Starstruck II: Saruman's Curse

Hunger Games (Hunger Games AU)

Dean was not looking forwards to this evenings activities.

Every year, the people of his country, Panem, were forced to partake in a series of games known as the Hunger Games. Each of the twelve districts had to give up one male and one female victor between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in these games. It was believed the games kept the peace. Dean thought they kept people in fear.

The way the contestants were chosen was by a raffle, called the reaping. If you were 12, you got your name put in once, 13 your name was put in twice, and so on. If you needed to, you could have your name put in more, and in return you got food. Dean thought it was an unfair system, but he was willing to put his name in for the food to keep his brother from starving. He would do anything for Adam. Even if it meant having a higher chance of being in the games.

This year would be Adam's first chance to be in the games. Dean had made sure his brother's name was only in the reaping once, that way there would be no way he would be called, at least he believed.

At two o'clock precisely, the reaping began. A video was played, telling all of the citizens of District 12 the history of Panem and the games, most of which Dean tuned out.

Once the video was over, a very flamboyantly dress women went up to the bowls with the names in it and introduced herself as Rowena.

"Ladies first!" she said, walking over to the bowl. She moved her hand around in the bowl, as if she was looking for the right one. At last, she pulled out a slip of paper and read, "Charlie Bradbury!"

Dean knew Charlie, she went to his school and worked in the bakery. That was about all he knew about her. It was too bad. Dean felt a sense of guilt for being glad it wasn't someone he knew better.

"And now, the boys," Rowena said, after Charlie had taken her place on the stage. Once again, Rowena placed her hand in the bowl.

Dean held his breath, praying for the best.

Rowena finally chose a slip and pulled it out of the bowl. Slowly, she unfolded it and read, "Adam Winchester!"

It wasn't possible. Dean hardly dared to believe his eyes as he watched his only brother walk up to the stage. Suddenly, Dean snapped himself back into reality.

"No!" he yelled. "Adam!" he started to push his way out of the crowd. Guards clothed in white, called Peacekeepers, grabbed him, in an attempt to hold him back. "I volunteer! I volunteer!" Dean screamed. "I volunteer as tribute."

"Well, then it looks like we have a volunteer," Rowena said, somewhat shocked.

"No, Dean! No! You can't go!" Adam shouts, running towards Dean and grabbing him in a tight hug. "You can't go."

"Let go, Adam," Dean says, a bit harsher than he meant. Adam reluctantly let go, tears falling from his eyes.

Dean made his way up to the stage, where Charlie stared at him, wide eyed. Perhaps it was because no one ever volunteered in District 12.

"What's your name?" Rowena asked him.

"Dean Winchester."

"Aw, so that must have been your brother?"

Dean nodded.

"Well, I guess that's that, then. District 12, welcome your tributes."

This comment was met with silence. This was wrong, all wrong. This should not be happening. None of this should be happening.

The next few weeks were all a blur to Dean. Training, flaming clothing, meeting the other tributes. None of it mattered to Dean. He was a dead man walking anyways.

Apparently he and Charlie had made a good impression on the judges and got a few sponsors, which he assumed was a good thing. He also discovered he had a real talent with a knife.

Sooner than he would have liked, it was time for the games to begin. Dean hugged Charlie, who had had become quite close to after the past few weeks, then he took his place on the platform that was to raise him into the battle ground. They were not allowed to move from their platform for 60 seconds before the games began. Dramatic effect or whatever.

Once the platform began to rise Dean started to panic. This was his last moment before becoming a puppet of the Capital, forced to kill for sport. Dean was no killer. He didn't think he could do this.

Once the platform rose out of the ground, he looked around him. The arena this year was some kind of forest, with the cornucopia, which contained all the weapons, in the middle of a clearing. All the tributes stood on their platform, which surrounded the cornucopia in a circle.

Dean looked around at all the tributes. He didn't think he could kill any of these people, even if they weren't exactly the nicest.

Suddenly, the countdown stopped. The tributes made a mad dash for the weapons. Tyrone, a nasty guy from District 7, ran straight for the U-Haul truck that was parked next to the cornucopia, jumped in it and drove away, screaming profanities. The career pack, Paris, Kara, Kaia, Colleen, and Ashley quickly took over the cornucopia. Ashley, a tribute from District 2, quickly picked a fight with Hermione. The battle was short lived, however, Ashley easily killing Hermione and making the first kill of the game.

Dean, not wanting to get in the way of the careers, grabbed a knife and a backpack that was near the outside edges of the cornucopia. He sprinted off into the forest, running into a tribute from District 8. He recognized him as Castiel. The two gazed at each other before sprinting off in opposite directions.

Not bad, Dean thought. He couldn't help himself.

Dean kept running, for as long as he could. By the time he stopped it was nightfall. He decided to climb a tree, praying he was out of sight of anyone nearby. Dean took a few moments to catch his breath, trying to be as silent as possible. Once he felt he could breathe normally, he decided to examine what he got at the cornucopia.

The knife he picked up was very odd, it didn't even appear to be sharp. Dean thought it was made out of some sort of jawbone, seeing as it still had several teeth attached to it. The handle was covered in black cloth. He ran his finger on the edge of the blade to discover it was, in fact very sharp. He shook his hand and inspected the bleeding. If this is my first injury in the Hunger Games, I guess I must be doing pretty good, he thought.

Dean then went to open his backpack, discovering it contained rope, dry meats and fruits, a water container, a light jacket, and a hairbrush. Taking the rope, he tied himself into the tree so he wouldn't fall out if he rolled, and hoped he could get a night's sleep before he had to do anything too physically straining. What he forgot about, however, was the cannons.

A cannon went off every time a tribute died. On the first day, however, the cannons didn't go off until the night time, because there was usually a complete bloodbath on the first day. This year, however, only two cannons went off.

Another tradition of the games was projecting the faces of those who had fallen in the sky, to show they were gone but not forgotten. The face of Hermione, the girl the career Ashley had killed, and Ruby Deamon shinned in the sky. Dean felt a sense of relief that Charlie wasn't dead. If he didn't win the games, he wanted her to.

At last, Dean thought he could catch some sleep. He tried to get comfortable in the tree, which he soon discovered was impossible. He fell into an uneasy sleep, his knife in his hand.

By: Luci