CONVERGENT
"What if the world outside the fence...is Panem?"
Ever since the revelation of a world beyond the factions, it has been turmoil in Tris's world. The factions and factionless have branched off into two groups—those who want to open the fence, and those who do not. But when the fence is mysteriously breached one day, Tris knows that the factions can't hide any longer.
In the Capitol, President Snow has never tried to open the gates in the edge of district woods of District 9 and 7. He has never wondered about what lies in the gate once. Security has always been tight around the woods surrounding the gates but has never truly bothered with it at all. Until now. Before now, he has never thought that there would be anything or anyone in the gates. Now the guards around the gates are reporting suspicious things. Loud noises coming from the large area that the gates close off. The sound of old machinery. But even worse—they are all pointing to one thing: there may be civilization within the gates.
President Snow cannot let the citizens of District 9 or 7 realize that there is a world within the gates—a world without the ruling of the Capitol. That will be another spark—a bigger one, added to that of the existence of Katniss Everdeen. That means one thing: destroy all civilization within the gates before they can contaminate Panem.
PROLOGUE
Enjoying the lovely scenery of white roses in his garden, President Coriolanus Snow sits on a stone bench and admires his work. Old age has never appealed to him as a child but that is nugatory now. He has everything anyone sane would ever want. Power, control, and an empire at the tip of his fingers. The thought of that makes his wrinkled lips curl up.
The rose garden is so blindly white that it's almost reiterative. Coriolanus would throw the roses away if they didn't have the strongest, most pungent scent. The scent that can cover the smell of blood sores from his mouth wounds. Coriolanus resents those wounds but what has to be done has to be done. How else can he take out his competitors for his power? Poison knows him as well as he knows it. He had been playing with fire and though his own life had not been extinguished, fire leaves scorch marks.
Fire. The smile turns into a grimace. He will still have to deal with 'the girl on fire' after her last seditious act in the arena of the 74th Hunger Games. He will have to find a way to dispose of her indirectly but the task is already proving difficult. With the Quarter Quell just a few months away, Coriolanus knows he must find a way to destroy her while not turning her into a martyr at the same time.
He growls in frustration. Since when can a sixteen year old girl take down his empire? No, it will not happen. It must never, ever happen.
"President Snow!"
Coriolanus sighs as his youngest employee runs up to him, slightly out of breath. Like most Capitol inhabitants, his skin is dyed light orange, seeming even brighter than usual in the sunlight. There are streaks of neon yellow down his dark hair and his eyes are a kaleidescope of colours. Shifting and changing with every movement and gleaming in the sunlight.
"What is it Augustus?" Coriolanus asks him, keeping his tone pleasant as young Augustus attempts to catch his breath.
"The monitors...they say..." Augustus takes another gasp of air before he goes on. "...People in fences."
"At the gate?" Coriolanus asks him, brow furrowing. Oh how control comes with such prices. Not only will he have to extinguish Katniss Everdeen's flame, but now there seems to be another group of civilization within the gates on the edges of the district woods.
Augustus nods. "At first, we thought they were the animals from before the muttations but we've been hearing shouting and yelling now. Human voices. I've been sent from a hovercraft from that area to report immediately."
"Hmm." Coriolanus touches the waxy white petal of the rose and trails down to the stem, careful to make sure his fingers do not linger on the sharp thorns. Another reason for roses—they look innocent yet they are betraying. Coriolanus finds this concept to fit his own personality. He can appear as a kindly grandfather and yet be as harsh as the thorns on the roses. He is unforgiving to those who have wronged him.
Katniss Everdeen, his mind whispers.
"Keep a watch on the gates," Coriolanus says. "Once I have finished some important business, I will meet you and the rest of the guards at the gates. We will attempt to breach them. For now, return there and continue normal business until I arrive."
Augustus bows and hurries away from the garden leaving Coriolanus alone with his thoughts.
And suddenly, it hits him.
He knows what to do.
A sinister smile creeps up his lips with no witnesses around to see such dark emotions at play. The Quarter Quell, his mind whispers again. Change the rules. Draw the victors in and Katniss Everdeen will be gone.
She cannot win again. Not with the vicious victors from District 2. No, she can't win.
And finally, the girl on fire will be destroyed at last. Panem will be stronger than it has ever been with her death in the Games.
No one can survive the odds.
*There was supposed to be spaces between the letters in the chapter name...sighs* Okay, this idea has been circulating in my head for a while and let me clarify this: I DID NOT STEAL THIS FROM ANYONE. It was an original idea that I'm pretty sure popped up in someone's head too. The updates will be pret-ty slow. I'll probably start uploading during November or October.
Anyways, the Panem sites and scenery will be following the ones said on the official Hunger Games Adventure Games. The districts around Chicago are not revealed yet. I may (most likely) be wrong about the gate locations and I'll change it once the game releases the area of the districts.
Anyways, I'll be following the Hunger Games plotline very closely. I've chosen to name this 'Convergent' because it matches AND I think the official third book will be named "Abstergent" or "Resurgent". Think of Convergent as an alternate universe of the third one. :)
I'll probably do first-person present-tense for Tris and Katniss's POV. If anyone has different ideas, don't hesitate to tell me! But I WON'T be revolving around too many character's voices in first-person. Just clarifying.