A/N Hey! This idea's been rumbling around in my head for a while, so I thought that I'd start writing it and see what you guys think of it! I am a MAJOR shipper of both Catoniss and Everlark so this story includes both! The Everlark is a lot, LOT later though, assuming this story is successful, of course... Anyhoo, on with the story!

Chapter 1

I see light. It floods my vision and I squint to see my surroundings. I am on a round pedestal facing a tall, golden cornucopia. There are twenty three other pedestals around it, all with people on them. We wait. A horn goes off and I am running. Running off into some woods. I run for what feels like hours, until I start to feel dehydrated. I stop to look in a backpack I must have picked up from somewhere. No water. I notice it's got dark so I climb a tree and fall asleep.

Next thing I know, someone nearby has lit a fire. It's still dark. Idiot, she's trying to get herself killed, I think. I hear some voices. A scream. She's dead. The voices come closer and I freeze. What if they see me? I see them, they all look familiar, but I can't place them. I see a face I recognise. His blonde hair and icy blue eyes stand out like a sore thumb. Cato. What's he doing here, I wonder. They disappear off into the night.

Now I'm running from a strange wall of fire that is shooting fireballs at me. One hits me. It hurts so much but I keep running. I run into some water. It soothes my burn. I hear those same voices and I'm up a tree again, but this time I'm sawing a branch off. The branch has a nest of some sorts. As it falls, I get stung. Three times. Another boy with blonde hair and blue eyes is shouting at me to run. So I run, eventually collapsing.

There's a little girl looking down at me. I give her some of my food and we separate. I arrive at the clearing I was at at the start. There's a huge pile of boxes. I aim an arrow at a bag of apples. The boxes explode. I see Cato again, looking angry. He breaks a poor boy's neck and I shiver. Again, I'm running. I find the little girl caught up in a net. I release her and a boy throws a spear at her. I shoot him in return. I start singing to the little girl, and before long, she's dead. I place flowers around her and walk away.

There's a voice making an announcement and suddenly I'm running to a river. I walk up the river and find the blonde haired, blue eyed boy who told me to run earlier. Except now, he's dying. There's a huge cut down his leg. I drag him into a cave. I am trying to keep him alive. The voice from earlier makes another announcement and I'm running back to the clearing. There's some backpacks on a table. A fox-faced girl runs and grabs one and runs off. Now, I'm running and I grab the one with a 12 on it. I almost make it away and a girl has me pinned, with a knife in her hand. She cuts my head. Suddenly, she is pulled off of me by a huge guy who bashes her skull in with a rock. He points at me, yells something and runs off.

I'm back in the cave. The blonde haired, blue eyed boy is better now. We go out of the cave and start to hunt. We split up and suddenly I'm screaming and running back. He has berries in his hand. I knock the berries out of his hand and yell at him, tears streaming down my face. That's odd, I never cry. Now I'm putting the berries in a pocket.

Next thing, we're running. To the big golden cornucopia. We struggle up and I see odd looking wolves growling at us from the ground. I look up and Cato's there, with the blonde haired, blue eyed boy in a headlock, grinning evily at me. I shoot his hand and he falls to the ground, getting mauled by the wolves. I aim my last remaining arrow at him and -

I wake up, panting and sweating. I look around. Home.

"That's the last time I am reading The Hunger Games just before bed," I mutter to myself, shaking off the night's dream. I wander out of my room into the rest of the apartment and see my sister, Prim, sitting at the table eating breakfast. She looks up and grins.

"Happy birthday, Katniss!" she shouts, throwing her arms around me, "You're twenty six today!"

"Thanks, Prim," I say, ruffling her hair.

"Don't ruffle my hair, I'm twenty two, for Christ's sake, Katniss!"

"Doesn't seem like it sometimes," I mumble under my breath.

"So... would you like to see my present?" she asks. I nod my head, a grin on my face. She goes to her suicase and bings out a box. I open it and gasp. It's a silver necklace with a bow and arrows in the middle.

"I love it, Prim," I say, giving her a hug. She grins back at me.

Just then, the door leading to the other bedroom opens, revealing a small framed girl with my brown hair rubbing her eyes, but dressed ready for school. She takes her hand away from her eyes and looks at me. Her eyes are a beautiful shade of blue, much like the eyes of the boy in my dream, and they sparkle with happiness when they see me.

"Mummy! Happy birthday!" she says, launching her small body into mine.

"Thanks Sophia," I say, and smile down at her, "but you need to have breakfast quickly today so you're not late for school."

"Ok!" she says and launches herself at the bowl that Prim was eating from earlier.

"Sophia, that was my breakfast," Prim says, a small frown on her face.

"Sorry, Auntie Prim," Sophia replies, mouth full of cereal. I grin and grab a piece of toast and start eating it, without spreading anything on top.

"Right, ok. I'm going to have a shower, and by the time I get out, I expect your Auntie Prim to have taken you to school," I say, giving Prim a look.

"Ok, Katniss, I understand, you want me gone so you can spend the night with Cato," she says, fake bitterness obvious in her voice.

"Prim, you're not the only one who wants to spend time with me on my birthday, you know. And, besides, you said yourself that you need to go home this morning, anyway."

"Yeah, you're very true. I only have this morning off work and it takes, like, three hours to drive home," she says, nodding her head.

I turn to my daughter. "Now, Sophia, have a good day at school, and be good for the lady who runs the after school club, ok?"

"Ok, mummy!" she says, bouncing up and down.

"Good. I'll pick you up around five, ok?" She nods her head and I turn to Prim. "Bye, Prim. You know you're my favourite little sister, right?"

She frowns. "I'm your only sister, Katniss."

"I know that, but you're still my favourite," I say, grinning.

She rolls her eyes. "Sure, of course. When do you think I'll see you again?"

"I don't know, probably Christmas."

Her eyes grow wide. "But, Katniss, Christmas is, like, seven months away!" She pouts.

"I know, Prim, but I am the manager of a successful business, you know."

"Yeah, I know. But -"

"You can still come see me like you did this weekend, just make sure with me first that it's a weekend that I'm actually here."

Her face brightens instantly. "Yeah, ok!" She pulls me into a hug. "I love you, Katniss."

"I love you too, Prim," I reply, pulling out of the hug. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go have a shower." I start making my way to the bathroom.

As I reach the bathroom, I hear a "Yeah, you do, you smell" from Prim. I turn around and stick my tongue out at her before entering the bathroom. I turn the shower on and step in, feeling the warmth of the water against my skin. I wash my hair and body and then just stand there, letting the water run down my body, deep in thought. Why was Cato in my dream? Why did I basically send him to his death at the end of my dream? And just who was the boy with blonde hair and stunning blue eyes that were so similar to my daughter's? These questions are rattling around my head as I step out of the shower. I shake my head in an attempt to rid myself of those questions as I step out of the bathroom. Prim and Sophia have gone, which leaves the apartment eerily quiet. I head into my bedroom and start to find a smart but fashionable suit to wear to work.

It is expected of me to wear a fashionable suit because I am the manager of the huge fashion company, Hunger. I didn't start the company, the ex-manager, Cinna Kravitz, did. He was a genius in the fashion world, making individual yet recognisable clothes that everyone wanted. The designs he made were so unique, so special, they made him and the company an instant hit. I say 'was' and 'were' because, unfortunately, he passed away two years ago after contracting stomach cancer and left the company to his assistant manager. Me. I started in the company about five years ago, and shortly after I started, he gave the position of assistant manager to me. I had the privelege of working with him for just over two and a half years before he passed, leaving his company to a twenty four year old with a four year old kid. To be fair, no one knew about Sophia except Cinna, as I somehow felt that I could tell him everything, so most people thought that he left his company to an inexperienced twenty four year old. Sure, I wasn't paticulrly ready to own a company, but I somehow managed to maintain Cinna's good public image with the help of my oldest friend, Gale, my newly-found friends Finnick and Jo, and my new assistant manager, Beetee. It was a tough few months, but we finally pulled it off, and started to employ more people to make the workload easier on us.

I'm thinking about this as I find the perfect suit. I put it on and my mind drifts to the new clothing range we're working on, Fire. The inspiration for the clothing line came from Cinna's reasoning for moving me to be assistant manager 'I can see the desire to succeed in her work burning like a fire'. The clothing range focuses on the fire colours but also includes blacks and whites and other colours with fire-like gems sewn into them. Cinna was always adventurous; we try our best to keep that adventurous spirit in the clothing, almost like we are keeping the genius that was Cinna alive in the clothes.

I sigh. I miss Cinna so much. He wasn't just a boss, he was a good friend as well. I press a hand to my forehead. Focus, Katniss. I glance at the clock. 8.45. I have just fifteen minutes before our Monday morning meeting. I quickly brush my hair and put it into my signature braid, making sure that I looked presentable, then head to the lift that leads into my penthouse apartment, and my penthouse apartment only. You just need a key to get into the lift. There are four people who can currently gain access to my apartment; me, Prim, Gale and Cato. My relationship with Cato has been a bit rocky; we met at High School, had the typical teenage relationship, lost our virginity to each other and then I found him cheating on me with the school whore, Glimmer. I ended it then and there and went through a reallly bad patch in my life, before I found a job at the company. It turns out that Cato had got a job in the company almost straight out of High School. Almost as soon as I got there on my first day, he pulled me aside and asked me to forgive him. I did, because I had gotten over my heartbreak and a few years down the line he asked for a second chance. I gave him that second chance, on one condition: our relationship had to remain a secret. My reasoning behind this was because I had already ranted to practically everyone in the company about how he broke my heart in High School. So, they all think that I hate him. But, on the plus side, our relationship has been successful for the year and a half we have been together. Yes, we are taking it slow because I want to be certain that he is what I want.

When I get to the ground floor, I practically run out of the door, into my car and speed off in the direction of the company building. As I finally arrive, I glance at the clock in my car. 8.59. I sigh. I'm going to be late, as usual. I step into the building and head to the reception area, to have a quick word with the receptionist. As I near, she doesn't look up from her computer and begins the typical speech.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome to the fashion company, Hunger. How may I be of assi-" She looks up. "Oh! Miss Everdeen. Good morning!" she says, smiling her overly enthusiastic smile.

"Good morning, Ms Trinket. Is there any post or anything for me?" I ask, willing for her to be quick.

"Oh, let me just check," she says, swivelling her chair around to look at the mailboxes.

As she looks, I find myself first drumming, and then hitting the desk in front of me, hoping it will help her to speed up.

Finally, she turns around. "Ok, Miss Everdeen, you have -" she stops when she sees me hitting the desk. "Miss Everdeen, that is mahogany! And do please remember your manners!"

"Sorry, Effie, I'm just in a bit of a rush, you see, I'm late for the Monday morning meeting and we have some very important matters to discuss."

"Hmm. Well, you have a couple of letters from some of our other branches, some job applications for the position of assistant manager for when Mr Wright retires at the end of this week and what looks to be a personal letter to you," she says, smiling as she hands the pile of envelopes over to me.

I smile back. "Thank you, Effie."

"Oh, and happy birthday, Miss Everdeen." I give her a grateful smile as I start to walk in the direction of the lift. Once it opens, I press the number 5, the floor number our meeting room is on. As soon as the doors re-open, I start to walk quickly in the direction of the meeting room. As it comes within my sight, I slow down and compose myself and, as I enter the meeting room, there is one thought on my mind.

The boy from my dream with blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes looked really familiar. Where have I seen him before?

Ok, well there is the first chapter, please let me know what you think! Ok, so it's obvious who the guy with blonde hair and blue eyes is, but what role do you think he will play in the story? And what do you think that Katniss' 'bad patch' in her life was? All will be revealed as the story progresses, as well as information on Sophia and why Katniss has a daughter, but it would be interesting to hear your ideas and thoughts on those two questions above, so either review or PM me what you think!

I will try to update as fast as possible, but I am also in the middle of writing my other fanfic, The Games of a Fox, but I will still tyr my best to update quickly on both fanfics!

Ruth xx