Flames to Embers

9- Primrose Everdeen

Lots and lots of angst in this one! ALso, you can definitely watch how Finniss has developed! Which is always great because that's really all we're here for!

**I edited some of the past chapters, because I decided that the tributes of the 74th Hunger Games should stay with the 74th Hunger Games, and not be in the 66th. So Rue was not in Katniss's first games. Savannah was. Etc.**

I heard the scream from all the way downstairs and knew immediately what it was. I felt my feet carrying me up the steps to Prims room. My hand on the bannister put my tattoo in plain sight.

Comita.

Caraway.

Silva & Monroe

I looked away just as soon as I had seen it. Images of six teenagers flashed in my mind as I forced myself up the stairs.

Willa and Aspen, so in love that they got married early.

Leevy and Lennox, twins who were so eager to give what little they had to those who had even less

Ceri and Almond, quiet, young and innocent, who never should've been reaped at the young ages of twelve and fourteen.

Prim could end up just like them.

I opened the door to her room and ran to her bedside, where she was sobbing quietly.

"It's alright Prim. It's all okay," I soothed.

"It was me," she cried. "They pulled my name,"

This year was to be Prim's first reaping. Ordinarily, I would've tried to comfort her and tell her that it was all going to be fine. She only had her name in the reaping bowl once. She wouldn't be picked. But she knew just as well as I did that she had a higher probability of being reaped, simply because her sister was Katniss Everdeen. I couldn't lie to her like that.

"I won't let that happen," I said instead.

Prim looked at me, her eyes bloodshot. "You can't stop it, either."

"I would rather die than let you enter the arena."

She smiled through her tears.

I made up my mind right there. I knew she would be reaped. It was clear to me. I would volunteer for her, and I would be going back into the arena.

...

"Ladies first!" Effie trilled. I steeled myself. Here it comes. She took a deep breath, and excitedly called out- "Primrose Everdeen." Her voice dropped at the end. She glanced back at me, sorrow in her eyes. I stood up quickly, a lump forming in my throat, preventing me from speaking. The best I could manage was "Prim!" coming out as a small squeak. Prim walked up to the stage, the crowd parting around her. I watched her tuck her shirttail into her skirt, and felt the lump in my throat dissolve.

"I volunteer!" I call out, remembering Zahra's bravery for Lydia. She was truly a role model for me.

Effie, Haymitch, Mayor Undersea, and everyone else turned to me in surprise.

"That's... That's not allowed... is it?" Mayor Undersea said.

"It is allowed," I said firmly. "I am sixteen years old. I can still volunteer."

"That's true," Haymitch supplied, knowing how much I wanted this. "She can volunteer. She can't be reaped, but she can volunteer."

"Alright then," Effie regained her composure. "And now for the boys." She dug her hand around in the glass ball, and pulled out a slip of paper. "Peeta Mellark,"