Life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints

It takes, and it takes, and it takes

And we keep living anyway

We rise and we fall and we break

and we make our mistakes

Sinon Altair

District 5 Male / 17 years old

Sinon sat at the counter, picking at his breakfast. Across from him sat Tycho, ex-Peacekeeper and his guardian. The two of them sat in silence, staring at random spots in the kitchen with their eyes occasionally meeting. Sinon didn't really know what to say to him, so he didn't really say anything at all. Though they've been living together for almost ten years now, it was still a bit awkward. He didn't exactly know how to interact with Tycho, and vice versa. Sinon put down his fork. His pancakes were starting to get cold.

"How's Dad?" he asked carefully, breaking the silence. It was the same question he asked at least two times a week, like clockwork. He always asked, even if he knew he would get the same answer every time.

Tycho sighed, and stroked his white beard. He was a gruff man in about his sixties, not a man of many words. He always paused before saying something, like he didn't want to say the wrong thing. "Sinon, I don't have any contact with the Capitol about what's going on with your father. You know that, son."

Sinon sighed, too. From what he could remember when he was eight years old, his father was a great man. He didn't do anything wrong, really. Even when he got arrested, which landed Sinon in District 5 instead of their previous home at the Capitol, it had been a small crime. Sinon didn't like to believe he was alluding himself into thinking his father was a good person. He was, and he still is. But sometimes it was difficult. He hadn't seen his dad in almost a decade. He wanted what he was like now.

Him and Tycho had their ups and downs. While his guardian was okay, he didn't replace his dad. Tycho was more like a grandfatherly figure to him.

Sinon picked up his fork again. He tried to eat more of the pancakes he had made earlier, but he just wasn't hungry. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Slowly, he pushed the plate aside in Tycho's direction, hoping he would eat it instead so they wouldn't waste food. Then he grabbed the jacket from the back of his chair and started to head to the front door. His shoes were on the porch.

"Where are you going?" Tycho called after him. The guardian didn't bother following him, though. He was used to Sinon leaving the house at random times throughout the day.

"Out," Sinon said, not specifying. When Tycho said nothing more, he pulled open the door and let it audibly shut behind him. The early morning sun felt warm against his face. He grabbed his combat boots, which were waiting for him nearby, and stuffed his feet into them. When he was done, he stepped off the porch, hands in his pockets, and set out to meet his friend Copper at their local rendezvous, the marketplace. She was his only friend in the District, which was kind of a big deal. He wasn't exactly a friendly person, and he had many walls put up around him.

It was only a short walk from the house he was residing at to the marketplace. He scanned the area for her, his eyes full of searching. There, he thought to himself after a bit of time, finally having caught sight of her. Sinon's eyebrows furrowed after a few seconds, however. Copper seemed to be in some kind of heated debate with one of the merchants who ran a jewelry stand. He immediately knew what he had to do, and started to head over at a breakneck pace. Friends always got each other out of trouble. Even if he only had one friend, he at least knew that much.

Sinon arrived in the middle of their argument. He stood next to Copper cautiously, and stared down at the merchant, who was a lot shorter than him. She was a middle-aged woman, with a face that was wrinkled, despite her not being that old. He guessed that it probably came from frowning so much, since she didn't look like a kind woman.

"I'm telling you, I didn't steal that necklace," Copper was saying. Through her curly brown hair, she shot a quick glance at Sinon, so fast that one could've missed it if they blinked. In that instance, he understood. Copper did steal the necklace, but he wasn't about to rat her out. Sinon instantly pasted a smile onto his face, and stared into the merchant's eyes.

"Ma'am, this is my sister," he started in that convincing, persuasive way of his. In his mind, he quickly began to form the lie, building upon it until it sounded perfectly believable. It was a talent of his. Plus, him and Copper looked similar, with the same shade of brown hair and almost the same color of eyes. "I was watching from a distance the whole time, and I can assure you she didn't steal anything. She's not exactly sneaky."

Copper kept a poker face, and continued with the lie. "Last time I stole something was about two years ago. Our mom gave me a pretty hard slap after that. I know the punishment would definitely be worse if I did it again, so I never tried," she added with a little laugh.

Sinon smiled shortly at the woman. "So are you almost done holding us up? We have places to be." Somehow, he managed to sound both firm yet charismatic at the same time. It was a feat people could scarcely pull off.

The woman looked at both of them suspiciously, before finally sighing heavily. "Fine. But if I ever see either of you near this jewelry stand again, I'm going to call the Peacekeepers," she threatened. If looks could kill, he and Copper would be six feet under. Judging from the harshness of his woman alone, he knew she would make good on that promise.

Copper didn't waste any time getting out of there, taking the opportunity when she could. "Understood," she said, grabbing onto Sinon's arm. "Let's go home."

He followed her until the jewelry stand was out of sight. Then he paused. "Where's the necklace?"

With a sly smile, Copper pulled it out of the back pocket of her jeans. The sun glinted off the pearls in an exquisite way when she turned it over in her palm. "Pretty good, right?"

"Definitely," Sinon said as she pocketed it again. "What are you going to do with it?"

Copper shrugged. "Sell it somewhere. Get enough money to finally buy some food for my family," she said tightly. Sinon didn't say anything in response, but he felt for her. She was tough. She had been the one to defend him from older kids when he first arrived in the District, older kids who were going to beat him up for having a Capitol accent. She didn't like to be comforted. But he knew that one of the things they both had in common was a confusing family life. He lived apart from his father, one of the only people he ever trusted, and she was the only one who tried to support their family. They both did pretty bad things, but had a good reason for it.

Sinon let a few seconds pass them by in silence before saying, "Well, let's go find a place to sell that. I know a great pawn shop just around the corner."

"Alright. Let's go, then."

And together, they walked off to the pawn shop, unaware of what bad things loomed just in Sinon's future.

Soleil Levithan

District 5 Female / 14 years old

The sound of a door opening and closing behind her was faint in her mind as she sat on her front porch, staring up at the stars. Her house was especially noisy that day, and even though she didn't mind helping around, she needed a little break. Soleil's youngest sister Eliza sat on her lap quietly, craning her neck up to look at the sky as well. At seven years old, she was a pretty good kid. She rarely gave Soleil trouble, even at her young age, and she also loved to stargaze as well, even if she couldn't fully fathom what the stars were exactly. Not to mention she was especially adorable. Soleil absentmindedly patted Eliza's hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her father sitting down on the porch next to her. He must've been the one who opened the door.

He took Eliza from her arms, giving her a break from holding her. "Vanity and I just put your brothers down for bed. Boy, Austin and Carter are a wild bunch," he said, referring to Soleil's brothers and sisters. She cracked a smile. Vanity was her oldest sibling at 18 years old, naturally the most responsible and mature out of the six kids. Ross was just a year older than herself, and he was pretty mature as well. Austin and Carter, on the other hand, were 11 and 9 years old respectively with virtually no sense of wrong and right. On a typical day, they were the ones who caused the most havoc in the house. After them, of course, was Eliza.

"Yeah, I know. It was pretty loud today," Soleil answered, rubbing her tired eyes. She didn't want to be the one to complain, but it had been almost twice its normal volume. However, after she realized what she was doing, she instantly stopped rubbing her eyes and put her hands down by her sides. Even though she was feeling pretty beat, her father was probably even more so. A single father overworking himself to support his family. She had no right to be lazy when he was working so many times harder than she was.

Her dad adjusted his hold on Eliza and squinted at Soleil. "There are shadows under your eyes. Have you been getting much sleep? Were you stargazing?" he asked, not unkindly.

Soleil nodded. Her eyes were starting to close a little bit, but she always liked staying up and staring off into the horizon. It made her small little corner of the world in District 5 somehow feel big.

"You should probably be getting to bed soon," her father said with a soft smile. Then his smile became sadder, a bit more melancholy. "The Reapings are tomorrow."

Eliza sat up in her dad's lap. "The Reapings? What's that again?"

Soleil and her father exchanged a slightly anxious glance. At a young, tender age, Eliza may have heard of the Reapings briefly before, but she probably didn't grasp the full meaning and seriousness of it. After a pregnant pause, Soleil said, "Just something that one girl and one boy get picked for in the District, that's all."

Her dad changed the subject quickly, before anyone else could comment. "We should probably go inside now. It's getting pretty dark. And you," he said, addressing Eliza with a soft smile, "It's time for you to go to bed as well, don't you think?"

She shrugged and settled into his arms. Soleil's father picked her up carefully to bring her inside, and Eliza nestled her head into the crook of his shoulder. Soleil got to her feet.

"I can put her down for bed. You can take a break, don't worry," she offered, already holding out her hands to take her younger sister. When her father hesitated, she said, "Come on. It's no trouble."

After another few seconds of contemplating, Soleil's dad handed Eliza over. The youngest Levithan sister squealed at the prospect of being held by her older sister again. Soleil adjusted her grip and gestured to the door. "You can go in first."

"Thank you," he answered wearily, and kissed the top of her head. "I'm going to go to bed. I'm sorry, honey."

Soleil smiled genuinely. "There's nothing to be sorry about. You need your rest."

He still looked apologetic as he twisted the knob and prepared to head inside. She stopped him before he went further.

"And, Dad?"

He looked back.

"Thanks for everything."

Soleil's father smiled a little smile. He turned back around and went inside the house, calling a final goodnight over his shoulder. Eliza looked Soleil's shoulder sleepily, which probably meant that she was finally tired and wanted to go to bed. Soleil quietly looked back at the stars before she went inside. They were shining brightly, as always. She smiled at the look of them, feeling comforted as she always did when she saw them.

She focused on the one star that seemed to be shining brighter than the others. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight," she whispered to herself, quietly enough that perhaps Eliza couldn't even hear her. Silently, she opened the door, went back inside the house, and made her wish in the darkness of the anteroom.

I wish that my family will be safe from any harm.

She didn't notice that she had unintentionally excluded herself from her wish. And the next morning, only after she had gotten Reaped, was when she realized it. But by then, it was already too late.

A/N: Finally, the next chapter is up. Sorry for the long wait, but I've been incredibly busy. Updates might be a bit more spaced out than before, since I do need time to focus on what I'm juggling outside of writing. I've literally been so busy I basically wrote this entire thing today, lol. Anyway, hope you like this chapter, and the next one will be coming shortly!