A/N:
Like I said, bite-size chapters until the actual games. Enjoy!
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District 3 Reapings
POV of Lumena Fuse, age 14
I hope someone volunteers for me. Unlike all the other girls I see around me in the town square, I am not simply praying to not be Reaped. Because I am guaranteed a place in these Games, after what I did, what I made. What it was meant to be used for. Only another girl of Reaping age, who is not right in the head or just wants the 'glory' of winning, can save me. We have had no Victors since the second War. A hundred years, and the Capitol has still not forgiven us for the actions of our last Victor, sending his messages onto Capitol screens. We have come close a few times. Oh yes, we have come close. Three years ago a boy named Huxley Cordin placed second. He set up an elaborate trap for the girl from Four, who was starving and would have done anything for the loaf of bread that was used as bait. The girl Urcha would have been strung up by her foot, then electrocuted. But the Capitol just wouldn't let him win. He and his district partner had already endured most of their equipment being swallowed by the ground, poison fog, lightning storms and Famine Birds, a type of mutt that is programmed to devour anything possibly edible and then self-destruct, damaging even more. Huxley's partner Satis was killed by the lightning storms. But somehow he made it to second before the scorpions came. Capitol mutts, hundreds of them, attacked him in his sleep and stung him almost to death, then left. Urcha found him and threw him into his own trap, securing her the crown. We will not have a Victor for the next hundred years at least. Humans cannot forgive when they believe that they have been wronged. And the ones who control our fate believe that they have been dealt a great wrong indeed. The interruption of their entertainment is a terrible thing for those who have nothing better to occupy their days. Which is why, as I stare at the glass orb full of paper, I know that before the games are over, I will be dead. No doubt every single slip of paper in there has my name on it. 'Wasting resources on a pointless and dangerous project' will have it's consequences. The time of my dooming grows nigh. The D3 escort Julius Kade strides casually over to the girl's Reaping ball. He grabs the first slip that he finds -not that it matters anyway- and reads out "Lumena Fuse! Come up to the stage please!"
Just as I expected. As I climb up to the stage I take in my surroundings, knowing for certain that this is the last time I will ever see my home.
POV of Ryam Telle, age 18
This could get me out. That's all I can think, looking at the tiny, dingy room that I live in in. Winning the Games could catapult me from a tiny hut on the edge of town, in the suburb of Wire's End, to a mansion in the Victor's Village, only a short walk from the merchant sector, and enough money to build whatever I want for the rest of my life. I've been making up my mind for a long time. Today I go into the games. If I win I come back and live a fabulous life with everything I could ever want brought to me with the snap of a finger. If I lose… well, either way I escape the trap that is my life. My alarm clock begins shrieking so I reluctantly hop out of bed, pull out a random set of clothes from my wardrobe and slowly begin to wander to the town square. Best get this over with. However, I can't resist stopping off at my favorite bakery for a snack. The owners know me and give me a free sandwich for luck. Don't need it, I think. I'm going in no matter what. And I make use of my time in the Reaping square, analysing the other boys, making sure if it comes down to a race to the stage somehow, I'll get there first. It's happened before where there are multiple volunteers and they end up fighting each other or something. Not happening here. As soon as Julius calls for Boolean Gadge to come up, I scream "I volunteer!" at the top of my voice and sprint forward, trampling a couple of smaller boys. No matter. Whatever happens in these Games, I'm not going back to Wire's End.