The Presidential Mansion

12:20 AM

"Interesting pair, those two." Observed Aria, swirling her nearly-empty glass of wine. "The girl is rather enthusiastic, and the boy..." She squinted at the screen. "I'm not sure what to think of him yet."

"I'm certain you'll gain a full understanding at the parade, your majesty." Peter said, filling Aria's glass with more sparkling wine. "You'll be given a full balcony view, where you may view the tributes at ease."

"True, true." The President sipped the beverage, allowing the taste to linger over her tongue before taking yet another full. It was creamy, delicious, and refreshing. "Peter, do me a favor and play the District 2 reaping."

"Already on it, madam president."

Argus Naggia

District 2 Male

Age: 14

7:00 AM

"Argus! Argus, help me!"

"Grab my hand!"

"I don't want to go! Don't let them take me!"

"Sky!"

"Argus!"

The boy sat bolt upright in bed, clutching the sheets and sweating heavily. These past few nights, vivid dreams had been tormenting him, making it nearly impossible to gain any rest. Fumbling in the new light of morning, he placed his sweaty palm against his bare chest, feeling the steady thrum-thrum of his heart beneath the skin.

Next to his bed on a tattered nightstand sat a pile of old letters, each one addressed to him in careful cursive writing. He chose one at random and opened it:

Dear Argus,

It's getting worse here. I thought there was some sort of fund put aside for emergencies but I guess there isn't. The woman has made me work long hours fishing to earn extra money, but it's still not enough. Her husband spends all the cash on whiskey and yells at his wife if she tells him to stop.

How are you doing? Is the house still there? Please write back, and don't do the thing we talked about. It's not worth it.

Eat for me, okay?

With Love,

Sky

Argus sighed deeply and pressed the letter to his chest. It'd been three and a half weeks since he relieved his last letter from his sister, and nothing else had been sent yet. He'd checked the mail every day, waiting for some sign from her, but all he received were bills that constantly reminded him how in debt he was. Of course he received some consolation money when his parents passed away, but those funds soon ran out, and Argus had nowhere to go. His parents had been too in debt when they passed to leave Argus any significant monetary value, so Argus spent his days dreading the upcoming time when he would be forced out of his home and forced into an orphanage. His twin sister had already been given the treatment, but she was sent to an orphanage in another district...what if he's sent somewhere even farther away from home?

No, no, Argus couldn't think about these types of things now. What he should be considering was the plan, the one he talked about with Sky. It was a long shot, but what did he have to lose?

His heart settled someone in his stomach, yet Argus managed to ignore his feelings of inner torment. He'd been doing so for years, so he was rather skilled in the art of subduing his emotions. It was how he'd stayed so strong in the years following the death of his parents.

Sky was all Argus had left, and he would do anything within his power to keep her safe. This meant doing things that she may not agree with...like 'the plan'.

Argus had quickly made up his mind. If it would keep Sky safe, Argus was willing to give his plan his best shot. So, Argus stomached his fears andclimbed out of bed, to prepare for the reaping.

Not much clothing was left for Argus after his parents passed, so he wore a simple gray shirt with tattered blue jeans and hoped he looked appropriate enough. Of course, he got a few judgements like glances as he strode down the street, but no one said anything; Argus had quite the tough, steely reputation throughout the District as a result of keeping his feelings hidden within, so no one had the gall to mess with him.

That was fine. Argus didn't really care for people, anyways.

When he arrived at the reaping, Argus glanced about at the crowd surrounding him. It was filled with a variety of children, elders, mothers and fathers...

"Mom, why do I hafta wear this suit?"

"Because, sweetie, this is an important event. You have to look your best."

"Sky gets to wear a dress!"

"Well if you wanted a dress, you should've told us before."

"I didn't even know we were going till now!"

"Oh, calm down, Argus. It's just for an hour or so."

"But it's itchy..."

The memory surfaced in Argus's mind and left as quickly as it came. He always had a hard time remembering his mother, but now the faint details were beginning to refine themselves in the haze; gentle, thin hands, a warm smile, soft hair. He couldn't remember her face exactly, but he could remember her in a sense, how she made him feel...she provided security and love, something that Argus never had known he was missing...

"Well, too bad." Argus muttered to himself. "She's dead and I need to get over it."

"Um, young man?"

Argus spun around to face the source of the voice; the district mayor, a chubby man with a walrus-like mustache.

"You best be getting into the bloodtest line, the escort takes the stage in about..." He checked the golden watch on his wrist. "...Five minutes or so."

"O-oh, uh..." Argus shuffled his feet. "Thanks, sir."

"What was that?"

But Argus was already off, hurriedly trotting away from the mayor and towards the shortening line of boys waiting to have their blood tested. By the time he had reached the front, Argus could hear a booming voice filling the stadium.

"Good morning, District 2! This is Meritt O'Clause, coming to you all the way from the Capitol!" Argus rushed to his respective position as an ear-splitting roar of applause emitted from the audience, who were all rather eager to serve their district.

"My, my, you all seem rather joyous, hm? Well, let's waste no further time and get started! Ladies first!" Fortunately, Argus managed to find a place to stand just as Meritt had plucked the female tribute's name from the bowl. She examined it in the faint rays of sunlight, which bounced gleamingly off her well-done manicure.

"Hm...Alia Gaajra?"

"Son of a bitch!" A girl's voice crowed, and the girls broke into a rain of giggles. The girls parted to make way for Alia, who seemed to be rather chipper in the heat of the moment. She casually stepped onstage, taking her place to the right of Meritt and waiting patiently.

"You've got quite the sailor's mouth there, haven't you?" Meritt pursed her lips, as Alia smirked. "Do we have any volunteers?"

The crowd seemed to deem Alia fit for the task of competing in the games, to which she responded with a quick raise of the middle finger. Meritt gasped horribly and the audience broke into laughter once more, something that managed to set Argus's slight nerves at seas.

"Well, now, enough of that." Spat Meritt, who was puckering her lips as though she'd just tasted something particularly sour. "Hopefully our male tribute is a bit more refined."

The last of Argus's joy dissipated into the morning air, and he solemnly kicked a nearby pebble aside, reminding himself that this was for the benefit of Sky and himself.

Meritt seemed a bit reluctant to choose the male tribute, apparently afraid that the other would be just as crude. Carefully, she plucked out a slip of paper between forefinger and thumb, trotting back to the microphone and reciting the name aloud:

"Hugh Janus."

"...I volunteer." Argus raised a fist into the air and began making his way down the aisle of boys, who all stared at him as he passed by. Silence took hold over the square as Argus slowly but surely climbed up the stairs that led to the stage.

"Oh, we seem to have a volunteer!" Smiled Merrit, who was rather pleased at his silent manner. "Young man, what is your name?" She raise the microphone to his lips.

"I, uh...Argus Naggia." He coughed. Even over the speakers, he was barely audible.

"Well, ladies, here we have them! This year's District 2 tributes!" The audience broke into a polite round of applause, this one much quieter than the first. Now that he was up here, able to see all the other strong, muscular males that could have gone in his place...Argus regretted his decision. Then, he remembered what Sky had said in her letter. She hadn't a place to sleep, or any time to herself. She was treated like garbage with her adoptive family. Sky needed the winning money, Argus needed it too, so they could recouperate and be a family once more.

At last, Alia and Argus were escorted offstage, into private meetup rooms where they may say their final goodbyes to their families. Argus's room contained a singular plush loveseat, which he gratefully sat down on.

Argus waited the whole ten minutes he was allowed to say goodbye. The door that he entered through only opened again when he boarded the train.

Poor Argus! I feel bad for him.

As you may remember, Alia is the Bloodbath tribute I used as an example in an earlier chapter, and I've stated before that Bloodbath tributes won't get their own chapters revolving around them; they'll have their character expressed through the POV's focusing on non-Blood wth tributes.

So, that's it for this chapter, on to District 3! Thanks for reading!