Author's Note: Hey everybody! So this is my first fanfiction ever. I'm trying to improve my writing, and I thought of no better way than getting characters that I already know and love and putting them dire, life treating situations. As I said to Radio Free Death, who gave me a awesome review for this chapter, I'm trying to get better so any notes or suggestions you guys can give me are totally welcome.

I don't really know how to end this things... so... let's do this?

It's still dark when I reach the town's main square. The cold breeze feels like it is cutting through my bones, my father's jacket is still too big for me so close it the best I can, and walk faster towards Peeta's bakery. At this hour, almost all the stores are still closed, the light from the bakery makes me long for the smell of fresh bread and the warmth of Peeta's arms.

From outside I can see Mrs Mellark cleaning the counter, I'll have to sneak around the shop to avoid her. She despises me for a river of reasons. Mostly because of my relationship with Peeta, but also it's because she needs me. Without the meat I sell her, which is below the market price her family couldn't afford to eat meat more than once a week. I never told her that, but she knows that I know it. And she hates it.

I head straight to the backyard. Only one person is working in the kitchen, Peeta. I gently tap the window, getting his attention. He gives me his brightest smile and gestures me to get inside. The warmth inside the kitchen feels good, but is Peeta's kisses that makes me feel instantly better. "Good morning, Mockingjay," he whispers in my ear. We're both aware that his mother is in the other room, so we keep our voices to the minimal.

"I brought cheese, what do you got for me?" Peeta takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and gives it to me.

"Well, besides a long list of things to get in the woods, can I interest you in some old burnt bread and tea?" He has an embarrassed smile. I told him several times that I didn't care about the bread, but that's the type of person Peeta is, he wants to give me the World because he can't see that he is enough for me.

"I would love it," and I kiss him once more.

We sit down together to have breakfast, the bread is from a burned batch that Peeta's family has to eat for the whole week so it doesn't go to waste. I never complain about it, but after all this years I can tell that he is still embarrassed by giving me his family's leftovers. "How's Prim?" Peeta asks. I sigh, remembering how many times she woke up screaming this week.

"She still having nightmares. Not even the sleep syrup is helping, we barely slept yesterday." Peeta puts his arms around me, holding me tight. His shirt smells like flour, sugar and cinnamon. I let myself to get lost in his embrace, knowing that both of us have the longest day of the year ahead of us.

"Everything will be fine, after the reaping." Not for two families, but I don't say that, I only hug him tighter.

We avoid talking about the reaping for the rest of the meal. Peeta tells me about the new drawing he's working on, I tell him about the new music sheets Madge's father brought from the Capitol. "When we get married, I'll work day and night to buy you a piano," Peeta says. We both know that would be easier to win the Hunger Games, but I like the dream.

"Madge told me that the Capitol is planning to build a dozen houses by the edge of the Seam next fall. Hopely, one of those will be ours."

We already have our names on the waiting list. We can't get married until we are legally adults, that would be the day after our last reaping. But you can enter the list when you turn fifteen, with your parents consent. Both of our families thought we were insane, except Mr Mellark. He smiled and wished us good luck. All the kindness in Peeta definitely came from him.

After breakfast I put the rest of the cheese, and some bread on my game bag. Taking a quick glance at the list I can tell right away that is Mrs Mellark's handwriting, I try to contain the small smile forming on my lips before Peeta sees it. We walk outside with our fingers interlaced. "Will you be here when I come back from the woods?"

He checks the schedule posted on the wall, "I think so, I have a few deliveries, but I should be back before you."

The cold make me shiver, and Peeta hugs me protecting me from it. In his arms, I have the sudden feeling that today I could lose him. The fear makes me hold him tighter, life without him would be the same as falling into a dark precipice. I tell him that I love him, but those words aren't enough to explain how much I need him, how much I care for him, how much I want to be his wife. "Come over with Prim after the reaping, and we'll make a cake. How about that?" he says.

"A cake?" My surprised face makes him laugh.

"Yes, a cake! I have some money saved up to pay for it, and you can get strawberries from the woods. Come on, don't you want to make Prim happy?" I'm tempted to say that is a huge waste of money, but that would make my sister happy, and Peeta loves to spend time with her.

"Alright, but I'm paying for half of it, and we're giving some of it to Gale." Peeta's smile fades away.

"Sure," he says.

The first sunlight makes his blonde hair look like gold, and I realize that I'm late. I don't want to, but we kiss goodbye and I head to the forest.

The Sun is up when I find Gale crunched down setting up a snare. "You're here early, usually I'm the one waiting."

Gale turns with a grin from ear to ear. "You're not going to believe this, saw a deer." My jaw drops. We haven't seen a deer in over a year, the meat alone would give us more money than a month's worth of hunting! "I saw it by the river but it ran away before could hit it. I think it's heading North."

If this morning was like any other we would cut class and spend the day tracking it. But unfortunately, today we can't afford to do that. "We can't Gale, not today. Even if we catch it the town square will be crawling with Peacekeepers."

Gale is moody for the next hour. He knows I'm right, but he's too stubborn to admit it. We catch a couple of rabbits and a few squirrels, plus almost all the nuts and fruits on Peeta's list. Gale helps me, but he can't help it to complain about it. He also was in the receiving end of Mrs Mellark's comments several times.

"That woman got some nerve. She thinks we're an illegal poaching service?"

Technically we are, she's not the only store owner to ask us to get something in particular from the forest. She's just the most demanding one. "She's taking advantage of you. You know that, right?"

I'm getting tired of this conversation, "Yes, I know, but she's Peeta's mother. So what you want me to do?" Gale sighs loudly, he doesn't like to meddle on my relationship with Peeta.

"Let's just get the damn strawberries."

At mid-morning we sit under a tree and split the bread, cheese and a handful of berries between us. "We're baking a cake today, after the reaping." My attempt to calm Gale down falls on deaf ears.

"This whole thing is sick. Standing up in the square, hoping that someone else will be sent to death, and still having to act grateful for it." It is sick, and also out of our control. I know better than tell him that. I let Gale rant for as long as he wants, today is a hard day for him too. Rory, his younger brother turned twelve too months ago and had to take out tesserae when Gale was down with a fever. His name will be added five more times from now on, if he doesn't take out more tesserae.

The games are especially unfair with the children from the Seam. We need tesserae to survive and that increases our chances to be picked for the Hunger Games. Gale is eighteen, his name will be in the reaping balls forty-two times, my will be in twenty times while Peeta's, who never needed to take a tesserae will only be in four times. The odds aren't exactly on our favor.

Back at the town the main square is completely transformed. The front of the Justice Building is now a stage and Effie Trinket, the escort for the tributes from our District is testing the microphone by blaring orders. "She looks like a mutt," Gale says, and is true, her pink wig and puffy dress stands out like a sore thumb against the opaque colors from the square. But if I had to guess, I would say that was her intention.

Madge's house is our first stop. It isn't far from the Justice Building, besides the houses in the Victors' Village, her house is the biggest in town. Madge wasn't born on District 12. Her family moved in from the Capitol when she was ten, after the previous Mayor was executed. She's the only person in our school that doesn't have to worry about her name being picked for the reaping. Most people hate her for it. I used to hate her too, until we got stuck together in a class project and I realized that she's a genuine good person who also hated the games. We became friends after that. Gale, on the other hand, only seems to tolerate her because she always buys strawberries.

Madge opens the door and I'm stunned by how beautiful she looks. Her hair tied with a pink ribbon falls like a cascade of blonde curls over her white dress. "Katniss, hi!" I about to say it back when Gale cuts me.

"We brought your strawberries." He's blushing, I don't think I ever saw he do that. If Madge notices, she chooses to ignore it.

"Come in, I found something I want to show you."

We enter the hall and Madge takes a small black box from a table. "Open it!" I do as she says and inside is a golden pin of a mockingjay connect to a ring by the tip of his wings, holding an arrow on his beak. "I want to trade it, for the strawberries," Madge says.

I look at Gale and he is just as dumbfounded as I am. "It's beautiful Madge, but I can't accept it. I too valuable." I consider Madge my friend, and the last thing I want is to feel like I owe her something.

"Katniss, I found it in the attic with the things from the old Mayor. I don't think anyone is going to miss it." Gale takes the pin from my hand and analyzes it.

"You can get a good price for it, at the Hob." Madge takes the pin back. "Not everything's meant for sale Gale," her tone is cold.

"It is if you have a family to feed." Gale says grinding his teeth. They stare at each other in silence, if I don't do something they'll start a fight. So I accept the pin, promising Madge that I wouldn't never sell it. Although, the thing feels like it is burning a hole though my pocket all the way through my trading route. It's impossible not to think how much it worths.

Our last stop is the bakery. Mrs Mellark is nowhere to be seen, but we still chose to use the door on the backyard. Mr Mellark greeds us hugging me and shaking Gale's hand. "How are you doing Mr Mellark?" I ask, but I already know the answer.

"As fine as anyone can be in a day like this," he says, with a sad smile.

"This is Prim's first year, and Gale's brother too," I say.

Mr Mellark puts his hand on Gale's shoulder and looks at us, "Both of you are the strongest kids I know, you'll get through this." His voice is full of warmth and compassion. Gale doesn't say anything, he looks down and nods, his eyes are red but he doesn't cry.

We start to trade the rest of the game Gale and I caught when Peeta walks through the door. I walk to greed him but I stop when I realize that he's drenched in sweat. "What? You're not going to hug me?"

Peeta's arms are wide open and he has an evil smile on his face. I take a step back, then I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders. I look up and it is Gale. He also has a creepy smile, I'm about to tell him no, when he pushes me straight to Peeta's sweaty arms. I try to wiggle my way out but I'm laughing too hard.

"Okay, okay, you won!" He lets me go and high-fives Gale, both looking incredibly proud with themselves. I'm surrounded by traitors.

Peeta and Gale didn't get along at all when they first meet. Gale thought that Peeta was a sheltered townie and Peeta thought Gale was a hot head. Both weren't exactly wrong. They only started to warm up to each other when they found a common hobby, picking up on me.

"Great, now I going to smell like sweat and bread until I get home."

Gale laughs out loud for the first time all day, "That'll be an improvement." I give him an angry look, but it makes him laugh harder.

"Well, I always love the way you smell," Peeta gives me a quick kiss, and I put my arms around him. We both need a shower anyway.

Gale lives in a different part of the Seam so I walk alone most of the way. I stop at the edge between the Seam and the town to look at the vast empty space were Madge said the new houses will be built. Looking at it makes my heart ache. We have three more reapings to get through, then Peeta and I will live here. We won't have any kids, but we will have each other.

Is not that I don't want children. I thought about having children with Peeta until Jasmine Thorneleaf was reaped last year. She was a girl from a merchant family. She was twelve and she wore her blonde hair in two braids, the same way I braided Prim's hair that morning. In that moment decided I wasn't going to have children. Some pains just are too much to bear.

"You're late!" Prim is already dressed and pacing the living room holding that demon she insists is a cat.

"Well hello to you too, little duck." I worry she'll have a panic attack so I hold her. "Prim, your name is only going to be there once, the chance they'll pick you is one in hundreds."

Her beautiful blue eyes are full with tears, "You promise?"

I can't promise she wouldn't be picked, so I make a promise I know I can keep, "I will never let anything bad happen to you."

We're running late so there's no time to heat more water, and the water left is freezing, my nails are blue when I finish showering. "I'm sorry Katniss, it was either heating up the water or making lunch."

My mother and I came a long way since her mental breakdown after my father's death, but things like this make me so angry. I spent the entire morning hunting and trading to provide for our family and she can't make the time to heat up some water. I want to complain but Prim is already on the edge, and we need to be on time, so I let it go. For now.

We walk fast to reach the square on time. Prim wears some of my old clothes, and I wear one of my mom's blue dresses, with the mockingjay pin on the lapel. We are some of the last people to reach the square. Most kids are already in place. The Capitol workers rush to get us sign in and place us with our age groups. Prim stays in the back with the other twelve year old girls, I stay in the middle section. From my place I can easily spot Madge and her family on the stage, Gale in the front row, and Peeta on the same row as me, but on the boys side. We exchange a nervous smile.

Effie Trinket starts the ceremony with an overly happy tone, she tries some half-baked jokes that are met with absolute silence. Mayor Undersee reads a standard speech from the Capitol, making sure to mention Haymitch Abernathy, our only victor alive, or half alive. He barely looks conscious sitting down on his chair. They play a boring short film about the Dark Days, the destruction of District 13 and the beginning of the Hunger Games and it ends with a pre-recorded speech from President Snow. The only stir the ceremony gets is when the reaping balls are placed on the stage. Two huge glass vases with the names of the boy and girl that will be chosen to fight in an arena to the death a week from today.

"As always ladies first." Effie takes out a single paper from the hundreds inside, and my heart stops on my chest when she reads it. "Primrose Everdeen." I can't believe. The other girls around me try to hold me so I won't fall, but all I can think of is to push them away. They can't take Prim, I promised that I wouldn't not let anything bad happen to her.

"Prim!" I start to scream pushing the peacekeepers that try to stop me. They can't take her, I won't let them take her, "I volunteer as tribute!" I hear myself saying.

Peacekeepers take me to the stage, while Prim screams for me not to do it. Gale rushes in and takes her to my mom, who is with the other parents. She looks like she's about to pass out. I give her a smile to assure her that it is fine, even though I'm terrified. From the stage I see Madge, whose fair skin is red from crying holding onto her father's arms. Effie holds my arm to keep me still on a marked place on the stage.

"My, my, my, District 12's first volunteer in decades! What's your name?" she asks.

"Katniss Everdeen." She continues to talk but I don't pay attention. My mind still feels out of my body until I notice Peeta staring at me from the audience. I have seen the expression in his eyes before, its the same he has before a wrestling match. There is a goal in his mind and absolutely nothing will stop him until he achieves it. Before I thought that it was arousing, now I know he's about to do something very stupid.

"And now, for the boys." Effie takes another piece of paper, while Peeta and I stare at each other. Don't do it, you idiot. Effie opens the paper. Please Peeta, please don't do this!

Effie barely gets to say some boy's first name when Peeta shouts "I volunteer as tribute!"