HAYMITCH AND SAGE WERE IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT TO THE TRAIN. Leaving Effie to escort Katniss and Peeta Mellark on her own. The entire way there, Sage could feel how tight every inch of him was. From his jaw to his fingers that were curled into such tight fists that he could feel nails stabbing into his palms. To keep himself from snapping at Haymitch for just shifting in his seat and moving a bit closer to Sage for a brief second, he focused on the pricks in his palms. He felt like if he stopped focusing on that, he'd snap. And he wasn't entirely sure what that would look like.

        So as soon as they arrived at the train, he stormed onto it. He must have looked unstoppable because neither the peacekeepers hesitated to open the doors, and not a single avox held out a glass of champagne as usual towards him. Instead they allowed him to pass them and head directly towards the room that he knew to always be his.

       As soon as he was in the room, he unrolled his fingers, and started stretching them. For a brief second, the sound and feeling of each of his knuckles popping was a welcomed feeling. He glanced down at his palms, a few small half-crescent cuts were there but hadn't quite drawn any blood. So as he began to pace his room he rubbed his hands together, and then on his jeans before trying to crack each of his knuckles again before repeating the entire pattern over again.

"He promised you, Sage," he muttered to himself, "he said you've kept your promise, there's no reason I wouldn't keep mine. He said that." he recalled President Snows' words the last time he was in the Capitol, as if he was trying to convince himself he was crazy. "So why was Prims' name picked?" Because that's what it came down to, if Prim hadn't been chosen. Katniss wouldn't have volunteered. "Idiot," he sighed, "why the hell would you volunteer." he stated, it was stupid. Katniss knew that. She must have. She saw what the games had done to him, sure she had been young. But she had been old enough. "But you would have volunteered too, you know that..." he sighed heavily, as he made another lap across his room and into his bathroom. "You would have volunteered to at least go with, or for your brother if you had one." he muttered leaning against the sink before he flipped his sink on. The cool water stung his palms, but it felt good to splash on his face.

He was spiralling. He could feel it. He knew he was. Sage rested his forehead in his palms as she rested his elbows on his counter. One, two, three. He repeated the numbers in his head before he even tried to make his list. Counting to three a few times helped him get control of himself again. It calmed down his mind enough for him to at least make his list.

"Today is reaping day." he started, "Peeta Mellark will be my tribute," he added, a bit reluctantly. "Haymitch will be Katniss's mentor." he sighed, finally straightening up his back a bit. "Haymicth helped me win. He can help Katniss win too. But that means Peeta can't."

        It was a stretch to convince himself that Haymitch would help Katniss win. Because if he did that, that meant Sage wouldn't help Peeta win— and despite desperately wanting Katniss to win, that meant that Sage would lose a sixth tribute. A sixth tribute that he couldn't bring home.

"Hey,"

Haymitch's voice filled Sages' room but not with a greeting, more like a sound to just cut through the silence and through whatever cloud Sage had begun to lose his head in.

Sage turned and pushed his bathroom door open all the way. Relieved to see Haymitch standing in his doorway with his usual flask for himself and a glass for Sage.

"This year should be interesting." Haymitch stated as Sage dried his hands and then rubbed his hands across his face to get the water off, he rubbed his hands on his shirt then before taking the glass from Haymitch.

"That's one way to put it." Sage huffed, taking a drink from his glass. He made a mental note of how quiet his head was. It had been a few years since he found himself spiraling like that, and the last time he hadn't been able to pull himself out of it so quickly. But he knew that as soon as he arrived to the Penthouse, he would begin to again.

"We might even have a chance this year," Haymitch assured him, "Sage Everdeen's little sister, she barely has to even try to get sponsors. As long as she can make sure people like her, she'll be set."

Sage scoffed, "She's not exactly a people person, so good luck with that." he replied.

       But he was right. Katniss had to do the bare minimum to even try to get sponsors. As soon as Haymitch got his communicuff, he'd probably already have a list of sponsors who had chosen they would have their bets on his sister as soon as she volunteered. On top of being his sister— a volunteer went a long way. Especially one who volunteered for a purpose. Her purpose was to keep Prim home in District Twelve. That would be enough to give her an early edge against the other tributes.

"Haymitch, you're really going to try, aren't you?" Sage questioned, for a brief second Sage felt the air around him begin to thicken, feeling heavy as he breathed it in. "Whatever you did to help me win, you're gonna do it again. Right?"

Briefly, Haymitch looked a bit offended. "As if I don't try every year-"

"-You know what I mean, Haymitch." Sage stated sharply before quickly finishing what was in his glass. "I feel bad for the boy." Sage stated, not being able to bring himself to say his name out loud. "If it comes down to him and Kat, Kat is coming home."

"I feel bad for him because he's stuck with you as his mentor." Haymitch mumbled before tipping his flask back against his lips as the two of them made their way out of Sages' room and to the dining car. Where they would wait to greet the newest tributes for District Twelve.

"I'd agree." Sage replied, not giving Haymitch the irritated response he was probably expecting as they took a seat at the table.

        Sage tried to focus on the hum of the train. The engines had become a nice sound that Sage had grown used to over the years. He could vividly remember them sounding so foreign to him the first time he was on the train. But now they could practically lull him to sleep. They reminded him he wasn't yet in the Capitol. He wasn't yet going to have to put on his act for the Capitol, or come face to face with her again. Yet another name he could even make himself think of. When she ended up in the Capitol, Sage should have known President Snow wasn't one to keep his word. Then again, she wasn't included in the promise President Snow made after his Victory Tour. But Sage should have made sure she had been.

        Sage let out a small sigh as he pushed back from the table and made his way towards the cart that carried crystal bottles of the Capitol's best whiskeys and wines. So much for nobody ever finding out, he thought. She had been one of his best kept secrets for four years, one that made him hate seeing the Hawthorn family. Perhaps if he told them about her they'd hate him enough to tell him to just stay away, that would have made it easier in some ways. Not having to pretend things were okay when he saw them. They'd tell him to keep his supplies, he'd know they hated him as much as he did. But they only hated him enough to take his offering but talk about him behind his back. They blamed him for not being there. Katniss blamed him too. And at times, he blamed himself. But he mainly blamed himself for not covering her with the deal he made with President Snow. Then again, that deal didn't seem to mean much to Snow anymore.

"Sage," Haymitch spoke up, snapping Sage out of his thoughts. Sage turned to look at him only to see the older Victor holding his flask out towards him from his seat.

           But before Sage took the flask from him, the doors to the train opened, and Peeta Mellark stepped through the door. Followed by a stone faced Katniss. However as soon as she stepped onto the train, her eyes widened as she saw the elegant decor and the table already filled with fruit and baked sweets for them to snack on before dinner.

"Welcome aboard," Effie smiled as she stepped on behind them before the door shut, sealing the five of them on the train. "help yourself, but save room for dinner this evening." she told the two teenagers who approached the table.

"Kat," Sage sighed heavily turning away from the cart and approaching the two tributes. Stepped past his own tribute and immediately pulling Katniss into his arms. "Kat, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Why don't I show you where you'll be sleeping tonight." Effie stated, ending whatever conversation was about to begin. It wasn't one that Peeta had to hear and she knew that. Effie put a hand on Peeta's shoulder. "I'm sure Sage and Haymitch were just in the middle of something."

Katniss looked to Effie and then back at Sage, as if to ask him if it was true. "I'll come see you in a few minutes, alright?" he told her, before he glanced past Effie and to his own tribute.

A wave of guilt washed over him.

"Then I'll come see you, Peeta." Sage stated, dropping his arms from Katniss. "We can start discussing your plan for when we get to the Capitol."

Peeta nodded a bit, his shoulders relaxed a bit. As if relieved to know that Sage and Haymitch wouldn't both be there for Katniss. Leaving him in the dust. And if it helped him to at least think that, then Sage would have to at least give him a reason to believe he had a chance like Katniss.

         Effie ushered the two away from Sage and Haymitch. Leaving the two of them, shooting Sage an apologetic look as she passed him.

          Sage waited in silence with Haymitch until Effie returned. They hadn't been in the middle of anything important when they arrived, but getting both Katniss and Peeta away from one another into their rooms so Sage could go see Katniss without Peeta wondering what that meant for him— it was a good idea. And he knew that Effie had been thinking of that. In their team alone, Peeta was the underdog. Katniss had the upper hand, and if Peeta saw that clearly within the team, then it would make it even harder for him over the next few days. So as soon as Effie approached the table, and began bombarding Haymitch with questions about why he had been late again (the same conversation Haymitch had to suffer through for the last few years), Sage left the table. Making his way to the room across from the control room, the same room that had been Deedee's six years ago.

Sage gave Katniss the courtesy of knocking before he slid the door open.

"Sage, I'm sorry-" before Sage could entirely close the door behind him Katniss was hugging him again. "-we thought we had hidden in time-"

"Hidden?" Sage echoed, hugging her back only briefly before practically prying her off of him. "What exactly were you trying to hide from?" he questioned.

"The Capitol Ship when it was getting into Twelve..." she told him, turning away and quickly rubbing her eyes.

         For a brief second Sage was angry. He had told her time and time again that if she insisted on going beyond the fences, to watch the sky. She knew better. She knew how to stay hidden. She knew what could happen if she had been seen. It wasn't a matter of even if. It was a matter of when. The ships could catch a face from miles away, Snow had made that crystal clear when they had first met.

Sage sighed heavily, briefly counting in his head. This time not to get control of his thoughts, this time to stop himself from saying I told you so. It made sense why Prim had been chosen now. Not only was it a consequence for Sage for not convincing Katniss to stop hunting, but to Katniss for doing it. "You probably were," Sage lied, the last thing Katniss needed to know was that it had been her fault Prim had been reaped to begin with. It wouldn't take a genius to connect the dots, Katniss would know it had been because of that morning that he had been chosen too. "This was just bad luck."

Katniss crossed her arms, a sad attempt to look tough, standing in the center of the room. "You're my mentor aren't you?" Despite her crossed arms, her shoulders were slumped and a hint of both fear and grief were still in her eyes.

"Like you would listen to me if I was." Sage replied, instantly regretting his words because Katniss narrowed her eyes. "Kat, I wish I was. But I can't be."

"I'm stuck with Haymitch?"

"I won."

Katniss cocked her head to the side, "Alright one of how many? Twenty-something?"

Sage sighed heavily, "Try not to get hung up on that, who's whose mentor. Both of us want you to win. But I can't technically be your mentor. If Haymitch wasn't here, that would be different. But they see that as a...a...unfair advantage for all the tributes. Kai Marsh couldn't be her sisters' either."

"Then what about Peeta? If you're both wanting me-"

"Don't start worrying about him," Sage ordered, "listen, Peeta will be an ally. Yes. But you can't worry about him. Just worry about yourself. From start to finish, Kat-"

"Will you even be trying to help him?" Katniss asked sharply.

Sage sighed heavily, "I will be his mentor."

"But will you be helping him?"