Chapter 1: The 76th Hunger Games

The 3rd Quarter Quell had been awful. One year after winning the Hunger Games alongside his partner and now wife, Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark had had to watch his own father, Steffan Mellark, enter the arena per the Quell's twist: "On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the people of Panem that the Capitol's control extends over all, two tributes will be reaped from the children of the district and a further two from the adults." So, against double the odds, Steffan had managed to pull off a victory, much like Haymitch Abernathy had before him a quarter of a century before.

Now, it was the Reaping for the 76th Games - a regular one, this time. Now with four living victors - out of five in Hunger Games history - and three of those winning two years in a row, District 12 had suddenly brought itself plenty of scrutiny and were now sudden favorites for winning this year. Mayor Undersee took his place on the stage and read off the standard spiel regarding the Dark Days.

"And now, we shall read off the names of past District 12 victors. For those who are no longer with us, please bow your heads in a moment of silence: Duke Vedaldi!" The district bowed their heads for their very first victor, long since dead. Peeta knew that the man had won the 13th Games and had been Haymitch's mentor, but not much else. He would have to ask the old drunk…..

"Haymitch Abernathy! Peeta Mellark! Katniss Everdeen Mellark! Steffan Mellark!" The quartet stood and waved before sitting back down. Well, Haymitch and Steffan fell back down into their seats, clinking their flasks together.

That was the sad part of it all. Following making history by not only winning a Quarter Quell, but also making him and Peeta the first father-and-son duo to win the Games, Steffan had become a bit of a drunk in the last year, drowning his sorrows in his new home in the Victor's Village. In the process, he had divorced his hated wife, and Peeta's brothers had had to take over the family bakery. How could a man fall so far so fast?

Well, Peeta sighed, at least in Haymitch, his father had a buddy. And if he became a drunken joke, it helped him avoid the horrible fate Peeta and his wife had to endure….

Never mind that they were now married. Both were still forced into prostitution by President Snow, to pleasure the wealthy Capitol elite. Having to watch each other being fucked by other people nearly tore the lovers apart, but they had no choice.

Peeta's dark thoughts were halted by his wife planting a kiss on his cheek. Effie was about to start the Reaping.

"Ladies first!" Peeta felt Katniss tense beside him. At 14, her sister Prim was still eligible to be reaped.

"Jasmine Cronin!" Katniss breathed a sigh of relief but Peeta stiffened. Jasmine's brother, Rafe, had been reaped for the Quell last year as the boy tribute. A butcher's son, he had become a force to be reckoned with and a threat to his dad in the arena. The ruthless boy had made it to the Top Three before Steffan had managed to kill him with the help of his ally, a little boy from District 5 named Yohan. No doubt Jasmine would feel resentful toward the old baker for killing her brother so close to the end. Indeed, the girl - who looked to be about 17 - took the stage staring daggers at Steffan, who had fallen quiet.

"And now for the boys!" Effie retrieved another slip. "Marquis Manchin!" An African American boy of perhaps 13 years took the stage. Peeta heard Haymitch groan beside him. He knew why: anyone younger than 15 (with only one exception) was almost guaranteed to die in the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your tributes from District 12!" Jasmine and Marquis shook hands and the whole entourage was escorted by Peacekeepers onto the train.

Dinner was a quiet affair. But even that was soon punctured once Haymitch and Steffan had gone through a few rounds, by which point both men had started singing a sad drinking song.

"Raise a glass to freedom! Something you will never see again! No matter what they tell you!" both man slurred through the singing, off-key and all.

Peeta slumped a little lower in his seat, wanting to disappear, and Effie winced. Jasmine and Marquis looked thoroughly unimpressed, Jasmine especially. The girl finally had the good sense to get the ball rolling by pointedly turning to Katniss and Peeta.

"OK, since those two blubbering fools won't help us, I guess you lovebirds are our only hope. How do we win?"

Peeta sat a little straighter. "First of all, one of those 'blubbering fools' is my father, and you will do well to respect him as such. Second…."

"Respect him? Respect him?!" Jasmine screeched. "He killed my brother! He's a cheat! He only won because his precious boy did - you didn't even try to help Rafe!"

Peeta slammed a hand down on the table. "These are the Hunger Games, Jasmine! In order to cheat, there would have to be rules, and in this contest, there are none! And you know what, you're right - I didn't help Rafe because he was an asshole and had a vendetta against my dad besides! He didn't deserve to win!"

"He did so! He killed lots of tributes! All your old man did was knock a gal out, then kill one guy and Rafe after children had to assist him!" She did not mention how the arena had manipulated Steffan into killing Yohan, which Peeta was relieved for.

"Nevertheless," Peeta barked. "What's done is done! He won, he's here, he's alive! He will be your mentor, so you either respect him as such or you get no help from any of us! Are we clear?"

Jasmine sat down, fuming. "Crystal," she muttered at last.

Peeta nodded in approval.

"Raise a glass to freedom! Let's have another round tonight…."

"Dad, Haymitch, will you two cut it out?! We have to start mentoring!" Sensing Peeta's frustration, Steffan and Haymitch stopped signing and tried to clue in, though it took all their resources to do even that.

"How do we win?" Jasmine repeated. The four victors looked at each other. "Look, three of you won in back-to-back years, one of them a Quell. District 12 hasn't been this unembarrassed in decades. There must be some formula you Mellarks figured out. How do we win?"

"You don't," Steffan said pointedly. Peeta nodded in agreement and approval. His dad had learned much in the arena and had obviously remembered the tutorials on mentoring he and Haymitch had given him. "You can only survive. The arena will change you in ways that you might not realize yet, but you will."

"Amen, brother!" Haymitch crowed in agreement. The two clinked shot glasses and were about to down them when Katniss cleared her throat and gave both her father-in-law and adopted father a pointed look. The two drunks sheepishly put the glasses down. If Katniss had lost patience, that meant they really had to clue in. Haymitch now picked up where Steffan had left off.

"The first thing we need to sort out for the two of you is your angle. How do you want to play the media once we're in the Capitol? Will you be coy? Aloof? Sexy?"

"Beyond that," Katniss filled in. "There will be training. Over those three days, you will be tempted to show off what you are strongest at. Here's the twist: don't. Save your real talents for the Gamemakers, and spend the three training days learning things you might not know. Then, and only then, will you be as equipped as you can be for whatever the arena has in store. Here's how you do it….