THE SOUND OF THE OLD LEAVES AND TWIGS CRUNCHING BENEATH THEIR FEET WAS ALL SAGE HEARD THE WHOLE WAY BACK TO THE FENCE. Katniss didn't breathe a word, and neither did Ella. Katniss barely even looked at Sage. It gave him plenty of time to think about the reaping that would taking place soon. All that he could think about were the slips of paper that were in the bowl full of names of boys in Twelve that read his name. He could still hear Ella asking; what if this is the year?

Sage really didn't think it was, it couldn't be. There were boys who had entered their names more than his own, but the closer they got the fences; the heavier his feet became. Like concrete slabs that he wasn't going to be able to move much further.

Sage glanced at Katniss as he crouched down to tuck his bow and arrow away in their hiding place, "Kat," he started, "let's not tell ma about the ship, alright?" he told her.

Sage had hoped she would say something, but all he got as a response was a nod without even looking at him as she tied the sack of animals tightly so she could carry it without risking dropping any of it.

Sage looked at Ell, who gave him a look as if to tell him she had told him he shouldn't have yelled at her like he had. Especially on a day like this. Ella sighed a bit before adjusting her jacket on her shoulders before turning and walking away. Leaving Sage with Katniss; however as soon as Ella began to walk away, Katniss turned to try and catch up with her to avoid Sage.

"Kat," Sage called after her, but when she didn't turn around, he swiftly caught up with her in just a few long strides. "Katniss." he said, but still despite being right next to her, she didn't look at him. "Hey, I'm talking to you, Kat." he said, elbowing her like he usually did when she was quiet on the way back from school.

And after a moment of continued silence, Sage heard her stifle a small sniffle. "I'm s-sorry I al-almost got us ca-caught." she stammered as kept her eyes towards the ground so could hide her face from him. "I-I was just scared," she added, her voice coming out a bit smoother. "I didn't know what to do."

Sage sighed, glancing at Ella who was a fair distance ahead of them. "It's okay, Kat." he told her, "I'm sorry too," he added, "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"Do you think they saw me?"

Sage shook his head, "No, I don't think so." he said, looking up towards the fence he could see clearly where Ella already was. "They'd be there, meeting us at the fence."

            The Everdeen home was alive by the time they approached the house. The curtains were drawn back, and the windows were open. From outside, Sage could hear Prim chatting away with their mother in the kitchen.

"Can I show mom what we got?" Katniss asked, her demeanor had changed completely and once again she was proud of their time outside the fences.

Sage nodded and handing her his sack, "Go for it."

With that, Katniss hurried up to the house, leaving Sage and Ella.

"Do they know you entered more than seven times?" she asked, turning and looking up at him with her arms crossed over her chest. She arched one of her eyebrows sharply.

            All Sage could do was shake his head. Months ago, shortly after Kai Marsh passed through District Twelve for her Victory Tour— Sage and Ella made a deal to only enter the required seven times. And they both told their families that they would find other ways to get by. Sage hadn't been able to build up the nerve to tell his parents he entered more than he agreed to.

"But it's fine, I'm not going to be chosen." he assured her, "So please, just stop worrying about it. Alright?"

Ella let out a long huff of air, "Okay, okay..." she muttered and then gave Sage a quick peck on his cheek, "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Alright,"

            Ella turned and began to make her way deeper into the Seam, and Sage turned and walked up the dirt path, and up the two steps and into the house. Both sacks were now on the counter, no doubt their mother was waiting to go through them when Prim wasn't in the kitchen anymore. She had a habit of not wanting anything to do with any sort of meat if she saw what it was before their mother cooked it. At the table was Prim, sitting on her knees on the kitchen chair, before her was a piece of paper and the broke colored pencils that were practically nubs; Sage made a mental note to check the Hob for some newer ones. Prim was all ready to go, her hair was still wet, but was already braided. Pushed aside from her drawing was an empty glass and a few bites of toast left that she hadn't finished.

"Well, about time," his mother, Rose, announced as she stepped out of the girls' room. Shutting the door behind her. "before you sit down and eat, please get ready." she said.

Sage sighed heavily, "Yes, ma'am." he said as he made his way across the kitchen and made his way into his own room.

            He kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket onto his bed before he made his way to the small closet he had and went to the back of his clothes. He opted for the same shirt he had worn the year before, a dark blue one and found the nicest pair of pants that he owned. In all honesty, he didn't mind the fact that they had to dress up; unlike Katniss who was starting to pick up on the sick reason they had to and just would have rather worn her casual clothes like she wore when she went hunting. But the fact that they just had to look presentable for the cameras left a bitter taste in his mouth about the whole thing.

"This is the last year," he muttered out loud to himself as he pulled on the change of clothes. At least for him. He would be lying if he said there wasn't a part of him that  wanted to get reaped— then there was a chance, a microscopic chance, Prim and Katniss wouldn't ever have to enter more than necessary. Not ever. But those odds definitely weren't good.

      Sage stepped out of his room and began to walk towards the table, but his mother stepped in front of him. Put her hands on his shoulders, and looked him over. Her steely blue eyes landed on his face and studied him.

"Aren't you going to shave?" she asked arching an eyebrow.

Sage groaned as he turned to go into the bathroom, "There's no point, I'm not going to be reaped. It doesn't matter." he stated irritably as he gathered his things from the countertop in the bathroom.

"It matters to me, dear." she replied as she began to get some breakfast ready for him.

       If Sage had any say in the matter, he'd never shave or cut his hair. But he had no say in the matter at all, his mother was always at his throat telling him to shave and if he let his hair grow to be too long and shaggy, Ella would cut it herself if she had to. So once he was finished, he stepped back into the kitchen for a final inspection from his mother and sat down to eat as Prim drew. And Katniss called from the bedroom for their mother's help— and as if on cue, their father hurried into the house. He had been promoted to a manager in the mines, so on days that the mines were closed like reaping day he still had to go in and do check of everything.

"Morning," he huffed from his long hike across the district. As he walked past the table, he kissed the top of Prims head and patted Sage's shoulder firmly. "Where's katnip?"

"Getting ready." Sage replied as he took a bite of his toast, "Ma's in there with her." he added.

             Their father, Soren Everdeen, looked more like Katniss. While Prim and Sage both took after their mother. Katniss had dark hair like their father and grey eyes too while Prim and Sage both sported straw colored blonde hair and steely blue eyes like their mother. And like Katniss, their father hated having to get ready for something like the games. He hated being forced into nice clothes that almost seemed to mock the district since most people didn't wear that nice of things any other day.

"Sage," Prim started, her eyes not moving from the drawing in front of her. "do you get scared on the reaping days?"

Sage froze for a second as he took another bite of food.

"Mrs. Allen says that it's okay to be scared of the reaping." Prim continued, "And Vince says that his sister is always scared of it, and I told him that you aren't. But he doesn't believe me."

Scared wasn't exactly a strong enough word to describe how Sage felt about the reaping. He kept saying he wasn't going to be reaped, but that was partially just to convince himself. But the last thing he wanted was to tell Prim that.

"Sometimes I get scared about it," he confessed, "but not this year."

"Do you think mom and dad were scared of the reaping?" she asked, finally looking up from her drawing. "When I can enter in the reaping, I'm not gonna be afraid. Mrs. Allen says whenever you feel like you might be scared of something, to just keep your chin up-" Prim said, hopping off of her chair and demonstrating by holding her chin up, "and stand up straight, and then you won't be afraid anymore." she said confidently as she finished her demonstration before climbing back onto her chair. "There, now you don't even have to be nervous this year. Just remember to keep your chin up and stand up straight."

"Prim," Sage paused, "you can tell Mrs. Allen that is some of the best advice I have ever heard."

           Prim smiled and went back to her drawing as Katniss emerged from the other room with her hair pulled back and in a light purple dress that she looked extremely unhappy to be in. She sat down next to Prim as their mother began to get her breakfast ready. And a few moments later, their father emerged from their bedroom and was dressed in the best clothes he had. He stood next to their mother and got his own breakfast— this was a normal morning for them. The five of them eating breakfast and getting ready to head off somewhere, usually to work or to school. But today, it was the reaping.

       After a bit longer, they all left the house and began the journey to the town center. There a stage was set up by now in front of the Hall of Justice, and no doubt the crystal bowls were already in place. Filled with the names of all the children who were eligible for the reaping. One of them holding pieces of paper that had Sage Everdeen written on them. The square was also divided by now, having designated areas for each age group; boys on one side and girls on the other.

       As they neared the square, Sage saw a growing line for check in. So he quickly said a brief goodbye to his parents and sisters before hurrying to join the line before it grew to be unbearably long. In the line around him, there were a few people a knew; Josh Timberson, Will Carter, and Davide King were just to name a few. But he didn't pay too much attention. The older you got, the more you didn't want to know anybody. Once you were in the reaping a few times, you were intentional about not speaking to anyone around you. It seemed like it made it easier to walk away from the square after the reaping without being too affected by any of it.

"Finger,"

Sage held out his finger toward the peacekeeper, and they pricked it and waited for his information to pop up.

"Go ahead." they stated after a moment, and motioning for Sage to walk past them and to the usual designated area for the eighteen year old boys.

      He had to admit, it felt much better than he had expected to be in that group. He could feel the relief among everyone around him as the group grew as people flowed into the square. None of them would be forced to enter the reaping, and the odds of one of them not being chosen were decent. It would mean each of them made it through every year alive.

      However there was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as the lines began to get to the tail end, and three familiar faces stepped onto the stage. The first being Mayor Undersee, a tall and slender man with dark eyes that constantly had dark bags under them. He wasn't really ever the type to make a huge ordeal about the games. He even let Sage off with a warning once when he was caught selling some venison— he even bought some. Second on stage was Effie Trinket, a colorful citizen of the Capitol who had become District Twelves escort only a year earlier. She sported a different look than last year, this year it happened to be a purple theme— she stuck out like a sore thumb on the stage. Then finally, Haymitch Abernathy stepped up next. His usual exhausted and quite hung over look was still present as he sat down next to Effie while Mayor Undersee took center stage to do his usual speech to kickoff the reaping. The look of the stage was dull and depressing besides the look of Effie.

"— Thank you." Mayor Undersee finished, just as the anthem of Panem began to play over the speakers that lined the front of the stage. Then the screen to the right of the stage that was tied up for all to see began to show the usual propaganda film. Yet one more thing Sage chose not to pay much attention to.

      When he was younger, before Katniss was even a thought— the film gave him nightmares for a few nights after they watched it in the town square. The explosions that left buildings completely destroyed, the dramatically placed skulls, and hurt children it showed— it terrified him as a child. He couldn't help but wonder if the Capitol would ever do what they did to Thirteen, to Twelve. But as he got older, he learned that was exactly what they wanted the districts to fear. And it worked— every year.

"Isn't that just amazing?" Effie Trinket beamed as she stepped up to the mic, her hands clapping together in front of her for a moment as everyone's eyes turned from the screen with the powerful looking young man standing among gold and jewels, illustrating what a Victor would have. As tempting as the gold and jewels looked to Sage. He knew it wasn't accurate. It didn't exactly look like Haymitch, the fearless Victor of the fiftieth Hunger Games. "Welcome, welcome, welcome," she began, changing the tone of her excitement. "the time has come once again to choose a very lucky young man and woman who will have the honor of representing District Twelve in the sixty-eighth annual Hunger Games."

       Sage let out a heavy sigh, his heart began to pound. Even though he knew he just had to make it through this last year, his heart was racing. What if Ella was right for worrying? What if this was the year he'd be chosen? What if Ella was chosen? Would he volunteer to go with her? To help her win? Or would the tributes be kids he had never even seen? Either way, it was like these designated areas were like corrals, all packed with pigs that were ready to be shipped off to the slaughterhouse and none of them knew who was next.

       Effie cleared her throat, snapping Sage's thoughts back to what was surrounding him. She took a few steps towards the bowl that held the names of all the girls of the ages between twelve and eighteen and dramatically snatched a piece of paper before stepping back up the mic.

"Dedee Cole!" Effie exclaimed dramatically before enthusiastically clapping for the girl she picked.

      But nobody joined her. Nobody in the square moved more than the inch they needed to peer around...looking for the new tribute. After a few moments, one of the younger groups shifted and a girl stepped out. Sage couldn't make her out until she was on the steps, walking up to Effie. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were flushed red. Her whole body seemed tense, almost as if she was fighting back tears. But she didn't look much older than thirteen.

"Congratulations, dear," Effie smiled as she put a hand on Dedee's shoulder and directing her to her proper mark on the stage. "and now, for the gents." she smiled as she looked out at the faces staring up at her.

      Sage watched as she walked towards the bowl in front of the boys. She hovered her hand over the bowl for a moment before snatching up a piece of paper. She held it up in the air like a trophy as she went back to mic...

"Sage Everdeen!"

     With those two words, Sage suddenly wished he was back in his bed this morning with Prim sound asleep beside him. In those brief moments before he was completely awake, when the warm breeze and the light in the sky was all he had to focus on. That was all he could think about for a second that seemed like hours, and then it was Katniss's eyeroll when they were discussing whether or not she would go hunting. Followed by the split second he thought he'd lose Katniss outside the fences all the way to Prim's naive and childish advice from Mrs. Allen; chin up and stand up straight. A childish method to not be afraid of ghost stories, or the dark. Or the kid at school who trips you every day on your way to class.

      Sage's feet felt like they had melded to the ground. He couldn't move them, he just wanted to crumble into the dirt beneath him. He had never wanted to vanish so much, foolishly he thought for a moment that if he didn't move, that if he stayed still enough they would choose someone else. But he knew that wasn't possible.

So he held his head up, focused on doing what Prim told him. No matter how foolish it was; chin up and stand up straight.

stay classy! I'm

*edited*