A/N: Hello! I wasn't going to post this until monday, but I couldn't wait, so here we are with the first set of reapings! Thank you to those who submitted these two lovely tributes, I hope that I did them justice. Tell me what you think about it, I hope you like. Working on the next reapings as we speak, update should come in about a week.

Enjoy :)


The Beginning of the End

Sash Nickle (16) District 8

"Sash, Sash!"

A young voice pulled Sash Nickle out of her sleep, and she opened her light blue eyes to see her younger brother, Miles, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Dad says it's time to get up. It's reaping day!" he continued, speaking with a naive excitement that would have made Needle, her other brother, roll his eyes if he had been in the room. Miles was always like this, so happy and excited. Sash liked it, she found it refreshing, but her twin brother didn't think that same. He was probably sleeping at the moment though, tired from work, and Miles would be on his way to wake him up next.

Sash sat up, waving her brother away. "Alright, alright," she said. "I'm up. Happy?"

The boy nodded. "Yep!" he said with a grin. "Dad said to get dressed and ready. We'll see you down stairs." He bounded out of the room, shutting to door behind him with such a bang that it rattled the whole room.

Running a hand through her long blonde hair to straighten it out, Sash quickly tied it up into a pony and moved towards the other end of her small room, to where her younger sister sleep in a dirty old bed. She kneeled beside her sister, shaking her lightly. "Time to wake up, Alice," she whispered.

The pretty little girl stirred, sitting up groggily in her small cot. Tilting her head to the side, she glanced at Sash, a confused look on her face. Sash gave her a comforting smile. "We must get dressed, today's reaping day," she explained in the most soothing tone she could muster. Alice nodded, frowning but saying nothing, as always. Even without speaking, the four-year old understood the concept of reaping day, and could portray it as well.

Sash helped her sister out of bed and into a flowing green dress, tying a ribbon in the young girl's light hair. "You look beautiful," she complimented her, kissing her on the head. Sash quickly stepped out of her nightgown, dressing herself in a short red dress that stood out against her pale skin. Sash hugged the piece of clothing to her chest, she had just made it, and yet it was already beginning to fall off of her. She had lost weight again.

Alice tugged at the hem of her skirt, and Sash looked down at her. Sash smiled. "It's okay," she assured -quite unconvincingly, she figured- hand on Alice's back as she guided her across the room to a basin in the corner. Kneeling down, she wet a cloth and began to softly clean Alice's face. After the younger girl was clean, Sash began to wash herself as well. The water was cool, but clean enough, and all that her family could afford, even with both her and her brother working.

Sash straightened, looking down at Alice. "Let's go down stairs, shall we," she said. "Miles said Dad was waiting."


Bianiz Nikelle (16) District 7

Thump, thump, thump.

Bianiz Nikelle's knife made a dull sound as it struck the wall across from her, burying it's tip deep in the wood. The one was for her mother, who had kicked her out of her own home. Another knife landed next to it, the one for the stupid Capitol. Another knife. And for their stupid games.

She stood up from her bed, collecting the array of knifes that she had stuck into the wall, and then went back to sit down, beginning to process yet again. She felt better then she had when she had awoken. Thowing knifes always calmed her, for reasons she didn't know, but it always did make her feel better. Especially now, when the reaping was quickly approaching. Bianiz was in the middle of tossing her third knife when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," she called.

Her boyfriend stepped into the room then, their small daughter sleeping in his arms. Shar Makker -or Killin as he was often called- was a tall, muscular boy, with dark hair and blue eyes. Bianiz regarded him quietly, there were dark bags under his eyes, and his hair was all messy. It was obvious that he had been up all night, probably taking care of their child or worried about herself, and yet he didn't wake her once. And he loved him it.

"How is the little one?" she asked, tucking the knife in her hand into her pocket.

Killin smiled, shifting the child in his hold. "Good, missed her mother."

"Let's go for a walk," Bianiz suggested, standing and brushing a piece of her brown curly hair from her face. She walked over to Killin and plucked her daughter from his grasp, giving her a kiss on the forehead and placing her on the ground. The child, not even a year old yet, wobbled around, before attaching herself to her mother's leg.

She took Killin's hand as the exited their small home and walked towards the woods. "I know you are worried because it's reaping day," she stated plainly. "But you shouldn't be," she commented, lifting up the little girl into her arms as she spoke. "It'll be fine," she continued without letting him speak.

"I know."

Bianiz nodded, taking a deep breath. They walked down a thin, leaf covered path, and she relished in the quiet peace. "The woods are beautiful today," she said. "As if it doesn't know that two of its children are about to be sent away to die."


When Sash and Alice arrived downstairs, their father sat exhausted at the kitchen table. Sash sat Alice down beside Miles -who was already nibbling at a piece of bread- and got her sister something to eat, not bothering to worry about herself.

"You should eat something," a voice in her ear said, and Sash turned to see her twin brother Needle standing next to her, blonde hair messy.

Sash jumped. "You startled me," she laughed. "And besides, there isn't enough."

"You have to learn to take care of yourself before others, Sash, or else one day you are going to get hurt," Needle protested, watching his younger siblings with a sigh.

"Don't be so somber," Sash said with a sigh, turning to look at her twin. She straightened his collar. "You look nice on this fine morning."

"It's reaping day," Needle said, and Sash's smile fell. He looked kindly at her, knowing that she was just trying to be kind. Out of everybody Sash knew, she knew Needle the most, and he knew her. "Thank you. Let's go, reaping starts soon, and Abigale is probably waiting."

Sash nodded, following her brother outside. They meet their friend Abi along the road, who greeted them with a smile and a loud "Hey," as always.

"So, wanna make a break for it. Go past the fence, into the woods?" she questioned with a twinkle in her eye.

Needle rolled his eyes. "Like you would ever make it."

"Hush guys," Sash said with wide eyes, "Someone could hear you!"

"No one is going to hear me," Abi scoffed. "And if they do, who cares," she looked up to the sky, yelling. "What's the Capitol gonna do, kill me?!"

Sash looked around nervously, rushing towards her friend and putting a hand over her mouth. "Stop it," she said. "That Capitol isn't going to do anything."

It was Abi's turn to tool her eyes. "Oh, come on," she scoffed. "The Capitol does things everyday, that's why people disappear, that's why were are going to the reaping now. Because of the Capitol."

"Abi!"

Her friend rolled her eyes. "But really, last chance to leave, reaping is in an hour."

"No," Sash said with a shake of her head. "No, of course not."

Oh, how she regretted that.


Bianiz had kissed her daughter on the head and her boyfriend on the cheek before she went to sign in for the reaping. A older women had raised an eyebrow at her, and Bianiz had scowled back. "Jerk," she murmured. Just because she was young didn't mean that she couldn't have a boyfriend and a child. Close minded people who looked down at her like that angered her. She was sixteen, not a child.

"Don't pay any attention to her," Killin said, kissing her on the forehead. "Good luck."

Bianiz nodded. "Yeah, thanks. It'll be fine, I'm not getting reaped. Some other unlucky kid is," she said, then kissed her child once more, and walked away.

She didn't flinch when her finger was pricked, used to the dull pain by now, and made her way into the crowd of nervous girls her age with a bored look on her face.

Everyone looked one edge, parents hugged their young ones closely, friend's clutched each other's hands, and lovers gave quick kisses goodbye, but it wasn't all the surprising for reaping day. Everyone was always on edge. Bianiz didn't really care though, she only had 5 slips in that reaping bowl, she wasn't going to get reaped.

She watched as more frightened children trickled into the town square, the small twelve-year olds shaking with nervousness in their position close to the stage. Greyson Tarly -a bubbly if sarcastic middle-aged man with a puffy wig that covered his greying hair- District 7's escort, strutted onto stage and to the microphone, taping the tip of it with a long fingernail and sending out a screech of eletricy interference that silenced the crowd.

"Okay, good morning District 7!" he said, greeting them as if they were in line for a rock concert, smiling with a big wave of his hands. "Welcome to the reaping for the 34th Hunger Games," he began, then launched into a speech about the Capitol and the importance of the Games. Or, as Bianiz liked to think of it, complete and utter bullshit.

Bianiz stopped paying attention, and when she looked back up, there was a lean boy with hazel eyes standing on the stage, fake smile plastered on his face, and Greyson was walking over to the girl's reaping ball. "Okay, now, let's pick our lovely female tribute for this year!" He reached inside, not playing around as he quickly plucked a name out of the ball and read it into the mic.

"Bianiz Nikelleua!"

Shock. That's all she could feel. How could this have happened? She only had five slips in the reaping ball. Bianiz swallowed, closing her mouth that must've fallen slightly open when her name was read. With a breath, she put on a blank expression, walking onto stage and away to her possible doom.


"And District 8's female tribute is...Sash Nickle!"

Sash felt the tear running down her face before she could stop it. Her hand flew to her cheek to wipe it off, mouth wide, and it watched in fear as the escort looked directly at her, hand out stretched.

She began to make her way to the stage with shaky legs, everyone parting as she passed. Her mind was racing. She glanced over to Needle in the boys section, catching a quick glimpse of his surprised face. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Everything else was a blur. Sash hardly registered as a 12 year-old boy was called up to the stage, but knew that his sobs made her want to cry as well. She had fallen into Needle's arms as soon he had come into her room to say goodbye. She could vaguely feel him speaking into her ear, but couldn't hear his words over the cries of herself and her mother.

Everything happened so quickly. she remembered her friends -Lacey and Abigale- talking to her and telling her to make allies. She remembered kisses goodbye from her family, and then suddenly she was whisked onto a train. Her life becoming a fading dot in her District behind her.

This was it, she realized. The beginning of the end.