This is another Hunger Games AU to toss into the wastebin of the internet. It's good tho. I don't know what such a good fic like this is doing here. Read.

Hunger Games/Chaos Walking Crossover

Ships: Lee/Viola (platonic)

WARNING::: PEETA IS DEAD. KATNISS WON BY FEEDING HIM TO THE WOLVES. SHES COLDBLOODED IKR

The sky is cold and gray, and the clouds stare at me pitifully, as if they know that whatever I do, as much as I do, it will never be enough- for me- for my family- for us to survive. My surroundings are tinged the same gray shade as that of the sky, a result of how poor District 12 is without any bountiful crops, and a coating of coal dust on every surface, house, and pathway as far as the eye can see. I frown to myself and roll a piece of coal between my fingers. Behind me, I hear a door creak open and slowly shut, then a pair of loving, oh how loving hands wrap around me, embrace me, giving me the littlest bit of comfort and jerking me out of my stupor. Of course, this is my brother Leonard, and as he takes a seat beside me on the bench, he smiles.

"You know Vi, things will be better very soon. Who knows? Look through the trees and find the patch of the light, the ray of hope, the canary in the coal mine, and breathe." He grins at me then, and I find it hard to keep a sad face after that, and try to find my salvation, my wish for everything to be better.

Leonard, or Lee, always knows how to cheer me up, with a saying here, a tender caress there, enough to brighten my day and make myself feel as if the fifteen years I've been living were actually worth it. Lee of seventeen years, with his beautiful blue eyes, his tousled ash-blond hair, and his tanned upper arms is a vision of perfection compared to my choppy brown hair, my small almond shaped eyes, and a skinniness that resembles that of most people here in District 12, especially in the Seam, where the people living here are either skin and bone or begging at doorways for food.

Ever since my mother, my younger sister Lily, and my dad all died of disease some three years ago, it's just been me and Lee, trying our best to live for each other and forget all the sadness that's been wrought into our hearts. It's taken a toll on Lee, to have to work in the mines at such a young age, but there was no other choice other than for us to starve to death. The minister in charge of the mines took pity on him, and since he looked old for his age at fourteen, was able to pass himself off as eighteen. As I daydream about all this, Lee remains hunched against me, but then suddenly we here the pounding of footsteps on the dirt road, which can only mean one thing: The miners are going to work, and Lee has to dash inside for his boots and helm and dad's jacket, and I help him, and then he's out the door again with a kiss and wave goodbye for me.

I smile, my eyes soften, and I start making the beds and tidying the house, setting clothes back on their shelves, then pull on my own worn leather boots, grab a basket and a book, and head out for The Meadow, my only salvation in this- this prison otherwise known as District 12. Truth be told, there is a chain-link fence separating District 12 and The Meadow, used to be charged with electricity 24-7, but they cut the power off some time ago, and now getting electrocuted is the least of my problems. I pick a hole to climb through, carefully listening for the humming sound of voltage. Nothing. Dead. Silence.

I clamber through the hole and burst straight into a meadow, a beautiful green untouched meadow, with birds singing and the wind sighing and the sun shining on my back. I spend a few minutes feeling like Snow White, from one of the stories my mother used to tell me. I flounce around, flinging my basket with its book and cloth napkin inside to the ground, and pick a beautiful white daisy, an orange hibiscus, and a red lily-.

Lily. Lily?

Then confusion sets in and a fear, oh no a terrible fear forms- NO NO NO NO NO... The flashbacks are coming back quick and fast...

Mother squeezing her hand, tears streaming onto the blanket...

A faint moan... the sinking of a mattress supporting a body's dead weight...

My sister, covered in horrible red welts and dark bruises...

Staring at me with fear and sadness and pain...

And blasting through that all is an intense wave of jumbled words and phrases with Lily's carefree voice distorted with anger and fear and pain screaming I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU over and over, over and over..

And damn if I'm not screaming my head off all through these flashbacks, writhing and cowering and wishing it was me who suffered... oh dear Lily... and there is no Lee to comfort me, Lee to calm me, and the flashbacks slowly, finally stop and I lie on the grass, the red lily crunched in one hand and the daisy devoid of its petals, and breathe slowly.

In. Out. In. Out. Relax. Stretch. Focus. Stand. I command my body to obey my mind and slowly begin to calm myself. I remind myself that I have plenty of work to do, if I want me and Lee to have full bellies and good cheer. I pick up the discarded basket and smooth my cheeks free of tears, and flick through the book for healing weeds and edible plants. Fern. Chili Leaves. Berries. Mushrooms. Okra and Wild Onions, I find them all. The basket is half full when I then hike toward the lake, where Mother hid the fishing rod she and father crafted and caught fish with in the hollow of an oak tree, and pull it out.

Fishing might be boring, but when you have a satisfying supper then you know it was worth it. I have plenty of patience to spare though, and I catch five fish. Pleased, I return the fishing rod to its hiding place and start walking home when I remember the wheat field. Generally speaking, we don't need wheat as both of us sign up for tesserae and oil every month, which is more than enough for the two of us. I think, and figure that the wheat field must be stripped of its crops already and just head home, slipping nimbly through the fence, and then I'm into the house and setting my bounty on the table. I carefully pick over my stock of goods to trade and consider what everyone will want to trade for and buy from. The mayor and his daughter love strawberries, so I set aside most of the strawberries for them. Gertrude the healer will want my tumbleweed and ivy, so I take plenty for her as well. I gather my bounty into a sack, close the door behind me, and walk toward the Hob, our trading center.

Bustling with activity, I quickly make my way over to Gertrude. "

"So how are you today, little Viola? Anything of worth to trade for?

"Perfectly fine, thank you." I offer a big smile, and dig into my bag for the tumbleweed and ivy, and also bring out a herbal concoction that can soothe a throat pain. She accepts my offering, and in return gives me several chunks of paraffin and paper, a list of healing herbs and a bit of money for me to spend on other goods. I thank her, and head over to Greasy Sae's. She always has some soup going, and I find that a hot meal always satisfies my tummy.

"SAE! Need anything for whatever yer doing?" I say, though I know perfectly well what she's cooking.

"Jis' cooking up some soup. Ya got any mushrooms or herbs fer flavorin'?"

I nod my head and find the mushrooms, fern, and wild onions, then toss them to Sae. She picks them up, chops them, throws them into the soup, then seasons with salt and pepper and stirs until I can smell the delicious aroma wafting up from the soup. She ladles some into a wooden bowl, and I help her pass them out to starving customers standing nearby. If there's one thing I know, full bellies always bring on a happy smile and good cheer, me included.

Greasy Sae goes over to Rooba the butcher with a big bowl of soup and in return, Rooba gives her several venison steaks and two wild birds. Sae goes back to her station and grins heartily at me. I can see two more teeth missing from her grin, but I don't comment. She wraps a venison steak and half a wild bird in paper, then shoves the package into my arms. I nearly buckle at the sudden weight, but hold myself.

"Thanks! This should keep me and Lee going for a whole week!" I grin widely.

"Ach, no problem missus Viola. I feel what tis called pity for yeh and Lee, and I knew yer mamma and papi fer a long time. Remember the reaping's tomorrow. 'Ow many slips of paper yeh and Lee got in the pool?"

I frown at the question. This is a touchy topic, and I'm sure I don't want to respond, but Sae's just given me a week's worth of meat so I might as well be polite. "I have maybe around 15 times Sae, and Lee has... oh dear. Perhaps around 22 or so. I really don't know, I'm not that good with math." I stopped going to school ever since my parents and younger sister died, so I only know how to do the basics of math and know little geography of Panem but after that most of my education lies in gathering and separating herbs from poisonous plants."

"Yer venison's under attack, little Viola! Make sure to put it somewhere safe." Greasy Sae then laughs, and playfully shoves me out of the Hob.

Back in the bright sunlight, I set about wrapping the meat tightly, then store it at the bottom of my sack. The mayor's house is a few blocks from the Hob, so I walk, noting how the bright white paint of the house stands out against the grayness of District 12, and open the gate and step up to the front door and knock. Three sharp raps. The mayor's daughter Madge comes out, a girl a year younger than me, and she is wearing a beautiful white lace dress, with ribbons and ruffles on the cuffs and hem of the skirt. But my eyes ignore these, and they run over her golden pin, crafted in the shape of an arabastus flower, which is quite rare even in The Meadow.

"Beautiful pin," I say, by means of starting a conversation.

"Thank you," she replies in her soft voice. "It belonged to my mother, but for the reaping she decided I should wear it. I was in the middle of trying on dresses," she adds sheepishly.

I smile. "You should wear that dress. With your golden hair and big eyes you'll look like an angel."

Madge blushes, and pulls out the money for the strawberries from her pocket. "Here's the money. Thanks for the strawberries! I'll see you at the reaping."

"Thank you so much, Madge."

I give her the strawberries in a cloth bag, and she accepts them and heads back inside and shuts the door, while I look at the money in a daze of shock and happiness. The money she put is twice the normal amount she always gives me! I feel a deep rush of affection for how nice she is, but all the same envy her for her money and her presents from her father and mother and- most of all, how she only has her name in the reaping three times, while I have five times that. I shake myself out of my thoughts and just start thinking thank you thank you thank you, because it is stupid and pointless to think about such jealous thoughts.

I walk home, and when I get there Lee is already inside, storing firewood in the small cabinet.

"Hey, Lee. I've just come back from the Hob." He turns to me, taking in what I'm holding, and cautiously smiles.

"You did remember to say thank you to them, right?"

"Of course I did! I never forget my manners!", and then I forget my manners and scowl darkly at Lee.

"Right, and your manners extend to strangers but never extend to me," he chuckles.

I roll my eyes and start pulling my bounty out of the sack. His face lights up at the list of herbs. "You think we can gather this tomorrow after the reaping?", he asks me.

"Probably," I say. "As long as neither of us gets chosen," I add, half-jokingly.

Lee's careworn face darkens just the tiniest smudge, and I know what he's thinking. If either of us get chosen, what are we going to do? We only have each other, there's no one else either of us love. The idea of being separated is unthinkable. I swallow, and pull out the meat and unwrap it.

"Look Lee!" I say feigning excitement. "Rooba gave Greasy Sae some meat, and Sae gave me some of her share.

Lee smiled. "What should we make for dinner?" he asks.

I just tell Lee to stay put and take some of the money and go rushing to the bakery. I ring the bell and the baker's son comes behind the counter. Something in the way the son looks at me makes me feel weird, but I ignore the feeling and point to a loaf of bread sitting on a glass centerpiece. "I would like to buy that bread please," I say, and hand over half of the money in my hand. He wraps up the bread, still looking at me and suddenly smiles.

"I've seen you before... Haven't I?" he asks.

"No, I'm pretty sure not... Well, what's your name?"

"Todd."

I gasp, astonished. This was the boy who used to play with Lily, who pretended to be her big brother from all those years ago, who would give her colored drawings and pieces of paper, who tickled her and smiled and laughed. But the little boy is now grown up, with muscular shoulders and a stocky brother from years of work in the bakery. He's a year above me in school, I think, from when I used to go to school.

"Thank you for the bread" I get out, and when he looks at me funny I'm pretty sure my face is starting to redden and tears starting to form and dash out of the bakery, running all the way home and panting and wiping all evidence from my face as I burst in upon Lee, who is sitting quite casually at the table, the plates and spoons ready, and dump the bread into a bowl. I grin at him, and he grins back, and for the rest of the meal we just sit there wolfing down half of the bread and most of the greens I gathered while smiling at each other like idiots.

I then clear the table when we finish, and stack them in a pile on a counter. I wrap the bread in its paper bag and store that in the cabinet. I'll wash the plates by the river tomorrow and milk the goat, I think, planning out a schedule for the next day. We brush our teeth with mint toothpaste, then rinse and get into bed together. We hold each other as we sleep, and this is why I never have any nightmares when I sleep for the past three years, ever since the day after Lily and our parents died. And then I sleep basking in Lee's warmth, and sleep.

I wake up, and it's dawn and the birds are singing and I get out of bed, Lee sprawled on one side. I pull on another tunic over my threadbare shirt and go outside and sit on the bed and the cold feeling of dread returns, the one that always tells me how gray District 12 is, even with the birds twittering and the sun shining in the gray sky. I stand and stretch, feeling my joints crack and rub them, and am going to the door when I get hit on the forehead and spring back, warily rubbing where I imagine the source of the pain to be. It's Lee of course, and he smiles at me apologetically.

"Sorry Vi, I didn't know you were going to the door... I thought you were down at the lake washing up."

"It's okay Lee. I should probably get down to the river. Is there any lye soap left?", I ask him.

"Hmmm, yes I think so. I'll just get the soap and the dishes and laundry."

I wait outside, tapping my feet impatiently, and when Lee comes back, I tell him to go to the Meadow and collect some herbs from the list Gertrude gave me. We'll rendezvous at the lake to bathe at eleven, so we can have plenty of time to get ready for the reaping. We separate, and I head down to the lake. Before long, I have washed all the dishes and dried them and did the laundry, beating the clothes clean between two rocks as I pour more water into the small shallow pool that we use for washing beside the crystal clear lake. I trudge back to the house, more like shack, and hang up the laundry on nylon stringed between trees in a triangle formation, with a chopped-down log in the middle.

As I admire the trees, crabapple trees heavy with glistening red fruit, I am grabbed from behind and lifted overhead.

"PUT ME DOWN YOU IDIOT YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH!" I scream out and whack Lee until he gently lowers me down. He doesn't say anything, just grins idiotically which just further improves my point. (That he's being an idiot) I march inside, shut the door, and tell him to go fuck himself or go down to the lake and bathe. (his choice). When Lee politely asks me for a towel, I shove his into his arms, and then as I spend several minutes looking for my towel do I realize mine is wrapped together with Lee's. Of course, the joys of life! Lee is already running off to the lake and between his long legs and natural running ability, it takes me quite a long time to catch him, and by that time we are almost at the like, so we might as well bathe.

I wade into the cool crystal clear water and breathe deeply, scrubbing the dirt from my nails and skin and rinse out my hair, untangling the knots. Lee is several meters away doing the same thing, and as he pulls off his shirt I decide I might as well let him have his privacy and get out of the lake, quickly wrapping myself in my towel and picking up my bundle of wet clothes. I head home, and when I get inside I push the clothes into the laundry basket and start drying myself. Then I realize: What am I going to wear?

Kids wear their most prim clothes to the reapings, so I decide on a forest green dress that my mother sewed and attach a white ribbon to the waist of the dress. I pull it on, and zip it up halfway, then pull out a pair of sharp scissors and our old cracked mirror and begin trimming my hair. Lee shows up with his towel wrapped around his waist and I toss him a button-down shirt and pair of black pants that belonged to Father. We help each other, me combing out the curls in his hair and him zipping up the dress when I can't zip it up anymore. Now, we look presentable at least. I lace up my soft leather boots and Lee does his, and then we walk out hand in hand until we get to the square. There we separate into different groups from twelve to eighteen year olds and wait in line.

Old women at the front prick our fingers and dab the blood onto our respective names on papers, to ensure all kids are accounted for and none are hiding at home. I try to stem the blood by sucking on my thumb, and continue on to a roped-off section of fifteen year olds, all staring grimly at me. As we wait for Effie Trinket, the woman who manages the boy and girl of District 12, Mayor Undersee shows up, and following closely behind him are Katniss Everdeen and Haymitch Abernathy, the only victors of District 12 still alive.

Haymitch appears drunk and Katniss Everdeen, who won her Games eight years ago, appears to be restraining him from leaping at the crowd. I hide a smile and gaze across at the eighteen year old section, where Lee is smiling and looking at Effie Trinket trying to get away from Haymitch, who is trying to seize her curly yellow wig- it must be a wig since it's tilted sideways. And Mayor Undersee, who is facepalming and walking over to stand at the podium. He looks directly into the camera and gives his speech, the same as usual while a screen displays his words in sync, about how Panem started and about the Dark Days and the twelve districts, blah blah blah.

I'm not really paying attention, I'm trying to relax myself and calm down my racing heart, telling myself that it's a very small chance that I'll be chosen- or that Lee will be chosen. Effie crosses the stage to go to the big glass balls holding the names of all the girls and boys in District 12. She squeaks out "Ladies first!" and reaches a hand in the glass bowl, selects a small piece of paper, and brings it out. She clears her throat, and goes off a bit about how amazing District 12 is and everything until all of us are practically restless, waiting for her to read the name and get over with who is the tribute girl. She smiles, so big it's painful to look, opens the card and reads

"Viola Eade."

Oh my god, this cannot be happening… I tell myself.

Oh, shit.

It's me.

it's me and NO ONE WILL WANT TO VOLUNTEER FOR ME I don't know anyone the last time someone volunteered it was Katniss volunteering for her sister but I have no sister no family- only Lee only Lee only Lee and I'm not aware of someone pushing me to go up to the stage, and I shake Effie's hand and she trills "Lovely my dear" but I'm only thinking about me and I look up desperately looking for Lee and. He's crying.

Lee never cries, not even when Mother and Father and Lily died and I was bawling my brain off he just stood there calmly, hands in his pockets, looking grimly on, not even when we almost starved to death...

As I told you, Lee is my complete opposite, where he is kind and gentle I can lose my head sometimes, and he's always patient and I am not very patient, and he looks like my dad and I look like my mom, and in that moment, I know I'm going to die because Lee never cries, and we care for each other beyond anything else. I repeat it to myself.

I'm going to die.

At this moment I'm faintly aware of Effie opening the slip of paper with the boy tribute's name on it and reads it out.

"William Hewitt."

This is Todd's younger brother and I know this boy and I don't care, and we shake hands, and Effie calls out to the audience if anyone will volunteer for me, and I see Madge raise her hand tentatively, then lower it, and District 12 is silent, and Effie calls out if anyone will volunteer for William, and District 12 is silent but there is something different about this silence, like a taut rope about to snap, and then the silence is broken.

"I, Leonard Eade, volunteer as tribute!"

"NO!" I scream, and I start shaking and tears are falling and Leonard is already running to the stairs, and he's up the stairs and he pushes Will down and Will doesn't protest and Lee holds me and I hold him and I know the camera is facing us, and I do nothing. My heart feels shattered, and I know I will not die alone, but die together- and it's like Lee wants to die, and he has just signed his death wish, and I just want him to keep living but he will not he will die. He has signed his death wish.

Only a monster would sign its death wish.