A/N: So… I have ALWAYS wanted to write Hunger Games fanfiction, and while I'm working on some other story for it, this kind of hit me yesterday and I've been writing non-stop. It's finished, but I'm going to publish it in increment. Inspiration? I was listening to Pandora Radio and 'Zero to Hero' popped up on my Disney station (best station ever, by the way). I started internally comparing both Peeta and Hercules, and in the end, I came up with this. A Hunger Games version of Hercules… It's obviously different and some characters will be exempt, some will live that shouldn't, etc. It's my first A/U so give me some serious credit here. Either way, I hope you enjoy.
Ratings: Some swearing and overall just very sad and tense. It's a Hunger Games fic, and even though it's A/U I tried keeping it as close as possible.
Pairings: Peeta/Katniss
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, nor do I own the plotline of Hercules. ENJOY!
Peeta Mellark looks out his bedroom window and sighs. He knows what he is supposed to be doing ('Get your lazy self down here to wash these dishes!') but he doesn't want to. Not when the Reaping is so close. Not when he is too busy worrying about a certain blonde Seam girl, all alone in her cold shack of a home.
The Reaping has always left him feeling empty. He cries after every 'celebration' when a tribute is selected. Even five years previously, when the town bully had been selected, a rebellious tough boy called Wicker, Peeta was distraught. It didn't surprise him when Wicker was beheaded three minutes into the games, but it still made him sob with tears of regret.
Peeta is 18. His last year. He remembers with sadness whose last year it also is, too, and wonders where she is.
Katniss. Just the thought of her name makes him ache. He remembers two years ago, when she vanished without anyone even knowing. Her mother was catatonic, and her sister was busy keeping the house together to notice. The whole town knew of Katniss's hunting hobby, and how it was her one way of keeping her precious sister, Primrose Everdeen, alive.
Most of the town just wrote it off as a hunting accident. They swore up and down that she had been killed by some kind of wild game, and went on without caring. Besides, there were always other things to worry about.
Peeta refuses to accept that his Katniss died that way. His Katniss. Like he even owns the right to say it. He never built up the courage, not in the past thirteen years, to tell her how much he loved her. He tried- after she sang at the assembly, after her father died, after he saved her life with the bread loaves… but he never could form the words to tell her.
It was no use. In a world where one child per district is selected to fight to the death, it was too close to tragedy to attempt things like 'love'.
Besides, Katniss was too tough for that. Peeta always noticed the boys surrounding her, offering her dates and kisses and compliments but Katniss turned them all down. Her heart was only big enough for one person, and that was her darling sister Prim.
But who didn't love Prim? After the disappearance of Katniss, everyone took it upon themselves to, for lack of a better word, spoil the girl. She is now thirteen, and even though people have showered her with love for the past two years, she never smiles. She misses her sister, that much is obvious.
Peeta stares out the window and watches as Prim treks to the Hob, off to make her usual sales of goat milk and cheese. Her goat, Lady, was the last thing Prim had gotten from her sister, Katniss. Peeta knows this because the day Katniss went missing, Peeta talked to Prim. Prim said, with tears brimming in her voice, that this goat was for Prim to make money and live. No matter what. And that Katniss would always love her, and that she would never have to worry about anything again.
Peeta repeats those words in his head. He knows people thought Katniss was uncaring and apathetic, but he knew the real Katniss.
And it is the real Katniss that keeps him motivated to find her, and finally tell her how he feels.
Peeta wakes up the next morning, feeling tired and sore. He was worked to the bone the night before. It isn't anyone's fault that his brothers all married off, leaving him the sole worker for the bakery, but he still feels slight resentment towards the world. It's a nice gesture of the Capitol to let everyone sleep in on this exhaustive day, but it will never pardon them for the horrors they impose on the people. Peeta stretches his arms up, and notes a knot that's deep in his left shoulder. I really need to stop straining myself, he tells himself, as he gets up and goes to bathe. The water is cold, but it's clean and it takes all the flour off his body. He sinks lower into the tub as he thinks about the day ahead of him. He knows what coming next- the Reaping is at two, the cries of the family that is torn apart, and the feast that no one is ever excited to go to. He smiles as he thinks of the town drunk, and sole living District 12 winner of the games, Haymitch Abernathy. Haymitch was once a great man, or so his father told him, which his mother was always quick to follow up with, 'But men can change, and Haymitch is no exception.'
Peeta never asks why Haymitch is the way he is, and while he causes a chuckle or two yearly, it doesn't slide past Peeta that Haymitch may be the only reason why the District doesn't have more victors. Haymitch won't stay sober a day in his life, and Peeta wonders if he could function without his daily supply of alcohol.
After his bath, which is interrupted by his mother's screams, Peeta is dressed in his best clothing, which is a Capitol requirement. Peeta rolls his eyes, but keeps his thoughts good-natured, as he wonders which outfit his dear friend, Delly, will be wearing today. Delly is always fretful on Games days, but this year it will be only for herself. It hasn't escaped Peeta that she has grown fond of the brooding Seam boy, Gale. Gale was probably the closest thing Katniss had to a best friend, and while Peeta desperately wants to speak to Gale Hawthorne about Katniss, he doesn't. He's often worried about what Gale's responses will be. Gale is tall and strong. He was one of the boys who dropped out of school at age fourteen to work in the Mines, and his muscles don't hide that. Peeta often glared in jealousy at the pair, who would walk together, not speaking.
Peeta muses that it is because they were so close that they could speak without talking aloud. Whatever the answer, Peeta feels he will never know it.
It was one p.m. when Peeta finally finished getting ready, and he made his way down stairs. His mother, with her hardened face and tightly curled blonde hair, always gave the appearance of being too wound up, pinched and uncomfortable. She often shoots her youngest son looks of scorn, always sniffing that he will never be as good a worker as his oldest brother, Pumpern, or as strong as the middle brother, Rye. Peeta takes all of her comments with a grain of salt, and keeps a smile on his face. He often finds himself relating more to his father, a humble and easy-going man who Peeta aspires to be like.
"Peeta. I see you're wearing Rye's old shirt. It looks… big on you." His mother snaps.
"That's because it is." Peeta says back with a grin. "You look nice, too." The voice is cheery and teasing. His mother glares.
"Maybe if you had half the muscle your brother had, you'd fit into his clothing better." She gets up and leaves. "We're leaving soon. You'd better make yourself lunch."
Peeta grabs a loaf of bread and spreads apple butter across it. He remembers how his family used to get the apples for the succulent spreading- Katniss. The apple butter made from her apples always tasted sweeter to Peeta, and since then, his favorite snack has never been the same. He savors the taste as he eats a few slices of bread, and gets up. He brushes the crumbs off his light blue shirt, grinning at the noises his mother would make when she would see the mess, and puts the ingredients. He's wasted only half an hour, and decides to go for a walk before it's too late. He feels ridiculous, but this is his last Reaping, and he feels like celebrating.
Regardless of how selfless Peeta tries to be, he always worries about Reapings. One child selected per district. And that it. You go, you fight and you either live or die. No other options. Of course, you go off for training for six months, but Peeta is sure most of the training involves running around while your 'trainer' drinks himself to unconsciousness. And after your 'training', you go to the games. And die.
Peeta doesn't like it, but it seems there is nothing anyone can do, and so instead of pouting and making a fuss, he chooses to walk around town. He breathes in the deep, warm air of the Merchant's square, and decides it's time to pay a visit to Prim.
He hasn't done this in a year and a half, and isn't sure why he's prompted to now. He heads down to the Seam, and feels in his lungs as the air becomes denser and sootier. He shakes his head and continues, and as soon as the Everdeen home comes in view, he picks up his speed.
"Prim!" He calls out, and the fourteen year old girl sticks her head out the window. He sees traces of Katniss in her features, and smiles and waves. Her big blue eyes are looking at him with curiosity in them.
"What are you doing here?" She asks.
"Just wanted to wish you luck, and to say…" he knows this is a chance, but he takes it gleefully, "May the odds be ever in your favor!"
Prim laughs and laughs until her eyes water. That's something the two of them have always had in common- while Katniss and Gale shared their looks of angst and heaps of tension, Peeta and Prim are always smiling and trying to be positive.
"Care to walk me to the Reaping, Peeta?" She calls out her window. Peeta nods, and waits for her to step out the front door. When he does, he gasps.
Prim, due to the recent improvements in her standard of living, has gained more weight than her sister had ever hoped she would. She was healthy, with rosy Merchant cheeks. She was also taller than Katniss had been at that height. So, wearing her sister's Reaping dress (the one she wore at age sixteen) when she's two years too young for it, not only surprises Peeta but hits him with a pang of missing his unrequited love.
"Shall we?" She asks, unaware of Peeta's internal feelings. Peeta nods, and the two head off to the district square, arms linked and heads pounding with nerves.
Does everyone like it so far? Review/Alert/Favorite/Etc. Next chapter posted tomorrow morning. :)