Fragments ↠ The Hunger Games

introduction

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F R A G M E N T S
❝All that remains.❞
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❝I'd rather die kind and forgotten than be remembered for being brutal.❞

— Fragments,
Pre Hunger Games

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⠀⠀⠀⠀Perhaps he shouldn't have done it.

⠀⠀⠀⠀For most, it would have been easy to stay quiet; to let the silent crowd of District Nine fizzle out rather than reignite it with a bang. But for some, staying quiet is never an option when your morals are on the line, and sixteen year-old Bellamy Ronan knew the risk he was taking when he volunteered as tribute in place of a kid named Ethan, whom had lost his sister to the Games only a year prior. They aren't friends, he and Bellamy — strangers, more like — but even strangers could see the pain on Ethan's face as his name was reaped before a thousand pairs of eyes, doomed to fight for his life against twenty-three other kids and teens in the Sixty-Ninth Hunger Games.

⠀⠀⠀⠀And so, perhaps Bellamy shouldn't have done it. Whether it was a selfless sacrifice or an act of defiance on his part, perhaps he shouldn't have volunteered. He could have stayed blissfully ignorant, like all his district's people do, but what kind of person would he be if he did? What kind of person would he be if he didn't at least try?

⠀⠀⠀⠀So he did it. He did it, and despite knowing in his heart that it was the right thing to do, Bellamy still can't help but feel that he shouldn't have. It's Murphy's Law — anything that can go wrong, will go wrong — and one selfless act is all it takes for chaos to retaliate. Had Bellamy not volunteered, he wouldn't be sent out for slaughter. Had he not volunteered, he wouldn't be a pawn in the Capitol's sick game of exploitation; the young and desirable fan favourite with a lionheart and haunting blue eyes — a rare and unusual sight to behold from District Nine, making him all the more of a target to tributes whilst the crowd swayed in his favour.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Then again, had Bellamy not volunteered, he'd never have gotten to live out his final lasting days with her.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Reaped alongside him as their district's female tribute, fiery but cunning Demetria Vorne soon makes it clear that she plays to win. At first seeing Bellamy's selfless act as nothing more than a ploy to get ahead and become a shining star in the eyes of Panem, Demetria distances herself and swears to give him hell if he so much as tries to get in her way — a threat that seems all the more real when she surprises him with her brutal fighting style and charming demeanour, which push her into the spotlight without any false pretences.

⠀⠀⠀⠀But survival in the Games doesn't mean anything without an ally — and maybe Bellamy wants to do right by her — so with a little more convincing from his damaged mentor and eccentric escort, Bellamy and Demetria learn to use their influence on the crowd to their advantage — but not without igniting a little more chaos of their own, first.