Chapter 1

District Twelve

Jackson Axdiez walked forward with his little sister, his mother, and his father. The family was slowly making their way towards the square.

Jack was fifteen, his sister, Hazel, twelve. He had turned in countless tesserae to support his family and had started working in the mines when he was his sister's age. His best friend, Rin Heron was also fifteen and had done the same in her life, though she hadn't turned in quite as many tesseraes.

Jack and Hazel separated from their family and Jack put a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder. She looked up at him fearfully. He just smiled back, trying to reassure her, and then ruffled her hair. She hesitantly smiled back and he then patted her head. The Peacekeepers ventured over and separated the two, guiding them to their age groups.

Jack joined the herded fifteen year-olds, who were chattering with hushed voices. Rin walked up to him. She had long black hair, fair skin, and brown eyes, along with a slim, but tall build.

"Hey," she said when she was in front of him.

"Hey," he replied.

"Good luck."

"You too."

That was all the words needed.

Jack looked up at the podium in front of them all. On it was, as usual, two glass balls filled with the boys' and girls' names, and five chairs. In the five chairs was Mayor Undersee, Effie Trinket, Haymitch Abernathy, along with the two newest District 12 Hunger Games victors: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. Those two had both won seven years ago during the 74th Hunger Games when they both nearly ate poisonous berries to end the game.

To Jack's surprise, Haymitch didn't seem very drunk this time around. He was loud as usual, but he seemed to have better control of himself.

"Hey, look," Jack whispered, patting Rin on the shoulder. "I think they managed to keep Haymitch from getting drunk and making a complete laughingstock of District Twelve."

Rin looked up at the podium and grinned.

The clock struck two and Mayor Undersee stepped forward. He told the story that he told every year. Of the rise of Panem and the Dark Days. He then read off the four District 12 victors, with Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta on the list, who sat up a little straighter when their names were called.

"Very well then," the mayor said turning to Effie. "I'll pass this off to you."

Effie also repeats her little speech of how she is honored to be here. This used to be fake words until Katniss and Peeta won. Everyone in District Twelve knows they are now true.

"Well, let's get started!" she said excitedly, already making her way to the girls' ball. She made a show of rustling around in the ball and then pulled out a slip of paper. She dashed back to the microphone and read, "Hazel Axdiez!"

Jack's blood froze.

His breath stopped.

His muscles turned to jelly.

In Jack's own little world, there was silence.

Dead silence.

It wasn't so much that she had been picked. For some reason, that wasn't even the worst part. It was that he couldn't do anything to help her.

Hazel passed the 15 year-old group and a grumbling started in the crowd, just as it had before the 74th games, when Prim had been picked and Katniss had volunteered. But Jack could do nothing. He could not volunteer.

Jack watched, unbelieving, as his sister walked toward the stage. Suddenly, someone grabbed Hazel's wrist, and then Rin was there.

"I volunteer!" she all but shouted.

Dead silence.

Effie looked excited. She motioned Rin forward and someone else withdrew Hazel, who looked confused and still scared at the same time.

Rin mounted the steps and shook the mayor's, Haymitch's, Katniss's, and Peeta's hands. Then she moved to the left of the stage and stood tall.

"Well," Effie said, already moving on to the boy's glass ball.. "Let's continue, shall we?" She quickly dunked her hand into the papers and withdrew it with the first slip her hand found. She hurried back to the podium and read the name in a clear voice. "Tyler Heron!"

Now it was Rin's turn to look despairing. Jack was shocked that this could happen. The chances of both of their twelve year-old sibling could be chosen were one to a million.

Jack jerked his head around and looked to see the Heron family's reaction. Rin's parents and two older sisters were standing stock still with pale faces. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw Tyler pass the roped off area for the 15 year-olds.

His body moved without consent, and soon he had a firm hand on Tyler's shoulder, stopping the younger boy. "I volunteer!" he yelled.

Dead silence.

Two twelve year-olds and two volunteers was a first in all of the districts.

Effie recovered first. "Lovely!" she said, though it sounded forced. "Come up here then."

Jack propelled Tyler towards his shocked family and turned to mount the steps.

He shook hands with the mayor, Haymitch, and Peeta, then Katniss.

But when he shook her hand, it was different from the others. He looked into her eyes and saw a bright fire in them. One that could not and would not be put out. He then remembered what they called her: Katniss, the girl who was on fire.

A perfect name.

He made his way over to Rin and stood next to her, risking a glance at her face, which said everything from 'Thank you.' to 'I'm going to kill you for that.' to 'Holy crap, I'm scared.'

"Let's give these two a round of applause!" Effie squealed.

But before anybody could, Katniss stepped forward. Everyone watched as she touched the three middle fingers of her left hand and held it out to the two of them. Then, Peeta did the same, then Haymitch, then all of the 15 year-olds, then the miners, who knew them, then nearly everyone in the crowd.

And then, Rin did the unexpected. She returned the gesture. Jack followed her example.

Dead silence.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Haymitch cleared his throat, and the revere was broken. Everyone dropped their hands and the victors sat in their chair once more.

The anthem played and Jack and Rin were whisked off to the Justice Building by Peacekeepers. They separated and received rooms to say their goodbyes in.

…

First it was his family.

"I'm so proud of you," his mother said in his ear as she hugged him. She pulled back and Jack saw tears in her eyes. His father did the same and said, "That took a lot of guts, Jack."

Hazel came next. She wrapped her arms around him and he did the same with her. "Promise me you'll come back home," she said when he released her.

"I can't promise you," Jack said sadly to her, ruffling her hair. "But I won't give up. I promise you that."

Hazel nodded, tears streaming down her face.

They all embraced in a family hug. "I love you," Jack said.

Then, they were gone.

Next came Rin's family.

"Thank you!" Rin's mother said as she embraced him. Her father and sisters did the same without a word, but looks that said the same thing.

Jack looked down at Tyler and smiled at him. The younger boy suddenly burst out: "Thank you so much! Keep my sister safe!"

Jack laughed and said, "Don't worry. I will." He then hugged the kid and that family departed also.

Last but not least, were the living victors.

Haymitch, Peeta, and Katniss all walked in, completely shocking Jack. All of their eyes darted around the room as if having old memories before locking on him where he was sitting.

Jack shrank back into the couch.

Haymitch laughed, immediately making Jack feel more comfortable. They made their way over and sat on the couch opposite from him.

"Aren't I going to be seeing you guys on the train?" Jack asked, now at ease.

"Yeah, you sure are," Peeta replied goodheartedly. "But things are a bit different this time around. We're giving you a token."

"You are giving me a token?"

Haymitch guffawed again and said, "Yeah that's right! You going deaf already?"

This time Jack had to laugh. He calmed himself and looked up at them.

"So…what is it?" he said, letting his curiosity get the best of him.

Katniss held up a simple piece of paper with a bird printed on it. It had printed flames burning from it and it wings were outstretched with its head turned. The blended oranges and reds made it look like it was really on fire.

"Uh…What is that?" Jack questioned, still in the dark.

"Tattoo," Katniss answered.

"Wow!" Jack exclaimed, holding his hands up as if they would attack him. "A tattoo?"

Peeta nodded solemnly. "Yep. It won't hurt or anything. It's a token to represent your district. But it is permanent."

"But you can dim it at will," Haymitch said.

"You're partner agreed," Katniss declared.

That closed the matter.

"Okay. I'll get one if she did," Jack complied. "But how the heck did you get such an awesome token?"

The three exchanged glances before Peeta said, "You get a lot of money if you win the Hunger Games."

"Oh."

Katniss peeled two pieces of plastic off of the paper the bird was on. Then she handed it to Haymitch, who held it in front of Jack.

"Where?" he asked simply.

Jack knew where he wanted it. He wanted the world to know about the fire. The fire of District Twelve.

"Right here," Jack said, pointing to his left eye.

Haymitch looked surprised. "You sure?" he asked. "I don't know if that will hurt or not."

Jack nodded.

"Alright then," he said with a sigh. Then he placed the paper over Jack's now closed left eye.

Jack felt an intense tingling where the bird was printed, like that side of his face had fell asleep. A little prick jolted through his eye, and then the paper was gone. Jack opened his eyes and looked at them. They on the other hand, seemed to be happy with the job.

"It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself," Haymitch boasted.

Jack bounced up and stared into the mirror on the right side of the room. His right eye had changed to gold, instead of blue, and the bird still looked like it was on fire.

Haymitch, Peeta, and Katniss stood and made their way to the door.

"See you on the train," Peeta said.

"Show it off," Haymitch ordered.

The two left, but Katniss stopped and looked at him. "It's a fire bird," she said simply. "They're called phoenix."

Then she was gone.

Next Time...

"Tell us your strengths."

"Are you sure she's strong?"

"That's illegal, you know."

"Impressive, isn't it?"

"What does it do?"