Okay, so tributes are coming in pretty slowly. SO I am going to go on with the District 1 reapings. If somebody could tell their friends about it, I'd be very happy. Or if somebody wants to submit a male tribute…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Hunger Games, or Vixen Vendetta. Merlin is half mine because my friend and I both made him.

. . .

Vixen Vendetta,18

I woke up late. Rusette was already awake, I could tell by the lack of screaming. Even though she was a District One victor, even though she seemed to not care, sometimes I still woke up to her screaming for Luau, the district two tribute from her year, to duck.

"Ruse?" I called, throwing back my covers.

"I'm in the kitchen Vix. Mum and Dad went next door to check on Hayley." Rusette called.

I nodded, even though she couldn't hear that. I got dressed- changing into a lavender shirt and a grey pencil skirt. I brushed my blonde hair and pinned it back with a dragonfly pin mum gave me for my birthday.

I went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Morning Ruse. How'd you sleep?"

But I already knew the answer. She looked terrible. "Nightmares again, Vix. Same as always. Chasing after Mason, screaming for Luau to duck right before the axe hits her. And the mutts. Always the mutts."

"Well you'll get over it eventually." I said, taking the pitcher of orange juice from the fridge and pouring myself a glass.

Rusette glared at me but didn't say anything. She never said anything.

Merlin Thatcher, 18

"Merlin, wake up!"

I opened my eyes and found myself staring into Chatreuse's large hazel eyes. "Hey Chatreuse. Why are you up so early?"

"It's reaping day, remember?" She gave me this huge smile, one that exposed the gap between her teeth that made her smile unmistakable.

"Oh right." I grunted as I sat up. "Why don't you go back to your room and get dressed? I'll be downstairs soon."

"Oh, okay." Chatreuse climbed off of me and ran out of my room.

Slowly, I got out of bed and went through the regular motions of reaping day. I got on my best clothes, brushed my hair extra carefully and checked twice for any pimples. Once I was done, dressed in my nice tan suede suit and a slightly rumpled dress shirt, I went downstairs to join my family.

Chatreuse had on a purple strapless dress and silver flats. Her blonde hair was braided in two pigtails.

"Chatreuse, don't you think that dress is a little risqué?" I asked, crossing my arms the way a big brother would.

Chatreuse laughed. "I'm a teenager now Merlin. I can wear whatever I want."

"You're not thirteen until tomorrow, little sister. Don't you forget that." I teased.

In response, Chatreuse rolled her eyes and pushed on my shoulder. "Oh get over yourself, Merlin."

"Grow up a little bit, Chatreuse." I teased back.

Chatreuse rolled her eyes and trotted out the door. I followed after her. She may be twelve, but she's not allowed to walk anywhere in District 1 alone. The streets were already starting to fill. Half an hour before reapings- of course they were. I grabbed Chatreuse by her pigtails and towed her behind me.

"Merlin, that hurts!"

"I wouldn't want to loose you on your first reaping, now would I?"

Vixen

Rusette dropped me off at the reapings before going off to find her friends who stood around the edge. While I stood with the other eighteen year olds, I thought of President Moon's words. The tributes will not know who they are facing until 60 seconds before the gong and the only tributes to know who has died are the ones that are there when it happens.

We really are going to go in alone, and the only person I'll know is the moron who gets reaped with me today.

Our crazy-as-ever escort, Azul, hopped across the stage as soon as Mayor Everhart stopped talking. "Happy Hunger Games district 1! How's for another victor this year, eh?"

Azul has bright blue hair and an even brighter disposition. She makes me sick on multiple levels. "Well, let's start with the ladie-s."

"Elsa Morgan!"

A sad looking thirteen year old in a sunflower dress walked up to the stage.

"Any volunteers?" Azul asks, giving the girl a pitying look.

"Me! I volunteer!" I shouted, jumping out of my skin.

I pushed a few kids out of my way and rush up onto the stage. Elsa swerves out of my way and runs back to her sobbing friends. I take the stage, staring across all of District 1. Staring at all of Panem. Then I remember the Quell challenge. Not all of Panem. My district and the Capitol only. Only they know my face. Only they know the threat I am.

"What's your name, sugar?" Azul asks.

"Vixen Vendetta." I tell her, and her horribly ugly brown eyes light up.

"O-oh. Are you the sister of Rusette Vendetta? Of course you are! Now, let's get this thing moving. These shoes are killing me." A comment like that can get at least a laugh out of a district 1 audience. I bet those broads in the capital are howling with laughter.

"And our male tribute is… Merlin Thatcher!" Azul cheered.

I knew Merlin. Total player, a-hole, first-class suck up. Not to mention his bratty little sister, Chatreuse. To describe my hatred of that twelve in a few words- if she had been reaped, I wouldn't have volunteered to take her place.

Merlin

"And our male tribute is… Merlin Thatcher!"

Well shit.

Somewhere far away, I hear somebody start screaming. I crack my neck, hold my head high and stride up onto stage. I look out to the back and I feel my heart crack. Chatreuse is the source of the screaming. Tears have streaked her eyeliner. She is shaking the arm of her friend, Roni, and trying to get her to find a boy who will volunteer.

"Any volunteers? No? Well, let's give Merlin and Vixen a big round of applause!"

"No!" I hear Chatreuse scream. She turns and buries her face in Roni's shoulder. Several other twelve year olds gather around her, patting her back.

I turn and shake Vixen Vendetta's hand. She looks confident. She shouldn't be- she will die and I will come home. Who does she have to live for, anyways? Her shipwreck of a sister? Hardly.

We let the Peacekeepers, my dad included, guide us inside. Dad has his hand on my shoulder. I can hear him whispering to me, but I cannot make out the words. I am left in a room where I will say goodbye to my family and friends.

Mom and Chatreuse are the first to arrive. Chatreuse is towing a frightened Roni. Seeing my little sister so distraught killed me. She flung herself at me, holding on tight and refusing to let go. "Merlin you can't go, you can't! It's not fair!"

I didn't hesitate to hug her back. "I have to. I wouldn't leave you behind if it wasn't necessary."

"But daddy's a peacekeeper! He's from the Capitol! Can't he do something about this?" Her sobs broke my heart, and likely Roni's and mom's hearts as well.

"He can't, he can't." A tear escaped my eye, rolled down my cheek and landed on Chatreuse's bare shoulder.

Chatreuse sat up suddenly and took off the necklace that I hadn't noticed her wearing this morning. "Take this as your token, Merlin."

It was an emerald ring strung on a fine gold chain. She put it over my head and fixed it so that it rested underneath my collars. Then she got up, kissed me on the cheek and sat on the couch.

I looked at mom, who seemed to have gone numb. "Mom?"

At the sound of my voice, she broke down into tears and sunk down next to Chatreuse. Roni looked at me, still seeming scared. She took a quick step towards me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Come back, alright? It will… It will destroy the both of them if you don't." She whispered, before gathering up mom and Chatreuse and ushering them out.