Prologue

North America has turned into the country named Panem, a country said to have all the freedoms of America and all the nice people of Canada. But this country forced itself into war. The 13 districts rebelled against the almighty capitol. The capitol ended up winning, and destroyed district 13 as a reminder of their power. But they made one more adjustment. Every year each district would give up one boy and one girl from the ages of 12-18 to compete in the hunger games, which is a battle to the death. For the first Hunger Games the country representatives are to compete, instead of children. The host would be Alicia Minox, the representative of Panem. On the reaping day the countries will gather, as they hear exactly 12 names be called. And the first annual Hunger Games will commence.

Chapter One

A pale light shone upon the ashes of district 13. The rubble had decreased to a fine powder and now seemed like dirt. A crew of workers moved around quickly, setting up a large stage in the middle of the rubble. The first reaping was to be taken place here, in the forgotten district. About half a mile away laid many small houses. In each house were 4 countries. Each one was scared half to death for the games. Since countries cannot die they have nothing to worry about. But they do feel pain and tempa-die (dying for a temporary amount of time).

There was a particularly sad feel to the first home. It was a bright white color and it housed the old North American countries' representatives: Matthew Williams (Canada) and Alfred F. Jones (U.S., commonly referred to as America). It hurt them the most, seeing what has become of their former land. And as the reaping area was getting completed they sat next to each other, letting the tears fall.

"A-Alfred…how did this happen…"Matthew asked between sobs, looking up at his brother.

"I…I don't know…they beat the hero and… Mattie, we're going to get out of this." Alfred replied, holding back the urge to cry. Even though he had lost everything he wanted to be strong, at least for his brother.

"We won't get picked…" muttered Alfred as he wiped away the last tear from his brother's eyes. "Someone will volunteer for us…hopefully"

Matthew nodded. They had already gotten dressed for the reaping that was to take place that day. Alfred and Matthew had just recovered from the sickness that came over them when they lost their land and were still weak. If they were to get chosen they would be the easiest targets in the games.

Just then there was a knock at their door. Matthew answered the door, out of politeness, not the eagerness to see another country. There in the doorway stood a bright and happy girl. She was about 2-3 inches shorter than Matthew. Her bright pink hair fell over her shoulders, reaching her waist. This girl was Alicia Minox, the representative of Panem and the host of the Hunger Games.

"Hello!" she said in her usual cheery voice, "I just came to remind you that the reaping is in 5 minutes~! You must be very excited! I'll leave you to getting ready now~." She them waved goodbye and walked off to the next house.

"Well that was sudden." stated Alfred who had overheard the representative.

"And sickeningly happy…" muttered Matthew.

Exactly 3 minutes after, the two countries were waiting in front of the stage. All the other countries crowded there, preying and hoping that they wouldn't get picked. Even people like Lovino Vargas (representative of South Italy) were comforting their younger siblings. Matthew and Alfred had chosen to be with their two older brothers; Francis Bonnefoy (representative of France) and Arthur Kirkland (representative of the U.K., but mostly England). These two were not getting along, as usual, but at least they were trying not to fight.

Suddenly the new national anthem of Panem was blasting through speakers that were on either end of the stage. Then Alicia made her way onstage. She was wearing a bright pink frilly dress and her hair seemed to have magically turned to a softer purple color.

"Hello my fellow representatives!" she said into a microphone as she made it to the center of the stage, "As you know, you all have the privilege to have a chance to compete in the very first annual Hunger Games!"

This earned whimpers and groans from the audience but she continued as if there were cheers and applause instead, "The Hunger Games was established to bring together the districts and show them that a war must never happen again. In a traditional Hunger Games there will be 24 tributes, 1 boy and 1 girl from each district. But, since you are representatives, we have tweaked the rules. In these games there will be 12 countries called at random, mostly because of the lack of female countries."

Alfred and Matthew exchanged looks, both of relief. If there were fewer tributes, there were fewer chances of either of them being called. Suddenly a stand with a glass bowl filled with papers raised up in front of Alicia.

"Now," she called out, "We begin." She dipped her hand into the bowl, pulling 5 names out. She then looked up at the crowd and opened the first one.

"The first tribute is…Belarus!" she called, choosing to call them out by their country names.

Belarus walked up to the stage, showing no emotion, but obviouslystaring down at her brother. Ivan, the representative of Russia and her older brother. He began to yell out something, probably a request to volunteer, but Belarus shook her head no. She obviously wanted to participate in the games.

Alicia then opened the second paper, "North Italy!" she chirped.

Feliciano, the representative of North Italy stared up at her, not moving. He then started to walk up to the stage, his face showing obvious fear.

Suddenly two voices from the crowd shouted, "I volunteer!" at the same moment. These two voices belonged to Lovino Vargas and Ludwig Beilshmidt (the representative of Germany).

"Two volunteers?" Alicia questioned, "Well, I guess both of you have to compete!" squeezing one of Feliciano's hands as they passed him. Then Feliciano backed away from the stage, wiping away a tear. He had basically just lost his best friend and brother, at the same moment, because they both were protecting him.

"Next!" Alicia announced, not moved by this 'emotional moment', "Prussia!" Said representative, Gilbert Beilshmidt, walked up on stage taking his place next to his younger brother, Ludwig.

"Liechtenstein!" Alicia called out, earned a cry from Vash, the representative of Switzerland and Liechtenstein's older brother, she walked up onstage.

"Hungary!" She called, and Elizabeta, the Hungarian representative, walked up on stage, "England! Poland! Lithuania! Russia!"

All of the called tributes walked onto the stage.

"And finally," she called, "America and Ca…Cen….um…Canadia?"

Alfred and Matthew looked at each other in shock. Not only were one of them called, BOTH of them were called. The two countries walked up to the stage and took their place next to Russia.

"Well, these are our contestants! We will be naming the pairs tomorrow! Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor~!" Alicia chirped as she ushered the tributes behind the curtains.