*A/N - I am so excited to start this journey with you! When this idea popped into my head I knew I had to write it and I can't wait for you to read it! Enjoy!
Chapter 1- The Reaping
The light filtered into the little room. Steve adjusted the parchment in front of him so that he would get the best lighting to get the color exactly right. The sound of the pen scratching against the parchment was soothing. He'd been trying to forget what day it was. He had work to do and another deadline looming. He'd missed the last one when he'd come down with pneumonia two months ago and that had meant more Tesserae for him.
He wouldn't do that to her again. He would finish this commission and then get paid so they could buy the necessities. For the one hundredth time that day he sent up a prayer of thanks that his mother's name couldn't be in the reaping.
The reaping. His stomach clenched and he lifted his hand so the shaking wouldn't ruin the drawing. His name was in the reaping bowl over 93 times. Thankfully Bucky's name was in there 27 times, and out of Bucky's 4 sisters only Rebecca was old enough to have her name in there. And he and Bucky had made sure it was only in there once.
Bucky and his family had tried to keep him from getting Tesserae throughout the years, but Steve had refused. Not only did the Barnes' have 5 kids, but they were able to help a lot of other people, and Steve never liked the idea of taking help from others when he could figure something out for himself.
He'd taken a Tesserae for him and his mom almost every month for the last 6 years, and unbeknownst to Bucky or his mom, he'd taken a good amount more for people who had aged out and therefore couldn't get Tesserae anymore. Bucky would kill him if he knew, but Steve couldn't stand by and let people starve if he could do something about it.
Most of his Tesserae hadn't even been for the food. He would use it to trade for other supplies he needed, like the medicine for his lungs and the other medicine for his heart that he needed a constant supply of. He always needed extra tesserae in hand to trade in case he got sick and him mom had to skip work or trade for whatever medicine/supplies he needed in that moment.
Thankfully, this was his last reaping day. After this reaping he'd be 19 and they couldn't torment him anymore. This was also Bucky's last year, and they'd already made a pact that they would do whatever they could to only have his siblings in there the required amount of times and no more. Then they could provide for them in other ways.
Steve had been honing his art skills any spare second he could find.
When they'd hit 13, he and Bucky were assigned to the mines, but the first day had been a disaster. His lungs had seized up under the sheer amount of coal dust down there and he'd had to be in bed for almost a week. That had been a terrible time. His mom had been worried sick and he'd been petrified that if he couldn't work in the mines that he would never be able to support them. Thankfully his mom was a nurse and could help him whenever he got sick or something happened, but he wanted to give back too. She'd been working to the bone everyday since his dad had died, and he wanted to do his duty and help out.
One day he'd been drawing idly and another healer his mom worked with mentioned how he seemed to have a natural talent. When he'd told her he'd always loved drawing, she'd suggested that people would pay a good amount of money for things like that.
It had taken a few years for him to get good enough, but now he was commissioned to draw a flora and fauna book for the district. He'd been out hunting down animals and staying as still as possible so as not to startle them so he could get their likeness before they ran away.
Then he'd been categorizing plants into edible, toxic, or healing, and drawing them in exact detail. This book could save lives and he'd thrown himself into it. He worried about Bucky every day down in the mines, but there wasn't really anything he could do about that. So he went back to work to get as much done before he was required in City Square.
—-
A few hours later he stretched his back and fingers. Carefully putting away his utensils and storing the parchments so they would dry flat and properly.
He put his jacket on which was a hand-me-down from Bucky. It was a bit big but it kept him warm and he was grateful for it. New clothes were never an option for him, and having something for the winter meant he had a chance to survive.
He locked up the tiny back room that the mayor had given him as a place to work and slipped the keys into his pocket. He walked through the unused newspaper office and out onto the street.
There had, once upon a time, been a newspaper that had been published for the citizens of District 12, but the capitol had put an end to that when they'd published something that had spoken out about the terrible living conditions. The newspaper editor had disappeared, and many of the staff had been "moved". No one knew where they'd gone and no one needed the answer.
That had been almost 15 years ago, so Steve didn't remember it. He was just glad to have a quiet and clean place to work that had all the supplies he needed.
He and Bucky had talked many times late into the night, or in the forest on the rare day Bucky could join him on his flora and fauna hunts, about how the Capitol was a joke and mistreated every single one of its "less worthy" citizens. They'd talked about what they thought they could do, but each time the conversation ended when it would once again be brought back to the safety of their families.
They knew if they stepped out of line their parents and siblings would pay the price.
"Maybe I should print some anonymous pamphlets in the news studio." Steve had mentioned absently one day, carefully capturing the shape and color of the Foxglove flower in front of him. "Spell out some of the bigger problems with the capitol? Get some traction to maybe… I don't know, get awareness? What would they do if our whole district revolted, they couldn't fight all of us, could they?"
"Steve," Bucky had said in an aggravated tone. "It's not going to be anonymous when the Capitol knocks on the Mayor's door and he rats out that you're the only other person in this entire district that has keys to that office. I know the mayor tries but he's not going to let his family die for you. And then they'd kill you, to make an example out of you. You wanna do that to your ma?"
Steve huffed. It always came back to this. Anything they'd do would come back to hurt their families.
"And yeah. With those big blue blaster guns? I think they could fight all of us." Bucky added, chewing on a honeysuckle stem.
He kept silent, thinking. But then he went back to drawing and Bucky kept trying to catch a rabbit that they'd seen on their way into the forest.
He caught his ma's eyes as she stood in the roped off section of parents. She looked at him with love and gave him a silly salute but he could see the fear in her eyes. He had more Tesserae in there than any other 18 year old in his group. To let her know everything was going to be okay he saluted back and they laughed.
Ever since he was little she had said he was the most stubborn baby she'd ever known. He'd been very particular and had started doing things his way the minute he'd had the capability, she'd always referred to him as her "little captain" and soon they'd been saluting to each other as an inside joke. She'd always laugh when she'd told that story but he could see the pride in her eyes as she'd love watching him grow up with what she called "such a strong moral compass". He waved one last time before he moved with his group.
After getting into alphabetical-by-last-name formation, he sighed. He was always behind Daniel Ravens who was 5'11. That meant, Steve, being 5'4, couldn't see anything going on. He craned his neck as the barely visible but brightly colored dressed Capitol native walked up to center stage.
He knew somewhere close to the front was Bucky and to his right was the chorale for kids under 15, so Rebecca was there too. His nerves went haywire just thinking about her getting picked.
But he took a deep breath. Everything was going to be okay.
"Hello, HELLO!" The lady at the front said. This was someone new. Last year it had been a guy who had reaped the names, now it looked like a young girl who couldn't be much older than him.
"We are so honored to be here in your district, and join you in this celebration. We can't wait to see what honorable and courageous young tributes we are about to have! But first this message from the capitol!"
Steve looked up, the screens hung down from the roof of the city hall so they were easy to be seen by everyone.
The capitol emblem flashed across the screen. A huge skull with 8 octopus legs stretching out from beneath it.
President Schmidt's face appeared, always pale and stretched too tight over his sharp bones underneath, Red flags waved behind him and Steve had to stop himself from looking away. People who didn't pay attention got a beating. He'd had a few before.
"Welcome, my friends, to the 74th Hydra Games. We can't wait to meet all our tributes and see who will claim this honorable victory. As you remember, the Hydra Games were instituted when a group-" Steve kept watching but he tuned out the noise. He'd heard this story every reaping since he was born.
The country used to be called America, but when someone named Adolf Hitler had decided that there should be a purge of anyone containing undesirable qualities, there had been a huge World War. Unfortunately, he had succeeded and separated the country into 13 districts to keep those who would fight his desire for "human perfection" in line. No one was allowed to visit other districts or have communication. However those districts deemed unworthy had to sacrifice two children each year to show their servitude to the Capitol. 24 children each year fought to the death because the capitol required it of them.
His foot shuffled up some coal dust and he resisted the urge to cough. That also would get him a swift rifle to his gut.
The video finally ended and the lady was speaking again.
"Ladies first!" She chirped. Reaching her hand deep into the bowl and plucking out a single white card. She walked to the microphone and cleared her throat.
"The female tribute, for District 12 is… Maureen Calvin!" There was silence. No one cheered at this involuntary death sentence. A girl from the front shuffled forward and Steve had maybe seen her around but he didn't know her. Guilt settled in his stomach. She was going off to most likely die and he'd never even said hello.
"Now the gentlemen!" She screeched back into the microphone. Steve clenched his jaw and held his fingers tight. Just one more reaping. He just had to make it through one more.
He heard her dig for a paper and pull one up. He tried to not think about the fact that his name was in there almost 100 times.
She was at the microphone, she was speaking.
"And the male tribute for District 12 is….. James Barnes!"
Steve jolted forward in shock.
What? How can- NO! His brain was spinning a thousand miles per minute. This wasn't supposed to happen! Bucky only had his name in there 27 times! That's impossible!
He saw his friend walking forward, his face looked frozen in place. He was almost to the platform. This was not going to happen. He pushed down the fear and he shoved Daniel out of his way as he ran to the rope that separated the 16-18 year olds from the center aisle. He stepped easily under the rope and ran forward.
"I volunteer!" He cried out, out staring directly at the capitol lady. "I volunteer as tribute!"
—-
You already know that Steve would volunteer to take Bucky's place! Can't wait to hear your thoughts! I already have the outline for each part so each chapter should be out with relative frequentness. But I hope you enjoy! And please review if you have a moment!