One Fire: A One Direction Fan Fiction

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   The rock beneath me is as cold as the snow around me, and as cold as the hearts of those in the Capitol; the higher force that reined over the districts, and struck fear into the citizens of Panem.

   I am nearly ready to leave and get out of this cold, when the arrow which nearly gives me a heart attack flies passed my head and hits the tree beside me with a loud crack. Through my panting breaths, I manage to sputter out, “Leah, I know you’re out there!”

   From behind the pine trees, out steps a slender girl with white-blonde hair in a ponytail which is positioned over her shoulder and flows down her chest. Her familiar homemade bow is positioned in her hand and a laugh escapes her mouth which is lined with perfect pink lips which work with her icy blue eyes to add color to her porcelain skin.

   “You’re definitely psychic, Cupcake,” she jokes, calling me by the nickname she’d given me for reasons I didn’t know.

   I force myself to stand on my frozen legs and give her a hug, where she steals the beanie I’m wearing and places it on her head. She’s drastically shorter than me, which, I guess, isn’t that uncommon since there’s a near four year age difference. But, since the games nearly half a year ago when I’d found my hidden talent of archery, Leah Brady had led me out into the forest surrounding District Twelve to hunt, more for her family then mine.

   Half a year ago, I’d been reaped from a crowd of District Twelve’s citizens and sent away. I’d been forced into an arena of twenty-three other people, who were all nineteen or older, since the Quarter Quell had included all age groups and not the standard twelve-to-eighteen years of age. We’d been forced to survive on what we could find, and kill each other off one-by-one. Usually, only one would survive, but, this year, it had been five of us; my alliance and me. The Capitol didn’t like this. Then again, they didn’t like anything that made them look like idiots.

   Since I’d won these games, I’d been rich, and my face had been plastered all over Panem as the original blazing boy. My family could afford the finest of things, and we lived in a large house in the Victor’s Village with the only other winner in all twenty-five years, Simon Cowell.

   Soon enough, I’d be reunited with Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik; some of my best mates who had been victorious along with me, to go on the Victory Tour – a second set of ceremonies halfway between games only to remind the people of the districts the games would be forever.

   Leah had already shot and killed some game, enough for her family, and more leftover to sell, so, grabbing my own bow and quiver of arrows, we trekked back through the forest to the electric fence bordering our district. It was never turned on, so we scaled it easily and entered into the underbelly of Panem; the dusty streets of District Twelve, where I used to live in a rotting shack, before I’d won the Hunger Games.

   We went to Leah’s house first, where we dropped off a portion of her game, which her family would keep for themselves. They were a small family, and didn’t take much, which gave us plenty left over. We proceeded to the bakery where I used to work before I’d won, and sold a few squirrels for a loaf of bread. Then, we went to another shack – the Sheeran residence – where we collected my best mate, Ed.

   “Hey, Hazza!” he greeted jauntily. His face held a wide, grin, as it did every day. “How’s the blazing boy today?” He hadn’t stopped teasing me about my win since I’d returned home half a year ago from my three week “vacation” to the Capitol.

   “I’m doing well, Teddy,” I said, giving him a short hug.

   Before we left his home, Leah sold some more of her game to his parents and we then proceeded to the bizarre; an old warehouse in the middle of our district where citizens would buy, sell and trade.

   Our Head Peacekeeper, Torin Clyde, is there every day. He shoots me a friendly greeting this time. Though, usually, it’s his job to keep everyone in the district in line and abiding by Capitol rules which forbid anything we need to do to survive a day in this district, he ignores everything anybody does.

   The three of us make our way over to a small restaurant counter set up at one of the booths, where we order a soup made from mice and tree bark and some other stuff; a winter delicacy here in Twelve. Of course, it’s my treat. Just as the cook serving us gives us our stew, behind us three a Peacekeeper we know well, Bristan White, appears with his typical cocky attitude.

   “Shouldn’t you be on a train, Mr. Styles?” he asks jokingly with a wink.

   “They’re getting me around noon,” I told him. “They’re getting the others here first.”

   Though it would mean being in Capitol hands again, something I definitely didn’t like after all I’d gone through around six months ago, I couldn’t wait to once again be reunited with some of my best mates, who were, sadly, miles away from me at all times.

   Soon enough, a while before noon, I had to say my goodbyes to Leah and Ed – my final goodbyes until I would return here at the end of the Victory Tour – and I head back toward the Victor’s Village through a lightly falling snow, just adding to the snow already blanketing the ground. The Victor’s Village is a separate community from the rest of the district with beautiful landscape and twelve large houses – big enough to fit a good ten of the shacks I had grown up in. Ten of them are empty, as they have been since they were built years ago. One belongs to my family, and the other belongs to Simon, who was my mentor throughout the games last year, and would be until this Victory Tour was over.

   I proceeded to my own house, where I was greeted by the familiar faces of my mum, my older sister, Gemma, my step father, Robin, and Simon Cowell. My mother’s on her feet, and she comes over to me. “How was your walk?” she asks.

   “Walk?” I ask her, confused, as she takes my game bag from my shoulder, hiding my bow and quiver of arrows behind it. She knows for a fact I was out in the forest with Leah, then selling leftover kills to those in the district. But, one look passed her, and everyone else in the front sitting room makes me see why she’s covering. There’s a man standing there with surgically altered features and artificial Capitol colours on his body.

   “There’s someone here to see you, Harry,” she tells me with a fake smile which I can see right through. Her face is paler than I’ve ever seen it before.

   I nod, bravely. After being stuck with Capitol people I couldn’t stand for nearly a month once in my life, I’d gotten used to handling them on a daily basis, even though it had been a good six months since I’d last seen one.

   Without words, the man gestures me to the closed door of the study. I step around my mum and passed Gemma and Simon and enter when I’m told to. Being around Capitol people also got me used to following commands when they were given to me.

   There, the chair which is usually behind the oak desk is, instead in front of it, and turned around. I can feel my heartbeat increase its pumping slightly; I can hear it too. But, soon enough it stops as the chair turns, revealing to me a small, slender man with white hair and eyes which are boring through me like brilliant blue daggers. “Have a seat, Mr. Styles,” he tells me in a deep, blunt voice. He’s obviously made himself at home. And so, I sat in one of the dark, leather armchairs across from the Capitol ruler, President Snow.