Why hello there! It's XxYTTxX and I've somehow found my way back to the THG fandom (AKA the fandom that ruined my life for being my first one). Do I even still have readers like?

So this story is very different than all the ones that I've ever written before and that's mostly because the idea is all kornerbrandon. And honestly, I'm way out of my depth but my wonderful co-author has agreed that he would handle all the political stuff and I just couldn't resist. I do love a good challenge.

I can't guarantee regular updates like in RUC, but I hope you'll come with me on this ride anyway. It's gonna be epic, guys. Much angst and frustration for our beloved characters. Yes yes. *nods solemnly* Also I deeply apologize for that horrendous cover up there. It's only temporary and I'm currently working on the real one.

Without further ado, the prologue for The Great Recovery!

How do you even A/N like I haven't done this in a very long time.

Disclaimer: Neither kornerbrandon or I own THG. Everything belongs to the wonderful Suzanne Collins.

Caesar Flickerman sat down soberly behind his desk. Much had changed since the 74th Hunger Games those few months ago.

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark had become the first to be crowned as joint victors of the Hunger Games, largely in an effort to prevent their suicide, which was feared would lead to an uprising in the Districts.

Caesar chuckled at the irony of the situation.

Ever since then, things had steadily spiralled down. The riots in District 11 had spilled over into the neighboring Districts, and they had only spread from there. These weren't ordinary food riots though; they could be dealt with easily. These were massive and violent. Peacekeepers were stabbed to death in the streets. Capitol officials were kidnapped and murdered. Buildings bearing the symbol of the Capitol were burnt down. Efforts by Peacekeepers to suppress the riots were futile. There too many rioters to suppress, and using lethal force on them only exacerbated the problem; it made the rioters even more violent. Things came to a head when a group of Peacekeepers had been found tortured to death.

At this point, President Snow was forced to go back to an ancient law, called the Treaty of Restoration. The Treaty had been written to restore a proper national government once things were stable; before the time of the Capitol and the Districts. Since then, it had been gathering dust, along with a thousand other unused Treaties. Now, Snow had announced that he would enact the treaty; and that Panem would hold its first democratic elections in nearly a hundred years. Caesar had been charged with announcing the news to the entire country.

His producer began to signal the countdown. Caesar straightened up for the broadcast. He had to get this one right; this broadcast was mandatory viewing for every household in the nation. Soon, the red light on the camera came on, and Caesar stared into the black lens.

"Good evening," he began.

Chaos.

"The recent riots and civil unrest have been the worst in the history of our nation."

Containers of grains being knocked over. Factories burnt down to ashes. Peacekeepers being tackled down and beat up. Riots in the streets, destroying every Capitol made thing in sight. Whipping posts chopped down, galleys torn apart. Chaos.

"All attempt to crack down on the violence have only led to more dead and injured."

Chaos. Madness. Revenge.

"It is with this in mind, that President Snow has enacted the Treaty of Restoration. As such, Panem will hold its first free and democratic elections in over a hundred years, and that is all thanks to the vision of President Coriolanus Snow."

Gale clenched his fist, his nails sinking into his palms hard enough to draw blood. He saw through it. He knew Snow. He knew how he worked.

"God dammit!" he roared, leaping up from his seat on the floor. His foot went flying, sending a wooden chair crashing against the wall. The flimsy, decorative backrest shattered.

"Your back!" Prim shrieked in panic, grabbing his shoulders. "You sit back down!"

He wasn't listening. He wondered how many people would fall for this... this joke. He wondered how many people were deceived into thinking that they now actually had a choice.

His eyes met Katniss's. She knew too.

All their efforts. Everything that they'd done after coming back. All the progress that they had made. All for nothing? Had everything been for nothing?

No. She refused to think about that.

"This is bullshit," Peeta suddenly said, surprising them all. "Complete and utter bullshit."

"Finally, something smart comes out of your mouth," Gale snarked, shaking out of his trance before anyone else did.

Peeta said nothing. He wasn't as stupid or as mild mannered as people thought. His brain was working a mile a minute, trying to figure out what exactly Snow was trying to accomplish by pulling such a stunt.

In a corner of the room, Haymitch took a drink.

Katniss's eyes hardened. She let herself feel the sting of the whip against her cheek. Ran her thumb over the scab it had formed. Remembered the voices of the people jeering at Thread, lamenting the unfairness of the event that had taken place just a week ago. It had almost wrecked them. Almost made them give up. The sight of their strongest submitting to such a fate had been almost impossible to bear.

But they stuck through it. They planted their feet on the ground and stuck through.

It hadn't been for nothing. They would fight harder. She would not let their effort go to waste.

They will not back down. They will never back down.

"Thank you and goodnight."

Hi guys! kornerbrandon here and I'm proud to be writing this story with XxYTTxX. Seriously, she's awesome and I'm glad she agreed to write this with me, despite it being a strange idea. Anyway, I'm proud to start my first foray into the Hunger Games community. I hope you enjoy this!

And that's it for the prologue!

Just forewarning you, this isn't going to be very romance heavy at all. In fact, Katniss and Peeta's romance takes a back seat and exists only for emotional reprieve. So for anyone expecting a great love story, so sorry for the disappointment.

I look forward to hearing what you think!

Also, if any of you have Tumblr, my url is dastoryfrikk. It's just random things though but if you guys want I can post updates on where we're at in the next chapter.

Also for anyone in the GoT fandom, go check out kornerbrandon! He's a wonderful writer.

Please leave a review! Favs and follows are also appreciated.

~XxYTTxX