RandomTeddyBear's A/N: Hey everyone this is my first story in a super long time so I'm sorry if it's choppy! These characters and stories are from two different forums that I was a mod/admin on for almost 10 years so hopefully I do can them justice!

Chapter 1

By: RandomTeddyBear

"I wish I was strong enough

to lift not one, but both of us

some day I will be strong enough

to lift not one, but both of us."

-Taylor Swift

Nolan had been awake for a few hours, making breakfast for him and his mother. The date was July 4th, the day of the reaping and for obvious reasons his nerves were on high. His mother wasn't always lucid to say the least and getting her ready for the day, much less the reaping, wasn't always the easiest. He finished cooking some of the eggs he had gotten from the chicken coop out back, which was the only farm like animals his family owned. He walked into his mothers room with a tray of scrambled eggs and a glass of water. "Mom, it's time to wake up." He said softly.

May was already awake and was just staring at the ceiling. She jumped a bit as she heard her son and carefully started to sit up, seeing Nolan. "Nolan." She breathed slowly.

Nolan smiled gently and sat down next to her. He couldn't help but always reminasce about the good old days when his father and sister were alive, before his mother grew unteathered from reality. At one point in time his father was in charge of many cattle farms however in a tragic turn of events his father and younger sister Sarah passed away in a barn fire that was lit ablaze by a lantern. This led his mother to grow distant from him and leave Nolan to fend for both of them. After his father passed the Capitol took control of their families assets and sold them off, but they didn't recieve any of the compensation.

May sat up slowly as Nolan set the tray down on the nightstand. "It's time for you to get up mom, do you know what day it is?" He asked slowly, waiting to give her a chance to nod or make any type of realization that he was speaking. "It's reaping day, we need to get you ready." He said, wearing the best clothes he had which was basically a white button up shirt that was his fathers. His mother stared at him for a few moments and nodded and started to sit up. "Do you think you can sit up and eat?" His mother nodding again weakly when there was a knock at the door. "I'll be right back."

Nolan walked out of his mothers smaller room of the four roomed wooden house. He headed over to the creaky front door, pushing the door open and paused as he saw Colden Slate, his best friend. Colden was 17, one year older then him, and he had known him almost his entire life. The two of them had lived on the more well off side of the district before his father died and he had to move away. However their friendship never ceased, if anything it only brought them closer. "Hey man, how are you?" He asked and stepped back to let him in.

Colden stepped into the house and smiled, looking around. "You ready for another vigorating year of almost being sent too our deaths?" He asked casually as he looked around. "Mom doing alright?"

Nolan hesitated for a long moment, very protective of his mom even with Colden. "She's fine. I just made her some breakfast and she's eating- how is your family? The siblings?" He asked.

Colden shrugged a bit as he looked around Nolan's house, guilt always nagging at him since Nolan refused his family's help at every turn. "They're alright. Mckenna's nervous about the games of course and Dalton isn't old enough to worry yet." He said.

Nolan smiled at the idea of seeing Colden's little siblings, "I wish I didn't always get to see them under such dire circumstances." He said with a awkward laugh, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I'm going to go see my mom, why don't I meet you outside?" He offered, shifting on his feet as he noticed his friend moving around his home.

Colden turned, sensing a little anxiety coming from Nolan and responded with a simple nod. "Of course, I'll meet you outside." He stated and headed out of the house.

Nolan headed back into his mothers room to see about half of the breakfast was gone. Typically his mother didn't feed herself and he had to take the responbility on of making her eat. "Alright mom, that I think is good enough. I've got your clothes here, change and we can go and get this overwith." He said gently as he laid the clothes on his bed. Nolan headed out and looked around the old beat up home, walking up to a picture of their family back when Nolan was only eight years old, exactly eight years ago. He smiled a little as he looked at the younger versions of his parents, himself and little sister.

"Nolan?" His mother's voice rang quietly from behind him. Nolan quickly turned around and saw his mother fully dressed and looking more put together then she ever normally did.

"Hey mom." He said and approached her and gently brushed her hair out from her face. "Come on, Colden's waiting outside." He said and headed out of the house with her.

Colden turned and looked over and saw the two of them. "Mom!" He chirped happily at his best friends mother. No matter how far off from normal she seemed, Colden always treated her like she was still that happy mother who put up with the two rowdy boys.

May paused and actually smiled a little as Colden pulled her into a big bear hug. "Alright come on." Nolan said worriedly, watching the two closely. "We have to get going, we can't be late."

Colden chuckled a little and pulled away and nodded, "Always so punctual. Let's get going." He agreed.

The three set off a long dirt path that headed towards town. District 10 was an incredibly large district however after the events of the 77th Games most of the district was still torn to shreads. After the 74th Games in which Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark both won, the districts grew restless. During the 77th Hunger Games several tributes, along side a victor, helped blow up the arena. After the tributes successful escaped from the games, the country erupted into civil war. Luckily for the Capitol the districts didn't have the means they needed to fully overthrow the Capitol. However the past two years the Capitol was hardly rebuilt and the districts were suffering as well. This was evident from the 78th games which had been practically thrown together at the last minute. Nolan's eyes wondered the large fields where hundreds of thousands of cattle used to roam and graze, feeding to get plump and slaughtered. Now only a few were grazing and the air of District 10 was much cleaner then it used to be.

The scent of cow manure was prominent in the air and after years of smelling it Nolan didn't mind the scent anymore. The large fields, the open ranges, even in the hot summer air would always feel like home to him. He often remembered the summer nights when himself, Sarah, his parents and Colden's family would hold bonfires at night on the large ranges and tell ghost stories with one another and pretend to make coyote sounds just to scare one another. Now a days Nolan found himself working in a filth ridden butcher's shop just to help support his mother and himself.

Nolan's thoughts were brought to a swift interruption when several large Capitol trucks blared past them, making his Mom cry out loudly and quickly scrambled to the side. "Mom!" He yelped and quickly rushed over as she screamed louder, moving her hands over her ears. "Hey, hey it's okay." He said and quickly leaned down to comfort her as she rocked on her knees a little. After a few minutes when the trucks were finally down the dirt road further away he took his mother's hands off her ears. "Mom... They're gone now. We have to get going." He said softly.

May hesitated and slowly looked up at him and nodded slowly, "Ok." She spoke quietly and started to stand up as if nothing every happened. That's how things usually seemed with his mother, and he never really understood why. He knew the loss of his father and sister was devastating, he felt that pain too. However the episodes she would go through, manic one moment and fairly mentally present the next, wasn't any form of grief he knew about.

Nolan stood up with his mother and slowly looked back and saw Colden staring at them with a small frown on his face. "We're fine. Let's get going." He stated, hating the look people gave them when his mother had incidents.

Colden shoved his hands in his pockets as they headed into town, the buildings a little more modern and restructured then most in the other districts. This was due to the fact that District 10 had stayed out of a lot of the crossfire compared to other district. "The center of town is starting to look a little more like it used to." He commented.

Nolan looked around as he saw lines forming towards the Justice Building and noticed the lack of peacekeepers. "Yes however it looks like there aren't as many... guards as there have been in the past." He commented.

Colden nodded in agreement as they moved into the line, "I see that too." He said. "I remember last year when it seemed like half the population showed up." He said with a small chuckle. "Yet we were the dumb ones who decided too." He reached over and shoved Nolan.

Nolan smiled and looked down at his feet as they walked. He turned and started to move closer towards the justice building as the lines moved rather quickly. "Well at least the line is moving further then last year." He said but observed a few of the peacekeepers seeming confused as they directed towards different area.

"Yeah but it seems like nobody knows what they're doing." Colden responded as he looked around for his family. "McKenna said she'd get Dalton and my parents up for it but I don't see them." He said.

Nolan moved up the line further and further as a peacekeeper stuck their hand up in the air to signal them to stop. "Last Names?" He asked.

He opened his mouth when Colden cut him off, "Slate and these are the Gram's." He gestured to Nolan and May, causing Nolan to clench his jaw tightly shut.

"You in line 9, you two, line 2." The peacekeeper grunted.

Nolan hesitated for a long moment and looked to Colden, "Guess I'll see you afterward." He said.

Colden separated from the two and went into the directed line. Nolan walked along side May closely and and got to the front of the line and approached the table. "Names and category?" The woman asked impatiently. Nolan stared at her in confusion for a few moments, "Age range." She stated, rolling her eyes.

"Oh- uh sorry... I'm 16 and my mother's... an adult." Nolan said, the words spilling out quickly and nervously. "Nolan Gram and May Gram."

The woman looked him up and down and then flipped through two separate packets and marked their names off. "You, that way- and you, head that way." She gestured with two separate waves of her hand.

Nolan hesitated and headed into the crowd. "I'll see you afterward mom." He said softly. "It'll be over before you know it." He told his mother and went to join his age group. This was the second year they weren't taking their blood to identify them. He wasn't entirely sure why - he figured it was to see who exactly was still alive after the rebellion considering some districts were still at war or perhaps the Capitol was lacking on technological resources as of late.

Nolan quickly took his place along the other 16 year olds and looked up towards the stage in which he saw the mayor and the two Victors he knew of from District 10. Wyatt Barnes was the victor of the 48th Games, winning at the age of 16 which would of made him 47. Nolan always thought he looked far older, his brown hair was greasy in the sunlight and his face seemed to have far too many wrinkles to not even be 50 yet. Nolan had never met him before but had heard through Colden's family that he wasn't all that pleasant company.

His eyes darted to the other side of the mayor where a blonde woman with shoulder length hair sat. She was much more presentable in a more formal outfit and obviously seemed far more cleaned up then Wyatt. As Nolan recalled her name was Vanessa Ackerman who had won the 61st games. This would of placed her at 33 or 34 and as far as he could remember and knew she did have some sort of children.

"Welcome everyone, and Happy Hunger Games!" A voice boomed over the microphone, causing him to jolt back to reality. His attention was quickly turned to District 10's escort Danvick Withers. He stood at exactly 6 feet with dark green hair and a baby blue suit and tie on. No matter how many times Nolan had seem him in the past, or other escorts, he never understood the Capitol's fashion. "As every year we are going to take a moment to watch a very special film."

"War, terrible war, widows, orphans, motherless child-" Nolan zoned out for a few moments, hating the anthem they always played and the voice of President Snow echoing through the crowd, "This is how we safeguard our future." The video came to an ending.

Danvick spoke up into the microphone as the video ended. "Now we are going to move forward in selecting one courageous young man and woman for the honor of representing District 10 in the 79th Annual Hunger Games." He spoke up and turned and walked over towards the large glass bowl holding the woman's names.

Nolan took a deep breath as he watched Danvick's hand reach into the bowl slowly, digging around in it and grabbed a single white slip. He pulled it out and headed back to the microphone, turning almost robotically as he moved forward in a straight line. His movements were methodical as he opened the paper slip. "Luna James." He spoke up. The crowd was silent as everyone looked around. Nolan tried to get a glimpse of the tribute yet no one seemed to be able to tell who it was. "Luna James? Luna James please come up, where are you?" He asked as he walked along the stage and looked around the women.

Finally the tribute caught his eye, a young short blonde girl in a wrinkly old blue dress holding onto a small stuffed animal of what looked like a beat up cow stood there looking around in fear. Nolan's entire body tensed as murmurs erupted from the entire crowd, it was evident to anyone this kid was not old enough to be even in the group of twelve year olds.

Danvick paused for a long moment and looked down as the little girl walked out of the crowd, shuffling her small feet as she clung to the stuffed animal. Nolan felt his heart drop into his stomach, he hadn't seen a stuffed animal in years and he felt like he was going to be sick. Who let this child get through security? Or had the rules of the games changed? Nolan's eyes darted around quickly at the younger twelve year old kids, they all seemed to be able to fit the age so what was this little girl doing here?

Luna shuffled up onto the stage, looking scared and nervous and walked up to Danvick who just stared at her in shock and surprise. "Well... hello and welcome, we have our female tribute." He managed to get out, to Nolan's surprise he actually seemed to choke up by the situation. Nolan watched as the escort turned and walked over to the mens bowl and withdrew a name. His mind raced, still on the little girl that stood on the stage quivering. "Nolan Gram."

Nolan froze as he heard his name and looked up to the stage slowly, the other teenagers starting to move away from him to single him out. Nolan's entire body tensed as he heard his name ring out a second time. He gulped and slowly walked up towards the stage as his legs started to feel as if they would give out. "Nolan!" He heard a cry from behind him. He quickly turned around and saw his mother in front of the rope that she was supposed to be behind. "Nolan! My son!" She cried out loudly.

Nolan's blood ran ice cold as he saw peacekeepers quickly start to storm towards her, "Mom!" His eyes darted around as he saw Colden quickly rushing towards her.

"Get away from him!" May cried out loudly, "Get away from my son!"

Nolan felt tears form in his eyes as the peacekeepers shoved him up towards the stage. He turned and quickly headed towards Danvick and Luna but his eyes were on Colden, watching as he ushered his mother out of the crowd.

"There you have it ladies and gentleman, your tributes Luna James and Nolan Gram! Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor." Danvick announced loudly.

The next few moments were a blur for Nolan as peacekeepers rushed him into the Justice Building and up the stairs to a private room. Nolan paced back and forth in the room, feeling like at any moment he could throw up. He wasn't even worried about himself cause all he could think about was the little girl Luna and his mother. The doors flew open as he turned and saw his mother. "Mom-" Nolan choked out, tears forming in his eyes as he moved forward and hugged her tightly. Nolan could feel May shaking as he hugged her. All Nolan wanted to do was break down and cry but even now he knew he had to be there for her. He pulled away and looked to his mom. "Hey, hey it's going to be alright. I-I... I'm going to be fine." He said quietly.

May nodded a little, her entire body was shaking. "You... You have to come home. I... I can't lose you too." She whispered.

Nolan shook his head, "You won't, you won't I promise." He babbled as a few tears rolled down his cheek. "Colden's going to take care of you. I promise, stay with his family." He whispered as the door flung open.

"It's time to go." The peacekeeper grunted.

"No- No!" May wailed as they pulled her out of the room, reaching out for her son.

Nolan couldn't even muster any more words up, tears rolling down his cheeks as he watched them take her away. A few more moments later the door opened again and Colden walked in. He did his best to regain his composure, but was doing a horrible job. "Colden- you have... to take care of her. Please take care of her." The words tumbled out of his mouth.

Colden pulled his friend into a tight hug and took a deep breath, "I will, I promise I will Nolan. We'll take her in." He said quietly.

Nolan hugged his larger friend tightly, staring at the door and took a deep breath in. "Don't let her watch. When I- don't let her see it." He whispered.

Colden stepped back and looked at him, a frown spreading across his lips. "I... I won't." He agreed with a firm nod. "Just... do your best Nolan. Run. Hide. Don't get in the middle of anything. Just stay hidden." He said since he knew his friend wasn't the strongest or most well built.

Nolan gulped and took a deep breath and nodded silently his mind racing. "Just... promise me again. You'll take care of her. It's only been the two of us for the longest time, I've had to take care of both of us."

Colden took a sharp breath in, "I promise Nolan now get your head in the game you need to start brainstorming how you're going to win." He urged as the door opened. "Good luck." He said and hugged Nolan one more time before he was pulled out of the room.

Nolan stood there alone, dried tears on his cheeks as he thought about everything that would come next. How was he going to get through this? Was he going to get through this? He couldn't help but wonder what kind of gruesome way he was going to die. He surely didn't have it in him to kill someone, morally he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to do it. Either way whatever was coming next it was time he started putting himself first.