Princess of China by Coldplay

Once upon a time we fell apart

You're holding in your hands the two halves of my heart

Jovia Alms, District Seven Citizen

"Who are you?" I breathe when my door peels open in response to the harsh, frantic knocking. Two men in black suits with scowls and colored faces plague my doorstep. My lungs sink into my stomach as I, now shaking, match their stares, my hand on the wooden frame shivering in the fresh fall air.

"We have orders from President Cyrus," one of the men says mechanically, as if he were simply reading another pointless announcement from the mayor instead of demanding entry into my home. His face is blank and unmoving, but the fluctuating wind flings his dark hair every which way so that he looks more like a jester than a glaring messenger. "We demand entry, ma'am, I hold the papers to allow us to do so."

"What do you want, I will get it for you," I try, my voice refusing to steady in the presence of the two obviously important men.

"I would prefer to retrieve it myself, ma'am."

I nod lamely, my eyes falling to the concrete doorstep while my heart threatens to do the same. The other man, who still remains silent, pushes past my arm and into my home. Though I have technically allowed them both entry, it still feels as though I am being violated.

The tallest of the two men, the one that spoke to me, eyes me suspiciously as if at any moment I might pull a weapon out of my apron and attack them both. My three year old daughter, Riah, slips out of the kitchen to check on me and upon seeing the two strange men in our main room, rushes to my waiting arms. I lift her up to rest by my shoulder and unlike usual she doesn't struggle. Her dark eyes mimic the movements of the two strangers as they shuffle across our floor. Not knowing what else to do, and too afraid to move for fear they might be armed, I dig my fingernails into the opposite hand and stare along with my daughter.

After a few minutes of this I am unable to take the silence. "If there is something you need I will gladly fetch it for you," I try again and the tall man who has remained closest to me and Riah holds him arm out to silence me. I comply and bury my lips in Riah's short hair though she barely takes notice. The shorter man peers into the kitchen, clearly looking for something but I have not the slightest idea what. He takes one step towards me with a question appearing on the tip of his nose, but quickly turns around as if he has only just remembered something.

"You can't go in there!" Riah cries out as the man slips into the before closed door at the edge of the main room. I try and put my hand over her mouth but she won't have it, turning her face away instinctively. "They're gonna wake Euan! That's not allowed!"

I hold Riah closer as she struggles in my grip, the ferocity in her that I am used to. My eyes, though, never leave the door where the man disappeared. My youngest child's room where he has been sleeping since just after lunch. Are they here because of my son? Has he gone missing and I simply have not noticed? Have they found him and suspect he is mine but simply need proof enough to take him away from me? My breaths feel strangled as I hiccup, trying to calm myself so that Riah will not get any more worked up. That cannot be it, if not for the fact that I just checked on him a few moments before the men arrived than because children going missing at any time of day in District Seven is not uncommon. People get desperate, people are cruel, but there is no one to blame for the except the people that put them in that position.

Suddenly a familiar child's scream breaks the silence that my mind created and I nearly fall with Riah in my hands as I scramble forward to get to my child. The tall man grabs me around the back and holds me in a bear hug as I kick and punch at him with all the energy I have inside of me. The short man comes out, holding my screaming son in a cloth sling around his neck. The man doesn't look at all effected by the frightened child around his throat, and he approaches my front door as if nothing were out of the ordinary and he were merely leaving from a company dinner.

I hear yelling and crying and I know it might be Euan but some of it is my own, even Riah is screaming and I'm sure that she doesn't even understand why. I want to stop fighting this man and scaring my baby girl but my body and mind are now separate and my legs continue to kick and my fists keep on meeting skin until a feel a dull pain in my side and I hit the floor like a sack of flour, no longer fighting.

I am unable to move my head or hear my screams but I see everything in perfect clarity, my daughter clasping on to the short man's pant leg and biting into him with her three sprung teeth. He kicks her off of him and sends her flying across the room where her head slams hollowly into a bookshelf and everything in me wants to scream all over again but I cannot. Riah does not move and I cannot get up or get to her so I do nothing but watch. Watch her with a helpless passion that only a mother could have, and watch the men out of the corner of my eye as they carry away my son.

This is an SYOT for the 100th Hunger Games (A Quarter Quell, yes), all spots have been filled as of now and I ask any of you who have not already done so to please submit your reserved slot or I may have to reopen it.

This is an extension of canon that I have created in which President Cyrus has taken over and reinstated the Hunger Games after the death of President Paylor. I would advise you to read the prologue for Written In Ice and Streets I Know before submitting your tribute but in case you are still confused, here is the rundown.

This is the 100th Hunger Games

District Twelve has been destroyed, so they nor District Thirteen will have tributes in the Hunger Games

Due to acts of Rebellion in the Capitol, the Capitol will now also send in two tributes to the Hunger Games

All previous rules regarding age, industry, etc are back in place.

Careers are only for districts One and Two

Since this is a Quarter Quell, there is a twist which has only been hinted at above (will be revealed in full next chapter)

If you have any questions, please ask me in PM. I will try and respond right away.

Other than that,

Welcome to Cradle to the Grave