Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable.
Prologue: A Daisy
The morning was quiet, quieter than she was used to, and the sun shone brighter than she'd ever seen.
Katniss restrained herself from coughing as she French-braided her hair; she wasn't used to the coal residue that seemed to linger everywhere in her new District. She missed the busy life of the Capitol, even though she'd rarely participated in it. Her and Mama used to sit inside their reclusive apartment, overlooking the busiest street and people-watch. They'd laughed at the hair colors and the funny looking animals.
Now though, looking out her new bedroom window, all Katniss saw was a row of empty, high class houses and a few geese meandering around an unkempt yard.
She could hear nothing except pots and pans banging, which she figured was her father, trying to make something to eat for breakfast. Katniss looked at herself in the mirror. Her looks took after her father, not her mother. Her hair was dark and her eyes grey. Mama's hair had been blonde, and her eyes light blue.
"Katniss?" She heard her father yell, his voice hoarse but loud.
Katniss stood up nervously. Her belly was starting to ache from her nerves, and her eyes were clearly clouded with worry. She patted down her red-and-white checkered sundress, and fixed a couple strands of her hair. Even though she could really care less what any of the kids thought of her, she still found herself wanting to look her best for the first day of school.
The house was barely livable, but it had improved since she'd arrived. The floors were relatively clean, and the dishes were no longer sky-high. Katniss had gotten halfway through cleaning the horrid house when Dad had noticed his seven-year-old child was doing all the work. Since then, he'd been doing the harder chores, such as repairs, that she had no hope of taking on.
Walking into the vast, overly fancy kitchen, she was once again bombarded with mixed feelings when she saw her father.
Haymitch Abernathy wasn't even thirty-years-old yet, but he was already looking haggard. Although, Katniss supposed that Mama hadn't look much better either, before her death. His hair was longer than most men's, but not long enough to wear in a ponytail. His face was covered with accidental stubble – not the kind where men were actually trying to grow a beard, the kind where men were just too lazy to remember to shave. Or in his case, too drunk.
This morning, Katniss was surprised to see he was wearing a buttoned-up shirt and rumpled khakis. It was the nicest she'd seen him look since she'd met him two weeks ago.
"You like oatmeal?" He asked, holding a pan in one hand and a spoon in the other.
Katniss met his grey eyes, so like hers, and saw he looked just as nervous as she felt. This was new to him too.
For the last seven years of her life (which in fact, was her entire life), she'd lived with her mother in the Capitol. She had never once even seen a picture of her father. Haymitch Abernathy lived hundreds of miles away, in her parents' home district, apparently choosing willingly to confine himself.
That was one thing her parents had always had in common, to her knowledge: neither of them wanted anything to do with anyone. Katniss couldn't count the number of times newspaper reporters, TV hosts, or government officials had begged Mama to come out of hiding and give an interview. She had always refused. Dad, she was finding out, was the same way. Over the past couple of weeks, it was hot news in Panem that Katniss had been sent to live with her remaining parent. Everyone wanted that reunion story. Everyone wanted pictures and happy endings.
Nothing about their story was happy. Katniss didn't know all the details, but she did know that back when Panem had been a different country, ran by a manipulative man who controlled them all, her parents had been tributes in the Hunger Games. The Games were set up to prove the Capitol's control over the citizens. Only one child, out of 24 tributes from the districts combined, survived every year for seventy-three years.
On the seventy-fourth year, there were two victors.
Haymitch Abernathy and Maysilee Donner, tributes of District Twelve, shocked everyone in Panem by falling in love as the cameras rolled. Refusing to kill one another, they'd attempted to both die by eating poisonous berries. Katniss had once thought it was romantic, until she realized how completely appalling the entire situation was. And it had only gotten worse – they'd been forced to return to the arena a year later for the Quarter Quell, and by this time Maysilee was pregnant with her.
Mama had always spared her the details of how she'd fallen out of love with her Haymitch – and Katniss wasn't sure she wanted to know; there were nights when Mama would scream his name in her sleep, claw at her skin, and cry her eyes out. There were times when she'd sit in a chair, refusing to move or even eat.
Until two weeks ago, when she'd finally met the man, Katniss had always, always blamed him for the pain Mama went through. But seeing him, she knew he was going through the same thing. She couldn't blame him, when he looked just as miserable.
"School starts at nine. I'll walk you," Dad said, pushing a bowl of steaming oats towards her.
Katniss looked up at him. He'd turned away quickly, and she figured he was hiding tears. He didn't have a clue what he was doing.
As he sat down with his own breakfast, which smelled suspiciously different from hers, she looked at him cautiously.
"I'd like to wear Mama's pin, if you'll allow it."
Dad stopped briefly and jerked his head in approval, although it was restrained. When Mama died, and Katniss arrived here, in District Twelve, she'd only wanted to keep a few possessions. They'd only had a few that really mattered.
The Mockingjay pin, which Maysilee had worn in the Games, was one of them. Her mother had stared at that pin often, although she'd never actually worn it around Katniss. Now it was one of the last things Katniss had to remind her of her mother. She wanted to wear it to her first day of school, so she'd have part of her with her.
On the first day Katniss arrived in her new home, she'd worn the pin and Dad had been visibly distressed by it. Carefully, he'd told her it upset him and asked if he could hide it away. Looking into his eyes, she saw pain she'd never experienced, and it scared her – so she said yes.
Now, though, to her surprise, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Maybe one day, when I think you'll understand, I'll tell you about us. But for now, you deserve to live in peace."
Katniss closed her hand around his as he handed the pin to her. His skin was the same color as hers, and for some odd reason that comforted her. To know how similar they were in all ways, even though neither of them knew anything about each other.
She pinned the Mockingjay to the front of her dress.
"I'm nervous," she whispered.
Dad pushed his hair out of his eyes and offered her a half-smile.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. You'll blend right in. I've lived here my whole life, I would know. You look like the kids from the Seam, and in your heart you relate to them. But you're from the Capitol, so you can also relate to the Merchant kids. You don't have to worry about a thing."
Katniss got up and looked for her shoes to hide her surprise at his long string of comforting words. He had never acted cold towards her - just cautious - but his sudden warmth still surprised her. He was trying really hard to be a father, something he'd never had experience with before.
She took an extra long time to brush her teeth, wishing that she could stall so long that school would just start and be over by the time she was ready to leave. But she eventually had to exit the bathroom, whether she liked it or not.
She was surprised again when she got to the front door and saw Dad waiting for her on the porch. He held a lunch box in his hand.
Clearing his throat, he handed it to her.
"I know you're still not used to the way we make things around here. So I fixed you a sandwich I'm pretty sure won't make you sick."
Katniss was used to a finer quality of bread and ingredients, coming from the Capitol. District Twelve was a completely different place – they used a different type of grain in their bread and ate different kinds of meat. She'd gotten sick a couple of times from foods that hadn't agreed with her.
Touched, she grabbed the lunch box, along with his hand.
They walked down the row of empty Victors' houses. She waved at the geese as they passed them, even though the geese ignored her in return. They were probably the best part so far of District Twelve. She'd never actually had a pet before, and now she had about ten.
The town square was bustling with upper class workers. A couple of people stopped and stared at them as they passed, but Dad gave them a glare and they soon went back to their own business.
The closer they got to the school, Katniss started seeing different kinds of people walking towards them. She immediately felt sorry for them in comparison to those she'd just seen in the town center. They were dressed in rags, practically, and looked to be soaked to the bone in coal.
"I thought since the end of the war, people weren't as poor anymore," she asked quietly. President Coin made it a point of publically advertising how much better all the Districts had it now that Panem was under new control. But this didn't look better to Katniss.
Dad glanced down at her, his face blank. "That's true. But the war didn't change the way of life around here."
Katniss didn't understand, but she nodded anyway. She was soon distracted by the building up ahead of them. It was small, with a playground to the left and a field to the right. She noticed various other parents sending their children off.
"Okay, sweetheart. You'll be in room 103, with Ms. Baker. I'll meet you right here, immediately after school."
Looking at all the unknown people around her, Katniss suddenly felt overwhelmed. Just three weeks ago, Mama had been alive. She'd been teaching Katniss. Now, Katniss was in a foreign place, the only person she'd ever really loved was dead, and she was about to walk into a school for the first time with strange children. Her father, whom she'd known all of two weeks, looked back her at with what Katniss assumed was concern and to a certain extent, love.
She flung her arms around his neck. His face was scratchy, and he smelled funny, but when he lightly hugged her back, she felt calmer.
"Anyone gives you any trouble, you remember that everyone in this town is scared to death of me."
Katniss giggled and released him. He pulled her braid lightly before giving her a light shove toward the doors.
The building wasn't difficult to navigate at all. It was one floor, and the further down the hall she walked, the younger the children she saw. A few of them glanced at her, and Katniss blushed when she realized they were staring at her bright dress. Mostly everyone else was dressed in drab, lifeless colors.
Room 103 was filled with about twenty children. Katniss glanced around at them, wondering which one was safest to sit next to. With surprise, she noticed a young girl waving at her, a genuine smile on her face.
"Katniss!" She called. Katniss, cautious yet thrilled to have a possible friend, sat down at the desk next to her.
Her hair was the same color blonde and her eyes the same shade of blue as Mama's. Katniss both wanted to stare and look away from the girl at the same time.
"I'm Madge. My mom was your mom's sister."
Katniss blinked in bewilderment. "I didn't know I had any other family."
Mama had never mentioned it. For the most part, all Katniss had known about District Twelve before she'd been sent here was that it was the coal-mining District. Thinking about it, she wasn't even sure Mama had been the one to tell her that. Mama didn't like speaking of her past, even to her own child.
Madge suddenly looked nervous. "Well, Mom always said Aunt Maysilee lived far away and couldn't visit. But she missed her, a lot. I wanted to come see you as soon as you got here, but Dad thought you'd want to spend time with your dad before you saw other people."
Katniss looked at the girl in front of her, hardly believing that this was her cousin. But yet it was so obvious. Katniss suspected she'd look exactly like her if she had blonde hair.
Katniss tried to think of anything to say, but the surprise was overwhelming. She'd had a family, all these years? Even though Katniss had always known about Dad, she knew that it would hurt her mother too much if she asked to meet him. Her whole life, from the time she could remember, Mama had always flinched or bit her cheek when the name Haymitch Abernathy was mentioned.
Fortunately, she didn't have to reply to Madge, because at that moment the teacher started class.
Ms. Baker was young and nice, but Katniss wasn't used to sitting still and listening without asking questions when she felt like it. She didn't think the teacher would appreciate her raising her hand after everything she said.
"Who here knows the Capitol Anthem?"
Everyone was silent. Katniss looked at them, shocked. There wasn't a child in the Capitol that didn't sing it daily.
Hesitantly, she raised her hand.
Everyone stared at her as she stood. "Sing?" She asked.
The teacher looked her, a strange look on her face. Katniss suspected everyone had been wondering about the poor child of Haymitch and Maysilee.
With a deep breath, Katniss began to sing. It seemed to cleanse her. She became calm, and it suddenly didn't matter if everyone was looking at her. It didn't matter that Katniss felt lonely and confused. The singing reminded her of a time she'd loved to return to.
When it was over, the class clapped. Katniss sat back down, and wished the day were over.
She ate the lunch Father packed. She listened to Madge talk about the District. She said "Hi" to numerous children who wanted to meet her.
When the final bell rang, and she was putting her backpack on her back, Katniss turned to walk out of the classroom door and found herself face to face with someone she hadn't met yet.
It was a boy, who she had noticed sat in the front of the class. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, like most everyone in town did.
At first, he didn't say anything to her. Then he smiled, and she blinked. His smile was bright and so, so happy.
"You have a really pretty voice," he said. To her chagrin, he shyly handed her a daisy. It was slightly rumpled, but somehow that was fitting to her.
She took it out of his hand and smiled back. Something about him just oozed happiness.
"Thank you. I'm Katniss," she said awkwardly, figuring he probably already knew that.
"I'm Peeta."
She would have giggled at his name, but she didn't really have the right. He was named after bread; she was named after a plant.
"You walking home? Don't you live in Victor's Village?" Peeta asked.
Katniss nodded. "My father is supposed to meet me outside."
Peeta nodded, looking disappointed. "Well, maybe sometime we can play after school. I live on top of the bakery. My parents own it."
Katniss nodded once more. "That's cool. You can come over and play with the geese too, they're funny."
By this time, they'd walked outside, and Katniss could see Dad waiting next to a tree, trying desperately to avoid other parents.
"I better go find my brothers. They'll be waiting for me," Peeta said.
"See you later," Katniss whispered.
Something about the only child who hadn't asked her about her new living arrangements, or her old living arrangements, intrigued her. Peeta had complimented the one thing Katniss felt sound on being complimented on. She loved to sing.
Dad looked at the daisy. "That looks kinda sad, doesn't it?"
Katniss glared at him. She messed with the stem a bit to make it stand taller.
"I like it."
Dad shrugged and gave a laugh. "Okay, sweetheart. Find any friends?"
He took her hand again and led her away. For some reason, she knew that Dad wouldn't like being asked about Madge and her family. So she focused on Peeta.
"The boy that gave me the daisy was nice. He said his name is Peeta. He lives at the bakery."
Dad visibly tensed. "The bakery?" His voice snapped.
Out of all the details Katniss had expected him to have a problem with, the bakery wasn't one of them.
"Yeah, he said his family owns it," said Katniss, completely confused.
He refused to say another word. It upset her more than she would have liked. Katniss had actually been starting to finally get along with her father, and now he was acting distant again.
When they were home, and Katniss was ready to run to her room and hide, he grabbed her shoulders and sank down to be eye-to-eye with her.
"Katniss, I'm sorry. Don't be upset. I've just been running from my past for so many years that the old wounds still sting. I'm sure your friend is nice."
She nodded, gesturing to the daisy. "He told me I sing pretty."
Dad carefully removed her Mockingjay pin. "I bet you do."
Katniss felt tears coming to her eyes. "Then why are you so upset? I just want us to get along! I'm tired of always being afraid that I'm going to say the wrong thing! I just want to be a family. You're all I have."
Dad sighed. "I know, sweetheart. It's okay. I'll try to be more bearable."
He kissed her head and let her go. She was halfway to her room when she heard his voice again.
"Peeta's father . . . the baker? He used to be best friends with your mother."
Katniss turned and looked at his rumpled form. She stared.
"I thought I'd lose her to him, once."
Katniss felt disgust run through her. Despite how much pain Mama had always been in, it felt wrong to say that she might have one day loved someone other than Dad.
"You didn't. She loved you. I'm sure of it."
Dad flinched and recoiled. He turned away without another word.
Katniss sighed and went to follow him, but thought better of it when he emerged from the kitchen carrying a bottle. He had been trying not to drink, but even in her seven-year-old mind, she could tell it was hard for him.
After going into the kitchen herself, she made her way back to her room with a glass cup.
Katniss placed the cup on her windowsill, put the daisy inside, and stared at it. It brought a little bit of personality to her room, which so far was plain.
That was the first night Katniss went to sleep believing that maybe one day, things in this District would be as pleasant as they had been for her when Mama was still alive.
An Author's Note: This is just a little introduction to their story. Please let me know what you think! Also, I want to mention that this story is not about Katniss growing up with Haymitch. The next chapter flashes forward in time.
