Hello everyone and welcome to the first goodbyes chapter! I'm planning on only having two, for the simplicity of dividing things up and so that we can get to the Capitol just a bit quicker. The POVs will be in order by district, so this chapter will contain everyone from Goldena to Annette and the next one will cover everyone from Milo to Agri. That's all for now, so I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
Goldena Powers, 15
District One Female
Goldena was still reeling from seeing the look on her brother and father's faces. Honestly, she kind of felt a little bit bad about going behind their backs to volunteer.
Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. She was going into the Hunger Games, and she needed to win. Silvertongue and her father didn't need to know her main reason for volunteering, it would just make them even more upset with her. Goldena just wanted to see her mother be proud of her, that's all.
After the ceremony had wrapped up, she'd been escorted into some room in the Justice Building. It was a bit small, but the elegant furnishings made up for it. She'd taken a seat on a white leather chair after the door had been closed after her, waiting for what was to come.
With what had just happened, Goldena really wasn't expecting any visitors for the goodbyes. Just a consequence of her decision to volunteer and go against what her father and brother thought about the Games.
Her district partner had been a bit different than she was expecting. He had been really withdrawn and his facial expression hadn't changed once in the span of the ten or so minutes it took for them to go from the stage to the rooms where goodbyes would be said. Sublime sure was rather interesting, but at least he was tolerable.
All of a sudden, Goldena was startled by the door opening. Who on earth was coming to talk to her?
It was her father. The relief of seeing him made a noticeable change in her posture, shoulders slumping forwards and her spine curving forwards as well. She truly hoped that he had come to forgive her and not to chastise her.
Mr. Powers took another step forward, closer to Goldena, and the door snapped shut behind him. Clearing his throat, he said to her, "I know it might not be the best decision you've ever made, but I trust that you know what you've gotten yourself into."
She nodded back at him with an appreciative look on her face and responded, "Yes, I know what this means for me and what I need to do. I'm sorry to do this without telling you, but it just felt right in the moment."
"Good. You're old enough to make such decisions, but remember that you're responsible for your fate in this. Put in all you can and I'll be proud of you no matter what," Mr. Powers told her.
"Thanks, Dad," Goldena smiled softly.
"Now, you know how your brother feels about this subject. That's why he isn't here. I'm sure if it was anything different he'd be just as proud of you for what you're about to do. I'm sorry he isn't here, but we both know that it was never going to happen anyway."
"Yeah, I get why. Be sure to tell him that I love him, no matter what."
"I sure will, kiddo. Good luck, and know that I'm going to believe in you every step of the way."
The pair embraced and Goldena relished the thought of her father's forgiveness for her actions. At least there was one person other than herself that would be rooting for her.
Sublime Winterson, 18
District One Male
Sublime remained as calm as ever as he sat on a posh leather chair in the room he had been escorted to. He'd complied with those directing him to the room, so in return, he'd been treated well. No reason to cause a fuss over being taken to the room where his temporary goodbyes would take place.
They would be temporary because he knew that he had the skills and mindset to win, and when he did, he would return to the glory that One would behold upon him. Sure, if he could experience emotions like another normal human being once more, it would be the cherry on top to be able to bask in all that attention fully. Perhaps the Capitol could use some of that fancy technology to work their magic on him. Even his father didn't work with technology as advanced as the Capitol had.
Never mind that, he would survive whether or not his injury could be fixed or not. At least his hope about it wasn't completely gone.
Hearing the door open, Sublime watched as the person entering the room closed the door after they'd fully gone in. His mother seemed to have made it to witness his moment in the spotlight this morning.
She set her purse down onto another one of the chairs in the room, afterwards making her way over to Sublime.
"Oh, my baby is all grown up now! Earning the slot and volunteering for the Hunger Games, I'm just so proud!"
"Thank you, Mother," Sublime responded in a monotone voice.
His mother's joy looked as if it was just overflowing out of her, and inside, Sublime was satisfied that she felt like that.
"Well, my precious, I have something for you to take with you on your journey."
He was handed a beautiful pendant, oval-shaped and covered in half rubies and half sapphires. Sublime recognized this piece of jewelry, it was the last piece his mother had created before retiring to take care of him as a child.
Appreciative of the gift, Sublime told her, "Thank you for this lovely gift Mother. I'll be sure to take it with me every step of the way to my victory."
"Oh, I'm sure you will! Good luck and I love you, Sublime!"
With their time almost up, his mother made her way out of the room, waving to him as a final goodbye. His self-confidence was already enough to get him through to a victory, but it was also nice of his mother to come support him and say goodbye.
Goneril Albion, 18
District Two Female
Goneril smirked as she heard her brothers fighting over who would be first to go into the room she was currently in. The door wasn't even open yet. Then again, they were a bunch of loud brutes, and the fact that they always sided with her came in handy from time to time.
The trio burst into the room with a commotion, being just as loud as ever. The minute they all spotted her in the chair that she was sitting in, she was bombarded with cheers and excited whoops.
"Oh yeah! My sister the volunteer!"
"Well I'm her favorite, so she should talk about me the most when she's in the Capitol!"
"No, she should talk about me, not you!"
As much as she loved to have people argue over her, Goneril knew that they were going to have to quiet down before they got kicked out for being a disturbance.
"Whoa now boys. I know that all of you want my attention, but you're going to have to tone it down a little bit before we all get in trouble. We don't want that, do we?"
They nodded in response and complied, taking their noise level down a few notches. Over the next few minutes, their goodbye time was spent talking strategy and talking about who Goneril should talk about the most. She shot down most of the latter portion of their conversation, but they did offer some pretty good advice in the former.
Unfortunately, their time was up sooner than they all wanted it to be. Someone banged on the door as a warning, so they had no choice but to separate and give Goneril some final well wishes.
"Good luck sis! We're looking forward to having the next victor of the Hunger Games in our household," they mumbled in unison as they went out the door.
Goneril must have still had some time left, because more people came through the door after her brothers' departure. Both Astoria and Navette had come to visit her as well. They must have just gotten a less important priority because they were only her friends and not her relatives.
Assuming that they weren't going to have much time since the trio of boys had used most of it, Goneril got into saying her goodbyes with her friends.
"You guys, be sure to keep up the reputation while I'm gone," she told them, "it'll only be a few weeks, then I'll be back."
A couple tears were worked up from both of the visiting girls, fake or real, Goneril appreciated the effort.
Sniffling, Astoria said, "Absolutely, Goneril. We know that you'll be the one to win and come back even better than before. We'll be watching and rooting for you the whole time."
Navette agreed with this statement with an "mhm" and a nod.
Smiling back at them, Goneril gave them one final hug and then said, "I really don't want to part with you guys, but you might want to get moving on before we get a warning that our time is up. Better to be safe rather than sorry."
Both of her friends agreed and waved back at her as they exited.
This was going to be wonderful chance to gain some glory, and Goneril knew that she could definitely win it all. All of her many supporters knew it too.
Ruga Palaemor, 18
District Two Male
Ruga was sick of waiting for other people. First he had to wait for them to finish up the Reaping ceremony, then he had to wait for them to come escort him to the room where his goodbyes would take place.
His mother was taking forever to get here. He was about to just tell the peacekeepers outside of the door that he was ready to head to the train. Well, knowing how they did things for the Games, they would make him wait on his district partner. The unfortunate part of that was the fact that she had several brothers and several friends. They were probably still talking and probably still would be talking by the time Ruga's mother showed up and talked to him for a short while.
Finally, after another five or so minutes, his mother rushed in through the door looking rather windswept.
"Sorry, dearest. I was helping a customer and lost track of time."
Ruga sighed frustratingly, "That's okay, mom. At least you got here with some time left."
Speaking of time left, a peacekeeper loudly banged on the door and shouted, "Hurry up! You only have five minutes since your visitor got here late!"
Letting out a sad sigh, his mother told him once more, "Again, I'm so sorry dearest. I wish I could make it up to you, but all I can do is give you my best wishes and love."
Nodding appreciatively, Ruga put a smile on his face. His mother was doing the best she could. She'd done so much for him already, teaching him all about an assortment of useful concoctions and the body. It was understandable if she was trying to earn money to keep them afloat.
Another pounding on the door signified that their time was up, and both Ruga and his mother stood up to say goodbye for now.
"Bye, Mom," Ruga said as he was pulled into a hug by the woman in question.
She exited after their separation, and Ruga caught a glimpse of a rather interesting sight. It was his girlfriend, Medea, trying to get the peacekeeper to let her in to say goodbye to him.
The peacekeeper, in his gruff voice said, "Sorry miss, family says goodbye first, then other people. His family took all the time allotted for goodbyes, so you just got unlucky. Hopefully you'll see him again if he wins."
Medea scoffed in her high-pitched voice, "What?! That's absolutely outrageous! I have to see my pookie before he goes to the Capitol!"
Yeah, she was his girlfriend and all, but she was more useful as a crony. She was a huge help with taking out the rest of the competition for the volunteer spot for the next year. Medea was sure lucky that she was his girlfriend. Her worries about not saying goodbye weren't necessary. He'd be back and she'd be all over him when he returned.
Reverie Sparks, 16
District Three Female
Each breath Reverie took was shaky. She was still processing what had just happened, and the sniffling she was currently doing to stop the tears from dripping down her face wasn't helping as much as she had hoped.
Why did it have to be her name on that piece of paper. It couldn't have been one of the hundreds of other girls standing there, hoping that they would be spared for another year if their own name wasn't on that piece of paper. They were the lucky ones, breathing out sighs of relief at the fact that they wouldn't be sent to die. Reverie was that one unlucky girl that would be sent to the Games.
It was hard to keep herself together at the thought of having to survive such a brutal event. She didn't want to, but it wasn't like she had a choice in the matter anymore. She'd been Reaped, and there would be no coming back from it. It was either be murdered or murder and become a victor, launched into the spotlight and either hated or loved by everyone in Panem.
The sound of the door opening distracted Reverie from her upset haze, and she looked up to meet her father's eyes. He knelt down in front of her and embraced her, letting her know that he was there for her.
Separating after a long moment together, her father took a seat on the chair next to her.
"Hey there, kid. I know that this is really hard for you, and I want you to know that this is really hard for me too. I don't want you to have to deal with something like this, but I know that you have some skills that could really help you get through it all."
"I know, Dad. I just really don't want to be that person that murdered people to win, but at the same time, I don't want to die."
Her father nodded in sympathy to her circumstance. "Well, you just have to think about it this way. You do it all for survival. It's your instinct to stay alive, no matter how you do it. In the Hunger Games, most morals go out the window and it's all about the primitive nature of the human impulse. I believe in you, you can survive this. All you need to do is not think about what you're doing until after you've come home."
"Okay. I'll do that as best as I can, Dad. I love you."
"I love you too, Reverie. And if I haven't said it before, thank you for all that you do for me, I couldn't do it without you by my side."
The pair embraced once more, holding on to each other as long as they could until their time was up. When it was, her father walked out of the door, pausing to wave goodbye. Like he said, he believed that she could survive this. She just wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not.
Zeno Capricci, 17
District Three Male
Zeno was bored of sitting in that room that he'd been placed in for the goodbyes. He wasn't even sure if his parents were going to come say goodbye to him, they cared about work a whole lot more than keeping up with what he was doing.
It would be fine with him either way. He and his parents weren't very close and they didn't speak often except for short responses to questions asked of him everyday.
How are you doing in school, Zeno? Fine. Honey, we're working a long shift over the next couple of days. Alright.
Other than that, Zeno could count the number of times he'd had an actual conversation with his parents in the last two years on one hand. It was sad, but that was how life was as the son of two very busy scientists. Their work was their second child, the favorite of the two.
Hearing a knock on the door, Zeno was surprised. He didn't think that his parents would leave work to come visit him. Except, when the door opened, it wasn't either of his parents that entered the room. It was his favorite teacher, Mr. Hanover.
The man made his way over to a chair opposite the one Zeno was currently sitting in. Zeno was still a bit confused, why would his teacher come visit him? Didn't Mr. Hanover have better things to do than wish Zeno well on going to the Hunger Games?
"Why hello there Zeno," the man said.
"Uhm, hello Mr. Hanover. Not to be rude, but why did you come visit me?"
"Well, you are my best student. And I couldn't let my best student just sit in here and rot while he waited to be put on the train to the Capitol."
"But, how did you know that nobody else was going to come visit me?," Zeno asked curiously.
"I've heard of your parents and their jobs. And I know that scientist type, taking work so seriously they forget about their lives outside of it. I figured that you didn't need to be lonely in your home district before you went off to a completely new place."
Zeno smiled appreciatively at the kind thought that Mr. Hanover had. It really, truly did mean a lot to him, and he expressed this to Mr. Hanover.
The door was rapped on by the peacekeepers standing guard at the door, and they both knew that it was the end of their allotted time.
"I wish you the best of luck in the Capitol, Zeno. I'll be sure to check that your parents are aware of your predicament, you just focus on doing the best you can to get out of there alive."
Zeno offered him a small smile in gratitude for his support, and after the door closed, the smile faded off his face. The support was appreciated greatly, but he just wished that his parents could be like that too.
Naymena Lachlock, 18
District Four Female
Naymena was enjoying the peaceful, quiet environment that the room she'd been escorted to offered until it was suddenly broken by a loud creaking of the opening door. She had no relatives left to visit her, thanks to the curse of course, so it had to have been one of her coworkers. Strange, she thought she wasn't liked enough for them to come visit her after she volunteered.
Looking up, she noticed that it indeed was a coworker and her boss. Kessler, the coworker of hers that had shown up, wasn't what she would exactly refer to as a friend, but their relationship was the closest thing Naymena had to a friendship. Some days he would tease her about working a man's job and she would swiftly kick him between the legs for it, and some days he would compliment her and tell her that she would make a marvelous Career victor.
On the other hand, she and her boss didn't really talk all that much. She would sometimes listen to his tales about the Capitol when he was in a good mood, but those days only came a few times every month. Other than that, he did make sure that Naymena was compensated for her work, which was a thing to be grateful to him for.
Both of them had already been saying that she would make an excellent tribute and that she would have a very good chance at becoming victorious, so this had just proven to them that Naymena had already been listening.
"How're ya doin' kid?," asked Kessler.
"I'm doing fine, thank you."
"Of course she's doing fine, you oaf. She just volunteered for the Hunger Games. Exactly like we've all been telling her to," came her boss' response to Kessler's question.
Naymena offered her boss a smile at that, finding what he said amusing. "I figured I was ready, plus I was reassured with all of your encouragement."
"I'm sure you were, kid. We'll both be watching, and I'll be sure to try and pull some strings for you to get some sponsors," her boss told her.
Smiling graciously, Naymena responded, "Thank you so much for that. I'll be sure to do my best and prove why I earned that spot."
Kessler chuckled, "I know you will."
She nodded with a small laugh. He was correct indeed. They were all alerted to their time being up by a sharp rap on the door, her two visitors standing up after hearing it.
"We've gotta go now, but we're wishing you good luck, Naymena. Go tear 'em up."
The door shut behind them rather quietly and Naymena sat there, pondering what had just been said to her. It was really nice of her boss to offer to help, probably nicer than he had ever been to her. Kessler was a bit of a wildcard, usually either poking fun at her or complimenting her like he had just done.
To be honest, she was glad that they were gone, because that meant she got her solitary space back. Naymena was just taking a moment to herself, the calm before the storm.
Kasai Westbrook, 18
District Four Male
Kasai felt extremely satisfied with what had just happened. Aeron had looked so jealous of him, and Kasai had loved every second of him. This was his proof that he was better than Aeron. He'd been chosen for the volunteer slot, not Aeron.
Even after all that had transpired two years ago, he'd still come back and taken the slot from Aeron. On that terrible day, Aeron had pushed him overboard out of fear that Kasai was going to be better than him when it came time to pick the volunteer when they were eighteen. Aeron's fear had been correctly placed, but even his solution had failed to work. Kasai was going into the Hunger Games, and he was going to win to rub it in stupid Aeron's face.
The door to the farewell room he'd been placed in opened with a click and the four members of his family entered the room. His parents and Nyanza and Tufuni had come to visit him.
They'd all come in with proud looks on their faces, as they should. They had a family member who'd been the chosen volunteer for Four this year. It was definitely an achievement to be recognized, but Kasai didn't want to be recognized for being the chosen volunteer. He wanted to be recognized as the victor of the 80th Hunger Games.
His father rumbled, "Son, I'm very proud of you for how hard you've worked for this. It's a wonderful achievement and we're all going to be proud of you for doing the best you possibly can."
"Yeah!" his sister added on, "we all know that you have it in you to win!"
"Thank you guys," Kasai responded, "I really am glad that all of you believe that I can win. I think I've got the best shot of winning out of all of the tributes this year."
"But honey, you haven't even seen them yet," his mom pointed out.
Scoffing, Kasai confidently stated, "I know. I just think that I'm that prepared."
His family all nodded in sync, agreeing with him for once. They couldn't have done that when he told them the truth about Aeron betraying him and pushing him overboard?
They all filed out shortly after the rapped warning on the door, not wanting to hurt Kasai's chances by doing anything in the slightest wrong. He wasn't even sure that going over goodbye time would even affect him in the Capitol, but he understood why they were cautious. He wanted that victory, and with this mindset, it was definitely going to happen.
Taraji Copeland, 17
District Five Female
Taraji thought she was dreaming as she was escorted to the farewell room she would be in. Did all that really just happen? Did she just get reaped for the Hunger Games? God, why did that have to happen to her? All she had was this year and next year left, then she would have been free from the horrifying anxiety that Reaping Day brought so many other parents and kids each year.
It wasn't fair. Why did she have to get sent to the Capitol's death games? It was a ridiculous form of punishment for the Districts. It had been eighty years, for goodness sake, didn't they think that the Districts were punished enough? They couldn't just keep doing this to them, but they could. The Capitol was the one in power over all of the Districts, and she could bet money that things weren't going to change unless another rebellion was formed to do something about it.
There was also no point in giving her time to say goodbyes. There was nobody left here in Five for her to say goodbye to. Her father was dead, her mother was dead, and the only other person she was close to was in a whole different district. God, poor Kassi wouldn't have an old friend after the Games. Taraji most definitely didn't stand a chance against those Careers.
All she hoped for was for the Games to go by quickly and for someone to feel bad for her and let her have a quick and painless death.
Zain Bhavini-Ekstorm, 17
District Five Male
Zain was glad to finally be out of the spotlight when he was deposited in the room that was designated for his goodbyes. He was tired of having all the attention on him, it was exhausting and it made him want to hide himself while in public even more. All of that negative attention had already focused itself on him after the whole pharmacy fiasco, so he was glad to stay in the privacy of his bedroom for as long as he could.
This, however, was not the case for the moment at hand. Sure, right now he was alone, but soon he would be bombarded with cameras and Capitol citizens demanding to know why he had done what he did as soon as they found out about it. Even if he claimed that it wasn't his idea and that he was manipulated, they wouldn't magically believe him or switch over to his side. It was still his fault for believing Idalion in the first place, and it was still his fault that those innocent people had died.
In his distraction, Zain hadn't even noticed that the door to the room he was in had opened. Finally glancing up, he was surprised to spot all three of his parents.
Leora, Charna, and Ender had all come to say goodbye to him and Zain was very glad indeed. He probably couldn't have handled going to the Capitol without saying goodbye first, and no matter what he said or what he looked like on the outside, it would have severely messed him up from the start. He wanted to be forgiven for his actions, but he understood why they hadn't yet. Zain had done something terrible and he would completely understand if they didn't forgive him at all.
"Well kid," Leora started, "I'm pretty sure this is what they call karma."
Ender jabbed her with his elbow, trying to get her to stop. Leora had just likely not realized the full impact of what she'd just said, it really was like her to do something like that. It got Zain thinking though, what if it really was something along the lines of that. Perhaps they had even rigged the Reaping in place of punishing him immediately after he was discovered as the culprit. That sounded like a perfectly placed punishment for the Capitol to implement.
Charna told him, "I know this probably seems terrible, and it is, but I want you to know that we all believe that you have somewhat of a chance of getting out. If not, you get a free vacation for the next two weeks."
Nodding in acceptance, Zain thanked them for saying goodbye, and they all waved as he escorted them back out through the door. To be honest, Zain just wanted to be alone and not have to face the scrutiny of others for mistakes he'd made in the past. The past was the past, but it was still determined to come back and haunt him.
Annette "Anne" Martel, 16
District Six Female
Anne was antsy just sitting in that room by herself. There was nothing for her to do or to help anyone with. She wasn't used to just doing nothing, she was used to always having something in her hands and working on something. It really did bother her to waste time like this, but she was hoping that her mother would come visit her soon.
She didn't want to have to leave Six without saying goodbye, no matter how distant their relationship was now. It just wouldn't feel right to leave without having one last conversation. Her heart wouldn't be able to take the homesickness that she would experience if she never saw her mother again from this point on.
Everybody knew that Anne wasn't going to stand a chance compared to some of the other tributes, namely the Careers. It just wasn't a part of her nature to kill people for sport. Some would call it survival, but Anne couldn't see past the fact that it was still technically murder.
The door opened quietly and Anne looked up, spotting her mother. Letting the smile bloom across her face, Anne quickly stood up out of her chair and hurried to embrace her mother.
Anais must have not been expecting it, Anne could see why, but after only a moment of processing her shock, she hugged Anne back fiercely. They stayed like that for several long moments, cherishing the fact that they had been brought together once more. Although, it wasn't for a very fortunate reason.
It was rather ironic, they'd been rather separated since the first really unfortunate event that they'd experienced, but the second had brought them closer together than they'd been in a while. Anne cherished the moments that she and her mother were experiencing right now, she'd likely never experience this again after their time together was up.
"I'm so sorry this is what sort of made our relationship better, honey. I'm really sorry that this happened to you and to us, but just know that I love you no matter what I do or say," her mother informed her after the pair had separated.
Anne nodded with a sad look on her face, not wanting to think about being alone in the Capitol just yet.
"I love you too, Mom. I'm just glad we made things better before all this has to happen."
Knowing that their time was almost up, Anne and her mother embraced once more. Anne could hear her mother sniffling softly at the thought of her only child being sent into the Hunger Games, and Anne was in a similar boat. She didn't want to go either, but she didn't have a choice in the matter.
A knock at the door signaled the end of their time to say goodbye, and Anais squeezed Anne tightly one last time. They both weren't ready to say goodbye, but that was what had to happen now. Anne just hoped that her mother wouldn't be lonely when she didn't return from the Capitol.
And there we have our first set of goodbyes! Sorry about Taraji's being a bit shorter than the rest, she just didn't have anyone in Five to say goodbye to. Who's your favorite POV from this chapter? I sure enjoyed writing them all, but I would love to hear what you guys think about our first half of tribute goodbyes. Thank you guys so much for reading, and a special thanks to everyone who's submitted tributes, reviewed, and followed and favorited so far! I really appreciate it! With that, I hope you have a lovely day or night wherever you are!