IMPORTANT! I know that a lot of you just skip around and read the parts that your tribute is in. However, I have to caution against that. I have a story going on with all of the tributes, and I hope you read about all of them :) I understand that some of you don't want to and I guess to each his own, but I really really really hope you read all of this :) Of course, you are welcome to just skip, but I still want reviews! ;)

So now we're up to the pre-game shenanigans :) Isn't that exciting? I think it is :) So you can probably count on your tribute being in almost every chapter from now 'til the games, with the exception of the interviews, which will be split up into four chapters. I want to give each tribute a fair share of time, because I'll have to kill a lot of them pretty fast, so I feel you should get to know them a bit more :)

As far as POVs, I'm not ever writing in first person, just third person POV centering around the tribute in question. I hope you guys don't mind, but I find the "I" POV to be a bit constricting; you have to observe things based on what the tribute sees, and I want you guys to see more :)

POLL ALERT! Since we have roughly six chapters from now 'til the Games, I'm going to post another poll, your favorite tributes out of two districts at a time. So vote wisely! :) And there will probably be a poll with the top two winners from each of those, so yeah :) Additionally, the top two winners of these polls will be granted bloodbath immunity (unless they were submitted as bloodbath tributes, in which case, that sucks!)The poll up right now is your favorite tributes out of Districts 1 and 2. You have three votes, so go, go, go! :)

Disclaimer: Insert disclaimer here.

The 30th Quarter Quell

By silver-nightstorm

Summary: 625 years after the failed rebellion, the districts are still in darkness. Now, the new president brings you the 30th Quarter Quell! Who will survive? Is there hope for Panem's future?

Chapter 17: Train Rides

~District 1~Jay Fink~

After the reaping, Jay had been pushed into a room where his mother cried over him. Diana was the only one who showed up. Not that Jay was surprised. He didn't expect his father to make an appearance anyway.

Now on the train, he sat on an extremely squishy cushion in between the other male tribute and the escort. Mikan Young was practically falling off of her chair in excitement, tittering nervously to the girls next to her. Both Asla and Vice wore matching expressions of barely concealed disgust.

The door slammed open and Mikan jumped out of her chair. "And here are your mentors for this year!" she trilled, pointing to the handsome young man and the sweet-looking old woman in the doorway. "Royce Demon and Jeniss Craken! They will be working together to make you guys the strongest of the strong! We're going to have another District 1 Victor this year!"

Vice gave Royce a predatory grin, and he smirked right back at her. "You're all expected to be Careers. Any objections?" he fixed each kid with a glare as if daring them to speak up. He smirked again, "Good. Time to get down to business."

Jeniss spoke up quietly. "We need to decide on a leader for the pack this year. Typically, the Career leader is from One, so we need to keep that tradition unchallenged. Whoever we elect as leader must be prepared to defend that position."

Lux Ury smirked. "I vote Vice."

"It's the smartest choice," said Jay. "And her name is the most well known." And the most feared.

Asla nodded her acceptance. "Having the weight of three Victors behind her will keep her authority intact," said Asla. "Definitely the best choice."

Royce smirked. "It's good to see I have some smart kids this year. Most of the time, I end up with bloodthirsty mongrels. I expect a lot from you." He turned around and walked out of the compartment, followed by Jeniss and a simpering Mikan.

As soon as they left, Vice stood up. "Well, lets get to work. We can't just expect things to fall into place. It's time to make plans."

Jay let out a barely audible groan as Vice began to order them around. Mikan had ran out after the Mentors, and she quietly snuck back into the room in the middle of the 'planning'. She tapped Vice on her shoulder, pointing her off into another compartment. There were ten minutes of peace before the she-demon returned with a smug smile on her face. Asla walked out of the room after her.

A few moments later, Asla returned wearing a grin that matched Service's. Mikan tapped Jay on the shoulder. "Royce and Jeniss want to talk to you."

Jay nodded and walked up to the door. Opening it, he found himself in a luxurious compartment. In the middle was a comfy looking couch that Royce and Jeniss sat on.

"Close the door, please," said Jeniss. Jay nodded. He slid the door shut and walked into the room. He stopped a few feet away from the couch, looking at the Mentors questioningly.

"We have some good news for you, Jay Fink," said Jeniss with a smile.

Royce grinned, bearing pearly white teeth. "We have chosen you as our next Victor."

~District 2~Milly Tary~

The door to the compartment slammed open and Verigo Ameres almost jumped out of his chair. Milly watched him take a few bracing breaths and then turned her attention to the Mentor.

"Milly."

"Auntie Katie."

Zane jumped up, shocked. "You two know each other?"

Milly Tary and Katie Black both fixed the Escort with a glare. "Of course we do! She's my adopted aunt/niece!" they replied in unison. Zane wilted a bit under their combined looks, but quickly perked up again.

"Well, these are your Mentors for this year, kids!" he said, gesturing to Katie and the man who walked in with her, Corin Nell, a brawny man in his 30s.

Janie and Kang looked at the two doubtfully. Katie didn't seem to be very nice, and Corin was more brawn than brain. Actually, it was doubtful that he had a brain at all.

"So, are you guys going to be Careers?" asked Katie.

"Of course!" stated Milly. "Why wouldn't we?"

Katie fixed Milly with a glare. "I didn't ask you, little freeloader!"

The muted chatter in the cabin stopped completely. Janie Yoo looked at Katie shell-shocked, while Kang and Verigo tried to discern Milly's feelings. Zane awkwardly cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. His eyes jumped back and forth between the shocked girl and the blonde mentor who seemed to be trying to kill her dark-haired niece with a look. Needless to say, the rest of the meeting didn't go to well.

XX

Katie pulled Milly aside at the end of the meeting. "Don't expect me to treat you different because of your parents!"

"I don't!" Milly shot back. "Or at least, I didn't until you started treating me like the crap on the bottom of your shoe! Who do you think you are?"

Katie lifted her chin and tossed her hair. "I am your aunt," she spat the word as if it were a curse, "and the rightful owner of all the money you're mooching off of my little sister!"

"This is because of money?" asked Milly incredulously. "You're rich! Why do you care?"

Katie bent down so she looked Milly in the eyes. "I care because you're taking all of my sister's hard-earned money and giving it to the mongrels who beg on the streets! Emily worked for that cash; you have no right to simply give it away to bums!"

"They wouldn't be bums if they had a chance to get a better life!"

"They wouldn't need a better life if they weren't bums in the first place!" spat Katie. "If I let you die, your mother won't let me hear the end of it. Somehow, despite your horrid behavior, she still loves you. But I don't have any qualms of putting you in Corin's hands, and then letting you die. After all, it's not my fault then."

"Mom always spoke so highly of you. Despite all of the hints of the contrary, I thought that maybe, you really did deserve that praise." Milly spun on her heel and walked out of the room. She paused at the doorway, turning back to face Katie. "You better hope I die in the arena. Because when I make it out, my parents will hear all about this." She flitted out the door and was gone.

~District 3~Aura Pemberly~

Aura sat next to the little black hared girl on the train. The girl was holding her brother and sobbing but Aura wasn't really listening to her. She was trying to keep herself from sinking even deeper into the ridiculously fluffy cushion that she was sitting on. A door opened and Sid ran in.

"It's time for you beautiful ladies (and you other guys) to meet your beautiful Mentor!" sang Sid. "Meet… Zwalla Hering!"

A young woman stepped around Sid and time seemed to stop. She was beautiful, with caramel skin and dark curly hair. She smiled softly at Sid who was watching her with hearts in her eyes.

"I'm going to do anything to keep you guys alive," she smiled. "Ultimately, there can only be one winner and three of you definitely will die. It is doubtful that we will have a Victor this year; District 3 normally doesn't do very well. I will try to keep you alive, but keep in mind, I cannot save you. You must save yourself. If you are not careful, you will die."

She surveyed all of the tributes, stopping on Veronica and Simon. Her eyes softened, and an undeterminable look passed over her eyes. Veronica started to sob more. Zwalla looked stricken, and she quickly walked out of the room with Sid behind her.

Simon wore a helpless look on his face as he tried to comfort Veronica. Lucas watched them with barely concealed disgust. No help there.

"Hey," said Aura softly, sliding up so she was next to Veronica. "You wanna talk?"

Veronica looked up at Aura sadly, her eyes filled with tears. "I can't win. No matter what I do, things will be bad!"

Aura held out her arms, and Veronica fell into them. She stroked the younger girl's head soothingly while whispering consoling nonsense into her ear. Simon shot her a grateful look and she shrugged.

"It's going to be okay," whispered Aura, even though she knew it wouldn't be.

XX

Aura changed into a nightdress and slipped into a cabin with a bed. She planned to try to catch a couple z's before they reached the Capitol early the next morning. She had lit the lamps on the wall and started the laborious process of pulling all the extra pillows off of the bed when the door slid open.

"Thanks for today."

Aura turned to see Simon in the doorway. He wore a pair of worn slacks and a button down shirt, his long black hair was held back with a hair tie.

Aura shrugged. "You didn't seem to know what you were doing."

"Can I come in?"

Aura nodded. Simon stepped into the room, stopped, and sighed. "I don't know what to do, you know? No matter what, there is no way that things can turn out good for my sister and me. It's a loose-loose situation."

"I know," said Aura as she pulled her hair up into a bun.

"Then why did you comfort her?" asked Simon. "Wouldn't it just be best to let Veronica know the grim truth like Zwalla did?"

"She's too young to loose her innocence."

"She's going into the Hunger Games. Her innocence doesn't stand a chance." Simon sighed. "She's my little sister, and I want to protect her but… I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I want to know why. Why did you tell her something that you don't even believe in?"

"How did you know I didn't mean it?"

Simon stepped closer to Aura so they were only a few inches apart. "It was written all over your face."

~District 4~Zeph Raine~

"So how have things been for you?" asked the Mentor.

"Pretty good," replied Kaela. She then went on a tangent outlining the last two years of her life. The entire affair made Zeph want to puke.

"Hey, Tern?" Eighteen-year-old Killian Tern spun around to face Zeph. "Aren't you supposed to be mentoring all of us?" he asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Disgust was written all over his face as he looked at the boy who was barely older than him. And he'll be my Mentor? Get real!

Killian seemed to struggle with himself. He was probably deciding if punching Zeph in the face was worth it or not. After a few seconds, his face smoothed over and he turned to address all of the tributes.

"So as Miss Skye here said, I am going to be mentoring all of you this year. I know that only two of you volunteered, but I still expect you to be Careers. We're District 4, and we have a reputation to uphold in these Games." Killian turned to face Zeph. "Now, I know some of you have… different reasons to be in these games, but if you do anything to endanger the lives of Miss Skye and myself, you will be sorry. Am I clear?" Killian's message was clear to Zeph. Revenge has no place in the Hunger Games. Too bad Zeph didn't intend to listen to him.

XX

"I think we have a good chance at winning this year."

Hue Storme looked at Oceana incredulously. "A good chance?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "District 4 is gonna have a winner this year, and that's a given."

"Yeah," agreed Zeph. "With the tributes we have this year, we're going all the way."

Oceana shook her head, her green eyes wide. "You guys are forgetting something important…" She pointed to the other side of the compartment where Kaela was intently talking Killian. She was gesturing wildly, a giant grin on her face as she laughed at something Killian said.

Zeph snorted. "What about her? She's totally gaa-gaa over him, and that's it."

Oceana rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Guys can't put two and two together, can they?" she muttered to herself.

"Hey!" interjected Hue. "I'm offended by that!" He offered Oceana a cheesy grin, making her roll her eyes again.

"What I mean is she's an Odair. The Capitol has been trying to get rid of the vestiges of the Second Rebellion for the longest time, and she has one of the well-known names. They're going to make her a target, and they're going to take us down with her!"

"What can they possibly do?" laughed Zeph, running a hand through his messy brown hair. "The worst they can do is kill her and that's to our advantage anyway. We can't win while she's alive. How will they take us down with her?"

Hue furrowed his eyebrows, thoughtful. "Maybe… they could try to turn the Capitol's opinion against us as a whole. If the President makes a few well-placed comments, everyone could stop sponsoring Kaela. It would only take a little push to pull sponsors away from all of District 4."

Oceana stood up abruptly. "We have to do something to make sure she doesn't drag us down," she said, and quickly walked out of the compartment.

"What do you think?"

Zeph looked at Hue, evaluating him. His skin was tanned from being outside so much that its color offset his blonde hair and his muscles were plainly visible. Even though he wore a genial smile now, Zeph had no doubt that Hue could be terrifying.

Zeph grinned. "I think we can figure out a plan to get us in the Capitol's favor, and get her completely out of the equation."

~District 5~Tomas Franc~

To Tomas Franc, Eurydice Visconti was the strangest person he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. Currently, Tomas was sitting at a table heaped with piles of food in between Eurydice and Locke. The other girl, Katya, sat across from Locke. The Mentors, Cecilia Beuxbatton and James Finnick, were seated across from Tomas and Snake. At the head of the table, Monke D'Louf was cramming meat into his mouth as fast as possible. Tomas was originally under the impression that the people of the Capitol had impeccable manners. Clearly, he was wrong. Or at the very least, D'Louf was the exception.

But back to the topic of Eurydice's strange-ness. She had piled a stack of flat breads (pancakes, they were called?) piled on her plate so high that they looked like they were about to fall down. She then proceeded to cover half of the stack with all kinds of sweet junk, butter, powdered sugar, real sugar, maple syrup, and ice cream. Tomas thought he was going to puke just looking at it.

Thankfully, he didn't need to voice the question he was dying to ask, Katya took care of that for him.

"Is that pile of crap on your plate actually food?"

Granted, Tomas would have probably phrased his version of that question in a more polite manner.

Eurydice fixed Katya with a slight glare. "I thought that I might as well indulge a bit, considering how I might die soon," she said softly, her tone of voice contrasting sharply with the look in her eye.

"Indulging is one thing, eating that is another," said Katya, wrinkling her nose delicately. She used her silver fork to carefully stab another piece of lettuce in her salad and daintily place it in her mouth. She smirked at Eurydice as if to say 'see how sophisticated I am?'

More like, 'see how stupid I am?' Although Eurydice's pancakes made Tomas shudder, he wasn't so daft as to pass up all of the wonderful food sitting in front of him. Who wouldn't eat good food if it was right in front of him/her?

Katya. That's who.

Cecilia cleared her throat, stopping the argument before it even started. "As James and I said before, we think it would be advantageous for you to split up into two groups of two each and build independent alliances off of that. Do you know who you want to be with?"

Almost in unison, Katya and Eurydice replied, "Not her!"

Cecilia glared at the two girls as if daring them to speak again. They gulped.

"Of course," said James, rolling his eyes at the childish display. "How about… Locke and Katya, you two team up, and Eurydice and Tomas, you two can team up. You'll be with people closer to your age then."

"What if I don't want to team up with Locke?"

"You'll do what we say," growled James. "If you want to win."

Katya rolled her eyes and glared at Locke. The blonde gulped and quickly looked away from her. Although Katya was beautiful, she was quite the she-devil. Tomas grinned. He definitely was not jealous of Locke.

Eurydice leaned close to Tomas to whisper in his ear. He could smell the chocolate on her breath. "You'll stick with me, right?" she asked.

Tomas nodded. "Yeah. Promise you won't ditch me for better allies?"

Eurydice grinned slightly. "Totally. They won't be better allies if they don't let you into the alliance!"

Tomas smiled hesitantly. Eurydice seemed nice. She had volunteered for that blind girl when no one else did, so she must be alright. Tomas decided that he was going to trust her. If she did anything to betray that trust… well, things would turn nasty in the Hunger Games. But then again, that's what the Hunger Games were. Just plain nasty.

~District 6~Renn Sorrell~

Renn did not like the way the older Mentor was looking at him. Like he was a prime slice of meat, waiting to be dissected. He decided that he didn't really like Marie Argon much. She gave him the willies.

Renn sat next to Kaylin on a comfy couch that wanted to eat him. He hadn't gotten up for food either; it required too much physical effort to get off of the man-eating couch but Chio Pinoc had gotten a feast delivered to the cabin and Renn had wanted to eat. Luckily, Kaylin had gotten him a plate of yummies when she had gotten up to get food.

And the word "yummies" did describe the food very well. All of it was (as its name hinted) very yummy.

Renn was content to sit eating in silence, but his plans were completely destroyed by the appearance of the Mentors. An older woman, Marie, followed by two young men, Sigmund Cerium and Gilderoy Henton. Renn remembered Gilderoy; he had won the Games last year. Sigmund had started talking quickly while Marie simply sat down on a couch and stared. Intently. Right at Renn.

It was unnerving.

Sigmund has started to ramble a bit. Something along the lines of "I'm going to work my very hardest to keep you all alive! We'll get you the greatest sponsors ever!" and so on. His last words caught Renn's attention.

"So, are you guys going to have an alliance together? I wanted to try to present you as a united front."

Daya and Nikolai looked at each other and seemed to come to an unspoken agreement. Nikolai was the one who spoke up. "We'll stick together," he said quietly. "Any objections?" Kaylin and Renn shook their heads no.

Daya shook her head no as well, her eyes wide. "All for one and one for all."

"That is, until the final four."

All eyes turned to face Marie. Kaylin looked levelly at the Mentor while Daya stared at her in shock. Nikolai seemed to be in the same state of mind as Renn was, "She's joking, right?"

Marie stood up slowly and looked each kid in the eye before speaking. "I think you all know this, but you cannot all survive. In order to make sure District 6 has a Victor again, we have to choose one of you to be our Victor. Last year, I chose Gilderoy. Gilderoy won. This method works, and it is the best chance you have for survival. Either one of you survives, or you all die," she said solemnly. Sigmund looked like he wanted to speak up and say something, but a glare from Marie silenced him. Gilderoy didn't respond either.

"So?" demanded Marie.

Kaylin spoke up. "We won't choose between ourselves. Either you support all of us, or you support none of us.

Marie sighed. "It seems I have been thwarted again another year. Sigmund, do your thing, and fail yet again." She walked out the door next to Renn into the hallway and slammed it shut. A soft noise drifted through the door, but Renn ignored it, turning instead to face Sigmund and Gilderoy.

"I say you guys make a big alliance. There are a lot of kids this year so it's possible."

Gilderoy nodded enthusiastically, his black hair getting messed up. "Form a sort of anti-career group. Don't actually state that though. Just get a group of kids large enough to stand a chance against the Careers."

Sigmund grinned. "And never forget, there is strength in brains that even brawn can't overcome."

"I was in school with most of you guys, and I know you're all really smart. We're going to have to out-smart the enemies, cool?"

Nikolai nodded enthusiastically and grinned. Soon, everyone was talking about strategies, listen to your stylists, be smart, don't go straight to the Cornucopia, and stuff like that. Before Renn even knew it, he was yawning and making his way towards an empty compartment where he could sleep until their arrival at the Capitol. Hushed voices stopped him from turning the corner. He pressed himself against the wall, and listened.

"If you agreed with me, why did you speak out?" It was Marie.

"They have to trust me," replied Kaylin. Kaylin?

"So you plan on stabbing them in the back?" Marie sounded a bit amused.

"Of course not!" Kaylin whispered angrily. "I intend to let others do that! But I need them to trust me while you send me all the sponsor stuff. You need to pick a tribute to win? Pick me! I'm a winner, Miss Argon. I'm your winner." Kaylin stopped and spoke up again. "When I win, I'll help you mentor. I'll make sure that we have a Victor every single year."

"I can see you're a winner, girl," said Marie. One could practically hear the smirk in her voice. "And now you'll be my winner."

Renn peeked around the corner just in time to see the two shake hands. A deal was made. Kaylin was going to win. Daya and Nikolai would die. And so would he. Unless he did something about it.

But he wasn't going to tell the others. No. He was going to be smart about this. Wait for the perfect time. The perfect opportunity. To win.

~District 7~Ash Boxelder~

Ash looked out the window of the train as they sped through the countryside. Although she hadn't seen her father and brothers on the platform, she could remember their goodbyes like they just happened. Which they did.

It had been exactly seven minutes and twelve seconds since she said goodbye to her family. Scratch that, seven minutes and fifteen seconds.

"Why did you do it, Ash?" asked little Lee. "Why did you volunteer?"

"You don't think I can win?"

"I don't want you in the Games!" wailed Rem. Tears leaked out of his brown eyes. "I don't want you there!" As Rem started to cry, Nicholas did as well. Ash was left staring at her father and her three little brothers, two of whom were in hysterics.

Mister Rowan Boxelder quickly ushered his sons out of the room. "Why did you do it, Ash?"

"You don't think I can win," Ash accused.

Rowan shook his head, his brown hair swinging into his eyes. "You don't need to prove yourself to me, dear. I know you're a brave, strong, beautiful young lady. You wining the Hunger Games is not going to make me think any better of you."

"So you don't think that I can do it?"

Father and daughter both gave each other level stares. "I don't think you can do it, I know you can. But I didn't need you to risk your life to prove something like this to me!"

"I need to prove it to me."

Rowan sighed. "Come back to me, my girl. Promise you'll come back."

"Yo everyone!" A loud voice startled Ash from her musings as she practically jumped out of her seat. Bink Hum loudly tapped a wineglass with a silver knife and sang at the top of his lungs. "It is time to meet… your Mentors!" he roared.

The door to the compartment opened and an older man walked in. "Meet Mister Adler Catalpa, Winner of the 712th Hunger Games! This clever old man is a survivor, and he'll make survivors out of you too!"

Adler rolled his eyes at Bink and grinned good-naturedly at the eccentric man. Bink grinned back, his skeletal tattoos making the movement grotesque. "Your other Mentor is… Miss Harietta Mull!"

The door to the compartment opened once more and a young woman with mousy brown hair walked in. She didn't react to Bink at all, and she didn't even look at the tributes in the compartment, choosing to concentrate on her worn loafers. The boy next to Ash, Carter Mason, seemed to freeze.

Bink outlined the Games Harietta won and spun around in a circle. "Alrighties everyone!" sang Bink. "It's time to chow down!" A group of servants ran in with food and quickly piled the table with it. Mountains of food sat on the table and Carter screamed.

"It's like heaven!"

Bink grinned. "That it is! Now, dig in!"

Ash picked up a plate and piled it high with scrambled eggs. It was still pretty early in the morning, and it wasn't yet time to switch to lunch and dinner foods. And Ash was unwilling to change her eating habits just because of all the yummy food available. No sir-e. Things were going the Ash way or the high way.

Ash sat at the table in between Carter and the other female tribute. The girl (Eagle? Aegle?) still had the bizarre paint designs covering her face and was completely silent. Even through the process of stuffing as much food down her throat as possible, she was silent.

Mid-meal, Carter turned to face Ash.

"So…"

Ash raised an eyebrow.

…

Carter cleared his throat. "So… I was wondering if you wanted to have an alliance, you know, 'cause we're in the same district and all—"

"No."

…

Carter just stared, his amber eyes fixed on Ash. She noticed that he had a little bruise above his left eyebrow, almost as if he fell off of something. Probably a tree.

"Woah, there!" said Carter, throwing his hands in the air. "At least hear me out."

"I don't need your help to win the Games, and I won't accept it either," replied Ash calmly, digging into her plate of scrambled eggs. "I'm not going to drag around some dead weight with me."

"I… I'm not dead weight!" Carter sputtered. Balsa, the other boy, smirked a bit at the going-ons.

Ash simply shrugged.

A few minutes later, Harietta gasped. "Isn't that my silverware?"

Carter groaned.

~District 8~Fabian Rune~

They had been on the train for about three hours and Robyn Kramer was still cheerfully grinning. "Look!" she cried, pointing out the window. "That bird is completely blue!"

Fabian Rune sighed helplessly and turned to the other two tributes, shrugging. "I've told her at least twenty times now, she still doesn't get it!"

The other girl, a fourteen-year-old with brown hair, shrugged. "I think she's just trying to block out the events of today from her memory. It's been a pretty traumatic experience for her and she's only twelve."

The other boy, Talatan, nodded. "I agree with Holly. I think it's going to take a bit more before she realizes what's going on."

"This can't be healthy," groaned Fabian.

"Let me try," a soft voice said. The three kids looked up to see Calico Fustian, the 24-year-old Victor of the 738th Games. She smiled, her blue eyes gentle. "I'll try to talk to her."

Fabian nodded and Calico went to sit next to Robyn by the window. She pulled the little girl into her arms and said something to her. After talking for a bit, Robyn's eyes went wide and she whimpered. Suddenly, she tossed her arms around Calico's shoulders and began to bawl.

Holly groaned and put her head in her hands. "Why? I just don't get it…"

Talatan nodded sadly. "It's not fair, but we have to live with it."

"Or die with it," quipped Fabian. Talatan rolled his eyes.

Holly sighed, pulling her head out of her hands. "So, what do you think of our other Mentor?" she asked, gesturing to the 40-something year old man sitting with Sparrow at the other side of the train.

Almost at the same time, Talatan and Fabian replied.

"He's rude."

"He's smart."

Holly raised her eyebrows. "… Okay…"

"Well, it's true!" said Fabian defensively. "When he walked in here, he was completely abrupt with us. I know we're kids to him, but we're not stupid."

"Good point," said Holly. "But I have to agree with Talatan; don't you know how he won his Games?" Fabian shook his head no. "He won the 724th Games by using traps and tricks. He's really, really smart and we have to listen to him."

"Well, we can't listen to him if he doesn't really mentor us."

Talatan grinned. "We just have to make him want to mentor us!"

XX

Fabian sat at a giant table heaped with food next to Robyn. The little girl had been incredibly depressed an hour ago when Calico spoke to her, but she was back to almost jumping off of the walls.

"Is she okay now?" asked Holly, leaning over Robyn to speak to Fabian.

"Don't you think you should ask her?" asked Fabian. Holly shrugged.

"Good point." She gently grabbed Robyn's arm as the girl went to pick up even more food to pile onto her plate. "Robyn, dear?"

Robyn turned her head so her peculiar eyes met Holly's. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked happily. "I have lots of food! Daddy got it for my birthday!"

Fabian's eyes widened and he met Holly's gaze frantically. She forgot again?

Suddenly, Holly snapped her fingers. "I got it!" she hissed. She jumped up from the table and dragged Fabian and Talatan aside to stand by the mentors. "A couple years ago, a little girl fell off of a tree…"

"Where is this going?" demanded Demetry. Yup. He's rude.

Calico gave Demetry a reproachful look. "If you would let her finish…" She smiled encouragingly at Holly.

"Well, she fell out of a tree in her back yard and had to go to visit the doctors. She was lucky to be alive, but she suffered short term memory loss that keeps acting up," Holly pointed to Robyn cheerfully cramming a pancake into her mouth. "Robyn was that girl."

Talatan groaned. "I heard about that!" he said. "I can't believe I didn't realize that it was Robyn…"

"So…" Fabian's voice trailed off. "Does that mean we'll have to keep reminding her she's in the Games?"

"It does."

~District 9~Sheldon Reeve~

Sheldon Reeve held a gold coin in his right hand. As the train slowly crept closer and closer to the Capitol, Sheldon restlessly tossed the coin back and forth between his hands. The train changed speed suddenly, and the coin fell to the floor. It rolled across the compartment and was about to disappear under another couch when it was stopped by a foot.

The foot belonged to the other male tribute. He was only a year older than Sheldon himself; he had coal black hair and was very unassuming. Felan bent down and picked up the coin and held it out to Sheldon.

"This yours?"

"Yup."

Felan tossed the coin to Sheldon, who deftly caught it. "Thanks." The other boy just nodded and resumed his mindless staring out the window.

Sheldon tossed the coin up into the air again, thinking about his goodbyes.

"This might just be the worst birthday ever."

"I'm sure someone in the world has had a worse birthday."

"Worse than having their bestest friend in the entire world reaped for the Hunger Games and practically given a death sentence?"

"It's nice to know you have faith in me," quipped Sheldon dryly.

Rina's head fell into her hands. "I do have faith in you but…" her voice trailed off and she suddenly looked up, tears streaming down her face. "It's not fair!"

"I…" Sheldon looked at Rina helplessly.

"This is so not fair! When I was born I should have known that I would have horrible luck. My birthday is the freaking Reaping, of course I should have seen this, I should have expected this sooner and…"

Sheldon grabbed Rina's hands and forced her to meet his eyes. "This is not your fault," he said, serious for a change. "It's wonderful being your friend, and it will be wonderful to continue to be your friend." Rina began crying again and Sheldon pulled her hands.

"How about this?" he asked. "You'll have to forgive me, your birthday present will be a bit late. But… how about for your birthday this year, I come back alive?"

The corner of Rina's mouth twitched up in a semi-smile. "I guess that's acceptable…"

A Peacekeeper walked it. "Time's up." He grabbed Rina and proceeded to drag her out.

Before she vanished from the room, Rina called back over her shoulder. "If you ever forget to give me a birthday present after this, I will never forgive you!"

Sheldon was pulled out of his daydream when someone insistently called his name while shaking his shoulder. "Sheldon? Wake up!" a female voice called. "You did say his name was Sheldon, right? Maybe that's why he's not responding…"

"I am Sheldon."

"Well!" Sheldon looked up to see a young woman with short red curls glaring down at him. "I've been calling your name for the past hour young man!"

"Um," a small voice ventured. "I think it was only ten minutes…" It was one of the female tributes, a small blonde girl who seemed to be twelve.

"You were daydreaming too, Maisie, so it's not like you actually know," said the woman. "My name is Kaylee Jurone and I'm going to be your Mentor this year."

The escort, Valentinez Kaiser, nodded enthusiastically. "Kaylee is very smart! This year is going to be awesome!" he grinned. He flashed the V sign. "Love and peace, guys!" he sang. "I'm gonna get us some nibblies!" He dashed out of the room, his coat getting stuck on the edge of the door for a few seconds before being pulled off roughly.

"Does he mean food?" asked Maisie.

The other boy, Felan, nodded. "Capitol lingo, it's ridiculous!" Maisie giggled softly.

Sheldon took a seat at the table next to the other girl, Xena. Digging into the pile of food in front of him, his mind drifted off again.

I can't believe this is happening to me… it doesn't seem real at all. I mean, I can feel everything near me, and I can hear all these people. I'm obviously not dreaming, but I could swear that I am. None of this feels real. None of it.

~District 10~Fallon Denway~

The four tributes had boarded the train and met their Mentor, a soft-spoken woman named Rosette Bosal who won exactly 20 years ago. The other female tribute, Lili, had gone and sat in a corner by herself quickly. Dewlap, the other boy, had quickly sat next to her and proceeded to try to talk her ear off, but Lili shrunk within herself until Rosette pulled Dewlap away from her. The hyperactive thirteen-year-old turned his attention to Fallon and Henry and proceeded to talk their ears off as well. But he quickly got bored because Fallon was mildly annoyed and Henry was in a puddle of depression.

Maybe I was a bit harsh on him…

For the past three hours on the train, Henry had been wearing the world's most dejected expression. After Fallon rebuked him for his hasty actions, he had been wallowing in misery.

And Fallon felt very bad.

As stupid as he was about this whole thing, he was still ready to sacrifice his life to keep me safe. It was dumb, but brave. And now he's willing to die for me and I just crushed him…

Fallon cautiously reached her hand out to Henry. "Henry… I…" she floundered. She put her hand onto his shoulder and sighed. "I'm sorry."

Henry looked up, his blue eyes sad. "I just wanted to…"

"I know." Fallon cut him off. "You were being brave, and selfless, and I just threw that aside like it was worth nothing. But it was worth a lot to me, Henry. You're my best friend, and I don't want to see anything bad to happen to you. You know?"

Henry grinned skeptically. "I must look like a downright idiot, right?"

Fallon smiled. "Totally!" Seeing how Henry's face fell, she quickly finished her thought. "You also look like a brave hero."

"You think?"

Fallon nodded earnestly. "I know. That was a pretty stupid choice, but…" she shrugged. "It was sweet too. You're willing to sacrifice so much for me, it's more flattering than you could ever imagine."

"And you're not just saying this to make me feel better?" asked Henry.

Fallon shook her head no earnestly, her long black hair starting to fall out of its bun. "You know me better than that, silly!" she said. "I wouldn't make you feel better by lying."

Henry grinned, this time for real. "I'm glad…" His voice trailed off. "I guess I didn't really thing this through, did I?"

"Not really…" sighed Fallon. "Live and let live, I suppose. It's too late to change what has happened, and being miserable won't change a thing." She fixed Henry with a glare.

"Alright, Fallon." Fallon stood up to go get some more food. Henry watched her and whispered softly, "I'm sorry."

XX

Fallon was in her compartment, getting ready to take a short nap before arriving at the Capitol when the door opened suddenly. She grabbed a lamp and turned the lights up brighter to disorient the person entering her room. She was about to knock the mysterious person out when…

"Wha?"

"Oh, it's you." Henry's eyes adjusted to the light to see Fallon in a pair of pajamas, holding a lamp poised to hit him on the head. "I wasn't sure who it was. It thought you might be the escort."

"I don't think Drake Hawk is like… that," said Henry.

"He's from the Capitol, you can never be sure about them."

Henry shrugged. "Good point… Fallon?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I stay for a few minutes?" he asked. "I want to tell you something."

"Of course," she said, gesturing to a couple chairs at the side of the room. She sat down next to Henry. "Shoot."

"I…" Henry looked down and fiddled with his fingers for a few minutes. Suddenly, he looked up at Fallon and blurted out, "Ireallylikeyou."

Fallon looked confused. "Well, we're friends… you should like me…"

"No, not like that. I have to tell you before it's too late!" he said earnestly, looking Fallon in her eyes. "I really like you, like, I love you. Fallon, I'm in love with you."

Fallon could only sputter, her brain short-circuited. What. The. Hell?

~District 11~Gardenia~

"Gardenia?" a gentle voice shook Gardenia out of her reverie.

"Gardenia?" ventured another voice, this one a bit rougher.

"Is she awake?" a different voice.

"Of course she's awake!" said the first voice indignantly. "She's just shocked! Wouldn't you be if…" the voice trailed off. "Wait, that argument doesn't work here. We were all reaped…" Gardenia decided that the first voice belonged to a girl. She looked up from her lap where she was mindlessly fiddling with her broach and met a pair of dark brown eyes. Kind of like warm dark chocolate.

The eyes smiled. "There you go!" said the girl. "How are you doing?"

"Um…" Gardenia stuttered, trying to gather her thoughts. "I…"

"Snap out of it!" said a harsh voice. Gardenia turned to see two young women looking down at her. One of the women was very pregnant, and she was concentrating more on her toes than anything. The other woman wore a mildly annoyed expression and was looking at Gardenia as if she was a fly pinned onto a table.

"Gardenia, are you okay?" It was the second voice again, and Gardenia turned to find herself face to face with a young boy her age. His hair was ridiculously blonde, and Gardenia reached out to touch it.

"Wow," she whispered. "This is a really incredible dream. Even your hair has texture!"

"Shmimi, she thinks she's dreaming!" This voice was the third one that had tried to get her attention, and belonged to an older boy with mocha skin.

"You're kidding," said the first girl – Shmimi? – "You can't be serious Colby!"

"It makes sense though," said the boy. "I mean, this is a pretty traumatic experience for anyone, and she's very young."

"What about me?" It was the boy with the textured hair.

"You're just a freak of nature, Mew," said Shmimi.

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot." He wandered over to the table that had food piled on it and began digging through the sweets, leaving the others to handle Gardenia's… state of oblivion.

Shmimi put her hand gently on Gardenia's. "Honey?" she said. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but everything going on right now is real. You're in the Hunger Games, and these two women will be our mentors." She gestured to the annoyed-looking lady. "That is Lilac Cailleach and that," she pointed to the pregnant woman, "is Nessa Greenwood."

Gardenia fixed Shmimi with a probing look. "So… you mean this is real?"

"Sadly, yes."

"… well, fudge."

"Is delicious!" quipped Bartholomew, who was returning from the food table. His mouth was covered with chocolate and he held a block of fudge in his right hand. "You want some?"

Gardenia nodded, and Mew broke off a piece of fudge and gave it to her. At the begging look in Shmimi's eyes, he handed the older girl a piece of chocolate too. As one, the two girls sighed.

"This is the best thing ever…"

"Li?" a soft voice called. Heads turned to see Nessa, who was finally looking up. She had big blue eyes and freckles across her nose. "I want… to eat caviar."

Lilac sighed. "Where am I going to get caviar while on a train, Nessa?" she asked.

"I dunno… I just," Nessa's eyes took a puppy dog quality. "I really want caviar. I might die if I don't get any."

Colby groaned. "Just our luck to end up with the pregnant mentor…"

~District 12~Evelyn Dune~

"Evelyn, catch!" Evelyn nearly missed grabbing the pork chop out of the air. When she had asked Seneca to 'please pass me a pork chop', she hadn't expected the girl to pick up a pork chop and chuck it across the table to her District-mate. Nope. That was definitely not what Evelyn had in mind.

Well, pigs are flying. I guess Mark really did smile back there.

Evelyn smiled slightly to herself and dug back into her food. She could hear Seneca talking at full speed to the other boy, Will Darius. The seventeen-year-old brunette wore an amused expression on his face as he dodged a few pieces of pork that Seneca sent flying as she spoke excitedly about something or another.

The escort, Paul Iceburg, looked like he was about to pass out from horror at Seneca's nonexistent table manners. Even the Mentor, Chrissa Venn, looked disgusted. She sat at the side of the table secluded from the others, nursing a bottle.

"Gosh!" Evelyn found herself saying to Mark. "I'm so nervous, you know? I mean, I could possibly die now, and even though I basically just said goodbye to my family, it really hasn't sunk in yet. I mean, one day in the next couple weeks I'm going to wake up screaming and it'll be like bam! I can die here. And suddenly everything will sink into perspective. But as of right now, I just feel like I'm getting ready to do some public speaking or something, not like I'm going to my death and…" Evelyn trailed off. "Sorry, I'm rambling." She turned to Mark and blushed a little, the color that would have been present on her cheeks hidden by the olive tone of her skin. Mark smiled slightly.

"That was a very impressive bit of rambling," he replied. "I don't think I've ever heard anything or anyone speak that fast, even her." He gestured to Seneca, who had now started to dig into a piece of cake. Paul was puffing on his cigar and trying to calm himself down while Chrissa started on another bottle.

"Ah, it's an acquired talent, I suppose," said Evelyn. "I have trained in the art of fast-talking since I was a little kid. My dad said it's a skill I have."

Evelyn grinned widely and dug back into her food. Who'd have thought that I would be able to have a good conversation with Mark Vires? Even if it's a bit one-sided, but he's really not that scary and he's actually listening.

"So, how did your goodbyes go?"

Mark raised an eyebrow and Evelyn and gave her a stern look, almost as if he was trying to intimidate her off.

"Well?" she asked, completely ignoring his expression.

"It was ok."

"Ok?" asked Evelyn. "You just had a conversation with your family basically saying, 'sorry about this, but I'm going to my death now Mom'…"

"My mom passed away when I was little."

Evelyn stopped completely, a fork hanging from her open mouth. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"No big deal."

Evelyn was about to protest, but the look on Mark's face made her quiet down. His long blonde hair covered his eyes, but Evelyn could see the pain within the blue orbs that he was trying to disguise. She struggled with herself.

Mention something and comfort him? Or leave him alone and wait for him to talk?

She looked at Mark again. The fact that the boy had actually talked to her was a miracle, but to be honest with herself, she didn't really know him at all.

When he's ready to talk, he'll talk. Until then, I'll just be as much as a friend to him as I can be in this situation.

XX

So I deleted all of the information relating to a SYOT story in this so it won't get taken down, so any other questions will need to be handled on a forum. I've opened a Hunger Games SYOT Forum and a topic for this story so we can discuss it and get stuff done without breaking 's rules :D Here is your link (minus spaces). Click on the topic "The 30th Quarter Quell" for info :D

FORUM LINK (minus spaces): http :/forum .fanfiction .net /forum /silvernightstorms_SYOTs /90154/

I am going to have sponsor points posted on the forum three days after this chapter is posted, and it will be updated there. Additionally, sponsoring rules will be up there too. Check the forum now please, and submit any information that you haven't. I have an important announcement up there about sponsoring, so please do so!

Finally, I hope you enjoyed this giant monster chapter that was 22 pages on word. It took a lot of work, so please review, even if it is to nitpick and pull my self esteem down. Because even that is appreciated. I want to hear from all you lurkers! :)