The assignment sheet has my name, outlined in thick black ink, followed by a number, 451. The uniform I held was stiff and smelled like it had been washed with too much bleach, but it would do. As I reached the elevator doors, a guard asked to see my card and I hand it over proudly. The doors open behind him and, to my surprise, he follows me through. A scan of his own identification card follows, and he presses a button below one, engraved with a letter S.

"Where are we going?" I asked. No one else had a personal escort to their assigned training area. Then again, no one had been pointed down this hallway when they received their assignment card. Most had gone through a large set of double doors. I hadn't thought anything of it until now.

"You didn't honestly think you were going to be assigned to any old squadron did you?" The man chuckled. "You're the god damn Mockingjay."

Of course I was special. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't just be another citizen, another soldier, another fighter. The Capitol had made sure of that when I wont he games, and now thirteen was doing a fantastic job with the follow up. I groaned and asked the man beside me what he meant, but he only shrugged and shook his head.

I wasn't even supposed to be a soldier, but ever since Peeta had returned, my attitude about everything had changed. I threw myself into physical training with new fervor. On the third day of my new life, I had resolved to join the army. It was time to come out of hiding and do my job, and what better way to inspire people than to lead them into battle?

"Absolutely not." Haymitch had said when I came to him with my idea. "Why the hell would we risk the face of this rebellion so you can go do what any old soldier is capable of?"

"How can I ask these people to lay down their lives for our cause when I won't even do it myself?" I wasn't going to budge on this. Hell, I didn't even need his permission. But it always helped to have him on my side, so I had come to him first.

"I'm with Haymitch." Gale chimed in. "You can't go out there. You're way too important to the effort back home."

I glared at him. When Peeta had returned and I had essentially tuned Gale out of my life, he hadn't responded well. When he wasn't nagging me, he was shooting daggers in my direction or trying to get my mother and sister to reason with me. The days of us hunting together in the woods faded with my feelings for Gale.

They had argued and argued with me, but in the end it didn't matter. Free will was an amazing thing, and I had stalked out of the room and down to the enlistment service right after our little meeting. After a short physical and mental evaluation, they had told me to come back that night. So here I was, riding an elevator down to some mysterious top secret training area, wondering what Haymitch had done to thwart my plans.

We finally got to our final destination, the elevator winding to a silent halt. The doors slid open and the guard urged me into a large room, completely covered in stainless steel. There was a chair in the middle in front of a desk.

"Sit." He instructed. I considered protesting, but I was worn out from the physical tests, so I complied.

He set down a manila folder in front of me. A small black pen was attached on the outside, and when I turned to ask the guard what to do, he had already gotten back on the elevator. So I was alone with no idea what I was doing.

I decided to fill out the forms in the folder. It was basic stuff. Name, date of birth, parents names, occupation, work history, blah blah blah. Then there were health and safety forms, essentially having me sign my life away to the service. It was mind numbing work, and as the minutes ticked away, my mind began to wander.

Naturally my mind went to Peeta. I had barely seen him since he came back a few days ago. There had been a total of four visits which involved us exchanging awkward small talk. I was instructed not to touch him or talk about anything too emotional, as they were worried it would be a trigger for his hallucinations. But he still laughed when I tried to be funny and smiled when I came into the room, so I didn't care. Hearing him laugh was enough for now.

Everytime I saw his eyes go far away, back to some dark time in the Capitol, I felt a tinge of guilt in my stomach. I couldn't imagine what he had been through. Most likely tortured visions of me killing his family and beatings from the peackeepers. He always came back within a few seconds, but he was never the same right away. Those flashbacks were usually the reason I left. I didn't want to stand there and think about how I should have saved him in the arena.

On my second visit, we began to play the game. "Cato sliced my leg open with a sword." He said, his face twisted in concentration. "real or not real?"

"Real." I grimaced, perched on the edge of his bed waiting for him to get the memory back. He shuddered at the thought.

"There were dogs with human eyes. Real or not real?" He asked

"Ugh. Real, unfortunately." I answered. The questions went on like that for a while. Effie's hair was pink during the first reaping. His house in the Victor's Village was two down from mine. True questions. Real answers. But there was also: you let the Capitol take me in the arena, you didn't try to save my family, I would live if you were dead.

He seemed to avoid discussing our relationship, until finally he let out a choked question. "You kissed me on the beach during the Quarter Quell." He said, his blue eyes boring into mine. "You felt something that night, something more than just panic and survival. Real or not real?"

I paused, unsure of how to respond. The truth would probably be best. "Real." I answered. Just as I was about to follow it up with and I think I love you, his eyes glossed over. When he came to, I left, giving him a solemn and unreturned smile.

"Everdeen." A voice snapped me out of my memory. "Are you done yet?" There was a different guard, this one standing at what I had thought was just another wall panel. It turned out to be a door.

I nodded and stood up, closing the folder and handing it to the man as he ushered me through the door. I stepped into a massive warehouse, only it wasn't a warehouse. There were boxing rings covering one corner, a shooting range in the other, an enormous, box like structure against the wall, and a track surrounding the whole thing.

"Welcome to squad 451." The man said.

"What exactly is squad 451?" I said, marveling at the room around me.

"The ones who are going to end this war." Finnick O'dair was standing to my right, getting up from a chair and making his way over to me. "The best of the best." He followed up. There were several others there, each one slowly making their way towards me.

"Welcome to the team." Another voice chimed in. Gale.