A/N

As promised, here is the filler chapter I was planning! Sorry it took so long. Enjoy pre-university life while it lasts, kids!

Just so you all know, this takes place BEFORE the theme for this year's Games is announced. I just wanted to reshow some familiar faces to refresh your memory and show the tributes interacting with one another and dealing with the upcoming Games and all.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy it and let me know if there are any faces you would like to see in the next chapter (which I THINK is opening ceremonies).

Chase Keldheart POV

"Your rooms are just down the hall over there. Feel free to go wherever you like!" the escort beams, yellow eyes glinting unnaturally in the light of the train windows.

The red-headed girl – Aria, I've learned – simply nods her head shakily, still clearly in shock from the reaping.

"Thanks, gorgeous!" I, on the other hand, respond with a wink.

The escort giggles, skipping away like a little schoolgirl off to who-knows-where.

Aria turns to me, deep blue eyes starting to swim a little with tears.

"I'm just gonna go to my room a little bit," she informs me in a quivering voice.

For once, I decide to hold back on the joking.

"Sure, take your time. Come see me if you need cheering up, we can hide all of the escort's shoes around the train or something."

She chuckles half-heartedly before shakily making her way over to her temporary bedroom, closing the door tightly behind her.

With a sigh, I head over to my own room just beside hers. Despite the circumstances, it'll be nice to live in luxury for a while. Right?

I open the door, taking everything in.

I am completely taken aback by the sight. And that's rare.

The bed is bigger than all of the beds in my parent's house combined. There is a walk-in closet full of clothes I will not even have the opportunity to wear. A hole in the wall where I can ask for essentially anything I want and have it delivered to me. After poking around a little more, I even discover a device that can change the scenery of the window. I swiftly change it to a grassy farmland scene, to match District 10.

Suddenly, all at once, my fascination turns to anger.

How can the Capitol keep all this technology to themselves? While those of us in the districts are dying of starvation?

And now they're offering it to us, showing us the life we never got to live right before we die.

I normally don't get enraged over the Capitol. My hatred for them has always taken the form of humor, of pranks, of me ridiculing anything and anyone tied to them.

However, this enrages me. There is a fifteen year old girl in the room beside me, who's probably bawling her eyes out amongst all the fancy Capitol stuff they've provided her with. I have no doubt there is at least one twelve year old on another train doing the same.

I've always hated the Games. But being a part of them now, and seeing what the past tributes have seen in those first few hours after the reaping, I have never been so appalled.

And so, I decide to do what I do best. I place the joke on them, on the Capitol. I transmit my disgust, my hatred for the Capitol into the form of a prank.

I rip the clothes off of their hangers, ripping them to shreds with the steel cutlery I don't even know how to use. I smear the sticky, thick substances that poured out of the shower walls at the press of a few buttons all over the mirrors and walls. I completely trash the room.

I'll be sleeping on the couch in the living area tonight. This way, everyone on this train will know that I don't need or want their Capitol luxuries. Plus, the look on the face of whoever finds it will be delightful to see.

I could only wish that asshole peacekeeper from this morning would have been around to see it. The look on his face would have been the true kicker

Riker Hero POV

"And THESE," the escort trills on excitedly, "are your bedrooms. Any questions?"

Anyonka and I shake our heads in unison; no doubt Anyonka is as fed up of this little mini house-tour as I am.

"I'd like to head back to my room if you don't mind."

I turn in mild shock towards Anyonka. I do recognize her from the training center and know she's one of the snarkier girls in the district, but her tone seems colder than I would expect even towards the escort.

She does not even wait for an answer. She simply walks off, leaving the escort dumbfounded. Halfway out of the room, however, she turns back around.

"Hey, Hero. You coming?"

Me? What for?

"Yeah, of course."

We leave the room together.

Anyonka leads the way, making herself comfortable on a soft-looking couch by the window. She turns to me and pats the space next to her, beckoning me to sit down.

"Come on over, Hero. Let's have a nice little chat."

I seat myself next to her, eagerly awaiting what she might have to say.

"You're Career material. I've seen it. I know what you can do."

I'm not so sure of how to answer this. Do I thank her?

"You're not so bad yourself, Condro."

Yeah, I like that.

She simply smirks at me, those unnaturally red lips striking against her equally unnatural-looking pale skin.

"I've been watching the boys at the training center for years. Trying to figure out who might be my district partner when the time finally came. You've been an option for three or four years now."

This time I am the one who smirks. There are hundreds of boys training at the center, and she noticed me.

"Yeah, well I've noticed you too. You chop through those training dummies like nobody's business."

"The point is," Anyonka starts, "we're gonna make a great team. I have no idea who the other Careers will be, but I think we'll be the two strongest."

I ponder on her words for a second.

"What are you saying, Anyonka?"

She smirks again, her deep blue eyes glinting almost eerily.

"I'm saying that we'll dominate these Games. The two of us. We'll use the other Careers for as long as we need to before picking them off and heading to the end together."

I'll admit, this does seem like an attractive idea. Being in the Careers has its benefits. After we're done with them though, I plan to ditch Anyonka too.

She doesn't need to know that for the time being.

"Definitely. We'll be running the whole damn show."

Anyonka's smirk stretches into a full-out grin.

"Perfect. All will go according to plan."

She gets up from the couch, plucking a muffin from a bowl on the table several feet away as she leaves.

"I'll be looking forward to working with you in the arena, Riker." She says over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall.

Colleen Ryder POV

I'm sitting in my new temporary bedroom, taking in the new and unfamiliar setting around me. I've already set the window scenery to the closest thing I could find to district 9 – a field of wheat.

I can't stop thinking about what must be going on back home. How is Jay handling taking care of Hunter? Is anyone helping them?

I just hope they're okay.

I am ripped from my thoughts as the escort's shrill voice penetrates through the walls.

"Colleen! Dinner'll be ready in five, girl! Get ready for the best meal of your life!"

I roll my eyes, getting up from the bed and heading towards the kitchen area of the train.

Jason is already here, sitting slouched in his chair and fiddling with his hood. I don't think I've ever seen him without it.

I wonder what his hair looks like.

We sit in silence for several seconds before Jason breaks it.

"Hey, fellow lottery-winner."

I grin at this, remembering his words upon leaving our respective tribute-rooms.

Looks like we've won the lottery.

Such a dark joke to make, playing with the fact that two of the unluckiest tributes in the district just got served the biggest plate of bad luck possible. The exact flip-side to people who have good fortune.

"Hey," I chuckle, "any idea what the chefs in this place have planned for us?"

He shrugs, and I could barely see it, his hood pretty much engulfing his shoulders completely.

"Let's just hope it's edible.'

Before I can say anything else, the escort comes in with our mentor, none other than Tanzy Brior. The victor whose hair dye I stole to make the purple streak in my hair. Her hair color of the week just so happens to be a fiery red-orange color.

The Avox's come then, placing dish after dish on our table, and I can feel my mouth watering instantly at the sight. I have never seen this much quality food in one place, even before my parents died.

"Eat up, kiddos! It's time for the feast!" the escort cries happily.

Tanzy doesn't say a word, eating the meal in silence. Surely she's used to this kind of feast by now. Jason and I, however, immediately begin devouring our food eagerly.

It is like heaven for the taste buds.

The soup, the meat, the cakes and chocolate and pastries. I wish I could just eat everything but unfortunately my stomach is too used to going hungry.

Jason, although not fazed so much by the sight of the food probably due to having stolen similar things from the rich families in the district, seemed just as entranced with the taste. He ate silently, avoiding eye contact with everyone at the table.

I take extreme comfort in the thought that Hero's last meal before entering the Games was probably similar to this.

Eve Summers/Ivana Winter POV

All lights are out, the entire train in complete silence. There is not a single sound or movement anywhere, Poseidon apparently completely silent in the room beside me. Maybe even asleep.

I have been laying here for what feels like hours, completely unable to fall asleep. Not only are my own thoughts keeping me up, but Ivana is here too leaving me in that strange semi-conscious state from the tribute room again.

I wanna start with Poseidon. He should be the first one we kill. Cocky little-

She continues to insult Poseidon while I ponder her words. No, we can't kill Poseidon. He's our district partner. No one back home would ever forgive us – would ever forgive me – if we killed him.

Fine. We'll just have to arrange a little accident. We get an ally and then kill them immediately after they kill Poseidon.

I sigh, burying my face into the pillow. Does she have any idea what a reputation is? People back home will be terrified of me.

Good. Why wouldn't you want people to be terrified of you? Everyone would stay out of your way and you wouldn't need me to protect you anymore.

I just ignore her, thinking ahead to my plan for the next few days. We've got the parade, training and interviews to worry about.

Ugh, the parade. Smiling at the crowd and all that? Nope. You can deal with that, Eve.

Perfect. I actually quite like the idea of the parade. Having people screaming my name and throwing flowers my way would be a nice change from the rest of my miserable life.

I move along with my thoughts before they could stray to Jeremy, and what he did. Training. This was the issue from the tribute room. Who deals with it?

Me. Definitely me.

I don't see why I can't do it. It would be good for me to learn. Besides, what if you don't react fast enough to use a weapon on a tribute for me, Ivana?

Have you not known me long enough? I'm as sharp as ever with my reaction time. Don't worry about training. Besides, I need to learn too! I wasn't born with complete weapon knowledge.

Huh. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes complete sense. Ivana only knows what I know. After all, we do share a brain.

Trust me, Eve. I'll take care of training.

No. We take turns. I will do everything in my power to stay present at least half the time.

Ivana grumbles in the back of my mind, annoyed. I think it's clear I'll be doing interviews.

You got that right. I'd rather not talk to the neon-haired freak.

Good. At least we've got the pre-Games situation settled. As for the Games….

I sigh, trying my best to stay calm. I'd rather not participate.

Leave it to me. I'm a great actress. You saw me at the rea- oh, no. You didn't. You weren't there. Well, I was perfect. Everyone thought I was you. I'll wait for exactly the right moment to strike. You'll see. I'll protect us, and get us out of there with the most kills in history.

I ignore her, hoping she'll go away soon. I've decided to never fall asleep before she has left; who knows what she would do?

I feel all of my senses sharpening. She's gone. For now.

I roll over, facing the window and pretending the simulated orchard outside my window is the same one I usually see at home, and fall asleep almost instantly.

A/N

So, that's it! Sorry again that it took so long! So, the next chapter is the tribute parade! I finished school yesterday so hopefully it'll be up a little quicker. Thanks for sticking by, and please review!

Also, if you noticed ANY continuity/personality errors with any of the tributes shown here please let me know! I quickly skimmed over their reaping chapters but I may have missed things.

Thanks!

Candy ~