It's here, it's chapter 2!

It's time for the chariot rides, training, and interview night.

I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter! To recap, here is the list of the tributes, their districts, and their ages!

District 1
Flint Ravencrest – 13
Azraela Antreb – 18

District 2
Emlyn Rosemary – 15
Quinlan Handleson – 18

District 3
Cord Darrels – 12
Spark Forrestor – 14

District 4
Finn Diegonas – 14
Aqua DeAngelo – 13

District 5
Switch Frankle – 16
Idris Ploan – 12

District 6
Tynan Malteso – 16
Barena Amrenk – 15

District 7
Silvius Arlponty – 15
Beverly Freenta – 17

District 8
Beau Kantanki – 18
Almira Drazael – 16

District 9
Dagan Jendzel – 14
Zea Aleharada – 14

District 10
Erno Ranwatt – 17
Jadyn Hoontreep – 17

District 11
Lawson Opanikee – 14
Rayna Pinktrank – 13

District 12
Hawk Tranzell – 18
Ruby Sarple – 15

And now, fine readers, you can read chapter 2!


The Fourth Quarter Quell: Shattered
by ChipetteGirl10
Chariot Rides, Training, & Interviews

This place is big. These people look weird. The food here is amazing. Now all you have to do is smile and look pretty for the crowd, 'kay? Barena thinks to herself as she waits for the chariot rides to the training center begin. They're going to ride around the City Circle in order to get to the Training Center and start getting sponsors. Barena looks over at her district partner, Tynan, and sighs. Then she looks down at her outfit. She is wearing dark-colored denim overalls, and they go far above her knees. They are glittering with flecks of silver sprinkled over them. She's also wearing a white long-sleeved shirt covered in sequins. Her boots are converse boots, and they're black with glittering laces. She has a navy-and-white striped newsboy hat on her head covered in glitter. Not to mention, they are wearing what looked like a Halloween costume of a train, to imitate riding in it. It looks like real steel and metal. Tynan is wearing most of the same thing, minus his overalls are pants.

"I hate this," Tynan mutters.

"Why?" Barena asks curiously, not like she didn't hate it too.

"First of all, we look ridiculous, second of all, they're getting us all dolled up to go to our death," Tynan says.

"Don't say that. I feel confident that you can win this," Barena tries to reassure him. Actually, she had never seen him do anything to prove he could win in the Games. Barena had seen him at school, yes, but he was a grade ahead of her and she was one who liked to stay in their grade divisions.

"Yeah, okay," Tynan says. Barena is about to say more until they see that the chariot ride is finally starting.

District 1 rolls out in their chariot. They are dressed in black outfits. Azraela is wearing a suggestive black dress that stops far above her knees and is tight around her, showing off her curves. She also wears black two-inch heels. She is wearing an oversized leopard fur coat, diamond earrings, three necklaces of pearls, and a huge ruby ring. Flint is wearing black dress pants, polished dress shoes, a gold monocle on his right eye, an oversized fur coat like Azraela's, and a tie covered in ruby gemstones.

District 2 follows them. Emlyn and Quinlan are both wearing costumes that look like knights' costumes. They are silver, and both are carrying silver swords. They have red plumes of feathers coming out of their helmets. The helmets are propped open so everyone can see their faces.

District 3 is up next. They are stylishly wrapped in many wires over glittering silver outfits. The wires are black, red, blue, and green and wrap around them in all directions. A silver crown with curlicues in it rests on their heads.

District 4 follows. Aqua is dressed as a mermaid. Her tail is aqua-colored to match her name with glittering oversized sequins as scales. She wears a coral-colored tube top that reveals her belly button and it's covered in glitter. A coral-colored crown encrusted with several aqua-colored gems rests in her reddish hair, with is curled and flows down to almost her butt, with coral and aqua streaks running through it. Finn is shirtless and also sporting a fish tail, which is a deep navy color with oversized sequins like Aqua's. He has navy streaks running through his hair. He holds a golden trident and a gold crown with a single encrusted navy blue jewel in the center. Both of their bodies are sprayed with mist to give the illusion of coming out of the water from swimming.

District 5 comes out after District 4. On their heads, coming out of a headband likely filled with wires and such, is a rotating sculpture of the solar system. The design of the headband itself, under the metal holding up the display, is a bunch of tiny solar panels. In turn, the outfit lights up from all of the bright city lights gathering energy. The rest of the outfit is adorned with tiny bulbs hidden under a near-see through material over a gold-glittering dress and suit, for Idris and Switch, respectively.

District 6 comes out next. Dressed in their conductors' outfits, Barena and Tynan smile nervously at the crowd, who actually seem excited about sending them into the arena. Barena suppresses a glare forcing it's way up to her expression as their chariot rolls on by.

District 7 comes next. The stylist that had served one of the victors, Johanna Mason, finally quit. District 7 was no longer wearing trees every year in a row. Instead, they are dressed like lumberjacks. Beverly is wearing a red-plaid button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up an inch above her elbows. Her overalls stop far above her knees and a faux ax is in her hand. Her work boots are cream-colored and white socks stop right in between her ankles and her knees. She wears a black toque hat over her chestnut-colored hair, which is in a low ponytail. Her district partner Silvius' shirt is blue-plaid and the overalls are pants, as well as a much darker shade of blue. His boots are dark brown-green. His toque is the same color and he as well is holding a faux ax. Glittering leaves are stuck on certain areas of the outfit to make it seem like the leaves are falling from the trees. Their glitter is brilliant shades of orange, red, and yellow.

District 8 rolls in after. Almira and Beau are dressed up in matching brown outfits with streaks and swirls on them in darker and lighter shades to imitate wood. Thick pieces of glittering pink and blue yarn are wrapped around the "spools." On their heads as crowns are oversized pin cushions, and the tops of the pins are giant pearls. In their hands are faux oversized needles, the yarn wrapped around the ends. Their shoes are brown with the swirly patterns.

District 9 comes out after District 8. Dagan and Zea are wearing crowns on their heads in the shapes of bowls. The bowl crowns are filled with fake bread. Their outfit looks like they are standing in a field of grain up to their chests because their outfits were designed to give the imitation of doing just that. Starting at their shoes and reaching up are what look like stalks of grain. Both of them wave at the crowd.

District 10 is next. Erno is dressed up like a cowboy. His cowboy top is light blue with white fringe on the sleeves. It's a button-down with an open collar. He wears blue jean pants and light blue boots, with more white fringe on it. His cowboy hat is also light blue with even more fringe on it. Gems are studded around the ends of the sleeves, the collar, his boots, and all around the center of his hat. Jadyn's strawberry blonde hair is pulled into two low braids. Her outfit is almost the same as Erno's, except most of hers is light pink as opposed to light blue.

District 11 follows after District 10. The District 11 tributes, Lawson and Rayna, seem uneasy about things. They're both dressed as baskets of fruit, the baskets glittering as they ride along. The various fruits of the costume include apples, peaches, pears, and oranges.

District 12 is the last district to come out. Cinna, still being District 12's stylist, has come up with the two tributes, Hawk and Ruby, being a burning flame themselves. Their costumes are designed to look like flames, including a headdress with the design of a flame. They are lighted on fire in certain parts of the suit and seem to be encased in the fire.

As soon as they are to the training center, most of the tributes sigh in relief and rip off part of the ridiculous costumes.

"Seriously, I don't know why the Capitol enjoys this stuff," Idris grumbles.

"Lighten up, sweet-cheeks. Keep this up you won't have any sponsors and won't stand a chance in these games," Finn says, smirking at her. Idris rolls her eyes.

"Like I like the likes of District 4," she snaps back.

"That's a lot of likes," Rayna comments with a lop-sided grin.

Finn is about to retort to the both of them when some of the mentors stride over to them. They're Johanna, Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, Cato, and Wiress.

"All of the tributes from districts two, three, four, seven, and twelve please come with your mentor to be shown your rooms," Wiress announces, looking down at a list in her hand, "the rest of you shall wait here until your mentors arrive." With that, Emlyn, Quinlan, Cord, Spark, Finn, Aqua, Silvius, Beverly, Hawk, and Ruby all walk off. That left Azraela, Flint, Switch, Idris, Tynan, Barena, Beau, Almira, Dagan, Zea, Erno, Jadyn, Lawson, and Rayna all alone.

"I really don't want to go into the Games," Switch says nervously, shuffling his feet.

"Well suck it up. Maybe you could let me kill you in the Arena, huh?" Flint offers.

"I'm three years older than you and can still pound you. Don't get your hopes up, shortstack," Switch shoots back at the District 1 boy. Flint glares and crosses his arms.

"I can still pound you pretty darn easily, I'm two years older than you," Azraela says dangerously to Switch.

"Stop fighting guys, leave that for when the Games begin," Barena says calmly, leaning against the wall of the room.

"Why are you so nonchalant all of a sudden, girly?" Azraela says, turning on her. Barena says nothing but instead backs away from Azraela. Azraela steps in front of her and corners her.

"I asked you a question," she says coldly. Barena nervously shrugs.

"I-I-I'm just a-accepting that I-I'm g-going into the Games," she says. Azraela grins at her maliciously.

"Good. Have fun dying."

Barena glares at Azraela as she walks away. Good, have fun dying she says. She's going to kill me she says. Please, Azraela. You don't know starving like almost all of the rest of us. If you survive the Cornucopia, which I'll make sure you won't, you'll surely die from starvation because you're so used to having enough food to get by without a problem.

"Where are our mentors?" Zea complains.

"You mean your sister?" a voice cuts in. Everyone looks up to see Seeder standing in the doorway with Chaff.

"She's coming, give her five minutes. Meanwhile, the District 11 tributes can come with us," Chaff says. Rayna and Lawson follow them out of the room. A few minutes pass and then Zea jumps from her spot, starting Dagan. Dagan falls backward off of what he was sitting on. He looks up with a glare to see Zea following Grainne out of the room. He leaps up and runs after them.

That left the tributes from districts one, five, six, eight, and ten.

"I can't die in the Games after my sister already died last year. My mom almost had a heart attack after seeing her gruesome death, thanks to the tributes of District 12," Almira says.

"I'll help you take them down," Idris offers with a smirk.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"If they don't get to me at the Cornucopia," Idris responds.

Almira shakes Idris's hand.

"Consider it a deal."


The next day is the first training day. All twenty-four tributes stand around, bright and early, waiting for the mentors to come.

"Hey guys," Ruby greets uneasily, glancing at the Career tributes off in their own little corner.

"Good morning," Spark says back. Ruby smiles at her for a fraction of a second before remembering this is a person she could possibly be killing in a matter of two days. Then the blonde towns-girl turns away from her. Her eyes gravitate toward Hawk. Hawk is standing off by the doorway, conversing with Beau from District 8. Beau has rusty reddish hair that Ruby was just now noticing. His eyes are green and his skin is fair.

"Ruby?" a voice cuts in. Ruby turns to see Almira standing there, looking shy and small for her age, despite being a year older than Ruby. Ruby pales at the sight, knowing all too well it was Almira's sister Yorie who was killed in the double-team by Diamond and Dustin last year.

"Uh…ah…hi, Almira," Ruby responds to her uneasily.

"You're nervous," Almira blatantly points out.

"My sister and Hawk's brother killed Yorie last year. I know this," Ruby says.

"Look, I'm not one for revenge, really. But I'm really looking for an alliance with someone. My sister, who I know is probably watching over me gasping, is going to be appalled, but I want to team up with District 12. Maybe one of us will win this year, unlike District 9 again. I swear, Zea was bragging to me last night before we went to bed over how her sister won and she was going to win this year," Almira responds. Ruby looks at her, uncertainty pulling at her.

"A-Are you sure you want to do this?" she asks.

Almira nods.

"I'm absolutely sure. Is there anything you're really good at? You know, spear throwing, knife throwing, bows and arrows?"

"Eh," Ruby responds, "I can do pretty good with a sword. How about you?"

"I can use knives and I can do really good camouflage. I once helped my mother make an entire outfit that looked like someone was a bush. The person who bought it later sat outside of their house, and passer-bys actually thought it was a bush!" Almira says. Ruby cautiously nods, feigning a smile. Before anyone can say anything else, the mentors stride through the door. There's only one mentor per district showing up while the others are presumably talking somewhere. The mentors are Gloss for District 1, Enobaria for District 2, Wiress for District 3, Finnick for District 4, Laurena for District 5, Marshall for District 6, Johanna for District 7, Cecelia for District 8, Grainne for District 9, Darien for District 10, Seeder for District 11, and Katniss for District 12.

"Hello everyone," Katniss greets.

"Hey," everyone mumbles in reply.

"So today is training day and all we want you to do is find something you can do good at and that will help you to survive in the arena," Finnick says.

"Please, if anyone starts a fight, we will be forced to take you out of here so you will not acquire any new skills and it will also affect your private training scores," Johanna threatens with a smirk.

There is a quiet chorus of agreement to the rules. Gloss thrusts open the door to the training areas and everyone rushes inside. The training center is huge to the tributes, and all of them take a look around first…almost. Barena steps away from the group and looks toward the spears.

"Hmm…," she mumbles.

She picks up a spear and looks at all of the dummies. It's only when the sound of the spear sailing into the dummy's abdomen jolted the others from their trances. Three of the Career tributes watch Barena discreetly from the bow-and-arrow station.

Barena is getting better with each throw.

"Go for the head," Spark, the female District 3 tribute, recommends from the knife-throwing station. Barena looks at the head and flings the spear at it. She knocks the head right off of the dummy. Spark nods in approval and two of the Career tributes, Azraela and Emlyn, walk over to Barena.

"You're good," Emlyn says, "how about joining our little alliance? You'll have a real shot at winning with us." Barena shakes her head.

"No thanks," she declines.

"Great, come o—wait, did you just say no?"

"I'm going to join up with Spark here so it's both of us or nothing," Barena says. Azraela rolls her eyes and walks away, Emlyn following her. Spark turns to Barena.

"I never agreed to anything!" she shouts in a whisper, so the Career tributes wouldn't hear their lies. Barena shrugs.

"I needed an escape plan! My district would never let me hear the end of it if I joined with the Careers, dead or alive! They'd shake their heads at my funeral. I heard that in the seventy-seventh Hunger Games one of the boys from my district did join up with the Careers, and someone from District 4 ended up killing him when they realized most of their weapons were being stolen under his watch! I heard that at his funeral all people could do is shake their heads and say I told you so to him!" she exclaims.

"Barena…," Spark mutters. Barena looks at her pleadingly.

"Alright, fine, I'll join an alliance with you. I guess I am looking for an alliance with someone. Just not the Careers, though. A similar thing happened to another boy in our District in the seventy-fourth Hunger Games when the girl that most people called Foxface from District 5 took their food and accidentally blew their supplies sky-high, killing herself in the process after she accidentally fell on a can. The boy never heard the end of it from Cato and Cato even killed him," Spark says.

"Yes…," Barena says, "Is there anyone else you were looking to add to an alliance?"

"Well, I was looking at the girls from districts twelve and five, maybe eight. But Ruby, from District 12, kind of looked away from me when I greeted her, but now I see her being all chatty with the District 8 girl," Spark says. Barena and Spark take the chance to glance over at the two of them, laughing about something.

"Suspicious much?" a voice cuts in. Barena and Spark turn around to see Switch standing behind them.

"What do you want Switch? Shouldn't you be making sure the Careers don't beat up Idris or something?" Spark asks in annoyance. Switch rolls his eyes.

"No. I wanna know why you're spying."

"We're not spying," Barena argues.

"Sure you're not," Switch retorts, walking away with arched eyebrows. Spark glares as he walks away and then looks over to see Idris and Cord talking.

"Don't they look so cute together?" Rayna gushes to Ruby and Almira out of nowhere. Spark and Barena manage not to laugh at that, seeing as they were both going to be in the arena, from different districts no less. …Then again, Spark and Barena themselves were joining an alliance together and they were both from different districts. The two girls instantaneously stop laughing at the remembrance and turn back to their work.

"I just don't get it," Cord says to Idris.

"Get what?" Idris asks.

"I saw your reaping. Why did you volunteer to take your sister's place? You're only twelve!" Cord says. Idris sighs and looks Cord in the eye.

"Nobody in my family knows it…but my mom…she abuses me. A lot. She loves my sisters but for some reason just hates me. So I'm going into the games. That way my sisters live and I die so my mom doesn't have to put up with me," Idris says. Cord looks at her in disbelief.

"Your mom isn't sad about you going into the games? Oh my gosh, my mom has heart problems. She almost had a heart attack after witnessing my brother die. Since it was announced that siblings would be in the games this year, my mom said nobody was volunteering to take place for the reaped because it would give her a heart attack. If she hadn't said that, I wouldn't even be here!" he exclaims.

"Really, now? That's sad, Cord. I really want you to do well. I have advice for you, I'm not sure if Beetee or Wiress told you or not. But Laurena told me to avoid the Cornucopia. Just get away as fast as possible and then when it's safe go back. If you go to the Cornucopia you're more likely to be killed then, in the bloodbath. You'll probably die by a Career, too," Idris says.

"Actually, Beetee did tell me that," Cord says. Idris nods toward him.

"Good. Now, I guess we should get training, huh?"

"I guess so."

Idris picks up a bow and arrow.

"You can use those? The last person to use those very accurately was Katniss Everdeen, and she's like, forty-two now. I remember one Hunger Games where some of the tributes from twelve tried to follow in her footsteps, but that failed miserably and one ended up killing themselves accidentally," Cord says.

"I've picked up a few things from re-watching Katniss's Games. I then figured out how to make my own bow-and-arrow and used targets at home. Nobody knew, because I kept them locked away somewhere," Idris whispers to him. The end of Cord's mouth curves up into a half-smile at the girl.


Lunch after training is loud. Tributes walk around and pick spots to eat with other tributes, and many ask around for alliances for during the Games.

"Hey Almira," two voices say simultaneously. Almira looks up, dark brunette hair falling into her face as her green eyes look up to see Ruby and Idris standing over her.

"Oh, uh, hey Ruby," Idris says awkwardly, wearing the same look as Ruby.

"Err, hi Idris," Ruby says.

"So, Almira, are you ready to discuss the alliance now?" Ruby asks timidly.

"Ruby, I think you're looking for someone else, because Almira and I were going to join up, right Almira?" Idris interrupts, looking at Almira.

"Shoot…," Almira mutters, "I promised both of you an alliance."

"Then let's do a three-way alliance. The Careers, after all, have six tributes in their alliance, and it was doubled to twelve tributes during the second Quarter Quell. Why can't we have a big alliance?" Idris suggests.

"Because," Ruby says in exasperation with the twelve-year-old, "if we kill off everyone else, our alliance will be forced to split and if we want to live, we have to kill each other."

"Well then, have your own little alliance. So much for joining together," Idris says, walking off.

And so much for taking down District 12. I thought that's why you wanted to join with me.

And then something inside of her snaps.

Almira just rejected me. Ruby is in my place. We were going to kill Ruby. Resolution: Ruby must die.

"Idris?" a voice interrupts her thoughts. Idris turns to see Cord staring at her curiously.

"Not now, Cord. I'm thinking. I'm plotting revenge."

"Why?"

"It's Almira. She and I were going to team up, and we were going to take down District 12 because the twelve tributes last year killed her sister. But all of a sudden, here she is teaming up with Ruby, the twelve tribute herself! And then Ruby tells me why we can't have a three-way alliance or bigger to take down the Careers and blah, blah, blah!" Idris complains.

"I'll join an alliance with you," Cord volunteers nervously. Idris looks at him in uncertainty.

"You sure?" she asks. He nods.

"Of course. I'll take down twelve with you, if you need help with that. You seem like Ruby needs to go down hard," Cord says to her. Idris shakes hands with him.

"It's a deal then."

Meanwhile, the Careers are sitting around one of the tables, all talking to each other.

"So that District 6 girl, Barena? She declined an offer to join us," Emlyn complains.

"Are you serious? Nobody ever declines us! We always have the best shots of winning, after all!" Quinlan says in disbelief. He takes a moment to look over to Barena.

"What's her excuse, anyway?"

"She said she has an alliance with that pest from District 3, Spark Forrestor," Azraela snarls venomously.

"Oh, really? I think then we should take Spark down and force Barena to join us, or else we'll kill her, too," Aqua says.

"That's a terrible plan," Finn interjects, "she'd never join us. She'd rather die than join us if she already rejected us once. She probably knows what a threat we are." He crosses his arms and looks over at her.

"Besides, what can a scrawny girl from District 6 really do?" he asks.

"She speared the head right off of one of the training dummies," Azraela states bluntly. Finn's jaw drops.

"Her? The little weak girl from District 6 speared the head off of one of the dummies? Azraela, you've gotta be kidding me!" he exclaims. Azraela shakes her head at him.

"Emlyn and I both witnessed it."

Finn turns to the District 2 girl for confirmation. Emlyn nods at him.

"It was knocked right to the floor."

Finn looks back over at Barena.

"Well, they say the District 4 people are the best-looking people. Maybe if I can play it like I'm not going to join our alliance, she'll join up with me and Spark will follow her," he says to the other Careers, fixing his hair and walking over to the girl from District 6. Barena doesn't notice him until she turns and bumps straight into him.

"Oh, uh, sorry there Finn," she says nervously, going to walk away when Finn places a tan hand on her shoulder. His eyes, the brightest shade of ocean blue, look into her brown ones.

"Hey, Barena. I need an ally in these games. I was thinking about maybe asking a pretty girl like you to be my partner, if you'd like," Finn says, flipping his bright blonde hair.

"Uh, no thanks, I already have an ally," Barena says, turning around again. Finn grabs both of her shoulders.

"C'mon, Barena. You and I could make it to the final two, and I'd even let you kill me," he says. Barena shakes her head and looks over at the group of Career tributes watching.

"Go back to your little posse over there and stop trying to get me to join you. I'm not joining you guys and that's final," she says dangerously, brown eyes glinting dangerously. Finn glares at her.

"I'm warning you, you'll regret that."


The private training sessions are finally finishing, three days later. The tributes are sitting in one room as opposed to twelve different ones with their district partners to get their training scores. The scores flash across the screens with names and pictures of each tribute, along with their district number.

Azraela – D1 – 9
Flint – D1 – 10
Emlyn – D2 – 9
Quinlan – D2 – 8
Spark – D3 – 5
Cord – D3 – 3
Aqua – D4 – 10
Finn – D4 – 9
Idris – D5 – 7
Switch – D5 – 4
Barena – D6 – 8
Tynan – D6 – 6
Beverly – D7 – 4
Silvius – D7 – 2
Almira – D8 – 5
Beau – D8 – 3
Zea – D9 – 4
Dagan – D9 – 5
Jadyn – D10 – 1
Erno – D10 – 2
Rayna – D11 – 7
Lawson – D11 – 6
Ruby – D12 – 6
Hawk – D12 – 9

"Well, I wonder how you got that nine, Hawk," Azraela says with a devious glint in her eye. Hawk looks at her nervously. Ruby squeezes his shoulder and glares at Azraela.

"You don't need to know that information. I thought these sessions were private, after all, except maybe you'd tell your district partner," she says.

"Oh, so you want to know?" Azraela retorts.

"No! It's his decision and I don't care!" Ruby shouts at her. Azraela smirks.

"Just shut up and mind your own business, Azraela. Go off and make out with Flint or something!" Lawson finally pipes up from the quiet demeanor he's held up all day.

"So, District 11 here finally snaps," Emlyn comments. Lawson glares but says nothing.


The next night is interview night. The tributes are all dressed up in nice outfits waiting to go on the stage.

"I can't wait for my interview with Caesar Flickerman!" Azraela says, twirling around in her dress. Barena rolls her eyes.

"Me neither," she responds sarcastically. Before she can respond, however, the interviews begin. Azraela flips her loose, curly blonde hair and smirks at Barena as she walks onto the stage and sits across from Caesar Flickerman. Caesar is very old now, and has obviously had cosmetic procedures done on him to still look how he did twenty-six years ago.

"Hello there all of Panem and we're back again this year with the Fourth Quarter Quell, the One-Hundredth Hunger Games! Up first on the exciting eve of the Games is Azraela Antreb from District 1!" Caesar introduces, before going to the first question, "So, Azraela, how did you feel about going into the Games as the only sibling of Keladry left alive?"

The name strikes a chord in Azraela's heart.

"At first I was devastated, and then mad, and then I decided I would redeem our family and win this year, no matter what it takes. Keladry will be in my heart forever and will be pushing me forward in the Games this year," Azraela answers smoothly. Caesar nods with approval.

"Now, how do your parents feel about it?"

"Eh, they both differ. My dad thinks I'm going to take it this year, but my mom was mad, and devastated, and she wouldn't come out of her room for three days after the news came."

"Well then," Caesar says, before going on, noticing they only had a minute left.

"I wish you the best of luck in the Games, and is there anything else you would like to say to Panem?"

"Remember my face because next time you'll be seeing it is in the Victors' Tour!"

The next four interviews are basically the same.

"How do you feel about going into the Games, Cord?" Caesar asks the District 3 male.

"Awful. I don't want to be here after I saw my brother go down last year. This is sick and twisted. Nobody could volunteer to take my place, even though I knew my other brothers wanted to. You see…my mom, she has a heart condition, and she gets heart attacks easily. She had one after she saw my brother get killed last year…and then when she heard the news about this Quarter Quell, she passed out. She told us not to volunteer for each other or it would cause her too much grief and give her another heart attack," Cord says.

Caesar gives Cord a sympathetic look.

"I can't tell you how much it hurts to hear that you, at twelve years old, have to go in the Games when there was a way out. Very sad," Caesar says.

After Cord, Caesar blows through District 4 and reaches Idris.

"Idris Ploan. I saw your reaping. I need you to tell us, why did you volunteer for your older sisters when you're only twelve?" he asks. Idris shakes her head.

"It's a bad topic…let's just say someone very close and dear to me hates me and wouldn't care if I died in that arena, since they want to kill me anyway," she says, trying not to get her family into too much trouble with the Peacekeepers and the Capitol. Caesar gapes at her in disbelief.

"How can someone be happy about you going into the Games?"

"It's depressing, Caesar."

"Idris, I wish you the best of luck in that arena," Caesar says as the three minutes end.

Caesar and Switch have a conversation about how unfair it is that the siblings of last year's tributes have to go into the Games and how grief-stricken the parents must be, especially those who only had two children before the ninety-ninth Hunger Games and how many will now have none. And then it is time for Barena.

"Hello there. Barena, you remind me a lot of one of the tributes from last year. In fact, you could be her twin sister! Now, what was her name?" Caesar says.

"Peonia. I actually am Peonia's identical twin," Barena says quietly.

"Oh, that's right darling! How shocking it must be for your family and for you, bravely going into combat the year after your sister, whom you'd probably had such a deep bond with," Caesar responds. Barena nods toward him.

"Now tell me, Barena, do you feel confident in these games?" he asks.

"Eh, a little. Some people tell me I'm good with a certain weapon, but I think they're just overestimating me. After all, in District 6, you don't have much time handling weapons," Barena answers.

"Would you like to tell the crowd, or would you like to keep it a secret for the Games?" Caesar asks her.

"I think I'll keep it a secret for now, you'll all find out sometime after tomorrow," Barena replies.

"Alright Barena, good luck in the Games," Caesar says as the three minutes run out.

Tynan goes next and complains about going into the Games right after his brother; Beverly says she feels bad for her younger sister, who is the only sibling left at home. Silvius sends best wishes to his mother, father, brother, and sister back home. Almira is the next one up.

"Almira Drazael, what a lovely young girl," Caesar says as he introduces her. Almira's cheeks turn crimson at the compliment.

"I'm not that pretty. Many girls here are much prettier than me. But thank you anyway," she says.

"Alright Almira. I want to know what was going through your head at the reaping," Caesar says in response.

How much I hate the Capitol. How grotesque this is. How I want to snap the neck of President Snow and beat him until he dies.

"I was thinking about how tragic it was for all of us to be here right after suffering a major loss. It must also be hard on the Capitol citizens, too, because there were very many fan-favorites last year that got killed," Almira says instead.

"I know, I was fond of your sister very much," Caesar says. Almira nods.

"Now, what did you think as being an only child at the reaping?"

"I wish we could have just gone on the stage instead of through the entire ceremony. It took a while and we already knew we were going into the Games. But, rules are rules," Almira responds.

"I see your logic there, Almira," Caesar says. The two talk back and forth about her sister and her family and what-not before moving along. Beau is up next and talks about many of the same things Almira did. That brings them all to Zea's interview.

"Zea Aleharada! You're the sister of Grainne Aleharada, last year's victor!" Caesar says enthusiastically. Zea nods at him with a smirk and winks at the cameras.

"So, Zea, you've had your sister as a mentor. You've had the opportunity to live life with more food than you've had in the Victors' Village in District 9. How does it feel to be living the good life, so to say?" Caesar asks.

"It's been super, super fun and I'm confident that with my sister giving me tips about the Games I'll have no problem being the second winner in the Aleharada family!"

Arrogant now, are we? Dagan thinks this as he watches the interview.

Zea and Caesar banter about the Games, more of her Victors' lifestyle, and she brags all the way. Dagan is relieved when she's finally done. He walks onto the stage next and sits down across from Caesar. He can finally get a good look at him. Caesar is still wearing his midnight blue suit. His hair and make-up this year are an ugly neon yellow.

"Dagan Jendzel, you volunteered for your older brother at the reaping this year. I must ask you: why? He was older and might have had a good shot," Caesar says to the dark-haired boy.

"I have to redeem my family…and I want to protect Zea," Dagan admits.

"The star-crossed lovers of District 9?" Caesar exclaims. Off-stage, Peeta and Katniss both go crimson at the mention. They had played up that act in the last Quarter Quell, as had many others to garner sympathy from sponsors. Except, theirs had turned real in their time as mentors together.

"The last time we had star-crossed lovers was in the third Quarter Quell!" Caesar says joyfully. The cameras then pan to Peeta and Katniss, who are both looking down at the floor. The cameras pan back to Dagan and Caesar.

"Except this time, only one of us comes out," Dagan reminds Caesar. Caesar sighs sympathetically.

"It's hard, isn't it?"

Dagan's interview wraps up shortly after, followed by Jadyn, Erno, Rayna, and Lawson. And then they reach District 12.

"Well, here now we have Ruby Sarple! Ruby, coming from District 12, you must have good mentors. Katniss Everdeen, with her incredible bow-and-arrow skills, and Peeta Mellark, who can bake such good bread! My compliments, Peeta! Oh, and let's not forget Haymitch Abernathy! But anyway, how are they to you?" Caesar asks.

"Oh, they're just wonderful mentors and they're fun to be around," Ruby says politely, smiling at them. Katniss nods at her and Peeta smiles. Haymitch gives her a smirk.

"Now, how do you feel about being in the Games? Are you going to carry on the tradition of the victors of the Quells being from District 12?" Caesar asks Ruby.

Ruby thinks back to all the Quells and realizes he's right. Violet Daerlyss won the 25th Quarter Quell, Haymitch won the 50th Quarter Quell, and Katniss and Peeta won the 75th Quarter Quell.

"I don't know. I hope I do. If I don't, then I really hope my district partner Hawk does in place of me," Ruby finally responds to Caesar. She pushes her blonde hair from her eyes nervously.

"Alright Miss Ruby, best of luck," Caesar says as her three minutes run out.

Hawk is up next.

"Hawk Tranzell, from District 12. Did you hear that your friend Ruby wished you would win if she didn't and would carry on the tradition of District 12 winning the Quarter Quells?" Caesar asks as the Seam boy sits down.

"Yes, I heard. That was very nice of her to do, and I hope that she ends up being the one of us to win the Quell, if District 12 does," Hawk responds, smiling at Ruby. Ruby smiles back, and then looks down at the floor as her mentors had done earlier.

Hawk's interview carries on until the interviews are done and the tributes head off to bed, preparing for the next day's events.


A/N: And there you have it. Now we've gotten a glimpse at some of the tributes.

Who are your bets on?

Who do you love?

Who do you hate?

The next chapter will be the start of the Games, meaning one thing: the bloodbath at the Cornucopia!

See you in the next chapter!