Dean sat back; his stomach completely stuffed. He'd eaten so much he thought he'd be full for a week. He'd made sure that they always had enough to eat ever since he turned 12, but they had never eaten like this before.

Sam sat back too, and put his hands on his small stomach. "Oh man, that was good," Sam said with a smile. He looked up at Dean to see if he felt the same and Dean nodded in agreement.

"You two must be Sam and Dean," a tall-thin man said as he walked into the compartment. He smiled at both of them and Dean instantly recognized him as Garth Fitzgerald, one of their mentors. He'd won his Hunger Games a few years ago. Dean remembered almost laughing when the tall-gangly boy from their district won.

Sam smiled over at Garth, but Dean couldn't help but look at him with distrust. Garth was only a few years older than him and he couldn't see how Garth would be much help. Garth kept smiling at them though, and then sat across from them.

"I see you guys found the food," Garth said happily. "Which food was your favorite?"

"I liked the strawberries and Dean liked the pie," Sam replied with a wide smile.

"That's probably the best part about the Capital," Garth said, like he was telling Sam a secret. "All the food you can eat."

"So, you're supposed to keep us alive?" Dean asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"I'm going to do everything I can," Garth replied seriously.

Dean looked over at Sam who was looking back at him curiously. "Why don't you go to the compartment with the TV in it?" Dean suggested to Sam. He looked at him for a second, and then Dean said, "I'll find you in just a minute." Sam finally nodded and went to the next apartment over.

"Dean, I'm sorry about-" Garth started, but Dean held up his hand to stop him.

"I just want to make it very clear that Sam lives," Dean said, his voice low.

"Dean, my job is to help give both of you the best chance possible," Garth said softly.

"And I'm telling you, that your job is now to get Sam back home," Dean replied.

Garth looked back at him with sad eyes, but finally nodded. "I'll do the best that I can." Dean nodded back, and then Garth turned to look at the compartment where Sam disappeared. "What d'you say we go watch the reapings?"

Dean shrugged, and then followed Garth to the next compartment over. There was a huge sofa in the compartment and a nice TV on the wall. Their TV at home was really old and they only used it for the mandatory viewings. Sam glanced back at him from the sofa as he and Garth walked in. Sam was sitting on the sofa, but Abigail and Chelsea were sitting on the sofa too.

Garth sat in one of the chairs while Celeste, the other mentor, and Jada sat on the smaller sofa. Dean walked over and sat between Sam and Abigail and settled in to watch the other reapings. It was going to be twice as long as usual thanks to the number of tributes, but Dean wanted to see the competition.

The anthem played, and then they started to show the reapings. Districts 1 and 2 had the usual career tributes; they looked strong and ready to fight, but one of the girls from District 1 stuck out to him. District 4 didn't look too bad this year, and Dean figured that one or two of them would team up with the careers. There were so many in the middle that they just kind of passed by in a blur. Then, they got to District 10.

Chelsea was drawn first, and then Dean and Abigail. Even though Dean had been there, he was still surprised by the crowd's reaction when Sam's name was drawn. It wasn't because of how young he was, because there had been younger in the Hunger Games before, but the fact that siblings had to go together. Even the announcers were surprised that this happened.

The announcers were also very impressed that he'd fought off a Peacekeeper and said that he was one to watch. He didn't like that very much, because that meant the others would be gunning for him and he needed to be able to protect Sammy for as long as possible.

They moved on to District 11, and then District 12. There was only one tribute from District 12 that caught his attention, Haymitch Abernathy. He was the last one called with dangerous looking eyes and an arrogant stance. Dean didn't think he would be lumped in with the careers, but he looked like he was going to last a while.

Garth turned off the TV after it was finally over, and then bid them all good night. The others slowly left the compartment until it was just him, Sam, and Abigail left. Sam shot him a small smirk before he too went off to bed, leaving Dean and Abigail alone. Dean looked over at her and his green eyes met her hazel ones.

She scooted a little closer to him and he put his hand over hers that was resting on the sofa. She turned her hand over in his, and then picked up his hand and looked down at it. Dean didn't really know what she was doing, but he didn't pull his hand away.

"Looks like neither of us will get to see home again," Abigail said after a moment, still looking at his hand. She traced the lines on his palm with a light touch that almost tickled.

"I gotta look out for my little brother," Dean said softly.

"I know Dean, I think everyone knows," Abigail replied with a small smile. "Maybe we should make the best of the time we have left…" She looked up at him again, and then leaned in a little closer. Dean hesitated for just a second before he leaned forward and lightly pressed his lips to hers. She released his hand so she could wrap her arms around his neck and thread her fingers through his hair.

Dean wrapped one arm around her back and placed his other hand at her hip. He slowly guided her down until she was lying on her back on the sofa. He followed her down and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Dean continued to kiss her as she moved one hand from his neck, down to his chest.

Abigail slowly worked at unbuttoning his shirt with one hand. Dean pressed against her and moved the hand that he had on her hip under the soft shirt she was wearing. Abigail got the last button of his shirt undone, and then worked at getting it off of his shoulders. Dean abandoned his task for a moment to help her out and threw the shirt to the floor. She trialed her fingers down his chest down to his stomach, but then stopped as Dean started to lift her shirt up. There was a small cough that suddenly made both of them freeze.

One of the Capital attendants was standing at the front of the compartment and Dean and Abigail split apart in embarrassment for getting caught. Dean quickly pulled his shirt back on, and then they left the compartment as fast as they could. Dean walked her back to her room and kissed her on the cheek for the night. She smiled at him, and then he went back to his own room to get some sleep.

They would reach the Capital in the morning, and then they would be passed off to their stylist. They had the opening ceremonies tomorrow night and Dean dreaded what his stylist was going to put them in. Their district was livestock and they almost always looked absurd.

Dean shrugged out of his shirt and just lay on the bed in his pants. He'd slept in less comfortable clothing before and he didn't want to bother looking through the drawers for something else.

He couldn't really sleep in the big bed though. He was used to sharing with Sam in a tiny bed and this one was almost too comfortable. So he lay there just wishing that he could go to sleep. He lay there for about an hour when someone cracked the door open just a little. Dean looked over and saw Sam slip inside.

He crawled up on the bed next to Dean and explained, "I can't sleep."

"Me neither" Dean replied. "This bed is too big."

"And too soft," Sam threw in, getting under the covers and snuggling up next to Dean. "And not warm enough…"

Dean chuckled and teased, "Not warm enough? There's a huge blanket on it."

"My feet were still cold," Sam said, his voice already sounding sleepy.

"Don't you even think about putting your cold feet on me," Dean said.

"Remember that one winter? When we got all that snow?" Sam mumbled.

"Yeah," Dean replied with a smile. "Your feet nearly froze off it was so cold."

"You didn't mind me putting my feet on you then…"

"That was when we only had one blanket between the two of us," Dean said. "And besides, I'd have to do all the work if your feet fell off."

"You'd still make me do work…"

Dean chuckled again, and then got under the covers with Sam. "Go to sleep Sammy…"

"M'kay…" Sam muttered. They were both asleep within minutes.

"You and your brother are just adorable," Tonda said as she fixed his hair. She was a short woman with almost red skin. Dean had thought she had a sunburn when he first met her, but then he figured out that she wanted to look like that on purpose.

Tonda was part of his prep team along with Carlos, a man with stripes, and Copper, a man whose skin looked like copper. Dean thought they were all ridiculous as they went around him and talked nonstop. He hardly said a word to them, but they didn't seem to notice.

As soon as they had pulled into the Capital, all four of them had been swept away to meet with the prep teams. They had to be good looking before they were sent off to their deaths. Dean forgot that this whole thing was a show to them instead of him fighting for his and Sam's life.

He and Sam had been separated for the prep teams, but Dean had been expecting that. He wouldn't see Sam until it was time for the opening ceremonies. He'd already been stripped bare and bathed; it felt like they had taken an extra layer of skin they had scrubbed so much. Tonda had laughed, lightly telling him that she didn't think they would ever get all of the dirt off of him. He'd even showered the day before. He couldn't imagine how long they would've had to scrub if he hadn't.

Now they were fixing his hair and shaving his face. He only had a little stubble, but they wanted him to have a clean face. He didn't care about that as long as they didn't cover him in makeup and paint. This situation sucked and he didn't want it to be any worse.

"Such a shame that your brother was drawn too," Tonda said after a moment. "The whole Capital is talking about it."

"And about how you tried to take on the Peacekeepers," Carlos threw in.

"We wanted to cover up those bruises, but Santana won't let us," Copped said. "She thinks they make you look sexy."

Santana was his stylist. He wanted to groan with the fact that she wanted to go sexy. He didn't want to parade around naked, but it wasn't up to him. He just prayed that Sam's stylist didn't lean towards sexy too.

He hadn't met Santana yet, but he assumed she would show up soon. He didn't think there could be much more that the prep team could do to him. He was clean and unless they were going to do makeup, he thought he was done.

"And bruises on your ribs, you poor dear," Tonda said after a moment.

Dean was sitting on a table, mostly naked. They had given him a towel once they were done cleaning him and he had wrapped it around his waist. He didn't really feel awkward around these people since it didn't really matter. There was nothing he could do anyway, so there was no point in feeling awkward.

A woman suddenly walked in; she was tall with dark curls. Her skin was tanned and she had bright makeup on her eyes and dark red lipstick on her lips. Her high heels clicked against the floor and she wore a skintight, red dress. She didn't look so bad considering she was from the Capital. He'd definitely seen worse before. She motioned for the prep team to leave and they quickly scurried out of sight.

"Hello Dean, my name's Santana," she introduced softly. She sat down across from him on one of the stools. Dean didn't bother answering her; he didn't know what to say and even if he did, he didn't feel like talking. "I'm going to be your stylist for the Games."

Dean just nodded in understanding, waiting for her to get to the point.

"I know you're the livestock district and in years past we've gone with dressing the tributes like the livestock. This year though, for you we're going to do a ranch hand," Santana said with a smile. "But we're going to spice it up a bit."

"I'm not going to be naked am I?" Dean couldn't help but asking. He didn't think he could do anything to change it if he was, but he could try.

"No, you won't be naked. But we are going with a sexier vibe. We all got together and decided that the two oldest would be sexier and the two youngest would be cute. We are just trying to get the crowd on your side," Santana explained.

Dean took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. "Ok…whatever you think is best…"

Dean felt ridiculous. Santana had put him in some jeans, but they were too tight to actually be good to work in. He was wearing stylish boots that he wouldn't be caught dead in and a big cowboy hat that was similar to his back home. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but Santana had put a brown leather vest on him that had no point.

He walked around the stable until he finally found the chariots for District 10. He was the first one from his district and he really didn't know what he should be doing. He didn't want to talk to any of the other tributes since he didn't want to make friends. Garth was there, but he didn't want to talk to him either.

Instead he went over to the horses that were going to pull his chariot. Horses he understood. He grabbed a handful of sugar cubes and went over to the first horse. He scratched her forehead and she nudged her nose against his chest.

He smiled and gave her one of the sugar cubes. The horse next to her suddenly nudged his shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't forget about you," Dean said in amusement. He gave that horse a sugar cube too and scratched his forehead.

"You've got a way with the horses," Abigail suddenly said behind him. He turned, and then his eyes widened at what she was wearing. She had a short skirt on and boots, her shirt was pulled up a little and tied in the middle, showing off her small waist. Her hair was braided on both sides and she was wearing a hat like his.

She looked him over too and couldn't help her small smile, "I didn't like this look, but it works on you."

"I look stupid," Dean said in amusement.

Abigail's smile widened and she shook her head, "Not the word I would use…"

Sam's laugh broke through before Dean could say anything else and he whirled around to see his little brother. He was relieved to see that he wasn't in the same getup that Dean was in; his was similar, but he was wearing a shirt so that was good.

"You look hilarious," Sam said through his laughter.

"Shut up," Dean said with a laugh. He made a grab for Sam, but he moved out of the way at the last second.

"I can just picture you working on the ranch like this," Sam said, tears starting to leak out of his eyes. "It's so funny in my head!"

"You look just as funny," Dean argued, but Sam shook his head.

"No, I look adorable," Sam said. "My prep team even said so."

"They were just being nice," Dean said.

"They kept saying it," Sam said, raising his eyebrows.

"Ok, time to get in the chariots," Jada suddenly announced to them.

Dean lightly pushed Sam over to his chariot, and then went over to his own. He stood next to Abigail and a few minutes later the opening music started. The chariot lurched forward as each of the tributes were pulled outside.

It was a few more minutes before Dean's chariot was finally at the exit. The cheers of the crowd are almost deafening as they exited the Remake Center. Dean didn't want to even acknowledge them, but then he remembered that he needed to win the crowd over. Once he was in the arena, he and Sam were going to need some help at some point.

So he looked at the crowd and gave them the most charming smile he had. He waved at a few of them, and then tipped his hat at some of the others. The crowd went wild and he has to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

It seemed to take forever for them to get to the City Circle, and then 24 chariots filled the loop. President Snow gave his welcoming speech that Dean didn't pay attention to and afterwards, the anthem played. Once it was done, their chariots started moving again until they were inside the Training Center.

"You all looked wonderful!" Jada exclaimed as they rolled in. "That was a great start for all four of you. Now, let's go on upstairs and see where you'll be staying. You have another big day tomorrow!"

Dean looked over at Sam and rolled his eyes. Sam laughed and they both followed Jada to the elevators.

More soon...