District Three's Caia Wicken's POV

Kendrick was still complaining to me how it was a big mistake to let Caritta and Selene get away. He kept on telling me that we could of taken them on and now that they were on the loose, they were still a threat and that they could attack us at any moment. He also stated that they wouldn't care that we let them live, they were going to kill us none the less.

"Should of killed them, especially with that Selene girl weak and unable to fight back." Kendrick continued his stupid rant that I was getting sick of hearing. He was like a broken radio that played the same thing over and over again. "That Selene's a career, and Caritta's a threat as well because of her strength. And now they've allied with each other, which only makes them more of a threat."

I sighed loudly, thinking back to our encounter with the two girls.

"Selene may be out of the career pack, but that doesn't mean that she isn't dangerous." I reminded my partner. "And that Caritta, what makes you think that you could of taken them both on at once? One stab with that bone and you could be bleeding out your liver. Taking on two opponents at once isn't a very good idea."

If he got stabbed even once in the wrong place, then I'd be by myself and he'd be dead. I didn't want that to happen, because at least one of us had to win for our district, because even though I didn't want to die I didn't want my family to die as well. I made a rash decision by volunteering into the games.

I wanted the killings to stop, and nobody else was speaking up, so it was either volunteer or let more die, with the possibility that I was going to die. So with a mixture of fear and thoughtlessness, I volunteered. Something that I still regret deeply. Though at the same time, I don't regret it. How many people really needed to die this year?

The Hunger Games was a problem solver for the rebellion, something to remind the people to never do it again. And since the last rebellion happened over two and a half centuries ago, I'd say that it was a vile, but solid, solution. The rebellion needed to be controlled, and if it took the Hunger Games to put out the fire, so be it. I didn't want this nation at war, because as bad as things were right now, war would only make it worse.

Why we even went to war I don't know. History says that the districts didn't like the Capitol's way of ruling over us, so we went to war with them, sacrificing many lives on both sides, only to end up with the Hunger Games.

I had to wonder, did the rebels really think that we'd win against the Capitol with it's superior technology and might? Sure we had the numbers, but numbers don't mean anything when the Capitol could slaughter us like flies.

It didn't seem to make sense, just like how it didn't make sense how they decided to kill everyone. This quarter quell, they didn't even tell us what this quarter quell was, and it was driving me crazy ever since they announced it six months ago. They said that it was going to be a surprise, and they still hadn't told us, even during the reapings. What did that stupid card say? Did it say to slaughter kids in their age groups? Did they say that someone needed to volunteer? Did this really have something to do with the rise of the Panem population? What?

I hated not knowing something. I could live with it if they told us the reason behind all this, but they hadn't told us anything besides that it was part of the tenth quarter quell and the Panem population. And what that blond haired peacekeeper really mean what he said? Was the Capitol really in anarchy with the president dead? And the way he killed the District One mentor, did we really have the same deadly device inside of us?

And why did he wake us up at six in the morning? Why was he doing what he did in general? Could he really get away with all that?

Returning my thoughts back to the subject at hand. "And if you die, I'll die, then there won't be anyone to help District Three with it's poverty."

Kendrick went silent after that.

As much as he disagreed with me and how much I tried to get him to see things the way I saw them, he just couldn't seem to comprehend it. But what I just said was something that I knew he'd understand, I just wish I said it earlier.

Kendrick wanted to help the district, and I could see why he'd want to help the district with being a victor and how he could improve the living conditions, but he'd be no help to them if he were dead. And if he's thinking about helping the district, and because we're allies, I'm guessing that if he doesn't succeed, he wants me to be the victor since it would benefit the district as well.

"Damn." Kendrick sighed in defeat. "Your right."

"Of course I am," I told him, glad that I was finally getting to him. "I think through everything and look at all the finer points before acting." I explained to him. I wasn't going to act out impulsively, that would only get you killed, like it did with other tributes in the past.

"Yeah. About that though." Kendrick said as he scratched the back of his head with the back of his hand. "I just think-"

Why had he stopped?

I wondered if he saw something ahead of us, so I looked away from him and looked down the corridor, only to see two figures coming towards us. One was a small figure about my size while the other figure was about Kendrick's size. And they were heading right towards us. "What the hell?" Kendrick asked in confusion.

"What are they doing?" I asked, wondering why they were heading towards us with such speed.

"I think they're running towards us." Kendrick answered. I was not pleased with his obvious answer.

"Really?" I replied sarcastically. "I would of never guessed."

"Brown haired girl!" A male voice shouted. "There's people in front of us, and one of them's looks strong, we should go back!"

"Oh hell no!" A girl, apparently with brown hair, shouted back. "We are not going back there! And your strong too Zeal," Zeal? Was that really Zeal with her? The retarded kid was allied with someone? Last time I saw him he wasn't allied with anyone. When had this happened?

As the figures got closer, I saw that indeed the big figure was Zeal Skoda, while the smaller figure was Daria Nettle. "So lets CHARGE!"

I then saw her quickly reach for an arrow in her quiver before she started to notch it on her bow. Aside from thinking of how she managed to get a weapon like that, I only had one other thought.

"Watch out!" I shouted before I shoved Kendrick out of the way of the arrow's path. But I didn't need to bother, because I heard the arrow swish past my left ear. The arrow was going towards me, not Kendrick. And I'm guessing that she either wasn't good with bows, or that her running had decreased her accuracy. Either way, I knew that it was going to be worse the closer she got to us.

"And I'm supposed to be the one with fast reflexes." I heard Kendrick mutter before I looked back to see if Daria was going to shoot another arrow at us, only to see Daria not ten feet away from me as she held her bow like a club, already arched back and ready to swing.

I felt myself gasp in surprise as I watched her swiftly close the distance between us before I saw black with yellow dots splatter across my vision as pain washed across the left side of my face. I felt my body fall before I felt the side of my body hit the cold floor knocking the breath out of lungs.

Did she just hit me with the bow?

Of course she did, that was obvious. But why did she do that? Wouldn't it of been more beneficial if she had shot me with an arrow instead?

Don't think about it Caia! Think about what's happening in front of you right now!

I tried to ignore the throbbing pain in the side of my head when I felt something hard hit me below the chin, sending a shockwave of pain to my lower jaw and the majority of my teeth. More yellow dots appeared in my dark vision along with more pain to my body.

"Give me that!" I heard Daria shout before I felt something start to slip from my right hand. The tire iron! She was going for my weapon! If she got my weapon then she'd be an even bigger threat then she is now since she'd have a bludgeoning object, or maybe she'd give it to Zeal, who had the same physical build as Kendrick. Having a weapon like a tire iron was going to make our lives harder if it fell into the hands of our attackers. It would leave us defenseless!

Thinking about that, I gripped the steel weapon tightly with my right hand before reaching over with my left hand and grabbed it tightly with that hand as well. I was not going to let her take away that weapon just so that she could beat my brains out with it, or give it to Zeal, or whatever else she was going to use it for! "What the?" I heard her say in surprise before I felt her hit me in the lower chin again. "Let go!"

"You let go!" I heard Kendrick yell before I felt Daria's grip loosen on the tire iron.

District Twelve's Zeal Skoda's POV

As brown haired girl ran towards short black haired girl and big brown skin guy, I didn't know what to do. She shouted charge, but what did that mean? I was confused. So I just watched her, wondering what she wanted me to do and hoped that I could figure out what it was that I needed to do.

Charge. Could I do a charge? If I knew what a charge was I'd try to do it.

We were running away from those ugly little boys and girls that were eating a pile of meat, and we managed to get away from them, but then we ran into those two. I didn't want to go near them, the guy looked strong, and I didn't want to get into another fight. The only people that I meet beside's brown haired girl wanted to hurt me. I didn't like getting hurt, but brown haired girl told me that I was strong, and that we should charge. Whatever that meant.

So I let her lead, and I watched and wondered what I had to do.

Brown haired girl then knocked black haired girl to the ground before she started to swing her curved stick at the big brown skinned guy, hitting him with it. She tried to pick something up, but then big brown skinned guy grabbed brown haired girl and started to hit her.

As big brown skin grabbed brown haired girl and attacked her, I wondered how come I wasn't seeing the kind of short brown haired girl that was running with me just a moment ago. Instead, all I was seeing was different brown haired girl that was getting beaten, but she was darker skinned, light brown skinned, and shorter then even black haired girl. And she was crying, crying in pain and pleading for help, looking at me with those tear filled eyes that were so familiar, but were weird because I had never seen her cry before.

"Zeal!" Her high pitched voice cried out as she was getting hit. "Help me!"

I felt angry at the guy in front of me. He was beating up a helpless girl! A girl that meant so much to me!

"Let go of her you bastard!" I shouted, using the worst word I could think of before I ran towards the man holding and hitting the little brown haired girl.

He looked at me exactly the same way he had before, just before I hit him across the face as hard as I could, causing him to let go of the little girl and stumble back a few steps. "Not so tough are you!" I shouted at him again, thinking about all he had done to us, all the bad things that he had done over and over, especially to her. I hated him, and I never forgave him, not even after he got what he deserved.

I hit him in the face again, hitting him with all my strength while thinking of how much I hated him. "Bastard!" I hit him again before I grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him towards me before I slammed my head into his nose, hearing a wet snap that sounded so familiar, feeling warm stuff splash against my forehead.

"You're not going to hurt us again!" I told him before I grabbed his face with both my hands and started to slam his head into the wall repeatedly. "Be! Cause! You! Are! Dead!" He was dead, so why was he here? I remember him being dead. He wasn't supposed to be here, but he was, and I wasn't going to let him do anything again. "Now stay dead!" I shouted to him as I threw him away from me and into the wall, destroying the red light as his head hit it as white sparks shot out from where the light used to be, before everything went a little bit darker.

I screamed out in anger just from seeing and thinking of that guy again. How I hated him so much! How dare she show his face! We got rid of him, how is he back here? "Stay! DEAD!"

"He's dead!" I heard a girl's voice shout out.

I looked towards the voice and saw the little black haired girl with a metal object in her hand. One of the people I wanted to avoid because I was worried that she'd attack me along with the big brown skinned guy she was with. But he seemed to be nowhere in sight. Where was he? Was he ready to attack me? This was scary. "And your partner might be to if you don't get her out of here!"

Partner? What was she talking about?

I then looked to where she was looking, and saw brown haired girl lying on the ground with red liquid running out of her mouth with several white objects laying near her. Her face didn't look so good either, like she had gotten into a fight. Did she get into a fight?

"Brown hair girl!" I shouted, running towards her before I knelt down in front of her. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"It doesn't matter." She weakly told me as more red water spilled from her mouth. "Kill her Zeal."

I looked back to the black haired girl, who was even smaller then brown haired girl except her chest. That was the only thing that was bigger. Oh yeah, and she was fatter. Not that she was fat, but her body was bigger then brown hair girl's.

"Try to kill me and she dies." Black haired girl told him. "Look at her, she's in bad shape and needs attention. Leave me alone and save her, because it's either we both die, or neither of us dies, make your choice."

I looked at brown haired girl, who did look like she was weak and beat up. Then I looked back to black haired girl, who dying brown haired girl wanted me to kill for some reason.

I didn't want to kill black haired girl, and I wanted to help brown haired girl, so I did what was best. I picked up brown haired girl and lifted her up, carrying her like I did with a younger, smaller brown haired girl who had also gotten beat up.

"Owwwww." I heard bigger brown haired girl moan loudly before I started to run away from black haired girl and big brown skinned guy, where ever he was. I didn't want to be here when he came back, and I didn't want little black hair girl to attack me either. And brown haired girl needed to be alive. "She's lying," She moaned. "I'm fine."

She was lighter then the other brown haired girl, who was smaller then her. But I was younger back then, back when she was taller then me. I was bigger now, and this brown haired girl wasn't the little one that had grown up with me.

"Everything's going to be all right." I told her. And last time something like this had happened, it did turn out all right. So what was to stop this one from being any different?

District Nine's Wren Sylvia Hayes's POV

I tried to protect her, and for my efforts I got violated. It hurt so much that I felt sick. First he beat me, then he violated me, hurting me in more ways that I'd thought he'd do. Getting hit was bad enough, but then he did something that nobody should do to anyone else.

And not only did he do it to me, he did it to Vida as well, and there was nothing that I could do to stop him.

I should of just stayed hidden, out of sight, like I always did, it was safe and I wouldn't of ended up laying on the cold, dirty floor with all my clothes torn off my body. I'd of been safe and sound, but instead I attacked and tried to get him away from Vida, who couldn't defend herself even if she tried, because it was the right thing to do. I wouldn't of been able to live with myself if I had just let him have his way with her, but all my good deed did was delay his plan. He still raped Vida, and did me as well.

Nothing I did here made a difference, and somehow, I knew that it would end up this way. I was weak and weaponless, and he was a career who was determined to do whatever he wanted to do.

I got in front of him, attacked him, tried to defend Vida, and for my efforts I got hurt, lost something sacred, and let Vida get hurt and violated as well.

It was a bad idea from the start, but I still did it, even though I knew that it was nothing but trouble.

I started to think of how Vida could be worth this pain and suffering. I didn't know her, and she was mean, even to her own ally, so why was I helping her at all? Why did I go out of my way to help her and put my life on the line to help her from a hostile career?

If I had just stayed put and not intervened, I'd of been fine, and while Vida would of been raped, she was going to be raped whether I did anything or not. The result was going to be the same anyway, so why should I of bothered?

I continued to cry and hold myself as I thought of that mistake.

Avoiding people and not standing out, that's how I lived my life back home in District Nine. And while I sometimes wished that I was more outgoing and less scared of big groups, or just in general, people, being the outsider wasn't entirely bad. I didn't have to worry about saying the wrong thing and having people laugh at me, I didn't have to worry about people beating me because they didn't like me, I didn't have to keep up a strange attitude so that people would like me.

Yes, not being noticed and just being another face in the crowd had it's benefits. I only needed a few friends to get along with, to listen to what they were saying and only putting in what I thought at times.

Aspen was the social type with lots of friends and not afraid to say what was on her mind whenever she wanted to say it, and that lead to problems as well, because some people just didn't care about what she said, or worse, people didn't like what she said and would harass her about it. I didn't want that to happen to me, so I just kept quiet and listened to the others, blending into the background.

The only people that truly understood me was my family, I could go to them with whatever problem I had, and they'd understand more or less what it was about and how they could help. We pretty well knew each other inside and out, but there was one time that I surprised everyone.

It was about a four months ago when it happened near dusk. I was just walking around the back alleys of the poor part of district on my own, because Aspen had a lot of friends at our home, and I didn't want to be around them as I felt scared around them, even though they were all a couple years younger then me.

Aspen told me that they weren't going to be there long, maybe just an hour or so, so I decided to walk around the district and wait for them to leave. And while wandering the district back alleys and wondering what I should do later on when all of Aspen's friends were gone, I heard voices talking. One was a girl, another was a boy.

I didn't want them to see me, and I didn't want to intrude on them since it sounded like they were having fun and I would most likely ruin it. Also, I didn't really belong in this part of the district, being from the middle class area where I at least had enough to survive on with a little to spare. It was a struggle, but it wasn't as bad as the poor area where every minute for them seemed to be a struggle with their hunger and questionable activities that they did to survive.

Being from an area better then them, I stood out with my clothes that weren't wrecked in some way. Sure they weren't fancy clothes, but they were wearable and didn't have rips in them. And a sight like me in their area would only encourage them to either take my money, take my clothes, kill me, or worse. So I decided to hide and wait for them to pass me.

As the boy talked sweetly to her and the girl giggled at his comments, I snuck behind the debris of a ruined building and hid myself in the tiny space, glad that I had a small figure and could fit into small spaces in times of need. Such as when I didn't want to be found and when I just wanted to be away from people.

As the voices got closer, I recognized the guy's voice, and he was even more out of place in the poor area of the district then I was. The boy continued to comment kindly to the girl he was with, telling her how great she was and how lucky he was to be with her, while the girl praised what Trim Fetching was telling her.

I had to wonder, what was the mayor's son doing in an area like this? Middle class people come down here during the day to buy things and talk with people they know down here, but the upper class people, especially people like Trim Fetching, didn't even want to step foot in this part of the district unless it was absolutely needed. And I didn't think that Trim needed to be here.

I couldn't believe that the son of the mayor would be here, and I didn't believe it until I heard the girl say how lucky she was to of caught the eye of the mayor's son. And since one of the mayor's sons had gotten killed in the games months earlier, it could only be Trim Fetching. It really made me wonder what was going on.

They talked for a little bit more, but then things quickly escalated when I heard the girl start to scream out in pain.

The girl with panic in her voice asked Trim what he was doing and told him to stop, before I heard her start to groan loudly in pain. From the sounds that were occurring, I was guessing that Trim was hitting her.

Trim then began to say things to her, things that I didn't understand completely because I was too busy wondering if I should just stay hidden and wait for them to leave while I grabbed an iron bar.

I wanted to stay, because if I got sighted, I'd have to deal with the attention that I'd receive from taking on the mayor's child. I'd be the center of attention and people would be swarming me with whatever they were going to ask. But at the same time, I felt as if I needed to do this, the girl was being attacked, and there was nobody here to help her except me.

I then remembered the lessons my mother gave me, about how a real lady should act, before I slid out from the ruble and attacked Trim with the iron bar. At that moment, I didn't care if I was seen, this girl needed help, and I was going to feel guilty later if I just left her to be beaten.

I hit Trim in the back of the head as hard as I could, sending him to the ground. I then hit him a couple more times in the back of the head, and he wasn't moving after that. A trail of blood ran out the back of his skull as I dropped the iron bar and looked at the girl Trim had been beating.

The side of her head was slightly caved in with no blood pouring out of her head. I didn't know if it was a good thing that she wasn't bleeding, but I knew that skull's weren't supposed to curve inwards.

I then dragged her to the nearest house and knocked on the door, running away before anyone could see me, but I managed to see a couple notice the girl by their door before they ran off to the medical center.

I wanted to take her there, but I wasn't strong enough to drag her the entire way, so I did the best I could for her. And I didn't regret it, because I wasn't just going to leave her for Trim to kill. And Trim was going to kill her over something about his father, something about wanting to impress his father with her.

I was sad to know that the girl died in the medical center and that Trim had gotten away with murder because the peacekeepers hadn't been able to find his body. I don't think I hit him hard enough since he was gone before the peacekeepers could find him where I had left him. But I was happy that I didn't just sit around and let him kill her, because I was able to let her family say goodbye to their daughter rather then never seeing her again and having her on the list of missing people that would never show up ever again.

I did it because it was the right thing, and I wouldn't of been able to live with myself if I hadn't done it. That's why I had done it. It's the same reason that I had done it with Vida, because I wouldn't of been able to live with myself if I had just let her get raped by Calamity. It was also the right thing to do. Mom always told me to be a good person, practically beat it into me.

But it still hurt that I had to experience getting raped and watching the person that I wanted to defend getting raped, just like how I had to experience that girl dying because of Trim and I didn't stop him in time.

I cried for both myself and Vida.

Vida. Please. Wake up.

A/N: You know, while writing this chapter, I noticed stuff about the D3 and D12 pairings.

One of the things was that, of the two alliances, each person needs the other person, because both of the members of each party need something from the other. Like how Caia and Dare need Kendrick and Zeal's strength while Kendrick and Zeal need someone to guide them. And there's similar traits, like how Zeal and Caia are kind of cautious while Dare and Kendrick are impulsive. But while they have similarities, there's also differences, such as how both Kendrick and Caia are smart while Zeal and Dare aren't. Just something I noticed.

Everyone, give a thanks to actofwar for being my beta reader.

On another note, after hearing what a certain someone said (you know who you are) and talking to some more people I know in real life as well as some personal feelings that have been building up inside me, I won't be updating as much, I'm just too overwhelmed in my life right now to be updating every four/five/six days or however long it takes me. Anyway, due to issues in my life, updates will be slower and on my schedule.

So, I don't really know if I'll go on a hiatus to calm my writer's depression down or not, just as a heads up to all of you.