"What about a Hunger Games AU? Not like Katniss/Peeta but Caroline and Kol being themselves, kicking butt and taking names and being revolutionary." –Queenvamp

"We might be hollow but we're brave." –crystalclaes

Well, this is bleak. Well, what do you expect from a Hunger Games AU?

"Junk the ancient rules of thought

By which our predecessors fought

Their clashing minds did throw a spark

That scorched the world and reaped the dark

Let no science fix our path

If only numbers make its math

Our brains will run, will surely see

On some sweeter philosophy

Until beneath the quiet sky

Atop the rubble we will stand

And finally demystify

The message in fate's reprimand

Even an atomic blast

Can't rob the future from the past

If with incinerated grace

We still become the human race"

-The Philosophers

Kol grew up in a forest. District 7 was mostly a town surrounded by trees, a small paradise shielded from the world by green and bark. He was used to the clean air, the chirping of birds, stepping on dried leaves and dirt underneath his fingernails. His earliest years were spent playing hide and seek among the foliage with his siblings, his mother teaching him about edible plants and his father helping him cut down his first tree when he was ten. This was home.

As soon as the bell rung after school, he and his friends would practically run to the forests, to the parts where the trees were still too young to be cut down and they'd sit there to play and do their homework until it was dark and they were forced to go home.

His first kiss was up against a tree, a leaf stuck in Anna's hair as more leaves fell down to them for autumn.

It was in that exact same area he broke up with Anna after his brother died in the Games. And he cried alone there when she'd left, knowing Henrik could never come find him to take him home for dinner or bug him to help him with his homework ever again.

He's in the forest when Rebekah came to get him because they needed to get ready for the Reaping. Another year of the Games and Henrik was still dead. Trees were cut down and new trees were planted. Life went on District 7 as always.

Rebekah was already dressed in a simple but pretty blue dress, her hair half-up and half-down, blonde hair, soft and shiny. She looked ready to be sacrificed. Would another Mikaelson be offered up as a lamb for the Capitol again this year? It made Kol want to rip out bark with his bare hands until his fingernails broke and bled.

"You need to get ready," Rebekah told him, voice quiet and eyes not meeting his. "It's your last year anyway."

"Two more years for you,"

Kol didn't need to remind her and he was thinking aloud more than anything. Two more years, any year was a hazard, they realized even more when Henrik was reaped at the age of thirteen. Rebekah could be picked this year or next year if the odds weren't in her favour. His pretty sister, his only sister, with her shiny hair and blue dress, slaughtered on screen like their brother – the thought made him want to puke.

He silently started walking towards their house a few yards away and Rebekah walked beside him. They both had their minds elsewhere. The rest of their family was sober when they arrived in their house. Their parents looking neither of them in the eye as Esther told Kol she laid out something for him to wear on his bed.

He passed by Finn and Elijah sitting at the kitchen table on the way to his room, the latter giving him a small smile and the former ignoring him to glance at the empty space where Henrik's seat used to be. This made him hurry inside his room to see what his mother had chosen for the day.

It was a nice shirt, too good really for Reaping Day. It was still basically new, a gift for his eighteenth birthday from Rebekah. It was a bold red, his favourite colour. He used to bring bits of the color to school with him, a contrast to the dab grey uniform they were required to wear, a handkerchief or a scarf for winter before the teachers asked him to stop because even just a colour made Peacekeepers antsy.

He changed quickly and ran a hand through his hair before meeting his family outside the house where they were waiting for him. Nobody spoke on the walk to the town square. Children and adolescents, small and large, light and dark, all walked lifelessly to have their blood sample taken. He didn't even wince at the needle and walked to the area for the males of his age group and waited for the show to start.

After the video was presented, the District escort welcomed them to this year's game. She was as flamboyant as all the Capitol citizens were for Katherine Pierce was barely clothed in leather and silk, voice husky and purring. The only two victors of their district, Klaus and Marcel, were standing at the side of the stage, neither looking happy to be there.

The leather cat ears Katherine was wearing seemed to almost twitch as she moved to pick a name out of the Reaping bowl. "Ladies first," She giggled.

Kol bit down on his tongue and hoped with every atom of his body that it was not Rebekah, not her, please not her. And if she was chosen, he'd have to go and volunteer for her. No questions asked especially when last year, he frozen in horror at Henrik's name being called out, he was too late. And he watched his brother die, knowing it should've been him instead.

"DAVINA CLAIRE!"

Nobody moved or seemed to not even breathe as a small girl with a doll-like face, all round eyes and lips, was escorted unto the stage. She looked pale despite her olive complexion and looked ready to cry. He didn't know her specifically but he knew enough that she was a few years younger than him, sixteen at the most. And she was going to die.

Katherine smiled down at Davina though like she won a grand prize before moving back to the Reaping bowls. "Now for the boys."

Kol searched for Rebekah in the crowd of girls, her shiny hair like a halo as she turned to look at him as well. He gave her a small smile because she was safe now, at least for this year. He knew it was horrible to be happy an innocent girl was going to die in the Games now but he was happy because at least it wouldn't be Rebekah.

"KOL MIKAELSON!'

He froze, just like last year but this time because it was a different kind of horror. Because he was going into the Games now and it wasn't for Rebekah. This was going to be because the odds weren't in his favour. And he'd never see the forest again.

Davina was like a scared little lamb as they were led on the train, practically quaking as she was led to her room by Katherine who would not stop babbling about how 'exciting' and 'fabulous' this year's Games would be. Kol was too exhausted to even be properly annoyed. He wanted to collapse on a bed and forget today even happened. His family's last goodbyes were still haunting him up to now.

Rebekah had cried, repeating, "Not again, not again," until Finn had to pull her out of the room because she was becoming hysterical. Elijah had hugged him and told him he loved him. His mother told him to remember her teachings to him about plants. And his father–

"I'm going to give you something." Mikael explained. "You're allowed to bring a token to the Games and I thought maybe you could bring this."

He handed Kol an amber ring, looked to be very old and had an inscription inside. Audentes fortuna juvat.

"It's Latin. Fortune favours the bold." Mikael gave him a tight smile. "It's an heirloom. Give it back to me when you come home."

When you come home – like it was a sure thing and not some distant false hope.

Katherine led him to his room, her hand resting on his forearm caressingly.

"This is your room, Kol." Her smile was enticing. Clearly she took a fancy to him and wasn't making an effort to hide it. "Come to me if you need anything at all. I'm always available."

He didn't reply and went in, closing the door on Katherine's too-pretty face.

Despite how tired he thought he was, he still couldn't sleep, he found later as he lay among the softest sheets he'd ever felt. He kept remembering home. Rebekah's hair, his mother's voice, the smell of the woods and even Anna's lips – all were what occupied his mind.

Sleep never came.

He felt like shit the next day during breakfast when he sat down at the table and he forced himself to eat. He needed his strength for the Games and although he wasn't sure if he wanted to come home or not or if he could at all. Davina was also quiet as she nibbled on some crackers and sipped timidly on a cup of milk. Marcel was eating a hearty meal, glancing at her pityingly. He probably already knew the girl wasn't going to last long in the Games.

Katherine tried to engage him in conversation, eating chocolate-covered strawberries and make a show of it. He ignored her even when she kept finding excuses to touch him.

"Katherine, leave him alone." Klaus groused as he entered the room. "There's no point seducing a dead boy."

Everyone stopped to look at Klaus in disbelief, save for Kol who just stared down at his coffee. Klaus gave them no mind as he took a seat at the table and poured coffee for himself. Marcel leaned over to chastise him. "That's not cool, man."

"But it's true isn't it?" Klaus replied. "Every year it's the same. Always two children, scared and helpless, end up butchered in the Games. What's the point in denying the inevitable?"

The blond glanced to a shaking Davina. "This one won't last a day. I say she gets killed at the Cornucopia." He gestured to Kol. "That one doesn't want to win. He'll probably just step off the starting plate before the timer goes off."

Davina started to tear up and got up from the table, running out of the room. Marcel looked like he wanted to follow her but just glared at Klaus. "That's really unnecessary."

"What do you want me to do, Marcellus? Pretend we actually have a winner this time round? That they won't be returning in a box or worse, there won't be anything left to take home?"

"You can be nice to two children – yes, children – whose last days are going to be hell." Marcel snapped at him. "It's the least you can do."

"We were children when we went in to our own Games, if you remember?" Klaus returned. "If they come back, they won't be children anymore."

Marcel seemed to have enough and left, fuming. Katherine made a face and sashayed out of the room, probably to touch up her gaudy make-up. Klaus remained seated and sipped his coffee while Kol found he had lost his appetite completely.

Marcel tried to be reassuring as they sat back to watch the Reapings in the other Districts. Davina was curled into herself beside him and Kol almost wanted to comfort her but held back. He couldn't afford to get attached to a dead girl after all. Klaus' voice echoed in his head -What's the point in denying the inevitable?

Katherine was on his other side, her fingers resting lightly on his knee, only to stop touching them when Klaus showed up and took the seat on the sofa chair.

Kol watched in a daze, eyeing the people he'd have to kill on the screen.

The boy from District 2 smiled almost mockingly at the cameras. The girl from District 4 had blue-green eyes that held a fire he recognized in himself. The tributes from District 9 (the girl looking a lot like Katherine without all the Capitol fashion) held hands tightly.

Their names danced around in his head – Damon, Caroline, Stefan, Elena…

And the others, their names he could remember even as their faces blurred together –Hayley, Jeremy, Tyler, Vicki, Matt, Bonnie….

He'd have to kill them all to survive. There could only be one victor.

Marcel tried to find out his and Davina's skills that could be useful to them for the Games. Unlike their other mentor, Marcel at least seemed to at least try and give them a fighting chance instead of just letting them die helplessly since it was 'inevitable'.

"I'm a musician." Davina told him shyly. "I play piano."

Marcel smiled kindly at her. "If you were already a victor that would be admirable but-"

"She's an artist." Kol interrupted him. "Paints and draws well. I've seen her work in school contests. She could use her skill for camouflage."

"That's good." Marcel seemed pleased. "Anything else, D?"

"I know a bit about plants. What's edible and not."

"Good, good. Do you know how to handle an axe or a saw? A hatchet maybe?"

Davina blushed and looked down at her hands. "I have asthma so they couldn't make do the heavy work. I was a paper-maker."

Marcel seemed disappointed and finally turned to Kol. "You worked in the forests?"

"Since I was ten. I know how to handle practically all tools for lumbering."

"What was your main job?" Klaus seemingly appeared out of nowhere and entered the room, taking the empty seat beside Marcel. "Lumberjack? Lead climber? Load puller? Carpenter?"

"Everything really, I guess. I did whatever was needed at the time."

Klaus seemed less apathetic than he was a day ago. "How far can you throw an axe?"

"Pretty far."

His answer seemed to please his mentor and the blond leaned back on the couch, a smile on his face. "Well, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you're not so helpless after all."

Davina was wearing a green dress of paper mache leaves and it hugged her body in a way to show off the growing curves of her young body and it reminded him just how soft and fragile she was. . Her look finished off with a crown of golden laurel leaves on top of her head. She looked nervous and despite the make-up and pretty dress, not very confident.

"Chin up, Claire," He muttered to her as they waited for the carriages to move. He was dressed in some paper mache nonsense as well and tried not to glower. "You won't attract sponsors like that. Smile for the cameras, doll."

She blinked at him in surprise but mustered up a smile as they began to move. Davina waved shyly at the crowd at first before getting more into it and she's smiling brightly like a sweet wood nymph blessing the nations.

He remained stoic throughout.

He watched through the other tributes interviews with a martyred expression. Davina giggled at this and he sent her a little smirk.

That tribute from District 2 –Damon– seemed to preen like a peacock and he muttered this to Davina who tried her best to hide her chortles.

The girl from District 4 was dressed in a white gown practically covered head to toe in pearls, her make-up light and her blonde hair in long voluminous curls, he tried not to stare but couldn't stop himself.

"She's pretty," Davina returned his smirk to him, having noticed his sudden fascination. "Like an angel."

He wanted to give her a glare but that would require looking away from 'Caroline' who charmed Caesar Flickerman and the crowd with her bright smiles. She eas definitely going to have sponsors.

When it's finally Davina's turn, he watched her give her answers meekly at first but after a moment, he could see the hidden steel in her answers. His District partner seemed sweet but inside, maybe she's just as angry as him.

He tried to muster a smile for the interview. He knew the importance of sponsors, having Klaus drill that into his head for the past few days. And he's not quite so socially inept he couldn't butter someone up but this wasn't some girl in the woods he wanted to kiss. This was the Capitol. The same people who took away his baby brother and mercilessly had him slaughtered.

Caesar Flickerman tried to start things off by asking him generic questions. And he answered as best as he could without sounding like he wanted to set every person there on fire.

"So, Kol, are there any girls back at home waiting for you to come home?"

"Not anymore,"

"Ah, I see." Caesar leaned in conspiringly. "Any girls here you interested in?"

He leaned forward and what the hell, he's going to die. Might as well be reckless. "The girl from District 4 looks pretty good, don't you think?"

Caesar and the crowd laugheds in agreement. "Well, maybe you'll have your heart broken this time instead."

He lost sight of Davina during the Cornucopia, having been able to just grab two backpacks before running into the forest. He could hear someone running after him and he ran faster and deeper into the foliage as he could. A dagger wheezes by his head, narrowly missing him and embedding itself into a tree. He kept running till it's only his footfalls and panting breath he could hear.

He stopped running and walked instead, searching for a body of water until he found a pond nearby. That's when he sat down to check his supplies. He needed to purify the water first and–

A rustling in the leaves alerted him, feet crunching down on dry leaves and he quickly grabbed one of the knives in his backpack, ready to throw it at who was coming.

His arm froze in the air as it turned out to be the girl from District 4, the girl in the pearl dress.

She tensed at the sight of him, holding an axe awkwardly. He nearly groaned. What'd he do to be holding that instead.

Neither moved for a minute, eyes on each other, both wary and unsure. Finally she loosened her grip on the axe and exhaled. "Hi."

"Hi," He returned but didn't relax. "District 4, right?"

She nodded. "You're from District 7? The guy who-"

She blushed and he fidgeted as they both remembered that he'd said he thought she was pretty to every citizen of Panem watching the interviews. Heh. This was awkward.

"I'm just gonna-" She moved to leave but he stopped her.

"You can stay here." He tried to sound nonchalant. "For the night, at least. It's not good to be alone with the Careers going hunting tonight."

She seemed to make a decision then and took a seat a good feet from him, keeping the axe close to her. "Just for the night."

They heard the Careers at night, looking for other tributes to slaughter. He's up a tree, a rope around his thighs to keep him from falling. Caroline had done the same after he told her the Careers could reach her easier on the ground.

They heard screams and Kol watched Caroline cover her ears with her hands, eyes shut tightly.

Canons went off.

And then nothing.

After bottling up some water, Kol decided to leave and find some other place to rest for the next night. Caroline was tense as she gathered her supplies. He watched her and her soft features and wondered how many more nights she'll survive by herself. District 4 was a Career District but her being here instead of with them spoke volumes.

"Why aren't you with your District partner?" He couldn't stop himself from asking.

She deflected him. "Why aren't you?"

"She's dead." He remembered Davina's face shown in the sky the previous night. He'd been right about the Cornucopia. "You don't get along with your District partner?"

"You can say that." She put on her backpack. "Where are we going now?"

He blinked at her in surprise. "I thought this was only for the night."

She shrugged again and moved past him, stopping only to tell him, "Come on!"

He stared back at her before he found his feet moving towards her like he's a sailor and she's the irresistible siren. He caught up to her and asked briskly, "How are you sure I won't kill you in your sleep?"

"You won't." She smiled at him like she could see right through him. "I'm not the one you want to kill."

They found a cave south of the arena with a stream nearby. They skipped on the stones to get past the water and to the cave. The walls were damp but the floor was dry and Kol builds a fire for the night.

Caroline sighed as the fire grew, her hands trying to absorb the heat. He went through the small pack of beef jerky in his bag and weighed out in his mind whether he should give her some before his mother's voice echoed in his head, "Chivalry, Kol. There's no excuse to be a brute."

He handed her a strip of the salted beef and she gave him a sweet little smile before taking it.

"How many are left?" She asked him as she took a bite.

"The girl from 1, both from 2, the boy from 3, your District partner, and both from 9," He answered her as he chewed.

She pursed her lips as she finished her strip. "I wish we had real food."

He nearly groaned. "Don't remind me of real food. I might go mad and you'll have no one to protect you then."

"You're protecting me?" She quipped with a smile.

And he rolled his eyes. "I saw you trampling through the forest. I'm surprised the Careers didn't hear you and come running."

She frowned at him for a second before bursting into giggles. "You're right. I really am quite helpless."

He agreed and are more and then they had no more food. He scowled until Caroline asked him, "Do you have wire with you?"

"Why?"

"Well, we don't have a spear or a triton," She explains. "We'll just have to make do. I'm going to fish in the stream."

He rummaged before he found the coil and handed it to her wordlessly. She happily went outside the cave and he found himself following her. He just needed to see if she really knew how to fish, not because he wanted to protect her. No, of course not.

Caroline grinned at him smugly when she's able to catch a large fish that twitched violently in her hold. Kol tried not to look impressed but it's hard.

They both turned to look as the boy from 9 emerges from the trees, covered in blood. Kol pulled him arm back to throw the axe he'd taken when Caroline left it in the cave but Caroline stopped him.

"He's hurt," She told him as the boy from 9 fell to his knees and then on his back. Caroline warily approached the fallen boy and knelt down to try and assess the damage. "Hey, my name's Caroline. You're Stefan, right?"

The boy's eyes remained close. "M-My partner…."

"Your partner? What happened to her?"

He exhaled. "The boy from Four stabbed me and the boy from Two took Elena. He said he's going to rape her before he kills her."

Caroline recoiled and she watched the boy cough once more time before lying still.

A canon went off.

Caroline and Kol stared into the fire quietly. They'd both eaten the fish Caroline caught but were still hungry. The hovercraft took Stefan's body earlier and now all that was left of him was the pool of his dried blood on the riverbank.

And like a Godsend a small package parachuted down. Caroline nearly jumped with joy as she took the small parcel and opened it, grinning lightly at what she saw. "Lamb stew!"

He mustered a smile, despite how heavy his heart was beginning to feel.

They shared the meal. Caroline liked to talk and told him stories in between bites. She reminded him a bit of Henrik with her enthusiasm and her blonde hair shined like Rebekah's. He felt homesick and it's an ache he could never quite shake off.

"What will you do if you survive this?" She asked.

He frowned at the question. "You mean if everyone including you dies?"

She nodded like it's a simple, ordinary question and he wondered if she drives the people in her District into insanity. Maybe this was her skill. Like her partner was handy with a triton and she just blabbed people into committing suicide.

But still he found it easy to answer. "Go home. Hug my parents and my siblings. Then I'll go to the woods and I'll apologize to my brother."

"Does he live there?"

"No. He died in the Games last year." He told her. "I'm apologizing because I couldn't save him but was somehow able to save myself."

And because he knew he'll come home a monster.

Their conversation had reached the degree of absurdity Kol knew his siblings were probably laughing at the screen now. Caroline had brought up the scenario of the both of them miraculously surviving somehow and then getting married. To each other. "Because," was her only explanation for their supposedly upcoming nuptials.

"It's kind of like that saying about a bird loving a fish." Kol told her. "You're the fish obviously."

"And if course, you're the bird. Since all birds do live up in trees right?" Caroline rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't that saying be null if you were like a duck?"

He gaped at her. "A duck? Do I look like a duck to you?"

"You'd make a very handsome duck." She told him mock-seriously, making him scowl.

"But still a duck,"

They're forced out of their cave the next day by the water in the stream rising so fast, they're waist deep in it as they move away to get to the forest again. Caroline was shivering in her wet clothes and he collapsed against a tree, trying to get a handle on himself.

Footfalls came near and he reached for the axe. The girl from One – he thinks her name is Monique – and the boy from Three – Jeremy, was it? – caome out of the woods. Monique was holding a spear and Jeremy a knife.

Monique aimed to throw the spear at a wide-eyed Caroline but Kol got to his feet fast, swinging the axe and it flew through the air to embed in the girl's skull. Jeremy looked down terrified at Monique's corpse before running away and back to the Careers' camp.

Caroline let out a cry and fell down to her knees, eyes on Monique's lifeless ones. And Kol stared down at the curve of the axe cutting deeply into bone and he realized – I've just killed someone.

Killer.

Monster.

A wicked voice even whispered in his head, Why not Victor too?

Two canons went off.

There are only five of them left. Kol, Caroline, her District partner Tyler, and the tributes from Two. Caroline didn't touch him but she still remained close enough that he wanted to reach out and touch her. She kept far from him as they watch the images of fallen tributes, Monique's picture making him feel hollow.

But at the end of the night when he started to cry, Caroline got up and curled herself around him. "it's okay," She told him. "This isn't your fault. We're all victims."

"We're all dead here," He croaked.

"Nobody wins," Her lips pressed to his throat. "We all lose in the end."

The next day, Damon and Tyler's bodies lay dead at his feet. Hayley screamed as she lunged for him, scratching at his face, trying to blind him. She only stilled when Caroline dug the axe into her back. She coughed blood into Kol's face before he pushed her off him.

Caroline stared down at him exhausted, bloodied axe in hand. She's crying, big gulping sobs that echo in the clearing. "We're all dead here!"

And he closed his eyes in defeat. "Kill me. Go ahead."

"No!" She dropped the axe. "Nobody wins this! Nobody!"

He opened his eyes and stared horrified as she picked up Hayley's knife and pointed it to her heart. Her eyes stared into his as she said to him, voice breaking. "We all lose in the end."

She plunged the knife into her chest and he cried out, reaching for her as she fell. She stilled in his arms and he stared down at her, tears clouding his visions. He remembered the pretty girl in the pearl dress, now covered in blood and lifeless in his arms and could only feel anger. And he made a decision right then.

"Nobody wins." He echoed her last words. "We all lose in the end."

He took out the knife from her chest and he stared into the camera one last time. Do you see me? All of you? You want entertainment? You enjoy these sadistic bloody games? You want a Victor?

He pressed the knife to his neck, Caroline's blood to mix with his own, how damnably poetic. "Not even you win."

He slit his throat.

And it all ended.