In honour of Catching Fire being released, I decided to finally post this. It's finished quickly and it sort of sucks but I hope you'll like it anyway. Where the little black heart (♥) is, is where it jumps forward in time because of me being too lazy to finish it properly.
Looking to the sky to save me [Hunger Games!AU]
The Reaping is today. Louis does not like it one bit. He has four younger sisters. Two of them would be in Effie Trinket’s bowl today and Louis knows that if one of them gets chosen, there’s nothing he can do. If he volunteered, he would be the male contestant from their District and he would have to compete against his sister. And that’s something he would never do. He’s put his name in the bowl more than required, because if he got chosen, at least his Mum and sisters would have food and fuel.
District 12 was definitely not the best District to live, but it could have been worse. Louis had a job at the bakery (he had no idea how either) and he was glad he didn’t have to go into the mines every day. Jay, his Mum, was a nurse and the two oldest girls, Félicité and Charlotte, helped her and took care of the other two, Daisy and Phoebe.
Louis never wanted his kids to grow up in grey, dark District 12. It disgusted him how the people from the Capitol only held the Hunger Games for their own personal entertainment. How is watching kids, aged twelve to eighteen, kill each other entertainment? Some of the kids getting chosen are so young, just turned twelve and already approaching their deaths in the arena.
Louis hated watching the Games on television every year. He forbad his younger sisters to watch it, not wanting to terrify them.
In the distance, a siren goes off. It signals them to gather on the square in front of the courthouse and Louis sighs deeply. He feels his heart jumping around in his chest at the thought of one of his sisters being chosen. Lottie is braiding Félicité’s hair and Jay is straightening out Daisy’s dress. Phoebe crawls into Louis’ lap where he’s seated on one of the beds.
“Nothing’s going to happen today, right Lou?”
“Of course nothing will happen, sweetie”, he smiles. He can’t bring himself to tell her that yes, something might happen and either me or Fliss or Lottie gets chosen.
“We should go”, Jay says and Louis can hear she’s nervous. She’s nervous every year, ever since Louis turned twelve.
“It’ll be fine, Mum”, he whispers once the girls are all out the door and it’s just the two of them.
“What if you get chosen? What if Fliss gets chosen, or Lottie?” Jay says, panic audible in her voice.
“We’ll be fine, Mum. And if we get chosen, there’s nothing we can do.”
“That didn’t exactly help, Louis.”
“I know but it’s the truth. Come on, we have to go.”
On the way to the square, Daisy and Phoebe cling to Louis and he’s scared. Scared to lose his sisters or himself in that arena.
Louis, Fliss and Lottie all register themselves quickly and they go to stand in the waiting areas, Lottie and Fliss clinging together and Louis in the boys’ area all by himself. It doesn’t take long for everyone to arrive and much too soon, Effie Trinket is coming on stage. She tells the basic stuff with a much too happy voice and the standard video is shown once again.
Louis looks around in boredom and he spots a young boy with dark curls. He seems to be around the age of sixteen and he’s staring at the girls’ section with an anxious look on his face. Louis wonders if maybe he has a sister old enough to be chosen. He’s seen the boy before and he wrecks his brain trying to remember his name. Is it Henry? Harold, maybe? No, Harry, right. That’s it. Louis used to have a small crush on him when they were younger.
