Krasimir had been six when he first was brave enough to sneak over to the group of trees at the end of the fields. He had gone straight through the clearing to explore further when he found the ground caving away, dropping him down into a deep, dark hollowed pit. Luckily he had managed to survive the fall without any major injuries, just a few scrapes and small cuts, but it was the thought that no one knew he was out there that had scared him the most. The pit had been deep, but not very wide. It hadn't taken long for him to start feeling claustrophobic. An hour had passed before the sky started finally getting dark, causing the already dim light of the pit to darken completely, having left him incapable of even seeing his hand when it was right in front of his face.

He had never been scared of anything before in his life, except for maybe the thought of something bad happening to his younger cousin, but at that moment he was really starting to feel afraid for himself. Someone had to find him eventually, he had thought. It had been too long; people would start looking, but who would think to check in that area?

The night sounds that had once seemed harmless then terrified him and he had found himself paralyzed, unable to try any means of escape. What good would it have done anyway? Even if he had managed to get out of the pit he would still have been unable to see his way back to the village. He had to wait until morning.

Somehow he had fallen asleep, but it had been an uneasy, restless slumber that he woke from with a start when he heard some loud bird crying out in the early morning light. Shivering in the chilly morning air, he had tried clawing at the dirt walls of the pit, hoping to catch any sort of hold possible to climb his way out. It had felt like hours later when he finally managed to get out, collapsing on the ground in exhaustion, breathing heavily.

There wasn't much Krasimir was afraid of even now, but if there was one thing he knew for sure it was that he never wanted to be in such confined, dark spaces ever again.

The tributes were all getting into the helicopter which would take them to where they would be getting into the arena, and Krasimir was not thrilled. He was not a fan of heights. It didn't please him much either that they had to get trackers in their arms. He knew it was so the game makers could track the tributes for the games, and keep track of who was alive and who was not, but it still felt like some sort of violation of privacy. Complaining wouldn't do any good so he kept his mouth shut.

When Krasimir arrived in his waiting room he found Teddy there waiting for him. His stylist wished him good luck and made sure he was all ready to go. Of course the fact that Krasimir was about to go out to participate in a fight to the death didn't stop Teddy from making the small comment that, if Krasimir did win, he would like to personally take him out to dinner. Krasimir wasn't going to be rude and downright say he had little to no interest in doing anything with Teddy, so he just managed a weak smile and focused his gaze on the glass tube in the corner of the room that would take him to the arena.

A voice soon filled the room, informing them he had ten minutes. Now Krasimir was starting to feel a little bit panicky. He knew he was capable of surviving; he knew he wasn't going down without a fight, but…he wasn't cut out for this. When it came right down to it, he was no fighter. He had gotten himself in way over his head. There was no turning back though; he had to go. At five minutes he finally stepped into the glass tube, giving Teddy a small wave in farewell as the door shut. Immediately he felt trapped, claustrophobic, and he hoped it would start to move soon so he could be free of its confinement. He was just starting to wonder whether the floor of the tube would go upwards or down, when it started to move. He found himself slowly sinking downwards, the room holding Teddy gradually disappearing from view above him. Whether that was a good sign or not, Krasimir did not know.

In sudden panic Krasimir realized it was getting darker. The further he went down the darker it became. His heart was racing and he had to remind himself to breathe so he didn't pass out before he even reached the bottom. His head was pounding heavily and it wasn't until he felt a soft breeze of air that he opened his eyes and realized the door of the tube had opened. The other tributes were entirely invisible in the complete darkness of the room. What sort of arena was this?

Without warning a huge ball of flame burst into life in the center of the room. Most of the tributes, including Krasimir, shielded their faces from the onslaught of sudden light. Once his eyes were able to adjust, Krasimir quickly looked around. His heart sunk. They were in some sort of huge circular cavern. Well, huge was an understatement. Behind each one of the tributes there was a tall, narrow gaping black hole in the cavern wall – a tunnel – and it did not look like there was light coming from any of them. Two of Krasimir's worst fears in one arena; he felt his confidence sinking lower than the floor they were on.

In the center of the room was what everyone called the Cornucopia. It held tons of survival gear and weapons, but, for the most part, every year it was where most of the tributes died in the first ten minutes, all fighting to get something of use before running off. There was a huge iron chandelier hanging from the cavern's ceiling, directly above the center of the room, holding the ball of flame that threw eerie shadows over the metallic walls of the Cornucopia. Surprisingly they could not feel any heat radiating from the fire. Krasimir suspected it was some sort of gimmick of the game makers, created to only cast light and nothing else.

With the cavern now somewhat filled with light, Krasimir was finally able to see the other tributes. He quickly spotted Wren, not too surprised to see her looking quite terrified. He bet his own fear was evident upon his face and he just bet that back at home Andrei, who was the only who knew his worst fears, was fearing for him all the more now.

Livvy, protect me, please. Krasimir silently prayed.

An electronic voice filled the air, counting down from ten, and Krasimir realized how not ready he felt. One last look around the room caused him to make eye contact with Reed. The younger boy looked like how Krasimir felt, and he found himself hoping for Reed's safety.

At the end of the countdown everyone moved at once. Krasimir was not planning on getting himself killed within the first few minutes. He spotted some of the tributes disappearing down tunnels, but most of them were fighting in the center and it was not a pretty sight. The screams and shouting were a lot worse in person than when you were just watching it on a screen.

He was about to run off when he saw the guy from 7 – Rocky – bearing down on Reed. It didn't occur to Krasimir that Rocky just so happened to be a lot stronger than he was, or that with Reed gone it just meant one less person he had to worry about, no, in that split second the only thing Krasimir thought was that someone was trying to kill Reed and he wasn't about to let it happen.

He barreled into Rocky, throwing him to the ground just in time. There was only a second for him to yell at Reed to run before he found himself being rolled over and pinned down. No way in hell was he going to die here. His hands were useless, pinned as they were, so he thrust his head forward, managing to crash his forehead against the bigger guy's nose. There was a loud crack and Rocky howled in pain, releasing his grip upon Krasimir just enough that he could gain the upper hand. He shoved Rocky off, knocking the short blade out of the guy's hand and getting to his feet. He couldn't see Reed anywhere and there was hardly anyone else left in the cavern. Most of the bodies he could see were dead, lying on the ground to never move again. It was a horrifying sight that made his stomach turn.

His back ached from having been pinned to the dirty, uneven ground, and he was sure he held a few more bruises, but at the moment it didn't matter. He had survived his first fight and it instilled some more confidence in him that he could win. Now that he didn't have to fight others for supplies he managed to grab some useful things, only taking a small bladed weapon since he wasn't the best with most of the others. Unfortunately he was unable to find something that would help give him light, so he had to hope one of the tunnels would lead out into somewhere open.

It took him quite a while to work up the courage and finally move out of the cavern and into one of the tunnels. The sound of someone stumbling through the darkness in one of the further tunnels, seemingly returning to see if there was anything good left to find, caused Krasimir to run off.

Darkness engulfed him instantly and he had to fight the urge to cry out. It wasn't fair. Out of the all the arenas he could have been tossed into, why had it been dark caves and tunnels? About ten minutes in down his current tunnel, feeling the closed in walls as he went, he felt a gape in the wall to the right. Now he reached a new problem. Should he continue going straight or should he try this new path? What if it was all just some sort of maze? Could he get lost, wandering for hours in the darkness to never meet another tribute? No, it couldn't be that difficult. Otherwise how would the Capitol enjoy its game?

Krasimir decided to test his luck and go right. He continued to keep his hands on the walls, feeling blinder than a bat. If Ridge had survived the brutal fight at the Cornucopia and escaped down the tunnels he probably couldn't even tell the difference. He was probably better off than the other tributes now, having years to perfect the usage of his other senses due to his lack of sight.

Twenty minutes in he paused to take a rest when something weird happened. On the wall of the tunnel beside him a small circle of blue light appeared. Inside the circle of light was the symbol of the Capitol. This was followed immediately by a voice informing them of the tributes that had already fallen: both from 5, Ridge, the boy from 12, both from 8 and 9, the girl from 3, and Wren. Only 14 tributes remained.

Krasimir covered his face with his hands, sinking to the dirt floor of the tunnel, trying to steady himself with some deep breaths. Ridge hadn't survived. Wren hadn't survived. This hit him harder than he had thought it would.

Suddenly the noise of someone's footsteps hitting the rocky, dirt floor of the tunnel reached his ears. Krasimir scrambled up, wondering which way he should run. A new, terrible thought occurred to him: most of his survival skills would do him no good here in caves and tunnels that didn't exactly hold much plant life or wood. The only comforting thought was that there had to be some sort of underwater creek or something in here somewhere, because there was no way the game makers were going to let them all die from dehydration.

He was about to run off when a voice stopped him. There was a sudden thump, as if someone had fallen, and a small voice cut through the darkness, cursing quietly.

"Reed?"

The person was quiet, not responding until… "Krasimir? Where are you?"

Krasimir breathed a huge sigh of relief. Not only was Reed still alive he had now somehow managed to run into him again. It was better to have run into Reed than anyone else anyway. At least with Reed he was pretty sure his life wasn't in danger, not after having saved Reed's back in the cavern anyway. And even better yet, he wasn't alone anymore. The darkness wasn't nearly half as bad if he was at least with someone else.

"Just a short ways up ahead of you, are you alright?" He held still, waiting for Reed to reach him.

"I'm fine…just can't see a thing- oh!" Reed's hands brushed his arm and he smiled in the darkness, "found you!"

"Good." Krasimir laughed, reaching over to take hold of Reed's hand. He liked the feeling of the other boy's smaller hand in his own. "I'll be honest with you, darkness and confined spaces are my worst fears so I am not enjoying myself right now." Not that anyone probably was, considering the current predicament.

"You shouldn't have told me that." Reed giggled, the sound absolutely melting Krasimir's heart. "Now I know your weakness."

Krasimir laughed. "Yeah, but you wouldn't kill me now, would you?"

If only he could see Reed's face, but the impenetrable darkness did not allow it. "No," a quiet, seemingly shy reply, "I wouldn't. You saved my life back there. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it." Krasimir grinned, squeezing Reed's hand.

"Did you get hurt? I managed to grab some stuff before I ran, but I was so worried about you and wanted to head back. I got lost pretty quickly in the dark and then couldn't find my way back." Reed's voice was shaky. "And then that game makers' announcement showed up on the wall and I was sure I'd hear your name spoken-"

"Hey," Krasimir interrupted, "I'm fine. Don't worry, okay? I'll probably have some bruises for a bit, but other than that I'm good. My forehead left Rocky with a broken nose though, I think."

"Must have a hard head then." Reed managed a weak laugh.

"Oh, I've been known to be pretty stubborn." Krasimir laughed, knowing that wasn't what Reed had meant. "About this darkness though, and the cave, I mean, how are they working this all out? It must be impossible for the cameras to see in the darkness, and…how are the tributes supposed to find and kill each other if they're all too busy getting lost wandering about the tunnels?"

"Well, I think the cameras might be using night vision technology or something." Reed replied. "I've heard about stuff like that which enables things like cameras to see in the dark, other than that…the tunnels, I'm not sure. It can't be too difficult to figure out, since it'd be boring to just watch us wandering about the entire time. There has to be some pattern or something to it all."

"It just…sucks, you know?" He sighed. "None of the training stations really prepared us for surviving this sort of environment."

"I know what you mean." Krasimir agreed.

They had been at the same spot in the tunnel for quite some time before they figured it was time to move on. The question then was: did they move on together or did they separate? Clearly neither wanted the other dead, so that option wasn't even brought up. Finally it was Reed's declaration of wanting to stick together for at least a little bit that they settled on, and Krasimir was perfectly fine with it. He felt safer having someone else around and, to be honest, it made him feel a lot better knowing Reed was safe.