District Five, the District of Power. They are in close relations to District Three, the District of Technology. When one travels on a train into District Five, they would be greeted with tall buildings surrounding the District. This would be a loop of small power plants, the head of them all being inside the Justice Building in the center of the District itself. Occasionally white and blue sparks would dance along the wiring that would line the outside of these buildings. That would always be the cue that the District was alive and in working order. The people in this District would always be proud of how efficient the District is and how they were once the most highly praised because they power the entire country of Panem. Of all the Districts in all of Panem, they are probably the most arrogant, even more so than the Career Districts. But with gold wires around the power plants, it was as if they were trying to seem nicer than they really were.

A blue electric shock zaps a thin, pale hand. Silver specks in indigo eyes seem to illuminate with slight joy at the sight. Stella Hansen can't help but reveal a small smile on her lips. She rubs her feet against the soft carpet beneath her toes for a moment before reaching out and grabbing the metal door handle again. For a split second, a blue electric shock is shown before disappearing. There was something about electricity that intrigued Stella. The way it held power to do most anything. Power to create, destroy, alter. Power to enhance, caress, be manipulated.

Stella always saw herself as the conductor of electricity. She could easily take in electricity and use it to her benefit. With power in her hands, she could destroy, salvage, create, twist. Although it proved no physical power, it proved mental power, and sometimes mental power is better than physical. One doesn't always need to rely on their muscles in their body to accomplish something. Sometimes you can do just as good with your mind.

Her peers around her didn't quite get this message though. They saw the glorious power their District harnessed as something secondary while Stella saw it as something primary. She could do so much once she became nineteen and was eligible to work in the power plants that consumed her District. Only five more years, she would tell herself. Until then, she was stuck in school going about her days with ease. School wasn't a hard thing to Stella, but her parents refused to let her drop out at such a young age. So, determined to prove them wrong and that she indeed was good enough without it, she pushed herself to the maximum and did nothing short of perfect in school.

"Are you touching door knobs again?" Her older brother, Spark, spoke. His surprise appearance didn't surprise Stella one bit. He was known around the District for being elusive, coming out of nowhere and scaring you. But Stella was metal and couldn't be cracked easily.

"C'mon, I know you can hear me Stell." And here comes the obnoxious nickname again. Stella let it go though. She knew that if she just kept silent, her brother would go along his merry way as usual. Some people were just so predictable, Spark being one of them. But this was her brother, one of the only people in her life to show her kindness, generosity. Sure she enjoyed a life of solitude, but the rare socializing was a form of comfort. Succumbing to her innermost thoughts, she decided she wouldn't ignore him. Not today at least.

"Of course I can, I'm not deaf," Stella retorted in her nicest tone possible.

"And she speaks," Spark noted. Stella could practically hear his smirk of pride. She just kept facing the door. They may be in conversation, but eye contact was not required.

"Of course I speak, I have vocal cords don't I?" Stella remarked. She wasn't one for joking, but rather seriousness. If someone let their mind wonder off of the track they were on, trouble would be inevitable.

"Ya know, I always seem to forget how much of a smartass you are. Maybe you should try socializing and actually interacting with humans so that I don't get this little surprise attitude from you every time I try to talk to you," Spark frowned at his little sister's back. She could really be the most annoying, stubborn person in the world. Why was it again that he loved her?

"If I interacted with others they would just find me superior to them and leave because they want to be superior themselves."

"My friends like you plenty. How 'bout this, after the Reaping, you and I can go meet up with just a small group of people and do something fun?"

This caused Stella to turn around, no out of shock though. Her brother was always was inviting her to outings with his friends to try and get her to talk more. She replied with a bland,"You don't need to sugarcoat the truth to spare my feelings Spark. I know your friends don't like me, truth is no one does. Just accept the fact."

Spark's forehead creased in thought,"Why don't you give them a chance? They've given you plenty."

"People can hurt you Spark. The sooner you discover that out, the safer you'll be. Work can't hurt you. Work can't leave you. Why don't you give that a chance? It's given you plenty." Stella said in response.

"I'll give it a chance when you give talking to the outside world a chance."

"That won't happen."

"Then there's your answer."

Stella scowled at her brother's retreating form. He always seemed to corner her and twist her words. How he did that, she didn't know. Brotherly instinct? Natural reactions? Once Spark was out of view, she fixed her dirty blonde hair that was slightly sticking up because of the amount of electrons her body had collected from the door. Looking back at the old, crooked door knob, she sighed. This was her life and there was nothing she could do about it. Maybe metal could melt under pressure. But she wasn't about to give in to her brother's suggestions just yet, she'd hold on to her beliefs for as long as she could.

Ares was a pyramid. He was built up over time by the people around him rather than being developed by himself. Each compliment, each insult, each remark became a brick in his pyramid of a body. The expression "your body is like a temple" is more truth than an expression for Ares Shyne. It only became an expression when he was training. His parents had both dreamed of being in District One someday but ever since the District got an increase in the number of Peacekeepers, travel had been prohibited. So what does a couple do with the thirst to win and gain glory? They live their lives through their children.

With two chances of winning with two strong boys, they were confident that they could get twice the glory. Their eldest son, Dexter, was eighteen and the best the District had to offer. Today, he was going to volunteer and in a few years, Ares would follow. So, until that day, the two brothers had been training day and night for the moment of their glory. Both were strong in build, but not tall in height. Ares was only 5'4", but the muscles the fourteen year-old had made up for he lack of a few inches of the complete intimidation factory.

"Harder Ares! Harder!"

Currently Ares was working out like he did every morning. Today he was greeted with a few punches to a big black bag dangling from the ceiling. With each hit, he let out the irritation that he felt towards his father. He didn't need to be told with every punch that he was a weakling and couldn't make it into the Games. That had been his goal his entire life, and he wasn't about to let it go.

"Come on Ares! You call that a punch? Put some muscle into it!"

Sweat was dripping down his wavy golden hair. At this point though, it could almost be considered brown because of the perspiration that coated it like a blanket. For a split second, he considers stopping to wipe away the beads of sweat on his forehead, but he knew that that would just result in backlash from his father, and that was the last thing he wanted right now. His father would follow the insult with something along the lines of,"Dexter could do better than you!" That statement alone was enough to get Ares' blood boiling. Being compared to his Greek god of a brother, Dexter, was the most annoying thing in the entire universe. Ares was just another pyramid while Dexter was the Great Pyramid of Giza. Oh how Ares yearned for the day the roles would change. He knew that his wouldn't come true without a little initiative, so today he was going to volunteer and win the Games. Sure this was Dexter's last year to volunteer, so what? Dexter always had his parent's favor over Ares. Maybe by winning Ares could get the glory Dexter already had.

"Knock it son! Knock it!"

Ares sent one final blow to the bag before he felt a towel being thrown in his face. His father shook his head in slight disapproval,"You're getting there Ares, we just need to work on it some more. Maybe by the time you're eighteen you'll be able to look like actual competition."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I look more intimidating than the other fourteen year-olds in District Five. I can easily take on anyone who dares to come in my way," Ares stood up for himself. That always seemed to be the case. His father would criticize him then Ares would defend himself.

"I'm not saying you aren't Ares, but you need to keep training before you even think about stepping foot into those Games."

"You have no faith in me. When I volunteer, I'll make those Games one heck of a show! I'll win and we'll be famous. What could be better than that? Your son winning and you getting glory as my trainer?" Ares said, slight anger seeping into his voice.

"It will be even greater when Dexter wins too. Twice the glory, twice the fame, twice the wonder. People will come crawling me to train their children and then we will finally live in the Career Districts where people like us belong."

Although he knew his father had implied that Ares could win as well, he didn't like how his father skimmed over his potential. Ares could be just as amazing as Dexter! And this year, he'd prove it. No longer will it be "Dexter this" or "Dexter that", but rather it will be "Ares this" and "Ares that". His parents would finally accept him, his brother would finally approve of him, and they could all live together in the Victor's Village and be amongst the other two Victors in the village. This was going to be the year, and Ares could feel that deep in his gut.

But he could also feel the sweat dripping down his body. He started rubbing the towel around his body, drying it off from his sweat. At this point, his father had exited from their training room and went back upstairs, probably to go check on Dexter. Ares shook his head at the staircase his father went up. He couldn't wait until after these Reapings.

But for now, he'd shower. Sweat wasn't going to be impressive once he was on that stage in front of all the sponsors.

Standing in the sun amongst her fellow fourteen year-olds, Stella was getting slightly irritated. She could see the stares the people around her were giving her. She wasn't blind. Still, she held her head high and just stared hard at the stone stage in front of the crowd of people around her. She heard a few hurried footsteps coming from around her as the late showers decided that they should probably arrive at the Reaping. The latecomers were the reason the nerves were high. The longer the wait, the higher the anticipation. The higher the anticipation, the higher the nerves. It was simple knowledge.

And then the video started going off, cutting to random scenes. It appeared that whoever was projecting the video was having some technical difficulties. Whoever it was, it was most likely those in the Capital who sat behind a computer screen their entire lives to make sure everything went smoothly.

A woman in a bright green dress that went down to her mid-thigh appeared onstage. Her green lips were pursed and she ran her dark hand through her straight brown hair. She nearly knocked off the abstract headpiece of matching green off her head in the process. She turned to the microphone and in a high-pitched voice said,"Pardon the interruption, we seem to be experiencing some minor difficulties with our video."

Just then the mayor tapped her shoulder and made a motion that clearly said,"Proceed anyways."

Green Girl simply nodded her head and turned back to the audience, a nervous smile on her face. She was clearly new to this job. It was evident once she stared speaking,"Y-Yes, uh, let's move on to the tribute portion of the program shall we?"

With a slight pause, as if she was expecting a response, she walked over to the first bowl on her left. It was so quiet in the vicinity of the Justice Building that the only thing heard around Stella was Green Girl's heels clicking on the stone floors. Everyone around her was holding their breaths as she pulled out a slip with her long, and not surprisingly, green fingernails.

Opening the slip, her voice called out,"Stella Hansen!

Metal can't crack with ease, so neither could Stella. Her face remained unfazed as if the woman in all green onstage hadn't even called out a name yet. She simply shrugged, knowing that no one would dare volunteer. Her feet colliding with the ground was all that was heard as she made her way to the stairs and climbed them.

Ares on the other hand could only hear what the Green Girl was saying. Any other sound but her voice was immune to him. He had to volunteer before Dexter even could comprehend that a name had been called out. If he didn't move fast, he would lose his chance, and Ares couldn't let that happen. Not over his dead body.

So when the Green Girl smiled warmly at a stiff Stella Hansen, Ares made two taut fists with his hands. The woman clicked her way to the bowl on her right and began to fish again. Her long, slightly curled, green nails drew out another fish from the sea. Ares was subconsciously biting his lip.

"Herc-"

"I-"

"I volunteer!"

It was as if a frenzy went off. Two people had called out for the volunteer position at the same time, but only one was able to finish their sentence.

Ares had never felt more proud of himself.

When it came to comparing Dexter against Ares, Dexter could easily pulverize Ares in anything, but clearly not in the field of volunteering speed. A giant grin formed over Ares' lips as he power walked onstage. His loud footsteps rang out around him. They were like a safety blanket proving that this was indeed real and he actually had beaten his brother at something.

Once he was onstage and took his place next to the Green Girl, she asked him what his name was. He responded with,"Ares Shyne."

The two tributes shook hands, both having firm grips onto the other. As soon as they made contact, they released each other, trying to prove that they weren't dependent on the other. One was made of metal with a stone heart and a stiff face. The other was a pyramid without erosion, destined to be the tallest once completed. Both stood as straight as poles on that stage, not daring to seem weaker than the other. Which one would last longer would be a mystery, but at some point a metal melts and at another a pyramid erodes. Neither was willing to be first.

But there could only be one Victor.

And here is District Five. Can't believe I'm almost halfway done with the Reapings, feels like I just started them. Sorry for the wait for this one, I've been busy with school and life that I haven't had time to write or even consider posting an update until now. We have also gotten to the point where I have run out of chapters I've written ahead on. I'm hoping to write more this weekend and some more over my impending spring break, but we shall see what the future holds.

Sorry again for the slow updates, things will only go uphill from here on out. My major projects are almost all done with, then I get a break, and soon enough summer will be here where constant updates will happen, or so I plan.

As always, please review, they're my inspiration to pull out my laptop and write. Criticism, complements, and suggestions are welcome; tell me your thoughts. I hope to update again soon!

Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos ("As long as you are successful, you will have many friends")