The woods were quiet for this time of day. Normally they would be alive with the chattering of animals, the breeze blowing through the trees – anything. But the animals knew what was coming, they knew better than to try to be happy at the worst time of the year in District 12.

Dean Winchester aimed his arrow at a rabbit perched less than twenty yards away from him and let the arrow fly right through the eye – just like always. He retrieved his kill, took out the arrow, cleaned it, and knocked it back – ready to kill again. Killing animals wasn't exactly something Dean looked forward to every morning, but meat was meat. Sammy had to have food.

He watched the sunlight peek through the trees and looked in the direction she would be coming from. He knew she expected him to be sitting on their rock, but he hadn't been able to sit still long enough to wait for her and had started hunting in the direction of District 12, hoping she'd bump into him. She was extremely late – that was unusual, but not unheard of. While Dean's little brother, Sam, was fourteen and could mostly take care of himself, Joanna Harvelle had her eleven year old sister to help her Mom care for before she came to the woods to hunt with Dean.

He was a little glad he'd went ahead and started. He'd already caught three squirrels, two birds, and two rabbits – he hadn't even checked the snares yet. It would make for a good feast tonight.

Dean heard the crack of leaves and turned, poised and ready to fire… only to see Jo walking into the clearing. He shook his head and put the arrow back in the quiver, "I could've killed you, Jo."

"Sorry," she muttered. "Busy morning."

Dean just nodded and offered her a weak smile. "Big day today."

She tried to smile, but it didn't work. She just started walking toward the clearing they usually met in. they walked in silence, each taking their side of the large rock that sat at the right edge of the clearing. Dean took off his game bag and split the goods with Jo as she took a piece of bread out of her game bag and offered it to him. "Where did you get this?" he asked.

"Traded the baker for a couple squirrels yesterday before the Demon Peacekeepers showed up."

He gave her a hard look, "How many?"

Jo shrugged, "One."

He sighed and put his hand over his nose. Jo whispered, "He just feels sorry for us, you know."

Dean knew – of course he knew, everyone knew. All of the angel merchants just felt bad for the human families in the district. Dean hated it – humans were generally second-class citizens in Panem, behind every supernatural creature that roamed the country. In the outlying districts it wasn't as bad, the angels who ran most of the shops were generally nice to humans, but Dean was told that the closer that you got to the Capitol City and President Abaddon, the worse humans were treated.

Even during the Games humans were counted out every year by the Capitol and the people who watched. Dean couldn't really blame them, it was hard to pick a human to win over the sirens, demons, leviathans, and vampires that made up the Career Districts.

The silence fell easy between Jo and Dean, as it always did. That was probably what Dean liked the most about Jo, she just understood him. She didn't ask him 'why' and 'why not' like Sam did, and he didn't have to take care of her like he did with Sam. She just listened well, had his back in the woods, was a great shot, and laughed at his lame jokes.

But today she wasn't laughing – neither was Dean.

Because today was Reaping Day.

Sure, it was Dean's last one, but it still felt like a pit at the bottom of his stomach. This was the last year that he could do anything about the Games. After this, he would be a bystander, unable to volunteer.

"How many slips do you have today?" Jo asked softly.

Dean looked at her and smirked, "Forty something."

Jo just rolled her eyes, "More than twice what I've got."

Dean shrugged and took another bite of the bread.

"What about Sam?"

Dean stiffened, "Sam has three."

"I thought you were going to let him take out tesserae?"

Dean just shook his head, "Hopefully he won't have to. Next year I'll go into the mines and I should be able to make enough to feed us without it."

Jo just looked at her feet; Dean put his arm around her, "Everything's gonna be okay, Jo. If we stick to the code, no one's gonna go hungry."

"The code?" Jo giggled. "You sound like a pirate."

Dean took his arm from around her and covered one eye with his left hand, making his right into a fake hook, "Aye, matey. Be stickin' to the code and goin' to the Hob to trade, arrrgghhhhh."

Jo laughed, "Seriously, Dean. I was 12 years old when we made that pact."

"And I was 14."

"Yeah, I know," Jo replied.

"So what?" Dean asked, leaning back on the rock.

"So I'm just saying maybe it's time for a different pact. We're older, we're not just two dumb kids that are scared our families will starve."

Dean cut her a glare, "So you're saying that if one of us is reaped, the other should volunteer and leave both families in the dust? C'mon, Jo. Sammy's not ready to hunt yet and I'm pretty sure your sister isn't old enough to start shooting a bow."

Jo just shrugged, "When do you plan on teaching Sam to hunt?"

"After the Games are over," Dean answered. "Since this is my last year, he'll have to fend for himself next year, I want to make sure he's ready. I just want him to be a kid for a little longer."

"You know I wouldn't let him go in alone."

Dean nodded, "I know. And if that happens, you know I won't let your family go hungry."

Jo smiled – they had discussed that series of events way too many times. They fell silent again, listening to the soft sounds the woods made around them.

Jo sighed, "I wish we didn't have to live here anymore."

"What, like run away?"

"Yeah," Jo gave him a shy smile. "Just take off into the woods and don't look back."

Dean shrugged, "We could probably do it. We're the best shots in the district, counting the angels, we certainly wouldn't go hungry."

"Let's go," Jo said, standing from their rock.

"Now?"

She nodded, smile growing, "Let's go right now, Dean. Just take off and leave."

He just looked at her, "We can't. I've got Sammy – you've got your mom and Jess. We'd definitely get caught with the kids."

Jo's smile faded, "You're right."

Dean looked again at the sun, higher in the sky. "Looks like it's almost time to go back," he observed. Jo needed plenty of time to help her mother get everybody clean and ready for the Reaping and Dean had to get Sam ready by himself.

Jo sighed, "Do we have to?"

Dean nodded and stood from the rock, taking Jo's shoulder. "It's going to be okay," he said. "Tonight, we're gonna look back on this morning and laugh, just like every other year."

Jo grinned, "Because the odds are definitely in our favor, as always."

And so they took out their bows and walked back to the district, trading the grins and laughter for grim faces and careful aims, looking for anything with a heartbeat that would taste good in a soup. On the way back, Jo shot two more squirrels before she split the day's haul with Dean.

They parted ways at the edge of the district, taking great care to make sure they weren't seen by Demon Peacekeepers. "Meet you at your house?" Jo asked him.

Dean winked, "Wear something pretty."

He grimly walked back to his house, head down, trying hard to avoid the gaze of anyone else. The Winchester house was smaller in comparison to most of the others in their part of the district, but their family was only him, Sam, and their mother, Mary, so they didn't need a lot of room.

He opened the door to see Sam sitting in front of the television, watching one of the programs talking about the Reapings in a few hours. "Have you taken your bath yet?"

Sam shook his head, "Mom told me to wait until you got home."

Dean just nodded, "Go take it now, and hurry, 'cause I've still gotta take mine."

He turned to his left and started taking the animals out of his game back, skinning them with his silver hunting knife. He took his time, knowing that Sam would take forever to get clean. He sliced the fur from the meat, putting the meat in a bowl for their soup later and saving the fur. Jo's mother, Ellen, was good at making gloves and things out of the rabbit fur.

He heard a shuffling of feet and looked up to see Mary pulling out a chair. She looked better today than Dean had seen her in years – more color in her cheeks, bags under her eyes less heavy and she had even fixed her hair. "Mom?"

She zoned out. Dean rolled his eyes – she was good at forgetting where she was and what was going on. He didn't suppose he could blame her, if the love of his life died, he would probably zone out a lot too.

"Mom?" he called again, snapping his fingers in front of her face.

She smiled, "Oh, Dean. You look so much like your father."

Dean grimaced, she had been bringing that up more and more lately.

She just sighed, "I see so much of him in you, Dean."

"Thanks, Mom."

"John would be proud of you."

Dean just nodded – he didn't really even know what to say. John Winchester had once been a Capitol citizen, a senator even. His intelligence had been respected across Panem – he knew more about every supernatural creature than anyone else in the country. But when he came to 12 to study on angels, he had met Mary Campbell and fell in love, marrying her and having Sam and Dean. But before Dean's fourteenth birthday, John had been killed in a mining accident – the same one that claimed Jo's dad.

So Dean had stepped up, he had taken tesserae and applied what his dad had taught him about hunting the supernatural to hunting animals. It had been rough for the first few months, but Dean had managed to keep them fed.

Sam came into the kitchen, hair freshly combed and wearing a shirt and pants that used to belong to Dean. They were baggier than Dean had anticipated, he wished Sam would hurry and hit his growth spurt already.

"They're too big."

Dean just smiled, "All the chicks are gonna dig you, Sammy."

Even Mary turned around to comment, "Handsome boy."

Dean rose from the table, "Time for my bath."

Less than twenty minutes later, Dean was standing in front of his mirror, adjusting the collar on his plaid button up and rolling up the sleeves. Sam came to the door of the room they shared.

"How do you get your sleeves to look like that every time?"

Dean chuckled, "Lots of practice, Sammy."

Sam held out his arms, "Can you do mine?"

Dean nodded and reached out to roll the sleeves of Sam's plaid shirt. When he finished, he turned his brother so Sam could inspect himself in the small mirror. "What do you think?"

"Perfect," Sam grinned. "Think these will catch Jess's eye?"

"Jessica Harvelle?"

Sam nodded.

Dean winked, "Dude isn't she a little young for you?"

Sam grinned, "She turns 12 next week. You've dated a lot of girls younger than you."

"Okay, but you're not me. You're not as smooth," Dean chuckled.

"Whatever. Do you think she'll like it or not?"

"Of course, Sam. and besides, that's my lucky shirt. I wore it to every single Reaping."

"Really?" Sam gasped, looking down at it.

"Of course. Why do you think I let you wear it now?"

Sam grinned. They heard the front door open and heard Ellen's booming voice call them. "Boys! It's time to head to the square!"

Dean put his arm around his brother and walked with him into the living room. Ellen, Jo, and Jess were taking platefuls of food and covering them so the flies wouldn't get them before they feasted tonight. Mary stood off to the side by herself, just watching, not really knowing what to do.

"Got everything set?" Dean asked. The girls all nodded at him, so they filed out of the house and headed for the square with all the other citizens of District 12. Like always, Dean avoided eye contact.

The closer they got, the more Demon Peacekeepers and angels that they could see. Dean felt his brother grab his right hand and Jo grab his left. He squeezed both of their hands as they headed toward the edge of the crowds on the square. Before the three headed to the table to sign in, they each got hugs from Ellen and Jess and Mary even smiled at Dean as she hugged Sam.

"Make sure you stand tall, no matter what happens. You set your jaw and you don't let any of those sons of bitches see your fear," Ellen went on, holding Jo. "You are a big girl, and you act like one, Joanna Beth. Same for you Dean." She mussed Sam's hair, "You too Sam."

The two boys nodded as they led Jo to their place with the other kids.

As Dean looked around, he could see the Peacekeepers with their helmets. He had never seen a demon's true face, only the helmet and what he saw on television. While Demons looked like normal humans on television, John had told Dean that when you got too close to one in real life, you could see a much darker face under that. John had explained it to him, years and years ago, "Demons are born into regular bodies just like angels and humans, but what's different, Dean, is the soul. Some humans can see the true soul of an angel or demon, but very few."

"Nothing's gonna happen," Dean repeated, hugging Jo as she went to join the other sixteen year olds.

She nodded, "The code right, Captain?"

Dean grinned, "Aye, first mate."

Dean watched her take her place with some other girls her recognized in the district. He had to stifle a chuckle as he saw Lisa Braeden glare at Jo - Dean guessed Lisa still wasn't over him picking his family (and Jo's family) over her last summer. He knew it was only a matter of time before Jo got tired of it and decked her. When Jo looked back at him, he nodded and pulled Sam away toward the boy section.

He stopped at the eighteen year old section and sunk to his knees to talk to Sam. "Listen, Sammy. It's all going to be okay, I promise."

Sam nodded, taking a deep breath. Dean could see that his brother was nervous – he wasn't stupid. "Sam, it's going to be okay. You don't have anything to worry about. You have three little slips. There are angels in this crowd with at least twice that."

Sam just nodded again, Dean thought he was going to throw up.

"Dude, you're going to be okay. I swear. Just go stand in the crowd and think of a good pick up line for Jess later," he winked, earning a smile from his brother. He stood up and messed Sam's hair, "See you soon, Sam."

He turned to walk away and abruptly stopped, looking back at Sam with a grin, "Try not to act like a little bitch."

Sam made a face, "Whatever, jerk."

Dean walked away, taking his place with the other kids his age and watched Sam walk down to the fourteen year old section. Dean just shook his head, Sam was small for his age… like really small, small enough that Dean was afraid to let Sam walk home by himself at night. He desperately wanted Sam to hit his growth spurt before the next Reaping.

The doors to the building opened, and out walked the important people of the district. First there was Mayor Novak, then the District 12 escort… Ham, Pam, Ma'am… something like that, Dean could never remember. All Dean knew was that she dressed in ridiculous outfits for every Reaping and he hated her. Next came Bobby Singer, the only Victor District 12 ever had. He was a drunk and spent most of his time either passed out in the Victor's Village or trying to get someone in the Hob to sell him liquor.

He nearly fell on the platform and Dean had to stifle a laugh. He wondered if it was all really liquor or if Bobby Singer just liked embarrassing the hell out of the escort. Probably both.

He looked down to the girls section and saw Jo looking at him. He winked as the escort introduced herself and started playing the mandatory "Panem is awesome, Abaddon we love" video.

Dean zoned out – he knew the entire video by heart. 75 years ago, there was an uprising in which humans and angels teamed up to try to take out the demons, Leviathan, wraiths, zombies, etc, that ran Panem. They came close, but it didn't work, so the Capitol came down even harder on them. President Abaddon took office 10 years ago, and since she came to power everything was great, blah blah blah. Dean hated the speech, he hated the reaping, he hated the Games.

He'd be glad when it was all over. Maybe when Sam and Jess were old enough, he would run away with Jo. He hadn't been lying when he told her they were the best shots in the district – even the angels couldn't outshoot them. Maybe they could do it. Maybe once Dean got away from this damn place he could have kids.

The dark headed escort walked up to the microphone, "Welcome, welcome, welcome! The time has come for the 74th annual Hunger Games! Now, we must select a male and female tribute. As always, ladies first."

She walked briskly to the bowl that held all the slips of paper of every girl in the district. The humans were labelled with First and Last Name, the angels simply had only their angel names, given to them by the Capitol – another way of controlling them.

As the escort frisked her hand in the bowl, Dean started to sweat. Jo had at least 25 slips in the bowl, maybe more. Dean shut his eyes, not Jo, not Jo, please, not Jo.

"Castiel, angel."

Dean's eyes snap open. Of any name he could have possibly expected, Castiel's was not among them. He could hear the escort-lady calling for Castiel, asking where she was. Castiel was the baker's daughter, one of the richest merchants in District 12. She had long, black hair, piercing blue eyes, and was very small. They're gonna rip her apart in the arena, Dean thought to himself. She walked up to the stage in her skirt, blazer, and a beige trench coat. Any other time, Dean would've scorned her for having such expensive clothing, but now, he felt sorry for her, because Castiel was an automatic death.

The escort then walked over to the bowl with all the boy names. His eyes flickered to where Jo was standing, worry etched across her face. Dean fought hard to keep his composure.

"And our male tribute is…" Dean held his breath, repeating his mantra, this time with Sam's name instead of Jo's.

"Sam Winchester!" the woman called out.

Dean's eyes snapped open. He could feel his heart violently beating through his ribcage, his stomach threatening to throw up the bread he had shared with Jo that morning. His mouth suddenly went dry, and all he could think was "no. Not him."

Dean started pushing his way through people, desperate to get to Sam, desperate to take his little brother away from this.

He finally fought his way into the aisle between the girls and boys, his eyes fixated on Sam. Sam was shaking as he took tiny steps up to the platform.

"Sam!" Dean called, his deep bass tenor echoing through the square. Every eye turned toward him, but his were only locked on his little brother. "Sammy!"

He started to run toward Sam in a frenzy, trying to shield him from the evil of the Games. But before he could reach his brother, four Demon Peacekeepers surrounded him. Dean tried to break through them, but the demons were too strong.

He had to get to Sam.

Sam was the only important thing.

Sam couldn't go to the Games.

Sam.

Sam.

Sam.

Dean had to stop this.

"I volunteer!" he roared, throwing the Peacekeeper hands off of his shoulders. He stood tall, proud, just like Ellen had told him to.

"I volunteer as tribute."

He could hear the gasps from the crowd - no one in the history of the Games had ever volunteered from District 12. Sure, the career districts did it all the time, but they were trained for the Games, they loved them. There wasn't a person in the district who hated the Games more than Dean Winchester.

Sam started to run back toward him, "No! Dean! No, Dean!"

Dean opened his arm to his little brother, "Sammy, it's okay. It's going to be okay. Go stand with Mom - "

"No!"

Suddenly Jo was there, taking Sam from Dean's arms and putting him in her own. "I've got him. Go, Dean."

Dean just nodded, setting his shoulders and striding to the stage. Jo would take care of Sam, Jo could handle it.

Dean was ushered to the stage by the Peacekeepers and told them his name.

"I'd bet my hat that's your little brother, isn't it?" the escort said with a big fake smile.

Dean was repulsed - he had just basically sacrificed himself for his family, and it was amusing to this woman? But rather than bitch and complain, he just nodded, trying hard to keep his composure, to keep the strong, set jaw, to look fearless. Who knew how many tributes were watching this right now, trying to find a way to bring him down? He couldn't show any weakness.

"And you're human?"

Dean just nodded, refusing to say anything else.

"Well, let's have a round of applause for District 12's first volunteer!" the woman said, clapping softly.

To Dean's surprise, not one soul clapped. Demon, angel, human - nothing.

His eyes searched for Sam. He saw his brother on the edge of the crowd, in Jo and Mary's arms, standing next to Ellen and Jess. Every single one of them was crying.

His eyes met Jo's, and Dean prayed that she could read his expression. Take care of them.

Rather than nod or say okay or anything, Jo detached herself from Sam. She stood tall and brought the three fingers on her left hand to her mouth, kissed them, and pointed them skyward toward Dean. Farewell, friend.

To Dean's surprise, she wasn't the only one. First Sam, then Ellen, Jess, person by person, row by row, people that Dean knew and didn't know gave him the farewell symbol of District 12. But Dean couldn't do it back, he couldn't move a muscle. All he could do was clench his jaw and wait for the moment to be over, wait until it was time to break down.

The escort started to stumble over her words to cover the absence of applause, but instead she just told the tributes to shake hands.

He turned and shook Castiel's hand like he was supposed to. But he nearly dropped her hand as soon as he grabbed it. Castiel's eyes were pure blue, bluer than anything Dean had ever seen before. But beneath that blue… it was almost a pure white.

Dean knew what it was, John had told him about it years before - he was seeing her soul.

The escort quickly shuffled the two of them inside the building, explaining that they would each have a few minutes with their families to say goodbye. Dean's eyes widened – this was probably the last time he was going to see his mother and brother. Instead of thinking about a pretty angel's soul, he should probably focus on what he was going to tell them.

He and Castiel were shoved into different rooms, and Dean mentally went through a list of things he needed to remind Jo of and things he needed to tell Sam. Sam and Mary were the first two ushered through the door.

Dean could see the tears on both of their faces. He crushed Sam to him, calming him down. He reached out for Mary's hand as he pulled away from Sam and sank to his level. "Sammy, listen. I need you to listen to me," he said.

Sam nodded, "D-Dean, you got picked."

"I know, Sammy. But it's okay. Listen, Jo can bring you enough meat from the woods, okay?"

Sam nodded.

"You know how to skin animals and cook them, and you know how to gather good things to eat, right?"

Sam just nodded, tears still flowing down his face.

Dean kept nodding, trying to keep his composure. "Look, after the Games are over, Jo's going to take you in the woods and teach you to hunt, okay? You trust her, you understand me?"

Sam shook his head, "Why can't you take me, Dean?"

Dean tried to open his mouth to answer, but he couldn't make any words come out. He just pulled Sam in for another hug, letting his little brother cry on him.

He turned to Mary, "You can't zone out again, understand?"

Mary nodded, "I wo –"

"I know you won't. You're the only one he's got. I can't ask Jo to take care of him, so you have to. I'm not gonna be there anymore to –"

Mary gently placed a hand on Dean's shoulder, "I know. I-I'll do it, Dean."

Sam leaned up from his brother, "Dean. You-you have to come home, okay?"

Dean nodded, "I'm gonna do my best, Sammy."

The Peacekeeper's trudged into the room.

"Time's up."

Dean just nodded, pushing away his brother, "Trust Jo, Sammy."

"Take this," Sam said, pushing a necklace into Dean's hand. "It's from Dad, it'll keep you safe."

Dean nodded and watched his mother and baby brother get pulled from the room. When he looked down in his hand, he saw a tiny amulet on a tiny string. He remembered it from his dad's chest in the bedroom. He could never remember what it was supposed to ward against, but he knew Sam believed it would really protect him. He put it around his neck as the door burst open again.

Jo entered the room. Dean knew her well enough to know that she had been crying, pretty hard by the looks of her red cheeks. "It's okay," Dean soothed, opening his arms for her.

She collapsed into him, "You said it wouldn't be you."

He stroked her hair, "I know, Jo. I know."

Dean didn't know if they stood like that for a few minutes or a few seconds, but eventually he had to push Jo away. There were important things to cover. "Look, after the Games are over, when the Peacekeepers leave, take Sam out, teach him everything we know."

"Don't talk like that," Jo interrupted. "If anyone can win, it's you, Dean. You know everything about every monster that's out there. You know how to kill them."

"Knowing it and doing it are two different things, Jo."

She just nodded, "You can do it, Dean. J-Just imagine that-that I'm there, that I've got your back. It'll be just like old times."

The Peacekeeper entered the room again, pulling Jo away from Dean.

"Whatever you do, don't let them starve!" he yelled.

"Come back safely! Remember that I – "

But the door slammed in Dean's face, leaving him in the strange room by himself.