HOLLA! I'M BACK! Well you know, it has been the required 8 days that I have set myself to write these chapters. And seeing as I have decided to start two other stories (neither published here yet although they will soon) in the Glee and Sherlock fandoms, I will need those days!

I will admit, I don't think this is some of my best writing. I have had a pretty rough week with falling ill which strangely doesn't make you want to write even though it gives you the time to do so and I have had a friend staying with me who I have to *shudder* socialise with so that has meant that this chapter is sadly a little rushed although I love both of these characters.

Now I know you all love me so I would really appreciate it if you could help me. Fellow SYOT writers Lightning at Noon and wwheisenberg are writing excellent stories at the moment but are in great need of tributes! So if you are interested, these are wonderful writers, please go and check them out!

To answer last week's question, my ideal meal would be garlic bread, followed by chicken breast stuffed with mozerella and wrapped in parma ham with dauphinoise potatoes followed by homemade chocolate brownies and Robinson's Pink Grapefruit Squash to drink...it's weird combinations but good!

The blog is now up! You can find the link on my profile or here wishuponastar63. blogspot. com (remove the spaces). I am still in need for pictures or names from the creators of ARIES JETT, ZOYA PAVLENKO, STEPHANIE MARRASS, STEPHANIE HILGET, JASMINE GEMINI. If these are not submitted to me by the end of the final Reapings, then I will find pictures. Please take a look at the blog and let me know what you think. If you are not satisfied with your tributes' picture, let me know.

Right, onto the Reaping! Thanks to Rikachan101 and Call Me Fin for these fabulous tributes! I apologise that I haven't replied to all your reviews, I promise I will soon and thank you SO much for all 70+ of them I have, you are the best readers and reviewers EVER!

District 5 Reapings

KAYA VERIDAS (17)

Words, words and sentences that might not make sense to absolutely everyone in the District, lie right in front of me. I don't know whether it is fortunate or unfortunate that I do recognise them as I keep my head down, scribbling on the many bits of paper that I have in front of me as I solve equation after equation. Oh great, I sound like a right geek now don't I? I'm not, I promise, it's just the way that I have been brought up and the way that my father wants me to be. He says that there has to be more to life than living in the districts, he knows I have a knack for science, apparently, and so he wants me to become a scientist in the Capitol. I don't know if that's what I want but it's a solid future as long as I can get it so I am happy to go along with it.

The light streaming in through my bedroom window tells me it is nearing 9am. That means I have exactly 3 hours and 58 minutes until the Reapings start. That gives me three hours and 18 minutes to work more. It doesn't exactly take long to slip into a dress that I wear every year and then move out of the house and down the beaten track to the town square.

Making sure that I can't hear my father on our floor, I dig into the drawer of my desk and bring out a small notebook. It's the secret from my father that he can never know about. While he pushes me to be the scientist that he wants me to be, I have always harboured a secret thing for writing. My father did know about it but he soon to a stop to it. I will remember that for the rest of my life, it still haunts me. it seems that 'tough love' is his motto and by tough love, sometimes he resolves to violence, sounds just like one of the Peacekeepers in our District except he's not and the only person he resorts to violence over is me.

I subconsciously touch the latest of my scars, the one on my left shoulder. It's just a nick from where his belt just cut that little too far into my skin and drew blood. I don't even know why that happened but I know that it did. And it's made me tough. I reckon I'd be able to take the same kind of thing if I ever got reaped. Touch wood, I really hope I won't but I can never be sure when I've now got my name in there 12 times. No one is safe once they enter Reaping age, no one is ever safe because you can never be sure that your siblings will be reaped, if you have them, or your friends or your sons or daughters if you ever get married and have kids.

I can sense the footsteps before I hear them, I know he is coming. I can't stuff my book away hurriedly enough, I had barely written three sentences and I was hoping to get more in before the Reaping. Maybe someone will find it in time to get to me as a token if I get Reaped; I daren't take it with me now. I can't lose it now.

I start scribbling down the answer to a question on identifying plants that would help heal a patient or kill it, as he comes into the room. "What are you doing?"

His curt voice cuts the silence and I have to make sure I don't flinch; it would be a sign of weakness for him to use. "Completing one of the papers that you had set me. I was on a timer." I try to sound blunt and curt but it isn't my style and it comes out as slightly weak.

I don't show him the timer and I'm glad he doesn't ask for it because if there is one thing I can do with ease, it is lie. He glances over my work before nodding with slight satisfaction. "I want to see three of those papers done before we have to leave for the Reaping. This is just a waste of your time that you could be spending studying."

I nod, pretending to agree with him. I'm just glad that I can get out of the house.

CASSIUS ANOUMA (14)

The flames licked the walls, melting the colours of the paint on his walls together. He could only watch in horror as he saw his beloved paintings flake away in pieces of ash that floated into the wind. The flames licked towards the door, he had only seconds to get out of there. "MUM!"

He called desperately for his family but over the roar of the flames and the panic of the people outside, he couldn't hear anything in return. And now the flames were at the door. He was trapped. He was going to die! He didn't want to die; he hadn't even reached Reaping age! He sunk down on the floor, willing for death to come quickly.

I suppose I was one of the lucky few people in the district that even had a window in my room. Perhaps I really would have died in the house fire that killed the rest of my family instead of leaving me half way between death and life that I find myself in. I know I'm dead, my gravestone in the large expanse of the District 5 graveyard tells me so, yet I can feel myself walking around the district, occasionally needing food and needing to open doors rather than just being able to pass through them as spirits normally can. How does it work?

The graveyard is quiet, again. It always is except for once a year where there are always two bodies around the same time of year that are put into the ground. I still haven't quite worked out why; I suppose one day I will work it out. Pulling myself from the throes of sleep, I see that the sun is high in the sky and I ruffle my hair, that's how I like it.

My stomach rumbles like it never has before, right I need food then. Patting down the same clothes I've worn for years, I make my way into town. Learning to make sure that as few people as possible see me, I've learnt where the aback streets of District 5 are and how to navigate them.

I work my way through the still slightly dark alleyways, meandering my way through the houses that turn into shops and find my way to my favourite place, the fruit seller. Even if I'm dead, I have to keep healthy. I can see that the stall holder isn't there but the food is and so I dart in and out, grabbing an orange and an apple before running off. It isn't as if many people are around to even maybe see me, I don't know if they can at all.

As I start to munch on the apple, I cannot help but notice that there seems to be a booming noise, music perhaps coming from near her. I think it's the town square, maybe that's where everyone has gone to. I work my way there, I wonder why everyone is there? It seems as if the whole District has come to this place, and the teenagers have all been put in a special place in the front. Why? Does this have something to do with the fact that two people are buried every year about this time?

"And for the male tribute," my attention is drawn to someone who cannot be described as other than hideous, the woman has too many colours to describe and it just looks so wrong, "Cassius Anouma." Uh, what? Why did she just call my name? What am I supposed to do? There is a girl who looks a couple of years older than me on the stage. Maybe that is where I am supposed to be, I don't know. "Cassius Anouma? Are you here sweetheart? Come to the stage!"

Well, that told me where I need to be at least. I don't know what to expect but I can feel everyone looking at me. Can they see me? I don't understand, I thought no one could see me. What's going on? I make my way up to the stage, it feels strange and unnatural that everyone seems to be looking at me and is aware of me. Have they always been able to see me?

I stand on the stage, aware that everyone is staring at me, I don't understand anything. What do I do now? I hope someone will explain because at this rate, I could be going into something that I will have no clue about. I wonder what it is.

KAYA VERIDAS (17)

I wonder if the Capitol is anything like this room. I don't suppose I will get to see it for more than a week now, unless I win this. But how can i? The only thing that will be of any use to me in the arena will be my forced knowledge of the anatomy of the human body and some plant identification, but who knows what mutations will lie in my path between death and life back here.

I wonder if my district partner will form an alliance. I don't know much about him, no one does really. Wait, I know the name from somewhere! I can't remember where but I'm sure I will know about it at some point in the near future given that he will soon be the only thing I have left of this district. I can't tell what age he is; he looks even thinner than most of the starving kids in the district. And I should know, I don't exactly live in the richest part.

I look at my surroundings, the dim light above me doesn't provide much light but there are rays streaming in through the windows so that provides some kind of comfort. The colours of the décor are much more bleak, greys and dark browns. Not exactly the bright and blinding colours of the Capitol that she had heard so often about from her father.

Talking of the man, I don't have to wait long before he comes in through the door. His head is shaking as if he can't believe it. Well he's not the only one. "My sweet precious girl." His words sound forced somehow as he patted her awkwardly on the back.

I pull away, feeling a blush creeping up onto my face. "You've never been very good at goodbye's father or at emotions other than anger very much."

He looks down on me, is that disappointment in his eyes? But it is gone in a flash. "Come home to me, you have so much ahead of you. So many dreams you can still fulfil, you are only young."

I purse my lips as I pull away. The odds are 1 in 24 of coming home, the likelihood of me coming home isn't exactly good. So he needs to know the truth. "They were always your dreams dad, I had much simpler dreams but you had to go and force your wishes and everything that you never got to achieve when you were younger on me."

He opens his mouth, his brows narrowing. "All I ever wanted for you was the best Kaya."

"But punishing me, hitting me and beating me up when I couldn't even get an above average score on one of your stupid tests?" as much as I am protective of him in front of others, I have to let it all go. "Please, just leave." I crumble, I can't bring myself to say much more, let alone see him. "Just, if you ever miss me, there's a book in my top drawer of my desk, please don't destroy it."

He frowns, I don't think he understands but I don't care as he leaves, I'm almost happy to see him go. I just want to get this over and done with, whether that ends in life or in death.

CASSIUS ANOUMA (14)

So after waiting for an entire hour with no one coming, I don't understand why, the door finally opens to reveal a woman who looks quite young, I don't know how old. I can't tell age now; ti makes no sense to me. I can tell time only by the sun and the way that I see the sun comes up in the morning and goes down in the night.

"It's Cassius, isn't it?" she smiles gently and she holds a hand out towards me. "I'm Elena Volney; I haven't seen you around that much."

I shake my head, why is she holding out her hand. "It's a long and complicated story." I mutter, I don't really want to divulge my secret, the secret that I have kept so well for four years. "Um…"I nod slightly to the hand, not quite sure what to say.

She looks at me curiously, as if I should know what to do. But the look is gone in a moment and she smiles once more. "You're supposed to shake it." she smiles and I nod slightly, not understanding why I have to shake it but if it is what is done, then I must do it.

"Nice to meet you Elena." I mutter, I remember I should at least give a compliment. I try to forget my life before my family's demise but some of the aspects about manners I do recall. "What's happening exactly?"

She smiles again, I think I like this lady but I've never really had enough interaction with people to know for sure, before nodding towards the door. "Come Cassius, I think I have a lot to explain to you but first we need to get out of here. We are going to the Capitol, you know where that is and what it is I presume?"

Another vague memory floats to the top of my head and I nod, it rings a bell at least. And then it hits me, the Reapings. Was that what I just went through and I don't think came out well from? I follow her out of the room and I walk to the train station, at least that is the name that I have heard before from being around the district.

The train itself is incredible. Having been used to simplicity and drab colours, I'm not quite sure whether I like it or not but it certainly is surprising and perhaps surreal. Is this just another indicator that I'm still dead and that this isn't happening? The carriages pass me by in a blur, I try to take it all in but when you've been used to the same routine and the same colours for three years, it distorts you. Right now, it's more freaky than cool.

We enter the biggest part of the train so far where there are more people. Oh no, not more people, more being forced to potentially talk! I don't want to do that! Can they see me as well? Given that the much older man and the young lady who I saw up on stage are looking at me, I will take that as a yes.

"Kaya, Lars, this is Cassius. Cassius, this is Kaya your fellow tribute, I somehow doubt you two have ever met." We both shake our heads; maybe she isn't much of a talker either. That would make life so much easier. "Why don't we all sit down and watch the Reaping Recaps." Kaya and Lars immediately take a seat in front of the strange black thing that is in front of them. Elena nudges me forward. "On the TV over there, it can give you an idea of who you are up against. Don't be nervous sweetie, this is the easy part."

There's an easy part? I don't know how I'm going to survive this. Does that mean other people my age or her ages have been chosen for whatever this is? I certainly don't like the sound of that.

Oooooh, two very interesting and different characters here! Let me know what you think of these tributes in that little review box down below and maybe answer a couple of these questions if you fancy!

Who did you prefer of these two tributes?

Who is your favourite tribute/are your favourite tributes so far?

Are there any you particularly dislike?

Can you see your tribute forming an alliance with any of these tributes?

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION, PLEASE HELP ME OUT HERE:

Would you prefer to have more chapters with less POVs to make sure that all tributes get an extra 2 POVs before the Games? Or would you prefer to have less chapters with more POVs in it?

And your token random question for the week:

What movies are you MOST looking forward to coming out this year/within the next couple of years (that are confirmed)?

Until next week,

PenMagic x