AU: The Hunger Games don't exist, and Katniss decided that she would accept Gale's proposition of moving, but instead to District Four, but it's a little… strange there.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
A/N: Well this is a first, a hunger games AU. I don't normally do these, especially not for this series, but I love it too much so, meh. Hope you enjoy c:
"I'm going out to see the ocean," Katniss declared, slinging her bow over her shoulders and looking up at Gale. The man nodded his gray eyes steely with determination.
"Prim's coming too," He motioned to the blonde that was already about to put on her tiny sandals, a wide smile on her delicate features.
"What?" The brunette placed her hands on her hips. "Gale, there's been something dangerous going on in the district, you and I know that. I'm not endangering Prim just because there's something out there, so I'm going, alone."
"Katniss," Prim tugged on her sister's shirt with a frown. "What do you mean there's something going on in the district?"
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Little Duck." Katniss assured her little sister, patting her head and sending a glare towards the man she called her best friend.
"Wait, Catnip," Gale tugged on her braid lightly before pressing his lips to her after she turned around. He left the room quickly, not bothering to explain. The brunette's cheeks were red, and she stormed out of the house with a scowl on her face. The ocean was blue, like always, and sparkled in the sunlight. Katniss searched the area, a frown on her face as she took off her boots and let her toes sink in the coarse sand. The air smelt of the sea, and something else…
"Katniss help!" A shriek was heard, coming from the direction of Finnick and Annie's house, causing the brunette to run as quickly as she could towards there. As she approached the house, a solemn figure appeared which caused the huntress to backtrack.
"Mags…?" The figure looked like the small, delicate frame of the nice old lady, so Katniss reached out and tried to place her hand on the woman. As she did so, a scream erupted from the woman's throat and the shoulder that the brunette innocently touched crumbled into dust. A corpse was left behind, but the look on her face caused the huntress to flinch and back away.
"Katniss," Finnick was at the door, his sea green eyes wide and panicked. "Did you take care of the woman?"
"It looked like Mags," The huntress replied shakily, her strong façade breaking down quickly. The mask of determination she held crumbled as she looked towards where the figure once was.
"Mags went to the ocean a few moments ago, I didn't think she wouldn't come back," Finnick shook his head, closing his eyes and letting out a shaky exhale. "Annie and I didn't think it was safe to let her go, but she did so anyway so that she could do something with snares. I didn't-"
"-Finnick, is everything all right? Mags is here, right?" The sweet voice of Annie Cresta rang out in the air, and Katniss couldn't find the heart to reply that the old woman was maybe a rotting corpse that disappeared.
"No, honey," The bronze haired man replied, his voice laced with honesty. "Mags is not here, yet. I don't know where she is as of this moment." It was the truth, which the huntress was glad the fisherman had given Annie it.
"We need to find her," Katniss declared, her voice strong. Finnick looked at her doubtfully.
"Haven't you heard the reports? District Four is apparently covered in infectious water that contains oil from the last project that failed. You were lucky you got here before all of that happened." The man crossed his arms, looking at the huntress with a frown.
"Thanks for the information, Finnick, but isn't there a way to get water safely?" She questioned, a scowl forming already.
"Not unless you have the sink hooked up to another water source, the ocean isn't safe." Finnick motioned to enter the house. Katniss complied and carefully stepped into the fisherman's house with her feet bare and cold.
"Our sink is one of the safe ones," He explained, carefully stepping behind his girlfriend and wrapping his arms around her waist. Annie jumped in surprise before smiling and leaning back into the embrace. "We haven't even tried to go to the ocean."
"Gale didn't want me to go," Katniss replayed the kiss in her head, her cheeks flaring up with heat. "But he didn't show it. Prim wanted to go play in the ocean, but I'm glad she didn't. I really need to go," She glanced up at the clock and thought about her feelings for her friend, but realized that she couldn't right now.
"Go," Finnick nodded at her with a smile playing on his lips. "Stay away from the ocean." Katniss nodded to show she was listening and ran out of the house with thoughts of her best friend. How did that kiss make her feel exactly? She didn't know, but as she reached the house, she found she really didn't want to confront him about her mixed feelings.
"I'm back, Little Duck," She announced after a few minutes of dashing to their house. Their house wasn't that far away from the couple's and it made it easy to go back and forth between the two.
"Katniss!" Prim ran to her excitedly, her hair flying behind her as she hugged the brunette with a smile.
"Stay away from the ocean, okay Prim?" The brunette knelt down and looked up into Prim's sparkling blue eyes.
"Okay…" The response was unsure, the brunette deemed, and she needed to know why, but later. "Gale was looking for you."
"I'll talk to him when he gets back. Where did he go?" Prim pointed to the open door with a sheepish smile.
"He said he was going to go with Vick to look at the ocean." Those words were something that she didn't want to hear.
"What?" Katniss ran out of the door with a burst of adrenaline. How did I not see him when I was at Finnick and Annie's house?
"Gale!" She shouted, her eyes landing on the man that was currently letting his brother go knee deep in the water. Her body trembled as she collapsed in front of the two when she reached them, Gale's look of happiness turning into one of confusion until he heard a scream coming from the boy he led into the water.
"VICK!"