Ash ain't really the allying type, Sorry. Now if you'll excuse me I have actual training to do for this big game thing that I'm in soon." Sam and Dean just looked at each other, confused by the turn of events and Jo's sudden change of heart.

"Well guess that's that then. C'mon Sammy, we're waisting our time, lets get some 'actual training' in." Dean said, putting actual training in air quotations, imitating Jo. They decided to finish off their training day in the most crowded station, the shooting range. Sam and Dean probably being the first and second best shots in this place decided it was best not to show everyone their illegal skill and pretended to have a hard time with the guns.

"Hey, the guns are for grown ups, maybe you should go back to your finger painting and nap time before you hurt somebody!" Yelled one of the tributes, Azazel. Not a few days into the games and he had already made a reputation for himself, as a mean, rude, manipulative, nasty kid. If you could call him that, a kid, he was in his last year of the games being 18 almost 19. He was a volunteer, just like all of the careers. Being from district 2 he was all too eager to throw the poor thing who got reaped off the stage and take all of the 'glory' for himself. Even in district 2 he was known to be horrible, and that was saying something. However, he had powerful parents that were able to get him the extra (illegal) training to prepare him for the games. And prepared he was, being a bulky, broad, skilled and very lethal opponent. Sam and Dean tried to ignore him as best they could, he had been heckling them for awhile now and Dean wasn't sure how much longer he could hold himself back. Just as Dean was on his last nerve and was about to go and give Azazel a piece of his mind (against Sam's protests) he turned and almost ran into a small girl whizzing past him.

"s'cuse me, just on my way to show you losers how it's done." She said smugly, picking up a gun and loading it. She was small, about the same size as Sam, with red hair reaching just past her shoulders. she raised the gun took a breath in and shot 3 times, Dean not expecting much turned and slowly approached, taking a closer look at the target, only to realize all 3 bullets hit the target in the head, only centimetres apart. Needless to say Sam and Deans mouths were hanging wide open, she had definitely gotten their attention. Then the girl turned her head, and with a smirk on her face said

"Names Charlie, nice to meet ya."

A/N- Ok I know its shorter than usual but I felt so terrible about not updating that I really needed to put another chapter up, even if it is shorter. Again thank you so much for your support and I hope you continue to enjoy this story!