Train Rides I: Minute Waltz

-Cadenza Santiago, 18, District 1-

I had dreamed about the day I would finally step on the train to the Capitol for years. But I never could have imagined Cerulean would be there.

After all the years we hadn't spoken,all the years we hadn't seen each other it was honestly surreal to see him volunteer. For the first time in a long time, I didn't know what to say. I always have at least something to say, in any social situation. Luckily, Platinum saved me the trouble of coming up with something.

"Welcome to the first step of your journey as tributes." It still hadn't quite sunk in that all my hard work had finally culminated and I was going into the Games. Or that Platinum Krietzer was standing in front of me, for that matter. "How are you two feeling?"

I wasn't sure how honest to be. This wasn't a game anymore. Err...well it was but that didn't make that any less true! "Great!" I blurted out. Oh no. I hoped that didn't come across poorly. I really didn't want Platinum to hate me or dislike me…

"Well, that's good. Keep some of that energy, you're going to need it." Luckily my voice crack didn't seem to bother him. He turned his attention to Cerulean, then exchanged a concerned glance with Dutch.

Cerulean hadn't spoken since we got on the train. He just...avoided eye contact, and his gaze was practically glued to the floor. What was his problem?

"I've got energy to spare." I smiled confidently, but it faded pretty quickly with the overwhelming tension in the room. It wasn't sitting well with me. I didn't think that the train ride was supposed to be so overwhelmingly filled with awkward silence, at least, for Careers…

"Why don't you two get something to eat? You can tell us about yourselves over a nice cup of tea and scones or what have you!" Dasdemonda saved the day, waltzing in from another train car. "You two are so cute! I have high hopes for you, you know." she was cheery in the way that a lot of old people were, even if she didn't seem to want to admit how old she was.

I moved over to the table next to Dutch, and Cerulean wordlessly sat next to Platinum. I was really starting to feel concerned about him...what happened to him since I last saw him?

"Blue, are you coming over after dinner tonight?" I asked while dumping textbooks and folders into my backpack to cart home. There was always way too much homework. "I know I've got a lot of homework, so I can't do anything 'til then."

"Of course!" he responded, animated. "But… There's something... " he paused. "Never mind. It can wait."

"Alrighty! See you then!" The bus ride home and mindless pages of math problems and 'critical readings' went by in a blur. I was excited to see Blue! We hadn't hung out for a few days because we were both studying for a big midterm, and worried about Placement Exams for the academies we were hoping to get into for training to be tributes.

We both knew there were a ton of people vying for the spots for our year. But that couldn't dissuade us! Together, we were an unstoppable team that could take on the whole world!

"Honey, Cerulean's here," Mom called from the kitchen. I was still finishing dinner at the table. We had porkchops, and the seasoning was great! I couldn't wait to get to the point where I could cook like my Mom could. Someday, if the tribute thing didn't work out, or if I came back after the Games, I wanted to become a professional chef. Specifically, a baker. If I could make wedding cakes and cupcakes, I'd be pretty happy with my place in life, I thought. You would get to be a piece of some of the happiest moments of people's lives. Who wouldn't want to see people at their happiest?

I shoved the last bit of pork in my mouth, and rushed my plate to the sink. Before I could retreat from my mother, she turned and glared, sizing me up sternly.

"Brush your hair before you answer the door, you look like a wreck." She sourly muttered and turned back to the sink to wash dishes.

I couldn't look anything but my best for company, after all. I rushed to grab a brush to pull my hair into a messy ponytail and opened the door for Blue. Poor guy had to have been standing there for almost five minutes.

"Sorry Blue, I had to take care of a few things so I couldn't get the door fast," I apologized.

"It's okay!" he said, offering a bright smile. "I get that." He seemed to deflate a little bit after that. I wondered what he was going to tell me at school. I supposed he would say it soon, regardless.

"Let me grab a jacket and we can head out! It's such a clear, warm night; I love spring nights like this," I rambled automatically. Sometimes I felt like my thoughts streamed out of me before I had a chance to stop myself from saying them, but it usually worked out okay. I could hold a conversation with anyone that way.

"Yeah, it is pretty clear," he said, picking at his fingernails. He was quiet today, usually he was just as energetic and talkative as me. I felt a bubble of anxiety surge and I shoved it right back down. There was no use in worrying.

"Alright, let's head out!" I slipped on my trusty pair of converse. "We've got stars to gaze at!"

"Oh, yeah!" He stepped aside to let me lead the way. Behind my family's house, there was a trail that led to this secluded hill. To get to it was about a half hour's walk. Luckily for us, it was safe to go to since the fence surrounding the district gave us district residents a wide berth for wild land to explore. At least, it did where I lived. In any case, we didn't have to worry about getting mauled by bears or something. Even though we could have totally taken on a bear with the training we'd had already. I really didn't think Blue wanted to find out if we could or not, though.

"Now that it's warm outside, we can look at the spring stars, y'know!" I said as we walked along the trail.

"Yeah… I love the springtime." He was trying hard to be his usual self, but it wasn't working.

"We'll have to mow the path soon though, I can't believe all these little grasses and flowers have already come up! We're going to be knee deep in poison ivy soon if we don't do anything," I laughed. But with Blue not really being in the spirit of things, it came across as pretty halfhearted.

"Maybe someday we'll actually be able to know what all the plants we see are and what they do," he said thoughtfully.

"I bet we will! Did you know you can eat dandelions?" I asked. I had recently learned of this and had forgotten to tell Blue about it.

"Really? What do they taste like?"

"They're kinda like a really bitter lettuce, but at the same time, kinda nutty? And there's this earthy flavor that's like dirt but less gross? I dunno, it's hard to describe," I laughed. "That's what the book said, anyway. I took it out of the library a few weeks back."

"Here's to hoping neither of us has to find out," he said, some of his typical warmth coming back, "They sound icky."

"They do," I agreed. "Oh hey, we're here already!" I took off at a run up the hill with excitement and sat on my rock. It had always been mine, even before Blue and I started coming out here. My grandmother was the one who told me about this place originally. Blue took a seat next to the rock, in the grass, his somber mood becoming more and more prevalent.

"Alright, today we're looking at bears, Blue!" I lounged against the cool stone, enjoying how refreshing it was to the touch.

"Oh yeah, we talked about those a bit in school. The… Ursula?"

"Yeah, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Actually it's way easier to see Ursa Major once you find Ursa Minor." I gestured in the general vicinity of the star cluster making up Ursa Minor. "See the four stars in a box-y shape?"

"Oh… Yeah. Yeah, I see them."

"There's like...a little handle that comes off of it. Kinda like a pan, y'see?"

There's a pause as he squints up at the sky, until he finds it and says, "Oooooh, yeah, I see now."

"So here's the fun part. That's an upside-down bear cub."

"What."

I burst into laughter at his flat, disbelieving response. "The box part is the body, and the part that sticks out is where his head is."

There's a long pause. "That must take some imagination to see," he said.

"A long time ago these Greek people put a story to it. But we have to see Ursa Major before we get to that. See the cluster of stars that's way bigger underneath Ursa Minor?"

"Hm… Yep. There they are."

"That's Ursa Major. A much larger bear. See she used to be this pretty chick named Callisto, but she banged a god, and he was married, and his wife...wasn't happy. So after Callisto had this kid, Arcas, the god's wife turned her into a bear. And later on in life, Arcas was hunting in the woods and the god's wife kinda...nudged him into running into his mom-bear. He was going to shoot her, but the god suddenly realized what was going on and put Callisto in the stars before she could get shot. And uh...her son too? Eventually? As a bear cub? Something like that."

"Oh, I see. Yes, that makes total sense," he said in a playfully sarcastic tone.

"The people back then had pretty active imaginations. I wonder how everyone knew these stories back then. Like...who told them? Did they send letters? Who knows?" I wondered aloud.

"Maybe. But… Speaking of letters…" I turned to Cerulean. Had he received a letter from someone…?

"What's going on, Blue?"

"There's… Not an easy way to say this Denz… But… Uh…" he took a deep breath, and when he spoke next his voice was soft and delicate. "My family can't afford to live here anymore… We're going to move."

"What? Well...how far are you moving?" I felt my stomach sinking. Blue was my best friend. I wished I could help with his financial situation but there was no way my parents would agree to that…

"I don't really know. Far enough that… My parents said I probably won't get to see you, and I won't get to the big-time Academy like we were hoping…"

"Oh." I felt like I had been punched. "Well...we can still keep in contact every day! Send letters across town, and maybe meet up on the weekends once a month or so?" I smiled reassuringly. "It's not like we can't be friends anymore!"

"Yeah, exactly, we can make it work. I mean… We'll always be looking at the same stars, right?" He smiled weakly.

"Exactly!" I hugged Blue, just for good measure. "This won't be goodbye. We're best friends after all, we're unstoppable! And we're always connected by the same sky and the same stars."

He hugged me back, his voice once again full of the typical Blue energy. "Yeah! I mean, we're in the same District still, just a little bit farther apart!"

"Yeah! And just because you won't be able to go to the 'big-time' Academies doesn't mean you can't volunteer. We'll keep working at it to become the volunteers for our year, we don't have to give up hope!" I broke off the hug before it got too long for comfort.

"We shouldn't volunteer for the same year, though," he pointed out. "We can both be Victors of different Games. Then we'll live right next door to each other!" I smiled widely in response.

"Yeah! I just gotta work extra hard so I can win before you." I stuck my tongue out.

"Fine then," he said, laughing.

That was in junior high, when we were in 7th grade.

At first, it wasn't so bad. The letters came every other day. Blue had a rough time adjusting to a new school at the end of the school year, but things got better with time.

Denz, I can't believe it! You saw, right? I got reaped! What are the chances? Now there are people like, trying to talk to me, and trying to be my friend! I'll have to tell you about them in my next letter…

I was really happy things were going well for him after he got reaped in the 21st Games. But soon after, his letters got shorter and came less often.

Hap and I went for ice cream after school today! I had a little extra money from chores, since I babysat next door all last week….

Vent and I tried making omelettes yesterday. I'm pretty sure we smoked Char out of his room, because even though I thought I was pretty mediocre at cooking, Vent is a thousand times worse. If we were at the old house, we would have set off the smoke alarms, hardcore…

I always sent a letter in response. But...within a year, they had stopped coming at all. Whenever we had tried to meet up, it either didn't work on my end, or it didn't work on Blue's.

We fell out of touch. Of course I had made new friends, but...not like Blue. I spent years looking at the sky and hoping Blue still stared into the endless sea of stars like I did. I hoped that maybe, he still thought of me occasionally.

It got to a point that if I wanted to send a letter to reconnect with him, it would feel weird, and probably kind of creepy. He clearly moved on with his new friends. He probably moved on from me, too.

So there we are. I never thought we were going to talk, much less see each other again. But we were both on a train to the Capitol, and to the Games.

"So…can you talk, Cerulean?" Dutch raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just… A little bit overwhelmed." I didn't feel nearly as overwhelmed. Was that normal? I wasn't sure.

"Eh, understandable." Dutch stirred creamer and sugar into his coffee. Weird, he always struck me as a "I take my coffee black as my soul" type. With the amount of sugar he put in, you would think he was baking cookies, not sweetening his coffee.

"Don't worry, it's normal. I was pretty overwhelmed and stressed out too. Have you thought in advance at all for your strategy for anything? Chariots, Interviews, Training?" He turned a worried eye to me. "Either of you?"

"I don't know about Blue, but I'd like a nice, strong Career alliance. Do you know anything about the others?" I inquired.

"Who's-" Dutch looked incredibly confused. Oh I forgot to call him Cerulean. Shit. I hoped he wasn't mad at me if he had wanted to keep us knowing each other a secret-

"I am. Denz and I, we, uh, were friends growing up. Till I moved."

"Oh...Cerulean. Blue. I gotcha," Platinum mused. "Well anyway, you two should have some strong options for a Career pack. Both from Two are powerhouses, you won't have problems there. I've heard that the Four tributes are strong too. Four likes to play theirs up sometimes, though, put in a good word to get them a spot in the big alliance even if they're again, what do I know about Career adequacy?" he laughed a bit. "I'm just an old man," he teased. "Although I'm literally a grandpa now, so I guess I really am old."

"Whoah, I don't remember hearing about that! Congrats!" Platinum Krietzer is a grandpa? Man, even if he didn't show his age, he was getting up there…

"It feels like just yesterday I was in this stupid train car yelling at Os for volunteering, and…" Dutch paused, sipping his coffee slowly and staring at the ground. "Now I'm a father twice over..."

At that moment, high-pitched wailing came from somewhere in the room. Dutch even looked surprised until he whipped out a baby monitor from his back pocket. "Daddy, where are you?! You're not gone, are you? That was just a dream!" the voice of a really young boy sniffled over the monitor.

A look of embarrassment flashed across Dutch's face. "I uh...I'll be right back. I have to go... deal with that." He shot out of his seat and quickly left the train car.

"I didn't know mentors were allowed to bring their kids to work!" Blue said.

"Well… Technically, we're not. But since both Dutch and Marlowe are mentoring this year, they made an… Exception." He definitely had that grandpa twinkle in his eyes. It was actually pretty endearing. "As for me, I usually don't have a choice but to bring my kid to work." He laughed a bit. "I've still got it. I'm old, but not that old, y'know."

"Uh...Dad I need some...backup." Dutch's voice piped up over the baby monitor. I hadn't noticed he had left it behind with Platinum. "We need sheets and a washer for the bed."

"Oh, kids, what can you do," Dasdemonda tisked and went to follow Platinum out the train car, but stopped when an Avox with a tray of food entered. "You. Set that down and come help, you have washing to do." The Avox with short mousy hair and a spray of freckles across their nose flashed me a look of desperation and set down a covered tray of scones and pastries.

It wasn't like I could do anything to help them. The desperation hardened to resignation and they left the train car with their shoulders ever so slightly slumped.

"So, uh…" I racked my mind for a way to start a conversation with Blue. He had just picked up a scone to eat. He must be pretty hungry after the Reaping. "You...do any stargazing lately?"

"Yeah, actually… I still can't picture the bears, though. As hard as I've tried." He laughed a little and started eating. "You?" he asked, mouth, slightly full. He wasn't very good at remembering to not talk with your mouth full. Then again, he never had been too good at that.

"Oh y'know, every couple nights, or every nice night really. I used to go out more but...it's usually to get a daily run in anymore." I couldn't believe he remembered the bears! "Y'know Ursa Major and Minor should still be visible. I'm sure if we try hard enough we could see them from the train, if you want."

"Of course! Hap and Vent were never really all that interested in stargazing. Not the outdoorsy type, I guess." Blue had some of his old spark back. It honestly felt like all the time we hadn't seen each other hadn't passed at all.

I couldn't stop myself from grinning ear to ear. "That's a shame. They don't know what they're missing!" I messed with my left earring. The green droplet of a gemstone nestled in gold was causing my ears to ache. The fidgeting kept me grounded in the moment, since I could barely believe this-all of this-was happening.

"No, they don't! The closest they got to being outside would be sitting on Vent's porch eating freezie pops. Which is great, but isn't… Isn't nearly as awesome as being under the night sky. To me, anyways." He took another bite of scone.

"Freezie pops aren't even healthy for you," I laughed, "but I bet they are nice on a hot day. Still doesn't beat chilling underneath the stars, though."

"Maybe they're not healthy, but they're amazing. Sugary and delicious and cold." Having finished one scone, Blue moved on to another.

"The cold must be nice. I'm not a huge sugar fan though," I said.

Blue frowned. "Huh, I thought you loved chocolate and candy corn back in elementary school and junior high though…"

"I did, but my taste buds changed." I shrugged. "Like how some people come to like coffee, y'know? Except I came to dislike sugar. It gives me a pretty bad stomach ache now, so I have to be careful." I still remembered when milk chocolate tasted like heaven to me. Now it was just saccharine fats, and acidic salts.

"Oh… Well, that sucks." He finished the scone happily. I poured myself a mug of coffee. After all, once Platinum and Dutch returned, it was going to be a long discussion of tactics and strategies. I needed to be alert.

"Eh, it's fine," I made a waving motion. "So tell me! How's Char?"

"Same old Char," he laughed. "Still getting into trouble as always. He's working really hard towards the Games, just like all the kids his age."

"I'm sure he'll make it far! After all, he's your brother," I winked, "so this should help him get farther."

"Yeah, he's not going to stop for anything or anyone. Just like his big bro." All of a sudden, Blue's energy faded, just a little. I guessed he was worried about making it home to Char and his friends…I liked my friends back home but I couldn't talk about them like Blue did. He got this little twinkle in his eye and smiled ever so slightly just thinking about his family and friends. I don't think I did anything like that when I talked about mine, and I don't know how that made me feel...It wasn't something I had the luxury of worrying about at the moment, either.

"Don't worry, you're going to set a great example for all the people supporting you back home," I smiled. "After all, we're the power duo, reunited!" For the first time in a long while, I felt refreshed and re-energized, although the coffee might have had something to do with that.

"Yeah, true." His smile came back, slowly.

The moment was interrupted with the sounds of tiny footsteps and the wild giggles of a little boy, who soon entered the car, wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. He had his mother's olive skin and dull green eyes, along with his father's shaggy, black hair.

"Get back here!" The train car door slammed closed behind Dutch and his son.

"Why? It's much funner here!" the boy giggled with a wild look in his eyes. Coupled with that and his disheveled hair, he certainly looked to be a wild child. He looked up at Blue and I with wide eyes. "Who're you?"

I took a sip of my coffee. "I'm Cadenza! That's Bl-Cerulean!" Blue almost choked on his water.

"Blulean?" The boy giggled. "That's a funny name."

"It's not going to be funny when I'm done with you," Dutch fumed, reaching for the kid who dashed out of the way. It was hard to believe this man won the Hunger Games, yet he couldn't catch his own child. "A little help here, Dad?!"

"I'm the fun Grandpa," Platinum said, chuckling and sitting down on the couch. "That is not my job anymore. I've done enough wrangling kiddoes for a lifetime. You're on your own."

"Grandplat's the fun grandpa!" Scotch chirped, ducking under Blue's chair and under the table. Dutch wore the look of a defeated man, flopping down on a chair, after which Scotch climbed up onto his lap. "I love you Daddy," he said sweetly.

"Mhhmmm," Dutch grumbled, but his features softened considerably and he held his son close to him.

"Dasdemonda will be back in a bit," Platinum began, "So let's get down to business, shall we? Are you two ready?" I exchanged a look with Blue.

"Yep!" we said at the same time.

We have so totally got this, I thought, We're the unstoppable power duo, after all!

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first half of the train rides! This was supposed to have two POV's but we got a lil carried away. Let us know what you think in a review, those are always well-appreciated! Thanks to those who are reading and reviewing, hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Also, for those who don't know, Legend's going to study abroad for a semester, so the next update probably won't be for a while. Thank you for your continued support, hope you're enjoying the story so far! :D