Hey guys, Quaver here. I'm new to fanfiction and currently I have no beta so apologies for any mistakes etc. This story took me three hours to try and publish (darned phone) so as it is, I would really appreciate reviews with (hopefully) constructive criticism etc. I hope you enjoy the chapter and feedback to me if you would like to see more for thisff. The Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins - I merely own Alex and this story (sadly :P)
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"Ah ah, ah ah," I smiled as the sound of mocking jays echoed around the corn field and slung my scythe over my shoulder, wincing as it rubbed against recent blisters on my palms.
"C'mon, it's time to go, you heard Rue's song," I smiled at the young dark-skinned man who said this to me and nodded my thanks, walking in the direction of checkout. The young man walked by my side, keeping a companionable silence. Neither of us tried to strike up further conversation for fear of being punished by the peacekeepers who roamed these fields.
"Scythes here!" a peacekeeper barked gruffly at us and we handed in our 'potential weapons.' Honestly, what do these people think we are, some kind of grim-reapers? I chuckled a little out loud at my own irony. Even I knew that if these peacekeepers let us keep our scythes we'd harvest their souls. Haha, harvest, damn, I really crack myself up sometimes.
Waving goodbye to my fellow workers I took the well trodden path towards the outskirts of the district reserved for the bottom of the food chain. Everyone in district 11 was poor in some respect, however, we of the orchard were so poor we made everyone else look rich. I supposed that in that regard, we were similar to district 12's seam.
"Momma, I'm home!" my voice echoes around the small hut and I smile as a middle aged dark skinned woman comes from out back and into the cramped living quarters.
"There's no need to holler chile, I was only a couple of feet away from yah," my momma grumbled and I smiled sheepishly at her in apology. She just heaved a sigh and eventually grinned back, pulling me into a hug. "You children never learn anyways." She pulled away and grasped my blistered hand in her own calloused one, leaving me to look down at the contrast between our skin tone. Mommas skin was like dark chocolate whereas mine was more of a cappuccino tan.
"You're mine in everything but blood," she reassured me as if she was reading my mind and I smiled slowly at her.
"I know momma, I know," and I did know. I knew exactly how my momma felt, and exactly how lucky I was that she chose to raise me and love me like a biological daughter. She didn't judge me by my past and I wad grateful.
"Now run along chile, and go eat your dinner, your sisters are already in the kitchen." I nodded my thanks to the kind woman who took me in all those years ago and went to have a slice of whatever she'd rustled up today.
"Alex!" before I knew it, I was being smothered by three adorable little girls, one of which had the most extraordinary voice. I slowly grinned and picked up the youngest girl, Blossom, turning to the twelve year old that had mocking jays entranced.
"Heard your song in the west field today and I gotta say, your voice gets better everyday." Rue grinned and blushed at my compliment, looking bashfully at her bare feet. "C'mon sis, none of this shyness now, everyone in district 11 knows one day those mockingjays are gonna follow you home." Rue opened her mouth to say something and was interrupted by mommas laughing voice.
"They better not do, we barely have enough grain as it is." At this, everyone grew quiet, even little Blossom who had been happily giggling in my ear.
"I signed up for extra tesserae momma..." I said in barely a whisper, avoiding my mommas dark accusing eyes.
"Go to bed girls, I've got something to discuss with your sister," momma said calmly and ushered the girls towards the sleeping quarters, leaving me to brave the storm on my own.
"Why would you do that? How could you be so foolish?" momma whispered at me but I knew that if the girls hadn't gone to bed that she would be shouting. "We don't need the extra grain, we could have survived without!" she said to me, although a little louder and more angrily this time.
"That's just the thing momma, we couldn't have survived without!" I reply calmly although I really want to shout at her, to tell her that if I don't take extra tesserae then who will? To tell her that the only way I'm gonna let little Rue sign up for some is over my dead body. Momma seems to get this from my tense stance and instead shakes her head and tells me to go to bed.
I'm just sliding under the rough woolen covers when Rue presses her head into my neck.
"I'm scared Alex," she whimpers and I stiffen.
"It's okay Rue, you won't get chosen, tomorrow will be the first time your name will go in," I tried to reassure her but she shook her head, black fluffy curls brushing against my cheek.
"I'm not scared for me Alex, I'm scared for you, I don't want you to die," she whispers pained into my shoulder and I stroke her hair.
"Everything will be okay little bird, you just wait and see," as her breathing slowed into a carefree sleep I allowed myself to relax, saying what I would never say aloud if Rue was awake. "I'm scared too little bird."
...
I sat by the campfire sinking my teeth into a juicy red apple, listening to the people sing harvest songs. Sweet, tangy juice dribbled down my chin and I paused for a second to wipe it away. A soft, clear voice echoed around the clearing, interlacing with the song of mockingjays, creating a choir or harmonious melodies.
Shivering as the wind ruffled my chocolate locks, I moved closer to the comforting heat generated by the small but cheerful I heard it, the four notes that signalled the end of a hard working day. I squinted towards the highest tree branches, stifling the shiver that threatened to wrack my petite frame as the mockingjays grew silent.
I visibly flinched when the wind whistled through the leaves creating a haunting tune, still catching no sight of the girl who sang the signal song. I stood up now, picking my way around the fallen apples, hearing the grass crunch under my feet as I walked into the darkness of the orchard. Soon, I was so far in that darkness swallowed the shadows of twilight, and the welcoming blaze all but disappeared.
"ALEX!" my name echoed through the trees, causing me to spin a full three sixty degrees looking for the caller. "ALEX!" my name was shouted again, but this time, the voice was thicker, as if it were chocked with tears. "ALEX!" this time it was a piercing scream causing the hairs on the back of my neck to raise up and the wildlife I hadn't previously noticed to flee into the night.
I swung my head around trying once more to find the owner of the voice that called my name so desperately. When a rustle sounded behind me, I swivelled around so fast that I ended up getting whiplash in addition to my long dark hair smacking across my now pasty cheeks. That's when I heard the scream. A terrified, high pitched scream that had my head spinning in a sudden sense of clarity. After all, there was only one person on the whole earth who could scream like that.
"RUE! Rue, where are you? Please Rue, I'm here, where are you?" Ignoring the twinge in my vocal chords, I screamed at the top of my lungs and took off into the tree line, cracking twigs and hopping deftly over fallen branches and other debris on the orchard floor. Branches whipped across my face and brambles tore at the skin of my arms but I pressed on. Like a woman on a mission, I didn't stop running, not when blisters formed on my bare feet or when my loose hair snagged on low lying branches.
"Alex," the voice seemed closer now and I sped up, pumping my legs until my muscles ached and my lungs started burning.
"Rue, I'm here Rue, hold on!" I screamed into the night hoping to quell the terrified whimpers that haunted my ears, all the while running towards a goal that I couldn't see but was determined to find.
Soon, the trees melted away as I broke through into a clearing, absorbing the scarring scene ahead of me. Rue lied on the ground helplessly entangled in a net. Across the clearing stood a boy, and I say boy because although he is older than me, he is not yet a man, with chestnut brown hair and piercing pine needle eyes. Rue just had time to reach her hand through the mesh and call my name before the spear entered her body.
"RUE!"
...
"Rue!" I shot up from my place on the floor, limbs flailing as I tried to find her. Sunlight streamed through cracks in the ceiling and walls, momentarily blinding me but I didn't care. I didn't care because, oh gosh, Rue was hurt and I had to find her and I had to make that boy pay and "where the heck is my sister!"
I flailed some more trying to free my legs from the scratchy woolen blanket to no avail. Eventually, I gave up and leapt to my feet. How could I live with myself if Rue was hurt because I couldn't defeat a stupid blanket?
"Rue!" I managed one step before the tangle of blankets felled my petite frame and my face hit the floor with an audible smack. "Rue!" I spat dirt from my mouth and crawled towards the doorway, head butting the tiny girl who was stood there in the kneecaps, nearly giving myself a concussion because, damn, that girl had bony knees.
And then everything was okay again because Rue was standing there, alive, in my doorway, shoulders shaking like a leaf and doubled over at the waist. In the space of a nano second I was free of the blankets and at her side, one hand splayed on the small of her back as the other tangled itself within her thick ebony curls.
"Rue, you're okay, you're actually okay," I breathed out in relief and fluttered my hand across her stomach, needing to see for myself that there wasn't a spear embedded in her tiny body. Not that I'm blind or anything because I obviously would have noticed a massive spear sticking out of her, but the action was completely to assure me on a psychological level.
"I should be saying that to you, clumsy," she said to me, bursting into a full blown fit of giggles as she noticed the dirt smeared across my face and the rats nest that was my hair. "Gosh, what did you do Alex? Take a run through the orchard?" she laughed some more, hyperventilating slightly as she tried to force more oxygen into her lungs.
The strange thing was I didn't care. Normally, I would have gone pouty and whingey at a comment like that, maybe I would have said something witty like: says you, or yeah, I just love to trek through the orchards in my pajamas. I don't though, because I'm just so damn glad that Rue is actually okay and that she's here, smiling, laughing and insulting me.
"Never leave me," I whined at her and wrapped my bare arm around her waist, pulling her into my side.
"Don't absorb me," Rue joked but didn't push me away which I was glad for. For now, I just needed to know that she was safe, in my arms where I could protect her from all harm.
"They won't hurt you," I said and she looked at me funny. Maybe because it was a random thing to say although I doubt that, after all, today was reaping day and there was one thing I knew for sure. The capitol could have Rue over my dead body. They were not going to ruin her, I wouldn't let them. "I'll always protect you, forever.
...
The dull concrete structure of the square welcomed us as we passed by a procession of peacekeepers. Seriously, what was wrong with the world? Didn't anybody know the meaning if colour?
"Hand, please," a female peacekeeper droned at me and I nearly tore my hair out. White clothes, black hair, grey eyes. Where was the frigging...
"Son of a biiiiirch tree!" I changed my sentence last minute after noting present company (twelve year old Rue) and glared at the needle lady. Usually I have a pretty high pain tolerance but needles? No way, I'm out of there, or at least, I would if I could. In addition to this, it doesn't really help when they just stick you with no warning whatsoever.
But that was the point. We weren't to babied by these capitol lovers. We couldn't afford to be...not when we could be sent off into an arena to essentially murder (or be murdered) other children for some sick bast**d's pleasure.
"Look Rue, there's Andee with the rest of the twelve year olds...why don't you go stand with her?" I gave her a gentle shove towards a young girl with fair skin and black hair, frowning as she walked away on wobbly legs. I offered her an encouraging smile when she turned back to look at me. What more else could I do? Besides steal her away and take her someplace where we didn't have to worry about twisted games and politics. Where Rue could be free to live without the fear of being reaped...
"Welcome, welcome to the 73rd annual hunger games!" What looked like a peacock trilled from the stage and I mentally rolled my eyes at our escort, Breanna. She even had wings and a tail attached to the back of her dress! I mean come on, really? Ah well, at least it was the splash of colour I was wishing for.
"And now, onto the tributes..." Damn, did I really miss the whole introduction speech and the film? I must either have short term memory loss or they must have been really boring. My guess was the latter.
"...as always, ladies first, ooh this is so exiting, don't you agree?" Breanna squealed into the microphone and I mentally cringed. Did she honestly just ask that? Gosh, I hated these capitolites, they were all the same, no understanding of morals or values like love and friendship...and they called us barbarians. I actually didn't think I could dislike her any more right now.
"Rue Longstalke!" The name echoed around the square and the people that knew Rue well or worked the orchards with her (pretty much everyone at the reaping) physically blanched. I was wrong...it turned out I could hate Breanna more.
I curled my fists into balls as the peacekeepers dragged Rue to the aisle and flinched when I heard my mothers desperate wails in the background. A large male peacekeeper shoved Rue roughly onto the stage into Breanna's waiting hands when the first tear escaped Rue's sweet, chocolate eyes. When she turned towards me with a helpless, lost look upon her face I snapped.
When Breanna dragged Rue centre stage despite her protests I lost it.
"Not my sister you bit*h!" I shoved past the crowd and into the aisle, weaving around white clad arms ad the peacekeepers made their pathetic attempts to keep me away from the stage. When I got there, I simply clambered on, ignoring Breanna's affronted comments.
"Well, I never..."
"Be quiet," I cut her off and took the microphone from her slackened hands as she tried to get over the shock of being spoken to in such a way by a 'barbarian.' "My name is Alexiel Monteal, and I am this years female tribute." ...