Here is the District Two Reaping! I'm sorry it took so long to get this up, it takes me a while to get these to look nice. I'm thinking that from now on, just to cut down on space between chapters, the reapings will be just the reapings and visitations. Then maybe I can stick multiple reapings in one chapter and get on with the story.

Disclaimer: I disclaim the characters and I disclaim the Hunger Games.

WARING: Grayson has a tendency to… swear. As does his sister. And Caden. What is seen in the story is milder than their originals. You have been warned.

. . .

Grayson (Gray)

"Gray, I swear to god I'm going to fecking murder you if you don't get up!" Caitlyn, my ever loving sister, is the only person in the world who could possibly wake me up.

I crack open my eyes and see the time- 9:00 am. On the dot. Priss.

"God Caitlyn, I get it. You're on your damn period and you feel the need to take it out on me." I joke, sitting up and running my hand through my hair. I grimace when I feel the good layer of grease settled in it. God I need a shower.

Caitlyn rolls her eyes immaturely, "get a shower you lazy ass pig. Mom's cooking breakfast."

I smile as Caitlyn slams my door shut. I roll out of bed and saunter into the bathroom. We don't have a very good supply of hot water, but I prefer cold showers anyway. I take a quick shower- just long enough to wash my hair and smell fairly decent. As soon as I'm out, I towel dry my short black hair and start to get ready.

I don a plain white dress shirt, a pair of long khaki shorts and my good shoes. Just to add a bit of me to the otherwise boring outfit, I slip on a good denim jacket. As soon as I'm sure I don't look stupid, I exit my bedroom and go into the main living area… thing. Mom calls it a 'great room'. I call it stupid.

"Good morning Gray. Good to see you up." Mom calls from the kitchen, a smile on her otherwise worn face.

Mom hasn't even bothered to change out of her scrubs because even though reaping day means no school or work for most people, Mom's still needed at the hospital. That's where she'll be going as soon as Caitlyn and I get home- back to work.

"What's breakfast?" I ask, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"I made some strawberry pancakes. I know they're your favorite, and it is a special occasion." Mom smiles. She tries so hard to make up for our lack of a father. Between that and her long hours at the hospital, she looks more like a 40-something compared to the 34 year old she really is.

"Thanks mom." I smile, but it feels forced.

"No problem sweetie." Mom pecks my forehead and sets a place in front of me. She quickly returns with plates for herself and Caitlyn.

I dig into the pancakes, savoring every chunk of strawberry as if it were my last. Of course, I'm sure they'll have more than enough strawberries in the Capitol, if I end up going.

"Geeze, I thought you had more manners than that Gray." Caitlyn sneers.

"Shut up." I state, wiping any remaining pancake from my mouth and storming out of the house.

My best friend, Caden, was waiting outside. She actually looked like a girl for once- trading in her usual dark t-shirt and torn up jeans for a dark red dress. Her black hair was straightened in the front- her bangs falling on either side of her narrow face- and in the back it was skillfully spiked. Of course. Caden can never go 100% girl. Ever. I think that's why Caitlyn, the girl with the straight blonde hair and perma-pink everything, hates her so much.

"So, Gray, are you nervous?" Caden asks as we walk to the square.

"Me? Nope." I smile. Because if I don't smile I'll crack and I can't do that in front of her.

"Me neither." Of course she isn't. Caden stopped caring a long time ago.

We walk down the street in silence. I think of what I will say to Caden if she gets reaped, what she will say to me if the fate falls on me.

"Well, I guess I'll see you after." Caden waves goodbye and goes to the roped off section for girls our age.

I wave at her dismally before joining the guys. They stand around me, joking about if I'm with Caden yet. I shake them off. They don't understand the bond I have with that girl. They never will, I think dully.

The Mayor begins his long drawl at the stroke of ten. He begins reading of the fires, floods and other disasters that destroyed what was once North America, and how out of the ashes rose Panem, a shining utopia made of the Capitol City and the Thirteen Districts. Then start the Dark Days- the District's rebellion against the Capitol. There is mentioning of a small uprising that happened 75 years later, but nothing supposedly came out of it.

"And now, without further ado, Chelsie Pink!"

Let me tell you, Chelsie's name does not match her hair. She has bright orange hair the size of a small child that falls almost to her knees. She wears a skintight black dress with this ugly white ruffle thing running down the sides.

"Happy Hunger Games District two!" Chelsie has a voice as quiet as it is high, so she needs the microphone, unlike the escort we had a few years back who screamed all the time, "and here's to another year of victory!"

Oh right, I think, we won last year. Whoopde-fricking-doo.

"How about we mix it up a bit this year and start with the male tributes?"

Fun.

Chelsie bounces across the stage to the bowl swimming with white slips of paper. I think of my four slips and how maybe Caden and I don't have any reason to worry. I've never had to take a tessera. Maybe this year I'll be lucky for once.

"Grayson Reese? Is Grayson Reese out there?" Or not.

. . .

Ebony Darknight

"Is Grayson Reese out there?" Chelsie Pink asks, her gloved hand poised above her eyes in a 'lookout' position.

I look back as a boy from the fifteen section walks up to the stage. He finger guns the crowd and winks. I've seen him around the district. He's a quiet kind of guy, and his only real friend is this freak named Caden.

"Well hello Grayson." Grayson towers over her but she doesn't seem intimidated. He smiles at her and she bursts into a fit of giggles. I roll my eyes. "So, uh, females next."

She walks back down the stage and I can feel an uncomfortable knot forming in my stomach. I twist the engagement ring on my finger- a habit I've gotten into since Lucas proposed a month ago. What if I'm chosen and nobody volunteers? I think worriedly. People normally don't volunteer for eighteen year olds when they're chosen. They think we can handle it on our own. But I'm so afraid.

"Ebony Darknight. Ooh, pretty name. Uh, is Ebony Darknight out there?"

My mind is racing at 100 miles an hour. Me. I force myself to look normal as I walk up the steps. It takes all of my energy to just tell myself to move. Right foot, left foot. Right foot, left foot. Repeatedly until I'm standing next to Grayson. He's still a few inches taller than me, despite an age difference of three years.

"Well, District Two, give you newest tributes a round of applause."

A few people clap, but most just stare. They don't want to clap for us. I know most of the faces in the crowd beyond the children- they were at my parent's funeral when they died. They know about Leita or Lucas or maybe they don't. Maybe they know Grayson or his twin sister or his mom. Or maybe they just care enough to pay their respects with silence.

Because you don't clap at funerals. You don't applaud people for dying. You salute them with your silence.

We sit through the rest of the readings. I try to find Lucas in the crowd but he's nowhere to be seen. So I focus on Caden, the girl with the streaked hair and the hard eyes. She looks truly upset. And then I'm told to stand and Grayson shakes my hand. I let him lead. His eyes are empty, drained of all sense.

A squad of peacekeepers shows us inside to say our final goodbyes. They show Grayson to a room and send me to one down the hall. I sit down and barely have time to complete a thought before Lucas comes in, pulling a sobbing Leita in behind him. Leita crawls onto my lap and cries on my shoulder.

"Don't go Ebony!" She wails.

I rub her back, trying to comfort her. "I really don't think I have a choice honey."

Leita wails louder, clinging to me like a leech. I give Lucas a begging look. "Lucas…"

Lucas pries Leita off of me and sets her in the chair next to me. "Ebony, I'll take care of her. I'll make sure she eats properly and keeps up with her exercises. I won't let her get sick like your parents did. I promise you. And when you come home, we'll get married."

I place my hand on Lucas's face, running my thumb across his cheek, "But what if I don't come-"

Lucas puts his hand on mine, "don't think like that. You can come home. You've got what it takes."

I lean forward and plant a kiss on his lips, trying to block out Leita's sobs, "alright."

The peacekeeper comes and we're yelling our 'love you's.' The door slams shut. A minute later, Grayson's sister comes in. Her eyes aren't red or puffy. Either she hasn't seen him yet or she doesn't care.

"Ebony, I'm going to say something to you and I'm going to say it fast, got it?" She starts.

"Okay." I nod stiffly, wiping ghost tears from my face.

"When you're in the arena with my brother, make sure you make it painful for him. I want you to be the one that delivers the killing blow. I want him to be betrayed by somebody from his own district because I won't have the pleasure of destroying the bastard myself. Got it?" Caitlyn's words are sharp, like tiny daggers poking at my skin.

"W-what?" I stammer. What is she asking me? Isn't Grayson her brother?

"You heard me Ebony. Kill my brother."

And the Caitlyn turns away and leaves. That was weird.

. . .

Gray

Caden is in to see me before my family even is. She stands across the room, arms crossed, waiting for me to say something. Or maybe she's trying to think of something to say to me.

"If I were to die tomorrow, what would you tell me?" She asks abruptly, her brown eyes are on nothing but me.

"You're going to die tomorrow." I give half of a smile.

"No, smartass!" Caden snaps, taking two quick steps over to me, "if you've got any deep dark secrets, tell me now."

I grimace, look away from the intensity of her eyes, and find myself looking back, "I'd tell you that I love how our hands were made to be together. I'd say that I love everything about you. I'd say that I love you and I love that you're my soul mate." I take a deep breath, "and I'd kiss you like the world was ending."

"Then do it! God I've been waiting so long to hear you say something remotely romantic to me since I was like five! If you mean what you say, Reese, then do it! Kiss me!" Caden challenges.

I put my hand on the back of her head and start to, but it feels wrong so I remove my hand and move back, "I can't. It feels… wrong."

"Oh for the love of hell." Caden grabs my head and kisses me, taking me by complete surprise. Since when does Caden get all touchy-feely?

"Holy shit Cade." I murmur, "Since when do you have emotions."

Caden punches me in the shoulder, "as far as anybody else is concerned, I don't. And don't ever fucking call me Cade again, got it?"

"God it Cade."

She punches my shoulder again and leaves. And she was my only visitor.