Everything was strangely quiet upon being shepherded into the back of the stage. No one present, not even the guards, spoke the least bit as the two pairings stood on opposites sides of the room and waited for directions. Azazel soon came prancing in, laughing and talking noisily as to aggravate and mock the tributes that had been chosen for the current year's Hunger Games. All four of them glared at him before he finally settled in front of them, explaining how things would now work.
"Right," he said, "District 7 has had a few lot of winners in the past, however, most of them are dead or simply far too old to be teaching any of you anything. So, due to that small problem, you'll all be receiving training from your district's latest victor: Bobby Singer."
Both Sam and Dean pivoted towards the mentioned man as he walked through one of the back doors. Bobby Singer had been an old friend of their father's, sent in the arena some time ago and miraculously emerging victorious. Though he had been permitted to live a comfortable and wealthy life in the district, John had never seen or heard from Bobby again after his victory. Nonetheless, John spoke about Bobby with great pride and expressed how relieved he had been when his friend had won the Hunger Games. However, as previously mentioned, that was some time ago and a lot of things had obviously changed.
Bobby Singer, the man meant to ready all four of them for the Hunger Games, was wearing a clean suit typically from the Capitol. It seemed awkward on him seeing as he was now a rather short man with a beer belly, a scruffy beard and had the general appearance of a poor drunkard. Bobby looked at all four tributes for a long, quiet moment before sighing deeply and walking to a small buffet. He grabbed a glass and filled it with the first bottle of alcohol he saw before retreating back to his new 'students' and commencing his job.
"I'm Bobby Singer." He said monotonously, "I am going to be your trainer and teach you all the best methods to survive in the arena before sending you off to your inevitable deaths."
"Don't be so pessimistic!" Azazel laughed, "Maybe they'll win."
"Shut up." Bobby shot back immediately before downing most of the alcohol in his cup. Azazel sent him a glare before leaving and Bobby waited for the door to close behind him before continuing. "Anyways, the train that'll take us to the Capitol will arrive soon. Before we go, you all get to see your families one last time."
They nodded and the Peacekeepers in the room opened the door, permitting the visitors to enter. Ellen, the mother of Joanna Beth and Ash Harvelle, entered the room at full speed, embracing both of her children as she trembled with grief. She couldn't repress the tears she desperately tried to hold back and both of her children crumbled before her as soon as the first tear fell from her eye. Sam and Dean watched with great pity and empathy.
"My babies…" Ellen whispered, her voice sounding choked and croaked.
"I'm sorry mom—" Joanna tried to apologize.
"Don't." She interrupted, and gripped them tighter. "It's not your fault."
"But Ash—"
"I said stop, Jo." Elle interrupted again. She finally pulled away to look at her children. "It's not your fault."
There was silence for a moment, Joanna and Ash both cried silently, facing their mother who had, by then, stopped crying. The grief she felt, however, was still very present. "Ash," she said, he flinched and looked at her, "I want you to take good care of your sister."
"I will." He assured.
"And Jo," Ellen said, "Make sure your brother doesn't do anything stupid."
Joanna forced a smile as she cried and nodded, "Okay."
"I want the two of you to come back to me, you hear?" Ellen said, her lips trembled and she looked as though she was about to break down again but she kept herself together, "Neither of you get to die there, understand? Just—do what you got to do and come home."
Joanna and Ash rubbed their tears away and nodded. They hugged their mother one last time before she was pushed out of the room against her will and forced to abandon her children. Sam and Dean both exchanged looks as the door closed and Bobby approached them again.
"Well I suppose that's it for the visits then." He concluded.
"Wait—" Dean said quickly, "Our dad, we didn't get to see our dad."
Bobby paused, "Strange," he said, "I'll go see if there's anything they can clarify about that."
He moved to the door from which Ellen had emerged and knocked on it twice. The door opened and he whispered something to whomever was on the other side. The conversation lasted a few seconds before the door closed and Bobby moved back to them. His expression seemed grave and regrettable, as though he had nothing but bad news to say. "Your father is being detained." He said, "He knocked out one of the Peacekeepers and damaged another two before finally being apprehended. He's now being detained and questioned in regards to his actions. I don't think I need to tell you boys what that means."
Dean and Sam shook their heads before scooting closer to one another. Their father was being tortured and would eventually be killed.
They were now all alone.
Bobby lead the way to the station where the train headed to the Capitol would take them. Upon boarding, Joanna, Ash, Dean and Sam were separated and brought into different parts of the train to be cleaned and prepare them for the next step in participating in the Hunger Games. Cleaning their desolated states took about an hour or so, they were then forced to wear Capitol clothing before they were brought to a wagon where they would dine in company of Bobby Singer and Azazel.
The car was loaded with food which looked all the more appetizing than the others. There were mountains of desert, ones that Dean would have devoured in minutes. Another table had more healthy foods, vegetables and fruits mainly, which Sam would have enjoyed eating. However, as it was, neither of them had an appetite. Joanna and Ash seemed to be in the same state. They exchanged looks before turning to Bobby Singer who had gathered a plate of sweets and a couple of bottles of alcohol. Azazel sat on the other end of the wagon, clearly repelled by Bobby and made it no secret to anyone with eyes.
Dean was first, he lead the way to Bobby and sat down, Sam following inches behind him whereas Joanna and Ash stayed at a cautious distance. Bobby ate absently, as though he hadn't noticed their presence. A long moment had passed during which he made no attempt to acknowledge them until Joanna lost patience and slammed her fist on the table. Bobby barely flinched. Instead, he calmly sat up and looked at her with the most unimpressed of stares before calmly taking a sip of his drink.
"What do you want?" he finally asked.
The four tributes looked at themselves in confusion, "What do you mean?" Ash said, "You're supposed to be our teacher or something."
"You want me to teach you?" Bobby asked.
"I guess." Ash said.
"Well," Bobby sighed, leaning towards Joanna, "There are more polite ways of asking than causing a ruckus, ijit."
Joanna blushed in embarrassment and looked away, "Sorry…" she mumbled.
"Better." Bobby said and leaned back and took another sip of his drink. "Well," he continued, "Believe it or not, the best way to win this thing is by making an alliance with the other participants. In the end, you will, obviously, have to kill them but, until that time comes, you'll have someone to count on. Seeing as they're taking four people per district; that means you'll be forty-eight in the arena which also means more people than usual to deal with."
"Who should we ally ourselves with?" Dean asked.
"Each other, you ijit." Bobby snapped. "You can try appealing to other districts but chances are they'll laugh at you and brush you away. You four are the best chance any of you have to make it out alive."
"But they're from the same district," Sam said, "We have all the more reason of wanting the others dead because we want to go home."
"You're on the same train and you have all the time in the world to get to know each other." Bobby stated. "If you decide to ally yourselves with other teams, you might find yourself dead faster than you expected. You four need to become friends, built trust, vow to protect each other and come to an understanding if you ever become the final four, got it?"
The four of them exchanged uneasy and suspicious gazes before slowly nodding. "Good." Bobby said. "Now grab something to eat if you want and socialize. That'll be all for today."
Sam, Dean, Joanna and Ash left Bobby's table and went to the large buffet for some food. They all stared at it quietly, wondering if the others would take some of it but none ever did. The fear and anxiety of their current predicament had taken away their appetite. So, instead, they settled on grabbing the jug of water and bringing it back to a table where they sat together in silence.
All of them had a cup of water facing them or in their hands. They contented themselves with staring into it rather than at the others and found it to be a suitable enough excuse to not communicate. However, the consequences of their actions began to weigh in their minds and Sam was the first to break the tense silence.
"I'm Sam." He said, "But I guess you already knew that."
"Ash." Ash said and offered his hand, "I wasn't really paying attention to whatever Azazel was saying after I was brought on stage."
"Call me Jo." Joanna said, following her brother's example.
"Dean." Dean concluded.
After shaking hands for a bit, they fell back into the tense silence before Joanna spoke. "So what's up with your dad?" she asked, "Why didn't he show up?"
"He flipped when Sam was called." Dean explained. "He immediately tried to get to the stage but the Peacekeepers stopped him."
"What about your mom, then?" Joanna continued.
"She died when we were little." Sam answered.
"Oh, sorry." Joanna mumbled.
"What about your dad? Where is he?" Dean asked.
"He died a while ago." Ash said, "Murdered, we never really knew by who. The Peacekeepers didn't investigate and, if they did, they didn't tell us."
"Sorry for you loss." Sam said.
Ash smiled bitterly and took a sip from his cup, "I'm sorry for all of our losses and the ones to come."
"Amen." Dean smirked and drank as well. "So on a scale of one to ten," he continued, "How fucked are you guys for this thing?"
Joanna and Ash exchanged looks, "I wouldn't say our odds are bad." Joanna said. "We have some skill in combat."
"What about you?" Ash asked.
"Same." Dean said dryly.
"Our…our dad taught us a few things." Sam added after a moment. "He was always scared we'd end up in the Games so he wanted us to be as ready as we could be if it ever happened."
Dean glared at Sam, most likely upset for having divulged so much information, but it seemed to loosen Joanna and Ash. "Our dad was a big knife collector." Joanna said, "When he died, his collection went to me."
"He taught us a thing or two too." Ash said, "But it was mainly about the knife itself and not how to fight."
"Like what?" Sam asked, encouraging the conversation.
"The most efficient ways to cut things and whatever." Ash said, "He was a Smith so knowing these things was his passion. I guess he wanted it to live on through us."
"What did your dad teach you?" Joanna asked.
"Everything." Dean said.
"What do you mean?" Joanna asked, skeptically.
"Literally everything." Dean repeated. "Like Sam said, dad was terrified we would end up in the Games and so made sure we were as ready as possible. He taught us how to use literally anything we found as a weapon."
"Dean's strong suit is close combat." Sam said, "He's also a really good shot though."
"Sam's a strategist." Dean said, "He uses his brain more than his bronze and it works."
"So you guys could be pretty good on your own." Ash concluded and the understated message hadn't gone unnoticed.
Sam and Dean had spoken a tad too much about their abilities. Joanna and Ash most likely felt threatened by them and could potentially seek to end them first since they now how had a pretty good idea of what they'd be up against. They were most likely far superior to the other two and would most likely be able to dominate them. Sam, regardless of having no ill will towards the Harvelle siblings, saw this as an advantage. If they could form an alliance with them, gain their trust and use them as objects of defense and offence until all or their most notable threats were eliminated, he and Dean could return home.
"I… think it'll take more than that to survive out there." Sam said quickly before the conversation fell dry, "I think Bobby is right and that alliances will be necessary. Some of the participants in the other districts have been training all their lives to participate in the Games, we'll need each other to survive or defeat them."
"You're right." Ash concluded and then stuck out his hand, "Then let's make a pact here and now. We'll work together, as a team, to defeat the others."
"And what about when we're the only ones left?" Joanna asked. "If we ever get to that point."
"We'll fight with honour and respect." Sam decided, "No foul tricks and no nothing, we'll be just and whatever happens, happens."
Joanna seemed convinced by the reasoning, she and Ash both shook Sam's hand before turning their attention to Dean who had observed everything rather quietly. He wasn't much of one for strategy or contemplating for too long certain situations but, in this case, Sam could tell he was seriously considering the alliance with the Harvelles. It was quite obvious they were nothing for him to fear and so Sam couldn't quite understand his brother's reluctance in regards to temporarily joining forces. Nonetheless, Dean did shake hands with them, sealing their promise and participated in getting to know them further.
The four tributes spent the rest of the day chatting, sometimes joking and laughing regardless of their horrid situation, until they retreated to their respective rooms. However, before going off to bed, they received one last bit of news that shocked all of them as much as it did Bobby and Azazel. Rather than there being forty-eight contestants for the hundredth Hunger Games, there would be fifty because two siblings of the Capitol had volunteered. When asked why, Bobby and Azazel had no explanations to provide. The shocking announcement had baffled them both and there was evidently a lot of information that escaped the public's notice.
Next chapter: Castiel enters :D