"You missed the other reapings," Brutus declared as he walked into the bedroom in the District 2 suite. I'd been standing in the middle of the room, staring glumly at the bed and thinking how the last person to occupy this room had been my sister, when he walked in completely uninvited and sat heavily on the very bed I had been contemplating.

I blinked, pulling myself away from the precipice of my thoughts and scowled at him. "No one invited you in here," I spat, turning towards the clothing Cerulean had left for me and absently inspecting them.

He grunted indifferently. "Cashmere was reaped, Gloss volunteered," he said, snapping my attention back to him. I spun to face him, my hair flying out around me and he nodded solemnly in confirmation. "You'll know nearly everyone in that Arena, Reyes, better get used to killing your friends."

"None of them are my friends and I have no problem with killing any of them," I snapped the lie at him despite how I was reeling from the knowledge that Cashmere and Gloss, who I had shared the mentor's room with for years now, would be my opponents. For a brief second I wondered if Gloss volunteered to protect Cashmere, how they felt about the knowledge that only one of them could survive at best, how their mother felt saying goodbye to both her children, but then I stopped myself. I didn't care about them. And I certainly didn't care about their mother.

"Beetee and Wiress," Brutus continued, ticking names off on his fingers as he informed me who else would be among my potential kills. "Finnick. Annie Cresta was reaped, Mags volunteered." I cringed slightly at the thought of facing Finnick Odair in an Arena. He was a very popular Victor and unfortunately he possessed both skill and intelligence. Still, I was sure I could beat him if it came down to it. Trident was such an inefficient weapon, I'd always thought so. "Hydra and Acey from Five," Brutus continued. "Two pathetic looking Morphling addicts from Six whose names I didn't even bother to remember. Johanna and Blight from Seven. Cecelia and Woof from Eight, Emmer and Sativa from Nine, Fawn and Herde from Ten, Seeder and Chaff from Eleven, and our two favourite lovers from Twelve, of course," he added bitterly. I smiled menacingly at the thought, the only names on the list that made me feel happy. I had stored away the knowledge that Johanna would be in the Arena with me, and an image of her ruthlessly slaughtering Milena flashed in my mind. That one would make things interesting. With Hazel dead, Johanna would have been the only female tribute for her district. I noted also that Hyde was not the tribute for District Ten and I was unable to stop myself feeling glad about that fact. Only a few of the others were people I had interacted with; few had been mentors in recent years. Of the later districts only Hydra, Johanna, Emmer, Sativa and Fawn were familiar to me, and I definitely felt no fondness for any of them. The less faces I knew in that Arena the better.

"Alliances?" I asked Brutus when I'd processed the list of names. "Cashmere and Gloss, obviously," I added. "Somehow I doubt Finnick Odair will join us."

Brutus grimaced at that but his expression smoothened again before I could properly read it. I narrowed my eyes on him, wondering what had inspired that reaction. Noticing my scrutiny of him he shrugged and waved a hand. "No, safe to say Odair will not be joining our Alliance. Cashmere and Gloss, yes."

"The four Careers back together again," I mused outloud. Everything about these Games was turning out different to my first, so much so that it was almost as if I were going through the whole process again. Back when I had been 17, I had stubbornly rejected the Career Alliance, which, ironically, had included Cashmere and Gloss' sister. The memory of that fact made me pause, reconsidering my new compliance with Career traditions. "We'll have to watch One very closely," I said carefully. Brutus gave me a quizzical look and I sighed. "I killed their sister in my first Arena."

Brutus rolled his eyes like he thought that was just the thing our alliance did not need. He clucked his tongue. "I should have known you would be going into this Arena with half a dozen enemies already," he said in a patronising tone.

"Look around you, Castillo," I snapped, not appreciative of his tone. "You and I walk into every Arena with 23 enemies. We're District 2, everyone hates us."

He chuckled again and rose to his feet. "Well then, you and I will just have to stick together then, won't we?" He walked to the door and paused, turning back to me. "Until the finale, anyway. When it's just you and I, Reyes, oh we'll give them a show."

I smiled at him, showing my teeth. "Don't worry, I'll make sure your death is entertaining."

Cerulean stepped silently around me, adjusting my outfit as we prepared for the tributes parade an hour later. As I stood there and felt the tug of fabric and the press of his hands I couldn't help but remember my first parade outfit - the silver, the dancing specks of steel flying around us, Manius standing next to me in the chariot. It all felt such a long time ago. I suppose it was in a way, much longer than the chronological eight years it had been. I felt like everything about my time here was haunted. Haunted by the ghosts of those I'd killed, Allure looking across at me from near the District 1 chariot, Manius standing where Brutus nodded gruffly at Chaff, Raziel's amber eyes stared solemnly at me from the place where the person I want to kill most in the world stood. The worst ghost of all was Clove, of course. She was everywhere. Everything I touched, every place I stood, every action I did I found myself thinking that she was probably the last one to touch that, stand there, do that, and it damn near drove me insane.

"You're done," Cerulean murmured, his eyes raking over me critically. I looked down at his creation disinterestedly, though I couldn't deny that he had done a spectacular job as usual. While many of the other districts around us looked as ridiculous as usual - district 7 were trees yet again - Cerulean had created an image of strength and viciousness for the two of us. My dress resembled the one I had worn for my victory interview, black, fitted, and flowing like oil around me. Brutus was in black as well, a fitted tunic that strongly resembled our training outfits back home. Making the sleek black even more menacing were the trails of deep crimson silk that draped around us like trails of blood. It was a promise, a promise of the blood we would shed in the Arena. Brutus winked at me as I glanced at him, swirling one finger through a trail of 'blood' around his shoulder and holding it up. Cerulean swatted at his hands and Brutus laughed, wandering away towards a group of Capitol women who fluttered nervously as he approached.

I stayed where I was, unable to bring myself to pander to the Capitol people as he did. As Cerulean too wandered away, muttering absently, I took the opportunity to look around. The atmosphere was so different to previous years, both my own Games and when I had stood here with my tributes. Some tributes had their mentors by their side but some districts didn't have enough Victors to provide tributes and mentors. Our own mentors were nowhere to be seen. Instead of the usual tense silence and challenging looks passed between tributes there was an easy, amiable chatter in the waiting area. Everyone here knew each other, one way or another. Even those that didn't were being introduced by their common acquaintances and the mere fact that they were all twice tributes and once victors seemed enough to form a bond. I watched Finnick Odair sidle up to Fire Girl and lean in conspiratorially towards her. I growled in my throat at the sight. It was pathetic how everyone pandered to this girl, just because of how she'd won.

"Makes you sick, doesn't it?"

I turned at the voice in my ear to find Gloss standing beside me, a shimmering golden cloth draped around his tanned, muscular form. He wasn't showing as much skin as Finnick Odair in his knotted fishing net, but he wasn't far off. I averted my eyes, slightly disgusted, and sniffed contemptuously.

"Doesn't matter to me, she'll be dead soon enough."

I sensed Gloss' smile and his eyes upon me as he looked me up and down. "Very nice," he commented in a purr. As one of his fingers trailed down my arm, snagging on a trickle of silk blood, I jumped and glared at him. "The blood suits you," he commented with a grin.

Pointedly I stepped backwards a short distance and turned haughtily to look away. The carriages were shifting slowly into line and I spotted ours, pulled by midnight black horses. I stared at the carriage, recalling the last time I had seen it with Cato and Clove fitted in their golden armour standing in it. The thought sent a dark swirl of despair through me.

"It's a strange feeling isn't it?" Gloss said quietly, following my gaze. I started, having forgotten he was there.

"What is?" I asked stonily.

"Standing where your dead sister stood only a year ago."

Ice slipped through my veins and I forced myself to turn to face his expressionless gaze. It was almost as if he hadn't said anything at all, except the tension hung heavy in the air between us. I had nothing to apologise for. Yes, I had killed his sister. But he had killed someone else's, just as we all had...just as someone had killed mine. Everyone here had lost someone. Everyone in Panem had lost someone.

Differently to Cashmere, I saw that understanding in Gloss' eyes. No matter how much he hated me for causing the death of his sister, I got the feeling he didn't blame me.

"You volunteered to protect Cashmere?" I asked with forced indifference. Despite the fact that I told myself I didn't care, the pain of the situation the two found themselves in hadn't faded from my mind, and I kept coming back to the tormenting idea of walking into the Arena with someone you could never kill.

"I couldn't let you kill both my sisters now, could I?" he said lightly, and I was amazed at his control. Either he was a fantastic actor, or he had forgiven me more than Cashmere for what I had done during the 67th Games.

"Chances are I won't be the one to kill her," I said, copying his tone. My eyes travelled to where Fire Girl was now talking quietly with her Loverboy. "Besides," I added in an undertone. "I have more important deaths to arrange."

Gloss followed my gaze and smiled. "Well, that, we can be of assistance with."

"You two look cosy," Cashmere said, walking up behind us. I turned and surveyed her outfit that matched Gloss'. She was wrapped in shimmering gold that seemed to blend into her flawless tanned skin. There were strands of gold woven into her blonde hair that caught the light as she moved and made her pale blue-green eyes stand out all the more. I looked away as I met them, remembering how when I'd first met her they'd reminded me of someone I couldn't quite place. Now, of course, I knew that person had been Allure.

"We were talking about you actually," Gloss said lightly, pulling his eyes away from Fire Girl and finally looking at his sister. His gaze hardened as his eyes travelled over her clothes and she rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Gloss, you've seen me in less clothing than this before," she chided.

"It's not me seeing you in that I'm worried about," he muttered, glaring around at anyone within a ten foot radius as if they all had dishonourable thoughts about his sister.

"So, you were talking about me, were you?" Cashmere said, flipping one of her curls over her shoulder and studiously ignoring her brother, though the softness in her eyes when she looked at him told me she was quietly grateful for his protectiveness.

Gloss was still busy glaring tributes, mentors and prep teams down so I answered for him without much thought for delicacy. "Yes we were discussing your death actually." She froze for a fraction of a second but then pulled back her practiced smile and looked down at me.

"You had better hope there's no ice picks in that Arena, Two," she said carefully, her tone soft but deadly. "I've thought of a million ways to kill you with one."

I glared at her, staring her down, until I felt a firm hand land on my shoulder and heard Brutus' dark chuckle in my ear. "Now, now, children," he teased in a patronising voice, pulling on my shoulder and forcibly turning me away from Cashmere, breaking our glaring match. "We're all playmates for now, remember that."

"Yeah, come on Cash," Gloss muttered, pulling her away too. "We've got enough enemies to begin with, save the catfight for the final few, okay?"

There was a loud burst of laughter that distracted us all and in unison we glanced over to where Haymitch was clapping Chaff on the back, laughing loudly at something he said. Fire Girl and Loverboy stood smiling nervously as if they didn't quite understand the joke. A low hiss escaped my lips at the sight of them, my anger at Cashmere instantly deflected to my real target. "When it comes to it," I said in a vicious whisper. "She is mine. No one else kills her, got it?" No one answered me and so I spun back to face them, glaring in turn from Brutus to Cashmere to Gloss who all had their eyes narrowed on the pair from Twelve. "Got it?!" I said firmer.

Brutus pulled his gaze away and sighed slightly, patting me on the shoulder lightly. "All yours, kitten," he teased. Cashmere nodded absently, still watching them, and Gloss gave a low grunt of acknowledgement. It was enough for me. I honestly didn't care if I killed a single other tribute as long as I could draw Fire Girl's blood. I hated her for the sheer fact that she was alive. She was nothing. She had not earned the right to life. She had done nothing to deserve the blood pumping through her veins when others did not get that. She stood there, pretending to smile and pretending to be in love, when she was the reason I would never do either of those things again.

A/N: We are so close to the Games mes amis!

In the Arena Ena will be back to her old form, teeth bared and blood rising. How will she feel once the tricks and twists of the 75th Arena start playing out? And how far will she go to ensure that Katniss Everdeen dies in that Arena?

I don't think Cash and Ena will last in their alliance very long...do you? Our four favourite Careers are like wolves roaming the Arena and boy, are they deadly.