*sigh* Yes, it's been done. Twice. I just couldn't resist. You know what happens when the plot bunny comes a'knockin'.

Now I feel bad for not updating LAD. I only have until break is over to update my shit. (I was in Washington for the past week, leave me alone.

;~;) But I'll try. Don't hurt me.

Anyways, have fun reading. =u= *waves with KK plushie*

This is set after Katniss, who never pulled out those berries.

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and this is probably the shittiest you've ever felt in your thirteen years of living.

Perched among the branches in a great maple tree, you gaze sullenly at the distant horizon, spotted with leafy green trees, the early morning sun just peeking over. The worn-down buildings of District 12 looms in the distance, not dotted with the dark shapes of the depressed people wandering among the Square. No one would be out today.

You scowl heavily, narrowing vivid red eyes. Today was the day of the Reaping, a day where the Capitol can kick down the lowly districts and spit in their faces, laughing, mocking, flaunting their power by forcing one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death. It's sick, it's cruel, but it's life. It's the Hunger Games.

You glance a ways past the ghost town that was the Square, towards the Seam, and the cluster of roach-infested, rotting, shitty shacks that are a shame to the word 'house'. But, that's where your home is, also where your sisters and your mother are waiting for you. Your eldest brother, on the other hand...

"Nithe view, KK?" calls a voice, heavy with lisp. You glance down, interrupted of your thoughts. It's hard to see through the mass of branches below.

"Oh, yes. It's a wonderful view of the shit stain on Panem's panties," you call down. Oh, you can just feel Sollux rolling his eyes at your colorful vocabulary, the asswipe.

"Stop angthting and come down, KK. Food isn't going to trade itself.'' Sollux calls. You scowl, wriggling your body, swearing under your breath and dropping down from branch to branch, until you finally hit the grassy floor below. Sollux has an annoying habit of nicknaming people with two letters of their name.

Sollux is a good head taller than you were, with the same black hair. His eyes are yellow, hidden behind red and blue glasses. You never knew why your eyes are different colors than the normal gray in this town. You never really bother to question it. On top of that, all your siblings have different last names, because you aren't really related. Your family just sort of... came together. It's honestly weird as fuck, and gives you a headache if you think too much about it.

Resting at Sollux's feet were two squirrels, and a rabbit. It's not much, but you don't have time to hunt until noon like normal. You would trade at the Hob, the Black Market of District 12, before the Reaping.

"Don't look tho down, KK, today ith a day of thelebration after all," Sollux mocks in a shit-tastic rip-off of the Capitol accent, which is only made more annoying by his lisp. You frown at him.

"Right, fucking celebration. I'm fucking overcome with immeasurable joy and excitement. And the urge to barf." you grumble. Sollux cracks a laugh.

"Let'th jutht go before the thtupid Reaping thtarts and we get in trouble for thomething other than poaching," Sollux says with a smile. With the amount of times you've both hunted in your lives, there would be no big 'Holy fuck why?' if bullets were put through your and Sollux's heads, as you were quite infamous for poaching. But with a family of five, it was necessary for you and Sollux to put your lives on the line. Your father died in a mine accident when you were young, leaving your mother to take care of you and your siblings. Sollux was the only one who remembered him. He was a mentor figure to you.

"Have you been practithing with your thickles?" he asks. You nod. Technically, you aren't supposed to train with any weapons, but Sollux saw it as a necessity, because he trains with bows and arrows every time they go hunting. The clean shot through one of the squirrel's eyes shows that practice.

Sollux sighs grimly, picking up the two squirrels. You pick up the rabbit, and the two of you head off.

You come to the fence, separating the Seam and the woods. It's supposed to run with electricity 24/7, but it normally isn't. It's supposed to keep the large animals out of the District, but Sollux always says with a scoff that they're really trying to keep us in. You listen for the hum of electricity anyways, and it's not present.

You and Sollux wriggle your way beneath a hollow in the ground, popping out on the other side. The two of you make an immediate B-line for the Hob.

The Hob is an abandoned coal warehouse, covered in black coal dust and stinking of something musty. It's the Black Market of District 12, where hunters can trade their meat and where illegal items like weapons can be bought. This is where you got your sickles.

You always came into the Hob with Sollux, ever since you were seven years old, when he first took you out to go hunting. The two of you were rather famous there, because your father was even more famous.

"Hello, boys," says Greasy Sae, the owner of the Hob. One of the patrons, a peacekeeper named Darius, waves to you. Just goes to show how much shit the Peacekeepers give about your hunting. Absolutely none. Greasy Sae and Sollux chat, like they always do, except this talk seems dull, not as animated as it normally is. You note this with a frown.

You trade the two squirrels for a loaf of bread and a hunk of goat cheese, and you keep the rabbit to eat.

You head home in an anxious silence. It pisses you off to no extent. You want to talk, to forget what today was, to forget the impending doom upon you and your family. But, hopefully your house wouldn't have its blinds closed. Hopefully no one would be drawn.

"Sollux, what happens if one of us is called?" you ask quietly. Sollux looks down at you, as if surprised you talked.

"Don't think about it, KK. You may jinxth it," he said grimly, knocking on a wooden cart as they passed. Knock on wood. That was a stupid superstition. You voice your thoughts, giving Sollux a look that screamed 'What are you, seven?'

"It may be thtupid, but it giveth uth hope, KK," Sollux said grimly. You frown. Hope wasn't something easily come by in District 12, but Sollux always says to keep your chin up, to show the Capitol that you are unaffected by their games, that their main goal is to make you give up hope, and you shouldn't give them that satisfaction.

"But, thinthe we're the only oneth that hunt, if you're called I may take NP hunting with me," he says with a shrug. "Nothing elth would change, if you weren't called. TZ or NP would want us to stay strong." You nod, staring at the goat cheese in your hand, reflecting upon his words. You stop thinking about it as soon as you feel your eyes sting up a bit.

When you get home, you're greeted by your sisters, Terezi and Nepeta. Sollux is nineteen, Terezi's younger than Sollux by three years and blind, and Nepeta's younger than you by one and has an unhealthy obsession with cats. Today would be Nepeta's first year of the Reapings. You had to be between ages twelve and eighteen to qualify. Nepeta wanted to sign up for the tessera. Tessera is for the shit-poor people, where if you enter your name more than once you get a meager years' supply of grain and oil. You and Sollux forbade Nepeta from signing up for tessera, even though you and Terezi signed up for it. That would be enough.

Your mother smiles at you, a reassuring smile, and your family eats rabbit stew and some of the cheese and bread in silence. You don't feel very hungry, hell, you feel like you're about to fucking vomit all over, but you eat anyways.

After eating, everyone dresses nicely, but your mother pulls you and your sisters to the side to make you look nice for the Reaping. Terezi is dressed in a teal dress that comes down to her thighs, a grin on her face, her red glasses obscuring her unseeing eyes, which are the same color as her dress. Nepeta is dressed in a blue dress, one that was poofy at the sleeves.

"I look pawsitively adorable!" Nepeta exclaims, giggling as Terezi sniffs at her dress with a mischievous grin.

"You smell like flowers," Terezi points out with a grin. You roll your eyes at her. God, your siblings were annoying.

Your mother works on making you look spic-and-span, because if you're going to look like shit, you have to look at least like presentable shit at the Reapings. She hands you a vibrant red shirt, with dark pants, and you're disappointed to see that you look good in them. You despise the color red. You shudder, remembering your nightmares, the walls dripping with red, clawed hands reaching for you, tearing at your skin, spilling red, red, red-

You snap out of your dwellings, feeling sick, as your mother says your name wearily. You look at her, sighing. You examine yourself in the mirror as she attempts to make your tousled hair stay neat. You examine your skin, pale, like your family's. You are very slender, due to many missed meals, but you aren't bone skinny. You are very limber, flexible, not stocky like Terezi and Sollux. Your vibrant candy-red eyes are rimmed with dark bags, due to many nights without sleep. You kept your insomnia hidden up to age ten, until Sollux found out and you were forced to share a bed with him. It's embarrassing, but it works. You don't have many nightmares anymore.

Your mother releases you from her hold, giving up with trying to tame your hair. Sollux smirks at you, and you retort with your middle finger.

When it comes time for the Reapings, you and your family hobble on over to the Square, where the Reapings take place. As you walk towards the large group, Nepeta grabs your hand and looks up at you. She looks like she's about to be sick, her wide emerald eyes staring at you fearfully. You feel the same, but you have to look out for her, be strong. Normally she annoys you to no extent, on any other day you would wrench your hand away and say you were too old to hold hands, but you end up giving her hand an assuring squeeze in return, before you break off to stand with your age group.

You spot Terezi, and she turns her head towards you, waving with her cane. It kinda unsettles you, how she can sense you without her eyesight, but you wave back, and turn forwards.

The Mayor Undersee comes up, accompanied by Effie Trinket. Effie is sporting a flamboyant pink wig and a big grin that makes you sick to your fucking stomach. The stupid Capitol accent she speaks in only makes it worse. You find yourself growling under your breath, and immediately stop yourself.

You wrinkle your nose at her, only barely listening as they play the national anthem, and the mayor reads off the history of Panem, how the Districts rebelled against the Capitol and lost, and in return the Districts must submit one boy and one girl to fight to the death, this is the 80th annual Hunger Games, blah blah blah. You hear it all the time in school, and you don't really give two flying fucks.

And up comes the Victors. They live over in Victors' Village, where the houses are so big that they could fit five of your tiny-ass houses in there.

Haymitch Abernathy is drunk, as always, and he does this weird little wave-thing and throws one arm around Katniss Everdeen, who looks like she's ready to punch him. The Victors are well-respected in District 12, even though Haymitch is a bit of a joke.

"And, let the Reapings begin! Ladies first," calls Effie, with another sickening grin, as she dips her hand into the giant glass bowl filled with little slips of paper that hold the names of all the girls in the district. In there are 40 slips of paper with the name Terezi Pyrope on it, and one with Nepeta Leijon on it. You wince, feeling your stomach writhe like a fish out of water. You cross your fingers. Please not my sisters, fuck, not Nepeta, Terezi has no chance, she's blind. Oh god, not them, please please please-

"Our female tribute, for the 80th Annual Hunger Games is..." Effie pulls out a slip of paper. You hold your breath.

"Vriska Serket!" you exhale, watching the dark haired girl stalk haughtily up to the stage, where two Peace Keepers lead her into the Justice Building. You've passed her once or twice in school, but you don't like her much. She's blind in one eye, apparently.

"Let's have a round of applause for our female tribute!" A scattered applause rings through the watching people. "And time for our male tribute!"

Effie's hand disappears into a second bowl. Your muscles are tense, your eyes narrowed, you're praying and praying that it's not you, not you.

Any other day, and Fate chooses now to be a bitch. It's like that one time you were scoping up in a tree for game, and you slipped and plummeted ten feet. When you had hit the ground, all the breath had rushed from your lungs.

"Our male tribute for the 80th Hunger Games is... Karkat Vantas!"

Well, that's that. Not as long as I hoped it would be, but never fear, my lovelies! The chapters following will be longer, hopefully.

No, this is NOT going to be a KarkatxVriska story. I don't even know if I'll make this have any pairings. Maybe GamKar... IDK.

Anyways. Read, review, be merry, fuck a sheep. Yeah.