And the only thing sure from the start
Is the song that's inside of your heart
Don't let
It leave

Robert Smith

District 1, He/Him, 18

(Train)

...

I stand silently at the back of The Justice Building, staring at the train in front of me while I wait for Aisling. My goodbyes were fairly short with my parents giving me a quick hug each and expressing their confidence that I'll be coming home very soon. Skylark spent a little more time with me, embracing me almost the entire time and telling me how much she was going to miss me. Of course, she too expressed her confidence that I would be coming home with a crown atop my head soon enough. I start to tap my foot on the concrete, getting increasingly anxious the more I think about the expectation that I must reach. Luckily, I'm pulled out of my head as Aisling and Elvera, my Escort, walk through the back exit and toward me.

"Right then, the train will be leaving shortly so we better get on board!." Elvera shrieks, opening a door on the train and skipping inside. Aisling and I follow her, the two of us giving each other a look as we realise how insane our Escort truly is. The compartment that we enter is lavish and my bar is usually set pretty high. Diamond chandeliers fill the ceiling, giving the room a welcoming, warm, teal lighting. We seem to be in a living room which is very expertly furnished, filled with modern, white couches and armchairs along with one of the biggest TVs I have ever seen.

"Quite grand, isn't it?" A voice calls and I rotate my head to find a handsome man with large, broad shoulders and a chiselled face. "I'm your mentor, Layton Gem, but of course, you know that from The Academy." He says with a wink.

"Well, yes!" Aisling exclaims. "Layton Gem, Victor of the 16th Games. You led one of the most powerful Career Packs and dominated your Games." I'm unsurprised by this sudden burst of knowledge, Aisling and I have never really interacted but I didn't make the mistake of not studying my competition. They've always stood out at The Academy for their smarts and, as far as I'm aware, have one of the highest IQs in the District.

"Brilliant, I'm glad to be mentoring you Aisling!" He replies and Aisling's previous timid face is replaced with one of pride. "Robert, you will be getting mentored by my dear friend Opal." I deflate slightly, I had been hoping to get Layton. From what I've heard, Opal isn't a very cooperative mentor and therefore won't be able to help me too much. He appears, coming out of the door behind Layton and meets me with a neutral expression, I respond with a small smile but regret it when I don't get one in return.

"Uhm, it's Smith actually," I mumble and Layton furrows his brow in confusion. "My name, I prefer to go by Smith."

"Ah, perfectly fine, Smith," Layton says, a smile stretching across his face. "Now then, not to be too hasty, but I assume the two of you will be working together?" I turn to look at Aisling and they do the same, I've always assumed that Aisling wants to stick with The Careers like me but it's possible I'm mistaken. I nod my head at them and they return the action, alleviating both of our doubts.

"Yes, we'll be working together," I reply and Layton nods, a smile still on his face.

"Perfect, Opal would you like to have a talk with Robert while I talk with Aisling?"

"Mhm. Come with me, Robert." He says and I follow him out of the living area and into a hallway. "This room over here is your bedroom." He pushes a door open and I enter, it's fairly similar to my bedroom back home with dark blue walls, a carpeted floor and a white, modern bed facing a flat-screen TV. "We'll just take a seat over here." He says and sits down on an armchair facing another which I assume is meant for me.

"So, what's the plan?" I ask, I have a decent outline of a plan in my head but any help I can get from a previous Victor would be valuable.

Opal laughs rather coldly. "The plan? Go in there and kill a bunch of unprepared teenagers, that's the plan." I take in a sharp breath through my nose, slightly shocked. "Look, I wasn't the leader of The Career Pack like Layton was. I can't help you there if that's what you want." I shrug in response, now feeling a large sense of jealousy for Aisling building up in me. However, I'm not sure if I even want to lead. "You know about my Games, yes?"

Of course, I know about his Games. I've been studying for this for my entire life, sitting mindlessly in front of a TV screen as the hundredth rerun of The 12th Games plays out in front of me. "Yes, I know about your Games. You stayed quiet in The Career Pack, taking orders and were seemingly submissive."

"Until I slit their throat in the middle of the night." He mutters and his already pale face has become even paler. "They were my friends, Smith. You need to know that you must not grow close to people, you must not make friends. These people are just obstacles, obstacles in the way of your victory. If you start looking at them as anything else, you come out of those Games wishing you were dead." I nod my head, understanding. I've never been much good at getting close to people anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem for me but at least Opal is able to reaffirm those boundaries.

"Obstacles. Not friends."

Scylla Minali

District 4, She/Her, 18

(Train)

...

"So, I assume you want to take the role of the leader?" Cora asks, smirking.

"I'm more confident leading, yes, but I'll take a backseat if needed," I reply and it's true, I've spent countless hours talking over my strategies and plans with The Academy trainers and have come to the conclusion that I must be willing to adapt. It'll be hard for me, usually, my say is the final one but I know that kind of attitude will not work out well for me in The Games.

"Great. As you know, I led a Career Pack of women very successfully." That she did, her Games is one of our key studies in The Academy because of the way she was able to control her alliance against the opposing Career men. She was able to slaughter the entire opposing alliance with nothing but a spear, that very thought always spurred me forward when I was training - to have that much power is something I desperately want. Power means control and control means I can finally live my life in peace, away from the horrors of my past. That is what being a Victor means to me and that is what I will achieve. "So, for starters, you'll want to assert your dominance. I've watched The Reapings, it seems we have a strong group of Careers this year but that also means a lot of clashing of opinion. You must stay confident, assure them that your opinion is the right one and stand your ground."

I nod. This is advice that can only be given to me by somebody with experience and so when listening to Coral, I don't lose eye contact even for a second - giving her all of my attention. "Well, I assume Quincy may be an issue in that regard." I sigh. Quincy and I have already had a slight run-in when asked if we wanted to align, he scoffed and said something along the lines of 'She can work for me, not with me.' Those words only made me want the leadership more, not only to assert my authority over him but also to take something he wanted so badly away from him. My grandmother was the last person I took orders without choice from and she now lies 10 feet underground with stab wounds over her body.

"A problem is an understatement, I hope Maya is managing alright with him. She can be quite timid." She sighs, looking down at the floor. I was shocked to learn a few hours ago that the two of them are married and have been for a couple of years. Maya told me that so much of their lives is already public knowledge, this is one thing that they are able to keep private and for themselves. Suddenly, we hear a commotion from outside of my bedroom and Coral rushes out, myself close behind. Quincy and Maya are outside of Quincy's bedroom, shouting at each other.

"I can still help you!" Maya cries, her hands shaking at her sides.

"No, you cannot! If I want to lead The Careers then I need to be taught by a leader." He screams back, his face red with anger. I almost laugh at the sight of it.

"Unlucky, Quincy," I say, smiling mischievously as I lean against my now-closed bedroom door. Coral has rushed over to Maya and gives me a look of annoyance at my attempt to stir the pot. Oh well, she told me to assert my dominance. Quincy turns to me, eyes filled with rage, and raises a fist.

"The hell did you say, Minali?" A sudden burst of fury shoots through me at the sound of that name.

"Do not call me that." I spit, clenching my fists at my side.

"What, you're not a fan of your crazy little family?"

"They are not my family!" I scream, rushing toward him and grabbing him by the neck. He fights out of my grip, landing blow after blow with his fists on my body but I ignore the pain that is bound to be running through me and continue to fight. He grabs at my hair, yanking my head to the side but I manage to pull myself away and land a hard kick to his shin. He falls to a knee, crying out in pain and I begin to kick him all over. I don't care where I land, I just want him to feel pain. The pain that I suffered for years at the hands of the name he dared to call me.

Soon, arms are under my armpits and I'm being pulled away. I turn to see a Peacekeeper, his face filled with rage and arms now tight around me. I don't bother trying to get out of his grip and allow myself to be pulled away, staring at the bloody mess that is Quincy on the ground.

Well, so much for staying calm. I think to myself as I realise the mess that I've just created, a fully intact Career group may as well be impossible after this. Quincy will be the one with the regrets, though, not me. I will ensure he doesn't make it past the bloodbath, I can't afford him being in the way of my path to victory.

No, not just to victory, to freedom.

Marcus Russel

District 5, He/Him, 18

(Train)

...

"This is bullshit!" I cry, pacing back and forth from one side of my room to the other. "There is no way the two of us getting reaped is a coincidence. No way, you hear me, Nicole?" I turn fiercely to look at her and am taken aback to find her simply picking at her nails as if she hasn't a care in the world.

"Oh, settle down, Marcus." She says with a sigh, sitting down on my bed and crossing her legs. "It's bullshit, but what can we do about it?" I put my hand to my chin, thinking of an answer. Blow ourselves out of the arena? Jump out of the train and go on the run? "It's a rhetorical question, idiot. The answer is nothing, there is nothing that we can do about it." I shake my head, beginning to pace again.

"No, you know I won't accept that," I murmur.

"There's nothing else we can do." She says, suddenly going quiet. "If we die then at least we won't have to live without each other." Her voice shakes and breaks my heart as it does, I storm over to her and grab her by the shoulders.

"Look at me, Nicole." She does, her blue eyes full of something I see so rarely from her. Emotion. "You are not going to die. We are both getting out of here; if not, you are." She shakes her head and looks down again, avoiding eye contact.

"There's nothing else for me without you." She whispers and I know she's right, our escort had been quite surprised to find that the two of us had nobody to say goodbye to. I have the Ice Devils and Nicole the Fire Wolves but, when it comes down to it, the connections we made in those gangs were never real. I don't feel any sense of betrayal for my gang mates who are most certainly competing for my spot as leader because I always knew what we were to each other. A means of survival. If I can no longer help them survive, I am no longer worth anything to them.

I sit down next to Nicole and place my hand in hers, the two of us sitting in silence. I'm unsure how long it has been when our mentor knocks on the door, peeking her head inside my room before I can even respond. "Hope I'm not interrupting." She squeaks.

"You are," I say, gruffly. For all I know, she could be in on this rigging to try and get the two of us killed.

"What do you want?" Nicole adds, just as emotionless.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to talk..." She murmurs. "But I can come back later."

"No, we can talk," Nicole says before the woman can close the door and rush off. A small smile appears on her pale face, although her eyes remain cautious.

"Great, we can go to the living room?" I shrug and Nicole nods, the two of us stand up and follow her out.

I've always grown up wealthy with my parents running the Ice Devils before I took over. However, none of my properties can even come close to this train. It is, and there's no other way to put it, extravagant. Gold and white flashes out at me from every turn, almost flaunting their lavishness. As amazed as I am, I keep my face neutral and eyes ahead as I walk through the cart, emotions are weakness and I only show my weaknesses to one person. The woman takes a seat on a plush, white couch and Nicole and I sit on one opposite.

"So, I assume you two want to work together?" She asks, smirking slightly. I don't like it, nothing about this situation should be the least bit funny.

"Congratulations, you have a brain." I retort and the smile vanishes from her face, now I have to fight one from appearing on my own. She shifts position uncomfortably and bites her lip as if considering what next to say. How could someone like this win The Hunger Games?

"Well, uhm, I'm Kara Filer. Your mentor." When we don't respond, she continues. "You may have seen my Games. I was underestimated and, yet, I managed to outlast all 23 others. So, what I would recommend to the two of you is to not show your strengths. Save that for the Arena, where it truly matters."

"And yet every tribute who has taken your advice has died," Nicole says, tilting her head and smiling playfully. "No offence, Kara, but I think that we can handle this ourselves." Kara visibly frowns at this, her eyebrows furrowing. Nicole is right, the two of us can figure anything out if we put our minds to it.

Plus, if I have my way, we won't even be entering that Arena.

Malory Black

District 11, She/Her, 17

(Train)

...

God, I'm so fucked. My face is stuffed into a pillow and an irritating Capitolite accent is drilling into my ears. I smash my face into the pillow a few more times and groan as I roll over and sit up on my bed. I have shut all of the windows, in order to wallow in my despair, and the only source of light comes from the flat-screen TV where the news reporter is talking very excitedly. "And with all of our tributes reaped, they are now on their way to The Capitol where we will give them our warmest of welcomes." With that, the TV switches to a slow-motion shot of last year's Victor, Kathryn Mallerd, as she stabs through the boy from Eleven and takes her victory.

The TV is off in a second, my finger shooting down on the power button of the remote. Repulsion strikes through me, I've watched The Hunger Games and death before but to know that it will soon become my reality is a different experience altogether. Without a second of hesitation, I throw the remote to the side and scramble off of my bed and out through my bedroom door. I just need to get out of here is the only thought on my mind but once I'm out and the door is shut behind me, I realise that I have nowhere else to go.

"Hey, Malory." Someone says, startling me. Turning my head, I find Odalis with his head poking outside of his bedroom door - a look of concern on his face. "You okay?" He asks and my lips turn up slightly in a small smile as he repeats the question I asked him in The Justice Building. The two of us had already established that we wanted to work together when our mentor, Crow, talked us through the benefits of an ally.

"No. Not okay." I reply and he nods with a sad smile.

"No, me neither." He hesitates for a moment before asking. "Want to come in?" I nod and follow him inside, glad for something else to do while I wait for our arrival at The Capitol. Odalis' room is an exact replica of mine, except for the bed which seems to be untouched. Mine, on the other hand, is already a complete mess with pillows on the floor and my duvet hanging off the side. Tears spring to my eyes as I think of how Briana used to tease me for my messy nature whenever she came over, I would do anything for her to start obsessively cleaning my room right now.

Odalis sits on the carpeted floor, crossing his legs and leaning his back against the front of his bed. I don't question it, we all have our different ways of dealing with something like this and I suppose Odalis' is sitting on the floor. The very uncomfortable floor, I think as I sit opposite him. "You watched the Reaping Recap." I nod, the tears already brimming in my eyes starting to spill as I'm reminded of what has me so emotional in the first place.

"Oh, Odalis. We're so screwed!" I cry, my hands covering my face and my whole body racking with sobs. "Did you see those Careers? I mean, even the pair from eight could crush my frail body with their bare hands!" Before The Recap, I had held out hope that I still had a chance. That if I played my cards right, maybe, just maybe, I could win this and go back to my family. Then I saw the boy from One, the girl from Four, even the boy from Twelve and realised that I didn't even stand a chance.

"It doesn't look great." He sighs and, when I peek through my fingers, I expect to find tears running down his dark skin but instead, he holds the same neutral expression as usual. Suddenly, I remember that Odalis is just a kid and my face goes red as I realise that he's handling this much better than me. I take a deep breath in and out through my nose and wipe away my tears. "It doesn't look great but that doesn't mean it's impossible. The odds are stacked against us but, Malory, don't forget that odds can be beaten." I sniff and smile weakly.

"God, how are you so smart?" He beams at this.

"Really, you think so?" He asks and I'm a little surprised, surely he knows it and he's just trying to be modest.

"Your parents must tell you it all the time!" His smile shrinks a little at that and I know I've said the wrong thing.

"I suppose. My father has never said it and my mother, well, we don't really get along." He says although he doesn't seem all too sad about it. With this, I feel a sudden sense of guilt. I have been able to live such a happy life with my amazing Mums and beautiful girlfriend, life has treated me well up until now and I took it all for granted. For Odalis, I can imagine that this is another unfortunate thing stacked upon many. He must feel like he hasn't even lived and he will most likely never get the chance to.

"You're a good ally, Odalis," I say. "We're going to get through this together." Even though it's impossible, I say it because Odalis deserves some hope in his life and, right now, I'm the only person that can provide it for him.

Marya Linder

District 12, She/Her, 17

(Train)

...

"Time to get up!" Someone shouts, causing me to wake with a start. I roll over in bed and smile to myself, looking forward to another day with the Winchester children. However, when I open my eyes, it's not my bedroom that I sleep in and suddenly everything is rushing back to me and I just can't take it. I grab onto the duvet and clench my teeth, attempting to avoid the scream that so desperately wants to escape from my lungs. Most of last night was spent with tears spilling out of my eyes and onto my pillow, thinking about everything that I haven't done and everyone that I will miss so dearly.

No. I mustn't think about it, about any of it. When I do that, I have already given up and I've always taught the children I work with to be determined. "Come on Marya, you can do this," I mutter to myself, climbing out of bed. Once I step outside, I find a set of clothes with a note lying on top of them.

Put these on and come down to breakfast.

I assume it's from my mentor (who is also my escort) Renny. We haven't had the chance to speak much yet. Yesterday, Smith decided that he would prefer to be trained separately. It hurt my feelings at first but I quickly shook that away, my feelings can't get in the way and if Smith doesn't think I'm a capable enough ally then that's his problem, not mine.

The clothes set out for me are a simple, white, summer dress and matching white socks. I retreat back into my room and put them on with little complaint, looking at myself in the mirror as I slip the socks on. I would never go as far as to say that I'm pretty because I've never really seen that in myself, however, I feel that I'm presentable enough for the first impression I am about to make and head toward the kitchen-living area.

Smith already sits at the island and seems to be done with breakfast, I realise that I'm a little later than expected and mumble an apology to Renny as I pass them. She doesn't respond and walks out of the room. I sit on a stool a couple down from Smith, although I'm telling myself not to care I can't help but feel a little embarrassed by his rejection of me. "How are you doing?" He asks, his head propped on his hand and a sincere smile on his face. I'm a little confused and narrow my eyes at him.

"Uh, yeah, fine," I say haltingly, attempting to figure him out as I do. His expression doesn't change, in fact, he even seems happy to hear that I'm doing well. "Look, I get that you don't want to be allies but is all this friend stuff necessary?" His lips downturn at that, turning into a frown and his eyes brim with confusion.

"What made you think I didn't want to be allies?" He asks and I sigh, shaking my head. I must've misinterpreted something.

"I just thought, since you wanted to train alone and all..." I mutter and he laughs, interrupting me.

"Oh, God, Marya. No, that's not what I meant by that at all." He says between laughter, shaking his head. I smile sheepishly. "I just thought we would get more helpful information from working with Renny individually." That seems like a fair enough reason so I roll my eyes at myself and then laugh along with him. "So, would you like to be allies?" He asks after our laughing fit.

"I'll consider it," I say with a wink and he shrugs.

"Fair enough."

"Right!" Renny says with a clap, strolling into the kitchen. "Marya, you've finished breakfast?"

"Uhm, no. It's fine, I'm not hungry." I mumble, holding my stomach to try and stop it from rumbling.

"Great, okay. As you both know, we're about to arrive at The Capitol." She says, standing on the other side of the island to face us. "I may not be a Victor but I have studied my home, The Capitol, since I was a little girl. We have the advantage here and we are going to use it."

"Great, what are we gonna do?" Smith asks, leaning forward.

"Well, simply smile and wave. Show excitement, and joy that you get to be here." I begin to laugh mockingly at that. Show excitement? Excitement at what, being sent to my death?

"How the hell am I supposed to show joy and excitement right now?" I cry, standing up and beginning to pace. "I mean, I'm going to be dead in a week. Dead!" Renny shakes her head as if in disappointment, I'm about to snap at her when Smith interrupts.

"Look, Marya. We need to get sponsors and Renny knows what they're doing, sit down." I almost burst into tears of frustration, I'm so angry at everyone and everything that I don't know if I can take much more. Then, I remember what I told my parents at the goodbyes. I won't let my emotions get in the way, I need to stay strong for them. So, I silently walk back to my stool and sit down - face going red with shame.

"He's right. Look, I understand how shitty this whole thing is but I want to help you and you have to let me." I don't respond, looking down at the empty plate that sits in front of me. "Alright, we're here. Go to the windows and do exactly as I said."

A/N: I don't know how I feel about this chapter, to be honest, I kind of struggled with a couple of the POVs and am a little disappointed but, oh well, if I keep rewriting things then this SYOT will never be finished. We've got the Chariots up next, see you there.

Alliances

Robert and Aisling
Marcus and Nicole
Malory and Odalis

- Neb