The night before the Games

Oliver "Ollie" Litore (15)- District 4 male tribute

The Distant Brother

I'm taking a lift to the twelfth floor of the Training Center. Thalas is with me. He keeps silent, but I can tell by his sullen expression that he's angry… angry with me. My breakout during the interviews has certainly made my position within the Career pack more critical than before. In other words, I've screwed things up. He has insisted on me allying with the Careers from the very beginning, but, deeper down, I know that I'm not a Career, and I can feel that my alleged allies hardly bear my presence… not all of them, but the majority yes. However, being a Career might be the best way to protect my sister. If someone tries to harm her, I'll show them that I can do anything in order to protect those I love!

At the moment, I'm looking in on my sister. I feel the need to see her, especially after she had an asthma attack on live TV. I want to know if she's okay. I want to tell her that I'm not a liar, that I'm her brother for real, and that she can count on my help in the arena, even though we'll be separated. Gamemakers will no doubt keep us apart. After all, Capitolites love drama, and what's more dramatic than two siblings forced to stay away from each other? I clench my fists. When I found out the truth about me and Yolanda, I wanted so badly to meet her, but definitely under different circumstances. Life has been unfair to us, and it will be even more so starting from tomorrow. Actually, this could be my only chance to tell my sister that I care about her, and that I'm sorry for what did and will happen to us.

I look at Thalas out of the corner of my eye: he's gazing at the lift's doors, but he actually seems to be staring off into space. I wonder what he's thinking about. About how ungrateful and thoughtless I am? Maybe. Actually, tributes are supposed to stay in their rooms and rest the night before the Games, but he managed to arrange a meeting between me and Yolanda along with the mentor of District 12. I should really thank him. This could be also my only chance to make peace with him. After all, we used to live under the same roof. He's the older brother I've never had. I know he finds this meeting pointless, but he cannot understand what I feel. When he took part in the Hunger Games, he had a blood connection with none of his fellow tributes.

"Thalas," I say.

"Yes?" he replies, turning to me.

"I'm sorry for causing troubles for you," I apologize, lowering my gaze.

At first, he doesn't say anything in response- maybe he didn't expect me to apologize- but then he replies: "Never mind, Ollie. If you didn't cause troubles, I'd start to worry."

Is that a joke?

I look at him again: he's not smiling, but he doesn't seem angry either.

At some point, he sighs. "I know you don't like my strategy, but, believe me, everything I've done so far is for your own sake. I don't want to lose you, Oliver. Careers are not the most trustworthy allies, but they're usually the strongest tributes in the arena. I'm not asking you to stay with them at the risk of getting killed, you'll need to abandon them sooner or later…"

"When?" I ask, interrupting him.

"You'll understand when. The Career pack has to split at some point, but it doesn't happen always at the same stage of the Games. You know, every edition has its own history," he answers.

At this point, the doors open. We both set foot on the twelfth floor. I look around. This place has been designed to look like the interior of a cave, there are also some fake stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Those stalactites are lighted, guess they serve as chandeliers. Every piece of furniture seems to be carved into rock, as if everything was part of one inseparable block. The main colour is black… coal black. After all, Twelve is specialized in coal mining.

"Good evening," says a voice.

I look in the direction from which the voice came: I see a woman with dark grey eyes and brown hair. She's thin and not very tall. She must be in her thirties, but the little wrinkles around her eyes make her look older than she is.

"Good evening, Terry," Thalas greets her.

Terry Appalachia, the mentor of District 12.

"Where's Yolanda?" I ask her.

"She'll come soon," she answers. "In the meantime, would you like some iced tea?" she offers, pointing at a black marble table, on which a carafe and some glasses stand.

"Thank you, Terry," replies Thalas.

We all sit at the table.

"What are your intentions?" Terry asks me with a straight face.

"My… my intentions?" I echo her, confused.

"I cannot let you see Yolanda, if I don't know what you want to do," she explains.

"I just wanted her to know the truth," I say, defensive.

"Terry, I can assure you that it's not a strategy. Yolanda and Oliver are siblings for real. If you want, I can provide you with documents that prove their blood connection," Thalas chimes in.

"I don't care about the past, what I think of is the near future. Whether they're siblings or not is irrelevant, they'll end up in the arena in any case. What I want to know is how your protégé is going to behave with Yolanda. He's a Career, after all… will he try to kill her?" she retorts.

In response, I slam my hand on the table. "Not at all! I'll stay with the Careers just to make sure they won't find her! Believe me, if they dare to harm her, I'll kill them without second thoughts!" I rebut, beside myself.

"Calm down, Oliver!" Thalas orders me.

"I cannot calm down! She thinks I'm two-faced!"

In response, a slight smile forms on Terry's lips. "Well, Yolanda and you have something in common: you're both hotheads. Anyway, I'll let you see your sister. Yolanda! You may come now!"

…...

Yolanda Underwood (15)- District 12 female tribute

The Outsider

"…Yolanda! You may come now!"

I snort in response. Why has Terry insisted so much on the necessity of this meeting? I don't want to see that boy! He's just a stalker and a liar! We're not siblings for real, it's just a way to justify his twisted obsession with me! We may resemble each other, we may be born in the same district, but that's not enough to prove that we're siblings, right?

I walk down the hall and join the others. As soon as Oliver sees me, he immediately stands up. He looks like a wounded puppy as usual. How pathetic!

"H-how a-are you, Yolanda?" he asks me in a quivering voice.

Is he about to cry? Please not!

"I'm fine," I answer with a shrug.

"Maybe you need some privacy," Terry chimes in.

"No, wait!" I protest, but both Terry and the mentor of District 4 leave the room.

Now, I'm alone with Oliver… precisely the last thing I wanted! I head straight to the table, pour a glass of tea, and drink it in one shot. The boy has still his eyes trained on me. How annoying!

"Do you want to stand there all night long?" I ask him, after finishing my drink.

"I don't know what to say," he replies, uneasy.

"Why are you here, then?"

He gets closer to me. "I know you don't believe me, and I cannot blame you, just… I'm not your enemy, I want to protect you. Please, let me help you."

"I don't need your help."

"Do you really think so? You have no allies, the Games gonna be tougher for you," he retorts.

"I have no allies because I want to be on my own. The Gamemakers let me take my inhaler with me, so I'll be ready even for asthma attacks. But do you think they do it out of kindness? No, they do it out of pity! They don't think I stand a chance, no one does, not after what happened during my interview!" I say, angry.

"I do think you stand a chance, instead. Besides, the interviews are just a stupid farce, it's training that matters. I'm a Career, but you scored higher than me. It's something, don't you think?" he rebuts, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I watch him closely. I'm not angry. If Fabian made the same comment, I would probably yell at him. Everything in the Games matters! Can I really trust Oliver? Will he not try to kill me in the arena? Is he really willing to lose his life? If so, either he's mad or he truly loves me. What if we were siblings for real? What would I do? Ah, there's nothing I can do! Well, it would be a cruel twist of fate… two twins separated at birth end up in the same Games. A good plot for a book, but this is real life!

"I don't want to make connections with people who will die soon, it would be too painful. It's already painful," I say.

"What do you mean?" he enquires.

I lower my gaze in response. "Just that I knew my district partner before the Games. There's already a connection between us, but maybe I've broken it, when I refused to ally with him. I didn't want to be cruel, just… I would be a useless ally with my asthma, and I don't want to be a burden to anybody. Fabian stands more chances than me; if you want to help someone, help him."

"Are you in love with him?"

I blush. I look at Oliver again and then slaps him.

"Hey! It was just a question!" he protests, while massaging his cheek.

"A silly question! Fabian is the most annoying boy I've ever met!" I rebut.

"Okay, okay, I didn't mean to get on your nerves. I'm sorry," he apologizes, holding his hands up in an act of defence.

I take a deep breath. "You should leave now, it's late, we both need to rest."

"Okay, but promise me that you'll be careful."

"Getting rid of me is not that easy, don't worry," I say with a slight smile.

Oliver smiles as well. "Right. We won't go down without a fight."

I roll my eyes. This we-won't-go-down-without-a-fight stuff is meant to make things look epic, I suppose, but it's pointless. The Games are cruel, that's all. There are neither heroes nor villains, but just twenty-six people fighting for their lives.

"See you tomorrow, sis," he continues.

"Don't call me sis."

"Sorry."

I sigh. "See you tomorrow, Oliver."


Wow, I must admit that this chapter was easy to write. The words came quite naturally, and I'm glad I could update this story earlier than I planned. I hope you liked it. Actually, I thought that adding these two POVs was a good idea, considering what happened during the interviews. What do you think?

Submitters can assign points to: Oliver (D4M), Yolanda (D12F)

Specific questions about tributes:

Oliver: what do you think of his strategy?

Yolanda: can she trust Oliver?

As for my next updates, I will first of all write the Reaping of District 12 of Divine Punishment and then move on with Love Is the Deadliest Weapon (next chapters: launch, bloodbath).

Let me remind you that submissions for SPONSORS are available for both my fanfics!

Thank you a lot for reading and reviewing :)