Sunghoon does a double-take when he exits his room in the morning. Minjeong is sitting on the couch in their shared living room, staring blankly out the open windows with only the back of her head visible.

She is eerily silent, and from his angle it doesn't even look like she's breathing. Sunghoon is about to ask if she's alright when Eunbi places a hand on his shoulder from behind.

"She's been like that since she came back this morning. I wouldn't disturb her, dear." Quiet words spoken in earnest, yet it fails to erase the worry in her tone.

Sunghoon nods wordlessly, looking back once more before complying. He wishes the escort a good morning and enters the elevator moments later.

One of the tributes from Eleven is in there already, and they have an awkward stare down for the duration of the ride down. When they pick up the girl from Five she glances between them in confusion before bolting as soon as the elevator opens on the ground floor.

Sunghoon slips out before the other boy as well, making a beeline to the table that Jaeyun and Jungwon are already dining at.

"Good morning, Sunghoon. Ready for your private session today?" Jungwon quirks a smile, not even turning to look at him.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose." He shrugs, taking a plate from a passing avox.

"Sunoo is in there now with Nicholas and Saerom. Heeseung has been looking for K all morning— not even Karina seems to know where he is." Jaeyun sounds like the kids back in District Seven who would gossip whenever the teacher's back was turned.

"Apparently he was in the medical wing all night. He might still be pissed from yesterday." Jongseong comments as he joins the table.

"Truly; he's becoming much more irritable and erratic. If there was a time to start worrying it would be now, Sunghoon." He continues rather bluntly, and then Jungwon kicks him so hard the table shakes.

"Holy shit , Jungwon." Jongseong whines, holding his shin.

"You deserved it." The mentor huffs, continuing to sip his tea and turning away from him.

"Don't know what he did but he definitely deserved it." Riki chimes, sliding into the seat in front of Jaeyun.

"What a god awful way to start the morning." Jongseong groans, drinking half of his coffee in feverish sips.

The group makes some small talk about the weather, and what Sunghoon is going to do for the rest of the morning when an unavoidable presence approaches the table.

"Are you sure none of you have seen K?" A voice asks from behind Sunghoon, who stiffens when he feels a hand rest on the back of his chair.

"Nope, sorry man. It's not like I go out of my way to look for him." Riki shrugs, causing Heeseung to sigh and take the seat beside Sunghoon.

"We have the training center in ten minutes. He's not the type to skip out on practice, and with the events from yesterday... I'm nervous. The medical team said they released him this morning and now he's just gone." He groans, declining a plate from a passing avox.

"He's probably fine... just clearing his head." Jungwon smiles earnestly, asking for a coffee from a different avox which he passes to the elder.

"Well I hope so. We don't need him causing more trouble before the games even begin." Jaeyun groans, the entire table watching a stressed-looking Heeseung down the entire cup of still-scalding coffee clutched in his left hand.

He doesn't flinch.

"I feel like he's hiding something. Every fiber of my being is screaming that something is wrong." Heeseung admits, placing the cup down at the end of the table.

"Are you talking about K? Because I completely agree— that guy gives me the creeps whenever he's around." Sunoo appears out of nowhere, sitting down beside Riki.

"You're up by the way. Karina's already waiting for you, good luck."

Heeseung sighs, saying goodbye to the group and going to meet the girl waiting for him inside the center. No sooner disappearing behind the now-clouded doors.

"So, what do you have planned for us tonight?" Jongseong asks, knowing Sunoo has already made a forty-three page triple-checked plan of their itinerary.

"We leave at three, arrive by three-thirty. If we get checked in by three-forty we can probably spend five hours there at most before we need to leave and make it back before curfew." Sunoo chirps in summary, digging into his second breakfast.

"You think you'll be able to spend five hours there?" Riki asks, looking impressed.

"Not only is the museum a place full of history, but it will help Sunghoon understand more about the Divines and divinities if he runs into any in the arena." Sunoo tuts with his mouth full.

"I bet he doesn't even know the stories of the Thirteen Divines. Huh, Sunghoon?" Jongseong teases, and he can only respond with a shake of his head.

"We aren't taught about them at school. I'm pretty sure that the Capitol believes that if we know less we're less likely to rebel." Sunghoon admits, folding his hands.

"It's your right to know just as much as it was ours." Jungwon states from across the table. "Sunoo is an exceptional tour guide, I'm sure you'll know more than me by the end of the night."

"As long as he doesn't get off track and start rambling about some of his own experiences." Riki chuckles, to which Sunoo pouts in response.

"I don't get that off topic! I love teaching people about the Divines."

The two of them start bickering and the rest of the table sighs, turning to each other and pretending like they don't exist.

"You'll have a good time, Sunghoon." Jungwon concedes, and Jaeyun agrees, "My mentor was able to take me on a virtual tour during my games and I loved it! Museums can have a reputation for being boring but I thought it was really engaging."

"What are you going to do until your session, by the way?" Jongseong asks, "You still have like five hours to kill."

"Hm... I might take a nap. I'll probably need the energy for later and I haven't been able to rest since I got here." He admits, unsure of what he actually wanted to do considering the training center was booked out for the rest of the day.

"Good idea. Sunoo basically feeds off your energy so I'll probably end up sleeping after I'm done with my tributes as well." He agrees, slumping back in his chair.

The table exchanges short conversations about the other tribute's private sessions before Heeseung reappears at their table looking like a ghost. A steady trail of blood drips down his lip and stains his left hand.

"Oh, nasty cut. Where'd you get that from?" Jongseong cringes as the rest of the table turns their attention to him.

"K, who else? That fucker showed up halfway through and all he wanted to do was spar. I couldn't even fight back because I'm not technically allowed to harm my own tributes."

"That guy is mental." Jungwon huffs offhandedly, excusing himself to go and meet his tributes at the center.

"I mean, you don't look roughed up anywhere other than your lip. Clearly he isn't the best at hand to hand." Jaeyun offers.

Sunghoon twitches in his spot as he observes the older.

"He was mad. It's easier to dodge when his vision is clouded." Heeseung grunts, falling into the chair beside Sunghoon.

"Well, with the anger issues he seems to have that sounds like a good thing." Riki comments, leaning against the table.

Heeseung is about to respond when Sunghoon grabs a napkin from the table and leans over to press it against his lip without a second thought. His hand finds itself between the other's legs to steady himself, and he ducks his head a bit to see if he is getting to the source of the bleeding.

The rest of the table is stunned to silence, and Heeseung goes rigidly still underneath the unexpected touch.

In his daze, Sunghoon doesn't seem to notice any of it. He was used to his sister tripping and scraping herself back at home, so he became accustomed to having to clean, and stop wounds from bleeding more times than not. He hopes it doesn't get infected.

Sunghoon only realizes what he's done after he removes the napkin a minute or two later. He immediately flushes red.

"I am... so surprised that Heeseung didn't just deck him in the face." Riki says carefully, exchanging looks with Jaeyun.

"Yeah, if I did that I would be on the floor bleeding instead." Jongseong whispers.

"You guys are so dramatic. You wouldn't be bleeding! You'd probably be on the floor though..." Sunoo says humorously trying to take the attention off the pair.

Sunghoon pretends he's not listening, instead taking another napkin and splashing some water on it before wiping the remaining blood off the elder's hand. Most of it seemed to have come from his lip, there wasn't another wound there.

Heeseung has been extremely still since Sunghoon started cleaning his cut. His eyes follows Sunghoon's every move— not like the younger notices— and he blocked out what the others were saying just to focus on the boy in front of him.

When Sunghoon finally finishes, he presses the back of his hand against his lip to see if the bleeding actually stopped.

"Uhh, I don't think it needs to be cleaned... just make sure you keep an eye on it." He splutters, pulling away harshly once all the blood is wiped clean.

"Yeah, thanks." He responds carefully, completely void of emotion as he sits back up in his chair.

The table is still silent until Sunghoon excuses himself, practically disappearing into the elevator and stumbling into his apartment minutes later.

He's shocked to see Minjeong still sitting in the same spot as she was earlier that morning, but heeding Eunbi's warning he steps into his room and falls back onto his bed.

Why did you do that? He thinks to himself sheepishly, burying his head in the pillow.

Oh now he's going to think you're weird.

Sunghoon's mind is racing a mile a minute, and he tosses and turns in his bed a few times before sitting back up. His bedside drawer that he had been left untouched since moving in is finally opened and he rustles around some of the objects until he finds some sleeping pills— or at least some sort of pills.

Cool. Didn't even know I had these— probably would've been useful earlier this week . He shrugs, deciding to swallow some dry without reading the label and rolling back into the middle of his bed.

It only takes a few minutes for it to knock him out cold, and he feels his eyelids grow heavy as he falls into a deep slumber.

Sunghoon wakes from a start, jerking forward from his bed and feeling like he's trudging through honey as he scrambles to his feet.

Nothing seems to be out of place, but something is wrong . The hairs on the back of his neck are standing on end, and he feels every fiber of his being telling him to run in the opposite direction.

He scans the room multiple times and comes up empty handed. He trips on his way to the bedroom door, time seeming to slow as he opens up the door to reveal a darkened living room.

The blinds are closed and none of the lights are on. Sunghoon walks blindly around the room before he sees a silhouette sitting on the couch.

"Minjeong, is that you?" He calls hesitantly, moving towards them.

He stops dead in his tracks when the figure stands up— their height far surpassing his and the short hair indicating that this was definitely not his district partner.

"Sunghoon, it's good to see you." K's silhouette walks toward him and he takes a tentative step back.

"Can't say the same thing about you." He responds, narrowing his eyes at the approaching figure.

"Come on, I just want to talk." The boy's voice is velvety.

A calm before the storm. Sunghoon feels a chill go down his spine.

"Sunghoon." The voice is distorted but his attention snaps right back to K's face.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything." K replies rather bluntly, stepping back and walking around the couch towards the windows.

Sunghoon backs up far enough until he reaches the side table, picking up one of the candlesticks behind his back.

"Are you here to monologue at me? What do you want?" He asks, keeping his hands behind his back and walking a little closer.

"No. I'm merely here to warn you." He sounds bored, tired even, as his silhouette slouches against the sill.

"Warn me of what? That you're going to kill me again?" He growls, and the boys laughs lightheartedly.

"Of course. But there's one other thing." He says, and Sunghoon clutches the make-shift weapon behind his back.

"What?"

K brings the blinds up, and even though it was impossibly dark outside, Sunghoon can still see what he is trying to show him. He freezes.

The entirety of K's face is a mangled mess. Blood drips slowly down his neck— something gory and stringy hanging out of his empty eye socket. There is a slit that extends the left side of his mouth and his fingernails are as long as claws that look like they can tear through him in a single swipe.

He looks like a demon sent from hell. Like he was charred in the flames of eternity only to be brought back as the sick manifestation in front of him.

"What the fuck?" Sunghoon cries, stepping behind the dining table as K starts walking towards him.

Every step closer it seems like he's growing in height, stumbling awkwardly and knocking into the furniture as he passes.

"Sunghoon." The same garbled voice calls out to him, and he feels the air around him turning viscous.

It feels like he's drowning.

His head pounds at every step K takes toward him, and it's almost enough to bring him to his knees.

"I warned you. I will kill you ." K's voice sounds clear, as if he's speaking, and then the voice turns deeper— scratchier, as if he hasn't drank in days.

When he gets too close, Sunghoon uses the rest of his energy to plunge the candlestick into him, but falls in shock once he blinks and wakes up in his own room. His real room.

Heeseung is standing over him, left hand gripping Sunghoon's— who is grasping a pen as a make-shift weapon.

Was I going to stab him?

Why did I dream of K?

What was wrong with him...