Prologue I:

The Quell

The girl fired another arrow, hitting the bullseye once more, splitting the previous arrow in two. From behind her, her brunette friend let out a low whistle in amazement.

"What did that arrow do to you?"

"Not now, Ginnie," Aria Odair murmured, notching another arrow and letting it go with ease.

"Damn, what's got you so rattled up?" Ginnie sat on a log next to the dark haired girl, her eyes never leaving the stressed girl before her.

Aria grabbed another arrow, but instead of releasing it instantly like she had before, she closed her eyes and relaxed. She focused on the feeling of the wind blowing against her hair, nipping at her cheek as the cool air became colder with the lowering of the sun. Aria needed that calming presence of the forest to drown out the stress of the upcoming event. An event that only the sane people really dreaded.

The 125th Hunger Games announcements were coming up.

The Fifth Quarter Quell.

Her grandparents failed at having a revolution to change the system, hence why the games still happened every year. At first, President Snow had Katniss Everdeen and her entourage of followers placed in prison. He tortured some, executed others. They were nothing more than toys at that point. Then he made a series of deals with them, and once agreed upon, were let go.

The nightmare never ceased to end for any of the surviving victors, until Snow died a few years after the rebellion was stopped. Abigail Snow, his grandaughter, took over the throne the same night of Snow's death. She was sworn into Presidency-really, simply becoming another monarch.

The Capitol people were weary of her, but it didn't take long until they started to suck up on her as they did with Snow. Meanwhile, the old rebels and victors that were scared and hated Coriolanus Snow, knew it was only a matter of time before Abigail Snow showed her true colours.

Part of lived in fear that they'd be reaped as payback for the chaos and destruction the rebellion caused. It didn't help Katniss that one of the deals she struck with Snow was to have kids or else Annie would suffer. She had to watch as her brother figure's son, Finn Odair, was the first Victor child to be reaped into the bloody games. She sobbed tears of joy the day that he was crowned victor.

But Abigail Snow wanted to cause even more emotional distress towards the Mockingjay. Each year, she always commented on live television that it would be interesting to see the child of the great Katniss Everdeen-Mellark in the games, to see if that child would live up to the family name. Each year, Katniss had a meltdown that only Peeta could calm down.

Unfortunately for the two, that day came.

Rye Finnick Mellark was reaped when he was 13 years old. He died a horrible death and left behind a grieving family and a sister so full of anger, that she turned to her weapons to find release. As soon as Katniss and Peeta seemed to be able to get out of the grief of losing a son, Willow Primrose Mellark was reaped at the age of 16.

Aria remembered her mother telling her the horrors. "I could've died," her mother had whispered, tracing the rusting Mockingjay pin in her hands. They were both sitting in the living room after one of Willow's nightmares. Aria had heard her mother come out of her room and had decided to follow the older woman into the living room, where they were both having a conversation. "It was only me and the tributes from One."

"How did you do it?" Aria had asked, placing a hand over her mother's shaking ones.

"I stayed alive. I stayed alive long enough for their cannons to go off and become the victor."

Aria's mother always claimed that if it hadn't been for Finn, she wouldn't have stayed sane. But even that part felt forced towards the beginning. It was an arranged marriage between Willow and Finn, forced by Abigail. Luckily, the two started off as friends and instantly clicked. It got to the point that they fell in love without realizing it. When it came time for them to have children to please Abigail, they had a plan already set.

Willow and Finn secretly trained both their children so when it was time for the games, they were prepared and would win with ease. They did everything they could to ensure the survival of their children, to make sure they didn't suffer as much as they did.

But it wasn't enough.

"Seriously, what's on your mind?" Ginnie got closer to Aria, approaching her like she was some type of wild animal needed to be tamed. Which in truth, wasn't far from reality. Abigail had ruined her life and her family's life for generations, she was allowed to feel anger.

Finally, Aria caved. Lowering her weapon, she turned to face Ginnie. "It's the upcoming Quell. I'm worried. That's all. I mean, what's to say that Snow won't pull one of her grandfather's old tricks and place previous victors into the games? She did it to my grandparents."

"You won't know, but whatever happens, I'm sure you'll prevail."

"Yeah, or get myself killed."

"Don't say that!" Ginnie exclaimed loudly, the annoyance visible. Ginnie took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing some more, fist clenched, before she let out a soft sigh and relaxed, her features softening. "Your parents can't have another child dead, you know that. Le-" she abruptly cut herself off as Aria tensed at her late brother's name. "He wouldn't want that for you."

Aria listened. "You're right. I just-I don't want to go back. The nightmares haven't stopped. I just want all this...to be over…" her voice trailed off, shoulders dropping as she sunk to the ground. Aria was tired. Tired of fighting her anger, tired of being reminded every day of her lost brother, tired of seeing her parents in pain. She wanted to be happy, but even growing up, that happiness was very rare.

"Come on, it's almost time for the announcement," Ginnie whispered, grasping the brunette's arms and taking her inside the Odair house.

All of District 12 was anxiously waiting in front of a large screen for the announcements to come. Those who were fortunate enough to have a television, were in their cozy homes, staring at the screen. Those who didn't, were in the square, holding their family members close in hopes that it wouldn't be a twist that would hurt their family.

"Good evening, Panem," Abigail Snow started, her blonde hair pinned perfectly back, making her blue eyes appear even sharper and colder than normal.

"On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on tribute who would represent it."

Aria shivered involuntarily. Her mother gently placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze, silently telling her that she was there for support and that everything would hopefully be okay.

"On the fiftieth anniversary," Abigail continued, staring straight into the screen, "as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes."

"Grandpa Haymitch-may his soul rest in peace-went into those games," her mother whispered. "That's what my mother told me."

"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors."

"Those were the games our parents were in," her dad commented, reaching out to hold her mother's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Ah, yes, the infamous 75th.

"On the hundredth anniversary, to remind all of the citizens of Panem that they will always be under the control of the Capitol and cannot and should not fight it, the citizens of Panem voted on the arena."

That year, the arena was full of ugly and deadly creatures. Not only that, but there was a building where the Careers could torture the victims and give them a horrible death. The Capitol loved it, the rest were horrified.

"And now we honor the Fifth Quarter Quell." Aria hadn't noticed that she was holding her breath as she watched a small girl in a pure white dress step forward, holding a box as she opens the lid, exposing the rows of yellowed envelopes.

Abigail ripped the flap open and took out a small square piece of paper, quickly reading without hesitation. Aria should not have been worried, she had already won her games. The worse was that she had to watch more kids get murdered. But anything could happen with the Quells.

"As a reminder to the rebels that the sins of the past still exist, the male and female tributes will be reaped from a pool of double the entry of those that have blood ties to victors and rebels, while the rest of the district citizens only have their names placed in the pool once."

Aria starred at the screen in confusion until it clicked.

"So in short, anyone who has ties with the rebels and victors will be entered multiple times, while the citizens will only be entered once?"

Her parent's silence was the only confirmation that she needed to know she was right.


1. Yep, I took down the other chapters and edited this one, if this author's note is still up, that means I'm still fixing the other chapters. The reason why the other chapters are down is because I know what I'm going to do for this story. This is my first SYOT and I just now figured out how I'm going to set everything up for it and what I want to do.

Here's the break down: after the first prologue or two, I'm going to post the tributes. The first tribute chapter (Pt 1. Ch. 1 ) will have Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

2. The Blog- I'm working on atm. If you didn't place an FC with your tribute, it would be a huge help if you wanted to send me one. If not, that's cool too :)

3. If there are any mistakes and inconsistencies, let me knooooow!

4. Thank you for reading!