A/N: I didn't get one, I got two reviews! (Thank you lilmisstalksalot1211!) And again read her stories, they are really good! I'm sorry if these parts are boring but I will try to make them as action-filled as I can until the games start!

I do not own the hunger games

A baby with fuzzy blonde hair started crying, its beautiful blue eyes screwed into tiny slits as fat tears rolled down its face. A pair of strong arms appeared and picked up the hysterical baby, trying to comfort it. A haunting tune was played and the baby slowly fell asleep, exhausting from crying. The arms lovingly laid the baby down in its crib and tucked the baby in. A pair of hurried footsteps suddenly was heard. Each thump of the footsteps seemed to shake the image and the pair of arms looked around, obviously scared. Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream filled the air.

I jolted awake and let out a strangled wail. I quickly covered my mouth and groaned. I hadn't had nightmares like these since Mom…. Never mind that. Where was I anyway? Suddenly the past 24 hours came rushing back at me and I sighed. I was competing in the hunger games. Yippee. A sudden knock at my door made me jump (yes, I jumped while lying down) in surprise. Byrd's annoying voice filtered through the door.

"Are you ready yet, darling?"

"Um…um yeah... Just a second!" I quickly scrambled for something to wear and my eyes located my dress from yesterday. What the heck. I threw it on and pulled my tangled hair back in a low ponytail.

"Honey hurry up you are late!" I am pretty sure that I was cursed with being always being late. I don't think I have ever been on time. And when you are the mayor's daughter, that doesn't go well. I threw open the door and smiled at him.

"Ready!" I announced. He looked at me in dismay.

"That-those are the clothes you wore yesterday!" He sputtered appalled at my clothing decision.

"So?" The truth was, I wasn't that into fashion, or anything like that. Dad just gave me clothes and I wore them.

"So? You can't be going to breakfast looking like that!"

"Breakfast! You got me up, and made me rush because of breakfast!" I couldn't believe it. Byrd was way more annoying than I had thought. He gave me a disapproving look and pointed back into my room as if to say, go back in there and change right now, young lady! I thumped back in my room and pulled out a pair of khaki shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't want Sage to think I dressed like royalty all day, every day. I came back out and breezed past Byrd. Smiling as I watched his face tighten in horror when he saw my choice of clothing. I ran down to the dining room before he could stop me.

"And I thought she would have manners, being the mayor's daughter." I heard him mumble behind me.

Sage and Pica were already there piling food on their plate. Pica looked a lot better than yesterday, and she was even wearing socks that matched! Bonus! I slid into one of the seats and gaped at the amount of food there was set up. You might be thinking that I saw this much food every morning, right? Wrong! I haven't even had breakfast since the last hunger games. One of our major distributer's sons was reaped and killed. The major distributer killed himself soon after from sorrow. Since then, food has been hard to come by. Not as hard to come by as Elana's and Sage's families, but harder than usual. I shoved food in my mouth willy nilly until I experienced the satisfying feeling of being full. Pica looked up at us.

"I am sorry for acting…less than welcoming yesterday, I was very distressed. I beseech that you forgive me so that I may train you to compete in the hunger games." I'm pretty sure that my mouth was catching flies. Was this the same person? Had the capital replaced Pica with an identical clone in the middle of the night? I looked over to see Sage slack-jawed also.

"Uh… there's no need to apologize… we forgive you." I stuttered.

"Good, today is the opening chariot run where all of the capital will get to see you! We are about to dock in the capital itself anyway!" I looked out the window, expecting to see a glittering mound of stone rising up from the ground. Unfortunately all I saw was a whole lot of nothing.

"We are not here yet! We still have…" She glanced at her watch, "About 4.78967 seconds left!"

(A/N I know, I know, I just wanted to show how fast the capital trains were.)

4.78967 seconds later

"Wow!" Sage gasped, peering out the window. I think that was the first time I had heard him speak since we have been on the train! Anyway, "wow" pretty much summed up the capital. Its gleaming marble buildings rose up higher than the clouds. The pinpricks of people making their way around the enormous place made it look hypnotizing and fascinating. It was the biggest thing I have ever seen. A giant banner was visible as we made our way closer. In bright red letters it said, WELCOME TRIBUTES! For some reason, the red reminded me of blood. People were crammed near the entrance and cheered when our train came in. Sage flattened himself next to the window, looking like a deer in headlights. Since I was used to crowds, I happily waved back to the people. All too soon the train had stopped and we were ushered out of it and into the strange looking building. Pica escorted me one way, and Byrd escorted Sage the other. I knew that soon people would be poking and prodding me to get me ready for the chariots. It would probably a girls dream to be able to get a full makeover for free. Although, only one thought entered my brain as I was pushed into a new strange room: Save me now!

One hour later of pain, and soreness I was at base one. They had struggled through my rat's nest of hair and ripped off all of the other hair on my body. My skin felt raw and my eyes watered from having drops put in them to get rid of my bloodshot eyes. My face hurt when they had mad my acne disappear using this type of laser machine. I felt like I was burning all over. Forget the hunger games! They could just do this to torture all of the kids instead! I collapsed on the small hospital bed and groaned when my raw flesh touched the delicate fabric. The aliens (my prep team…don't ask) as I liked to call them, hovered around me. The only way I could tell them apart was the color of their hair. I also forgot their names which I used their hair to fix also. Bright purple grabbed a pick and started yanking my eyebrows off. Puke green picked up a comb and tried to tackle my hair again. Finally, the job of getting the grime off my face was taken by blinding white.

"Blinding white?" I asked "When is my actual stylist going to be here?"

"I told you!" She said in her thick capital accent, "My name is not blinding white! It is Adrika!"

"Yeah, yeah, potato, tomato. Wait, is it potato, potato? Whatever! Anyway, you didn't answer my question."

"He will be here when he is here!" Suddenly, the door opened and my stylist walked in. His eyebrows were drawn in but he drew them too high so that it looked like he was always surprised. He smelled thickly of wet dog and I choked when I breathed in the smell. He had a trendy coat with ironed pants on. To complete the look he had glasses with no lenses and a bright pink scarf.

"Alfeo is in the building!" He cried. He took one look at me and jumped back in mock horror. "Yeesh! Is this the boy or the girl? Ha ha ha ! Just kidding sweetheart!" His laugh sounded like a dolphin dying and I immediately despised him. "Now shoo shoo!" He cried waving his hands at my prep team. They scattered and sprinted out the open door. He paced circles around me, like a hawk.

"Now, I assume that you know that the costumes are based on your districts product? Correct?" I nodded. "Your district is transportation…so…I have come up with a blank!"

"But you and Sages stylist were supposed to think of an idea before now!" I yelled, fear clutching my chest.

"Oh right, right!" He seemed to be searching his brain for what they had talked about. He snapped his fingers. "Got it!" He smiled evilly and opened a closet in the far corner of the room. When I looked at it, my face paled.

"I am not wearing that!" It was a glittering dress that sparkled everywhere! I was the one who always tried to lay low. That dress was like a beacon yelling, look at me! "How is that supposed to represent transportation!"

"You'll see!" He replied mysteriously.

I was looking at this strange creature in the mirror. She was wearing a long sparkling dress with red ruby heels. Her hair was curled, bouncy and tangle-free. She had a hint of makeup on, that was also sparkly, and she actually looked pretty. Oh wait, that creature was me and I was never pretty. Alfeo stood next to me. He was actually starting to grow on me, yet his jokes were horrendous.

"What is Sage going to wear?" I questioned. For some reason I just couldn't picture Sage in a sparkly suit without cracking up.

"He will wear a plain suit, with no sparkles. We thought that sparkles would sort of ruin his image."

"Yeah you were right"

"Are you ok on what is going to happen?" I gulped. I was really nervous and did not want to do what Alfeo had told me to.

"Are you sure that it is safe?" I squeaked.

"Yes, yes and remember, just press this button." He pointed to a small, almost invisible button on my hip. I nodded. Why did I keep on thinking that this was going to blow up in my face?

Our turn next. Our turn next. Our turn next. My heart was going a hundred miles a minute. I could tell that Sage was sweating also.

"Ready?" he whispered.

"No." I countered truthfully. He nodded.

"Me neither." All of a sudden I heard

"District six! Transportation!" I took a deep breath. Our chariot lurched forward.

"Remember to keep physical contact or it won't work!" I heard Alfeo whisper behind me. I gripped Sages hand and nodded. Breathe. Breathe. Finally we came out of the darkness and the lights almost blinded me. Flashes were everywhere. People were all over, waving and cheering for us. We made it to the exact middle of the road and I looked at Sage. It was time.

"One, two, three." I breathed. At the same exact time, we both pressed our buttons. "Thwap!" I couldn't see anything anymore. The world had melted away and in its place was a blur of white and some red. The only thing I felt was Sages hand pressed against mine. Finally, I could see again. The first thing I saw was an empty chariot in the very middle of the show. The citizens of the Capital had no idea that we had just transported behind them. I heard peoples astonished voices as they wondered what happened to us. I smiled and lifted my hand that was clutching Sages. People gasped and then applauded as they saw us behind them. We had just traveled by teleportation! I couldn't believe it! It had actually worked! I could tell it was time to get back to the chariot. Both Sage and I pressed our buttons again. The temporary blur of white and red startled me. The only thing I felt was…nothing. I gasped and glanced down in horror. Sage was no longer holding my hand. Terror gripped me as I realized the teleportation device could throw me anywhere! I could travel to the bottom of the ocean! Why couldn't our suit have just been a costume and not a teleportation device! The white faded and I braced myself for whatever I would see.

As my eyes adjusted I saw a young woman in a badly lit room. The only other thing was a small crib in the corner. The woman turned around and I saw terror and fear in her eyes. I did a double take when I saw her face. No it couldn't be! I couldn't go back in time…could I? A figure suddenly jumped on the woman and pinned her down. I tried to move to save her, but my feet felt like they were glued to the floor.

"You have failed us Eleanor!" the figure snarled. "You have failed everyone! You don't deserve to live!"

"No please!" The woman begged. "Please, give me one more chance!"

"You are out of chances, Eleanor!" The world started blurring again. No! No! Come back! It was too late; I was already seeing white tinges to things, meaning I was traveling again. Mom! Come back! The last thing I heard was a high-pitched scream. Then everything went black.

A/N: What do you think? I decided to leave on a cliff-hanger so you will just have to wait until I update again to figure out what happens :) (Evil smile!) By the way, if you review, this would update a lot sooner. Cough Cough. Anyway again, check out lilmisstalksalot1211 and leave comments on how you want me to do my story.