The crowd was shocked into silence; they couldn't remember a time when siblings were reaped in the same Hunger Games. Dean was frozen where he stood until Sam appeared in the walkway. Even though he was 14, he was still small for his age. And he was definitely too young for the Hunger Games.

"No…" Dean breathed out. His feet started moving of their own accord, and before he knew it, he was running to the stairs to get off of the stage. Two Peacekeepers blocked his way and he reacted without thinking. He pushed one of them off of him and elbowed another one as hard as he could in the side. He had to get to Sam and they were in the way.

One of them punched him hard across the cheek and blood exploded in his mouth. He turned his head and spit the blood at one of the Peacekeepers. He got kneed in the side for that stunt. He was punched again across the cheek and he struggled to throw them off.

"Dean!" Sam's voice made him freeze and it seemed like sound came back to him. Some of the crowd was cheering and some were just yelling. It sounded like Jada was trying to stop what was going on with him while the Mayor was trying to calm the crowd.

"Redraw! Redraw!" The crowd was yelling. Dean's hope rose again, but then he looked over and saw that Jada was at the microphone again.

"There will be no redraw. Once you have been picked, there are no do-overs," she said calmly. "Now if the four tributes will please come up on stage."

The crowd slowly started to die down, and Dean slumped in defeat. Sam was going with him whether he liked it or not. The Peacekeepers released him once they saw he was done fighting and Dean slowly got to his feet. Sam was looking at him in concern, but Dean just put his hand on Sam's small back and directed him up to the stage.

"Don't be scared," Dean whispered to Sam and Sam nodded back. He stood tall and kept his head high and Dean was proud of his little brother. The four of them stood at the front of the stage and the crowd cheered. It was louder than Dean remembered in the years past, but he might have just been imagining it.

"This year's tributes from District 10!" Jada announced grandly.

Dean sat in a room by himself; the crowd had cheered for a few minutes, and then Jada had ushered them inside and split them up. It was time for them to say goodbye to their loved ones. Dean thought it was funny that they wouldn't let him and Sam stay in the same room together. They would have the same people saying goodbye, but they still split them up.

Dean gingerly touched his cheek while he waited. There was a nice bruise coming in already, but there wasn't much he could do about it. There was a cut in his mouth and it felt like a couple of his ribs were bruised, but it wasn't terrible. He'd definitely had worse.

Dean looked up when the door opened, and then his Dad walked in. He looked like he'd already had a few drinks and he looked years older than he had that morning.

Dean stood up, but his Dad held up his hand to stop him.

"I can't take this," John said gruffly. "I can't lose you boys."

"Dad, I'm going to do everything I can to get Sam back home," Dean promised.

"If something happens to Sam, get yourself back, you hear?" John commanded.

"Yes sir," Dean instantly responded without even having to think about it.

John nodded, expecting his answer. He looked around for a minute to try and think of what else to say. "Uh, Bobby's with your brother right now…he's going to come in here after he's done…"

Dean nodded; he'd thought that would be how it played out. They didn't really have that many good friends in town. Everyone knew them, but Sam was more social than he was. Sam probably had a bunch of friends coming to say goodbye. The thought made Dean smile a little; at least Sammy could have that before they had to leave.

John suddenly moved forward and wrapped Dean in a hug. They usually weren't big on hugs in their family, but it was easier to give a hug than talk about your feelings. Dean wrapped his arms around his Dad, knowing that this was the last time he was going to be able to do this.

"Take care of your brother," John breathed out.

"Yes sir," Dean replied, his eyes starting to fill with tears, but he quickly blinked them away.

John pulled back and Dean reluctantly let his Dad go. "And take care of yourself," John said, starting to back away towards the door. Dean just nodded, and then his Dad walked out of the room. Dean sank back down into the chair and dropped his head in his hands. He almost wished that Bobby wouldn't come by; it was too hard for him to say goodbye.

It was a few minutes later, and then the door was opening again and Bobby walked in. He looked older than Dean remembered and he looked worn out from what had gone on today. He slowly walked in, and then crouched down in front of Dean. Bobby gently gripped his jaw and turned his face so he could see the bruise on his cheek.

"Looks like they got ya pretty good…" Bobby grumbled, lightly running his finger over the bruise. "That's either gonna help ya or hurt ya with the others…they know you're a fighter, it will either make ya a target or keep them away from ya…"

"I don't care," Dean mumbled back.

"You better start carin'!" Bobby said in aggravation. He stood up and started pacing. "I know you don't care about your own wellbeing, but I do!"

"All that matters is getting Sam back home," Dean replied.

Bobby stopped and pointed at him, "That is not all that matters." He walked over to Dean again and pulled him to his feet. "You matter too, Boy! You need to pull yer head outta yer ass and get focused on these games!"

Dean forced Bobby to release him, and then said sarcastically, "Thanks for the pep talk, Bobby."

Bobby deflated a little and then said, "I just…can't stand to see anything happen to you boys…you're like sons to me…"

"Well, with any luck, I can get Sam back home," Dean replied quietly.

"If anything happens to him, try to get yourself back, ok?" Bobby said, his usually gruff voice soft.

Dean nodded just so Bobby would drop it, and then asked "If something does happen, will you take care of Baby for me?" Bobby narrowed his eyes and Dean quickly threw in, "I'm not saying I won't try, I will, but there are twice the number of tributes this year and my number one concern is my little brother."

Bobby put a comforting hand against Dean's neck and looked at him with sad eyes. He nodded after a moment, and then pulled Dean forward and wrapped him up in a hug. Dean wrapped his arms around Bobby and tried to blink away the tears. One slipped through though and fell down his cheek.

"Take care of each other in there," Bobby said, holding Dean close to him.

Dean nodded against Bobby's shoulder. "Will you try to take care of my Dad too?"

"Sure thing kid," Bobby replied.

They hugged for a couple more seconds, and then Bobby pulled back but kept his hands against Dean's shoulders. Dean was surprised to see that Bobby's eyes were full of tears too. Bobby looked like he wanted to say more, but instead just patted Dean's shoulder.

"Take care of yourself," Bobby said and Dean nodded. Then Bobby turned and left the room.

Dean sat down on the sofa that was in the room. He wasn't expecting anyone else to show up so he was just going to wait until it was time to get on the train. He wished that they had let him and Sam stick together so they would be able to kill time together.

Dean jumped when his door suddenly opened again. He knew it wasn't time yet, but he couldn't imagine that he had another visitor. Maybe they were going to give him the punishment for attacking a Peacekeeper before they left. That definitely would hurt his odds in the games; it was 20 lashes for the first offense, but this wasn't his first offense.

He was surprised to see though, that it was the butcher, Abigail's dad, who came in. Dean stood up as Frederick Johnston walked forward. He was a big man who'd seen better days, but he had always been nice to him. Dean knew him since he had to take cattle to him every so often. Mr. Johnston always made sure Dean got a pretty good cut of the meat before he sent it off to the Capitol.

"Mr. Johnston," Dean said, shaking his hand in greeting.

"Hello Mr. Winchester," he replied with a small, sad smile.

Dean was confused to see him here; he would have thought he'd be saying goodbye to his daughter instead of coming here to talk to him.

"This is a bad year," Mr. Johnston said after a moment. "My daughter gets picked, my favorite cow hand gets picked, and his little brother…this is a bad year…"

"Yes sir," Dean agreed, not sure what else to say to him.

"I know this is a lot to ask, and I figure you're going to look out for your brother, but if you see Abby in there…can you…" Mr. Johnston trailed off like he wasn't sure how to ask.

"If I see her I'll do my best to look out for her," Dean promised. "But my little brother comes first."

"I know. And she'd probably hate me for asking you this, but I figure you've got a pretty good chance comin' back here…"

"The odds aren't really in my favor Mr. Johnston…" Dean mumbled.

"I know…" he replied, running his hand down his face. "I'll try and keep an eye on your dad too…it's the least I can do…"

"Thanks," Dean said sincerely.

Mr. Johnston patted Dean on the shoulder, and then turned to leave the room. "Good luck Mr. Winchester," Mr. Johnston called out over his shoulder before he walked out of the room.

Dean only had to wait in his room a few more minutes, and then Jada was ushering him, Sam, Abigail, and Chelsea to the train. Sam ran over to him as soon as he saw him and Dean put a reassuring arm across his shoulders as they walked.

Sam seemed ok considering everything that was going on. He didn't look like he'd been crying and he held his head high as they walked. Dean couldn't stop his small smile at how proud he was of his little brother.

Sam's face did light up when they finally made it outside. There was a crowd to see them off, but Sam's focus was on the sleek, silver train that was in front of them. Sam and Dean had never seen anything like it before. They usually left right after the reaping since they had chores to do and had never seen any of the tributes off.

"Whoa," Sam breathed out in amazement.

"That's something we've never seen before, huh?" Dean muttered to Sam. His little brother turned and shot a huge smile up at him and Dean couldn't help but smiling back.

There were tons of people though, crowding around them and blocking their way. There were cameras too, televising every second of their departure. Jada didn't let them linger long; they had a schedule to keep to and they were put on the train within minutes of stepping outside.

Dean released the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding as soon as the door to the train closed, cutting them off from the rest of their district.

"Alright, boys this way. Girls, I'll show you your rooms in a second," Jada said quickly. She was very professional in the way she spoke; like none of this mattered to her or bothered her at all.

Sam and Dean followed her down a narrow hallway. There were two doors on the left and she motioned that these were for them. She left and headed back the way they came to show the girls to their rooms. Sam looked up at him to see what he should do.

Dean gestured for the door, "Well, go on, let's see how well the Capitol's gonna treat us."

Sam smiled at that and slowly opened the door. The room was huge; it had a soft bed in the center, a dresser on the wall, and another door over to the side. Dean went over and peeked in that one and saw a polished looking bathroom. He let out a low, impressed whistle and turned to look for Sam.

Sam ran over to the giant bed and jumped right in the middle of it.

"This thing is huge!" Sam called out. "And it's not made of straw!"

"I guess most people don't sleep on straw," Dean said in amusement.

"What do you think is in the other room?" Sam asked curiously.

Dean shrugged, and then led the way to the next room down. They were both surprised to see an identical room with the same comforts as the other one.

"We don't even have to share?" Sam asked with wide eyes.

"Looks like it," Dean said, peeking around the room to check it out.

He went to this room's bathroom and turned on the shower. He was surprised when hot water came out instead of cold. He was used to cold showers, but technically they weren't even real showers. He and Sam used the hose that they used to give the cows water to take showers, and that was extremely cold water.

"Dude, there's hot water," Dean said, looking to Sam in amazement.

Sam's eyes widened and he kicked off his shoes, and then jumped into the shower with all of his clothes on.

"No way! This is awesome!" Sam said.

"Y'know, I think normal people take their clothes off to shower," Dean teased. Sam just shrugged back and started looking at all the different soaps that lined the shower walls.

Dean chuckled, "Ok, you get cleaned up in here. I'm gonna go to the other shower, ok?"

"Sure," Sam replied easily.

Dean shook his head, but he had a wide smile on his face. Even though they were being taken to their deaths, this was a nice change for Sam. They didn't have these comforts at home and now at least Sam would have a taste of them before everything ended.

He unbuttoned his shirt as he walked from the room and back into the hallway. He didn't even think that someone else would be in the hallway as he shrugged out of his shirt and walked around.

"Oh," a girl suddenly said in surprise when Dean walked out of the door without his shirt on.

Dean looked up and saw that Abigail was standing at the end of the hall. Dean raised his eyebrows and smirked when she didn't look away. He gave her a little wave, and she turned away and he went in to the first room again. Abigail was a tough girl, but she was pretty. She had long brunette hair that she kept tied back and sharp hazel eyes.

They both knew each other, but they had both recently started to really notice each other. He would just barely catch her looking at him and she would catch him looking at her. They hadn't really talked much, but Dean had sometimes made excuses to go to the Butcher's just for a chance to see her.

He knew now wasn't the best time to start something, but then again, maybe it was. He didn't think he would be alive for much longer, so why not at least enjoy the next few days.

Dean slipped off the rest of his clothes, and then quickly got into the warm shower. He took longer than normal since this was a completely new experience to him, and it was actually a pleasant one. He tried all the different soaps, just to see what each of them were like and to make it last longer. He eventually ran out of soaps and ended up just standing there, letting the water hit his body. He never wanted to leave the shower.

"Dean, hurry up," Sam suddenly called out from the main room. "I want to see more of the train."

"Did you find some dry clothes?" Dean asked. He didn't bother to turn off the shower just yet; Sam could wait for him for a little bit longer.

"Yes," Sam said impatiently. "They're kinda weird though…"

Dean rolled his eyes, but then turned off the water and grabbed a couple of the soft towels. He wrapped one around his waist and rubbed the other one through his hair as he stepped out of the bathroom and into the main room. He was curious to see what Sam meant by weird clothes.

Sam was sitting in the middle of the bed again, waiting for him. He was wearing nice looking pants and a button down shirt that looked like it was made of silk. Dean frowned not understanding what was weird about them.

"What's weird?" Dean finally asked.

Sam shrugged, "Nothing really, I just wanted you to hurry up."

Dean glared at him for a second, and then went looking for some clothes for himself. There were some actual weird clothes in the drawer that were straight from the Capitol, but Dean managed to fine some normal looking ones to put on. He found some pants that were pretty close to jeans and a white button down shirt that looked similar to Sam's.

He rolled up the sleeves to the shirt and left the top few buttons undone so it was a little less constricting, and then turned to Sam to see if he was ready to go.

"Finally," Sam muttered, hopping off of the bed and leading the way out of the room.

Dean rolled his eyes, but followed his little brother down the hallway. The entire train was fancier than anything in District 10; everything was either cozy or polished and Dean wasn't sure what to make of it all. Sam seemed to like it though, which was good enough for him.

Sam suddenly stopped when they walked into another car and Dean nearly ran into him. Dean looked around his little brother and saw what had caught his attention. In the middle of the car there was a table full of food. It was more food than Dean had seen in his entire life and his mouth watered just looking at it.

"Do you think we're allowed to eat some?" Sam asked in a whisper.

"I don't see why we couldn't," Dean whispered back. "What are they gonna do, kill us?"

Sam laughed, and then they both ran forward towards the food.

More soon...