Disclaimer: I still do not own the Hungers Games. Thanks to where-the-stars-fall-softly for Vanessa and Daryl and to District2Lovers for Julia and S.M.M. 2002 for Lyndon

"Don't Cry" District Three Reapings.

Iris Corolin – District Three Mentor

"It's not going to be Riker," Leunam reassured Iris. It was the millionth time he had said that and Iris believed him, except for the part of her that didn't. In a normal year, though it had never been explicitly stated, it was assumed that Victors of reaping age were excluded. However, this wasn't a normal year and, despite repeated requests for clarity, Brutus Laertes had refused to verify that either Riker or Viggo were exempt.

Riker hadn't campaigned, but very few people had and some of the campaigns that had been staged had been out of vengeance. There had been a couple of older brothers or enemies trying to get their younger brothers in the reapings, some ex-couple trying to get break up revenge on each other in the worst way possible and a couple of pickpockets or vagabonds who had gotten put up as campaigns. As a victor, Iris really wasn't sure how much attention ordinary people had paid to the campaigns.

All she knew was that it was an established fact that all children, 12 through 18 were eligible for the Games. That included Riker.

Surely Leunam was right. Surely their own district wouldn't be cruel enough to send Riker into the Games twice. She had a good attitude about it, certainly, but she never would campaign, never would want to be sent in.

And then, of course there was the terrible thought that worried Iris more than the possibility of the districts voting Riker in, the possibility that they really didn't have a choice. Wouldn't that be even more of a cruel irony, for the Capitol to "allow" the districts the horrible choice of a mandatory voting and then rig the polls. Was it a horrible thought, certainly, but Iris wouldn't put it past the Capitol.

"It is time to go," Leunam urged her as gently as possible, taking her hand in his. It was his promise, she knew. He couldn't promise with absolute certainty that it wouldn't be Riker in the arena, and if it was, he couldn't promise they could get her out again. Since her victory Riker had become almost like a daughter to them, since they shared a bond only survivors of the Hunger Games could truly understand and it would break Iris's heart to risk losing her again. Leunam couldn't protect her from either of these possibilities, but he could promise that he would be there, unwaveringly beside her for the duration of whatever came.

They emerged from their house in the victor's village. Riker was undoubtedly at the square already, but would she be onstage with them as a victor or would they force her to line up with the other children? Iris was relieved at least when she saw Riker on the stage. At least they weren't treating her differently from the start. That was a good sign.

The escort, Tian Linx smiled at Riker and she smirked back. Iris even managed a smile as Riker waved, but she was still worried. As Tian made his way towards the bowl she clutched Leunam's hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, this year instead of me selecting the tributes for the Hunger Games's first round they have been voted in by your own district." Iris caught that. Tian covered his mouth quickly, as though realizing his mistake. There was going to be a second round. By the reaction in the crowd, not many people had caught it, but the few who had were murmuring.

"The female tribute selected by those of voting age is: Vanessa Lowry."

A girl from the 18 year old section slowly stepped forward as though she couldn't believe she had been selected. Iris sighed. She vaguely recognized her from one of the campaigns. She hadn't paid too much attention, but she thought she remembered her as one of the girls whose ex-boyfriend had been campaigning against her. Hadn't she started a campaign against him first? Well, that had backfired. She crossed her arms in frustration as she made it to the stage and looked out resentfully at the cloud, accusing the entire district of putting her in this position. Iris couldn't blame her, but then again, it would have been the same problem with anyone. They weren't a Career district where there was a good choice, someone who wanted to be in the Games. No, the only choices were bad ones.

"For the boys, Daryl Koestler." At the name a vicious smile crossed the girl's face as an equally stunned boy emerged from the section across from where the girl had emerged from. Another 18 year old. At least that boded well for their chances, as far as that was concerned. Iris sighed as the boy took the stage, sending equally dirty looks at the girl and crossing his arms. They were a perfect pair of hatred.

Because of his slip up earlier, Tian didn't even bother to pause and applaud for these two.

"As you may have heard from Districts one and Two, there will be a second round of tributes. As decreed by the Capitol, this year these tributes will be reaped. There will be no volunteers permitted." Good try covering up your error, Iris thought, but everyone knew there was little to no communication between the districts. There was no way anyone knew that there was going to be a second round before Tian had said anything. The couple of minutes hadn't been much in the way of preparation.

The reaping bowls appeared again, as they did every year. Could Riker's name be in there? From a side glance at Riker she didn't seem worried at all.

"For the second round, the female tribute is Julia Blaire." Iris breathed a sigh of relief, even as she realized how horrible that was. Riker was safe.

But Julia wasn't. A pale girl stepped forward from the fifteen year old section, petite and around 5'7. She slowly made her way to the front, desperately trying not to cry. After all of the hype with the campaigning and the stupidity of them, this little girl reminded Iris of why the games were truly so terrible, and for a moment she felt guilty for only worrying about Riker. It wasn't fair that any of these tributes would have to go in, but especially not a girl with such a soft nature as this one.

"For the boys, Lyndon Omicron," Tian announced. Iris hoped that the boy would be a more ready candidate, until the thirteen year old section parted. The boy in the center, with a messy mop of hair on his head was frozen to where he stood, staring at the stage in terror.

Move, Iris begged him, praying he would at least find the strength to take a step towards the stage. But to no avail. After a moment the Peacekeepers came and fetched him. They grabbed him by both of his arms and dragged him along. He stumbled beside them, almost tripping a couple times. By the time he made it to the stage there were tears in his eyes.

"Shake hands, all of you," Tian tried to rouse the tributes. Julia recovered her wits a big, and turned to shake hands with the first girl and boy, who accepted her hand, but refused to shake hands with each other. Then Julia turned to the boy. He still had tears in his eyes, but took her hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your district three tributes for the quarter quell." Tian announced. There was a great applause and then Tian ushered them all off to the Justice Building.

Vanessa Lowry – Female Age 18 Round 1.

"I can't believe it," Vanessa pouted. Her arms were still crossed in disbelief. This was all Daryl's fault.

Her district was stupid, the Capitol was stupid. They were supposed to see that he was a jerk, not her. He was the one who had been unfaithful, who had thrown her aside. Where was the justice in sending both of them into the arena when he was the one who was at fault? Why was she here along with him?

"You know, honey, you're going to be the Capitol's favorite. Just show them who you really are and they'll love you for it," her mother crooned. Vannesa nodded, trying not to roll her eyes.

"Of course they'll love me, mom. I'll have them eating out of the palm of my hand begging to sponsor me. I bet Daryl doesn't get any sponsors at all." She huffed. If there was one thing she didn't doubt it was that she would do better than Daryl.

She may have ended up there in unfortunate circumstances, but she would rise above them. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry, or of hearing her complain. She would simply demonstrate her superiority in the arena. Yes, that was the way to do it. Sheer will and her confidence. Her parents beamed at her as they left the room and Vanessa was invigorated again.

Yes, she would destroy him and all of the scumbags like him in the Games. And she would be coming home.

Daryl Koestler – Male Age18 Round 1

"She just can't get over me. She wanted to be in the Games so much, I guess it worked out for both of us," Daryl laughed it off. His parents pretended to laugh, pretending that there could be any humor in the situation. His little brother Carl might have actually been laughing; it was hard to tell if it was genuine or just the laugh that he thought ingratiated him to his older brother. Either way, his family was right. There was nothing funny about the whole situation, but the only way he was going to survive was by pretending there was.

He actually thought Vanessa's idea to campaign had been ridiculously stupid, but he had retaliated because if she could be angry over something trivial he could too. And now look at where it had gotten them, all over a stupid girl. He'd dated her for a couple of weeks and then she'd claimed he'd cheated. Couldn't she see he'd just gotten bored with her. He could strangle that girl for her stupidity. Maybe he'd even get a chance to.

"I hope you learned your lesson. I tried to warn you that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," his father scolded him.

"Yeah, she sure showed me. I'll make sure not to let any of the girls in the arena get a crush on me or I'll kill them straight away," Daryl scoffed. He almost felt as though he could jump into the games right now with the fury welling within him. Just let him at Vanessa and she would regret that she ever set eyes on him. Just wait until the arena.

Julia Blaire: Age 15 Round 2 Female Tribute.

She had to stop crying.

As soon as her parents had left, emphasizing their encouragement and their belief that Julia could emerge triumphant despite her age and inexperience. They were certain she would find a great use for her intellect in the arena, just as she had here in the districts and achieve, just as they had always dreamed she would. Albeit, they had never dreamed that she would be in the Hunger Games, their dreams for their daughter's accomplishments were solely scientific, but fate seemed to have different plans for her.

The door opened again and Em entered. Julia burst into tears again.

"I'm so sorry!" Em gushed. "This should never have happened to you. It wouldn't have if they'd allowed volunteers. I'm certain of it. I would have volunteered for you!" she paused, clearly knowing the hypotheticals and what could have happened made no difference now.

"I just hope I don't let my parents down," Julia managed through her tears.

"You won't. They're proud of you. Julia, you are all that they have. You're their only daughter and they love you so much."

"I always thought that bad things only happened because you deserved it." Julia managed to whisper. "I mean look at the boy and the girl in the first round. They campaigned against each other and then karma ended up turning it on both of them. They deserved it because they wished ill on someone else. What have I ever done?"

"Nothing bad," Em assured her. "And that's why we need you back here. You're brilliant, Julia. And that's why you'll make it home. Now dry your tears. You can't let them see you cry."

Lyndon Omicron Male Tribute Round 2 Age; 13

He couldn't stop crying.

His mother held him in her arms, knowing it might be the last time. Usually that worked to quell his fears, but not this time. There was nothing his mother could do to tell him it was all right or to protect him.

Yet he found comfort in her arms while he could. His twin sisters looked at him sympathetically, but for once neither Trisha nor Irina knew what to say. His father was holding his twelve year old brother, Richmond, who Lyndon hoped still didn't understand. He hoped his brother, even though he was only a year younger than him, didn't understand that the very tesserae that kept their family alive were responsible for this. The tesserae and the Capitol.

Lyndon tried to force the tears from coming, but he just couldn't. He hated that the last moments with his family would be sorrowful ones, but he couldn't stop the wave of grief that had been unleashed upon him. He might was well try to stop the train that was coming, or tell time to stop. That's the way it always was with his emotions. He always felt everything very deeply and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it.

"We love you," his father said. There weren't any other words that were necessary. They didn't need to tell him he could come home, that would only make it worse. If by some miracle he did, he would enjoy it then. But for now, he just needed to be in this moment, this last moment of tears before it was time to put on a brave face.

He squeezed his mother tightly and finally the tears stopped as his family stood to leave. He could be brave.

Riker Dane – Victor of the 23rd Hunger Games

"So we put the two who already want to kill each other together, right?" Riker proposed sarcastically. Leunam smirked, but Iris just rolled her eyes.

"I just hope they don't see to it on the train. There's no way either of them is going to be civil or even remotely close to it," Iris said.

"Then let's split them up. I can take the girl," Riker offered. It was obvious Iris wanted nothing to do with this ex-lovers' drama.

"What do you think about taking the younger boy? He's the closest to your age and looked like he could use a lot of encouragement," Leunam proposed.

"Fair enough," Riker agreed. "What about the other three?"

"I'll take Vanessa," Iris agreed, bracing herself. "She'll be a handful."

"That leaves me with the younger girl and the boy," Leunam agreed. "This should be an interesting year." He left that comment where it was, but it seemed as though there was something unspoken, something Leunam suspected, but didn't want to say aloud. Riker glanced at Iris for a clue, but she was just as guarded as Leunam seemed. Something wasn't quite right, wasn't quite normal even for Reaping Day. Riker could sense it.