Alright, Tributes.
This is my first THG fanfic so bear with me. Don't get too resistant.
Otherwise, enjoy!
Chapter One
Katniss
We walk around the Seam in silence. I don't like that Gale took a dig at Madge, but he's right, of course. The reaping system is unfair, with the poor getting the worse of it. You become eligible for the reaping the day you turn twelve. That year, you name is entered once. At thirteen, twice. And so on until you reach the age of eighteen, the final year of eligibility, when you name goes into the pool seven times. That's true for every citizen in all twelve districts in the entire country of Panem. But here's the catch. Say you are poor and starving as we were. You can opt to add you name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each tesserae is worth a meager year's supply of grain and oil for one person. You may do this for each of your family members as well. So at the age of twelve I had my name entered four times. In fact, every year I have needed to do this.
So now, at the age of sixteen, my name will be in the reaping twenty times. Gale, who is eighteen and has been either helping or single-handedly feeding a family of five for seven years, will have his name in forty-two times. Gale and I divide our spoils, leaving two fish, a couple of loaves of good bread, greens, a quart of strawberries, salt, paraffin, ad a bit of money for each.
"See you in the square,"I say.
"Wear something pretty,"he says flatly.
...
People file in silently and sign in. Twelve-through eighteen-year-olds are herded into roped areas marked off by ages, the oldest in front, the young ones, like Prim, toward the back. Family members line up around the perimeter, holding tightly to one another's hands. I find myself standing in a clump of sixteen's from the Seam. We all exchange terse nods then focus our attention on the temporary stage that is set up before the Justice Building. It holds three chairs, a podium, and two large glass balls, one for the boys and one for the girls.
I stare at the paper slips in the girls' ball. Twenty of them have Katniss Everdeen written on them in careful handwriting. Just as the town clock strikes two, the mayor steps up to the podium and begins to read. It's the same story every year. Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch-this is the capitol's way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. To make it humiliating as well as tortuous, the capitol requires us to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district against the others. The last tribute alive receives a life of east back home, and their district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food. All year, the Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of us battle in starvation.
"It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks,"tones the mayor.
Bright and bubbly as ever, Effie Trinket trots to the podium and gives her signature, "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" Through the crowd I spot Gale and his forty-two names in that big glass ball and how the odds are not in his favor. He must know this, too, because his face darkens and he looks away. "But there are still thousands of slips," I wish I could whisper.
It's time for the drawing. Effie Trinket says as she always does. "Ladies first!" and crosses to the glass ball with the girls names. She reaches in, digs her hand in deep into the ball, and pulls out a slip of paper. I'm feeling so nauseous and desperately hoping that it's not me, that it's not me, that it's not me.
Effie Trinket crosses back to the podium, smoothes the slip of paper, and reads out the name in a clear, voice. And it's not me.
It's Primrose Everdeen.
My entire body freezes and I feel that feeling, the feeling you'd feel right before a storm- like you know something deadly is about to happen. Accusations and hatred fly across the room and whip between the stage and I. I cannot move, cannot breathe, cannot watch, as my sister shoves her way bravely past the staring crowd. I am frozen. I am a statue. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?
And then I catch the sight of Prim walking toward the stage. The back of her blouse has come untucked.
Tuck your tail in, little duck. It's this notion that unfreezes me, and I'm pushing through the crowd, trying to reach her. "Prim!" The cry is almost stuck in my throat. "Prim!" Peacekeepers try to apprehend me, but I won't stop.
"I volunteer!" I gasp. "I volunteer as tribute!"
There's some confusion on the stage. District 12 hasn't had a volunteer in ages. But apparently it's allowed. Haymitch Abernathy slurs, "Let her volunteer!"
"Come on up," Gale says in a strangled voice as he hoists me onto the stage. I didn't see him anywhere, but I know he was there as soon as I volunteered. Like always. At my side.
This notion makes me want to cry.
"What's your name?" Effie lowers the microphone to my lips so that I can talk. I barely get the words out, but I get them out: "Katniss Everdeen."
"Give a round of applause for Katniss!" Effie cries.
To their credit, District 12 does not applaud. They wouldn't applaud for the Capitol in any case. But the next thing they do touches my heart. Each one of them, at the exact same time, presses their three middle fingers to their lips and holds them out to me. It's an ancient gesture of love.
I bite my lip before I can do something stupid like cry.
"Let's move on to the boys," Effie says, completely ignoring the gesture. She roughs around in the lottery box. Her hand hesitates on a slip, but she picks another one.
All of District 12 is holding its breath. Who could it be?
And then she calls the name and my life completely changes. For the worse.
"Gale Hawthorne!"
This time my body doesn't freeze like before. This time, my eyes close, and suddenly I'm standing before a crowd of people, but this time I'm on a stage in the Capitol. I've just won the Hunger Games. And Gale isn't with me to celebrate.
This time tears do streak down my face as Gale shoves his hands in his pockets, licks his lips, and comes smoothly up to the stage. He won't look at me, but I can see the fear in his eyes. Only one of us can win this.
The other has to die.
...
We're taken into the Justice Building to say our final goodbyes. Gale is taken to a separate room- I won't say goodbye to him until he dies, or I die. Maybe not even then.
Prim and my mother come to visit. Prim looks older. Haunted. Worry and fatigue have aged her. She does not look like the same girl I volunteered for just seconds ago. She throws her arms around me. "Katniss," she sobs. Tears stream down her pale but beautiful little face.
"Prim," I whisper back, shaking my head as I see her blouse has come untucked again. "Tuck your tail in, little duck," I sigh, fixing the blouse.
She almost giggles, but tears are still running down her face.
I turn to my mother, glaring at her disrespectfully. But I haven't cared about respecting her since my father died. "Take care of her," I growl.
"I will," she promises.
"No." I let go of Prim and stand before her, grabbing her shirt and pulling her close to me. She doesn't make any reaction; she just looks bored. "You will care for her because if she dies I promise I will come back and kill you personally. Do you understand?"
"I understand," she says in a dull monotone.
I hesitate at this part, searching within myself to see if I mean it, and then speak when I realize I do. "Take care of yourself, too. I don't want to have to live in a group home."
She nods. "You, too. Survive. You're strong. I think there's a good possibility-"
"No!" I shut her up before she can continue. I do not want to be filled with false hope that could never be confirmed, that could never be seen. "No. I don't want to think like that."
"Okay." She hugs me tightly, something I didn't expect, and kisses my cheek. "I love you, Katniss."
"I love you, too." I sigh and disentangle myself from her as the Peacekeepers walk in, commanding for them to leave. They do, looking back at me warily.
To my surprise, the next visitors are faces I haven't seen in years. I see the first face every day, but I guess I don't really pay attention as much as I should. And the other face stirs something within me, something that seemed to die when I saw him last.
Peeta Mellark and his father step into the room. His father holds a box of what looks like cookies, a delicacy I was never allowed because they were too expensive. He hands me the cookies wordlessly. I open the box. There are only two inside, but the gesture is so caring that a lump forms in my throat.
"We came to wish you good luck," Peeta says. The sound of his voice sends that feeling through me as I remember the day he saved my life. But I don't dwell on that too long.
I wonder if the Games would've been different if he'd volunteered for Gale. But he wouldn't have volunteered for Gale, so I know I shouldn't look at possibilities.
"Well, thank you," I say politely, turning to his father. "And thank you for the cookies. I'm sure they'll be very good."
"You're welcome," he nods, turning and ushering Peeta forward. Peeta stares at me for a minute more before turning and following his father.
The boy who saved my life exits, and I wonder if it'd be any better with him as a major part.
The boy with the bread.
Eventually I am escorted from the room, onto the train. Gale and I hug instantly, our contact feeling beautiful and warm. I can feel his racing heartbeat against my chest.
"We'll be okay, Catnip," he whispers.
We stay like that for a while, staring out the window as the train pulls away and District Twelve is left behind, our only home abandoned without even our goodbye.
Hey, guys. I know this is the first chapter and it's a work in progress, but you have to review! Tell me if you love it or hate it. Tell me how you feel about Gale being selected.
I cannot tell you when the next chapter'll be posted, because I simply don't know, just like I don't know when the next chapter for Hidden will be posted, even though I can tell you that the next Hidden chapter should be pretty good. It's Zoey, Kalona and some other people. When the kids finally arrive in Italy, what happens?
However, I updated The Mark of Athena today as well. I'd been working on that one for a while, and I finally got it updated. You Heroes of Olympus fans can go check that out.
My Twilight fanfiction Screw Bella was updated too. I haven't updated that one in a while, and I figured I'd give you guys a little dose of sparkling vampire.
Review, please! *three-fingered gesture* LOL.
XOXO,
Casey