We have reached it now, the first Capitol chapter. Although this isn't them in the Capitol yet it's still good to be done with the reapings. Yesterday I said updates might not be so frequent but I couldn't stop myself but write this today, it was a lot of fun to revisit the tributes I haven't wrote in a while :D

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Ania Vine, 16 years old

The man in white behind her came to a stop a few metres in front of the train, the length was incredible. Ania could see carriages faraway to the right of where she stood, and faraway to the left. For just a moment she forgot where she was and became entranced by the beauty of the mechanical beast in front of her. Then, the gravity of where she was headed came flooding back by the gentle push given behind her. She could see no other tributes, some were either still in the Justice Building or maybe she was the last on the train.

A small ramp had been fitted to the door to lead her onto the train, the Peacekeeper wasn't fierce like a few others she had witnessed, he guided her gently up the step and with one final nod as a farewell he walked away.

At first she had no idea what to do, she thrashed her head around in both directions, to her left there was a door and to her right another door. From where she had stepped onto the train she could see in the distance, coming down the pathway another tribute. Panic filled her up, she wasn't ready to be with the others. Those who might end up being the ones to kill her. She threw open the door to her left without any hesitation and slammed it shut again as she stepped through.

The luxury of the carriage she found herself in at first made her freeze in her place, she was from One and had a nice house but this was something else. A jet black table to the right of the carriage was lined with silver trays of a whole array of different coloured cakes. Chandeliers of the greatest size were hooked to the ceiling, evenly spaced apart to keep the room lit up.

Her eyes glanced across the entire thing, until her breath caught in her throat at the sight of a boy staring right at her. She recognized him as the boy from section six, one of the reaped ones. He smiled up at her but despite the friendly greeting her heart hammered against her ribs, her breath becoming sharper with each second passing.

She lowered her eyes and frantically looked around for where she was headed, it was all so confusing. No one had told her where to go, no one at all. The Peacekeeper had just left her and walked away. She felt dizzy, her head was spinning and for a second she felt like throwing up, but she felt a hand on her shoulder and when she looked up the boy from six was staring down at her.

"Don't worry, no one told me either. Luckily I was the first carriage after the door."

Ania stared at him, he was being nice but still she felt unease inside her stomach. He could kill her, was he one of those tributes who wouldn't think twice before stabbing her through the chest? Tears pricked the corner of her eyes, she raised her hand to wipe them away before the boy could see them.

"You're Ania from Section Two right?"

She nodded, wanting to be in her own carriage as soon as possible.

"We get two carriages each. One carriage for where we sleep, the other carriage is well… this sort of room where you eat. Just keep going down that way-" he pointed behind him- "and you'll get to your carriage. There should be the number 2 written somewhere."

Ania smiled, she couldn't get rid of the fear in her stomach, or the overwhelming urge to run away as fast as possible but he was being nice.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it."

She walked past him, once again finding her eyes stuck on the elegant food lining the tables before she opened the next door. His section partner was nowhere to be seen, she smiled at that. She didn't want to meet anyone else.

Unfortunately most tributes had already settled down and as she made her way to her own carriage she felt eyes on her all the way. The Aquila boy from Four unnerved her, the girl from Three looked at her in an odd sort of way and the boy from Three was sitting opposite his section partner, looking down at his lap saying something to himself.

She hurried as quickly as she could until she saw the number 2 attached to the door of her own carriage. She couldn't help but smile, at least now she could just be by herself in her own bed. The carriages were huge, the ones with bedrooms in seemed to be able to hold four. Four bedrooms, who were the other two for?

They lived close to the Capitol, closer than most Districts and they were sure to get there within the next day. Tomorrow maybe, she didn't know exactly. The Capitol frightened her, the prospect of being one step closer to going into the Arena made her want to be sick but resisted the urge to, and entered the first of Section Two's carriages. It was as beautiful as all the others had been but she wasted no time in hurrying to the other door. When she opened it Shade bumped into her, the boy was tall with jet black hair and for a second like with every other tribute she met she found herself trembling with fear. He didn't pay much attention to her, he simply shook his head and walked on through to the other carriage.

He was odd, Ania thought to herself. He had volunteered for this but seemed so different to the others who had volunteered. Her fellow tributes frightened her, even the section six boy that had been so kind. Her name had been written in gold on the door, she didn't waste another second in throwing it open, slamming it shut behind her and throwing herself onto her bed, sinking into the comfortable duvet.

She hated it already, all the tributes, this train, Shade, everything and everyone. She wanted to see Evander, hell she even wanted to see her parents.

She wanted to go home.

Tyrian Aquila, 18 years old

Jasper sat in front of him, her back to the window with her finger twirling a piece of her hair. Her eyes were focused on the china plate in front of her rested on the table with the meal an Avox had brought her. Her fingers edged towards the fork, but she pulled away and looked to her lap. Tyrian found the girl interesting, she had volunteered and definitely looked like she had trained but there was something oddly normal about her.

Tyrian wouldn't call himself odd, but he was definitely different to what most people would call a normal person. He had qualities that made him different, this girl definitely was a shining example of beauty and had talent, he knew that much but she was more reserved than anything. He smiled, and looked away, she wasn't for him.

Tyrian had watched the stage with interest, noticing each and every tribute until it was his turn and then he did the same, watching out to the Square as each tribute stepped forward. Allies were important, or at least one ally. But for him, it had to be someone interesting. After all it was a game he was going to win, but it was pointless if it was no fun at all. There were the tributes who looked hopeless, those were the little girls who had been reaped, then there were the standard tributes who had trained evidently by the way they looked but had no real spark about them. Then there were the different ones, like the girl from section one with the red hair and the giggle he found so interesting. The girl who had thought she was in a race, even the boy who had volunteered from section nine and everyone found so sweet, Tyrian knew the boy had many secrets.

The train had left the station twenty minutes ago, he had been one of the first ones on here and had watched with interest as the others from the sections before him had made their way through his carriage to their own. Unfortunately the red haired girl hadn't passed, she must have been there earlier than he had. At least when it came to training they'd all be together, if he so desired he could get up right now and venture to the front of the train where section one was, or go to find another tribute he found so fun but he stayed where he was.

Jasper had removed her eyes from the floor and now stared over at Tyrian. He did all he could not to feel something for her, she was a beauty like none other but she was boring and that would not do for Tyrian. They had to have at least some kind of spark inside, it wasn't all about the way they looked.

"You don't say much."

Her voice was a shock to Tyrian, he hadn't expected her to talk but when she did it was very soft and sweet. For a girl who trained she was definitely different.

"Says you."

"I apologise then for not talking, how are you Tyrian?"

"Small talk… really?" Tyrian shook his head and laughed, Jasper looked slightly irritated but didn't act upon it.

"Well what would you like to talk about then?"

"Why did you volunteer Jasper?"

He got the reaction he wanted. She froze and for a second opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"You train right?"

She nodded, still sticking to the silence.

"So you volunteered for the glory of everything, to feel what it was like to kill."

"Why did you volunteer Tyrian?"

"I asked first." He winked at her, riling her up even further. The girl had secrets, Tyrian wanted to know. Anything to make her seem a bit more interesting than the image she was giving off.

"I did it for me and my aunt. To save us from someone, happy now?"

"Thank you for answering my question Jasper."

"You?"

"A mixture of things, the grandiose of the Games, family reasons. You know, the usual."

"Tyrian, the typical career."

"Oh Jasper, I'm anything but typical."

That was the end of the conversation, Tyrian smiled as Jasper sunk deeper into the chair and seemed to fall asleep. She was becoming more and more interesting by the second, perhaps all the boring tributes had a side to them Tyrian could grasp and pull out. Through the window behind Jasper's head he could see fields and forests flashing past as the train moved with such speed.

They'd be there tomorrow, Tyrian couldn't wait but for now like Jasper he rested his back and allowed himself to fall asleep. Just a nap for a few hours, talking with Jasper was just so much fun.

Cypra Dashor, 15 years old

She rolled the pink marble in her fingers, staring at its shining surface before placing it back into her pocket. It had been a few hours now since they had departed from the station and the anger she had felt at Wren had all gone.

The girl was naïve, but also too typical for a District One girl for Cypra to really care about her. They had been good friends, she thought they had been good friends but it seemed even she had a limit to how much she liked Cypra. Maybe she had faked it all along, she had no idea but it was pointless to think about them. Her thoughts and focus had to be on the Games, everything rested on the Games and she had to win. Her mind went over each and every one of the other tributes, which ones would she kill? Who would she ally with? Who, if she failed, would kill her? She considered joining the Career pack, it was the best alliance to be in, it ensured safety because the other members would be so talented but perhaps there was another alliance out there that was better suited for her.

Duke, who sat a few chairs away from her, eating his meal slowly seemed tough. Like Cypra he had been reaped, but maybe he was also like her in the sense he had trained and had one day hoped to volunteer. She stood up and walked over to him, if she could ally with him then she would.

"Hi Duke."

He looked up at her, smiled and nodded to the chair in front of him. She sat down, just looking at him she could see the boy was troubled about something despite the fact he seemed to have a good heart.

"How are you Cypra?"

"Great thanks."

"Great?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" The smile that had lit up his face had gone within seconds. Anger flashed across his eyes and he looked away from Cypra, his fingers clenching into fists.

"I'm a tribute, why wouldn't I be great?"

She was starting to get the sense that he was just a reaped tribute, definitely not like her at all. It was a pity, having him as an ally would have been a great advantage.

"Because you're going to an Arena to kill others. You were reaped, I thought you were different. My mistake." He stood up and shoved his chair over, he didn't leave the carriage to go to his room but he sat near to where Cypra had been sitting previously. The door opened, Cypra looked up but had to repress the urge to sigh at the sight of Renelda walking through with a smile ear to ear.

"Tributes from section six. Your mentors are on their way. Because this is a very special Quell we have hired people from the Capitol itself to mentor you. Don't worry they know what they're doing." She walked straight past the two of them and through to the carriage where the tributes from section five were.

Duke although still angry looked as curious as Cypra did as their door opened again and a man and a woman walked through.

They both had a look about them that easily identified them as from the Capitol but they weren't as outrageous as the escorts they had seen. The man was tall with a messy crop of ginger hair, his face was powdered blue but apart from that he looked pretty normal. He stopped next to Duke and sat down, patting him on the shoulder.

Cypra looked up as the woman walked closer to her, her cheeks were bright pink and her hair a matching colour. She wore a short white dress, and her heels were exactly the same. She smiled as she sat next to Cypra, stretching to pick up the chair that Duke had knocked over.

"I am Skye Lovett, your mentor for this Quell. You are?"

She was amazed the mentors hadn't been told their names, Renelda had such a big mouth Cypra didn't know how she hadn't already told them.

"Cypra Dashor."

"Well hello to you Cypra Dashor. I will be mentoring you, and Joel over there will look after the boy. We can work together if you like, all four of us?"

Cypra glanced over at Duke who seemed to be deep in conversation with Joel. There was no way he'd want to speak to her now.

"No, it's fine. I'd rather it was just us two."

"That's okay then. So Cypra, excited for this Quell?"

"Definitely."

"Good to hear, the President really has outdone himself with this twist." She seemed to look off into the distance at the mention of the President with a dreamy look in her eyes. She was devoted to the Games, that much Cypra could see but at least she wasn't as annoying as Renelda. Maybe Cypra could get along with Skye, just maybe.

Caitrin Tahira, 13 years old

"You and Nikolai, allies?"

Dominique Zepp was starting to irritate Caitrin. The woman had jet black hair the same colour as the boy from section two and it fell over her shoulders and all the way to her waist, she continuously twirled a string of it which although such a minor thing, was starting to annoy her. Her face was pale, her cheeks completely powdered an even lighter shade of white and she stared at Caitrin as if she was some inferior. Which Caitrin wasn't surprised about, the Capitol people were bound to think this about all those who lived in the Districts.

At the mention of his name, Nikolai from across the table looked up from his conversation with his own mentor, Trent Gelnett. The man was a dwarf in comparison to Nikolai, he was even shorter than Caitrin but he was definitely over the top with confidence. Caitrin grinned at the anger so easily noticeable on Nikolai's face yet the man was so oblivious to it. These people hadn't been in the Games like the usual mentors, they had no firsthand experience, how they were going to be able to help them survive she had no idea.

"I was thinking of going in alone, I wasn't sure." She said, clearly doing her best not to annoy Dominique in fear she might slap her. It wasn't that the woman terrified her, it was just a riled up Capitolite can't be pretty. The woman looked in shock, glancing over Caitrin's small frame and then looking over at Nikolai who was easily the tallest of the four of them.

"You're thirteen my dear, small, weak and definitely not fit for going in alone."

She said it with such confidence that Caitrin had to sit on her hands not to hit the woman. Yes she was young, but she had trained. Maybe not to the extent of Nikolai and a lot of the others but she wasn't worthless, if her mentor thought she was then stuff her!

"Easy Dominique. Don't upset the poor girl." Trent said, staring at Dominique who glared back at him. No one seemed to like this woman at all, still it did nothing to make her realize maybe she wasn't right. She rolled her eyes, looked at Caitrin once more and nodded to herself.

"Whatever. Nikolai will you be willing to ally with Caitrin here?"

"If she wants to go by herself I can't do anything to stop that."

"Caitrin see, he's willing to ally with you."

"I didn't say that exactly."

Dominique raised her hands in the air as if to say she had given up. Caitrin couldn't take the woman seriously, maybe the others had worthy mentors but hers was only good for looking pretty and droning on and on about the Capitol and how beautiful it is.

"Nikolai here is thinking of joining or starting up the career pack."

This seemed to draw Dominique's attention away from moaning into her chair. Caitrin looked over at Nikolai again, he was definitely career material. He trained, that much was clear and the fact that he had volunteered make it seem that much more believable that he would be a career. Caitrin considered all the other tributes, which ones would be part of the deadly career alliance? There were definitely so many capable tributes, but the career pack couldn't be all of them otherwise there would be no real Games.

She knew, if she were to go alone, to stay well away from whoever ended up in the careers. She was a daredevil, she knew she had gotten up to some pretty bad things but to take the career pack head on was suicide. Maybe an ally was a good idea? Caitrin made a mental note to assess everyone during training, no point making decisions right now.

"Excellent idea, see here Caitrin, Nikolai is a wonderful example of a tribute from District One." She clapped her hands, Nikolai looked over at Caitrin and through the way he looked at her she could tell he was sorry. She smiled at him, it wasn't his fault. The guy had to do what was best for him to ensure his chances of survival were high, sure they were enemies but Caitrin couldn't hate him for being in the careers. At least he wasn't as bad as some of the other tributes she had seen on that stage. They were the worst.

"I'm going to go to my room. Thank you for your wonderful mentoring skills Dominique." Caitrin chuckled to herself as Dominique's fingers clenched around the knife next to her plate. The woman would never do that, to hurt a tribute would ruin her and the woman valued her reputation too much.

Caitrin turned away, opened the carriage door and went into her own room. That woman would not help her one bit so it was up to herself to make sure she trained hard and was ready. Without a mentor it would be hard to secure sponsors but that did not matter.

It was all about how she acted in front of everyone once she reached the Capitol. One way or another she would get those all important sponsors, with or without the help of her mentor.

Zephyr Garnet, 17 years old

He looked over at Velvet who was slowly dragging her knife around her hand, carving the shape of it into the wood. Lucky for her Renelda was nowhere to be seen, otherwise Zephyr was sure she would flip out. Although Zephyr realized that Velvet seemed the type not to care, she was definitely interesting even if she had volunteered and seemed rather typical. The fact that she started getting closer and closer to her skin with the blade was enough for Zephyr to realize she really had a problem. Her mentor was sitting by her side, doing her best to talk to her but it was not working. Velvet was far too preoccupied with carving deeper and deeper into the table. Yvonne was a stern woman, but even she couldn't get through to Velvet, she looked over at Zephyr and his own mentor, shook her head and stormed on over to the two of them.

She sat next to Zephyr and smiled at him.

"At least you're listening to what Elysio has to say."

The man to the other side of Zephyr was an odd man indeed, his skin was dark; incredibly dark and each of his teeth had been embedded with a single diamond. Thick tattoos covered his muscular arms, even his bald head had some kind of symbol on it. That must have hurt, Zephyr thought to himself.

"The boy understands we're here to help."

"I'd advise not allying with Velvet, the girl seems tough but too focused on getting close to hurting herself." As if on cue they all looked up at Velvet as she started laughing. Blood was dripping from the knife, and a small cut had been made into her hand. The girl smiled once more, threw the knife to the ground and walked on over to the three of them.

Yvonne looked to Zephyr and Elysio and rolled her eyes. Zephyr felt sorry for the woman.

"Did you both sleep well last night?" Elysio asked. His voice was deep, it sent chills up Zephyr's spine. Velvet seemed to find him interesting, sitting as close to him as possible. The man looked at her, clearly uncomfortable in the way she stared into his eyes.

"I slept well thanks. Are we nearly there?"

"We should arrive within the hour, District One is close to the Capitol."

"What are you two going to do for allies then?" Elysio looked at Velvet again who was smiling at him. The girl was messed up, she cradled her bloody hand close to her stomach, swinging it back and forth with a grin ear to ear.

"I'll figure something out." Zephyr said. It was true, during training he'd look over everyone and see if there was someone he thought would be good to ally with. He wouldn't ally with any of the career tributes, he was not like them at all. Someone else who required his help, and he required theirs would be the way forward. Maybe even multiple people, he didn't know.

"Velvet?"

The blonde girl blinked a few times before looking up at her own mentor. She wiped the blood off from her hand and drew herself away from Elysio, the man sighed with relief.

"I figured I'd go for whoever brought the most excitement. Probably the careers or something, they're always fun."

"The careers are a smart move, just make sure you impress them." Yvonne said as sternly as she could make it. Velvet definitely seemed career like, Zephyr assumed she had trained. After all she had volunteered to be here.

"Oh I will Yvonne, don't you worry."

Elysio and Yvonne exchanged a worried look. Zephyr noted that this girl seemed to have a love for risk taking and putting herself in the worst of scenarios. He'd only seen her with a knife and knew in the Arena she'd do herself no favours. The careers wouldn't put up with her for more than a day at least, no one would.

"Zephyr just find yourself capable allies. You're not a career tribute, but you told me you trained."

His mind flashed back to seeing Ismene up on that stage. Yes he had trained, and yes he would get his revenge on that girl once the Games began. That was the benefit of training, he'd at least have a fighting chance once the gong sounded.

"I will. There's bound to be someone."

"Get yourself ready, we're going to be there soon and you want to be ready to impress. Don't let us down, and don't let yourself down." Yvonne stood up and walked to the other carriage alongside Elysio. Zephyr realized the words had been directed at him, not Velvet. Of course there was no point in instructing this girl to present herself as best she could, advice went through one ear and out the other with her.

Zephyr sent one final look at Velvet who was staring out the window and picked up a cake from one of the trays. He wasn't looking forward to the Capitol, but it shouldn't be too bad. Although the worst was still to come, something much worse.

What did you think of the first Capitol chapter, leave a review and let me know :D