𝙄'𝙇𝙇 𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙇 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝘼 𝙎𝙊𝙉𝙂 - 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙃𝙐𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙍 𝙂𝘼𝙈𝙀𝙎

𝟕

When you get back to your room, you remove your dress and heels, find a nightdress, and flop onto the bed. Pretending you're happy is hard work. After a minute of lying there, up you go and cleanse your face of makeup and prepare for bed. You need to sleep anyway - tomorrow is the day of the games. Once you're under the covers, it's not long until you're fast asleep.

By the time you wake, it must be at least midnight. The night terrors had come again. This time, you were running to the river in 12's woods, and Remus' eyes were coming out of all the trees, then Romana appeared and chased you, and... and...

You know it's stupid. Still, you stare at each shadow before wandering out to the living room. Surprisingly, Rye sits up, staring out the windows overlooking the city. You join him, and ask "Can't sleep?"

"Yeah, I just kept thinking about... y'know... Prim and how she knows and how she might not like me back and how I'll probably never know and how she'll have to watch me-" at this, he just starts to cry. You wrap your arms around him, and try to comfort him.

"Rye, it'll be okay. I'm friends with her sister, and I've seen her stare at you on multiple occasions. Now, I'm going to do everything to get you home, and then you can ask her to the Reaping Night Dance next year, alright?" This is all true. Prim hasn't mentioned Rye, but she's certainly been caught staring every now and then, which you can use to give Rye some hope. He nods, but then looks up at you, blue eyes almost glowing in the dark. He murmurs something, but you have to get him to say it several times before you can understand him.

"But I don't want you to go." Just a simple sentence, that's all it takes to break you. You want to save him so bad, but he doesn't want you to go. Yet, there's no other way. One of you must die for the other to live. Unable to answer, you just hold him tighter, trying to find a reply until your eyes flutter shut.

When Cinna wakes you, you're still on the carpet. The first rays of sunlight hit you when you reach your room and change into a simple shift for the time being. Rye is nowhere to be seen, probably back in his quarters. Cinna escorts you to the roof, just in time to see the hovercraft appear out of thin air, and a ladder folds out in front of you. You set your hands and feet on the bottom rungs, then it's as if you're frozen in place as the ladder rises into the hovercraft. Still glued to the ladder, you watch as a woman in a crisp white coat jabs a syringe into your arm. It could only be a tracker, to keep you on the radar at all times. Fabulous. 

As soon as the tracker's in, you are released and the ladder sinks down to collect Cinna. An unknown male Avox leads you to a vast table of breakfast foods. You know you need as much nutrition as possible, but you barely eat any of the banquet set out before you. Your nerves must have knocked your appetite far, far away.

About half an hour later, the windows transform into black holes, signaling that your ride is almost done. The hovercraft lands, the pair of you descend the same ladder, this time down into the catacombs under the arena. Finally, you reach the chamber where you are prepped for the arena. The Capitol has named it the Launch Room, but in the districts, it's called a much more realistic name. The Stockyard. Where animals go to be slaughtered.

You're the only tribute that'll use this room. After all this, Capitol citizens go on vacation here. Rewatch the Games, tour each Stockyard, visit key places in the arena, even watch reenactments. Apparently there's some excellent food as well.