Fifteen-year-old Drucilla Ramirez slept peacefully in her bed in the victor's village. Her dreams were full of promises of hope and prosperity. Her family, a legacy, was very famous in the Districts and in the Capitol for the honor they brought.

Her sister, Elda, had her own house in the victor's village, as the victor of the 67th games. Her father, Ajax, won the 47th. His father won the 31st. As the next in line, Drucilla knew she was expected to volunteer in the upcoming years, but fortunately, she probably wouldn't be chosen to until she was a least sixteen. That's another year.

But when she woke up, she found her father waiting there with an aqua blue envelope, a letter sent from the Trainers at the Academy.

"Guess what!" Ajax's face was stretched into a grin. "The Trainers chose you as our Female Volunteer!" The way it's set up in Districts 1,2, and 4 is that the one of the mentors from the previous year would pull a letter, an F or M, out of a hat, to figure out what gender is volunteering for which district. This year, District 2 had picked a female, but Drucilla hadn't expected it to be her.

She wondered what would happen if she refused. She'd never seen the chosen volunteer turn down the "honor" of being a tribute.

"That's amazing!" Said her little brother, Masen, who was only six. Dread filled Drucilla at his comment. Is this what human nature has gone to? Teaching children that fighting to the death is fine. Killing innocent people is okay.

It sickened Drucilla. Ever since she was twelve and the male was supposed to volunteer. A fellow child, one of her female friends had been chosen, and no one in the district had volunteered. This was District 2! They've won more Games than any other. Surely, one person in that crowd of kids could have volunteered. They all have high chances of winning! They should be ashamed of themselves. The child wasn't even allowed in the Career pack. In fact, she was killed by her district partner in the blood bath. The only redeeming thing that year was the Gloss Cameron from district One had been the victor, not the district 2 male.


Elda stopped by about eleven-ish to tell her sister congratulations on being chosen. Elda was only twenty-two, having won her games when she was seventeen. Honestly, she scared Drucilla, her willingness in the Games to kill had terrified Drucilla, the girl from District 11 that Elda had mercilessly skewered had been smaller than ten-year-old Drucilla. Would Elda kill her if it came down to it. Drucilla had difficulty sleeping that night.

Drucilla got some breakfast and ate it bitterly, knowing she would either die "honor-less", or kill people using her Career Training, and both options disgusted her. The latter as a human, the former as a District 2 Citizen.

She walked over to her personal bathroom to go wash up. She ended up in a golden knee-length dress and flats, her auburn hair fell in ringlets down her back. She looked herself in the mirror, staring into her hazel eyes, wondering whether the fear in them was as obvious to others as it was to her.

She headed down to the where they were doing the reaping. In poorer districts, like 10, 11, and 12, the Reaping's took place in their town squares or in front of the Justice Building. In Two, they could afford to do them in one of their large auditoriums, designed to hold the District's large population.

"Skyia Martin" was the female name called out, although Drucilla wasn't paying much attention, too busy trying to work up the courage to volunteer.

"Any volunteers?" As the escort after picking out the name, even though everyone knew there going to be one and who it was. All eyes discreetly turned to Drucilla, to see how she did it.

Drucilla faked a smile. She cried out her affirmative answer.

Her voice sounded foreign.

She could hear Elda's cheers from the victor's section of the auditorium. On the stage was the mayor and the two victor's chosen as mentors.

Drucilla felt like she was going to throw up. Stupid Panem. Stupid Games. Stupid everything.

"What is your name?"

The name was stuck in her throat. She had to find Elda in the crowd of victors to remember it. "Drucilla Ramirez."

The escort, Aeliana Roe, pulled out the other name, the male tribute who was participating in the games with her.

Unless of course, the name picked was someone whose parents did not let them train with the Academy—who were usually children of the poor masons, or the District's not-as-proud victors. If it wasn't their year to provide the male tribute, and the person drawn wasn't a Career, then anyone in the district could volunteer.

Usually if this happened it was a Career who volunteered anyway, but sometimes you had the occasional relative. If you had more than one volunteer, then whoever volunteered first would be chosen as the District 2 tribute.

Career district procedures are so complicated.

The male tribute, a kid from the mason families, was barely on stage for fifteen seconds when a eighteen-year-old brute volunteered. Drucilla held back her fear, not wanting it to show.

How pathetic would that look, the Chosen Volunteer from the Ramirez household looking scared? When Elda came to visit her afterwards along with their father and brother she'll never hear the end of it.

His name was just as terrifying as his looks. Draco Alucard. As he shook her hand per tradition, Drucilla saw the sadistic gleam in his eyes and realized that he was already plotting her death.