Hilde can hear the mockery of the mob ringing in her ears as she stumbles farther and farther into the forest. Unforgiving branches scratch her face and catch in her hair but she presses on.

"Lousy bitch," one of the men spits - she knows he does, even if she can't see him - thrusting a torch in her mother's face. "I wouldn't breed my dog with you."

Another rebel - she isn't sure which one, they're all the same anyway - laughs. "She's too good for that. Why don't we show her the same courtesy she showed the rebellion?"

The cacophony of agreement is only drowned out by distance, until finally Hilde stumbles into a small clearing. It isn't warm, but it will do for the night. Pulling her torn skirt around her, she tries to fall asleep and block out the sounds of jeering and cruel laughter still echoing in her head.


Days later, she stumbles out of the woods and into town. District 1 is running rampant with criminals and rebels as the rebellion breathes its last in the face of Capitol oppression. A dirty orphan wandering the streets is nothing new, so she's taken to the re-built Community Home.

She isn't welcomed - one more mouth to feed is never welcome - but she does her best to not attract attention and do what she's told.

At least until the Reaping is announced.

She's sixteen, almost aged out of the Home and just starting to grow into her body with curves more pronounced than any of the other girls. When her name is pulled out of the bowl, she walks up onto the stage and tries to ignore the way the Capitol escort is staring at her. She doesn't remember the name of her partner and when they board the train, the escort leers at her as he mentions it'll take a day and a night to get to the Capitol from where they are.

She tries her best not to remember that night.

Once all the tributes have arrived, they're taken to where a mile of District Two forest has been blocked off and cameras set up everywhere and let loose. When the gong sounds, no one seems to know what to do, but, after the District Nine boy sees a scythe and runs for it, it comes back quickly. Hilde simply picks up one of the spare packs of supplies lying around and bolts.

A day later, she's found by the male tribute from District Four. He looks at her like the escort did, but hours of lying in the undergrowth waiting to be found have made her nervous, and she jumps up with the knife from the supply pack in her hand and slashes his throat.

It doesn't take much longer than that before there's only two people left - Hilde and a tiny girl from District Three that survived by hiding up a tree. Hilde's ready to come home, and it doesn't take her long to find some nightlock, paint it onto an apple, and convince her opponent that she isn't trying to kill her, she's just offering a snack.


The escort is waiting in the hovercraft that picks her up from the arena, but she's done playing around. When he asks her what her name is in front of the entire country, she smiles at him - all sharp teeth and no kindness - and answers. "Grimhilde."

The audience cheers as he shakily translates it for them, and she sits taller on her chair, the Victor's crown on her head. She was forced to be ruthless by the Capitol and by the rebels and now, now, she can choose for herself and she finds she doesn't want to change back.


A/N: So this was the queen from Snow White, in case you didn't realize. She doesn't have a canonical first name, but Grimhilde was used in some old publicity materials so I adopted it. Please don't be afraid to tell me if I messed up; this is the first long-running fanfiction idea I've tried to pull off and I would love feedback. Thanks again for reading this!