Chapter 1: We'd Kill Each Other

"Cassie Lannai!" And just like that, the female tribute for District 12 has been called, and I am free of the Hunger Games forever.

My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am 18 years old and have just watched the Reaping for the 76th Annual Hunger Games. My 14-year-old sister, Primrose, is safe for another year as well. It is a miracle she has gone three whole Reaping without getting picked. The Hunger Games are a sadistic practice to keep the twelve districts of Panem in line. Last year's contest was particularly brutal, as every 25 years, a special Quarter Quell edition with a twist is introduced into the Games. Previous iterations have included a special Election in place of the Reaping, double the number of tributes (ironically, District 12 had our only Victory that year) and last summer's 75th Hunger Games had children below Reaping age, from 5 to 11 enter the arena.

I quickly smooth down my royal blue Reaping dress and slip out of place with the other 18-year-olds. I quickly find Mother and Primrose in the crowd. Beside them is my best friend and hunting partner, Gale Hawthorne, who has been free of the Reaping for two years now. He hugs me.

"Congratulations, Catnip. Now you can get going with life."

I smile - a rare thing for me. Catnip is a nickname that Gale gave to me when we first met in the woods - a mispronunciation of my name. "The only thing in life that I want to do is hunt in the woods and have the Capitol just leave me alone. It won't be any different, Gale."

Gale gives a jerk of his head. "Come with me. I want to tell you something."

Curious, I follow him out of the crowd, beyond the square beneath the Justice Building, and into an alleyway between some Merchant shops. It would be a trek to get back to my family's house in the Seam, and whatever Gale wants to tell me, it obviously can't wait, from the excited state he seems to be in. He turns back to me and - unexpectedly - takes my hand.

"When I think about what I want out of life, I can only think of one thing." He is staring at me with an unusual intensity. I now find myself regarding him warily, as my eyes suddenly widen in understanding. He isn't... surely not!...

"No... Gale..."

Gale raises a finger to silence me as he moves closer.

"Gale... don't..."

Too late. Gale's arm slides about my neck as he bends down and kisses me passionately on the lips. I feel his other arm slip about my waist, pulling me flush against his body. My palm rests flat against his chest as I confusedly whimper into his mouth. I don't reciprocate the kiss, but I can't find the strength to push him away either. Finally, with a POP!, our lips are wrenched apart. I gasp to intake air.

"Gale... we have to talk about this reasonably..." I placate. All of my principles should be encouraging me to give an emphatic NO, but I don't know what that one word would do to this man who is now looking at me with such adoration, such... hopefulness. Indeed, his eyes - once as hazel as the fresh greenery we would explore together - have now blackened with undeniable lust.

"I have loved you from the moment I clamped eyes on you," he whispers in a lovesick hiss. "What could be more reasonable than to marry you?"

I gape at him, my eyes searching his, the answer obvious to me. "We'd kill each other!" I conclude flatly, without irony.

"Nonsense!" Gale laughs.

"Neither of us can keep our temper -"

"I can... unless provoked." If the conversation were not of such serious things like marriage, I would laugh at that. Even then, there is not much humor there. A provoked temper in this district would give you a one-way ticket to the stocks: maybe not under Head Peacekeeper Cray, but definitely under his successor, Thread.

"We're both stupidly stubborn - especially you - we'd only quarrel!"

"I wouldn't!" And Gale's tone sounds almost childish. Here I can't help but smile, even chuckle a little.

"You can't even propose without quarreling," I admonish him gently. Gale laughs at that. He then presses a sweet kiss into my forehead.

"Katniss... I swear I'll be a saint. I'll let you win every argument. I'll take care of you... and both our families. You wouldn't have to want for anything; you wouldn't even have to hunt unless you wanted to!"

I gaze at him, eyes sad, my mind in torment. I see more difficulties than advantages to us getting married. For one thing, it would mean our friendship would never be the same again. Even if we would marry for friendship, dependency, kinship - a marriage I suppose I could get behind, if I am reticent to marry for economic advantage or even marry for love. But it is an impossible and unrealistic expectation. Unfortunately, it is all too common. Many Seam marriages are based on deep friendship and understanding in lieu of romantic love. Gale would provide for me just as much as I provide for myself and both our families. The problem is that Gale would have to continue working in the mines even more than he already does to care for a wife waiting at home. For that is where I would be. I could not risk losing him to a collapse the way my mother lost my father. In fact, I would refuse to. And Gale's expectation for our marriage would be very different from mine. He knows well my vow to never have children. But I know Gale wants to become a parent. And I'll be hanged before I see any children of ours sent to the Games, even if we have escaped the Reaping ourselves.

But as I look into my best friend's pleading eyes, all of my reservations seem to buckle under the weight of that lingering look alone. Living in District 12, the poorest district of Panem, is a hard life, especially in the Seam. Survival requires much banding together, sometimes in business and many other times in... marriage...

And there is still Prim and Mother to think about. So I square my shoulders, and even though I am terrified, I nod my head.

"Yes. I will marry you."

Gale beams as bright as the sun's rays and kisses me soundly before I can object. "I'll run and tell your mother."

A few weeks later, I am standing in the living room of my mother's house, by the fireplace, adorned in her wedding dress. Prim attends to me, and off to the side are Gale's mother, Hazelle, her four little ones and Gale, my husband-to-be. He is dressed in a pressed suit, probably his father's. Most Seam families have only one fancy outfit, usually for a Toasting such as this one.

A Toasting is District 12's marriage tradition, after you sign the marriage papers at the Justice Building. No one in District 12 feels truly married without this ritual. Gale and I now kneel beside the meager fireplace and stoke up the fire. We toast a bit of bread Prim collected from the Bakery in town, split it and share it. Then, Gale helps me to my feet and draws me close. My eyes are tinged with the slightest fear as I tentatively let him press his lips to mine. I dare to kiss him back, ever so gently. This kiss changes our relationship forever. We are now man and wife. I am Mrs. Gale Hawthorne, a miner's spouse and will fall asleep next to him in the same bed, in our own house, tonight.