Tyrion Tyminski

Age 17

District Two Male

Magnus watched the screens carefully, scribbling the names, ages, and attitudes of each of the tributes as they were reaped onto a legal pad.

Volumnia Gaul was in a fancy office somewhere, sipping milk, eating crackers, and trying to persuade President Ravinstill that the Hunger Games were still viable.

The Fourth Hunger Games had been a disaster, yes, but the subsequent Hunger Games could have gone much worse.

However, President Ravinstill was far from happy. Dr. Gaul was even less happy but for different reasons.

The Fifth Hunger Games was too humanizing. The Sixth Hunger Games brought similar complaints. The Seventh Hunger Games was better, but it ended too abruptly due to that storm.

Magnus didn't understand why all of that was such an issue. As long as twenty-three tributes were dead at the end, why would what happens in the arena matter?

Dr. Gaul had simply scoffed at his question when he brought it up. "Humanizing the tributes is the last thing we want. We don't want viewers to see them as innocent children. That defeats the purpose of the Games."

"But the fact that these … tributes are killing each other. Does that not dehumanize them?"

Dr. Gaul had chuckled at that. "There's more to it than that, Mr. Casper."

Magnus had been in the Capitol long enough to know that the Capitolites were superior in every way to the people in the districts. He had grown to despise the blood that ran in his veins, and the need to repent for the crime of being born district was neverending. How was forcing their children away from their homes and making them fight to the death on live television not enough to show that superiority and fulfill the need for repentance?

Little did he know that this lesson, like so many others, would be taught through yet another Hunger Games.

The Reaping dragged on like so many before it. Magnus kept himself entertained by predicting which tributes would cry and which ones would need to be dragged to the stage.

The only hint of excitement came from District Two, the district he had forsaken but could never seem to get away from. A girl around sixteen was called. She stomped to the stage, furious. Magnus noticed a cluster of little kids shifting when the boy was called. A twelve-year-old being reaped was nothing new. It was what happened after that stunned Magnus.

An older boy shoved his way through the crowd and was almost immediately met in the aisle by Peacekeepers, who tried to shove him back. "No!" he cried. "Tarren! Don't take him! Please! Take me instead!"

The Peacekeepers escorting the little boy to the stage stopped and looked at each other.

Magnus leaned forward in his chair. There was some muttering, and then one of them began speaking into a communicuff and Magnus awaited the inevitable call.

Dr. Gaul had left him to handle any potential issues during the Reaping. Her trust in him was both unexpected and appreciated, but he also had a feeling he was being tested somehow.

Magnus answered the call as soon as it came in. "This is Casper. I see what's happening. You want to know if he can volunteer?"

"Yes," came the response. "Is this allowed? Are we authorized to take the older one instead?"

Magnus frowned. How were the Games a punishment if one chose to be there?

Then, Dr. Gaul's words reverberated in his head. Allowing this boy to volunteer would humanize him specifically but how many tributes over the years had siblings or other family members eligible for the Reaping? Surely, any normal person would be willing to die for their younger siblings, yet it took years for someone to be willing to do just that.

Suddenly, Magnus wasn't just resentful of the fact that he was District. He was ashamed.

If Magnus was right, the Capitolites would come to the same realization. It would paint the Districters as harsh and uncaring at the cost of humanizing a single tribute.

At least, that was how he planned to explain it to Dr. Gaul if she made a fuss.

"If the boy wants to die that badly," Magnus said into the comunipad, "then I don't see an issue. Release Tarran and take the older boy instead."

A few moments later, the Peacekeepers were leading a now crying Tarran away and the volunteer strode bravely to the stage. "No! Tyrion! You can't go!"

Tarran's pleas fell on deaf ears as both the girl and Tyrion were handcuffed and led away.

Magnus could only hope he made the right choice.

Tarren Tyminski wasn't sure that his brother made the right choice.

It wasn't that Tarren wasn't grateful. He would have surely died in that arena had his brother not begged for the Peacekeepers to take him instead, but seeing Tyrion return the way he did only added to Tarren's guilt

When Tyrion left, he had both arms and both eyes. His face had been flawless and he smiled more. Now, he was scarred and broken. That spark he had had died with the other kids in that arena. One of them had been a boy around Tarran's age. He was one of four people Tyrion had killed…

"I'm sorry," Tarran had told his older brother. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Tyrion had said. "I'd do it all over again if I had to."

But I don't want you to! Tarran wanted to scream. You shouldn't have to begin with!

Tarran eventually gave up on apologizing. Tyrion would only keep insisting that he had nothing to apologize for.

Months passed. Tyrion slowly came back to life, but he never regained his spark. His smile never quite reached his last remaining eye.

Another Hunger Games arrived, and this time, when a little girl around thirteen was called up, no one stepped up for her the way Tyrion had for him.

It wasn't fair.

When he saw that girl die on screen two days later, he realized just how broken the system was.

Someone had to fix it, and that someone may as well have been him.

Tyrion was ready to die for Tarran, but he wasn't prepared for the fight that awaited him and it broke him.

Tarran quickly left the room and strode towards the kitchen. He picked up one of his mother's old kitchen knives off the counter and gripped it tightly.

He decided right then and there that a little kid would not go into the arena if he could help it, but he wasn't going in unprepared either.

Tyrion gave Tarran a second chance at life, and he wasn't going to squander it.

And with that, we have our very first volunteer! Tyrion's story was just a run-of-the-mill early Hunger Games, but the real impact was with both Magnus and Tarran. Magnus is learning more from Dr. Gaul and his mindset is shifting as a result. Meanwhile, Tarran is dealing with the guilt of Tyrion risking his life for him, and well, we'll be seeing him again pretty soon.

The next chapter is going to feature a massive disaster of a Hunger Games, enough to raise questions on whether they should continue or not. Any predictions on what it's going to be?