A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first story and I have to say I'm pretty excited because I love both the Hunger Games and Glee. Sorry for any misspellings/grammatical errors, I don't have a beta. So I hope it's good so far, please review (constructive criticism is appreciated).
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or the Hunger Games, I only own Kurt's younger sister.
Rachel Berry clutched her bow with heavily calloused fingers. She set her sights on a rabbit and shot. It fell over instantly. Her best friend Kurt Hummel, who was nearby setting a trap, applauded and grinned at her. Rachel and Kurt lived in District 12, the coal mining district, Kurt with his father and Rachel with her mother. They had first met in the fifth grade, when their teacher told them to say their name, favorite color, and something monumental that had happened in their lives. Kurt said,
"Hello pupils, my name is Kurt Hummel and my favorite color is scarlet red. When I was eight, my mom got sick and never got better. They tried to save her, but it wasn't enough."
His voice had cracked on the last part, and obviously everyone in class felt awful for him. Some of them parent too, but usually it was when they were babies, or sometimes not even born yet. Rachel had lost her father the past year and knew exactly how Kurt felt. They met after class that day and talked. Rachel told Kurt about how she hated that everything reminded her of her father now, the empty feeling she would get when he wasn't there hugging her or singing to her, his absence always so painfully obvious in her life. They also hated what people told them. Everyone always said that things would be okay eventually, but when you lose someone so important, things are never really okay. The pain numbs over time, but life is never the same as it was.
The two of them had been inseparable ever since, sitting at lunch together, being each other's shoulder to cry on, hunting every day after school. Kurt didn't need the meat much, but Rachel did. She was basically the sole supporter for her and her mother, Shelby, who had just stopped living after her father's death. Three months after his death, Shelby still hadn't gotten a job. By then, no one helped her look for one. Shelby spent almost all her time of those months crying. She tried to help out now, by running a hospital of sorts at the Berry household, but she never accepted but a small amount of money. She always told Rachel that she shouldn't need money to save a life, the reward of the life itself should be enough. Rachel always said that, while that was true, they did need the money to survive.
But Rachel didn't really need any food today, she was much too nervous to eat anything. Today was the day of the reaping, where two children, one girl and one boy, would be picked from each of the twelve districts to compete in the annual Hunger Games. There used to be thirteen districts, but the thirteenth was blown to pieces for trying to rebel. Now, innocent children were sent to kill each other every year, for crimes their ancestors supposedly committed years and years ago. This year Rachel's name would be entered six times, four because she was fifteen years old, and two more because she needed tesserae for her and her mother. Kurt's would be entered seven times, because he was also fifteen, and needed tesserae for himself, his father, and his twelve year old sister, Lindy.
Since Lindy was twelve this year, she would be entered once for the games. She had tried to convince Kurt to let her take a tesserae, just as Kurt's dad had begged Kurt not to get tesserae for him. But Kurt hadn't listened; he needed to support his family and keep Lindy alive. If she entered the games she would have no chance. She was born small and very frail, so the lack of food just made her even smaller and weaker. The thought of a child like her being killed, in those God forsaken Hunger Games nonetheless, broke Rachel's heart.
Eventually, Rachel and Kurt stopped, they hadn't been able to find much that day, and went home to change. Rachel opened the door to her and her mother's tiny home, and went upstairs, where her mother was waiting for her with a pink dress and white hair bows. Rachel dressed and strung the bows through her long, brown hair. She absentmindedly inhaled the scent of the room. It smelled like the coal in the mines, a fresh rain, and cinnamon. It smelled just like her father.
Rachel suddenly felt a lone tear trail down her face, leaving a clean line within the grime Rachel had accumulated from her and Kurt's (unsuccessful) hunting trip. She instinctively swiped the tear off her face before more could follow. Rachel needed to be strong. For her mother, for her long-gone father, for herself even.
She and Kurt met up once they arrived at the reaping, and held each other's hands. Lindy couldn't stand with them because she was younger, but Rachel still noticed the worried glances Kurt kept throwing at her. Rachel definitely understood Kurt's worry, but it wasn't really necessary. Lindy had her name in once. Some kids had theirs in twenty times! The chance that Lindy would be reaped was pretty much one in a million.
The mayor of their district began his speech about Panem and the Dark Days and the Treaty of Treason, but no one, not even the mayor himself was really listening. They all just wanted to get to the part that mattered then, to know that they were safe, that their children were safe.
Next, the mayor reads the (very short) list of District Twelve's victors. In the seventy-three years the Hunger Games have existed, District Twelve has had two victors. The one that is still living, Will Schuester, goes up to the stage. His face is completely blank, frown lines permanently etched on and dark circles under his once-life filled eyes. He gets applause obviously, but his face stays emotionless and he says nothing. Finally, Twelve's escort, April Rhodes, steps up to the center and says, cheerful as ever, "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" she babbles on for a bit and then digs her hand into the ball full of girls names. She almost pulls one out, but then stuffs it back in, as if receiving a sign from the universe telling her it is the wrong decision. Then she pinches another between her freakishly long, sparkly pink nails and yanks it out. With the broadest smile, to Kurt's upmost horror, she reads "Lindy Hummel!"