Summary: One small change results in big differences. One warning twists the lives of the Everdeens and Panem forever. AU.

A/N: Before I begin, let me just say that I really shouldn't be writing this. I have a lot of assignments for myself and for school (including a school newspaper) I need to write for, as well as two ongoing fics. But you know when an idea refuses to leave you? This is one of those times for me. I got a case of the plot bunnies, I suppose. Besides that, I'm experimenting with a really different mode of writing, so I'm considering this as an experiment on how well it works. If it does work, then hopefully I'll be able to write more.

Just wondering – because I'm debating with myself on if I should do this – but who would be willing to beta-read this story?


Canary's Call


Part 1: The Warning


1

Thump.

A canary trills a note. In the mines, here usually he only noises were the cracking of stone, the beat of the pickaxes, and the groans of men, the sound should have been alien. But it was practically a daily occurrence in this particular one. After all, Ronan Everdeen, the charmer of town girls and birds, is there.

Thump.

"Hey, Everdeen, have you swallowed enough worms for your birdie yet?" Someone asks. They laugh.

Ronan pays no attention. "Very funny," he says, as if they hadn't told the same joke for around twelve years, ever since he had married Laurelei. With her, she brought a number of items she had owned in the town. Including, at the last minute, a canary she claimed she couldn't bear to part with. At first he accepted the bird simply because he couldn't turn his wife down – he felt guilty, and still did at times, that she had to give up her family and prestige just to marry him – but soon he had come to like it for its own company, and it reciprocated his affection.

That was made clear the day he accidentally left the cage door open and it followed him right to the mines. It always would, from then on, and that trait would be passed on to its offspring. Katniss and Prim had even taken to opening the cage door when their mother forgot.

Thump.

He smiles. Thinking of his little girls always makes him smile. They would be in school right around this time—Katniss is sixth grade, Prim in first. Though he doubted if the former would really be paying to what the teacher said. His smile widens to a grin. And Lorelei….

Thump.

Lorelei would be giving help to those who needed it. Her healing hands and her cheap prices made her rather famous in the Seam, despite the icy reception she was first greeted with when she came as his bride. He was so proud of her when he found out that they had finally accepted her as one of their own, all because of her talent and hard work. He loves her. He could never say that often enough.

Thump.

He frowns. Something's wrong.

Thump.

He can't place his finger on it, but he has a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. The others, however, just keep working steadily, not the least perturbed.

Thump.

Silence.

Thump.

That's it. That's the problem.

It's too quiet.

Thump.

The canary is gone. For a moment Ronan stops to look for it, but somebody yells at him to get back to work. He does so, reluctantly.

Thump.

He hopes it hasn't gone far, so he can find it before he gets home.

Thump.

He glances downwards.

Thump.

There it is, on the floor. He almost breathes with relief before he realizes something.

He drops his pickaxe, his instincts screaming at him to run.

The canary is dead.


The moment the sirens begins wailing, Katniss knows what she's supposed to do.

Her father had drilled it in to her often enough. The mines were a very dangerous place;an accident or worse could happen at any time. If that time came, he wanted her to be ready. The first thing she has to do is to make sure Prim and her mother were okay. That's the most important thing. Then she had to check the hunting supplies and the snares he already put up, which would hopefully set them up with enough food until her mother could start working again. Whether she signed up for tesserae or not was her decision, he said one day in a pained voice, but he rather she avoid it unless the situation was desperate….

Yes. Her father had prepared her for almost everything.

Everything except, of course, the terror and heartache that's threatening to consume her.


Haymitch opens his eyes blearily as he hears the sirens ring. As always, he's in the improvised pub Ripper runs, slumping over a table with a mug in his hand. Great. Yet another mine explosion. He wonders why they even bother with all the warnings and signals. Everyone knows they don't work. Not until it's too late. He's about to go back to his drunken stupor again, when he hears someone say exactly which mine had exploded to bits.

Mine 24.

He used to work there, didn't he?

He sits up wearily and remembers. Yes, yes he did; before he went on those damned Games that ruined his life. Why was he thinking about this again? Hadn't he come here to forget, just as he always did? Oh, yeah. The mine exploded. And with it, presumably all the miners inside. Some, he probably even knew. Like…

Everdeen.

The name pops up in his murky mind with more clarity than he could have expected after so long. Quickly, he drowns it out with another gulp of liquor. A part of him knows that he should care, but he stopped listening to that part years ago.

Caring hurt too much.

And frankly, after his Games, he hasn't had much practice.


Lorelei Everdeen hangs at the edge of the makeshift barrier the Peacekeepers have constructed. Her eyes are large with fear, even more so than the other wives that desperately wants to know news of their husbands. Everything she holds dear in life is at stake. Her daughters soon join her. For a moment, she feels a pang of guilt for not collecting them herself. But that feeling is fighting with too many others to win out. Her dread, in particular, is heightened when a Peacekeeper walks towards her. It is not unjustified.

Because of the explosion, the mine has collapsed directly at the part where the people had been working. The Peacekeepers would be unable to recover their bodies.

As far as they can tell, there are no survivors.


Meanwhile, on the side of the mine connected to the forest, a man drags himself out of the debris.