Author's Note

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to Celtic and MoonlightSalsa for the reviews!

Next chapter will be the reaping recaps/review and the release of the tribute list, so stay tuned!


They were herded into the Town Hall and through a red door into a small waiting room, never relinquishing the contact with each other.

"You were right," he said when the door closed.

She gave him a thin smile. "What now?"

"Now we fight."


Their mother came to visit, all tears and wailing. She threw herself at Luciente, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Oh, I can't believe this! My poor babies!"

Luciente prised her away and took a step back, growling softly.

Hyperion scowled. "Since when have we been your babies?"

They weren't even her babies when they were literal babies, left to run wild amongst the fields and trees and coyotes.

Why would they be her babies now?

She'd barely been to visit him once a month.

"You'll always be my babies. I never wanted to leave you, oh, my poor poor babies! How can they do this?"

"They're the Capitol. They'll do what they want," Hyperion replied.

They usually did.

Their mother sniffled. "Listen to me. You have to fight. Promise me you'll look after each other, promise me you'll fight."

Hyperion scowled more. "I don't see why we need to."


Their only other visitor was Ariel. Her little forlorn figure slipped into the room, her dark hair framing a pale face.

"And she is..?" Hyperion asked.

"Oh, this is Ariel. One of our mother's other children," Luciente replied.

"You must be Hyperion. Nice to meet you."

He murmured a reply and took her hand as she gazed at him with her pale, pale eyes. Hyperion shivered as he saw it, that same… otherness that Luciente held. She hopped up into one of the armchairs.

"Did you know?" she asked.

"I thought I did," Luciente replied.

"I wanted to thank you for your help. I'll miss you."

"Yeah. Me too." Luciente fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her coin purse. "Here. This is for you."

Ariel took it, her eyes widening with comical surprise. "I can't-"

"We won't need it where we're going. Just make sure your family doesn't get their paws into it. It's yours."

Ariel smiled. "Thank you. What will you do now?"

"Play the game."


They were led from the Town Hall and loaded into a hovercraft for the trip to the main town. From there, they'd board the train to be taken to the Capitol. Luciente stood by the window and watched the landscape pass. Hyperion joined her to stand at her shoulder.

The hovercraft made an awful groaning, creaking sound as it took off. He'd never heard one make a noise like that before, but then he'd never been inside one before.

The fields they had once roamed rolled out below them, further and further, until they came to land they didn't recognise, land that had been too far in a direction they weren't interested in for them to explore.

They wondered if the coyotes even came here. It was very far away from the wall after all.

At last they reached the main town, where they were led from the hovercraft and onto the train station. It was a large, dusty slab of concrete, with several huge warehouses around and against it. A slick, shining train was sat on the tracks, waiting.

Cornelius St Clarance hurried over to meet them. He was a short, fat man, with neon green hair, bright yellow skin, and a grotesquely swollen tongue. "Ah, ah, here we are!" He grabbed Hyperion's hand, pumping it up and down eagerly. "You must be Hydreigon! And this will be Lunala!"

They glared at him, silent, impassive.

"Now, tell me, tell me, what is your relationship? Are you siblings, cousins, unrelated? Just to clarify."

"She's my sister," Hyperion replied.

"Oh, how exciting! There hasn't been siblings in the Games since- let me think, let me think, oh, back in the Seventies I believe! There'll be an awful lot of interest in you two. Come along, come along!"

Hyperion grasped Luciente's elbow and pulled her in front of him as they boarded the train. The doors swished closed behind them.

"Now, your rooms are just down there. Feel free to go and, er, change." He eyed Hyperion's ill fitting prison uniform critically. "I believe Meadow and Holden are around here somewhere; they'll be your mentors. Supper will be at six, do come and join us."

Luciente gave him an empty smile. Hyperion took her arm and led her away.


They found their rooms, one marked with a plaque reading 'DISTRICT TEN MALE' and the other with 'DISTRICT TEN FEMALE.' Both had large, double beds and a wardrobe the size of Luciente's room at her mother's house. They chose Hyperion's room and locked the door. He pulled off his ill fitting shirt, tossing it under the dresser at the end of the bed, and dug through the wardrobe to find the biggest shirt and trousers he could. "I'll take a shower."

She nodded, watching him vanish behind the door and lying down on the mattress to wait. She had dreamt of them being free, running with the coyotes, but maybe she misunderstood. Dreams and the future were tricky things, shifting like dirt through her fingers.

The shower shut off in the bathroom. She hunted through the wardrobe to find the smallest clothing and waited for him to leave before taking his place in the shower.

Once they were both showered and dressed in slightly better (albeit still ill-fitting) clothing, they set off to explore the train. Further down their carriage were another set of rooms for the mentors and St Clarence. The next carriage contained weights and workout equipment, with a small glass room at the very end looking out at the landscape behind them. They both stood there for a moment, gazing at the fields and rolling hills sprawling out around them.

"Still District Ten," Luciente said, turning away.


The carriage in front of theirs was a dining area, complete with a long table laden down with food, smoked meats and vegetables, soups, and more bread than Hyperion had seen in his life.

The one after that was a sitting area, containing a large, comfortable U shaped sofa and the second biggest TV screen the two of them had ever seen, in front of which two three figures were sitting. One was, of course, the ugly figure of Cornelius St Clarence. The other two were a young man and a slightly older woman.

"Ah, Hadrian, Lucy, there you are! This is Meadow and Holden; they'll be your mentors this year."

Last year's Victor wasn't mentoring, Hyperion noted dully.

"Nice to meet you," said Luciente.

"Nice to meet you too. Sit down," replied Meadow.

"Cornelius tells us you two are siblings," Holden said.

"Yes."

Meadow nodded to herself. "You'll want to capitalise on that as much as you can. The sponsors'll love it. Am I to assume you'll want to be mentored together?"

"Yes."

"Right. Well, the first thing you need to come to terms with is that one of you is going to have to see the other die, even if one of you becomes Victor."

Meadow frowned. "Holden!"

"There's no use beating around the bush Meadow. If one of them wants to live, one of them has to die."

Hyperion squeezed Luciente's hand. "I'll make sure it's not you."

She smiled. "That won't be necessary."

St Clarance wiped at his eyes with a fat hand. "You two are too sweet."

"Play it like that. The sponsors should eat it up," agreed Meadow.

"Have you thought much about what you want to do in the arena?" Holden asked.

"Run."

Meadow hummed. "Well, that's one plan, but at some point you'll need a better plan. Now, normally I advise against entering the bloodbath for the cornucopia, but it is a good source of supplies, and you two look strong, so I'll leave that decision up to you once we've seen the other tributes. They'll be playing the reaping recaps tonight. Do you want allies?"

They looked at each other. "Maybe."

"Right, well. Five and Nine have been solid allies in the last decade. Now, you'll want to avoid the Careers in the arena even if you can build up an alliance. I recommend finding a safe place you can use as a base camp; it'll give you an advantage to know the area. Of course, we won't know what the arena terrain will be until the Games start, so I can't advise you there, but it's often woodland."

Hyperion smiled. "Woodland we can do."