Caged | The Hunger Games AU ✓

i. ineffable

PLEASE READ THE NOTE BELOW. A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKING ME QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS OVER THE YEARS EVEN THOUGH EVERYTHING IS EXPLAINED IN IT.

a/n so you don't get confused: this is one year after katniss and peeta's games. technically it would be the quarter quell and the victors would be chosen, but I decided to make it so there wasn't an uprising. yet. also, peeta and katniss are engaged already and gale never moved to district two yadda yadda. okay, now on with the story~

one - ineffable

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there is silence as i sit in the grassy area just outside the woods. the soft bread in my hands is crumbling, and it is then when i realize i'm squeezing it so hard that it's breaking. a larger hand covers mine and i look to my left to see my older brother, roy, looking at me with a worried look in his coffee brown eyes.

"relax," he tells me. "there are tons of other kids in the reaping. do you know how small of a chance there is of you getting picked?"

roy has always been an optimist and for that i am extremely grateful. i am almost exactly the opposite; i find it difficult to look on the bright side of things, especially because of last year's hunger games. what katniss everdeen and peeta mellark did has set all of panem on edge— the districts are already seeming like a powder keg waiting to be ignited. and now that this year's the quarter quell...

usually, the twist in the games is announced prior to the reaping that's supposed to start later this afternoon. but this year we'd been informed that the change won't be revealed to the tributes. rather, they'll have to figure it out for themselves as the games go on. and the thought of seeing my brother in that agonizing arena makes my stomach clench.

"it's not me i'm worried about," i tell him, focusing my attention back to the bread, turning it over in my hands. "i'm scared for you. your name is in there forty-six times, roy. and i don't think i could cope with losing you."

roy sighs and entwines his fingers with mine, pulling me up from my previously seated position. i am about to ask him what he's doing when he hands me my twin daggers and sheathes them in my belt. he then takes two throwing knives out of his pocket and gives them to me, the metal cool against my skin. i take them from my brother and watch as he slips out his own knives from his worn, fabric pack.

"let's hunt," he suggests. "you like hunting; it'll get your mind off things. plus, you promised dad you'd get him something to cook tonight, am i right?"

i nod because he is right — as usual — and give him one last wave goodbye before we march off in different directions into the thicket of trees.

my attention is on high alert for any animal that may come my way. i brush away strands of my dark hair from my face, annoyed that they have come out of my ponytail. i am so focused on doing this that i almost miss the rabbit darting past me at an alarming speed.

i don't hesitate. i reach back and throw my knife, watching it soar, twisting and turning and then—

it almost lodges into a boy's skull.

he is so quick to react that he manages to stab the rabbit, duck, and roll out of the way before the knife impales him. he looks a bit shaken when he stands up, staggering a bit, but other than that, he is unscathed.

"watch where you're going!" i shout at him. he seems surprised at my tone and looks up.

the first thing i notice about him are his eyes. they are so blue and bright that they pierce my brain. his hair is a few shades lighter than mine like milk chocolate and is tousled, like he runs his fingers through it a lot. however, it manages to somehow look perfect.