Disclaimer: I don't own H20 or the Hunger Games

Emma bit her lip trying her best to remain calm in the warm summer heat. Her friends Rikki & Cleo stood beside her in a roped off section of the Justice Square along with other girls aged 12 to 18 who were waiting to see if they would live another day.

A nice seabreeze came and picked up her tied up blonde hair. She thought it was ridiculous for parents to dress their children up when they might be dead within two weeks. Which was something she often found herself arguing with Rikki about. Rikki won every time though with the same argument: 'I am the only one of you who is forced to take out tessare'.

Tessare was another thing that Emma thought was unfair. Rikki's mother had died when she was little which left her alone with her dad who often struggled with food & equipment and so Rikki took out tessera to support her and her father every year from the day she turned 12. This meant that while Emma and Cleo only had five slips in the reaping bowl with their names on them Rikki had 15 slips, which gave her a much higher risk of being reaped.

Finally after what seemed like a long time the Capitol Escort named Apollonia Velvet took the stage along with mayor Harrisson Bennet. The insane things Apollonia was wearing was enough to make Emma's beautiful sapphire colored dress look like cheap garbage.

"Welcome everyone!" She tapped her microphone with her cyan colored fingernail before continuing in a high pitched and excited voice that nearly everyone hated. Apollonia had been the Capitol escort of District Four for as long as Emma could remember. Appolonia made a short speech about how great the seafood that District four supplies the with and how she cannot wait to meet this year's tributes. No one really listened to Appolonia's speech much less the Capitol propo that explained the idea of forcing children to fight each other as some kind of price to pay for the peace that came when the capitol won against the districts in the war.

"And the moment we have all been anticipating is finally here." Apollonia beamed. "We will soon know who this year's tributes will be." She then moved over to the bowl on the left side. Buried somewhere in thousands of slips where the 25 slips bearing the names of Emma Gilbert, Cleo Sertori and Rikki Chadwick.

"We start with the ladies, as usual," Appolonia said, reaching down into the bowl and digging a while before pulling out a slip. Everyone around Emma started breathing rapidly as her own heart rate climbed.

"The female tribute for District Four is. . ."

"Cleo Sertori!"

For a split second Emma wondered if she had heard right but looking to her right she watched Cleo start to slump to the ground forcing her and Rikki to catch her. A circle started to form around them and two peacekeepers were running towards them from the other end of the square.

Emma caught Rikki's eye and put up her hand. Rikki, knowing what she was thinking, shook her head but Emma waved her hand and walked towards the path in the middle.

"I volunteer as tribute!" Emma shouted as the peacekeepers stopped in their tracks leaving Rikki to hold Cleo on her own.

"Okay, that is something we haven't seen in a long time." Apollonia beamed at Emma as she walked towards the stage with a nervous shaking in her legs given that she had traded her death with her friend Cleo.

District Four was one of the best districts when it came to hunger games, having produced seven victors in the 73 years the Hunger Games had been held but she knew that in order to even have a slight chance of getting home she would have to act brave and use every skill she had. . .

. . .Even if it meant exposing to the rest of Panem her greatest seacret, something that she hoped only Rikki, Cleo and Lewis, who was Cleo's childhood friend knew. If word in the Capitol got out of her special power as well as her ability to freeze liquids she huttered to think what would happen.

'No!' Emma thought to herself. 'I'll worry about that later'. For now she had she remain calm as she came up to the microphone and turned to face the audience, sweating hard on her face & body.

"So please tell us your name, dear?"

"Emma. Emma Gilbert." Emma gulped.

"Nice work volunteering." Appolonia beamed as she walked over to the right side of the stage signaling Emma to take her spot where the female tributes usually stood aftr being reaped.

"And now we shall have our gentleman!" Apollonia said as she quickly pulled out a slip from the right bowl. "The male tribute from District Four is. . ."

'Please not Lewis, Please not Lewis!' Emma thought to herself.

"Ash Horner*!"

A broad-shouldered boy looking about the same age as Emma (perhaps a bit older) got out of the boys section of the square and walked up towards the stage. Apollonia asked for volunteers which she normally would not do but only got silence. People were getting tired in the summer heat that had collected itself over the district so Apollion wrapped it up with her usual. . .

"Now give a round of applause to our District Four tributes of this year's Hunger Games, Emma Gilbert and Ash Horner."

Around half of the district started clapping as Peacekeepers came up and marched Emma and Ash into the District Four Justice Building.

*Surname from the actor that portrayed him

Please Favorite & Review