Chapter 25:

Genesis Barrett, 17, District Ten

Genesis has not stopped feeling…confused and conflicted ever since the party started this evening. Just…everything she thought she knew about the Capitol is being questioned… Her father always taught her that the Capitol was evil and going to destroy them someday. But she has seen no hint of that here. There have been no hints of mutts trying to kill her. She doesn't even think whatever shot they gave her has done anything…although she can't stop rubbing that spot on her arm whenever she thinks about the Quell twist, an itch always starting that she can't get rid of.

But…would a corrupt Capitol really do what they're doing to Elias? That meeting was what made her question her whole reality… She didn't want to leave Elias alone with the President and his council, not trusting them but also terrified to face them. And Elias didn't want to go alone either, too afraid of opening up about his family out of fear of what they will do to him. Yet the President didn't once raise his voice at them or make any threats, only asking to know all the details about Elias' past and what his parents have done so he can make them face justice. Would a corrupt President really help out a tribute by bringing in his abusers?

Genesis…still doesn't know what to think about the new information she's learned about Elias. It explains so much about him. The way he knows how to fight, yet he's not excited about it in the same way as the careers. How else would he have earned that 8 in training? And the way he had to get his leg prostheses…Genesis cannot begin to imagine having parents that would do that to her…forcing her to fight over and over, repeatedly getting hurt to the point of needing surgery.

None of the other tributes are aware of the new information that she has learned and have continued going on with their night, dancing around and talking to new people. But Genesis and her ally aren't like the other tributes, leading to them sitting at the edge of the party. She's glad her ally is also overwhelmed by the party, with the huge amount of people here, the loud noise of the band playing, and just the sheer size of it all. She needed a break from it all and just to take some time to sit on the edge of the crowd. And also so she can think through everything that has happened tonight. It's…almost too much for her to handle. With everything happening, she's barely been able to even think about the Games starting tomorrow…

Which of these tributes will be dead this time tomorrow? Will she be dead this time tomorrow…? The careers this year are ready for the fight, she has no doubt about it. And unfortunately for her, they seem more unified than last year, meaning she can't hope they'll self-destruct again. Just look at how Anastacia, Delta, and Bell are huddled together, looking around and probably deciding which tributes would be the easiest targets tomorrow morning. Hopefully not her…hopefully that 6 she earned is enough to make them think twice, but not think she's a threat. And then there's Demarcus, talking to his mentor and her husband, and Odyssey talking to one of the victors from Two, but occasionally looking over at the career girls and frowning. And Major is off talking to Calvin, for some reason. All of them are going to be lethal tomorrow…

But…no, she has a good ally with her. Someone who actually knows how to fight. They have their plan for the start and they'll stick to it, then watch each other's backs. She'll be fine with Elias at her side. She's not like some of the other, younger tributes… Except there's not a lot of tributes that are younger than her. Five. Only five tributes younger than her…which does not look well for her. There's no way she's not being considered a threat.

Genesis turns to Elias before her thoughts can keep spiraling down with thoughts of the Games and her odds. "How are you doing?" Genesis asks her ally gently, watching Elias stare out at the overwhelming crowd in front of them, eyes wide as he takes it all in.

But he turns those wide eyes towards her, staring at her and making her look away, always uncomfortable making eye contact with people. "How…am I doing?"

"Yeah," Genesis says, glancing at him again before turning to look out at the crowd. "How are you doing with all of this? And with talking to the President?"

"Oh," Elias answers, continuing to stare at her for a few moments as he thinks over his response. "I…am afraid of telling them the truth."

"But your parents can't hurt you," Genesis reassures him, looking over at him briefly to find a frown forming on his face. "Not here in the Capitol."

"But I am not supposed to talk about them…" Elias starts sniffling next to her and Genesis quickly reaches over, grabbing his hand to try and comfort him. He stares down at it, not closing his fingers around her hand for a few seconds. "What are you doing?"

"Um, comforting you?" Genesis answers uncomfortably before letting go of his hand, realizing that wasn't the way to go with him. Why is she always so bad at reading emotions from other people? "Sorry, it felt like the right thing to do…"

"Right…thing…" Elias repeats slowly, continuing to stare at her as he thinks about what she said. He actually turns his gaze away from her to stare down at the floor and they sit in silence for a minute, neither of them knowing what to say. But he slowly opens up his hand, holding it palm up to her. "Sorry…being comforted is not something I am used to."

"Neither am I," Genesis tells him before reaching out and taking the hand he is offering. He gives her a confused look and she feels uncomfortable bringing up her family to him…yet she knows so much about his family history… What's the harm in sharing a little with him? "I have a lot of siblings and as the oldest, I've had to step in a lot. So usually I was comforting them, not being comforted." She pauses at the frown forming on his face and turns away when he looks up and notices her staring, reminding herself of what he said during the talk with the President about his siblings. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought up siblings to you…"

"They are not really my family anymore. Cecy is my family now," Elias says slowly, shaking his head at the thought of his three siblings. "I am…happy? I do not think that is right…about what happened to my brother. He," Elias pauses to take a shaky breath and Genesis puts her other hand on top of his, but she immediately starts frowning at the scars she feels on the back of his hand. "He did very bad things to me and my sisters."

"He deserves to get arrested," Genesis reassures him as she turns to look back out at the crowd. "Abusers deserve to be in prison for what…" She trails off as she stares at the tribute approaching them, immediately clutching Elias' hand tighter out of nervousness at the career. But she keeps her face calm and hiding the emotions swirling in her stomach about any career approaching them, let alone one of the two that scored an 11.

"Hi there!" Major says cheerfully, coming to a stop right in front of them.

Genesis simply stares up at him with wide eyes, petrified inside about facing one of the careers. She keeps her mouth shut as he stares at them expectantly, waiting for them to acknowledge his presence.

"Hello," Elias says eventually, making Genesis look over at him immediately to question why the hell he thinks it's a good idea to talk to Major.

"How's it going? Are you having a fun time at the party?" Major asks them, not giving them time to respond before he puts his focus solely on Elias, staring her ally down. "So Elias, you fight?"

Elias stares back at him and Major doesn't seem to let his unusual staring bother him, just putting his hands on his hips as he waits for Elias to answer. Meanwhile, Genesis is hoping that Elias won't tell him anything. He shouldn't tell Major anything about himself. If Major knows just how well Elias can fight…he'll absolutely tell the others and tomorrow they will target them in the bloodbath. "I do-"

"Not know how to fight," Genesis says quickly before shutting her mouth when Major looks over at her, feeling like she shouldn't have spoken up. How many times have her mothers taught her to think before speaking? And here she is, blurting out lies to a career from One!

"What do you mean?" Elias asks her in confusion, looking over at her. But Genesis can't meet either of their stares, feeling embarrassed for speaking up out of place. She is never like this… She can't bring herself to even stop Elias when he keeps talking, "You know that I was fighting in Six."

"I didn't know District Six was training people!" Major tells them, laughing a little before gesturing down to Elias' prostheses. "Well, clearly not at the same level as One if you got those from training accidents. Did you lose your legs that way? Damn shame, you know, being that way before going into the arena."

Genesis doesn't know what to say to Major, only feeling anger bubbling up inside of her for the way he's talking down to Elias. If only he knew just what Elias went through in Six with his family and why he is this way. He doesn't know of the years of abuse that Elias was subjected to and the countless injuries. But she keeps her anger in, keeping her face calm and the only outward sign of her anger being her balled fists on her lap. She cannot let him see her anger. But she also can't let Elias keep talking to Major and revealing more details about himself because he seems to have an inability to lie when someone asks him a direct question.

So when someone clears their throat, stopping Major from continuing to ask them questions, Genesis is quite relieved. They all look over Elias' mentor, Dampero, who is giving Major a skeptical look. "Excuse me, but I need to talk to Elias and Genesis…" When Major doesn't immediately start moving, Dampero clears his throat. "Alone, please."

Major's smile falters for just a split second, so quick that Genesis almost isn't sure if she caught it or not, before the career takes a step back from them, waving as he does so. "Well nice chatting with you! See you tomorrow in the arena!"

Genesis keeps her face neutral at this statement, but inside she's panicking at it. She does not want to see any of the careers in the arena…if she even will be able to see…

They watch Major weave through the crowd, following after Carameuse as she walks through the crowd with wide, nervous eyes. Dampero sighs loudly at Major leaving, making both of the tributes look up at him.

"What do you need to talk about?" Elias asks his mentor right away, sitting completely still and staring up at him.

"Do I need to go get Pigmy?" Genesis asks him, both of them avoiding each other's eyes. "If it's something important…"

"No, it's not," Dampero tells them quickly. "I just don't trust the careers talking to you so I came up with an excuse to get him to leave."

"So you don't…?" Elias gives his mentor a confused look, struggling to grasp Dampero's reasoning. "He seemed…nice."

"No careers are nice," Dampero tells him, staring at him to make sure Elias understands this. "Don't trust anything they say and stay as far away from them as possible. And if any of them get near you in the arena…you run unless you get cornered. Then you fight with everything in you. Understand?"

Genesis immediately nods her head and so does Elias, even if he isn't her mentor. He's been doing this for a lot longer than Pigmy has, so she will trust his word. And, he is Elias' mentor…she doesn't want to accidentally go against something Dampero told Elias to do. "Of course, sir," Genesis answers politely as Elias keeps nodding his head.

"I will stay away from them," Elias adds before starting to frown. "But…I really do not want to fight… That is what my parents want me to do…"

"I know, kid," Dampero sighs as he pulls over a chair to sit in front of them. "But eventually you're going to reach a point where you have to kill because you'll have the choice of kill or be killed. And do you really want to die?"

"No…" Elias says slowly, shaking his head as tears start welling in his eyes. "I cannot leave Cecy alone."

"Then keep thinking about Cecy and getting home for her," Dampero tells him firmly, waiting until Elias nods his head in confirmation. "This is going to be the toughest thing you have ever done, but you can never stop fighting in that arena. If you do, you'll-"

"Hey Dampero…"

They all look up at the woman approaching them, her face looking angry, but it softens when she looks at the victor. "Iris, what's up?"

Iris sighs loudly as she crosses her arms. "Can you come with me? Bee sent me to get you because Mari is upset about…something, but she won't tell me who upset her. My guess is that asshole sperm donor," she mumbles the last part to herself, making Genesis slightly raise an eyebrow out of curiosity, but she also has no clue who this Mari person even is.

"Yeah, I can," Dampero says, standing up right away before turning to look back at the two of them. "Will you two be alright? I need to check on my niece."

He has a niece in the Capitol…? Genesis doesn't question this, though she does start to wonder if she can trust his judgement now that she knows he is associated with the Capitol. But…everything he was telling them was good advice. And he got the career to leave them alone…. She doesn't know what to think anymore about the Capitol… But…she'll listen to Dampero. He clearly has Elias' best interest in mind, and hers as well.

Genesis looks over at Elias, finding him looking distraught from what his mentor told him, and she reaches over and takes his hand again to comfort him. He gives her a smile at this, although it's really looks more like a grimace, before she turns back to look at Dampero. "Yeah, we'll be alright."

Fox Durham, 18, District Ten

As the hours go by and it gets later in the evening, there's nothing Fox can do to stop the creeping fear from filling him up as the Games get closer and closer to starting. He really doesn't know what's going to happen tomorrow and it scares him. He doesn't want to hurt anyone because he just keeps imagining the parents out there watching and being destroyed if he were to kill their kid. It's so much different being here for the Games as a father…his whole perspective on the Games is different than the others. Every time he tries to discuss strategy with Johan and his mentor tells him the reality of the Games…he just keeps picturing that he's the parent watching Maddox in the Games. He's the one watching and hoping that his son will be the one that makes it out, cursing the names of anyone that hurts him… How could he possibly do that to someone else after knowing what it's like to be a father?

And yet…he has to get back home to his family. How can he not try and get home to little Maddox? Or to Paloma who is pregnant again with what she thinks is a little girl? Oh he really hopes it's a girl…but he has to get home to them first. Everything in him as a parent tells him he shouldn't kill in the arena, shouldn't kill other children. But he can't let his children grow up without their father…

Fox has been able to push back these thoughts for days, ever since the Reaping…but reality is setting in now. They're less than 24 hours away from the start of the Games… And no one else here understands what he is going through. No one except for Adam.

How could he have not allied with Adam? From the moment he sat on the trains watching the Reapings, he knew he wanted to help Adam out. He just…needed to protect the very pregnant person, feeling almost like he would towards protecting Paloma. Even if it's been heartbreaking thinking about Adam entering the arena still carrying his baby. He wasn't trying to protect one person. He was trying to protect Adam and his baby. A baby that would be very healthy at this point if he was born.

Which Fox thinks might have happened.

Fox knows he isn't the smartest person. He'll admit that. He dropped out of school years ago and can't read. But even he can figure out that the baby Adam holds is his son. Why else would Adam barely leave the baby's side this whole night? And why else would the Head Gamemaker's mother be looking after him? Fox knows the look of a parent holding a newborn baby – he's seen it before with Paloma – and that face hasn't left Adam's face the whole time he's holding little Cain.

It still brings a smile to his face to look over and see Adam rocking the tiny baby, even if the sight nearly brings tears to his face as he thinks about how he might never get to experience that with his little girl.

"What?" Adam asks, looking up and getting embarrassed when he sees Fox staring over at him.

"You know, you're a natural at being a dad," Fox tells him, making a proud look form right away on Adam's face that makes him grin in return. "I…" Fox hesitates, not sure if he should be saying this out loud… He doesn't know if they could get in trouble for this. But he looks around the room, making sure no one is paying attention to them. But some of the victors have already come to get their children, leaving Tara to just watch the Westmann's daughter who has just as bold of a personality as her parents, requiring her full attention. So Fox quickly turns back to Adam, whispering to make sure Tara doesn't hear him. "I'm glad you got to experience being a dad."

Adam's eyes start watering at this and he uses one hand to quickly brush away tears, doing his best not to disturb his sleeping baby. "So am I…" He whispers back, confirming to Fox what he thought, before looking back down and running a hand over the thick head of dark hair. "All this time, I've been worried about what would happen to him when I wouldn't make it out."

"Adam…" Fox tries to say, not wanting to hear his ally talking this way once more, but Adam shakes his head and cuts him off.

"We both know I'm not getting out of there alive," Adam tells him, his voice wavering from the tears threatening to fall. "I-I can't… I refuse to kill anyone…"

"I know," Fox answers quietly, wanting to cheer Adam up, but how can he do that when he doesn't know what to tell him? He hasn't even been able to figure out how to deal with the similar thoughts he has been having. "But our boys…"

Adam shakes his head at him. "I can't kill. It's against everything in me…"

They stare at each other for a moment, Fox's heart breaking for his ally giving up already. But they're interrupted by footsteps approaching them and they look over to see Fete frowning at the sight of them. He stands there for a moment, hesitating to join them until Fox smiles at him and motions to an open chair near them. "Hi," Fete grumbles as he sits down, putting his drink down on the floor next to his chair. He nods his head at the baby Adam holds, "I see you found a baby."

Fox laughs at his wording, "You say that like he found the baby in a scavenger hunt."

"Well that's the only place I would find a baby," Fete deadpans to him before turning back to Adam, his gaze softening just a little as he looks over at Adam. But as he stares at the baby for a few moments he starts to squint his eyes. "It looks like you."

"It," Adam repeats, chuckling a little. "He's a boy. Cain."

"Can't relate, I wasn't a boy when I was born," Fete tells him and Adam keeps smiling as he nods in agreement with Fete.

"Same," Adam comments back, making Fete genuinely start smiling at him. Adam sees Fete starting down at baby Cain for a while and looks down at the baby before standing up. "You can hold him if you want," Adam tells Fete, passing over the sleeping baby to Fete before the man has time to tell him no. Fete sits there stiffly, holding the baby in the most awkward way that Fox has ever seen someone hold a baby, with his arms outstretched and doing the minimum to hold him.

Fox laughs a little at his reaction and quickly takes the baby from him, getting a relieved sigh as Fete relaxes and quickly picks up his drink, downing half of it. Adam widens his eyes at Fete downing the drink, clearly concerned that he had just given the baby to someone who has been drinking. "You act like the baby is going to hurt you."

"I prefer furry babies instead," Fete answers, looking a little disgusted at the sight of the baby. "Cats don't puke and poop on you."

Fox laughs at this, before quieting down to shush Cain as he starts fussing. But Adam quickly reaches over, so Fox lets him calm down the fussy baby. "Yes but they're so cute at this age." His smile falters just a little bit as he stares at the baby, reminded once more about Paloma back home and their baby on the way. "Of course, they are still cute as they get older but nothing beats those first few months with them…"

Fete sighs as he stares down at the ground, tapping his finger against the edge of the glass. "I hate to break it to you two, but it's unlikely any of us will live through the next few days."

"You don't know that for sure," Fox tells Fete, but even he isn't too sure about this… This only makes Fete look up at him with a single raised eyebrow. "I'm serious."

"I swear, if one of you two says 'Hi serious, I'm dad' I'm getting another drink," Fete shakes his head at the two and Fox has to hold in laughter at this because it is something he would say.

Fox looks over when Adam start chuckling a little bit. "But we are dads."

"Hmph," Fete responds to him, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "I suppose you're the only two qualified to say that."

"Well you could argue that you're a cat dad," Fox tells him, making the smallest smile form on Fete's face at the mention of his cats. "How many do you have? I've thought about getting Maddox a kitten because he loves the barn cats so much."

"You just…have barn cats? Like cats that don't live in your house?" Fete asks him, clearly perplexed by Ten's living situation. "Don't they get hungry or cold? And who cares for them?"

"They take care of themselves," Fox tells him, now getting an offended look from Fete at the lack of care the cats are given. "They take care of the mice in the barns and it's warm year round."

Fete shakes his head at this, tipping back his glass to get whatever drops remain. "But what about the cuddles?" Fox shrugs at this and Fete turns his gaze over to Adam, getting very focused on him. "What about in Seven? What do you do with your cats there?"

"I, uh…" Adam gives a look over at Fox at Fete's defensiveness about cats and Fox shrugs at him. "Well, I suppose some people have them as pets…"

"Good," Fete whispers, leaning back in his chair and shutting his eyes. "Everyone should adopt cats. Especially the ones left behind by tributes…" Fox watches as Fete starts frowning at this. "Someone needs to take care of…" Fete trails off and Fox watches him for a moment until he opens his eyes back up again. "Atropa will take care of them if I don't get home, which I doubt… But if she doesn't get home, someone else needs to take care of them. You know, if you really want to…" Fete starts mumbling and Fox is unable to hear the rest of what he says. But before he can ask him to repeat himself, one of his mentors enters the room.

"Hey Fete, I've been looking for you," Clark tells his tribute, crossing his arms and shaking his head as he continues. "Devrek is insisting that we all sing a song with him…like all of us. Can you just join us so he stops pestering me?"

Fete sighs dramatically at this but stands up, brushing off his pants before picking up his empty glass. "As long as I can get another drink before this disaster."

Clark looks at the glass skeptically before shrugging at him. "I suppose…but not too much."

"Yes, yes, sure dad," Fete waves at him, making Fox start frowning in concern for him.

"How much have you had to drink?" Fox asks him, watching as he sways just a little.

Fete just grunts at this and shrugs his shoulders, making all of them give each other concerned looks. Clark takes the empty glass from his hand, ignoring Fete when he glares at him. "Yeah you've had enough… I'd really appreciate if my first tribute didn't go into the arena hungover…"

"Whatever," Fete grumbles before heading towards the door. When he reaches it, he turns back to look at them. "Well?"

Clark hesitates, turning back to look at Fox and Adam, especially the small baby they have with them. "You should…come join us."

"I don't see why not!" Fox answers right away with a smile before turning to look over at Adam. "What do you think?"

Adam hesitates to respond, looking between Fox's encouraging smile and the baby, before looking over at Tara. "You still have time to come back and see him," she tells him gently.

"Okay," Adam says quietly before letting Tara walk over and take Cain back, immediately cooing at the sleepy baby. Adam stares at her for a moment and Fox starts to wonder if he'll change his mind, before Adam turns to him and nods his head. "Just for a little bit."

"So what exactly are you doing?" Fox asks Clark curiously as he follows behind the young victor that he towers over.

Clark turns back to Fox, scowling just a little when he has to crane his neck to look up at him. "Our escort is trying to impress a girl."

Fox chuckles at this as they get back to the main part of the party. "This should be amusing," Fox tells Adam, who shrugs at his response as he glances back in the direction they came, clearly wanting to go back to his son.

Clark leads them over to the stage and Fox smiles at some of the younger tributes they pass on their way over. Davy smiles at him in return, while Eliot waves at him before trying to show Jessamine him signing something at Fox. But from her laughing, he's guessing Eliot said something completely wrong.

"Clark, my dude!"

Fox turns at the voice calling to the young victor and sees one of the new escorts approaching them. Devrek looks over at Fox and Adam following behind Fete and Clark, before glancing down at the recorders he holds in his hands. "Sorry dudes, I didn't know you would be joining or else I would have brought more recorders!"

Atropa stands behind the escort, rolling her eyes at Fete over their escort, making him snicker a little.

"That's alright," Fox says, giving the escort a pat on the shoulder. "We're here to watch and cheer you on. So, who's the pretty lady?"

Devrek puts a hand over his heart immediately at this. "Oh let me tell you, she is stunning. She – Woah."

He's cut off as his jaw drops open and Fox follows his gaze to see where Devrek and Clark are both staring. Astrid approaches them, holding the hand of a woman who can't stop grinning, laughing a little when she sees the District Eight team's reaction. "Are you two trying to catch flies in your mouths?"

"I – when – what?" Clark asks, gesturing at the two woman in confusion.

"Mari is joining us for this," Astrid tells them, lifting up their joined hands a little to answer Clark's question. Mari nods her head at this before looking over at Astrid and smiling some more.

"Astrid, you didn't answer his questions," Mari teases her, making Astrid shrug. "The answer is tonight and you're old enough to know about relationships."

Clark just starts shaking his head, looking baffled at this. "I'm so confused."

"But you know what's not confusing?" Devrek asks them before holding up the recorders and waving them. "Wooing the woman you want to marry with a performance!"

"Did I hear you're performing?"

Devrek turns at the voice, liking a bit awed at the escort approaching them. "Ain, hi!"

Ain smiles politely at Devrek before looking around at the group. He gestures to the man standing by his side, who looks rather similar to Ain, from the similar tone wavy hair to slim build, and when he smiles, it's clear the two are related. "This is my brother Radian."

The group all says some variation of 'Nice to meet you' to Radian and he nods back in greeting. Ain holds his flute up, making Devrek widen his eyes at the sight of it. "So, you're going to perform?"

"Yes," Devrek answers, nodding his head a few times. "I have a woman to impress."

"Well, I do know quite a few romantic songs," Ain tells Devrek, patting the escort on the shoulder. "Radian too. So how about we help you out?"

"That would be great! We're singing Boyfriend," Devrek responds immediately before looking around. "Alright team, let's do this!"

Fox watches as Devrek gets the attention of the band and talks to the lead singer while Radian goes off to get his violin for the performance. The rest of the District Eight team doesn't look quite thrilled about this performance, especially when Devrek comes back and hands them recorders. "This should be funny," Fox tells Adam as the group takes the stage.

"I don't even know how to play the recorder," Clark tells Astrid quietly.

"Just pretend you're performing, he won't be able to tell," Astrid answers him, making the youngest victor shrug.

Devrek goes up to the microphone, tapping it a couple times to get everyone's attention. "Hi, hello, hope everyone is having fun. So uh, I have a special song to sing – with help from a few friends, of course," Devrek grins back and only gets a smile from Mari, with the rest of them giving him a variety of sassy looks. Ain and Radian come up on the stage, ready to perform with their flute and violin respectively. "This song is dedicated to Laelia Hyperion!"

We are now done with the party! Can you believe we only have one more chapter left before the Games? :O I'm so very hyped to get to that point and hopefully I'll have the Night Before chapter done soon!

So thoughts on this chapter? What's Major up to by talking to Elias and some others? Are the dads going to fight? What was Fete going to ask Fox and Adam? And who is the 'asshole sperm donor' Iris mentioned? (we do know this person lol)

Be sure to check out my random story stuff blog because I've been posting some deleted scenes from the party. There will be four in total from the party/night before!

And before I stop rambling, just a reminder that subs are still open for my new partial, Legacy! Those will close on August 31st, so there's still some time :)

Alrighty, I will see you probably soon with one last pre-Games chapter! We'll be checking in with Anastacia, Davy, and Adam!