Prologue: The Reaping

"Oh, my big boy is all grown up now."

Kyungsoo scrunched his nose in mock disdain as his mother fussed over him, continuously pressing down on the lapel of his worn out jacket. It was already one or two sizes smaller for him, but considering the life that they led, he had no right to complain. He was thankful that he still had something to wear during the cold nights. His attention was torn away from his mother when something crashed in their kitchen, followed soon after by a pained yowl of a cat and the hushed giggles of his older sister. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes before letting out a chuckle.

"Sunny-noona, please stop terrorizing the mangy thing." He called out, and Sunny's head promptly popped out from the doorway, her face scrunched up as she stuck a tongue out at Kyungsoo.

"Whatever, midget. Are you ready?"

Kyungsoo turned to their mother, and saw the fleeting look of worry flash across her face, her strong facade from earlier crumbling down as the bells tolling in the town square rang. Kneeling down, he cupped his mother's hands into his and squeezed them gently. The elderly woman sighed heavily, and Kyungsoo frowned at her.

"Mom, we're not going to be picked. Five years into the Reaping and neither my name nor noona's have been picked. Ever. We're going to be fine, mom." Kyungsoo whispered gently, and Sunny walked closer to wrap an arm around their mother.

"...you can't be sure about that. This is Sunny's last year in the reaping, and you have another year to go...I know you got two extra tesserae for us, Kyungsoo." She admitted quietly, gazing at her son in a slightly reproachful way.

Kyungsoo's eyes widened, his gaze flickering to Sunny. The older girl shook her head, mouthing 'I didn't tell her', and Kyungsoo sighed before looking back at his mother. "It couldn't be helped, mom, we're running low on food ever since we got robbed...I'm the only man in this family, I had to do something..."

"...but you're my baby, Kyungsoo...I can't...I can't lose anyone anymore..." She said, hushed voice cracking as her body started shaking, breathing getting ragged.

Sunny quickly pushed Kyungsoo aside, taking his previous position and cupping their mother's faces. She softly whispered instructions to their mother, and Kyungsoo scrambled away to the small kitchen they had, rummaging through the drawers. Grabbing a clean plastic bag, he dashed back to his sister and mother. Sunny calmly took the plastic bag and placed it over their mother's mouth.

"Breathe, mom, breathe. Relax, and take deep breaths. Relax." Their mother's breathing soon slowed down into something normal, and Kyungsoo was finally able to unclench his fists, the blood slowly flowing back.

Sunny nodded at Kyungsoo, and he swallowed nervously. He leaned down, planting a kiss on the crown of their mother's head. She grasped weakly at Kyungsoo's hand, as if wanting him to stay behind, but he shook his head sadly, smiling at his mother wistfully.

"I'm going, mom...see you later?" He forced himself to smile wider, trying to ignore the painful thundering of his heart inside his ribcage.

Sunny planted a kiss on their mother's cheek before standing up, standing next to Kyungsoo. She grinned brightly, even throwing out a wrongly done salute to try and make their mother smile. The elderly woman only frowned at them, tears her eyes.

"Mom, don't cry. We'll see you later! Right, Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo nodded despite the heavy and ominous feeling in his gut. He could feel the blood draining from his face as Sunny squeezed his hand firmly. He nodded harder this time, and their mother didn't relax, not one bit, but they couldn't do anything anymore to try and ease her worry. They were, after all, going to the Reaping.

It was suicide, plain and simple. Everybody knew that.

Hand in hand, Sunny and Kyungsoo ran to the town square. They could see the up on the stage, her shrill voice booming out of the haphazardly placed speakers on the platform as she ended her opening speech, walking daintily to the big glass bowls placed up on top of the stage. Her bright orange frizzy hair gave the impression that her head was on fire. Kyungsoo quickened his steps, pulling Sunny behind him. Before they could join their respective lines, the was already straightening the piece of paper that she had picked. Stepping up to the microphone, she cleared in a rather obnoxious way.

"As usual, ladies first, yes? Ah, what a beautiful name. Sunny!"

The candidates lined up in the middle of the town square all looked around, not one of them making any move. At the back, just short of the crowd, were Kyungsoo and Sunny, eyes wide, faces blank and frozen in their spots. One of the Peacekeepers, a matured bubbly man familiar and close with the two of them, approached them sadly. Placing a hand on Kyungsoo's wrist, he gently tried to pry off his hold on Sunny who was equally frozen as her brother, lips pale and tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Sorry, kid...I'm really--

"I volunteer!! I volunteer for Sunny! I-I volunteer!!" Kyungsoo suddenly yelled as he stopped the Peacekeeper mid-sentence, voice frantically loud and cracking at the end. Sunny took that time to snap back into her senses, wrenching her hand away from the Peacekeeper and grabbing Kyungsoo, enveloping him into a bone-crushing and protective hug.

"No! Kyungsoo, no! Why would you do--

"Ah, a volunteer! We...we haven't had that in a while, really. Come, come! Come up here, little boy. Young love." The interjected, waving her hand and beckoning Kyungsoo forward. The Peacekeepers near them moved closer, ready to take Kyungsoo up to the stage.

"No! Get your filthy hands of my brother! This is murder! No, Kyungsoo, no! What about m-mom? Oh my God, Kyungsoo, why?!" Sunny shrieked hysterically, tightening  her hold on Kyungsoo and letting the tears flow.

However, what was an eighteen year old girl against four grown Peacekeepers? They successfully pulled her away from Kyungsoo, one of them grabbing Kyungsoo by the elbow and dragging him towards the stage. He fought back the tears, his mind reeling from his previous action. He shook his arm free, took one look back at his sister thrashing wildly against the guards, and turned away, marching to the platform with false confidence.

The tried to welcome him warmly, but nothing was warm in his predicament. He stood beside the girl with the bright orange flaming hair, his knees buckling under all the pressure and realization as his gaze fell on a sobbing Sunny at the back, their Peacekeeper friend doing his best to try and calm her down. Kyungsoo could barely hear what was going on around him, the shock of everything making his senses numb. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging painfully onto his palms, the stinging sensation the only thing keeping from passing out. It was only when the waved her hand in front of his face did he snap back into some semblance of attention.

"Your name, honey? What's your name?" The asked, smiling brightly at him, the sudden close proximity of her frizzy bright hair and unbelievable amount of make-up momentarily stunning Kyungsoo.

He blinked rapidly, throat going dry. He swallowed nervously, his lips before planting his gaze back on his sister in the crowd. He could see the steady trickle of tears from her eyes. "I-It's Kyungsoo."

"Ah, brilliant! We now have our first tribute. Tell me, Kyungsoo, why did you volunteer for that girl?"

Kyungsoo could feel all the sympathizing gazes on him. He suddenly felt small and vulnerable, standing next to the dressed in bright and crazy colours. His drab, dirty and grey clothes were a striking contrast against the 's crazy ensemble. He couldn't help but feel mocked, and that tiny feeling ignited a small flame of anger in him. Frowning, he glared at the .

"She's my sister. I'm not going to subject her into televised murder which you ers from the Capitol so adamantly revere." He snapped, and the flinched at his tone and harsh words. Smiling quickly, she turned back to the audience, going to the next bowl.

"Well, opinions differ, I believe. Now, now, let's move on to the next tribute, shall we?"

Kyungsoo tuned out the next events, resorting to staring at his sister all throughout the ceremony. Sunny was now standing at the back of the line, eyes blank and shoulders slumped as she gazed at Kyungsoo, something akin to longing and regret swimming in her eyes.

The ceremony soon ended, and Kyungsoo barely processed the presence standing next to him which was the other tribute. They were ushered off the platform and pushed into wagons headed for the Justice Building. The building loomed ahead, and Kyungsoo could feel his mouth go dry at the sight of it. The wagon stopped, and they were lead inside the building, the Peacekeepers  pushing them into separate rooms where they could say goodbye to their families. Before Kyungsoo was pushed in, he felt a gentle squeeze on his shoulder. He looked up, and soon realized that the other tribute was none other than Jongin, the quiet boy from school who had nobody left, his parents taken by illnesses and his only older brother picked at a Reaping three years ago (only to be killed during the initial bloodbath).

"Let's show them what our district is made of, Kyungsoo."

Jongin gave him a lopsided grin, and before Kyungsoo could think of a decent reply, he was finally ushered into a small room. As soon as he saw Sunny and his mother, realization hit him on full blast like a freight train with broken brakes.

He was going to die.

^{A/N: Introductory chapter! Surprisingly, I'm having fun writing this. :)) Tell me what you think about it! :)}

^{I've hyperlinked the definitions of some of the HG terms here, so if you didn't understand what they are or something, just click on the links. :) Thank you for subbing! ♥}