Pretty please listen to "The Riddle" By Five For Fighting during this chapter. But hey, I don't make the rules. I just come to your house and creep if you don't follow them. Just figured I'd warn you(:

-Katherine Elizabeth

The air is still, unearthly still. District 6 is like this a lot. We're medics and surgeons and medical research, so most of our time isn't spent tending to windmills or flower gardens. A pair of gentle but obviously male footsteps mimics my own as I step through the photographers while they snap photos of my tear-stained face. I snap my neck straight and stare all of them down. This is their fault. They want the Hunger Games. They want our death. They want to see us suffer. No. I will not give them my weakness.

Head high.

Chin strong.

Jaw set.

"NICOLAI!" One of the freakish photographers screams at me. The sight of this Capitol creature makes my heart almost stop. Her skin is pure gray and the whites of her eyes are bright red. She looks like smoke stained with rivers of blood. Involuntarily, I shudder. She yells a question at me and I force my gaze elsewhere, anywhere but this reminder of what is to come.

"Get out of the way, please" Carston, my least hated peacekeeper, pushes the Capitol people away from Dastrey and me as we stumble towards the train. More questions are thrown onto our shoulders, pelted at us from aliens who only thirst for our blood, our souls, and our hope. This is the only thing I can withhold from them: My dignity.

"Just a few more steps" That low rumble of Dastrey's voice pushes me through the last two feet until I'm aboard the train. And then, as if we never even existed, Carson rushes back into the middle of the city, leaving Dastrey and I alone in a train destined for the Capitol. Empty. TerrifiedAll of these describe me now. No mom, no dad, no Wren. Just me…

There's absolutely no noise as I drop myself onto the plush carpeting, struggling to breath. This is a voyage of lasts for many tributes before me: the last time they see home, the last place where they are not wholly in the Games. Not yet, not quite yet. This train is Limbo; an in-between. We are not the Capitol's own, yet no longer a part of our district. This is the last place where I am allowed to be Nicolai Lifee. The second I step off of this machine, I am truly a tribute.

But then my eyes land on Dastrey, looking so strong while he peers out the window. The grip of guilt rips through my chest. How could I have forgotten courageous, kind Dastrey Maricule, The only boy at school who talks to me? The only one who doesn't treat me like I might break at any moment? He turns to face me quietly, peering at my worried expression.

"We're coming back, you know" A pair of chocolate eyes crinkle ever-so slightly around the edges as he grins cautiously at me. It kinda takes me a moment to remember that I no longer have to find a way to kill him so it's not weird that he's being friendly. At least, I don't think it is….

"What do you figure the last surprise is?" Dastrey asks quietly.

My stomach sinks to a whole new level. The only good thing about today is that I have him to keep me alive. But Capitol kids who will definitely have more sponsors than us (not to mention favoritism by the Game makers) and another "surprise" on the way? I'm as good as dead.

"I have no idea"

"Me neither"

Silence consumes us for a moment as I ponder the future. Dull stabs of pure loneliness puncture my chest and I allow myself a tear-filled gaze at the boy next to me. Gotta make sure he's still here, still breathing for me. I had so much going on in my life that I'd never really realized how graceful Dastrey looks. Long lines and smooth plains assemble on his face in a perfect, symmetrical pattern. His creamy pale skin is a screen for the reflection of the window, playing a sickening movie about a despair-stained nation.

"Hey, Dastrey?"

"Yeah?"

"Hug me, please."

And here, on a train bound for death and despair, sadism and horror, is one small moment of peace.

No fear, no pain, no darkness.

Here I am safe, warm, happy.

Here, on a train bound for death and despair, sadism and horror, I am alive.

And here, on that same train, Dastrey says he'll do anything in his power to keep me that way.

A little part of me realizes he always has.