Glato Versus Everthorne Chapter 1 The Announcement
By Alan Gilfoy in the world of Suzanne Collins. Crane is faced with two pairs of lovers in his third year as Head Gamemaker. The later events of Gale's Hunger Games, Gleam In His Eye and Beautiful Plans but from various other POV's – other tributes, people in the Capitol, and people in the Districts.
Planning The Announcement
(Cashmere Goldman)
Mentors got the results of their tributes' physicals. Apparently Glimmer was pregnant. This was not exactly a surprise. I doubt Brutus would be shocked either. He wasn't. "So my tribute is the father of your tribute's child," he echoed matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, and he's the biggest threat to her."
"Cato's the biggest threat to everybody in that arena." Trash talk, but fair enough. "I told him not to run an emotional angle. Now I need to pretend it's my idea."
I whispered my reply due to its sensitive nature. "If one of them makes it out without the other, some victory that would be. You might deny it, Mr. No Emotion, but you would know that the Games take enough of a toll on the Victor as is."
He got the point, but he phrased his response practically. "Crane knows how to put on a good show. If he lets both win, the crowds would love it."
"Well, that would solve our problem! I'll talk to our esteemed Head Gamemaker."
I went to secure an audience with Crane for myself and Brutus. "This better be important and quick, Ms. Goldman," answered the Head Gamemaker.
"Oh, it is." We were to have a private meeting in the mentor room.
Brutus saw me in the hallway on the way there. "I remember Cato's reaction on the train like it was only nine days ago. Lust at first sight. I figured I'd let him have his fun, and besides, he's not the kind of boy you can argue with."
"Glimmer felt the same way. I helped her grow it into something more. I was there for her, and we especially need to be there for our tributes right now." District Two men had a particularly strong sense of honor, so it made sense to appeal to it. Left unsaid was that Glimmer and I had made beautiful plans to leverage the relationship with Cato. However, this is not the way I had imagined those plans coming to fruition.
I noticed that for some reason Haymitch was also in the meeting room. "Abernathy, this isn't the bar." I had my own demons from the arena, but alcoholism wasn't one of them.
"I have business with Crane too. I wonder what you're doing here," he responded.
James Morgan, a captain in the Peacekeeper medical corps, happened to be the doctor to run Glimmer's pre-flight checkup. He turned to address this small audience. "We don't check for it, but it was obvious enough. She really took it in stride."
"Glimmer has said she wanted a kid some day, and apparently she got one. And I know darn well the father is … Cato Adams."
"Not her district partner?" Crane was puzzled. I figured a cross-district romance might be concern even though those two districts are the Capitol's favorites.
"Frankly, it's kind of funny how she keeps shutting Marvel down."
"No one else from One?"
"Yeah, she doesn't have a boyfriend back home and just came off birth control anyway."
Brutus provided confirmation. "He's just as uninterested in Clove. All of us on the lower district crews know it – Tribute Adams and Tribute Shinesmith can't keep their hands or other body parts off of each other." Then he got to the point. "So why not let the father come home with her?"
Abernathy counteroffered. "Remember that there's another couple in the arena – my tributes. How about letting them come home? Unfavorable odds that they both had siblings get reaped. They've known each other for years. They're married now." We were all confused, Crane included. Haymitch continued. "Not officially, mind you. Yesterday evening they went through a marriage ritual. It was obvious to many folks from Twelve such as myself."
Crane stroked his overly groomed beard. "Now that you mention it, they did seem to take their first-night dinner awfully seriously." Hindsight is perfect vision, they say. "Glimmer has already told Cato about their situation. Some people missed that part of the broadcast, and even if they watched it, an announcement would confirm Tribute Shinesmith's confession."
Crane gave us the best news we could have reasonably hoped for. "Whichever pair is left can win, if Snow approves."
I started to think over the news. It was legal for an eighteen year old to marry someone who's sixteen or seventeen. However, the youth of Panem generally waited until the Games were behind them to marry and/or have children, if they did so at all. Granted, many didn't wait any longer. I would know – my brother Gloss was conceived right after our father Chrome got home from the 44th Games. Father never married – Mother proved to not be wife material anyway. I was born about a year after Gloss, and Mother left soon after that. She begged her way back years later, leading to our younger brother Shine, but nothing had really changed. This was one reason I had grown so protective of my brothers – I didn't want it to happen to them. It ran in the family. Grandfather Facet, winner of the 18th Games, never had luck with women either.
(Coriolanus Snow)
My rose garden was an excellent place to discuss the progress of the Games. The Head Gamemaker often came here to give updates and talk strategy, but this time Crane had more than the usual notifications. As we walked alongside the bushes, he told this year's most extraordinary story: one tribute had gotten another pregnant, and two others had gone through their district's marriage ritual. My hot-blooded days were decades in the past, so I simply took this as rather clear proof that they were wise enough to not lie to the Capitol about their relationships.
"The odds are always in my favor. As usual, the Capitol can't lose. It will demonstrate the Capitol's mercy to Twelve." Like most, Crane believed the propaganda. One could say that the flowers covered up the smell of bullshit. "It will be another favor to both One and Two, acknowledging their loyalty." And help maintain it. "And think several years down the line – a child of not one but two victors in the Games?" They'd probably volunteer, so we wouldn't even have to rig the reaping like we usually did with victors' children.
"So it's approved?"
"Yes. Tell Templesmith and Flickerman. Let's announce it right after the cut to final eight, instead of a regular feast."
Being relieved to have each other might calm them down. The Games were monstrously unfair, but we gave the illusion of fairness. This explained the very existence of Careers, and this announcement was intended for those two particular lower-district volunteers. Including the pair from Twelve fueled the propaganda and the spectacle.
I could afford to have one less Victor to pimp out – there were causes greater than making a few bucks and satiating my political allies' lust for young flesh. Hell, maybe other Victors would be jealous of them, dividing the different Victors as well as the different districts.
I feel no regret for what I did to Abernathy, Odair, Cresta, Mason and the rest. I would not retreat from my current stance. I would not reward defiance or even mere hesitation. However, I was smart enough to make minor sacrifices to hold on to the bigger picture.
The unlucky would be angry at each other instead of at the Capitol – that's what the Games were really about. Panem et circenses, divide et imperma.
Delivering The Announcement
(Caesar Flickerman)
Was Seneca serious about this? Tribute Everdeen's training score had been downright believable by comparison. Well, if there's one thing I understand, it's putting on a show. This certainly does that. Seneca got it, and so would Claudius. I began to pass along the information.
Everdeen and Hawthorne sure weren't kidding in their interviews. "Claudius, I understand if 'lifetime commitment' is a foreign concept to you – how much did it cost to upgrade to a newer model this time?" I often busted his chops about the wives – he was used to it by now. "So Katniss is the wife and Glimmer is the mom-to-be, but it will spice things up if you keep quiet about which one is which for now."
He warmed up Panem's most famous voice. "Attention tributes! I have a special announcement. We are now down to the final eight, including both members of both couples. If either couple are the final two, they may win together. Also, there's a baby on the way and a marriage, but for different pairs."
Reactions To The Announcement
(Rue Clayton)
Well, if I wasn't going home, at least Miss Katniss would. She was so nice to me; she deserved it. Her boyfriend was like a paler Thresh: big, tall and strong, but kind. I'm sure they'd be a wonderful mommy and daddy. It was nice that two would get to win, but I'd still pick myself, Thresh, Katniss or Gale alone instead of the pretty girl and her scary husband.
I wanted to find them and help them win if I couldn't do so myself.
(Sunstone Shinesmith – Glimmer's father)
Darn it, the girl's father is supposed to intimidate the boyfriend, not the other way around. Well, it seemed obvious that the District 2 giant would be coming home, and now he's bringing my daughter with him. As long as I get her back. My other little girl said, "Dad, I told ya so, it's only a matter of time. Glim's definitely coming home now!"
"Yes, lil' shiny, the odds are in our favor."
"I was afraid her new boyfriend would turn on her. I didn't think they'd have a kid."
Then a camera crew showed up. The families of the final 8 were always interviewed, but there was some different subject matter this year. "Are you the father-in-law or the grandfather?"
"Both, if he knows what's good for him."
(Katniss Everdeen)
It doesn't have to be me or Gale! Would he have taken the fall for me? I didn't even want to think about it. I'd be quite happy right now if we didn't have to kill Cato first. Sixteen tributes dead, and the one to kill was still left. I wasn't as worried about Glimmer - people wonder how I got an eleven, but I wonder how Glimmer got a nine. Rue would be happy for us. Thresh would follow, at least for Rue's sake. The Career alliance, already bursting at the seams, would destroy itself.
(Rory Hawthorne)
I don't believe it! We all thought that either the Hawthornes or the Everdeens would end up heartbroken, if not both. Now it looked like we'd both be happy – surely Big Man and Katniss could outsmart that brute and his vicious girlfriend. Prim came running. We had grown closer waiting through the Games, and I was smitten. The little angel could have knocked down a smaller boy - I know I was going to be tall and strong like Dad was and Gale is. She was here to kiss me – her lips tasted so sweet and I could see why Gale liked doing this so much.
(Teresa Anthony – Cato's mother)
It looks like my son's going to get away with this. It was clear he couldn't be outfought, but I was afraid a pretty girl would be his undoing. It nearly was. I have a feeling that was shiny girl's plan. Letting the mother of his child win would have been the right thing to do, but it still would have left him dead. If I could do the single mother shtick, she certainly could as a victor, with the winnings and the lack of other commitments. I still would have been glad to stand by my grandchild – if that had come to pass, what else would have been left of my boyfriend and our son?
(Mrs. Ingrid Everdeen)
The Capitol always interviewed the families of the final eight, but that usually didn't happen in District Twelve. Katniss was always a fighter, it was right that she'd break our drought, her bravery rewarded instead of tragic. Hazelle felt similarly of her eldest, but nobody had seen these twists coming.
"So, are you a mother-in-law or a grandmother?"
"Mother-in-law. The Toasting, newlyweds break bread over a fire, it's how we celebrate weddings out here. Most everyone here in Twelve saw Katniss and Gale do one that first night."
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm a widow, you know. It reminds me of my own marriage. And I didn't expect my daughter to get hitched so soon, since she had everything but boys on her mind. That boy, we all thought they were best friends and nothing more."
(Marvel)
She either married someone else, or is having someone else's kid. All the stinging rebukes finally hit home. It's time to take care of her once and for all. Cato wouldn't like that, but I think Clove was distracting him.
(Clove Hawkins)
The announcement confirmed what I had wondered about. So that dumb bitch got herself knocked up. However, Cato was physically closer to me, so he'd be my first target. Being able to win with her and fathering her child made it clearer that remaining allied with him would do no good. Also, dealing with Cato first would make it easier to finish off Glimmer, and Marvel was distracting her for now. He was an idiot, but a useful one, and I'd keep him around for the other tributes after this.
A/N
Do you guys think that my take on Snow is sufficiently evil?
I purposely have Rue guess wrong as to which couple is expecting and which is married.
This mainly covers Chapter 10 of Gale's Hunger Games and Chapter 5 of Gleam In His Eye/Beautiful Plans, but some of this leads in to Chapter 11 and Chapter 6 respectively.
Knightingale by DBlaZe is one of my favorite fics. It gave me the idea for Rory/Prim and switching between different first person POV's, amongst other things.