Prologue

No light, no light in your bright blue eyes

Running. That's what Caroline was doing. There was something behind her—she could hear its pounding footsteps behind her. The thought of it catching her struck fear into her heart, because she'd heard what it'd done to her fellow tributes. It was horrid, and there was no way she could kill it with her knife. The skin of the beast literally bent any metal that tried to pierce it.

Whipping her head around, golden curls flaying everywhere, Caroline caught a glimpse of the thing that was chasing after her. Leathery black skin, elongated teeth that protruded from its bottom lip. It was drooling black ooze, and its eyes. Its eyes. They were like black pools of bottomless water.

Running whilst looking at the thing obviously wasn't a great idea, as from what seemed from out of nowhere, her foot caught in a root and she toppled over. A scream left her lips as she put her hands out to break her fall. Mere seconds later, Caroline felt the teeth of the beast that was chasing her sink into her—

Eyes flying wide open, Caroline sat up in her bed with a jolt. She was covered in sweat, and that intense of a dream only happened once a year. Reaping Day. The mere thought of made her groan softly as she put her face into her palms. 'You're seventeen, Care. It's not even your final year yet. You just need to make it through this one, and the next. That's easy enough, right?' Moving her hands from her face, Caroline let her fingers flow through her hair as she pushed the damp golden strands away from her brow.

"Caroline?" A voice from behind her bedroom door asked before pushing it open. The only other person in the Forbes house was Caroline's mom. There would be two if Bill Forbes had kept denying who he really was. However, when she was eight, Bill finally admitted to his wife and daughter that he was gay. Apparently, before Panem actually became Panem and was known as a place called "The United States of America", people weren't exactly accepting. At least, that's what people were told. No one believed it. People were who they were, and if they liked to be with guys, nobody really bothered.

"Caroline, honey. You…" Looking at her mother, Caroline knitted her brows together slightly. "You know that I—" "Love me. Mom. Breathe, okay? I'm still in bed. Can you let me get ready before we start this?" Every Reaping Day, Elizabeth Forbes came into her room before she had even began to get ready to make sure that she was okay. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Caroline had things to do before she could even think about going to the Hall of Justice to bare through Reaping.

However, what she did do was get ready. Liz laid out her best clothes to put on, and that's what she did. Her hair was naturally straight, but being the daughter of an ex-peacekeeper, they had ways of getting some luxuries. For years she'd had a curling iron, and due to its sturdiness, she referred to it as 'Old Lucky'. Once she was ready and looked as best as she could, Caroline turned on her heels and headed for the door.

Walking through the district, she noticed the kids who were starting to make their way towards the Hall of Justice. Maybe she didn't have time to see the person that she wanted to before she had to make her way towards the roped off areas. Biting her lip softly, she continued to make her way towards the Victors Village. People were giving her lifted eyebrows and weird looks—looks that said 'why is she heading up there? That's not the where teenagers are meant to be heading.' Although, she wasn't paying attention them. What she needed to do was see him. A few minutes later, she arrived at the Victors Village and made her way towards the only occupied house.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Dean!" She called, a small smile on her lips. As time passed, the small smile faded and slowly started to turn to a frown. "Dean!" Caroline called again, moving so that she was standing in-front of the window that showed the living room. He was normally in there, and, low and behold, he wasn't. That meant that he was already there.

Quickly, Caroline made her way towards the Hall of Justice—just in time. Any later and she would've been hunted down and branded as someone who tried to run. Her finger was pricked, and her blood was scanned. After that, she made her way towards the corded off areas.

"Caroline," she heard a voice breathe from her side. Looking in the direction that it came from, she seen Elena Gilbert looking as worried as she could. "Care, I thought that you weren't going to show up. You said 'I'll meet you at your house', and…Do you know—" "Elena. Calm." She said as she placed her hands on her shoulders. Elena's mind went into overdrive on Reaping Day. If she had a sister and her name was called, she could volunteer and save her. But she didn't. Elena had a little brother, Jeremy. There was no way that she could protect him if his name was called.

Caroline went to open her mouth when suddenly—

"Welcome, welcome."

A voice boomed over them, and that was their sign to shut up.

"Happy Hunger Games, everyone." As soon as the escort started speaking, Caroline let her eyes fall on the eyes of the people on stage. The mayor, his wife—and Dean Winchester. He was Nine's last victor, and as the only living victor, he needs to take on the role of mentor. His eyes met hers, and she seen him flash a smile.

The whole thing flew by in a whir, and before she knew it, they were announcing who the Tributes—sorry, the soon-to-be-corpses, who were going to represent Nine. Although, something was a little different. It was usually the women's names that were drawn first, but this year the Escort had drawn the boy's name first. Everyone thought it was a little weird, but it was The Capitol. They were the epitome of weird. The name was unravelled and everyone heard, clear as day, the name that echoed over the heads of the District.

"Jeremy Gilbert."

Just like that, Caroline had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Turning her head, she seen that Elena's face had turned ghostly white. "Jeremy," Elena whispered. Pushing past the girls, Caroline included, Elena dashed out and shouted "Jeremy!"

Dashing to him, he nearly reached her little brother to take him into her arms before the large men in white uniforms dragged her off. "JEREMY!" Elena pleaded, beating the suited men.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Jeremy stood in the middle of both crowds. He needed to be strong, even if he didn't look it. He was known as Elena's scrawny little, fifteen year old brother. Now? He needed to be a tribute. Adopting a brave face, Jeremy made his way towards the stage and stood by the escort. "Now, Jeremy. Who was that girl who tried to get to you just there?" The man asked. A shaky breath left his lips as he gulped down the pooling saliva that was resting in his mouth. "M-My sister," Jeremy said in a quiet voice to the microphone. "That was my sister. She's the only family I have so…" he trailed off, physically biting his lip to stop himself from talking as he looked away.

The only family Elena had left. They'd lost their parents, their aunt and basically everyone close to them family-wise. Right now, they were in the care of Alaric Saltzman, a long-time family friend of…well, everyone in the District. And, Caroline knew what she had to do there and then. If Elena volunteered for the girl who was about to be called, one of the Gilberts were going to die. And, she didn't think that his sister volunteering to make sure that he made it home would sit well with Jeremy.

As April Young was making her way to the stage, Caroline pushed her way to the middle and shouted "I volunteer!"

The looks of the faces around here were shocked. Elena's, April's, Jeremy's. But no one's was more dumbfounded than Dean's.

A/N: Soooo. This is my first ever published fanfic. And, I'd really like it if I got some feedback. I'm really not sure how well I'm portraying Caroline (cause I'm not exactly sure HOW to?) but I'm giving it a shot.

Tell me if you wanna see more of this!~