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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
- 3
- 4
- 5
Victory
IV
o0o0o0o
She will never feel clean again, she is sure of it, no matter how many times she scrubs herself all over her body. Nor will she ever forget the smell of blood mixed with roses, that pungent scent searing itself into her memory.
Part of her wishes she had died in the Hunger Games. If she had known that Snow liked to 'celebrate' with the Victors, she never would have become a Career Tribute. She thinks about the other Victors she met after she won. What have they gone through? Are the male Victors also subject to this as well? She wants to lash out at her Mentor for allowing her to walk into Snow's private chambers completely unaware of what was going to happen.
o0o0o0o
She feels hollow, nothing more than a husk of her former self as she stares out at the eager and proud faces that swarm her. The recited words of her speech tumble off her tongue, easy now after having been said eleven times already, which is fortunate because it feels as if she has to put all of her mental facilities into making these words sound convincing. At least the people here are happy to see her, which is more than can be said for the citizens of the other Districts. Even the family of the fallen Tribute Boy holds no animosity towards her, since she had nothing to do with his death.
After what she has been through, the joy of these people at seeing her serve as a fleeting balm for all the wounds, physical and emotional, she has suffered in the Games and its aftermath. But when she is alone, laying in her bed at night, all she can see is the faces of the people she killed, and Snow's leering face, flecks of blood on his lips, which provide handy fuel for her nightmares.
o0o0o0o
The time has come for another Reaping. She sits on the podium with the other Victors. She will be this year's Mentor for the Tribute Girl, and the male Mentor will show her the ropes, she is told. After what happened to her in the Capitol, she has no desire to go back, but she has no choice.
She stares ahead as the Reaping commences, the volunteers coming forward. As her Mentor did to her last year, she congratulates the Tributes and shakes their hands. On the train, she gives them almost exactly the same talk she received last year.
It feels a bit odd returning to the Capitol. She will be expected to drum up sponsors, as well as give her charge all the advice and help she can give. She remembers how, in her District, as she met the Careers in training, she wanted to tell them to stop training, that being an Career is not the honor it is made out to be. She almost gagged right then and there as she remembered the smell of blood and roses, unable to meet the eyes of the eager, young Careers as they looked up to her.
But she kept her mouth shut on these aspects, and still does. A higher percentage of Victors means more Parcel Days, and not just that, but better treatment for the District even in years that their Tributes lose. When she thinks about the poorer districts, and how there is never a volunteer from these Districts, well, it's hard to not face the facts when one really thinks about it. She is sure that this has occurred to the other Career Victors, and that is why they put on smiling faces for the children of their District, talking about the honor of being a willing Tribute for the chance to earn the Capitol's forgiveness and generosity.
Her charge is overconfident. She tries to warn the Tribute about this, to wait and observe like she did. The girl is in excellent physical shape, and is also bright. But in the Hunger Games, it takes more than this to win.
o0o0o0o
Like last year, she pays attention to the other Tributes when she can. Every year the crop is different, and wild cards show up when people least expect them. The interviews are an especially good spot to pay attention, because sometimes what a Tribute says can give a hint to their strategy in the arena. She does not merely tell her charge who to watch out for, who can be picked off easily. She asks the girl questions, trying to provoke her thought, to make her figure things out, because once in the arena, she will no longer have the advice of her mentor. Again, there is that streak of stubbornness and overconfidence. It does not necessarily mean failure, but lack of caution often leads to one's demise in the deadly Game.
o0o0o0o
Her warnings have gone unheeded. Despite getting a couple of rather nice Sponsor gifts for her Tribute, the girl dies before she can make it to the final four. She had gone hunting, looking for three remaining Tributes not in the Career alliance. Just like the year before, these Tributes set a trap, and she fell into it.
Now there are just four tributes left – the lone Career, the District 2 boy, and three Tributes from the poorer districts. There is the boy from 6, the girl from 8, amd the girl from 11. 2 could still take the others out, he has weapons and supplies, while the others are not faring as well.
However, the Hunger Games are entertainment for the Capitol, and it is up to the Gamemakers to keep things interesting. It's boring if three children just starve to death, so the Gamemakers announce that there is food at the Cornucopia.
The District 2 Tribute tries to use this as a trap, laying in wait for the others to come so he can slaughter them all. However, this alliance has evidently figured that out, as the girls present themselves as a distraction while the boy from 6 ambushes the boy from 2 and kills him.
Like she has seen several times in previous Hunger Games, the alliance quickly breaks down with no other threats left, and it is two more days before the boy from 6 manages to kill the other remaining Tribute, the girl he has actually protected from the Careers before. How quickly things can change when it is a matter of life and death.
And all so the people of the Capitol can be amused.
o0o0o0o
At least she won't have to go back to the Capitol for at least another year. She wonders what it is like for the non-Career Victors. After all, they were not brought up to see being a Tribute as a honor, but bad luck of the draw. Of course, the people of District 6 won't see it that way, at least not for a year. They'd see this draw as good luck, to have a Victor after so many years of losing, and the rewards that come with it.
She remembers how she was on the receiving end of the hate of the families of the fallen Tributes, and she sees this as the Victor comes to her District for the Feast. Her own face is impassive, this boy was forced into a game he never wanted to play, she can not blame him for the decisions he made. If anything embodies the saying 'Desperate times call for desperate measures', it is the Hunger Games.
o0o0o0o
Next year she gets to stay home, as the other female Victor will be Mentor. It is nice to not have to deal with the people of the Capitol. She had thought they were insufferable right after she won, but talking with them, trying to get them to sponsor her Tribute, seeing them treat this game as if it was nothing but that, has really grated on her nerves.
For a Tribute, a gift could mean the difference between life and death, but to a would-be sponsor, it is nothing more than choosing a favorite, like one would choose a favorite actor or singer, often for an arbitrary reason like their appearance or something they said in the Interview, or how they carried themselves in the Tribute Parade. To a potential sponsor, there is also the expectation that they will be paid back for their sponsorship, whether with winning money gambled on a Tribute, or something more.
How well she remembers that, tasting bile in her mouth as she was expected to pay back for the gifts she received in the arena, Snow is not the only one who likes private 'play time' with the Victors.
o0o0o0o
The female tribute from 8 wins this year. Her name is Cecelia, and she won through a clever Gift from her Sponsors, a coil of silk cord, which this girl has used in varying ways to create shelter, form traps, and when there is just her and one other Tribute, the means to ensuring her victory.
o0o0o0o
Her life changes forever the day her sister comes through the door from school, excited because she passed the test that qualifies her for pre-Career training. She does not miss the dismay in her parent's eyes, and she feels it mirrored in her own. Still, the girl is just twelve, and she remembers how she was at that age. There is still time to dissuade her sister from the path before she becomes sixteen and commits herself to the Game.
Through the next four years, she tries to veer the starry-eyed girl from this path, but it is not easy, when her older sister is a Victor, lauded by the District. She brings up the amount of children who have died, how even if you and the Careers make it to the end, you still have only a 1 in 6 chance to win, and that the other Careers will be just as well-trained as you. She is even tempted to bring up the sick 'private games' in the Capitol, and almost does so a few times, just to try to scare her sister into backing out, but in the back of her head, she knows that if she ever revealed this dark secret, there would be consequences.
Her sister is lauded in school for wanting to imitate her older sibling, and during a visit from a old neighbor, she hears the old lady comment to her mother about how spectacular it would be to have TWO children as Victors!
Sometimes she wants to scream to the whole District that there is nothing honorable about this, that the spiel that the Capitol spouts about forgiveness and generosity is nothing but bait, a well-crafted excuse to keep the games going. Of course, she knows better than that, as long as these people believe the Capitol, then they will continue to be treated better than the other Districts. It's not the first time she thinks about this, and it certainly won't be the last.
o0o0o0o
Her sister wants to commit to the last two years of training. There will be no going back once the agreement is signed. Again, her parents refuse to sign the form, and she agrees with them. There is plenty of arguing in the house, her sister is furious and feels cheated. The girl, just shy of her sixteenth birthday, slams the door to her room and sulks in there all night.
However, a week later, the Mayor comes to her house. He is the brother of a previous Victor, now dead. He asks in a calm, even grandfatherly tone why her parents will not sign the contract. She tells him one Victor is enough and that they are happy with that. He simply smiles and tells her that as a Victor, her signature on the form would be just as good.
She shakes her head. She can and will not do it. He scowls a little, and asks why she would deny her sister this grand opportunity. She pauses as she considers her words. There are so many things she could say. Finally, she speaks.
“I had to kill several children in that game. It is a very difficult thing to live with, knowing you took someone else's life. I do not want her going through the same thing.” There. She has given him what she concludes is the safest answer. Nothing disparaging about the Capitol, nothing they could possibly take offense at. It is mere fact, and something she has also seen in the other Victors, especially those who have taken to drink or drugs. The last Victor from District 6, not even twenty-five years old, is addicted to morphling and looks older than his actual age. The Mayor smiles and shrugs.
“This game is a part of our lives. Nothing will change that. Better a volunteer than luck of the draw, eh?”
She shakes her head again. “There are other volunteers.” There are usually multiples of boys or girls in the sixteenth year, in case something happens. When she was sixteen, there was another girl who also committed to the program. She died of a brain aneurysm the next year.
“I see.” He leaves.
However, that is not the end of the matter. The Mayor supersedes the authority of anyone else in the District, and her sister is entered into the program. Of course, her sister is more than ecstatic.
o0o0o0o
When it comes time for her sister to enter the Hunger Games, she insists on having her older sister as her Mentor. The Victor does not want this, but her sister is so insistent that the other Victors agree, and she has no choice but to accompany her sister to the Capitol.
Of course, much is made of the fact that this Tribute has a older sibling as a Victor, especially in the interview.
At least this makes it easy to drum up Sponsors. “I would so love it if my little sister could come home with me,” she says, and the sponsors eat this right up.
I'm sure all the parents would love it if their children came home, if the siblings of these Tributes could see their brothers and sisters again.
Her sister is one of the more popular Tributes not just for having an older sister as a Victor, but also because she conducted herself so well in the Parade and the Interviews, smiling at the cameras, choosing her words with the careful coaching of her older sister.
o0o0o0o
Her sister has made it to the final four. She knows her parents and District are watching the Games especially closely. It would be the first time ever, in the entire history of the Game, that siblings have won. However, victory is not certain, as the only Tributes left are Careers, so her sister has some formidable opponents to deal with.
The young Tribute is not as arrogant as the first Tribute she had mentored. She had managed to elude a trap set by the District 12 Tributes before killing the pair. She manages to escape when the alliance breaks down, one of the boys killing the other boy. Now there are just three.
She can not help but be a bit excited. It's the first time since before she was a Tribute that this game has actually made her feel anything other than negativity. She goes around to try to drum up more support ad gifts for her sister, but at this point in the game, even the smallest gift costs a lot of money, and her sister already has several weapons and a small supply of food. The three remaining Tributes are closely matched, and it is actually one of the most thrilling games ever, according to Claudius Templesmith as he monitors the game.
The Gamemakers do their best to make this exciting, releasing several types of animals to chase the Tributes around, including what looks to be blue and green-striped cats. She's seen ordinary cats in her District, but the animals in the Hunger Games are anything but ordinary, and this is a fact that is brought home when her sister is mauled by a pack of them.
Miraculously, the girl survives, the cats retreating as if answering a summons. She manages to patch up her wounds with leaves and vines, but she will never be pretty again, at least not without extensive surgery. It's a wonder one of the cats didn't rip out her throat.
Her older sister goes amongst the potential sponsors again, trying to get someone to send a gift of medicine. Fortunately, there is one man willing to do so, as he is so impressed by her sister's tenacity. The gift is prohibitively expensive, and she has no doubt that some sort of repayment will be expected later, but at this point, she just wants the girl to survive.
However, the young Tribute is killed two days later, and she falls to her knees in front of the screen, screaming her lungs out, sobbing and wailing.
o0o0o0o
She feels numb as she watches the Victor being crowned. She hates this boy for killing her sister, and finds it hard to remember, much less care, that there can only be one winner and it was either him or her sister. She feels just like the parents or siblings of any fallen Tribute.
o0o0o0o
Before she can go home, the man who sponsored the medicine for her sister approaches her. She is startled to recognize this man from years ago, when he had also sponsored a gift for her. Like so many people of the Capitol, he follows the most ostentatious and gaudy fashions, his appearance so changed that she does not recognize him until now.
He expects her to show gratitude for the gifts he has bought for her and her sister. He expresses his disappointment in her sister's death, but not because he cared about her as a person.
“It would have been so nice to have the two of you together in my bed. Quite an one of a kind experience, I was so looking forward to it.” he says with a sigh. She shuddered as she remembered what she had done in this man's bed, and what he would ask of a pair of sisters.
“Well, there's still one of you, and it's been a while.” he says flippantly.
Despite her best instincts and all she has observed and learned in the Capitol, she is unable to hold back, and tells him what a terrible man he is, him and his friends and the President and the entire Capitol. She does not hold back on the vitriol that has been bubbling up inside of her since she was crowned Victor. After nearly a decade, she is unable to hold back the flood of emotion.
Only after the rush of emotion has abated and she stares at the cold expression on her former sponsor's face does she realize the enormity of what she has just done, and the inevitable price that will be paid.
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Victory