Hey guys! I'm a new writer called ForeverYoung362 (obviously) and this is my first fanfiction. Please leave me a review and tell me what you think. I'll be updating soon, I already have chapter 2 written. So without further ado, enjoy! :)

P.S. I in no way own the Hunger Games, any characters or themes that you recognise are not mine. I only own my own characters. :)


Chapter 1 - Reaping Day

When I wake my dad has already left. I can tell because his quiet snores are not disturbing the otherwise quiet house. Leonides and Jaka, my two younger brothers, are both still sound asleep in the bed they share, a few feet away from the smaller, thinner one that I get to myself. Our father sleeps on the couch, and that is in even worse condition than my mattress.

I lie on my cold, uncomfortable mattress for a little while, the wind that's blowing in through the broken window chilling me through my thin and holey blanket. It's my stomach that motivates me to move.

I sit up and stretch, before immediately curling back into a ball at the suddenly frigid atmosphere. I can feel myself shivering in my thin tank top and holey track pants that I sleep in.

I swing my legs over the mattress and put my feet on the floor. Another shiver racks through my body as my bare feet make contact with the icy wooden floor.

Tiptoeing quietly, careful not to make any noise so as not to wake my brothers, I make my way to the tiny bathroom that we all share. We don't have any hot water, but I'm more than used to the cold showers. I'm in there for less than five minutes, before I turn off the water, quickly towel off and then pull on my working clothes; my warmest set of track pants that I own, paired with an old button-up flannelette shirt of Dad's, hard leather boots that are moulded to my feet, and black fingerless gloves that stop me, for the most part, from getting blisters from the wooden handle of the axe. They do nothing to stop the chill from freezing my fingers off, though.

I tie my long, unusually white-blonde hair up in a high ponytail before pulling on one of Jaka's black beanies – he won't mind – and glancing at the dusty, broken clock. If I leave now, I will be early and hopefully get paired with someone better than Jason Kix. I curl my lip at the thought of the nasty eighteen-year-old who just loves to make crude comments about me when my father's back is turned. I'd resisted the urge to throw my axe into his skull way too many times to count; but I'm sure no one else would mind if I got rid of the only one who made crude comments about the only female in the wood chopping team. At first, they had all been averse to a female swinging axes around all day and chopping up lumber, and it had taken almost a full year for them to realise that I am just as good, if not better, than a good majority of them. It helps that I am the daughter of one of the company's most esteemed workers.

As I pass through the hallway, axe slung over my shoulder, I happen to glance at the calendar that Leonides has stuck up after he'd made it at school. I stop in my tracks and my axe clatters to the ground, thankfully avoiding my feet, but I really couldn't've cared less as soon as I see the day that is today.

Reaping Day.

How could I have forgotten?

The one day off a year that I get, and yet the worst. Today, two children between the ages of twelve and eighteen will have their names called out, and then they'll be carted off to the Capitol, where they'd be prepped up and shown off to the world before being forced to kill each other in order to survive in the sick televised pageant that is the Hunger Games.

Even worse, it is my brother Leonides' first year eligible this year. It is Jaka's third year, at fourteen, and my second-last, at seventeen, but Leonides is the one I'm really worrying about now. If one of them is entered, what will I do? Will I volunteer, only to sacrifice myself to ensure that my brother makes it out? Or will that cause my father and my remaining brother too much pain, losing both me and Celine, our mother, and possibly the brother that is entered? Or would I remain silent and just hope that he could come home? But I know that if I did that, remained silent, then my brother's hopes of making it out were very slim. Leonides is only twelve, with no weapon or survival instinct at all, and Jaka is hardly any better. He has only been wielding axes for three months now, and that is nothing compared to the training that the Careers will have, seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds that have been training since before they could walk.

Before I can move, before I can even pick up my discarded weapon, Jaka walks out from the bedroom door and finds me standing there, staring horrified at the calendar.

"Genesis?" he asks. "Gen?"

I don't respond. I'm still staring at the little square on the calendar, the words REAPING DAY clearly written there in my brother's neat hand, underlined and in capitals.

"Genesis," he says, "look at me."

I slowly turn away from the calendar and look at my brother. Both he and Leonides look nothing like me, in terms of the obvious features; while my white-blonde hair is elbow-length and silky, both his and Leonides' hair is a rusty bronze colour, wavy and desperately in need of a haircut; Jaka's is down to his ears, Leonides' down to his chin. We all have skin tanned from the sun, working outside every day, although naturally mine is pale and theirs is more of an olive tone. We all have different-coloured eyes; while mine are a dark, stormy grey, Jaka's are a bright, inviting blue. Leonides has one grey eye and the other is a bright blue. But if you look closely at our features, we have the same heart-shaped face, with high cheekbones and an elegant, almost aristocratic look to our features. Leonides has rather cute, prominent dimples on his cheeks while Jaka's are barely noticeable and I don't have any at all.

At this moment, Jaka's usually cheerful blue eyes are serious, boring into my grey ones with an intelligence that a fourteen-year-old should not possess. While Leonides is still painfully innocent, Jaka is mentally an adult. Perhaps not as old as I mentally am, but he comes close. But it's at times like this that he really shows this age on a face so young.

"It starts at ten," he says. "I'll wake Leonides. Dad will probably be home in an hour."

"I'll make breakfast," I say, "and pick out clothes for you and Leo."

Jaka nods and we go our separate ways; him back to the bedroom my whole family sleeps in to wake our youngest sibling and me to the tiny kitchen. Most of the cupboards are empty; I'd have to go to the market soon. That is, if…

I refuse to finish that thought. I concentrate hard on preparing a simple breakfast for my family. Bread and cheese for all of us, cold and hard with no flavourings. I wish, yet again, that we had more money so that I could at least make our meagre meals taste better. I hesitate, then quickly gobble mine down and head for the door. Leonides and Jaka come in just as I'm exiting.

"Breakfast," I mutter. "I'll go pick out your clothes."

"Well, good morning to you too, Gen," Leonides says as he sits down at the table with Jaka. I shoot a tired, slightly irritated look at my youngest brother, who manages to remain happy-go-lucky even today, before going back to our bedroom. I neaten up our beds before going to the closet that we all share. There's a special component, in the back, where I keep the Reaping clothes that we wear, the same every year. Leonides has to wear hand-me-downs from Jaka, and Jaka sometimes has to wear some of Dad's old clothes.

The dress I always wear to the Reaping is a knee-length, sleeveless light green dress that was once my mother's. It's easily the most extravagant thing we own. It's plain, with no lace or ruffles, the only differing from the plain fabric being a belt around my waist, the colour a dark forest green. I also have matching light green flats; both the dress and the shoes are a little small for me now, but we can't afford to buy another dress. It's only for a day, after all.

The sleeveless garment shows off the decidedly masculine muscles that I have gained through working with the men for three years. Of course it's only a part-time job, as I still have school, but I'm easily the toughest and strongest girl in my school. That doesn't mean I'm popular, quite the opposite actually, and I don't have much more than a handful of friends.

Using the dusty, cracked old mirror leaning against the wall I take my white-blonde hair out from its ponytail and let it hang loose. I run my brush through it, making it silky and smooth, but it annoys me, hanging so long without it being tied back. I only keep it this long because my father loves it; I can't really fathom why, but I keep it long for his sake. I wonder what to do with it for a moment before I shrug and keep it down. It looks fine the way it is.

I take my time choosing outfits for my brothers and my father. The shirt I would've given to Jaka to wear is obviously too small for him, and I remember him complaining about how tight it is, even last year. So I put that aside for Leonides and rummage through the closet for a shirt for Jaka.

I eventually settle for a light grey button-up shirt paired with the nicest pair of trousers for him. For Leonides I have decided on the dull green button-up Jaka wore last year, again with the nicest trousers he has. They don't have any dressy shoes, so they will just have to make do with the boots that they wear on a regular basis.

For my father I don't pick out an outfit that is as dressy as the ones I chose for my brothers. He isn't eligible anyway. I take out a short-sleeved button-up shirt and the faded jeans he wears to work when he isn't wearing the pair he probably has on now. He will just have to remain in boots as well.

When I go back to the kitchen Dad is home. The three males are sitting around the table silently, not talking. Dad is gripping Leonides' hand, who looks faintly green.

I pause in the doorway. "Your outfits are ready," I say softly.

They all turn to look at me in one motion. They all look extremely alike, the only difference being the eyes; Leonides with his odd two-coloured eyes, Jaka with the bright blue eyes of our mother, and Dad with the same stormy grey eyes like me. All three of them have the same rusty bronze hair, although in different styles. Dad's is cropped close to his scalp and it has flecks of grey in it. But although both of my brothers have Dad's general look, the delicate, almost haughty features they share with me come from our mother. I get my hair from my mother as well.

Dad is the first to rise.

"Come, Leonides, Jaka," he says in his soft-spoken voice. "Come and get dressed."

I stand to the side as they file past me to the bedroom, where I give them privacy to change. Jaka calls out when they're all changed and I take a step into the room. I look at the three of them.

Dad, in his short-sleeved black shirt; Jaka, in his faded grey one; and Leonides, in his dark green one. I sigh.

I stride over to Leonides and straighten his wonky collar. I do up his top button and run my fingers through his chin-length hair, neatening it up from its usual messy state and brushing it out of his eyes. I lean down and kiss him on the cheek and murmur, "You'll be fine," in his ear, quietly enough that only he can hear, before straightening up again and moving to Jaka. His hair, although shorter, is even more unkempt than Leonides'. His top button isn't done up either, although his collar is straight, and his shoelaces are untied.

I point to his untied shoes and raise my eyebrows. He sighs, bends down and ties them up. When he straightens again I move forward, do up his top button and neaten his hair. I smirk slightly at him before quickly leaning down and kissing him on the cheek before he can dodge. My smirk widens at his disgusted expression.

My gaze drifts over to Dad. He's smiling softly, and there's nothing wrong with his outfit. But still I go over to him, lean up to kiss his cheek, which is clean-shaven, before wrapping my arms tightly around his waist. Immediately he hugs me back, and it's only a few seconds before I feel my brothers join us.

I don't know how long we stand there. But it must've been a little while, as while we are still embracing we hear the bell in the square chime. All four of us stiffen and Leonides starts trembling.

"Let's go," Dad murmurs, and leads the way out. I take Jaka's right hand in my left and Leonides' left in my right. For once, neither of them pulls away. They are both grateful for my comfort, but even innocent Leonides knows it will do nothing to protect either of them.

Dad walks slightly in front of us as we walk to the square. The journey seems to take forever, although in reality it is really only a couple of minutes.

When we get to the square I see that we are early, but it's still a painfully long wait in line. I grip my brothers' hands tighter.