His Girl On Fire by mistressautumn

Note: A story in which Cato and Peeta are brothers, sons of a rich Capitol businessman. This fic will share very little similarity to the books, so technically I think it still falls under an alternate universe. If any situations/names/roles have a likeness to what we've already seen in the trilogy, then I've decided not to change them just because I think it fits (that or I was lazy). That said:

Reviews are appreciated but not required and flames will be used for barbeque;

I don't own the story and am borrowing from Suzanne Collins;

An early apology for lapses in grammar and spelling – it's been a while since I last tried to write anything and;

I'm not satisfied with the beginning but hey, it's posted already so I guess we both just have to deal.

Now, off with the story.

Chapter One: Glimpse

Those were not his eyes. The rest of the face, the hair, the body even, were all his, but not those eyes. His eyes were blue like cloudless sky or sparkling ocean, the color inherited from his Mother. Not this, definitely not this: black and hollow like cave entrances ready to swallow him whole, with no way back out, as he yet again found himself sinking into the depths of another one of his episodes.

He was usually aware when he was about to go under. He recognized that slow pull as he very languidly lost control of his limbs, his thoughts. The pull took its time, coursing through his bloodstream like poison, and the ending was always the same. He snapped, trapped in a shiny, destructive, unreasonable rage that recognized nothing and no one.

And as he completed his transformation into a madman, the image of himself he had been staring at for the longest time cracked, then broke into a million shards as his fist collided with the mirror before him over and over again.

The Mellark Mansion was brought to life by the screaming of a young man. Lights turned on, bodies forced out of bed to attend to the Master of the house, as was their duty. There were two doctors, four male nurses, and the head Butler. Still wearing their sleeping clothes, they nearly collided with one another as they assembled in front of an ornately designed wooden double door where the shouting was coming from.

There were no words; they were unnecessary. As one, they entered a ransacked room with the butler on the lead. Their faces did not register any surprise at what they saw as they went in, because it was almost always the same scene of destruction – there was always broken glass, wood, furniture, torn sheets and ravaged canvas. And blood, lots of blood. There was always blood.

"Young Master…" the head Butler named Beetee adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he spoke in a shaky voice, calling out to a screaming blonde. However, the shouting did not cease. He had to call out a second time, this time properly.

"Peeta?"

It did the trick, although the reaction was a little delayed as though it took a while before his voice reached its destination. There were several seconds before he turned to the newcomers abruptly, and as he did, Peeta Mellark glared at all of them, chest heaving and breathing ragged. His usual handsome face was contorted by meaningless anger, eyes blackest of blacks. It was a scary sight to behold, and there was a long moment of pause where no one moved, not even breathed – and then a new wave of screaming began as the wooden table in the middle of the room was upturned, its contents spilling to the floor.

And that was where chaos ensued, all nurses positioning themselves around Peeta to pin him down, stop him from inflicting damage upon himself. It was difficult though, trying to get a hold of a deranged man without hurting him yourself, and as the poor nurses wrestled and chased Peeta around, somewhere along the way someone must have stepped on the television remote because suddenly, the wide screen TV to be found at the far wall turned itself on.

"Stop!"

The reaction to this word was instantaneous, and for some absurd reason even though no one in the room recognized the voice that said it, all of them froze to follow the command. Everyone's attention and eyes went toward the TV and they found themselves watching the live airing of the current happenings of the 74th Hunger Games.

"Rue! No!"

Onscreen was a girl. What happened next was a blur of limbs and movement – the girl loaded an arrow onto her bow and shot a boy, before she was dropping her weapon to the ground and kneeling beside another much younger girl who had a spear on her stomach. The rest of what happened next was lost upon the doctors, the nurses, and Beetee the Butler though. They weren't watching the Games anymore.

Instead, they were looking at Peeta who had stopped resisting, who had completely stopped moving and was now just watching the scene playing out on the screen with a sort of confused fascination.

Beetee opened his mouth to speak, but one of the doctors raised a hand to stop him. After a few seconds, he signalled for them to back out and leave the room, and very slowly, they retreated and watched from the doorway, a good distance away and out of earshot.

"He stopped," one of the nurses said softly after a long while of silence, still looking at Peeta with an expression of disbelief on his face. "He heard that girl and just stopped."And at this, another nurse laughed a little. "So did all of us," he pointed out. But before anyone else could make any further comments, the same doctor who had ordered all of them out spoke up.

"I want the TV turned on 24 hours and on the Games only." He told Beetee, before turning to his co-doctor. Their eyes met, and there was an understanding there. Slightly confused and a little left out, the butler stepped forward. "Dr. Odair? What is it?" Beetee asked. The male doctor named Finnick Odair flashed a charming smile at the nervous looking butler and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"We're just about to find out, but from my point of view things are looking good."

Peeta watched the Hunger Games for the rest of the evening as if no mental episode ever happened, black eyes slowly melting back to blue.

Note: Finally, that's done. I personally think starting a story is the hardest and know I almost never am satisfied with the beginnings I create, but thankfully you've tolerated it enough to have come this far. Also, I've made Finnick a doctor – I don't know why, but oh well. Thanks for reading :)