Disclaimer: I own nothing besides random various names mentioned (which aren't important) and the plot, which partially belongs to Suzanne Collins, since the hunger games were her idea. And Cassandra Clare owns most of the characters.


The reaping- District one.

Jem went to stand beside Gloss.

"Hi." Jem said quietly, as the anthem came on.

Gloss just gave him a nod of acknowledgement, and to be honest, Jem didn't blame him. Once you're a victor, you're out of the games for life. This wasn't fair. Even though Gloss was older than twenty-one, he still had to stand among the crowds, in a small square for the victors. It gave you a horrible sensation of déjà vu.

The Capitol anthem ended, and the capitol lady finished her few words on wishing everyone the best odds.

"Purity Sm-" The capitol lady began.

Every victor from the crowds looked to Camille, who had been boasting that she would volunteer. She was true to her word.

"I volunteer." She said calmly, taking her place beside the Capitol lady.

"Camille Belcourt, always a pleasure." The lady said, before she turned her attention to another glass bowl.

She reached inside to grab a piece of paper from the boys bowl. "Gloss Ale-" She said, making the crowd turn to face a boy Jem vaguely remembered. Tanned, with dark hair, seemingly around fourteen. Jem felt a shiver go down his spine, as he was reminded of himself.

But he hadn't been chosen. He wasn't expecting to be reaped. He knew it would be Will. And there was nothing he could do to stop Will being chosen….

Except one thing.

Two words flew from his lip's that he never thought he'd ever say again. "I volunteer." Jem said quietly. The people around him turned to stare.

He gave a small, polite smile as he made his way onto the stage, making the comparisons to before and after. His appearance, his personality, his confidence, his family. Last time, he had no one. This time, he'd be leaving Will.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I volunteer as tribute." He continued.

"And your name is…?" The lady asked.

Jem gave a small smirk. "Jem Carstairs." He told her, watching the shock register on her face, as she tried to spot the resemblance between him and the same boy who'd stood on the stage four years ago.


"You're back in the games." Camille stated.

"As are you." Jem commented back, shifting slightly from the awkwardness between the two of them.

"I volunteered." Camille replied breezily.

"As did I." Jem replied, and then cursed himself for sounding stupid.

Camille laughed. "Last time this happened to you, you had all the arrogance of your brother. Now you're acting like I'll bite you."

"With your teeth, it's a bit more threatening." Jem said with a smile. Camille grinned, showing her filed fangs.

As they opened the doors to the justice building, Jem sighed. "See you on the train." He told Camille, before being directed into the door on the left.


Jem stopped immediately when he saw who was waiting for him.

She whirled around, her hair flying around in it's deadly braid, which Jem knew to contain a dagger…or two. Her piercing eyes narrowed as she stalked towards him. "You-" She slapped him across the face. "Fucking idiot." Her eyes suddenly brimmed with tears that she would never allow to fall.

Jem pulled Emma towards him, cupping her face in his hands. "Don't cry." He said. "You never cry. You're Emma Carstairs."

Her face hardened and her eyes filled up with their usual coldness as she pulled away from him.

Back to the Emma we all know, Jem thought.

"You will come out of the arena. You will. I'm not even guessing this, you know you-"

"-Won't be allowed my medicine in the arena. Of course I do. Meaning I won't last two days." Jem interrupted.

Emma looked like she'd been slapped, before looking like she wanted to slap him. "Don't say that." She growled.

"Why? I don't want to lie to you, Emma." Jem said.

"You're all I have." Emma said firmly. "You can't leave me."

Jem held his gaze. "It seems I can."

Emma went to slap him again. And it would have been a pretty good hit if Jem hadn't have dodged.

"There. Your reactions are still good." Emma confirmed.

"I saw it coming. You're an open book sometimes." Jem told her.

Emma tried a different tactic. "Jem, if... if not for me, then you have to get out for Will. You're all he has, as well."

Jem didn't quite know how to respond to that- but he didn't need to, for at that moment a peacekeeper entered the room.

"It's time." He told the two.

Their standard actions clashed- Emma would usually walk away, Jem would usually hug goodbye. But when you collided the two...

They opted for an oddly formal handshake.

"Jem." Emma said simply.

Jem simply gave a soft laugh as he pulled her into a hug. "Goodbye, Emma." He said softly.

Emma pulled away, annoyed, as she walked away. Jem's mouth opened slightly as she did something she had never done- she looked back. Emma never looked back. Not when she left her parents and went to the house in victors village. Not when her parents were murdered and she left the funeral. Not when her boyfriend, Julian, died in the games. Not ever.

And now…

"Mizpah." She told him, before exiting the room.

Jem smiled as she left. She was determined, he'd give her that.


24 hours later!

The reaping, district two.

Will looked around the crowd, vague disgust on his face. Jem had volunteered. Jem, his Jem. Although no one else knew why, Will had understood in a heartbeat. If Jem went, Will wouldn't need to. Jem had saved Will. Jem had sacrificed himself-

Will mentally slapped himself. Jem will get out alive, he told himself. Do not think about it in any other way.

Will then cursed himself. He'd have to mentor a girl and boy, tell them how to get out alive, when he had no intention of them doing that.

"My my…William Herondale!" A voice called.

Will's head snapped up. Are you kidding me… he thought, looking at the escort atop the stage, who was holding a slip of paper in her hand. Already on the stage was a tanned, brown haired girl, but Will paid no attention to her.

"Come now, come on." She said, beckoning him forwards.

Will gritted his teeth, but pulled up his famous smirk as he went to stand on stage. He gave a wink at the escort, making the brown haired girl roll her eyes.

After the escort rambled on about the games being 'the best yet!' for several minutes, Will was taken to the train, the girl marched to the justice building. Will's already annoyed mood turned sour at that. He had no loved ones to say goodbye to…

Apart from Jem.

Jem- tall, thin, silvery and level-headed Jem.

Jem- from district one, winner of the 71st hunger games.

Jem- tribute for the 75th hunger games.

Jem- Will.

Jem was Will's better half. They were more than brothers, they were each other, a symbol on their wrists saying so or not. Jem was calm and kind. Will was explosive and cruel. Jem was popular among the people in other districts, as well as his own. Will was popluar in the Capitol. Jem was dying, Will deserved death. On the third (and final) day of Will's games, he'd hunted down and killed seven people. On the second day of Jem's games, it'd rained a Yin Fen and water solution, which half the tributes drank. Yin Fen was invented during the uprising, a drug used by the Capitol. And, because it was a drug, the tributes got addicted. But it never rained during the rest of the games. Jem had collected the water when it's first and taken it regularly, even once realised what it was. But the slow, painful deaths and even suicides meant that for the first time in seventy one years, the games had an age warning put on- people below thirteen weren't permitted to watch.

There had never been a found cure for the drug, so Jem took it regularly to live, and despised himself for it. But he was kind. Although he had lost everything, he was kind, but Will was cruel. Jem was light, Will was dark. Will was poison, with Jem being the only antidote.

Jem and Will.

Will and Jem.

That's how it'd always been.

Until now. Now the games were going to take that away from them.

Will turned and threw his fist into the wall, only just realsing they were on the train. He smirked when he saw the slight dent in the wall, not feeling (or caring) about the blood trailing down his knuckles.

"Oh dear." Came a voice from behind him, tinged with amusement. Will's stiff stance softened at the calm voice. Jem.

"Problem?" Will asked, not turning to face him. Because he couldn't. He was a coward.

"Yes. This is a new train and you've already wrecked it." Jem said lightly. Will could feel the heat radiating off Jem as Jem stood beside him. Jem had always radiated heat. He was like a heater. Because he was either boiling or freezing, never between the two.

"I seem to do that to things in my life." Will said bitterly, still not facing Jem.

"Will-" Jem began, alarmed at his tone.

"I hurt everyone. I hurt everyone but you." Will continued. It was true. He couldn't allow it.

At first, he'd refused president Snow's demands. Will didn't want to be a slave to the Capitol, to be a heartbreaker. So Snow had killed his family, leaving only Jem alive. Will had agreed, after hearing from Snow a second time. But Snow told him it could be too late, that no one should refuse the president. Snow had told him anyone he gets close to wouldn't survive. Jem was alive because he was a victor, and the barganing price. But no one else would. He'd met Finnick Odair, who'd assured him it'd get easier.

It didn't.

Jem wasn't wanted by the Capitol in that way. He was too fragile, to delicate, like a china doll in a cabinate. He wasn't to be played with, to be touched in any way. He was to be looked at, to be admired. So he was innocent.

Jem knew there was a reason Will did what he did, but he didn't know what it was exactly.

"Will." Jem sighed, bringing Will back to reality. Or was it a nightmare? Will thought.

"You haven't been listening to anyhting I've been saying, have you?" Jem asked.

Will opened his mouth to respond, but Jem laughed.

"Happy hunger games." Jem told him, as his quiet footsteps faded down the corridor.

"And may the odds be ever in your favor." Will muttered, before he paused. Yes, he thought. If I'm here, I can help get Jem out alive. I will. Jem will live, not me. He has a life, people he loves. It will be Jem.

"Hard luck, being chosen again." A voice behind him said.

Will started and turned around, realising it was the girl who'd been reaped. She looked familiar.

"'S my first time, and god, what a year to be chosen." She continued.

"Can I help you?" Will spat.

The girl grinned, extending her hand for Will to shake. "Maia Roberts. I go to your school…?"

Will ignored the hand. "Must be heartbreaking for you to discover that whatever feelings you have for me I don't return."

Maia snorted. "Of course not, why would you hate me?" She asked.

Will grinned. He remembered her now. He hadn't been to school in a long time, it wasn't compulsory for victors. But he remembered Maia. She was one of the few girls who didn't fawn over him. And she was the only girl who hated him.

"I can think of a long, long list." He told her.

Maia grinned. "Same old Herondale."


About two days later! (How precise...)

The reaping, district four.

"Tessa Gray!" The incredibly purple woman called from atop the stage.

Jace froze. An ironic laugh rang through his mind. If you get chosen as well….He thought.

He watched as Tessa walked onto the raised platform, her back ramrod straight.

"Ethan Aldertree!" The escort called out from a slip of paper.

Jace frowned momentarily, before realising what he could do. He could go into the games and save Tessa. "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE." He called, making the twelve year old boy halt in relief.

A smirk appeared on Jaces face immediately, although he felt like he was dying inside. As he began to walk onto the stage, he noticed the escort's ridiculous eyebrows raising at his appearance. Good. He was memorable.


"I did it to protect you. You're getting out alive, Tessa. You have no desire to be in these games, so-" Jace began as they were takn towards the train- they had no loved ones but each other.

"You'll make me a victor?" Tessa asked, snorting.

"But you get out alive." Jace told her.

"Idiot." Tessa told him, as they walked towards the train.

"Tessa-"

"Don't 'Tessa' me. The Capitol are voting the victor from the final three." Tessa told him.

"Then we'll-"

"And there are three victors already on the train, meaning they'll be popular. They may even have friends in the Capitol." Tessa continued as if Jace hadn't spoken.

"So we'll kill them first." Jace said simply.

"They're victors. They'll have experience in killing people and will be able to do it again, no problem. Whilst you're prepared, I've never held a single weapon apart from a knife, yet I only used that to cook."

"But I'm prepared." Jace told her confidently.

Tessa narrowed her eyes. "Did you watch the reapings?" She asked.

Jace thought about lieing, but shook his head.

"Didn't think so. But take a guess at who the district two male tribute is." Tessa continued.

At Jaces blank expression, she elaborated.

"William Herondale." She said.

Jace cursed a thousand times. His games were the quickest on record, his games lasting three days instead of the usual week.

"Well." Jace said, attempting to brighten the mood. "We'll just have to take him out first, won't we?!"

Tessa gulped when the train suddenly came into view.