Chapter 10:

District Nine

Eliot Eidner, 13

One Year and One Month Before The Reaping

Mornings in the Eidner household are always a bit of controlled chaos, most of which is Eliot's fault. They always started out with the same routine. His mother would be up first, getting breakfast ready for the four of them. His father would try to get Eliot up and moving, but what kid actually wants to get up to go spend all day in school? Only good part of it is the time with his friends. Eliot will give him big wide eyes and beg him for a few more minutes, and his father will give in like always, ruffling Eliot's shaggy hair and make the young boy smack his hand away. But the few minutes wouldn't last long until his grandfather would come in and tell Eliot how he has to get up and go to class, using himself as an example and proudly telling him how he's never missed a single day of work. That would get him up and dressed quickly so he can head into the kitchen, getting in his mother's way as she tries to get the table set with food and scolding him for grabbing a piece of toast early, but she can never stay mad at him. Not when all four of them sit down for breakfast.

Today was no different, even if the remainder of the day would end up totally different for all of them.

"Hi Mom!" Eliot yells as he runs past her, barely avoiding knocking the hot pan out of her hands that she's bringing over to the table.

She sighs at him and shakes her head, but Eliot glances up at her as he snatches up a piece of toast and finds her fighting off a smile at him. "One of these days you're going to actually run into me and everyone is going to blame you for breakfast being on the floor."

Grandpa laughs loudly at this and Eliot grins over at him, "That's likely to happen because he loves doing stuff that's downright fucking dumb."

"Dad!" Dennis Eidner yells as he enters the kitchen, making Eliot and his grandfather laugh at his reaction. "Why do you always have to swear in front of him?"

"He's thirteen, he needs to get ready for the real world," Meren Eidner tells his only son before pointing over at Eliot and giving him a knowing look. "He's not going to be a child forever and better to hear this from us than in the fields."

"He's right!" Eliot mumbles out around a mouthful of food, earning himself a scolding look from his mother. He purposely finishes chewing and dramatically swallows before opening his mouth wide to show he's done before talking once more. "Grandpa is teaching me all sorts of things, like how to be a hardworker and to call people useless pieces of shi-"

"Okay," Meren cuts him off by putting a hand over Eliot's mouth, but he can't hold back his laughter at Eliot. But he cuts off shortly after with a bit of a wince as he rubs his upper arm.

"Are you okay?" Dennis asks Maren and Eliot watches with concern as he gets back to shoving food into his mouth so he isn't late for walking to school with his friends. "You don't have to work today if you're in pain."

"Nonsense," Maren gives a wave of his hand to get his son to back off. "I'm fine, just a bit of aching in my arm. I haven't missed a single day of work yet and a bit of pressure in my arm certainly won't stop that. What kind of example would I be to Eliot if I didn't go?"

"Exactly!" Eliot adds on, getting a proud smile from his grandfather that he quickly returns as he glances over at the clock. "Oh I gotta get going!"

"Did you do your homework?" Eliot's mother asks him as he's finishing up his breakfast.

Eliot glances around before quickly shoving the last few bites of food into his mouth. He jumps up from the table, laughing around the food in his mouth as he runs back to his room. "Sorry Mom, just look at the time, I better leave or I'll be late!"

"Eliot!"

The boy laughs as he grabs is beaten up old backpack that used to be his mother's and swings it up on his shoulder before running back out to the kitchen. "Bye Mom, bye Dad, bye Grandpa!" He yells on his way out the door, getting a bunch of goodbyes yelled back at him.

Once he shuts the door behind him, he pauses to laugh a little at his mother thinking he didn't do his homework. Of course he did it, he did it last night with Grandpa. Even after working all day out in the grain fields, his grandfather still was willing to spend time with him to help him out. Sure, he sometimes calls Eliot 'smart as hell, but dumb as a bag of rocks', but he always talks to him about getting ready for real adulting while still saving up for small treats for him. And that's why he loves his only grandparent so much.

Eliot skips down the front steps of their house and begins the walk over to the first of his friends' houses, grinning to himself as he thinks about the plan he has for them to do today. They're totally going to find it hilarious and he can't wait to see their reactions.

It's going to be a good day.

Eliot has his head close to his friends as they eat their lunches and plan out their next prank to pull. Whitmer is still trying to convince him and Emma that their prank on the captain of his baseball team's rival is a bad idea, but there's nothing he can do to stop them. Not when the teacher is out in the hallway talking with someone from the office.

"I'm telling you, it's going to work, no question about it," Eliot tells the two, glancing over at his number one enemy. "No one is going to know it was us that put fish jerky hidden in his desk and stuff. It will just start smelling and he'll have no idea where it came from!"

"But what if we get caught?" Whitmer asks them, looking afraid about starting the prank just like he is every time, but he always is laughing by the end.

Emma laughs at this and leans back, trying to pretend to be all sophisticated compared to them and like she didn't help Eliot come up with this plan. "Well Eliot can just get us out of trouble like always."

Eliot nods his head at them and gives them a big grin that always makes Grandpa shake his head and claim that he's 'the cutest little shit head he's ever seen'. "Exactly. So we'll just stay back a few minutes at the end of the day. Whitmer will talk to the teacher and ask him for a bit of extra help. Shouldn't be too hard to fake."

"Hey!" Whitmer says, sounding a bit offended at his comment while Eliot and Emma just laugh at his reaction.

"Can you stop being so loud and annoying for more than a minute?" Someone calls over to them and the three of them all look over at the person, annoyed expression on their face. Eliot just sticks his tongue out at them and they start laughing at their reaction as they turn back to each other.

"As I was saying," Eliot continues, holding back laughter at the person being annoyed at them. That happens at least ten times each day. "Whitmer will distract the teacher while Emma and I put the-"

"Eliot!"

"It wasn't me, I swear, Mr. Harrison!" Eliot says quickly, sitting back from his friends to look over at their teacher with his best cute little kid look. Most of the time it sucks looking way younger, but when avoiding getting in trouble? Then having a baby face is the best.

"You're not in trouble," Mr. Harrison answers him, but narrows his eyes just a little at Eliot and his friends, seemingly questioning what they're up to. So Eliot cranks up his smile at him, but this only makes the teacher start frowning. "You need to head down to the office."

"I swear I didn't do anything!" Eliot tells him immediately, starting to frown and give him big puppy eyes.

"You're not in trouble," Mr. Harrison responds and nods his head towards the classroom door. "They also said to bring your stuff with you."

Oh no, that can't be good.

Eliot slowly packs up his bag as his friends stare at him, eyes full of concern. He tries to think through everything that he could have gotten in trouble for lately because he doesn't believe Mr. Harrison telling him he's not in trouble.

"Good luck," Emma whispers to him when he stands up and Whitmer nods his head in agreement with her.

Eliot just gives them a confident smile, not wanting his friends to be worried for him. "I'll be fine! Like Mr. Harrison said, I'm not in trouble." He leans closer to them to speak in a hushed whisper, "And if I am, you know I can talk my way out of it."

Eliot is chuckling along with his friends as he walks over to the door, trying to ignore the worried look on Mr. Harrison's face as he passes the teacher. He turns back at the door to give his friends a reassuring thumbs up but once out in the hallway and away from their view, the smile drops from his face and he starts getting a little nervous that he is in trouble. Maybe today is the day he finally gets in trouble for all the things he does to make sure people like him.

But his curiosity wins and he starts marching over to the office, ready to face whatever is waiting for him. Just before entering, he puts his best cute smile on his face, in case he is in trouble.

He walks into the office with as much confidence as a thirteen year old can muster, ready to tell Principal Hudson whatever to get out of trouble. But he stops and his smile falters when he sees his mother standing there. "Mom? I swear, I didn't do anything."

"I know, that's not why I'm here," she tells him as she takes a couple steps closer to him. He stares up at her, concern slowly building in him as he sees her eyes glossy before she suddenly hugs him. "You're dismissed for the rest of the day because…"

"Because what?" Eliot asks as he tries to squirm out of her hug, knowing it would not be cool at all for someone to see him hugging his mom. But when she sniffles, he starts hugging her back right away, forgetting what anyone else might think because cheering up her up is way more important. "Mom, you can tell me, I can handle it. I promise."

"It's your grandfather…" she whispers to him as she pulls him closer, running a hand over his hair. Eliot tenses up at that, but soon relaxes, knowing he must be fine. He was acting normal all morning today. "He…he had a h-heart attack and…and they couldn't get a doctor there in time."

Eliot freezes up at this, refusing to believe what she just told him… It just can't be true. "What?"

"H-he," his Mom tries to say before letting out a sob. Eliot can feel his own eyes starting to prickle with tears as he shakes his head, still not wanting to believe it. There's just no way Grandpa can be dead… "I'm so sorry."

Eliot keeps shaking his head as the tears finally slip out and he can't do anything to keep them from falling. Grandpa is such a good man and hardworking…he was fine just this morning. How could he go from perfectly fine to…to gone in a few hours?

"No," Eliot shakes his head at this some more, refusing to believe it. "He can't be gone."

Eliot hasn't been able to bring himself to leave the kitchen ever since getting home with his mother. He couldn't handle walking around the empty house and seeing all the reminders of his grandfather there. And he worries that once he sees that Grandpa isn't there, it's going to truly hit him that he's gone and Eliot didn't even get to say goodbye to him. He'd much rather stay numb and pretend everything is alright, that any minute now his grandfather is going to walk through the door, calling out hello to everyone and making sure to come say hi to him before doing anything else. And then after dinner he'll tell Eliot all about his day, give some advice, and help Eliot with whatever homework he has to do.

Maybe if he keeps thinking that's what will happen, it will…right?

So he keeps sitting in the kitchen, trying to be his normal energetic self to help cheer up his mother. He just can't stand seeing her being so upset, yet the things he says that would normally cheer her up aren't doing anything. She just keeps giving him half-hearted answers as she slowly cooks dinner, occasionally sniffling and wiping at her face. She refuses to look over at Eliot, and that's the worst part and is just making him feel like he's annoying her. That's the last thing he wants to do to her right now…he just wants her to be happy…

With a heavy sigh, Jan Eidner takes a long look over at the clock in the kitchen and Eliot follows her gaze over to it. "Your father should be home soon…" she says softly, her voice raw and wavering a bit from the tears she's struggling to hold back.

Eliot keeps staring over at the clock, knowing that by this time, both his father and grandfather should have been home… His father only isn't home because he worked late to make up for Jan leaving early to bring Eliot home. It's such a small detail, but it's finally the thing that makes it sink in to Eliot that his grandfather is truly gone.

A choked sob escapes from him despite everything in him screaming to keep it back and keep trying to cheer up his mother. The sound makes her set down the spoon she was using immediately and she turns around to face him finally. When he sees the tear stains on her cheeks, he finally breaks down and starts sobbing loudly, unable to stop it. "He should have been home by now…"

"Oh sweetie," Jan responds and moves over to him, crouching down to be at his eye level. She grabs onto the sides of his face and tries to wipe away the tears steadily falling down his cheeks and he keeps sobbing and starts shaking his head at her. "I know… It's going to be a while to accept that he's really gone. The world isn't fair and takes away the best people too soon." She pauses to take a shaky breath, clearly struggling to keep her own tears back as she starts smoothing over Eliot's hair. "He wouldn't want us to be sad for him, would he?"

Eliot shakes his head at this, knowing she's completely right… "If he we-were here," he starts, voice shaking and he struggles to speak through his sobs that hurt his chest, "He would t-tell us that's life and we're all going to die eventually…"

Jan flinches at the choice of words but tries to force herself to smile at him, except it comes out as more of a grimace. "Yes…but also that we have to keep living each day to the fullest." She keeps staring at him, waiting until he nods his head in understanding at her, except he can't understand why his grandfather had to be taken away from them so soon. "I know how close you were to him…and it's going to be hard to move forward without him. But…do you think you can keep being my little Ray Of Sunshine?"

Eliot gets the tiniest smile at her nickname for him, the nickname that inspired her to make his middle name be Ray, even if it is cheesy. "I can try…" he tells her, knowing he wants to make her happy, but he just doesn't know how to be happy himself or if he's annoying her now.

"Good, because we're going to need your cheerfulness for a while now," she tells him, forcing herself to smile a bit at him. "He'd want you to take this as a life lesson. Loss really hurts…but it happens to all of us. And you are so very lucky that you had such a loving grandfather in your life. I didn't have that with my parents…so make sure you value the time you did have with him."

Eliot nods his head at her and tries to wipe away some of the tears on his cheeks, but they're quickly replaced. "I can try…"

"That's all we can do," she answers before giving him a kiss on the forehead. She stands up so she can pull him into a tight hug, and Eliot holds onto her tightly, just needing some comfort from his mother right now. But up close, he can hear how shaky her breaths are as she tries to be strong for him, and it only makes him sob even harder. "I need you to keep being brave… And you can't quit school because we have one less person working full time in the family now. He wouldn't want that at all. We'll figure out some way to make things work…"

"I can take tesserae…" Eliot tells her, even if he's terrified at the thought of increasing his chances of being picked for the Games. But…if it makes things easier for his parents, he'll do it. He'll do whatever it takes to help them out and make them happier. He would have quit school to work more in the fields and had already started considering it, but…she's right, Grandpa never would have wanted him to do that. "If it will help, I will."

"Not yet, honey," she responds, voice filling with fear at just the mention of tesserae. "We won't do that yet. Somehow, we'll find a way to make things work… I won't let the odds of losing you increase. So just keep working hard in school and we'll be fine…"

"I don't feel very fine…" Eliot mumbles against her, feeling far from it. He doesn't even know how he's supposed to feel. He's never gone through this before…and didn't think he would go through it any time soon. "It's just not fair…"

"I know, sweetie," she whispers to him while running her hand over his hair, holding him close as he just can't accept this being real life. Yet…somehow, he has to. He has to keep going on and find a way to be cheerful for his parents. "Sometimes life really isn't fair…"

Sky Odum, 13

One Year Before The Reaping

As the clock keeps ticking closer and closer to noon, Sky grows more and more anxious as she paces in front of the television, biting her lip as she watches the commentary from Kora Flickerman as everyone gets ready for the start of the 149th Hunger Games. Everything about this is all wrong… Sky should be sitting here with Marek, making brash comments about the careers while Marek cracks the dumbest jokes that she always refuses to laugh at, but after one look at the dumb grin on his face, she bursts into a matching grin. And after the bloodbath ends, they would go eat lunch together and be glad that they were never in that situation.

But that's not her reality anymore.

She's barely been able to hold back her anger that Marek was chosen for the Games a week ago. The one good thing she's finally had in her life…taken away from her and sent into a death match. She can't lose him, the one person she trusts. He just can't die yet. They're supposed to spend the rest of their lives together, just two best friends constantly getting teased that they'll end up married someday. And they'll always pale at that and shake their heads, but deep down, Sky believes it too, even if she won't tell him. But maybe one day she would finally get the courage to say something to him.

But that future is quickly disappearing because when has life ever been fair to her?

Sky knows her friend…the sweet idiot who won't even stand up for himself against bullies in school, no matter how much Sky tries to get him to have a backbone. He's not a fighter, not like so many of the other tributes getting launched into the same arena with him right now…

Sky stops her pacing as the one minute countdown starts, standing way too close to the television and refusing to miss anything that Marek does. She wants to believe in him and that he'll make it out of there alive. She desperately wants to believe it… "Damn it, why would they put him next to a career!" Sky yells at the screen, watching her only friend search around for his allies and ignoring the one two spots over from him, desperately waving to get his attention. "Come on, Marek, don't be an idiot!"

As the final seconds tick down, Sky digs her nails into her palms so hard she starts to feel a slow trickle of blood, but she can't bring her gaze away from the screen. "Please, Marek, don't die on me," Sky whispers to herself, ignoring the group of orphans behind her, all waiting to see what will happen to the boy who is all of their friends.

The gong goes off at the same time as an explosion and Sky flinches at first, fear freezing her up that for some reason it was Marek. But her eyes quickly find him and she lets out a brief sigh of relief that he wasn't the very first death, but she's soon frozen in place with wide eyes as she watches her friend start running, but in the wrong direction. "You idiot!" She screams at the screen, desperately wishing her friend could hear her right now. "Listen to your ally!"

Yet Marek doesn't listen to his ally yelling at him to leave the others. No, the stupid idiot starts running right towards the front of the cornucopia, right where some of the careers have already gathered. Sky's eyes start stinging with tears of fear she refuses to let fall, even when the others behind her let out screams when Jett throws a knife towards Marek that thankfully misses him.

"Run, Skye!" Marek shouts at his ally and Sky curses at the blind girl that Marek had to befriend. He should have left her behind!

"Save yourself, you idiot!" Sky screams at the screen, taking a step closer in desperation for her friend. "No!" She screams as Marek tackles Beryl to the ground, all so he can yell at his ally that the career was running towards.

Sky can only watch, frozen in terror, as Marek stares at his ally running away in relief, right before the career under him twists around and slams an axe into the side of his head.

People behind her cry out and the world goes out of focus for Sky as she falls down to her knees, staring at the body of her only friend, axe still sticking out of his head as he's just shoved aside by Beryl as if he meant nothing. "No…" Sky mutters as she starts shaking her head, wanting to refuse to believe that Marek is dead. "Come on, Marek, get up! Get up you dumb idiot!"

But he's never getting up. That stupid idiot that she loved is never going to get up or crack another one of his stupid jokes or try to cheer kids up by doing a magic trick. All because he had to be too good of a person and insist on running towards one of his allies.

Five cannons sound and the noise echoes in Sky's head long after they've stopped, replaying with the image of her friend getting an axe to the side of his head. That image is going to forever haunt her, just like the image of her parents' dead eyes… Why does she always lose everyone that means something to her?

When Marek's smiling face is shown on the screen with '19th place' under it, Sky lets out a scream of anguish and jumps towards it, sending her fist into Marek's image. "Why would you do that?! You idiot!" She yells as she keeps punching the screen, watching cracks spread across it and the broken glass starts ripping at her knuckles, but she doesn't care. She just can't stare at the image of her friend any longer.

"Sky!" Someone yells at her and she stops punching the screen to stare down at her bleeding knuckles through blurry eyes.

"He can't-" Sky chokes out, suddenly gasping for air through the pain in her chest. "He can't be gone!"

Someone takes a step towards her and she clutches her bleeding hand to her chest and steps back from them. "No! Leave me alone!" She screams at them before turning around and running out the front door of the orphanage, desperate to get outside to some fresh air and away from all the sobs surrounding her. But outside doesn't provide her the silence she so desperately craves as people follow after her, still shouting her name. So she starts sprinting away from the orphanage and all the memories that are now going to haunt her there. She runs as fast as her legs will carry her, barely able to see where she's going through the tears blurring her eyes.

Sky has no clue how long she runs for until her legs collapse under her and she cries out as she falls to the ground. She tries putting her hands out to catch herself but instead slams her fists into the ground, tearing open the cuts on her right hand even more. She gasps for air as her lungs burn from both sobs and exhaustion as she curls up into a ball, clutching her aching hand to her chest.

She lets out an anguished scream until she runs out of oxygen and is left gasping once more. "Why?" Sky gasps out and slams her uninjured fist into the ground. "WHY?!" She screams louder, unable to let out anything other than that one word question. Why did he have to run towards his ally? She got out alive with the other girl… Everyone else in his alliance got out alive aside from him.

"You dumbass, why do you have to care so damn much about people?" Sky chokes out around sobs, still slamming her fists into the ground. She doesn't care if anyone hears her, not that anyone would actually care enough to ask her if she's alright. The only person to ever do that was Marek…and he's gone now, all because he had to be an altruistic hero and tackle a fucking career.

A new rage builds in her at the image replaying over and over in her head, tormenting her with the bitter reminder that her only friend is gone. "I'll fucking kill her," Sky mutters to herself as she pulls up her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs as blood keeps falling from her hand. "Fuck every single twisted person who volunteers for the Games!" God, she wishes she could be in that arena right now so she could kill Beryl herself. That bitch deserves the most painful death for killing the best soul the world had to offer.

Sky turns her eyes up to the sky, her heart breaking all over again from yet another loss in the shitty life she's had. "Why did you have to leave me all alone? How could you abandon me like this?"

Sky chokes out a sob and shuts her eyes. Her mind keeps replaying the image of Marek being killed over and over again, just to torment her even more with the knowledge that he's gone. Why did she ever give him her heart?

Six Months Later

Sky didn't plan on going to the City Square for the victory tour. She didn't want to see the victor standing there that wasn't Marek, the boy barely younger than Marek was. She didn't want to hear the fake words he would say about both of the tributes from Nine, two people who he didn't know and deserved to win more than he ever did. But she mostly didn't want to face the people that had abandoned her just days after Marek's death, sent her away to a new orphanage, all because she turned 13. The Hall family didn't care about her or the fact that she was Marek's friend. To them, she was just another number, another mouth they know longer had to feed, all because their policy was only to house orphans under 12.

But the promise of pockets to pick and abandoned food in trash cans from so many people gathered in one place had drawn her to the victory tour… It's been so long since she had a full meal or a place to sleep comfortably, and it's all Marek's fault… If he wouldn't have gotten himself killed, he surely wouldn't have let his parents kick her out. He would have stopped them…

But he's gone. Killed for an ally that just ended up dying anyways and continued to make sure District Nine doesn't get another victor anytime soon.

Sky pushes her way towards the edges of the crowd, wanting to run away quickly if she were to get caught stealing. But that won't happen. No one cares about the small unimposing girl left to live on the streets alone. She can't see either of the stages for the families or where the victor will be, but she doesn't want to see them. She refuses to look at the people who abandoned her, just like Marek.

When the anthem starts playing and Clark walks out on the stage, Sky uses it as her chance to find some pockets to pick and steal a little bit of money to help her eat for the next few days. With everyone distracted, it's too easy for her…or maybe she's just spent so much time doing this that she's gotten good at it.

But she freezes up when she hears Marek's name, not having heard it be spoken by anyone else in months. Against her will, her eyes find one of the nearby screens and focus on Clark as he gives a speech about the person he didn't know. No one knew Marek like Sky.

"Marek Hall was a brave and selfless person," Clark reads from the card in his hands, making Sky clench her fists and cause fresh wounds in her palms from her jagged nails, wounds that will probably get infected from all the dirt trapped under them. How dare he talk about Marek? How dare he pretend that he knew anything about the best person that Sky ever knew-

She tenses and her jaw drops open in shock when the cameras pan over to Marek's family, but his parents don't stand alone. No…a small girl stands with them, a girl who had years left of being in the orphanage. A girl Marek was always so fond of and gave special treatment to. But none of the other kids from the orphanage stand with his parents…

…They adopted Carolina?

Why would they do that? They never showed they cared about the kids in the orphanage. There's no fucking way they would have just adopted Carolina for no reason. Which means…

Sky starts pushing her way out of the crowd, needing to run and let out the deep rage inside of her towards Marek. How could he? How could he tell them to adopt Carolina but not her? He knew she was going to get kicked out of the orphanage in days! "Bastard!" Sky shouts up at the sky, hoping that wherever Marek is now he can see her and hear her. She hopes he knows how much she hates him for first leaving her all alone and now for completely abandoning her. "I hate you!"

Sky stops running next to a garbage can and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a beat up old playing card, ready to throw away the one thing she has left of the boy who had her trust and threw it all away. But she stares down at the Ace of Hearts card and can feel her eyes tearing up as his stupid voice enters her head against her will. She desperately tries to block out the memory, but she can't forget the memory of Marek giving it to her shortly after they met. She can picture the exact goofy grin he had on his face as he handed it to her and told her 'You're number one!'

Except she's not… She was never number one to him. If she was, he never would have abandoned her.

She holds her hand out with the card over the garbage can, staring at the scars along her knuckles that always taunt her and remind her of the day she lost him. Tears fall down her cheeks from the rage in her at the boy she trusted with everything, just to get hurt over and over by him. Yet she can't bring herself to throw out the card. She can't get rid of the one thing she still has of him, even though he just keeps hurting her when he's not even here anymore.

"Damn it," she says before bringing back her hand and putting the card back into her pocket. Why is she so weak? Why can't she just let go of Marek? He never cared about her in the first place…he was the world to her, but she was just nothing to him…

"Hey kid, are you alright?"

Sky glares over in the direction of the voice, not trusting whoever it is calling over to her. "Do I look like I'm fucking alright?"

The woman hesitates as she stares over at Sky but unlike most people, she doesn't flinch away from Sky's angry look. "Do you have somewhere to stay? When was the last time you showered?"

"No and it doesn't matter," Sky scowls as she starts walking away from her, hoping she'll get the hint to leave her alone. She doesn't need the pity of some random person. But when she hears footsteps following after her, she turns back around to scream at her, "Leave me alone!"

The woman stops walking at this, surprised look on her face that shifts into concern for Sky. "If you need help, let me…"

"I don't need your pity," Sky angrily mutters back and turns around to keep walking away again. "You don't actually care… No one cares about me."

Agapios Wheatley Hallorian, Escort for District Nine

Agapios is truly hoping that this year will be easier on himself and the mentors. He doesn't know if he can handle another year of watching the mentors be heartbroken by the loss of tributes that didn't deserve to die. And last year…last year was particularly hard on all of them. And with this being the year he will finally retire, well, he sure would like to end on a positive of another victor. If not, at least he has his friends among the victors he's gotten to know over so many years in District Nine.

With one final glance at his pocketwatch to verify that he's right on schedule with the Reaping – 1:05 exactly – he takes care walking over to the microphone, feeling his hips aching with his age. "Good afternoon, District Nine," Agapios says to the crowd, genuinely smiling out at the District that's become his second home all of these years. "As you all know, I'm Agapios Wheatley Hallorian. However, I'm afraid this will be my last year as your escort. I've grown old and it's time for someone half my age to take over as your escort. But I promise you, I will do everything I possibly can to make sure I bring you home one more victor."

Much to his surprise, he's met with applause from the crowd at his statement and it makes him tear up from feeling like they have truly accepted him here. It makes his heart hurt to know that he's leaving them, but it's well past time for him to retire and enjoy what life he has left. He's had too many years of pain from escorting. "Well, let's see who the final tributes will be that I am honored to escort for."

With a deep breath and a brief glance at his pocket watch to verify that they are still on schedule, Agapios heads towards the first of the glass spheres to pick the first tribute. He hesitates for a brief moment, wanting to make it count, before picking a name to prevent himself from getting off schedule. But his steps are still slow over to the microphone, aware that he is sending a child to go fight to the death. "Alright, the first tribute is…Davi Angustia."

Agapios waits for a moment before a girl starts to make her way up from the very front of the crowd. He gives her an encouraging smile when she hesitates at the stairs up to the stage and looks up at him. But halfway up the stairs she freezes up as a desperate voice calls out from the crowd. "I volunteer!"

Murmurs spread throw the crowd as Agapios stares out in surprise, not really expecting there to be a volunteer. District Nine so rarely has any volunteers… He turns back towards the victors and finds them looking just as surprised as he is, with Mazie giving a shrug of her shoulders but leaning forward at shouts from the crowd. Agapios turns back to find a young, ragged looking girl shoving her way forward, look of pure rage on her face as she stomps up to the stage. She's completely covered in grime and her clothes torn, only making Agapios grow concerned for her. "I don't need any help!" She yells at a Peacekeeper that steps near her as she keeps walking forward, but this only makes them put a hand defensively on their baton as they walk behind her. As she reaches the stage, her sharp angry glare cuts right through Agapios as she storms up to him and grabs the microphone away from him. "My name is Sky Odum and you bastards that killed Marek last year better watch the fu-"

Agapios snatches the microphone away from Sky before she can keep cursing on live television and she tries to reach back for it before two Peacekeepers step forward and pull her arms back and handcuff them, making her scream out in anger. But Agapios is frozen in his spot as he stares at her, unable to continue since her mention of Marek… "Did you know Marek?"

"Watch your tongue," one of the Peacekeepers tells the girl and Sky glares up at them before spitting in anger on the stage ground. When she turns back to Agapios, he can see the pure anger in the tiny girl as she nods her head at him.

Oh dear… Agapios glances back nervously at the mentors and finds Sativa watching Sky, her face contorted in pain from the memories filling himself at the mention of the kind boy that sacrificed himself last year for his District partner.

"Um…very well," Agapios says, clearing his throat to try and get the crowd to quiet down as they've grown restless from the mention of Marek. He glances down at his watch and starts growing anxious as he realizes he's close to falling behind schedule and nods his head curtly. "The other tribute," he says before walking as fast as his hips will allow him to over to the other glass sphere. With no hesitation, he reaches in a picks the first name his fingers brush up against and returns to the microphone. "Joining…Sky…is Eliot Eidner."

Agapios waits a few seconds until another thirteen year old steps forward from the crowd, but instead of rage like in Sky, there's only sadness in Eliot as he makes his way up to the stage. He is much more put together than Sky, but even his nice clothes look worn and show his family's lack of wealth. As he reaches the stage, Agapios can see that he's shaking as he looks around the crowd and Agapios puts a comforting hand on Eliot's shoulder. "It will be alright, we're going to help you out…" he tells Eliot quietly, getting a small nod from the terrified young boy who looks so much younger than his age.

Agapios turns his attention out to the crowd, wondering if there will be another volunteer… "Are there any other volunteers?" He asks, and much like with almost every year, he does not get a response.

He never anticipated anything like this happening his very last year as an escort…and he thinks he would rather have no volunteers than one very scared and one very angry thirteen year old. But, he has always rooted for the underdogs, and he certainly isn't going to stop this year…even if one might not even want his help, based on the glares she keeps sending him.

"Very well, District Nine," Agapios tells them, glancing around at the crowd and feeling a pang of sadness that this is the last time he'll be addressing them at a Reaping. "Our tributes this year are Sky Odum and Eliot Eidner…"

Sky Odum

Sky is close to punching a wall in her anger as she keeps pacing around the room they placed her in, all too familiar to her from last year. All the memories she's tried so hard to lock deep down where they can't hurt her have come flooding in as she was forced to attend the Reaping, the event that ruined her life, leaving her with such a deep rage. But finally – finally – she has a way to vent all of the rage that's been inside of her for the last year. She hadn't intended on volunteering. She's never wanted to go into the Hunger Games. But when she saw Agapios standing up on that stage, her rage somehow reached a level she didn't know was possible and she had to do something, anything.

And that something is killing every single career that volunteered and wants to be part of killing innocent people like Marek.

"I'll absolutely destroy the girl from District One since I can't kill Beryl," Sky mutters to herself as she keeps pacing angrily, not knowing what else to do in her allotted time to say goodbye. What else is she to do? She has no one that cares about her to say goodbye. Anyone that she stupidly put her trust in has either abandoned her or died. "I'll kill every last one of them for wanting to be part of this. They'll regret killing Marek-"

She's cut off by a knock on the door that leaves her frozen in her tracks. Who the hell would show up to see her? As much as her anger wants her to yell at whoever is there to go away, her curiosity gets the better of her, so she stays quiet.

Until the door opens and she sees who is there.

"No!" She shouts at Marek's parents, pointing a finger accusingly at them as they freeze in the doorway. "You don't get to care about me now that I'm going into the Games!"

"Sky, we've always cared about you," Marek's mother tries to tell her and Sky just lets out a humorless laugh.

"Yeah fucking right," Sky tells her, not believing a single word out of her mouth. "If you cared, you wouldn't have kicked me out days after Marek died. You wouldn't have adopted Carolina instead of me, your son's best friend who loved him!"

Marek's parents share a look at this and with each growing second that she's forced to look at them, she's reminded of all the pain their family has caused her, all because she stupidly put her trust in them. "We adopted her because Marek asked us to…" his father finally speaks up, looking back over at Sky.

There it is…the confirmation to what she suspected for the last six months… She was nothing to Marek Hall.

"Get out!" She screams at them before moving towards the end table by the couch, ready to grab the lamp and throw it at them. "Leave me alone just like you've done before!"

"Sky, stop-" Marek's mother tries to say before the lamp slams into the wall next to her and she lets out a scream. Her husband quickly pulls her out of the room, sending a concerned look back at Sky over his shoulder as a Peacekeeper pushes past him.

"I hate you!" Sky screams at the top of her lungs at them as the Peacekeeper reaches her and puts handcuffs on her once more.

"Knock it off!" He tells her, forcing her to sit down on the couch. He stands in front of her for a few seconds, ignoring the glare she gives him as she breaths heavily in her rage. "If you cause any further trouble we're going to knock you out until you're on the train, got it?"

Sky digs her fingernails into the palms of her hands, forcing herself to remain quiet despite everything in her wanting to scream at him for being responsible for enforcing the system that got Marek killed. When he finally seems certain that she won't do anything else, he slowly leaves the room, locking the door behind him.

Sky keeps glaring at the door, feeling tears of anger starting to form from Marek's parents. They never should have stopped by to see her! She didn't need the confirmation that she knew in her heart: Marek Hall is a shitty person, despite everyone thinking the opposite, and Sky will never forgive him.

"Marek, if I die and see you again, first thing I'm doing is punching you in the face, you bastard."

Hi, who ordered this angst? Alright, big thanks to basicgay, david12341, and CelticGames4 for the angst - I mean, Eliot, Sky, and Agapios respectively lol. Eliot wasn't supposed to be angsty, but that's just what I end up doing lol, and Sky, is, well...Sky. But I had a lot of fun with these two, even if they made me very sad!

Okay so usual stuff! Thoughts on these two? Did you think this Sky would be Marek's Sky and does this change your opinion on Marek?

Alrighty, we're getting very close to wrapping up the Reapings! As we get closer to the end, if you think of any good alliance ideas, let me know! I'll hopefully see you again in two weeks for District Ten!