Goodbyes

Azura Kayle, 16, District 4

Golde stared at me blankly as the silence drew on for far longer than it should have. Neither of us liked talking but I knew she hated breaking silences even more than I did, so I was stuck with the first words. For once, I actually wished Fynn was here to chat up a storm.

"I'm just about as good as dead, aren't I?" I finally said, nonchalantly, rather unsurprised by the way Golde's deep, blue eyes widened at my comment, "Do you think it'll be very bloody?"

Ignoring my comment completely, albiet her mouth was still slightly agape, Golde sighed, "I heard the Capitol has good food. Promise me you'll try some pastries for me...and Fynn, too."

With that, Fynn finally peeked his head into the room, "Did someone say pastries?"

Both Golde and I chuckled as I invitied him in, "Yeah, we were just talking about Capitol food..."

"Did you get a chance to say your goodbyes to your parents?" Fynn asked, with a nervous frown as he took a seat next to Golde, who slid over closer to me to make room.

Nodding, I responded, "Yeah, it was pretty brief, though. Apparently, we only get an hour for goodbyes before we have to get on the train of doom."

I recalled my mother leaving the Justice Building in tears. She had hugged me and we talked briefly but spent most of our goodbyes in silence, her soft sobs breaking the silence, every so often.

My stepfather had to drag her away from the room and I, for one, was glad my stepfather had gone sober this morning. When he wasn't drunk, he was a nice enough guy- funny, even kind. But when he hit the bottle? It was a whole other story involving him shamelessly beating anyone who bothers him.

Like I said- nice guy.

But my family aside, I truly only felt at ease when I was around my friends. They calmed my nerves and relaxed me to the point I had nearly fogotten the circumstances surrounding our "hangout session".

"So, do you think the arena will have water? They had that island arena the year Kent Clearwater won," I stated, as I went through all the Hunger Games trivia I knew. There had only been 8 games so far so it wasn't too difficult to remember all the arenas and such, thinking about any factors which I could perhaps work to my advantage.

A small part of me hoped I stood a chance- afterall, my stepfather taught me little bits about self-defense and fishing with spears, when he was going through one of his sober periods, but an overwhelming part of me knew my chances of winning were low. It was easy enough to keep a straight face and remain calm on the outside but all it took was one look at my district partner to know my odds weren't very high.

He had volunteered. I was up against district 4's first volunteer, not to mention the countless other tributes I would encounter in the the arena. The rumors of these so-called "careers" were rising and supposedly district 2 had even begun to invest in training centers to create a system to breed victors. How was I too compete with that?

I already knew it was an uphill battle, but I sure as hell had to at least try to fight.

Kent Timberland, 18, District 7

"Just win, Kent."

The words came tumbling out of her mouth along with a wave of emotion. I could tell tears were brimming at her eyes and I wished I could do anything to make it stop.

"Isa," I responded, "Everything will be okay...I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Kent," she chided me, in her soft, soothing voice.

Blinking, I felt my own tears starting to form, "Please, just watch over Kathy and Bett while I'm gone. My mother appears to be getting worse and she's in too poor of a condition to take care of them alone."

"I'll take care of everything back home," Isa replied, intertwining our fingers as she lay her head on my shoulder, "you just need to focus on surviving."

I sighed heavily. It couldn't have been a worse time for me to be reaped. My father had died as a fighter during the rebellion and my mother was barely clutching onto life herself, leaving me to watch over my two younger siblings Kathy and Bett. The terrors of the rebellion were still fresh in my mind- I didn't need any games to remind of events that occured less than nine years ago.

Isa, my fiancee of just under a year, was the daughter of the mayor of district 7 and was the only reason we could afford the medicine to keep my mother alive. Kathy had just turned 12 and had managed to surive her first reapings, but Bett was only 8 years old and neither of them were old enough to take care of themselves.

"Thank you, Isa," I responded, pressing a kiss against her cheek, "You'll always be in my heart no matter what happens. I love you."

"I love you too, Kent," she responded with an achingly sad smile, "I'll make sure Kathy and Bett have a place to stay with us. It shouldn't be a problem; my parents love you and your family. Are Kathy and Bett coming to say their goodbyes?"

Just as she said that, the two little red heads burst into to the room, attacking me with hugs.

"Kent, you're going to come back, right?" Kathy asked, her eyes wide and fearful, her hair still in the braids that Isa had done for her. It had been a long, painful day for my sister and my reaping wasn't helping.

Smiling slightly, I returned the hug, "Don't worry about me, Kathy, I'll be fine. But I need you to listen to everything Isa says and watch out for Bett. Can you do that?"

Looking up at me she nodded, "I'll be good, Kent, and I'll look after mom, as well."

"Thank you, Kathy," I replied as I turned my attention to my younger brother, "and Bett, don't cause any extra trouble for Isa or your sister. I need you to be on you best behavior while I'm gone."

The green-eyed boy who just barely grasped the concept of the games nodded as well, "I'll be good, too. In fact, I'll be better than Kathy!"

We all couldn't help but laugh. At that moment, it was all we needed...all I needed.

These were the people I loved and the reason I had to win.

It wasn't a choice. I needed to win.

a/n: So here's the goodbyes. This chapter always makes me sad :( but a lowkey special shoutout to butterflygirly99 for being on the same wavelength as me (which is how we ended up with two Kents. We have Kent Timberland of d7 and Kent Clearwater, mentor for d4 XD). But anyways, question time!

1. What did you think of Azura?

2. What did you think of Kent?

3. What future chapter are you most looking forward to?

Thanks for all your support and love! - Cass