District Eleven's Miller Knight's POV:

"Buzzz" the sound of Red Kerr buzzing like a Tracker Jacker was the constant soundtrack of my days at school. Thanks to our similar surnames we had been shoved together every class since we were five. "Buzzz Buzzz Buzzzz".

I know better than to retaliate so I just focus on the teacher as she drones on about the history of Panem after the Dark Days. This nonsense has been drilled into us since birth and I can see why so many people are starting to drop out and work full time. My parents won't let me drop out though and Red likes to boast that his don't need his wages to survive so I'm stuck here as he buzzes in my ear.

That sound always makes me stand on edge and he knows it, everyone knows it, my scarred skin won't let people forget the time I survived a whole nest of Tracker Jackers.

"Buzzz Buzzz"

They had appeared one day when I was eight, playing out in some fallow fields and climbing trees with my friends.

"Buzzz"

I'd reached up to a high branch and shoved my hand right into their nest.

"Buzz"

About a hundred of them had descended on me and I'd flung myself from the tree as they'd begun to sting me.

"Buzzz"

The doctor said I had been extremely lucky to reach that muddy pond when I did, had I been moments slower I would have died.

"Buzzz"

The stings still affected me sometimes, I'd be sitting still in class or drifting off to sleep when the visions and hallucinations would start, like, like ...

I begin to spin, managing only to focus on Red's infernal buzzing, please not now, not in class again.

"Buuuuzzzzzzzz"

My hallucination is a vivid one, there's Jackers and they're chasing me, I'm jumping around, flinging myself at people, I can hear Red screaming.

It's over quickly and I wake up to find myself sat on the floor of the class room, scrunched up into a ball. Looking at my knuckles I can see blood, It's not mine I think, I must have hit something again. There's another scream, it's Red again, I look up and see Red holding his nose as blood rushed out. Before I even fully know what's happening two sets of hands descend on me and drag me from the room, I have no idea what's happening as I'm dragged from the building and dumped on the grass.

I twitch a little as I take in my surroundings and focus on my rescuers, Oran and Arane look down at me as Ziggy sits beside me holding my shoulder.

"You okay now" he asks, I shake my head.

"That's never happened before" I whisper "I've never been violent with it. I hit Red didn't I?"

By it, my three closest friends know I mean my hallucinations, Ziggy understands most of all, he was there that day. Luckily he only got stung twice but he remembers the effects well, the third friend who was with us that day Parker wasn't so lucky and died. They still hadn't answered my question had they?

"I punched him didn't I?" I repeat

"Yeah" says Oran sounding angry, "but he was provoking you, I heard that buzzing from over in my seat. He shouldn't have been doing that."

"Teacher won't see it like that" I say ""I'll never be allowed back in school will I? I can't leave school you know Mom and Dad won't ever let me leave the house again, not in the state I am." I'm shaking now I can feel it, my friends are blurry but at least they are here.

"I can talk to teacher" says Ziggy "She likes me, I'll explain how you were provoked. It wasn't your fault."

I'm not so sure, but after waiting a while to calm down I let Ziggy and Oran head back into the school to talk to our teacher as Arane walks me home. It's out of the way for him as he lives much closer to school than I do but I appreciate the company, even though neither of us says a word as we walk. Approaching my home Arane stops and l stop to see what he wants;

"These hallucinations?" he asks "Do you ever think they'll end"

"Maybe when I'm dead" I sigh, honestly they were getting worse recently, I'd guess it had something to do with how long the Jacker's poison had been in my body. No-body was supposed to survive that kind of punishment, yet for some strange random reason I was the exception.

Arane takes that as my answer and leaves me alone outside my home, I don't know what time it is or how long I've been out of school but by the panicked looks on the faces of my parents I'd guess I'm early.

"Oh baby what's wrong?" cried Mom as she pulls me into her arms, "Is that blood?"

"It's not mine" I say, this in hindsight wasn't the smartest of replies.

"Oh baby, what did you do? Oh please say you didn't hurt anyone you wouldn't hurt anyone would you baby?" My mother continues to whine like a lost child and I don't have a response for her. It would kill her if I told her about the hallucinations and the blackouts and this new violent streak.

District Eleven's Graciela Bone's POV:

Graciela, what a stupid name I was cursed with, even the shortened Grace sounds stupid to me. Graceful, pretty and calm all the things a little girl with a name like Grace should be. Oh how disappointed my long dead parents would be if they were to see me now. My big brother Charley always laughs when I point this out to him and tells me that they would have loved me just as I am, I love him for comments like that, of course I know they loved me. They were my parents.

Charley has cared for me since I was 12 and Father died suddenly; we escaped the community home because he had dropped out of school at 14 and started to work in the fields, meaning he already had some savings and we could keep our small home. He wants me to repay him by continuing to study and 'better myself' but honestly I don't know how much better I can get. There's so few of us left in school now I'm seventeen, just the kids whose parents have money and those who don't really have the physical skills for the fields, like my best friend Jase.

Jase has the biggest brain I know of but his stupid right leg refuses to work properly so he's stuck walking with a stick and has to sit down often. He's going to train to be a clerk next year once we finish school and help keep the records of crops as they leave the district for the capitol.

"It's an important job" he reminds me often "we can make sure all of the crops get to where they need to go"

Of course they don't go where they are 'needed' they go where they are 'wanted' by the selfish people of the Capitol, I've seen them visiting here, with a stink up their noses. Some of them have the biggest bellies I've ever seen, it's sickening. But I don't tell Jase this or Charley or my other friend Lukas, dangerous thoughts are one thing but I've seen too many whippings in the town square to be stupid enough to voice them.

Lukas meets me and Jase outside the school gates most evenings, he's been working in the fields since he was fifteen and is pretty large for his age. Jase thinks it's hilarious sometimes how the big muscular Lukas is a big softie while he the 'cripple' in his own words has the 'biggest gob ever'.

I love them both like my second and third brothers and they know that, after school we always make our way down to the creek and Lukas and myself take a swim while Jase likes to lie in the sun reading or drawing us. These lazy evenings that that are the only times I feel truly happy are getting fewer and fewer now as we're being drafted in for more and more evenings in the fields.

I strip off to my underwear and fling myself into the water, submerging myself completely for a few moments I pull up and beckon for Lukas to come join me. Stripping down to his pants he throws himself into the water and after he comes up for air challenges me to a race. We spend the warm evening swimming up and down the creek as children run around and women wash their clothes by the water. Jase reads quietly for a change, pausing now and again to look up at us swimming. It's almost idyllic.

The evening starts to cool down and I climb out of the water and wrap myself in my scruffy shirt, Lukas follows me soon after and we dry off as Jase tells us about the book he'd found "It's about the Capitols opinions on the rest of Panem" he says slowly "It's kind of interesting, the Capitol man who wrote it spent a month working in each District over a year and writing about his time in each, listen to what he says about Eleven; 'Though the work in the fields of Eleven is hard once the day is over and my yield has been taken by the overseer to be distributed to the people of Panem I am free to relax in the beautiful surroundings of this District. Missy cooks me a local speciality of leg of lamb with locally grown vegetables and I eat it on the veranda of my beautiful rented home, looking out over one of the District's beautiful lakes'. Missy is the District woman he's living with by the way" Jase adds "she's all yes sir no sir it's gross"

"Why are you reading this nonsense?" Lukas asks "It's not very realistic, who even knows what lambs taste like, aren't they just baby sheep, it makes no sense"

"Yh" I add "and what's a 'veranda' anyway?"

"Like the covering over the school houses porch" Jase says.

"He sat outside eating?" I say "he'd be covered in bugs in a moment" I add slapping one away from my leg as I feel it beginning to nibble.

"But listen to this" Jase says as I stand up and begin to pull on my pants "'The next day I leave the fields early" Jase holds up his hand as he sees me opening my mouth to protest that ridiculous comment "Wait" he says "'I leave the fields early to continue exploring this beautiful District before I was to meet with the mayor and I come across a young woman crying in the woods; asking her about her woes she tells me about her home life with her sickly husband and young son. I want to help her so I bring her back to mine where Missy fixes us both up some of her broccoli soup and after talking to the woman a while I escort her home.'" Jase pauses for a moment as if we're supposed to care about this random capitol man and the imaginary sad woman he found in the woods.

"What of it Jase" says Lukas as he pulls on his shirt, "I don't see a point here."

Jase just continues to read "'The woman retuned the next day and the next and we got very well acquainted.."

"Yawn" I say standing up "I don't want to hear this guy's sex tour of Panem"

"Sit your butt down and listen" Jase says in an almost shout, I slide back down to the floor.

"Don't start reading any of the freaky stuff then Jase" I say "I don't want to ever hear you say the word moan."

"Moan" says Jase and I stick out my tongue at him "'the woman visited me often during my last two weeks in Eleven, we would sit out in the evening sun and talk about our lives, she would tell me time and time again about the hardships she faced and though I never saw any of this during my time in Eleven, I believed her. Two weeks later we parted and I headed to Twelve, but I will never forget the time we spent forever. As I sat writing this book many months later in my warm capitol apartment I enquired after the woman who I left in Eleven, only to discover to my dismay she had died in childbirth, a little girl, I believe she called her Graciela, my mother's name, a coincidence no doubt"

Lukas stares up at me as Jase puts down the book "so" he says "what do you think?"

"Who even wrote this" I rant, "it was probably a load of propaganda crap"

"There's no doubting it's nonsense in some ways Grace" Jase says "but I think this young woman was your Mom"

"So" I say

"Look at the Author of the book" Jase says pushing the flimsy paper back in my hands, I look down and see the two names that every child fears, the monster in our dreams, the last name I would want to see on some sordid capitol diary; 'Otho White'.

Otho White's POV:

Looking as rural and poor as ever District Eleven flies onto my screen the people stare up in awe as their escort Peron stands on the stage and looks down at them with a wide grin that contrasts their sullen faces.

"Welcome one and all" he cries "Has it been a year already since I was last with you"

There's no response from the crowd and I find my eyes drawn to their small collection of Victors, Whent looks his usual grumpy self, the cousins Thorne and Cane stand at attention, their eyes focussed on Peron not the crowd, while Willow attempts to shrink into the background. A strange little bunch if I say so myself. The president has expressly forbade me from allowing any District Eleven victors for a while in-case they get too comfy.

Personally I think a couple more victors wouldn't do some of these outer Districts any harm.

"Boys first" Peron announces reminding me of his presence again, he reaches into the boys bowl and quickly draws a slip of paper.

"Miller Knight"

Silence from the crowd and finally a shuffle of movement from the boys section as a tall skinny lad steps up to the stage, the first thing I notice is his face. The scars that litter it like pox marks, the boy must have had a bad disease in childhood. No I think as I get a closer look, they have the distinct look of tracker jacker stings, like the ones I'd seen in previous games.

I study the boy a moment longer as Peron asks for volunteers, he may be shaking but if they are tracker jacker stings he shouldn't be with us right now. He must have some strength there.

"Girls then" calls Peron, he moves quickly across the stage and pulls a second slip from near the top of the bowl.

"Graciela Bone" he calls.

My mother's name I think. A coincidence no doubt. The girl who emerges from the crowd is tanned with dark hair she's tied to the top of her head loosely. She's keeping a calm expression but there's fear underneath there's always fear there. I see some strength in her though and a slight twinkling of aggression in her eyes as she stares at the peacekeepers.

I feel drawn to her in a strange way, those eyes seem so familiar, probably from a previous tribute that I remembered from my youth. You always get a certain type of beauty from Eleven, not like the made up beauty of the tributes from One and Four but a natural accidental type of beauty and Graciela certainly was beautiful.

The boys farewells are short, loud and painful, he speaks to some friends loudly and angrily and his parents cry uncontrollably, there is a mention of some kind of 'episode' that he has and I wonder if the jackers poisoned his mind in some way, I didn't know the long term effects of their poison. It would be interesting to find out.

The girls farewells feel more subdued, a brother visits her and they talk quietly before hugging farewell, then two boys enter and as I'm wondering which is her boyfriend they both hug her calmly and make her promise to fight and win. I watch her for a moment longer as Charm Bowers stumbles through his welcoming speech in Twelve and I wonder again where I've seen her eyes before.

A/N: Thanks to thomasdcs for Miller and IndigoStarling for Grace, I loved both your tributes and I hope you think I did them justice.