Alright so just a little heads up, trigger warning in Sage's PoV for homophobia and transphobia. If you just want to skip that launch team just PM me or send me a DM on Discord, I'll summarize it for you.

Thea Daxton, Head Game Maker, Right Before Launch

"Are they loaded yet?" I ask, tearing my face away from my computer where I had just added the newest addition of mutts, to face my assistant.

"Almost, we're still waiting on the pair from Three." He says, his dark brown hair messy having spent the entire night and morning preparing for the games with me and Mae. Ash had been in and out but due to some traumatic family business, couldn't make it to the launch this morning.

"Why are we waiting? I told you we are behind schedule already."

"Cornelius giving his tributes some last advice, I guess, you know him."

"He had all his chances. We need to get the tributes into the arena as soon as possible."

"Alright, give me a second." Vance says grabbing the microphone that connected to the overhead intercom. He presses a giant red button and a series of beeps ring in my ear before the red button starts flashing. Vance leans into the microphone before replying, "Pike Shaff, please do your job and escort your tributes into hovercrafts three and six."

"That was a little mean," I sigh, "but as long as it gets them into the crafts, it's fine."

"I mean whatever it takes." He says.

"I'm excited for these launch teams."

"Well Mae and I worked out the kinks of the truth serum."

"You triple-checked we have no allies in the same hovercraft?"

"Yeah, no alliance members are in the same team. At least main alliance members as of the interviews, because we can't exactly follow sub-alliances."

"Sounds good to me, can I have a visual on team one?"

"Sure," Vance says as he turns to the computer on his right, "fuck, the intercom's still on."

"Well, then turn it off." I sigh.

"I'm trying." He replies, hitting the red button multiple times before it let out three beeps, signaling it had turned off.

"Alright, I still want that visual on one." I say looking over his shoulder towards his giant computer screen.

"Here you go." He clicks on the picture in the top right corner and it zooms in on a group of four. They were all seated and buckled up, ready to head towards the arena. Tyree was taping his fingers against his seat as Sunna looked back and forth between him, Celosia and Lily. Tyree looks like a nervous wreck, I can't even imagine what the truth serum's gonna do to him and really all of them. It'll be great entertainment, though, and that's what the capital needs right now.

"You're one-hundred percent sure the effects wear off before they hit the arena, right?" I ask.

"The effects of the truth serum?"

"Yeah."

"Totally," he says as the computer beeps and another red dot is added to the giant map Mae had been studying.

"Jocylin's tracker is online." She says nodding towards me. "Just waiting on Gage's."

I slowly make my way over to the map studying the arena I had worked for months upon months. I had to pinch myself not to get lost in it's mesmerizing appearance.

"Gage is online." Vance says, sliding his office chair over to where Mae and I stood. "Let's do this thing."

"Alright." Mae says brisking walking over to her desk with a giant computer as well. She types a few keys before looking into my eyes, "truth serum injected."

I take a deep breath in before replying, "camera positioned?"

"Yes." Vance muttered, still not taking his eyes off the map that takes over the entire wall.

"Activate cameras… now." I say pointing to Mae and she sighs before pushing a blue button at the front of her desk.

"Alright, done." She sighs, "recording everything."

"Good, zoom in on two."

"Can do." Vance says, tearing his eyes away from the map.

"I just want to see how they're reacting to the truth serum." I say.

"Alright, let's do this thing."


So if that was unclear for you, the tributes are being injected with truth serum. I've planned it so there are no alliance members together so it'll be fun. I also have names for the group as a whole, they're labeled with quotes followed by who's PoV it is XD.


Group 1- "Wholesome, that's it, wholesome": Tyree Strenberg, District 6 Male

"Ow." Celosia says as the trainer injects the tracker into her arm.

"Three minutes." The woman sighs looking down at the watch on her wrist.

"Three minutes 'till what?" Sunna asks.

"Three minutes until it starts."

"Wait, the arena? In three minutes?" Celosia asks.

"No, something else, but may the odds be ever in your favor." The woman says making her way out of the tribute section in the body of the hovercraft and up to the front. She takes a seat up next to the pilot and they start talking in hushed voices.

"What does she mean?" I ask.

"I'm so confused, but at least it's not the arena." Lily laughs.

"Two minutes!" The woman shouts back at us.

"Seriously, I'm nervous." Celosia says darting her eyes across the room.

"Me too." Lily agrees, taking a deep breath in before letting it out.

"Well, we can do this. Let's pump ourselves up!" I say attempting to be positive as the hovercraft jerks upwards, thrusting itself into the sky.

"Yeah, Tyree's right, we can do this." Sunna says, fist-bumping Celosia.

"Yeah." Lily nods from beside me. There's a small bit of silence as everyone waitings, holding their breath, for whatever was coming next.

"One minute!" The woman shouts making her way back to the tribute section before taking her seat on the other side of Lily.

"What is she counting down to?"

"No one knows."

"Guess we'll just have to see."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Celosia whispers.

"Hey," Sunna says holding out her hand for the young girl to hold, "whatever it is, we'll get through it."

"What if it's something so small and insignificant?" Lily laughs.

"We'll just have to see." I say.

"Time!" The woman sighs and suddenly my head suddenly feels extremely fuzzy. There's a sharp pang that rings through the space in my head as I hear a small beep from somewhere deep in my skull.

"What are your names?" The woman asks.

"Lily Rosett."

"Celosia Spring-g..."

"Sunna Saccaran."

"Tyree Sternberg." I blurt out.

"Why didn't I think about that?" Lily asks.

"What's happening?" Celosia cries, "my mind is swirling."

"Mine too." I sigh.

"Truth serum. Good luck." The woman says.

"Truth serum? That's what she was counting down for." Sunna replies.

"Yeah," The woman sighs, "I'm sorry."

"I don't really have any secrets though." Lily says, "oh fuck, guess whatever we think comes outta our mouth, like we have no filter."

"My alliance has a plan for the arena." Celosia blurts.

"I've sworn to protect Syd." Sunna says her eyes going wide, "he reminds me of Lavender."

"I'm scared about having to kill in the games." I say, "shoot."

"Yeah, this truth serum's really weird." Celosia says bobbing her head up and down as if music was playing.

"James's gonna kill me."

"He's your District partner, right?" Celosia asks.

"Yeah, I can't take him on, I'm gonna die."

"You got a higher score than him though," I say. "I have a plan to escape the arena."

"You do?"

"Yeah, shoot, I didn't mean to say that."

"It's the truth serum." The woman sighs, her green curly hair bouncing this way and that as we road towards the arena and eventually our deaths.

"Abram and I have a side-alliance with the pair from Eight." Lily squeaks and Sunna's face falls.

"I knew it." She sighs.

"You do?" Celosia asks.

"We all should form an alliance." Lily says, "a sub one of course." Obviously trying to steer away from the sub-alliance she has.

"I like that idea." I say.

"Just like a little pact not to kill each other." Sunna sighs.

"That works." Lily says.

"Well we should get to know each other then, make sure y'all are trustworthy." Celosia giggles.

"Either the truth serum's worn off or we have no more secrets." I point out, the feeling of dizziness gone from my head.

"I don't have any more."

"Same." I sigh.

"So then, what's your guys's lives like? Before you were reaped." Celosia asks.

Group 2- "Broken with Major Doubts": Anella 'Anne' Finch, District 10 Female

"Three minutes!" The man said, his light purple skin simmering in the light, as he bounces from me to Anne to Angel to Kinnik and then back to me.

"What are you counting down?" Kinnik asks.

"You'll see."

"Alright..." I say, completely losing my train of thought.

"Is it the arena or something?" Angel asks.

"I can't tell you." The purple captitalite says, finally sitting down in his assigned seat.

"Is it something big?" Sydney asks.

"I'm guessing so." I sigh.

"So, are you guys ready for the arena?" the escort asks, completely changing the subject of the conversation. All four of us look at him, almost bewildered about his randomness.

"Not really." Kinniks says.

"Me too." Angel says.

"Aren't you a career?" The man asks, "like bloodthirsty."

"Not all careers are like that." Angel sighs.

"But a lot are."

"Well, I'm not, alright?"

"Whatever." The man sighs.

"Angel is whoever she wants to be." I reply.

"Whatever." The escort sighs again, tucking a strand of his long pink hair behind his ear.

"Ooh, only one and a half more minutes left."

"Holy crap, that was fast," Kinnik laughs, "I'm really nervous for whatever this is though."

"Me too, can we get a hint?" Sydney asks.

"I'm sorry but no." The escort sighs, "I wish I could tell you though."

"Whatever it is, it's not worth worrying about." I say.

"Are you sure?" Sydney asks.

"Yep." Kinnik agrees, "whatever it is, we've got it."

"One minute left." The escort says rolling his eyes. He looks around the craft at our broken faces, Sydney softly singing to himself, Kinnik with his eyes closed focusing on taking deep breaths and Angel bouncing her legs up and down. All of them looked extremely nervous and I'm sure I look the same. They look how I feel, gutted with nervousness for the potential of my death today. Butterflies bounce around in my stomach as we continue flying through the sky to whatever lay ahead for the next week or so.

"Oop it's time." The escort sighs as a sudden sharp pain fills my head. I look across me and see Angel pressing her right hand to the side of her temple. I guess this is what he was counting down to.

"Have fun with the truth serum."

"Truth serum?" Kinnik asks, his eyes still closed.

"Yep but it's not like any other truth serum, it makes you spill our secrets."

"Secrets?" Sydney squeaks, instantly reminding me of the small mice that always seemed to litter the alleyways where I used to wrestle.

"Secrets." The escort nods.

"Isn't that kinda invasive?" Angel laughs.

"Not when it's the Capital." The escort obnoxiously giggles.

"Nothing's secret with the Capital." I sigh.

"Ain't that true." Kinnik laughs.

"When does it start work-" Angel starts but Sydney interrupts her.

"My father- no I won't." He says stopping himself from admitting whatever concerned his dad by closing his eyes and mouth tight.

"Guess now then." Angel chuckles, "I really get a suspicious feeling from Misty." She says.

"Oh?" the escort asks.

"I used to illegally street wrestle back in Ten, that's what got me into this mess." I blurt, it's like my brain had no filter on what came outta my mouth. How was Sydney able to stop this?

"I-I'm gonna die, I have to." Kinnik sighs, his eyes still closed but not scrunched up like Sydney's.

"Die? What makes you say that?" the escort says, egging him on.

"Allegro." Kinnik replies, "there can only be one winner."

"I-" Sydney starts but tightens his mouth so as to not say anything else, fighting back the serum.

Group 3- "Trust issues with your host, rebels": Keir Wessle, District 5 Male

"Three minutes until it activates." The woman with radiant, bright orange hair sighs walking past Ciara and taking a seat in one of the empty wall chairs.

"Our trackers?"

"Nah, truth serum."

"Truth serum?" I ask, attempting to keep calm but obviously not doing a very good job with the panic that could be plainly heard in my voice.

"Yep, good luck." The woman nods.

"Well I'm screwed." The girl from Eight whispers beside me.

"Might as well tell each other what we'd say because it's gonna set in soon." I say.

"What if she's lying and there's no truth serum?" Misty asks.

"I'm not lying though." The woman yawns, "nor do I care what you guys do."

"Whatever." Misty sighs.

"How much longer 'till it starts activating?" I ask.

"I don't know, there's a clock right there, look yourself." The woman says leaning on Ciara's seat, closing her eyes.

"Are you falling asleep?" Ciara asks.

"Exactly why I don't care what you guys do." The woman mumbles.

"Wow, she's the one supposed to help us."

"Guys, it's almost started." Abram says, his eyes as big as boulders, "one minute."

"Fuck." Ciara sighs.

"I'll be fine… probably."

"I don't know though." I sigh.

Suddenly as the clock's longest hand reaches the twelve a drum starts to bang in my ears and my head swirls around in a murky pool. Everything goes numb and almost soft, the only thing I can make out is a small ringing in my ears.

"I volunteered because my dad forced me. He said that he would turn my mom and friends in for being rebels if I didn't volunteer." Ciara blurts.

"Guess the serums real." Misty sighs.

"That's so mean, Ciara, I'm sorry." Abram says.

"Yeah, he abandoned me and my mom when I was little but has recently come back into our fucking lives."

"Oh wow," I say, "I'm sorry."

"Shit, I hate this truth serum."

"Honestly, I don't trust Onyx." Misty blurts but instinctively covers her mouth with her palm, "why did that just come from my mouth?"

"It's like this serum removes our filter, so we say whatever's on our mind." I explain. "I wish I had an ally."

"I'm gonna protect Lily, I have to, James wants her dead." Abram says, looking to the left to evoke our eyes. I have no clue why he doesn't want to look at anyone but I guess he just doesn't.

"You're a good ally." Ciara says.

"I'm just gonna try and protect her from James."

"That's so cute, honestly." Misty says.

"So, how are your guys's alliances?" Abram asks.

"I'm pretty close with Kai but I don't trust the pair from One, they seem to be up to something." Misty replies, shifting her weight so she could look at Ciara. "What about you?" she asks.

Ciara takes a second to think before saying, "We're all really close, so there aren't really separate groups within our alliance."

"That's cool." I smile.

"Oh Keir, I forgot about that you don't have alliances."

"It's cool, I've got a plan for the arena."

"You do?"

"Yep, but I think the serum's worn off or something because no more secrets are being shared." I say shrugging my shoulders, hoping to move the conversation away from my plan.

"Oop, I guess so."

"Well, what do we do until arena time now?"

"Stare at each other." Abram laughs, "obviously."

I chuckle a bit nor Ciara or Misty find the joke very funny. They both glare at each other while Abram raises his eyebrows at me. I stick out my tongue and bop my head back and forth and he smiles before puckering his lips together and raising his thumbs to his forehead.

"Can you guys stop being idiots for once?" Misty says, rolling her eyes, which makes us both laugh even harder than before.

Group 4- "Dramaaaa (Yes Multiple 'a's)": Sage Greenberg, NB (reaped in the Male slot) District 11

"I can't believe I'm stuck with them for a launch team." James says, complaining for the third time since we got into this hovercraft.

"I'm sorry but these are plans from Thea and Vance, no changing." The escort says again, rolling her eyes at his annoyance.

"Can I request one?"

"Nope." The escort says as the hovercraft starts to lift off the ground and into the sky. I grab the sides of my chair so as to not to go flying forwards into the girl from Five.

"What's so bad about us?" Sasha asks.

"Fucking homo," he says pointing to Jocylin.

"Excuse me?" Sasha asks.

"Depressed little kid who likes to pretend she knows what she's doing when she really has no clue." He says motioning towards her.

"I don't think-" I start to say but he cuts me off.

"The boy pretending to be a girl," he says, staring directly at me, an angry and almost violent look raging in his dark brown eyes.

"We don't use that language here." The escort sighs, "don't make me call security."

"Call security, do it, I dare you." James taunts, "won't change the fact that she's a homo."

"I see no problem with her being homo." Sasha argues back.

"I second that." The escort pipes up.

"Are you blind?"

"Actually I have contacts that help me see perfectly well, are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to be offended with that lame comeback?"

"Nope." Sasha sighs, "I'm just telling you the truth."

"Fuck you too." James laughs.

"Wow, you're even dumber than I thought you were, can't you just let her be?"

"Not when she's a homo."

"Why should that define her personality?" Sasha says nodding towards the girl that sits next to me. It's a strange layout in the craft, James and Sasha on one side with Jocylin, the escort and myself on the other.

"It shouldn't." I agree.

"Please guys, just settle down, I don't wanna have to call security."

"Fine, she's still a fucking homo though."

"Can you change that? No, so it shouldn't bother you." The escort calmly explains.

"No one asked for your opinion on shit."

"Well, whether you like it or not, I'm giving it." The escort sighs, getting to her feet and making her way across the craft. She grabs her hand-held radio that was hung on the wall but lets out a gasp as she sees the blank screen. "Oh no, the serum."

"Huh?" Jocylin asks and suddenly my head feels like it's being rung out like a sponge. There's a beeping somewhere but I ignore it as my head throbs.

"The truth serum." The escort says making her way back to her seat, radio in hand.

"Truth serum?" I ask.

"Yep." The escort sighs, "good luck."

"Good luck? Have you guys heard of the effects of truth serum?" Jocylin whispers, her voice wavering with panic.

"You good?" Sasha asks.

"They used truth serum on some of the kids in my class after a boy our age went missing, it wasn't good."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I say.

"I will not stop until I kill Lily, she's my ticket to making it home." James blurts.

"Huh?"

"Truth serum says whatever you don't really want others to find out." Jocylin

"But James- that's not a secret, everyone knows he wants to kill Lily."

"I don't know…" Sasha says, a grimace holding onto her face as the truth serum made it's way out of her lips, "I'm ready to die." She sighs.

"Don't say that, you don't deserve to die."

"It's the truth Lin, or at least my truth." Sasha says.

"I, or my alliance and I, are planning this big thing for the arena."

"Thing?"

"Yep." I say, my hand flying to cover my mouth so as to not reveal our giant plan.


I just wanted to say that, yes, Jocylin and Sasha are allies but I realized it was more of a sub-alliance between them two, Lin's main alliance is still with Liz, so the truth serum works. Also Thea and Vance had the launch teams before the interviews so anything formed after that wouldn't have counted XD.


Group 5- "Straight Chaos": Onyx 'Nyx' Forti, NB (reaped in the Male slot)

"Only three more minutes." The woman says, her heels clicking across the floor of the dark hovercraft. She was the only lighting up the tension-filled craft, a neon glow surfacing off her body.

"Huh?" Vienna asks, her confused face lit up by the small glow coming off the escort.

"Until what?"

"You'll just have to wait and see."

"That sounds super weird and kinda creepy." Liz laughs, trying to ease the tension in the craft. The pair from Two had been lucky and somehow made it into the same launch team. I wish Angel and I had been that fortunate.

"Yeah it does." Allegro agrees, nodding his gead.

"Can't we know what happens in three minutes?" I ask.

"Nope, I'm sorry." The escort

"Could it be the arena?" Allegro asks.

"Probably not, that would be really fast, but maybe." Vienna reasons.

"Well, what do we do until then?" I sigh.

"I don't know," Vienna says, "maybe talk?"

"About what?"

"I have no clue." She laughs.

"Can't we just know what's going on?" Liz sighs, rolling her light blue eyes.

"I'm sorry but no." The escort says, her overly cleft chin bobbing this way and that as she talks. She reminds me of the fireflies that flew around One late in the nighttime. I used to sit out on our roof for hours and just watch them fly by.

"Two minutes." the escort says smiling towards each and everyone of us. Her smile's obnoxiously bright, showing all of her blockly, lime green teeth.

We just look at each other in complete silence for about another minute, exchanging looks of worry this way and that. The escort shows obvious signs of discomfort in the quiet atmosphere but doesn't say anything to change it. She just watched the seconds tick by on the wall above Liz's head.

"Yay." She chimes, after what I guess must have been two minutes, "it's started,"

There's a sudden stabbing pain shooting from my neck to the back of my head. I can't help but let out a gasp as the pain pounds in my head. Somewhere in the distance I hear a small beep but I can't place where it exactly had come from. My head spins but then quickly and instantly it stops, leaving only a small fuzzy sensation clouding my brain. I look up from the stare I had planted on the ground towards the other tributes.

They all show signs of discomfort and pain so I'm guessing it wasn't just me with the pounding headache. Vienna was shaking across from me and it took all I had not to reach out and hold her steady, telling her it would be alright.

"What was that?" Allegro asks.

"Truth serum." The escort says biting her bright yellow bottom lip.

"Truth serum?" Liz asks.

"Wait, hold on." The escort says.

"I know I'm gonna have to die for Kinnik." Allegro blurts, quickly grabbing his mouth with his hands.

"That." The escort laughs, "is what the truth serum does, makes you spill your secrets."

"But that's not really a secret." Allegro says, taking his hands away from his mouth.

"It's the closest thing you have to a-" she starts but is interrupted by Liz.

"I want to kill James for being a homophoic piece of shit last night." She blurts.

"Oop well at least you don't kinda like your district partner." Vienna sighs, "what oh no, that didn't come outta my mouth, did it?"

"Oh?"

"It's complicated." Vienna says a goggle look in her eyes, having just spilled her secret out to the launch team.

"I don't trust either of the two from Four." I blurt out.

"Oh wow." The escort smiles, soaking up the drama spewing uncontrollably from our lips.

Group 6- "Keeping Shit (Stuff) Real": Elizabeth, District 8 Male

"Three minutes!" calls the shrill voice of the light orange escort as he makes his way to one of the empty wall chairs.

"Until what?" I ask.

"No clue, they just told me three minutes," the escort says.

"So something's gonna happen in three minutes and no one knows what. Fun." Kai laughs in his thick District Four accent.

"Could be the arena," Gage points out, "but probably not."

"Oop, two minutes, that was fast." The escort says, staring at the clock planted on the hovercraft's cabin wall.

"What do we do until then though?"

"Probably just wait, maybe talk," I sigh.

"About what?" Gage asks.

"Our lives and shit like that." Kai laughs.

"Before we were reaped?" I ask, knowing damn well my face is turning a light shade of red.

"I guess so."

"My life's pretty boring honestly." Gage says, running his hand through his light brown hair.

"Just tell us, we won't judge, can't really." Zach replies.

"One minute." The escort says, still not taking his eyes off the clock.

"Alright, well I pretty much just lived with my best friend because in my parents eyes, I wasn't good enough."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I say, attempting to empathize with him but not doing a very good job.

"What about you Elizabeth, why did you volunteer?"

"It's a long story," I sigh.

"Go ahead, it's not like we have anything better to do." Kai says.

"I think I'll pass, honestly, I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's fine." Zach replies.

"What about you Zach?" Gage asks.

"Meh, I live with my mother in a small little house on the border of Eight. She blames me for my father's death but that's alright, I've learned to tune her out. Um well so yeah that's really it but I do have this friend, Savannah, and she's truly amazing. She's the one I have to win for."

"Time." The escort says his voice hinting at the emotion behind his voice.

Suddenly a sharp pain starts to blossom in my head. With my head throbbing I look over at the rest of my launch team. They all had on looks of discomfort, so it wasn't just me. Was this what the escort was counting down to?

"You guys good?" the escort asks, his eyes wide.

"Just experiencing a major headache, it's fine." Gage says sarcastically.

"Oh no, this is what they were counting to." the escort replies.

"Why does the Capitol want to give us more pain? They're already sending us to our deaths." Gage asks, rubbing the back of his head.

Then as suddenly as the headache started, it was gone. In its place was a fuzzy feeling that makes me feel like just laying down and closing my eyes.

"Our chances of winning are super low honestly." Gage blurts out and Kai turns to look at him, confusion in his eyes.

"Why did you just- I have no idea what I'm doing in the arena." Kai says, his hand flying to cover his mouth.

"Huh?" Gage asks.

"I have no faith in myself." I sigh, "holy fuck… why did that come outta my mouth?"

"I have no clue."

"I'm guessing it's a form of truth serum, love," the escort smiles.

"Why did they give us truth serum?" Zach asks, "I have a small feeling Anne and Ciara are working together but that's just a small suspicion."

"Oh?"

"Fuck, I didn't mean to say that." Zach says.

"It's the truth serum, make you spill the things you don't wanna spill." Gage says rolling his eyes.

"I actually feel pretty good in my alliance." Kai replies, obviously not having too much worth spilling.

"I wish I had fucking stayed with Lin,"

"Oh?" I ask.

"Or at least made things work with her, Keir even." Gage replies.

"I remember that fight in training." Kai says, "what was it even about?"

"Keir, but we were both being too stubborn." He admits.

A/N: There we go, the last pre-games chapter! This was one of the very few chapters I had an idea for- the truth serum. With that being said I kinda liked showing how different people experience different symptoms of the serum. I loved the small little blurts they had and well I put all of the allies in different (main alliances not sub ones) teams. This idea also kinda comes from me being hella crazy when I'm tired and the fact I literally have no filter… it's not very pretty XD.

Warning- I'm now gonna get emotional and sappy for a sec

So I just want to say thank you to anyone who's reading this because this has been such an amazing (I want to say journey but I'm not exactly sure if that's the right word). You guys mean the world to me and I'm in love with all these tributes. I don't cry/get emotional to many stories but holy fucking crap this bb was the hardest thing (yes, I've already started writing it ). I'm too attached to these tributes ngl. Well, I also want to warn you guys this bb will be the probably the longest chapter of the story (so far). Probably.

Bye for now,

Marie