Chapter 6: The Fighter and the Avenger

District 2: Yennenga Lash

Yennenga Lash's keys jangled incessantly as she unlocked the door to the candy store. As soon as she pushed the door open she inhaled the sweet smell that permeated the air. Sweet tarts, chocolates, lollipops, gum balls, the aroma was infused with the scents of all these goodies and more.

The bright colors of the sweet treats pulled her eyes in every direction. There was every kind of candy one could imagine here, shelves lined all four walls and were placed in rows throughout the room. It wasn't a large store, but it was big enough to serve it's purpose.

And Yennenga just happened to have a key so she could access the store anytime she wanted.

No, she wasn't here to steal. She didn't use the key to pilfer the store whenever, to take small amounts of candy the owner would never miss. Instead she was here to clean up.

Yennenga sighed as she walked over to the cash register. It was unlocked, although it wasn't supposed to be. The money inside was all scattered, not at all placed where it should have been.

"I handled it Yennenga," her mother Athena has said to her last night. From the frustrated tone of voice she had used Yennenga knew her mother didn't handle it. "I have it under control," Athena had shouted, but was she trying to convince her daughter of this, or herself?

Either way, she had not done her job as the store's Assistant Manager, so Yennenga had to come in and clean up her mess. Her mother couldn't lose this job, it was the only thing keeping her happy these days.

Yennenga sorted the one dollar bills into a pile, the fives into another, and did the same thing for the twenties and the fifties.

It was early. She watched the sun rising in the distance through the store's large glass windows. Her reflection stared back at her. Tan skin, dotted here and there with freckles. Green eyes, and wavy brown hair.

Her mother didn't know she was here. She never told Athena when she came to clean up. If she did, her proud and headstrong mother would be devastatingly embarrassed that her daughter had to check on her, had to clean up after her when she couldn't. Yennenga didn't want that to happen.

She quickly slipped the money back where it belonged and slid back out the door, beginning the trek home.

The manager of this store was not a very forgiving man. She prayed that her mother could pull it together while she was away, just until Yennenga could come back as Victor. Her mother had lost so much, the last thing she needed to lose right now was her job, and along with it her pride.

Yennenga quietly arrived back into the house. By now, it was a reasonable hour. She walked over to the stove and turned the burner on. Did they have any eggs left for breakfast? She thought as she pulled the fridge open. Only two left. Just enough.

Almost halfway through the breakfast preparation, Yennenga's mother stumbled out of her bedroom. Yennenga guided Athena to a seat at the kitchen table.

"Did you take your pills yet this morning, Mom?" Yennenga asked, placing a gentle hand on her mother's bony shoulder.

Athena shook her gaunt face: no.

Yennenga ventured into her mother's room, and ripped open one of the dresser drawers. She pulled out a bottle of pills. Almost empty. Yennenga cursed silently. These wouldn't last until she returned from the Games, and their was absolutely no money or time to buy new ones.

"Here you go," Yennenga said calmly as she placed two pills down on the table before her mother. "Take these, okay? And be careful how many you use while I'm gone." She handed Athena a glass of water to take the pills with.

"Thank you, my dear," Athena wheezed.

Yennenga's heart shattered. She had to look away from her mother. The girl turned her focus on the crackling eggs, her eyes glassed over.

A few more weeks. A few more weeks, and Yennenga would be back, with the money she needed to get her mother the right kind of medical treatment, not just some pills that were euphemisms to keep her floating between the borders of reality and insanity.

She had trained, poured all her dedication and time into preparation. She had fought, and reached the top of the rankings at the Academy. She would enter the Games, and she would keep fighting, to keep her mother alive.

Yennenga looked back at her mother, who struggled to eat her breakfast. Athena's hands shook as she raised the bread to her mouth and took a bite. She struggled, but she took yet another bite.

Her mother might be struggling, but Athena was a solider. She wouldn't give up. Yennenga smiled, at the trait she had inherited from her mother, and went back to preparing the eggs.

District 2: Perseus Slater

"Did you hear about the uprisings in 10? Rumor has it they almost assassinated the new Head Gamemaker while she was up there a few weeks ago," Roxanne spoke from beside Perseus. Even though she was sitting right beside him, Roxanne's voice was almost lost in the ruckus of the Training Academy mess hall.

"No," Perseus spoke as he twirled his spoon around in his oatmeal with indifference. By now, his breakfast was already cold. He wasn't very hungry anyway.

"Well, all we know is that the Head Gamemaker went on air yesterday for some announcement, and there was this huge scar running down the side of her face. And, while on her tour, she was rushed back to the Capitol from District 10, and didn't return to visit the other remaining districts," Roxanne buried her head back into the newspaper.

"And that means what to me, Roxanne? Why should I care?"

"Well, according to this," she nodded towards her newspaper, or her lifeline as Perseus liked to call it, and read him a passage. "'When Verena Blackwell visited 10, thirteen innocent people died when the peacekeepers rained down bullets on the rebels. Twenty one died in all.' The Capitol is trying to keep it a secret, but it's certainly not staying that way."

He sighed. "It doesn't matter to me. The fools shouldn't have tried to assassinate the Head Gamemaker. The thirteen innocents... if they weren't smart enough to move out of the way when all that happened, they don't deserve to live. Let them all rot in their graves," Perseus replied with total apathy.

Roxanne sighed, poking at Perseus's chest. "I know you have a heart in there somewhere, however shriveled up and dark it might be."

Despite not wanting to, Perseus let loose a small smile, something that only Roxanne could summon from him.

"Why'd you come her for breakfast anyway?" Roxanne's asked, as she stuffed another biscuit into her mouth. "You know how your mother gets…did you tell her you were leaving?"

"Of course I told her," Perseus snapped. "And I'm here to pick something up."

"I thought you got all your stuff last week, when you moved out of the Academy," Roxanne spoke, her brown brows furrowing.

"I still have to pick up one thing," Perseus didn't elaborate. Instead, he stood up. "I'm actually going to go pick it up right now. I'll be back down soon."

"Okay," Roxanne's said, knowing by now not to ask questions. She turned around and started chatting to the girl seating beside her.

Perseus's room was barren. The walls were picked clean, there was nothing on the desk, no covers on the mattress. The room was devoid of emotion, of feeling. Though it hadn't felt much different that this when Perseus did live here.

Perseus stalked over to the chest that used to hold his clothes. He unlocked it. Empty. But then he reached down and pried the bottom up with his fingers, until a loud pop sounded, reverberating against the desolate walls. He looked down into the crate again, at what was hidden below the chest's bottom.

It was nothing much. Just a letter, a pendant, a watch, and a couple of rings.

He picked up the pendant. The last name Slater was carved intricately into the band, but it didn't belong to Perseus. No, this belonged to his brother.

Gaius, his older brother. Gaius, his role model, his idol. Gaius, who had volunteered at the age of 18 and gotten himself killed in the arena.

Gaius Slater was sure to win his Games. His odds towered above the other tributes'. He had obtained a training score of 12. Perfection. He was showered with so many gifts from sponsors, he couldn't even carry them all. But none of it was enough to save him. He didn't even place second.

Perseus clenched his jaw remembering the last words his brother had spoken to him. "I promise, I'll come back for you." But he didn't come back for Perseus. He came back sealed up in a coffin.

So Perseus ravaged by revenge and anger enrolled at the Training Academy, following in his brother's footsteps. Fueled by a fire the other boys didn't have, Perseus rose to the top of the rankings, just as his brother did, and was now presented with the chance to compete in the Games.

He twirled the token around in his fingers. Perseus had promised Gaius to keep the pendant safe when it was handed to him 4 years ago. And unlike his brother, Perseus didn't break his promises.

He was going to finish what Gaius started.

Perseus slammed his fist down on the wooden floorboards. The room shook. He was going to finish what his brother started.

Perseus put the letter and the other valuables back into the box and shoved the bottom back down. He locked up the chest and placed it on his mattress before proceeding to storm out of the room.

"I'm actually going to miss watching the games watching the Games with you this year," Roxanne spoke. The two conversed as they walked down the paved path to the reaping venue. Perseus had cooled off, the morning breeze calming his nerves.

"And why is that?" Perseus asked the question, smirking sheepishly at the answer he knew was coming.

Roxanne grinned at him. "Because," she drew out the word, "you somehow manage to keep a smile on my face as I watch children get murdered."

"And how do I do that?" Perseus questioned, Roxanne's smile was contagious, and it soon spread his smirk grew into a grin.

"Remember last year when that brute from 11 with all the sponsors accidentally ate those poisonous herbs and died?"

Perseus sarcastically winced. "I remember. When the cannon went off I said, 'I can't be-leaf it!' Get it because the leaves killed him? And I couldn't believe it because he was a front-runner and he didn't make it past the second day."

Roxanne mockingly covered her eyes. She shook her head, laughing. "I got it, Perseus. And when the Careers started turning on each other and the girl from our District took a knife to the spine you said, 'Don't you just hate it when your friends stab you in the back?' I was laughing as the girl from our district bled out in the arena!"

The two laughed, and Perseus thought of the letter and all the other items sealed back up in the chest. He had left it in his dorm for Roxanne.

No, the letter was not some declaration of love in which Perseus claimed that he had loved Roxanne all his life, for she was like a sister to him. Rather it contained instructions for Roxanne to handle Perseus's mother while he was gone, just a note that told her to visit twice a week to check in. She would be all alone without Perseus visiting, and she could sometimes get a bit…out of control. She had been very unpredictable since Gaius's death. The note also said to keep his watch and other valuables in a special place until he got back, because they wouldn't be safe in the house alone with his mother. Roxanne would understand. She always did.

He didn't just give the letter to her, because that would create too much melodrama. Too much emotion. Roxanne was a big crier. Perseus wasn't.

So, Perseus slipped the key into Roxanne's back pocket, where she would surely find it before day's end.

Perseus halted his step, and he gripped Roxanne's shoulders lightly, stopping her as well. "It's for the chest in my room. You can take the bottom out of the chest," was all he said to Roxanne who looked at him with a worried expression on her face. She'd find the key though, and remember this conversation, or rather this moment. It would all make sense. Then she'd find the letter and everything else. Roxanne was smart, he trusted her.

Perseus gave a her a smile as the people around him started to look at the pair with puzzled faces. He let go of Roxanne. People looked at him as if he was crazy. He balled his hands into fists.

He wasn't crazy.

District 2: Yennenga Lash

Yennenga flashed a smile and nodded to everyone who came up to congratulate her on the fact she would be competing in this year's Games.

It was almost like déjà vu, as the same thing had happened a few months ago when she was officially announced as the one who would volunteer for the Games. All the girls in the Training Academy were asked to congratulate her. Some were actually happy for her, but many more were jealous. They gripped her hand too tightly when they shook it, and although a smile graced their face, hatred filled their eyes.

Today though, as the reality of the reaping sunk in, most of the girls wished Yennenga good luck with genuine smiles, no longer wanting to be in the Games. She almost laughed at the typical behavior of the District 2 girls.

Yennenga wasn't nervous though. She would be fine. An alliance with the Careers, straight for the cornucopia, vivid images of the upcoming Games filled her mind. She had been thinking of arena strategies for nearly a decade now. She would survive Games.

"Nervous, much?" Victory teased as she slid into line beside her best friend.

"You wish," Yennenga replied, and the two began to laugh.

"I thought you were going to come over this morning, is your mother okay?" Yennenga always hung out at Victory's house, it was like her second home. Yennenga's house was viewed the same to Victory.

"Yeah, she's fine now. Candy store again."

"No problem," Victory said, understanding immediately. It was one of the things Yennenga loved about her best friend. "You ready to win this year?" Victory asked, changing the subject.

"Totally," Yennenga replied, smiling again. She blew a piece of her brown hair away from her face. "And you'll win next year, and then we can be next door neighbors in Victor's Village!"

"We can have sleepovers whenever!" Victory replied and the two girls laughed.

"Yes! But, your win will be even better than mine because it's a Quell next year."

Victory playfully shoved her best friend. "Let's just get through this year first, alright?"

The audience quieted down as the escort's bold voice gripped the crowd's attention.

Yennenga's heart raced as the escort stepped up to the large glass bowl, his heels echoing with each step he took. He announced the reaped female's name. "Amarantha Grant!"

"I volunteer!" Yennenga cried. She gave Victory's hand a squeeze before proceeding to the stage where she was displayed for all of Panem to see. She stood on the stage as this year's District 2 female tribute.

It had finally begun.

Author's Note: Well there ya go! Next chapter is D3! But, in order for that chapter to happen, I need a District 3 male! So please, again, if you want to submit, go ahead! :)

District 2 Male: Perseus Slater, 18 (FoxfaceFan1)

District 2 Female: Yennenga Lash, 18 (Juud108)

The tributes for D2! How did you guys like the chapter? This one was a bit longer. What did you think of Yennenga and Perseus? Which one is your favorite out of the two?

The answers to the last questions was: Paris is The Deceiver and Isadora is The Sophisticated. Congrats to all those who got it right!

Remember, review this chapter for two sponsor points (and because it'd make my day), and answer the question who is The Avenger and who is The Fighter for another point! :) See ya soon! -Kath