Spoilers: Spoilers for the Hunger Games.

Disclaimer: It's not mine, but I'd like to keep Peeta. ;)

A/N: I've always wondered about the girl from District Eight, and why she decided to light a fire in the arena that night, even though she had to know it was dangerous. I couldn't resist the chance to explore her character a bit. :)

As always, I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for his incredible mercy and grace and his many blessings. I would be utterly lost without him.

Small Comfort

Addie Jacobs hated the cold.

It hadn't always been that way. There was a time when she'd thought that fresh snow was pretty because it was white and pristine, and it made the factories look so much softer, less intimidating. But then she turned ten, and District Eight had suffered the worst winter anyone could remember.

It hadn't taken very long for people to get desperate. They were forbidden to use coal to heat their homes because every piece of coal was needed to keep the factories running. Each family had a firewood allotment instead, but that didn't mean much when those allotments were based on District Eight's usually-mild winters. The Mayor had actually tried to arrange for an emergency shipment, but the rails had been bogged down under six-foot drifts and the trains couldn't get through.

After that, conditions in the district had only gotten worse, and pretty soon, anything flammable was sacrificed to the flames. (Addie remembered her parents burning the few books they owned, the kitchen table and the chairs, even the wooden trunk that Addie's dad had made for her mom as a wedding present.)

When there was nothing left to burn in their homes, people had started scavenging wood from around the district. A few brave souls had even tried cutting branches from the trees in the park, the one that was right across the street from the Justice Building. (The Peacekeepers had shot them all and left their bodies in the park as a warning. No one had been willing to risk it after that.)

Eventually, the people in Addie's apartment complex had started sleeping in the hallways, huddled together under blankets, trying to keep each other warm throughout the night. It had worked…until the sickness came, and with so many people in such a small space, that sickness had spread quickly down the line of half-frozen tenants.

Addie didn't really remember what had happened after that. She had a hazy memory of laying in bed while someone sat beside her, trying to feed her some sort of broth, but that was it.

All she knew was that by the time she really woke up, both of her parents were dead.

Addie had hated the cold ever since.

Maybe that's why she should have known what to expect when the Reaping for the 74th Annual Hunger Games dawned as a cold, overcast day in District Eight.

It had turned out to be even colder up on the stage, after Adelaide Jacobs rang through the square, and it hadn't gotten much better on the train, or in the training center, because any building that belonged to the Capitol seemed to be filled with the constant hum of air conditioning. The warmer temperatures in the arena would have been a welcome relief if she hadn't been so terrified that she had no time to enjoy it.

When the countdown finished, Addie just ran, and ran, and ran until she couldn't run anymore. She didn't even remember grabbing anything from the Cornucopia, but she must have because she had a small backpack now, and it was stuffed with supplies, including some matches.

Matches.

Addie eyed them as night fell, and all the warmth in the arena disappeared.

Sure, starting a fire at night wasn't smart. She knew that. It was one of the first things her mentor had warned her about.

But, she just…she couldn't stand the cold anymore.

So, she shoved those matches in her pocket, cleared a space in the dirt, dug a fire pit, and got up to collect some wood. It didn't take her long - branches of every size littered the forest floor, and here in the arena, there were no Peacekeepers to stop her from taking them. Once she had a large enough pile, she stacked the wood like she'd learned to in training and struck a match.

Fire burst to life, catching the wood quickly, bathing everything around her in a golden light. Breathing a small sigh of relief, she sat down as close to the fire as she dared and held out her hands, rubbing them together, trying to work some feeling back into her fingers.

That's when she heard it…their laughter.

The Careers.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! she berated herself, trying to scramble away from the fire, but it was already too late.

"No! No, no, no, please!"

Metal flashed in the firelight, and she couldn't even see who had moved - the features of the faces above her seemed ghoulish and dark, lost in the shadows just beyond the fire's reach. Then there was a sharp, terrible pain in her stomach, and Addie screamed, crying, begging for mercy or maybe for it all to be over.

The only response was more laughter, laughter that echoed over the clearing and faded back into the forest.

And then…there was silence.

In a way, the silence was almost worse than the laughter, because it meant that she was alone with the searing agony in her belly, and she moaned, a low, keening, animal-like sound that she'd never imagined herself making.

She felt like she was on fire, but it was a cold fire, a frigid fire that stole the breath from her lungs. She would have been writhing if she'd had the energy, but her limbs were getting heavier with every passing moment, weighed down by the artic chill that was settling deep in her bones. The ground she was laying on was cold too, and the damp earth only made it worse, ice seeping through every layer of clothing until it reached her skin.

It hurt, it hurt so bad, and Addie could only cry quietly and stare up at the night sky, the stars blurry through her tears.

She wasn't sure how much time passed before she felt something else, something vibrating in the dirt: footsteps.

Someone was coming.

Addie opened her mouth, ready to beg for mercy a second time, but she knew it wouldn't do any good, and all that came out was a whimper.

The footsteps slowed, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see the shoes of another tribute. The boy - she could see it was a boy now - crouched down beside her, the gold of his hair shining in the glow of the fire that was still burning nearby. Her vision was too blurry to recognize him, but his silhouette was broad-shouldered and solid-looking, and she thought she saw him swallow.

"You're Addie, right?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "I remember you from training. I'm Peeta. I'm sorry this happened, Addie. I'm sorry that I couldn't…that I didn't…" He stopped, swallowing hard again. "I'm just sorry."

He really did sound sorry, but when he reached for her, Addie couldn't stop the gasp of fear that escaped. The expected pain didn't follow, though. Instead, she felt him take one of her hands in his, his grip gentle.

"I wish I could do more, but I won't leave. I'll stay with you. If…if you want me to, I mean."

She couldn't get the words out but she squeezed his hand as hard as she could.

"Okay, okay," he soothed. "Easy. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

And he didn't. Long minutes passed that way - at least they felt long to Addie - and the nervous glances he kept giving the forest behind him told her how dangerous this was, but still, he didn't move. He talked, though, talked about all sorts of things, things that made less and less sense to Addie as time went on, the steady cadence of his voice lulling her into a place where the pain seemed to fade.

Lots of things were fading, really.

She couldn't see the sky anymore or feel the dirt she was laying on, and everything seemed like it was far away somehow, like she had stopped being connected to it.

But that was alright, Addie thought drowsily, her eyes drifting shut. That was alright because the District Twelve boy was still holding her hand, and for once, she wasn't cold.

She was warm.

Fin

A/N: Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think!

Take care and God bless!

Ani-maniac494 :)