This is my first Hunger Games Fanfiction so I hope you enjoy. I don't update often because I'm lazy and no one comments enough to keep me motivated to write any chapters and to tell you the truth the chapter wasn't suppose to end like it was but if I did try to finish it you wouldn't be able to read it until weeks from now. When I write I know where its going I just don't know how to get there. So if you're patient then the next chapter will come soon. Its ok if you curse me out asking for another chapter. That just makes me motivated….. but don't be too mean. So without further ado read my fucking story
Disclaimer: If I owned these characters, Katniss would be fucking Finnick right now.
Author's Note! This chapter is revised! Yay! None or less grammer and spelling problems that keep people from following, favoriting or reviewing...I'm looking at you other 100 plus viewers.
Chapter 1 Before the Fall
I first met her after I won the 69thAnnual Hunger Games. It was during the Victor's tour and it was raining in district 12. I remember there was always a feeling of dread and desperation outside the rundown buildings of Panem's poorest district. My escort, whom name I've failed to remember even with the time I've spent with her, says I shouldn't wonder, but I couldn't bring myself to stay cooped up in this empty village with the constant reminder that I was alone.
I didn't bother with a heavy coat with hopes that maybe that I would 'accidently' freeze to death. I saw that the district, after what seems like days of slush and rain was burdened with people marching around in the mud going to work in utter silence. I walk by all of them with their eyes giving little to no recollection of whom I was as if I was like everybody else: another dead man walking. As I stepped further and further into the district I arrive at a fence that stretched miles from right to left. I hiked closer and heard an almost non-existent hum of electricity coming from the closure. This was the border of district 12. I've heard stories that people have made it passed the gate, passed the mountains and forests and reached the Atlantic Ocean to freedom. My mother always said that 12 made the stories up like common fairy tales to tell their kids.
I look past the fence and get a glimpse of the huge dying forest just a mile away. It reminded me of the Games. In arena, the atmosphere was cold and dying and it was hard not to notice a tribute walking towards you yards away because of the crunch of the frosted grass and leaves. The ominous natures made me feel anxious, remembering too much of that time, so I started to backtrack through the tall grass away from the electrical wires and started heading towards the Victor's village.
The cold rain started to come down heavier than earlier and I started shaking from the fast winds hitting me in the back. My clothes were nearly soaked but I didn't give it much thought until the water started to sink into my shoes.
It has been several minutes since I've left the gate and I find myself curling into my chest to keep the wind from attacking my vulnerable parts of my body. I was slowly making myself to the richer part of the community when I saw her.
She was deathly pale and skinny. I would have thought she was dead if it wasn't for her efforts to crawl closer to a post to keep her-self up. It was getting late and the sky was changing from its watery grey to a darker hue. It was then that I heard a noise from the house in front of her and saw a woman shouting in a boy's face. I hid from their view using the shadow of a roof from an abandoned house that was keeping me mostly out of the rain. I could still see the girl and the two people that were just under the roof of the porch.
The woman was old and shrill, shouting insults to the boy's face while he just took it. I felt bad for him. My parents never did anything too ill-tempered towards me. It was even my father who taught me how to use a trident to keep our family feed. After time went by and my dad got too old to go out by himself I had to be the one to make sure my family survived. I was one of the lucky ones. My whole district is lucky that it was established as its imports as seafood, otherwise we would be just like as district 12.
I saw the women I would assume were his mother, hit him repeatedly. She was shouting about two loafs of bread that were half burn. Apparently he wasn't watching them, so he made a mistake. She went back inside after handing the boy the burnt bread. He stepped over to the pig pin that was station right beside the bakery until he finally saw the girl lying against the post in front of the building. I got a good look at him as he stepped closer to the edge of the porch. He had ashy blonde hair with a stocky build and strangely he looked healthier than the other people in his district. In my period here I've notice that even the rich were a little underweight.
There was a look of recognition going across his face but he didn't step closer to help her. I saw her eyes start to become unfocused and the next thing I knew the half a burnt loaf of bread was laying in the mud only a few feet from her body. The boy's face filled with regret, but it was too late now, the food was getting soaked in the rain and he just hurries back inside.
I saw her desperately trying to reach the only food that might keep her alive another day but her eye lids were slowly shutting, and then she fainted into the cold wet dirt.
My eyes went wide when I saw she stopped moving. I didn't know what to do. It was now completely dark outside and the rain just continued to pour down. But I couldn't just leave her there, not when she could still be alive. Thoughts raced in my head of someone dying because of my powerlessness to do anything that could help them survive. Stepping back into the cold shower I raced towards her. I flipped the girl over and check for a pulse to see if she was still alive. My fingers brushed just under her jaw to feel a faint heartbeat, but only barely. She didn't respond when I tried to wake her up. Not knowing where she lived to take her back to her family, I decided to just make a run for the Victor's Village. I didn't know how much time I had before she was gone completely.
Picking her up in my arms bridal style along with the burnt bread, I ran past all the houses and buildings till I got to the gates of the empty apartments. The side of my body pushed the gate open, then I ran to my 'rented' flat. Laying her down on my couch, I started to tug her clothes off to keep her from getting sick. I stopped once a revealed her bra and underwear and ran to my room to find a shirt she could sleep in. I walk back over to the couch and lift her up to put on the shirt. Laying her gently back down in front of the fire I have left aflame before I'd gone, I went to the kitchen to make her something to eat.
The pot of porridge was on the stove and I waited for it to finish cooking. Once it was done, I filled the small bowl with the meal and walked back to the unconscious flames from the fire place left a soft glow to her white skin making her look healthier than what she really was. I laid the porridge down and lifted her up pulling her to my lap. I tried to wake up her up as best I could, shaking her smacking her face lightly so not to hurt her.
"Come on, come on, wake up!" I said in her ear. I look back up at her eyes and see them slightly opened.
"Hey! Hey! Don't go back to sleep, you need to eat something." I said rushing my words out so she heard. She tries to speak but all that came out were shallow breaths.
"W…wh..." she tried to say.
"Shhhhh, its ok. Everything's ok, but you need to eat something before you pass out again." I urge her as I bring the spoon to her mouth. She felt small in my hands. I felt her ribs pushing against my stomach and her hip bone pushing through the oversized shirt. Her hair which was still damp from the rain was now unraveled making a halo of sprayed out waves around her face.
"What is your name?" I whispered to her while looking at her face.
"K…Katniss…" she croaked.
"Katniss, I need you to eat before you starve. I don't know how much longer your body has…" I said as I try to push the spoon of food through her mouth. She opens her mouth wide enough for me to dump the porridge past her teeth. She swallowed the squishy food slowly. I got her to eat half of the small bowl before she passed out again in my arms.
I lay Katniss back on to the red velvet couch and wrap her in a heavy blanket to make sure she stays warm.
The house was only lit by the fire and the moon outside was hidden behind the clouds making everything in district 12 eerily dark. After I stand up straight I actually take time to look around the room. It was pretty big, but cozy with its white fluffy carpet and its warm colored furniture littered in front of the chimney. The walls were painted a creamy white and had pictures of the landscapes found in other districts. They looked beautiful, but if felt like a lie just looking at them. They didn't so show the districts for what they truly were. They didn't show the emptiness, the grief, or the indifference that passes through everyone when they see another one of their people die in that arena.
I turn away from all of them and look back at Katniss, and then an idea popped into my head.
"Haymitch…"
I leave Katniss to her rest and rush to the door and back outside into the chilly weather. I first met Haymitch after the chariot ceremony. He walked over after he got done talking to his dirt covered tributes and I could smell the alcohol spew from his mouth as he greeted Mags. He had shabby blond hair, cloudy blue eyes with a five o'clock shadow. Haymitch didn't say much to me but a simple 'hi', but I got a feel for his personality when I heard him talk about his tributes. He sounded indifferent, like everything going around him didn't matter.
Once I got to a flat just a few doors down the left from mine, I start pounding on the mahogany wood hoping that someone will answer it soon before the cold gets to my bones. After a few times of knocking on the door I decide to turn the knob and hope that maybe there was some miracle that it was unlocked.
And what do you know! The door swung open.
I stepped inside and looked around the hallway to see if there was any life that so happened to be standing nearby but I only saw darkness. I closed the door behind me and stepped further into the house, until I came across the dining room where the table and floor was beset with glass bottles.
Other than the trash lying around, I saw a man slumped in his chair snoring with a beer bottle held loosely in his grip. I walked closer to him and along the way I tripped on the trash making an awkward noise before I could compose myself. I looked back up after I gained my footing, what I assumed was Haymitch, made no indication that I was even near him.
After I finally got to his side I tried to shake him awake, but he only stopped snoring before he started up again. Looking around the table, I saw a glass, picked it up and smelled its contents. It was water. I wished myself luck, and splashed the half full glass of water on his head.
"What the hell!" Haymitch then shoots up with a butter knife in his hand, snapping his head around the room to find the culprit that made him wake up. His eyes finally landed on me and it didn't seem he recognized me.
"Who the hell are you?" he grunts.
"Finnick; Finnick Odair. I'm the Victor of District Four. We met after the chariot ceremony, remember?" I said as I raised my hands up in surrender. The old man started to lower his weapon.
"Oh it's you…" I frowned when he sounded disappointed.
"So what brings you to my neck of the woods, Fishboy?" Haymitch walked out of the room towards the kitchen and started opening up cabinets.
"I need your help…" I said.
"With what?" He finally came across a bottle of pills, in which he then sighed in relief.
"A girl…"
Haymitch interrupted me and burst out laughing. I stared, waiting for him to stop snickering. "Hahaha, you came to me for advice about…" He didn't finish his sentence, because he couldn't contain his laughter.
"Hehe, you don't need my help in that department Fishboy."
I glared at him waiting for his obnoxious amusement to end. "Are you done?" I asked impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah I'm done." He said smugly. "So, what about this girl?" I stayed standing as Haymitch leaned against the kitchen counter still smiling.
"I saw her…"
"Oooo, love at first sight!"
"As I was saying! I saw her out in the rain starving to death…" I said as my voice got shaky.
"Welcome to District 12." Haymitch said grimly. He got off the counter and started looking through the refrigerator. "What were you doing outside of the Village anyway; could have sworn I heard your escort tell you to stay indoors." He finally stood back up from the fridge and pulled out a half empty bottle of whiskey.
"I needed some fresh air." I said.
"Of course you did." He said taking a swig of alcohol.
"I couldn't leave her so I took her back to my apartment." The old victor spat the whiskey out of his mouth and looked at me like I had grown five heads.
"You brought her...do you have a death wish!?" he shouted at me.
"Where was I going to take her!?" I shouted back.
"Not here!" He starts rushed over to me and looked me in the eye. "Do you not understand that taking someone into the Village is a crime punishable by death. If any of the peace keepers see's her you AND me..." he shook his head, "and her are dead."
My eye's widen and I started to look at my feet in thought. Haymitch grunted and started walking back to the chairs in the dinning room. I looked back up at him. "I couldn't just leave her there..." I said in a whisper.
" You have until tomorrow afternoon to get her out of here unnoticed."Haymitch sighed. I nodded my head. "Yes but I don't know who she is. I had to carry her here and i doubt she could walk by herself. Where she stays probably on the other of the district..."
"Why don't you ask her where she lives?" he said like it was the most obvious question.
"She's knocked out." I said dead-plain.
Haymitch rolled his eyes and handed me the bottle he was drinking out of. "Use this. Bring it back when you're done." He then walks away to what I assume was the bedroom and slams the door shut.
So I left and walked back to my apartment and found Katniss where I left her. I looked at the clock and it was only ten o'clock at night.
I walked closer to the couch and saw her face peaking through the covers. She looked peaceful. I couldn't tell because of how skinny she was but she looked like a 9 year old. I could just wake her up until morning, but she's been sleeping for two hours already. I didn't want her to be waking up in the morning before I did.
I took the whiskey bottle and put it under her nose.
She sucked in some air and started coughing. She looked around in confusion and finally laid her eyes on me.
"Who are you?" she said sitting out quickly and pushing her body to the edge of the couch.
"Where am I?" she said louder. I stepped near her to calm her down but she proceeded to fall off the couch and run to the corner of the living room with her back against the wall.
Her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking like she was back in the rain again. "Katniss..."
"How do you know my name?" she snapped.
"Because you told me..." I said as I walked slowly past the couch to her.
"Stay back!" she shouted pressing further into the wall.
"I'm not going to hurt you Katniss. Do you remember me? I'm Finnick Odiar. I'm the victor for the sixty-ninth Hunger Games..." I tried desperately for her to understand and to calm down but if I tried to take one step she'd flinch.
I stopped walking towards her and looked at her body language to find something that might show me what she was afraid of. She was in a defensive stance but there was nothing indicating she was scared of me. I didn't understand.
"What are you afraid of?" I asked. That got a reaction out out of her. She glared at me, but she didn't out of the corner.
"I'm not afraid." She said quickly.
"Oh? Then why are you backed up into a corner?" I asked her with my eyebrow raised. After that she proceeded to glare at me more, but she didn't move from the wall.
"I've killed over 7 people in the last week Katniss, I don't plan on doing it again anytime soon. I'm not gonna hurt you Katniss." I said. I reached my hand out to her and patiently and waited. She looked at my hand and back at my face. She slowly stepped forward and took my hand and I slowly lead her to the couch. We sat down with our knees close to our chest, while the fire was still roaring beside us.
"You never answered my question." she said breaking the silence.
"Huh?" I asked.
"Where are we?" she asked again.
"Oh, we are in the Victor's Village."
Yup, that ending sucked but what are you gonna do? REVIEW OF COURSE!