And we're back! Sooner than usual! And longer than usual!

Cyan Vanderbilt, 18

District 8, 10 months before the Reapings

Cyan Vanderbilt felt his blood boiling before he even descended the spiraling grand staircase of the Mayor's residence. Cyan always sort of liked the staircase. He admired the pristine woodwork and polished railing that snaked down from the second floor all the way down to main floor, which popped with a variety of bright colors and expertly woven fabrics. It was the district's specialty after all.

However, Cyan didn't really have time to drag his feet and remain fixed at the top of the stairs. He father had planned a dinner tonight. With a girl. A girl. Cyan liked girls well enough as people and as friends, but sexually? No sir. In fact, that was what he wanted… a sir.

Cyan figured out he was gay pretty fast, but coming to terms with it was a different thing entirely. Being the Mayor's son came with certain expectations. Stay clean, stay poised, marry well, have lots of kids, keep the money in the family. Fuck that. FUCK that.

He tried to play the part of the Mayor's son for most of his life. It wasn't fulfilling but it was worth it to not be yelled at. He kept his grades up, had popular friends, wore expensive suits, all the works. But when his father wasn't around, Cyan decided to rebel a little bit. For him, that rebellion came in the form of kissing his best friend in his bedroom.

Trent. He was Cyan's everything. They were best friends for the longest time. They pal-ed around, did the typical boy things. They tried to talk about girls to each other but it always felt forced. One day, Cyan made the first move. The tension had been building exponentially when they hit their teen years, so when he placed his hand on Trent's thigh, it was all over.

District 8 was rather…conservative. A majority of the district lived in poverty and run-down housing, but Cyan, Trent, and his other friends lived in the upper echelon. Cyan knew that District 8 had major problems, problems that his father was always talking about, agonizing about. Unfortunately, he took those frustrations out on Cyan with a series of strict rules, and that just wouldn't do.

Cyan and Trent kept their relationship secret. Both feared the repercussions if they came out publicly. The richer families of District 8 relied on keeping the money in the family, and there weren't that many rich families in District 8 to begin with.

So began the late night meet-ups and sexual exploits. The Mayor's house was very large and Cyan lived on the top floor while his father lived on the bottom. There was plenty of space and the sound of moaning from Cyan's bedroom certainly wouldn't carry down that beautiful staircase.

Things went well for a while. Most nights Trent would come over and they'd talk, have great foreplay, and cap off the night with fucking the shit out of each other. In the mornings, Trent would go out the window to avoid the Mayor's prying eyes. Trent hated doing that. He wanted them to just be able to be together without all the secrecy, but Cyan was utterly terrified of what would happen if his father found out he was gay. Cyan played it off as just liking the thrill of the secrecy, but the truth was that he never felt more scared.

One night, the Mayor came home early and everything went to shit. He had ascended the stairs and opened the door to Cyan's bedroom to find them passionately making out on his bed. After that, it was all over.

The Mayor was furious. He was yelling like Cyan had never heard before. Trent was thrown out of the house, and Cyan was forbid to ever see him again. He hated that Cyan was into boys. He called his only son a disgrace, a failure, a pig, and a fiend.

It was the only time he had ever cried. But Cyan Vanderbilt would never cry again. From that point onwards, he decided that he would do everything in his power to destroy his father's reputation and legacy.

His grades dropped dramatically, he started acting out in school. He caused property damage, got into fights, dressed however he wanted. He particularly liked destroying other people's things. Why should they get to keep what they want when couldn't have what he wanted?

Mayor Vanderbilt did everything he could to salvage his damaged reputation, but Cyan made sure that he would never recover. The damage was done and it was irreputable.

In fact, one of his father's damage control strategies was the reason Cyan was not looking forward to descending the stars. Dinner. With a girl.

Cyan let out a huge huff as he clomped down the stairs. He made sure to walk unevenly, with solid thuds and bu-bumps. He knew that his father was already cringing in the dining room from the sound and the thought of that made him smile.

Halfway down the stairs he decided to mount the railing and slide the rest of the way down. Normally it wouldn't really work, but it had been recently polished and before he knew it, he was zooming down the stairs.

The sudden drop made Cyan's chest tingle and he allowed himself a devilish smirk just before he ran out of railing. He tumbled right off with a resounding crash. It could have been a lot louder, but the sound of his rumpus was softened by the dense carpets on the floor.

Cyan brushed himself off, and tried to think of something else to break. A vase on a small little table next to the stairs caught his eye. He grinned and stuck out his hand as he passed the table, simply sweeping the vase to the floor.

As the vase shatter at his feet, he noticed that a piece of it must have cut him when he swept it off the table, because his hand was bleeding slightly. Perfect.

He strode proudly around the corner to view the dining room. Even he could admit it was rather spectacular. You'd think a blue dining room would be tacky, but somehow it worked. Everything was blue, from the chairs to the table to the lighting of the room. Accents of silver and gold lined the long wooden table, painted blue of course, and wove themselves into the tall backs of the dining room chairs.

Mayor Vanderbilt himself sat at the head of the table, facing Cyan as he came in. Cyan's heart soared at the expression on his face. His father's usually unreadable features dropped into shock, his mouth falling open and his eyebrows practically leaving his forehead.

To his right, sat a girl. Even Cyan could admit she was pretty stunning. She had long blonde hair that curled naturally around her soft features. Her brilliant blue eyes matched the surrounding scenery quite well.

Despite her beauty, Cyan was sickened when he laid eyes on her. He knew that his father must have picked her out because she was beautiful and was hoping that he and her would make a good enough child to inherit the money. Fucking disgusting.

Cyan's rage was building once again and his boyish glee was fading slightly.

"What's a matter, you got a thumb up your ass?" he called out, gesturing to his father. The Mayor snapped his jaw closed and then opened it to speak.

"Cyan please be nice. This is-" he gestured to the blonde girl, probably about to introduce her. Cyan didn't give a shit who she was.

"Yeah she's some pretty harlot you dragged in to you get your rocks off while I'm asleep upstairs. Real smooth Dad." Cyan's lip curled into a smile. He always had time for a great insult.

The girl's expression changed from confusion to disgust. Cyan noticed the dress she was wearing laughed at loud. It was like she was dressing for the capitol with that fancy, shiny shit. Cyan had chosen his attire quite deliberately. He was wearing a very tight white undershirt that he had cut crudely into a crop top. Loose sweatpants were barely hanging on to his hips.

"Anyways," Cyan continued. "Check this out!" He held up his bloody hand, watched the shocked faces of his father and the girl, and slammed it down onto the dining room table. He smeared his blood across the blue-painted woodwork. What a mess he had made.

"CYAN!" his father yelled. His father's composure had finally been broken. Perfect. Cyan hoped this poor girl that he had tried to set him up with would tell all her acquaintances about what happened tonight.

"Sorry Dad, gotta go. I didn't have an intention of entertaining this bitch and your pervert ass." He made sure he strutted as he moved toward the front door. He let a little wave and flung the front door of the house open and slammed it shut before his father could say anything else.

He immediately took off running. Cyan really liked running. It was a great way for him to cool down, plus it was a great way to stay in excellent shape.

As he ran, his bleeding hand started to bother him less and less. Oh how he loved the power of adrenaline. Cyan's muscular legs propelled him over the gates of the Mayor's residence and outside to the rest of District 8.

At first, Cyan didn't really know where he was going. He usually just ran to run and for no other reason. But tonight, he thought of Trent. He hadn't seen him that recently. After his father discovered the two of them together, they had to find other places to meet. Trent's family had a little shed in the back of their home that was perfect for their meetings.

Cyan changed direction and went north, towards Trent's home. He really couldn't wait to see Trent again.

"Boy do I need to get laid right now," he muttered under his breath, smiling slightly as he continued running.

Finally, Trent's house came into view. Luckily the lights were out and the darkness of the late evening was perfect for sneaking around. Cyan looped around the perimeter and hopped the fence in the back of the house. There, the shed. Cyan tried the door handle and found it unlocked. He quickly slipped inside.

"Cyan?!"

Trent. For whatever reason, his boyfriend was lying down in the shed. Usually they planned their meeting here carefully, so Cyan was surprised that this impromptu decision to visit Trent yielded his presence so quickly. No reason to try to get his attention through his bedroom window this time.

Cyan didn't speak and threw himself onto Trent's body, colliding into his lips. Trent's body was warm, and Cyan let his hands run down his body as he pressed him down.

When they pulled away, Trent suddenly grabbed his hand.

"You're bleeding, dude!"

"I'm fine," Cyan waved dismissively but Trent was already getting up. They had turned this little shed into a makeshift hangout. They had a ton of blankets on the floor and even a bean bag in the corner. They hung up a string of lights to made the whole place feel a little homier. The tool chest was a bit of an eyesore, but Trent rummaged through it and pulled out some fabric.

"Here, this should do." He gently took Cyan's bleeding hand and wrapped it up tightly. Cyan couldn't help but notice the veins and muscles in Trent's arm pop as he finished wrapping up his hand.

"There, done." Trent sat back down on the floor, still looking concerned. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm alright, just sowing a little chaos back at home."

Trent shook his head. "I wish you wouldn't do that; I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know, but I have to." Cyan sat down beside Trent and placed his hand on his knee.

"I get, I promise I do. It's just…"

"It's a lot," Cyan finished for him. Trent sighed in response. Cyan knew his boyfriend didn't enjoy his antics, but right now he just wanted something else.

Cyan threw off his crop-top in a shift motion and took Trent's face in his hands.

"I love you, ya know."

"I know."

Cyan's blood was boiling again, just in a different way. Maybe a better one.

Liliana Rolag, 17

District 8, 2 days after the Quell Announcement

Liliana Rolag was just plain tired. Her hands were starting to cramp up from the excessive flipping papers, adding up numbers, and filling out charts. Overall, she didn't mind the work. Numbers and calculations were kind of her thing. That's why she was put in charge of accounting after all.

She worked for the family business, a fairly small tailoring shop that had seen much better days. Business could be better, but it wasn't the absolute worst. In fact, business was a little better considering the shortage of fabrics due to the many factories out of commission.

It happened the day that Peeta Mellark proposed to Katniss Everdeen on live television. The power in that girl. She had no idea what she had started. District 8 turned out in full on rebellion. It had caught Liliana off guard. She had heard the rumblings ever since the lovers pulled out the berries, but she didn't think it would actually happen.

Of course she hated the Capitol. District 8 was not a really a great place to live. It was filled with starving people, overworked children, and countless factory accidents. Liliana considered herself lucky. Because of the shop, she sat comfortably in the middle class. There weren't that many people in the middle class, but those that were happened to be merchants. The lower class labored in the factories and the upper class sat pretty with working with the Capitol to make designer garments. Just recently they had worked on a variety of wedding dresses, all commissioned for the wedding of Katniss and Peeta.

The majority of District 8 was the lower class, and they were ready to take action. And take action they did. They successfully seized control of the District. Peacekeepers were overwhelmed and the people had weapons. It became clear that everything was organized by the factory workers during their long shifts. The middle and upper class were largely out of the loop.

Things seemed hopeful. Then the reinforcements came. The causalities were enormous and then the Capitol rained down the bombs. The rebellion was effectively eliminated, but not before a significant amount of buildings and factories necessary for textile production were destroyed. Production was halted entirely and the lockdown of District 8 began. Everyone was subjected to staying home for a week with no food and barely any water.

Liliana figured this was intended to cripple the lower-class rebels as they had fewer essential goods. She found the whole forced lockdown rather annoying but she couldn't really complain. Her and her family were able to ration out food for the entire week.

After that, the District resumed usual operations. However, production was virtually cut in half. A ton of the usual factory workers were dead, and more were dying on the job after nearly starving to death. There were less essential buildings and less essential everything. Luckily for the Rolags, they had stockpiled a good amount of fabric, which was why their business was being kept alive.

If things couldn't get any worse, one final factory exploded just when things were getting back to normal. A number of Liliana's classmates died. There were just so many people dead and so much wreckage. It was hard to believe the District would ever recover.

Liliana didn't really think it did, and she didn't really think she recovered herself. There were just too many lives lost. Now the citizens were being worked harder than ever and if the Rolags couldn't stay in business, it was off to the factories, or least the few that were left.

And now, the Quarter Quell was looming. Liliana hadn't been alive for a Quarter Quell before, but her parents were. They told her and her brother Kotten about how 48 children went into one of the deadliest arenas of all time. And now the victor was a washed up drunk. Well, maybe not that washed up. He had managed to get both of his tributes out alive.

The Quell twist had to be one of the most ridiculous things the Capitol had ever come up with. Romance? Wasn't the whole Katniss and Peeta thing enough? It seemed like damage control for the berries to her. The odds that that particular Quell would be the one right after a Games centered around a love story were very low. It didn't add up and Liliana Rolag was no fool.

Liliana was pretty confused about how the Quell would work. What was the selection process? Had the Matchmaker already made his Matches? What else did the twist entail? There were two many variables. She hoped that she wouldn't be chosen. She didn't think it would be likely. There were so many kids to choose from, but maybe they'd notice her. She was quite popular after all. She had a pretty good amount of friends, some closer than others and enjoyed the life of the party.

Speaking of which, she really missed her friends and their parties. After the failed rebellion and the amount of people dead, the parties weren't really rolling in. On top of that, regulations had cracked down since then and the good times were not rolling. But tonight, she had hope. There was a party and she couldn't wait to get off her shift to head out.

Before the rebellion broke, Liliana and lot of her friends had a tradition. Every 2 weeks they would head to a park and just have a party. It wasn't really a park as it was a cracked street behind an old factory that had some weeds growing through the cracks. But it was enough.

The tradition had been broken after the lockdown and the bombings and Liliana was ready to party. She hoped they would be able to get away with it. The Peacekeepers were mainly patrolling the resident areas of the lower-class. The majority of Liliana's friends were upper-middle class and occasionally some upper-class people would join the party. It was safe to say that she was excited.

"Hey you're slacking off." Liliana turned her head to the source of the voice. Kotten.

"Oh shove it, you're not even working," she replied with a slight twinkle in her eye. Kotten narrowed his eyes but she could tell it was in a playful spirit. She loved her brother a lot. At only 11 he hadn't had to experience the Reapings yet, but he sure did have to live through the effects of the bombing. If she was being honest, she was quite worried for his well-being.

"I'm only 11!" he said indignantly.

"And that's why you can't come to parties with me." At this, Kotten rolled his eyes.

"Come ON. You promised this time," he whined. He had always wanted to go with her to the parties, but she didn't want her brother coming along. That would be embarrassing as hell. She didn't want people to know she had a vulnerable side. The popular crowd should never be perceived as vulnerable.

She reached out and patted his head in a patronizing manner. "Sorry sport, I've Kott-on to your little schemes." How she loved puns. She saw Kotten's face crack into a smile.

"That one was pretty forced," he huffed, trying to erase his smile with little success.

"Yeah it wasn't my best, but you've heard some of my good ones!"

Kotten sighed. "I guess so." Liliana noticed he looked glum and she almost felt bad for leaving him behind again. Almost.

After the conversation with her brother, the rest of her shift flew by and at sunset it was time to party. Liliana closed up all the accounting books while her parents closed up shop in the front. Her mother was quite the skilled tailor. Her designs were exquisite but she never made it to the big leagues. Her father was pretty strict and would disapprove of her partying escapade in the current climate. She didn't really care though. Safety be damned, it was time for some fun.

Once Kotten went to the front to try to help their parents close up shop, Liliana took her chance. She quickly dashed out the back door of the shop and took off down a nearby alleyway. In this area of District 8 there weren't many patrols. She figured she would be ok.

Her travels were uneventful until she reached some of the bombing wreckage. Seeing it up close was much different than just hearing it. It looked like a blackened pile of metal bones, slightly glinting as the sun dipped behind the horizon.

Liliana shivered a bit and kept going. No need to dwell here. Too many ghosts, too many lives lost. The chill in her bones stayed her until she finally made it to the old factory. It had managed to survive the bombings thanks to it being not in use, but there was a good chance that it might get refurbished for use since so many factories were destroyed.

She made her way around the abandoned factory and smiled when the sounds of chatter filled her ears. Finally. She took off running towards the sounds of laughter. She stopped just before she was in view though. She had to make somewhat of an entrance. Sprinting in all sweaty would be gross. And pretty lame. She composed herself and straightened her hair a bit before working herself into a strut. It was showtime.

As she strutted into the "garden" she noticed the turn-out was much smaller than usual. She couldn't really complain though. At least it was happening.

"Liliana!" a girl called out, waving frantically. Liliana walked a little faster and plowed right into the girl, going in for a hug. She knew she probably looked stupid as hell, but it was worth it. She hadn't seen Sew in so damn long.

Sew patted her on the back and the two broke apart. "Is that a needle in your pants or are you just happy to see me?"

"Oh haha, you know my dick would be HUGE if I had one," Liliana replied with a horrid smirk on her face.

"Yeah we would all quake in fear of Liliana Rolag's massive dong!" The two burst out laughing. Sew was definitely Liliana's closest friend. The two got up to a lot of pranks and fun times together before everything got rather serious.

"So what's up, how's the party going," Liliana asked.

"Oh I guess it's going, but not anywhere fast. I was hoping you'd bring up the energy," Sew replied.

"I have my moments."

"Yeah you sure do," came the voice of a newcomer.

"Fleece what's up?" Liliana happily greeted her other friend. Fleece was also pretty close to Sew and herself. He wasn't a huge fan of their antics and wouldn't participate in their pranks but Liliana swore she could see the hint of a smile on his face whenever they got into trouble.

"Well I can tell you what's not up, and it's the energy of this party," he said, gesturing around.

"I was just telling her that!" Sew grabbed Liliana and Fleece by the arm. "Come on, let's go mingle!"

Liliana didn't mind the mingling. Talking and being the center of attention was something she craved. Back at home she was just a plain middle-class girl who liked math. Here, she was really that bitch. And she loved every single second of it.

She traipsed around the various people at the party, talking smack and flashing her smile to let them know it was all in good fun. Sometimes Liliana wasn't sure which side of her was the real her. Was it this party-loving side or the reserved friendly family side? She knew that it was one or the other, there was no way she could be both those people at the same time. Impossible. And so, she kept those lives separate.

Things were going well until the annual game of Truth or Dare came up.

"I dare Sew to...snort that weird spicy drink that Aurora brought," Fleece said gesturing to the blonde girl. Liliana was sort of spellbound by her beauty. Her brilliant blue eyes and blonde curls…she was something else.

Liliana wasn't really sure about her sexuality. She knew she liked boys but…sometimes there was a girl and she would just feel flustered and confused. Liliana still wasn't sure exactly if she liked girls or not. She tried to date a girl once, but like all her relationships, it barely lasted a few weeks.

Liliana blushed a bit after Aurora turned her gaze toward her. She was definitely a member of the upper-class. Sometimes people like Aurora would show up to these things, but never someone who looked as pristine as her. She looked too clean. Maybe it was just the broken landscape that made her stand out. Plus, she had brought some weird spicy drink. It wasn't alcohol but it was something all right. Nobody really drank at the parties, they just tried to gather slightly more expensive food and drink than they would usually consume. Normally they ended up relying on the upper-class people and today Aurora was their savior.

Sew was coughing after trying to snort up some of the spicy liquid. What kind of a dare was that anyway? Eventually the game kept going on and Liliana was suddenly worried that she would get truth and have to answer a question about liking a girl. She knew that that fear made no sense since she could just pick dare, but she was flustered nonetheless.

However, before her turn came Aurora's.

"I think I'll go with truth," she said rather innocently, tapping her finger on her chin.

"Ok, what made you come here tonight? I haven't really seen you around here before?" Sew was looking at Aurora with intense interest. It wasn't even that great of a question really. Liliana was a bit annoyed at Sew. Boring questions didn't make this game fun.

"Hmmmm well, I guess I have to be honest, don't I?" Aurora stood up. Everyone looked around at each other confused. Liliana was just annoyed. Could this girl really be that pretentious? She sure was pretty though.

"The truth is…I came to rout out a potential rebel and I found them." The group went dead silent. Where did this even come from? Liliana's head was whirling when she saw Aurora pull out a cracker with a mockingjay on it. Liliana's brain started to try to make sense of what was happening when the sounds of gunfire cut through the air.

All she knew was that she had to get out of there. Liliana Rolag took off running and didn't look back, more confused than she had ever been in her life.

Thanks for reading! I enjoyed writing these two a lot and I hope you guys enjoyed reading them. I do apologize if the backstory heavy POVs are a little hard to get through, I just find it easier to put all the cards on the table so I can really get into their characters and relationship in the pre-Games.

Also, a lot of world-building this chapter. I got away with it for D4 but I wanted to include it here since D8 rebelling is such a significant point in canon.

Thanks to the submitters, and if you have any complaints about my portrayal of them, please let me know so I can fix it for their next POV!

Oh and btw, thank you to everyone who is reviewing. It really means so much to me. It's just affirming to know that people are actually reading. Special thanks to Linds, Zack, Matt, and 20 for reviewing the last chapter.

I think that's all for now, we'll be seeing the D10 couple next and then we'll be halfway done with the intros FINALLY.

Are you #teamLYAN?