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Victory	By : Spleef Category: G through L > The Hunger Games Trilogy Views: 5023 -:- 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
- 4
- 5
Victory
Chapter V
o0o0o0o
Her words were paid for with a devastating price. Her house, which was once filled with the happy chatter of her younger siblings and the comfort of her parents, is now silent and empty. She knows she is not the first one to lose her family to the Capitol's whims, and others have been punished this way for far less. Haymitch Abernathy's family was taken from him for a reason she thinks is completely arbitrary, but then what does it matter what she or her fellow Victor think? They're only here for the Capitol's entertainment.
She lays there in her big bed. Despite the luxury that surrounds her, she is unmindful of all the little extravagances that she could only have ever dreamed of before she won the Hunger Games. Her dreams are filled of the depraved things that Snow and her sponsors have put her through. Sometimes she wonders if living in one of the slums of the poorer Districts would be better than being a Victor, as long as she had her family.
Ignorance really is bliss.
o0o0o0o
The next time she goes to the Capitol, there is the undeniable fact that the other mentors know what happened to her family. It is not talked about openly, but once in a while, when she is in the same place as other Victors, she will catch their eye. Haymitch gives her a half-smile, filled with sadness as he lifts his tumbler of whatever alcohol he has put in there. She receives a couple of token expressions of sympathy for what had happened to her sister, but she knows there are others who have suffered worse than her.
A few times in the past, the children of Victors have been selected for the arena. If it hurt her so much to lose her sister, especially with her experience as a Victor, she can only imagine what it must be like for another Victor to watch their own child fight in the arena and die.
Career or not, the end result is the same. You are a Tribute because the Capitol wants the Districts turned against one another, and having a few Career Districts intensifies that divide. Each District wants the rewards that come with having a Victor from their District. Volunteer or not, in the end it makes little difference.
You are a Victor because you proved yourself tough, smart, or lucky – usually a combination of the three. But no matter how good you play the game, the Capitol always wins. The odds are against you before you even begin. She looks down at the bright-eyed and eager Careers as they are pulled along in their chariots at the Tribute Parade, smiling and waving. She can already tell that the District 4 boy will gain a lot of Sponsors, he is exceptionally good-looking and the cameras capture an handsome smile that doubtlessly causes some swoons in the audience. Of course, if this boy wins the game, he will see the dark side of the Sponsors and fans...
“Why do you volunteer?” This question is asked by the District 9 female Mentor, the same one she talked to about Emmer. She is surprised at this question, for since their talk about Emmer, they had exchanged nothing but small talk and formalities.
Before she had played in the Game, this question would have been so easy to answer. Bravery. Honor. The chance to provide for your District. And of course, as the Capitol says, forgiveness.
This has nothing to do with forgiveness, it's all about entertainment, and what can be bought by the highest bidder. Money might not buy happiness... but it can buy the illusion of it. There is also the fact that the wealthy of the Career Districts fund Career training. The reason is twofold – it keeps their own children safe from the Reaping, and it also boosts the prosperity of these three select Districts as a whole. Even if there is no Victor for that District, they are still better off than the nine other Districts whose children are taken from their Districts by force.
“Better to volunteer than have your life decided for you by the luck of the draw.” she finally replies with a shrug.
o0o0o0o
The handsome boy turns out to be a ruthless opponent in the Game. He handles his net and trident with ease, and combined with his physical prowess, make him a force to be reckoned with – and he is merely fourteen.
The boy who was supposed to volunteer for District 4 backed out, unwilling to face the odds. He will face plenty of ridicule and derision, to be sure, as well as having to pay back what was invested in his Career training, but one thing is sure – the young man has his life. His replacement had his name plucked out of the Reaping Ball, but so far, the odds are in his favor.
The audience goes wild every time the handsome youth from District 4 makes a kill. Gifts are practically showered upon him – more gifts than most Tributes have or will ever receive in their game. He even gets a few of the cosmetic variety, so he can continue to look good through the game.
His good looks are matched by his intelligence. He manages to elude a few traps, and his trident saves his life when one of the other Tributes come at him with a sword. Soon enough the remaining tributes all team up against him, realizing that he must be taken down first. However, he manages to best them all, becoming the Victor of the 65^th Hunger Games and one of the youngest to ever win the title of Victor.
o0o0o0o
As she very well knows, the Hunger Games can be won through various methods, and she impresses this on the young Careers under her tutelage. There is Mags, one of the oldest Victors, winning for her District before it even became a Career District. She was the first Victor of her District, and it is what spurred them to become a Career District, after seeing the rewards that were given to Mags – and to the rest of them.
There is Seeder, who won her Game by not killing someone else, but by simply outlasting the others when it came to hunger. Hailing from District 11 and knowing hungry very well, the young District 11 girl had simply hidden herself, conserving her food and water, and also eating things that most others would turn their noses up at. Near the end of the game, even just one cracker or cup of water was prohibitively expensive, and despite the efforts of the Mentors and Sponsors, the elite Careers succumbed to fatal hunger.
Haymitch Abernathy is one of the more famous Victors. He was written off early in the game, and he found a way to use the arena to ensure his victory. Of course, that cost him his family. Which would have been worse – him going home to nobody, or his body going home to his family in a coffin?
Lacking in physical strength or the benefit of an alliance, Beetee managed to figure out a way to win the game, using his technological prowess to create the electric trap that killed his opponents without shedding blood or sweat.
Who could forget Enobaria, who sealed her victory by ripping out someone else's throat with her teeth? Even now, she finds Enobaria's smile to be unnerving, the gold tips shining under the lights when Enobaria speaks.
Study them all, and others, she tells the Careers in training. You never know what you will need to win. Or just how much the odds can be against you.
o0o0o0o
The Games go on as they always have. One of her charges wins, so it is time for another Victory Tour. Nothing has changed. The outlying districts are still miserable and poor. She sees the looks of animosity amongst the families of the Tributes that her charge had killed. She warns her charge about what will happen in the Capitol, deciding to just be honest about it instead of the vague warning that her mentor had given her.
She does not miss the disgust in the younger Victor's face. She warns her charge to keep this disgust hidden and to do as you are told.
o0o0o0o
With all that she has been through and seen, and the bitter truths she has had to deal with, she certainly understands how some of the other Victors could lose themselves to drink or drugs. When she is sitting by herself in her house, she finds alcohol an easy if temporary refuge from the depression that claws at her insides.
She doesn't become an raging alcoholic like Haymitch, though. She is careful to present a positive image to the public world. But when she is alone, there is no one to watch her drink shot after shot, trying to escape the images that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
o0o0o0o
Johanna Mason wins the Game by deception. She pulls this off by showing herself as a weak little ninny, bursting into tears during her interview and crying about missing her family, receiving low scores in training, and continuing to cry in the Game, her tears caught on camera. Typically, people do not want to sponsor someone who is bound to lose the game, but Johanna proves herself to be ruthless, switching between the personae of a helpless little Tribute and a more than able competitor.
Gloss and Cashmere make Hunger Games history by scoring the only back-to-back victory ever, for their district. Being siblings on top of that, draws inevitable comparisons between them and her sister and herself. Doubtless this duo has irresistible allure as 'playmates' for Snow and his cronies.
Annie Cresta wins the 70^th Hunger Games by virtue of being the only remaining Tribute who knows how to swim at the point the dam breaks, unexpectedly ending the Game. Like Seeder, she is one of the rare few who did not have kill to end the game.
Like so many others, in the Capitol and in the Districts, she is fixed to the screen as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark face one another after being told that only one person could win the Game, and like anyone else, wonders how the two Tributes from 12 will settle this. When they both win the Game, she is relieved and happy for them. These two found a way to beat the Game, and in a way, the Capitol, though she knows that Snow will find a way to make them pay for it later.
o0o0o0o
It is nearly time for the third Quarter Quell. She wonders what special rules will be in play this time. Given the rules of the last two Quells, it could be almost anything.
Will the Tributes all be just one gender? Or just one age? That has interesting possibilities... a group of Tributes who are all 18 would be more evenly matched. Or what if they were at the other end of the spectrum? That would be a pitiful sight, 24 12-year-olds trying to survive as they kill one another. What if instead of double the amount like they had for the 50^th Games, they halve the amount?
No, that would be too generous. The Capitol wants drama, and whoever thought of the rules for the Quells knew what he was doing. Voting for your own Tributes? Doubling the amount? Twisted, but clever. The next rule would have to be something that no one would expect.
She watches her television as Snow opens the yellowed envelope with the 75 on it. Doubtless just about everyone in Panem has their eyes glued to that 75 and what lies under it. The white-haired man pulls the paper out of the envelope and reads its contents.
She sits there for several moments, processing what has just been said. Instead of a fresh crop of Tributes for this year's Games, the Victors – the ones who were supposed to be safe for the rest of their lives – will be the pool from which this year's Tributes are reaped.
No way. There is no way in hell she can deal with this. There are other Victors from her District, but she can not deal with the chance that she might have to enter the arena again. She refuses to entertain the Capitol yet again. She wonders if this year's rules had been in that envelope all along, or if Snow had put them in there to punish Katniss and Peeta.
Either way, she is done. She can not watch more people die. She can not deal with the Capitol and the many ugly truths in Panem. She has struggled with this darkness for years, and she is tired of fighting.
o0o0o0o
She takes a long, hot shower, spending almost a hour in there, letting it cascade over her body. This also gives her time to change her mind, but her resolve has only strengthened.
At rare times she has used morphling, for when the alcohol was not enough to numb her pain. She takes one last look at the framed picture of her family she keeps next to her bed. The bottle of whiskey and the vials of morphling are what she looks upon next. The mixture of alcohol and fatal dose of morphling send her on an ever-increasing crest that takes her away from this world with each surge. At first she was afraid, as she had been right before entering the arena, but now, she is calm.
In everything that happens, in her own life, the lives of those who died in the arena, even the nearly omnipotent citizens of the Capitol, there is one force to which even Corolianus Snow must eventually succumb. At least tonight, she is playing the final game on her own terms, even if she will inevitably lose.
Death is the only Victor.
o0o0o0o
Well. This was a rather different sort of story for me to write, but I'm glad I did because it allowed me to expand into a new area and try something I'm not used to doing. I hope you all liked it, and I appreciate and welcome all reviews and feedback. I hope I did the books justice with this short story.
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Victory