Hi! I know, I know, I have quite a few other stories on the go right now, but I have this…. Urge, to write this story! This pairing is not very popular, but I don't understand why!

The pairing for this particular story is… Katius! Darius+Katniss! No, I did not invent this couple name, FishFlapper did. I love this pairing and I hope you do too!

Summary:

Primrose was reaped for the Hunger Games, so Katniss volunteered. Then she fell in love with Peeta Mellark. Which led to a rebellion. This is her life as it would have been, IF none of those events had occurred. How could a certain redheaded Peacekeeper help her cope with life? Read and find out.

Prologue

"Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Snap!" I mutter under my breath as I walk towards my meeting place with Gale. It's the middle of November and everywhere you look the ground is covered in dirty, cold snow. Primrose claims it's the most beautiful thing in the world, but I can only agree if we are watching it fall from the sky. Once it lands, it turns brown from the coal dust and has a musky smell.

But here, in the woods, the snow is bright, white and sparkling. The coal dust hasn't reached the forest and everything here looks magical and untouched. If only Prim could see this.

Winter is my favorite season, since it makes it easier to hunt, because you are able to see animal footprints in the snow. But then again, many animals are in hibernation and have camouflaged furs which makes it harder to see them. But those do tend to sell for more.

But there are some problems in winter. The first and most obvious would be the coldness. To state bluntly, winter in District 12, is miserable. Houses are never warm enough and you always find yourself freezing. No matter how many blankets you acquire or bunny hugs you wear, you can never get warm enough. Some of the luckier folks (including myself) have fireplaces and you usually find a family huddled as close to the fireplace as possible without getting hit by the sparks.

Once, we even moved our mattress into the living room of our house so we could sleep close to the fireplace. Anywhere else in the house was like sleeping on ice.

Another problem is the lack of food. During the months where food is growing and producing food, we have full stomachs. But, when it is winter and the end of autumn we are barely getting by. That's why my family depends on my hunting.

My Mother helps with the income too though. She practices medicine and is a healer for District 12. Most times when people visit her, they don't have enough money to pay my Mother. So they end up owing her money, and the rarely ever pay her back within a reasonable time.

But I try not to depend on her too much any more. Now knowing what she is capable of. When I was 11, my beloved Father died in a horrible mining accident. My Mother had broken down into a deep depression, leaving her only with a shell of the person she used to be. She barely ever spoke and was frailer than ever.

She aged almost twice as fast and was barely staying alive. Her eyes lost all feeling and emotion and her cheekbones stuck out on her face. Her hair began falling out in wisps and she barely had any left on her head. The skin on her arms began to droop and her bones stuck out everywhere. She refused to eat some days, and when she did, she threw it all up after.

Most days she never got out of bed, unless we forced her too. And on the days she did, she would go sit out in the meadow near our house, for hours. Just sitting in the flowers, making daisy chains while singing songs. Sometimes she would talk about Prim, and me as if she were telling someone. Telling Father. Or sometimes she would talk to the sun.

For the longest time I thought she would never come back to this world. Come back to me. But after a while, she slowly became better. We all did.

But people still give her weird looks, or give Prim and I looks of pity whenever we walk past. And that's all because of what happened 5 years ago. All because of love.

I still remember the happy memories of Father and Mother. During spring, when all the flowers were beginning to bloom, Mother would take me out there and we would play in the meadow. Father would come along too, singing folk songs for us while we danced.

During the winter I would curl up on Father's lap in front of the fire, while he told me stories about my late grandparents and about Panem before the dark ages.

Once, on Christmas Eve, Father came home from the hob with a sack of apples. Mother seasoned them with herbs and spices, and that night we roasted them over the fire. And when I woke up the next day I found a brand new, red-checkered dress lying under our tree. It was too big, but it was the best present I had ever received.

Then there was also the day where Mother and Father told me they were having another baby. I was so excited; I had always wanted a little brother or sister! I remember dreaming about the day when God would give me a little sibling.

I had lots of happy memories after Prim was born, so many I am not even going to bother mentioning any.

I always knew my parents were in love, they showed me in so many ways. And during the time they were in love they were the happiest people in Panem.

But after their love had broken, my Mother was no longer happy. That's the weird thing about love. While love is thriving everyone is enjoying him or herself and having the time of their life. But once it ends, everything is gone. All happiness, dignity, compassion even humanity is lost.

All because of one particular four letter word. It picks you up and when you least expect it, it drops you onto cold, hard pavement.

After seeing the affects of love and how it affects everyone around you, I vowed to never love. To never fall into the trap. But little did I know that I was involuntarily heading towards it, rapidly.

So…. I know that was short, but it was needed! Darius will be in the next chapter (hopefully) so don't worry Katius shippers! Please review and if you like this pairing please check out FishFlapper' Katius story, 'I am of Those She Despises'. It's really cool!

Since I do have other stories on the go right now, updates will be less frequent for ALL! Especially for Gone! I gave you 3 chapters within 2 weeks, spoiled people….

I plan for a little bit of OOC, mostly from Katniss. I am planning on her having a better relationship with her Mother, since I didn't like how distant she was with her in the books. Just a heads up!

Please review and if you have ANY ideas for the story, please tell me! I desperately need them! But to let you know, I will not put any slash/lemons whatever you call it and hopefully no swearing in this story! Review!

(P.S. Not all the other chapters will be as… sad or depressing. Hopefully they will be happier! Well, as happy as you can get in District 12)