A/N Hi! I should clarify, just in case it wasn't clear in the last chapter, that the Reapings don't happen in the order their chapters are released, so the story won't really begin to be told chronologically until after all twelve Reapings are out. Anyways, I hope you enjoy chapter 2!


Reyna Slayte, 18, District 2 Female

The bench in the large bay-window of my walk-in closet has become my favorite place in the entirety of Two, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I've sat and watched the goings-on in the courtyard below my house countless times. Today, though, I can't help but stare at the dark gray clouds as they roll in over the snow-capped mountains to the west. With so little truly peaceful moments left before everything changes, I honestly think this might be the best way I can say goodbye to everything I've ever known.

I could sit here for the next week and still not have decided whether what I'm about to do is the right choice. No doubt, though, Mother would finally assemble an outfit she deemed fashionable enough for her daughter's "big day," and then I'll never see this room, the one that has so often been my only place to hide away from the world, ever again.

What a joy life could've been had I just been born to an average family of stonemasons here in Two. I would've grown up knowing someone would volunteer if I ever got picked for the Games, never needing to worry about the certainty of my own future. I could've finally aged out of the Reaping this year, and gone on to have a life of simple things. Maybe I'd have married someone I went to highschool with, and had a big family of kids who knew they were loved no matter what. Or maybe I'd have chosen to try and excel as a Peacekeeper so that I could establish a life of support from the Capitol. I even could've tried to work my way into the university here in Two, wherein I would've been able to choose any career I wanted. I could've been free.

"... Reyna? Are you even listening?" Mother had stopped piecing together my outfit for the Reaping to cross her arms and huff loudly enough to pull me back to reality. No one ever let me have a moment to myself anymore. "Yes, Mother, I was listening to you. I'm sorry if I'm a little weird today; it's just that the Reapings, my Reapings, are finally here, and I'm a bit nervous." My fingers find the hem of my nightgown and begin to pick at it as I wait for the reprimanding from Mother. She and Father hate whenever I doubt my ability to win.

"Well don't apologize for that, honey! Everyone gets nervous when their time comes, but we always push through that and prove what it means to be a Slayte, right?" she says as she lays the clothing out on the table in the middle of the room. I hadn't been expecting her comforting words, and the silence that followed was evidence of that. As Mother approached me, she nodded her head, agreeing with herself, then planted a soft kiss on my forehead.

Whispering now, she softly spoke, "You will do as your father, myself, and your brother all did before you. You will win your Games, and you will cement the Slayte name as one history will never be able to overlook."

"But Mother, what if I…" and my already low whisper trails off because I can't find the words. Fail? That means I'll die as Panem watches the final Slayte, the one who would cement the first ever family of all victors, ruin everything her predecessors had worked for. Father has made it abundantly clear that failure is not an option. If I fail, I don't just die, I lose my spot in his heart.

"Oh hush now, Rey. You've been training with me and Romulus since you could walk, and then with the Facility since you were twelve. No one in the whole of Two, besides maybe our fellow Village inhabitants, could rival your ability to kill. You were raised to do it. You were chosen because you deserve this opportunity more than any girl out there. Now come on, it's time to prepare yourself for the rest of your life," she said with a soft smile, as if her words were supposed to be encouraging.

Mother will never understand, because she was always so confident she would win her Games. It was more like an opportunity for a fun vacation to the Capitol than the dreaded death march it's supposed to be for people from the Districts. Her thinking is so popular with people in One and Two that I sometimes think I was born in the wrong district. No matter how many training sessions I attended, or how long I sat in front of the mirror and told myself that the Games were my destiny, I always spent the night after the Reaping crying under the covers. Every year I had to watch twenty-three children be murdered, knowing that I would one day, without a shadow of a doubt, be in their place. Every Reaping that passed was another year closer to the day my family would, inevitably, proudly send me to fight to the death.

Mother guides me to the vanity here in my closet before getting to work on my hair and makeup. The gray light from the window isn't enough, though, so she commands the house to turn on the vanity lights, and I'm suddenly blinded by white. While my eyes are recovering from the sudden change in lighting, I hear my brother yell around the corner of the door that he wants to come in, but doesn't want to see me exposed. Mom yells back that it's safe, and his frame fills the doorway.

Mateo is a near exact copy of Father, physically. They're both extremely built and stand well over six feet tall. Mateo keeps his hair longer than Father's, though; I think his wavy, chestnut locks complement the warm, golden-brown skin our family shares much more than the buzzcut dad opts for, so I've always told him to keep his hair when he gets the urge to chop it.

The major difference between Father and Mateo, though, are their eyes. Father has deep, dark brown eyes, almost bordering on black. They're strong eyes, always demanding your gaze to meet his, and there's an intensity within them that used to scare me as a child. Mateo, however, inherited Mother's hazel eye color. Their eyes are pools of bright, light green constantly mixing with beautiful shades of amber. They're full of emotion, and shine beautifully in the glow of a setting sun. My eyes fall somewhere in the middle. They are certainly brown, but they are a much warmer, russet brown compared to Father's, which are more similar to the dead of night. Needless to say, I envied Mateo and Mother's eyes growing up.

"Reyyyyy," he knows I hate when he says my name in that sing-song voice. Since winning his own Games three years ago, Mateo's made it his life mission to bother me at every possible moment. He says it's because he doesn't want me to forget him now that he has his own house in the Village, but I think it's because he takes joy in my annoyance. I wish the Capitol would give the Victors something to do for the forty-nine weeks when the Games aren't happening each year, but they don't.

"Mateo, get out!" I dont want him in here, ruining some of my last moments of peace.

"Now, Rey! That's not the way you treat someone who has some potentially life-saving advice for you." To have such a large frame, Mateo has always been very nimble. He's sitting next to me on the ottoman in a blink, giving me a knowing grin. I groan loud enough that Mother butts in, "Keep your face still! I'm almost done with the makeup."

"Listen, Rey, all you need to do is figure out what character you want to play, and then become that until the Games end. Father was the heroically strong leader, Mother was the put-together girl who never broke, and I was the roguishly handsome, endlessly charming, eternally hilarious jock." I side-eye him for that last description, and he chuckles. "Okay, think what you will, but Mother and Father will tell you I'm right. It's a TV show, Reyna. The Capitol wants a character to root for, and you need to become that. Even the best trainers at the Facility couldn't survive without the support from the Capitol. As much as the Games are a punishment for the Districts, they are a reward to the Capitolittes. It's the responsibility of the Gamemakers to put together a satisfying event, and what could be more satisfying than the person everyone loves being the eventual winner, hmm?" He looks at me, knowing I have no answer.

"Well then, it's settled! Spend the morning thinking about who you want to be, and be ready to slide into the role from the moment the Reapings begin until the moment you are standing in your own house here in the Village. Until then, you have to keep the act up. I'll talk to you later inside the Justice Building, after the Reapings." With that and a wave of his hand, he disappears from the room.

"I know you know what Mateo said is correct, so I won't lecture you, okay? Just take what he said to heart, and you'll make it through this just like we did. Now, let's get you dressed." Mother taps on my shoulders, meaning for me to rise and follow her to the outfit.

Unsurprisingly, Mother has a new, lavender dress picked out for me. Long ago, before the world was demolished by wars, famine, and natural disasters, purple was considered a color of royalty. Even before they had Mateo, Father had decided that our family would only ever be seen in purple when the Games were happening, as to suggest that we, the Slaytes, were the Games' own royalty. I always hated the idea, but I gave up fighting it many years ago when I had been grounded for an entire month because I tried to attend the Reapings in blue.

Mother helped me into the dress, fastened a string of pearls around my neck, and helped me put on some white dress shoes. They were a basic white flat, but had a small strip of fabric in the middle with a tiny flower on top of it.

"I'll leave you alone for a few minutes to collect yourself, honey, but we need to leave in ten, so be downstairs soon, okay?" I nod, and Mother walks away, gently shutting the door behind her. As soon as the door to my bedroom clicks closed, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. My family coaching me on how to play a character when I've been doing so around them for years is nearly painful to think about.

I walk over to the mirror and take one final look at myself. Loose raven curls hang down between my shoulder blades, with some pulled to the front of my body, creating dark cascading waves around my face and upper chest. Father and Mateo are well over six feet, and Mother is fairly tall for a woman, so I'm the shortest in the family at five feet and eight inches, but I also inherited Mother's build, which can only be described as rail-thin with muscles. Mother says our build helped her evade some of the more unsavory things Victors have been required to do for the Capitol in the past, but I always struggled with not being able to get people to notice me for something other than being a Slayte, so it felt like another layer to my imprisonment.

The dress is a very pale color with nearly transparent sleeves and a white belt cinched around my waist, creating a ruffling effect that ends just above the knee. It's a truly pretty dress, and I can see why Mother picked it. If I weren't wearing it for the Reapings, I might even call it beautiful.

"Reyna! It's time for us to go to the Reapings! Come along now," Father's deep voice bellows from the foyer.

"Coming!" I shout back as I shut the lights in my closet off. I take one last sweeping glance of the room I've come to love so much, and turn away.


Ryker Garrison, 18, District 2 Male

Typically, the only bad thing about Reaping Day is that the Facility is closed, which makes me lose a day of training, but that's all finally done. This is my year, and so my training officially completed yesterday. After the short ceremony where Reyna, who we all knew would be chosen thanks to her being a Slayte, and I, which some of the other guys my age were upset about but I was never in doubt of, were chosen by the heads of the Facility, I went home and had the usual weekly game night with my family. For some other guy, yesterday might've felt like the start of the rest of their life, but I've always known I'd get the glory of winning the Games, so now it just feels like everyone else knows too.

The morning had been a joyful one; Calista prepared a huge breakfast feast, taking care to include hash browns, which she knows are my favorite. Even though Calista isn't my biological mother, she's been as good a substitute as I could've asked for, and I'm glad my father married her when I was two. She gives the warmest, most safe hugs in the entire world, and I'll genuinely miss her signature daisies and honey scent while I'm away at the Capitol.

After breakfast Dad brought me into the sitting room and he revealed that they had splurged on a new suit for my special day. We aren't the poorest in Two, and certainly not in comparison to most of the other Districts, but Calista is merely a housekeeper and Dad is a low-level government official, so we sit comfortably in the middle class. I have plenty of suits that would've been acceptable for the occasion, but Dad has always been so proud of me for deciding to train at the Facility. I think some part of him wishes he would've been chosen to volunteer.

"Well, son, I've got to go and finish some last minute preparations for the Reaping, but, please always remember that my pride for you will never falter, and that I can't wait to see you again in a couple of weeks." We haven't hugged since I was much younger, so it's a little weird now that I'm bigger than he is, but he wraps me in a big bearhug nonetheless and leaves Calista and Bea with a kiss each.

"I'm going to start on some cookies for later tonight. If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen, okay?" Calista leaves Bea and I alone in the sitting room, and I'm unsure of what to say. I love her as much as I can, but Bea seems so against everything I stand for.

I would never say it because it would basically be confirming her treason, with the fate of an Avox awaiting her as punishment for her crime, but I think she's basically a rebel. I've heard her in her room with her friends who also think it's cool to hate the Capitol, and they basically want us to live in a world of anarchy and war just because they think overthrowing the government will fix all of Panem's problems. It's dangerous and irresponsible, so I've tried to keep her at arm's length so as to not be associated with her ideals.

Luckily, though, Minerva, our fifteen year old cat, wanders into the room, deeply purring, and saves us both from conversation. Bea walks over to her and begins stroking her back, causing Minerva to stop in her tracks and plop to the ground. I can't resist the urge to go and pet that spot on her back that makes her uncontrollably lick herself, which was always met with laughter from Bea and I, and I crouch down and crawl over to her. As soon as I get there, the tips of my fingers find that specific spot in between her spine and right hind leg, and she goes crazy and starts licking at the area. Bea and I both let out chuckles, and I'm honestly a little shocked because I haven't seen her smile in a long time. I didn't think she was capable of them anymore.

Never taking her eyes off of Minerva's now relaxed figure, Bea's raspy voice begins, "I don't get you, like, at all. I don't understand any of your motivations or aspirations. How can you volunteer for something as horrific as the Hunger Games? Even if you win, you just become a puppet for the propaganda put out by the Capitol."

"Well, I don't really get you either. You're constantly talking about how much you dislike Panem with your friends, but you have it so much better than almost everyone in the Districts. It's like you're not even grateful for all the wonderful things we have."

I look over to her, expecting some form of anger, but I just see nothingness. Her face is empty of emotion, like she receded back into herself and left the body without anyone controlling it.

"Also," I continue, " I'm volunteering for the Games because I want to claim the glory and pride that come with being a Victor. There's no greater honor in all of Panem than being a Victor, after all." A beat of silence passes and then Bea stands. I follow her up and look into her 's an intense emotion I can't name where there was a void of black just moments prior, and it's unsettling. She seems volatile, almost.

"You're too far gone to help, so I'll just say that I love you, Ryk. I miss the days of playing in the sprinkler in the backyard as Mom read her book in the lounger. I miss when you took me up the mountain for sledding that one day it snowed really hard. I miss when we used to sit at the park and pretend we were discovering the bones of long lost animals in the sandbox. I miss you, Ryk. I miss the brother that used to exist before he became a walking mouthpiece for Panem."

I feel a sharp pang in my chest, and remember all the fun times we used to have growing up. "I miss all of those things too, but you were the one who drove me away by diving into your crazy ideas." A flash of hurt crosses her face, and then she's back to stone-faced.

"Whatever. I just wanted you to know I'll miss you." She wipes away a single tear, proceeds upstairs, and shuts herself in her room. I sigh. How did we grow up together and end up so different? What happened to her that didn't happen to me? Maybe I can devote my free time to figuring out the answers to those questions when I come back to Two.


Standing in the Town Square, waiting for the escort to come out and pointlessly pull out names just for people to volunteer is usually a miserable time because of the summer heat, but this year there's a gray sky of clouds, so it's a lot cooler than normal. I can't let myself get comfortable, though. Even though the Facility picks the two best individuals from the batch of that year's eighteen year olds, people sometimes think they deserve it more and volunteer before the designated person gets the chance. Some people say that it's fair, but, in my opinion, they can't handle not being the best and want to rob the chosen person's status as number one. It's pathetic.

I look around the courtyard and see Reyna over near the edge of the eighteen year old girl's section. She must've decided it better to just stay near the side so she could easily get out of the crowd when she volunteered. I've always thought Reyna seemed nice, but it's also frustrating seeing so many girls in our year work harder than her but get passed up for the opportunity because Two wants to give her the chance to make her family's legacy even stronger. No one should be given something if they didn't earn it, and she usually looks like she doesn't even want to be at the Facility at all.

Without me realizing it, I've been absentmindedly staring at her for too long, and now she's noticed. She's looking at me with a puzzled look on her face as the older woman we call Mayor Harmonia ascends the stairs onto the raised platform, crosses to the microphone in the middle of the stage, and, with her low, raspy voice, begins, "Ladies and gentlemen of Two, welcome to the ninety-fourth annual Reapings! We here in Two pride ourselves on our loyalty to the Capitol and its power, working hard to produce a steady flow of Victors who entertain the Capitolittes and bring honor to those of us at home!"

A huge round of applause erupts from the crowd upon her taking a small break for water, and then she starts again, "I know that whoever we send this year will fight their hardest to make us proud, and will show the true might of Two!" More applause is given, and then she finishes with, "I'm going to hand the mic to Luminus now, but I wish both of our tributes, whoever they might end up being, the best of luck."

There's one last round of applause for Mayor Harmonia as Luminus, a tall, pale man dressed in a golden spandex jumpsuit, struts up to the mic. "Hello— District Two! I'm glad to see everyone is as lively as ever on this Reaping Day, and I'm not gonna waste your alls' precious time, so let's get right into it, shall we?" There's some scattered whooping and cheering, and then Luminus walks over to the large glass bowl on his left, the one with the girls' names in it, and picks a piece of paper that was wedged up against the front of the container.

As he arrives back at the mic, he unfolds the paper and calls out a name I don't quite catch, and then there's silence in the courtyard. Those of us who know Reyna was chosen begin to find her in the crowd, waiting for her to speak up. I can't make out any specific emotion on her face, but, just as Luminus goes to repeat the name of the girl who got Reaped, Reyna's soft voice finally calls out, "I volunteer." Luminus perks up at hearing that and begins searching for the voice's owner, calling for her to bring more attention to herself so the cameras can find her. She steps out from under the rope that was holding her in her section, walks up the stairs and joins Luminus.

"What's your name, darling?"

"Reyna. Reyna Slayte. I'm 18." I know she's usually a little reserved, but it looks like she's struggling with herself just to be able to get the words out.

"Slayte, you say? Any relation to the famous family of Victors here in Two?" He seems almost giddy at the prospect of having such a high-profile tribute under his control.

His question must draw her out of herself, because she stands a little taller and speaks a little more forcefully now, "Yes, I am the daughter of Romulus and Claudia Slayte and the sister of Mateo Slayte. I aim to cement my family as the first to be made entirely of Victors."

An enormous smile spreads across Luminus' face as he hears this. He knows the Capitol will love her backstory. "Well, I must say, Reyna, you have some big shoes to fill! I know we'll all be rooting for you along the way, though." He gives her a pat on the shoulder before she steps a little further behind him. He turns back to the mic and nearly sings, "Now for the boys!"

Time slows to a crawl as he turns towards the bowl and begins to approach it. I remind myself that this is the moment my life becomes what I've always known it should be, and steele any nervousness I was feeling away. The first syllable of the guy's name barely escapes Luminus' lips before I'm shouting the words I've been waiting so long to say, and pushing my way through the crowd. I thunder up the stairs and introduce myself, and Luminus comments on my sizable figure. I'm a little under six feet tall, but I've been working out five days a week for six years, so I've definitely bulked up a bit in terms of muscle.

Soon enough, we are escorted inside of the Justice Building and each given a room to say our goodbyes. My family comes to visit me, along with a few friends from school, all telling me that they know I can win and that they love me, and then it's finally over. Luminus appears, we get Reyna from her room, and then, in what feels like a blink, we're boarding the train.

"Two is only a couple of hours away from the Capitol, so we're going to wait and have dinner there, which means we're heading to the observation car instead of stopping here." Luminus leads us through the extravagant dining car, into a long hallway lined with doors, which I assume are the rooms we'd need if we were from an outlying district, and then we finally arrive in the right car.

Two's most recent Victors, Florian and Diantha, are sitting together on a large sofa at the other end of the car, waiting for us to join them. Reyna and I end up choosing the equally large sofa directly across from the two, while Luminus remains standing between the two couches.

"I'm gonna let you all get to know one another for now, but I'll be back in thirty minutes so that we can talk about how to behave while in the Capitol." He turns on his heel and struts out of the car.

After the door clicks closed, Florian and Diantha stand and quickly start moving the furniture towards the walls of the car. Diantha tells Florian to lock the door and he obliges. I ask what they're doing, but they don't respond and instead tell us to get off of the couch. We both stand and turn around to face them as they pick it up, lug it to the far side of the car, and leave it there.

Reyna questions them this time, and they just begin to walk towards us. They stop a few feet away, still not speaking, and I demand that they tell us what's going on. After the words leave my mouth, they both begin to frown and Florian's deep voice starts, "Over the last few years together, Diantha and I have developed a process for preparing Two's tributes to the best of our abilities. Our first goal is to get to know our tributes' strengths and weaknesses first hand."

"But why clear the floor? Couldn't we have just told you about our capabilities while we were sitting on those sofas?" I gesture behind the two of them and they both start laughing. I glance to my left to see what Reyna thinks of all this, but her face is empty. Why is she so hard to read? I look back at the mentors, and Diantha says, "Sometimes people don't truly know their own capabilities, so this lets the two of us perform a diagnostic exam."

"Well, what is 'this'?" I ask, making air quotes around this. Why are they being so vague?

They both laugh again. What are they laughing at, anyways?

"This, my child, is your first test."

"Test? What te—" I feel something bash upwards into my stomach, forcing all the air out of my body, and then I'm slammed onto my back. I look up, trying to figure out who attacked, only to see Florian's silhouette towering above, wielding a knife.


A/N Well, there's District Two's Reapings! These two are nearly the exact opposite of one another, both in personality and backstory, and I think it's gonna be interesting to see where that dynamic might take them.

Reyna- How do we feel about Reyna? Her greatest enemy is her own crippling self-doubt, and I'm worried about her mental state sliding even lower after she is exposed to the atrocities of the Games. If she can lock away her emotions for their duration, maybe she can win it all.

Ryker- Ryker is fighting for the life he thinks he should've had since the beginning. He's fighting for something he's always believed in without question. After his conversation with Bea, he's had to face that not all people who oppose the Capitol are bad. I'm excited to see how he'll react to meeting people from the less fortunate Districts. Where do you think this clash of ideas might take him?

That's all for now! I wrote these first two chapters at basically the same time, so they were ready soon after each other, but it might be a bit longer between this one and the next. I definitely want to update within the week, though. If you have any suggestions for where I should go next, let me know! I'm excited to write any of the characters I've got planned. :) I hope you have a great day.

~K