Fernanda Aleksandrovich, District Two Female (18)

Fernanda was exhausted.

She had been preparing all day for this and now… she knew even more that this was what she wanted. She needed to win the games to restore her reputation and her honor as a woman, and not be a liar anymore.

She couldn´t say the things she said before anymore. People would destroy her if she did.

"You are that girl." her district partner said. Neither she or Hero had been the selected, and in the crowd, you could see the trainers of the academies and the victors enraged at this. Iona and Spear were going to get in serious trouble for not being able to volunteer like they did.

Hero´s eyebrows flinched as the answer came. "What girl?" Fernanda had been trying to lay low until she volunteered. If she died, her reputation would be game over, but at least she wouldn´t be hearing those voices, not only in the district but also in her head, calling her slut and a tramp.

"The girl who called out rape." Tension filled the air, and for a moment, eternal silence was about to fill it too. Hero Cessar and Fernanda Aleksandrovich were in a silence contest, which one would be the next to talk about the forbidden subject, who would the bravest to do so?

"If you are going to attack me," Apparently Fernanda won the contest. "I think you should save it. I know what I did was wrong and tarnishing that incredible man´s reputation was a bad, ugly thing, and that there is no way I can fix my past. I just need to work on my image and-"

"I actually think that what you did was good." Hero´s smile flashed into the room, and for Fernanda that couldn´t be trusted. No one had ever told her that apart from her mother and Esther, and they were tailored to support her no matter what, as her creator and her best friend were. They had established roles in her life, and that meant that anybody else couldn´t be trusted with their words.

Her mother. For a moment she had forgotten about her in this whole discussion of her pride. She can´t move, and until Esther goes to take care of her she won´t know who are the tributes. She never watches television, not since she saw her father´s new marriage being proclaimed on that screen.

"Thanks." Fernanda knew she couldn´t trust him. How is she going to try to play her now? Is he planning to kill her as the gong sounds, as the tribute from One did in the past quarter quell to his own brother? Who knows?

"My sister almost was raped to a pervert once, when we didn´t live in the Academy. Sick fuck."

Fernanda wanted to laugh at that, to tell him that men in power always are right that people like them, poor and women, couldn´t do anything about it. That since he was here, men were going to take his sister away, and she wouldn´t be able to do anything about it.

But she didn´t. She stayed in silent, until the escort came, announcing that their mentors would show up soon. She was worried. How the others victors would take her into account since she accused one of their co-mentors, of that.

She couldn´t comprehend why any of them would be nice to her, but she wasn´t expecting what she saw.

Vagos Adamir, the man accused of doing the unspeakable by the now tribute, standing in front of her.

"Hi, Fernanda." He said posing a smirk on his face. "Are you surprised to see me?"

"N-No, Va-Vagos." Fernanda was trembling and shaking, but it was like no one noticed. "In-In Fact I am ha-happy."

Vagos smiled profoundly. That´s what he usually did when he was in power, what it happened all the time.

"Me and Tiano we will be mentoring both you" He said pointing to the victor next to him. Both had achieved winning the games at 13 years old, only that Vagos had always been more loved for his natural charismas and leadership skills than Tiano, who seemed kind of skittish for District Two.

She couldn´t look at Hero, but she hoped he felt like her.

Fearful.

"So." Tiano said. "Do you want to mentored together or separately?"

The answer came instantly, but not from Fernanda´s mouth, or from Vagos´ voice.

"Me and Fernanda will like to be mentored together by the both of you, thank you."

Fernanda felt thankful for a moment, but then she kept her emotions at bay. Why should she be thankful of that? Does Hero think she needs company from him?

"Okey." Vagos looked a lot more disappointed now. Fernanda felt terrified for a reason unknown to her. She couldn´t comprehend why she was shaking, or why nobody said anything about that. She felt in utter and complete panic.

After the strategy talk and reassuring that both of them will be in the career alliance, both of them mentors left, but not before Tiano uttered some words to Fernanda.

"You are lucky girl. It´s looks like Vagos forgave you for that incident. He wanted to mentor you all by himself."

Duchenne Lignin, District Seven Female (16)

"Why are you looking at me like that, you twat?"

Duchenne looked at her district partner. He was just a young boy, and from the zero cries from the crowd from when she was reaped, she assumed she had no one to take care of him. She reminded him of herself when the times were bad, and both of her parents had been gone from the world.

She misses them both so much.

The boy in front her looked angry and very undisciplined, but that´s what happens when your parents die suddenly. She had been like once, terrified, paranoid and weak, not knowing what to do and wanting to die in the inside, and just cry, cry and cry. She was still like this somehow to this day.

But she wasn´t going to let that get in her way of this.

"I am looking at you, Ralio." She said. "Don´t you remember me?"

"Ye-Yeah, I remember you. From just some minutes ago, dumbass!"

Duchenne laughs. Oh, how much Evelyn would have helped this kid. She was a beauty, of a person and in body, and she was like an angel that came to her life after´s Maddie´s death. She never got to tell her what she truly wanted with her, and Duchenne would never be able to get what she wanted.

A ki-

"What are you looking at, girl?!" Ralio was being panicky at level unseen by the human being in the entire existence of earth, or at least that Duchenne had seen.

"Could you stop repeating that and concentrating on the task?" They were supposed to watch the reapings, since their mentor had been busy doing "something" and their escort was probably binging one of the soap operas the Capitol had on TV. Why couldn´t they more appropriate for their task and do something right goddamnit? They were their tributes!

The recap had reached their district, and she herself, as her name got called, and her looking everyone, looked to see if Evelyn was okay, that she wasn´t going to do anything rash, and then walked to the stage, head going down and up, down and up, in the never ending cycle of life.

Ralio was up there, getting there by getting dragged by his feet to the stage, one shoe getting off in a "getting the merchandise where it should be", as the peacekeepers once told her Maddie´s body was getting thrown into trash with the corpses, and getting burned in the district´s corpse bonfire, which happened each week, and now it happens is day!

Duchenne chuckles at the stupidity of her thought. Many conquerors, commanders, and generals had been ruthless, but not as much as the capitol was now. She was slowly forgetting the history behind the world, the past discoveries of fire, of iron weapon making, and she couldn´t let the thoughts of that of Rome get away from her.

She just couldn´t. Then the peacekeepers and their "Fahrenheit 451" attempt of burning history down to the grounds would be rendered for nothing.

When the reaping recaps ended, words were spoken.

"So, what do you think of the other tributes, Ralio?" Now he seemed calmer for reason. Like if he had just taken a drug and the purity of her anxiety had been taken away by angels in the sky.

"What did you say about remembering me?" Ralio seemed a lot more grown up now, not just a terrified kid. It was like a much older man had taken his coat and stole the rest of his clothes and turned into him, in some way.

"I remember you from your mother. Once, while my mother was dying of cancer, she went nuts and begged your mother to give her, to give the Capitol cure to it. Rose," Ralio´s eyes flinch hardly at Duchenne´s saying "didn´t have any of it and never had, but at she gave him some pain meds and send her to us. My mother said she was sorry for interrupting her dinner with her lovely son Ralio when she was her one day in the street with you, before she couldn´t walk anymore." Ralio has gone full on silence, and Duchenne can only keep speaking. "I heard your mother died, are you-"

"You know nothing! Shut up!" Ralio has gone from silence to disaster, as he screams his lungs. "Shut up!" he looks at Duchenne one more time. His voice sounds deeper this time.

"I SAID SHUP UP!"

Ralio runs to his room, and Duchenne is left wondering how it all went wrong so quickly.