Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sometimes, I wonder who the main controller of fate is. It is something that I haven't really wondered about until this fateful day. Because on this day, my life fell apart like a stack of papers. And my life was never the same. I am Maize Donnet, I am 12 years old, and today my life changed drastically.

"GIRLS, GET UP! TODAY'S THE REAPING!" screamed one of the grumpy volunteers at the awful community home I live in.

In an instant, all 6 12 year old girls in the room jumped out of their beds, including me. We made our beds in less than a minute, and I sprinted to my nightstand, where all my clothes and possesions were stored. I opened my drawer for my clothes and found an ugly, pink sweater and skirt combination. Ew. Totally not my style.

I leafed through my tattered, poor clothes collection until I found a decent outfit. One of my favorites: A purple plaid flannel shirt, and my trusty pair of overalls. I quickly put this on and I put on my favorite and only pair of shoes: combat boots.

I went over to the mirror that was hanging on the wall of this prehistoric, dark, danky place. I looked okay. Except for my short, choppy blonde hair, which stuck out in a few directions.

"Maize, brush your hair for once!" yelled an annoying voice. It belonged to Corona Hillstead, an overcontrolling, bossy girl who liked to yell at me.

"I can't find my brush!" I yell, knowing it's in my toiletry kit. She sighed.

"Dorianna, give Maize your brush." Corona said in her bossy, I'm-too-good-for-Maize voice. Dorianna gave me her brush. I quickly run it through my hair.

I look better now. From the mirror, my bright blue eyes stare back at me almost mockingly. I frowned at it. I then head to the bathroom to wash up. "Geez, Corona can be a snob," I mumble under my breath.

After breakfast, I have about an hour before the Reaping. Ms. Tapp, the community home owner and kind of our principal, lets us all outside on our playground that obviously needed a few repairs.

"Perfect," I mumble. Ms. Tapp turns her back to talk to a boy that already hurt himself. I walk over to a bush and pretend to be digging a ball out of it. Instead, I dig out a trip wire, some assorted wires and a ketchup bottle. "Oh yeah," I whisper. Today was the day: I was going to play a trick on a victor.

A while later, I was standing in front of the Victor's Village. I had no goals to live there, but if fate knocks on my door, I'll let it in. I looked around and found the house I was looking for. Target aquired: Beetee. I snuck up to his doorstep, being really careful not to be seen. I then applied the trap, which, if set up correctly, will involve the ketchup squirting onto his face. This is gonna be good. I then crawled into a bush and waited.

Finally, after about 10 minutes of patient waiting, Beetee finally stepped out. He stepped foward and - SQUISH! The ketchup squirted right in his face. I desperately tried to control my giggles. His face was priceless! I couldn't help it. I began laughing wildly. He immediately looked in my direction. I then got an image of me as Fried Maize with a side of Severe Tapp Punishment. I immediately leapt out of the bush and started running. Once I was pretty far down the street, I looked back. He was calmly wiping off his glasses and looking at me like he was analyzing me.

I ran through town, still laughing. People kept looking at me like I was garbage. I didn't blame them, though. I was always playing tricks on people. It was my weird way of testing people, and they hated it. That's how I ended up with the nickname of Merciless Maize. Though the things I have heard them say about me were terrible. I tried not to think about them.

I finally reach the community home. I leaned against a wall, still laughing. I could hardly catch my breath. I was so overjoyed about my latest trick - on a victor - that I forgot today was my first Reaping. I hope I wasn't chosen.

"Maize? Do I even want to know where you were?"

I turned and saw Corona, perfect black curls and all, staring at me disapprovingly.

"Hahahahaha - I - hahaha - tricked - ahahaha - I tricked…I tricked…" I was laughing so hard I could barely talk. "I tricked…A VICTOR!" I then laughed so hard that I nearly passed out. When I tried to stop, I just pictured Beetee's face again and I kept laughing.

Corona narrowed her eyes. "Well, you tricked a victor and got out alive. I'll give you one for that. But I'm still telling Ms. Tapp." She went over to Ms. Tapp.

"Tattletale," I hissed through my teeth. Stupid Corona and her perfectness and all her dumb friends. She was the model child, the person I am always compared to. I was the loose screw, the girl who everyone knows her name. But not for good things.

Ms. Tapp returned. "Maize, go wash your face. Reaping's in 15 minutes, and you don't have time to take a shower. And when we return, you're grounded."

"What if I don't return?"

"Then I hope you die." she replied. Ok. That burned. Corona smiled like it was a joke. Knowing I was defeated, I started heading into the bathroom. I'll remember Ms. Tapp's comment for a long time.

After washing my face, I went back outside. I heard Ms. Tapp say, "Ok, we're going to the Reaping in 2 minutes! Pack up your play equipment!"

We all got in a line. I was between a 3 year old girl and a 14 year old who was panicking. As we were walking, the girl turned around and asked, "Can I call ya Maizie?"

I grimaced. I heard from Ms. Tapp that my mother called me that.

"Only if you love me," I replied. That was my golden rule: if you loved me, you could call me Maizie. And so far, no one has ever called me. The younger kids were annoying, but I tried to be civil with them.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the Reaping. I got in line for the sign in. I decided to people watch. I looked around and saw Beetee, still a bit ketchup stained, in the victor's area. I smiled a bit, knowing I was responsible for that. I should feel bad, but I didn't. Finally, it was my turn. I grimaced as the needle dug into my skin.

The Peacekeeper smiled at me. "First Reaping?"

I nodded.

"Good luck." He then motioned me towards the 12 year old girl's section. Wow. Someone was actually nice to me today. That was a first.

After a few minutes of waiting, the escort, Paulina, came out. She had a pink dress with flowers on it and her bubblegum pink hair was in 2 heart buns and the rest of her hair cascades towards her waist. Total phony.

"Welcome, District 3, to the Reaping of the 57th Hunger Games!" she announced in her squeaky Capitol voice. She then went on to describe the history of Panem in great detail. I zoned out and daydreamed about my family.

My mother gave me up for some strange reason, but Ms. Tapp said that she was forced by her parents. Even my own grandparents didn't want me. My father was killed by the Peacekeepers shortly after I was born. Ms. Tapp won't tell me his name.

Finally, Paulina got to the actual Reaping part. I had my name in twice because I took the tessarae for myself.

"Ladies first!" She stuck her hand daintily into the reaping ball. That's when the fear kicked in. I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth to keep me from freaking out, like Corona. I heard Paulina pick the paper which had the name of a very unlucky person.

"Maize Donnet!"

My eyes flew open in shock and I nearly fainted. I was the unlucky person. My fists balled up and I felt paralyzed.

"Go!" Corona pushes me and I had to walk. I took my first step towards doom. I looked at myself on the big screen. I looked like I usually do, only a bit freaked out. I slowly walked towards the stage. I heard the rest of the district whispering about me. I only had a few more feet to go, but it felt like miles. The only noise I heard was my racing heart. Finally, I climbed onto the stage.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Maize! Your mentor will be Beetee!" Paulina sang this like it was the best news in the world. Just my luck. He probably remembered me from this morning.

"Gentlemen next!" Paulina plucked a piece of paper from the boy's ball. "Afron Kinger!"

A 16 year old boy walked up to the stage, shivering.

"Hello, Afron! Your mentor will be Taft!"

Ugh. Taft. I would rather have Beetee then him. Taft was the meanest person in Panem besides the president, and people were terrified of him. But I was the one they talked trash about.

"District 3, your tributes!" A few people started clapping. I looked at them and realized that they were from the community home.

I then remembered what Ms. Tapp said this morning: "…and when we return, you're grounded."

"What if I don't return?"

"Then I hope you die." And Corona's willingness to get rid of me. I began tearing up and I think I let one slip. I wiped it away. We were then escorted inside to say our goodbyes. I knew no one was going to say goodbye to me. I was an outcast. No one wanted me.

I was right. I had no visitors. So I just layed on an expensive, plush couch and I stared at the ceiling, brooding about my terrible luck.

About 30 minutes later, I heard the door open. "What do you want?!" I snapped, not feeling like being lectured or scorned any longer.

"May I talk to you?" said a voice. I looked over to the door and saw Beetee.

I sighed. "I guess."

"Well, I have two things to say: Number one: it's time to go and number two: where you the girl who I saw this morning?"

"If I was going to lie, I'd say no. But honestly, yes that was me." I was suprised by my answer. Why did I say that?

Beetee smiled. "Ok. We should probably get going."

"Ok." I then walked with him to the car. Why didn't he hate me?

Riding in the car with Paulina, Afron, Taft and Beetee was torture. I was squished and I wanted to be alone so that I could cry about my miserable, short life.

"Oh come on, talk, guys! I hate silence!" complained Paulina.

"Why should I talk to HER?" Afron said a bit arrogantly. "She's Maize Donnet, for heaven's sake! Seriously, NO ONE likes her!"

I had no reply to that. Today I felt like it was Maize versus world. I think I let another tear slip.

"Well, if you're going to talk like that, then don't talk at all!" exclaimed Paulina, shocked at his behavior.

We arrived at the train station. A whole bunch of cameras were there and I put on my poker face, trying to look like I could care less. After what seemed like eternity, the train taking me to my death arrived. I got on and instantly went to the car that was supposed to be my room. As the train pulled out of the station, I gazed at my home as it disappeared in front of me. I sat at the window and cried for myself, self pitying myself.

This fic was posted on my profile as Safe and Sound, but I changed the title and the plot a little bit. Oh yeah, Maize actually started out as a SYOT character, but I wanted to do a fanfic on her, so yeah! Bye!

-Ember

Chapter Text

Hi! I'm back! Don't have much to say! Please favorite and review! Those are appreciated! Bye!

After a while of crying, I have no tears left. So I just stared out the window, wishing that this was a nightmare. I pinched myself. No luck. I began spinning a fantasy in which I was an adult in a coma for 12 years, and Panem was just an imaginary place.

After a while of this, I eventually told myself, "No, Maize. Quit wishing for things that won't come true. This is reality, and you just have to deal with it." I then went back to staring out the window.

I looked down and realized that I was still wearing my Reaping outfit. I'm pretty sure this outfit is cursed. I walked over to the closet and peeked inside. It was empty, but a floating screen was telling me to make an outfit choice. Us from District 3 had some knowledge of Capitol technology, so I navigated it easily. A few minutes later, I had changed into a cute green shirt and denim shorts. I also exchanged my old, tiny combat boots for new ones that actually fit.

I heard a knock on my door. "Come in."

It was Beetee…again. I had yet to figure why this guy was not upset at me or showing me any hate. "The recaps are on and you need to know what you're facing."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not anymore."

"Fine."

We walked to the main compartment. Paulina was there, still smiling and being annoying in general. Afron was there with a black eye, and Taft was watching him menacingly. I'm assuming Afron already got upset with him, unlike Beetee, who was somehow not upset with me. Usually within 10 seconds of me meeting someone, they hate me. Extremely rare of people not to.

"Oh, Maize, there you are. Afron wants to apologize to you," said Paulina in her twittery voice.

Afron frowned. "I don't want to apologize to her. I was forced to do this."

Paulina gave him a disapproving look, remnicent to Corona's.

"Boy, if you value your bones, then I suggest apologizing." rumbled Taft in his deep voice.

"Fine," whined Afron. "I'm sorry, Maize."

I was going to say something fiery to make him actually sorry, but Beetee caught my eye and shook his head no. I sighed.

"It's fine. I'm used to it."

Paulina smiled at me. "Good, good! Now we're all getting along! Oh, I think the recaps are starting!"

Ceasar Flickerman, who always did the interviews and stuff for the Hunger Games, appeared on the TV set. "Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 57th Hunger Games Reaping recaps! Today we will see what an interesting and unique bunch of tributes this year's Hunger Games brings for us! Let's start!"

From 1 and 2 were a bunch of morons who thought they were hot stuff. Then, our district appeared. Ceasar always said a few comments about the tributes, and when he got to me, he said, "Well, rumor has it that Ms. Donnet is a bit... fiesty, but I'm sure we'll love her just the same." The crowd agreed with him.

I was still in a bad mood, but it kinda warmed my heart to see that I might have a chance of getting sponsors. I then kinda zoned out because I seriously didn't care about any of these people. Well, I kinda did, because only one was coming out alive, and I'm 100% sure it won't be me.

District 7's Reaping came on. Their escort, looking about as ridiculous as Paulina, called out a name. A frightened red headed 14 year old girl came up to the stage, shaking. A little girl in the audience, about 10, yelled out, "Willow! WILLOW!" and tried to run to the girl, but the Peacekeepers hauled her away, yet she continued screaming. Lucky girl. She still has people who love her. The escort called a boy's name.

A brown haired boy came up to the stage, and I'll admit that he was hot. A few teenage girls in the audience started crying or fainting. He looked happy. He tried to flirt with the girl, and she gave him a dirty look and walked into their Justice building. I zoned out for a while again, and when it got to District 12, I got a real shocker.

A girl's name was called and the whole district started celebrating happily. A girl who looked like a rebel sauntered up to the stage, looking like she was going to blow up the damn town. Through the celebration, I saw two women. The crazy thing was that one of them looked EXACTLY like me. They were the only ones looking sad, and the older looking one was explaining something to my clone, and that woman was crying. I was appalled at the district's behavior. That was worse than District 3!

Paulina turned off the TV. "It's about dinnertime. Want to eat?" she asked.

"Ok," I replied. I was starving, anyway. When I got to the dinner table, I was immediately shocked. There was a mountain of food on it! As soon as Paulina told us we could eat, I did. The food was 1,000 times better than the community home's food. 30 minutes later, I was positive that I had tried everything. I felt sick from eating a lot, and eating too fast.

Taft spoke. "Ok, let's have a bit of a trivia game. What should be your only goal in the arena?"

"Staying alive?" I replied sarcastically.

Taft slapped me - hard. I felt like I was going to throw up and pass out at the same time. "NO! STUPID GIRL, NO WONDER NO ONE LIKES YOU! YOU-"

Beetee spoke up. "Taft, calm down. She's been through a lot today and I'm pretty sure you hurt her both physically and mentally." I could hear Afron cracking up.

"WELL, DORK, IT'S TRUE! NO ONE LIKES THAT LITTLE WRETCH!" Taft roared.

Not caring about anything, I ran out of the room and made it to the back compartment, where I puked in a trash can. I rolled down the window in the outdoor area and screamed and cried about my life. I wish that the Games could start already so that I could exit my miserable life.

I then realized that the window was down. I could jump my way out of this train to hell and start a new life in the wild. Or in the afterlife. I got up at the edge of the barrier that divided me from the outside.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to nobody. And then I jumped.

ZZAP! A force field shocked me. Feeling frazzled and dizzy, I fell off the barrier onto the ground.

I woke up in the morning. Someone put the windows back up and covered me in a blanket and put a pillow behind my head.

I got up and went to the dining room for breakfast, bracing myself for emotional pain. As I stepped into the dining room, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. There was an awkward silence. Finally, Paulina broke it.

"Good morning, Maize! Why weren't you sleeping in your bed? I came to wake you up, but you weren't there."

I opened my mouth to speak a lie, but before I could speak, Beetee did for me. "She fell asleep somewhere else. I checked on her."

I shot him a grateful look. I should try and be nice to the only person in Panem who would stick up for me.

I ate my breakfast, ignoring everyone. When I went to put my plate away, Beetee whispered in my ear. "I know what you were trying to do last night. Don't do it again, ok? Unless it's in the arena."

I don't know why, but that struck me as hilarious. I cracked up. Taft and Afron looked up to see what was so funny.

Beetee smiled. "I - uh- wasn't trying to be funny, but if you think I'm funny, then ok." he said, a bit embarrassed. I then imagined his face yesterday, when I pranked him. That made me laugh harder.

Suddenly, Paulina shrieked. "We're at the Capitol!"

We all ran to the window. I saw a crowd of freaks like Paulina, all cheering as our train pulled out of the station. Happy to get off this train, I ran to the door. As soon as the train stopped, I jumped out of the train, relieved. A whole bunch of cameras flashed at me. I waved at them and ran to the Remake Center.

A few hours later, I was STILL on the table at the Remake Center. I seriously didn't realize how long it takes my prep team to get me ready for a stupid chariot ride. Speaking of the darn prep team, mine was made up of 3 idiots, Glovenia, Parrus and Jini, who were quite chatty.

"Oh Maize, so far among the betters, you have very high odds of survival! You're quite the rebel back in District 3, are you not?" chirped Jini, all adorned in purple, including her skin, which was a shade of lavender. Glovenia, the aqua one, was rubbing something very painful on me, so I couldn't respond to her. Parrus, the only guy in my prep team, was off somewhere talking to my stylist, who I'm pretty sure was worse than my prep team. I'm actually kinda glad he's gone, because they often had to undress me, well, it was kinda awkward.

Parrus returned with a mysterious bottle of electric blue liquid and a brush. He dipped the brush in the liquid and began brushing the ends of my hair.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Dying the ends of your hair. Special instructions from your stylist and mentor. After this, you're done." he replied curtly. I was going to argue, but since my days were limited, I decided not to. Who cares about hair color when you're dead?

"All right, you're done," Parrus said, giving me a robe to put on.

"Thank goodness!" I said, relieved. I seriously hated that experience of getting ready. It's almost both a blessing and a curse to be dying in a few weeks or less.

Jini took me to a room separate from the Remake room. "Um, where are we going?" I asked her.

"We're going to meet your stylist, silly! Where did you think I was taking you, to an incinerator?" Jini laughed at her joke, thinking it was funny. I just stayed silent. Capitol people have a weird sense of humor. I didn't think it was.

All the sudden, another door within the room opened and a lady walked in. She actually looked normal, but with purple hair. Her clothes were also quite normal. She spoke.

"Hello, Maize. I'm Harmony, and I'm going to be your stylist."

"Yay."

"Don't talk like that! We're going to make you look fabulous! And have you seen your hair?! There's a mirror over there!" It was obvious that Harmony loved her job, as she was smiling and kinda bouncing. But she wasn't annoying, like my prep team. I went over to the mirror and looked.

My face was flawless. I reached back and touched my hair. The split ends were gone, but for some reason, my hair was still uneven from my self haircuts using safety scissors. It was also silky and voluminous, and the electric blue really brought out my eyes. I looked good enough to be called either cute, pretty or both. In the community home world, cute usually got adopted. So my new look was a good thing.

"Ok, and now for your outfit," Harmony said, bringing in an outfit on a hook. She removed its cover, and I gasped. It was a black, sleeveless, waistless dress that ended at the knee. It had electric blue stripes in random locations that made the dress look like something out of an old sci fi movie. I finally found my voice.

"I have never seen anything like that. And it's for me?" I asked, shocked. Maybe it's because all my stuff was second hand and ugly, or maybe I was just overreacting, but the dress looked amazing.

Harmony smiled. "Yep. Just for you. Now let's get you ready for the chariot ride."

My prep team came back in. "Put it on! Put it on!" they shrieked, wanting to see me wear it. Harmony helped me put it on, and when I looked in the mirror, I got the shock of my remaining life. I looked like a bad-to-the-bone alien princess from another dimension. Ok, well, that might be exaggerating, but I looked epic.

"Twirl for us, Maize!" called out Glovenia, ecstatic over my dress. I spun around, and my dress puffed around me like an electric blur. Glovenia screamed with delight, and Parrus and Jini clapped.

"Now, people, what are your real jobs? Reapply her makeup!" yelled Harmony. I didn't even know I was wearing makeup. They came and reapplied it.

Harmony gave me black boots in the same theme as the dress and black glovelettes to wear. "You and Afron are designed to look like the electronics District 3 produces," she told me. "It's almost time for the chariot rides. Let's go."

We went into a large room with chariots and the other tributes scattered around. Beetee was waiting for us.

"You look nice, Maize."

"I know right?" I replied, a bit arrogantly. We began walking towards our chariot, which was at the front of the line of chariots, which were in the order of the districts. I felt eyes on me and I turned and saw the girl from District 12 staring at me. She was naked, and covered in black dust, and her dark red hair was in a messy bun at the top of her head. She was looking at me like she wanted to talk to me, but she didn't.

After a while, we passed the District 7 chariot. The two tributes were dresses like something out of a fairytale, with green tinted skin and outfits that looked like they were made out of leaves. The girl smiled and waved in my direction. I smiled at her. The boy was staring at her butt and smiling. I laughed. She spun around and pushed him away.

"Making allies already, I see?" noted Beetee.

"They're not my allies…yet." I replied.

We finally reached the District 3 chariot. Afron and Taft were already there, along with Afron's stylist, who looked like a wolf. Afron had on an outfit similar to mine, with pants and a tight, fitted shirt, showing off his abs. I climbed onto the chariot and sat down on the edge.

"So, I wonder who's going to get the most sponsors," Afron said, cockily.

"Sure ain't going to be you." I replied. He got the message and shut up.

All the sudden, Ceasar Flickerman's voice boomed, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the tributes of the 57th Hunger Games!"

The chariot lurched foward and I almost fell off. The chariot went through the giant doors and bright light greeted us. When I could see again, I saw a bunch of Capitol citizens all cheering for us. A big screen showed me and Afron, who was staring ahead and showing no emotion. Ceasar Flickerman was talking excitedly about us. Figuring I should get sponsors, I began waving at the audience.

They saw me waving and smiling, and they pointed at me and cheered some more. Gaining confidence, I began blowing kisses and smiling and waving and basically acting like a diva. I even flipped my hair. Back home, Corona was probably jealous and probably wishing I was dead already. But at this moment, I didn't care for Corona or even Ms. Tapp. As I rallied the audience, I remembered something I thought about the morning of the Reaping about the Victor's Village. 

"I have no desire to live here, but if fate knocks, I'll open the door." Well, fate knocked, and I think I should go get the door.