A/N: Hi people. So long story short I've teamed up with SkyeElf...again. except this time we bring you a Hunger Games fic. Hope you all enjoyit. Obvious thanks go to SKyeElf for co-authoring and beta reading this.
Katniss Everdeen was… concerned? Yes, that seemed a good word for it. She had survived the Hunger Games, which should have been the ultimate victory. However, in doing so she had defied the 'infinite power' that is the Capitol. Needless to say they were not happy. She had not meant it to be so, she had simply wanted to get herself and Peeta out safe.
To her the end justified the means in this situation. She and Peeta had survived – that was what mattered. Their families were nicely installed in the Victor's village. Life was good, other than the fact she had to go on that stupid victory tour in a week. She hated the idea of looking into the eyes of the people whose children she murdered.
As she walked by what she considered the most depressing building in the world, or at least in District 12, (The district 12 orphanage) she noticed a boy, he looked about a year older than Prim, was staring at her through the fence. He had long dark brown hair and dark green eyes. Like most children in the district, he was thin, but she could tell he kept himself in shape as best he could. As she got closer to the fence he did not take his eyes off her and even smiled when she stopped in front of him.
"Hi." he said in a friendly voice.
"Morning, what's your name?" she asked.
"I'm Kale...your Katniss Everdeen." he said matter-of-factly.
She snorted, he certainly was blunt. "Yeah...I'm Katniss Everdeen. Haven't you got a last name, Kale?"
"I do… I think, but I never learned it." he said, shrugging, as if not knowing your last name was a completely normal thing.
"Do you know what happened to your parents?"
"Yeah… they both died in that mine collapse, and since then I've been here." he gestured dully at the main building of the orphanage. Obviously this was no Utopia. Then again… did the prospect of Utopia even exist? This was, after all, Panem. Nothing good ever happened here.
"My father died there too." she said, remembering the event that had changed her life so much.
"I'm sorry about that. I didn't know. So not that I'm offended, but why stop and talk to me when you could practically do anything here?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.
"You look a lot like my father when he was a teenager; except for the eyes his were blue. Forgive me, it just struck me as odd. I'll go now." She said, starting to walk away.
"Don't go! Please… I only asked because I stare at a lot of people when they pass and no one pays any attention, before now." he said.
Katniss stopped. Not knowing exactly why, she entered the yard of the orphanage. The grass was murky brown, drooping as if sad. Odd how it served as personification for the dreary place. She walked past a surprised looking Kale into the building. Inside she found the matron barking orders at some of the children. She cleared her throat.
"Miss Everdeen!" The matron sounded delighted by her presence. "What brings you here?"
"The boy, Kale. What do you know about him?"
The matron hesitated.
"Let's discuss this in my office."
She led Katniss to a tiny office. The desk and chairs barely seemed to fit. Behind the desk stood a large filing cabinet. The matron offered her a seat, which she declined.
"Well?"
"What exactly do you want to know about him?"
"Everything. His history, his behaviour, parents all of it."
"Alright, well, he came to us after the great mine collapse. Both his parents were killed. He'd lived in the Seam beforehand. He's generally a nice boy; he does not draw attention to himself. His grades are exceptionally high. He does have a habit sticking up for younger kids against bullies. This led to small incident last year, but was easily resolved. Also, because of this, he does not actually have any friends here." she said, her eyes downcast. Katniss wasn't fooled. This matron pitied Kale as much as she pitied Snow.
"Do you know his last name, madam?"
"No, I'm sorry, Ms Everdeen, but no one has been able to find his family's name in the records. What is your interest in him?"
"He looks a lot like my father did at that age...Haven't you got a photograph of his parents perhaps?"
"Um..well I could dig through his file if you want?" she offered.
Katniss snorted. "Seems incredibly hard for you."
The matron didn't hear her, as she was rummaging through the cabinet. She pulled out a file, and flipped through it.
"I'm sorry, but the family seems to have just appeared out of nowhere Ms Everdeen why may I ask is this so important to you?"
"Are you hard of hearing? I mentioned his likeness to my father, I wondered if he was not perhaps related."
"No, according to records his father would have been at least three years younger than yours. If he had been family he would have been brought to you. Do you have any more questions?" she said, sounding a little irritated by Katniss' attitude.
Katniss rolled her eyes. She was annoyed by this woman's laziness. She hadn't looked through his files with attention; she'd just flipped through it, her eyes not even registering the facts written on the paper. Without asking, she snatched up Kale's file. The matron quickly tugged it back, but not before Katniss' quick hand slid the first few pages into her trusty bag.
"Just testing." she said in a sing song voice, before she walked out of the building, her head held high. Upon reaching the boy, she gestured for Kale to follow her.
"Umm...Where are we going? He asked, confused, but glad to get away from the depressing building if, even for a little while.
Katniss stopped mid-step. She couldn't go back to her house. Everywhere she went was being watched.
"You know any secluded places, kid?"
"Yeah, follow me." he said, taking off to the right with her following close behind. They took several twists and turns down alleyways until he stopped at a sad looking old house.
"This is where I used to live. They've been saying they'll tear it down for years, but no one ever did." he said, leading her into dust covered room about the size of the office she had just left.
"It's where I come when I need privacy. Is it good enough?" he asked.
"Entirely." She answered, settling on the floor and taking out the documents.
"What are those?" he asked lighting a candle to give them more lighting and sitting down beside her.
"Would you close the door please?" She said, reading the first page.
"Okay." he said, getting up, not at all bothered by being given an order.
"You still haven't told me what those are though." he pointed out as the door closed behind him.
"These are your documents." She said matter-of-factly.
"How did you get those? She wouldn't even let me see those!" he said stunned.
"I'm rather fast." She smirked, turning a page. Upon finding certain page, she froze.
"What is it?" he asked seeing her look of surprise.
"Snow has you under observation..."
"Who? Also, should I be worried?"
Katniss looked dumbstruck. "Snow? The president? And yes, very much so!"
"Okay, calm down! Does it say why?" he asked even though he already had a suspicion.
"Your name is Kale Everdeen." she said, staring out in front of her.
"It is are you sure?" he asked, looking down at the paper.
She glanced back at the page then hit the paper to her forehead.
"Sorry, it's Evergreen, I was so hoping..." She looked at him. The likeness was almost uncanny – and for a split-second she'd hoped she'd found a sibling.
"It frightens me how much you look like my father. I was hoping... but you're not." she said, still looking at him. Having hoped she had a brother, only to be disappointed.
She turned back to the pages and looked under the reason for observation.
"You killed someone?" she asked, shocked upon reading it.
"Yeah, but, before you freak out, it was in self-defence, and the peacekeepers saw what happened, so I was cleared." he said. So this was the minor thing the matron talked about? Well, in Panem, death didn't seem like such a big deal to most.
"So, what happened?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Well, one day, a few years ago, I was walking home from school and I took one of the shortcuts. There was this man mumbling to himself and holding a knife. When he turned to look at me, he started mumbling faster and then he tried to stab me a few times. So I grabbed his arm and took the knife. He kept trying to throttle me, so I reacted and stabbed him in the gut." Kale said, looking at the floor. "I didn't want to do it, but given the circumstances, I did not have a lot of options I could think of."
"I understand the whole kill or be killed mentality." she said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Still, you're a good kid at heart. You deserve a good family…" she drifted off. A crazy idea had struck her. Crazy, because she didn't think it possible at all.
She quickly pushed all the pages into her bag.
"Listen, meet me here tomorrow after school okay?" she asked as she left the house quickly.
"Sure." he said loud enough for her to here.
I wonder what that was about. He thought as she disappeared around the corner.
The next day right after school ended Kale found himself sitting in the house, contemplating why both his names were either plants or trees when the door opened.
Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch (the last two he only recognized by sight.) entered. Haymitch looked a little worse for wear; his hangover was still in full swing. He looked at Kale; his eyes became a little more focused.
"Sweetheart," he said to Katniss, "You can't be serious."
"I hardly ever joke." She grimaced.
"Wait did I miss something?" Kale asked Peeta as they shook hands.
Peeta smiled. "Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out in the coming argument."
"Do they argue a lot?"
"Non-stop." he sighed as they sat down to watch the building argument.
Katniss and Haymitch had missed the exchange.
"Honestly Haymitch, you're being childish."
"Coming from a teenager, that's comforting." Haymitch said sarcastically
"Why on earth not? You don't even know him!" And you do?"
"I know enough!"
"And that morsel of information makes you think I'd be the perfect father figure?" he shot back.
"Oh she's trying to get him to adopt me? Cool as that would be, I don't think she's going to win." Kale said to his companion on the floor.
"No, she's pretty determined with this. I think she'll get him." Peeta smiled as Katniss' voice got louder.
"Haymitch, you listen to me! I don't give a damn whether you would be the world's best father and offer him unicorns on the moon, or a horrible father that gives him crocodiles in hell, just talk to him!"
"Why should I?"
"Because he's just like you!"
"I'm not sure that's a good thing…"
"No, peanut, he's..." she trailed off looking at Kale. She looked back at Haymitch and leaned in, whispering in his ear.
Peeta and Kale were now fighting hard to keep straight faces at the look on Haymitch's face.
"Wow, she is scary when she's mad." Kale said regaining his composure.
"Yeah, I learned long ago not to mess with her when she's determined to do something." Peeta said.
"He's like me and Peeta. A fighter. He once was caught in a fight with a man twice his size...the man's dead, Haymitch. I think he could do you some good." She leaned back. "Now I come to think of it, he needs you just as much."
Haymitch seemed to slump in defeat.
"Did she just win?" Kale asked Peeta.
"Maybe, looks like he's coming to talk to you." Peeta said.
Sure enough, Haymitch had walked over and was standing in front of him. Kale simply sat on the floor and waited for him to speak.
"Um...Get up will you? It's odd talking to you down there." Haymitch appeared to be going through some sort of inner struggle.
Kale stood, still looking Haymitch in the eye. He only came up to just above Haymitch's waist. The kid's eyes seemed to x-ray Haymitch, and Kale smiled as Haymitch shifted a little as if uncomfortable.
"Can't you do it?" he asked Katniss.
"No." She said firmly joining Peeta on the floor.
"Um...Do you...I mean...Should I...Gah!" Haymitch stammered.
"You should try taking a deep breath before you speak it helps." Kale said lightly, still smiling as he heard Peeta and Katniss both chuckle at the comment.
Haymitch took a deep breath.
"I'm not good at this."
"You're telling us..." Katniss snorted from the side.
"Want to be my kid?"
Kale smiled. "Yes, if you want me around that is."
Haymitch stared. He looked at a stunned Peeta.
"Did he just say yes?"
Peeta nodded still shocked as Kale and Katniss burst out laughing.
When they finally calmed down he said: "Thank you Katniss."
"You'll hate me soon enough." she reassured him.
"Wait...Why would you even want to be my kid?" Haymitch was just as shell-shocked as Peeta.
"Have you ever been to the orphanage, believe me you can't be worse than them. Katniss can vouch for me here." he said pointing to her.
"Yeah, the matron is one awful woman." She said
"Which reminds me." She handed Haymitch her bag. "When they take out his documents, make sure the matron let the folder fall, and let these fall too. We don't want my thievery to be known."
"You stole?" Peeta asked, looking at her in surprise as Haymitch scanned the papers himself.
"Not out of the Games yet." She shrugged.
"You, good with combat?" Haymitch asked Kale, not looking up from the papers.
"Knives, blades, and my hands yes, but I've never tried any other weapon. Why?"
"If you're my kid, you're in more danger of being reaped." He replied grimly, putting the papers back into Katniss' bag "Shall we?"
"How, much more danger could I possibly be in?" Kale asked as they approached the orphanage.
"Snow's on you, so be nice."
"Okay, but you're the one who has to fill out paperwork." Kale said as they all entered the depressing building.
"Splendid." Haymitch groaned.
The matron looked up lazily as her office door opened. Her jaw dropped when she saw District 12's three victors with Kale behind them. Kale chuckled as she just stammered at them.
"Hello, Ms Carter." Kale grinned.
"What did he do this time?" she sighed, getting up and rummaging in the cabinet for his file.
Upon reaching the file, she pulled it out and made to open it. Katniss screamed. Everyone in the room jumped about a foot in the air. The file slipped from her grasp to the floor. Haymitch and Ms Carter bent down to seemingly pick it up.
"Katniss are you okay?" Haymitch asked, handing Ms Carter the papers he'd 'picked up.'
"Fine" she breathed. "Thought, I saw a spider."
Haymitch wanted to laugh. Katniss was afraid of few things, the least of them spiders.
"What did you do this time to bring these fine people here?" asked Ms Carter, glaring at Kale.
"Hey, wait I'm innocent this time." he pointed to his fellows.
"Quite so." said Haymitch in a business-like voice. "I'd like to get the papers ready for an adoption."
"She sure as hell didn't think of me as 'fine' yesterday." Katniss muttered lowly to Peeta.
"Katniss calm down you can take out your anger hunting later." Peeta said reassuringly.
Meanwhile Ms Carter had finally processed Haymitch's statement.
"Y...you...you want to adopt him?" she stammered, pointing back and forth from Haymitch to Kale, shock etched on her aged face.
"Yes, and soon. If possible, today."
"Yes, yes, of course, it's just forgive me, but are you certain you want Kale? He has an… umm...history behind him that you should be made aware of, before you agree to this." she said apparently forgetting Kale was in the room.
Kale rolled his eyes – this was part of the reason he had not already been adopted. The other reason being most people in the district could not afford to adopt anyone anyway.
"He...well... he killed a man. It was in his own defence and a peacekeeper vouched for him, but you should be told." she said.
Haymitch sat silent for a few minutes. His eyes briefly flitted to Kale, who looked annoyed. He leaned forward, his gaze causing Ms Carter to become severely unnerved.
"Have I introduced myself?" Haymitch said sweetly. "I'm Haymitch Abernathy. Victor of the 50th Hunger Games. Victor means killer, no matter how much you try to sugar coat it. And it was all to survive." he said, looking her dead in the eye.
"I well then umm… here you are. Just fill these out and he can leave when you're done." she stammered. Haymitch nodded and began to fill out the papers. Kale looked out the window, trying hard not to laugh, when his eyes fell on someone outside and time seemed to slow down.
She had fair skin, long blond hair, and incredibly bright blue eyes. She was humming to herself as she walked by, not even noticing him. He blinked rapidly to bring himself back to reality, hoping no one had noticed.
Katniss and Peeta had noticed him staring, but did not bring it up to him. Instead they looked out the window in time to notice Prim walking past. Peeta turned to Katniss smiling.
"I think Kale has a crush on Prim." he said in a low voice so only she could hear him.
Katniss smiled she may not know much about romance, but she could remember that look on Peeta's face when he looked at her. She smiled. "If he hurts her, though my arrow will puncture his pretty little throat." She said softly. Faking a cheery voice.
"You're alright with him having a crush on Prim? No offense, but you're usually so protective of her." Peeta was surprised. He didn't know if it was a good or bad thing.
"I can't always protect her. Plus, as I said. Her hurt equals his throat playing victim to my vampire bow."
Peeta snickered at her use of imagery.
"Did you two say something?" Kale asked from his position near the window.
"Just talking about the victory tour." Peeta lied easily.
"Alright, Mr Abernathy, just sign here. Do you want to change his last name?" she asked.
He glanced at Kale, who shrugged. Having only known his last name for a day and a half he was not exactly attached to it. Haymitch nodded to Ms Carter.
"Then sign here and he's all yours." she said in a tone that said she was glad to see the back of him.
Kale smiled as Haymitch steered him out the door.
"Kale Abernathy. I sound so posh! It's better than Evergreen." he said a bit louder, making sure Ms Carter heard him. Behind the four of them, Carter's mouth went open – how did he… She glanced around fearfully. Kale was never to know his surname – that had been her orders! From President Snow himself! How had the boy found out?
Meanwhile, Peeta had another conundrum.
"What does posh mean?" He asked.
"It's a fancy word for fancy or fashionable." Katniss answered, picking a loose piece of fabric off her shirt.
"Huh, I didn't think anyone else knew that." Kale said, impressed.
"I'm just amazing that way." She said, playfully ruffling his hair.
"Go get your things and meet us outside." Haymitch said.
Kale ran eagerly up the stairs to do as he was told.
"How did you know what posh meant?" Peeta asked Katniss.
"Cinna uses it a lot, and I got curious one day." she said shrugging.
Peeta nodded, then caught sight of Haymitch's face.
"Haymitch, you look a little shell-shocked, are you okay?" Peeta asked as Kale's footsteps faded upstairs.
"I became a father over the course of an hour." Then he groaned. "This means no more drinking, doesn't it?"
"Not necessarily, just less drinking than you do now." Peeta answered soothingly, suspecting that Kale would do what Katniss had done to Haymitch's drink.
"Wait." Haymitch said, suddenly terrified. "I don't have to bathe him do I?"
"No, he's fourteen Haymitch, I think he can do that himself." said Peeta laughing.
Kale came down the stairs with a small backpack.
"Why is Peeta laughing?" he asked, stopping in front of the three victors.
"No reason. Kale, I warn you, you might have to bathe Haymitch sometimes." Katniss said nonchalantly.
"Oh, you do it one time and you can't let it go!" Peeta said. They exited the yard of the orphanage.
Kale was laughing. "I really hope it never comes to that." he said as they walked through the main square.
"Me too, boy. Not that I could exactly steal your innocence... Katniss?" he asked as she hurried away from them. "Where is she going now?"
"I don't know, I've only known her for like a day." Kale said following her.
"Hey wait up!" he said, but it seemed to make her go faster.
"Oh, come on!" he said now running to catch up.
Katniss ran faster, grabbing a tiny shoulder. It caused the girl to lurch violently.
"You could've just yelled!" Prim panted, having been scared out of her wits.
"I did." Katniss answered. "I want you to meet Kale."
"Who?" Prim looked around not seeing anyone.
"Him." Katniss snatched Kale's shirt as he had lost sight of her. He sprang back from her force. He rounded on her fists at the ready, a knife drawn in self-defence.
"Calm down, Kale. Prim, this is Kale. Haymitch's son as of a few minutes ago."
"I… uh...um...hi." he stammered, recognizing her as the girl he had seen earlier and extending his hand.
"Hello." She greeted him, smiling. He had a firm handshake. She liked it. "Wait...You're Haymitch's son? I feel sorry for you."
"Yeah, that's what Katniss was saying, then she ran off and now here we are." Kale said still not looking her in the eye.
Katniss seemed to be enjoying herself.
"Prim, why don't you escort Kale to Haymitch's house, then I'll buy the candy?"
"How did you...?"
"I'm your sister. Now shoo."
Kale gave Katniss a panicked look at both the thought of being left alone with Prim and that they were related.
Katniss just smirked.
He turned back to Prim.
"You don't have to if you don't want to."
"And why would I refuse?" Prim smiled sweetly, walking away, motioning for him to follow.
He followed, although not before giving a last backward look at Katniss who was still smirking triumphantly.
Just as she turned around Peeta stopped behind her.
"There you are, what's with the look? Did I walk into some sort of trap?" he asked looking around worried.
"What do you think?" she asked winking.
"I don't kno...wait where's Kale?" he said finally noticing who was missing.
"With Prim." she said still smiling.
"Katniss you are evil, poor kid walked right into a trap didn't he?" Peeta said with a glint in his eye.
She leaned against a nearby building. "I'm good at setting traps, aren't I?" she asked.
"So, how did Prim react to him I mean?" Peeta said.
"She smiled and is now escorting him to Haymitch's house."
"I thought you did not like romance?" Peeta said raising his eyebrows.
Her smile faltered. "Not when I'm one of the parties."
"Oh, you wound me with your words." he said sarcastically.
"Peeta, please you know it's different for us."
He nodded glumly they walked towards the candy store their conversation shifted to plans for the victory tour.
Just before the victors entered the main square, Carter saw the figure approaching her – her "shadow". Most secret keepers had these. They were to keeps tracks of the secret keepers – and if a secret keeper failed in his or her duty, they would be severely punished.
He was to keep her in check at all times – and she had failed! So had he, it was either her head or his.
Right now she certainly preferred the latter.
"No, please…" She begged, seeing the arm being lifted from beneath a dark cloak. "Please!"
The shot rang through the orphanage, blood and brain scattered the wall and floor. The many nurses had heard the shot, and they guided the children away from the hall, closing it off.
That was one thing these children had that those with families did have – security from the Hunger Games. No one would suffer from their absence – and, after all, they all had figured out by now that that was all the President had cared about.