AUTHOR'S NOTES: Welcome one, welcome all to the 95th Annual Hunger Games! This is the 5th volume of my "Fire Without a Spark" series, so be sure to check out the others in the series if this one tickles your fancy. Despite '94 not being completed, this is in no ways a replacement for it. This is just something I've been working on and planning to release for a while, and so it's about time I made good on that promise. Like the other stories in the series, this opening chapter is kind of a prologue which offers slight spoilers for who won the previous one, although it's kind of obvious at this point, and both the victor of that one and this one are seen in 'The 100th Annual Hunger Games' anyways.
That said, Happy Reading!

PART I: THE TRIBUTE WITHOUT A VOICE

CHAPTER 1: Injustice is Served

With 10 victors under their belts, the Victor Village of District 5 was a rather formidable and well-kept place. Sure it might not have compared to the two career districts: 1 & 2, which had 14 and 17 victors respectively, but District 5 had the next highest victor count apart from the two obvious contenders for the lead position.
There was nearly 20 years between Cadence Montoya and the last couple of victors, however, and so there was something of a gap and distance between them. Cadence didn't terribly mind, but sometimes he liked to talk to people who had seen similar horrors to him—people who had had friends and loved ones die in the games; people who fought and killed—who survived—these horrific games. Essentially, at times he wanted to converse with people who knew his plight; for these were a rare variety—less than 94 of these men and women existed across all of Panem.

Today was one of those days where Cadence wanted to talk; particularly because it was Reaping Day. This would be Cadence's first year as a mentor, where he'd have to teach some unlucky boy and girl how to try and survive the brutality of the Hunger Games.

Despite District 5 producing so many victors and being relatively loyal to the capitol (at least among the non-victors, anyways), it was not often for them to volunteer. This was an amusing and somewhat ironic contrast to the wiles of District 3, which was much less loyal and thus more rebellious, but produced more volunteers for the games (and with only 8 victors thus far, instead of 10). Cadence wasn't sure he'd understand that.

One thing the two districts did have in common was the electronic lottery. Districts 6-12, as well as District 4, used glass bowls with slips of paper. In technologically-savvy districts such as District 3 and District 5, it was an electronic lottery interface, and Cadence wanted to smash that gigantic screen more with each passing year.

He also found the "reapings" of Districts 1 and 2—the 'career' districts, as barbaric. They didn't even need lotteries; they had so many kids volunteering that they basically raced and fought for the so-called honor of representing their district in the games. No wonder they produced so many volunteers.

He decided to talk to his old mentor Bethany about it. Johnny was a bit more reserved, much like he was; and while some matching personality types interacted well with one another, Cadence's personality was not exactly a very people-friendly one. Bethany was an exception only because she was a fellow victor and his old mentor during his games the previous year.

Bethany was in her Victor's Mansion almost as if she was waiting for Cadence.

"It's not unheard of for victors to come talk to their mentors the day before they officially become mentors themselves," Bethany reassured him. "It's hard; especially since only Districts 1 and 2 have ever had back-to-back victors."
"So basically what you're telling me is that odds are these kids whose faces show up on those giant screens are going to die." Cadence grumbled.

"Would you rather I lied and given you false hope?" Bethany retorted, taking a bottle of alcohol from a cupboard and seating herself at the table across from Cadence, "I'm not saying it's guaranteed to happen; just that the odds are against us. The odds are never in our favour."

"I knew that the moment Lucia's name appeared on that damned screen," Cadence growled, "and I guess I shouldn't be taking it out on you. I'm not too thrilled about today though."
"There's no reason to be," Bethany agreed, pouring some of the bottle into a glass and offering it to Cadence. He accepted it immediately. "remember though, that you're basically a lifeline to these kids. Don't slim their odds even further by not putting your heart and soul into doing everything that you can to keep them alive."

That was a thought Cadence had not considered. He frowned at Bethany, who continued. "I did the same for you and Lucia, after all."

"I get it," Cadence grunted as he emptied the glass Bethany poured him, "doesn't make it any easier though. How about another drink?"

Normally a lot of the victors would gather around and play cards over drinks during the morning of the reapings, though while the victors of District 5 were known for this trend as well as the other districts, this year they did no such thing. Johnny hadn't shown up, and neither had any of Bethany's predecessors—so there was no point.

"Don't get too drunk," Bethany warned almost playfully as she poured him another glass.

"This is just a buzz," Cadence muttered, "It won't last."

"Is there anything else you want to ask me that I haven't already told you?" Bethany offered, "or have I rambled enough?"

"Well, if I were anyone else I might have complained about the lack of fanfare…" Cadence admitted, chuckling dryly, "but since it's just you and I that means more booze for us. I'm still going to call out those lucky bastards when I get back for being able to sleep in and drink."

"I'll make sure to leave a good note for you," Bethany quipped, "want another shot?"

"Nah, I'm buzzed enough," Cadence shook his head, "Besides… I should probably be getting ready to go around now. Reaping's gonna start soon."

He almost literally dragged his feet from Bethany's mansion to the stage where the reaping would take place. Nephenee Glitz was as airy and oblivious as ever, but once again Cadence resisted the urge to punch her and simply sat down waiting for the usual load of nonsense to go over, so he could see what poor suckers he was going to have to try and reassure wouldn't die.

Tracer Lestrange was the girl's name, and Cadence watched as the petite, bespectacled girl with black curls that bounced on each step, reached the stage. She was shortly followed by Makoto Fawkes, a stout fellow with messy brown hair who stumped up to Tracer's side.

Cadence watched recaps of the recent reapings while Makoto and Tracer said their goodbyes, running through the short segments when a tribute's name was called out, or watching the career tributes from '1 and '2 reach the stage. District 2's tributes seemed like the average standard fare, but the girl from District 1 stood out to him in particular. He recognized that beautiful face as the girl he had met on his victory tour that hadn't said a single word to him. He wondered if she was as antisocial as he was, or if there was another reason for her silence and lack of words. He kind of just figured that her stern expression towards him 6 months ago on his tour was merely a byproduct of him slaying Serendipity Li, the District 1 girl from Cadence's games. Seeing her with a similarly stern expression on stage made him rethink it. Normally he might have thought she was bitter about being chosen for the games, but she clearly volunteered on her own, and could have easily thrown it if she didn't want to be there. Yet, as he rewatched her footage, there she was, brawling with the other girls as she raced for the stage.

This was definitely going to be an interesting year.

Makoto and Tracer seemed just as thrilled to see Cadence as he was to see them. They were both young; younger than he was when he was picked for his games: Makoto by a few months, and Tracer by over a year. This was just a further reminder of the injustices wrought upon them by the Capitol.

"I'll lay it on you easy for now," he warned, "but the odds aren't in your favour."

"We gathered that much," Makoto frowned, "what can you tell us about surviving?"

"Besides the obvious of staying alive and watching what Districts 11 and 12 do," Tracer added.

Sure enough, as Cadence showed them recaps of the reapings, their sight, including Cadence's, were on District 11, whose tributes didn't look quite as formidable as last year's, but still looked strong enough to likely survive the bloodbath. District 12 was similar: formidable hunters and saboteurs that would not likely let the games go normally without throwing a bit of chaos in of their own.

His biggest warning though, was the careers. District 2's Zack and Esmeralda were one thing, but when Cadence saw the visage of that beautiful golden-haired girl from District 1, he saw her for what she was—this was a skilled, trained, cold-blooded killer—and he knew that no matter how she felt about him, or if she even remembered him at all—that she would not hesitate to slaughter his tributes at the drop of a hat come the bloodbath. Tracer and Makoto deserved better than that. What really confused Cadence though is that she lacked the usual enthusiasm that the careers had. Was she out for blood? Was her volunteering an act of vengeance similar to his the year before? She didn't even seem too interested in allying with her partner, let alone the other careers. She would be an interesting one, for sure. For his tributes' sake as well as his own curiosity, Cadence's eyes were on this girl.