AN: Thanks to all who have been reading! I love you all!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games nor any canon characters. I love Suzanne Collins for what she has given me and would never in my life steal from her.

It shouldn't surprise me, the certainty of death. It's been in the back of my mind for the last five years. On my twelfth birthday, that's when it was announced, the revival of the Hunger Games.

I can remember the scene perfectly. Papa had made me the most beautiful cake, white frosting with lavender flowers and green vines crawling up the three layers. Papa always went all-out on our birthdays. Sometimes I'd help him with Mother's or Cole's, but mine was always a surprise and never disappointing.

We savored the cake in the sitting room, "we" being my family, Haymitch, and my best friend, Rye. Rye isn't a citizen of District 12, although his mother was. My parents didn't know her very well, but they did know her husband, Doctor Aurelius of District 13, and they moved to District 12 a few years before Rye was born to help my parents after mother's friend, Greasy Sae, died of old age. They had Rye only a year before my parents had me.

Rye got along well with my family, especially my father who always joked about their bread-related names. We went to school together, played together, schemed together, hunted together, and worked together. Worked well together.

Mother handed me my first present, one of my grandfather's carved bows that was protected by its hiding place in the surrounding woods. She thought that maybe if I had a bow of my own I would be motivated to get better with it. I improved a little, but would never be like my mother or Cole.

Papa gave me paints and canvasses, Cole picked out a nice dress at the Hob (rebuilt and surprisingly well-run by Greasy Sae's granddaughter), but it was Haymitch who got me Buttercup Two, much to my mother's dismay. They fought over it for a long time. "Oh, come on. The other one died." "Yes, and good riddance. We will not keep another flea-infested, food-hogging, stupid cat in this house!" (The "food-hogging" comment was a result of all those years of starving. Mother made sure we always had an abundance of food in our storage.) "Katniss, look at her. She loves it, don't you, sweetheart?" And I did love the kitten. I named it Buttercup Two right then and there and Mother had to say yes because, at that age, I reminded her of her sister.

When the cat disaster had passed and everyone went to doing their own thing, washing dishes or, in Haymitch's case, celebrate with a few drinks, Rye asked if I wanted to take a walk. This was normal for us. Usually we'd go down to the Hob for a treat or play ball in the streets, or sometimes we'd just talk. Plan our futures and such. It was all just for fun, of course.

We walked away from Victors' Village and toward the Seam until we were out of the District entirely and in the meadow where Cole and I used to play. "My mother said half of her friends and family are buried here," Rye said solemnly and out of nowhere.

"I know," I replied, "but let's not talk about that today, please?"

Rye smirked. His dark brown eyes reflected moonlight under the dark bangs that just started to grow past his eyebrows. "You're right, I'm sorry. Happy birthday, Phoenix."

"Thank you, Rye," I sang, then lied down and stare at the stars. Rye lied down next to me and I interrupted the sounds of our steady breathing with "You think they can see us? The people buried here. Think they're watching us play and lie on top of them?"

"Says the girl who didn't want to talk about such things…" Rye laughed.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Well you put the idea in my mind."

"I guess it's possible."

"I wonder if they're jealous," I said, "that we're living and they're not."

"Everyone dies eventually, Phoenix."

"Yes, but they didn't have a choice. They didn't just die, they were killed." The sad reality sunk in and I have to curl up next to Rye to keep me from crying. "Sometimes I hear Mother screaming in the middle of the night and Papa comforts her, saying 'It's all over. It's okay. We won.' or sometimes Papa will grip something hard or break something like he's fighting a demon in his mind and I can't imagine what they've gone though. I hate how my life is so peaceful while theirs was chaotic. It's like I don't deserve it."

Rye holds me tightly. "Just remember your parents went through what they did so that you could live a peaceful life. They want this for you."

"Doesn't change how I feel."

"Well you're stubborn with your feelings."

I sat up and scoffed. "I am not!"

Rye propped himself up on his elbows and smiled. "You are so. You decide you feel one way about something and it very rarely changes."

"Prove it."

"To do that, I'll have to give you your birthday present." He sat up until his nose almost touched mine and raised his eyebrows.

"Fine…wait." I backed away from him slightly. "Is this like last year's present?"

"It is exactly like last year's present," he playfully moves closer. "The one that left you confused, just like it will this year because you're stubborn with your feelings."

"I might feel differently this year."

"But you won't."

"I might."

"Phoenix," he sighed. "I really like you."

"You said that last year," I roll my eyes, "right before y-"

He kissed me, then, and not on the cheek like he did the year before. Rye kissed me right on my lips and it made me jump back. "What the…?"

"You're confused, aren't you?"

"I…" I frowned. "We're just kids!"

He stood up and towered over me. "Speak for yourself! You're just a kid. I'm thirteen and I really like you!"

"And I really like you, too!" I stood as well. "You're my best friend, Rye, but we're just kids and right now I'm just..."

"Confused," he finished, but before I could give him my rebuttal, a siren pierced the night with a shrieking hum. I looked at Rye whose eyes were just as big as mine. He grabbed my hand and we ran all the way back to our District were at least a dozen Peacekeepers were ordering people back into their houses to watch a special announcement from President Coin. They pulled Rye away from me and shoved him into the ground. I tried to help him up but my father was already behind me and he carried me back to our house while yelling at Rye to go home straight away.

"What's happening, Papa?" I cried. He set me down in our sitting room where Mother pulled me onto her lap and started braiding my hair.

"It's just a quick announcement," Mother hushed me. "It's alright. It'll be over with soon."

I scanned the room. Apparently Haymitch had gone home, too. "Where's Cole?" I asked.

"He's asleep." Papa turned on our television. "He's only nine, they'll excuse him."

The Capitol seal appeared on the screen and District 13's anthem started playing. I felt Mother's hands tense in my hair. "You can go to bed, too," she said. "You're young. They'll understand." but the program has already started.

President Alma Coin raised her head and gave a menacing smile. Her eyes looked as though they could see through all of us. Papa sat on the sofa next to Mother and me and wrapped his arms around us. I see he was trying to fight those demons again.

"Good evening, Panem," Coin grinned. "Tonight I have a very special announcement for you. As many will recall, after the 76th Hunger Games, which included only children of Snow's Capitol, we agreed to abolish such a form of entertainment once and for all. However, we at this new Capitol feel it is time to reestablish discipline in Panem. As of now, every citizen is to report to the District of the head of household's birth for the Reaping of the 77th Hunger Games."

My mother gasped and my father stood. I suddenly thought of Rye and how he would have to go back to District 13. Coin continued, "The rules are the same as before. One boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen are to be reaped from each of the thirteen Districts and sacrificed to the game as a reminder that no one is to ever stir a rebellion under my command." She said this so sinisterly, I felt goosebumps form up my arms. "The Reaping will take place next week. Happy Hunger Games, Panem, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

The seal appeared again and then the screen went black. We simply stared at it in disbelief. All of District 12 was silent for we were all in shock. Then I heard a crash and a scream followed by more shouting against Coin and the Capitol. Then there were gunshots and more screams. My father was shaking and my mother lifted me off her lap. "Go to bed, Phoenix."

"But…"

"Now."

I left the room and walked upstairs, but I didn't go to bed. I stayed at the top of the stairs, watching and listening in from the hallway.

"She did this on purpose," Mother said, distantly. "She made us believe we were safe, we were at peace and then she announces this."

"On our daughter's twelfth birthday," Papa added with his hands in tight fists. "She's sick."

"She's Snow."

"She's worse than Snow."

"She deceived us!" My mother started to sob. "I told you!" she shouted at Papa. "I told you I never wanted children for this very reason!"

"Katniss, how could I have known? We all thought she was on our side!"

My mother kicked the wall and left a large dent. "Why is she doing this?" she whimpered.

"Because you're still a threat to her," Haymitch said, standing in the doorway with a bottle of heavy liquor in his hand. Papa ushered him in quickly before the Peacekeepers caught him out of his house and wasted. "And she knows," he continued, "that your children in the Games is your biggest fear and weakness."

Mother sank to the floor. "I let her be president, didn't I? I haven't started any rebellions. I killed Snow."

"Sweetheart, you killed Snow after pointing that arrow at Coin's heart for a good long while, contemplating who knows what."

"I was deciding whether or not we could trust her as our leader! I should have let it fly!"

Haymitch cackled. "Wouldn't that be something? I wonder where we'd be right now if Katniss had killed Coin!"

"Shut up, you two!" Papa yelled suddenly, as if remembering something deathly important. "Remember when Snow was president? How everything was bugged? They're probably listening to us right now!"

"Who cares?" Mother sighed. "She already thinks I'm a threat. She's taking her hate out on our children. What more can she do to us?"

"Execute you right now," Haymitch gulped down another mouthful of liquor, "and, trust me, you don't want that."

"He's right, Katniss," Papa nodded. "Our children aren't dead yet. They aren't reaped. Phoenix's name will be in there only once. There are no tesserae anymore, although it's not like we'd need it."

"But what if the odds aren't in our favor, Peeta?" Mother looked up at him. "One name in a thousand? We all know it's possible."

"Then we mentor her," he knelt down next to her. "We keep her alive."

And that was when it first hit me. I was twelve, I wasn't very good at hunting, and, if I happened to be chosen at the reaping, I could die.

Mother and Papa, after they'd finally managed to get Haymitch back to his house without getting caught by Peacekeepers, found me huddled in the hallway. Papa carried me to my room and Mother sang to me, but it didn't stop the trembling and it didn't prevent the nightmares.