Autumn swung down from the tree she had chosen as her bed last night. There were a few of them on the outskirts of the District, right before the electric fence. As soon as her feet hit the ground, her blue-green eyes caught movement on the other side of the fence. She fell to her stomach and watched as the deer and her two fawns looked around the forest before disappearing into the trees. She stood up and brushed the leaves from her auburn hair, not that it mattered, it was thick and matted anyway and fell to her waist.

Her eyes rekindled their fiery look as she turned to the direction of the District. In front of the Justice Building, kids were already gathering for the Reaping. She scowled. The place would be crawling with the entirety of District 5's Peacekeepers.

Autumn attempted to run her fingers through parts of her hair but soon gave up. To the Reaping she would wear a plain white t-shirt and baggy cargo shorts. It's what she usually wore, but she hardly cared for dressing up for the Reaping. It was just another way the Capitol showed that it held the puppet strings of the Districts.

The closer she came to the Justice Building, the more palpable Autumn's anger became. Her body was tense and she gave every Peacekeeper a wide arc in passing, glaring at them under her lashes. Every person that passed Autumn also stayed as far away as possible while giving her odd looks. On most days, she seemed innocent enough, except for her eyes, but today she definitely in a mood.

Before she reached the square, Autumn encountered a small boy getting kicked against an old abandoned shop's door. It wasn't an unusual occurrence, but Autumn hated it nonetheless. She couldn't stand arrogance or when others were picked on.

Getting a closer look, Autumn could tell that the boy was a merchant's child and the other, older kids, had to be from the poorer section of District 5. The boy had to be only twelve.

"How many slips do you have in the Reaping bowl, huh?" one kid was yelling at the cowering boy as his friends continued to kick him in the stomach.

"I had at least twenty my first Reaping!" another spat. Autumn recognized as one of the poor families with a large family.

"Hey, lay off," Autumn shouted as she got into the fray. When the boys didn't acknowledge her, she punched one in the side of the head.

The rest happened so fast happened so fast that it left Autumn feeling dizzy, but that could've also been blamed on the multiple hits she took. Eventually the boys left with just as many bruises as they had dished out.

"You okay, kid?" Autumn asked, but the kid took one look at her and took off. Autumn rolled her eyes and hulled herself to her feet. With the crap in her hair and that wild feral look, she wasn't surprised.

Lightly tapping her eye, she figured she was about to have a black eye, but other than being sore, she was fine.

Valence Lecktron woke to a cold, dark house. Usually, it was warmed up by his busy, hardworking father, but today was the Reaping. Vale hoped that his father would spend the extra time to sleep in. He was a foreman during the day and did manual labor at night. Vale was sad that they hardly ever had time to each other. These days he looked so old.

Vale started up the fire to light and warm the house. After the fire was as big as the small fireplace in the kitchen, he got ready for the day's upcoming event. Their house had only two rooms so he had to dress in the kitchen, not wanting to disturb his father. Luckily, he had planned ahead and set everything out the night before. He put on his cleanest shirt and his worn black pants without any holes.

Picking up an old, cracked mirror, Vale surveyed his face to make sure he looked alright. His skin was as dark as night and, when he grinned to check his teeth, they flashed back in the mirror. His brown eyes were also dark. His hair was put into dreadlocks, grown down to his shoulders. Putting it aside, Vale had a quick breakfast before heading out to the Reaping. His father would wake soon and be on his way as well.

In front of the Justice Building, Vale met up with his friend, Sulu Han, an Asian boy, in the sixteen year old section. Sulu was completely against schoolwork and loved having fun. For most of Vale's life, they had been the best of friends, pulling pranks and having fun, but now that Vale was getting his priorities in line, including becoming a pyrotechnic, they had been drifting away. He was studying hard to be accepted in the school for it.

"Hey," Vale said sticking his hands into his pockets.

Sulu nodded in greeting. "Hey."

Vale opened his mouth to say more, but suddenly the Reaping was starting. The two friends stared at each other, remembering the fun pranks they had pulled years ago and the lack of pranks recently.

Yaritza Vodcci grinned at the crowd. She was a Hunger Games lover. She enjoyed the vicious entertainment. She had dark skin and caramel eyes. She was known in District 5 for her accent that either said she was from another place or had learned it back in the Capitol. It had to be just like acquiring a tattoo, something exotic to have in the Capitol.

"Vhat a vonderful day for a Reaping," she said as she took her place at the podium. "I vonder vu our Tributes vill be." With that, she walked over and dunked her hand into the female Reaping bowl.

Autumn stood in the fifteen year old girl section. She was shaking in her fury. Before she had reached the Justice Building, she had run into him. He was the boy in her grade. It had taken all of her will power not to slam her fist into his head like she had done to the older boys beating up the merchant kid. Instead she had forced herself to look away from his sneering face and continue to the square.

She was still thinking about that when her name was called. She looked around, but she couldn't find anyone trying to get her attention. One girl behind her cleared her throat and nodded towards the stage where District 5's escort was standing, dressed in her Capitol apparel as usual.

"Autumn Coville," she repeated, looking around.

Autumn's eyes widened. Her breathing quickened as she tried to get a hold on herself. She walked up to the stage and, slowly, her anger and wildness returned to her eyes. Yaritza looked her up and down with approval.

"You look like a good vone."

Autumn spat at the ground near Yaritza's heeled feet. Her candy like eyes narrowed at her in distaste. She tried to smooth herself out as she went to call the next Tribute.

"Valence Lecktron."

There was a tight knot tightening in Vale's chest. As he walked up to the stage, a thought was slowly coming to him. Everything passed in a blurry blob while he waited for his mind to make sense of the thought that was taking its time in presenting itself to him. He was shaking hands with Autumn when it finally hit him.

He was going to die in these games. Everything that he had been working for, planning for, was going down the drain.

Vale was horrified at that thought.

At last he was able to collect himself and meet his fellow Tribute's eyes. Almost at once he wished he hadn't. It was almost like those blue-green eyes had caught on fire and they were searing holes into his forehead.

Awkwardly, their hands released and they were directed by Peacekeepers into the Justice Building. Vale thought it was weird how Autumn kept flinching away from them and shooting them glares like flamethrowers from those eyes. Vale looked away and stared at his feet. So this means no more future in District 5.

In one of the rooms in the building, his father met him. He seemed groggy still, never really able to get enough sleep. He sat down in a chair opposite from Vale.

Vale rubbed his hands over his face. His father would be all alone and, eventually, he would die alone. He had the beginning effects of Huntington's disease. Vale couldn't stand to think of what would happen to him without the help of Vale, especially the future income Vale was planning on earning from being successful in his work.

"Be brave out there, Vale," he said while he twiddled his thumbs. "If your mother hadn't died on pneumonia, I know she'd think you'd win. I bet she's thinking it up there right now."

Vale smiled for the first time at his father. "Thanks, father, it really means a lot."

"You're a smart kid," he continued. "You'll figure something out. Maybe you'll even win."

They continued like that, Vale's father encouraging him and Vale thinking about what he could say to him to help.

"Will you be okay?" Vale asked tentatively.

His father put one of his hands over his son's. "I'll be fine, really."

With that, his father was ushered out by Peacekeepers and, a few minutes later, Sulu took his place in the chair.

"I have to say, Vale, I didn't expect this," Sulu started out.

"I didn't either," Vale said softly as he shook his head. "Any suggestions, Sulu? I have no idea what I'm doing. I can hardly remember any of the Games I've watched in the past right now. What do I do?"

"I don't blame you. Listen, just go out there and use that head of yours. With half the time spent pulling pranks with me and the other half studying your butt off, I bet you'll do fine."

Sulu gave Vale some more suggestions, most being plans of his that he had once used to set off some of his most famous pranks. When a Peacekeeper came, he stood and clapped Vale on the back.

"Go blow something up while you're out there," he said with a grin and a laugh and he was gone. That laugh echoing all around Vale's head while he sat there by himself with his head in his hands.

Autumn sat by herself in the fancy room. She wasn't surprised when she realized she wouldn't be having any visitors without any family or friends. She curled up on the couch with the pillow locked in a death grip while she recalled that boy's face. He was a Peacekeeper's son and the boy that had ruined her life when she was nine.

At that age, she was the perfect child, polite, kind. Her parents raised her like this. It was because of this boy's relentlessness that made her snap one day. Everything came spewing out, everything including insults to the boy, his father, the Peacekeepers, the District, even the Capitol. The Peacekeepers blamed her parents and, making an example, they were put to death.

The anger that she felt the day that she watched her parents' bodies hang from the gallows filled her every waking day and even the dreams when her eyes were closed. She transformed from a picture perfect child to a homeless, wild child that most people were afraid off yet drawn to her rebellious, fiery spirit, but yet in a comical way to her it seemed. She hated people babying her and maybe she would find her place in the Hunger Games. Perhaps this would be where she would find herself. There was nothing here anyway.

She almost started screaming curses at the Peacekeeper who opened the door. Swallowing with such force that hurt her throat, she followed him out and onto the train with Vale. For one, it was almost a relief to see District 5 disappear, for the other, it was a much more depressing feeling.

*Please Read:*

I hope this met your expectations for this chapter, for me, I just can't wait to get to the good stuff, which means I need your help. I need to know how your Tribute would react with the other and how they might view their escort, so far you kinda know what they're like. This would really help me out.

Also, I had this idea that seemed like fun, but it's completely up to you guys and I would need your help. I wanted to make a small YouTube video for this (I do this sometimes to help with inspiration). If you'd like you PM me link (with spaces so it'll send) and maybe an idea for the "trailer", I'd be glad to do it. Thanks!

May the odds be ever in your favor!