May the odds be ever in your favour

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The hand twitched when the needle broke through the skin of her index finger. The finger was pushed down on the paper, leaving a red stain when the female Peacekeeper released her hand. The blonde woman moved to the right and stood among the other girls who had been before her in line. It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining and gave an impression that this was a day of happiness. But it was indeed not. Reaping Day was never a happy day. It was the day you hoped someone else’s name was called, that you wouldn’t become one of the two that would get their life torn apart. Literally.

Ava Goodwin had basically felt the horrible feeling of getting called upon, this very day five years ago. She still remembered the shock when the name Scarlet Goodwin was called, and how the identical hand had squeezed her own hard. Her identical twin had turned towards her with a look that said; “don’t you dare volunteer”. Scarlet had let go of Ava’s hand and moved towards the stage. Her beloved soul mate had fought bravely, but had fallen in the last battle and finished second place in the Game. That was the day something was lost inside Ava, and the day their mother had fallen apart and lost her voice.

Ava was pulled out of her thoughts when the woman on the stage before them cleared her throat. It was time to begin. She spoke briefly about Panem’s history and the reason the Hunger Games existed.
“May the odds be ever in your favour” she finished with a smile before she turned to the big bowl to her right.
“Girls first!” she said and put her hands among the pieces of folded papers. She picked one from the middle and slowly unfolded it, as if she was trying to be dramatic. As if that was needed. She cleared her throat and said loud and clear:
“Ava Goodwin!”. A whisper went through the crowd. Relief from the girls that wasn’t called on, but also shock. The District 4 twins were well known in the District, and a lot of people had mourned the day Scarlet died, and now her twin was probably facing the same fate.

Ava felt how her stomach turned inside out when she moved towards the stage. A desperate scream echoed through the town square, and at first Ava thought it had come from herself. She turned her head to the right, where her mother had fallen to the ground in shock, fear and grief. Another howl of despair left her mother’s lips and Ava swallowed. She had to look strong, every camera was aimed at her right now. She moved to the scenes and climbed the stairs. She stopped next to the bowl from which her name had been drawn. The woman on the stage smiled.
“The female tribute from District 4!” she called out and turned towards the bowl to her left.
“It’s time to nominate the male tribute” she said and put her hand in the bowl.

Perses looked as the needle went through the skin of his index finger - he was almost fascinated by how the blood started to slowly flow out, looking like he had caught a red raindrop on his fingertip. The male Peacekeeper grunted, obviously irritated by Perses’ slowness, and aggressively pulled the boy closer as he pressed his finger onto the paper. Perses grinned at the Peacekeeper as he gave the paper a last look, his blood now a permanent stain. As he turned left and made his way towards the roped-off area for the 18-year-old males, closest towards the stage, his mind started to wander. Their fingers were pricked each year to use as an identification, but wasn’t there any other way? And, what did they do to all the papers stained with blood - did the Capitol save it? If so, what for? And why couldn’t they just use those instead?

Honestly, all these unnecessary overthinking was Perses’ way of distracting himself from the fact that he was incredibly anxious, like any other Reaping Day. This year though, Astraios wasn’t there with him. He was incredibly glad for his brother though, that he had managed to live through seven years with seven different Reaping Days, without being drawn once. It lowered Perses chances of anyone willingly volunteering if he was drawn tremendously, though. And, it had also always been nice to just know that his brother had to go through the same shit as him and was there in the crowd with him. Now he was together with their parents, watching, without any power to do anything if he was chosen. But, the chance was low that his name was drawn - it was his last year after all, and he had survived this far.

The Escort made her way on stage. Perses could hear her stiletto heels click as she made her way towards the microphone, could see how she put on a fake smile before clearing her throat and begin talking. He couldn’t process anything of what she said, though, way too distracted - until she said the name Ava Goodwin loudly and clear. His heart sunk, and he could not even imagine the pain her mother felt until he heard her desperate cry.

It was almost as if the air around him stilled as the Escort put her hand into the bowl of male nominees. Looking around at the men surrounding him, he realized that these were the faces of small boys. They weren’t simply afraid or scared, they were terrified. Perses looked towards the woman on stage again, and quickly closed his eyes as she unfolded the paper.

“Perses Madoc!”

It felt like a punch to his stomach. As if his lungs collapsed. As if his legs gave up. As if his heart stopped beating.

He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. Everyone looked at him, and he smiled at them. The group he stood amongst slowly divided as he made his way towards his stage, making a clear path for him. He nodded towards some of his classmates, too scared to even say “hi”. He made his way up the stairs to the stage, his legs shaking and his brain was empty of any other thoughts than a voice nagging in the back of his head, reminding him of how embarrassing it would be if he fell on live TV. Like that was any worse than the fact that he was heading straight towards his death with each step he made.

He stopped by the Escort’s left side and nodded towards Ava, since he felt like that was the most polite thing he could do right now, and gave the Escort a half-assed smile. She beamed towards him.
“Well, what a wonderful pair we have! Ava Goodwin and Perses Madoc - our two tributes from District Four!”

Strange. That was the only word Ava could come up with to describe the feeling of watching the people on the square from this angle. She wondered if this was how all the other tributes had felt when they had stood here before her. She didn’t really know what to do. Stare in the distance? Look at the escort? Look at the sea of boys and men, one more anxious than the other about what name will be written on whatever piece the escort picks from the bowl?

Ava quickly glanced over at her mother, who had been helped up from the ground by Graham, a family friend. She couldn’t stand by herself, and leaned towards Graham, who looked at Ava with sorrow in his eyes. Ava looked away and decided to look at the people in the square. Her long braid hung down her back, and stopped at her lower back. At the end of it was a blue flower pinned, the flower that had been Scarlets favourite.
I might see you sooner than I thought, Ava thought and instantly, she could hear Scarlets voice in her head, what she would have answered if she had been here;
You can’t see me soon, you have to take care of her. She won’t be able to cope. You have to win.
Ava’s eyes went to her mother again. Scarlet's voice was right, of course she had to win.

Ava heard the escorts voice ringing in her ears. The name had been drawn; Perses Madoc. Ava watched as the boy made his way to the stage. She didn’t know much about him, really, but his mother had been her and Scarlet’s teacher. Ava remembered that Mrs Madoc had once discovered how Ava and Scarlet had changed identity for a day in school. Instead of getting them in trouble, she had laughed and said that she was impressed of their acting abilities. Ava hoped that her son was as nice as her. Even though they could never be friends, not now.

Perses had made his way to the stage, and the escort presented them to the people and the cameras. She had a big smile as she turned towards them.
“There, there. Let’s shake hands” she said and Ava turned to Perses. Her green eyes met his brown. She put her right hand towards him, not breaking eye contact. She saw in the corner of her eyes how the Peacekeepers made themselves ready to escort them to the rooms where they could say their last goodbyes before departing to the Capitol. For one of them, or even both, it would be the last they ever saw of their families.

Perses quickly nodded at the escort’s command, and turned fully towards Ava. He looked down towards her hand, already stretched towards him to take, and he smiled. He took it with his own right hand, but also put his left hand on top of their hands. He squeezed her hand with both of his, a little bit harder than usual in hope that it could give her some comfort. Perses looked up and into Ava’s eyes, smiling softly at her before letting her hand go. The escort put her hand on his shoulder as a sign that they should move on, and Perses let out a sigh. He straightened his back and turned towards the crowd, waving his hand with a proud smile on his face before walking towards the three Peacekeepers that would escort him to his family, letting him say goodbye for the last time.

The halls in the Justice Building are quite and the walls are bare. There are no natural source of light, only lamps hanging from the ceiling that gives a sort of low, yellow glow. One of the Peacekeepers opens the door for him and as Perses walks into the room, even closes it without him - with a loud thud. His brother and mother sits next to each other in a small, blue sofa while his father has taken a seat in a lonely armchair. The walls of the room are made of grey concrete, but they are covered in amazing art made with seashells in different shapes and colors. By the door, you can see what the actual artwork is meant to represent - the sea, and the horizon.

His mother and brother anxiously looks at each other in silence. Astraios is gnawing on his own bottom lip while his mother is desperately trying to calm her own shaking hands. He can’t quite see what his own father is doing, since his back is towards the door. When the Peacekeeper slams the door closed, they all look up at him. His mother tries to smile, but it just ends up in a grimace. Astraios stands up and opens his arms towards him, and this makes Perses’ legs move towards them before he can even think. His brother hugs him tightly, and Perses forgets how to breath for a while. As Astraios sits down, both him and their mother scoot over a little to give him some space in the middle. When he doesn’t react, his mother takes his hand and gently tugs him down.

This is the first time he sees his father, and he can’t fathom the shock he sees when he looks at his father’s face. There are streaks of tears falling down his cheeks and his eyes are red from all the crying. “Perses.” His father starts, and his voice is weak. His father sighs as he leans forward.
“As much as it hurts for me to say this as your father.. But, you have to protect that girl with everything you have.” He says, his voice barely above a whisper. Perses nods - whatever his father says is an order. And, although it almost feels like he has been betrayed by his own family, he knows that it’s the right thing to do.

“I’m so sorry that I can’t protect you, Perses.. You know I would’ve volunteered if I could.” His brother whispers, and when Perses turns his head towards Astraios, he can see his own brother starting to cry. He takes his hand and squeezes it.
“There’s no time to say sorry, Astraios.” Their mother interrupts, and Perses is amazed by the sudden strength his mother is showing. He knows that he can count on her, whatever the problem is. “We love you, Perses. And you know what I think of all this. Make us proud.” She finishes, right as the door opens.

His mother kisses him on the cheek, his brother ruffles his hair and as he stands up, his father gives him a big hug. He hasn’t been hugged by his father since he was a small kid. He leans his head on his father’s shoulder and take a big whiff of his smell - salt, fish, and he can sense a undertone of the soap he uses - just like home. He lets them go, and knows that that is the last time he will see his family as he walks out of the door.

The Justice building is an ugly place. It’s just as ugly as it had been this very day, five years ago. The big difference was that Ava now was the one walking into the room, not the one waiting in it. As the door slammed behind her, she turned to her mother, who sat in an armchair. Her eyes were red, and tears were silently running down her beautiful face, dripping to the ground.
“Mum”, Ava said as she walked over towards the older version of herself. No reaction.
“Mum”, Ava repeated as she sat down on her knees in front of her, stroking one of the mother’s blonde locks behind her ear.
“You have to listen to me now” she said and her mother’s eyes reacted and focused on her daughter.
“I am going to do my best to win this, I promise”. She didn’t realise that is was almost identical to what Scarlet had said in this very room, five years prior.
“You can’t collapse into a mess now, you have to stay strong” she continued.
“Graham’s family will take you in, I’m sure of it” she said and stroked a tear from her mother’s cheek. That was another difference from the last time she had been here; Ava didn’t cry this time. She couldn’t. She had promised her sister two things the day they last saw each other; stay strong, and take care of mum. Ava has done it as best she could. But it had been hard.

The door opened, and a Peacekeeper walked in.
“Time’s up” he said and Ava’s mother uttered a cry. Ava was escorted by the Peacekeeper, but turned around in the doorway. Her mother raised her hands and moved them gracefully and quickly through the air, signing three words; I love you.
“I love you, too” Ava whispered as the door closed. The Peacekeeper muttered for her to go forward, towards the door which lead to the train tracks.

The train was huge. The Peacekeeper stared at Ava until she climbed up in it. She found herself in a carriage which was beautiful with nice armchairs and sofas. Ava was alone, but Perses was probably not far behind. She sighed and sat down in the sofa. She looked out the window, and at her own reflection created on the glass. Ava wondered what Scarlet had been thinking when she sat here, where she sat now. Probably as confused as Ava was right now. She noticed how her hand had started to fiddled with the pendant around her neck, the little golden heart. In it was a picture of herself together with Scarlet. It was a very precious possession of hers, something she would never take off.

Ava turned her head from the window, and kicked off her shoes. She loved being barefoot, since she could feel the surface of the world under her feet. She put them up on the sofa, pulling her knees to her chest. This was the last time she was going to be alone in a very long time.

The walk through the corridors to the backside of the Justice Building, where the train station is, feels infinitely long. The walls of grey concrete seem to go on forever, and Perses starts to slowly feel more sick as he continues forward, the trapped odor and the bad lightning overwhelming. And then there are the anxious thought clawing at the back of his brain, screaming at him to find a way to take his life now before he gets brutally murdered. It doesn’t make it better that the only sound he can hear are his and the Peacekeepers’ footsteps echoing through the corridor, reminding him that he are at mercy to his own thoughts, unable to distract himself. He’s convinced that he’s starting to get tunnel vision, until the Peacekeepers stops and opens a door, and the light from outside blinds him.

The train isn’t that magnificent on the outside, but Perses is still amazed by it. Although District 4 is quite wealthy, most people travel by foot or boat - there’s no need to take the train anywhere. As he stands still a moment too long in front of the door to the train, still not able to process everything that’s happening, he can feel the coolness of the rifle through his shirt. One of the Peacekeepers is pointing a gun at his back, urging him forward. Chills erupt all over his body as he quickly gathers his composure again and gets onto the train.

The outside of the train, although not actually that impressive, managed to amaze Perses, the interior makes him absolutely stunned. The walls are made of some type of exclusive wood that can’t be found in District 4, and as Perses’ carefully places a hand on the wall, it feels incredibly smooth. The light from outside flows through the big windows of the train and bounces beautifully onto the walls, showing the annual rings that can be found when you cut a tree. Perses continues forward and looks down onto his feet, noticing that the floor is covered by a red carpet. He walks into a carriage and stops, somewhat shocked, when he notices that Ava is there as well.

“Hello.” He greets, and quickly clears his throat when he notices how weird his voice sounds. He slowly walks closer, a little bit insecure, before he sits down in front of Ava. He feels awkward and his body is unnaturally stiff as he tries to make himself comfortable, unsure of what to do or say. Should he say that he is sorry? Or ask her how her mother is doing? Maybe start talking about the weather, a desperate try to completely ignore the awful situation they are in?

Perses doesn’t manage to come up with a topic to talk about before the door to the carriage automatically opens and their escort walks in, followed by their mentors. He takes a deep breath - the Hunger Games have now officially already started.

Ava heard the harsh steps of Peacekeepers. Probably the ones escorting Perses to the very carriage she was in, and from there shipping them towards what would most likely be their death. Ava shook her head. She couldn’t think like that, since death wasn’t an option for her. If she died, her mother wouldn’t survive. It just couldn’t happen. She took a deep breath, and stopped fiddling with her pendant. Instead, she looked around the carriage. It was beautiful, more so now when Ava actually could examine it. There were beautiful paintings on one of the walls, and one caught her eye more than the others. It was a painting of the sea and sunset, with beautiful colours. Ava wasn’t sure why she liked it, but she couldn’t take her eyes of it.

She kept looking around the room, and noticed a bookshelf on one of the walls. It was filled with black tapes, 71 of them to be exact. One for each Hunger Games that had existed in this world. The seventy-second slot was empty, but was to be filled by the tape that would include footage of herself, fighting for her life. Ava wondered if it was mandatory for the tapes to be on the train. Probably. It must feel awful for their mentors to see them every time they entered the carriage; knowing that one of the tapes contain footage of them killing other people. Ava’s eyes landed on the fifth tape from the bottom. The one where it would be a close up of the last battle, her sister versus the girl who won that year. That was a name Ava would never forget. Sadie Talec. She couldn’t take her eyes of the tape, and felt sick.

The sound of steps made her turn her head, relieved that something else took her focus. The sound came from the entrance of the train, which she had walked through not long ago. Perses came through it, and Ava could see the Peacekeepers out the window. They gave her an uneasy feeling, dressed in white armour and without the possibility to see their faces. She looked at Perses again, who now sat down in front of her.
“Hi” she said, offering him a little smile. Not a happy smile, more a “I’m sorry we’re here”-smile. She opened her mouth, but closed it again when the mentor came into the room. Ava recognized Finnick, the young winner from six years ago. He looked at Ava and Perses with sadness in his eyes, and empathy. He had been in their position, and knew how it felt.
“Well, I’ll just start with saying how sorry I am that you are in this situation” Finnick said, looking at them both as he sat down. Ava looked at him. Scarlet had been his first tribute to mentor after his own Game.
“Well, it’s quite safe to say that the odds are not in my family’s favour” Ava heard herself say. It was stupid, really, getting sarcastic. It just came blurting out.

The only person that laughed at Ava’s sarcastic comment is their escort - Cynthia Fowly. The two men both turn their head towards the escort - Finnick with a stiff smile on his face that looks a bit awkward, and Perses with a look of disbelief at her reaction. The escort falls in silence when she realizes that no one else is laughing, and clears her throat before she speaks.
“Honey, there’s no need to worry just yet! Finnick will make sure that both of you manage to survive as long as possible in the arena, and that one of you actually win. It’s as simple as that!” She chirped, her enthusiasm bordering on nervousness. Finnick sits down with a sigh next to Ava.
“While we’re on the topic, we should talk about what strategy you should follow while in the arena. How do you feel about working in groups?” He asked, looking at both of them. “I-” Perses begun, before stopping to take a deep breath. “I made a promise to my family that I would make sure that Ava survives. I hope you’re okay with forming an alliance with me.. I’m quite good with knives, both throwing them and using them in closer battles.” Perses said, avoiding the eyes currently staring him down.

The room fell into silence. Finnick was pleasantly surprised, he had never experienced a tribute willing to offer their own life for the other so early on. “That’s very brave of you, Perses.” He said, his voice surprisingly calm and tone mature. “Well, I don’t like to favor, but I guess we know who we’re going to put more work into.” He said as he turned his head to look at Ava. “So, what’s some of your specialties? You’re obviously quite pretty, and with some more help from the stylists, you will definitely look like a winner.” Finnick said with a grin, placing his hand on Ava’s shoulder.

Perses didn’t know why, but something turned in his stomach when he saw Finnick’s hand on Ava’s shoulder. He cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the others again. “And you..” Finnick begun, pointing his finger at Perses. Perses eyes widened, a little bit scared of what was going to come next. “The Capitol is going to love your pretty little face. You seem like a pretty good talker as well, aren’t you? And with Ava’s sob story of her sister, maybe you can.. reveal that you have a crush on her?” Finnick said with a wicked smile on his face. Perses started blushing. “Or maybe that’s too much to ask from you, sorry. But I want you to work closely together, so make sure to try to get to know each other a little bit. Hopefully you have something in common.” He said with a comforting smile.