Revenants: The 149th Hunger Games

by Reign Falls

Stagnation is the enemy of ambition. When one of the most crucial elements of the Capitol's regime begins to run dry - The Hunger Games - alarm bells begin to ring. To regain growing public disinterest before the ever approaching Quarter Quell, the Capitol opts to wipe the slate clean, employing a brand new Head Gamemaker to impose their most daring Hunger Games yet. SYOT Closed

7. Hauntings Of The Past

Chapter 7 - The Reaping

Hauntings Of The Past

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Tara Canterbury

18

~ District 11 Tribute ~

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"So are we in agreement then? The guest list should be at least two-hundred and fifty people."

"Two-hundred and fifty!? Don't be ridiculous, you don't even know that many people!"

"We want this to be big of course, I'm sure close friends and family will have many plus-ones they'd like to invite."

"But this isn't an occasion for just anyone to attend, this is a personal celebration."

"It would be the talk of the town though, it would boost both of our family's status!"

"That doesn't matter to us, Cauli would like it to be smaller and I think his reasoning is fair."

"We'll negotiate this point at a later date then. How about the flower decor? I think it's fair that Tara has her say about it, as I can't imagine Cauli has a particular care for that."

"Well we'd have to hear your suggestions first, we don't want anything too outlandish."

"Of course! They'll be Easter Lily's, they're perfect for the occasion, representing her purity and innocence - isn't that right Tara?"

It wasn't like this last time. Purity and innocence? Is she joking?

"Tara?"

They didn't care at all last time, in fact they took no part.

"Tara, are you listening?"

They only care when it benefits them, when they can make it about themselves. My opinion apparently has no meaning to them.

"Tara!?"

"Hm?" Tara Canterbury hummed, as she was snapped out of her absentminded thoughts, turning her eyes back to the circle of discussion as she lifted her cheek off of her knuckles. The discussion had been going on for the better part of an hour now, and she had gradually zoned out more and more, her interest having long subsided since her mother took the reigns of the conversation.

Her eyes locked onto her mothers, a woman that went by the name of Tulip Canterbury, who had been leading the talk for almost the entire duration. Tulip scowled at Tara, folding her arms as she sighed with frustration.

"What's gotten into you? This is very important, we need you to be paying attention," her mother scolded her, shaking her head in disbelief.

"It seemed like you had a pretty good hold over things Mom," Tara replied monotonously, her voice sounding bored and disinterested. "Seeing as you've been calling all the shots so far."

"I'm not calling all of the shots," her mother retorted, putting her hands on her hips with a glare. "I'm merely informing everyone what you want to make this a perfect wedding."

"What I want?" Tara laughed in disbelief, staring at her mother as if she had two heads. "You haven't even asked me what I want. Two-hundred and fifty people? Easter Lily's? When did I say I wanted any of that?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Tara," her mother scoffed, causing the rest of the room to shift uncomfortably at the sudden argument between mother and daughter. "What other flower decor could you possibly want?"

"Orchids! But that's besides the point! You never even cared to ask me, you just inserted your preference, like you've been doing the whole time!" Tara cried out, earning a scowl from her mother.

"Settle down Tara, and stop acting like a brat. I know what I'm doing here, you want this wedding to be perfect don't you?" Tulip challenged her, causing Tara to clench her fists.

"No, it's what you want," Tara argued, her eyes narrowing at Tulip. " I would honestly prefer a quiet wedding, but I haven't even had a single say about how I want this to go."

"I'm your mother, that's why. I know what's best for you," her mother retorted, glaring sternly at Tara. "Clearly you don't, considering how your last attempt went."

Tara felt a spark of anger flare within her, her mother having touched a nerve at the mere mention of her last failed relationship. It had been a couple of years ago at this point, when Tara had been in a very different stage of her life. Tara had followed her heart, tying the knot at the young age of sixteen, with the person she had dearly loved despite the criticisms from her own family. She had been young, dumb, and naive, but truly she had hoped that things would work out with her ex, and she was certain he had felt the same way.

As it turned out though, some things were simply never meant to be, and as time passed, their relationship had fallen apart - to the insufferable delight of her own family. The truth of the matter was, they didn't care about the fact that Tara had followed her heart, and come to the conclusion on her own that it wasn't working out - all they cared about was that they were right, and that they thought they had all of the answers.

Perhaps in some aspects they were indeed right, but not for the reasons they thought by any means. It infuriated Tara that they had made all those assumptions based on trivial things about her ex, such as his poorer background and lack of societal status. In her parents eyes, all that mattered was climbing the social hierarchy; marrying up and perfecting their own image. It wasn't the fact that Tara had decided to get married at sixteen, but rather the fact that she had chosen to marry someone that her parents simply didn't like.

Things may not have ended well with Tara and her ex, but it had nothing to do with the fact that they didn't love each other. She certainly wished that it could've worked out between them, however both simply appeared to be in different stages of life, something Tara came to the conclusion of far before he did. Whilst her ex was adventurous, exciting, and at times ignorant and immature, ultimately they had both been too young, and that was all there was to it… wasn't it?

No, that's not all, Tara reminded herself, as her eyes lowered to the floor, her vision settling on the small infant crawling along the ground, her head bobbing around as she gazed upon every person in the room with a vague sense of curiosity.

That's right, there was an entirely specific reason that Tara and her ex's relationship had collapsed. It wasn't just a few differences that they couldn't set aside, but rather the very source of every difference that developed between the two of them.

Their daughter, Lily.

The two had been helplessly in love when they had gotten together those couple of years ago, to the point that they had actually gotten married, to the outrage of Tara's family of course. Things had been good back then, they were young, carefree, and passionate about one another. They were so passionate in fact, that Tara and her ex had conceived a child together, commencing the start of their new family without a single regret.

Once Lily had been born however, that's when the arguments started. Her ex had remained in the same care-free mindset, often choosing to neglect his parental duties to the dismay of Tara. Meanwhile, she herself was quickly maturing, taking on the maternal role she was obligated to fill, and realising that the position they were in was certainly not an ideal one to be raising a child under.

It was an unfortunate situation, but a reality check nevertheless, which sent Tara begrudgingly crawling back to the same parents who had kicked her out following her marriage. It was a day full of back-handed comments, with plenty of praise and adoration for their new granddaughter, followed by a plethora of remarks that served as insinuations of "we told you so".

It had taken a lot of courage from Tara to accept her mistake and swallow her pride, but her parents had made it so much worse through their sheer sense of arrogance, that she had almost been tempted to go against their wishes once more and seek help elsewhere.

Well, I suppose I'm lucky I beared with it this time around, Tara thought to herself, as her eyes landed on the handsome gentlemen sitting across from her. The eyes that glanced back at her belonged to her current betrothed, a young man by the name of Cauli Morris. Cauli and his parents sat across from the Canterbury's in the living room of the Canterbury Home, all three of which whom were adjusting themselves uncomfortably at the sudden bickering between Tara and her mother.

When Tara had been accepted back into her family, one of the conditions that her parents had laid out was that they would be the ones to choose her next husband - without exception. Although it wasn't a particularly favourable condition, Tara knew she had little choice in the matter, relying on her parents for the support with raising Lily during these uncertain times.

Begrudgingly, Tara had accepted the condition, under one request that she had deemed fair; her parents could present her options, but she got to select who she was willing to marry. If Tara was going to allow her parents to choose who her future love would be, she'd be damned if she didn't have any kind of say, knowing just how much her parents preferences differed from hers.

Tulip, as well as Tara's father - a man by the name of Florian Canterbury - gladly accepted the terms, figuring they'd be able to limit Tara's options to suit their requirements to the point that Tara wouldn't have much say at all. Unfortunately for the two of them however - it didn't quite go down that smoothly.

Both her parents had set their eyes on a few bachelor prospects from around the district, most of which were of the highest status in wealth and societal influence. The Canterbury's came from a middle to upper class threshold, with Florian working as an accountant for a plantation owner, which brought in a fair amount of income. However they certainly weren't on the calibre of some of the families that both Tulip and Florian were looking to conjoin with through Tara's marriage. They were wildly unrealistic with their expectations and own self-worth, and as a result - were quite often rejected from the proposition of pairing Tara with the sons of these collective families.

On top of that, arranging a marriage with a girl who was already a mother at sixteen, divorced at seventeen, and had a history of being disobedient with the wishes of her family, to put it simply; was a hard sell.

It quickly became apparent to Tara's parents that finding her a suitor was not going to be as simple as they had expected, in fact… it was becoming harder by the day.

Cauli and his family had certainly not been a first choice by the Canterbury parents; they hadn't even been on their radar to begin with. It had nothing to do with the fact that the Morris family were not of the status or wealth that the Canterbury's were seeking, in fact they were quite fitting for that requirement as a whole.

Cauli's parents - Aster and Dahlia Morris - both owned and ran an entire private tobacco plantation that was worth a fortune, with Cauli set to inherit it down the road. They were well known throughout District 11, as being rather humble and reliable people who always had the best interests of their workers at heart. In a district predominantly owned by Capitol inserted figureheads, the Morris family were considered thoroughly down-to-earth people, who liked to live a more simplistic and fulfilling life.

Perhaps this was where one of Tulip and Florian's reservations stemmed from, wanting to conjoin their family with one that liked to live luxuriously and flaunt their wealth. However, deep down, Tara knew the source of their true apprehension when it came to the Morris's.

The two families simply came from different cultural backgrounds. The Canterbury's were a black family, and had traditionally always been that way as far as Tara was aware. Within District 11, there had always been an underlying tension on the topic of racial issues, especially with the predominant population of the district being of African-American heritage. Caucasians were certainly the minority within the district, however with many of the citizens that were of that ethnicity originating from the Capitol itself, it resulted in a disproportionate spread of wealth between both groups, ultimately leading to an abundance of resentment brewing underneath.

Consequently, prejudice had grown between both racial classes, which had led to some older families of both classes particularly against the idea of intertwining their heritage with the other. Tara however, saw it for what it was; judgment of one's outward appearance, rather than the content of their character.

The Morris's were nice people, some of the kindest of the bunch she had been forced to meet. They didn't care about what status or ethnicity anybody originated from, and did plenty to help their fellow citizens regardless of their background. Of all the families her parents had attempted to pair her with, they were the only one's that gave her a shot, despite the baggage that she came with. In fact, it had been Cauli that had been the most receptive to the idea of marrying Tara, more so than anyone else they had sought out.

For that, Tara could never be more grateful, as it had turned out that he was one of the best men she had ever met. He was a handsome boy of fair skin, light brown hair, and green eyes, always gentle and courteous, and willing to overlook Tara's past and embrace her daughter as if she were his own. It almost seemed too good to be true as far as Tara was concerned, yet as the days passed by and the two grew to know each other, the deeper in love she fell with the boy.

Cauli gave her a reassuring smile when he noticed Tara staring at him, his look of discomfort dissipating instantaneously. That single smile managed to calm Tara down considerably, as she breathed through her nose, before returning his smile with reciprocation.

"Mrs Canterbury, there's no need to bring up old history just to prove a point," Cauli spoke up softly, defending Tara and making her heart swell. Tulip shot a momentary glare at him, before realising just who happened to be speaking, causing her to hold her tongue in the fears that she could sabotage Cauli's interest.

"Perhaps this conversation should be put on hold for now," Tara's father spoke up, rubbing Tulip's back as her eyes lowered to the floor. "We'll need to be leaving for the Reaping soon."

"Yes, let's do that," Tulip sighed, her previously raucous persona beginning to become more subdued by the second. "I apologise for becoming so heated… I'm just so passionate about this wedding."

"There's no need to apologise, at least to us," Cauli's mother - Dahlia Morris - chuckled understandingly, before flashing Tara an apologetic look. "It's an exciting topic after all, a new chapter for both of our children."

"Perhaps Tara and yourself are due a proper discussion, so that you're both on the same page?" Aster Morris spoke up, Cauli's father possessing the same soft-spoken tone that Cauli himself inherited.

Like that's a chance of happening, Tara scoffed internally, needing to refrain from rolling her eyes. She's just trying to save face now.

"We better be off, our youngest is at home getting ready for the Reaping. I believe Cauli wanted to escort you to the Town Square though Tara if that's okay with you?" Dahlia smiled, earning a willing nod from Tara herself.

"Of course, I'd be more than happy to have him with me."

"Great! Well then, it was nice seeing you all this morning," Dahlia beamed, as both herself and Aster rose to stand. Her eyes fell on Tara one last time, a sense of reassurance within them. "Good luck with your final Reaping, Tara."

"Thanks, Mrs Morris," Tara responded politely. The two Morris parents bade their farewells to the rest of the room, including little Lily who giggled upon receiving a head-pat from both parents. It wasn't until the two had left the home, until someone finally spoke.

"About time!" A man's voice pierced the air, earning the attention of Tara, Cauli and both of Tara's parents. The man in question appeared at the entrance to the living room, the same one that led outwards towards the kitchen. Tara's older brother - Almon Canterbury, a man of twenty years-old - stood in place, his arms folded as Tara's two younger sisters peered out from behind him. "We're already running late, why'd you plan this meeting before the Reaping?"

"Don't be rude Almon," Tulip scolded him, as she stood up preemptively to begin getting ready. "They only dropped by to wish us well before the Reaping, it was spontaneous."

"Yeah, and then you looped them into an unwarranted negotiation," Almon grumbled, earning a scowl from Tulip.

"Shut it! This is a very important time for your sister, be a little lenient," she snapped back, causing Almon to frown.

"Yeah well…" Almon sneered, eyeing down Cauli with distaste. "After the previous one, I don't see how this'll end any better."

"Watch your tone Almon," Florian barked, causing Almon's mouth to shut. "Cauli is from a respectable family, he has treated Tara very well."

"Yeah, so far…" Almon muttered, a distrustful eye placed on Cauli's admirably content face.

"Almon… I swear to god," Tara threatened her brother, a low hiss emitting from her lips as she warned him to watch his tongue.

"Stop being mean Almon!" Cherry Canterbury spoke up, Cherry being Tara's first younger sister, and the third-born Canterbury offspring at sixteen years-old. Valerie Canterbury, the youngest of the four siblings at fifteen, also stepped forward, glaring accusingly at Almon.

"Yeah back-off! Cauli's done nothing wrong!" Valerie cried out, the two sisters having warmed up to Cauli long ago.

"It's okay girls," Cauli chuckled, holding up his hands reassuringly. "I get it, I know I have to prove myself to not be like Tara's ex."

As the rest of the family laughed - excluding Almon who folded his arms stubbornly - Tara couldn't help but divert her eyes, concealing the sadness behind them at the mention of her ex. It was one thing to disapprove of him, but he was still the man she had loved once upon a time. Their differences aside; he was still the father of her child, a father that was still battling for shared custody to the current day.

Why Tara's ex was still trying to bother with custodial rights was beyond Tara, seeing as the boy hadn't seemed the least bit interested in raising Lily back when the two had been together. She could only hope that he had matured during the time they had been apart, perhaps her leaving him was the wake-up call he had needed?

"Is everyone ready to go?" Florian inquired, earning a resounding confirmation from the impatient siblings who had been waiting for the discussion to cease. As the family prepared themselves to leave, with Tulip scooping up the adventurous Lily who had been dragging herself across the floor towards the kitchen, Tara's eyes were drawn upwards at the sudden presence of Cauli, who stood in front of her with an outstretched hand and a placid smile on his face.

Smiling back weakly, Tara took Cauli's hand, as he lifted her up into a standing position which brought her close to him.

"Hi…" she muttered nervously, still flustered every time she was around the mature young man. He chuckled at her greeting, squeezing Tara's hand affectionately.

"Hi? We've been in the same room for an hour," Cauli teased softly, causing Tara to look around.

"That may be true, but not alone," she expressed, motioning to the now empty room as the rest of the Canterbury's had vacated the place, with Tulip rummaging around for her final accessories in the next room, and the rest of the family filing out of the front door, concealed from view.

"Oh? Does that change anything?" Cauli inquired, appearing unfazed by their solitude.

"I suppose not," Tara shrugged, as she shuffled her feet. "It's just a different dynamic y'know? When it's just the two of us, we don't have to remain silent and let our parents lead the way."

"I get what you mean," Cauli nodded, before resting his eyes warmly on Tara's own. "Well, how about we hang back a bit while we walk to the Reaping, keep some distance between you and your folks?"

The suggestion was a relieving one, Tara couldn't deny. She had already had her fill of her parents for the day, and she was less than willing to walk alongside snarky comments from the over-protective hurdle that Almon was. They could let Cherry and Valerie take the attention off of the two of them, whilst the two talked and enjoyed their own time together.

"I'd like that," Tara smiled happily, still feeling overwhelmed by the person that would soon be her husband. It was certainly a new feeling for Tara, one she had never experienced from her ex back in their courting days. Whilst he and Tara had gradually fallen in love, and possessed a dynamic of adventurous partners-in-crime, the relationship she had developed with Cauli was different. He was like a prince who had swept her off her feet, a diamond in the rough that was surely way out of Tara's league. He made her understand what it felt like to be both a woman and an adult, to have someone dependable and patient with her despite any drawbacks she possessed.

With those thoughts in mind, she entwined her fingers with Cauli's, before leading him out the front door towards the street of bustling families also making their way to the Reaping. As the two had discussed, they trailed the rest of her family by a fair distance, the bickering between Almon and her parents remaining unheard as Tara enjoyed the company of her fiancé. As they walked, she leaned into his body, encouraging Cauli to wrap his arm around her as they listened to the shuffling steps of the crowd around them.

"Hey," Cauli murmured, causing Tara to perk up her head inquisitively. "I want to apologise for what I said before."

"Hm? What would that be?" Tara questioned, blanking on what Cauli was referring to. Cauli remained silent for a moment, his eyes trained ahead as he bit his lower lip apprehensively.

"About proving myself not to be like your ex," Cauli admitted, a small flash of guilt washing over his face. "I know that's a sore topic for you, and I saw how you reacted. It was insensitive of me."

"Oh," Tara uttered softly, before chuckling at Cauli's genuine concern. "There's no need to apologise, it's more just how my family reacted that saddened me."

"They were pretty hard on him, huh?" Cauli spoke observingly, earning a curt nod from Tara.

"You don't even know the half of it," Tara sighed. "He was my first love, and as much as we bickered and got on each others nerves by the end of our marriage - he is still my child's father."

"I suppose coparenting isn't an option, seeing as he isn't in Lily's life at the moment?" Cauli questioned. Tara glanced away with a guilt-ridden expression plastered on her face, the guilty sensation beginning to blossom within her chest.

"Yeah…" Tara admitted, thinking of the ongoing custody battle between the two of them. "It's one of the conditions that my parents enforced when taking me back in, he had to be completely out of the picture. It's selfish, I know - especially since recently he has been interested in taking a more proactive role in Lily's life."

Cauli remained silent for a moment, before squeezing Tara's waist supportively.

"I'm not going to say whether it's selfish or not, that's not my right to judge," Cauli spoke up, as Tara looked up at him. "Just know, I'll support you in whichever way you proceed."

Tara couldn't help but feel the same fluttering sensation in her chest that she had felt when Cauli first gave her a chance, that feeling of indescribable elation that completely overwhelmed her. How had she been so lucky as to be paired with this man? That was a question she could never seem to find an answer to, but would willingly embrace the outcome nevertheless.

"That… means a lot to me," Tara whispered, before leaning up to plant a kiss on Cauli's cheek. The rest of the journey was quite uneventful, as Tara enjoyed Cauli's presence as much as she could despite the final destination they were headed to. During the moment that she was enraptured by Cauli's sentiments, she had quite easily forgotten that they were in fact making their way towards her final ever Reaping, one of the most dangerous ones yet.

Although the Canterbury's were quite well off and didn't require extra registrations for tesserae, her name was still in that glass bowl on seven slips of paper, due to her current age of eighteen. Back when Tara and her ex had been struggling on their own, she and him had both had their names in a few extra times for some additional tesserae, however he had certainly taken the brunt of the risk with a total of nine additional slips to the five he already had at sixteen years-old.

Fortunately, Tara had never felt better about a Reaping before, considering how much her life had improved within the past year. She knew her odds of being reaped were incredibly low, and once she could get this day over with, she could finally look towards her future, and never worry about her own name being within the Reaping ever again.

Upon reaching the Town Square, Cauli stopped for a moment, causing Tara to cease her movement as well. Cauli looked at her for a short time, before smiling at her warmly.

"I should go and find my parents and brother before he lines up, but this has been really nice," Cauli grinned, much to Tara's reluctance to part ways. "Perhaps we can meet up again later today?"

"That's a great idea," Tara smiled, before pressing her lips to his one final time. "I'll see you later then."

With one last embrace, Cauli departed from the vicinity, waving a polite farewell to the rest of Tara's family before going off in search of his own. As Tara reintegrated with her parents and siblings, Cherry and Valerie flashed her a few teasing expressions.

"Ahhh, young love," Cherry gushed mockingly, causing Tara to blush and roll her eyes simultaneously.

"Oh shut up," she retorted, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Well girls, good luck," Florian spoke up, placing a hand on both Tara and Valeries shoulders.

"We'll be fine," Tara laughed, before hugging her father as the three girls all received farewells from the three ineligible adults.

As Tara led the way to the attendance line, she felt Valerie pop up beside her, looking at her knowingly as she held a grin plastered upon her face.

"The two of you were looking pretty cozy on that walk Tara, do you really think he's the one?"

Tara smiled at her, before playfully shoving her sister away.

"Wholeheartedly," she responded with certainty. "I'm still in disbelief that we're even engaged."

"That's because you're a steal! It's a wonder someone actually fumbled you," Cherry piped up, laughing at the misfortune of Tara's ex. Tara didn't know how to feel about Cherry's words, considering that both her and Valerie were the only two people in her family even remotely okay with her previous relationship, having visited Tara and her ex on several occasions despite Tara having been shunned at the time.

She supposed the negatives still outweighed the positives when it came to their perspective on her failed relationship, so they were entitled to their own views in that regard.

"Let's not dwell on that," Tara shifted the conversation uncomfortably, eyeing their next dilemma ahead of them. "We have something more important to focus on at the moment."

The three quietened down as they lined up to take their attendance, the somber atmosphere of the environment proving to quickly diminish their previously chirpy attitudes. Although Tara was quite confident she had nothing to fear, the general fact that two people were being selected for their likely deaths was in itself a stifling aspect, the atmosphere within the Town Square presenting similar to that of a funeral.

The process was quick and efficient when taking her attendance, with her name checked off and her blood sample taken, leaving a stinging pain on the tip of her index finger. As she scanned over the waves of sullen faces and fidgety demeanours, it was easy to conclude that the main event was rapidly approaching.

Tara nodded at her two sisters before being wordlessly directed by a stationary Peacekeeper towards the final section of people based at the far right of the crowd; the eighteen year-old section. Remaining quiet, she attempted to blend in to the group of mostly strangers and keep her head down, knowing that her ex would also be somewhere within the same bracket of teens.

The last thing I would want is to see him right now, Tara thought to herself, her eyes mostly trained on the ground, only periodically shifting upwards to scan the stage ahead of her. The stage was vacant for the most part, aside from two ominous glass bowls held on individual pedestals either side of the central microphone. In one of those bowls, held seven slips of paper with her name on them, seven slips of paper that could change her life irrevocably.

Tara didn't have to wait for too much longer before the event proceeded, as her eyes found the Mayor of District 11 - Mayor Admon - making his way onto the stage after around ten minutes had elapsed. The Mayor was a man of large stature, with dark skin, long dreaded hair that was tied up behind his head, a thick black beard that bordered his tough face, yet surprisingly kind eyes that gazed softly out towards the crowd.

His muscular body - which was held within a rather tightly fitting black suit - came to a stop directly in front of the microphone, which he proceeded to tap against a few times as a sound check. Tara winced at the ear-piercing feedback sound, before forcing her attention back onto Mayor Admon. The giant man waited for a few moments, before finally beginning the Reaping Ceremony.

"Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the District 11 Reaping for the 149th Annual Hunger Games," the man's booming voice rang throughout the crowd, earning a particularly noticeable lack of response from the people below him. "It is my pleasure to invite onto the stage our special guests that you are all very familiar with. Starting off, please give a warm round of applause to our fantastic Escort - Miss Rosalind Wilds."

The applause was lacklustre at best, but this did not stop the entrance of Rosalind Wilds, the Escort that District 11 had been with for the last several years. Tara's eyes locked onto Rosalind, who kindly waved out at the crowd with a big smile plastered upon her face despite the reception she was receiving from the crowd below her.

From what Tara had heard over the years, Rosalind was certainly one of the more grounded Escorts, although she wasn't certain as to if it was because she had been humbled by District 11's lack of success over the years, or because that was just her general personality. She seemed to actually care for the tributes she had under wing, and was one of the more empathetic Capitolites Tara had seen based on what was shown on television. Strangely enough, she seemed kind, and almost as if she had a sort of maternal instinct to her, which must've been comforting for the tributes that she has had to accompany.

One of the aspects about Rosalind that had always humoured Tara, was how radically different she would dress each time Tara saw her. The colour palette her outfit would be based on changed up every year, causing Tara to struggle to identify the style of clothing Rosalind authentically liked to dress in. At this point, Tara had just came to the conclusion that having no consistent style was Rosalind's style.

This year in particular, Rosalind had opted to dress in mostly yellow, with a body length dress running down to her heels that clung tightly to her voluptuous body, as well as a golden snake outline that coiled around her dress, before seamlessly transitioning into a glowing luminescent tattoo of the same art style, that wrapped it's way down her right arm. It wasn't a permanent tattoo, Tara was certain of that - Rosalind had done the same thing with many designs in the past; the glowing, colourful etchings on her skin always having faded the next time she appeared to the public.

Rosalind continued to smile as she reached her seat, waving at the Capitol paparazzi that continued to snap shots of her from their designated area. Mayor Admon flashed her a kind smile, before turning back to the microphone.

"And of course, that's not all. I'd also like to formally welcome our brave Victors who have made it back home from their treacherous fights. Please give another round of applause, to our glorious Victors!"

The round of applause that followed was a little more enthusiastic than Rosalind's reception, which Tara gladly contributed to. After all, out of hundreds of District 11 tributes that had gone into the games, as it stood - only six had ever made it home, with a mere two still amongst the living.

The first of which was a woman named Marigold, who had won her games a sixty odd years ago, and had to hobble across the stage in her old age. For the longest time, she was the only living Victor that District 11 possessed, having to Mentor alone for a fair few decades.

The second however, was a fairly recent Victor, who had since taken on the mantle of Mentor to allow Marigold to retire. His name was Carnation Hyde; a colossal man that rivalled even Mayor Admon in height, with a lean and muscular frame, dark skin, finely groomed short hair, and a completely brooding expression. Carnation had won the 139th Hunger Games, in what would turn out to be one of the most heartbreaking Hunger Games in recent memory.

Carnation had been reaped alongside his twelve year-old sister, and did whatever he could to get her back home alive. The games had taken place in a meadow that was very reminiscent of the land in District 11, which should have given an advantage to the Hyde siblings. However, the Careers that year had targeted Carnation and his sister due to the threat he posed them, killing his sister in the process and putting him on the path of a rampage. As an act of vengeance, he hunted down every Career left in the arena, his fury showing no mercy as he gutted each and every one of them responsible for his sisters death.

It ended in his victory, but Carnation was a broken man inside. It was an open secret that he absolutely loathed the Capitol, as well as other Victors that happened to be Careers, meaning he hadn't been the most popular Victor going around in the Capitol. Tara supposed that was the least of his worries however, she couldn't imagine him appeasing those that had taken his sister away from him, even if it was at the cost of his fame.

As far as what Carnation's opinion on Rosalind was however, Tara wasn't all too sure, as the brooding man silently took his seat beside her, providing her with an expressionless nod of acknowledgment whilst Rosalind awkwardly smiled at him in response. All that Tara could make of it was that the two were respectful of one another in the very least, providing they had worked alongside each other for the better half of a decade.

The observation of Carnation was short lived, as upon both him and Marigold taking their seats, Mayor Admon brought the crowds attention to himself once more.

"Without any further ado, I'm pleased to hand the microphone off to Miss Wilds as we embark on the next stage of this ceremony. Thank you all for your time," Mayor Admon finished up, before motioning towards Rosalind who stepped up to the microphone.

"Thank you Mayor Admon, and good afternoon to you all here in District 11, and those watching from all around Panem. I - Rosalind Wilds - am pleased to be back here once again in the beautiful district you call home, to of course select one young man and woman to participate in this years Annual Hunger Games," Rosalind spoke up, her soft, nurturing voice ringing out throughout the entire Town Square. "This being the 149th Hunger Games, of course succeeds a long and rich history of this yearly event, so for the next couple of minutes, let's watch over a brief video that reminds each and every one of us as to why we gather here on this day."

Tara couldn't help but snort softly as the large screen above the stage flashed with the Capitol Seal, the speakers blaring the same anthem she had heard recited time and time again. There was no need to relay the reasons as to why the Hunger Games existed, as everyone and their dog was aware of the history of what the Dark Days were; the fall of the rebels, the destruction of District 13, and the "mercy" that the Capitol were oh so gracious to provide the districts in the form of the Hunger Games.

It was the same video every year, the same video they showed in schools, the same video they'd play before any important event that took place within Panem. The only real difference, was that the video they displayed at the Reaping, also went into depth about the Hunger Games, explaining the rules for the younger kids, and harping on about the evolution of how the games came to be as they were in the current day.

Tara couldn't help but block it all out, the video already ingrained in her memory to the point that she could probably recite it word for word. Once the video ended, it was only Rosalind and the paparazzi from the Capitol that could be found clapping in excitement.

"What a beautiful video," Rosalind gushed, as the screen shifted back to the waiting display it had previously formatted; two blank squares that would project an image of the eventual reaped tributes. "It always brings a tear to my eye."

Yeah… a real tear-jerker, Tara couldn't help but think to herself sarcastically. Despite the brief emotional reprieve Rosalind faced from watching the old footage, she quickly composed herself, with her face forcing a smile as the subject turned to the more troubling side of the Reaping.

"However, let's not delay this any further. The two brave people I am about to select have quite the journey ahead of them, and I'm not quite the admirer of suspense," Rosalind piped up enthusiastically, before her eyes locked onto the glass bowl to her left. "It's time to select our female tribute for this year."

With only a couple of steps from Rosalind, she was suddenly directly behind the glass bowl filled with thousands of young girls names within it, immediately causing Tara's breath to catch in her throat. She wasn't so nervous before the beginning of the Reaping, however now that the time had come to choose the two unfortunate victims, she couldn't help but feel a little trepidation run through her veins.

Tara's eyes remained locked onto Rosalind's hand, as it snaked it's way into the bowl, almost a reflection of the yellow snake tattoo she had etched onto the same arm. Instead of plucking a slip of paper from the top, Rosalind's hand buried deep into the pile of paper slips, as if it was searching for just the right person through some sort of sixth sense. After a mere few seconds, Rosalind's arm emerged, clutching onto a single slip of paper, containing the name of the doomed girl surely destined to meet her demise.

Tara began to sweat, as she and all those around her watched Rosalind make her way back to the microphone. The woman stood there for a moment, unfolding the slip of paper before glancing at the name of the unlucky selectee. It was only after a second or two, that Rosalind began to speak again, but when she did - Tara felt the world around her stop.

"The female tribute for District 11 participating in the 149th Annual Hunger Games is… Tara Canterbury."

Time was frozen. For a brief moment, there was no moment, as everything around Tara seemingly ceased to exist. It's as if as soon as she heard her name leave Rosalind's lips, everything became numb. Her concept of time was removed, her motor abilities were lost, the only thing she could make sense of was her own name echoing in her head in the form of Rosalind's voice.

She almost had forgotten why her name was even spoken, her train of thought completely derailing for what was probably microseconds, but for what felt like an eternity. What had just happened? Why did everything suddenly feel so surreal? This was not meant to happen to her, it had only been half an hour ago that she had been planning to meet up with Cauli later - how was she just supposed to accept this change of events?

It was the thought of Cauli that snapped her out of her stupor, as well as another disruption that pierced the air of the silent Town Square. Coming to her senses, Tara immediately heard the wailing; the panicked sobs and desperate pleas calling her name that drifted from the spectators on the perimeter. It was her mothers voice, the same voice that she had been sick of hearing after ten minutes of their wedding planning earlier that day. Tara didn't realise it then, but what she would come to know - is that she'd have given anything to stay within the vicinity of that voice.

"M-Mom," Tara muttered, reality beginning to crash down on top of her as the tears began to well in her eyes. "Mom!"

Her voice was croaky, as if she still hadn't fully come to terms with her situation. Nonetheless, it was loud enough for the roaming Peacekeeper's to be able to identify Tara's position, and as she began to numbly wade her way through the crowd in a haze, trying to locate her mother's voice without a second thought of the situation she was in, she ultimately felt a rough hand grab her forearm.

Tara struggled against the Peacekeeper for a few moments, as if she had regressed into a lost child demanding to see her parents, whilst the Peacekeeper that had located her began to guide her in the opposite direction of her hysterical mother, and instead towards the reaping stage.

It was the resistance of allowing her to seek out her mother that finally made everything snap back into place. As Tara was almost dragged away, the flood gates began to open, and the waterworks flowed down her face. It wasn't an inconsolable cry filled with sobs and screaming - similar to her mothers cry - but rather a silent, glassy-eyed weeping, as Tara stared into space, not making a sound as the tears continued to flow down her face.

Her tears were out of fear, out of the realisation that she was losing everything she had in that very moment. She didn't feel humiliation upon the flowing streams leaking from her eyes, she felt too numb to care about that.

As her vision looked upwards to the various screens projecting throughout the Town Square, she saw footage of herself being escorted by the Peacekeeper still gripping her arm. She looked almost comatose, completely terrified with wide eyes and an expression of bewilderment.

When she finally reached the stage, her knees felt weak as she slowly made her way up the stairs, the sensation similar to that of treading her way through water. She felt everyone's eyes on her, knowing that out there in the crowd, both her family and Cauli were likely watching in horror at the fate she had been burdened with.

"Come on dear, it's okay," Rosalind greeted her at the top of the stairs, genuine sympathy detectable in her tone as the woman placed a gentle, guiding arm around Tara's shoulders and led her towards the centre of the stage. Rosalind had been in this exact scenario a multitude of times, she knew exactly how to handle devastated tributes coming to terms with the sudden condemnation of their fates. With that being said however, it did little to ease the complete and utter shock Tara was experiencing in that moment.

"Why me?" Tara whispered, her voice so quiet that only Rosalind could have heard her. "How has this happened to me?"

"What a gorgeous young woman we have representing District 11 this year!" Rosalind gushed into the microphone, attempting to smooth over the situation and do her best to hype up Tara. Tara didn't know what good that would do, she was already showing her weakness through the tears that had already stained her face. Her first impressions had set her back significantly.

"I know it's awful dear, but… I want to help you. Try to stay strong just for a little longer," Rosalind murmured to Tara, before raising the microphone towards Tara's lips. It may have been a small sentiment, but through Rosalind's words, and reassuring tone of voice, Tara desperately clung onto any consolation that she could get. She nodded her head, as she allowed Rosalind to do her thing.

"This is very brave of you Tara, I know everyone watching would find it very admirable of you to stand up here," Rosalind exclaimed, continuing to try and paint Tara in a better light than she had already done for herself. Tara looked at Rosalind for a moment, before lowering her eyes to the stage floor, unsure of how to respond.

"Um… yeah well, it's a lot to take in," Tara admitted, wiping the tears off of her face with her eyes still fixated on the floor. "I'm sorry for crying, it sort of just overwhelmed me."

"Oh of course dear, it's quite a confronting change of direction from what you expected I'm sure," Rosalind responded, certainly going for the light-hearted approach. Tara was silent for a moment, before the tears started leaking again, the mention of the turning tides in her life reminding her of what was at stake.

It was with that thought, that Tara couldn't help but blurt out her next sentence, in the form of a pained realisation.

"Y-yeah, certainly a change in direction… I was about to get married… and now I'm here," the words spilled from Tara's lips, causing a complete and utter silence within the Town Square. The reveal was a big one, a tragic one that would be sure to evoke sympathy from the Capitol audience. However, that was not among Tara's intentions at all - it was simply a blatant method of coming to terms with reality.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry to hear that Tara…" Rosalind uttered, her voice sounding genuinely concerned as she elicited a whisper only Tara could hear. "Shit."

The sense of awkwardness was palpable, however Rosalind continued to do her best to salvage Tara's first impressions. Rather than trying for the strong and brave attempt she had commenced with, Rosalind began to lean into the tragedy aspect of Tara's selection, going for a sympathy angle to get the Capitol audience back at home to root for Tara.

Although Tara appreciated the intent, she couldn't help but continue to feel a completely numb sensation, her mind continuing to grieve what she had lost, only being able to conjure this empty feeling within herself.

After a couple more moments of Rosalind reassuring Tara and pushing the sob story of her being taken away from her fiancé, she eventually concluded Tara's introduction to the entirety of Panem, knowing she still had another tribute to reap.

"Despite the unfortunate circumstances, I think we're all rooting for you Tara! I still see a wedding happening in your future!" Rosalind called out, as she gave a few encouraging pats on Tara's back.

"I hope so too," Tara replied weakly, her voice clearly downtrodden, but likely assisting her with the separated lovers angle Rosalind had been pushing. Tara was aware that love stories were a favourite of the Capitol audience, especially between tributes in the same games despite it not being the most common of occurrences. However there were certainly situations where couples being separated by the games had become a driving factor for who Capitol citizens chose to support, the most famous case of which being Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta from District 4. Perhaps this could work to Tara's advantage?

"However," Rosalind piped up, stepping away from Tara and steadily approaching the other glass bowl. "Tara will not be going into the games alone, as there is still one more tribute left to determine. It is now time to select our male tribute!"

Just as everyone had done before Tara was reaped, the crowd went completely silent once more as Rosalind reached her hand into the bowl, the tense atmosphere becoming thicker by the second. Similarly to the girls selection, Rosalind didn't waste any time with choosing the unlucky slip of paper, her hand diving into the middle of the bowl before coming right back out with a singular slip.

The woman repeated her past actions - unfolding the slip of paper and reading it for a brief moment - and although Tara was under the impression that her situation couldn't get any worse than it already was, that thought was quickly shut down by what came from Rosalind's lips.

"Joining alongside Tara, the District 11 male tribute for the 149th Annual Hunger Games will be… Taro McNeal."

If Tara was stunned before, then she wouldn't even know how to describe how she felt in this moment. Shivers ran down her spine instantaneously, a deep, sickening sense of dread forming a pit in her stomach as the name rang out in her ears. She was in pure disbelief, denial in fact at what name Rosalind had just read out.

No, Tara thought to herself, refusing to believe it. There's no way.

But there was way. It was clear as day, as Tara's horror-struck face turned in the direction of movement from the eighteen year-old section. It only took a matter of moments, before her new District Partner was unearthed in plain sight, causing her eyes to bulge. Tara watched as the young man slowly made his way up the stairs, his expression void of anything as his eyes remained trained on the ground. She was overwhelmed with a feeling of familiarity, a wave of dread washing over her as her mouth fell agape at the sight of the boy.

As he looked up, the boy's eyes locked onto hers, before his expression turned from one of shock, to one of pure detest and hatred. It would seem as if the hauntings of Tara's past were truly coming back to bite her, as now she was faced with her new District Partner - her ex husband, Taro McNeal.

---

Logan Bunyan

17

~ District 7 Tribute ~

---

"Logaaaaan!"

The shouting of Logan Bunyan's name did little to evoke a response from him, as the call went unanswered whilst Logan continued to stare out of the sunlit window, his mind deep in thought. It was quite often that Logan would find himself withdrawn, staring into space as he become lost in his own mind to the point that outside stimuli could barely penetrate his train of thought. It was a soothing state that he found himself in, one where nothing could disturb him and he could escape from reality for just a little bit.

Some people found it to be a concerning aspect of who he was, how he'd just randomly disassociate with whatever he was doing and confide in his own little bubble. Logan couldn't deny it was a concern, it did stem from a coping mechanism after all, a defence to distract him from the reality of what his world harboured.

"Logan? Are you in there?" The voice continued, still unable to snap Logan out of his stupor as he continued gazing out at the world beyond his bedroom, the rays of sunlight poking through the leaves of the lush green trees, and the clear blue sky with only whisps of white cloud dotting the otherwise blank canvas the world above was.

To him, the voice was muffled; not just because he was in his own little world, but also because it came from beyond the locked door that confined him to his sanctuary. He had no desire to open that wooden door to the day that awaited him, he'd rather just stay cooped up inside, where nothing and nobody could hurt him.

"Come on Logan! If the Peacekeeper's discover us being late then we'll be in trouble!"

This was true, but could they really do anything he hadn't already been through? Physically, he was very able-bodied, strong and muscular from his days at the lumber mill, and from continuing to chop wood at home. Mentally however… well that's where the differences really started to emerge.

Logan was willing to bet there was nothing the Peacekeeper's could do that would damage his mind any more than it already had been. Logan, who had once been a headstrong and confident young man, was a mere shell of the person he once was. All it took was one event; one day for everything to change, and for all he had ever known to be distorted irrevocably. His state of mind was simply fractured - he knew that very well - and although his intellectual aptitude was perfectly intact… his social attitude was what had truly been taken away from him.

"Logan if you don't unlock this door, I'm taking it off the hinges!" The voice insisted, the threat to his solitude instantly causing Logan to snap from his daydream.

"N-no don't! I'm coming out," he shouted, the words causing a sense of anxiety to ricochet throughout his body. Leaving his room was the last thing he wanted to do right now, especially due to the events that awaited him that he so thoroughly despised. However, ultimately he knew he had no choice, even if he was okay with being punished for not attending… he couldn't let the same thing happen to his sister.

With a deep, apprehensive breath, Logan reluctantly unlocked his bedroom door, before slowly drawing it open, facing himself with his younger sister - Magnolia Bunyan. Magnolia, who was much shorter than himself, stared up at him with a grouchy expression, her hands on her hips as she impatiently tapped her foot against the floor.

"About time! Are you trying to get us killed?" She sighed, shaking her head disapprovingly, as Logan guiltily scratched the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, I was… distracted," Logan apologised, trying to justify ignoring her.

"Staring into space again, huh?" Magnolia questioned flatly, as she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. Logan lowered his eyes shamefully to the floor, unable to suppress the pathetic expression that emerged on his face. Magnolia watched him for a few moments, before sighing and leaning forward, embracing him in a reassuring hug.

"Logan… I know it's tough, I hate going to the Reaping as well," she murmured, the side of her face pressed against his chest as he robotically accepted the hug. Her face quickly turned up to him, her eyes resting on his as her chin pressed against his collarbone. "But we have to push through this, for Mom and Dad."

Logan looked down at her, gulping at the mention of their parents. It had been some time now since the two of them had lost their parents - a year to be exact - leaving them on their own to pick up the pieces after what had unfolded. It had hit them hard of course, with Magnolia having been only fourteen at the time and still too young to work, and Logan himself only being sixteen, and fresh in the workforce. Magnolia had been devastated by their parents demise, and she had certainly fell on her fair share of hard times following what had happened. However, Logan on the other hand, was completely ruined by their deaths - he was there to experience it first hand after all.

The mention of his parents was enough to quiet Logan, his sense of anxiety growing immediately as he briefly relived their deaths in his memory. Turning away, he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his elevated heart rate beating rapidly as he attempted to quell the memory from his mind. Doing so was never a simple task, as he was reminded of them quite often through insignificant things, such as smells, photos, and even general objects they used to use.

The truth was, he was completely traumatised by what he had experienced, and it continued to hang over his head no matter what he was doing.

"Hey… it's okay, just breathe," Magnolia reassured him softly, causing Logan to breathe deeply through his nose, trying to forget the visceral images of his parents final moments that flashed behind his eyelids. "Nobody is here but me, okay?"

"Okay," he whispered, trying his best to compose himself in front of Magnolia. Sometimes, Logan felt humiliated to be so helpless around his younger sister, as if she was the one that had to take care of him and treat him like he was a child. She had always been patient with him, understanding exactly what he had gone through and being acutely aware of how it had traumatised him, yet there was always a faint sense of embarrassment within Logan that he had been reduced to this skittish and paranoid person.

Truthfully, all he wanted was to be happy again, to be able to trust others again, but that was a far cry from happening - especially with the Reaping happening today. It was Logan's least favourite time of year, not just because of the fear of being reaped for the Hunger Games, but generally just because it was the one time he was forced to go out and gather amongst thousands of people.

He hated being around others, but large crowds was essentially Logan's nightmare. Anyone could be amongst those crowds, you never truly knew who was around you, and what they were capable of. Logan had been the victim of it before - it had all stemmed back from that one traumatic event.

Logan had been working at a lumber mill at the time, having just started work when he had turned sixteen. There were a number of small and privately owned lumber mills around District 7, all of which that focused on farming specific wood types rather than the widely mass accumulated timber produced from the large Capitol owned conglomerates.

The lumber mill that Logan had worked at was also a fairly small mill, with his team consisting of around ten people, the very same team that both his parents had been working with before they had managed to get Logan a job there as well. Almost all of the members were hard working and friendly, which made working there quite a bonding experience.

Of the people that worked there, there was of course Logan himself, alongside both his parents - his father Ash Bunyan, and his mother Laurel Bunyan - both diligent and dedicated people that always looked out for himself and Magnolia. Logan had also made a couple of friends amongst the group of coworkers, the two most notable being a similarly aged boy named Beech Ramos that he was rather close with, and a slightly older girl who was more of an acquaintance at the time - her name being Daphne Meadow.

Logan had been settling in nicely with his new group of colleagues, and for the first several months, it was quite an enjoyable experience. However, there was one man amongst the group that had always appeared sad, a man who had dead eyes and spoke little to anyone else for reasons Logan became aware of later.

His name was Alder Campbell, a man who was a fair bit older than Logan, and more comparable to his parents in age. He mostly kept to himself around the mill, and Logan found himself rarely speaking with the reserved man despite the chemistry he had with everyone else at the mill.

What Logan didn't know, was that Alder was a tormented individual, a person who had suffered indescribable loss and travesty to the point that he was barely even himself anymore. From what Logan had been informed of, he used to be a man full of laughs and jokes, and a person who'd bring others together with a charismatic charm. However, something had happened to him that had essentially altered his entire being on this earth.

Alder was a man of solitude, as he had lost all of the family he had. He had lost his sister to a logging accident during his younger years, and apparently had lost both his two children to the Hunger Games on two seperate occasions, with his first born girl having been killed in the final five tributes of one year, and his second child having been lost to the Bloodbath a mere two years later. Following all of this, Alder's wife had died as well, of what could only be described as heartbreak for the loss of their two children. If Logan had to guess, this was eventually the straw that broke the camels back.

It was a random Wednesday afternoon, when Alder finally snapped. Logan didn't know what caused him to do it, but as the ten of them worked at the mill that day, Alder finally let loose his anger at the world due to the loss that he had suffered. Perhaps it was the fury of seeing everyone so happy, and witnessing the loving family dynamic between Logan and his own parents, but regardless - it was the same outcome.

At exactly twelve o'clock, Alder drove his chainsaw into the nearest person to him, eliciting a bloodcurdling scream from the victim as the rest of the workers were scattered and confused. People began to run over to check up on Alder and the first victim, concerned that an accident had happened that they needed to assist with. Little did they know, they were running to their own demise.

Just as he had done to the first person, Alder swung his chainsaw at everyone that came within the vicinity, gutting and dismembering the first two people that arrived, and causing the rest of the workers to run and hide. Some people tried to escape the mill, however at that point Alder had already locked them all inside, showing clear pre-meditation of the crime.

When people had realised there was nowhere to escape to, everyone remaining attempted to hide, with Logan burying himself under a pile of logs, too terrified to even make a noise. Through the peepholes in between the logs, Logan watched as Alder roamed the lumber mill covered in blood, hunting down everyone he could and mincing them with his chainsaw. He witnessed the death of Beech, his closest friend there, as he was decapitated by the chainsaw whilst attempting to flee from a log shed. He watched his father attempt to wrestle the chainsaw from Alder's blood soaked hands, before being sliced vertically across his stomach and chest, spraying blood all over the sawdust littered ground. He watched his mother scream in horror at watching her husband murdered, only to be impaled through the back by the same chainsaw as she attempted to run away.

All Logan could do, was listen to the carnage around him, as he rocked back and forth in complete and utter panic. Eventually, the Peacekeeper's did arrive, apprehending Alder as he continued to try and find the last surviving workers at the lumber mill, saving Logan just in time as Alder was beginning to close in on his position.

As it would turn out, Logan was one of only two survivors from the group, alongside Daphne who had been fortunate enough to conceal herself under a pile of sawdust. Everyone else that day was massacred, and although Logan was unscathed - mentally he was never the same again.

Ultimately, Alder was publicly flogged, before being executed in front of the entire district. Logan figured he was supposed to feel some kind of retribution for that, but really he was just hollow inside. The sight of Alder terrified him, despite him being tied up and incapacitated. All Logan could see was the blood of his parents still coating Alder's body, despite it having been washed away long before that day.

Logan had found himself completely dislodged from the life he once knew, not only was he traumatised, paranoid, and untrusting of anyone and everything, but he was also deemed unfit to work as a lumberjack any more after several district provided psyche evaluations. Both himself and Daphne were dismissed from the occupation entirely, the two of them seemingly incompatible with environments similar to the one where the atrocity had occurred due to the triggers and emotional torment it had on them

He still met up periodically with Daphne, with the two trying to support one another through their shared trauma and understanding of what each other had been through, and she had been fortunate enough to land a small office job far removed from the industry of lumber as a whole.

Logan however, was far more troubled with finding a new source of income, especially now that his parents had passed away. Although Logan thought of himself as being okay around logging tools, the district wouldn't allow him to take an active role in doing any of the physical activity involved with harvesting wood, which had led him to take on a role as a site inspector for the transport of timber.

He found himself struggling in the role quite often, the main issue being the proximity to other people who he quite simply just didn't want to be around. However, he was left with little choice in the matter, being in desperate need of some sort of income.

Logan knew he'd have to get over it someday, to adapt and assimilate back into society the way he used to be. However, it was certainly a difficult road ahead, and he had his doubts that he'd ever truly be able to get over his distrust of other people.

"Do you feel okay?" Magnolia spoke up, disrupting Logan's thoughts and bringing him back to the present. Logan nodded silently in confirmation, causing Magnolia to breathe a little sigh of relief.

"Let's… just get this over with," Logan muttered, before slipping past Magnolia, and taking the lead in heading towards the Reaping.

"That's the spirit!" Magnolia chuckled, as the two exited their small home and out towards the secluded street the pair lived on.

That I live on, Logan corrected himself, as the two departed on their journey. It was indeed Logan that was the one that lived there most of time, with Magnolia only really being around during the spring and summer months. When the incident had occurred, Magnolia had been placed to live with their aunt in the Victor's Village for a while, which Logan was certain had helped significantly with her healing over the death of their parents.

Their aunt - a woman named Rosemary Weatherby - was actually now the legal guardian of Magnolia, after she had taken her under her wing following the incident, due to Magnolia being still young at the time, and Logan himself not being able to care for her effectively. Logan refused the offer to also have Rosemary as his legal guardian, figuring there was no use considering how close he was to adulthood.

Rosemary hailed from the Victor's Village due to her being the wife of a previous District 7 Victor - a woman named Victoria Weatherby. Rosemary had been dating Victoria before she had even been reaped for the games, so for Victoria to have made it home was quite the fortunate result for Rosemary. Logan had known the two almost his entire life, although Magnolia was certainly much closer with the pair.

During the summer and spring months however, Magnolia willingly came back to live alongside Logan, mostly to give him company that he felt safe around, but also because she felt guilty about leaving him behind in his tumultuous situation.

"How is Aunt Rosemary?" Logan inquired, the thought of the woman popping into his mind.

"Good… I think. I caught up with her the other day," Magnolia responded, a doubtful smile appearing on her face. "Obviously the games are always a stressful time for their household, with Victoria being a Victor and all."

"Yes, I can imagine," Logan murmured, tilting his head in thought. "I suppose she isn't a Mentor this year?"

"No I don't believe so, she might make the trip to the Capitol to go to some of the events, but I'm confident Geneva is the designated Mentor again this year," Magnolia explained, not exactly evoking surprise within Logan. Geneva Adair was District 7's most recent Victor, and had been mentoring for the past few years to nobody's shock. The Capitol always preferred the newest Victor's to be mentors, usually due to the recency of their victory and therefore the relevancy.

Sometimes they did indeed change it up - especially for the more popular Victors from older games - but usually they stuck with the recent Victors as the appointed Mentor, mostly to drive an incentive for Mentors to willingly help their tributes win so they themselves could be rid of the burden of mentoring.

Additionally, the two mentor system had been abolished quite some time ago, when it had been deemed unfair that some districts with only one living Victor to their name had only the one Mentor to juggle both tributes when other districts had a tag team Mentor duo. There was also complaints about these duos that some tributes had a strong and capable Mentor handling them, whilst the other tribute would have an old and seemingly senile Victor that truly was no longer in their right state of mind due to their old age. This detriment usually fell on the outer-districts, with only a few living Victors to their name.

These days, each district had their one assigned Mentor who would watch over both tributes, and Escorts who were trained to be able to tag in for them during rest hours whilst the games were unfolding. Logan didn't think of it as a perfect system, but it certainly helped out the struggling districts such as District 12, who currently only had the one living Victor that could Mentor.

"I suppose Aunt Rosemary doesn't like it when Victoria goes to the Capitol each year," Logan commented, earning a nod of confirmation from Magnolia.

"Of course not. She isn't obligated to go when she's not a Mentor, but I suppose she is friends with some of the other Victors," she justified, which Logan couldn't help but agree with in his own head. It did make sense to him, because although the Victor's were all killers and from different competing districts, he did suppose they all shared that same terrible experience of being a tribute and being forced to kill others, similarly to how his shared trauma had brought him closer to Daphne as friends. Perhaps in a way, the Victors were all each others support network.

After their brief talk about Rosemary and Victoria, the rest of their journey was spent chatting about other trivial and mundane subjects, just the way that Logan liked it. It was a nice distraction from his otherwise continuously elevating anxiety the closer they approached the Town Square. However, the closer that they did get, the more nervous and paranoid Logan grew, which Magnolia seemingly was quick to pick up on.

"Don't worry, it's okay," Magnolia reassured him, as she found Logan's hand and entwined her fingers with his in an attempt to calm him down. "Nobody is out to get you here, especially in a big crowd like this."

"I'm sorry, I know…" Logan sighed, as his eyes scanned the countless people around them now that they had reached the Town Square. "It's stupid but… I have such a bad feeling about this."

"I completely understand," Magnolia replied, before stopping the two of them in their tracks and looking up at Logan. "Just think back to last year, you went to that Reaping and it ended up okay. It'll be the same this year."

"You're right," Logan accepted, taking a deep breath and forcing his apprehensions to the back of his mind. "I'm overthinking things."

"Exactly! And just look at you… nobody's going to want to mess with you, you're no pushover," Magnolia laughed, motioning up and down at Logan's body as a whole. Logan supposed she had a point, from a physical perspective he really shouldn't have anything to fear. Despite his soft personality, Logan certainly held a rather intimidating appearance from an outside point of view.

He was a tall boy with a muscular frame, one that he still possessed from all the physical work he had done in the past. He had a stoic and hardened expression on his angular face, with hauntingly pale blue eyes that contrasted his warm, caramel coloured skin, as well as short, deeply auburn coloured hair. To top things off - and what was most likely to keep people at bay - a thin scar that ran through his eyebrow from the bottom of his forehead; a wound he had suffered from a sharp piece of wood he had scraped his face against when hiding from the massacre at his workplace.

Despite how he may have looked however, it wasn't enough to just magically put everything at ease. It took Logan constantly reminding himself that the odds of something going wrong were truly minuscule in comparison to what he was expecting them to be. With that thought in mind, he knew it was time to finally part ways with Magnolia, and continue onwards into the belly of his worst nightmare.

"I guess this is it then, I'll see you on the other side?" Magnolia chirped, attempting to keep a positive attitude. Logan looked at her for a moment, before raising an eyebrow at her.

"Was that a question?" He remarked, causing Magnolia to pause for a moment and reflect on how she had worded her previous sentence.

"I will see you on the other side," she responded more seriously, placing an emphasis on her tone that enforced her words as a statement rather than a doubtful possibility.

"I sure hope so," Logan smiled, the first genuine smile he had made that day, as he embraced her in a hug.

After their final goodbyes, Logan separated from Magnolia, begrudgingly finding himself in line to take his attendance. As soon as her presence was gone, Logan couldn't help but feel a sense of unease, a nagging paranoia in the back of his head that he continuously had to stifle as he put on a calm façade. As Logan had blood taken from his finger, he held his breath with an overwhelming sense of discomfort, gritting his teeth as he felt the stinging pain in his finger, and not releasing his inhaled oxygen until he finally received the direction to move on from the Peacekeeper.

Okay… that wasn't so bad. Everything's just… fine, Logan reassured himself, as he found himself at the back of the sectioned off area for the seventeen year-olds. Rather than focusing on all of the people directly around him, he instead opted to rest his eyes on the stage for the several minutes that needed to pass until the Reaping commenced.

Normally, when Logan was in a crowded space, he'd feel everyone's eyes on him, and be overwhelmed by a dreadful sense that each and every person was conspiring against him. No matter how many times he told himself otherwise, he never seemed to be able to shake off the feeling that someone was planning to target him, just as Alder had so inconspicuously done just over a year ago.

For the final few minutes, Logan couldn't even bring himself to open his eyes, instead forcing them shut to try and block out everything around him. He was hopeful that nobody would question as to why he was doing so - for all they knew he was just fear-stricken that he would be one of the unlucky individuals selected this year.

It wasn't until he sensed a hush fall over the crowd, and heard a stifled cough echo through the microphone, that he finally opened his eyes once more to witness the beginning of the Reaping.

The crowd was first met with the Mayor of District 7, who had entered the stage from the Justice Building - that being Mayor Teak, a rather tall and gaunt looking man with wiry limbs and hollow cheekbones. Logan had met Mayor Teak on only one occasion, that being the aftermath of the lumber mill massacre which had been quite the news story at the time. He was a man of a few words, and came across as serious and blunt whenever Logan heard him speak - not to mention how brutal he was with dishing out the punishment for Alder after the fact. However, the condolences he had gave Logan and Magnolia had seemed genuine, he had seemed rather resentful that such an act had happened under his rule.

True to his character, Mayor Teak was quick to start the Reaping, clearly wanting to keep things on track and not indulge the Capitol paparazzi with theatrics like the Career Districts would have likely done.

"Hello everyone, and thank you for coming. Today as you are all aware, we have gathered here for the Reaping of the 149th Annual Hunger Games," Mayor Teak spoke up, cutting to the chase as his eyes drifted to the direction he just came from. "To begin, I'd like to welcome our Capitol sent Escort who has been diligently assisting our tributes for the past fourteen years, please welcome… Orion Oakwood."

Logan's eyes immediately locked onto Orion, who quickly made himself known as he strode onto the stage, a rather content expression set upon his handsome face as he approached his seat. As Mayor Teak had mentioned, Orion had been the District 7 Escort for fourteen years now, and was one of the oldest Escorts of the bunch at thirty-two years-old - hardly old in the grand scheme of things, but certainly old for a profession which valued youth and was quick to move on ageing Escorts.

To Logan's knowledge, Orion was a calm and reserved man, as well as a highly respected Escort by both the Capitol and his other colleagues, with vast connections that helped with attaining sponsors. From what Orion had mentioned in interviews, he had been offered a number of promotions to higher numbered districts over the years - the higher the number meaning the higher the status of their position to the Escorts - however he had always turned them down due to his loyalty to District 7 and the fondness he had grown for the place.

His appearance was always class; opting for sleek suits in formal tones of black, white or grey, golden jewellery such as the rings on his fingers and the golden chain bracelet on his wrist, as well as heavily inked arms of tattoo sleeves that reached down to his hands, that would occasionally peek out from his sleeves when they were rolled up. His chiselled face and round, metal framed glasses gave him an aura of sophistication and maturity, whilst his green eyes filled with golden speckles that sparkled in the sunlight gave a calming sense to anyone that stared into them.

If there was an Escort a tribute would love to have; it was Orion Oakwood, and as he found his way to his seat producing a polite wave directed at the crowd and the Capitol media, Orion was fortunate enough to receive a rather pleasant welcome from the district he had earned the respect of.

"It's a pleasure to have you here once more Orion," Mayor Teak nodded at him, before casting his eyes back on the crowd. "And of course, we can't forget about our extensive streak of Victors who have entered the pits of hell, and returned to us once more. Please give another warm welcome to our Victors."

The crowd broke into polite applause once more, as a respectable line of Victors filed onto the stage, many of which Logan was quite familiar with due to his familial connection to Victoria. Out of all the districts that weren't Career centric, District 7 was by far the most successful district in Hunger Games history, managing to bring home a total of fifteen Victors over the course of the 149 years the Hunger Games had ran for. In the current day, only nine of them were still alive and kicking, a few of them which were certainly on the older side.

Towards the end of the lineup, were the most recent Victors that Logan was more accustomed to, one of which being Victoria Weatherby; his aunts wife. Victoria had won the 131st Hunger Games at eighteen years-old, and was currently thirty-six. She had always been an excitable and bubbly woman, and at times boisterous which was a stark contrast to the more introverted personality of Rosemary.

Logan recounted that Victoria's games took place in an entirely stormy arena, with a nonstop typhoon that rocked the land, and lightning that continuously devastated the ground. The environment was constantly wet and saturated, with everlasting rain and cold temperatures. The landscape was almost entirely a slanted mountain, which caused most of the arena to be muddy and slippery, with tributes constantly sliding down the mountain from one misstep. At the base of the mountain, was a complete drop off into a foggy abyss where the bottom couldn't be seen, meaning tributes would have to be careful not to slide off of the mountain to their deaths.

From Logan's understanding, Victoria was a surprise Victor for these games, as many expected either the District 3 tributes to be able to take advantage of the lightning, or the District 5 tributes to navigate the perilous weather due to their familiarity with the conditions back home. However, Victoria's victory came about when a giant mudslide occurred towards the end of the games, sweeping away many of the remaining tributes off of the cliff. Victoria was fortunate enough to be able to climb up a tree to her safety, leaving her final opponent - a clever Career from District 4 - who was smart enough to tie themselves to a tree as the mud wave came. Unfortunately for the Career, Victoria was used to that sort of terrain back in District 7, allowing her to beat the Career in an unstable fight which caused them to lose their footing and plummet to their death.

Following directly behind Victoria, was Geneva Adair - the most recent District 7 Victor and the Mentor for the current games. Geneva was a pretty and eloquent girl - although one wouldn't know that based on how she performed during her games - with long, straight brown hair, a heart shaped face, dark brown eyes, and a Persian heritage. She was a girl of stoicism and silence, rarely speaking publicly and mostly keeping to herself when she could. In fact, Logan couldn't recall a time he had ever seen the girl crack a smile. If he had considered Mayor Teak as serious - then Geneva was completely solemn.

Geneva had won the 146th Hunger Games, and was currently twenty-one years-old. Her games took place in a seemingly haunted, and foggy forest of bare grey trees, disembodied voices, and shadows that would appear in the fog to disorient tributes. Geneva used her tree-climbing skills to wait above whilst concealed by the fog for tributes to pass by below her, before she'd drop down and surprise attack them with an axe. It was a display that Logan believed was inspired by Victoria's own strategy of using the trees to her advantage, which would have made sense considering Victoria mentored her at the time. Her victory came with her silent method of moving around, and her ability to use the fog to ambush her competition.

The tributes left alive at the end were the strongest tributes left; typically loud ones that easily gave away their position through their arrogant taunts or heavy footsteps. Geneva used their poor stealth to silently disorient them with her manoeuvres and strike them down when they couldn't see her. When Geneva had won, she hadn't even realised as she couldn't see five feet in front of her, and was already looking for the next tribute to take down. It had taken the celebratory trumpets blaring through the arena to actually convince her that she was the last tribute remaining.

Logan recalled that Geneva's games weren't a particularly popular Hunger Games with the Capitol public, due to the poor visibility when watching them thanks to the fog, which may have been the catalyst for Esteban Perryfeather's eventual replacement for this years games. However, these games were a resounding success for District 7, as not only did Geneva win, but she also did so with one of District 7's highest ever kill-counts.

Logan couldn't help but shudder at the thought of Geneva's games, briefly wondering how different things would have been for him had Alder been able to replicate her stealthy method of killing.

After Geneva, Victoria, and the rest of the Victor's had taken their seats, Mayor Teak turned once more to Orion, raising an arm to motion towards him.

"I now direct your attention to Mr Oakwood, as he will commence the selection process," Mayor Teak informed the crowd, earning a nod from Orion as he rose from his seat and switched places with the mayor.

"Thank you Mayor Teak, and hello to everyone from District 7. It is always a pleasure to be here, albeit the conditions for me being here are not without a great sacrifice," Orion spoke up, his calm voice skimming over the underlying sinister reasoning for his presence. "As is custom, before we proceed with selecting our two young tributes, we will watch a Capitol provided video to remind ourselves why this yearly tradition is in place."

As was the case with every Reaping, the historical video that described the Dark Days, and introduced the formation of the Hunger Games ensued, allowing Logan a brief reprieve to tune out the nonsensical video and focus once more on relieving his growing dread.

Unfortunately for Logan - who didn't mind the brief delay of the inevitable - the video reached its climax all too soon, resulting in Orion bringing the attention to himself once more, as he readied himself to select the first likely casualty District 7 would be receiving this year.

Logan found himself holding his breath, his heart pumping a thousand miles an hour as he prepared himself for the worst, watching in fear as Orion approached the female bowl that contained the name of Magnolia somewhere among those slips of paper.

Please not Magnolia… please not her, Logan begged internally, praying desperately that he didn't lose yet another family member. Orion - of course unbeknownst to the pleading thoughts of Logan - wasted no time with driving his hand deep into the pile of paper slips, before withdrawing a single slip out into the open air.

Logan swallowed as Orion made his way back to the microphone, realising just how parched his mouth was as the tense moment continued to play out in front of him. It was as if all the noise was sucked out of the area, as Orion slowly unfolded the paper, before wasting no time in calling out the name of the fateful girl.

"The female tribute for District 7 participating in the 149th Annual Hunger Games will be… Mila Harlen."

It was completely silent in the Town Square, with the exception of Orion's voice continuing to echo for a few microseconds after he had stopped speaking. Logan felt a temporary wave of relief wash over his body, as Magnolia was cemented as being safe for another year, however this was soon replaced with sympathy for the poor girl named Mila - a name of which that Logan did not recognise.

Heads began to turn as people in the crowd started to search for movement, the camera projecting footage onto the large screen above the stage also doing the same thing as it scanned the crowd of teenagers. For a few brief moments, nothing happened, until eventually - Logan felt a person brush past him.

His eyes turned to fixate on the person who had passed by, her trembling form walking slowly as she waded her way through the crowd of other seventeen year-olds.

That must be Mila, Logan thought to himself, as he continued to examine the newly reaped girl. The first thing Logan could surmise about Mila was that she was certainly on the shorter side, a rough 5'4" estimate if Logan had to guess. The second takeaway that Logan could make was that she was beautiful - stunningly gorgeous if he had to say so himself - the type of breathtakingly beautiful that would make just about anyone's heart race from a simple interaction with her.

Mila had long, luscious black hair, that fell down to her lower back in waves that swayed with every step she took. Her skin was flawless, not a single blemish in sight, and almost shined with how fair it was against her jet black hair. She had deep blue eyes that in the current moment welled with tears, the shade reminiscent of sparkling lapis lazuli that shimmered from behind her long eyelashes. Her quivering pink lips - despite the distress they presented - had a Cupid's bow shape to them, that fit nicely within her symmetrical face. Finally, she had a petite frame that matched her height, a slim body that she moved gracefully and elegantly with soft strides that made her almost appear to glide across the ground. It was clear that she had very good control over the way she moved, to the point that it was almost reminiscent of the way a dancer walked.

Despite how beautiful the girl was, it was clear as day that Mila was absolutely terrified, as she forced herself to retain her composure, and silently let a few tears escape the dam that was her eyelids. Logan couldn't help but feel terrified for the girl, but respected the way in which she held herself with a sense of control.

She's doing a whole lot better than I would be, Logan commented to himself, as Mila reached the stairs to the stage, gliding up them as gracefully as she had walked to them. When she reached the spot next to where Orion stood, she situated herself awkwardly, not knowing where to hold her gaze as the camera zoomed in on her.

"Hello Mila, it's a pleasure to meet you," Orion spoke up, his expression soft yet void of any compassion.

I suppose that makes sense… he's done this a number of times now. He must be desensitised to it at this point, Logan reasoned, as Mila's eyes darted between Orion and the crowd in front of her.

"This must be quite the shock to you," Orion continued, trying his best to comfort Mila, whilst also not making light of the awful situation he had just put her in. Mila bit her lip for a moment, before nodding her head slowly.

"That's… a good way to describe how I'm feeling right now," Mila responded, her voice sounding very soft and articulate.

"Oh that's completely understandable. I must say though, you are handling it very well," Orion encouraged her, as she fidgeted with her fingers awkwardly.

"Thanks… I suppose," Mila replied, her voice sounding more timid every time she spoke.

I don't know how much longer she can hold it together, Logan thought to himself, noticing Mila's deep breathing, and rapid eye movement - just as he had experienced on a number of occasions himself.

"Well, I'm sure you have a number of thoughts running through your head right now Mila, so while you process this, I think we should move onto selecting your District Partner," Orion claimed, being considerate enough to give Mila space from the questions. "But just know, we're all rooting for the two of you!"

"U-um, thank you… I appreciate that," Mila murmured, her voice barely above a whisper at this point.

Immediately, the attention was taken off of Mila - most likely to her relief - as everyone including Logan turned their eyes to Orion once more. The man found himself behind the glass bowl filled with male names, and as he reached inside, Logan couldn't help but feel his panic begin to spike to levels he hadn't even fathomed prior.

His entire body tensed up like a deer-in-headlights, as he watched Orion take his arm back out with a fair few paper slips grasped within them. Orion made a bit of a show of dropping slip after slip from his grasp, each one crashing back down onto the pile of paper beneath his fist, until eventually, there were two slips of paper left in his hand.

Orion took a slip in each hand, as he looked between the two in what was a suspenseful and agonising wait. It took a few moments, before Orion eventually dropped one of the paper slips back into the bowl, leaving just the one for him to read out to the district.

Logan felt himself struggling to breathe, as his eyes focused on Orion's fingers unfolding the piece of paper, until eventually - he began to announce the name.

"The second tribute representing District 7, for the 149th Annual Hunger Games is… Logan Bunyan."

*Badump*.

Logan Bunyan.

*Badump. Badump*.

Logan… Bunyan?

*Badump. Badump. Badump*.

That's my name…

*Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump*.

He just said my name…

*Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump*.

I've just been… Reaped.

*Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump*.

The realisation took a little while to sink in for Logan, however as his heart rate began to elevate to dangerous levels, the pounding of his heart was all that he could hear as the blood pulsated throughout his head. His worst nightmare, now come to life… this couldn't be - could it? This had to be just some crazy delusion that he was imagining. Logan was always one to imagine the worst case scenario, this was surely just an imagination he conjured up?

However, as time went by, and nobody else responded to the call for the male tribute, reality began to sink in for Logan. His eyes darted around, looking for some explanation for these turn of events, before settling on Victoria who remained seated up on the stage. The expression that she gave confirmed all that needed to know; the shock and horror plastered on her face as her eyes widened at hearing the name of her wife's nephew being reaped for the Hunger Games.

It was real. It was very real. Logan had just been reaped, and there was no denying it.

Almost subconsciously, Logan took a step back, before impulsively turning around and pushing past the people around him, making a pitiful break for it as he sought to escape his fate. People gasped in surprise as he ran by them, but Logan paid no attention to them as the one thing on his mind was getting the hell out of there.

To Logan's misfortune however, there really never was an option for escape. Within moments, Logan felt himself collapse to the floor, as large Peacekeeper bodies swarmed him and forced him against the ground to prevent his escape.

"No… no… please…" he begged, clawing at the ground as he tried to drag himself out from the Peacekeepers who had dog piled him. Of course, it was to no avail, as Logan found himself being dragged to his feet, with a Peacekeeper gripping each arm as he was almost carried all the way up to the stage. Once they had risen the stairs, Logan was shoved forward, stumbling towards the centre of the stage as he struggled to keep his balance.

It was at this moment, that Logan truly felt everyone's eyes on him, causing him to freeze in what felt like a pure state of petrification. Logan couldn't move, as he stood beside Orion trembling like a leaf. It was as if his brain was shutting down, the whole situation feeling completely dreamlike to the point that he couldn't distinguish delusion from reality.

Logan had only ever felt like this one time before, that being the day that the massacre had taken place. He had been in a full-blown panic, unable to do anything as he watched the world around him fall apart; very much in the same way he felt in the current moment.

He noticed Orion talking to him, his mouth opening as if he was speaking, yet no words registered to Logan over the sound of the repetitive, rapid heart beats that still pounded in his ears. Everyone had their attention on him; Orion, Mila, Geneva, Victoria, all of District 7… the entirety of Panem in fact. He felt vulnerable, light-headed; on the verge of breaking down. All he wanted to do in that moment was slip into obscurity.

It was with this realisation, that everything felt all too overwhelming for Logan to handle. He felt his eyes roll up into the back of his head, before a falling sensation overcame him, and he ultimately found himself blacking out.

---

Nix Sherborne

18

~ District 4 Tribute ~

---

The day in District 4 was calm. The warm sun, the gentle ocean breeze, the serene sounds of the distant crashing waves of the ocean; it was the epitome of calm if Nix Sherborne was forced to describe the atmosphere in the current moment.

Of course, that wasn't entirely the case, as it was really only an observation from the outside looking in. If Nix were to judge the day based on those descriptors, it would be like any other ordinary day within the sandy shores of District 4. However, Nix knew otherwise, as did every other citizen within the district.

There was nothing even remotely calm about this day, in fact - it was probably the most chaotic day they experienced all year. A far cry from the small ocean-side cottage that Nix and her father resided at, she knew there would be widespread pandemonium happening close to the districts centre. Celebrations, rowdy drunkards, festivities that would last the entire day. Why would that be? For one obvious answer of course.

It was Reaping Day.

It had always been a highly anticipated day each year for District 4, so much so in fact that to any other district, it would simply be ridiculous. People gathering in the streets, chanting in glee and drinking in excess, acting as if it was the most exciting thing ever to have kids be shipped off to their deaths. It was simply ludicrous, and yet it was completely normal to all those who had been raised in a Career District.

"Tsk", Nix clicked her teeth, sneering at the very idea of it. Those people had it all wrong, they knew nothing of what the games really meant. It wasn't for their entertainment, their district pride, nor their freedom - at least not to Nix.

No, the games were about being the best, being the greatest, being the unequivocal one above all. These people would be cheering for her and her District Partner, hoping one of them could win to bring glory to District 4 once more. However, when Nix would volunteer, she'd only be bringing glory to herself; she didn't care for a single one of them rooting for District 4 back at home. Not her fellow Academy Students, not the hopeful kids who's dream it was to become a future Career - not even the girl who's life she'd save by volunteering in the first place.

There were only two people that ultimately mattered to Nix, two she even remotely cared for - her father, and Nix herself.

"What's wrong? Is something on your mind?" A man's voice spoke up, causing Nix to be snapped out of her thoughts. She glanced sideways to the source of the voice, laying her eyes on her father who stood beside her - a man who went by the name of Nereus Sherborne. Her father studied her face for a moment, a humoured expression on his own as he watched Nix scowl at him in response, folding her arms subconsciously.

"Why do you always assume something's wrong?" Nix challenged him, brushing off his question without a real answer. Nereus laughed a hearty bellow in response, ruffling Nix's hair playfully.

"Because I know when my little girl is cranky, I can see it on your face," he chuckled, causing Nix to roll her eyes.

"What do you mean? My face is always like this - it's a literal resting bitch face," Nix fired back, as her father continued to chortle.

"It's the way you pout; you've always had the same pout even when you were a kid. You puff your cheeks out, so it's a dead giveaway," he revealed, causing Nix to blush with embarrassment.

"Oh shut up," she grumbled, turning away from her father defiantly.

"So, what is it that's on your mind? This is your big day remember, I can't imagine what would be troubling you," Nereus continued to prod, finally causing Nix to relent.

"Fine… I'm just not thrilled about who I'm going into the games with," Nix admitted, her voice barely above a mutter as her father listened curiously.

"Yeon? What's the matter with him? He's a nice boy, a strong fighter as well. He'll be a good ally," Nereus replied.

That's exactly the problem, Nix thought to herself, feeling a little frustration.

It was not like Nix to care about others in any capacity, especially not someone that she'd eventually have to consider an adversary. It had been her philosophy throughout her whole life; why bother exhausting effort in worrying about others when all that mattered was herself?

She hadn't entered the Career Academy to make friends, and that had remained the same ever since day one. It was eight years ago when Nix had first joined the Academy, similarly to many kids her age back then, as it was normally standard for children of about ten years-old to enter the Academy to learn the basics of combat.

Considering District 4 always had a mandated volunteer from the Academy, there was never a concern for younger kids to be experienced with fighting in case they were reaped, however it was more for those kids to get a taste of the path to being a Career Tribute, and to screen for those that had the best potential for a future in the Hunger Games.

Nix remembered most kids from her grade in school joining up that first year excitedly, expressing their desire to bring glory to District 4, and be the next big Victor that would make waves all over Panem. Nix however, her reasons were a lot more personal than that, reasons that none of her classmates would ever be able to relate to.

It had been a few decades ago, that Nix's father himself was supposed to have been granted the role of volunteer for the year he turned eighteen. Nereus had also been a Career Academy student back in his day, and from what Nix had heard, he had been one of the best prodigies that District 4 had ever had at their disposal. It was Nereus's biggest dream to serve his district in the games, and it should've been handed to him on a silver platter.

However, to Nereus's misfortune, that wasn't how things turned out. Despite being considered a shoo-in, District 4 was swept up in shock, when the Academy Board had revealed who their volunteer choices were for that year - a girl that Nix wasn't entirely aware of as she later died in the games… and the Mayor of the time's incompetent son, Marshall Mires. Marshall wasn't a particularly talented fighter - mediocre at best - yet somehow he had been chosen as the male volunteer for that year. Most suspected foul play of some sorts, perhaps the Mayor bribing the Academy Board, or someone else tampering with the Board's votes, but nevertheless the outcome was the same.

Nix's father was devastated, even though Nix herself couldn't remember that due to having only just been born. Just knowing how prideful the man was, it was easy to conclude that being snubbed like that would've absolutely torn him apart. The worst part was, Marshall didn't last very long in the arena at all, being the first Career to die and ultimately wasting the selection of a promising candidate.

It was this turn of events, that made Nix want to become a tribute herself one day. She joined the Academy with one single purpose in mind, with one clear goal; to carry on her father's dream. If the Academy Board was going to screw over her father, then she would be someone they simply couldn't overlook. She'd be the best, the greatest, and finally redeem her father's tarnished legacy.

And that's just what Nix did. Over the eight years she spent at the Academy, she was ruthless. She made no friends, only enemies, and would do whatever it took to put herself above her competition. This of course didn't bring her any favours with other people, with Nix being quite universally disliked by the majority of the other students at the Academy. Nix could understand why, she was a rude, abrasive bitch to almost anyone she would interact with, making her quite the target for other people that simply couldn't stand her stone cold and supposedly "self-righteous" personality.

People would often challenge her to knock her down a peg, whether it be random ambushes, or organised spars, but either way they'd always end the same way - with Nix handing them an absolute ass-whooping.

So when it so happened that Nix was named as the chosen female volunteer for the games this year, it was safe to say that this was not the most popular decision within the Academy. Since that day, she had copped the brunt of many snide remarks and defamatory rumours aimed her way of course, although that was nothing new to her.

The reality was, words like those paled in comparison to what had happened at her last training session at the institute a few weeks ago. Nix felt the side of her head tingle as the she recalled the memory, causing her to bring her fingers to the right side of her skull and run the tips over the bumpy scar. The scar itself was still a little sensitive, however it was certainly in the process of healing which Nix couldn't be more thankful for considering she'd be entering the arena in about a weeks time.

It had been a morning session at the Academy, where all the students seventeen and under were participating in their usual training cycles. Everyone that had been eighteen years-old had been officially graduated from the Career Academy, with the volunteer choices now determined and their purpose for being at the Academy no longer in play.

The only two eighteen year-olds still training, were herself and Yeon Ha-Sun; the two allocated volunteers for District 4. Nix had been using the time to cram in as much training as she could before she went off to the games, to refine her skills and make sure she was in form over the next month before she needed to leave. That is why she could recall thinking it was quite strange that there were an abundance of other volunteer candidates who had missed out that were present at the Academy that day.

Nix had chosen to ignore them all that day, knowing all too well of their distaste for her as a person, and their spite for her having been chosen over them. Perhaps letting her guard down had been the true fault in what had played out that morning, but of course hindsight was 20/20.

As she had been focusing on her trident throws, Nix had felt a searing pain erupt on the side of her head, as she heard a heavy object whizzing past her and crashing into the wall in front of her. The trident had come from behind, however Nix could hardly make sense of the situation as she had underwent an instant state of shock, collapsing to the ground as a pool of warm blood began to leak from her head.

Supposedly, it had been a wayward trident throw that had sliced her head while firing past, barely an inch from one of the prongs actually impaling her skull rather than simply grazing it - an "accident" as many onlookers had claimed, except Nix knew better than that. Out of jealousy, out of resentment, out of pettiness… someone had made an attempt on her life.

Passing out from the incident, Nix had been rushed to the nearby hospital by Academy Trainers, to have the gash in her head stitched up and to test for any potential brain damage from the force of the heavy object. Half of Nix's formerly long dark hair had to be shaved off to tend to the wound, leaving a bristly, buzzed cut scalp with an admittedly mean looking scar on her cranium.

Nix had actually grown quite fond of the look over the last month, it made her look far more badass than the cutesy face she had inherited from whoever her mother was. She had kept the scar side of her head shaved on purpose, with the top, and left side of her head still retaining a thick curtain of her dark locks, that she had chopped to the length of her shoulder.

She couldn't say why, but although the partial buzz cut was something she enjoyed, she still liked to have some sort of hair barrier where she could turn it in the direction of someone bugging her to completely block them from view. Not to mention, Yeon said he had liked the look.

Why does that matter? Who cares what he thinks of me? Nix scolded herself, confused as to why the thought popped into her mind. This brought her focus back to Yeon, and why Nix wasn't particularly pleased about having to go into the arena with him.

The thing was, Yeon was the very embodiment of everything that Nix was not, and that made them two polar opposites. Yeon was a friendly, charismatic, highly beloved member of the Academy, with boatloads of friends and admirers, and the backing of everyone's support with becoming the next male Career Tribute from District 4.

In stark contrast, Nix was a moody, anti-social, highly detested loner within the Academy, with people refusing to associate with her, and only wishing for her downfall as soon as she was named as a volunteer.

They were not the same.

It would so happen however, that despite all of this - Yeon didn't appear to hold any kind of resentment towards Nix. He didn't hate her, he wasn't rude or angry towards her, he simply treated her like a normal person, as he did everybody else. Strangely enough, Yeon had been the only person from the Academy to visit her within the hospital after the trident incident, where he had made that compliment about her new hairstyle and had also wished her well.

Nix had never really interacted with Yeon at all prior to their appointments as the District 4 volunteers, she had only ever known the boy from afar, seeing how popular and well-liked he was, but also how kind and generous he was. There were certainly times where she felt pangs of jealousy for the position he was in, but overall she couldn't help but respect the boy - frustratingly so.

And that was precisely the reason as to why she didn't want to enter the games with him. She would've loved to enter with someone she despised, someone she'd have no issue with watching meet their end at the hands of another tribute, or even killing off herself if it came to it. Yeon however, was the opposite of that kind of person, any other year she'd have actually liked to see him do well. He was the perfect tribute, the epitome of flawless - and she'd have to be compared to him the whole time.

However, that was only one side of the coin, as there was certainly another factor that played into her displeasure of Yeon being her future District Partner. The reason was very simple really, because in actuality - she kind of just liked him.

"I have my reasons," she finally responded to her father's question, sticking her nose in the air stubbornly in a refusal to elaborate.

"I suppose you won't have time to explain anyway," Nereus laughed, as his head turned in the direction of an oncoming motor. "Looks like they're here."

'They', was referring to the escort vehicle that the Career Academy had provided to pick up Nix to take her to the Reaping trouble free. The Career Academy did this for all of their volunteers, as a way of not only rewarding their achievement with a bit of style, but also to ensure that nothing went awry during the volunteers trip to the Reaping. There had been the odd few years previously when volunteers were attacked on their way to the Reaping by scorned candidates that had missed out, in an effort to become the replacements should the volunteer not make it to the Reaping.

These days, the Academy sent private cars to pick up their volunteers, to make the process as safe and secure as possible. Nix had of course never had the privilege of being driven in a car before, and although she'd imagine plenty of volunteers in the past would've been elated by the experience - she quite simply didn't care.

"Looks like this is goodbye until I see you in the Justice Building," Nereus spoke up, as the black vehicle began to come to a stop directly beside Nix and her father. The two of them watched as a couple of men in uniform immediately got out of the vehicle, their eyes locking onto the father and daughter duo with nothing but a curt nod of acknowledgment.

"It sucks that you can't ride with me in it," Nix responded to her father flatly, a hint of annoyance detectable within her tone. "You should've been riding in it all those years ago."

"There's no need to be angry on my behalf Nix," her father chuckled, as the two embraced in a heartfelt hug. "I've made peace with it a long time ago. It's all about you now, and I couldn't be more proud."

Nix felt the unfamiliar sensation of vulnerability creep into her chest, as she was momentarily overcome with emotion from her dad's praises. She hugged him tightly for a while longer, the only person who'd likely be rooting for her over Yeon, before begrudgingly letting him go and turning to the car.

"I'll see you on the other side," Nix murmured, as one of the men opened the car door for her and allowed her to climb inside. Letting out a deep breath, Nix stared out the window at her father as the car began to move, not being able to appreciate the moment despite having never been in a car before. To her, it seemed so trivial in the greater scheme of things, she didn't care about being treated like someone of significance or prestige. All she wanted, was to achieve what her father was thwarted from doing.

The car ride however, was quite a convenient experience, as the journey itself only took around ten minutes to reach the Reaping. Watching as she flew by all the people hauling themselves to the Reaping on their own two legs was quite the therapeutic experience, and just the fact that she was granted the opportunity as a whole really cemented the fact that this was all happening. She really was setting off on the path she had aimed for her entire life.

She was thankful for the peace and quiet of the inside of the vehicle, watching as all of the rowdy people partying on their way to the Reaping, making her realise she was bypassing all the noise and other people she had no interest in being amongst. People as a whole were by far not Nix's forte, and she could not help but feel a sense of gratitude that she could avoid these obnoxious idiots by proxy of her fabled volunteer allocation.

Of course, it all had to come to an end at some point, which came as a result of the journey concluding once the vehicle rolled into the small carport behind the Justice Building. Nix herself of course wouldn't be entering there until after the Reaping had concluded, however she knew there'd be a whole heap of spectators waiting by the outside exit as they awaited the arrival of the volunteers, considering they had done so for every volunteer in the past. It wasn't as if it was a secret that Nix and Yeon were volunteering this year, it was always announced to the District 4 public about a month before the Reaping as a way of preventing any confusion when it came to people trying to volunteer themselves. If everyone knew who was meant to volunteer, someone sniping the role for themselves would earn quite the backlash from the crowd if it wasn't the person who had earned it.

Naturally, this made the two volunteers pseudo-celebrities for the month before they went off to the games, which was certainly an unwanted side-effect of the process as far as Nix was concerned. She didn't care if it was support she was receiving from these spectators; she didn't care for them either way and wanted none of their praise. She wasn't doing this for them, so all that she wanted, was for them to leave her in peace.

What she did expect however, was for some of the other Academy students to be amongst the spectators, both in support of Yeon, and to give one last dig at Nix as she passed by them to take her attendance. As Nix approached the line of spectators, excitedly cheering for her as they spotted her getting closer, she was easily able to recognise a few sneering faces amongst the crowd of otherwise excited people, staring her down with an evident level of vindictiveness.

One of the girls which Nix recognised to constantly float around Yeon - a short girl, with long curly blonde hair, and a heavily caked face of make-up named Mariana - narrowed her eyes at Nix, staring at her as if Nix was a piece of gum on the bottom of her shoe.

"Hey Nix, ready for Yeon to put you down like the rabid bitch you are?" Mariana sneered at her, earning a few laughs from the other students surrounding her.

"That scar looks good on you, I bet the cause of it was the only time someone willingly put something hard into your body," cackled another slightly taller girl with long ginger hair and awfully revealing clothes, a girl that Nix knew to be named Bay. Those two were obsessed with Yeon from what Nix had seen, essentially acting as his cheerleaders whilst also giving hell to Nix for the past ten years. Of course, Nix had always served the abuse back ten times over, which made the girls resent her even more.

"Hey girlies, I'm surprised to see you here and not with your noses both shoved snuggly inside the confines of Yeon's asshole," Nix retorted monotonously, earning a flash of anger from both of them.

"The fuck did you say?" Bay growled, balling her fists as Nix passed her carelessly.

"What you think you're so much better than us because you get to volunteer!?" Mariana piped up, clearly perturbed by the comment Nix had made. Nix paused for only a second, before flashing them a mocking expression.

"Why yes, yes I do," she remarked, taunting the two as they both glowered at her with an unbridled fury. "So while you're getting piped like the sluts you are by whatever other rejects you're stuck back here with, I want you to picture the image of me, in the Capitol, sleeping under the same roof as your beloved Yeon."

"H-he wouldn't dare touch you," Mariana scoffed, masking the hint of jealousy beneath her breath.

"Wouldn't he? Perhaps he already has," Nix laughed in their faces, before continuing onwards, ignoring the expletives the two girls shouted at her as she got further away. Of course, this was not the case, Nix had never laid a finger on Yeon, and she had no intention of doing so during their stay in the Capitol. Nevertheless, their reaction to even the slightest possibility that something like that had happened or could so in the future, was worth it in Nix's eyes.

The next several minutes of Nix's time was spent on taking her attendance, having her blood-print taken and finally heading towards the eighteen year-old section amongst the excited chatter of people waiting for the event to commence. As she made her way through the sea of people, she received a mixed reception from many people in the crowd, some of which were Academy students who already held a pre-determined dislike of her, whom would glare at her the moment she passed by, and others who only knew of the fact that she was volunteering, and would pat her on the back encouragingly as they allowed her to pass through to the front.

By the end of it, she had finally reached the front of the crowd, the view of the stage only being blocked off by an excited group of people that seemed to form a semi-circle someone else that Nix had a sneaking suspicion she knew the identity of. As some of those people saw her, she noticed many of their faces turning up in disapproval, before reluctantly parting to the side to let her through to the front.

It was upon this act, that Nix was met with the tall frame of a muscular boy, possessing short, wavy black hair, a chiselled face, and a distinctive Eastern-Asian heritage. Yeon turned to Nix, noticing the chattering beginning to quiet down as Nix's presence stifled their fun. Contrasting the reception the other students had given her, Nix was met with a friendly smile of pearly white teeth from Yeon, as his face lit up at her arrival.

"Well if it isn't my future District Partner! Feeling ready?" Yeon questioned excitedly, his bubbly demeanour coming across as the most genuine Nix had ever experienced someone react to her. Nix took her place beside Yeon, before shrugging her shoulders indifferently.

"I suppose, although I'm not one to enjoy theatrics such as this," she responded, motioning around to the festival like spirit the Reaping has taken on over the years. Yeon laughed at her, before shaking his head in disagreement.

"Oh come on Nix, it's just a bit of fun," he argued, his face looking elated with joy. "Just enjoy the moment!"

"This is not my kind of fun to be honest… but I'm glad that for once the outcome makes it worth putting up with," Nix admitted, as she watched spectators drinking and cheering from afar.

"Way to put a damper on your own parade," one of the students criticised Nix from behind, causing her to flash the boy a glare.

"Now now Caspian, there's no need for that," Yeon defused his friend, turning an apologetic gaze to Nix. "There's no problem with Nix having an opinion."

"There better not be," Nix grunted, turning her attention back to the stage. "Otherwise there will be problems."

Fortunately, the casual conversation that Nix was forced to partake in quickly wrapped up, as the crowd was met with the entrance of Mayor Rafferty - a rather young man who had only held the occupation of mayor for the past ten years, with Nix presuming him to be aged somewhere in his late thirties to early forties. District 4's Mayor was a pretty popular personality, and had been sworn into the role following the exit of the former Mayor Mires, the same man who had presumably inserted his son into the volunteer position over Nix's father.

Mayor Rafferty situated himself in the centre of the stage, as he basked in the cheers and applause of the excited crowd below him. Nix didn't have much of an opinion on the man, as she simply didn't care for him enough to form one. The only thought she had in mind for him, was that she wanted him to hurry the hell up and get to true point of the day.

"Gooooood afternoon District 4!" Mayor Rafferty exclaimed, as he held his arms outward to emphasise the excitement of the occasion. "How're we all doing today?"

The crowd erupted in response, cheers arising to express the eagerness of the crowd. The man laughed in response, with a big smile planted on his face as he watched over the passionate citizens.

"It's that time of year again, the time where we get to send two young individuals to fight for our District in the Annual Hunger Games!" Mayor Rafferty continued, as he paced back and forth with the microphone in his hand. "But of course before we get to that, we still have some special guests to introduce. You all know and love them, so without further ado, allow me to welcome back our first guest of the day. Please give a warm welcome - to Kallista Hemingway!"

Summoned by the man's words, Kallista immediately wandered on stage to thunderous applause, a small smile on her face as she politely waved back at the crowd. She looked very similar to how she usually liked to dress up when doing the District 4 Reaping, with long, swirly, cerulean blue hair, a turquoise dress with plenty of wave patterns in the spirit of District 4, and mesmerising cyan blue eyes that stood out heavily against her light, tanned brown skin - eyes that she often swore were completely natural, although Nix had her doubts.

Nix thought of her as a mysterious woman, who didn't ever tend to make herself the focus of any group conversation. She always seemed to possess a strange sense of humour, often making unsettling and macabre comments in an otherwise undeterred tone, which many from Four as well as the Capitol appeared to find quite hilarious.

Nix herself had a very dry, and sarcastic sense of humour, however the way in which Kallista always delivered her comments in the most naive, matter-of-fact tone is where the real humour was that people found in her remarks.

"And of course we must acknowledge our heroes that have all fought like hell for us, and come back champions in their own right. Please welcome our gallery of District 4 Victors!" The Mayor roared with with excitement, as another deafening round of applause erupted. Following this, a long line of past District 4 Victors filed onto the stage, with many pumping their fists into the air or waving, trying to hype up the crowd.

District 4 had the third highest Victor count out of the entirety of the Hunger Games, of course falling just short of District 2 and 1 respectively. Whilst District 2 had recorded twenty-eight Victors in total, pulling one ahead of District 1's tally of twenty-seven with the addition of Delphine Evergaze, District 4 had been stuck on twenty-six Victors for the past nine years, since the 140th Hunger Games when Nautic Riviera had claimed District 4's most recent victory.

Nix's eyes watched as Nautic entered the stage, being the final one in line as he cheerily waved out at the crowd with his long, blonde surfer hair, his sea green eyes, his muscular frame, and his fresh stubble accumulating on his face. He had always been known as a charming and happy-go-lucky kind of guy, who was the life of the party, yet respectably considerate of others.

Nautic's games took place entirely on a gigantic pirate ship, with many pirate era weapons such as cutlasses and flint-lock pistols, alongside pirate skeleton muttations, sea tremors that would rock the ship and cause sea-sickness, and even a Kraken monster whose tentacles would occasionally rise up and attack tributes. This was Nautic's element - originally being from a fishing family - and he thrived during these games, being able to handle the rocking ship and sea sickness that overwhelmed many of the other tributes.

Nautic's victory came when the Kraken eventually split the ship in half, causing the final fight to consist of staying above the water. Some of the remaining tributes ultimately drowned when they lost their footing, leaving Nautic and a talented climbing boy from District 7 who was able to climb the mast. Unfortunately for the boy, it was a matter of waiting for the ship to sink low enough before Nautic could take him out.

From Nix's understanding, the guy was a prolific party animal, and was a very popular guest amongst Capitol parties. If you were throwing a party or an event, it wasn't considered a worthwhile one if Nautic wasn't amongst the attendees. Considering the guy was going to be Nix's mentor for this year, she could already sense that he wasn't going to be her cup of tea. She supposed she'd put up with him however, as long as he didn't show any signs of slacking off on her.

"Miss Hemingway… I think it's time, don't you?" Mayor Rafferty propositioned, causing an excited burst of chatter amongst the crowd, as Kallista stood up and made her way over to the microphone.

"Right you are Mayor Rafferty, I want to know who'll be this years mass-murderers," Kallista commented nonchalantly, as if she didn't just make light of the fact that she was selecting people to kill others or be killed. The crowd got a rise out of Kallista's comment, laughing in response as Kallista remained blissfully unaware of what she had done to make the people cackle. Instead, she carried on with the introduction of the Reaping.

"Greetings District 4, I'm so glad to be back here, and to personally introduce the Reaping for the 149th Annual Hunger Games!" Kallista exclaimed, as she looked up to the large mega-screen above her. "As is custom, we will watch a quick video provided to you by the Capitol, that commemorates our history and explains just what the Hunger Games are."

Nix blocked out the video, having seen it too many times to count and her interest at an all time low. As far as she was concerned, this was taking far too long to get through - she just wanted it all to be over and done with. As the video finally came to an end roughly ten minutes later, Kallista snorted through her nose in amusement.

"Seeing all those bodies exploding is so visceral isn't it? You'd think I'd be desensitised to it by this point," she contemplated, earning another cheerful hum of laughter from the crowd. "But I digress; now is the time for the exciting part! I will now be choosing our female tribute."

With an excited hop, Kallista trotted over to the female bowl, causing Nix's body to tense in preparation. This was her moment, the very opportunity she had waited all her life for, and it was finally going to happen.

Kallista wasted no time in choosing her slip of paper, likely knowing whoever she was selecting would not even matter in the end as she plucked the very top most slip from the bowl. Quickly taking it back to the centre of the stage, Kallista unfolded the paper and read out the name.

"The female tribute for District 4 during the 149th Annual Hunger Games will be… Mariana Crestwater."

Are you serious? Nix rolled her eyes, the name of Yeon's fan girl echoing throughout the Town Square. Of all the people that she had to volunteer for, it had to be one of those two? Nix had half the mind to not volunteer, and allow Mariana to be subject to her fate, however… it's not really as if she had a choice in the matter. She was required to volunteer now, no matter what.

"Mariana? What are the odds?" Yeon murmured with a humoured grin, knowing full well his friend was going to be saved by Nix in mere moments. It would seem even Yeon knew that Mariana would've stood no chance in the arena.

Kallista looked up from the slip of paper, pausing for a moment as her eyes washed over the crowd. The crowd remained in suspense, waiting for Kallista's next words, as they would be the catalyst for the next set of events. Within the Career Districts, the Escort would always read out the name of the reaped tribute, as they did for any other district. However, as Career Districts we're infamous for producing volunteers, the Escort would always follow-up with asking if anyone would like to volunteer for the place of the unlucky individual who had been chosen. That was exactly what Nix was waiting for, the invite for somebody to take the place of Mariana Crestwater.

"Would anyone like to volunteer for Miss Crestwater's spot?" Kallista questioned almost innocently, as if she wasn't expecting someone to swoop in and save the girls life.

There it is.

"I'll volunteer for her place," Nix called out, raising her arm to make herself easily identifiable. There was no taking it back now, because the moment the words had left her lips, the camera was already facing on her, projecting the image of Nix's pale, cutesy face, a trait of hers that she hated and tried to toughen up with a series of piercings in her lip, nose, and ears. She could see her healing scar running alongside the shaved section of her head, as the other side of her head bestowed shoulder length black locks that swayed with the tilt of her head, covering half of her face as she stared apathetically at her own image.

It was quite surreal seeing herself on such a big screen, although it's something she supposed she should get used to considering where her future was headed. A deafening round of applause could be heard as Nix strolled forward, the stairs resting right ahead of her thanks to her placement at the front. Nix rose the distance of the stairs, finding herself on the stage in front of everybody as the applause began to dwindle in preparation for Kallista's words.

Once Nix was stood right beside Kallista, the older woman spoke, as she eyed Nix up and down to assess the new tribute she'd be escorting.

"Oh my… don't you look angry?" Kallista commented, causing laughter to erupt from the crowd. "Is that bloodlust I see young lady?"

"That's… just my normal face," Nix responded bluntly, narrowing her eyes at Kallista. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ooh, we've got a feisty one this year," Kallista grinned, as she placed a hand on Nix's shoulder. "So what is your name girlie? Who is it that is wanting to take on the challenge that is the Hunger Games?"

Nix held her tongue, fighting the temptation to be snarky to Kallista and lose favour with the Capitol audience. Usually she wouldn't tolerate such demeaning insults such as "girlie", in fact - it was an insult that she alone usually used sarcastically. However, Kallista was a special case; she was seemingly both oblivious and uncaring in regard to such a matter.

"My name is Nix Sherborne," Nix responded, not desiring to add fancy descriptors to who she was and what she was volunteering for. The Capitol would learn all about that during her interview - she didn't need to make a statement right now.

"Nix huh? Well thank you for volunteering Nix, it's always nice to have someone step forward for such an obstacle in place of someone else."

"Sure, no biggie," Nix waved dismissively, harbouring a desire to speed things along and skip the formalities.

"Before we carry on Nix, I'd just like to ask you… why have you decided to volunteer today?" Kallista questioned, trying to goad out a reason from Nix for the sake of the viewers in the Capitol. Nix pondered for a moment, deciding how to respond. It's not as if she really wanted to get into her reasons right in the current moment, however she knew Kallista wouldn't be satisfied until she gave some sort of explanation.

With that in mind, Nix gave the most basic answer she could possibly think of, an answer that would surely stump even Kallista Hemingway.

"I felt like it," Nix shrugged, earning a brief pause from Kallista. The woman looked at her as if Nix was a lunatic for a moment, before emitting a sharp laugh and slapping Nix lightly on the back.

"I can't fault that! Fair enough! However, there is of course another side of the coin to your volunteering Nix, and that is who your District Partner shall be. Shall we find out?" Kallista inquired, before Nix motioned towards the male bowl with her hand.

"Hey, I'm not stopping you," Nix replied, as the crowd began to bubble with excitement. Kallista flashed Nix an amused smile, before sauntering over to the other glass bowl, doing the same as she did before by quickly snatching a slip of paper from the top and taking it back over to the middle of the stage. But this point, the chatter from the crowd had completely ceased, as they readied themselves for the name to be read, and subsequently the volunteer to come forth.

"Joining alongside Nix here as District 4's male tribute in the 149th Hunger Games will be… Wrath Wrightford."

Oooh, that must sting, Nix smirked, the name of Wrath Wrightford vaguely familiar to her. Wrath was also a student at the Academy, although he was a year younger than Nix and Yeon and was expected to be one of the top candidates in next years crop. Nix was sure that he'd have been more than happy to go to the games this year if he could, however evidently it wouldn't remain that way for much longer.

"Would anyone like to volunteer for Wrath's place?" Kallista questioned, only to met with a punctual answer from a confident sounding Yeon.

"I volunteer to take his place!" The eager boy sprung forward, raising his hand in the air as a wave of applause rocked the Town Square. If Nix had thought her applause was deafening, then Yeon's could only be described as ear-splitting, as the boy had already garnered quite the reputation for himself before even becoming the chosen volunteer.

Yeon was everything that Nix was not - personable, charismatic, friendly, and likeable. It was no wonder the crowd had already developed a preference for him, despite their vocal support for Nix as well.

Nix watched as Yeon climbed the stairs, waving at the crowd with a beaming smile as the camera continued to follow him. He quickly found his spot next to Kallista, on the other side from Nix, whilst Kallista sized him up with a raised eyebrow.

"I like what I'm seeing here," Kallista commented with a laugh, as she focused her attention entirely on Yeon, turning her back to Nix, which Nix personally didn't mind in the slightest. "Although I'd hate to come up against you in the arena!"

"I don't bite Kallista, I promise," Yeon grinned, earning another chuckle from the woman.

"Good to hear! I won't need to keep you on a leash then," Kallista remarked, provoking another laugh from the crowd. "Now I must ask, what is your name?"

"My name is Yeon Ha-Sun, and I'm going to win this thing," Yeon responded, raising his arm in the air as those below him cheered in response.

Ughhh, he did the corny statement, Nix criticised internally, suppressing the desire to roll her eyes.

"That's certainly a bold declaration, but somehow I think it's warranted," Kallista nodded her head approvingly. "Tell me Yeon, why have you volunteered today?"

"It's quite simple really," Yeon explained, as he put his hands on his hips. "I'm doing this for my family, to provide a better life for all of them."

The crowd was suddenly filled with a series of "aww's" and "ahhh's", an understanding falling upon them all as to Yeon's reasoning for wanting to volunteer. It was a noble reasoning, Nix couldn't deny - but it didn't do anything to sway her. If she was to win this thing, she couldn't be developing any fondness for Yeon that exceeded what she already had. It was bad enough that she was having to enter the games with him to begin with, it'd be worse if she faltered because of him too.

"How thoughtful of you Yeon, well I'm sure they'll be rooting for you back here, alongside many others amongst us today," Kallista spoke up, giving Yeon a pat on the back out of admiration.

"Thanks Kallista," Yeon accepted the praise, bowing his head slightly before turning back to the crowd with a smile.

"Well there you have it folks, I present to you the two tributes representing District 4 for the 149th Annual Hunger Games - Nix Sherborne and Yeon Ha-Sun!"

Fireworks and confetti began to fire around the Town Square, as both Nix and Yeon were greeted with the loudest round of applause they had faced yet. The two stood there for a moment, basking in the glory of the moment as the seconds washed over them.

Nix turned to Yeon, who was already looking at her, before he stuck out a hand for her to shake. Nix looked down at the hand for a moment, before begrudgingly taking it in her own, causing a firm handshake between the two of them.

As Yeon turned back to the crowd, Nix eyes lingered on him for a moment longer, wondering what was going on in the boys head. Did he know that this was the last time he'd ever be seeing District 4? Did he realise he'd never be standing in the sunny, sea-bordered paradise ever again?

Probably not, but that would certainly be the case if Nix had anything to say about it. However, something else entirely was on Nix's mind, a single question for Yeon that seemed to spiral in her brain, leaving her feeling somewhat saddened for a reason unbeknownst to her.

Why did it have to be you?

---

Kallias Kuol

16

~ District 9 Tribute ~

---

"Owwww!"

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I know it's uncomfortable."

"I-it hurts!"

"Aw I know, but it's necessary. You'll be thanking me later, I promise."

"But w-why do you need to d-do that? It's stinging."

"I'm sterilising it, so it'll make it heal nice and quickly."

"O-okay. But how much longer w-will this take?"

"How much longer? We're already done!"

"Huh?"

The young girl looked down at her knee, blinking incredulously as Kallias Kuol place a small band-aid over the graze on her leg, covering up the ugly wound snuggly under the cotton. Kallias smiled at her surprise, chuckling under his breath as he ruffled the young girls hair.

"See? All finished, that wasn't so bad was it?" Kallias reassured her, as she tilted her head in fascination. The tears that had previously been flowing down the young girls face began to dry up, as she looked up at Kallias with a look of gratitude.

"No… it feels better now," the girl giggled, as she jumped up excitedly.

"Good, that's just what we want isn't it?" Kallias grinned, putting his hands on his hips as the girl stretched out her newly patched-up leg. "Now, are you going to be more careful when you're running on gravel?"

"Yes mister," the girl said innocently, her wide eyes staring up at him.

"Mister? I'm only sixteen," Kallias scoffed, as the girl scratched her chin for a moment.

"Oh, sorry!" She cried out, as she tilted her head up at him. "I don't know your name."

"It's Kallias," he revealed, chuckling at the girls naïveté.

"Thanks Kallias!" She exclaimed, before running off and leaving Kallias by his lonesome. As Kallias began to discard the packaging of the band-aid he had just used for the girl, his attention was quickly caught by another girls voice, this time from someone who was around his age.

"Still making the rounds, huh?" The girl pointed out jokingly, causing Kallias to turn and rest his eyes on the source of the voice. He couldn't help but allow his face to light up, as he was met with the image of his girlfriend - a girl named Riley Turner. Riley smiled at him with a hand on her hip, her long, walnut brown hair blowing gently in the breeze as it tickled her olive-skinned face. Her cocoa-coloured eyes bored into his, a cheeky gaze that stared teasingly back at him.

"Just because it's Reaping Day, doesn't mean there won't be people in need of medical assistance," Kallias shrugged, as Riley approached him and placed a kiss upon his lips.

"It's never a dull day for you is it?" She joked, as Kallias embraced her with a hug, the two rocking back and forth for a moment.

"Well preferably I would like a dull day, it means nobody needs help!" Kallias insisted, as the two ended the hug.

"That's a nice way of looking at it," Riley admired, nodding her head in approval. "It's just a shame you don't get much in return for what you do."

"I don't mind, I don't need to be reimbursed if I know I'm helping someone out," Kallias reasoned, the thought of his charitable service being enough to hold him over. It's what Kallias had been doing for most of his life, tending to the medical needs of people less fortunate than himself. Kallias had always held a fascination for medical procedures and how they healed the human body, having hailed from a long line of doctors himself.

Kallias had always been well off thanks to the profession that his family had specialised in, and being well-off in a poverty-stricken district such as Nine, essentially meant that he was richer than most. It had always pained him to see people struggling to get by, with sickness and injuries being prevalent within the district yet so few unable to afford to be treated.

With that in mind, Kallias took it upon himself to start helping those that needed medical assistance, regardless of whether or not they could afford it. He'd set himself up in the heart of District 9, carrying around a bucket of medical tools that he could use to treat those that sought him out. He had been doing it for the last several years, and had developed quite the favourable reputation amongst his fellow District 9 citizens for being able to treat those in need out of the kindness of his heart.

The payment he received was gratitude, and that was more than enough to keep Kallias going, not at all in need of the financial benefits of utilising his medical skills. To him, helping others was the most rewarding factor of what he did, and that left him quite content with his efforts.

Even today, the day of the Reaping - he was still keeping an eye out for those that may need help. It was quite often that younger kids would be in attendance at the Reaping suffering from wounds or sicknesses they had developed from working in the wheat fields, without a way to be treated for it. The thought of a younger tribute being reaped whilst already burdened by pestilence was a truly sickening thought to Kallias, and if there was anything he could do about it, he would try his best.

Fortunately, the current day hadn't been too severe for people in need of his treatment, the young girl with the grazed knee being the only person he had observed to require his help. A slow day was the best kind of day for Kallias, and he'd die on that hill.

"What about your parents? I thought they were hoping to get you started at their clinic soon… won't that restrict your time doing this?" Riley questioned, a hint of concern in her voice as Kallias's mouth twisted in displeasure.

"Yeah," he sighed, sitting down for a moment as Riley joined beside him. "They approve of what I'm doing, but they're still pushing the point that I won't be able to make a living giving away free service."

"I mean… they're right. It's noble what you're doing but, you won't be able to do it forever," Riley murmured, as Kallias bit his lip. Both of his parents - Joshua and Branna Kuol - had both been very supportive of Kallias's endeavours with helping others, thinking it was great experience to develop his skills and do something productive for society at the same time. However, even they had began to pressure Kallias to start thinking about his future, with plans to have him run their clinic when they eventually retired.

In Kallias's mind, he was only sixteen - he should have years not to worry about the rest of his life yet. But of course, the path to becoming a doctor was a long one, one that would take years of development and practice that he wasn't getting on the streets. Intricate surgeries, severe terminal illnesses; ailments that Kallias simply could do nothing about in the manner he was helping people currently. It was certainly a thought for later, but for the time being - Kallias was happy with what he was doing.

"Where are your parents by the way? I just said goodbye to mine," Riley asked, as she kicked a few pebbles as the two conversed.

"They should be in the crowd by now, they wished me luck at home. I wanted to get here a bit earlier just in case anyone needed a quick patch-up like that little girl," Kallias explained, earning a nod from Riley.

"That's one of the things I love about you, you're so diligent. Even back then," Riley praised him, earning a small blush from Kallias. Back then, of course referred to when Kallias had first met Riley. It had right after a severe tornado had swept through District 9, damaging a lot of infrastructure and consequently injuring a fair few people. During the humanitarian aid efforts that people were undertaking, Kallias had volunteered to help after the chaos, subsequently being placed at one of the Kain's wheat fields where a multitude of workers had been caught in the devastation and required medical attention.

Riley had been a worker in the fields, who had also possessed a small amount of medical proficiency and was doing her best to help in assisting her wounded colleagues. The two had gotten to know each other through that event, as Kallias had led her through the uncertainty and helped guide her with treating the wounded.

Following that, the two had been inseparable, with Riley developing a huge crush on Kallias and himself reciprocating the feelings. Even to this day, Riley often fawned over Kallias's efforts from that travesty, with Kallias always feeling bashful at her admiration.

"That sure was a crazy day huh?" Kallias chuckled, as the couple reminisced on the event that brought them together. Kallias suddenly stood up, still facing Riley as he put his hands on his hips. "How about once we finish with the Reaping, we ca-"

Kallias's words were suddenly cut off, as he uttered a sudden "ooft", feeling himself knocked forward slightly as another person crashed into him. The person let out a grunt of their own, clearly having not seen Kallias as they accidentally walked into him, causing the two to fall to the ground. Kallias felt a painful burst spike through his body, as he landed with a thud on the ground, wincing in momentary pain as the discomfort of the landing washed over him. A few seconds following the fall, Kallias groaned, attempting to make sure the other person was unhurt.

"Ouch, are you oka-?"

"Ugh! Watch where you're standing asshole!" A girls voice pierced the air, as Kallias opened his eyes to rest them on the culprit. Also having fallen to the ground, a hand held to her head as she rubbed it angrily, was a fair-skinned girl with long strawberry blonde hair, and an awfully caked up face full of make-up. The girl glared daggers at him, as he looked upon her in confusion.

"W-watch where I'm standing? We're standing off to the side… shouldn't you be watching where you're walking?" Kallias questioned, bemused by the rudeness of the girl.

"Why should I be moving for you!?" The girl sneered, as Kallias got up to his feet.

"Hey there's no need to be so rude, it was clearly an accident," Kallias spoke up, before turning to Riley. "Right Riley? You saw."

Riley however, was not paying attention to the words Kallias said, as her attention was solely focused on the girl who had walked into him, her face having drained of colour as she stared fear-stricken at the girl.

What's the issue with her? Kallias wondered, his forehead creasing in confusion. It didn't take too long for his question to be answered however, as Riley seemed to murmur her concern in horror.

"Evelyn…?" Riley almost choked, not loud enough for this Evelyn girl to hear, but loud enough for Kallias to pick up on it.

Evelyn… as in Evelyn Kain? Kallias connected the dots, understanding in an instant where Riley's concern came from. Kallias had heard stories of Evelyn Kain, and just how awful a person the bratty girl was - especially from Riley directly. Kallias had met Riley on one of the Kain's fields, as Riley herself was one of the many workers of Killian Kain, and as a result his daughter Evelyn. Immediately, Kallias was able to understand just how serious this was for Riley.

Kallias of course, did not work for Evelyn himself, so she had no power over him directly and would not even know who he was. However, he could make this very bad for Riley if he didn't play his cards right, especially considering Evelyn had noticed Riley with the way she was looking at her.

"You… I recognise you. You're one of my family's workers, aren't you?" Evelyn growled, causing Riley to gulp.

"Uh-um, yes ma'am," Riley whispered timidly, being very careful not to further provoke Evelyn.

"And you're with this blind idiot, hm?" Evelyn challenged her, as she finally got to her feet. Riley looked at a loss for words briefly, before Kallias realised that she was having trouble facing her employer.

"Blind? I'm sorry, but my eyesight is 20/20 thank you very much," Kallias corrected Evelyn, drawing her attention away from Riley. Evelyn glowered at Kallias, before folding her arms with a sneer.

"Oh really? Is it good enough to see that you're overstepping your boundaries right now?" Evelyn snapped, earning a slight smirk from Kallias.

"I can tell you what it is - it's good enough to see that you've caked your whole face in make-up to hide that bruising and swelling."

What followed was a bone-chilling silence, as Riley gasped in shock, and Evelyn stared dumbfounded back at Kallias, who watched her expectantly, waiting for some sort of retort. Instead, Evelyn shakily rose her hand to her face, concealing her cheek behind her hand as she turned her head slightly in shame.

"H-how did you know?" Evelyn whispered, appearing genuinely mortified that Kallias could recognise the damage to her face that she was hiding.

"The average person may not give it a second glance, but I come from a family of doctors. I can recognise the physical effects of abuse pretty well - your cheek is slightly enlarged from the swelling, your eye is bloodshot and red in the corner, and of course the colouring of your cheek is slightly darker than the rest of your skin, which leads me to suspect the bruising is still fairly dark and fresh underneath that foundation," Kallias listed off, as Evelyn's eyes continued to bulge with panic.

"But… I've hidden it all week, nobody has noticed!" Evelyn complained, still appearing to be in disbelief.

"Don't get me wrong, you've done a good job of masking it, I just have an eye for anomalies with anatomy," Kallias reassured her, causing the girl to slump forward in defeat. "I do have to ask though, are you okay? It looks like you took quite the beating."

Immediately following his words, Evelyn flashed him a look of annoyance, before clearing her throat to play off the situation.

"I'm fine! It's nothing to be concerned about, I just… walked into a wall," Evelyn explained, sounding rather flustered as her eyes averted his. Kallias didn't need to take a second glance to figure out what she was saying was complete bullshit. The type of damage she had to her face was not what one would get from simply walking into something. The wounds hidden beneath her make-up was synonymous with physical abuse, induced by a beating from another individual. Kallias wondered whether it was perhaps a boyfriend, or maybe even her father who had dealt the damage, however what was certain was that Evelyn didn't want to address it, and he knew he shouldn't pry any further.

"So you have a habit of walking into things?" Kallias laughed, trying to ease the mood and poking fun at Eveyn having just walked into him, causing Evelyn to flush with embarrassment.

"S-shut up! This is already humiliating enough, let's just forget this ever happened and be on our separate ways," Evelyn grumbled, clearly wanting to get away from the situation.

"Very well, I'll forget I ever saw anything," Kallias smiled at her, feeling slightly bad for the girl who was clearly a little disheveled. "Oh! Wait, I have something for you."

"Huh?" Evelyn questioned, eyeing Kallias warily as he rummaged around in the small first-aid pack he kept on him when he didn't have his bucket. After a few seconds, Kallias pulled out a small tube of ointment; a home remedy he had perfected over the years.

"Use this," he insisted, as he passed the tube to Evelyn, who examined it with a troubled look on her face. "It'll reduce the swelling and bruising discolouration ten-fold, your face will be back to normal within a day or two."

Evelyn gazed upon it for a moment, appearing particularly bewildered that despite the interaction they had just had, Kallias had opted to help her out despite her rudeness. She looked back up at him for a moment, trying to suppress the gratitude in her face.

"Are you for real? Why would you give this to me?" Evelyn questioned hesitantly, a hint of suspicion within her voice.

"Well, you seem like you need it, and I don't want you to give Riley here a hard time just because of our disagreement," Kallias justified, as Evelyn continued to stare at him perplexed.

"You'd give me an ointment that can heal my face in a matter of days for absolutely nothing? No strings attached?" Evelyn tilted her head at him, possibly unfamiliar with what a kind gesture was.

"Sure I would, my passion is to help people," Kallias grinned at her, as he folded his arms insistently. Evelyn studied his face for a few more moments, before taking out a purse and rummaging within it.

"What are you doing?" Kallias asked with a raised eyebrow, before Evelyn flashed him a frustrated look.

"I'm paying you, stupid!" Evelyn insisted, as she took out several coins.

"Oh… well you don't need to do that, the ointment was free…" Kallias reminded her, as she shoved her hand towards him, waiting for him to open his own.

"What? You think I can't pay for something like this? You are aware of who I am right?" Evelyn sneered at him, before averting her eyes bashfully as she forced the coins into his. "Besides… I can do nice things too."

Kallias stood there for a few moments, staring at the coins that Evelyn had given him for the ointment as she hid the small tube in her purse. He had never been paid for anything he had done before, and the amount she had given him was probably more than a days wage of working on one of her fathers fields. Somehow, he felt unworthy to have received such a payment from the wealthy girl, yet at the same time - he felt as if this was a gesture she desperately wanted to give. He had heard so many stories about the Kain family, and especially Evelyn herself, however this went completely against what he knew of her to be like.

"For the record," Evelyn huffed, as her eyes turned back to Riley. "You didn't need to give me that ointment to buy my favour - I wasn't going to do anything to her anyways."

Riley's mouth opened in surprise, completely flabbergasted by Evelyn's confession, clearly not knowing how to respond. Evelyn turned to Kallias once more, before awkwardly darting her eyes everywhere but his.

"But… thank you for the ointment… and the concern. Nobody has ever shown me that before," Evelyn admitted quietly, before turning on her heel and quickly walking away. Both Kallias and Riley were left in stunned silence for a moment, before Riley finally spoke up.

"What the fuck just happened?" She questioned in awe, staring at Kallias as she stood up. "I've never seen anyone defuse Evelyn like that - she even gave you money!"

"Yeah… I'm as stumped as you are," Kallias shrugged, as he poured the coins into his pants pocket.

"I've never seen her act like that before - I mean she was still a bitch, but she seems… different? What the hell happened to her?" Riley wondered out loud, as she put a hand on her hip and stroked her chin.

"I don't know," Kallias admitted, as he turned to Riley. "But something tells me it had to do with whatever she went through to get that injury, being beaten like that can change a person."

"I can't figure out who did that to her," Riley murmured, her eyes appearing troubled as she pondered deep in thought. "Nobody would ever dare to lay a hand on Evelyn, not even her father. She's his little Angel."

"I suppose all we can do is speculate, although there was something strange about her behaviour that leads me to think it's not an ordinary case of physical violence," Kallias murmured, a little uncertain with his thought process.

"Hm? What might that be?" Riley questioned curiously, as Kallias scrunched his mouth up with doubt.

"I don't know, but she seemed a little… embarrassed about it," Kallias pointed out, earning a look of realisation upon Riley's face.

"Yeah… she did didn't she?" Riley agreed, clearly deep in thought as she reflected on the way Evelyn acted. However, she didn't get to linger on that thought for all too long, as the two were quickly interrupted by a voice over the loudspeaker.

"Attention citizens of District 9, this is your final call to enrol your attendance. The Reaping will commence in ten minutes."

"We should get going," Kallias insisted, quickly forgetting about the interaction with Evelyn as his focus turned to the Reaping.

"I'm right behind you," Riley responded, as the two began to make their way towards the attendance table. Time flew by quite quickly as Kallias and Riley both took their attendance, with most teens having done so already causing the line to begin to dwindle as a result. Once Kallias had gotten his blood taken, he looked disapprovingly at the small prick wound on his finger tip, proceeding to take out a small cotton wipe from his first-aid kit to stop the blood flow.

"You have all the answers don't you?" Riley commented with a giggle, as she watched Kallias treating the puncture on his finger. Kallias smiled at her, before motioning forward as to insinuate moving forward.

"Come on, let's go," he encouraged Riley, as the two made their way over to the sixteen year-old section. Once Kallias and Riley had joined the other teenagers their age, they chatted amongst themselves as they awaited the beginning of the Reaping, which fortunately didn't take too long after they had arrived. A silence swept over the crowd as there was movement on the stage, signifying the commencement of the dreaded event they all had come to partake in.

Remaining silent, Kallias watched as District 9's mayor - an ageing man known as Mayor Grimshaw - strode onto the stage, watching over the crowd like a hawk with a distinctive frown upon his face. Mayor Grimshaw had always been known as an irritable man, who lacked patience with others and only cared about the productivity of his Districts exports. Like many other figureheads in District 9, his family had descended from Capitol origins a few generations ago, and similar to those families - he still harboured a particularly Capitol leaning perspective when it came to the people of his district. Kallias couldn't say he particularly liked the man, however that wasn't an uncommon phenomenon amongst those that lived in Nine.

"Greetings to all of you that have gathered here today," Mayor Grimshaw began in his gravelly voice, not wasting anytime as he reached the microphone. "Today it is my pleasure to introduce the Reaping for the 149th Annual Hunger Games."

"Some pleasure that must be," Riley muttered spitefully, only loud enough for Kallias to hear.

"Before we select our lucky young man and woman who will be representing District 9 this year, I would like to welcome a few people that deserve to be recognised for their efforts. First up of course, is our wonderful Escort - Mr Xerxes Steelgrave."

Following Mayor Grimshaw's words, a young man of about twenty-one years-old strolled onto the stage to a polite but reluctant round of applause. Xerxes smiled at the crowd with a devilish glint in his eyes, dressed up in an all-white suit adorned with a range of shining silver accents to his cuffs, shoes, tie, and other accessories that shone in the sunlight of District 9. His spiky white hair remained motionless on his head, almost appearing to be reminiscent of frosted icicles due to whatever products he used keeping it from blowing in the breeze.

Xerxes had always had the reputation for being a bit of a troublemaker, and quite the jokester amongst the Escorts. Being one of the younger members, he was yet to make his impression on the Hunger Games world, having only been appointed the District 9 Escort following the retirement of the previous Escort a year or so after Nine had achieved their most recent victory. From what Kallias knew, generally Xerxes was an easygoing member of the Escort crew that was just beginning to find his way, prioritising his status with the other Escorts over proper success with his tributes.

Truthfully, Kallias couldn't picture Xerxes being much help as an Escort, as he had seemed much more concerned about having fun rather than keeping his tributes alive. Nevertheless, Xerxes arrived at his seat looking invigorated and excited, the luster of being an Escort clearly not having quite worn off yet.

"And who could forget our most prized guests that have been fortunate enough to make it back home to us? Please welcome the Victors of District 9!" Mayor Grimshaw continued, as he rose a hand towards the few Victors that District 9 actually possessed. As it stood, there were currently only two living Victors that District 9 had, out of a total of five in history. The first to enter the stage was a fairly old man named Jedediah, who had won his games around a half a century ago, and was only recently able to finally retire from mentoring after he was finally able to bring home another Victor for Nine.

The second Victor, lagging a little behind Jedediah, was the Victor of the 143rd Hunger Games, a girl named Demeter Arkhail, and the current District 9 Mentor. Demeter was a particularly cunning woman, who for the most part was quite serious and very responsible. She was the kind of person to do everything by the book, and could be very argumentative when faced with another headstrong personality such as herself.

Demeter was a woman of Asian descent, with long dark hair, a constantly deadpan face, and a particular affinity for black lipstick that accentuated her other dark features, giving her an aura of mystique. Although Kallias was around ten at the time, from what he could remember, Demeter's games took place entirely within a maze, with many muttations and traps hidden within, but also some game-changing prizes.

Demeter was particularly talented at being able to navigate her way through the maze, comparing it to being lost within the tall wheat fields back in District 9 during her post-game interviews. Her sense of direction was fantastic, and she was able to map out the maze well enough to traverse it, and claim many of the valuable loot items within for herself.

With many of the Careers getting separated and lost from one another, she was easily able to overcome her opponents with the gear she had ransacked, effectively becoming the primary hunter of the 143rd Hunger Games. Demeter was able to win when all of the remaining tributes found their way to the centre of the maze, with many starving, dehydrated, or simply hysterical from the mind-warping search for salvation. She had no issues with taking out those that remained, including a few of the big Victor contenders for that year.

She was quite simply a good Mentor to have, and definitely made up for having the immature Xerxes as an Escort, although from what Kallias had seen - the two of them tended to clash like brother and sister.

Once Jedediah and Demeter had taken their seats, Kallias turned his attention to Mayor Grimshaw once more, anticipating that the man would pass over the microphone to Xerxes to handle the selection of the tributes. Sure enough, that would be the very next words to come out of Mayor Grimshaw's mouth.

"Now that the formalities have concluded, I'd like to hand this over to Xerxes as we continue forward with choosing our two representatives for this year," Mayor Grimshaw called out, as Xerxes jumped up from his seat and took the microphone from the older man.

"Thank you Mayor Grimshaw! District 9 - how the hell are yah?" Xerxes cried out, trying to stoke a more excitable atmosphere amongst the crowd. Unfortunately for Xerxes, he was met with a rather lacklustre response, although this did little to dampen his spirits.

"It's great to be back here once again, and I'm very excited to see who we will have entering the arena this year! Before we proceed however, I do have a Capitol provided video to show you all first - I know, I know… it's a bit of a downer, however it is important in understanding why we have the games in the first place!" Xerxes continued, poking fun at the repetitive video that they displayed every year.

A couple groans could be heard near Kallias, as the century old footage appeared once more on the large screen above the stage. It was an agonising wait as far as Kallias was concerned, having to watch as people were gunned down or blown to bits in the war footage, and as tributes were stabbed, gutted, and beaten in the Hunger Games section. Seeing all those injuries and decimated people, had a huge effect on Kallias's innate desire to tend to others, causing thoughts to flow through his kind on how he could've saved some of those individuals if he was there.

It wasn't soon enough, before the video finally came to an end, with Xerxes stepping forward with a spring in his step, elated by the fact it was finally time to choose the two tributes.

"Alright everyone, now is the moment you've all been waiting for. It is time to select our female tribute!" Xerxes exclaimed, before excitedly stepping towards the glass bowl containing all of the eligible girls. Kallias felt Riley hold her breath next to him, as Xerxes made a big show of digging around through the mountain of paper slips, only to finally pull one out of the bowl. Bringing it back to the microphone, Xerxes teasingly opened the paper, doing so slow and suspenseful to build up the tension in the crowd below. Once the paper slip was opened, Xerxes finally called out the name.

"The female tribute for District 9 shall be… Chianti Barlowe."

Immediately following the announcement, Kallias heard an abrupt gasp from not too far diagonally from him, causing him to turn his attention to the source. Surprisingly, Kallias spotted Evelyn, who had a hand covering her mouth in complete and utter shock, her eyes appearing to be in disbelief at the selection of this Chianti girl.

She must know her… is Chianti a friend of hers? Kallias wondered, as he continued to watch the realisation run through Evelyn's head.

"I know that girl," Riley whispered in shock, as she turned to Kallias. "She works out in the fields with me."

"Oh," Kallias uttered, as he began to see movement towards the front of the crowd. So that's how Evelyn knows her.

As Kallias propped up his head, trying to get a good look at Chianti, he finally was able to spot her, as she reached the bottom of the stairs, ascending them slowly and apprehensively. Chianti seemed to be around his age, much smaller than himself, with a strangely calm demeanour as she appeared resigned to her fate. Her big brown eyes held an aura of acceptance within them, as her peachy lips remained pressed together, held within a frown.

In comparison to past tributes, she seemed to be holding herself together pretty well, as Kallias couldn't for the life of him try and decipher what could be going through her head. Xerxes appeared rather pleased that he had not reaped a crier this year, as he gladly patted Chianti on the back as she took her place next to him.

"Congratulations Chianti, you have been bestowed with the honour of representing District 9 this year! I'll bet you didn't see that coming," Xerxes joked rather insensitively considering the situation. Chianti looked at him blankly for a moment, before responding in the most blunt way possible.

"No, I can't say I did Xerxes," she commented quietly, choosing to refrain from playing into the man's theatrics.

"Naturally!" Xerxes laughed, dismissing Chianti's lack of enthusiasm as his eyes wandered over to the other glass bowl. "Say Chianti, why don't we make this interesting? How about you pick out a paper slip from the bowl?"

The crowd stood silently, dumbfounded by the proposition from Xerxes, to have Chianti be the one to pick out the name of her District Partner. Kallias himself was left with his mouth agape, bewildered by the situation as Chianti stared up at Xerxes as if he was insane.

"You want me to do it?" She echoed his proposal, clearly perplexed by the situation. "But isn't that against the rules?"

"Chianti my friend, there is no rule that states that you can't be the one to choose which piece of paper is taken from the bowl," Xerxes grinned, as he leaned against the pedestal. "You have no way of knowing who it is, so there is nothing that could hold you accountable."

Even if that were the case, the very fact that it was her doing it could trigger resentment from the District Partner she unknowingly picks. Although it ultimately would work the same, even Kallias could figure out the ethical implications of doing so. There was a big risk for Chianti if she were to do so, not from the Capitol itself, but from the person she was potentially reaping.

Despite this however, Chianti appeared to feel pressured under the steely gaze of Xerxes, which ultimately caused her to take a few trepidatious steps towards the male bowl.

She's going to do it, Kallias thought to himself completely dumbfounded. The crowd brewed with an incredibly tense atmosphere, as almost all of the eligible boys watched fearfully as Chianti's hand dipped into the bowl, before apprehensively taking a singular slip of paper and handing it back to Xerxes. The man took it from her willingly, as he excitedly unfurled the paper slip.

"Good girl! The question now is, who have you pulled into this as your new District Partner, Chianti?" Xerxes grinned, before looking down at the paper slip. "Well I can tell you the answer right now, as the male tribute joining alongside Chianti for this year will be… Kallias Kuol."

A gasp fell over the crowd, as Riley uttered a pained choke upon hearing Kallias's name. Kallias was fairly well known throughout the district as the boy who treated people for free, so it was no wonder that his name had elicited quite the reaction. Kallias himself immediately felt dizzy, his thoughts spiralling as his knees grew weak and people turned their heads in his direction.

"Me…?" Kallias whispered weakly, as he struggled to retain his composure, his body screaming at him to succumb to the dizziness and pass out and block everything out from his mind. However, instead of doing so, Kallias stumbled forward clumsily, trying to make his way through the crowd as he left behind a hysterical Riley, crying out in disbelief.

Everything felt hazy for Kallias as he waded his way through the crowd, and as his eyes raised to the screen displaying footage of him, he could see the way in which he appeared. His swaying, scrawny frame, his mop like hair now messy from his shaky movement, his piercing amber eyes widened in a state of panic as a few trails of sweat flowed down his brown skin. He looked shell-shocked, trance like - as if nothing was registering to his brain.

Upon seeing himself in that state, Kallias paused for a moment, gulping as he forced himself to regain his composure, and hardening his gaze as he pushed himself onwards, managing to retain his balance. It was a momentary flash of weakness, but it could easily have been summed up as a state of surprise. As long as he kept himself calm now, he could still retain a respectable image that the Capitol wouldn't immediately dismiss as a bloodbath.

As he rose the stairs, he could hear the murmurs and sobs from many of the horrified people in the crowd, people he had likely helped in the past, who were now having to watch him be shipped off to his likely death. Kallias could still hear the wails of horror from Riley not too far behind him, however there was nothing he could do now to console her - he had to worry about himself.

"Oh wow… I expected this to work out better," Xerxes commented away from the microphone, so that only the people on stage could hear him. He scratched his head sheepishly, as Chianti flashed him a brief look of annoyance. Not noticing Chianti's glare, Xerxes brought the microphone back to his mouth, trying to salvage the reaping of Kallias that had upset quite a few people.

"Kallias! Welcome to the stage, I see your selection has generated quite the stir," Xerxes raved, as Kallias forced a straight face.

"I wouldn't have expected it in all honesty," Kallias admitted, his voice sounding withdrawn as he still continued to try and process what had just happened.

"Well it truly does seem like you're beloved amongst many here! Is there anything you'd like to say to them before we depart?" Xerxes inquired, as he stuck the microphone in to Kallias's face. Kallias bit his lip as he looked out over the crowd, witnessing the sorrowful faces of the people below him, pelting him with gazes of sympathy.

"Um, yeah… I hope that I can make it back to all of you," Kallias spoke, as a few people allowed tears to run down their faces.

"As do all of us Kallias," Xerxes responded, sounding a little sympathetic himself. Following his words, Xerxes pulled both Kallias and Chianti close together, with a hand on both of their backs as he began to wrap up the Reaping.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please give your support for the two newest District 9 tributes - Chianti Barlowe, and Kallias Kuol!"

As the crowd began to shout out their cries of support, Chianti turned to Kallias, preemptively sticking out her hand as an apologetic look washed over her face.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, appearing genuinely remorseful that she had dragged Kallias into this by being the one to pull out the paper slip with his name on it. Kallias flashed her a weak smile, before taking her hand and shaking it, reassuring her that he was not angry with her.

"It's not your fault," Kallias murmured, trying to put Chianti's mind at ease. "It had to be someone, right?"

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Author's Note:

Oh hey! Long time no see? It's been a little while since my last update, and truthfully it has been a hectic month for me irl. I apologise for the wait on this chapter, this one is the longest one yet and as I was writing it, it just kept getting longer. I honestly didn't expect it to be this big, but I do suppose the Reaping is quite a packed event. Additionally, as I mentioned I was very busy, mostly with work over the past month, and unluckily for me, I fell sick at one point as well which also impacted my productivity. All is well now fortunately, and I'm happy to be getting this chapter out!

This chapter we were introduced to another four new tributes - those being Tara Canterbury, Logan Bunyan, Nix Sherborne, and Kallias Kuol - as well as a few glimpses from other tributes we are still yet to formally meet. I would like to especially thank VeryNewToThis, The Pocketwatch Ripper, AcrossTheRio, and averyandomauthor for those tributes respectively, they were a lot of fun to write for! With these introductions, we are now halfway through the tributes, with the next twelve set to be introduced over the next three chapters. The latter two especially will be a very interesting, as we will start having proper tribute interactions post-reaping.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the events of this chapter and the characters that appeared in it! Another reason that the chapter took a little longer than intended, is because I needed to sit down and flesh out some of the Victors and Escorts that will be appearing going forward, so I would love to see what you thought of the ones that appeared here. Next chapter will be the Goodbyes, and that can be expected to be released next month. From what I can estimate, these chapters will likely continue to be monthly releases, so I hope that is okay with all of you! That's all from me now, until next time.

~Reign