"Gale Hawthorne?" Effie's shrill voice calls out once more. My name echoes off the cold stone walls of the Justice Building, the place where I received a medal of honor for my father's death in the mines.

It is probably where they will bring my body back to, so that my family can bury it themselves.

I laugh under my breath. It's humorless, of course, but I laugh anyways. What a cruel joke fate has played- someone should laugh to appreciate it. The crowds part again as I walk to the center of the square again, and as the guards surround me, I am not laughing anymore. What a terrible joke fate has played.

I look up and see Katniss' glassy eyes staring at me. Her mouth is ajar, and she is visibly shaken. Astonished. Upset. I know she will regret showing emotion to the crowds later, even if it is only for a few moments. I clench my jaw and do as I'm told without fighting back, for once. The stairs I climb to the stage feel like a mountain, but I make it to the top. I am expressionless. This is hard to maintain as I can see Rory, Vick, and my mother- Posy is too young to understand- all struggling to hold back tears in the crowd. I fix my eyes on some nonexistent point in the distance and keep them set there. When they show the tapes of the Reapings later today, I do not want the other tributes to see me as a weakling, or an easy bloodbath kill.

"Shake hands, you two," Effie says quietly- although her voice is still high pitched as ever.

I swallow hard as I turn to face Katniss. Take her hand in mine, just as I have wanted to do for a long time. For a while, now. But not like this. Never like this. We shake hands, and her eyes meet mine again. She has wiped her face clean as well, but her eyes give her away. To me, at least.

I think my own give my thoughts away. You're coming back.

I know they do. Because in response, Katniss gives me an almost indistinguishable headshake. My only reply is a steely glare.

Then we are letting go and Effie's hands are on our shoulders as she announces our names proudly to the crowd.

"Let's have a big round of applause for the tributes of District 12- Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne!"

It all happens so quickly, what happens next. Katniss and I move to take each other's hands instantaneously, and we raise them in the air, high above our heads. Two as one. Extensions of each other. This is how we will go into the arena.

District 12 knows us well. The people of the Hob, the black market in town, see us enter the place every day together. Our families, tied together by our friendship. Friendship seems too light of a word for what we are, though, but I can't seem to think of a better one. Our school mates, who watch us interact in the hallways often, speaking in serious tones and bitter laughs. I know they have seen us wander the town as well, often falling silent for a split second when we pass their stomping grounds. The whole town knows that we hunt, we trade, we break the rules, yet I wouldn't venture to say that we are loved. Respected, maybe, for what we do, but not loved. They are all too afraid to defy the Capitol themselves, but respect us for rebelling in our own way.

But this is thrown aside, forgotten, for one moment. At first one, then another few, then almost every member of the crowd presses the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips, and raises them in the air towards us. Katniss and I return it together with our other hands, lowering our intertwined ones in between us. The symbol is old, and rarely used in our district, but everyone knows what it means. It means gratitude for life; admiration.

It means goodbye to someone you love.

Effie is at a loss for words for a few seconds, and then the anthem begins to play. The crowd lowers their hands, as do we, but as I slacken my grip slightly on her hand, she holds onto it with more fervor, and so I do not let go.

We are ushered to the doors behind the stage, to the rooms where we will be allowed to say our goodbyes. Katniss and I hold on to each other until they pull us apart, and then I am alone in a plush room with velvet couches and silk curtains and clean glass windows.

I despise it immediately. Not five, ten miles away slump wooden houses encrusted with coal dust and dirt, the insides lacking heat in the winter and cool air during the summer. Lacking most everything, actually. Yet here these rooms sit unused, day in and day out, with material and fabric that could be sold and the money used to feed a family for a month. Or better yet, used to build a house that is fit to live in.

Ten minutes later, I hear the door open, and my family pours in. My mother is not crying, not yet, but Vick's face is smeared with tears, and Rory's lip quivers. Posy clings to his hand, unsure as to why they are all in this state.

I wrap my arms around my mother first. I hear her let out a choked sob- only loud enough so I can hear. Hearing her cry angers me more. How dare they do this, take me away from her, when she's already lost so much and suffered so? They only mean to break us apart so it is harder to rise against them, of course.

But I will rise anyways. Someway, somehow.

"I am so sorry," she says softly. My mother leans away from me and looks up at me with red eyes. I have only seen her cry two times in my life- when my father died, and now.

"It's not your fault," I tell her.

"We could have gone by a few nights without. Kept your name out of the bowls so many-"

"Stop," I cut her off. "Don't think like that. We did what we had to. And I wouldn't change a thing," I say. To make up for my stern tone I press a kiss to the top of her head. I hope it communicates everything I cannot put into words. When she squeezes my arm one last time, I know she understands. I know she understands why I cannot promise to come home.

I let go of my mother, and clasp a hand on Rory's shoulder. His lip is shaking still and he looks like he is about to cry, but I can't and don't have time for that now.

"Listen to me. You got to take care of them, alright? Don't sign up for tesserae. Not once. You know where Katniss leaves her bow in the woods. Use it. You can try a few of the snares I've taught you, but I'd rather you use the bow, seeing as you're better at it and there's a more immediate reward. Mom knows how to cook the squirrels, rabbits, and birds, but trade some in town at the bakery for bread. Take Prim with you to pick berries, roots, and other plants Ms Everdeen will need in the woods. Sell the berries to the mayor, keep half the roots to give them to Mom, and give all the plants to Prim's mother. Keep Prim safe in the woods, and don't hunt when she's there. She doesn't like it." My instructions are based on what Katniss and I agreed upon a long time ago, although I am now forced to adapt them seeing as now neither of us can protect our families. "Don't stay out after dark. Don't take Vick with you into the woods, and help Mom whenever she needs it. If-" here, I lower my voice so only he can hear me. "If I don't come back, and Katniss- Katniss does, she'll bring you game. Learn from her. She can teach you some of my snares, too." A single tear has now spilled over onto his cheek, but Rory nods solemnly. He then reaches out and wraps his arms around me tightly, and I bite my lip and ruffle his hair.

"Take care of them," I tell him. My voice is getting slightly choked, and so I clear my throat. Rory pulls on my shirt and I look down at him, and then his voices comes out in a whisper so quiet I can barely hear it. "Please come home."

I swallow audibly. "I'll try," I say, but I can't make any promises.

After all, there is no room for promises in the Games.

And the games have already begun.