POV District 6 Arda Emc

It was time for everybody's favorite day. The day people wait for all year. The Reaping. Among my family, the Reaping day is dreaded. We didn't even speak at all this morning, we have gotten to used to our routine. My sister, Kay, and would get up at virtually the same time and go out to eat dinner with our brother, Bourr, and our parents. She would get dressed while I did my hair, and then I'd get dressed while she did her hair. We'd wait around in the living room with Bourr until our parents were ready, and then we'd leave. You'd think it'd be boring. But all of us are too solemn and scared to focus on that.

Our family has always felt like the "odds weren't in our favor". Once we turned twelve, we were waiting for the day we would get picked. I know that others that had three children didn't feel the same. But since we we're triplets, it hits all three of us together. This is our fourth year in the Reaping. It's a scary thing. Especially since either me or Kay could get picked the same year as Bourr.

"Hey, next," The peacekeeper barked at me. I looked down at my feet while she pricked my finger, and I shuddered as she pressed her finger down. I had always been very intolerant to pain. I could almost feel the pain the tributes were when I saw them on the TV screen. Definitely not a good quality for a tribute. But I wanted to make an impact. I looked up an smiled at her before leaving.

"Thank you." I could feel her eyes follow me as I went to follow Kay, who had already gotten through the line, to our section of the Reaping. I was shaking inside my skin, only showing through my eyes.

"Hey, it's ok," Kay said, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

I couldn't help but smile back at her, but the Anthem started playing, cutting me off. "We'll be fine," I whispered back to her. Of course, I didn't pay any attention to our escort, Dylin Perab, or any of the Dark Days stuff. I could easily step up and say everything he said, and I could narrate the entire video just like President Lotus, and I could do it without a script. My eyes drifted off towards the boys' section. Kay and I had each other during the reaping. Bourr didn't have anyone to tell him that it would be ok. He just had to tell himself. I finally saw him, and I could see his lips moving. I turned to my right, and sure enough, Kay was doing the same.

Every year, the three of us would always mouth the words. And at home, we sometimes would even mock the President, putting on a show for our parents. I turned back to the front stage, and all of a sudden the bright colors of Dylin Perab's suit hit me. Bright turquoise with lime green, with dark magenta cuffs and streaks through his ginger-brown hair. "And first, we will choose the girls' tribute."

"I think I'm going to have a seizure," I whispered to Kay as he strutted over to the bowl and started ravaging through it with a giant paw for a hand. Dylin had always been a bit of a giant. Sometimes even the eighteen-year-olds couldn't match his height.

She smiled at me. "I know I've never seen a real bear, but I'm pretty sure not even the Capitol can make ones with those colors."

When he came back to the center of the stage, he had a look of such pride on his face as he opened the card. I couldn't help but smile, in mock of him. "Kay Emc."

The smile was immediately wiped off my face. "What was that?" I said quietly. And as if in response, his voice played in my head again. Kay started to move past me. I watched her, dumbfounded, until I realized what she was doing. We had always said when we were little that if one of us got picked, the one of the others would go to take their spot - whoever was brave enough. That was back when we were really little, because we thought we'd be able to save Bourr, or he would save one of us. It had probably ten years since then. But I remember it being a promise. It was a promise I would keep.

I shoved past her and ducked under the rope. We were identical twins except for one thing - our eyes. Bourr and Kay had dark brown eyes. I had dark blue. But who would memorize the difference between a pair of nearly identical sisters? Only our family and friends would. "Hey!" Kay screamed when she realized what I had done, running to the edge of the rope. I held my hand out to stop her, before rushing ahead of the peacekeepers to the stage. I kept looking back at her, and she had her mouth hanging open. She wanted to volunteer, but she couldn't wrap her head around what was going on. She couldn't think to volunteer, only to go up there and say her name was Arda.

But the thing was, I was too shocked with myself to announce I was a volunteer. To announce that, "My name is Arda Emc, and I volunteer as tribute." I couldn't do it. I stood up on the stage, rocking on the heels of my feet, my mouth open, trying to say it. But I couldn't.

And then Dylin came back over, and right before I could muster the courage, he announced the boy tribute, "I'iem Perech."

What would I do now? Now they have the two names. It was way too late to announce I was a volunteer for the girls, now that the boy was up on the stage too. I was still a gape as the escort started to herd us into the Justice Building, though he practically had to shove me the whole way. It hit me that I needed to go back. And as soon as I did, I tried to turn us all around and tear back through the doors. But Dylin held me back, without even trying, and I saw that the doors slammed shut. I was now condemned to be Kay Emc. What would the real Kay do from now on? Pretend she is me? She wouldn't be able to enter the reaping as Kay anymore, considering I'd be dead. She'd have to be Arda Emc. But the peacekeepers would have proof that her blood belongs to Kay Emc, not to Arda Emc.

It was very simple, what I had done. I screwed both of us.

POV District 6 I'iem Perech

I stood pacing in the waiting room until my aunt and uncle came. As soon as they walked into the room, I wrapped my arms around them. I felt worse for them than me. My parents had died long ago, and I had moved in with them. But they told me that their daughter, Wuir, had been reaped in the games. I had never met my cousin, because she died in the games. Now their nephew, who they had took in as their son, was getting reaped in. I couldn't die. But there was no way I could live through this either. "It's ok," I told them immediately. "I'll win. I'll live. I'll come back."

"I'iem, nobody ever wins," My uncle growled, pulling away and plopping down onto one of the chairs. I sat down on the couch, my aunt right next to me, her arm still across my shoulders. "Their either careers - otherwise, cheaters - or their not the same. You either have to cheat, or you have to survive. Wuir couldn't survive. You don't have to."

That struck me hard. "We want you to w-live," My aunt said, correcting herself, though she still received a look from my uncle. "But you don't have to for us, for Wuir."

"And we know Kay's family," My uncle continued. "Their very nice. We helped the mother when she had triplets. Kay is one of them - identical triplets. She has her sister Arda, and her brother Bourr. You'd have to separate them if you want to come back."

"This is ridiculous!" I snapped at him, leaning forward, away from my aunt. "You are telling me that it'll be better for everything if I just die in that arena!"

"What are the odds you'll even come back?" He growled, leaning back and readjusting this glasses.

"Nothing," I said immediately. "Everyone in the lower districts know that their as good as dead. But at least their families wouldn't tell them that!"

"I already told someone that, and do you know what happened?" He yelled back.

"Time to go," The peacekeeper's voice came.

"Why so soon?" My aunt asked.

"What, you want the fight to go on longer?" I retorted. My aunt and uncle shared a look, and silently got up and left.

I had always known that my aunt and uncle wouldn't take kindly to me getting reaped, but it hadn't occurred to me that they'd practically tell me to die. The door creaked, and I looked up to see a girl and boy standing in the door. I recognized their faces, but I couldn't place them. But as they sat down on the chairs across from me awkwardly, I recognized them. They looked exactly like Kay, my tribute partner. These must be her siblings. "Hello," I greeted tentatively.

"Hi," The girl said, jumping to take my lead. "My name is Kay, and this is Bourr."

"Kay? But Kay's in the other room...isn't she? Or is that her...what?" I stuttered, completely confused.

"I was called," The girl continued. "But our sister - Arda - took my spot. But she didn't volunteer as herself."

"Why?" I asked, less confused than intrigued now.

"We just talked to her," Bourr jumped in. "She said that she was so in shock herself that she couldn't bring herself to say her real name in time. When we were about five, we all said that if one of us got reaped, one of the other two would step into take their place," He went on. "We got older and realized how dumb that was. That and the fact that the two of them can't volunteer for me, and I can't volunteer for either of them. But apparently, Arda decided to anyway."

"Anyways," Kay continued. "We have a request."

"What's that?" I asked. The story was very touching, but it seemed that Arda had gotten them all into more trouble than it was worth.

"We want you to protect her."