First real fanfic so...

new chapter already, it's shorter because i realized the last one might have been too long...enjoy?

Disclaimer: I do not own any books nor any characters in the series of The Hunger Games.

Description: District 8 has always been a weak district as textile factories do not allow for strong fighters. However, a boy with nightmares originating from the abuse he gains from his mother seems to be changing that perspective. Also, how does a mayor's son with a rare genetic disorder, one that hasn't been seen nor studied for at least 200 years, begin to help people think about the true nature of the Capitol? Welcome to the 50th Annual Hunger Games! Where 48 tributes are forced to compete, instead of the usual 24, causing an extended amount of time in the games. In order to stop boredom, what rule change do the Gamemakers enact upon the poor tributes?

Warning: This fic will not contain smut, however, it will contain instances of nudity, and violent, graphic, and depressing fight scenes. This fic will also contain instances of Homosexual love (not sex, love.) You have been warned. (second part may contain a sex scene, though unlikely)

Rated T for the first few chapters at least, in later chapters may be more like an M rating (not completely sure right not) For violence, disturbing scenes, nudity, and maybe a few sexual references

There will be at least 2 parts to this fic, I am not sure how many chapters there will be in each


Chapter 2

When the ceremony finished, Peacekeepers pulled all of the tributes into the Justice building, a 'blessing' from the Capitol of seeing loved ones for the last time. Atlas sat alone on a couch for a few minutes. The stories were true, while the outside walls were gray and dull, the rooms had a variety of colors and equipment to keep the user happy. Though, typically this room was used for government officials or dances, but when Atlas arrived, it only appeared to mock him.

"You have 1 hour." The peacekeeper shoved Atlas' mother and father into the room.

They hugged Atlas, the first time they had truly shown affection to anyone in a few months. Both were wailing in their tears, and his mother's brown hair was in a complete mess. As it happened to be Reaping day, his father was completely sober, and the only emotion his mother supplied was grief, not anger, not disappointment. Atlas couldn't help but deem this moment as the one time they had been good parents.

The group remained in this manner for about half an hour, and then his parents decided to leave. "Otto asked us to give him time with you alone," Atlas' father proclaimed.

Before they left, Atlas swore he overheard his mother whisper, "maybe it's not a total loss." If he heard it correctly, all of the kindness and love they built within their visit unraveled and decayed.

Otto stepped into the room, and for a few minutes did not move away from the door. He stood with his arms crossed, but did not speak. He didn't know what to do, he desired to grab Atlas by the wrist, pull him out of the building, and take him home, but Otto was useless in that moment.

Eventually, Otto did advance toward his brother, and embraced him. "You can do this." It was a lie, of course, everyone knew that District 8 would be no match for the other tributes. He tightened the hug, desiring to protect his family for as long as possible.

"There are 48 of us, and 12 of them have been training for this since the day they were capable of holding a knife." The most horrible thing about the appalling banquet would be how districts 1, 2, and 4 reacted, instead of resulting in misery, the Hunger Games were treated as fun, as if they were just like any sport.

"You know your strengths, and you know your weaknesses, find an ally and learn during the training sessions." Otto's eyes showed strength and anger at the same time, "and then come home."

Atlas could only nod his head, his voice had left him. He held his head in his hands and began to shake violently. "Hey, remember the sunset?" Otto prompted with a slight shove to Atlas' shoulder. Atlas nodded again in response. "From what I've heard, the sunset could not be more beautiful in the Capitol, though you can't see the stars with all of the lights. Every night in the next week watch the sunset and think of Thalia, think of me, hell think of mother and father, and know that we are waiting, and we need you to come back." Otto then pulled Atlas in for one final hug, and was tugged out of the room by Peacekeepers.

The next to enter the room was Thalia, but she couldn't speak, and her eyes had already welled up with tears. She had probably just finished speaking to Terra. When she entered, she raced over to Atlas and grasped onto him to the point where he could no longer breath. When she stepped back, she murmured a few words, but Atlas could only distinguish one of them: "protect." She then left.

Atlas sat back on the couch, expecting Peacekeepers to arrive soon. However, one last person entered the room, Dr. Althea Keene. The young tribute's eyes widened in shock, "I heard that you weren't even in the district."

"I was about to leave, but I asked to turn back when I learned who was chosen." Her eyes drifted to the floor, but she did not look like she had cried in her entire life.

"Did you go and see him?" Atlas inquired as he proceeded to walk towards the doctor.

"Yes, but only for a minute, I will see him again." It sounded arrogant in Atlas' opinion until he remembered that she was going to the Capitol during the games as she always did.

"So, why are you here?"

"I need you to do something. When the games begin, stay away from Indigo. Go in the opposite direction if you must. Do not become an ally with him." With this command, Atlas became both confused and angry. He did not want anyone telling him what he could and could not do in deciding how he was going to be slaughtered. Dr. Keene noticed this, and explained, "if you are an ally with him, both of you will die sooner than you can possibly understand."

"Why?" Atlas had ceased looking at the doctor, preferring to glare at a nearby lamp. She didn't answer, but instead turned around and strolled out of the room. However, before she could make it out, Atlas asked, "What is actually wrong with Indigo, and why won't you tell anyone?" She turned back towards the boy and smiled, though she didn't answer, just smiled. After a couple of seconds, she walked out.

Peacekeepers came and yanked Atlas from his room. They escorted him to a black car, where the other tributes were waiting for him, Atlas was forcefully shoved into the car, and the door slammed in his face. Atlas didn't know whether to hate Peacekeepers, or pity them. Yes, they were the Capitol's puppets, but technically it was there job, for all Atlas knew, they could hate the government. Atlas was situated between Ivory and Indigo, and the car ride was very quiet aside from Terra's attempts to lighten the somber mood.

The tributes were blinded by the cameras flashing in their faces. Most of the people taking the pictures had a similar attire to Skene, which meant they were from the Capitol. Atlas refused to look at any of their faces as he walked into the train. Nothing Atlas had ever layed eyes upon could possibly compare to this train. "Hey Indigo, have you ever seen anything like this before?" Terra asked.

"Nothing, well, I've seen these trains before, but I never could have guessed what the inside looked like." Indigo was probably the most amazed, or Ivory, she ran her fingers over the wallpaper and pressed a few of the buttons just out of curiosity.

"They're trying to trick you." The owner of the voice was very foreign to all four of the tributes. They turned there heads and in front of them stood Woof, he looked as if he had just bathed, standing in front of them in nothing but a towel around his waist, and his black hair was drenched in water. His arms were crossed over his chest and he showed no emotion on his face. Woof managed to have stayed in good health, and was very fit, though his mentality was very different. After becoming victor, he escaped into the confines of his mind, and refused to speak with anyone. "Welcome to the 50th annual Hunger Games, would you like some advice? Here's some, don't win."

Dumbfounded, the group stood in amazement at the peculiar stance Woof took. None of them responded, and after a moment Woof decided to leave. Before he walked through the doors of the other room, he turned once again to the tributes. "Watch the review of the reaping tonight, and throughout the rest of the week, learn about the other tributes. Knowing their abilities is the best strategy to figuring out a way to defeat them." He stood with his arms crossed again for a few minutes, and left the room.

The group wandered to their individual rooms. Atlas laid on his bed for a few minutes, ironically, it happened to be one of the most comforting things Atlas had ever done in his entire life. He strutted to the shower and flipped a switch that instigated the spout to poor warm water within a second. There were too many buttons for anyone to have discerned the purpose of each, and it made Atlas miss home. He didn't know why this particular thing forced him to remember his family, but it made him begin to cry. Maybe it was because of the water basin which calmed him whenever his mother became abusive, or the boiling water that both had poured on him countless times. Fortunately, the water washed any evidence of tears away, and Atlas regained his composure, though he was still shaking even when he made it out of the shower. When he had finished, he grabbed a blue shirt and pants, he also found a jacket that was similar to his grandfather's jacket. He recognized Skene's voice through the door screaming, "Dinner, no dilly dallying!" All Atlas could do in that moment was laugh.

There was a feast awaiting him in the dinning room, filled with any food you could ever need, or want. Atlas settled between Ivory and Terra, and saw that Woof was sleeping on the couch on the other side of the table. Woof hadn't changed out of the towel since the last time anyone had seen him, and it was beginning to become slightly disturbing to Atlas. The food was rich, better than anything, but many of the fruits were foreign, and unnatural in appearance. Atlas looked to his right and saw Terra being quiet and holding her stomach with both hands. "Eat." Atlas expressed with sad eyes. "It's okay, there's plenty here for you."

"That's the point, there's plenty here." Terra shrugged, and grabbed one of the normal fruits, and filled her plate with all types of food, and Atlas wondered how she thought she could consume it all without vomiting.

Atlas swallowed the rest of the food in his mouth, and didn't eat anymore for a few minutes. After eating half of her plate, Terra regained her cheerful mood and almost force-fed Atlas. About halfway through the meal, Atlas turned to Ivory. "So, Ivory, how was your meal?" The words came from his mouth very slowly, he didn't know what to talk to her about since none of them wanted to speak of the arena.

She smiled, her white teeth looked like the pearls Otto once gave to his wife before she died. "It was delicious." She looked away from Atlas and back to the plate before her.

"Did, uh, did anyone come to see you after the reaping?" Atlas didn't want to ask it, since he probably knew the answer, but the question managed to become an involuntary reaction.

She shrugged, and smiled again, "no."

Atlas pulled her in for a hug, she didn't react to the gesture and allowed her arms to sway back and forth by her side. When Atlas let go, he noticed that Indigo was still staring at him, as throughout the entire meal. "What?" He prompted.

Indigo shrugged, "I don't know, just sitting here." He responded very awkwardly, and his face turned lightly red. "Shall we go and watch the reaping?" He jumped up, with a wide grin plastered on his face, and grabbed Atlas by his hand. He yanked him to the couch without a sleeping victor, and sat down beside him. Terra and Ivory joined them quickly. Indigo's behavior was not odd, he acted this way around everyone, always feeling the need of human closeness. Indigo owned a very kind attitude, Atlas did not understand the doctor's warning. When an intimidating tribute arrived on camera to taunt the other districts, Indigo even put an arm around Atlas in his kindness. Atlas did find it uncomfortable, as he didn't want to have kill a friend.

The reaping was how it turned out every year. District 1, 2, and 4 gained strong, well fed, powerful tributes that would be impossible to beat. The rest of the districts had average or even starving tributes, such as those from all of the districts after 5. When the program concluded, Woof had finally opened his eyes and relaxed on the couch. "So what do you think of all the tributes?"

"It was no different than other years, just twice the number of people." Ivory spoke, she shrugged and seemed to lose all hope.

"Yeah, because now you're only the Capitol's pawns." Woof began to laugh hysterically. He then jumped up from the couch, towel falling to the floor. He didn't seem too embarrassed and instead skipped to his room without regaining his towel.