Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

Once Remembered

It will never again be forgotten.

Part One – The Reaping

Chapter Three

"Hey Sera." I said as I sat down next to her on the beach, I swung an arm over her shoulder and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "Love you for this."

She smiled back at me. "Who wouldn't love someone as superbly awesome as me?"

I grinned. "So what are you doing sitting out here alone?"

Sera looked to her hands as she thought, "The reaping is coming up in a couple days. What if one of us get chosen?"

Oh. We were going to have that conversation. Everyone but Theo and I have their names in the ballot several times over. They needed that tessarae that came with an additional slot of their name. Tessarae was something the children could sign up for in exchange for a few grains and oils, necessities for the lives within poverty. It helped them a lot, and the more tessarae you sign up for, the more food you get.

It was a gamble for their lives. It was just a matter of whether they'd rather take the chance to be murdered, or unquestionably starve with their family. Though the latter may appear more appealing than being killed by those that if you met in another time, you could be friends with, the former is often chosen because humans have a tendency to gamble with hope as their persecutor.

It was actually very likely that one of them end up being chosen because of all the tessarae they'd signed up for. I hated it whenever the subject was brought up, it was unfair how better off I was.

If I reacted positively, that would only show how much I didn't understand. If I reacted negatively then it would be all the same. But I did understand, and it was nearly impossible to explain to them just how much I cared about them. I often feared at what I could have become without them. My father is always neglectful, and I didn't get along with regular people. They were my only source of a social environment, and I cherished them.

"If one of you guys get chosen, I would volunteer in your place." I said sternly. "Of course, I can only do that for the girls. I'm sure Rain, Theo, and Shore can manage themselves." There was nothing I could do for the boys.

"You'd volunteer to die in our place?"

I nodded.

Sera laughed, "Ha, ha. Thanks, I needed the joke." Sera stood up and patted her pants to get the sand off. She offered me a hand. "But seriously, that won't be necessary right? None of us are going to be picked. We're only enlarging the possibility in our heads because we're afraid. That's what you always say. You don't see yourself ever in the games do you?"

There were so many obscurities in that one question.

I stared at Sera's hand. We both knew that I was the person most probable to survive in the Hunger Games, likely out of the entire district. I got up on my own and patted the sand off my bathing suit. "Let's head back now. I really need some alcohol in me." I grabbed Sera's hand and pulled us back towards the bonfire. I didn't want to look at her, I didn't want her to know how truly frightened I was for her.

"Hey you two!" Shore said as he caught sight of us. "The party just got started!" He was holding some roasted fish and tossed some to me. I reacted fast to catch them. Three in one hand.

"Nice catch!" Shore commended, just before Ocean tackled him from behind and gave him a kiss on his shirtless back.

"I wanted that fish!" She moaned.

Shore laughed. "Don't pout, there's plenty of fish in the sea." He kissed her and handed her a roasted fish on a stick. "Rain was looking for you, Lainy."

"Get a room." I snapped as I walked passed them with Sera. We sat on a log next to the fire and started eating the fish. "They've been going at it for pretty long," I noted. "I didn't think either of them were serious when it started."

Sera chuckled. "You never quite know when you find the one right?"

The one. Sera was the type to believe in all the knight-in-shining-armor nonsense and finding 'the one'. "Still believe those old fairy tales huh?"

"Yeah," Sera answered quietly, I could tell she was thinking about something obscure in her mind. She often daydreamed around me. "I think all bad people will be punished in some way or another."

"Are you talking about the Capitol?"

"Them included, but I mean in general. You can't get away with your sins forever."

I giggled, we were obviously on different pages. Theo and Rain came around just then with an absolutely wasted Julia, she was laughing inebriated with the boys on either side trying to take control of her.

I ran up to Julia and held her by both shoulders, stopping her thrashing instantly. "Julia, what happened?"

Before she would answer me, Rain pulled me aside. "Her father died today out in sea. It was a collar defect, stunned them dead."

I choked on my breath. No. Julia almost killed herself when her pet turtle had died from poisoning when she was twelve. I turned to Julia, terrified of what she might do to herself, and suddenly I was a mother goose. I wrapped my arms around Julia and helped her to a rock nearby as her hysterical laughs started to fade away. I said nothing.

"Lainy, I don't know what to do…" She said, suddenly calm. She wasn't crying, she wasn't laughing. This was a terrible omen. "I hate them, I hate them so much! Why do we have to wear these collars?" I noticed them what Julia was doing, she was digging into the flesh in her neck futilely trying to get the collar off.

I held her hands softly and pulled them away. "Don't do this Julia. I don't want to lose you." I was very fearful of her suicidal nature. "It's going to be alright. We're all here for you."

Julia covered her face and started crying. Better, much better. If she could cry, then she would live. I embraced her and held her as she sobbed into the nest of my shoulders. I saw Rain watching me, a little envious of my ability to calm people.

After a few minutes, Julia sat herself up straight and pulled me away. "I'm alright now Lainy. Can you guys just leave me alone for a little bit? I need… I need to get my head around this." Julia grabbed another beer bottle and staggered into the shallow forest. I worried for a moment, because it was never fine to leave someone so broken alone in a forest, but then I stopped myself.

"Don't drink too much." I murmured after her, and she waved a hand to me in reply. I stood idly watching her back as she became smaller and smaller.

I felt someone approach me and turned to see Rain. "Hey."

"Hey." He replied. He studied me for a moment and then pointed after Julia. "Let's follow her, just to make sure she's okay."

I smiled at him lightly, "She should get some time alone."

Rain rolled his eyes. "Well I should get make-out sessions with my girlfriend during a likely once-in-a-lifetime moment with so much alcohol Sera will never be able to obtain again, but we both know that isn't going to happen either." He moped sarcastically, then gave me a naughty grin. "At least not until you stop worrying about Julia."

I laughed and grabbed his hand, slipping my fingers between his. "Okay, fine. But I'm blaming you if we're caught."

Rain held his other hand up, "Guilty as charged." He pledged.

Together we ran quickly after Julia hand-in-hand. We were her dear, concerned, complete-stalker friends. I smiled brilliantly to Rain when he looked, I did a good job hiding my emotions because as I smiled at him I was thinking zilch about happy thoughts. I liked to believe that I have a sixth sense, it's a sense that has guided my life. It tells me two things; one, if someone was hiding something like an intention to hurt me, and two, if something uncontrollably bad was going to happen.

I couldn't tell the difference as I followed after Julia's silhouette with Rain, but it was there. Something was going to happen tonight. I knew I had no way of stopping it, and with no real clue of what was coming, I had no way of preparing for it either. It was during these moments where I felt the absolute uselessness on my part, I was just a human. I was worthless, and I could do nothing to make the world better.

And just as those strange thoughts crossed my mind, Julia disappeared.

"Where did she go?" I asked Rain, I was only distracted for a moment.

Rain looked to where Julia had been, as just only noticing her absence. He gave me a confused look, "I don't know, she was just there!" We shared worried looks, "Let's split up and look for her." Rain suggested.

With the horrible knot in my stomach, warning me of the disasters to come, I forced myself to nod. I didn't want Rain with me. "You head back to the fire. Maybe she looped around when we weren't looking. I'll go on ahead, I'm faster." Rain nodded and started to head back.

I gulped as I proceeded forward.

Author's Note

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-creativename