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Victory	By : Spleef Category: G through L > The Hunger Games Trilogy Views: 5021 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Hunger Games does not belong to me and I make no profit off it.

Chapter List
- 1-One
- 2-Two
- 3-III
- 4-Four
- 5-FIVE
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- 3
- 4
Victory

III
This story had been originally planned to be a three-parter, but I found so much to think and write about that whoops, now it's four, possibly five parts. But hey, more for you to read! :D
o0o0o0o
Growing up, she has had to share her room with her sister, and share the bathroom with the entire family, but in her new house at Victor's Village, she has her own luxurious master bedroom and bathroom. She can soak in the tub or shower for as long as she pleases, and she can get up and go to sleep whenever she wants.
She buys her parents and siblings presents. Her father gets a new car, her mother gets a diamond necklace, and her little brother and sister get plenty of toys. Her siblings are of course gleeful at this, tearing through the wrappings and ribbons to get to the biggest pile of presents either of them has ever seen in their lives. Her parents on the other hand, have a look on their faces that remind her of how they looked when she had passed the test that qualified her for Career training, when she begged them to sign the paper that would allow her to complete it, and when she had volunteered.
o0o0o0o
During Career training, the Victors come to talk with the children on rare occasions, usually a few times a year. It is a way to assess the candidates, and to also give the children a chance to meet the people who won the Hunger Games. The Victors generally talk about strategy and winning, and sometimes giving the young Careers advice for their own training, assessing the strong and weak areas of each child.
As the newest Victor, she meets with the children who are training to be Careers, some of them she has actually sparred with in the past. They are so bright-eyed and eager for their own chance to win the Hunger Games.
o0o0o0o
Nearly half a year has passed since her victory, and now she is the centerpiece of this year's Victory Tour. In previous years, whenever the Victor was from her district, there was much reason to celebrate. Even if that were not the case, it is still a break from school and work, and she was able to fill her stomach with as much sweets and cookies as she liked.
Now she gets to see all the other Districts, a privilege rarely afforded to those outside of the Capitol. As it goes every year, her first stopping point is District 12.
She is stunned by what she sees from the window of the train. She has heard about how poor the outlying Districts are, but nothing prepared her for the glimpses of shacks she sees, which make the houses of even the poorer citizens in her own District look like mansions.
The Tribute boy's family consist of a wizened-looking woman – probably the boy's grandmother – and several younger children. The girls' family consists of nothing more than what seems to be a coal-miner and his wife, both of them looking twice the age of her own parents, because of the harshness of conditions for the poor in District 12. This couple has lost their only child. Even though she had no part in killing either of the Tributes from this district, she still feels bad.
Most of the people in the crowd don't look any better of than the families of the Tributes. She remembered hearing somewhere in the past that District 12 has one of the highest percentages of children applying for tesserae. Even the town square where the feast is being held has a shabby, run-down look despite the decorations and cleaning up it has been given for today.
She gives out the speech that has been approved by the Capitol and her mentor and escort, but the words feel hollow as she looks across the sea of bleak faces. Mayor Undersee's wife has that same face as she sits on the mayor's podium, her hands folded in her lap, her expression one of restrained misery.
She feels even bleaker when it is time to eat, because she can see by the way people go to the tables that this is probably the best most of them has eaten all year. She sees children stuff rolls and other items into their pockets for later, and even the adults are doing the same, wrapping food items in rags or newspaper, stuffing them into their coats or pants. Normally this kind of thing is not permitted, but she does not miss how many of the Peacekeepers here look the other way.
o0o0o0o
District 11 impresses her with its size as the train streaks past rolling fields. This district is much larger than she had ever imagined, even knowing that this district is one of Panem's main food sources.
However, one would not know this by looking at the gathered residents in the town square. Despite the difference in their complexion and racial make-up, the same bleak look and half-starved appearance is distinct on many of the people thronged here, including the families of the fallen Tributes.
She had killed the female Tribute in the Bloodbath, and she can feel the girl's family's resentment as she stands to give her speech. The girl has several brothers and sisters, some older, some younger, but there is no mistaking the resemblance between them and their dead sister.
o0o0o0o
District 10 is no better. Despite the cleanness of the town square, the smell from a slaughterhouse drifts over to her on the wind as she gives her speech. She has seen several on her way through this District, but the train insulated her from the smell of animal – and human – misery. Again, a District that is responsible for food production has many of its residents lacking in this basic necessity.
The boy she killed has three younger brothers. There is no mother, just a father with the weary look that she has seen too many times in these three Districts. His clothes hang on his wiry form, and the cowboy hat on his head is battered and much-worn, a sharp contrast from the glitzy gold hat his son wore in the Tribute Parade. There is little doubt in her mind that at least one of the remaining brothers will sign up for tesserae.
o0o0o0o
After District 10, the landscape of District 9 is much more pleasant, showing fields upon fields of various kinds of wheat.
Here she deviates from her speech as she looks at Emmer's family. “Emmer was a good player. I know she did not ask to be part of the Game, but she gave it her best nonetheless, and I can respect her for that.” After the resentment she has seen from the previous families for her hand in the death of their loved ones, she hopes that maybe this one won't hate her as much. But her hope is in vain as Emmer's mother continues to glare at her hatefully.
o0o0o0o
The rest of the tour goes without incident. She takes the time to observe each District, comparing the differences to one another, taking in all the details she can, just as she did in her training and the Game itself. The distant hum of a factory near the town square of District 8, and hanks of brightly-colored yarn she sees hanging in a storefront display at the edge of the town square. The swaths of trees in various stages of growth she sees along the track of District 7.
In District 6, near the tracks, she sees construction yards, bearing airplanes, and trains in various stages of construction. District 5, a relatively small district, nonetheless impress her with its tall buildings and seemingly endless lights, almost rivaling the Capitol itself. 3, another relatively small District, is nonetheless one of the better-looking ones, at least from the town square. The microphone she uses, and the screen that projects her image to the crowds, are both upgraded, sleeker versions of what she has seen in the other districts, apparently the newest model and make. She does not need to be told that soon enough, this upgrade will make its way to the other Districts, but first, the Capitol.
When she comes to the District that provided the Career Tribute she killed so early in the game, she avoids eye contact with his family. They – and the rest of Panem – have seen her kill this boy and then lie about it, but she tries to not feel sorry about it, since he volunteered for the Game just as she did.
o0o0o0o
The first time she came to the Capitol, it was as a Tribute. Now she is returning to it as a Victor. She has to admit, it is nice to not have to worry about her life, and be able to enjoy the luxuries the heart of Panem has to offer without wondering if that taste of the higher life would be the only one she would ever experience.
o0o0o0o
The only thing she can feel right now is disgust and loathing for the sea of made-up and cosmetically-altered faces before her as she sits with Caesar Flickerman for her Victory Tour interview.
She wants to ask why so many people go hungry just so a few can be blatantly wasteful. But there is a reason why she won the Hunger Games, because she was so attentive to her surroundings. It was expected for a few Tributes to bemoan their being selected for the Game or to express homesickness or grief. However, if they complained or said anything negative about the Capitol during their interviews, they did not get sponsors, and were usually killed off early in the arena by a 'natural' cause if they survived the Bloodbath. And as her mentor warned her, more is at stake for Victors.
So she smiles, taking a bit about her family and how happy she was to see them again, before she moves on about how fun it was to see the other Districts. She names a few things she remembers positively, like ...the fields of District 11 are breath-taking... oh, the lovely trees of District 7!... District 3 has such clever gadgets... how marvelous it is to be able to see all of Panem!...
She prides herself on bring smart, and here she is, saying stupid things to pander to the people that she increasingly sees as stupid.
o0o0o0o
She is stunned at the spread of food at the party at the Capitol. She had thought that the food served at the Feast Days throughout her tour was impressive enough, but the food before her contains things she has never heard of, or seen prepared in such a way. There has to be at least a hundred different dishes, and she finds herself full after sampling less than fifteen dishes, taking more from some of them after really enjoying them.
She outs her hand over her stomach, the richness of the food making it churn a little, she usually only feels this way during Feast Days.
A hand touches her elbow, it is Calpurnia, the leader of her beauty team. She has a vial of a clear liquid in her hand.
“Go to the commode and drink this. You'll feel better. Then you can come back and eat more!”
In the luxurious washroom, she looks at the vial. Back at home there were remedies for upset stomachs, of course, but she has never seen something like this. Nor can she contemplate eating more with her stomach already so full.
She twists the top off and swallows the liquid. A couple of seconds later, she is in one of the stalls, emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet.
The emptiness in her stomach is filled with a cold numbness as she flushes the toilet and then washes her hands, her heart pounding as the implications of what she has just done sinks in. The Capitol is in charge of how each District's resources are used. Each District has to send much of their resources to the Capitol, and it is up to the Mayors to make sure that the quotas are met. The gaunt faces of the residents of the various Districts she has gone to come to the forefront, especially those of 9, 10, and 11. These people work hard to provide food and barely get any for themselves or their families, and the Capitol takes it so that they can gorge themselves and then throw it up so that they can gorge more.
In her own better-off District, her parents insist that they do not waste food. If there were leftovers after dinner, her mother would simply save it for the next day, and she could be quite creative with them, stretching out the family's food budget. Though they had been far from rich, at least they had full stomachs on a regular basis. For so many people in a food-providing district to go hungry every night boggles her mind.
Even with an empty stomach, she is not hungry. The multitude of dishes that meets her eyes when she emerges from the washroom have lost their appeal, now all she can think of is these miserable, starving faces.
o0o0o0o
All she wants to do is go home at this point. She would even be happy to go to her old house, just to get away from these odious people. Who in her own District, much less any District, would want to dye their bodies, or have bits of metal or plastic implanted into their faces? She does not understand how they think that what they do to themselves looks even remotely good, and in this is a bitter sort of irony. These people look down at the rest of the Districts, thinking themselves superior, yet there are things about them that are so easy to mock. Not out loud, of course.
o0o0o0o
President Snow wants to see her in private, she is told. She dreads seeing him again, remembering the smell of blood on his breath mingled with the rose on his lapel when he placed the Victor's laurels on her head and personally congratulated her for her victory. It is getting rather late, many have left and things have quieted down, some people are sleeping on the sofas or divans, others still awake and sipping wine from District 1.
She remembers her Mentor's warning, that Snow would probably want to have a private meeting with her, and if he asks for this, then she must do as she is told. This cryptic piece of advice repeats itself in her mind as she is led to a private, quiet wing of Snow's mansion. Has she done something wrong? She thinks back on her interviews, her speeches, everything she has done in public – or even privately. All her negative thoughts, she has not discussed them with anyone, even her Mentor.
The doors open, and what lies behind them fill her with confusion and shock.
You must do as you are told.
The Hunger Games were brutal enough, but here, Snow wants to play an entirely different – and in some ways, far worse – game with her.
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Victory