I'm so sorry for the wait. An explanation is at the bottom.

Ididi Ididi, District Five Female (Age 15)

I didn't know where we were going. A lady called Althea said we were on our way to the Capitol. I never heard of it. I didn't know why they chose me to go to the Hunger Games.

The room I sat in was the prettiest room I've seen by far. When I walked inside earlier I gasped.

Everything was shiny and clean and the windows were huge and clear. The floors and walls were made of wood, but not the dirty old wood my room was made of. I could actually look at the world outside. It moved really fast.

A young boy sat next to me on a long, soft chair. He was short and looked like a normal person. Why were there so many back there but now it was only the two of us?

He didn't appear to be breathing normally and instead stared off into space. His eyes were watering. Was he okay? He seemed unhappy. Afraid.

"Hello," I said to him. That was how people normally greeted each other. I stretched my mouth out in a smile in an attempt to seem friendly.

"H-hi." He sniffled. "I'm Sable."

So we called him Sable the way we called the woman Althea. Was I called Ididi Ididi?

"I'm Ididi Ididi," I told him.

He nodded. "I know."

"Why do your eyes have water?" I asked, pointing at them. "Are you sick?"

"No." He responded, rubbing his eyes. "I'm upset."

"Why?"

He paused, then sighed. "Ididi, do you know why we're here?"

I didn't. Would he finally tell me? I wanted to know. I needed to check on Daisy. And there were some nice-looking books I wanted to come home and read. Or maybe look at the pictures.

"No," I replied flatly. "I don't know." I had some ideas in my head but I wasn't absolutely sure of any of them.

Sable appeared surprised. "I don't know anything about you so I'm not going to ask why."

I didn't know what he meant.

"I hate to be the one who has to tell you this, you deserve to be safe."

We must be in danger. Is that why he's distressed?

He took a deep breath, his eyes getting more and more watery. "Every year, the Capitol chooses two children from each District. There are twelve Districts. These twenty-four kids are all sent into an arena. Only one comes out." His voice shook. "Only one."

What happened to the other twenty-three? Why didn't I know about this? Why did they keep everything from me?

Why was a feeling of dread washing over me?

There was a silence, strained only by the hum of the train.

"What about the rest?"

Sable's face turned paler and paler. He let out a sob.

"They die. We're gonna die, Ididi. I'm sorry."

My heart sunk. "Oh."

This was why nobody told me. We were the flies in the Capitol's web.

I didn't know a whole lot about the world but I understood death.

Kied Zola, District Six Male (Age 16)

Natara and I sat on the couch, watching the Reapings. So far, nobody seemed to be too out of the ordinary. The girls from One and Two and the boy from Four declared themselves the next winners, like Careers often did, and the pair from Three was an angry girl and a small boy.

I tried to distract myself, but worry took over my mind. I would die. I could've lived a full life but I was nearing my end in a matter of days.

Would Rena, Julian, and Eri be fine without me?

What if they forgot me?

Luckily for my confident facade, I was good at hiding my anxieties.

As for Natara, she seemed to have calmed. Earlier I tried to strike up a conversation with her but her only responses were soft whispers.

The District Five Reapings were aired next. Judging by the square, it resembled a cleaner version of District Six, without all the drugs and factory smoke. It wasn't surprising, as Five specialized in electricity and nuclear power rather than metals and transportation.

"Ididi Ididi!" shouted the escort.

Then something out of the ordinary happened.

Nobody stood up. Instead, the square filled with whispers. Peacekeepers began to shove their way through the crowd, looking for this Ididi girl.

The escort smiled, her expression looking strained. Her job usually wasn't this strange. Sure, the selected tributes had tried to hide before, but there was never this much muttering in the background.

Then a pale, wide-eyed girl stepped out of the fifteen-year-old section.

She stopped and stared at the podium, looking like a lost puppy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Natara scowling.

"Come on up now!" The escort chirped, likely relieved that things were back to sort-of-normal.

Ididi made her way to the podium and stood by Althea without moving a muscle. Poor kid. She seemed confused as all hell.

"Got anything to say to your district?"

The square was silent, and Ididi made no sound besides heavily breathing. I had no idea who this girl could be, and a part of me didn't want to know.

"Very well, now to the boys." Althea appeared pained.

She took her time picking a paper, probably praying for a tough eighteen-year-old who actually had a shot at winning.

"Sable Isaac!"

Oh no. It was a little kid.

His eyes began to swell up as he walked down the middle of the square.

He was visibly shaking as the escort handed him the microphone and he awkwardly told everyone to wish him luck. At least I wasn't the only one who made an odd statement when I was Reaped.

The television went dark for a moment, then the interlude of Adonis Flickerman smiling at Panem began to play, and Natara slowly turned towards me.

"So, what is your plan?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

I broke into a cold sweat as I remembered the whole country thought I knew what I was doing. I had no clue. And if she knew I didn't have a real plan, this girl could tell every tribute in the Games and get rid of my only advantage.

"Not telling," I responded, smirking.

She wasn't intimidating but seemed like an angry person and I wanted to avoid her. Definitely not a potential ally.

"Whatever you say." She told me, staring out the window. "By the way, you have blood pouring out of your eyes."

I quickly turned towards the mirror, and I looked a hundred percent normal.

"Ha, ha. Hilarious."

"I mean it." Her voice was steady and serious. My stomach began to churn. Something was wrong with her.

"Is this real or are you seeing things?" I asked. Maybe she was crazy, maybe that's why I'd never seen her at school.

She stared at the ground for a few seconds, her eyes almost glassy. "Both."

Okay, so she was crazy. That was fine. It was common for strange people to enter the arena; perhaps since the Capitol was in desperate need of some variety. The tropes of "cold-hearted killer" and "sweet outer District child" must have gotten old quickly.

"What's your plan?"

For the first time since we met, her eyes met mine. "We'll both die. Does it really matter?"

Blaze Montana, District Seven Male (Age 17)

Right now my sister sat all alone in the community home and I was on a train ride to my death. What a fucking fantastic day.

Ironically, this train was easily the nicest place I'd been in my entire life.

My District partner, Ever, fiddled with the remote and trying to turn on the television. Electronics were a rare luxury in Seven, so we knew almost nothing about the odd little screen.

I fidgeted in my seat. Ivy didn't know how to steal. Sure, it was likely her friends would step in, but there was literally nothing I could do at this point to give her a better future or keep her from dying.

"Got it." Ever muttered as the television lit up, displaying the square of some urban District. I was surprised to hear her talk.

We stared at the screen. Judging by the factories and smoggy skies in the background, it seemed to be showing the Reapings of Eight.

The escort seemed to have no concept of subtlety whatsoever, with her hair covered in glitter and a dress bright enough to be seen from space. She was tame compared to other Capitolites, but their outfits always shocked me and everyone else in the Districts.

"Viridian Gabardine!"

A short, skinny boy with brown hair calmly walked up to the podium. There didn't seem to be a single trace of fear on his face.

"You look nice and strong."

He couldn't have weighed more than a hundred thirty pounds. Of course, I felt bad for the kid, but if this was a game of strength the odds weren't in his favor.

"Anna Crank-Spool!"

A tall, dark-haired girl with a grave expression on her face climbed up the stairs to the podium.

She whispered something to the escort, whose eyes widened in shock.

"Good heavens, I'll get a Peacekeeper to inform him. Is he alone?"

She nodded.

Ever scowled, and I felt my brow furrowing too. How many of the tributes were leaving behind people who needed us? Did the Capitol know that they were ruining many more than twenty-four lives each year?

I wasn't friends with Ever, but we went to school together and I knew she had a younger brother. Many of the selected came from poor households where every bit of labor was needed.

Except me. I used other means to meet my ends.

Did that make me weaker than the rest?

Anna Crank-Spool, District Eight Female (Age 17)

I sunk into a state of cool-headedness. As edgy as it sounded, fourteen-year-old me would be thrilled to die. And painful deaths were a rarity in the Games, so I'd go quickly and easily into the dark.

My only concern was for Max. He'd be sent to a community home, most likely, but the kids there always were hungry. He'd live the rest of his life not knowing why I disappeared and that knowledge stabbed me in the gut.

I would be his Cass. He was the only person who would remember me, but I'd never see him again and he'd only see me sent back in a box. My eyes burned and I felt tears stream down my cheeks.

I sat on the couch, staring at the ground. The smell of chicken wafted over from the next room, but I had no desire to get up or eat. I didn't want to move. I wanted to sit there forever and eventually fade away.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." My voice was hoarse.

My District partner, Viridian, stepped inside, holding two plates. "I thought you might want some food."

He sat down next to me and handed me the meal. Chicken and peas. They looked less appetizing than they usually would.

"I'm not hungry," I told him. "Thank you, though."

My stomach rumbled and my face turned red. He laughed.

"You sure?"

I shrugged and picked up the fork. "Maybe I am."

Viridian stuffed a spoonful of peas into his mouth. "It's fine. I get it. We're in a shitty situation. Quite possibly the shittiest situation anyone in the country is in."

I nodded. "Yup. We are."

We ate in silence for a few moments, until he spoke up.

"Look, if we wanna last long, we can't do it alone. The kids from One and Two and Four are gonna team up and hunt everyone down. It sucks ass but it's the truth. If everyone else just runs off all alone, they're gonna pick us off one by one and like every year, one of them is gonna win."

I nodded. Where was he going with this?

"What I'm saying is, do you wanna form an alliance?"

I blinked. Did someone want to team up with me? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I decided to jump off the platform and blow up.

"You serious?" I tilted my head.

He nodded. "Yeah. We can make our own alliance. There are usually five or six Careers and I'm sure we can get that many of the others to join us."

"Won't that just make us a target?" I asked. An alliance of two or three would suffice, but more than that wouldn't exactly keep us under the radar. And I wanted to live.

"I mean, if we get enough people, we can scare them away."

I snorted. "Yeah, sure. A bunch of outer district kids scaring the fucking Careers. That's realistic."

He scowled. "Well, if you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

"We should team up with one, maybe two, of the others," I explained. "That way they won't care about us, but we can still defend ourselves if we come across a stronger tribute."

"We haven't met any of the others yet. How about we talk to some of them and then decide what to do?"

I rolled my eyes in a half-joking manner. "Fine."

"We're good, right?" He grinned.

Maybe I was stupid, since I barely knew this kid, but I trusted him. Maybe he reminded me of Cass.

"We're good."

"Do you want to see a magic trick?"

"A what?"

He pulled a deck of cards out from his pocket and grinned, his eyes lighting up. "Watch. you'll love this."

AN: I'M SORRY. I CAN EXPLAIN.

My computer crashed and I lost this entire chapter. This made me lose all inspiration for a while, and in all honesty, I've been a bit of a mess lately.

Then I thought: fuck it. I'm not gonna let my readers down. I'm gonna write this thing.

Anyways, thanks for reading! I thought I'd explain how I'll tell the rest of this story, so here goes. I'll give each tribute 2-3 Capitol POVs, likely depending on whether they got a train ride POV. However, your tributes will see a lot of each other so each one will get a good amount of screen time.

Then in the arena, we'll get to see all the different alliances I've planned! I have some really interesting character dynamics that I'll write.

I'm so so excited for this story! I've planned how the bloodbath will go so far and I think there are some twists and turns that'll surprise you. Read and review!

1. Favorite pair?

2. Have your opinions of any of these guys changed?

Thank you!