A/N: Hi, readers! (slaps mosquito) Yeah. Those are really bad in my area right now. One of the many reasons why I feel like poo right now.
Luckily, feeling like poo helps me to write more emotional chapters... I think... Unfortunately, I do feel like poo. And who likes that? Exactly!
But anyway, here's the chapter!

TEN

A little while later, I am somehow in a room in the Justice Building. Sunshine fills the room through the windows, but it just makes everything seems duller and more horrible. There are Peacekeepers waiting outside the door to let my visitors in. I don't suspect that I will have that many visitors. Maybe my family and Sutton. That's it.

The door opens and three people walk in. "Five minutes," a Peacekeeper tells them before shutting the door again.

A little blonde ball slams me back against the chair I'm sitting in. "You can't go, Sapphire," it sobs.

I stroke Bey's hair, trying to will him to calm down. "Shh," I whisper. "It's okay. It's alright." I adjust him in my lap so he can face me. He is short like Mother so this does not bother me much. "I'm going to be okay."

He shakes his head against my shoulder. "No, you're not," he says quietly. "You're not going to be okay. You can't go. It's not fair. Please, Sapphire."

I look up at our parents, trying to get them to help me. Something in their eyes tells me that I'm going to have to deal with this on my own. I grab Bey's shoulders and push him back. I lift his chin so he has to look at me. "Listen carefully," I say sternly. "Even if I don't make it out, I will always be with you, okay? And while you're at Grandmother's I don't want you watching the Games, alright?"

He looks up at me with sad grey eyes. "Why not?"

I smile at him. "Because you are going to remember me always. And if you're going to remember me I want you to remember me as a happy, healthy sister. One that sang you to sleep when you were afraid. One that tackled you into a hug every day when you came home from hunting with Mother. I don't want you to remember me as a sister who was in the Games. Because I don't want the memory of me and the other children in the arena stuck in your head. Promise me that you won't watch it, okay?"

He nods and wraps his arms around me. He goes back to stand with Father as Mother steps forward. She takes my hands in hers and looks at them sadly. When she withdrew them, I saw something shiny in my palm. I open my hand and see that it is the legendary mockingjay pin. "Oh, Mother," I mumble. "I can't take this."

She pushes my hand back as I try to give it to her. "No," she says. "It always gave me good luck. I think it's time that I pass it down to the next generation."

For some reason, the words "next generation" dug deeper into my mind than she probably intended them to.

I stand up and press her into the tightest hug I could manage. Mother and I were always close but not as much either of us would like. We just clash too much. "Show them who you truly are," she whispers in my ear. "Even if you think you aren't the best person, they may think otherwise. Don't doubt yourself. That won't get you anywhere." She kisses my forehead and steps back. She takes Beowulf by the hand and they walk out, leaving just Father and me.

There are tears in his blue eyes. My blue eyes. I had always been more my father's child than my mother's child. We had always been closer.

He sits down beside me and takes me in his arms, cradling my head against his chest as if I were his little newborn daughter again like he did a week and a half ago. I believed for a second that as long as my daddy held me in his arms, nothing bad could ever come to me.

But sometimes, that sort of thing is just shot down by reality isn't it?

He buries his face in my hair and cries. I feel tears streaming down my own face as his soak my head. He finally pulls back and looks at me. "I'm sorry."

All I could do was nod in understanding. He is probably about to lose his only daughter. I don't think anyone can blame him for that.

"Mother and I are going to be with you through everything until you go into the arena," he says to me. "We've been selected for mentors. So luckily we don't have to say goodbye just yet."

I sigh and wipe a tear from his face. "But we both know we might as well prepare for it," I say, a new flood of tears forming in my eyes. "There's no guarantee that I'm going to win just because I'm your daughter."

Father shakes his head, wisps of hair coming out of their places. "No," he agrees. "There's not. But, Sapphire, do you know what blood runs through your veins? Leader's blood. You have the ability to lead. And I believe that you have the ability to lead us out of these times just as Katniss did."

"Father-"

His pupils dilate, and he grabs my wrist roughly. I am about to jump away from him in case of an attack, but instead he pulls me closer. "Promise me that once you are in the arena that you will do everything in your ability to stop this madness once again."

I gulp, afraid of my father's words. But I nod and say dryly and weakly, "I promise."

"You're going to need allies. This isn't something you can do alone. Trust even those you hate."

The two Peacekeepers burst into the room and stand at my father's side. "Time's up," one of them says gruffly.

They escort my father out. Looking at the clock, I see they actually gave us more than five minutes – a final gesture of kindness towards a girl who is about to lose her life.

The door opens once more to let another person in. Sutton.

I stand up and embrace him. "I'm so sorry, Sapphire," he mumbles.

I lean back to look at him. "What do you mean?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow.

"I should have been the one to volunteer for Bey's place," he says. "Me. Not stupid Chisel Hawthorne. If anyone knows how to take care of you while you're in that arena, it's me. I can't believe that I just let this slip through my hands. After all this time-"

I stop him by taking his face in my hands gently as if it is made of glass. His eyes are red with tears that he does not let escape. He's been my right-hand-man since we were old enough to walk. He's the one person that I trust with all my secrets – the only one I am able to confide them to. I vowed I would never let anything hurt him. However, I can tell that this is killing him.

I lightly move my hands from his face to his shoulders. "Sutton," I say slowly, "don't you ever say that you wish that you would have volunteered for Bey. Don't you ever regret that you didn't. You and Bey are the last two people that I would want in that nightmare with me. I'm glad you didn't volunteer. If you were coming with me, I wouldn't be able to handle myself." A stray tear escapes my eyes. I swipe at it quickly before it can fall. However, this just starts the waterworks all over again.

Sutton's hand gently cups the back of my neck. He pulls my head in to touch his forehead. I realize that we are now sitting as he is usually taller than me when we sit down together. His thumb slowly traces the top of my cheekbone. It leaves behind a cold trail as he moves it back and forth. I look down, not able to look at his eyes. I finally tell him what I have never been able to tell him before.

"When I was twelve," I begin hesitantly, "I watched the Hunger Games for the first time. And ever since then, I have this nightmare where I'm in the arena, and I'm fighting for my life." I can feel his muscles tensing, his rubbing becoming harder. His forehead tightens, telling me he is pressing his eyebrows together. "Sometimes it would warp and the events would be different or happen in a different order, but there were two things that always stay the same." Before he has a chance to ask what, I tell him. "One is that I killed Bey who was put in the Games to taunt me. Two is that you were chasing me, trying to kill me."

Here, he seems completely frozen and statue-like. I look up into his eyes. They are like steel, hard and solid, not giving anything away. This makes me cringe inside as this is very unlike Sutton. He is always an open book, the easiest person for me to read. And now I can't see anything. But his eyes slowly start to melt as he speaks. "I would never hurt you, Sapphire," he says quietly but intensely. "Not for anything in the world."

I do not see how close our proximity is until he closes the space, and our lips meet. The kiss is slow and soft but passionate. And wrong. It does not feel right kissing Sutton. My theory of him being too much like family is confirmed. It most definitely feels wrong kissing him. However, I let him. I might never get to see him again. And as long as he's safe and happy, I'm okay with that.

The Peacekeepers make him leave after we share a last embrace. A few more people come in – Old Hal and three or four kids from my school that I said a few words to over the years. As they come in and out, I think of my father's words. Trust even those you hate... I know I am going to have enemies in the Games. I am going to be careful of who I trust. Trust is one of the keys in this game.

We are escorted to the train, something I have been on only a handful of times in my life. As we board, reporters are already mobbing us. The Peacekeepers chase them away though it is not for very long. Flashes of light from cameras blur my vision as I watch my beloved District 12 fade away.

A/N: More Satton! Ha! And everyone says that I'm a hopeless romantic! Wait... Never mind... (slaps another mosquito)
Hope you guys liked it! Reviews are my motivation! So please, review!

-AG