Authors Note* Hey guys! Here's another chapter. I'm still trying to get the story off its feet, but it should start moving more towards the plot after this. This is an early update, I'm guessing that I'll update around once a week. Maybe longer. Anyway, send me a review and enjoy!

I awoke to screams tonight. This was a typical occurrence. I looked at my clock, it said 3:27, I sighed. Many nights I couldn't sleep after I woke up like this. I listened to my dad consoling my mother in the other room. His voice was so strong, so sure, and so loving. She was crying. He continued to whisper words to her until her breathing calmed. "What was it about tonight?" He asked her, "Rue" my mom said back, still breathless, "was it the typical one? The replay?" "No... it was about Ruelynn."

My heart stopped. Had I heard that right? They weren't talking loud and I was listening through the wall, but.. I know that's what was said. "Ruelynn?" My father questioned, "What about her?" "We were back in the quarter quell, and I was really pregnant. Then, the cornucopia spun, and there she was, as a child. Every time I looked at her, or one of us tried to move towards her, the cornucopia spun and she aged and aged. Then he was there, Snow was standing right behind her and, and he killed her! Oh Peeta." She was balling again.

I was frozen under my sheets. Quarter quell? Cornucopia? I had heard these terms before but I had no idea what they meant.

My dad was consoling mom again. "You can fix this Katniss," he whispered to her, "It's unfair to her that you distance yourself. Trust me, I understand, Briley is an exact replica of myself, but I put it all behind me. It hurts her everyday, Katniss. She walks into that forest, and hunts, almost better than you. That's something you should be sharing, and celebrating. She's still our child. Please, try to get past all of this." He said to her. "Peeta, I can't. I look at her, and see myself, at that age, headed into the arena. Hunting so my family doesn't starve. Closing everyone out until it hurts. Losing people. Losing prim. Peeta, she looks just like Prim! I don't know how to move past all of it." She gasped. "I know, but you have to try. For the sake of all of us, you need to try." With a few more words, they both fell back asleep.

I stayed in my bed, wide eyed. I hadn't heard from herself why she stayed away from me. It the dark of night, and said between tears, it all made sense. I realized that i need to figure out what really happened to them. What exactly happened in the arena, and what happened after? I felt an uncalmness settle in my chest. I needed to know what happened. Quietly, I rolled out of bed, slipping on a hoodie, I headed downstairs. I turned on just a few lamps and headed toward a chest in one of the living rooms we never used. When I was little Dad always told me to stay away from it, because all of mommy and daddy's memories were locked away. I knew I could find some sort of answers in there.

I slid open one of the drawers, inside I saw a hand made book. On the cover, it read "People of the Past" I tucked the book under my arm and kept looking. After digging around awhile, I found two tapes, one labeled "74th" the other "75th" I guessed that they were reruns of the games my parents were in. I found one more tape, it said "Pro-pos for the rebellion; MockingJay" I took that one as well, cleared any evidence of me being down here, and headed back to my room.

I slipped in the first tape, the one of the 74th games into my tv, sat on my bed and waited for it to start. I didn't know how to prepare myself, I didn't know how bad it would be, or what I would see. The black screen began to light up, and a man with blue hair appeared. He was standing on a stage with a huge crowd in front of him. "Welcome to the 74th Hunger Games!" He yelled, the crown cheered frantically. "How about we get to meet our tributes?" He asked, and, again, the crown went wild. One by one, each tribute from districts 1-12 came out into the set for a few minutes, as the announces, Ceasar Flickrman, drilled them with questions. I made a few notes of the people who would be trying to kill each other. From district one, Marvel and Glimmer, were both so confident, the same went for Cato and Clove of district two. The tributes from district three and four all just looked scared. No one stuck out to me except for when they got to district eleven. First, a tall man walked out, his name was Thresh. He looked so strong and intimidating. Then out following, a small girl, with unmistakable grace walked out. "From district 11, Rue!" Ceasar yelled. I paused the tape, that's her, that's the girl I was named after..

I was frozen again. My breathe grew short and I was so, shocked. She was so small, so innocent. She looked far to young to be thrown into an arena with all these people. I pressed play and closely watched her interview, she spoke softly, talking about how she was fast and could climb. She was beautiful. Ceasar shook her hand, and she practically flew off the stage. My heart started racing, I knew who would be next. "District 12! Ah district 12, you all know her, as the girl on fire! But we know her as the lovely Katniss Everdeen!" I watched as my mother walked onto stage. She was so visibly nervous. Girl on fire? My mom had stood up now, she was spinning, her dress looked as if it was up in flames. Beautiful I thought to myself. "I have one more question for you" Ceasar said, patting my moms hand, "It's about your sister. Did she come to see you?" He asked "Yes," my mom whispered, "What did she say to you? In the end?" He asked. "She asked me if I would try and win. If I would try and win, for her." "Yes, and try you will." Ceasar said, sending her off the stage. My dad walked out next, he was so young and so handsome. He seemed like he had the crowd won over, he was funny. Caesar asked him about any girls. He said that he had liked a girl forever, but she had never noticed him til the reaping. Caesar told him to win, and go back to get the girl, and in response he said "I don't think that will help me much, because she came here with me." My jaw dropped. I just then realized that they didn't know each other yet, my parents didn't know each other and dad just dropped a huge bomb on her. With that, the screen went black for a moment, then slowly started to light up again.

On the screen, there was a clock counting down from 60. It spun around, showing all 24 tributes standing on pedestals. The clock continued to wind down, the tributes from districts one and two looked so fierce. Everyone else just looked scared, some were crying. The voice was counting 5..4..3..2..1.. All the tributes took off. Some towards the big metal object in the center, I'm guessing that's what the cornucopia is. I saw my mom run off, towards some sort of backpack. She tripped and the girl, Clove, from district two was throwing knives at her. People, kids, were already getting killed. My mom got up and ran into the forest. I found my dad, he was surrounded by Marvel and Cato, were they talking? I couldn't tell. The screen showed different views of the tributes. I continued to watch in amazement at the horror that was taking place on the screen. A cannon sounded. It went off 12 times. Does that mean twelve kids already got killed?

I continued watching as different scenes flew by, my dad was with the "career pack", my mom was alone. More kids died. There was a fire that almost killed my mom, when she was running from it, she landed right by the career pack. They all wanted to kill her. She climbed a tree, she was so quick, so smart on her feet. I could definitely see our close resemblance now. That's when Rue showed up, signaling my mom to cut a nest of bugs. It killed the girl from one, Glimmer.

I kept watching, not knowing how much time had passed since my mom woke up screaming. Multiple things happened, another tribute died, my mom and Rue stuck together, and dad got stabbed. Cato got him in the thigh with his sword. Tears were streaming down my face as I watched him wince and cry in pain, trying to camouflage himself. It was so bizarre to see my dad so weak.

Mom and Rue devised a plan, they were going to destroy the food that the careers had gathered together. It worked, but Rue got caught in a net trap laid out by the careers. My mom got her out, but not before Marvel had caught up to them. He threw his spear, mom immediately shot him with her bow, but as the arrow hit Marvel, the spear sank into Rue's stomach. She died in mom's arms. Now I understood how I got my name. It has so much more meaning than I had ever imagined. I turned to look at my clock and saw that it was almost 5:30, dad would be getting up soon. I hit the fast forward button on my remote. The events flashed by quickly, but I could see what was happening. Mom found dad, he looked like he was dying, she kissed him, they got food sent to them, she went to get him medicine. She had a close call. Thresh let her go. As it got near the end, they were being chased by big dog like animals, they fought Cato ontop of the cornucopia. He died. I watched closely when it was only my parents left. An announcer came on, saying that a rule change was made, one if them had to die. My dad, so brave and young, offered to sacrifice himself, my mom refused. I saw that she was holding nightlock in her hand, I recognized the berry, it grows in certain spots in the woods. Right when I thought they were both going to die, the announcer stopped them, and said they were the victors of the 74th Hunger Games, then, the screen immediately went black.

I sat in silence for a minute. I was in shock. I had no idea what they had actually gone through. No wonder my mom had nightmares. No wonder she couldn't look at me, I resemble her exactly.. I heard my dad get up and I immediately hid the book and the other videos I had grabbed. I went and got in the shower, trying to collect my thoughts.

After my shower, I got dressed and headed downstairs. My dad was sitting in the kitchen, he looked exhausted. "Morning Dad," I said, "long night?" I questioned. "Yeah, hey kiddo. It was a rough one." He told me. That's when he noticed that I wasn't wearing my hunting gear, "Not heading out today?" He asked, "no, I think I'm going to spend the day with Uncle Haymitch." I didn't look up to reach his gaze, I simply focused on the cup of coffee I was pouring. "Something up?" My dad asked, "Oh no, just thought it'd be nice." "Alright then, have fun. Rue, be careful, for your mother's sake."

I walked out the door and straight to Haymitch's place. I had a lot of questions, and I knew he'd be the one to give me answers.