Flames to Embers

1-Katniss Everdeen

And I'm already typing up chapter 1! Yay

Guys... THis chapter is over 7000 works long! That's twelve pages!

So this chapter is not my favorite. The original chapter started out pretty bad, but got a little better. But in the original fanfic, I didn't talk at all about the interviews, and I just skimmed over training scores. I promise, this fic WILL get better. Just hold on.

Something to take note of: Most fanfic Katniss's are extremely ooc. Most authors make them tough and deadly and brash. Katniss is all of those things, but fanfic authors take it to the extreme by making her a bit psycho. If you remember in the books, Katniss is not like that. She's tough and closed off, but Chaff literally kisses her on the lips in Catching Fire. She doesn't scream at him. She doesn't kick him where the sun don't shine. She's actually embarrassed. A bit revolted, yes, but embarrassed. Her first reaction would be to blush. Not attack him. Yes, she attacked Peeta after he said he liked her, but that only happened once, and only because she was afraid it would make her look weak. One Haymitch explained that it made her look desirable, she calmed down. Her number one priority was getting home to Prim, and she was afraid Peeta had ruined it.

So my Katniss might seem a little calmer than what you're used to. That's just because I'm afraid of going down the psycho serial killer Katniss path.

CAN WE ALSO take a moment to admire Clove's skillz???? Seriously! Look at the knife she throws at Katniss in the movie. The one that Katniss uses to cut down the tracker jacker nest. That thing is NOT balanced for throwing. I don't think that was an accident. They wanted to show just how good Clove is at throwing knives. Take it from someone who's a knife thrower. That's tricky, man.

Chapter 1

Katniss Everdeen

Our little girl's alliance actually worked out very well. It was me, Lana, Cameron from District 7, and Savannah from District 11. We trained together for a few days, and shared our skills with each other.

When the training scores came around, I was very excited for them. Savannah scored a seven. She was excellent at climbing, and decent with a slingshot. Lana, who was a bit older than us, scored a nine. She was pretty good with a knife, and she was really fast, too. Cameron, or Cami as she liked to be called, scored another seven. A score of seven is fantastic for a twelve year old, so we were all very excited. She was amazing with an axe, which I guess is because she's from the lumber district.

And I got myself an eight. An eight is a very good score, even for older tributes. Eights are a low score for a career tribute, but very impressive for an outlying district.

The training scores aren't necessarily telling the public just how strong you are. They are meant to tell you your chance of winning the Games. No one has ever received a score higher than ten, but there's usually only one or two tens per year. The gamemakers assume those tributes will be the ones facing each other in the finale.

My interview flew by. Caesar asked me a bit about my family, and my impressive training score, and my alliance. And, of course, my memorable entrance. My flames during the tribute parade were completely adored. No one remembered Lucius for them. He wasn't very good at the whole "making friends thing." But I was. Everyone loved me.

When my pedestal rose up into the arena, the first thing I noticed was the silver bow, right in front of me. It was resting against the side of Cornucopia, trying to tempt me. To lure me into the bloodbath. I turned my head, looking for my allies. I noticed the District 2 girl, Victoria, was next to me, her eyes trained on my bow.

Cameron was five places to my right, Savannah was two more past Cameron. I couldn't see Lana, so I assumed she was on the other side.

Twenty seconds.