Title: Fire Starter.
Summary: Harley Sutton was sure that she'd make it through her teenage years without being in the Hunger Games, like her older brothers. The odds, it seemed, were not in her favour.
Pairing(s): Finnick/OC, Katniss/Peeta.
Rating: M (for graphic violence, swearing and sexual content)

Author's Note: I'm a little obsessed with The Hunger Games at the moment, and I remembered that Finnick is my ultimate fave so...this was born. Basically, Act 1 will take place before the first book and Act 2 will take place during Catching Fire. Act 3 will, of course, take place during Mockingjay.

Disclaimer: I don't anything except my OCs, and some of the plot.

Fire Starter
By: Last Clean Tshirt

ACT I
SCENE I

Reaping day in District 10, in any of the lower districts really, was a sad occasion. They had accepted a long time ago that they would only receive a certain number of victors. Currently, District 10 was at a total of three victors, their village was almost empty. They weren't like the career districts. They spent their years working on either the farms or the butcheries, preparing to take over their parent's businesses, assuming they weren't sentenced to the arena.

Harley Sutton was one of these children. From the early age of 11, she had been working to help her brothers in their family butchery. Only a year later, she was entered in the reaping. Her eldest brother Ren was already eighteen when her name was first entered. Her second brother, Jonah, was sixteen at the time and her youngest, Lee, was only ten. She could remember shaking in her boots, skirt fluttering around her shuddering knees. She only wore a dress on two occasions. Her mother's birthday and the reaping day. She always made sure to clean the dress excessively between events.

Today, at the present age of 15, her name was in the bowl 28 times. Four of those were mandatory, 24 were for tesserae. She had heard that in District 12, they got grain and oil for each tesserae. District 10 got medical kits and vegetables. She supposed it was for all the injuries people sustained in the butcheries. She couldn't even count the amount of times one of her brothers came home with a cut of some sort on his hands.

Ren and Jonah, not to mention Harley's mother, were furious when they found out what she'd done. That was until she reminded them that they needed the supplies and she wasn't about to let Lee enter his name for tesserae on his first Reaping. They had all fallen silent at the dinner table, picking delicately at the little food on their plates. Her mother had reached across the table, caressing Harley's hand with her thumb. She planted a small kiss on the palm of her hand.

"My brave little girl," she had whispered, all the boys at the table staring at the pair of them.

Harley was torn out of her thoughts when the peacekeeper said, "Next!"

She moved forwards. She said her name quietly, ignoring Lee, who was tugging at the back of her skirt. The woman behind the desk took her index finger and pricked it with a small needle, pressing it into a square next to her name. She stepped to the side, waiting for her brother to have his print taken, and she sent him a sympathetic look when he flinched. He was not used to seeing blood. Harley was.

Lee stayed by her side for as long as he could, eyes darting around and trying to capture a glimpse of his brothers or his mother, anyone really. She leaned down and grabbed the back of his head. She turned his face so that his eyes locked with hers.

"Lee, you'll be fine. Your name is in there once. You'll be fine," she muttered, making sure no one else could hear them.

"But what about you, Harley?" his eyes were unwavering.

"Me?" she asked, hand detaching from his hair.

"What if your chosen?" his voice was shaking. She looked at him in shock, she'd been so busy worrying about him that she forgot about herself.

"I'll be fine, Lee," she managed to choke out after a few moments of staring. "Just worry about yourself."

With that, she walked over to where the rest of the girls her age were standing, as she knew the mayor would be doing his speech soon. A few of the girls turned to greet her, smiling weakly and raising a hand. All the children of District 10 were solemn on reaping day. They had a few victors, but the ones they had were either much too old or had only just turned 18. Harley wondered if they all watched the reapings with the same despair as when their names had been drawn, knowing that they'd probably have to watch their tributes die again.

Up on the stage, put there only for Reaping Day, stood the mayor of District 10. Mayor Blunt was a thin, dark-haired woman with a kind smile and bright eyes. Those bright eyes were dull today. The stage also held to large glass bowls; one for each gender, six chairs and a flimsy looking microphone that seemed it was going to blow away any minute now. Four of the six chairs were occupied, with the three living victors and the mayor's son, Collin. Collin was nice enough, Harley just didn't speak to many people her own age.

As the large clock in the square strikes two, Mayor Blunt stood in front of the microphone. She glanced down at the children in the crowd and her eyes hardened with frustration. She was tired, so tired. She set her eyes on the wall ahead of her, and begins the story of Panem. It was the same every year. She lists the disasters, the droughts, the floods, the fights, all the things that led up to now.

"It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks," the mayor finished, but everyone knew she didn't mean it. She then reads the list of surviving victors. Noah Hart, Reeves Wood, and Leroy Trent. One woman and two men. She then passes attention to Trinity Morn.

Trinity Morn was a tall and plump woman, with bright orange hair and pale skin. She was District 10's Capitol escort, and she was slightly annoyed about it. Every year however, she created a dazzling smile and coated her voice in sugar. She was sure that her tributes would lose almost every year, and she had to watch as they were slaughtered in the first few minutes almost every year. Harley felt a little bad for her. She tried her best to make the people from District 10 as comfortable as possible while preparing for the games, or at least that's what the youngest victor Noah said. In truth, District 10 didn't mind their escort, they just despised the Capitol. Not that any of them would ever say it aloud.

Smile alight with false hope, she strode across the stage to the microphone. She gave the traditional, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour." Her Capitol accent made it seem much stranger sounding than it was. Harley suppressed a smile.

"Now, the time has arrived for us to select one courageous young man and woman for the honour of representing District 10 in the 69th annual Hunger Games," she waited for any kind of response. The crowd stood silently, not moving a muscle. Her smile slipped slightly. "As is tradition, ladies first."

She strutted over to the bowl on her right, and Harley found herself wondering how someone could walk in shoes like those. As Trinity reached her hand into the bowl, the crowd drew in a collective breath, chests moving upwards together. Her hand descended on one of thousands of pieces of paper, nails grasping onto the edges like it was a lifeline. She made her staggering way back to the microphone, undoing the seal on the piece of paper.

"And the female tribute for this year is," everybody tensed, some people held onto stranger's hands. "Harley Sutton."

A shout rang out through the crowd, but it didn't come from the 15-year-old girl. No, it came from the 19-year-old man standing in the back, being restrained by both peacekeepers and his own brother. Harley stared at the ground as she melted out of the crowd, slowly walking up to the stage. She ignored the sick feeling in her stomach as she mounted the steps. Lee tried to break away from the crowd, but the peacekeepers gripped him tightly. Harley turned back at the sound his protests, pushing the peacekeepers aside and wrapping her arms around the boy's body. Ren came up from the back and pried Lee from her arms, pressing a kiss on his sister's forehead. Harley nodded at him once in thanks, spinning on her heel and pacing up the steps quickly to avoid any other distractions. Trinity grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her towards the centre of the stage. Harley's eyes sought out something to pay attention to, but when the whole crowd began to raise their arms to their chests, she felt tears pricking at her eyes. Each person pounded on their chests, right above their hearts. Trinity looked shocked and baffled, she'd never seen anything like this at a reaping. It was District 10's silent rebellion. The motion itself meant a phrase along the lines of "my love is with you". Usually people only did it to people in sickness or at funerals. It was a sign that they stood with you no matter what.

Trinity stuttered out, "And now, for the boys."

She walked over to the other bowl and fished around for a few seconds, plucking one out and staring tensely at the crowd as if afraid of what they'd do next. She unfolded the paper, reading the name to herself and then repeating it into the microphone.

"Levi Ranger," everyone was silent as the children turned to look at Levi. Harley felt a flutter in her throat, like there was some sort of bug wanting to get out. He looked up at the stage with steely dark eyes. No one came forward, no one made a sound, no one protested. And Harley wanted to bring him to herself in a sympathetic embrace, but she knew that would be uncomfortable for the both of them.

There were two main parts in District 10. The farming section, and the butchering section. Harley was from the butcheries. Levi was a farmboy. She could tell. People from the farming section had darker skin and lighter hair, whereas butchery people were typically more pale and had much darker hair. He locked eyes with her and they didn't relent until he was forced to look out at the crowd, where his family was no doubt choking back tears at the idea of their child in a game of death. Harley avoided the faces of her family, focusing instead on a group of peacekeepers near the back of the square. Their faces were covered in blank masks, she couldn't imagine the faces beneath looking any different.

"District 10, I give you your victors for the 69th annual Hunger Games," Trinity announces, clasping her hands together after clapping shortly. She pressed her hands against her cheeks. "It's quite warm out here, isn't it? I'll meet you on the train."

Peacekeepers came up from the back, and Harley wondered if it was the ones she had been staring at only moments beforehand. They took hold of her shoulders, steering her towards the Justice Hall, where she would spend an hour with her family before both she and they had to leave.

The room was luxurious, although she doubted that it was as fine as the Capitol would be. It had a deep red carpet, which she was sure cost the District lots of it's funds. The couch she was sitting on looked old and worn, but still nicer than anything she owned, and it was still comfortable. She found herself bouncing up and down on it, finding a childish joy in the squeaks that came up from the old springs. The door burst open with a thud and Harley's mother swept across the floor and gathered the small girl in her arms. The three brothers flowed in like a stream, all joining in on the now extremely tight hug. Harley started to think she would die of asphyxiation before she even got into the arena. She quickly chastised herself for those thoughts.

"My beautiful, baby girl," Harley's mother, Janna, was stroking her hair, refusing to let go. "My brave, beautiful girl."

Harley smiled grimly, pulling away from her mother and her brothers. She settled back onto the couch and pat a hand on the cushion beside her. Lee jumped up and sat next to her immediately, getting Ren and Jonah to smile slightly. Janna watched as her daughter straightened her back and cleared her throat. Harley wrapped an arm around the brother she could reach and ruffled his hair with the other hand.

"So, I think we all know that the chances of me surviving are quite slim-"

"Don't say that!" Ren cracked. He hadn't uttered a word all day, he hardly did on Reaping Day. It was a silent day for him. "Don't you dare say that!"

"Ren," her voice was soft and her tone even softer.

"No, Harley. You can survive this, just have faith. You're strong, you're smart and you're fast," he placed his hands on her shoulders. "You gotta have faith, kid. You can do this."

And it was only then that Harley cried. All the members of her family descended upon her. They were a tangle of limbs, and she couldn't tell where she ended and someone else started. They stayed like that for the rest of the hour, only detaching when peacekeepers came to retrieve Harley's family and escort her to the train that would be taking her to the Capitol. But, before they left, she had promised them something she wasn't sure she could keep, and there was no way she was backing down now.

"I promise I'll try and come back alive."

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