Who to save

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Hunger Games. If I did, would I be publising this on Fan Fiction?

Chapter 1 – Born to Die (Lana Del Rey)

Choose your last words

This is the last time

Cause you and I,

We were born to die

Effie Trinket's pink, high heels echoed over the square. She got closer to the bowl, played a little bit with the papers inside and finally chose one. She went to the microphone and with deliberate slow, torturing movements, opened it.

"Peeta Mellark"

Katniss Everdeen woke up suddenly, her breathing uneven. Prim tossed and turned in her sleep, probably dreaming of her fourteen year old sister getting picked at the Reaping. The older girl carefully unfolded from her sister's grip, trying not to bother her.

After putting on her father's jacket and her hunting boots, she went out to the forest. It wasn't dawn yet and Gale wouldn't appear for a few more hours. It was better that way, because now she could dwell on her dream at her leisure.

This wasn't the first time she saw Peeta Mellark get reaped in her sleep. Far from that. Every night, for the last month, she wasn't dreaming about her reaping, as most of the kids do. No, the boy with the bread dominated her dreams. And the truth is they weren't even friends. In fact, they haven't talked to each other. Not once. If it wasn't for his generosity two years ago, Katniss surely wouldn't have had a second thought about him. But the deed was done and Peeta Mellark had found a way to her heart, as all good, pure, nice people seemed to do. He had his claws attached to her heart so deeply, that her subconscious believed him to be her primary worry, despite him only having 3 slips, when she had 12. The odds WERE in his favor.

When the third squirrel was dead in her game bag, Katniss started her way to the bakery, as she had done every morning for the last month, hoping to get a glance of Peeta and confirm he was alright, while trading with his father.

Walking down the empty Seam streets was weird, since every other day the coal miners were busy as bees, getting ready to go to work. No one would work today – might as well try to sleep in; if you can. It's Reaping day after all.

~ Walking through the city streets. Is it by mistake or design? ~

Arriving at the bakery, she heard noises from inside – for the baker this was not a holiday. She knocked on the door and the baker's voice disrupted the silence of the streets.

"Peeta, open the door, I need to finish the frosting. It must be Katniss."

Oh, no. This cannot be happening. Panic swept through Katniss' face, leaving her with a bizarre facial expression that resembled a scowl. Peeta Mellark opened the door with a smile on his face which died quickly after seeing her demeanor. He offered her the three loaves he had been holding since opening the door and took the squirrels.

"No." She said firmly. He looked surprised. "I mean, the agreement with your father is two squirrels for a loaf"

He didn't say anything. He just looked in her eyes and lifted his shoulders. They looked into each other's eyes till Katniss broke the contact and turned to leave. Peeta went back inside, took something from the counter and ran behind her.

"Katniss, wait." At the mention of her name she stopped and turned to look at him. Peeta gave her a paper bag and looks at her, smiling.

"It's for you and your sister. From me… and my father." He added as an afterthought.

She didn't dwell long on his words, as she opened the bag and found two little cookies, frosted with a primrose flower each. She felt her eyes burning and her heart aching as she tried to understand the levels of generosity of the boy in front of her, the boy with the bread. As the first wave of gratitude passed, suspicion came.

"Why?" She asked, the ever present scowl making its reappearance.

He took one step forward and she instinctively took one back. He signed. "Because, sometimes, when you feel like doing something, you do it without one good reason."

As he turned to leave, frustrated, Katniss felt something blocking her breathing.

"Thank you." She choked out. He turned to her and just smiled.

~Come and take a walk on the wild side~

She met Gale at their usual spot, the usual hour, after eating breakfast at home with Prim. It wasn't just ten months ago that she was hunting alone, a bit afraid of the woods around her.

"Hey, Catnip." He said and his face broke in his familiar smile, the one she felt she cannot not return.

"Good morning, Gale." And then they started hunting in comfortable silence.

It was after ten o'clock, approximately, that they decided the game they caught was enough and sat down.

Gale stared hard at her. "What?" Katniss snapped at him.

"Are you afraid?" Katniss raised her eyebrows as if to ask "Are you seriously asking that question?"

"I mean… I really don't know what I mean… I just fear for you going in the arena more than I fear for myself…"

Katniss couldn't look at him. She couldn't admit that the person she feared the most about was the baker's son. It was always that way with Gale. If it wasn't for Gale, they would still hunt by themselves. She wasn't the trusty or the friendly type. That was an understatement… Thankfully, she didn't have to answer back, as the sound of the hovercraft bringing Effie Trinket disturbed the conversation between the two teenagers.

"It's time to go to the Hob."

'And then get ready to go to the slaughter' Katniss added in her mind.

~I can see but once I was blind, I was so confused as a little child~

Katniss returned home after noon, holding a rabbit and herbs for her mother. At the kitchen table she saw that her mother had left her a piece of the loaves she had brought in the morning, along with milk and cheese from Prim's goat, Lady. Katniss looked at the two women, well one woman and a girl, who were sitting around the table and who, when they noticed her, ran to help her. As their mother took the squirrel and the herbs from Katniss, Prim sat her down and told her to eat while chatting nonstop about one thing or the other. The older girl, who hadn't been set on fire yet, understood that her sister was not okay. It looked like she was straggling with each word, like she was talking out of duty. It was normal. Little Primrose was afraid to the bone.

"It's okay, little duck. I'm gonna be okay. There are many girls in the Seam that have more slips than me." Prim had started sobbing soundlessly by that point. Katniss hugged her tight. "I am never, ever gonna leave you, Prim. No one, not even the Capitol and President Snow could keep me away from you."

She knew that that was considered treason. She knew she could get herself killed for saying these words, but Prim was Katniss' whole word and she could not see her sad. Not after all she had to go through after their father's death. Prim stopped crying and stared at her sister with big, teary eyes.

"Come on, little duck. I have a surprise for you."

She went closer to the cabinet and took out the bag with the two cookies. She gave one of them to her little sister and kept the other. Prim's expression changed at once.

"Where did you get those? Oh, my! There is real sugar on them! They must be so expensive… Oh, Katniss you shouldn't have bought them!"

"I didn't buy them-"

"Or trade anything for them!" The little girl scolded Katniss. "You know we don't have enough-"

Katniss laughed at her sister. "Prim, Prim, stop! I didn't buy them nor trade anything for them. The baker's son gave them to me."

"Peeta? But why?" Prim seemed a bit confused.

"You know him?" Katniss scowled at her sister, something so rare that it made Prim as red as a tomato.

"Well, sometimes when I look at the cakes he comes and talks to me. He's a nice guy… and really pretty…"

The older girl looked at her sister. She could guess that Prim had a little crush on the handsome baker. Handsome? How did this thought come to her mind?

"That explains why he gave me the cookies. Maybe your friend knew that you would be distressed and he wanted you to feel better." Prim nodded her head, smiling at the thought. "Now I will put them back to the cabinet to eat them after dinner." The two girls smiled at each other.

Their mother busted into the room. "Katniss, you better take a bath now. I have it ready for you. Do you want my help to get ready?" She looked at her elder hopefully.

Katniss frowned at her mother. "No." She said firmly. She knew her mother was feeling guilty, that she wanted to be forgiven. But Katniss could not forgive her for abandoning her daughters, while life was slowly dripping away from them… She could not forget. Maybe she wasn't the forgiving type either.

~The road is long, we carry on~

The square was full. All the children age twelve to eighteen were standing in the middle, while their parents, friends, brothers and sisters that were off Reaping age were surrounding them. Katniss was standing along with the other fourteen year old girls, near to Madge Undersee, the major's daughter and her only friend, other than Gale. Behind them were a group of Merchant girls.

The clock struck two. Complete silence.

She didn't hear Major Undersee's speech on the Dark Days. She had heard it enough times to last a lifetime. Then, he read the names of the District Twelve two victors. It was evident that Haymitch Abernathy decided not to grace them with his presence this year. He was probably throwing up somewhere.

Effie Trinket walked to the stage. "Happy Hunger Games!" As usually, she paused, waiting for the applause that never came. "And may the odds be ever in your favor!" As if. "As usual, ladies first."

She approached the ball and a collective silent pray of "Please, not be me" echoed from all the girls in the square.

"Eisa Mintwood."

A cry was heard from the row of the twelve year olds. A little girl was pushed at the direction of the stage by a group of Peacekeepers. Disgusting. She was sobbing violently.

"How are you, my dear?"

More sobs erupted little Eisa, who was sitting now on the stage. Some unreadable emotion passed Effie's face. Can puppets feel too?

"It's boys' turn!"

Effie Trinket's pink, high heels echoed over the square. As she got closer to the ball, Katniss felt like she was experiencing a déjà vu. She knew the name before it was pronounced with Effie's fake, Capitol accent. If she had not gone numb, she would have heard Madge sharp intake of breath or Delly Cartwright's little cries.

She opened her eyes and the boy with the bread was on the stage, hugging Eisa, trying to calm her down while she kept on crying.

Katniss woke up from her numbness when she heard Madge's gentle voice. "Come on, Dell. Let's go say goodbye to Peeta."

The Reaping was over.

Delly started walking with Madge, still crying, when she suddenly turned back, as if she had forgotten something important. She looked Katniss soberly in the eyes.

"You must see him! You MUST do it! He will want to see you one last time!" And with that she left.

Katniss turned around to see Prim right behind her. She took her little sister's shoulders, gave them a little shake and said "I'll be back soon."

And with that she turned to the Justice Building.

Hello to all and thank you for reading my story. I hope you like it. There is more coming up! I would just like to establish that this is a Peeta-centric story. Each chapter would be from Peeta's, Katniss', Finnick's or Haymitch's PoV.

Hope you stick with me and my story!

UBS