Flower Born of Flame

Chapter 1

Pain.

Excruciating pain.

That was all Katniss could think of as she lay there in the darkness. The only bit of light that she had been given was the from the small opening of the cave where she had made camp. But she couldn't see if it was day or night, whether it was the sun or moon causing the light that was casting shadows around her. Not that it really mattered.

All that mattered at that exact moment was her ability to ride out this next wave of agony.

The pain rippled through her abdomen straight to her spine. Her body tensed as she shook from the overwhelming sensation. It was felt almost like the her internal organs were being contorted and stretched before being slammed up against each other by an invisible force. Like they were being tightly squeezed over and over again.

She lay there facing the ground, but she placed the majority of her weight on her side. She didn't want to risk lying completely on her stomach, but it hurt too much to lay on back. Her flushed cheek pressed against the soft push fabric beneath her, she was eternally grateful for the padding around her face. Because once again, she could feel another excruciating moan trying to escape her dry parched mouth.

Burying her nose into the blanket, the sweat that literally dripped off her brow dampened the area. The small amount of liquid almost made the sweltering heat of the cave bearable.

Almost.

Katniss didn't care about the perspiration-drenched saltiness of the fabric as she took it into her mouth and clenched her teeth together tightly. Her jaw was aching from holding on so hard as she released the muffled sound of her pain from her throat. Her damp, shaky hands clenched the fabric tightly on either side of her, fingers digging into the material. She accidentally ripped out strands of fibers when they snagged along the jagged and dirty edges of her fingernails.

Her slicked bare legs, greased from the perspiration emitted from her heat-radiating skin, easily slid over the same blanket as she brought them around to her front. Clenching her knees together tightly, they stayed a distance away from her body only because Katniss knew that bringing them to her chest would make the pain worse. Toes curling into her feet, she could feel the tinge of an ache from her toenails digging into the skin of her adjacent appendages, but at that moment she hardly cared.

She knew that the expression on her face was far from controlled, far from anything she had ever brought herself to show before. Her eyelids were pressed down so tightly that she could see stars behind her eyes. Her brow was wrinkled from the contortions of her mouth while she was screaming ans moaning into the fabric. Tears streamed down her face, what she could musters as saliva formed around her lips and clear streams streaked out of her nose.

Katniss knew she looked horrible. But for the first time, she couldn't help but be grateful for that.

Her body's disarray matched her face. Her once carefully braided hair was still in place, but numerous strands feel from it in every which way. Around the edges of her scalp was damp. A layer of dirt was caked onto her skin, all over her neck and face, her exposed arms, shoulders, and even the full length of her legs.

The smock of a dress was made from a very thin, swarthy white fabric, practically see-through now that it was drenched with the amount of moisture secreting from each and every one of her pours. Adding to the fact that Katniss wore nothing underneath left her increasingly exposed.

The outfit was nothing more than a long, rectangular piece of fabric. A fringed slit opening had been torn in the very center, the opening where she'd put her head through. The exposed area of skin around her neck started right at her breastbone until it reached behind her to her shoulder blades. All of her neck, collarbone and upper back were bare. The thin expanse of fabric left to cover her shoulders fell to the sides, every now and then, sometimes showing too much breast tissue than she wished.

The only thing holding the cloth in place were a series of thin matching cloth strips encircling and crisscrossing around the circumference of her waist, starting just below her bust line and coming down to her hip bones. With such a narrow strip of fabric running down her front and back, it left plenty of space for the all of her hips and sides to be exposed. The smock only came down several inches above her knees. There was only barely enough fabric to cover her decency. Even as she writhed in pain she had to monitor the way the fabric moved, careful not to expose too much.

Usually she would have been embarrassed by how much skin she was showing. After all, at that very moment, even as she screamed into the blanket in agony, her appearance was being displayed across the entire nation of Panem. Normally every instinct within her would have done whatever possible to cover herself.

Then again, Katniss wasn't in a normal situation.

But in that very moment, as twisted as the feeling may have been, she was glad the entire country could see her like this. This was because Katniss knew the more pain she suffered and the more horrendous her appearance, there were more chances that every citizen in the Capitol was becoming more and more intrigued by this entertainment.

Her pain and her suffering, this new and fresh approach to the event that had never in the history of their country happened before. It was almost impossible for a Capitol citizen to object to this new found delight. They wouldn't be able to even try saying that they disliked it.

And when they liked what they saw, that meant Katniss's surroundings were unlikely to be changing anytime soon.

That was what Katniss was counting on.

Within seconds the once excruciating pain dulled, leaving as quickly as it had come upon her body. She paused for a few seconds as she tensed, just waiting to feel if the pain had really ceased. It took less than a few seconds for her to confirm it. Yes, it was gone … for now.

Katniss released the now soggy fabric from her teeth that she had used as a muffler for her voice, wiping off her entire face on a dryer patch of blanket next to it. Although her horrid appearance was helping her, she could only maintain so much. Refusing to collapse onto her stomach, Katniss used what strength she had to push herself from her side and onto her back.

As she did, she couldn't help the small sharp sound that escaped her mouth. Groggy and dizzy, Katniss's head fell onto the hard earth beneath her without much cushioning. All that lay beneath her was the very thin wool blanket, and beneath that was only a small layer of leaves and clay. She gathered the strength to cut her voice short, but that was all she could muster.

Now that the waves of pain in her abdomen were temporarily relieved, she could feel the intense throbbing from inside of her skull. It felt like there were little people hammering away on the other side of her temple. She stretched her head back to rest the bones and muscles in her neck. Her heart was fluttering faster than a hummingbird's wings against her ribcage. Her chest moved up and down furiously, and Katniss forced her mouth closed so that she could attempt to regulate her breathing.

Only when Katniss could feel her pulse lowering, however slowly, did she realize that not even her tongue was wet enough to moisten her lips as she tried. Letting out an almost pleasant sigh, she was once again reminded that in the very least thirst was not something she needed to worry about.

Never daring to remove her self from the blanket, once Katniss mustered up the strength she rolled herself onto her side once again. Reaching up above her head, she inched her fingers forward, almost waving them around blindly until they found what she had been searching for. She clasped her hand around the plastic, and forced her aching muscles to pull herself up from the ground. Leaning her weight on her free arm, she steadied herself despite her shakiness.

Already opened, Katniss brought the water bottle to her lips with shaky hands and pressed the opening to her lips. Once she felt the warmer yet wonderfully wet pure liquid on her lips she took a long, slow swig. The substance trickled down her throat and coated its sandpaper-like walls. She wasn't savoring it, just making sure to pace herself. In fact as she drank she could feel it trickling down the sides of her mouth, dripping onto her neck and chest. Conserving her water was one thing she didn't have worry over. In the space where she had retrieved the already half-downed gallon bottle were were another eleven. Two were already empty. Plenty left.

Twelve gallons of water for the tribute from District 12. If she had the energy, Katniss would have chuckled at the irony.

Once the bitter dryness from her throat and mouth was gone, she capped the bottle and returned it where she'd found it, wiping the liquid away from her chin and neck. Katniss didn't bother to use the water to scrub down her face or body, despite the fact that they were covered in a layer of sweat and caked in a layer of dirt. Her body was doing its job of cooling her down on its own, so where was she to stop it?

The sweat was welcomed, a sign that she was still hydrated enough to perform such a task. She had enough water, but that didn't mean she was going to waste it either. Besides, once she rid herself of the sweat, it would just return with the next wave anyway. The only thing that Katniss did to herself was wipe away the salty fluid from her brow. The last thing she needed was for her eyes to be stinging. She didn't want to temporarily blind herself.

Slowly returning to her position on her back and closing her eyes, Katniss took in slow deep breaths through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. In and out, in and out. She repeated this until she could hear her heart settling, slowing down to a normal pace. No longer was the organ beneath her breast trying to escape its cage.

She released all the tension in each of her muscles, allowing them to sink down slowly onto the ground. Instead of her limbs being tightly clenched to her sides, she allowed them to fan out wherever they landed. The ache from having to hold herself subsided, and as she stared out to the space in above her, she could see her vision returning.

As the stars that blocked her vision cleared, she couldn't help as her head turned to the side, too heavy to keep straight. It was when she completely let go that she could feel the extreme weight of tiredness settling over her.

Sleeping was next to impossible, despite the heaviness of her eyelids. Katniss knew that if she tried to close them they wouldn't open without a substantial amount of effort. She would never forgive herself if she fell asleep in that moment. Sleeping now would mean vulnerability. That was something she couldn't afford at that moment.

Despite her persistence to stay awake, Katniss knew that she had to rest somewhat, even if it only meant lying there motionless. She needed to rest and not allow the stress to affect her so, because her present state of mind affected her body. And the state of her body not only affected her own, but the one she was supporting as well.

The body of the person inside her.

She felt her hand lingering to an all too familiar spot on her stomach. Like the simple barrier of her hand could protect the small life inside of her from all harm. It was wishful thinking, and foolish at that. Still, something inside of Katniss made her perform the small gesture anyway. It was her only way of showing her protectiveness even in her weakened state. The audience wouldn't be pleased unless their most famous mother-to-be wasn't being … well, maternal.

Even if the cameras weren't filming her every move, she would have done it anyway. This was because the only thing between danger and this new, fledgling life that was making its way out into the world for the first time, was Katniss. She was all that this unborn creature had.

No, not a creature. This wasn't just another creature without an identity. It was a baby. Her baby. Her child.

And Katniss knew that the only thing that could keep her child out of harm's way was her own strength and protection. She glanced over to the opening in the cave where she had made shelter. Outside these walls were countless dangers, all of them just waiting for the right opportunity.

That was because for the first time in history, for the 75th annual Hunger Games, the number of people in the arena was about to grow.

And Katniss had no idea how soon that time was coming.

(A/N: Thank you for reading. I haven't written anything in such a long time... but I hope I haven't gotten rusty. Please tell me what you think, even if it's negative. But gently. Please? I look forward to my next update.)