Hop Lostar (D6M, 17)

Me, Haffa and Van all sit in silence as we eat our lavish breakfast at the table in our apartment. There's a somber atmosphere as we pick at our food.

"Come on, Hop, we should go. We'll be getting on the hovercraft soon," Van says, breaking the silence. "We don't want to be late! I'm looking forward to seeing my friends." She stands up and I do the same.

"Allies," Haffa corrects. "Allies, not friends. Never friends, Van."

"Right, right," Van mumbles. "But don't call me Van! It's Vinnie."

"Won't be calling you anything for much longer," Haffa snorts.

"Not until I win the Games," Van retorts with a smirk.

Haffa just rolls her eyes and shoos us away. "Go on, get out of here. It's time to go into the Arena."

Van and I nod and make our way out the door.

We both approach the hovercraft, grasping on to the ladder one by one. Van lets out a hiss as it paralyzes her, but I just wince, frowning.

We take our seats; Van sits next to the tributes from Five and I'm the unlucky guy who has to sit next to the boy from Three. He looks confident on the outside, his eyes betraying the fact that he's scared out of his wits.

I look out the window while I can. Startled at a sudden prick in my arm, I slap the person who injects me's hand away on instinct after they're finished, glaring at them.

As we take off and the windows change to a deep shade of gray so we can't see out of them, I can't help but grimace.

Let the Games begin.

Briar Reckingstar's POV (D10T, 15)

I wince as a tracker is injected into my arm, and Robin just keeps his face blank as he's pricked as well. I look out the window, only to realize they're fading to a dark gray. With a frown, I look around the rest of the hovercraft.

I make a quick mental note of all the obvious allies. The Careers are definitely together this year, I'm pretty sure the tributes from Eleven and Twelve are having a friendly chat, and the girl from Six and the tributes from Five are most likely allying. Everyone else mostly looks bothered, like they were hoping to get a better seat buddy.

"How long do you think it'll be until we get there?" I ask Robin boredly.

He shrugs in reply. "Dunno, guess we'll find out."

We found out; it took a while.

Finally, finally, the hovercraft settles down and we're all ushered out.

"I'll see you in the Bloodbath," Robin says coolly as we're taken our separate ways.

"In the Bloodbath," I repeat solemnly.

With that, I'm whisked away to a separate room, Peacekeepers guiding me through a maze of confusing catacombs. I walk in and look around, my eyes falling on my stylist.

"Hey. What's my outfit?" I ask. He points to a set of clothing on a bench.

I walk up to it and examine it. My outfit is a pink shirt with short, loose sleeves and hearts forming a seam at the bottom, a heart in the corner that looks like it's glowing slightly, and as a giant red heart on the back of it with a big 10 in it. There are also black shorts and a fluffy red parka. A T-shirt and shorts, with a parka to go with them? What the hell is this Arena going to be?

"One minute to launch," A robotic voice sounds. My stylist ushers me to my tube.

"Good luck, Briar! I'm counting on you," he says, fastening my cat hair pin on my shirt. I'm surprised that he's showing so much sentiment.

"Er, thanks," I say awkwardly as I step into the tube. I take a deep breath, and after a while, it closes.

The last thing I see before I plunge into darkness is the Peacekeepers glaring at my and my stylist waving me off.