Axle caught my eye. He was gorgeous. He had Gale's brown locks and his dad's brown eyes too. The only feature he'd acquired from Madge, was his kindness. He was as kind and pure as her but he could be as fierce as Gale.

He nodded his head up in a gesture as he mouthed, "Finn?"

I shrugged and looked down at Finn. He was shaking and clutching my hand. I felt bad. He was my baby brother. If he was picked…I would kill myself. And my baby.

He didn't push anymore, and let it slowly drop.

I looked ahead. I saw mom and dad standing on the stage talking to Effie Trinket's daughter, Fenstor. I'd met Effie a few times. She was an overenthusiastic past Hunger Games District Twelve representative. She was also the nicest. Fenstor was fine, but wasn't Effie. Effie was spunky, and Fenstor wore regular clothes, to us. As much as Effie loved the blood, she also loved the people. She loved my mother and my father. And us. Fenstor was my friend, don't get me wrong, and I surely respected her more, for not chirping about how much of an honor it is to be apart of this, but now that Effie was off in the Capitol, helping out with the games more, it wasn't as… "pleasant" as it used to be.

Fenstor nodded at something and pointed at a camera man. The man got off of his stand and walked over to my parents. Then Haymitch walked up. I smiled. I would probably end up retreating in the previous mentor, if I ended up on stage. Maybe he could slip me something before I got into the arena. Something to kill me while I was sleeping. Maybe I could overdose. I didn't want it to be painful. I just wanted it over with.

I rubbed a thumb over my shirt, and felt the small bump. I sighed. It would be awhile, the annual video from the Capitol wasn't cooperating with District Twelve. And why would it? We're the most hated District, most likely. We had the despised Victors. And then the despised Victor's children. Me and Finn. Not everyone hated us. In fact, the entire District practically drooled over me and Finn. They were always so polite. The Capitol and the other Districts were the ones that hated us.

I closed my eyes and thought. Just thought about everything that had happened in the last few weeks.

I slowly realized, I didn't want to remember the past. It wasn't very painful, but it still stung. I opened my eyes and looked down at Finn. He had pushed his head into my stomach and I awkwardly tried not to make the bump noticeable.

It was too late thought. He noticed my squirming, and the squirming that was trying to hide it, just made it more visible.

Finn looked up at me, but didn't say anything. He just pulled away from me, still holding my hand.

Fenstor tapped on the microphone. "Hello, Hello! Welcome to the ninety sixth annual Hunger Games!" She grinned, slightly. "I'm Fenstor Baltimore, as most of you must know! We've gotten the video to cooperate."

She turned dramatically to the screen and looked in awe up at the screen.

Once the movie was over, she smiled again, this time flashing her perfectly white teeth. "Ladies first!"

She reached her perfectly manicured hands into the bowl. I let go of Finn's hand, knowing exactly what was going to happen. It had to.

"Ashes Mellark." Her tone of voice was clipped and she batted her eyes quickly.

Everyone looked around at me. My heels clicked against ground as everyone looked at me. I didn't cry. No reason to. I knew it would happen.

I made my way up to the stage and stood on the right side of Fenstor. She leaned into me and softly whispered, "Ash…"

I stopped her, "No pity, please."

She nodded.

"Gentlemen…it's your turn." She stuck her hand into the large glass bowl.

I prayed. Hard that it wouldn't be Axle and even harder that it wouldn't be Finn.

Fenstor gasped and her eyes grew wide.

"Axle Hawthorne."

A/N: Well, happy go lucky! It's Chapter One! It's also still my birthday as I write this and I'm getting tired! But I really like this story! So, can we go for finish another chapter? Like or dislike? Tell me? –Haley xoxox