Beneath the Water, the 12th Annual Hunger Games: A Mags Story

Disclaimer: I don't own Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games Trilogy.

X-X-X

They hide beneath the water. Those who step into the sea and blindly stab into it with a spear might as well been stabbing their own feet. As fishermen, we have to be quiet before seeing where the fish are.

I've learned that fish don't care when you're waiting to reel them in. They have a different clock from us. It changes. Fish are intelligent. They can tell when you are waiting for them. Humming, talking, even breathing, they can hear it all.

But if you're quiet enough, they can be caught. Waiting for fish sometimes takes a short time, sometimes a long time. The smarter ones can wait a full day before they deem it's safe to come out.

X-X-X

"Mags! You're sleeping again!"

Nick sploshed over to my small boat and flicked some water at me. He squinted in the bright sun.

"Oi! Nick, you scared away the fish! I could feel the bite," I rolled my eyes. Nick took the little rope loop at the bow and started to drag me back to shore.

Nick turned around to grin at me. "So, uh, mom and dad invited your parents over for dinner. They asked me to come get you."

I smiled. "You're washing the bowls because you scared the fish away. I only caught four today."

He laughed and pouted, before ruffling my hair. I blushed at his touch and looked down, hoping he wouldn't see my face.

Nick awkwardly took away his hand and we walked in silence to his family's, the Momose's, hut.

Nick's my neighbor and an occasional fishing buddy. We were best friends ever since childhood, but as we grew up, the distance between us grew, since we had different friends. However, Nick swings by my hut occasionally to say hi, to give us some bread or some salt, if we didn't have enough.

I've always wanted to be more than a friend to him though. It's a bit pathetic. Everyone in the school was dating each other, but I clung to our friendship, and our foolish promise to each other that we'd made when we were 10 that we'd marry each other.

X-X-X

Not a sound was made in the Momose's house.

"We hauled in two nets of fish in our team today. How much did your team bring in?" Nick's dad asked.

My dad replied stiffly, "Only one today. Maybe the fish are unhappy today."

Conversation was awkward around our table. Normally, we'd be laughing and having a hearty meal if we decided to eat together, but nobody really had the heart to say much. Tomorrow was the Reaping.

I glanced at Nick, but he wasn't his normal, cheerful self. His two brothers were also silent. Daniel, the eldest brother at 19, seemed to be focusing on a spot on the wall, and Gabriel, the youngest brother, at 14 picked pointlessly at his food.

Ever since the Rebellion ended, the Capitol started "The Hunger Games." Dad said that I was five when the Hunger Games started, to the horror of the district. We had just lost the rebellion and many people died trying to overthrow the Capitol. My mom and dad fought in the war too. My mom ended up losing an eye, and my father, a leg. They were determined that I would never have to pick up a weapon in my life.

"When you kill, even if you know that person is your enemy, you can never bear to look at your own hands again", my father said.

Every year, Capitol would send someone called an escort to randomly pick a name of a boy and a name of a girl from the ages of 12 to 18. They would be called "tributes." They'd fight to the death on TV against other tributes from other districts. In the end, there'd only be one victor. The Hunger Games. You never knew who'd be reaped. Kids at school had been reaped and then killed brutally onscreen.

Family concern only went to a certain extent. Children who were reaped would not be substituted by their siblings.

Around the 5th Hunger Games, the District 1 and 2 tributes decided to ally. They appeared to have trained for the games, since they were all large and had great skill in combat. Training is illegal, but they do it anyways. Apparently it makes the game more interesting if some of the tributes are crazy killing machines. The richest districts were Districts 1, 2 and 4. That's why the District 1 and 2 tributes, the "Careers", always killed District 4 tributes especially brutally, because most of the money paid to the districts by the Capitol was split up between these three districts. District 1 and 2 hated splitting the money with us.

Sometimes, Careers even volunteered to be the Games, since they were confident in their abilities. District 4, like the other districts, never did.

By the time the 9th Hunger Games started District 4 had trained most of its 12 to 18 year old children. We didn't want to be punished anymore by the Careers just because we were District 4.

However, my parents never allowed me to train. They screamed when they dreamed at night, reliving cuts, hearing the screams and smelling the smoke of the bombs. I try to understand their pain when they tell me, but I cannot.

My mom sighed and adjusted her eyepatch. "My, the sky is ever so blue. Unusually blue. No clouds. Calm before the storm."

Not another word was said during dinner.

X-X-X

After dinner, Nick and I took the little rowboat out. Waves lapped against Little Suzie, as we called the boat.

I could barely see his face in the dark and the only indication that he was there would be the sound of his breathing and the creak of the oars rowing backwards.

He stopped by our favourite marsh and sighed.

We were quiet for a while, trying to enjoy each other's company, but it was too difficult to focus on another else other than the Games.

"I never want to use a weapon," Nick finally said.

"Me either." I looked down at my feet. This could possibly be the last time that I see him, if either of us were reaped tomorrow.

"I-I don't want you to go."

"Nick, none of us do," I replied.

"Mags…what if I told you…that …you were…the most important person to me?" He came so close to me that even though it was nighttime, I could see how green his eyes were.

I shifted back a little. "I'm not sure." My face was heating up again. I wanted to leave because I couldn't face the awkwardness. But, I wanted to hear what he would say.

I gulped.

"Damn it, we've all been suffering for the last six years with the knowledge that we could be killed each year. I don't want to remember that I could die tomorrow," he whispered.

I didn't answer him.

"Mags, I don't know if you remember…or even care…when we were 10, we promised that we'd marry each other…I wanted to ask for your hand after our last Reaping at 18. B-but, I don't want to wait. If I'm reaped, I don't want to tell you when I'm dying that you were special to me. I wanted to bring you out here on Suzie to tell you that." Nick took in a big breath. "The Capitol's taken almost everything from us. I…just don't want them to take away our time together too."

He got down on one knee.

"Nick, the boat's going to tip over if you move like that!" I exclaimed.

"I don't care if we go under. Mags…Magdelene, will you marry me?" Nick asked. He had made a ring of our local grass, which was tough enough to keep the fish from escaping and tough enough to keep up our houses. The ring had a small seashell bound to it.

This is what I've always wanted.

"Yes…I-I want to marry you," I choked on my own breath.

He gently slipped the ring on my fourth finger. "Sorry…you know, uh, if it's not a diamond ring. We don't have diamonds in District 4."

We laughed.

"No. But…why do you want to marry me?" I asked.

"Because you know…I always feel like I want to see you, but when I do see you, then I don't have anything important to say, and uh…um, every time I think about you and uh, I think…I love you—

I jumped a bit just as he was standing up, about to sit back down in the boat. Little Suzie flipped over. We fell into the sea, startling swans and ducks drifting in the area.

The water was warm and it seeped into our clothes and our hair. Fortunately, the water was shallow enough for us to stand up in, about up to our waists.

Before he could finish his sentence, I touched his cheek and kissed him on the mouth. It's quick, naïve, and lacks any sort of sexiness or whatever.

I let go of him and he rested his head on mine, our noses touching. He smells like sweat and sea salt.

I'm worried that he's going to take back the proposal any moment, due to my terrible kissing. I know I'm thinking illogically, but I'm honestly scared.

The strangeness and shock of this situation makes me want to run away, since Nick's proposal has already made me so happy. The whole situation is almost absurd because I was always dreaming about how he would propose to me, but it never occurred to me that it'd actually happen.

He laughed. "You…that surprised that I loved you?"

I looked away at the water awkwardly. "What about the boat?" I asked.

He smiled. "Close your eyes."

"We have to flip her back up—"

Nick pulled me to his chest. He was warm. "Close your eyes," he said again.

"But the boat—

He softly kissed me, while I touched his arm awkwardly. I eventually settled for putting my hands around his torso.

We flipped the boat upwards and started to drag it towards the shore.

I just want to take Nick and hide in this marsh, and not go to the Reaping tomorrow. Unfortunately, the Capitol takes attendance.

"I can lose anything, but I will never lose you…I know that's cheesy," Nick said, as I pulled away.

"Shut up…" I said quietly.

Nick laughed. "Always the shy one…"

We watched the stars, remembered the grasses of the marsh and of course, the gentle sea as he sang a sweet lullaby…I felt safe from tomorrow's impending danger. No one will take this moment away from us, not even the Capitol.

X-X-X

"Welcome everyone to District 4's reaping for the 12th annual Hunger Games!" the escort, Bassania, said into the microphone.

The escort's cheery tone doesn't relax us. It scares us more.

The Reaping has begun.

X-X-X

AN: I'm trying out this fiction, which I've thought about doing for a long time. Mags is awesome. I'm not 100% sure what she would have been like during her Games, but this is how I imagined her.

Please review and let me know where I can improve!