Hey guys!
I'm a diehard fan of the amazing Hunger Games so I decided to write my own version of the story. It's nothing in relation to the actual trilogy, I have only taken the whole Hunger Games concept and wrote a completely new Games out of it.

Please note that the first few chapters are long and slow. It's all just background character building. If you want to dive right into the games, then please start at Chapter Five. I prefer for you to start from the beginning though.

As much as I'd like to claim this brilliant concept of a story to be my own; I do not own it and it belongs solely to the amazing author of the Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins.

I hope you guys like it! :)

"Sometimes when I close my eyes, I see two paths in the distance. I believe fate will always lead me down the correct path, no matter the circumstances."
- Jasmine Kouch

Having trained illegally for the Hunger Games since the young age of eight, Jasmine has readied herself for the bloody battle held annually by the Capitol. Taking advantage of her already-wanting-to-enter the games attitude, she takes out tesserae for her friend Sera, who is not as fortunate as she is. And so, when the 71st Hunger Games arrives when Jasmine is 17- her name will be handwritten neatly on a total seventy slips in the reaping ball this year.

Will fate bring Jasmine to her knees or will she emerge victorious?

Chapter One

Cloudless sky, calm waters. Today brought on the most perfect day weather wise, as I stepped around on my rocky wooden paddle boat hooked onto the pier. It was probably around six in the morning; the normal fisherman's first catch is usually at this time of day, so every minute I waste setting up means another fish in another person's net. Just as I had everything ready to set off for four good hours of morning fishing, Danny jumped on, rocking my boat furiously- both metaphorically and literally speaking.

"Heading off without me?" He questioned, holding two fishing rods and a little container of bait and various other items. I motioned him to pull off the rope keeping the boat at the pier and as he released it, the boat started drifting away. I grabbed a paddle, handed him one too; and began paddling out into the open water.

"Staying for long?" I asked him. Stupid question, I can't exactly just drop him off into an endless abyss of water now.

"Reaping is at one. I think we have time." He stopped paddling and just as I turned around to yell at him for making me do all the work, he pulled me into a kiss. I softened on the spot and felt vulnerable. Pulling away, I looked into his green eyes and melted into them. Danny has been my boyfriend for a total three years, which is kind of funny since our relationship started out as a joke.

"All the fishies are swimming away, Danny." I mumbled.

"That's alright. I think the Capitol can spare one day without their Omega 3." He chuckled lightly. "Besides, there are plenty more fishermen to provide for them."

"Yeah, but these fishermen don't provide me my money. The Capitol does." I exclaimed. He sighed and threw the net over the side of the boat. Connecting it to the side, he left it dangling. I grabbed one of his fishing rods and began setting it up, putting some squid on the end of the hook. With the thrust of my arm, the string flew fifteen meters away, landing with a plop when it made contact with the water. "I'm going to volunteer this year." Danny stared at me.

"You can't. What happens… if you don't make it out?" He pulled a frown. "Not saying you don't have a chance. You've been training for the games ever since you were eight."

"I know I can win. I really feel like this year is my year, you know what I mean? Besides, this is the second last year I can volunteer for it. Unless I'm lucky and my name gets drawn in the reaping anyway."

The hunger games are an event that was created by the Capitol to remind all the districts of the Dark Days, and the uprising that occurred must never be repeated. You are enrolled at the age of 12, whether you liked it or not, where your name is entered into the reaping once. At 13, your name is entered twice, and so on until you have seven slips of your name at 18. However, there is this system where you can take out tesserae- which are a portion of grain and oil for a year for one person in exchange for another slip with your name on it added to the pool of people's names at the reaping.

My district, district 4 weren't particularly poor and since this district specialized in fishing, my family got by eating fish no one wanted to buy. This really only occurred if I caught a fish that was too small, or simply inedible. That's why; I caught small fish on purpose quite often. However, since I was a believer of fate, I took out tesserae anyway in the dozens saying to myself that if it was my year to shine, my name will be pulled out of that little glass ball.

"Jasmine, think about what you're doing. If your name doesn't called pulled out at the reaping, maybe it means you're not ready."

"And what if my name gets pulled out huh?" I questioned a bit harshly. "I took out eight tesserae each year; so I'll probably get chosen. I wonder every year why my name hadn't been pulled out. There are seventy slips with my name on it now." Danny's expression was baffled. I would've continued arguing with him until I felt a tug at the end of my line. I pulled my fishing rod upwards and tugged at it whilst reeling the line. Feeling the second tug, I pulled my fishing rod up hard again and reeled in faster. Danny didn't even bother looking at me during this time because I was already a professional at fishing. I didn't need anyone's help.

A large trout came into view, frolicking in the water trying to get away from the hook that was deeply skewered into its mouth. Pulling it up onto the boat, I took my cloth and held the trout down with my left hand. It was probably around 50cm long and would easily feed my family for days. Knowing the Capitol however, they would snag up the opportunity to do something fancy with this catch. I unhooked the trout as it lay on the boat gasping for air, hyperventilating frantically. I threw it into our large white bucket and it began to swim around again. I put the lid back on top, securing it, re-baited my line and threw it back in.

Danny and I sat in silence, twiddling our thumbs almost. Nothing seemed to want to bite anytime soon so Danny busied himself checking the net. He pulled it up and there trapped in it was around seventeen trout all gasping for air. He just simply let them all slide into the bucket, my poor 50cm one now probably feeling a bit claustrophobic. Danny gazed at me, as I pretended not to know.

"…If I asked you not to volunteer, would you do it for me?" He asked almost silently, his head bent down, fixated to the floor of the boat.

"…I…" I started, hesitating. I trained so hard for the games though. Like he had mentioned, I began training at the age of 8, even though it was illegal. I readied myself, familiarizing myself with throwing knives, spears, poles, maces, axes, even a bow if I had one. I wasn't really good at using bows. I was always better off knocking my opponent out by throwing the bow at their head and then throwing the arrows at them just like javelin. Basically put, I am good at throwing things. "I don't know…"

"Please, Jasmine." He pleaded. "If you are spared another year at the reaping, although it sounds unlikely, please just promise me not to volunteer."

"Fine, alright." I said flatly. Danny took a huge sigh of relief and kissed me on the forehead. I smiled bitterly at him and we continued fishing.

As midday hit, Danny and I packed up and headed back to the pier where we docked the boat. Danny carried the bucket of fish we caught to the fish market where my dad was setting up his set of catches for the morning in our own small stall.

"Forty three trout, two leather jackets. Forty five in total." Dad said, without looking up at me. "Great catch this morning." I felt myself light up inside.

"Thirty seven trout, eight leather jackets…" I paused. My dad looked up at me, his eyes widening. "And the odd catfish. Forty six in total. Beat you." I smirked.

"Danny helped you. That didn't count." He whimpered, clinging onto his fishing rod. It was a beauty that rod, always seemed to catch fish even without bait.

"I didn't ask him to. Besides, you said 'I bet you my magic rod that I can catch more fish than you.' Didn't you dad? Huh?" I lunged forward for that rod as he held onto it protectively, moving it out of my grasp by a few centimeters. "Come on dad! Deal's a deal! I said I would give up Danny if I lost!"

"What? You used me as a bet?" Danny said, frowning.

"We won anyway, who cares." I said blatantly.

Danny ruffled his ashy bronze hair and stared at me in disbelief. I sighed and pecked him on the lips before he could say anything. This just infuriated dad more. You see, it's not like my dad doesn't like Danny or anything, he just doesn't like the fact that I have a boyfriend at seventeen. He thinks that I'm still too young and not mature enough.

"Come on, let's go have a bath and get ready for the reaping." I said, looking at Danny, pulling on his arm. Danny handed dad the bucket of fish and took my hand before walking out of the fish market.

"You two aren't allowed in the bath together." Dad grunted. Danny looked at me and wriggled his eyebrows jokingly as I punched him in the arm.

"Don't even think about it."

"Aww."

I took a quick cold bath before changing into my reaping attire, consisting of a simple canary yellow dress and some white sandals. I brushed my hair and tied it to the side just when Danny gave seven knocks in a musical sequence. It was our way of telling each other that we were at the door.

"You done?" He called.

"Yeah, you can come in." I said. He walked inside wearing a loose pastel green t-shirt and some cotton three quarter pants.

"Hello beautiful." He said, kissing me on the lips. I bet you all this kissing is just to make sure I don't volunteer. Danny was eighteen and this was his final reaping, so he seemed pretty happy. He had the minimum number of slips with his name on it for his age because his family is good at trading and always managed to catch a good amount of fish earning them enough food to keep their family going.

Since I was the only child in my family, my mother and father never really needed to bother so much about food so much since there was only one other mouth to feed other than themselves. District 4's peacekeepers also weren't that strict in terms of food, as long as the Capitol had a healthy supply of their fish and they didn't complain, they were off our backs.

Taking his hand, Danny and I walked into Market Square, the largest space in all of District 4. It is a large square – hence the name – with little fruit and fish stalls surrounding it. The left side always smelt so fishy, because all the fish stalls were on that side and the right side always had a nice fruit punch smell to it. It was also traditionally the place where the reaping began for our district till this day, seventy hunger games later.

People were already filing in and we were amongst the last to arrive, so we had one last parting kiss before separating into the crowd to sign in and stand among all the people our age. I was pretty confident, so whether or not I get into the games this year, I didn't really care. I had promised Danny that I wouldn't volunteer, and after all that kissing I guess I won't. He really loves me after all.

Every year there is this woman named Rierri Locksloph who does the reaping and this year she sported a ravishing red dress which was puffy at the bottom, with tall red high heels sparkling with an clutter of diamonds and make up so heavily caked onto her face you could barely see the real her under all of it.

My friend Sera from school made her way next to me, nervously trying to hope that she doesn't get chosen. Sera's family weren't that rich because their dad never seemed to be able to catch any fish. The upsetting thing is it's not even because he chooses the wrong spot, or that he can't hook or choose his bait properly. It's simply a case of bad luck.

Sera's dad and I went fishing once in the same boat, using the same bait and I caught dozens upon dozens of fish whereas he didn't catch a single one. When I thought that I just happened to catch all of the fish, I watched him without having my rod in the water and it was as if the fish just decided they weren't hungry for bait anymore. I tried thinking of other ways why he couldn't catch fish, and showed him with his own fishing rod and I caught several fish on his own rod. When he got his rod back he was confident that he would catch his own fish, but once again all the fish suddenly weren't hungry. After a week, he gave up and made do growing fruit in his backyard.

Part of the reason why every year I took out eight tesserae each year was not only because I wanted to be a part of the games, but also because I gave Sera's family the tesserae to feed their family of four with twice the amount of grain and oil.

"Nice dress." Sera trembled.

"Thanks. You look great yourself." I replied.

"Jasmine I –"

"Happy Hunger games!" Rierri began, cutting Sera off. I looked forward at the lady standing on a small stage, with her face enlarged on the massive television above her. "It is time to select two brave and strong young teenagers with the great honor of representing District 4 in this year's 71st Hunger games!"

Applause broke out in the crowd. I smirked, laughing at sadistic crowd in my head. She then began the normal ritual of talking about the dark days, and how the Capitol holds the Hunger Games to remind all twelve remaining districts that they have the power to make every one of us fall to our knees.

On my left, closer to the fish markets stood Danny, looking at me longingly. Don't volunteer, please. He mouthed, pleadingly. I won't. I mouthed back before he gave me a satisfied smile and turned his head back around to listen to Rierri's repetitive speech.

"Ladies first! And may the odds ever be in your favor!" She screamed, plunging her hand into the thousands of slips in the glass ball. Please be my name, I thought. So all my hard work in training will pay off. However, my thoughts were suddenly conflicted. Not seeing Danny for up to a month at best – and that's if I get out of the arena alive. Then there was Sera, who I hoped wouldn't have her name drawn because her family struggles enough already.

Then when Rierri pulls out the slip and unravels it, I knew I didn't have to worry about Sera. She only has six slips with her name of it in there. The odds are completely in her favor. That's why I'm not surprised when one of my seventy slips reaches the hands of the reaper herself.

"Our female tribute, Jasmine Kouch!" She exclaims in her high pitched voice. I step forward, laughing to myself. This is my year to shine. My father and mother stand in the crowd hugging each other, distraught with the news. Their only child was going to be pitted with twenty three other kids my age in a fight to the death.

Of course, my parents don't know about my training. They don't know that I can even do anything with a knife apart from cut a fish's head off and scale it.

I remember the only reason why I trained was because it was around the time a female tribute from our district had won and was doing speeches about the games at school. The way she talked seemed… so proud. I wanted to feel it, the sense of being proud of some sort of achievement. The only thing I can be proud of is being able to catch fish. Oh and singing. I sing loud and proud, even though people usually tend to tell me to shut up.

"Would anyone like to volunteer?" She asks the crowd. I see Sera from the corner of my eye so hurt that I was picked. She's probably blaming herself right now. "Alright then, moving on!"

Her hand dived into the other glass ball of all the guy's names. Looking at the crowd, Danny was fixated on the fact that I was chosen, even though I didn't even volunteer. He doesn't even seem to care about whether his name was going to be picked out next. But he should be, because that's the name Rierri reads out.

This is only the first chapter of many chapters to come - it is a steady and slow process (because I'm in my senior year this year) and after my term holidays are over, my updates will be even slower. However, I thoroughly enjoy writing this fanfic so expect it completed sometime in the future!

Please review my fanfic! Any feedback will be appreciated!

Also, aside from the actual chapters I have included a separate page just to discuss reasons about particular choices I have made in my fanfic. So, read that also! Thanks!