Chapter 1~ Goodbyes

The District 5 Reaping

"Rin Kagamine."

My name. They called my name.

"Rin Kagamine," the announcer calls again.

My pulse quickens. This can't be happening.

"Rin Kagamine please come to the stage," he says, his tone more forceful now.

A shove from behind pushes me forward. I walk. I can only hear the sound of blood rushing in my ears. As my eyes dart back and forth, faces blur around me. Thousands of eyes straining to get a look at the female tribute. My brain feels fuzzy. I want to faint. I want to run. I want to scream. But I can't do anything. I only walk. Somehow, I'm standing on the stage in front of a microphone.

"How old are you miss?"

"14," I breathe into the microphone. I feel so small and my voice sounds so loud. In the sea of faces I spot a familiar one. It's the face of my brother, Len.

He is shocked and scared an horrified. His mouth hangs open. I suddenly feel tears in my eyes. This is the last day I will see him. The last day I will be able to hear his voice and breathe his air. I'm leaving my only friend, my only family, my only brother, forever.

I'm realizing so many things as I stand on the stage. I'm going to die, I think. I will be killed by another tribute. Or maybe I'll starve. Or I might get sick and slowly rot away. I might kill people. The thought makes me shudder. And the worst part of all is that I'm going to have to do it alone. Before I can stop it a tear rolls down my cheek. I don't wipe it away, I just let it fall.

"RIN!" Len screams my name from the crowd. An adult clamps their hand over his mouth silencing him.

"And now let us pick our male tribute!" the announcer says gleefully.

My head is still spinning. My heart is still pounding. Len is still struggling to break free of whomever has restrained him. Our announcer unfolds a piece of paper and reads it aloud,

"Len Kagamine."

A wave of shock. A pang of relief. A hurricane of despair. My brother has been picked. He shakes off the adult and runs to the stage. When he reaches me he is out of breath and smiling a backwards smile.

"Oh ho!" the announcer laughs, "A brother-sister team! This is the first in hunger Games history!" He is excited beyond words. Surely this will get him a promotion or a raise.

I try to decipher my feelings. I'm guilty because I'm relieved. Fate granted my wish. I'm not going to die alone. But Len will die too. God must truly be a sick man.

We are lead into a back room. No one from our district comes to say goodbye to us. Len and I don't speak. We don't cry. We just sit there trying to comprehend what is happening. Len turns to look at me.

"We're in this together," he says, "Like everything else we're in this together."

I don't say anything in return. I know that my voice will break if I speak. His words almost make me smile. But its a sick and twisted sort of smile. The smile someone makes when they are lying down on an executioners block.

The District 4 Reaping

"Lily Katsuya."

I breathe a small sigh of relief. I have not been chosen this year. I watch as Lily walks up to the stage. I remember talking to her once or twice, but I doubt she even knows my name. This horrible day is half over, all that is left is the male tribute and then my brother and I can go home...

"Oliver Akita."

A smothering silence falls over the crowd. My hearts stops and panic fills my eyes. My hands start to tremble.

"Oliver Akita."

A small blonde boy breaks rank and starts to walk towards the stage. I look away. I can't watch.

"How old are you young man?" the announcer asks, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"12," he says a little sadly.

I feel tears rolling down my cheeks. He's such a little boy. He's too young, too pure, too small. How can they take him away from me? To be killed! Slaughtered by another child!

The tributes are lead into a back room. I stand next to Lily's parents and wait for the door to open. I have three minutes to say goodbye.

The door opens and I run to Oliver and hug him tightly.

"I'm scared, Neru," he whispers.

My hearts shatters into thousands of tiny shards. I hug him tighter, my tears falling into his hair.

"You're just going to have to be brave. Can you do that for me?" I try to sound as confident and soothing as possible. I don't want him to see my tears. He nods his head. I break away from the hug and quickly rub the tears out of my eyes.

"When you're scared just remember that I'm watching you on the television. Just be a brave little boy..." My voice trails off. Such pretty words for such a dark day.

"I'm not going to win, am I?" Oliver says, his voice faltering a little.

I shake my head no. I've never lied to him and I don't intend to start now.

"I'd go in your place if I could," I whisper, my voice trembling. I stare at Oliver, trying to etch every part of him into my memory. Even when he's gone I'll never forget. This moment will stay with me forever.

The doors fling open and two capitol workers march in. "Your three minutes are up! Get out!" they say.

I put my hands on his shoulders and shake him gently. "Oliver, I have to go. You're going to have to take care of yourself," I say.

Oliver gulps and nods curtly. His eyes brimming with fear. I give him one last hug before I am pushed out of the room, the door slammed in my face.

Such a brave little boy. Such a short little life. Such a small cruel world.

District 10 Reaping

A small girl named Aoki Lapsis stands trembling on the stage. You can feel the fear radiating off of her, and she has a good reason to be scared. She knows that she won't last long in the games. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if she was one of the first ones killed. Her parents will be devistated.

I can't help but laugh a little when I think about her parents. Parents are something I've never had in my life. The whole concept of having someone more mature than yourself looking after you has baffled me. I've never had parents or siblings or even friends to look after me, just as I've never looked after anyone else. I've made it just fine on my own. It hasn't been easy but I make do.

Sometimes, I'm actually kind of glad that I'm isolated. I don't have to care about anyone. Caring gets you hurt. Caring takes too much energy, when you need all of your energy just to survive. It's also easier on other people. No one has to care if I die.

Oh, poor Aoki. The announcer will not stop talking to her. Can't he see that she's practically sobbing out of sheer terror? Can't he see her parents in the audience trying to put on a brave face for their daughter, and failing miserably? I think he notices, and is just playing a sick joke on them. He probably enjoys torturing his tributes and their loved ones for the brief time he has to interact with them.

Finally, he starts to pick the male tribute. It doesn't really matter who gets picked. No one from our district ever wins anyway.

"Kaito Shion," he reads.

All eyes turn to look at me. I am Kaito Shion.

"Kaito Shion," the voice repeats.

A small flicker of panic courses through my body, but I quickly silence it. I walk up to the stage and stand next to Aoki. My face shows nothing but indifference.

"How old are you, boy?" the announcer inquires.

"I'm 18," I say, the I add, "I was only one year away from being free."

My comment sends murmurs through the crowd. I smile. If I am going to die, I might as well go out in style.

After the announcer asks me a few more questions, and I give a few more snarky responses, Aoki and I are lead into a back room. As soon as the door slams behind us, Aoki sits on the bench, pulls her knees up to her chest and cries, holding nothing back. Such a pitiful sight.

I sit down next to her and, to be honest, feel a little awkward. I've never had to deal with a crying person before, hell I've never had to deal with people before.

"My parents aren't coming to say goodbye to me," Aoki mutters through her tears.

"Why not?" I inquire, genuinly curious.

"Because it would be too sad," Aoki chokes out.

Caring makes people weak. Her parents are too weak to say goodbye to their only daughter before she's lead to the slaughter house. They're too weak to see their daughter one last time. They sicken me.

"You can't cry about them. You have to focus on winning," I say coldly.

Aoki turns her head to look at me, her tears cascading to the ground. "I'm not going to win," she says bitterly.

I don't have a response. It's true, Aoki Lapsis has a snowballs chance in hell of winning. Suddenly her face brightens.

"You might win," she says.

I simply nod my head. I hadn't really considered winning.

"Will you remember me if you win?" she asks.

"I'll remember you even if I don't." I say simply. I don't know where the soothing words are coming from.

Caring gives people a purpose. I may not win, but now I have to at least try. I laugh to myself. I'm going to win the hunger games for a damned girl I just met. What a logical world we live in