I Volunteer! (Katniss x Reader)

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It was reaping day, and you were terrified. Your name is in that bowl about... 20/30 times? Your family didn't have enough money to buy the food for all six members. So you were told to exchange your name for the tesserae. You knew you had an extremely high chance this year of being chosen...

You walk up to the table, and they prick your finger, getting the DNA from your blood. The peacekeepers wave you past, and you follow the crowd. You look around the crowd of girls, and you see Katniss stood three rows in front of you. She turns around and she spots you looking at her. You wave and smile, but she just turns back around. You look down at your feet, in embarrassment, and your chest tightens again. You hold in the coughs that are threatening to escape your lips, and you look back up, as the ceremony starts.

Effie Trinket explains about the reaping, then she goes over to the ladies bowl. She sticks her hand in, and she pulls out a singular slip of paper. She walks back to the microphone and she yells, "Primrose Everdeen!"

Your eyes widen. It feels like time has stopped, as you look over at Katniss. You see horror and sadness on her face, so you decide to do something drastic.

"I volunteer!"

Everyone goes silent. You step into the walkway, and you walk to Prim, who was shaking and had tears in her eyes. You kneel down and you whisper to her, "Tell Katniss I'm sorry."

She smiles sadly, then she runs over to her sister. Effie smiles and she tells you to come up onto the stage. You walk on and you stand beside her. You were shorter than her, as she was wearing a large hat and a very tall heels, but you just kept on looking straight, trying to avoid any eye contact, especially with Katniss.

"What's your name dear?" Effie asks me, with a soft smile.
"Y/n Mellark," I reply, still looking at no-one, even though I could hear whispers about me.

"Now, onto the boys," Effie says smiling excitedly. She walks over to the boys bowl, and she picks one out. She walks back to the microphone and says, "Peeta Mellark."

The whispers get louder and Peeta begins to walk towards us. He arrives and stands on the opposite side of Effie, not even bothering to look in my direction.

You and Peeta are walked into the mayors building, and put into to seperate rooms. You sigh, as you sit down on one of the sofas. You know that your family aren't coming in to see you, so you just get comfortable.

The door opens, and you look at it, to see Prim, Katniss and their mother. You stand up. Prim runs over to you and hugs you, crying into your stomach.

"Sh... Don't cry Prim..." you say, smiling sadly down at her tear stained face.
"We just wanted to say thank you," Mrs Everdeen explains, hugging you tightly.
"It's no problem," you reply, smiling once again. "I only did what was right."
"We should go now, so your family can come in," Mrs Everdeen says, walking towards the door.
"Yes... My family..."
"Before I go, I want to give you this, y/n," Prim holds her hands out, showing a Mockingjay pin. "Katniss gave it to me for luck, so I want you to have it."
You gasp, and quickly shake your head, replying, "No, no! I can't take that! Your thanks is enough!"
"Just take it already..." Katniss says in a monotone voice, glaring slightly at you.

The vines in your chest tighten, but you keep the coughs at bay. You nod and you gently take the pin from Prims hands. You smile at her, and wave goodbye to them as they exit the room. As soon at the door closes, you start coughing, petals falling into your hands.

~In The Train~

You were sat in the living room section of the train, alone. You were looking out of the window, watching all the trees and crops fly past.

You hear the door open to the room, and you turn around to see a rugged looking man. You cough, to try and get his attention, but he ignores you. He grabs a bottle of whisky, and begins to down it. Your eyes widen and you quickly stand up, rushing over to him. You rip the bottle from his hands, and you chuck it in the bin.

"Hey! What was that for?" the man yells, growling in your face.
You whimper slightly at first, then you straighten your back and you say, "You shouldn't drink. Especially not that much in one go."
"Look who's being brave, talking to me like that. You don't even know who I am, do you?"
"Correct, I don't. But I doubt you can remember who you are, with how much you just drank."
"Tsk. I'm Haymitch, your mentor, so you better start respecting me."

Haymitch shoves you off of him, and just picks up another bottle. You sigh and sit back down at the window seat. You feel the seat sink next to you, so you look to your left to see Haymitch watching you.

"Why did you volunteer?"
"You know about that?"
"Of course I do. Now answer the question."
"Well, it's because she was to young to be here. To be honest, no one should do this..."
"How do you know her?"
"What makes you think I know her?"
"You whispered something in her ear, and then her family came in to see you."
"Well they wanted to thank me, and I wa-"
"I can tell your lying. Your hands are twitching in your lap," Hatmitch says, with a smirk.
I look down at my hands to see that they were twitching. I sigh and I reply, "She's my brothers crushes little sister. I couldnt let her come here to die..."

As you finish the sentence, you realise that you called her your 'brothers crush', almost as if you subconsciously knew, you had no chance with her. The vines tighten again, but it was to hard to control this time, so you started coughing.

Haymitch's eyes widen at the petals that were now in your hands. After you finish coughing, you throw the petals in the bin beside the sofa. Tears threaten to escape your eyes, then you feel a hand on your back, soothing you. You look at Haymitch, and he just smiled sadly, showing that he knew what was wrong with you. Bursting into tears, you tightly hug the drunken man, who hugs you back, continuing to rub comforting circles on your back.

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A/N: I'm thinking of making a part two (possibly a part three) of this story. Unless, you guys want this to be made into a proper book.
The next part will come out soon.

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