Wildfire
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games trilogy. All recognisable characters, content or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: Katniss Everdeen's future hangs in the balance, and she is uncertain if the right move is to stand and fight, or fall. A character study. Mildly AU. OOC. Katniss/Peeta.
Rating: M for language, violence, mild adult themes, and character death.
Author: tlyxor1.
Wildfire
Prologue
When Katniss Everdeen was ten years old, she stood in the town square, and watched two teenagers walk to their deaths. They weren't willing, by any means, weren't volunteers like the careers from Districts 1 and 2, but the sound of their names had resonated with her, even though she'd not realised it at the time.
Afterwards, she'd thrown herself into the lessons her father gave her, to hunt, to create snares, to shoot a bow, and to survive. She'd learned to climb, to traverse the woods in silence, had learned patience and stillness and mercy. He taught her to swim, to skin animals, to track, to listen, and to forage.
And then Miles Everdeen died. It had been a collapse in the mines, and things had never been the same afterwards. Her mother had fallen into a depression so deep Katniss had doubted the woman would ever recover, her two daughters had nearly starved, and Katniss had suddenly become the sole caretaker within the Everdeen household. Suffice to say, it had been a brutal adjustment.
"Your first aid skills have come a long way, Kat."
Katniss knotted her patient's bandage, strained a smile for her mother, and ensured the wounded miner a swift recovery. She wasn't a healer by any stretch of the imagination, nor did she have any desire to become one, but when she'd turned thirteen, and two of her classmates had been reaped for the 71st Hunger Games, it had occurred to her that basic first aid skills wouldn't go amiss - just in case.
Three years later, Katniss had taken to mending minor injuries as her mother and sister tended to the direr kind, and so far, the routine worked well. Katniss learned more about plants and herbal remedies from her mother, and the two remaining Everdeen women had more time to tend to the more serious patients. When there were lulls in between clients, Lavender Everdeen tested both Katniss and Primrose on their skills regarding herbs and plants and healing, and bizarrely, it seemed to bond all three of them.
Sometimes, things were still strained between katniss and Lavender, but they both did their best, and it was all that anyone could ask of them.
"Sure," Katniss acknowledged, accepted the few coins Mr Oakland handed her, and dropped them into the pocket of her well worn pants. It probably was too much for a sprained wrist, but it was obvious where he'd gotten the injury, and those clients generally paid extra for their healers to keep their traps shut. "Have a good day, Mr Oakland."
The man left, Katniss retreated into her bedroom, and made a start on the meagre homework she'd been assigned. It was a waste of time, honestly, because if Katniss didn't wind up in the mines, she'd eventually end up a miner's widow instead, but there was comfort in the pretence, and besides that, her mother was an insistent nag.
Apparently, the process of coal production was very important.
"Primrose has locked herself in the outhouse," Lavender Everdeen informed her, "She's scared. Can you go comfort her?"
Katniss set down her homework without hesitation, climbed to her feet, and approached the door. She wasn't surprised in the slightest, because Reaping Day for the 74th Hunger Games was in a matter of hours, and that was terrifying for anyone. Primrose's name was in for the first time, and the odds were definitely in the twelve year old's favour, but the prospect that her name was in it at all was worth anyone's worry.
"I'm scared," Primrose admitted, curled up in a ball and tucked into Katniss' side. They'd migrated to the side of the house, at least, but as Katniss carded hands through her sister's blonde hair, and assured the girl that she'd be perfectly fine, her own worry festered inside her heart.
What would she do if Primrose was reaped?
Apparently, she'd do everything.
Author: I'm actually working on this one. On the side, anyway. If you're looking for a love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale, full of gratuitous angst and melodrama, however, you'll be sorely disappointed. That is all.