Hey guys. If you're reading this, Yay! I hope you enjoy what is to come. That's my goal, anyway.

This is my second FanFiction (the first for an awesome show called Adventure Time) and I hope it isn't too bad.

Hope ya'll enjoy :D

ONTO THE STORY

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins does...sadly :(


That day, the sun had been shining. Its warm light filtered through the clouds overhead. Wind stirred up the coal dust coating the cobblestone streets, thickening the air. The birds were calling to each other with fever, their voices there one moment yet gone the next.

No children played outside. No adults went to work. The finest clothes the youth owned were pulled from storing places and laid out, waiting to perhaps be worn for the last time. It was the day most families dreaded. They prayed to whatever there was out there listening that it would not be their child, not this year. Please.

It was Reaping Day.

The whole district gathered for mandatory participation in a sick, twisted version of a lottery where for a measly morsel of rations children could raise their chances of getting picked for slaughter. Children as young as twelve and as old as eighteen were entered into a drawing, resulting in one unlucky boy and one unlucky girl getting picked for the Hunger Games.

In the higher-up of the twelve districts, the Hunger Games were their chance to gain everything they ever dreamed of. If they won, they would get fame, fortune, and glory, thus bringing honor to their district and their family. The only price would be their humanity. However, back in the lower districts, the Hunger Games was nothing more than a one-way ticket to a gory and brutal death.

Why, of the thousands of scraps of paper piled up together, did her name have to pass through those thickly painted lips? Why, when her name was only in the bowl once, was she picked?

…That day had started out the same as any other day. I snuck out at the crack of dawn to scrounge around the forest for the breakfast. Normally, my mother would be headed out to the mines for her shift, but due to the day she was able to cook with me. The twins roused to the smell of cooking meat filling the house. Nobody tried to wake my father.

As I watched my mom turn the meat over in the pan, I realized how slow her movements were getting. She was not meant to work in the mines. My father had been a miner for many years before her, up until five years past. Lily, Luke and I were at school the last time he set foot in that damned place. The explosion was so loud that it shook the very foundation of the entire building, as if the floor beneath us too trembled in fear. Students panicked. Teachers panicked. Chaos had descended upon us. I bolted from my classroom to find the twins. We were gone before the teachers could begin evacuating.

A mine explosion was a high risk of working deep below the earth. We were taught about them from an early age. But learning about something in a classroom from a teacher who had no idea how devastating they could be does not prepare a child for the fallout.

Many men and women made it out of that godforsaken place, my father included. But it was at a price. Some people had burns and blisters all over their bodies, leaving them but a few moments to draw in fresh air before they were gone. Some people stumbled out later with broken bones or missing limbs, like my father. He lost his right arm that day, just above the elbow. He had to cut it off himself. There were families that were not as lucky.

A girl in my year, just a few houses down, lost more than just her father in that accident. There were miners saying that Mr. Everdeen's body had been too dismembered to find all the pieces. Others said that the ceiling had collapsed on him when one of the tunnels caved in. Katniss did not shed a single tear, yet it was obvious how badly she was hurting on the inside. Her little sister was in the twins' year, and unlike Katniss she bawled, barely able to comprehend that her daddy was never coming back. Mrs. Everdeen shut down then and there. She might as well have died with her husband.

Despite the grief and despair of losing such a dear loved one I knew Katniss was feeling, I bring myself to pity her. If anything, I envied her. Her father broke free from the confines of our poor excuse of a district. Sneaking through to the other side of the fence meant to keep us caged, he was able to know what fresh air tasted like. He got to do everything I ever wanted to do, and he took Katniss with him, sharing with her the wonders of life beyond the fence.

The fact that the two of them hunted illegally was not exactly a well-kept secret. Many people bought the game she brought to the Hob on a regular basis, even Peacekeepers. I would watch her creep under the fence before the sun rose every morning, hidden by the safety of my window. What made the envy burn the hottest was the way she changed the moment she was on the other side. She looked so free. She looked happy.

I wanted that. I wanted to do what she did. I wanted to be able to crawl under that fence and escape all the problems that clawed at me and drug me down. So one day, I followed her.

Rising earlier than usual, I stood guard by my trusty window and waited. My hair was tied back for the first time in years. Nerves danced around in my tummy, but the anticipation kept me alert. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she came into view. My gaze flickered to the weak spot in the fence before going back to her. Almost silently, she sidled up to it and moved on through, not even realizing that someone was watching. I lurched into action, nearly skipping out the door and up to the fence.

Taking a deep breath, I drew myself up to my full height for a moment before scurrying under after her. The second I made it through, a grin spread across my lips. I felt wonderful. I felt free.

I knew right then and there that I could never give up the woods. Just one taste of freedom and I was addicted. I needed more.

Staying back just far enough out of sight, I took only what Katniss did. Unlike her, I had not grown up with knowledge of herbs and how to determine what was safe and what was deadly. When I went back home that day, I felt accomplished and content. I gave everything I found to my brother and sister that night before I had to leave, and with it all I was able to fill their bellies full.

They had sneaking suspicions, but I never told them where I had found the berries or the herbs. Thankfully they never questioned it. Despite the fact the Peacekeepers bought game from the Hob, our secret, unofficial-official market, it was still very much illegal. If I were to be caught outside the Hob with any of it, well. I would not see my family for a long time.

Every day after the first one, I snuck my way back to the woods. Observing from afar, I watched Katniss closely to figure out how to find the right plants for myself, and how to properly skin animals. My first few attempts without Katniss there were disappointing to say the least, but I quickly learned from my mistakes. After a few trial weeks, I started to get the hang of things and was able to bring more and more home for my family. My mother helped to keep it all a secret from my father who had become a drunken mess of a man ever since the explosion.

After another month or so of spying on Katniss, I bucked up enough courage to talk to her. Instead of eating by myself far from anyone else at school, I approached her. Nobody did that except for the mayor's daughter, and I could feel the eyes following me as I walked over. She had glanced up at me coldly, her signature scowl prepped and set in place. I smiled.

This girl was basically my hero for all intents and purposes. I held no fear of her, only awe. If she could lose her father and rise up to be strong for her family and that older boy's, then I could rise up out of my own darkness and be strong for mine.

So I asked her. I asked her to teach me everything: how to hunt, how to swim, how to trap. I admitted to watching her and how even I knew it was a tad bit creepy. Of course, she was shocked when I brought it up, her eyes wide and all that. Honestly, she looked like she was going to be sick. She never did end up throwing up, but after a moment or two she collected herself.

To this day I am not sure how I managed to do it, but somehow I persuaded her to properly teach me. It could have been that the twins were becoming close friends with Primrose, her little sister. Or maybe she recognized the desperation in my voice. Working with Katniss would be my chance to change my life, to break free from the nightmares that plagued my nights. I could leave the alleyway littered with trash and blood, and instead breathe amidst the trees. There would be no one there to place bets, or leer, shout, throw bottles…

No. No more. She was my ticket out.

That day, she introduced me to Gale Hawthorne, the older boy she recently started hunting with. Attempting to be amicable, I tried to shake his hand and he nearly crushed mine in his grip. After seeing the sneer curling his lip, I narrowed my eyes and matched his strength. I may have looked small and wiry, but over the years muscle built up in my arms and legs, making me an unexpected force to be reckoned with.

I couldn't figure out why all the other girls were so infatuated with him. Sure, he had a pretty face and lean build, but there was an unexplainable rage in his eyes. It seethed with every moment he breathed, lingering just under the surface. At first, I thought it was because of me, but the more time I spent around him and Katniss, the more I realized it was for something much larger than me, larger than our District. The way he would rant and rave over the Capitol to us in the safety of the woods…

After our first introduction, he only tolerated me enough to talk to me, but not much more than that. The feeling was mutual.

It was only a few days later as I picked strawberries that I realized why he stuck around. Looking over my shoulder as a precaution, I caught sight of Katniss aiming her bow at some animal in the distance as Gale stood a few feet back, his eyes never once leaving her. My hands paused in their picking as I took in the softness of his face. The ever-present rage was gone. Glancing over at Katniss, I watched her shoot her arrow, oblivious. Always oblivious. Maybe someday she would see.

We worked relatively well for years, growing up together in those woods outside of the Seam. Katniss was my savior. The time I spent with Gale and her were by far the best years of my life. My family went from wondering where our next meal was coming from, to not only being able to feed ourselves, but being able to help our neighbors too. Lily and Luke started gaining weight, no longer drastically underweight. Everything was finally getting better, all thanks to her.

So, when Primrose Everdeen's name was called, I had no hesitations for what to do. Katniss nearly crumpled from shock, fear and horror contorting her face. Once she recovered, she would volunteer to take her sister's place. She would be whisked away from her family, from Gale, from me, and she would never come back.

Everything would go back to what it was before. And I couldn't go back to before. Never.

That day.

That day, before Katniss could even take a breath, I surged forward, shoving everyone out of my way and threw myself at Prim, shouting out the four words that saved me and damned me at the same time.

"I volunteer as tribute!"


A/N: Did you like it? Hope so.

If you're into Adventure Time, why don't you hit up my other story, Another Human? (Shameless self-promoting)

Would be nice if ya did :3

Thank you for your time, and please review!

UPDATE 12/23/18: Hey everyone! Sorry I've been gone so long. I've recently re-read through some of my work and decided I should rework some of it now that I have a bit more writing-knowledge. Please have patience with me as I go through this! I just want to make this story and any others I write the best they can be for you all.