Ruth P.O.V. I stood at a window looking at the passing scenery as I had no hope of returning because in my 1st games I had to do so my family wouldn't starve. Then my 2nd games I promised Sage I would win. But now I know I had to do everything I could to save Roy. Why? Because he had done no wrong, he had a family and I know he would care for mine. He deserved to survive but too heartsick to cry, all I wanted to do was curl up and fall asleep – only to never wake. I have to keep Roy and Cato alive and as unlikely as it seemed that she could achieve it in the wrath of the Capitols anger, it was important and she would do everything I could do in my power as I wouldn't be able to do it if I was mourning for my loved ones. I knew I had to let them go. I did my best to think of them one by one, releasing them like birds from the protective cages, locking the doors so they could not return. "Hey Ruth, how are you so far?" Roy asked me as he came up behind and hugged me. "This may be my last game, Roy. I don't know what will happen after this." I said to him as I leaned into him. "You will survive, Ruth. You have people to help you. Plus you also have a family to get back to with me." Roy said about everyone as I signed deeply. "Okay, but on one condition." I said as I turn around in his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck. "And what is that, my lovely fiancee." Roy said to grinning like there's no tomorrow. "We could try and start a family if you want." I said about a child as Roy smiled bigger than ever. "Really. Like right now." Roy asked in excitement and I nodded my head. Roy picked me up and ran straight to his room to start. Time skip. By the time Clive came and knocked Roy's door to call him for dinner. So quiet, there was long periods of time relieved only by the removal of old with new. Mox and Clive every so often made attempts of conversations which Roy, Joan and I ignored. "Shall we watch the recap of the reapings?" Clive said dabbing the corners of his mouth with a napkin. We all gathered in the television cart to see who we were going against in the arena. We were all in place when the anthem began to play and the annual re-cap of the reaping ceremonies in the 14 districts minus the 13th. In the history of the games, there had been around 79 Victors. Fifty-Eight were still alive. There was a lot of Victors in One and Two but every District had scrape together one female and one male. It started in One and Joan even spoke about each. "Cashmere and Gloss, brother and sister. They won back-to-back games, favourites, lots of sponsors, lethal." Joan said about them. "I've never liked them." I said about them as it changed to District 2. The female tribute was Enobaria. Crystal then walked over to the male bowl and shuffled a bit before picking out a name. "Brutus Cezeiros." She called for Brutus and I sighed with relief. District 4 and I gasped in surprise. "Finnick." I said smiling for being able to see Finnick again. "Won his games at fourteen. The youngest out of everyone to win but was the second youngest until last year. Extremely humble." Joan said about Finnick. "You must be kidding?" Roy asked Joan as Mox spoke up. "Yes, kidding. He's a peacock, a total preener. But he's the male Capitol darling, they love him here. Charming, smart and very skilled in combat, especially in water." Mox said about Finnick and his cockiness. "What about weaknesses?" Roy asked about his weaknesses. "Mags and Ruth." Joan said looking at me as Annie get reaped and Mags volunteering. "She volunteered for Annie. Mags was his mentor and basically raised him, if he's trying to protect them will expose him." Mox said about Mags and I. "He knows she's not gonna make it." Roy said kind of rude but Mox spoke to him. "Well, Roy, I just hope when she goes, she goes quickly. She's actually um...a wonderful lady." Mox said about Mags sadly as he calmly put a hand on my shoulder. "You don't know anything about them since you haven't fully met them yet. There might not be a victor from 12 or 14 this year." I said as Roy looked down ashamed. They went through the rest of the reapings with the morphlings from 6. "The Morphlings. Masters of camouflage. Basically won their games by hiding until everyone else was dead. Self-medicating ever since, which I applaud. No threat." Joan said about the Morphlings. The announcers became teary because the odds were never in Roy's and my favour, the star-crossed lovers from District 14. Joan and Mox left the compartment without a word as Clive bid goodnight. "Why don't you get some sleep?" Roy said to me about sleep and I shook my head. I couldn't handle the nightmares without him next to me. "What are you going to do?" I asked him about his plan. "Just reviewing my notes. Get a clear picture of what we're going against. Go to bed Ruth. I'll be there shortly." Roy said softly as I went to bed and just as always woke up a few hours later screaming. Roy wasn't in bed but somewhere else but he needed as much sleep as he can get. I put on my bed robe, went to go and get some hot chocolate. I knew Joan should be up, she surely wasn't asleep. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate and I heard voices come from the television room and went in to see Roy still there. I sat beside him and laid down on the sofa as he was the tapes Clive sent him of the old hunger games. I recognized the episode which was when Brutus became victor. Roy rose and flipped the tape when he saw me. "Couldn't sleep?" Roy said about sleeping and I nodded my head. "Not for long. So you're watching all the tapes again?" I said about the old games. "Not really. Just sort of skipping around to see different people's different fighting techniques, but I know yours and I know 12's because they're like us." Roy said about the fighting styles, 12 and us. "Who's next?" I asked about who's next. "You pick." Roy said holding out the box towards her. The tapes were marked with the year of the games and the name of the victor. I dug around and suddenly found two we hadn't watched. The two years of the games were twenty and fifty. It was the five years before the 1st quarter quell and the second quarter quell. The victors were Haymitch and Joan. We watched Joan's games as it went by fast and she had won her games by uppercutting most of the tributes with a spearhead as the arena was full of canyons, caves, and waterfalls. After everything else she went home and was drinking like she does today. We watched Haymitch's games as to get a good idea of what he did in his games because he never fully told me about them. It played the anthem and then President Snow was on opening the envelop of the second quarter quell. He looked younger but just as repulsive. It announced that there would be twice the number of tributes than usual. Then it cut to the reapings, name after name was called. By the time it went to 12 and 14 I was overcome by the mass number of children who were going in for their certain death. The women who wasn't Effie (12) and Flare (14) started with saying 'Ladies first.' She called out the name of the girl who was from the seam and you could tell from the look of her. "Maysilee Donner." she called out the name. "Oh! Katniss' mother told me a bit about her." I said remembering the name. The camera found her clinging to two other girls. All blonde – obviously, merchant kids. "I think that's her mother hugging her." Roy said and I realized he was correct. Just as Maysilee let them go bravely and descended to the stage, I caught a glimpse of Katniss' mother at my age, and no one had exaggerated her beauty. Haymitch's name was called last. It shocked me more to see him so young. So strong. It was hard for her to admit but he was quite good looking. His hair blonde and curly, his seam eyes bright and even back then dangerous. Then 14 came on, the woman called on the ladies first. "Lavender Silentwind." She called on stage and the camera went to a girl that was being held by our mothers. "Those are our mothers." I said about them. "Now for the gentlemen, Connor Overfall." The woman called of a name that we found similar. "That can't be." Roy said shocked to see the person. "What is it, Roy?" I asked me about it. "That's my uncle. Dad never talked about him unless he was telling a story. Connor was older and wanted to marry Lavender but never got to." Roy said about his uncle. The chariot rides, the 14 were in horrible 'scientist's outfit' and the interviews came on. Haymitch was going to be the Victor they showed the whole coverage. Caesar Flickerman looking the same except from the different colour scheme. "So Haymitch, what do you think of the games having 100% more competitors than usual?" Caesar asked as Haymitch shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see that it makes any difference. They'll still be 100% as stupid as usual so I guess my chances will be roughly the same." He said about the others as the audience burst out laughing and Haymitch gave them a half-smile. Snarky, arrogant and indifferent as always. "He didn't have to reach far for that, did he?" I said shockingly bitterly. It was then the morning of the games. It was from the point of view of one of the tributes as she rose through the tube from the launch room and into the arena. I couldn't help but let out a slight gasp. Disbelief was evident on the faces of the tributes. Even Haymitch's eyebrows lifted in pleasure, although they almost immediately fell back into a scowl. It was the most breath-taking place imaginable. The golden Cornucopia sat in the middle of a meadow with patches of beautiful flowers. The sky was bright blue with perfect puffy white clouds. Lively songbirds fluttered overhead. By the way the tributes were sniffing it smelt fantastic. An aerial shot shows that the meadow stretched for kilometres. Far in the distance, one way there seemed to be a woods, the other a snowy mountain. The beauty amazed the tributes because when the gong went off they seemed as though they were waking from a dream. Not Haymitch though. He was at the Cornucopia, armed with weapons and a backpack of supplies. He ran in to the woods before most of the others had even stepped off their plates. Eighteen tributes were killed in the bloodbath. Others began to die as the juicy fruit dangling from trees, the water in the streams, even the scent of the flowers when inhaled too directly were deadly. Only the rainwater and food at the cornucopia were safe to have. There was also a large, well-stocked Career pack of tributes searching for victims. Haymitch kept going forward. Maysilee, Lavender and Connor teamed up together as the girls left with small backpacks and male with a sword and bag. Maysilee made use of the readily poisons, turning her blowgun into a deadly weapon by dipping the darts into lethal substances and directing them into her opponents flesh while Connor had cut any opponents that came close. Four days in, the volcano that killed another dozen players. All the remaining tributes had to conceal themselves in the woods. Haymitch carried on in the same direction away from the volcanic mountain but a maze of tightly woven hedges forced him to circle back to the centre of the woods. He was met with three of the careers and pulled out his knife. Haymitch and I were so alike. They were much bigger and stronger but Haymitch had remarkable speed and had killed two when the third disarmed him. The career was about to slit his throat when a dart dropped him to the floor. Maysilee, Connor and Lavender stepped out of the woods. "We'd live longer with the four of us." Connor said about being allies. "Guess you just proved that. Allies?" Haymitch said as Maysilee and Lavender nodded. Haymitch was still determined to keep moving on. Maysilee kept asking and he ignored her and the rest until they refused to move any further without an answer. "Because it has to end somewhere, right? The arena can't go on forever." Haymitch said about the arena. When they finally made it through the impossible hedge, using a blow torch from one of the dead Careers' packs, they found themselves on flat, dry earth that led to a cliff. Far below you could see jagged rocks. "That's all there is Haymitch. Let's go back." Lavender said scared of the cliff. "I'm staying here." Haymitch said about staying. "Alright. There are only 6 of us left. May as well say goodbye now, anyway. I don't want it to come down to us and you." Connor said about the four of them. "Okay." He agreed. That was all. He didn't offer to shake their hands or even look at them and they walked away. Haymitch stalked along the edge of the cliff as if he was trying to work something out. His foot dislodged a pebble and it fell, apparently gone forever. But a minute later, as he sat down to rest, the pebble shot back up beside him. Haymitch stared at it, puzzled, and then his face took on a strange intensity. He lobbed a rock the size of his fist over the cliff and waited. When it flied back up and right into his hand and he started laughing. That's when Maysilee's and Lavender's screams was heard. The alliance was over thanks to them so no one would blame him for ignoring the two. But Haymitch ran for the girls anyway as he passed Connor's dead body that was covered in rabbits. He arrived only in time to watch a flock of birds eat through their neck. He held their hands while they died. All I could think of was Rue and how I was too late to save her too. Later that day, another tribute was killed in combat and a third got eaten by a pack of fluffy squirrels, leaving Haymitch and a girl from District One to vie for the crown. She was bigger than he was and just as fast. And when the inevitable fight came, it was bloody and awful and both had received fatal wounds when Haymitch was finally disarmed. He staggered through the beautiful woods holding his intestines while she stumbled after him carrying the axe that should have delivered his death blow. Haymitch made a beeline for his cliff and had just reached the edge when she threw the axe. He collapsed to the floor and it flew down the cliff. Now weapon less the girl just stood there trying to stop the blood pouring from her empty eye socket. She was maybe thinking that she could outlast him. But she didn't know what he did, that the axe would return. And when it flew back over the edge and buried itself into her head. The canon sounded, her body was removed and the trumpets played to announced Haymitch's victory. Roy clicked off the tape and we sat in silence before he finally spoke. "That force field at the bottom of the cliff, it was like the one on the roof of the Training Centre. The one that throws you back if you try to jump off and commit suicide. Haymitch found a way to turn it into a weapon." Roy said about the force field. "Not just against the other tributes but the Capitol too. You know they didn't expect that to happen. It wasn't meant to be part of the arena. They never planned on anyone using it as a weapon. It made them look stupid that he figured it out. I bet they had a brill time trying to spin that one. Bet that's why I don't remember seeing it on television. It's almost as bad as you, Cato, and I with the berries!" I said about the berries as I couldn't help laughing for the first time in months. Roy shook his head as though I had lost my mind. "Almost but not quite." Joan said from behind us. I whipped around afraid she would be angry. But she just smirked and took a swig from a bottle of wine. So much for her being sober. I guessed I should be upset about her drinking again but I was preoccupied with another feeling. I had spent all the weeks getting to know my competitors without ever thinking about my teammates. Surely three people who had caused the Capitol so much trouble could think of a way home. I was throwing up in the toilet and thinking it was a stomach bug or a bit of food poisoning until Mox came in with a pregnancy test in hand. I looked at him in confusion and shock when I saw the item in his hands. "Better safe than sorry." He said after handing me the box and leaving. I did the thing with few of the tests and waited for a good ten minutes. They dinged and the test had a + sign on it saying that I was with child. I was having Roy's child during the games which will start in a week and I started to cry. "What am I going to do?" I whispered to myself about the situation with a baby now involved.
