As the 79th year comes to pass in the Hunger Games, and the reaping draws in close, the 6th District, named the "Holy District" dubbed by people of the Capitol, prepares itself. Their village was array with crosses and Holy scriptures wherever they could fit them, Latin, Enochian, and Bible Quotes engraved into the stones on the floor or into the walls of buildings so that no matter where you looked, you was reminded that God was always there.
The people of the Holy District never really fear the day of the name draws. If a 12 year old boy gets drawn out they say "It's God's will for this to happen, this is the path He has chosen" or if a sickly, weak and fragile 17 year old girl was chosen it would be "if this is what God has picked out, then that's what it shall be."
But, Castiel Novak, a 17 year old boy always felt uneasy on this day, he didn't share the strong prominence of faith his fellow villagers did but never spoke about it, or else he would of been banished or frowned upon. He couldn't risk such actions with a family to look after. He had two elder brothers and a younger sister. Balthazar being the oldest at 22, Gabriel the second oldest at 20, Castiel and then his little sister, Anna, being only 13.
"Are you nervous?" Asks Balthazar, his tired face easily showed that he had been up half of the night, but refused to let it show in his voice. Castiel shook his head and stood near the door, waiting for the horn to be blown throughout the village and the sign for everyone aged 12-18 to gather in the main square.
"Have faith!" Anna bounded out in her white gown, her red hair tied in a smooth white silk bow, a relaxed smile stretched across her face. "If God believes we should be part of these Games, then that's what we believe!"
Castiel smiled and smoothed her younger sisters hair with his hand, barely under control from his shaking. Her name was entered 5 times already, as she took a tesserae as soon as she turned 12, her brothers hated it but they were starving and barely had a choice. Castiel was entered 24 times, every year he also took out a tesserae, barely able to watch his family keep starving whilst he could help them.
The sound of the horn bellowing throughout the village sent chills up Castiel's spine, his blue eyes widened as his hand found Anna's and they started to head outside. He turned to see Balthazar, nodding at him with full faith but Gabriel nowhere to be seen which sunk Castiel's heart a little bit.
When the siblings reached the square they split up to join the age groups they were bundled into and stood, watching the stage. Peacekeepers stood around the group of potential tributes, their faces dark but plain, chains with a cross on them hung from each other their necks. A man from the Capitol smoothly moved onto stage, his skin and make-up dashing colours splashed out against the greys and whites of the village.
"Hello, Holy District of Panem! Today we draw the names of the 79th year of the Hunger Games, let us begin the reaping!" The man stood between two cases where the names of every boy and every girl are separated into the two containers. His hand hovers above one before the golden coloured hand dived right in and picked out a piece of paper.
Castiel felt his heart begin to race, his body probably beginning to sweat, yet every other 17 year old around him looked calmed, not a single difference in their expressions, but they don't need to change their expression unless it was for relief.
"Castiel Novak!" Suddenly the eyes around Castiel turned towards him, as if every pair was saying 'This is God's chosen path, go, take it' and he did. Peacemakers guided him to the stage and stood him at the edge, there was pause, waiting for someone to possibly call out and volunteer but Castiel, or anyone else for that matter, was expecting it. No one would veer the path chosen for him.
"And the female tribute is… Anna Novak!" Castiel feels his eyes instantly close, trying to block the tears already welling, his nails dug straight into his palms, deep enough to draw blood eventually. He couldn't, whether this was God's path or not, he couldn't be thrown into a bloodbath with his own little sister. No one will volunteer, no one will stop her coming up to that stage, despite the fact everyone knows how close the Novak family is. Eventually he opened his eyes and saw the crowd muttering among themselves.
Did Castiel miss something? His eyes scan the crowd again and see the Peacekeepers chatting among themselves, confused, until his eyes draw to the center where his little sister should have been walking down. Castiel felt an anger boil up instantly, the 18 year old black man standing in front of Anna, a menacing looking on his face, glaring up at Castiel.
"You heard me, I volunteer." The boy bellowed out, the Peacekeepers looked over to confer and then they turned, their faces as emotionless as ever.
"We accept your notion to Volunteer, Raphael Atlas." One of the peacekeepers called out, Raphael smirked and moved his way onto the stage, standing close to Castiel, his chest out and chin high.
"I've been waiting for this day, Castiel." Raphael growls over, Castiel can't help but feel a chill run down his spine at the coldness of the sentence, underlining that Raphael has been waiting for the day he could go into the games with Castiel and kill him. At the same time, Castiel felt relief that his sister would be free for another year at least, but the worry that more tesserae's will have to be put in by Anna if Castiel doesn't make it back.
The Capitol man clapped his hands crazily and stood by the side of Raphael, grabbing his microphone from the stand. "Well, with this crazy turn of events, your tributes for this year are Castiel Novak and Raphael Atlas!"
Castiel looked over into the 18 year old's eyes and felt his whole body shiver and shrink under the gaze. For the first time, Castiel felt the fear of the Hunger Games and knowing me most likely won't come out of this alive.
The 79th year comes to pass in the Hunger Games, and the reaping draws in close, the 12th District, named the "Hunter District", prepares itself. Households having their, what potentially could be, their last meal with their children and giving their goodbyes and wishes.
Dean needed to distract himself from today, his fingers messing around with a knife as he sat in the kitchen of his small home. His little brother, Sam, was helping their father, John, create breakfast with what they had, which was barely anything. A small turkey and some hard bread Dean found in a bin which was luckily clean as food gets around here.
Sam smiled slightly as he brought the food over to his bigger brother and sat next to him at the table, watching Dean being bored, or nervous. "You scared?" Dean looked up and grabbed a slice of bread, munching on it slowly.
"Sammy, I'm 16 years old. I've had 4 years of this, I haven't felt nervous about the reaping since I was 13." Sam frowned and grabbed a slice of bread for himself with a piece of turkey, eating it as a sandwich. Their father joined him, groaning with his back aching and his head slightly sore before grabbing some food for himself.
"You should be brave like your big brother Sam, being nervous isn't going to change anything really." The Winchester brothers always hated how cold hearted their father could be sometimes, but Dean understood why, being soft in this sort of living wasn't going to make anything easier, by being how he was with his sons he was making them better hunters, better scavengers and easier to just live.
Sam didn't bother replying and just ate his food, his hands still trembling slightly, he couldn't help but be nervous, he knew how many times Deans name has been put in because of tesserae's in place of Sam, no matter how many times Sam screamed and cried about wanting to put his name in because he didn't want Dean to, Dean did it anyway before his little brother could.
All eyes shot towards the door when drums ran through the streets, two men with goatskin drums walked the cobbled floors, warning that the reaping was about to take place. Dean pushed himself away from the table, tucking his hands into his ripped trouser pockets and heading to the door, beckoning Sam to follow him. The younger brother turned to his father for comfort but just saw the man nod at him and look back down at his breakfast.
"Come on Sammy, we can't be late." Dean growled out to get his little brothers attention again, Sam pulled what Dean could only describe as a 'bitch face' as he jogged up to Dean's side.
The square was packed, loud chatting going on among the children of their age groups, Dean caught conversations of nervousness or luck being wished to a friend that they don't get picked. "Dean…"
"Sam, you'll be fine. Your name is in there once. If you get picked, you know I'll volunteer." Dean smiled slightly and ruffled his brothers longer hair, but Sams' face still grimaced even at the soft touch. The younger Winchester shook his head and backed his head away from Dean's hand.
"Dean, you can't volunteer, dad needs you more than me, you're the more agile one and the better hunter!"
"That's the exact reason why you can't go into the Games. You won't last two seconds." And with that, Sam stormed off into the crowd with the other 12 year olds, the fumes of anger practically rolling off of him. Dean knew Sam wouldn't understand what he would do for his little brother, he loved him with his whole heart even though he never showed it. He could never allow his younger sibling to be sliced and diced in the sick puppetry that is the Hunger Games.
Dean slides into the group with the other 16 year olds and stays silent, his green eyes forward and towards the stage, watching a clumsy and blundering Capitol woman move onto stage, her pea green skin and ridiculous tattoos riling a rage in Dean for reasons he couldn't really explain, but it pissed him off seeing her.
She slowly steps to the microphone and taps it lightly, hearing her manicured nail being echoed around the stage. She cleared her voice and move her shocking pink lips to the microphone. "Good day! District 12 of Panem, the 79th year finally falls upon us, let us draw!"
Her hands move slowly over the container for the females, her hand dipping in and out within a second, barely making time to mix the names up. "And the female tribute for this year is, Josephine Harvelle!"
A 14 year old blonde girl shifted to stage, her body shaking slightly as she stood at the edge, her head down as if she was about to cry. The silence fell waiting for a volunteer but the silence remained and the host continued, her hand now dipping into the males names. Dean felt no worry run through him, he gazed over to Sam and smiled slightly, happy he would be safe for another year.
"And the male tribute for this year is, Samuel Winchester!" No, no, no. Dean's face fell, his body instantly lurched forward as the Peacekeepers guided Sam to the stage, the older brother screamed, shoving the other kids out of the way, his yelling barely decreasing.
"Son of a bitch, I volunteer! I VOLUNTEER!" Dean cried out at the top of his lungs, his chest heaving as he got to the peacekeepers, and seeing Sam's face minimally surprised, pretty much knowing Dean was going to do this, and he almost seemed… disappointed. But either way, Dean held his chest out and waited for the peacekeepers to huddle him to the stage, leaving Sam to dissolve back into the crowd.
As Dean's eyes scanned the crowd, he bypassed everyone until he saw Sam again, his eyes diverting away from Dean's as soon as they met. The older brother frowned and looked over to the female tribute, her own eyes still stuck to the ground.
Dean only had one option now, he had to win and he had to return to his little brother.