Gale Hawthorne was laying peacefully in the meadow just outside of his district when he heard what sounded like footsteps approaching him in the tall grass. He tensed, he didn't normally go outside of the district without his father, but the mines had extended their hours again, and his father surely wouldn't take him in the dead of night when he had school in the morning, so he made the journey on his own.

He peeked his head up slightly, hoping the grasses of the meadow would shield the rest of him while he searched for the source of the rustling sounds. He spotted her almost immediately; Valeria Bellwood. She was around the same age as Gale, with light skin that matched her long dark hair, and hazel eyes that seemed almost green in the sunlight. She didn't look like the average children from the Seam, because she wasn't born there.

She was the daughter of Lepores and Silka Bellwood, two popular merchants in district 12, but when her mother gave birth to twins a year ago, they decided that they could not take care of all three children and sent Valeria to live in the Seam with her aunt, Delphi Bellwood. Delphi was kind and caring, but also very tough, as she worked in the mines to support herself. Valeria was in the same class as Gale, and when they were instructed to sit together by their instructor, neither of them complained. They had become somewhat friends.

Gale debated if he should make his presence known; she was heading into the woods behind him, and he wonders briefly how many times she'd ventured out here on her own before.

Deciding he wanted some company on his adventure, he calls her name. Her head snaps up, and she seems frightened at first, before she recognizes Gale, and a shy smile comes to her face.

"What're you doing out here, Hawthorne?" She asks with a fake attitude as she props her hands on her hips. He giggles lightly.

"I could ask you the same thing, Val." Her smile only grows as she drops down in the grass beside him.

"The mines are running long hours again, Aunt Del won't be home 'til late so I was looking for something to do before dark cause' I didn't want to be trapped inside all day." Valeria pulled a piece of the tall grass from the ground and examined it closely in her hands; she wasn't even sure what she was looking for.

Gale let a small smile come to his face, before he sighed lightly, "You know if someone else catches you outside of the fence you'll get in a lot of trouble, right?" His father gave him this speech many times before, after he had snuck out to watch his dad hunt in the woods.

She makes a thinking face before she nods, "Yeah, I know. But then again, what's a life without adventure, right?" She smiles at Gale and lays back to watch the cloudless sky. Gale dropped the speech, he had thought the same thing when following his father, and laid down next to Valeria.

They laid there for about ten minutes before Valeria spoke up again, "Will you show me around the woods, Gale? I don't want to go alone, I'd never find my way back." Gale looks at her for a moment before he decides.

"Sure. But you have to stay close, and don't wander off. My father has lots of snares set up and you don't want to get caught in one of those." Valeria agrees and stands up quickly, brushing off the grass that had stuck to her black pants. Gale leads her to the edge of the wood, "This is the place we usually enter, since the trees on both side are a little bit bigger than the rest it makes it stand out." She nods her head and follows Gale's path to the lake in the wood, where they sit and talk for nearly two hours.

When Gale notices the sun is slipping almost under the tree line in front of them, he helps Valeria to her feet and leads her back to the meadow, through the hole in the fence he had used to get there. Valeria tells him about a hole she had found further down the fence, and explains that his is much easier to access.

As they walk down the gravel road towards their neighboring houses, Gale asks the question he's had on his mind for a while now, "Val, are you staying with your aunt forever?" She seems to trip over nothing.

Valeria bites her lip slightly as she tries to keep her emotions under control- she always hates talking about her parents. She has to think about the question for a few seconds before she answers. "I sure hope so, I don't want to go back to my parents."

Gale realizes that he's hit a nerve, and pulls Valeria into a headlock, scrubbing his knuckles over her head and smiles when she giggles and demands to be released. When he's done, he wraps his hands around her waist and begins tickling her. She's laughing so loudly that a few of the people on the streets have turned their attention to them, smiling at the joyful children or scowling in annoyance at how loud they are being.

They don't pay much attention to the people around them until the head peacekeeper, Cray, approaches them and tells them to head home, they're creating too much of a disturbance. Valeria straightens up immediately, any signs of happiness washed from her face immediately. Her mind flashes back to the day her parents told her that she was going to live with Delphi, Cray meeting her at the door, and the ominous smile he gave her that made her stomach twist in fear.

She was only eight years old, but it was no secret, what Cray did behind closed doors, and Valeria was scared to even be seen with the man. He had seemed kind and caring while he was taking her to Delphi's home in the Seam, but she knew better than to assume about people like him.

They nod once at the man towering over them, before heading in the direction of their homes once again. When Gale is sure Cray has turned to a different civilian to boss around, he places a comforting hand on Valeria's shoulder. He turns to her as they approach Gale's house, the closer of the two, "Since your aunt isn't home, do you want to come eat with us tonight?"

Valeria looks back and forth between the houses, frightened to face the strangers in Gale's family, but excited at the idea of not having to go to bed without dinner, since she's not yet old enough to cook and her aunt won't be home until after she's fallen asleep.

She decides to face her fears and follows Gale up the stairs into his home; what's life without adventure, anyway?

Hey everyone! I just started this fic (It's Gale/OC) and I wanted to test the waters with the first chapter so let me know what you think! I know these fics aren't very common, so I'm not sure how many will enjoy reading it, but since I've found so few I decided to write one for myself. I may be writing a few stories in the Marvel verse, in case anyone would be interested in those as well. I've got a lot of this one written out but I wanted to make sure other people would enjoy it as much as I do! Let me know if you see any errors in the plot or grammatical, spelling, etc. I hope you enjoy!

-Ivy