Pairings: Cato + Katniss (Catoniss), Gale + Glimmer (Glimmale), Marvel + Marissa (Marvissa)

Chapter 1: Friends and Brothrhood

Song: Radioactive by Imagine Dragons (one of the best bands ever!)

An explosion, the ground shudders and I run, I run to her, to see what happened, I see that there's despair in everyone's eyes. I cannot believe this, please, it can't be me, it can't be my family because we need him but thinking these things won't change the fact that eight families no longer have a brother, father, uncle or son. It doesn't change the fact that surviving will be nearly impossible now. It doesn't change the fact that I will be the provider for only 7 years when it is clear that it will not be enough. It doesn't change the fact that I will be shipped off to district two to marry a stranger. Grey, ashes, sorrow... death.

Katniss
I wake up with a start, sweating, the nightmares have gotten worse and worse as this day approaches, as the day when I will be forced to leave my home for 18 years to marry a complete stranger in district 2. I mean, no one knows who I am going to marry. I can't believe that I will have to leave today everything I've every known. I guess it's a good thing that my two best friends will be coming to district 2 as well. It will be nice to know at least a couple of people and be familiar with them. Glimmer Rambin with her blond hair and emerald green eyes and curvy toned body, she may look like a complete airhead, I thought that as well when I first met her but she's very smart and good at throwing knives and fishing. Marissa Emerson has beautiful, long, red hair that looks like fire and sky blue eyes, she's very skinny and also curvy, though not like Glimmer, and is great with strategy, and has a great knowledge with plants and roots, she's also quite calculating. I sat on my bed and smiled slightly, remembering the first time all of us met.

We met once, 6 years ago, officially after our father's died in a horrible mine explosion. I had already seen them once or twice at school but had never spoken to them. Glimmer was very popular and looked slutty with her stunning body and sexy personality, she is from the merchant part of district 12 and I didn't really like that they had so much food and money while us in the Seam had nothing. Marissa was also from the merchant side of town, but never hung out with anyone, she and I started hanging out since we were little only a bit, sometimes we would eat lunch together under the shade of a maple tree a little far away from the courtyard; I was a bit of a loner until one day when I was hunting with the bow and arrows my father had made me when I was eleven, almost twelve at the time and still a bit unnerved about being hunting in the forest alone because it was (still is) illegal.

Suddenly I reached a clearing and I heard some twigs snap from both my left and right, it truly is as if fate wanted us to meet, we, then saw each other, a clash of green grey and blue eyes on each other. The shy redhead with a basket full of berries and other edible roots, knife in hand, the pretty blond with a handmade net over her shoulder and a lethal looking spear in her right hand, holding 3 big tuna fish; and the small brunette with 2 squirrels and a fat bird hanging on her belt, bow and arrow in hand and a quiver over her shoulder.

We all looked at each other with curiosity and I know for a fact that all of us were wary of each other. We studied the other and finally Glimmer decided to break the tense silence first.

"Well lookie here, two other hunters in the woods," Glimmer exclaimed cheerfully.

"Who are you?" I asked the blond, lowering my bow to my side.

"I'm Glimmer, who are you?" Glimmer said.

"She's Katniss and my name is Marissa, we've spoken a couple of times," Marissa explained.

"Oh, cool," Glimmer nods in understanding.

"Why do you hunt?" I asked Glimmer, I already knew about Marissa's situation.

"My father died in the mining accident last year," Glimmer said quietly, a slight frown on her porcelain face.

"So like Marissa and I?" I asked her stupidly.

"Yeah I guess," Glimmer said.

"But I thought that you had lots of money and food, being a merchant and all," I said, very confused.

"Well, we did, but, it's my mother's business, father worked in the mines, being from the Seam and mother works in her shop, being Merchant," Glimmer explained.

"Oh, almost like me then," Marissa said quietly.

"Yup," Glimmer said.

"Want a fish?" Glimmer offered.

"What?" Marissa and I asked at the same time.

"Yup, do you wan a fish?" Glimmer stated slowly, like talking to dumb little children.

"Umm... sure, but I'll give you some squirrel in exchange of course," I said, untying a squirrel off my belt.

"Me too, I'll give you some berries and roots for some squirrel and fish," Marissa stated with a small smile.

"Perfect," Glimmer exclaimed happily, taking a large fish out of her net and splitting the fish in two equal parts.

-
I smiled at the memory; that was the day we all became best friends, main providers, traders and hunting partners. We taught each other our skills and went together for the first time without our fathers to the hob.

The first rays of sun start showing up over the pine trees, I get up from my uncomfortable little bed that I share with Prim, careful to not wake her up. I pull on my cargo pants, a "clean" shirt, I pull on my boots, my hunting leather jacket and grab my game bag. As I walk out of the door into a new day, the chilly morning breeze bites into my skin and I feel a pang in my chest, this is the last time I'm going to ever walk out of this house to go hunting. This will be the last day that I will ever hunt in my woods, our woods, in District 12.

I walk slowly across the Seam, memorizing every little detail of every house. I veer away from the small dirt road and walk towards the woods. I run towards the fence and listen for a soft hum of electricity. When there's none, as usual, I drag myself under the fence and jog, smelling the woodsy smell, I get to the usual spot where Glimmer, Marissa and I usually meet up.

"Hey there kitten," drawls a smooth voice.

"Good morning princess," I answer Glimmer, who came out of the shadows.

Not a minute later, Marissa steps out of the shadows too. If it weren't for our supernatural hunter senses, we might have never heard her.

"Good morning ladies, look what I have brought to celebrate our coming of age," Marissa says sarcastically with a small smile.

"Foxface! Good to see you old friend!" Glimmer exclaims a bit sarcastically, slinging her left arm over Marissa's shoulders.

Marissa grinned and chuckled while muttering under her breath.

"So, what did you bring?" I say, chuckling a bit too.

Marissa reaches over to her game bag and takes out some blackberries from a bush near her entrance and some...

"Oh my gosh! Is that real bread?" Glimmer exclaims, "what a girl", I think to myself, smiling a bit.

"Freshly baked bread from like right now, I bet if you rip it in half, it will steam," Marissa stated proudly.

"...How?" Glimmer asked speechless.

"Traded half of a small fish from yesterday and 5 strawberries," Marissa said, taking the bread from Glimmer's fingers and breaking it into three pieces.

"Wow!" I say surprised that it had been so much for so little, it was a kind of unfair trade in my opinion.

"So may the odds be ever in your favor," I say taking a bite out of my piece of bread.

The bread was so good and we ate it quietly, looking at the beautiful, new sunrise.

"So shall we go hunting for the last time together?" I ask my hunting allies.

"Yup," They both say a little solemn.

And so we hunt.

After trading the last things at the hob, Marissa, Glimmer and I went our separate ways to our homes to get ready for the reaping of our husbands, I'll explain how this works briefly, we, girls or women, whatever, make ourselves look pretty and go to the town square at noon, there will be an escort named Effie Trinket who will read our names down and each of us will step onto the podium, reach our hands into the crystal ball filled with slips of paper with the names of men who are also 18, the slip you pull out will be your husband. Us being from district twelve, we are going to go to district two.

When I get home, it is 10 am already and my mother is a nervous wreck, which pisses me off a lot. Prim is frantically rambling on and on about how my bath is ready. I take it quickly so that I can change and do my hair properly. Not that I actually cared about what I look but I had to take in consideration that I was going to meet my future husband, the man that I was going to have to spend the rest of my life with and have my children. I wish I didn't have to get married or have children. I have never wanted more mouths to feed, good thing that I will see Prim in 4 years but I am very worried about what will she eat, if she's going to be fine, and everything like that.

My mother gave me one of her dresses from district two, a sky blue color, it is truly beautiful. She braided my hair like some sort of crown and gave me a pair of silverish two inch heels. Suddenly the noon bells started sounding all around District Twelve, and my palms have started sweating.

My mother, Prim and I walk slowly to the town square and each step we took makes me even more nervous.

When we finally made it to the town square, my legs were trembling, my palms sweating and a little lightheaded.

"Welcome ladies, welcome," Effie Trinket exclaims happily in her stupid, fake, Capitol accent.

Every girl of the age of 18 has lined up by their birth dates and is ready to pick out their husbands.

"Today you become women, wives, and future mothers. Now without further ado, the reaping!" Effie Trinket continues.

As she calls off names, I zone out, blood pounding on my ears and every sound becoming muffled, it is only when I hear the name Marissa Emerson, when I pull back to reality. I watch as poor, nervous, shy Marissa slowly walks up to the podium and lowers her hand into the reaping ball. She rummages for a second or two and then she pulls out a slip of paper with Panem's seal on it. She opens it with shaky hands and calls out;

"Marvel Hawthorne".

About 10 girls go and then it's my turn, I walk shakily up the podium and dig inside the reaping ball, I pull out my own slip of paper and as I open it, I see the name of my future husband and my eyes widen a bit as I read the neat letters.

"Cato Hawthorne".

I walk towards the girls with their suitcases ready to get on the train to district 2, I pry my suitcase from Prim's hands and I hug her tightly, not daring the tears that burn my eyes escape, I blink furiously so that they will not show.

"I'll see you very soon okay Little Duck?" I whisper.

"Mhm, I love you Katniss, and I'm going to miss you, but I will see you soon," Prim says, tears dripping down her cheeks.

"I love you too my Little Duck," I hug her tightly one last time, take my suitcase and join the other girls, ignoring my pathetic excuse for a mother.

Then it's Glimmer's turn and I just hear the words coming out of her mouth and I start giggling next to Marissa who also started giggling, and as hard as we try to stop, we can't, we just can't believe our luck, our fate, the words that slipped out of her mouth.

"Gale Hawthorne".
-

AN: You like? More? The more reviews, the faster the update, I promise to update my story "The Twists And Turns In Panem High" today or tomorrow, everything has been just TOO crazy.

As always,
lots of love,
Katoloveforever