I'm sitting in a train car watching the reapings with my mentors. I've always found the reapings more interesting than the games themselves. The games just make me sick, with all of the death and blood and what not. I hope I don't have to kill anyone in the ring. I don't think I could handle it.

My name is Aradia Megido and I'm pretty indifferent about the games. It's just the death that I mind.

I'm from District 5, which specializes in power. I don't really know how to fight. I'm hoping I won't have to, but I know that's just a crazy dream. My partner is a boy named Sollux, who doesn't really talk much. In fact, he and I haven't talked at all. He's just been sitting on the windowsill staring outside.

Aradia: Sollux, come on! We need to check out the competition!

He just sighs.

Aradia: Don't you want to know who we're up against?

Sollux: No.

Aradia: He speaks!

Sollux: Shut up.

Aradia: Alright, just mope around then.

I turn back to the TV and watch the reapings. From District 1 there's this nasty looking boy in green suspenders and a black shirt, who's laughing maniacally to himself the whole time. His name is Caliborn. His partner is a young gentle-looking girl who looks a lot like him. I figure they're twins. She looks nervous. Her name is Calliope.

District 2's male tribute scares me a little. His black hair is all over the place and he's wearing some creepy white and gray makeup. He's smiling the whole time, even waving at the camera. His name is Gamzee and he doesn't seem to fully understand what's going on. He spaces out as the female is called. The female is tall, probably 18, and is wearing a beautiful red dress. She has a sort of pixie cut and does not look amused. I get the feeling she hates her partner. Her name is Kanaya.

From District 3 comes some fierce competition, which I did not see coming at all. I actually knew the boy, we had talked over the phone before. He was very muscular. He was missing a couple teeth and was wearing cracked sunglasses. He was definitely the strongest competitor this year. His name was Equius. The female, Vriska, was quite the case. Her left arm was missing, and was replaced with a robot arm instead. She had an eye-patch over her left eye as well. I can't imagine what kind of accident could cause that in an electrical district.

Here we go, I think to myself. District 4's male tribute is classic career material. His name is Eridan. He's got large hipster glasses and a purple streak in his hair. He seems like he's actually looking forward to these games. His partner's name is Feferi. I can't help but think she's the daughter of someone important. She looks a bit distraught but holds it together for the camera.

Then comes my District. Sollux comes up to the stage with no emotion, just like I remember. He's still like that. Then I'm called up, and as I go up I got hugged by my little brother. I tried not to cry then and I'm trying not to cry now. The poor kid shouldn't have to watch the games, but I know he's going to anyway.

District 6 is fairly uneventful. A couple kids who are probably related were called. One was a boy around 14 years old named John, who probably didn't realize the full severity of what was going on. He just looked confused. The girl's name was Jane, and tears were streaming down her face before she even took her place on the stage. I felt sorry for her. Maybe I could comfort her sometime.

District 7 started fairly normal, but the girl was a bug surprise to me.

Aradia: Is... is she blind?!

My mentors nod grimly.

Aradia: Oh my god...

Clearly I wasn't the only one in shock. A boy had some sort of mental breakdown when she got on stage, causing a huge scene. He really showed a couple peacekeepers who's boss. They looked ready to kill him on the spot, but then he volunteered. The train car fell silent. Sollux even looked up. Nobody volunteered. It was like an unspoken rule since the second rebellion. I looked at my mentors in shock, but they were just as surprised as I was. The girl, Terezi, looked extremely surprised, and started to cry a little. The boy, Karkat, comforted her and took his place on the stage.

The remainder of the Districts seemed lame compared to that. District 8 had a boy with blond hair, black round shades and a stylish red suit on named Dave and a young woman in a black dress with a pink belt named Rose. Neither of them showed many emotions. They seemed like they knew each other, though.

District 9 had an even cooler male tribute than the last one. He wore spiked black shades and had an orange baseball cap, with his blond hair sticking out messily beneath it. His name was Dirk. The female stumbled on stage and fell over, and Dirk helped her up. She was very pretty, but clearly drunk. She smiled and waved at the cameras but couldn't stand up straight.

District 10 made me more depressed than District 7. The male tribute, Tavros, was paralyzed below the waist. It made me want to cry. I vowed to myself to help him if I ever got the chance. The girl seemed just as upset as I was and whispered something in his ear that made him smile a little before she took her place. Her name was Nepeta. She had a floor length green jacket with a fake blue cat tail sewn on it. She kept smiling encouragingly at Tavros.

District 11 was also pretty uneventful. The male tribute went over and hugged a girl on the other side before he went up on stage, but then she was called up too. They were cousins, Jake and Jade. Both were pretty upset but held it together on camera.

The TV flashed the symbol for Panem and turned off. I didn't know what to think, other than I got chosen on a very weird year. I couldn't get the district 10 boy off of my mind. Maybe I could get a favor from somebody...

I left the car before my mentors could say anything and went to my own car. I got out my phone and dialed the number. It rang for a few minutes and I thought he wouldn't pick up.

Equius: Hello?

Aradia: You know why I'm calling.

Equius: ... yes, yes I do.

Aradia: Please?

Equius: I doubt I'm allowed to.

Aradia: Pleeaase?

Equius: Aradia...

Aradia: Pleeeeaaaase?

Equius: Why would I help my competition?

Aradia: Because you love a fair fight, and you KNOW this isn't fair.

Equius: I know...

Aradia: Please?

Equius: I'll do it. But if I get in trouble, I'm shifting the blame to you.

Aradia: And I'm okay with that! Thank you!

Equius: Good luck.

He hangs up, and I'm very happy with myself. I turn to find Sollux in the doorway.

Sollux: Why? Why would you do that?

Aradia: Because I actually care about people.

Sollux: I never said I didn't care.

Aradia: You never said anything.

Sollux: Exactly.

Aradia: You know that isn't fair. If I could do something for the blind girl, I would help her too, but there's nothing I can do about that.

Sollux: You shouldn't help out the competition. It's only making it more likely for us to be killed.

Aradia: I don't care.

Sollux: Of course you don't.

Aradia: Just shut up, I'm hungry.

I push him out of the way and head to the dining car. He follows. We sit in silence and eat for a little while.

Sollux: I'm sorry.

Aradia: Me too.

Sollux: Cool.

There's a longer awkward silence.

Aradia: Good talk.

Sollux: Right.

I get up and head back to my room, making sure to lock my door behind me. We should arrive in the capitol tomorrow. As excited as I am to meet all these people, I'm afraid to get attached to them, considering most of them will die. It's all very depressing. I really don't want to think about it. I drift to sleep.

In my dream I'm in the arena. The field is just a giant mountain with the cornucopia on top. It's been picked through for all the valuables and everyone who survived the main slaughter is gone. I hid in a hole sheltered by a rock until I was positive it was safe to come out. I walk out, but not voluntarily. I'm being forced to move, forced to look. There are dead bodies all over the place. Something isn't right. I see that some of the tributes have different blood colors, and the snow on the peak looks like a rainbow. A sick, twisted rainbow.

I keep moving forward even though I want to run and hide, maybe even puke. I see Kanaya with a hole in her stomach, covered in jade green blood. Feferi is there with a similar wound, but with bright purple blood instead. Vriska looks like she had been stabbed through the chest with a sword, and she was face down with blue blood staining her jacket. Rose was there but she wasn't bleeding, just dead. I wanted to puke so bad.

Then I saw Sollux, yellow blood streaming out of his mouth and eyes staining his shirt. He was still alive. He reached a hand out to me mouthing the word help before I woke up screaming.

I run to the bathroom and puke in the toilet. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten so much yesterday, but it was all so good. I fill my hands with water and splash it on my face, then grab a towel and shove my head into it. That dream was awful. I lean against the wall and slide down to the floor. I never want to sleep again. Someone knocks on the door.

Sollux: Are you okay?

Aradia: Fine, thank you. I just... had a bad dream.

Sollux: Want to talk?

Aradia: ... yeah, one moment.

I get up and open the door. He looks at me a little weird. I take a quick glance over to the mirror and realize I look like a mess. My hair is all over the place, I have bags under my eyes, and the silky red pajamas they provided for me were twisted and creased.

Aradia: Sorry, I look awful.

Sollux: That's okay.

We head out to the car with the TV and sit on a couch. I describe my dream to him, leaving out the part about him, and he actually sits and listens to the whole thing with interest.

Aradia: And then I woke up and puked in the toilet.

Sollux: So that's what that noise was.

Aradia: Yeah, sorry. Did I wake you up?

Sollux: No, I was already awake. I couldn't sleep either.

Aradia: Did you have a bad dream too?

Sollux: No, just had a lot on my mind.

Aradia: Oh. Well thanks for listening. You must think I'm crazy.

Sollux: I've heard worse.

Aradia: Is that possible?

He laughs, making me feel a little better.

Aradia: Maybe we should get some sleep. We don't need to arrive at the capitol half-asleep.

Sollux: Good idea. Good night.

He smiles and absconds to his room. I sit there and think for a little while, then head back to bed and hope for no more dreams.