The Representative Tributes/Tributes of District 1-12: UPDATED according to the last chapter's declared deaths!

District 1: Percy Jackson & the Olympians – Percy; Annabeth

District 2: Lorien Legacies – Maren (Six)

District 3: Mortal Instruments – Clary

District 4: Inheritance – Arya

District 5: Lord of the Rings – Legolas

District 6: Divergent – Four

District 7: Twilight – Edward

District 8: Unfortunate Events – Violet

District 9: Harry Potter – Harry; Hermione

District 10: Maze Runner – Thomas; Teresa

District 11: Narnia – Peter

District 12: Hunger Games – Peeta; Katniss

CHAPTER 10: Disease

Meggie 'Meg' Folchart from Inkheart

District 12 – Six years ago.

"Do you still believe in freedom? Do you still have hope, Meg?" The girl kept in silence – just waited for her mother to answer her sudden and out of the blue question. "I still do. I still have – for us, Meg. For District 12…" she paused, looking at the distant through their broken window. Her eyes were blank and weak. Maybe, it was because of her empty stomach – starvation – Resa was uttering words which sounded simple but deep and hard to understand. Or maybe, it was because of the single bread that they (she, Mo, and Meg) had shared last evening. It was almost midday and still, they hadn't got their breakfast. Resa smiled and turned to her 6-year-old daughter. She continued, "…for Panem."

Meggie just looked through the window as well. She had no idea how to answer a question she couldn't understand. Better not to waste energy, she was starving – starving to death.

They were waiting for Mo to come, hoping that he would return home with their breakfast and lunch. And so, he returned.

It felt like they had been dug out from their graves the second Mo came into their space with a small bag, containing three breads. "From Mellark's," Mo said as he entered their small house.

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Meggie peeked through the slightly opened door to their little kitchen, planning to water her lips. There, she found her father sitting in front of a table with a cup of coffee and a book, entitled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was unbelievable to have since it was a very ancient book with yellow and brittle pages. The girl couldn't guess out how on earth that book had survived the destruction. As far as she could comprehend, those books were long gone extinct – probably deep within the waters of the almost dead earth.

The book appeared to be very fragile. As luck would have it, Mo was too careful – too careful to turn the pages with the help of tweezers, without tearing a bit. No wonder, he was called the Book Doctor of District 12.

Mo was known in fixing old and repeatedly used textbooks (textbooks containing reminders of the good and perfect government of Panem) of their humble school. He was fixing all worst of worst conditions of books for free. He wanted to have profit from it really, but the school, and also District 12, was very poor, they cannot afford paying any price.

Meggie stayed still on her position, watching his father from the faint light of the dawn outside the house.

Mo was reading the book silently, focusing. Then, he read out loud, "…Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long, silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose…" It was as if Mo was waiting for something to come out after reading the phrase. None came.

Then, from silence, a single bark of a little dog was heard in the kitchen. A black dog appeared under the table. Mo laughed – very happy for his success. He reached out for the dog that was rounding around his foot on the floor. Looking at – examining – the hairy dog placed on his lap, Mo was smiling, wearing an uncommon twinkle in his eyes. It was hope.

Aside from the miraculous appearance of the dog, Meggie had also noticed the disappearance of the cup of coffee. But, Mo was too happy – he was too happy he hadn't realized that a single cup from their humble kitchen had gone.

"How adorable!" Primrose said behind Meggie, smiling widely.

At that, Meggie jumped up and unintentionally dropped Toto from her hands. She was hiding behind the school's building. "Everdeen!" Meggie yelped as she turned to look at the source of the voice then covered her mouth to prevent herself from making any more noise. "What're you doing here?" she asked, slightly revealing the gap of her teeth. She was as young as six, then.

"You are hiding here just to have precious time with your dog, Meg, and yet not inviting me…" Prim smiled wider. She was excited to hold the little black dog hiding behind Meggie's feet.

"It is not my plan really. Toto followed me here," Meg replied, a little scared that the healer's daughter would bring words to their teacher about the presence of an animal inside the school building area.

"Don't worry," Prim said, "I'll tell no one. I am also fond of pets."

"Really? You'll tell no one?"

"I swear."

"Promise?"

Pause. "I promise." Their last fingers intertwined.

"So your father works in the mines?" Meg asked, eating the plain piece of bread. It was break and the two were both very lucky to have something to eat.

"Yes, just like the others," Prim nodded, biting the seemingly same bread as Meggie's, "Most of our fathers work in the mines, don't they?"

"Mo and Resa don't work in the mines."

"What's their job, then?"

"They're crafting woods. They sell them to the hob."

"They always craft woods?"

"They're always not in the house."

"Then, they always craft woods."

Burning bright lights of the ceiling greeted Meggie. After adjusting her eyes, which had been ruled by sleep and exhaustion, the Silvertongue sat up on the edge of her bed.

Dreams and memories. They weren't good yet they weren't also bad. They were something in between. Still, those memory throw backs were disturbing her.

"…What can we expect more from the 74th Hunger Games?" The voice of Caesar Flickerman echoed through the room. 'Ahh…' Meggie had forgotten to turn off the TV. She was that exhausted, caused by the recent readings, that when she had decided to see the news from the television, she hadn't been able to turn it off and had fallen fast asleep.

Recent readings. Yes, she was still continuously reading things from the old and ancient books – reading things which were still absent in the arena. The purpose of those stuffs? Whatever it was, sure, it wasn't good and certainly not a source of entertainment for Meggie.

The show was just a replay of the latest episode of the program. It was showing the time when Caesar was only interviewing Crane and the Silvertongue wasn't still on the stage.

"There are more to come. That, I'm assuring. We have things in store…" Seneca replied with a mild smile on his lips.

"Things in store…" Caesar pretended to think then, faced the audience. "THAT SOUNDS EXCITING!" The crowd roared as the host raised his both arms and laughed with that signature open-mouth and reveal-teeth style.

Meggie turned off the TV with the remote. She threw the thin object to the bed.

'More to come means more to read. More to read means more to kill. More to kill means more deaths,' she thought. Disgusted, she ruffled her hair, making it messy. Her life was getting complicated, that complicated she couldn't find a way to escape. It was impossible for her. Really impossible.

Next, she felt her throat dry. She was thirsty. She looked at the clock implanted flat on the wall. It was only 3:46 in the morning. She stood up from the bed and went to the kitchen.

After drinking the cold water, she planned to return to sleep but halted when she noticed the automatic sliding door on her left side. Looking at it felt different as if there were no guards behind it because of its stillness – very rare quietness.

Curious, she went before it and pressed the object which opens the door. Like what she had sensed, there were no peacekeepers on guard.

Escape? She couldn't. She wouldn't get that far from the Capitol or even from the building. And where would she go? She shook the thoughts off. However, she stepped out of the room still, carrying the reason that she only wanted to see where the guards had gone to. Curious. Just very curious.

The girl walked through the empty corridor. Dim lights were aligned along the corners of the empty space. "Hello?" she asked. Her voice just echoed back. She was alone.

Meggie continued her way up until she found a room with a slightly opened door. The lights (probably from working monitors) were peeking through the opening. Meggie peered through the open. She saw the two peacekeepers who were supposed to be guarding her room. They were instead watching something along with the differently dressed peacekeepers on chairs.

Meggie's eyes widened upon noticing the screens. They were watching recorded videos of citizens (probably from a lower District) throwing burning things against peacekeepers with shields. They were also destroying the what-it-seemed-like Justice Building. All were messed up from the background, burned and turned into ashes.

The girl was puzzled. Maybe she was that imprisoned in an isolated place that she had no idea about any of those events occurring.

"For I know that one must stay in her room, right, Silvertongue?"

Meggie jumped up and swiftly turned to look at the man behind her. He was the same light-colored haired man in the party, Heavensbee. He was casting a smile which appealed fake for her.

"I was just…" Meggie looked back to the open door to find some sensible reason. The men inside the room rose up from their seats and straightened their postures upon seeing the man outside. One of the peacekeepers immediately shut off all the monitors. "Sorry. I'm going back to my room," Meggie finally apologized after realizing that she had no reason to excuse.

"Better," said the man, eyeing the two guards inside.

Then, Meggie walked back to her room with the two peacekeeper guards beside her, leaving the blonde man and the rest of the men behind.

Seneca Crane from The Hunger Games

"What can you say about the fire you had put into the Hunger Games? The excitement you had caused – the kind of thrill you had delivered to us which is, I can say, the very first in the history of the game?!"

"I… I don't know."

"What a very shy girl we have here! You must be very happy. Are you happy?"

Silence.

Seneca's lips thinned as he watched the interview of Meggie on the single screen inside the room. Then, he turned his eyes carefully to the President of Panem beside him. Snow was sitting comfortably on a white armchair. His eyes were deep, watching the same interview. He was thinking.

"Do you know how to cure a disease, Crane?" Snow asked, not looking at him. He placed his elbows on the armrests of the chair and joined his fingers, not locking them, to support his chin.

It was an out of the blue question, "Do not know exactly, sir."

Silence. Did he reply the wrong answer?

Finally, "Of course. Of course." Snow paused. The screen showed some fights in arena. "Diseases kill men, Crane. It is a curse, eating every bit of one's being, changing and destroying one's system. But we can cure it." This time, Snow turned to the Head Gamemaker. "We can cure it by a powerful medicine – powerful medicine for a powerful disease. It is hope. And the best time to cure the disease…" He paused, waiting. He was waiting for Seneca to ask.

"When, sir?"

"…is when the one who has the disease doesn't know that he has one. Sometimes, it is better that you don't know…" Snow took up the glass of wine from the glass table, "…so that you can continually live in peace."

Seneca got the message. "I'll do my best, sir."

Snow sipped the wine and put the glass back to the table. "Best is not enough. You have to cross the boundary of your best."

Meggie 'Meg' Folchart from Inkheart

District 12 – Five years ago.

The earsplitting alarm was heard. They were waiting in their classroom.

The ground had shaken. The explosion came underground. The mine had exploded – Meg and Prim had guessed out mentally but none of them was brave enough to voice out the words.

A figure, slightly taller than them, rushed inside their room. "PRIM! PRIM! PRIM!" she shouted. It was Katniss. The waiting girls stood up. They dashed, just like the other children and family members, to the entrance of the mine.

Black smokes were everywhere, emerging from the working elevator along with men, carrying black-coal covered miners. The three waited for an Everdeen to emerge from the entrance. They waited. And waited.

Later on, relieved families slowly lessened and returned to their homes with their lucky fathers. The three waited still. And waited.

Still, Mr. Everdeen didn't appear.

The people had presumed that he and the others were dead, maybe vaporized or turned into pieces, forever buried inside the mines.

The night had turned to a mourning one. While the rest of the people of District 12 were crying for the lost of their family members, Meggie was left alone, waiting for her mother and father to come.

Meggie was sad – so sad for her best friend. She wanted to be with Prim on that time but she had sensed out that the Everdeens needed privacy for the lost of their father.

Sitting inside their house, Meggie was getting impatient, rocking back and fro on the stool. Until, Mo came in but with a lowly head and with eyes covered with unnerving shadows of death.

"Mo?" she asked as she stood up from the stool and went to her father then added upon noticing that Resa wasn't with him, "Where's Resa?"

Mo was silent. Ignoring Meggie, he went to the kitchen, uncorked the long-time stored cheap alcohol from their drawer, sat down in front of the table, and drunk.

Meggie followed him. It was her first time to see Mo in that state, worse than starving. Maybe, it was because of the mining incident. Folcharts and Everdeens had gone so close because of Prim and Meg's friendship. But, Meggie could tell that the fellow District 12 citizen's death wasn't the reason. Mo looked more tragic and unfocused as if he had lost someone so close to him – closer than a family friend.

Maybe because Meggie was so sad that even without thinking, she asked, "Mo, I want to have another dog. Toto followed Mr. Everdeen through the mines…"

Again, no answer.

She bit her lip, "Read me another dog, Mo – "

Mo smashed the bottle to the floor.

Liquid spilled. Shards scattered. Red eyes. Bleeding and trembling hands. Anger. Hurt. Sadness. Lost.

"DO NOT DARE, MEG!" Mo shouted, pointing his bloody finger to Meggie. "DO NOT DARE SAY THE WORD 'READ' AGAIN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? DO YOU UNDERSTAND, MEG?!"

Really surprised by her father's sudden burst out, Meggie cried out loudly and then, ran to her room. She slammed shut the door and buried her face to the hard pillow after.

Meggie was smart. She was smart. And, sometimes, she was really imaginative. But most of the time, she was right in terms of deductions.

Mo had lost Resa because of his reading abilities.

Meggie's eyes snapped open as she inhaled deeply, losing her breathes. She lifted her head from the lighted table. She was covered with sweat. She was still breathing hard as if the air around her wasn't enough to keep her alive.

Dreams. Again, dreams. Maybe the readings were really wearying her out. Or maybe, she was losing her sanity.

Meggie massaged her aching temples and refocused. She scanned her surroundings. She was in her usual spot in the Gamemakers' Room – the bright lighted cylindrical glass room with white ceiling and floor. There was a single table in front of her where yellow-paged and aged books were stacked. She could see the Gamemakers working with their computers and monitoring the morning happenings in the arena through the glass around her. The girl mentally thanked them for allowing her to sleep for a while.

Suddenly, Seneca entered the Game Room. The Gamemakers stood up and waited for his order. Meggie waited as well.

The Head Gamemaker looked around his people. He was different this time. There was something lingering in his gaze. Excitement? He said, "Let's begin."

NOTES:

Comments/reviews 'may' save the character.

The pairings aren't official. It doesn't mean that I wrote them together, I ship them forever. No. It can be yes or no or something in between. Just like what I've said, you can oppose or approve. It depends on my mood and on your suggestions/reviews.