Quiinn Jones, 17
District Eleven Standard Male

As the national anthem played once more, marking the end of the Reaping Recap, a somber silence fell over Eleven's common car, only broken up by the sound of soft snores. Quiinn Jones looked to the couch, where he saw his two younger counterparts fast asleep, slumped together such that they looked like one big pile of limbs. The older boy couldn't help but attach some symbolism to their position. Camden was dark-skinned, with dark hair and eyes; meanwhile, Cyei was light-skinned, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The two represented two completely different classes and experiences of life in Eleven, and yet, they were here together, ricocheting towards the Capitol and to an unknown fate.

The fact that the Games could impact everyone, rich and poor alike, was in some respect comforting to Quiinn, but in other respects, it was rather upsetting. Why did any child have to die for the entertainment of Capitolites? There had to be a better way.

"We should get them to bed," softly suggested Rue McClellan, Eleven's only living mentor. Rue's presence in Eleven had been nothing short of a mystery to its citizens for the past fifteen years. The girl had died in the 74th Games, but for some unknown reason, was resurrected a decade later; not a single tribute had been resurrected since. Quiinn, who was not more than two when Rue came back, had vague memories of the following days: people reaching out to touch Rue, to make sure she was real, the DNA test that confirmed that she was, in fact, Rue, and not a Capitol plant, the way Rue's family fell on their daughter when she came back. Even fifteen years later, she was still somewhat of a mythical figure for the district, so much so that those in her presence described being near her as surreal. Quiinn would be inclined to agree.

But not three weeks after Rue returned to Eleven, Chaff Hylers, Eleven's most recent Victor, died from alcohol poisoning, leaving the district without a single living Victor. To many of Eleven's citizens, the timing of the two events felt too deliberate to be coincidental; Rue must have been selected somehow to be Chaff's replacement. However, it was no secret the disdain the Capitol held for Eleven thanks to the district's rebellious tendencies and a small incident related to Chaff and his Victory. More likely than not, the government would see Eleven's lack of viable mentors as a comeuppance of sorts; why would they go out of their way, then, to give the district another mentor? Nobody in Eleven had an answer to that question, and more likely than not, nobody would be able to get an answer from the Capitol. But the citizens of Eleven had long stopped complaining. It was better for their children to have a mentor who existed under strange circumstances than no mentor at all.

With Rue's help, Quiinn and his third district partner, Orchid, woke the youngsters up, then guided them to their respective rooms and tucked them in. Then, the three returned to the common room and sank onto the couches. The unpleasant reality that the two children with them on the train were destined for the Arena was sinking in, and it was hitting them hard. But for the sake of the kids, they had to push through; Cyei and Camden were depending on their older counterparts to have a chance at surviving the Arena.

Now that the youngsters were asleep, the older tributes could have more intense strategy talks with Rue. All three had agreed that trying to give the youngsters too many instructions would not work so well. So they decided to strategize amongst themselves to figure out the overarching strategy for the Eleven team, then distill that more detailed strategy into basic instructions for the younger kids. And the first step of that strategy was figuring out who, if anyone, the Eleven team should trust.

"So, what do you guys think?" Rue said, leaning in towards her tributes a little bit. "Did anyone stick out to you while watching the recaps?"

"The younger kids. The two littles from Eight, the boy from Nine, the girl from Seven."

"Well, yes, those are the youngest kids in the Games, except the little one from Ten. They would naturally stick out. I mean more in terms of allies."

"I know what you meant. I meant it too," Quiinn replied stubbornly.

"Quiinn, no," Orchid volleyed. "We're not making an alliance of all the small children in the Games. There is no way all of those kids will make it out alive."

"But we have to try!"

"Not if it happens at the expense of our littles. We cannot risk the lives of Camden and Cyei for the sake of a child from elsewhere. Elevens come first."

"But then what happens if they die, Orchid? I can't live with that on my consciousness." Images flashed through Quiinn's mind of his younger siblings, of Ricka and Ari and little Hannass, helpless against a shadowy adversary. Splotches of red flashed across his vision; he heard in his mind the sounds of metal on metal and metal on bone that provided the soundtrack for the Games. It went without saying that Quiinn would do whatever he could to keep his siblings safe. All of these younger kids forced into the horrors of the Games also had to be someone's sibling, or child, or best friend, or even just classmate. Why wouldn't Quiinn try to protect them, regardless of where they came from, just as he would try to protect his own siblings?

"I know. It sucks," Orchid agrees. "But we can only do so much. I'm not willing to risk Camden's life or Cyei's life or my life for the sake of a kid from another district. If, in the process of trying to help a kid from another district, one of those two dies, we'll be shunned. And I for sure can't see myself giving up my life for a kid from somewhere far away."

"All right, all right," Rue said. "I think we should table this for now and wait until we get a sense of the other districts' dynamics. For all we know, the other kids won't need protection from us because they'll have allies within their own districts. I know a number of other districts are planning on allying within the district anyway; whether or not that holds true is anyone's guess, but if that proves to be the case, the other youngsters might have their own support systems already."

"Do you know which districts are going that route?" asked Quiinn.

"I don't. Which is why," Rue brought the conversation back to the beginning, "I want us to identify possible other allies. That way, if they're willing to break apart from their districts, we might be able to bring them into our alliance. So, we heard what Quiinn thought about. Orchid, let me hear your thoughts."

As Orchid began to list out the tributes she was interested in working with, Quiinn's mind wandered back to the scared little kids that he saw mount the stage. He didn't want to go against his allies' wishes, but he had to find a way to help keep those little kids safe.

Even if it meant risking his own life in the process.

Acestes Adrina, 11
District Four Quell Male

Waking up on the train was a unique experience for Acestes Adrina. The boy felt himself met with a mix of emotions, the conflict between nervousness and excitement manifesting in the swirling emotions in his stomach. He knew that most volunteers didn't feel this kind of anxiety; usually, they were all more than ready for the adventure that came along with the Games. And as much as Ace was excited to take his place amongst those who had represented Four before him, he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he and his sister had bitten off a little more than they could chew.

It wasn't that they weren't capable; if there were better options in their age bracket, those kids would probably have been selected by the trainers. Instead, the trainers decided to leave the Quell slots open, so as not to send someone into the Games early who might develop into strong trainees down the line. But they hadn't decided to forbid anyone from volunteering. So Ona's logic was, if the trainers had wanted her and Ace not to volunteer, they either would have actively forbidden the two of them from volunteering or picked someone to volunteer in their place. She decided that choosing to neither select a volunteer nor prevent anyone from volunteering left the door wide open for her to volunteer. And so she did.

Of course, Ace couldn't let his sister go out into the Games on her own. Ona was… impulsive, to put it kindly. The girl basically never thought before she acted. She always came up with some sort of logic to convince herself and/or anyone around her that she was taking the right course of action, without considering whether or not that course of action was a good one. Consequently, Ace had spent much of their life running after Ona, desperately trying to make sure she didn't do anything too stupid or dangerous. Sure, he did sometimes join in with her, and he'd be lying if he said he never enjoyed fighting alongside her, but Ace was far more interested in making sure that Ona got out of her various and sundry battles as unscathed as possible. The odds of dying in a street fight in Four, however, were a good deal lower than the odds of dying after a fight in the Games. If Ace wasn't willing to leave his sister to her own devices in a normal fight, how could he leave her on her own in the arena?

Entering the Games himself was just a risk he had to take to keep her safe.

While there was a lot to do in the lead-up to the Games, Acestes decided to take his time getting ready. As much as he loved his sister, she could be a lot sometimes, especially in the mornings, when she was predisposed to dragging Ace out of bed for some vengeance mission or another. Not sharing a room for the first time gave Ace an opportunity to get some much-needed rest in the morning; any minute of rest he could get was crucial for him, so he could make it through the long days and (hopefully) weeks ahead.

But while Ace was making sure that his hair was perfect, a luxury that he wasn't always afforded in Four, he began to hear snippets of the conversation happening in the next car over. Immediately, Ace dropped the comb he was using and rushed to the dining car, in a desperate attempt to stop the ball that he already knew had rolled too far down the hill for him to catch it.

As Ace stepped through the doorway into the dining car, he heard Bellona proclaim, "Ace and I are going to work together on our own. We don't need to be in a Career Pack."

"Now, Bellona, I'm not sure if that's a great idea," cautioned Annie Cresta-Odair. "It's better to have more people who you know will be with you rather than against you. Plus, you're only eleven, which is young to be on your own in the Arena."

"There's no way that Empra or Fenris is going to kill either of us before the finale," Bellona scoffed, crossing her legs and her arms in one fluid motion. "They'd be pariahs if they got back having murdered their district partners, especially given that we are eleven and 'cute' and oh so brave for volunteering and saving some poor, unprepared children from the Games."

"She's not wrong," Finnick said, leaning back in his chair, drink in hand. "At least not on that count."

"I know. So if they already won't kill us, we don't need to be in an alliance with them. And allying with anyone outside of the district is just as risky as not allying with them because they could betray us at any moment."

Ace hated to admit it, but he had to agree with his sister thus far. Where this logic was coming from, he had no idea, but Ona was actually making some amount of sense.

"Yes, but you're still only eleven," reiterated Annie. "Older allies will be able to protect you two in a way that you cannot, particularly Empra, as she is trained."

"You can't tell me that Ace and I have less training than Empra. She's only been in the Academy for a few years; we've been there since we were five and have plenty of experience putting our skills into use outside of training. And Fenris has zero useful training. Working with people who aren't trained isn't going to help us in the Arena, no matter how much older or stronger they are."

"Bellona," Ace interjected. "Your logic isn't bad, but let's remember that this isn't just some street fight in Four. This is the Hunger Games. Any protection we can get is a good thing, and there's no reason to drive an arbitrary wedge between us and our district partners."

"I don't care. We're not doing this, Ace. We're going off on our own." And with that, Bellona spun around and left the car.

Ace sat down at the table and put his head in his hands. "At least Empra wasn't here for this conversation."

"Yeah, that might not have been good," Finnick said. "Though she does seem pretty chill, so who knows?"

Redirecting the conversation to the matter at hand, Annie pointed out, "Just because your sister isn't going to work with Empra and Fenris doesn't mean that you can't."

"She's going to get herself killed going off on her own."

"She might. But in the Games, you have to prioritize your own safety over anyone else's, or you could be putting your own life in danger."

"Maybe in a normal year, sure. But we could both live this year."

"You could, but the odds are still slim. Even if eight tributes live, forty still die." Ace heard the sound of a chair scraping on the floor. He looked up to find Annie sitting next to him. "You are your own person, Ace. What do you want to do?"

Ace leaned back in his chair to think. It was true that Ace was his own person. And it was true that he liked nothing of Bellona's plan. But for his entire life, Ace had been attached to Ona's hip. The two had done everything together: start school at the same time, start training at the same time, realize that their parents truly didn't care for them at the same time. As difficult as Ona could be, she was his best friend and only support system. Ace didn't know if he could be without her – and he didn't know if he could forgive herself if she died because he wasn't there.

"I'll stick with her for now," Ace decided, a hint of nervousness in his voice. "But I don't think I can do this without your help."

"Well, it's your lucky day, because that's precisely what we're here for."

Smash Hatch, 11
District Two Quell Female

The District Two train was finally moving.

When Smash Hatch and her district partners has boarded the train, they had stood in front of the window, waving goodbye to the adoring crowds as the doors shut and the train pulled out of the station. But then, not ten miles outside of Two, the train stopped. "We're too close to the Capitol," explained Zareth Cullen, one of Two's mentors. "We have to wait until tomorrow to keep going so that everyone can arrive at around the same time."

"But that's not fair! I want to get there now!"

"But it's not fair to the other tributes if you get there that long before them. Plus, you don't need nearly as long in the Remake Center as some of the Outer District tributes do. We can afford to take a little bit longer here, where it's much less stressful than the Capitol."

"Well, then, we should talk strategy here! We have things to do, preparations to make! The Games are so soon!"

"Relax, Smash. We have plenty of time, and we've already had so many strategy conversations back in Two. We can afford to wait a little while until we get closer."

"Fine," Smash had groaned, stomping off to her quarters. She didn't understand why everyone was so laid-back about the whole thing! The Games, the very thing that she'd been working towards her whole life, were rapidly approaching, and the rest of her district seemed to only be interested in lying around and waiting? There was no excuse for such laziness! Her parents would be ashamed.

But now, finally, she could hear the engine of the train whirring underneath her. The wheels slowly began to turn, and the train lurched forward.

The Twos were finally on the way to the Capitol. And Smash could not be more excited.

"Crash!" Smash exclaimed, rushing into the common room. "We're moving again!"

Crash looked up from the book he was reading. "Oh?"

"Yeah! We're almost at the Capitol!"

"How exciting."

Smash rolled her eyes. "Come on, Crash. At least pretend to be excited."

"I am excited."

"You don't look it."

"I'm saving my energy for training."

"Lame."

"Being excited is good," Crash remarked, "but if you can't back it up with skills in the Arena, it just leaves you dead."

"You're never going to get sponsors with that attitude."

"I don't need to get them on my own if we're working as a district."

There was nothing that frustrated Smash more than her brother's seeming lack of interest in anything. Crash met everything in life with a sullen, disinterested attitude, even the thing that most Two children loved: Career training. The two had been training together since they were little kids; while Smash had taken to it like a fish to water, basking in the glory of outperforming her peers, Crash seemed to be less invested, preferring to sit on the sides and "observe" during open gym rather than practice with weapons. And when he did engage, he was snappy at best with those around him, not to mention rather sloppy with his weapons work. Smash did not understand why their parents let him into the Arena, nor why the other Victors chose him. Whether he won or he died, he did not deserve the glory that came with the Games.

"All right, tributes," called Brutus, his booming voice carrying through the train. "Everyone please gather in the dining car so that we can review some last-minute instructions before our arrival in the Capitol."

Putting a spring back into her step, Smash stood up tall and left for the dining car, leaving Crash to trail behind, as he had all her life. Smash had been told for years that she was the superior twin: the prettier one, the sharper one, the more pleasant one, the one more likely to enter and win the Games. She had been a step ahead of Crash in everything, and that wasn't going to stop now that they were away from their parents. Not that the twins would never be able to truly distance themselves from those who raised them; the values of Ember and Stallion Hatch were too well-drilled into their minds.

"For children of Victors, anything short of Victory is not an option," they said. Smash knew that she was capable of Victory. And she also knew that Crash was not.

Once the Two team was all seated around the dining room table, Brutus at one end and Acacia Andalu at the other, Brutus began to talk.

"Okay. As you have all felt, I'm sure, we're just moments away from arrival at the Capitol. We'll be going over more specific instructions for training later. Right now, our goal is to prepare ourselves for the first hours of the Games, namely arrival and the Tribute Parade. These two events are crucial for making the right first impression, both on the Capitolites and on the other tributes. We want to make sure that our angle and intentions are clear; we are the team from Two, we are on top of the pecking order, and everyone should know that. Understood?"

"Understood," chorused the four tributes.

"Good. Now, when the train pulls into the station, there will be many Capitolites waiting for us. We are going to walk out as a unit and go straight into the remake center, presenting ourselves as both strong individual tributes and a unified district. The same angle goes once we get on the chariots: proud, strong, unified, the perfect picture of Two. Everyone knows that we are going to stick together because that's what Careers do. There is no reason to keep that a secret.

"The one thing that the other districts do not know is that we are not going to be allying with the team from One. Originally, we were going to allow the Ones to decide whether or not we were going to ally with them. But, after hearing a little bit about the tributes from One, we do not want to take any chances with them allying with us and then betraying us. We have talked a little bit with the mentors from One about this, and they agree with us in principle, but it's anyone's guess what they are telling their tributes right now. So, if the team from One approaches us tonight, we are not going to brush them off, but we are going to politely decline any possible alliance offers. However, we are not ruling out the possibility of training together, especially if that might throw off the tributes from the Outer Districts.

"The one other variable we need to keep in mind is Shine Scott, the female Quell tribute from Twelve. I know, Acacia. There's a reason we did not select her last year. We do not want her anywhere near us, so if she comes up to ask for an alliance tonight, we turn her down immediately. But she is going to have an idea of what Acacia and Nikau can do because she's been in training with us. If she does end up allying with the Ones, which I think is likely once we turn her down, I do not think we need to worry about revealing too much to her, but I will explain why when we talk about training strategy tonight.

"Are there any questions before we get to the Capitol? No? Very good. Please head over to the entry car now so we can be in position."

Smash practically leaped out of her chair, a step ahead of her brother as always, and rushed over to the entrance car. This was the beginning of everything she'd trained for and worked towards for her whole life. And nobody, not even her twin, was going to bring her down.

Well, hello again! This is pretty close to a regular update, I'd say, right? Less than a month isn't bad, especially for this fic. And we've finally made it to the Capitol! I hope you enjoyed meeting Quiinn, Acestes, and Smash; they are all kids from the original fic whom I love very much. What do you think of their strategies? They're all kind of different but there is some overlap as well...

If you're interested in subbing to my other fic, Let Him Feel No Pain, there is just about a week left to get those forms in! Please do reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns about subbing. It's shaping up to be a really fun fic!

Next chapter will be the chariot rides, and then we move into training! My current plan is to post on October 30th, my 10-year anniversary on FFN, and then after that, we'll see based on my stockpile what I do. I'll talk about why I'm waiting when I get there and who knows I might get a little sappy. I probably will.

Anyway, I'll see you all then!

xoxo, xxxi