AUTHOR'S NOTES: Welcome to the 75th Annual Hunger Games! Those who have read my other fanfics will know that they are set in an alternate universe, where Katniss did not volunteer for Prim at the reapings. However, they also mention that Katniss is still a victor, and that she volunteered the year after. This is the story that explains that, and is obviously a direct sequel of "The 74th Annual Hunger Games." This tale intends to capture the story of how Katniss deals with the loss of her sister and friend, and why she's so distant and closed off from everyone. There is also a reference to a certain character from one of my other stories. Kudos to those who spot her. With that said, this story will probably update sporadically, or once a week for the time being. It may later receive an M rating unlike my other fics because I feel it will probably be darker and perhaps a bit more suggestive. Perhaps that will remain to be seen though.
Happy Reading!

PART I: THE QUARTER QUELL

CHAPTER 1: The 75th Annual Hunger Games

75 years—it had been 75 years since the Dark Days—75 years since the sadistic Hunger Games had been instated in Panem. These games and the isolation between the districts were what kept them apart—kept them as enemies to one another to distract them from the real enemy.

While every district was technically a 'loser' in the aftermath of the 1st Rebellion, the games themselves had distinct winners and losers. District 12 was among the losers of the games, with only two other districts being able to say their victor count was nearly as low.

To a certain Katniss Everdeen, the number of victors didn't matter at all. What mattered was that these were innocent children that had were being forced to their deaths, and to murder each other. Their only crime was being picked at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Of course, this year, the Capitol was stirring with excitement like they did every 25 years since the Dark Days. This year was another of the dreaded Quarter Quells, where the Capitol would twist the rules for add intrigue and surprise into the games—but also to ensure that the districts continued living in fear of their powerful and 'benevolent' Capitol overlords.

Katniss thought little of the announcement when it came. It was mandatory viewing, which meant that her time out hunting in the woods across the fence was limited—ergo, probably not going to happen today. This meant an hour or two of Capitol nonsense and what have you, only for 5 minutes of meaningful screen time from President Coriolanus Snow as he announced the rule change for this year's Annual Hunger Games.

Katniss only really paid attention when she saw him step up with the little yellow envelope in his hands.

"This year…" he continued what had otherwise been a somewhat lengthy speech that the Capitol citizens were surely gushing over, while most of the people in the more rebellious districts such as District 8 and District 12 were just rolling their eyes. "To remind the districts that it is not just the children who suffer when the Capitol is defied… the tributes reaped for the 75th Annual Hunger Games will be chosen from any and all citizens between the ages of 17 and 25 years. Happy Hunger Games… and May the Odds be Ever in your Favor…"

There was a ceremonial fanfare and a few other closing words, but otherwise, that was the name of the game, and Katniss shrugged it off. She was only 17, and so was not likely to get picked, being at the bottom of the age bracket. Her mother would have had to have been 8 years old to have Katniss if she was still 25, and so her age kept her far from being eligible.

What hurt the most though, was thinking that had her sister Primrose not been reaped the previous year, she would have been spared a year like this. Day after day, Katniss was haunted by her reaction—an attempt at preventing Prim from being reaped gone sour. Why had she been unable to simply bellow the words 'I volunteer!'?

She took at least a tiny bit of solace in knowing that Prim's killer had not become the victor of the games, but in truth she had no real idea what to think about Clove Kazera. Perhaps in a couple of years when District 2 inevitably produced another victor, they would meet again except with Clove as a mentor. Time would tell.

The next few days flew by without anything out of the blue really happening. The power went out a couple of times, Katniss did closely evade electrocution once as she was jumping the fence to go out and hunt, and she and her friend Gale Hawthorne scored big at the Hob with their catches the day before the Reaping Ceremony. She wondered if any of the younger visitors of this place would get chosen for the Quarter Quell tomorrow, but she was too busy worrying about her own survival, and occasionally ensuring that her mother would still be aware enough to handle herself for the next few days.

Reaping Day felt like almost any other one that Katniss had been to. This would be the 6th one she attended, and her penultimate one if she was not chosen.

The bubbly escort lady, Effie Trinket, stepped up to the stage and welcomed everyone to the reaping for the 75th Annual Hunger Games before they went through the usual proecdures and presentations as was standard protocol. There was a rerun of the Quarter Quell announcement to reaffirm that tributes would be chosen from a different age group this time, but otherwise it was not much different from the 74th Reaping except that the people standing in the "tribute pool" area were aged 17-25 instead of 12-18. Shortly after the presentations and propaganda videos had ended, Effie went into a little monologue of her own courtesy of the Capitol, before finally getting to the part that everyone dreaded.
"And as always… ladies first…" Effie's hand swirled around in the large glass bowl, before drawing out a name. To Katniss' relief, it was not hers—but seeing the woman in question was a different story.

"Naisha Togisala!"

A small, dark-skinned woman with loose black curls began to slowly meander towards the stage. There was a young boy in her arms, that she handed off to another woman as she wiped her face with her arm. The unusual way this woman walked combined with the largeness of her belly was enough for Katniss to tell something very obvious about this woman—she was several months pregnant. There was no way she'd last more than a few minutes against other armed and dangerous killers. Even if she did, that pregnancy would get to her. No… Katniss could not just stand idly by and watch a helpless woman go to her death, and so, perhaps even to her own surprise, she found bold words escaping her lips.

"I VOLUNTEER!"

Everyone froze, turning to face her, which made Katniss suddenly feel as if she was butt-naked, what with the way people were skeptically staring at her. Even the Peacekeepers stared, a few surely even raising their eyebrows from behind those black visors on their white and grey helmets.

"I volunteer as tribute!"
There was no distinct protocol for volunteering in District 12, since it was a rare occurrence indeed. While in Districts like 1 and 2 they had to have limitations set in place due to so many potential volunteers, such a thing in District 12 was such a rarity and so unheard of that when Katniss volunteered, no one even questioned it. Naisha, the woman whom she had volunteered for, was beside herself with gratitude and relief, and even threw her arms around Katniss, who, perhaps still from the shock of what she had just said and done, embraced the woman before letting her go.

"And now… for the boys…"

Effie stepped a little to her right and rummaged her hand through a bowl of boy's (well, young men's) names before fishing one out.

"Levi Dryden!"

An olive-skinned young man with a similar color of hair and skin to Katniss, trudged up to the stage. Katniss couldn't exactly say that she knew this fellow, but she had sympathy for him if nothing else.

"Ladies and Gentlemen…" Effie beamed, taking Katniss' hand in one of her own and Levi's in the other, "Our tributes representing District 12 in the 75th Annual Hunger Games… Levi Dryden and Katniss Everdeen! May the odds be ever in your favor!"

It seemed that now was the time for her to say goodbye to her mother. Hopefully Mrs. Everdeen would be able to fend for herself without Katniss supporting her the entire way. There was only so much she could do overall, but with her now about to be miles away in a death arena, her options had now all but been eliminated.

"It's all on you now, mom." She warned, "I'm not going to be here to bring back game or goods anymore… it might be a few weeks—it might be forever. Do you understand me?"
Katniss' mother simply nodded blankly, that glazed expression of hers not leaving her face for a moment. Katniss could kind of understand where she was coming from, what with first losing her husband three years ago, and then losing her youngest child the previous year; but even Katniss was hurt about that one. There was nothing she could do about it now though except ensure that her volunteering for Naisha Togisala was not in vain.

It was not long afterwards that Katniss and Levi were escorted by Peacekeepers out to a car that took them to the nearby train station. Their goodbyes had been said, and this therefore marked the beginning of the end. One of them—perhaps both of them—would never be seeing home again, and if the other one was fortunate enough to survive… they would still never be the same as they once were. After all, everyone knew that the winning the Hunger Games meant fame and fortune…
…while losing meant certain death.