Title: Looking on from Afar

FULL Summary: Rue gazed down and watched the memories of the last twelve years of her life lapped against her toes like a wave upon the shore. Slowly, the colors swirled into something recognizable. The young girl, as she stood at the edge between nothingness and the torn fabric of life, watched her own life in snippets, not unlike how the Capitol viewed the Games. It was up to her, in the end, to decide whether or not to let go and move on, or hold tight to what once was hers, and try for a second chance.

Rating: T for the Hunger Games, and for a little leg room just in case anything "T-rated" that might occur during Rue's past.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games or any of the original characters.


Dawn was rising over her District as the newborn took in the first breath of her life. It was nearing the end of springtime, where the earth was starting to grow warm in anticipation of summer, but life the grass had yet to turn from green to yellow. In the lamplight, the new parents smiled at each other through sweat and an unspoken feeling of triumph. The woman's dark eyes glowed as her sister, her midwife, turned to display a swaddled baby girl with a wide, curious gaze and a tuft of hair already frizzing from the heat.

"She's perfectly healthy," Medina's melodic voice assured the couple, and handed her over to the waiting arms of her sister, Valeny. "Not even a hair out of place."

The man reached out a callused thumb to stroke his baby girl's soft skin. Her tiny mouth widened in a yawn and it made the father feel his heart jump in his chest. This was his first child, his second love from the moment he set eye on her. She was Rigel's, for now and forever. His baby had not screamed when she had come into the world; her eyes had been already open, taking into the new surroundings. She hadn't even been screaming, and he immediately thought that there was something wrong.

But there had been nothing wrong, Rigel thought as he stroked his first child's cheek. Nothing at all.

"So? What are you going to name her?" Medina broke through the content silence.

The couple exchanged a glance, and Valeny nodded. His voice husky with emotion, her husband replied with a shine in his eyes, "Rue."


A/N: Thanks for reading! This is a multi-chapter story, and will progress throughout Rue's life before, during, and after the Games and her death, and will explore mostly the relationship she has with her family, her father in particular, and an undisclosed character coming up in later chapters ((HINT)).

And if you have any suggestions for memories of Rue's past, please leave a review telling me, and I could put it into the actual story :)