Hey again! I hope you enjoy. 

As always, I look forward to hearing what you liked, what you didn't like, or what would make it so much better. 

Thanks again for all of your support! Continuing to write this story would not be possible if I didn't hear from all of you! 

Remember to vote if you are enjoying!

Stay safe and take care! ~ CANGEL

***

Scarlet Wolfe

     Scarlet slowly blinked her eyes as she woke, sleep-grit making her eyelids stick together. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and opened them fully, she saw Crimson's face dangling over the side of her bed directly above her, watching her.

     She sat up from the train floor, fighting a yawn as she pushed his face away from hers. Scarlet stretched her stiff back, biting back the groan as her back popped and cracked, settling back into place.

     "You know I hate when you do that." Scarlet said, irritated from being woken up from a fitful sleep to his obnoxiously perky face.

     Crimson grinned. "I know."

     "Then stop it."

     "But I don't want to." He shrugged, unbothered. Scarlet narrowed her eyes at her brother, warning him not to mess with her. He ignored her, his smug grin never faltering for a second. "When you're awake, you keep everything all locked up inside that head of yours. But when you sleep, you say it all. It's fascinating."

     Scarlet was about 85% sure that he was bullshitting her, but ever since he first mentioned it, she hadn't rested soundly. The last thing she'd ever want was Crimson inside her head.

     She shoved the thin sheet aside and stood. Scarlet knew that he wasn't telling her the entire truth—sleep-talking aside. There was another reason he was here. "Why are you really in my room, Crimson?"

     He sighed, acting put out by her response. He hated it when she refused to play his games, which only encouraged her to play it as little as possible. As he stretched out his own stiff back, Scarlet wondered just how long he'd been waiting for her to wake up.

     "We're approaching the Capitol," he said. "Hearing you sleep-talk was just a perk."

     Scarlet rolled her eyes. He probably found her asleep and just couldn't resist messing with her. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a response thought. Afterall, nothing irked Crimson more than being ignored when he was expecting a reaction. If he wanted to mess with her, she might as well mess with him right back.

     Besides, Scarlet doubted he had actually been there just staring at her, waiting for her to wake up, or even just listening to her sleep-talk. Likely he'd been using that time to think about how he was going to ensure his winning. And therefore, about her dying.

     Scarlet's hand clenched into a fist at her side, nails biting into her palm. With the fog of sleep long gone, reality hit her like a brick. This was the unspoken truth that hung between them—one of them would have to die for the other one to make it out alive.

     She avoided Crimson's gaze as she shoved him towards the door, forcing her breathing to keep steady in front of her brother. "I'll be out in a few. Get out."

     He held up his hands in mock surrender as he walked backwards out the door. "Alright, alright."

     Only when the door completely shut did Scarlet move toward the adjoined bathroom.

     Scarlet met the tired hazel eyes of her own reflection in the spotless glass mirror. Her clean face was only marred by the fading red mark along her temple. Capitol medicine was a miraculous thing. But all Scarlet could really focus on was how her wild curls, pale skin and dark circles under her eyes only emphasized the guilt hiding deep in the recesses of her mind.

     There was no part of this—any of this—that was right. In all the time that Scarlet, Crimson and Cadmium had prepared for the games, their opponents—the people that they would have to kill, had been nameless and faceless. The male tribute from District 14 was supposed to be some desperate fool.

     Her opponent was never supposed to be her brother.

     Scarlet's fingers shook at her sides, and she flattened her palms against the cool marble sink in an effort to stop the trembling. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart rate.

     Her stomach swirled and knotted in as flashes and images of all the tributes from past Hunger Games flood through her mind. And images of her sister, Aureolin, bleeding out on the ground of the Arena two years ago, refuse to leave her.

     Scarlet closes her eyes and presses her sweat-covered forehead against the cold expanse of the glass mirror, trying desperately to ground herself to the present instead of drowning in the past.

     Two years ago, Scarlet had been so apathetic to her sister's death. Two years ago, she had been able to look at it coldly and distantly as a resulted eventuality that had always been going to happen.

     But here and now, when Scarlet was on her way to the Capitol? There was no distance to be had. Aureolin's fate would become Scarlet's, or Crimson's, or both of theirs.

     Breathe. She reminded herself. Breathe Scarlet, breathe.

     Scarlet drew in a deep breath of the filtered, warm air of the luxury train, wishing like a fool for the fresh, freezing air of District 14, before slowly letting it out.

    She did this three more times before the trembles in her body stilled and the rapid pounding of her heart subsided. With the memories of the past locked up in the box, kept in the recesses of her mind, Scarlet picked her head up from against the mirror but kept it downcast, afraid she would lose the precious control that she had just gained.

     Turning on the faucet, Scarlet splashed the ice-cold water onto her face, drinking some of it from the palm of her hand to quench the thirst of her suddenly dry mouth. Once satisfied, Scarlet turned off the water, took one last deep breath, and stood up straight.

     Once more, her gaze landed on her reflection in the mirror. Only this time her eyes were hard and determined.

     "No more looking back." Scarlet watched in the mirror as her lips form each word she spoke aloud. "You cannot look back." She repeats.

     Not if you want a future.

***

     Scarlet left her room a few minutes later, walking down the hall to the dining car. Despite knowing she should eat, her stomach churned at the thought of the rich food that she knew would be freshly served on the table. In just a little while, they would enter the Capitol, and Scarlet would be that much closer to entering the Arena.

     Despite her abhorrence for the Capitol, Scarlet was undeniably curious about this place that dictated her life in District 14 and now, her future in the Arena.

     She wanted to see the magnificence and might of the Capitol as they entered the heart of Panem.

     The closest, full-sized windows that could provide the best view of their arrival was in the dining car. As Scarlet passed through the automatic doors and stepped into the dining car of the luxury train, she was hit by the heavy aroma of the rich Capitol foods.

     Her stomach rolled and knotted at the overwhelming scents. No one else was in the car now but as Scarlet passed the table on her way to the chair positioned just under the large window, she noticed that several of the dishes had already been picked through.

     Crimson and Penelope had likely been here already and gone.

     She sat down on the chair near the extended window and looked at the blurred greens and browns of trees and grass as they passed by. The sky was cloudless and blue, and the sun shone down, casting shadows onto the train. But even still, Scarlet could feel the heat of the sun radiating through the window as its light hit landed on her face.

     Nowhere in sight was there a single trace of the snow that Scarlet was so familiar with. Nowhere in sight is anything that looks familiar. Only a full day that they had been on the train traveling, and now it was as if they were in a completely different world.

     Suddenly, all light vanished from the train car apart from the low orange glow from the four rectangular lights placed at the bottom of the walls. Darkness encased her.

     Panic rose inside Scarlet as she struggled to make out anything in the space around her or outside. She gripped the push cushion beneath her with a tightened hold while slamming her other hand flat against the cold surface of the glass window as she sought desperately to ground herself within the darkness.

     Crimson's face appeared in front of hers. His face barely visible in the darkness that nearly consumed them both. His hand covered hers and Scarlet's lungs expanded, allowing her to draw in a full breath.

     Scarlet stared up into his eyes for a moment, before moving her eyes down to his mouth.

     It took all her focus to make out his words in the darkness even though she could tell he was taking care to fully articulate all his words. "We are in the tunnel."

    Right. She knew that. Before the train could reach their destination, it had to pass through a tunnel that runs straight through the mountains that partially surround the Capitol.

     The mountain forms a natural barrier between the Capitol and the eastern districts and protects the Capitol by making it nearly impossible to enter from the east, except through the tunnel.

     The mountains were a major factor in the outlying districts losing the war that led to the Hunger Games. The rebels had tried to climb the mountain to reach the Capitol and had found themselves killed off quickly by the Capitols strong aerial forces.

     When the rebels of District 13 had been subdued, the Capitol had decimated District 13 and all of its citizens by dropping bombs on it.

     Every year they showed a video of District 13's baren surface as a reminder of what could happen to any district, should they dare to defy the President and turn against Panem.

     Scarlet and her brother sat in silence as the train sped along. Even at the current speed of the train, the tunnel felt never ending. Though the panic had faded with the knowledge of Crimson's presence and the feeling of his hand on hers, the darkness was suffocating. A weight that pressed down on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.

     She was glad that at this moment it was Crimson here with her. Whatever plans he had in store for her. Whatever they were forced to do in the Arena. It didn't matter. Everything disappeared into the darkness. And for one more moment, Crimson and Scarlet were just brother and sister.

     Then, just as suddenly as the darkness had come, light flooded the car.

     She closed her eyes against the light that threatened to render her both deaf and blind.

     Scarlet sways where she sits as the train decelerates. The vibrations that she felt constantly in her feet throughout the entire train ride grew fainter with each passing second. Crimson lowered his hand from hers but stayed seated next to her as they turned to the windows looking out at what they'd only seen glimpses of on television.

     The Capitol. They heart of Panem and the home of the Nation's President.

     The images of the Capitol, shared on the television, weren't changed or altered in any way. The Capitol was magnificent. Grand. If anything, the images that had been broadcasted, hadn't managed to capture the grandeur of the city. But then again, how could cameras capture what she saw before her now?

     Glistening buildings, in all sorts of hues and colors, towered high into the air. Shiny cars rolled down wide, freshly paved streets. People of every shape and size and even color, were scattered about with their bizarre hair and painted faces and weird attire.

     Scarlet didn't know if it was because of how fast they were traveling, but she would swear that she had never seen colors like this before. From the perfect blue of the clear sky to the bright green of the soft-looking grass and the perfectly shaped tops of every tree. Everything was perfect.

     The expanse of the grass beckoned her. She wanted to jump from the train just to step on it. She wanted to see if it felt as soft as it looked and feel what dirt felt like against her toes and the soles of her feet. Scarlet had read about grass. And she knew that under the layers of snow at District 14 was some kind of dirt.

     Scarlet had read that some people were allergic to it. Was she? If she stepped on it, or rolled around in it would she get sick? Would she die?

     One year, long before she had been born, there was a tribute from District 3 who had survived the bloodbath only to die of an allergic reaction of some kind the moment they had entered the surrounding woods.

     The people nearest to the train began to come into focus instead of being outrageous looking blobs of color and shape. Scarlet watches as they begin to point at the train. She wasn't sure if they were reacting to Crimson and her through the window or if they just recognized the train as one of the trains carrying tributes. Regardless, the children began jumping up and down, pulling at the adult that they were with. Smiles were on every face and excitement practically vibrating the air around them.

     As the train made its final approach to the station where they would disembark, he stood from the seat they shared and smiled at the growing crowd outside their window. He waved to the crowd and whatever excitement they had felt before seemed to grow exponentially as they finally took notice of the two of them.

     The train stops, jarring her body roughly and her stomach shifts for a moment, unused to being still after such a long time spent in a moving train.

     Her brother bumps her shoulder, drawing her attention away from the crowd and towards the opening door. Penelope swarms into the room, her hands fluffing up the fake curls of her wig and fresh yellow powder adorning her face. "Alright, come now. It'll be time to go soon."

     Today she was dressed in a puffy blue dress, that matched the blue of her lips, but instead of thick white sleeves on her arms, she wore a myriad of different bracelets and jewels.

     Scarlet looked back out the window at the ever-growing crowd. She reads some of the lips of those closest to the train window.

     "It's the train from District 14!"

     "The Twins."

     Her eyes caught on a mother and son walking hand in hand, who had stopped to watch their train's arrival.

     "It's the twins! Mom, it's the twins from District 14! Look at them! Look at them! They're only twelve years old. I can't wait to watch them in the Arena! Do you think they'll die right away?—"

     She had to look away to hide her disgust. That boy couldn't've been more than six years old. Six. What was wrong with these people?

     She looked up to her brother and found him talking to Penelope.

     "Where are we going first?"

     Scarlet internally rolled her eyes at his question. Crimson already knew where they would be going from here. He just wanted to deepen his hold on his well of information.

     As expected, Penelope responds with the utmost enthusiasm. "From here we are going to be escorted to the Remake Center. Don't you worry about anything! District 14 might not be the most desired district for stylists, but this year, I have it on good authority that everyone is in for a grand surprise! Your stylists are both real up-and-comers!"

     Oh great, Scarlet thought silently. Newbies. Scarlet did not even try to conjure up what kind of horror awaited her and Crimson, but as long as Scarlet did not look like some breakable doll, she would make do.

     "...By the time they're done with you, you'll finally be somewhat presentable to civilized society!" Penelope glances over at the clock on the wall and then back at them. Scarlet watched as Penelope scanned her up and down very pointedly. "But we should get going. We don't want them to run out of time before you're made flawless." Penelope's face twisted in a grimace that Scarlet thought was meant to be a faux kind smile.

   Scarlet stood up from her seat, unwilling to argue. Scarlet can see the surprise in Penelope's eyes from her easy acquiesce and Scarlet cannot resist the urge to mess with her. 

She stepped close to Penelope Bright, stopping only when they were a few feet away from each one another. Scarlet makes a big show of perusing Penelope's body in the exact same manner in which Penelope had looked at her. 

     When she finished, she looked up, making sure to meet Penelope's eyes as she asked, "So, how long did they spend remaking you?" Penelope's shock sent a thrill through her, and Scarlet let her lips curl into a vicious smirk. "They probably ran out of time and had to call it quits, right?"