Notes: Awww, thanks, Silz. We're really glad we got you on Crossbones for this one!


Chapter 3: "The Outer Districts"


July 1: Reaping Day

District Nine


The morning had been stormy in Nine, and the thunderclouds hung low far on the horizon as Kitty made her way over to the Wagners. She'd been watching out for Amanda and Stefan as best she could since Kurt didn't come back.

She'd spent so much time with them that she barely knocked before she stepped into the family living room, where Margali was brushing out Amanda's long blonde hair so she could put it up into a French braid. The twins had both grown at least eight inches since last summer — and had more to go, though this first Reaping without their big brother was weighing hard on the family.

Gone was the blue silk bowtie that Stefan had worn, and all that was left was the single blue satiny ribbon that Margali very carefully tied at the end of Amanda's braid, though even as she made the knot, she frowned at the bow and let out a heavy sigh before she rested her hands on Amanda's shoulders. "You're as ready as you can be," she told her gently, and Amanda got up to make her way over to sit with Kitty.

Kitty had brought a new tie for Stefan — bright red this time and one of the long styles that the higher ups in the district wore all the time — though the young man looked a bit ill as his mother showed him how to tie the knot properly.

"You doing okay?" Amanda asked Kitty with a bit of a hitch to her voice.

"As good as I can be, I suppose," Kitty replied frankly as she smoothed the fabric of her yellow dress over her knees.

"Mama is going to make a nice meal tonight, and we'll eat it out under the stars away from the television," Amanda told her. "You should come."

"That sounds perfect, and I'd love to," Kitty said as she looked up to Margali to make sure she wasn't overstepping some alone time with the twins.

"Oh good — I've already made enough for four," Margali told her with a kind smile.

Kitty gave her a little smile in return and let out a breath as Stefan pulled a face and fiddled with his hair. It didn't want to behave the way he wanted it to.

"Stop messing with it, or you'll make it worse," Amanda scolded him, though her solution to lick her hand and try and fight his cowlick had him screwing up his face at her and pushing her away.

"You'll make it gross," he countered.

"If you two are done," Margali said, "It's time to get going. No sense in making them come after us."

The twins glanced at each other with looks that clearly read they were thinking about doing just that, but for Margali's sake, they headed down to the main area, where they separated first along boy/girl lines and then Amanda gave Kitty a quick hug before she was off to the thirteen-year-olds area.

Kitty couldn't help but try to watch for them, and it didn't take long to find Amanda, looking nervous as she hugged herself far down in the front of the crowd. Stefan was scuffing his shoes on the ground and trying to keep his frown from deepening any further. "Man, little siblings are hard to look after," Kitty said to herself. "How did you do it, Kurt?" But on thinking of her lost friend, she shrunk in on herself and frowned at the ground. All she wanted was for this stupid thing to be over with already.

She kept half of her attention on Amanda and the other half on Stefan — and she was so focused on them that when she heard her name called, she looked around the crowd automatically before it sunk in that it was her name... about half a second before the girls around her started shoving her toward the aisle. As soon as she was in the aisle, she saw Stefan, looking to be in a panic as she gave him a warning look and shook her head. As she passed by Amanda, she whispered 'don't even think about it' moments before she climbed up the steps to the stage.

Her father was pitching a fit already, and that, more than anything else, had her cringing. Neither of her parents seemed to have five minutes for her until now — and now they were panicking. Of course. She was dreading the time for the families to have their visit, because instead of being able to get a hug from Margali and the twins — her time would instead be filled with empty promises from her father on how he simply wouldn't allow this to happen.

She met Amanda's gaze in the crowd and tried to tell with just a look that she wasn't going anywhere, that she was going to come back and take care of them. But then, she couldn't lie that easily with just her gaze. Not when Kurt had been standing right where she was just a year ago, and he'd never come back.


Alex Summers didn't really do ties.

It wasn't that he didn't think they looked nice on other people or that he didn't know how to tie one or anything like that. It was just that he really just didn't like having to dress up. Jeans and a tee shirt any day — maybe a jacket if he had to. But a suit and tie felt restrictive, and he'd never liked them.

Sure, he wore the nice new tie his foster mom gave him — she got him a different colored one every year, though since this was only his second, that wasn't saying too much.

Still, he wore the new red tie and let his mom straighten it under his chin before he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and ran off to where everyone was gathering. He wasn't concerned at all — he was thirteen and his parents weren't poor, not really, so he'd only had to take out a few tesserae, and that was when he was twelve and the harvest was really bad that year.

So the Reaping Day was really more of a day off than anything else, and he was looking forward to spending the time lying out in the field and daydreaming for a while.

Once he got to the main area, he ended up standing beside one of the tall blonde Wagner twins, and he gave the kid a crooked half smile in greeting. The whole district knew it had been hard on that family, and they all tried to give them a wide berth, even with them working in the fields. But the boy quietly returned the half-smile before Robert Kelley, Nine's escort, started up with the rigamarole and Alex fell back into not paying a lick of attention.

This was only his second Reaping, and already, Alex was bored with it. He didn't care that Kelley was excited about this being a 'Quarter Quell,' whatever the heck that meant. And he really wanted to leave, because the Wagner kid next to him looked like he was going to pass out, and he really didn't want the kid to pass out.

"Okay, okay, move on already," he muttered under his breath, which at least got the kid to smile instead of looking queasy, an he had to grin outright.

But then when Kelley did move on, it was to draw out the girl's name, and while Alex only sort of recognized "Katherine Pryde" from around the fields, it sure seemed to strike a chord with his new blonde friend, who looked upset.

Devastated was more the word for it, actually, and Alex frowned and turned away, trying to at least give him some kind of privacy. Hitting this guy twice in two years was really … just wrong.

He didn't know what the story was between the Wagner boy and the brunette who came up on stage — girlfriend or whatever — but he was distracted enough by trying not to be involved that when "Alex Summers" was the next thing Kelley called out, he honestly thought the reason the kids were parting around him was they were also trying to give the Wagner boy some space.

Which ... was not the case, he quickly realized when Kelley called out his name again and he very loudly, and clearly, swore.

His mom was going to get mad at him for that one, but the situation totally called for it.

He climbed the stairs to shake Katherine Pryde's hand before Kelley presented them both, though he was starting to feel a little queasy himself. Maybe the Wagner kid had the right idea.


July 1: Reaping Day

District Ten


The Reaping was due to start in a little while, but Ten's two victors were still at Charles Xavier's house, finishing up their chess game over morning tea. The main square was close enough to the Victor's Village that they had time before they were expected to be there, and for twelve years, the two of them had made it a point to start out every Reaping in calm and quiet, to prepare for the next several weeks of mayhem and murder. It was just as necessary for their sanity as anything else.

"Any expectations for the tributes we'll meet today, Charles?" Henry McCoy asked with a bit of a forlorn tone.

Charles let out a sigh. "Considering the last few years?" he replied over the top of his tea cup. "I'll be pleased to have someone less murderous and without a criminal record."

"Somehow, I think you're a bit too optimistic, Charles."

"You wouldn't be the first to say so," Charles said with the slightest of smiles as he set the empty cup down. He let out a breath and looked toward the windows. The same storm that was hitting Four that morning could be seen on the horizon across the flat grazing lands of Ten, even if it was still a ways out. "Still, I suppose it comes from speaking with our mutual friend in SHIELD — he keeps assuring me this is the last year, and I can't help but hope the last year yields someone less…." Charles waved his hand for a moment, gesturing toward the storm that seemed to better articulate just what kind of tributes they'd had recently.

Hank followed Charles' gaze nodded quietly, setting down his own cup for a moment before he let out a breath. "Well then — shall we?"

"I suppose it's nothing we can push back."

Before they left, they washed the dishes so as not to leave Charles' place in disarray, and then the two victors from Ten headed out to the main square, Hank pushing Charles ahead of him as they chatted companionably, still maintaining the atmosphere of peace for as long as they could before they arrived at the stage where everyone was gathering.

Of course, it was no longer possible to have anything like peace once they were joined by Ten's escort, an excitable and very opinionated man named Jameson who always seemed to be a shade of purple as he discussed whatever topic of the day had him riled up. As usual, he was annoyed at the generally shabby state of the district he'd been assigned and complained loudly about it as the kids gathered in the main area below them — though by the time the Reaping actually started, he had moved on to complaining about the storm clouds gathering on the horizon, muttering to himself that he was going to be upset if this thing went long enough that he got caught in the weather and mud.

Still, the storm was rolling in faster than anyone had expected — which meant, surprisingly, that Jameson wasn't nearly as long-winded as usual, giving a much shorter than usual speech, even considering the momentous occasion of the Quarter Quell. The two victors on the stage could see that Jameson was tapping his foot impatiently all the way through the required video, too, and he just nodded once, sharply, when it was through, and strolled up to the bowls with the names in them.

"Right then. Gentlemen…" He reached into the bowl and scowled at the name as it was clear he was working out the pronunciation in his head quickly before he called it out. "Arkady Gregorovitch!"

If the boy's clothes were any indication, he was another veteran of the slaughterhouse. Even the clean overalls had old bloodstains at the hem by his boots. But this boy was massive, easily six feet tall, broad, and with a chip on his shoulder.

"I'll take this one if you'd like, Henry," Charles said at a whisper just after the boy walked by, trying to make things easier for the slightly younger victor if he could.

"We'll see who his partner is," Henry replied without taking his eyes off the new tribute. There had been a reason he'd taken Cletus Kasady last year — he could physically restrain even a broad young man like this Gregorovitch if he put his mind to it, and he was loathe to put Charles in danger, even if Charles was constantly trying to make things easier for him in return. Still, he appreciated the gesture. "Who knows — he might be a gentle giant," Henry said with a little smirk.

"Who's the optimist now?" Charles teased.

Henry chuckled under his breath at that. "I said we'd wait and see."

But Jameson was already moving on to the ladies, the ominous greenish clouds in the distance clearly lighting a fire under the escort as he cleared his throat, frowning again at the name on the slip of paper he drew out. "Yuriko Oyama!" he called out this time, his moustache practically twitching under his nose as the crowd started to part around the girl in question.

The girl was tall and held her head high as she stalked through the crowd as if the very presence of those around her was an insult to her. She even went so far as to sneer at Jameson when he tried to shake her hand, instead totally blowing him off to stand a good distance from Arkady, again openly looking him up and down.

"Oh, no. That one's yours," Henry said softly.

"Thank you for that, Henry," Charles said dryly, letting out a bit of a breath as he looked over the two newest tributes from Ten. "It seems the pattern is still holding," he muttered quietly as Jameson quickly rushed through the final presentation and all but shooed the two tributes off to the Justice Building to try and escape the rain — though he was just a hair too late as the clouds simply opened up over their heads, going from dry to downpour in an instant, as was common in the district.

To make matters worse, Jameson started to swear loudly as Charles rolled past. The sudden downpour had turned the dusty ground around them almost instantly to mud so that the wheels of Charles' chair splashed onto Jameson's new suit. It wasn't an obviously purposeful thing, either — he honestly did need a bit of a hand from Henry to get through the quickly-forming mud.

But Henry was chuckling low under his breath as the purple-faced escort stomped off onto the train.

"You really should be more careful, Charles," Henry teased.

"I should," Charles agreed with a smirk. "Next time, perhaps."


July 1: Reaping Day

District Eleven


"I swear, it's not that bad," Miles Morales assured his best friend, Ganke, as Ganke adjusted the tie under his chin with a frown. The two friends were only a few months apart in age, but because Miles' birthday was after the Reaping and Ganke's was before, this was Ganke's third and only Miles' second Reaping.

And yet Miles was somehow apparently better equipped to deal with the whole thing, as Ganke was horribly nervous about it. He'd never liked dressing up and always felt self-conscious in a suit.

Miles, on the other hand, thought he kind of rocked the black suit, even if it was a really, really old hand-me-down suit he'd found in his dad's closet.

His dad was gone, and had been since Miles was old enough to be Reaped. Not dead, just… gone. So, technically Miles wasn't supposed to be living in the house anymore, but someone was paying for the house and the heating and A/C and stuff, so it was the one thing Miles had that told him his dad hadn't completely abandoned him. At least he only had to work part-time in the orchards so he could still go to school with Ganke. They were top of their class, and before he'd left, Miles' dad was always telling them that they were meant for more than picking apples.

"Yeah, well, I wish the sleeves would… you know." Ganke tugged at the edge of his suit. He'd put on some weight since last year, and that in addition to the few inches he'd grown meant the suit simply didn't fit him right.

"Hey, you're lucky," Miles pointed out with a sideways grin. "You have an excuse to have shorter sleeves. It's killer hot out there." He gestured out the window, and Ganke had to smirk at that.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Ganke asked as the two of them locked Miles' door behind them and headed down to the Reaping area. "You gonna talk to that cute girl this year?"

"She has a boyfriend, Ganke," Miles said, shaking his head.

"What? Wait, when did this happen?" Ganke asked, and Miles snorted and shook his head.

"Last year."

"Wait, really?"

"Really." Miles laughed at the look on his best friend's face. Ganke was a good friend, the best anyone could ask for, really, but he was hopeless sometimes. Though he couldn't exactly say anything about it, because Ganke still managed to be the first of the two of them to get girls to talk to him, to get a date, to get a first kiss. Miles didn't really understand it, but it was entertaining to watch the look of relief and celebration when Ganke's plans would actually, well, work.

The two friends chatted back and forth all the way down to the main area, though unfortunately, they had to split once they got there. Miles went with the other thirteen-year-olds, and Ganke with the guys one year older as Everett Ross stepped up to the mic.

It was no secret Ross didn't like being the escort for Eleven, and he frowned at the gathered crowd long and hard before he broke into his speech.

Miles could feel his foot tapping as he got more and more impatient. He really didn't like being talked down to, and Ross could make even a rehearsed speech sound condescending. In fact, Eleven was probably one of the few districts where the kids looked forward to the video that played every year, because it meant Ross had to shut up.

"Ladies first," Ross said as he did the self-important strut up to the microphone and the bowls, and Miles caught Ganke mimicking Ross' walk across the group of kids and had to hide his smile behind his hand.

Miles was surprised when they called out the name "Monet St. Croix," and a tiny kid started to shakily make her way up to the stage. He'd seen her around school — she was leaps and bounds ahead of him and Ganke even though she was younger. He'd always thought she was, like, ten. He had no idea she was even old enough to get Reaped.

As Monet passed the mayor of Eleven, T'Chaka frowned her way, and Miles winced the slightest in sympathy. That was the second little-little girl to get drawn, and after Ororo Munroe last year and what had gone down with T'Challa, it was no secret that the mayor was upset to see young, bright minds go — and remind him of what had happened with his son.

But where Ororo had been scrappy and defiant, Monet just seemed to accept it, standing on the stage with her shoulders squared. She was always quiet, even at school, so it was no surprise that she didn't say anything, just sort of stood off to the side as Sam Wilson did a horrible job of hiding how upset he was too over having another little-little girl.

Ross, on the other hand, just looked annoyed. It was so, so obvious that he wanted a victor from Eleven so that he could boost his own standing in the Capitol — and maybe get reassigned to a "better" district — and it was clear he'd already dismissed Monet as he moved to the boys' names.

But Miles knew better than that. He'd seen her at school and knew she was killer smart, and that counted for a lot. It was what kept Miles out of trouble, after all. Outsmarting kids — and Sentinels — bigger than you was pretty much a requirement of life in Eleven, and Miles thought it was kind of stupid of Ross to dismiss Monet so fast.

He'd already decided that he would be rooting for Monet when Ross pulled out the second name, though that quickly crumbled when he heard his own name being called out.

Miles stood stock still for a moment, his eyes wide as he froze for a good long moment, and then the urge to bolt was totally overwhelming. He spun on his heel to do just that, but then he saw the Sentinels headed his way and swallowed loudly, sure his eyes were going to pop out of his head for how wide they were.

"O-okay," he muttered half to himself, spinning on his heel once more as he just really didn't want to get carried today, thank you very much.

But he definitely still wanted to bolt, so he maybe took off at a bit of a run to the stage, which had the Sentinels up there looking worried, but he still came skidding to a stop in front of Ross, wide-eyed and trying hard not to keep going past the guy as Ross looked him over — and Miles could see the second that Ross dismissed him as a possibility, too, as the escort let out a heavy sigh and sounded clearly disappointed as he presented both of the tributes to the district.

No faith at all, that guy.

Miles shoved both of his hands in his pockets after he and Monet shared a quick handshake, giving her an encouraging sort of grin as they both headed to the Justice Buildings for the goodbyes.

He was kind of hoping his dad would come by, though he wasn't really that surprised when it was Ganke who came instead, wide-eyed and in total disbelief.

"You're in the Games," he said, and Miles just gave him a dry look.

"Yeah, yeah, I noticed that, thanks, Ganke."

"You're in the GAMES."

"Yeah."

"Miles!"

"Ganke — seriously—"

"The Games, Miles!"

Miles just shook his head at Ganke. He'd been planning to freak out himself, but that was hard to do when his best friend was freaking out — which, now that he thought about it, was actually probably a good thing as now he sat down with Ganke, both of them working hard to come down from sheer panic.

"So… what're you gonna use as your Games name?" Ganke asked at last after a long moment of silence.

"Really? That's what you're thinking about right now?"

"Well, I gotta know how to address my sponsor money."

"Ganke…" Miles shook his head. "You don't have any sponsor money."

"Says you. I have some stuff scraped up—"

"For your school stuff. I know — I saw your application for the science courses." Miles shook his head at his best friend. "Besides, I don't need your science money. I'm adorable." He flashed a huge grin that he really didn't feel, but it had Ganke snorting out a little laugh all the same.

But now that they were both coming down out of the trees, of course that was when the Sentinels showed up to let them know that their time was up. Miles looked past the white uniforms once more to see if maybe his dad was there, but still nothing, so he let out all his breath with his cheeks puffed out. "See ya later!" he called out to his best friend before the Sentinels directed him toward the train.

For some reason, they seemed to think he needed the directing. And there were more than just two of them.

Miles took a deep breath and put up his hands to frame the Sentinels in a square, one eye closed. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I could take just the two. Good move bringing backup."

The Sentinels shared a look and more or less shepherded Miles — and Monet — onto the train, where Ross was long gone, not even bothering with this year's tributes, though Sam had a friendly smile at least. Miles sorta had to feel bad for the guy, though. He probably had the youngest tributes this year — twelve and thirteen.

Monet didn't say a word except to take a seat nearby, but Miles waved at Sam with the tips of his fingers. "So-o-o-o. What now?"

"Now we try to get to know each other a little bit on the way to the Capitol," Sam replied with a gentle kind of smile. "Get to know your partner too. Watch the other Reapings if you want to — just to see what's coming."

"Don't worry," Miles said with a small smile that he didn't really feel. "They won't see us coming, right?"

"They never do," Sam replied.


July 1: Reaping Day

District Twelve


It was still early morning when America Chavez made her way back into the district after a good three days of hiding out in the woods. She had plenty of catches over her shoulder, but really, she'd been enjoying the distance. Things got sort of depressing around Twelve the closer they got to the Reaping, especially since last year, so she just left for a while — clear her head. Get away from it all.

She'd hardly taken two steps toward their hideout, though, before Eli Bradley noticed her. The guy had probably been waiting up for her, and she almost had to smirk at the relieved sort of look on his face. "What?" she asked with an innocent expression. "You thought I was just gonna ditch you losers?"

"You've been threatening to for a while now," Eli pointed out, but America waved him off.

"Yeah, only when the kids get… you know. Like they are." She shoved her catches and supplies into his arms and turned the other direction. "Tell Nate something came through the woods and snapped his trap, so I'll need another few," she told him over her shoulder as she headed off. She had other places to be that morning that didn't involve getting a lecture from Eli.

She'd have to go back to their place eventually and change into a dress, which she hated. She was much more comfortable in the short black shorts and tee shirt she was wearing now, and the Reaping dresses weren't even short enough to make it fun while she had to stand there and listen to the whole spiel about how great and honorable the Games were or whatever. She'd lost two of her best friends to the Games.

Talk about great and honorable.

She picked a few leaves out of her bushy hair as she made her way to the other side of the district — sleeping on the ground hadn't done her any favors, and she was still a little sore — before she hit the place where she knew she'd find most of their group. Billy Kaplan, her best remaining friend, had been coming down to the cemetery for three years running now since Cassie Lang, and now with Kate Bishop — his brother, Tommy, was there too. And Teddy Altman — Teddy was always wherever Billy was, especially when Billy was upset.

So there they were. Every one of the kids that was keeping her in the stupid district. If she thought for half a second she could have just taken them and run away from all of Marvel, that was where she'd be, but where Teddy could probably keep up, Billy was not exactly cut out for anything that wasn't books, and Tommy was pretty much a blinking neon sign to Sentinels with how often he was in trouble. She'd make it maybe two days before they got caught.

"How you doing?" she asked with a small frown as she slid up next to Billy, who startled the slightest bit at her sudden appearance.

Billy turned to her and then broke into a little smile, throwing his arms around her neck. "When did you get back? Where did you come from? Don't scare me."

She just chuckled and returned the squeeze. "Um ... like ten minutes ago, the woods, and you really need to get your hearing checked, because I wasn't even trying to scare you." She glanced around the cemetery for a moment. The boys were gathered where Cassie and Kate were, the special part of the cemetery dedicated to Games deaths, and she had never really been comfortable there. "So — I need you guys back at the ranch, or Eli's going to have my head for being gone for so long. You guys can diffuse him, right?"

"Nobody can diffuse him — we just let him go and watch the explosion," Tommy said with a crooked sort of smile.

"I'll talk to him," Teddy assured America, his arm around Billy's shoulders as soon as America had let the scrawny kid go from her own hug. She gave Teddy the slightest of nods before all four of them headed back.

The boys, of course, were already dressed for the Reaping, so America kicked them all out while she found her red dress — as short as she was allowed to get away with, because screw the rules — and double-checked to make sure she didn't have any dirt or marks from the forest before she emerged again.

"So, what was the point of you dragging us down here if you were just going to make us stand outside?" Tommy asked, shaking his head at her.

"Gotta stay in practice," she replied easily, draping an arm around his shoulders and leaning in conspiratorially. "Can't let you boys forget who's in charge."

"That would be easier to believe if you were around more often," Eli grumped, but America just gave him a look.

"Yeah, remind me where the food comes from," she said his way, and while he chewed that one over, she pulled Billy under her other arm and marched off with the twins.

It seemed like the gathering of kids in Twelve just got smaller and shabbier every year, so the little group of misfits that arrived just before the deadline had definitely been missed. There weren't enough kids in the whole district that the difference of six wasn't a whole row of missing boys — and America. Some of the Sentinels were giving Tommy in particular looks like they had been looking forward to having to go hunt him down for skipping out.

Tommy just saluted them as he passed with a pleasant "Mornin'" that had Billy laughing outright at his brother.

America shook her head and shooed the boys off to go stand in their respective places. Nate and Eli were just one Reaping away from being out of the running, so she had half an eye on both of them, knowing their names were in most often — though… Tommy's was probably in there plenty as well.

She'd hit anyone who said it, but she was scared out of her mind at every Reaping since Cassie's. After Cassie and then Kate — she was half convinced the Capitol was just… out to get their group, though she didn't see how. They were careful, and only Tommy got caught — and it was always about stupid stuff unrelated to what they were doing, like that time he caught half the Sentinel wing on fire. Somehow, somehow, Billy had managed to make a convincing argument that it was accidental, but still.

Twelve probably had the quietest stage presence out of any of the districts, too, because their escort, Ian Boothby, was painfully shy — why he wanted to be an escort in the first place was anyone's guess — and Black Bolt simply didn't speak, so the whole thing was short and sweet and practically right to the video.

America glanced over at the other kids on her 'team.' Eli had that locked jaw look he always got, like he was ready to bolt or punch someone; it was a tossup really. And Nate… Nate was Nate. It was a wonder he wasn't insane yet from boredom. His mind worked a thousand miles an hour, and he was stuck fixing the mines. That was the best they could give him.

But the knot of her three friends in the middle of the fifteen-year-old boys was ... it was both endearing and almost sad. Teddy was holding Billy's hand, and Tommy was leaning his chin on both of their shoulders at once with how close they were standing, just screaming his boredom with his whole body language.

That made five boys to watch out for this year, and since there weren't that many kids in Twelve, America had to admit the odds weren't in her favor even if she wasn't halfway convinced the people in charge just had it out for them.

So America almost wasn't surprised at all — though she was pissed about it — when Ian called out Teddy Altman's name as the boy tribute that year.

America stared fixedly at the tall, broad blonde who was slowly detaching from Billy. He'd been going out into the woods with America often enough, especially after Kate died, that she was pretty sure he could handle himself. He was strong, resourceful—

"I volunteer!"

"Dammit, Billy," America muttered under her breath as the scrawny, skinny, bookish, dark-haired boy ran out in front of his boyfriend like the idiot he was.

Ian looked surprised, since, well, no one had volunteered in Twelve in — actually, America was pretty sure that was it. No one had done it but Billy. Frikkin. Kaplan.

Teddy gaped at Billy, though America was almost proud of the kid when Billy's response was just to turn around and, right there, kiss the stuffing out of Teddy before he made his way up to the stage. Yeah. That was going to get played over and over again in the Capitol.

America ran a hand over her face, watching as Billy marched himself up to the stage and gave his name to Ian so Ian could properly announce him, and she let out a groan. Out of all the kids in their team, Billy was the least capable of making it out of the Games alive.

She glanced over at where Teddy was still standing shell-shocked in the middle of the aisle where Billy had left him. Eli and Nate looked crestfallen. And Tommy had, somehow, in the space of just the few minutes it had taken Billy to get to the stage and get introduced, gotten himself grabbed by two Sentinels as he was very clearly arguing with them about how, no, they had the wrong twin and he was the one who volunteered, stupid.

She swore under her breath again as she realized she just… wasn't equipped to go through this whole thing again. Three years of watching on the sidelines? Watching a third friend die and not being able to stop it? Yeah. She wasn't going to do that.

She shouldered her way through the crowd of girls with her hand raised, half glaring at Billy. "Yeah, me too. I volunteer," she called out, never looking away from Billy the whole time she made her way up so that, by the time they shook hands, he properly understood how mad she was at him.

"If you die, I'm gonna kill you," she told him low, and he gave her a nervous kind of smile.

Ian presented the two of them to the district with a clearly shocked expression on his face. One volunteer was groundbreaking, but two was… The guy looked like he needed to sit down.

And then, when the Sentinels thought they could separate America and Billy for the part where the families came to say goodbye, they were sadly mistaken.

"He's my best friend, so shove it," America said to the Sentinel who tried to direct her to the other room, literally pushing past the guy to plant herself in the corner of the room, arms crossed over her chest and more or less overseeing the whole scene as not only Teddy but both of Billy's parents were pretty much a blubbering mess. Besides, it wasn't like she'd have anyone coming for her. Her moms were long dead.

"You're going to try to get him out, aren't you?" Tommy asked as he joined her in the corner of the room, and she just nodded.

"Twelve's used to losing the girls from our group — they won't miss me either," America pointed out. "Billy should get married. Have a family. I sure won't."

Tommy tilted his head at her for a second before he wrapped her up in a warm hug. "Knock 'em dead. All of 'em."

She just smirked his way. "Yep. That's the plan."