Hey, so this is my first crossover fanfiction and I hope you enjoy it. This takes place after the whole rebellion thing which in this version failed and therefore the games still take place. It's now the year of the 99th games. I really love the VD and the HG which is why I wanted to try this :) the story is from Jeremy Gilberts point of view and for this story things will be different e.g Jer isn't related to Elena in anyway etc so there are differences. Characters from the HG will appear as well plus possibly a few of my own depending on what happens :P also for the purpose of this, everyone's human. I don't own the hunger games or the vampire diaries or anything. Please review! :D
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One
7:00am. The woods are quiet. Perfect. I can see my first target already, flitting through the trees completely unaware of my presence. I pull an arrow from my sheath, attach it to my bow and draw back as my target, a surprisingly chunky bird, comes to rest on a branch not far from my hiding place. I try my best to aim for its head, the way I've been taught so I don't damage it too much but I miss by a few centimetres. The arrow pierces its breast and while it's still a kill it's not as clean a kill as I would've liked. Still there's more meat on it than you would normally find on a bird in the woods of District 12 and it will either fetch a reasonable price at the Hob or be a decent meal for me and my mother tonight.
I press on through the woods, looking for my next target. I spot a couple of deer through the trees but I know it's pointless trying to bring back anything too big today. Not many people will be buying anyway, it's something of a holiday in the District today thought not an enjoyable one. They'll be in their homes with their children, spending time together, just in case...I turn my mind from these thoughts, not wanting to dwell on it just yet. I'll deal with later when it comes. Instead I take down a few more birds, practising my shot and aim. I could definitely do with improving but at least I've got to the point where I never miss. I even take one bird down with my throwing knife. Only one though. I miss the rest. Definitely need to work on that skill.
The morning hunt in general though is not to bad and by ten thirty I'm trooping back to the fence surrounding District 12 with several decent catches wrapped up in a bag that I carry over my shoulder. I take a break halfway back and sit on a broken tree for a few moments to enjoy the light breeze and the bright blue sky, the sunlight breaking in shafts through the trees, the warmth and comfort of the surrounding foliage. I do this every year on this day, just in case. By eleven I've reached the fence and I pause, as I've always been warned to do before slipping back under, and listen to see if it's on. Before the recent attempt at an uprising the fence was barely ever on. The bravest people risked sneaking under to hunt just as I do and the peacekeepers back then were lax in their duties, overlooking the crime of leaving the District in exchange for some of the food caught. Then the uprising began and the fence was turned back on full time. The people in the District struggled even more for food and under the reign of stricter and far more terrifying peacekeepers there was nothing they could do to help themselves. Even after the failure of the uprising the fence was left on for a long time. It's only in recent times that they've started to risk turning it off more. It's usually on at night, a time when people are most likely to try and escape, not that anyone's tried that for years. The peacekeepers are older now and tend to pretend that they are not aware that a couple of us have begun sneaking out through the fence again. As long as they don't catch us, they don't say anything. District 12 is almost back to how it used to be. Almost. No doubt the capitol is still keeping a closer eye on us.
After listening for a long moment, I know it's safe and feel along the fence until I feel the loose bit that I snuck under this morning. It's like a little flap and all I have to do is push, crawl under and then push it back into place so it doesn't look disturbed.
I then follow the fence a few metres until I spot my next destination, a small tree right up near the fence where a figure is sat, enjoying the sun. A smile pulls at my lips as I walk over, ditch my bag and flop down next to the dark haired girl. Anna, my best friend for years and now, for the past year, more than that, not that anyone knows. With the knowledge of a relationship comes expectations, people asking when you're going to get married, when you're going to have children that can eventually replace lost workers in the mines. District 12 is still only small, the more people who can work the better. I don't know yet what I want in my future and I definitely don't want other people deciding for me. Anna's the same. So we've kept quiet. To everybody else we are two friends who know each other through our mothers' friendship. To each other we are the one person the other can turn to, the source of comfort and laughter when it is needed, the arms to fall into when we are upset. Even now with the rising dread of this afternoon, the feel of Anna as she curls into me under the tree spreads warmth through my chest. The tree offers the perfect amount of shade from the sun and a surprisingly comfortable back rest. Anna and I planted the tree together a long time ago after one of my first trips to the forest. I'd only been young then and my father had taken me out for the second time to take me deeper into the forest than we'd been the first time and I'd found the seed. It's now one of the only few trees that dot the inside of the District and it's ours.
We lie in silence for awhile before Anna finally speaks.
'It's so nice out here.'
'I know,' I murmur in reply.
'I'm glad we're getting to enjoy this. One of us might not get to again.'
'Don't talk like that,' I say, tightening my hold on her.
'I'm sorry,' she whispers, 'I just wanted to tell you, just in case, that this year has been one of the best.'
I smile and drop a kiss in her hair before turning to look at the sky, watching the few clouds drift by. One of us might not get to again. Anna's words float around my head, and the annual nerves and fear truly begin to stir within me. But this year barely any of that fear is for me. It's for her and her family. Almost as quickly as the fear has hit me, the slight anger starts as well. The unfairness of it all is almost overwhelming, just like it is every year.
Today is the day of the reaping. Two kids will be reaped from every District, from 1 to 12 and they'll be forced to go up against each other in an arena, in a fight to the death until one victor remains. The event is known as the Hunger Games and it's the Capitol's way of reminding us all that we cannot overpower them, that they control us and there's nothing we can do about it. This has been enforced on us all even more so since the attempted uprising and the Games have been more challenging ever since, the arenas more terrifying and more deadly than they have been before. Today two kids from our District will be reaped along with the rest and horrible event will begin all over again.
I have no siblings, only myself to worry about and my chances aren't exactly good. I've been signing up for tesserae since I first qualified for the Games at twelve years old. Technically a child's name is entered once when they are twelve, twice when they are thirteen, three times when they are fourteen and so on. Eighteen is the last year a kid qualifies, after that they are safe. Supposedly. But for extra grain and oil a kid can sign up for tesserae in return for their name going in more times. It's just another example of the cruelty in these Games but for the sake of my mother and myself I've signed up every year since. Mom finds it hard to find work in the Seam. Anna on the other hand has one older brother and a younger brother and sister and this year they'll all qualify for the games. It's Anna's older brother's last year and as the oldest he's the only one that has signed up for tesserae in the family, by his choice, to try and keep their chances of getting picked as limited as possible. He's one of the most likely to get picked this year. Next year Anna will sign up for the tesserae, her choice. I can't help but worry for them all.
We stay under the tree for as long as we can before it's time to go to our homes and start getting ready. We have to be in the square for two pm. Anna still has some time to spend with her family and I with my mother. I press one of my catches into her hand as we part and she disappears with it quickly before a peacekeeper can spot her.
I drop quickly by the Hob on my way home to sell a few of the birds I've caught. Since the original Hob was destroyed a long time ago, a new one was built quite a few years after and it's a lot smaller than the original and now concealed underground. Not deep underground. There's a group of houses near the square that all originally had their own cellars until their owners knocked them all into one big underground room that is now the new Hob filled with people trading and selling. I get a small amount of money for my catches and spend some of it on some bread to take back to Mom as well as a cheap little braided bracelet to give to her as a present.
When I finally walk through the door of our little home, Mom's in the kitchen stirring something in a pot and she looks up at me with a mock reproving glance as I enter and dump my game bag on the table. She knows I go hunting and while it makes her incredibly nervous she also knows that if I didn't she and I would probably starve along with Anna and her family as I tend to provide them to.
'Come on Mom,' I grin opening the bag, 'you can't be cross when you see this.'
I pull out the chunky bird I first caught this morning and present it to her, along with the bread from the Hob. The bread's not really much, I would have loved to get some proper bread from the bakery but I usually get that in exchange for bigger kills such as deer and I wouldn't have had time to stop by the bakery and barter anyway. But Mom seems impressed with the bird. It would probably have gotten me a fair bit at the Hob or possibly even a small roll from the bakery but we rarely get meat for ourselves because I always have to sell it for our other necessities so this is a treat for my mother.
She's made a broth for us to eat and we have it with the bread although she doesn't say much. Neither of us is very talkative and while I feel I should say something I just can't seem to. If it comes to it and I'm picked there's always the allotted time for tributes to say goodbye to their family and friends but I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that. Before too long I'm washing myself in a little steel bath with cold water, cleansing my skin of the dirt from the woods. Mom's laid out a clean shirt and dark coloured pants, the smartest clothes I own and only really worn on reaping day. I dress slowly and as a result we are running late when Mom calls me urgently, telling me it's time to go. I'm just joining her at the door when suddenly I remember the bracelet I bought her. I race up the stairs to get it, unsure of quite why, I don't have time to give it to her now so there's not really much point but I shove it in my pocket anyway to give to her after the reaping is over and with that we set off for the square.
Mom separates from me once we arrive and goes over to where the families gather to watch helplessly as their children are herded into sections that go by age to wait and see if their name is called. I'm practically shoved into the seventeen year old section by the peacekeepers once I've signed in and I make my way over to my only other proper friend beside Anna, Josh who's been my friend all through our school years. He looks pale but there's still a smile on his face as he greets me and I do my best to return it. As the last few kids pile in, I glance across to the girl's section and spot Anna with the other sixteen year olds, waiting tensely. She too gives me a smile before turning her attention back to the stage.
After a few more minutes of waiting, our district escort finally appears onstage dressed in a dark purple outfit and matching purple wig, skin whiter than normal but tinged with lighter purple eye makeup and purple lipstick.
Effie Trinkett.
She's been our tribute escort for years, even during the infamous years of the seventy fourth and seventy fifth hunger games and it's a known fact that she even had a hand in the attempted rebellion, joining the capitol rebels to try and help Katniss Everdeen and her followers to overthrow the capitol. Now as a form of punishment she's back to picking up and looking after District 12's tributes every year before sending them off into arena. I've seen clips of her before the rebellion, when she took tributes without really seeming to realise the effect it was having but now you can see the slight hint of regret in her eyes every time she names a tribute at the reapings. She's a lot older now of course but she's obviously had some Capitol treatment because while there's hardly any wrinkles to her, her skin looks very stretched and almost unnatural.
She's joined onstage by District 12's mayor and Peeta Mellark, the man who will mentor the chosen tributes as best he can during their few short days in the Capitol before they go to the arena. During the Games it's also his job to try and get sponsors from the people of the Capitol so he can send in helpful gifts like food or medicine to his tributes. It used to be Haymitch Abernathy's job, the oldest victor in District 12 but he barely ever did the job properly. Katniss and Peeta were his greatest ever triumphs and when the Hunger Games were started up again after the rebellion he lost his new found enthusiasm almost immediately. Katniss meanwhile wants as little to do with the Capitol and the Games as possible, partly due to her hatred of them and mostly because she does not want to cause any more trouble or bring hardship to anyone else. So Peeta took on the job of mentoring himself but in a way he does seem to be the best for the job.
Behind the stage is the Justice Building where the chosen tributes will stay for an hour to say their goodbyes. The Building took some damage during the rebellion but it was rebuilt once things settled down. For awhile it stood proud with its new paint and it looked both impressive and foreboding at the same time. Now the years have taken some edge off it, it looks more worn and beaten but still no one here wants to find themselves in there today.
They sit further back on the stage while Effie stands forward in front of a large silver microphone and addresses us all as cheerfully as she can. She then directs our attention to a large screen that begins to play a film from the Capitol that basically talks about the origins of the Hunger Games and the power of the Capitol. Since the failed rebellion it's been updated to remind us all that we cannot overcome the Capitol and should not even attempt to try. I tune out for most of the video, it's the same one every year anyway and I have little interest in seeing it again. Once it's over however my hands start to shake as I feel fear start to pound through me again. In a way, I can't wait for this to be over.
'As always, ladies first,' Effie trills. She says that every year.
We all watch with apprehension as she walks over to the big glass ball full of the girls' names and rustles around through the slips of paper. Finally she pulls one out and comes back to the microphone, unfurling the paper as she does so. She takes a moment to read it and then calls the name out quite clearly.
'Anna Malese!'
Time seems to stand still as I try to register what she's just said. I heard the name quite clearly, it's just not making sense. Anna can't go to the Games, she'll never survive. Not Anna who doesn't even want to come hunting and learn how to kill an animal, not Anna who doesn't even want to venture out of the District at all, not Anna with her slight frame and small stature who knows nothing of survival outside of the District. It's not that I think that she's weak and has no chance whatsoever, I know she's strong and clever but I also know that she'll find it incredibly hard to kill and that her chances against the stronger tributes, that will have had far more training her, are very slim. Not Anna, it's wrong. I desperately want to volunteer in her place, to stop her from having to go at all but boys can't volunteer to girls, just like girls can't for boys. So I'm forced to watch as she's escorted to the stage where she stands, visibly shaking but with a neutral expression on her face. I want to comfort her somehow but I can't. I'm not even sure what I'd say anyway.
My attention suddenly snaps back to Effie who is now rustling around in the glass ball holding the boys names. I feel numb inside as I look at Anna once again. The idea of losing her is almost too much to bear.
'Kyle Jones!' Effie calls out.
A young boy who can only be thirteen to fourteen years old steps forward looking absolutely terrified as the peacekeepers begin to steer him towards the stage. He suddenly starts shouting for his parents, wrestling with the peacekeepers who grab him firmly round the waist as they continue to the stage. It's a heart wrenching scene but my heart is already breaking for Anna and her family and suddenly I know what to do. If I can't save Anna from having to go at all then I'll go with her, protect her as best I can, maybe even help her to win. I can't just stay here and watch, it will destroy me to see her there and know there's nothing I can do. Plus what I'm about to do will save the young lad from having to go. This year anyway.
So as he reaches the stage still fighting to get away I push through to the aisle and yell as loudly as I can so everyone can hear me.
'I volunteer as tribute!'