Neonia "Neon" Lights (D5)

The fire scorched the floor and burst upwards towards the decaying ceiling. She shouldn't have been in the building in the first place; it was old and worn down, ready to fall at any given moment. She also shouldn't have been playing with fire. Neonia "Neon" Lights needed to hate fire. Fire was what had killed her parents and, by such a tragic event, Neon should have stayed far, far away from fire, because it was her fault that they died.

Or, Neon thought as she watched the fire crawl towards the starry sky, that's what Flame tells me anyway. Neon blew on her hands, rubbing them together and scooting closer towards the fire. The air was cold and nipped at her skin and her old, ratted brown blanket just wasn't doing the job anymore. But the fire, the fire would do nicely. She nibbled at the cheese and bread Hydro had snuck to her. Hydro had also snuck a rainbow sun pendent to her, clasping the necklace around Neon's neck as she gave her sister a tearful hug. It had been Neon's thirteenth birthday and all Hydro had been able to give her was bread and cheese, and Hydro had hated it. It wasn't her fault. Hydro's twin, Flame, wanted nothing to do with Neon. If she starved, if she went without a roof over head, if she was lost, if she became sick, none of it mattered to Flame. All the better in his mind if she was out of sight, out of mind.

Neon watched the flame dance under the moonlight and crawled under the tattered blanket on the concrete floor. The flame danced and the hawk stared at her from its perch on the decaying railings. All the while Neon watched the flames and thought of her parents, wishing she could take it all back.

Tobias Walt (D5)

Tobias Walt hated secrets. Maybe that wasn't true. He didn't hate secrets exactly. What he hated was people keeping secrets from him when they were supposed to be honest. Like Kole or his father. His father never gave a straight answer about his mother and why she left, in fact he pretended as if she had never up and disappeared on them on night. Kole, his best friend, his only friend, never reveled anything about her past. Not a thing and it irked Tobias. At least he knew he was Tobias; that wasn't a secret. He knew he had a sister who died at birth. He knew his best friend was Kole. But, at the moment, that was all he knew.

Tobias waved at his father as he and the rest of his age group trudged towards their spots in the center of the square. District Five was coveted by dark, looming clouds. There was a slow, unnerving tension sparking throughout the crowded center. This was the reaping for the 118th Hunger Games and no child lined up in the center was safe. Tobias knew that tonight many families would be celebrating another safe year; others would be weeping. He wondered what his father would do. Garrett Walt had a tendency to pretend things didn't happen, for better or worse.

Tobias ran a pale hand through his flaming red hair, spying Kole a few feet away with the rest of the district. Luckily, she was safe now and had been for years. When they had first been friends, back when he was eight and she was fourteen, he had watched the reapings with a morbid fear of hearing his one and only friend being called. Back then she had been silent and restrained, but at least now she could smile and crack a joke or two. The same went for him, but only in each other's company.

Tobias glanced at the clock tower. Ten minutes until the reaping began.

Neon Lights (D5)

Neon had been rudely awoken by Livve that morning. She shouldn't have been surprised; Livve had lived on the streets for as far back as anyone could remember and was called the wild boy by the rest of the district. He wasn't a particularly kind boy and Neon had been witness to numerous beatings he had given to others larger than him, but he had taken Neon under his wings when her older brother Flame had kicked her out and taught her how to survive.

He crossed his tan arms across his 5'5 frame and narrowed his dark chocolate brown eyes at her. "You've overslept. The peacekeepers will be on us if we don't get down to the reaping soon."

Neon rubbed her tired amber eyes, the same eyes her aunt Finch was said to have, although the woman had been nicknamed Foxface back when she was put through the Hunger Games. Livve didn't believe her when she told him her aunt was Foxface, despite the fact Foxface had been older than Solar, Neon's mother, by several years and Solar had been in her late forties when she had given birth to Neon.

"Where were you last night?" Neon asked, brushing back her short curly red hair. She missed it being long, but the solar mill she worked at required it to be short. Livve had given her nothing but bullying remarks about it.

"Never you mind. Come on, let's go." The thirteen year-old youth tugged on the young girl's arm and headed towards the center of the power district, groaning as a young girl dashed over to them just as they reached the reaping area. Livve didn't like Neon's one and only other friend, the daughter of the mayor's son, the blonde hair Berry. In fact, he didn't like anyone other than himself around Neon.

Berry wrapped her arms around Neon and stuck her tongue out at Livve, leading Neon away from the boy and towards their area of the reaping. "I hate him."

Neon sighed and shook her head. "You just don't know him well enough."

"Yes, well, what I do know, I hate."

Neon was about to replay when she caught sight of her older siblings, Flame and Hydro. Hydro shot her a weary smile, and Flame glared, turning his head away as he crossed his arms. The burns on Neon's hands and back seemed to come to life every time she saw Flame.

Shortly, the reaping ceremony began while the clouds rumbled threatenly overhead. The escort woman, a small, plump lady with blue hair and seashell shoes clucked her tongue as the Capital video ended and she began to read a small slip of paper.

"Tobias Walt!" Not a sound was uttered as a tall, red headed boy walked onto the solar paneled stage. Neon didn't know the boy; he was years older than her.

"And for our female tribute...Neonia Lights!" A hurt gasp came from Neon's side and angry yell came from the thirteen year-old boy's section, but it all barely registered in Neon's mind. She calmly walked on stage, her face and mind emotionless as Berry, Livve, and Hydro screamed and cried. Flame did nothing, and it stung.

She knew she had no chance in the arena and took in the sight of her district one last time.

Tobias Walt (D5)

Tobias stood proudly next to the younger girl, trying his best not display emotion, but it was harder than it sounded. He knew his face looked grim and it was all he could do to not cry out about the unfairness of it all. He caught sight of Kole, who stared sadly at him from her place in the crowd, and his father who seemed to know nothing of what was transpiring.

He didn't have much hope for his district at all.

So I don't know Foxface's real name, but I was told it was Finch, so don't shoot me if you've heard it's something else please!