WREAK HAVOC.
( the elevator )

JULY 5TH, THE CAPITOL

"That was, well... unforgettable, you could say."

Colt rolled his eyes at Moxie, their districts mentor. The boy already knew they would still be at the bottom of the sponsor leaderboard, and they most likely wouldn't be moving up anytime soon. He had tried to get his sister to stop crying during the parade, but the poor girl was scared of practically anything, and this was the worst possible place she could be. Loud noises, crowds, heights, hell, even horses scared Finch, and he was at the point of not knowing what to do. He wanted to protect her, but his sister was putting a red target on not only her back, but his as well, and he was worried that he wouldn't be alive past the bloodbath at this rate.

Colt sighed, and bent down to Finch, who had curled into a ball in the chariot and refused to move at all. The little girls hands covered her ears to try and block out all the screaming, and her head was between her knees so she wouldn't see any of the people in the audience.

"Finch, hey," Colt began. "You're okay, we're back in the chariot room now."

The girl just let out another sob, refusing to look at her brother. He had been trying to get her up the entire time, but she knew if she opened her eyes she would be right back in the nightmare she had no chance of escaping. She didn't want to be here, it was the worst way to go in her mind. Finch knew she was ruining their chances for the both of them, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop her tears from falling, or her body from trembling.

"No!" Finch cried out. "I want to go hone."

Colt flinched at her words, knowing he was entirely powerless to get her what she wanted. The only way they were going home was either to be buried in the cold ground six feet under, or by becoming a child murderer. And Colt knew there was no way Finch could ever hurt anyone or anything, not even any of the cattle back home.

"I want to go home too, okay?" Colt whispered. "But we can't. I'm so sorry."

Finch continued to cry, but her head lifted at the tone in her brothers voice. He sounded so guilty, and she hated that he felt that way. No matter how terrified the girl was, it was never because of anything her older brother did. He had never let her put in her name more times for tesserae as he knew how much the Games scared her, and put his life at risk to do it on his own. But Finch knew there was no stopping what happened at the reaping, and there was nothing else Colt could have done to prevent her from being in the exact place she never wanted to be.

"It's not your fault, it's not. My death won't be on you, okay? Please don't apologize for something that's not your fault," Finch said, tears streaming down her face in intervals. Her brother tried to wipe them away, but they kept falling and it was an inevitable wave that continued on.

"I'm not going to let you die, don't say that," Colt told her. He knew his words were nothing but a fake promise, but it was the only thing he could do. Colt pulled his sister into his arms, and did his best to console her and keep her cries to a minimum. The boy didn't need to turn around to hear the laughter coming from a few of the other districts as they all got off their own chariots, and his jaw tightened at how much he hated all the them. All of the careers that could possibly find his sisters weakness and emotions funny. It took every bone in his body to not turn around and break the nose of the first person he saw.

"Let's get you two upstairs to your room," Seraphina told them in a quiet voice. The escort had tears in her own eyes, and tried her best to keep her composure when she saw the tributes laughing at the scene being displayed. The women had never been a fan of being an escort to small children, knowing how easy it was for them to be targeted. "There's hot showers and piles of amazing food waiting for my tributes. Come on now."

Colt ended up having to pick up his sister and carry her toward the elevator. She was in no condition to try and walk herself, and he could hear a faint whisper between their mentor and escort about trying to get the girl a small sedative. Colt only held his sister tighter and stepped into the elevator, leaning against the wall to try and catch a breath and think of anything else he could possibly say to calm her down.

Colt was finally able to settle down enough to close his eyes when he heard voices and footsteps coming toward the elevator. His entire body tensed and he opened his eyes to be greeted by a pair of twins stepping into the small space. They were both covered in twinkly lights and Colt about sighed in relief when he realized it was the Nephus twins from District Three, and not any of the careers. He truly didn't think he had the energy to get into a fight.

Apollo, the boy from District Three pressed the button to their floor, before letting out a loud sigh and collapsing against the wall. He had began to hum and slowly start pulling off small strings of lights on his costume. Artemis didn't quite know what to do with herself and clasped her hands together, hoping to get out of the small space as soon as she could. It wasn't until the doors fully closed that everyone could hear Finch's faint crying. Artemis immediately looked at the girl, seeing her distraught. The older girl purses her lips before looking at her twin, nudging him with her foot. He had always been the one to know how to confront an emotional person, and knew exactly what to say to make them feel better. Artemis thought it was a super power that he had, as she was always the worst when trying to deal with emotions.

"Apollo," Artemis whispered, nudging him again. But the boy was still too strung out from the chaos of the parade, distracting himself with humming and the stupid lights he kept tearing off. The boy had no idea of anything that was around him, and Artemis sighed once's again as another noticeable cry left the small girl. Artemis wasn't heartless, she had empathy for the two other siblings in the elevator, and was uncomfortable with ignoring the pain they must of been going through. But she never knew what to say, or how to word her empathy. The girl could faintly feel eyes on her, and looked up to see the older boy staring at her. She could see the defense in his stare, and he seemed to be waiting for her to say something mean or something to make the situation worse, which, she probably would, but it wouldn't be on purpose. At his stare, and her brothers humming, and the sound of the girl crying, Artemis about exploded when the elevator had somehow still not reached the third floor. She had to say something, didn't she? It would haunt the girl if she didn't, and it would make her look like something she wasn't.

"You're Finch, aren't you?" Artemis asked. Her heart was in her throat, mentally hitting herself. What was she even doing? She would probably just make the girl cry even more.

Finch slowly lifted her head from her brothers shoulders, before looking at the older girl in front of her. She slowly nodded in response, not quite knowing why she asked her that.

"Well," Artemis started, looking at her brother for help, but he just looked at her with curiosity, wondering what she was going to say. "Have you ever heard of what people say about shedding tears?"

The little girl just shook her head, and Artemis tried to stay focused on how young she was, and how weak she must feel at the moment. And no little girl should ever feel weak.

"My family always told me that a strong person isn't one of the ones who don't cry," Artemis told her. "A strong person is someone who cries and sheds tears for a moment, but then gets back up and fights again."

Finch seemed to be processing her words, but didn't seem to fully comprehend them. Apollo had stopped humming as he looked at the small girl, and smiled at her. "What my sister means by that is it's okay that you're crying, and it doesn't mean that you're weak. You can cry for however long you want, even if that means all night long. It's okay as long as you wake up tomorrow morning, and fight to live another day."

Finch started to wipe her tears away as the elevator let out a ding, and opened up to the District Three floor. She nodded at the two twins, understanding what they meant now.

"So we will see you tomorrow during training? And you'll be a little warrior, yeah?" Apollo asked as he raised his hand for a high five.

Finch laughed a little, before high fiving him with a nod. "Yeah, okay."

"Might even have to get you some armor, teach you a couple tricks," Artemis tells the young girl before stepping out. She smiled at her, seeing her tears turn into a slow trickle. Apollo had walked out and was waiting for her, and just as she was about to turn to join him, she caught eye contact with Finch's older brother. His eyes continued to gleam, but it was no longer in defense, and they seemed to turn warm.

The boy smiled at her just as the doors slid shut.

When Artemis turned around, she caught her brother looking at her with his eyebrows raised.
"What?" She hissed out, already knowing he was about to make a joke in her expense.

"Nothing!" Apollo replied, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm just so proud of you. Showing empathy? Who are you, and what did you do with my twin?"

Artemis just smacked her brother upside the head and went to go find their mentor.

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a small filler chapter to introduce
two more districts and a future
alliance and couple. i absolutely
adore them already, along with
so many other tributes.

i'm in distress trying to figure
out how i'm supposed to kill these
characters omg.

this is the end of part one,
part two will be training and
the last remaining three districts
will be introduced next chapter!

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