Chapter 1

Every day was the same in District 12. At least, it was the same for Katniss Everdeen. Or, that's what everyone thought her name was at least. And every morning she would get up, put on her 'fathers' old hunting jacket, check on her younger sister, and have a glaring contest with her sister's cat, and sneak past the electric fence into the forest to hunt the game that her family would eat and sell or trade whatever was left over. But today was different. Today was reaping day, her sister Primrose's first reaping.

Prim had been through a nightmare the night before, fearing her own imminent chances at being reaped from the hunger games. Katniss hated the games, and even though she sat with her sister and held her, assuring her she wouldn't get chosen because her name was only in the reaping bowl once. All she could do was pray that her sister wouldn't be chosen. And even if Prim was reaped, Katniss had a plan.

"I laid some clothes out for you Katniss," her mother whispered as if lost in thought, and emptily. "Go wash up."

Katniss sighed as she finished looking over Prim before she tucked her sister's shirt tail in and went to clean herself up in the small metal tub that served as the Everdeen family bath. When she was done she noticed that the clothes her mother had laid out were actually only one piece of clothing. An old dress of her mother's from when she was far younger than she was now and had lived in the town. Katniss' 'father' had been from the Seam, and when her mother had married him, she had given up her lucky and provided for life for the sickness and starvation of the Seam.

"Let me do your hair," her mother insister as she intricately braided her hair. This was one thing she let her mother do. Have Mr. Everdeen had passed away in a coal mining accident, her mother had become withdrawn, and Katniss had been left to raise Prim. Lately her mother had been doing better, but she wasn't quite there yet, and Katniss just didn't trust her.

As Prim and Katniss approached the table for signing in, Prim became nervous, Katniss pulled her aside and crouched down before speaking to her younger sister.

"Prim, relax, everything is going to be fine. Look, they're going to prick your finger, take some blood, it doesn't hurt a lot, only a little. Now, I want you to sign in and then go sit with the little kids. I'll find you later," Katniss assured as she stood up pushed her sister into line, standing a few people behind her so she could keep an eye on her sister. And soon after the Effie gave her speech, showed the video from the capitol that they showed at all of the reapings and was now picking the first name from the reaping bowl, the girl, and Katniss waited with baited breath.

"And our first tribute is, PRIMROSE EVERDEEN!" Effie called with a smile on her face as everyone froze. For everyone knew about Katniss and her love for her sweet younger sister, her sister who wanted nothing more than to be a healer in the Seam and to help the people around her. And now that wouldn't happen. At least that's what everyone thought as Prim made a slow careful walk up to the stage, until….

"PRIM!" Katniss called as she struggled against the Peace Keepers, "PRIM!" She kept struggling but the Peace Keepers where strong and didn't stop until she yelled instead, "I VOLUNTEER! I volunteer as tribute." With that she ran over to her sister and calmed her, told her to find their mother, and attempted to calm her down until her friend Gale came over and removed Prim.

"Come on up dear," Effie encouraged. "Well everyone, we have our first tribute. What's your name my dear."

"Katniss Mellark."

"And why did you volunteer my dear?"

"Prim is my younger sister. My half sister," Katniss said as she stared at the crowd. It had come as a shock to everyone to hear Katniss state her name.

"Well, everyone give a nice round of applause to Katniss," but instead the crowd was silent as everyone raised their hands to their mouths and kissed their fingers before saluting Katniss with three fingers. "And, now for the boys," Effie said irritated as she drove straight into the bowl with all of the boys names without any of the fanfare she had used while picking Prim's name.

"Peeta Mellark." And with that Peeta walked up to the stage and engulfed Katniss in the safety of his embrace.

"Don't worry Katniss, I promise you that you two will make it out of this safely. I will make sure of it," he whispered in her ear as Effie grabbed their attention.

"Now, Katniss when you said that Primrose was your half sister, is Peeta your brother?"

"No, Peeta and I got married about three months ago," Katniss whispered as Peeta held her closer and tighter. Making sure that she was still there and still with him.

"Here in District 12, you never know if you'll wake up the nest morning, especially if you're from the Seam. Katniss and I, we didn't want to waste any time that we might have together. Now, I need to do my job and protect my family. I already know that I'm not coming out of these games, because until I'm dead. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that my family comes out of this alive."

"How brave and daring of you. But Katniss, that begs the question of what was your name before you married Peeta, was it Everdeen?" Effie asked.

"No," Katniss answered, shocking everyone. "I share a mother with prim, and I have my fathers name."

"Well, what is it?" Effie prompted.

"Abernathy. My name is Katniss Abernathy."

A/N So, if you check my profile you'll notice I have several stories that haven't been updated in a very long time. And that is because I have a broken flash drive and the flash drive is the only copy of my stories. Please forgive me. Also, should I continue with this story or not? Please review and tell me.