District 12.
The mining district.
It is the only district where the children are forced to go to school instead of helping their parents work in the coal mines, making them have little to no chance of surviving any bloodbath.
And such a district only had one victor, Haymitch Abernathy, winning through exploiting the arena of his 50th games, a drunk angry man.
All of this district was never meant to survive the games.
All but a small part of it.
As the years went on, Snow realized that always sending new peacekeepers in districts would come with more complications then needed and already back in the 29th, he instilled a peacekeepers' village in each district.
Each district had its own peacekeepers that would grow up like peacekeepers but living in their districts tho with a higher quality of life. This way they would know of the hiding places, the culture and the secrets of their districts and they couldn't be tricked by the citizen.
There were special schools built for them, taught the art of combat and unlike everyone else, the better they did in school, the more of their name slips they could pull out from the community's reaping bowl. Each having 50 put in when they reach 14 and the quicker they advanced the more they could pull until only one was left, and it has gone on for so long that in one year many were able to eliminate more then 2/3 of their names, with their parents paying off the reaping officials.
Tho that had been found out and a new escort had been given to all districts in exchange of lowering the 'name tax' to 30.
And so it was in such environment that was born one girl that would change the face of Panem for ever.
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Katniss didn't have an easy life.
How many tesserae did she have? So much... Just to keep her mother and sister fed.
She learnt to hunt from her father before he died in an explosion of the mines that rocked 12 to the core. Such a tragedy that even their peacekeepers didn't just watch but tried to help with the efforts of digging out what miners might have survived... One of the only times they were on the same side.
Her life was not only hard but complicated.
Her friend Gale clearly was in love in her and she also had an on and off boyfriend, Peeta, and she just couldn't tell how she even dealt with it, who she even truly liked, sticking her in this limbo of uncertainty that was just more stress.
But currently she was smiling, holding the little mockingjay medallion she got for free, thinking of giving it to Prim, her sister.
Of course walking away from that little in the woods secret but not so secret place could not be easy.
Blood.
Blood splattered as screams of pain and begging followed.
This couldn't be avoided.
Looking at the younger boy on the ground but held off it by the front of his shirt, face blood and maybe a tooth knocked out by the amount of blood there was.
The one holding him was one of these peacechildren, what the people to become peacekeepers were called by everyone, her fist covered with his blood as the others just watched on with differing amounts of amusement.
They were like the elite of the district, Katniss got to starve while they got fed and prepared for a life in the service of the Capitol, babied unlike any of the district.
And compared to districts, these peacechildren might not be dressed that differently from them but their clothing had large Capitol logos on most of them to show their pride in serving it, making it almost impossible to mix them.
But Katniss was one of those that could not miss them on a more personal level.
Persephone punched the guy once again before dropping him, he deserved this, he tried to steal food from them.
"I'll tell my parents to add your name into the reaping bowl... Hmmmm... Maybe two times as I am in a good mood today." The blonde said with a huge grin at the evident fear of the boy.
"Make that three." Her friend said with an equal grin.
"Hmmm... Should I~?"
"No please!! I am sorry!! I was just hungry!!" He tried to grab at her leg but she kicked his hand away.
"Don't touch me." Hissing her deep blue eyes throwing thunder around before she grinned again. "Kiss my boots, and then we'll see if I am clement."
Persephone, also known as Percy by all, was a cocky little girl, well she is 18 so not that much of a kid, two more years and she gets to graduate as a peacekeeper.
She had longer blonde hair, more dirty blond, tied in a pony tail brushing her upper back, her eyes more blue then anything anyone had ever seen, pools of blue so deep it was easy to get lost in. And sadly for the district, trained in combat like all other peacechildren, being much stronger than any of her lower peers and seen in the muscles they were forced into from their training tho hidden by their outfit most of the time. Only the forearms were out for her.
Wearing black peacekeeper boots and gloves that reached up part of her forearms, a darker brown set of pants that didn't look flexible but tell that to them when it could survive splits easily. A thick belt on which she wore the weapons she was trained with, two short sword, a dark blue T-shirt with longer sleeves tucked into her waist, a small logo over her heart, while on top wearing a lighter grey sleeveless jacket with the same Capitol logo huge on its back in black.
And many of the other peacechildren had the same get up with their personal variation to it.
"Come on boy or do you want to make it four?"
The trembling boy leaned over, kissing the dirty muddy boot before getting kicked in the face as others laug--SHOVE.
Percy stumbled but caught herself before falling, almost falling in the mud, glaring up.
"Who do you think you are?!" She yelled at the younger girl. "Oh look at that, the little hunter." She grinned, standing up straight.
Katniss Everdeen, infamous for sneaking out of the bounds to hunt, the only reason she was free to do so as if hurt nothing and each time she was caught it just added her name into the reaping bowl again... Plus the little secret not so secret market place of 12 was a place peacekeepers also went too to get stuff, they had a better life yes but they were still living in 12, so a blind eye was turned.
"Stop hurting him, he did as you asked." And she was one of the annoying few to have a big enough head to try to mess with them with her own sense of justice.
"Did he? I asked him to kiss me boots but he was not happy to do it." Stepping closer.
"He still did." Sure, Percy was scaring Katniss, known for being quite violent and the most excellent student of her generation, a born prodigious girl, having worked her name out of the reaping bowl the year they were introduced to it, remaining with only one like always. And even if she broke the rules and got her name added back in, she got it back out in a few months... She wish she didn't exist.
"Hmm... I suppose she's not lying is she?" She looked over her shoulder at her friends, most who gave a bored shrug, not wanting to deal with Everdeen while Percy found it fun. "As I told boyo over there, you are lucky, both of you, you only get two names added to the reaping bowl. And--" She swung her hand up, driving it in Everdeen's stomach, dropping her just like that. The girl on her knees and coughing in pain. "-That's for daring to touch me, not only that but to pouch me."
Percy stomped her foot, making mud splash on the other girl before she turned away, walking off with the other peacechildren following.
Katniss was in pain but this was the least she had gotten from this specific girl. Once she had gotten tackled again a window that shattered and she fell inside the home of the man that owned the house because she had hurt Peeta and then she had not just pushed her but outright punched her, it took Peeta begging for her to not be beaten following that as she was trying to climb after her while the boy kept begging while holding her... Somehow it ended up working.
She sighed, staggering to her feet and heading home.
Neither expecting their lives the intertwine more than it already was.
But after all.
Reaping day is rapidly approaching.