Your name is John Egbert and you are a tribute in the 413th Sburb games. You're scared, but okay enough to put on a strong face for your co-tribute, Jade Harley. You are from District 11 and you are far from ready to go into that arena with 15 other kids. You hate to look at them and think that in a few weeks all but one of them will be dead. You hate to look at Jade and think that she could die. She probably will. Her optimism is rather frightening, since she has probably never had to work quite like you have. She probably doesn't even know real hunger. But one thing you know is that she knows what it's like to be lonely. All she had before her name was drawn was that white dog. She is pretty upset that they wouldn't let her bring him along. You are pretty lucky to at least had your dad and sister, Jane. Despite how dorky your father is, you love him. For the first time in your 15 years, you saw him shed a single tear. You left him alone with Jane. Jane is older than you, she is 18 years old. Her pretty little face was soaked with tears before she walked into the room to say goodbye. When she left, her bright blue eyes were filling with tears again, her pale face red and stained with dried tears. Her short curls were flipping all around her pretty little face. She looked nothing like you, she was beautiful. Your sister was mature; you still threw a few temper tantrums here and there. Jane kept it cool. She has tried to convince you that it was just a mask, that behind closed doors she was still a mess of a girl. She kept the family together when your mother passed. It was a freak accident that killed her; your father mentally checked out after that. But now, they were losing you, and you were losing them. You were scared. Jade wasn't. You don't doubt that her bravery was due to the fact that she didn't have much to lose. All she had was that dog. No sister, no father. She cried herself to sleep that first night on the train, though. You heard and decided to give her pity. You knew that it may be you that will have to kill her, but you don't want to, and you want to show that to her now. You walked into her room and found her curled up in a ball on the floor, far from the bed that remained neatly made. You bent down onto your knees in front of the crying girl. She was small, short, and thin. She looked frailer to you than ever in the moonlight. Her pale face was tucked in her small pretty hands. Her round glasses were resting on the night stand. You reach forward and move a soft lock of her long black hair out of her face. You peel her hands off of her face and hold them. Her soft hands were cold. You could feel the raised bumps of scars. You didn't think this girl had done work in her life, but you guess she has. Her eyes remained closed, still flowing heavily with tears. Her long eyelashes were soaked with her tears. You brush away her tears; her eyes flung open, as if she was shocked that you were touching her face. You looked into her bright green eyes, which until now, were always filled with joy. Her soft, pale lips opened and let out a whimper. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around your neck. For a second you just sit there. Then you realize what had happened and wrapped your arms around her small waist. You rubbed the soft green silk that was draped over her back. You felt her cold radiating around you. She let out sobs into your blue tee. You pull her onto your lap, and let a few tears fall too before lifting her into your arms. You lift the tiny girl and lay down in the bed, making sure to cover her cold body. You hold her tightly in the bed until you both fall asleep.

You wake up the next morning to find Jade still snuggled next to you. Her eyes looked puffy, but her pale, porcelain face was no longer red. She looked peaceful in her sleep. You just looked at her for a bit. Her beauty was timeless. She was your age, but she looked older than you, more mature. Just like Jane. She reminded you of little Janey. You tried not to think about it, because you know it would pop back into your head in the arena. You brush her hair out of her face and gently stroke her hair before slipping back into sleep.

When you wake again, Jade is gone. She took her glasses with her and her silk pajamas were thrown on the floor. You rub your puffy eyes and reach for your glasses. You slip the square frames on and slowly rise to your feet. As you stand you hear Jade's voice, she sounded just as happy as ever. You walk out of the room and into the dining car of the train. Everything was so fancy, so much better than District 11. You know that Capitol will be even better. They are still celebrating the defeat of another district. They rebelled, and then Capitol killed all residents of the district. They have done that with 5 other districts. They see it as another way to tell the others to behave; it works too. Your district remains anti-Capitol in secret. District 11 will not be publically revolting any time soon. But you fear that the game makers will kill Jade, if that happens you can bet that Capitol will get shit from you. You're afraid for the little girl. Her stature reminds you of Jane. Not the height though, Jane is a little shorter than Jade. You tower over both tiny girls. At 6 feet and 5 inches tall, you tower over most people; Jade looked pretty scared just standing next to you. You wonder if that could be an advantage in the arena. You think about that as you stumble into the dining car.

You walk out into the middle of the bright car. Sunlight pours in through the huge windows. The bright light burns your eyes. You look around and see your advisors and Jade sitting around the table eating. You moan slightly; the light created quite the headache. As the noise escapes your throat, Jade leaps out of her chair and skips over to you. She is wearing a blue dress with a black dog emblem across her chest. She wraps her arms around you

"Thank you, for last night" She whispered into your chest, she still felt cold. You wrap your arms around her and you feel her shiver a bit

"No problem, do you need a jacket? You're cold" You tell her as she loosens her hug to look up at you with her shining green eyes. Her glasses made her look younger than she looked earlier this morning.

"Oh yes! Can you grab the red jacket from my closet?"

"Sure" You gave her hands a quick squeeze and she gave you a nod. You feel like she was okay enough now. Maybe she just needed that cry last night. Behind closed doors and with all the cameras off; just like Jane. You miss your sister. Jade sure did remind you of her. You try so hard not to think about the similarities. You fail miserably. You fetch Jade's jacket and take it back to her. You then feast on the most delicious foods. Waffles, pancakes and something the Capitol people call bacon. Jade warned you to stop after your second helping. You try to slow down but again fail miserably. You end up spending at good half hour in the bathroom seeing all that food again. When you emerge from the bathroom Jade is skipping down the hall. She stops and turns when she hears the door open. She turns around and walks toward you slowly with her hands folded in front of her. She puts her hand on your arm

"You okay?" She frowns slightly. You feel her cold hand on your non muscular bicep.

"I'll be fine; it was just so much food. More than I've ever had" You look down at the floor, a bit ashamed

"Yeah I know, it was hard to resist eating 7 plates for me too. Hey they're playing the reapings in the sitting room, we should watch. They're our competition anyway."

"Yeah, right" Jade takes your hand and guides you to the sitting room. You take a seat next to Jade and watch as each district reveals what unlucky kid is going to be killed in a few weeks.

"District one, Kanaya Maryam and Tavros Nitram! Your tributes from the district of luxury!" Doc scratch yelled through the television. Kanaya kept a cool face, she stepped up for a small 12 year old girl that wouldn't make it an hour in the games. She reminded you of your late mother. Tavros was in just pure shock; he didn't seem to be mentally there. They both had very different looks. Kanaya was edgy and clean. Pale with short black hair. Tavros on the other hand was a wood worker, he had a Mohawk and was on the native Alterinian side. His hair was a light brown; kind of rusty.

"Kanaya must have some connection to that girl; she just gave her life to her" Jade said with a shake of her tiny head.

"No I don't think so, the girl whispered 'thank you, girl' and ran off to her family. I don't think you'd call someone close to you girl." You tell her. They made sure that the sound was off when the girl whispered to Kanaya. They didn't want it to be heard for some reason.

"Right" Jade frowned as the next district was being shown. They were much richer than us.

"District two, Sollux Captor and Vriska Serket!"Doc shouted yet again. Sollux didn't know what happened and had to be taken by drones up to the stage. It was revealed by Doc that Sollux had schizophrenia. He wouldn't last long. He switched personalities right there on the stage. He had black hair and looked of another country, somewhere to the west off the coast of District 1. Vriska laughed when he was picked. She seemed to take the challenge on. She would be a career tribute. Vriska would be a problem. Her long black hair waved behind her as she turned to walk off stage

"Why would they let him get picked if he had problems?" Jade asked, her high voice wavered a little, she was starting to cry. You throw an arm around her small frame as she let a tear fall.

"District four, Eridan Ampora and Feferi Peixes!" Doc scratch wailed through the speakers before you answer the poor girl. Eridan had a purple stripe in his sandy hair. Feferi had pink in her black hair. Her freckled face was soaked in tears. They were from the fishing district. Eridan turned and looked at his future co-tribute before walking on stage. She was already crying. They must have known each other. When she was called, he yelped. He cried so hard. She walked on and took his hand. Jade didn't have anything to say for this district. Her silent tears falling were enough.

"District five, Gamzee Makara and Terezi Pyrope!" Gamzee looked totally not there, he had to be dragged to the stage. Despite his mental state, he was tall, strong and dangerous. His black hair in a mess. Terezi had bright red hair. Her initial reaction was excitement; until she got on stage and realized that she could die at the hands on the man next to her. Jade sat wordless next to you.

"District six, Nepeta Lejion and Equius Zahhak!" When their names were called they shot a look at each other. They cried. She tackle hugged him when she got the chance. Her little body made the tall strong man trip. She would be a bigger threat than she looked. He was a huge threat. They both had black hair and pale faces. Jade cried harder when they revealed that they were best friends since birth.

"District ten, Rose Lalonde and Dave Strider!" They were both about 6 feet tall and of normal stature. Rose was crying, but composed. Dave was entirely poker faced. Not a tear and no frowns. Both had blonde hair, pale faces. Jade remained still through their reaping.

Jade rose when they called District eleven and went to get drinks. You know inside that she really just didn't want to see that again. You watched as the horror spread across your sister's face. Jade never let a tear fall or a frown cross her face. You let a frown cross when you were called. Jade returned as your faces were spread across the screen,

"District twelve, last but not least, Karkat Vantas and Aradia Medigo!" Karkat was poker faced too. His spikey black hair was dirty, and his pale face had mud on it. Aradia had long flowing black hair, longer than Jade and the girl from 2. Her hair was a deep red. Her pale face registered the horror and then went to a bit of a smile.

Jade was okay after that. She seemed to go back to her normal self. You think it is time you went back to yourself. You get up and set a prank for the trainers to find when they come for lunch. You smile to yourself and went to watch old games alone in your room.

You arrived at Capitol with your spirit lifted a little. You felt more like yourself. Jade was certainly doing better. You ate your dinner on the train and then went to the stables to get ready for the parade. They had you dressed in a pajama sort of outfit. It had a long hood and yellow shoes. It was blue and had a weird swirly thing on your chest. You looked around and found that everyone was wearing things of that sort. But all were unique. Jade was in a black and grey dress with a white swirl in the middle. Her shoes were red. You both stepped up onto the chariot and then you were off.

The chariot was rolling down a capitol street. Thousands of people were lining the road. You felt like you were gonna fall right off the back of the chariot. Jade literally almost fell off; she reached for your hand and you both found stability. You rode down the street toward the gathering of the tributes. You saw everyone in person right there. You saw Sollux succeed at containing his mental state and looked presentable. The girls were prettier than ever. Karkat was clean. He didn't have the mud and coal stains on him anymore. Jade looked at him longingly. You knew that romance was going to get the best of her. She looked beautiful. You watched him look longingly at the girl from 5. She did look beautiful. You totally ignored Doc Scratch's speech. The chariot started moving again. You moved into the other side of the stables. You stopped to talk to your stylist before going up to your suite. You went up, ate and off to bed. You were sleeping when Jade came in and told you of a nightmare. You let her lay in your bed with you. She was colder than ever. You held her through the night and she fell asleep after you did.

The next morning would start training. You ate very little breakfast. You were trying to keep it down this time. You returned to your room to find a training suit laying on your bed. It was black with blue lining the sides. It was tight, but would be good to train in. You followed Jade in her suit that was the same suit, except hers had green lines on the sides, down to the training center. There you found everyone from the night before standing in the same suit with various colors on the sides. You gather for a brief meeting before you are allowed to travel among the different training areas. Everyone had a place to go but you and Jade had no clue of what you were supposed to do. You both head to the survival training before experimenting with weapons. You choose the axe while Jade grabs the bow and arrow.

You train for about three days before anything of interest happens. In the middle of training Eridan starts yelling. It seems like Feferi would rather train alone and Eridan is upset by that. He feels alone now. You would comfort the dude, but it seems Karkat has already told him to "SHUT THE FUCK UP". It seems to have worked with him. Everyone went back training. Feferi went off and helped Sollux. He seemed to be showing more Sollux rather than Red and Blue these days. That was good for him. He'll last longer than he would have with Red or Blue in control. Jade and you train for the games.

The interviews and the reviews come next. You go into a room filled with weapons and survival training items. The game makers are up in the box watching you. You try to show them you're deadly and will make it in the game. Showing them means getting a high number and higher numbers mean more support in the game. Take down a few dummies before you are excused. You cannot know what the others are doing in there.

Ratings came back an hour after Karkat finished in there. You got an 8. That was good enough to get you a good amount of support. You spend the rest of the day pranking little Jade. She surprisingly got a 7. You form a sibling bond with the girl, her death increasingly becoming more painful. She seemed more and more like Jane each day. She was still her own person, but you know that as you spend more time away from Jane the more Jade looks like her.

Interviews with Doc Scratch start today. You know Jade has got this down. She will do great. You're too much of a dork to do well. You put a whoopee cushion on Doc's chair to show your personality. The crowd laughed.

Kanaya was the classy girl that everyone loved her elegance. But she didn't appeal to new money, just older ones. She would nab a few but not many.

Tavros was an awkward mess at the end. He seemed to try to be confident despite his insecurity that was clear. He was so 'confident' it came off as arrogant to you. You disliked him very much, but he got many chuckles out of the crowd. He nabbed a handful

Sollux kept it cool the whole interview. Feferi cheered him on from the side. He nailed it, well nailed it taking into account his mental state. He would nab a few.

Vriska played the 'I will totally win' thing a bit much. She was charming, and quite beautiful. She appealed to you, but not to the crowd. She would nab a small few.

Eridan played the heartbreak of Feferi, his long term best friend dumping him. He claimed that he would have his vengeance in the arena. He would nab a few but not many. Some people saw his blood lust as appalling others saw it as his survival.

Feferi played her cute bubbly-ness on the stage. Many people already disliked her for dumping Eridan but few understood.

Gamzee tried to keep himself together but he was too high to understand. He got a huge amount of laughs, and earned a ton of people.

Terezi was acting like a silly child on stage. It even got that kid Dave to laugh. She got a good amount of support.

Nepeta played the role of a cute and weak girl, but she won hearts with that and her relationship with Equius got her pity points.

Equius wasn't very well liked, despite the best friend status with Nepeta. He didn't get much

Dave played it cool, he seemed to be rather too cool, like it seemed fake to you but he stole a lot of hearts.

Rose did the same thing Kanaya did, but with slightly better results.

Jade was cute as ever on stage. She got plenty of people.

You were awkward, but funny to them. You were instantly a hit.

After the interviews all that was left was the actual games. You were scared of course; but you were strong for Jade. The little girl you have grown to care for a great deal. You decided you'd do anything to keep her safe. That meant your death, but you didn't care. You wanted her to win. She was small, she was pretty and she was as sweet as a lollipop. You wanted this for her, not for you. You wouldn't let anyone hurt her. If anyone did, they'd be dead in a heartbeat. You didn't want to die, but if it was for her you would; for the girl that was just like your sister, Jane. You would die for Jane, so why not for Jade? Jade was so precious, you'd keep her safe. You ate a small meal and went to bed for the night. Jade walked in about an hour after you had gone to lie down. She wasn't crying like usual; she was just Jade. She was just like herself. She slipped into your bed and you wrap your arms around her as neither of you sleep that night. You just hold her. The little girl was colder than ever. She looked up at you after about an hour. She stared into your blue eyes and tears began to fall from her green eyes. You silently wipe the tears away and give her a squeeze. You both just sat there wordlessly crying through the night.

When you realized it was morning Jade had just drifted into sleep. Your advisor walked in and gave you a silent nod. You shook Jade slightly and woke her. She opened her sleepy eyes and looked up at you like it was any other day. You watched as the horror came across her face. She instantly started to shake. You pull her in and hold the girl. She looked at you one more time before you both got out of the bed at went to the final meetings before the games.

You and Jade had to be separated until game time. You changed into the basic clothing you would wear until the game was over; or till you died. You were wearing a short sleeve blue shirt that was similar to the color of your eyes. You had on tan cargo pants tucked into military boots. You were taken outside where you found an air craft that would take you to the catacombs below the arena. You don't know what the arena will be like, which scares you. You walk through the catacombs and are taken to the room that you would be leaving from. All the room contained was your jacket, your stylist and the tube to your death. Your stylist puts your jacket on you, a simple black parka with blue lines on the sides. She gives you a nod and you walk toward the tube. You just stand there in front of it for a moment. You step inside and the door behind you closes immediately. You start breathing heavily and start shaking. Suddenly Jade pops in your mind. She was scared enough as it is; it scares you to think about how scared she must be right now. You think about Jane. You think about how much scarier this thing must be for her. You're deep in thought before the ground starts pushing you up; up toward your eminent death for the girl you hardly know.

You emerge from the tube in the middle of a clearing. You look around you and find you are in a heavily wooded area. Then your eyes are searching for Jade. You look around and find the other tributes wearing the same thing but with different colors. You finally find Jade. You see her looking toward the giant metal cornucopia. You find exactly what she is looking at. The bow and arrow. You know that kid Equius uses a bow. You know he can take her and kill her instantly. You see her eyes lock with yours. You see all the fear in that girl's eyes. You shake your head to tell her not to go for the bow. She then relocks her eyes on the bow and arrow.

The clock ticks down.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

You don't stick around long after the horn blows. You turn directly around and head for the woods. You believe Jade is following you like you planned. She isn't.