Long ago, there were two races: Monsters and Humans.
One day, war broke out between them.
Even with their magic...
The monsters were overpowered quickly.
And to remind them for what their race has done,
They are locked in districts
Each year, they fight to the death.

Before reading on: Trigger warnings for mentions of suicide, probably extreme violence, swearing, a possibility of mentions of abuse, transphobia, and the feels train here to run you over.
*Does contain OCs because using only the Undertale cast wouldn't be enough.
Also implied Papyton, possibly implied Alphyne, and maybe other lightly implied ships.

Mettaton's POV, District 3 - The Day of the Reaping.

It was a very nice morning. The sun was lightly shining over the horizon, and the grass was a nice green, but that didn't exactly distract my mind from what could possibly be ahead of me, and what could possibly lead to my doom. Today's the reaping, and me - or my body - is seventeen, and thankfully nothing has happened to give me a higher chance, but what are the odds?

You may be thinking that if I was chosen, then I would have a huge advantage in the Hunger Games because I don't have a need for thirst or hunger. Well, that really isn't true. When a body for my ghost was being made, they made sure I was just like a normal human, the same strength and the ability to have hunger and thirst, you know, all of that, so really I have the same chances as most people, except those who actually trained.

I didn't bother to train, even if my friends pestered me about it. They were right, it would be better to train for this, but really, maybe my luck will help me today.

I have a bigger problem on my hands, and the problem is the government is slightly transphobic - no, not slightly, very. Even though I am definitely, most positively a guy, they're still listing me as a girl. Which means that I shouldn't get my hopes up if the guy is picked first. Yeah, I really don't appreciate the government, but I know doing a riot would just get me killed, everyone knows that. So we try to not mess with the government.

I sigh, and get up, having finished charging. Normally when I'm charging I'm in a low power state, sort of like sleeping, but everything I hear, see, and feel is sort of blurry and I can't tell the difference when in low power. I take a quick glance at my clock as I gain my sharper vision back, and it reads 9:04 A.M.

I still have a quite a bit of time left before the reaping begins at 12:00 P.M., so I got up to get some breakfast in my amazingly small house, and realized that I didn't have any food.

I sighed, and grabbed a water bottle and headed out with some money to buy some bread. I usually began working my job as an entertainer at 9:30 A.M., but just about everyone here was off of work on the day of the reaping, because you receive the death penalty if you don't manage to make it on time. That's why most of us - at least the people I knew - hated taking risks.

When I was halfway there, I realized that no one was working. I mentally facepalmed to myself and went back to my home. I guess I'm going to have to entertain myself today till the reaping, I thought to myself, a bit annoyed that I'd have to go hungry until tomorrow, unless the workers at the bread shop actually decided to work until their shift was over for the rest of the day, which I doubted, because everyone, including me, using The Reaping as their free pass to have a day off of work.

-

Sans' POV, District 3 - The Reaping

I groaned to myself on the inside as I walked into the crowd of people with my brother, Papyrus. Everyone was being so noisy, and even though it was obviously aggravating me, I couldn't blame them. I could practically feel the nervousness from everyone. After all, it was time for The Reaping, and the chosen people's deaths were very likely looming above them, no matter how hard they trainedfor this, if they even trained at all.

We had applied for tesserae twice, so our chances were already higher, which actually scared me a bit. We were poor in general, and due to us actually having hunger and thirst, we often went by without food for some days and sometimes even water, it's happened enough that we're used to it and aren't as affected by it, but the feeling of an extremely empty stomach was something that I didn't like.

"Brother, do not worry, for I, the great Papyrus, will make sure you are safe!" Papyrus exclaimed with high confidence, and rather loudly. I chuckled a bit, appreciating what I knew was concern for me, but I'd rather have him safe than me. I'd really rather be the one dead than be the one without him.

That's the thing, though. Papyrus was a bit naive, and he didn't know the real consequences of death. I knew that he would be absolutely devastated if I died, and he realized the finality of death while processing it, but he really deserves to be the one living more.

I nearly zoned out before replying to him with a light smile, "Don't worry bro, I'll be fine." In all reality, I was extremely nervous, but Papyrus seemed to not be. He always seemed to lift my spirits a bit with that high confidence and excitement, and I had no doubt he could take on anything. I was hoping as much as I could that Papyrus wouldn't be chosen, so I'd have to see how that would go for me in the next ten minutes.

I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming from Papyrus' side, and right when the first word was spoken, I could tell who it was immediately. "Hello, darlings~" Mettaton.

I grumbled a bit under my breath before responding to Mettaton and said, "What do you want, Mettaton?"

He seemed to laugh just a bit, like a little giggle, before responding to me with a smile, one I couldn't tell how genuine it was. Hell, he's really good at acting, anything he said could be a lie. "I just want to see Papy, very possibly one last time!"

"Yeah, yeah, fine." I rolled my eyes a bit. I didn't really like Mettaton, more of I didn't trust him, from his history of heartbreak. He left his family to become a 'star', and now barely speaks was him. In all honesty? I was just afraid that he would hurt Papyrus, and I swear I'd use my now illegal magic to torture that tin can if he ever hurt him.

My thoughts were quickly interrupted and everyone was silenced by a loud voice. "Welcome, welcome, to the 74th reaping for the Hunger Games!" Here we go. Really, I was preparing for the worst that could happen. I've always hoped for the best and that only gave me the bad things this world has to offer, so what exactly should I hope for?

"Our female tribute is..."

"Mettaton!"

Mettaton groaned loudly, probably because of both being stated as female and being chosen for the Hunger Games, Hey, I really don't like Mettaton, but seriously this government is just plain transphobic. Well, what are the odds? Mettaton had never applied for tesserae and look at him.

Mettaton walked up to the stage, looking around at the crowd of people looking at him, arms crossed, and he probably saw Napstablook, because I saw the wave of regret watch over his face. Serves that backstabber right.

"And our male tribute is..."

Maybe I'll be lucky this time.

"Papyrus!"

Fuck. My instincts immediately washed over me and I stepped forward a little bit, forgetting everything else, and instantly yelling to everyone, the crowd, the cameras, everyone, "I volunteer as tribute!"

Everyone looked at me for a second with a surprised look on their face. Most people don't volunteer for tributes, even if it's their closest friends that were chosen to be a Hunger Games tribute. At least here, that was pretty rare, but who knows. I calmed down a little bit after everyone realized that I was going to be the male tribute instead, and something washed over me. Fuck, I'm going to have to work with Mettaton probably at least once. I guess it was still worth saving Papyrus from certain death, though.

"Well! Looks like Sans has volunteered! First volunteer in ten years, what a shock!" The announcer's voice just annoyed me. It was like someone trying to imitate a movie trailer voice, but failed at it. The crowd formed a bit of an open road for me so that I could get up onto stage, standing beside Mettaton. I tried to force off my sour face like Mettaton did, but I nearly failed at it.

"This is going to be just great," I mumbled under my breath sarcastically, trying to make it loud enough just so Mettaton could hear, and I was successful, because he shot a quick glare at me before The Reaping ended in our district and we had to head home to say goodbyes.

-
Mettaton's POV, District 3 - The Night After The Reaping

I got home to be greeted by Napstablook, and I quickly embraced him in a ghost hug. He seemed to have tears in his eyes and seemed to look really sad and anxious as the same time. Guilt came over me and Napstablook surprisingly stopped the hug and looked at me in the eyes.

"Mettaton...please don't die like Mad Dummy...I'll really miss you..." His voice nearly broke my heart, and I felt the urge to hug him again.

"Blooky, I'm not going to die, I swear. I'll win the Hunger Games for you." I had a weak smile on my face, and the most I wanted for Blooky is for him to be happy, and If I died, I was afraid that it would never happen. "When I'm gone, talk to Papyrus! He's nice...and amazing..." My voice trailed off awkwardly, thinking of Papyrus.

"Okay...I'll go now..." Before I could respond, he was already leaving. I sighed a bit and went into my house, and began to charge, knowing that tomorrow was a big day, and my life is possibly going to be at an end soon.

-

San's POV, District 3 - The Night After The Reaping

"You'll be back though!" Papyrus said happily and with confidence. I couldn't bring myself to tell his innocent soul how likely it is for me to end up dying, so I just nodded and went along, agreeing with what he said to me. Maybe hope really is the way out of this.

"Yeah, of course." I smiled weakly, forcing it. If I wasn't going to get killed by the government, I'd just use my magic to get out of the Hunger Games. Sadly, the Capitol found a way to restrain our magic, and if we found out a way to use it, they'd just kill us right on the spot, no questions asked.

"Well, you better get a good night sleep, Sans!"

"Yeah...I will." I said nervously, and headed into my room to sleep.

AN: This was a shorter chapter than I was hoping for. Next time, I'm going to be aiming for a 10k word chapter. Thank you all for taking your time to read, this idea was really fun to write and think about!