I'm silently crying as I write this. I got 11 reviews! That's more than both my other stories combined! AND THEY'VE BEEN ON THE SITE FOR A YEAR! I love you guys so much right now! It isn't even funny! I'm pretty sure I just broke the sound barrier with my squeals! 9 favorites, 9 followers, and 11 reviews! Okay, time to actually write the fanfic now XD! Remember, reviews motivate!

This chapter is brought to you by E for Excitement.


I dismissed my idea.

I mean, the idea of a meat slicer in the arena isn't a logical one, and I really couldn't chop him up. Against the rules. I bit the inside of my cheek again, playing with the healing skin.

Shower time.

I've come to love the shower, and I know I'll love it more during the games because I won't have it. I strip off the out fit with ease and my eyes see my mockingjay pin that's laying on my dresser.

Kiku, Che'n, District 12, Bella, Feli...

I wonder if my family got any sleep, or even ate. I wonder if Che'n is hunting. I wonder if she's found a new hunting partner. I wonder if the house is quiet, I wonder if I'm celebrated or scolded at school. All this wondering is giving me a headache, I step in the bathroom and into the shower's warm arms.

I press a button, and am instantly covered in orange soap and scrubbed by a soft brush. This helps me relax for the moment. At least my organs and blood are still inside my body.

Feliks is in my room when I walk back in. I scream like a girl, not that he scared me or anything.

"AH! Sei un bastardo! Hai spaventato il crap fuori di me!*"

"Sorry honey, I don't understand your cra-cra taco language!" He gets off my bed and grabs my shoulder, "el you and le Antonio, big hit with le Corporation. They loved you! You el need to le get dressed. We're le having dinner with el Gamemakers!" He smiles and skips out.

He's extremely happy, and I guess I should be too. I mean it isn't every year the Gamemakers want to see the tributes. But, why would they want to see us? Then it clicks.

We held hands. We presented ourselves as a team!

Oh God! I feel sick. I can literally feel the vile rising up in my throat.

What if they've decided we'll spark a rebellion!? What if they've decided they're putting Feli back in, and taking me prisoner!? Then no one would feed my stepmother, and Bella will have lost her entire family!

"Knock, Knock aru!" Yao's voice wakes me out of my thoughts, he tilts his head, "You look white as snow, is something wrong?"

"No, I'm okay," I'm not, but what else is there to say?

If he knows I'm lying, Yao doesn't mention it. But he does look at me and say, "You can come to me for anything. I'm not a spy or anything, aru."

He goes to my closet and shifts through it. He settles on a grey suit and red tie. He grins at me.

"Here," he holds the suit out to me, "Hold this."

I do. He digs in his pocket, finding a spool of orange thread and a needle. Yao asks me to go ahead and put on the suit. I go into the bathroom and change into it.

What? I think enough people have seen me naked by this point! When, I reappear Yao is holding out the tie.

He's sewn on a flame pattern, in all the time that it toke me to get dressed.

Wow.

He ties the tie around my neck, then ruffles my hair, "You're going to do fine, aru." He turns on his heel, "Just trust me." He walks out the door, leaving me alone.

Trusting Yao shouldn't be a difficult task, but I don't think I can. I think he may have been a good friend to me and Che'n back in District 12, but this is the Corporation. The people who can rip out the eyes of innocent children, how kill just for the sport, and starve the people who they force to follow their cruelty.

Besides, I'm not the trusting type. Feliks then huddles me and Antonio into the elevator.

It's not like the one in the Justice Building back in District 12 that smelt like vomit and old cheese. Nope, it smells like lavender and vanilla. I look over at Antonio.

Poor kid is a mess.

He's sweating, his teeth are chattering, and, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he wet himself. And I thought I was the nervous one. The elevator stops on the level that would have held District 13's tributes, if there was a number 13. The janitors have kept it up all these years just in case the Gamemakers wanted to pay a visit.

It consists of polished white columns, marble white floors, a huge table full of food that I have trouble not jumping and burying my face in, and a huge stage that the Gamemakers sit at.

I take a deep breath and walk out of the elevator.

One of The Gamemakers gets up. He's done up like a priest, with a long red robe that reaches his ankles. His skin's been died a dark blue. This man is named Dean Smithers, The Head of the Gamemaking council. His eyes are cold, like a snakes. He shakes my hand like an old friend and then goes on to say how brave, smart, and fit I am. But, all the time he's saying this, he's eyes are locked on mine as if to say, 'You pull ANYTHING like that again, and we will kill you.'

I remember how angry I was at the Corporation for almost taking my lifeline away, and I feel foolish. I wasn't supposed to volunteer. I feel like there's something else at work, that it has something to do with my father. Maybe, the Reaping was rigged so that Feli's name would be drawn. A coldness runs through me.

This was going to be a long, long night.


*You bastard! You scared the crap out of me!