A/N: Sorry, Mario. This is going to be a two-part chapter.

PLATINUM'S POV

Nate takes me by both hands and pulls me forward. "Come on, Cupcake!" he says, a big grin on his face. "Keep up!" he continues to pull me along a small path I've never been down before.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask, stumbling after him.

"You'll see!" he says, continuing to pull me.

"Are we going to get inside soon?" I ask, looking at the sky. Rain is coming.

"Shut up and we'll see!" he says.

He pulls me along until he stops at an open, grassy area with two old, worn-out nets on either side.

"What…What is this?"

I see a girl run towards us, and soon recognize her somewhat. I've seen her a good deal, but this is the first time I'll actually talk to her.

"Cupcake, this is my sister, Cassia! Cas, allow me to introduce you to Platinum Krietzer."

She seems to sink into the soft ground as I feel rain drops fall on my head.

"Don't worry, I don't bite," I offer, holding out my hand.

She shakes it and says, "Well, yes, but, wow… I still can't believe you're, like, a real person! And that you're here?"

I laugh, "Your brother's a Victor, too, don't forget!"

"Yeah, but he's my brother!"

I shrug, "Fair enough." She has eyes that are the same shape as Nate's but not the same color: hers are light hazel, while Nate's are very blue. Her hair's light brown and wavy in at least ten different ways, and she has freckles on her face.

"Why've you brought me all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?" I turn to Nate.

"Cas, Cupcake here's never gotten dirty before in his life! And he's never played in the rain, and he's never been outside for long periods of time!"

I blink, still unsure of where this is going. Cassia smiles and raises an eyebrow. "Never played in the rain before, eh? Never, really?"

"The lifestyle was frowned upon in my household."

She looks at Nate, and then back at me. "Amazing. We've certainly run very different lives, Mr. Platinum Krietzer. Today, you're going to learn how to have fun."

"Uh…" A hand instinctively runs through my hair.

"It'll be fun, Cupcake!" Nate says, bouncing up and down as more rain starts to fall.

"Uh, yes, but it's raining."

Cassia puts a soccer ball on the ground in front of her and says, "You're sure observant, aren't you? Alright, we'll do boys versus girl! Victor's versus non-victor! Cupcakes versus older sister!" She grins.

"That seems a little unfair," Nate points out. "You know we're both Victors, don't you Cas?"

"Yeah, I know. But this isn't the Games. Besides, I'm older than both of you. Twenty. And, you're only fifteen," she pats Nate's head, "And you're only eighteen. And a little bit of a pussy when it comes to outdoorsy stuff, but we'll change that."

"Hey, I'm not a pussy!" I protest, but Cassia says, "Well, come on, you two!" and dribbles the soccer ball out to the center of the field.

"She's just asking for a loss," I remark.

Nate smiles and says, "I dunno, Cupcake, Cassia's pretty good at soccer," before walking out on the field and gesturing for me to go with him.

"It's raining really hard," I try to protest, as more water pours out of the sky to the ground.

"Sure it is!" Cassia says, laughing and dribbling towards us.

I look over at Nate but he looks happier than he's been in a long while. He runs over and attempts to get the ball from her.

Cassia easily passes her brother, and then skips over to me and smiles cutely.

I have to be careful… After all, she is just a girl…

So I run over from the side and kick the ball away from her reach, then taking it and running toward our goal at the other side. It's getting a lot darker and I can physically see the rain in front of me, but I decide that I can't stop now.

"Cupcake!" Nate shouts, and I see his figure in the distance. Suddenly, though, a figure collides with me and shoves past me to get the ball, then skips off with it in the other direction. I get up and blink after Cassia, as Nate chases her and attempts to get the ball back. Before long, though, the ball is in our goal, and we're losing one to nothing.

When Cassia passes me she smiles and waves.

Nate takes the ball and punts it. I have to unstick my hair to my face before catching up to the ball and kicking it forward. Cassia is on me soon enough, so I pass the ball to Nate, who passes it back, and soon we get to the goal like that. I pass the ball to Nate and he shoots: and scores.

After a while, it's rained so much that the field has lots of mud puddles, all of which I try to avoid. I'm wearing shorts and a T-shirt, not to mention my whole body is soaked because it's raining!

When Nate punts the ball the fifth time, it lands right in a mud puddle, and my legs get splashed with the mud. I jump backwards, yelping. Cassia seems oddly calm for someone who's so dirty, and stops to have a good laugh.

When I look back at Nate, he throws his head back gleefully and laughing louder than I've ever heard him laugh before.

"Come on, Krietzer! Don't be afraid of a little mud!" She kneels down and grabs a clump of the stuff, throwing it directly at me. I jump backwards and let out a little scream, but Nate tackles me to the ground before I can do anything else about it.

"Hold your breath," he says, taking a bunch of muddy water and splashing it on me, laughing. I think this is the grossest I've ever felt in my entire life.

What would Paradise say if she saw me now?!

Cassia joins Nate just then and puts some mud on my legs for good measure, and says, "Sometimes you can find worms!"

"Please don't tell me you eat worms," I say.

Nate laughs, "No, we don't! Even though one time we dared Brandt to eat one. He did, it, too, and it was gross but AWESOME!"

I blink. I still like to avoid Brandt Manson whenever possible.

Cassia speaks up again after a small pause, "Alright, Nate, I think he's had enough. Let's get him back to the house and he can clean himself up again."

Nate grins, and together the McIalwain siblings help me stand up and together, we walk back to the Victor's Village.

That night, after all three of us showering and changing into comfy clothes, Nate goes to bed early. He doesn't seem half as happy as before.

Cassia sits in the dimly-lit living room, and gestures me to sit by her on the couch. I take a seat and curl up on the end, facing her. She does the same and faces me.

"Is he alright?"

She sighs sadly, still smiling slightly. "He'll be okay. See, way back, in the days before the rebellion, that field's where Nate always liked to play with Elijah. For the longest time, the three of us would go there and play a soccer game, rain or shine. Sometimes Valentina would come with us… Trevor even joined in once."

I nod and wonder why I wasn't thinking about that earlier.

"Anyways, he wasn't sure about going back there. And he really wasn't sure about taking you. Obviously, it's not you, it's just that… Well…" she thinks of the right words.

"He doesn't want me to replace Elijah?" I offer.

She nods, "Exactly. Obviously you're very different from Lij. Nate doesn't want to forget."

I nod, understanding the feeling.

"He finally got the courage to go back there yesterday, and then today, well, he got the courage to show it to you. But I guess he was thinking about the other times he was there, with Lij and sometimes Priscilla and Ashley… He misses them a lot."

"I understand how that feels," I sigh quietly.

We sit in a small silence before she speaks up again.

"Nate really looks up to you, you know?"

I look over, "Huh?"

"Nate. He looks up to you a lot. You're his hero. He figures that if you can do it, so can he."

I've always thought of Nate and myself as equals, in all honesty. We're friends, of course, but I never thought of him looking up to me.

"Oh…"

She smiles slightly. "So, I want to get to know you a little bit. The real you, not the Capitol you."

"R…Really?"

Cassia nods. "I have to make sure you really are worth looking up to."

"I dunno about that… I'm not really that great. In all honesty, Nate's the only friend I've got left. I'm a bisexual freak that is hated by his home District."

She raises an eyebrow. "You really think you're a freak? Everyone in District 2 either wants to fuck you or date you."

"Oh really? What's your preference?" I ask jokingly.

She breaks eye contact and says, "Neither."

I laugh, "Then I guess not everyone."

"Guess not. But, I kind of know how it is."

"Kind of?"

"I'm bisexual too."

"You? Really?"

She laughs slightly. "What, do I not look bisexual?"

"Well, I guess," I sigh, "I dunno."

She smiles and says, "My parents weren't thrilled, but they didn't treat me any worse. I can't imagine what it would've been like if they had, though…"

"Just a severe talk with Señor Cutting Board." I instinctively rub my temple, the first place he ever hit me.

She frowns and says, "I'm so sorry that happened… Your parents sound atrocious."

"They still are."

"I'm sorry. Truly I am."

"I survive."

There's a pause. She speaks up again in a happier voice, changing the subject. "So, uh, what do you like to do, Mr. Platinum Krietzer?"

I lean back. "Well, I like to…" I think. "Sing. Yes, I like to sing."

"That's your Victor's talent, isn't it?" I nod.

"What else do you like to do?"

"Well, I like to dance."

"So Nate's said. Ballroom dancing, yes?"

I blush lightly but nod. "Not very many opportunities to do it, though."

"Guess not. Anything else?"

"Hm… I like to watch scary movies."

"No way! So do I!" she grins brightly at me.

"You…You do?"

"Yeah! Nate doesn't prefer them, but I love a good scare. And I especially love those movies with awful effects!"

"Yeah, those are pretty funny when you think about them."

"Exactly! I prefer to watch scary movies with someone, an arm to grab and a back to bury my face in, but nobody here really cares for scary movies."

"I just use a blanket," I comment, and she grins.

"Yeah, yeah, but that's just not the same!"

"I guess it's not."

"You should come over this Halloween. We can stay up all night and watch the scariest movies we can find."

I grin, "Hey, that sounds like fun! Yeah, totally!"

She smiles. "Anything else you like to do?"

I nod. "Yeah, but it's a little embarrassing."

"You like to do hair, right?" My face turns red, "Who told you that?"

"Nate. His exact words were, 'I cannot stand waiting for Cupcake in the morning because he paws at his hair for half an hour!'"

I smile and shrug, and Cassia laughs. "I think it's cool. You should do my hair someday."

"Yeah, sure."

She yawns and says, "It seems like you and I have a good deal in common, Mr. Platinum Krietzer. We should hang out. I'll be your friend."

"What would Nate say?"

"He won't care. In fact I'm sure he'd be happy that his sister got along with his best friend, older-brother figure."

"Oh. Then, yeah, we should hang out and be friends."

She smiles and I smile back. She's pretty cute.

"I'm off to bed, I think." She gets up.

I smile at her, "Good night, Cassia."

"Night, Platinum."

She shuts off the lights and I head to the guest bedroom for the night.