Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games and intend no infringement on the franchise.

Dedication- To everyone who believes in freedom over everything else.

The 75th Hunger Games, the 3rd Quarter Quell had rules originally written that Snow discarded in favor of getting rid of Katniss, a problem growing in District 12. This is what would have happened had he left the original Quarter Quell rules alone.

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A Place Where Darkness Can't Reach

Chapter 1

.~.

It shouldn't have been as easy as it was to lure Vina off to the small cluster of trees near the Victors Village. And normally I wouldn't even try to use this place as a make-out spot, due to the high traffic of Peacekeepers and Victors these days. But it was the reaping today, and the houses were already empty, and most of the Peacekeepers were already wandering towards the town square, silently but steadfastly ushering people in.

"Jols," Vina's voice whispered urgently, worriedly against my neck, her breath hot and sticky against my skin. I made a soft shushing noise as I lifted her skirt some. Vina had beautiful reaping clothes, nowhere near as fancy as mine; being from the Seam her family did what they could. Even if I was from the merchant part of District 12 I wasn't picky when a beautiful girl practically begged me to touch them. Seam or Merchant girls were girls.

I heard the hitch of her breath when my hands grazed tender parts of her skin no one aside from her touched. The simple noise stroked my pride so I stroked her again.

Vina Augner was not my first choice of girl for the last hurrah before the reaping, but when I caught her eye that morning as she walked with her little sister and one of her brothers, I knew she would be willing when I smiled at her and a solid blush colored her cheeks. In fact I had been trying to catch Honey Twen's eye for the last week, the little minx would have none of me of course. Her loss really. Now Vina was getting my full attention.

With the sunlight streaming between the leaves I gently laid Vina down on the soft moss there. Her eyes were bright, and a little glossy with lust, it was my favorite thing to look at. A woman in the throes of passion was the single most beautiful thing to me. She pulled me down to her lips again, red and plump from the kissing we'd already been doing.

It didn't take us long, from start to finish. I was much too anxious to really be able to enjoy myself, and Vina didn't seem to be aware of time at all. I hovered over her; girls loved the feeling of strong arms protecting them. At least that was what other girls had told me.

"That was…" she whispered, almost as if dreaming and her muddy brown eyes met mine.

"JOLS!" Someone shouted from behind me.

"Shit-" I muttered angrily. Vina made it worse by squealing with surprise and bucking me off of her; I rolled to the side, one hand trying to pull my pants back up the other protecting myself from the ground debris around us.

"This! Mom tells me to come looking for you and I find you doing-this!" Vance said with a suppressed shout. He stomped closer; ducking behind a low hanging branch Vina's shawl was lying on with my spring over coat.

I gave him a frustrated look and Vina scrambled to her feet, busily fixing her dress and hair, all the while not looking in Vance's direction.

"Vina-" I began, smoothing back my hair in a seductive way. She gave me a trembling doubtful look. The look of a girl just realizing what had happened and that maybe she'd been used. My face fell. I didn't want her to think that, I didn't want her ashamed. I heard her mutter something before storming off, snatching the shawl away from Vance as he held it out to her.

It would be no use to call out to her. Mostly because it would likely draw more attention to us, on the off chance someone had heard or seen Vance come back here. Bitterly I bent down and snatched the leather tie for my hair and began to pull it back into the tiny pony tail all the women in 12 went wild for.

"I was going to try for a romantic good luck, way to ruin it Vance." I said darkly, keeping my voice low. He signed to me what he thought of that statement, and it begrudgingly pulled the corner of my mouth up in a smirk.

"Did you see Liola?" He asked, deflecting the awkward conversation.

"Not back yet?" the rigidity in my voice made me sound harsher than I intended. I snatched up a twig before sauntering to Vance and picking up my coat.

"No. I was going to head to the Tunnel, but got distracted seeing your bare ass in the trees."

"Don't tell me you watched," I snorted a little embarrassed but mostly trying to get Vance to blush.

"Only enough to see that my technique is still better than yours." He smirked. But behind our banter I could tell he was worrying about Liola. Without needing to say anything we both went in the direction of the Tunnel.

"What did Vina say as she passed by?" I asked.

Good luck at the reaping. Vance signed to me eyes narrowed with focus on the path before us.

A rage built at the thought of the reaping that would happen within the next four hours. I controlled my anger the best in the family, which had been obvious from the beginning. I attributed that to the fact I was almost always being watched, when you were a handsome young man from a merchant's family people paid attention to you. Most of the time I didn't care that everyone looked at me because I was the "handsome" Vapaus boy. But when Liola began actively although secretly rebelling against Panem and the Capitol at the age of 8 and we had to put it out to the public that she was a sickly child I was glad I could take the focus off of her.

The poor Vapaus children, was a common thought around the Merchants in district 12. My mom and dad played it up though; those two never missed a chance to ensure that my siblings were over looked. My job was to be the normal one, the one people talked to and gave their pity to. Mom and dad were too busy taking care of Vance, our near deaf older brother as far as the rest of district knew, and caring of our little sister Liola who was supposed to be a sickly child, barely able to attend school.

The reason for all of the lies? The reason I didn't have any real friends, aside from the flock of girls I would flirt with like it was a dying art? Was because Liola after Vance's first reaping was so horrified at the Hunger Games she stole food from our cupboard and one Saturday early in the morning, and left claiming she was going to visit friends. Four months passed with our entire family being oblivious to the fact the youngest member was sneaking out on weekends and trekking through the wilderness in search of something. She had been searching for the truth, or help, or both. And it wasn't until four months later she found it. She found her Lost City. It was ancient city to the south west of the District, which she would travel to at least once a month. It would be dangerous for anyone to know what she was doing, but one night at dinner she confessed all of it to us.

For months our parents begged her not to go back, to stop before anyone got hurt. But it was Vance that seemed to understand Liola and what she was trying to do. Eventually we, although I was too young to know why, agreed to let her seek out the truth. They put it around that she was sickly so she could sneak out for longer periods.

Vance had been more supportive of her drive and determination than I, and helped her dig a tiny tunnel under the fence on the West side of town. It was just past the Victor Village, and hidden near where I had just made all of Vina's fantasies come to life.

Vance stooped down and pushed the boulder covering her tunnel. It was a good thing she was still fairly skinny for a 15 year old, although most kids were that way in the district, that hole wasn't very wide. The hum of the fence was loud in my ears as I looked through it.

"She said she would be back by now," Vance said nervously.

"It's not like we can go out there to find her," I gestured to the fence.

Last year it would have been possible to duck around the fence, or cut a spot in it wide enough to fit through. But after the 74th Hunger Games and the stunt Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark pulled our District had the Capitol tighten its grip around us. It had been a good forethought on Vance's and Liola's part to dig a tunnel in the first place. The Peacekeepers didn't even bother to look for the tunnel.

His eyes were tight watching the trees. Sometimes I watched their close bond and felt envious of it. That wasn't to say Liola and I weren't close. In fact she and I had a used some of the old rotting books she scavenged from the Lost City to learn hand to hand combat together. But it was Vance she would go to first with a new discovery. It was him that she taught sign language to first. And after realizing how useful it was they taught me.

I suppose it was because I'd always been a little jealous of her ability to learn that it put subtle strain on our relationship. That and I was mildly bitter at her single minded goal of learning and finding a way to free Panem, that it had basically imprisoned me, and the family in a different way. She didn't care. Liola didn't need friends when she had the ancient words of long dead politicians and freedom fighters carving a path for her.

Mostly I was jealous for her dedication and although it seemed selfish, her goals were completely selfless.

"Jols you have to stay here till she comes through, I'm going home to calm mom and dad down." Vance ordered me; I gave him a cocky grin.

"Is this waiting punishment for my evil deeds?"

My big brother gave me a pitying look that I didn't understand and I waved him off he nodded once his eyes serious, before heading back in to town. The twig I had picked up was effortlessly playing over my knuckles. I had started doing it ages ago to impress girls, but as I got older and started understanding the danger my family was in for supporting secret rebellion it became a nervous tick.

An hour passed, and I sat down on the ground, eyes focused on the twig rolling over my knuckles. Liola was really cutting it short.

Over the buzz of the fence I heard someone shuffling deep in the woods, then I saw her, the golden brown hair bobbing quickly as she sprinted in to view. She didn't see me waiting in the trees till she took a scanning look on this side of the fence before jumping down the hole on her side.

"Hi Jo," she said brightly, trying to wiggle out of the hole with a sack of things she'd foraged from the ancient city. How she ever found anything useful there was beyond my comprehension, and I never asked.

"Mom is going to yell at you," I told her, a small grin forming at her exuberance. She shrugged causally not caring.

As long as she does it quietly, she signed to me. I laughed quietly behind my hand, knowing mom would have to yell with sign language. She was nowhere as good at it as us kids were so she would usually just throw up her hands and scream wordlessly before storming off to her sewing.

I got you something, Liola added while I helped her dust off the dirt from her clothes.

Later, I said back and gestured to the opposite path that took us the long way back. It was a precautionary measure.

Objectively I could see my little sister would have been quite the beauty if she cared enough about her looks to try. I never worried about boys trying anything with her, she simply didn't have the time for them, and they thought she was a weak sickly Vapaus girl, hardly worth another look.

Seam girl today huh? She signed when we reached the main road.

I pushed my lips together. How did you know? I asked. She coyly smiled at me before plucking off a dark long hair from my jacket. My brows rose in appreciation of the evidence. Must have stuck to me with the make out session before we took off my jacket.

I anticipated some sort of jab from her, as I always did with Vance. But Liola let it drop with that.

.~.

I had been right, mom yelled at her. To stop myself from smiling at the wild gesturing of my mom trying to sign angrily I took my hair down again to run a comb through it.

Vance and dad had gone off as soon as we arrived to get spots in the town center. Mom finished yelling at Liola long enough to pin her hair up and fasten a fancy hair ornament to her long brown hair.

Vance and I had the same basic look, I was slightly taller and more muscular, my jaw longer and more defined. We had the same sandy blonde hair, which matched our fathers. All of us kids had his bright brilliant green eyes. Liola however had seemed to inherit an exact mix between our parents hair color. Mother had been from the Seam. She had lost a brother to the games the same year dad lost his sister. That was the last Quarter Quell; the one Haymitch Abernathy had won. Now with the 75 Hunger Games and the 3rd Quarter Quell both my parents were at their wits end with dread over this year's rules. Dad was the eternal optimist and said that something good always comes from something bad. He may have lost his sister but he found my mom as a result of the last Quell.

I wasn't sure the Capitol could be much crueler with the rules they made this year, not that they just made them up this year. Apparently some sick bastard had made these rules up a long time ago. But for the 3rd Quarter Quell they were going to send siblings in to fight. Brother and sister.

It only intensified my parents worry when Liola insisted that she and I strategize the day it had been announced. So against my own desires, I would spend two afternoons a week with her practicing fighting moves in the basement where mom kept her extra scraps of cloth and thread.

Trying to fight as one being with four arms, fluidly, was her goal. We hadn't quite done it, but I humored her and tried. It depressed my parents, and hell it depressed me to think that we could be picked. But she never wanted to leave anything to chance. Not my sister.

"I would rather final freedom than to accept these chains," Liola whispered looking at her hands in her lap as mom finished with her hair.

It was the family motto Vance had taken from a story Liola had brought back to him.

Mom and dad ran the clothing store across from the shoe repair and the butchers. Mom was an expert with a needle and thread, something she'd hoped her little girl would pick up. But eventually when Liola found books and writing to be a more worthy use of her time Vance and I were the one to take up the mantel. Mom took pride in dressing us as if we were from the Capitol, and with the materials she had to use it was very impressive what she could do. I was wearing nice sky blue slacks with silver piping, and a jacket that faded from silver at the collar to blue that matched my slacks. Liola was wearing a light peach flowy dress that went to her knees. My clothes had been made from an old dress of Liola's from another reaping, and dyed this way. Liola's used to be curtains in the Butchers shop. They had gotten blood on them over the years and he sold them to my mom for cheap. She could work magic with soap and water. Liola and I were the finest dressed kids in the district on reaping day. There was no denying that.

Liola seemed to dislike the transformation from plain girl to cute young woman, as she scowled darkly looking at her reflection in the dingy mirror over the sink.

We hurried down to the town square, mom hugging us both fiercely before doing the sign for good luck. We were the last two kids to arrive. I squeezed Liola's shoulder lightly before we were to go to our age groups. Suddenly I found my arms full with her as she wrapped her arms around me. I suppressed a smile and kissed the top of her head, right next to the hair ornament.

I saw her duck in with the other 15 year olds, and because we were so late she was close to the aisle. I had a similar problem with the 18 year old crowd. Herm, a classmate from the Seam, and Iwen shuffled over a bit for me. I scanned the crowd looking for Vance, once I found him I looked for Honey. She was behind me and in the middle of the 17 year olds. She looked like a girl ought to on a fine spring day, well except for the tight fear in her eyes, but that couldn't be helped on reaping day. Vina caught me looking at Honey and her eyes narrowed with shame before she looked away.

The Victors took their spots; Katniss was sitting next to Mayor Undersee. At least Katniss didn't have to worry about her sister Prim being picked again, they didn't have a brother of reaping age. Peeta's eyes were guarded as he looked through the crowd. I bet he was worried for Brenden, his best friend. Long ago, long before Liola had gotten it into her head that anything could be done against the Capitol and President Snow, I used to be their friend. I noticed he was holding Katniss's hand, and they were gripping each other like they were going to be blown away with the wind.

Feeling a pair of eyes on me I looked to find Haymitch Abernathy's watery drunk eyes watching me. Did he know who I was? It was unlikely.

His eyes flicked away to watch as Effie Trinket, unable to get a better district, did her happy little speech about how excited she was to be here. Her accent was completely grating on my ears. There was something about the Capitol accents that made my body queasy and ache. My stomach started to roll, and I fought to keep the pain of it off my face.

Mayor Undersee read the Treaty of Treason and the History of Panem, as well as the list of District 12 illustrious winners of games past. Then he read the rules for the 3rd Quarter Quell, his voice thinly hiding his own contempt.

I hadn't been paying attention until he mentioned it, but he pointed out the one large glass bowl in the middle of the stage, brimming with names on slips. Normally I would only have 7 in there. Liola would have 4. But on all of Liola's slips my name was added, and all of mine had her name as well. We were linked and bound together in that bowl. Just as every other brother and sister across Panem was.

Our cousin Tilla lived in the Seam with my Aunt and cousins had her name in there 25 times. Vina had over 43. She had three brothers all reaping age, and she was the only girl of reaping age in their family. I had to close my eyes tightly to block the sight of that giant glass bowl full of names.

You could hear the collective intake of air from the crowd as Effie merrily dug her hand into the papers. She dragged the moment out, either because she was a sick twisted woman or because she liked having the entire country waiting on bated breath for her.

"Liola Vapaus and Jols Vapaus!" She said happily, completely murdering the pronunciation. It was only after I realized she mispronounced my name that I realized why she had.

She had picked our names out of that bowl. I was frozen to the spot, the little twig from hours earlier that I had been playing with snapped loudly in my hand as I heard a muffled sob come from the crowd.

Mom.

I heard some of the boys and girls next to me whispering their sympathies to me. But really it fell short because I could hear their relief. The relief it wasn't them.

Mechanically, aware only seconds must have passed I stepped away from the 18 year olds and out into the center aisle. Fully intent on waiting for Liola to reach me, we would walk together.

There was a small amount of murmuring and I turned my head to see what was happening, instinctively looking for her little hair ornament. She was standing there the other 15 year olds whispering for her to move.

"Come now don't be shy!" Effie trilled happily. I spared the stage a glance, and I looked away when I caught the sight of Peeta's pale face. I made a gesture to Liola as I saw Peacekeepers slowly approaching from the back. She causally crossed her arm over her middle and signed GO to me.

Whatever stunt she was going to pull she didn't want me involved. I debated for a second on whether I should do as she said. But years of following her and Vance's lead had me slowly turning around to go the short distance up the stairs.

Effie seemed to be relieved to have one of us on the stage after what seemed like an eternity after calling out the names.

"Why you must be Jols Vapaus!" She chirped. It took all of my restraint not to correct her pronunciation. Instead I turned on the charm and nodded with a hesitant smile, clearly showing my worry over my position. Whatever Effie was about to say died in her throat as our attention was turned to the Peacekeeper taking Liola by the upper arm to lead her out into the center aisle.

She went completely limp as he tried to pull her towards the aisle, falling to the ground. But most people that gasped were taken aback when her bright green eyes were open, blinking easily, as if she were day dreaming. It was clear she hadn't fainted.

Then I knew what she was doing and I clenched my fists. Liola wasn't stupid. She was probably one of the smartest people in all of Panem, and in a sane world she would have been able to do something with her brain. In our families many talks about how to fight this revolution, this rebellion we were all hoping for, Liola had found a crazy idea somewhere in the moldy stacks of books she'd rescued.

Passive resistance, she called it.

It was the only real time I had ever yelled at her for being an idiot. I didn't understand how letting your attacker beat you or even kill you would ever win a battle, ever win anything really. But as I watched the Peacekeeper struggle to drag her to her feet, her beautiful peach dress getting dirtier and dirtier I began to understand what she meant.

Another Peacekeeper came to help and tried to get Liola to her feet. And I could tell one of them desperately wanted to slap her for the effort and embarrassment she was causing on live TV. She wouldn't let her feet support her body and the two Peacekeepers had to drag my little sister on the ground all the way to the stage, lifting her fully when they made it to the stairs.

Just as the image of Katniss and Peeta with the berries had been of fleeting defiance, my sister had just given the entire country an image of a young girl, so pretty and delicate looking being dragged to almost certain death, against her will.

The Peacekeepers set her on Effie's other side, and I hadn't noticed until Effie moved away from me that the Escort had been digging her long nails into my shoulder with anticipation. Liola swayed on her feet, as if about to start dancing, before she slowly sunk to the floor and demurely rested her hands in her lap, looking passively at the ground.

"A round of applause for the Tributes of district 12, Liola Vapaus and her brother Jols Vapaus." Effie attempted, clearly trying to salvage this train wreck of a Reaping.

Unlike last year where everyone had chosen to defy that request with silence, that type of behavior would not be tolerated this year, not with the grip of the Capitol tightening because of Peeta and Katniss's defiance. There was as smattering of clapping, but not enough to be considered "support" for us.

It was then that I wondered how far Liola was going to take this passiveness. Were they going to have to drag her everywhere? If she kept this up they would likely do something to her for so actively protesting. She was prepared for this, I knew. She wouldn't have done it if she hadn't thought of all the consequences. Which was probably why she hadn't wanted me to be a part of it, she didn't know what they would do to me, and she didn't want to risk it.

But after the anthem Liola rose to her feet gracefully, I had to take my eyes off of her as we were being lead into the Justice Building, but I could feel the anger from the Peacekeepers directed at her.

It only really hit me that we had been reaped, that we were going to the games when I saw Liola pushed a bit harshly into a tiny room, which would be used to say goodbye to our loved ones.

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Is it worth me to continue this story?

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