Vengeance Games The Capitol Games Chapter 1, a hunger games fanfic

"Vengeance Games"

Chapter One

By Brian Grove

Brian at rescueddoggies dot com

Disclaimer – As I'm British and male, it may come as no surprise that I don't own Hunger Games.

An experienced beta would be welcome.

The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games

POV Ariana Snow

I am Ariana Snow and I am a dead girl walking. A few months ago, the Districts rebelled against the Capitol, where I lived and where my grandfather had been President. My parents were killed in the war, so there's just me and Tatiana, my younger sister, now.

For seventy-five years, as punishment for a previous rebellion, a boy and a girl from each District were sent to the Arena, to fight to the death with the children from the other Districts. Twenty-four went in, one came out alive. It was the biggest show of the year.

A girl, one of the victors, became known as The Mockingjay. She had then led the rebellion against the Capitol and won. As revenge, they decided to hold one last games, using children from the Captol. They called them, the Justice Games.

From the moment the Justice Games were announced, I knew without a doubt that I would be picked. At fifteen years old, I am the only granddaughter of Ex-President Snow within the age range. The Districts wanted their revenge and I am part of that. My younger sister, Tatiana, who was fortunately too young to be at risk for the games, and I, had been prisoners in our own home since the uprising, cared for, if you could call it that, by a rapidly changing succession of hard-faced women, most of whom had lost children to the games. Our parents, both doctors, had been killed, ironically while treating wounded rebels. Bars had been welded over all the windows and there was a permanent guard outside the house, just in case anyone tried to rescue us. Our house had become our prison.

I could help a bitter laugh at the thought of a rescue. The few "carers" who had been from the Capitol had made it clear to us that they were about as popular as fleas on a dog. Our Grandfather, previously the President was blamed by many for getting us into the war in the first place.

The boredom of another afternoon was interrupted by a lot of noises outside and a sharp knock on the door.

Our temporary "carer" and guard went to open it and immediately stood to attention. A girl walked in, instantly recognisable as the most famous killer in Panem, Katniss Everdeen, the Mockingjay.

She looked younger in real life, and more tired than I had expected. She looked around the room, a look of distaste on her face. That look didn't change when she looked at me.

"Bring him in," she ordered.

My grandfather, ex-President Snow, who we never thought we'd see again, stumbled into the room. It was the first time we had seen anyone from our family since the uprising. Apart from each other, he was the only one we had left. Tatiana cried out and ran and tried to jump into his arms, but they were tied behind his back. So Tatiana put her arms around him anyway and broke down into tears.

Grandfather looked at Katniss and she gave a slight nod. "Untie him," she ordered.

The soldier who had pushed him into the room looked at her uncertainly.

"Untie him," Katniss repeated.

This time she was obeyed.

"Thank you," my grandfather said, his voice hoarse with emotion as he hugged Tatiana, then held out an arm to me. My resolve to be emotionless in front of the Mockingjay vanished as I ran to his hug just as my sister had and bust into tears.

Katniss looked away. "Leave us and shut the door," she ordered. A stern look at the hesitation of the guard ensured that she was obeyed.

My grandfather waited until our tears subsided then turned to Katniss. "I know you meant this visit to hurt me, but thank you anyway."

"This isn't a visit," she replied. "It has been decided that we don't need to waste money on employing carers if you care for your own grandchildren, until the games. So your execution has been postponed until a month after the games, on my orders."

I turned to Katniss, overjoyed that at least I'd spend my last weeks with the kindly grandfather I'd admired for so long. "Thank you. You never struck me as being that kind."

"Ariana!" cried Tatiana. "You can't say things like that to her. She could..."

"She could what?" I answered, too sharply. "Kill me? We all know that they are going to do that anyway."

"You don't know that," Tatiana insisted. "You might not be chosen."

"She already has been," Katniss replied shortly.

I don't think I showed any reaction. I'd just known somehow that despite the fiction of a reaping, a choosing at random, that I would be one of the tributes. But hearing it confirmed for the first time still hit me somewhere inside.

Tatiana screamed, "No, No, No," and ran at Katniss, punching her over and over again.

Katniss took her hands, holding them firmly but gently. For the first time her face softened as she looked at me. "I'm sorry, it wasn't my decision."

Grandfather snorted in derision. "You mean, it wasn't your vote which really decided that the games were to be held?"

Katniss didn't deny it. "Yes, I could probably have stopped the games, she admitted. But once the decision was taken, I have had nothing to do with them."

"Washing your hands, leaving others to do the dirty work," Grandfather sneered.

"You'd be the expert on that, wouldn't you?"

Grandfather didn't answer.

"But this is my decision," Katniss said forcefully. "Since your granddaughter is going to play in the games and, let's face it, doesn't stand a chance of coming out alive, I wanted you to stay with her, so when she is picked, you'll suffer like my mother did, like so many other mothers and fathers did. And you'll watch every transmission. You'll see every hurt, every moment of agony and fear. And you'll watch her die, just like Rue's family had to."

"Revenge?" Grandfather asked, trying to make it like his trademark sneer, but his voice was breaking with emotion.

"Yes," the Mockingjay admitted. "That is my revenge, For Rue, for all the other tributes and their families, for District 12, for the hospital in District 8, for so many others."

"Isn't killing me enough?" I asked her. "Isn't having the games enough revenge?"

"The games aren't about revenge," she snapped back at me. She paused for a moment, looking tired again. "May I sit down?"

I nodded and sat down myself, pulling Tatiana onto my lap.

"Your grandfather is right. It was my vote which swayed the decision. When you die, and I am fairly sure they intend to make sure that you do, I will be your murderer, just as I will have murdered the other twenty-two who will die." She was looking me in the eye as she spoke. "I've killed before, been forced to kill before, your loving grandfather made sure of that, but I have never deliberately set out to kill an innocent person before. Now I am killing twenty-three children, each as innocent as I was. But it is NOT about revenge."

There was an earnestness in her expression, almost a desperation. "Then why?" I asked, almost in a whisper.

"The Capitol, even though it lost the war, was barely touched. Almost nobody here saw the horrors, except on television. You are the best educated, the best organised. You also have the biggest and richest population. Even with the anti-Capitol prejudice, in a few generations, perhaps even as little as a few decades, most of those in power will once again be from the Capitol.

"I can't make you understand the horror the Districts have about the games. They will never willingly see their return. None of you in the Capitol can understand the terror of standing in a square waiting to see if your name will be called, or one of your family or friends. Or of being forced to watch in school as your friends fight for their lives and are killed, while those in the Capitol laugh and place bets on whose child will be killed next." She stopped again for a moment, a haunted look on her face. "This way you will. You all will. The games will be a memory of horror and pain here as well, not the entertainment they have always been. It's the best way to make sure that nothing like it ever happens again."

She was silent for almost a minute. "And that's why all the other tributes will be reaped at random, just as we were, to leave no family untouched by the fear and the horror of the games. And the games will be horrific. I don't know what they are planning, but one of the planners has promised that they will be 'memorable'. Nobody will tell me what, but I know they have special plans for you. Yes, I want revenge against your grandfather so much it hurts, but at least, with your grandfather here, you can have a few weeks or normality before you die. I think they owe you that much." Then she got up and went to leave. At the door she turned around.

"There was another reason to have these games," she admitted. "You have no idea how much the Districts hate the Capitol. You've lived in luxury while in many of the Districts we starved to death. Every year we were forced to watch two of our children be murdered for your entertainment. There were those who wanted to wipe out the Capitol, every last one of you. These games are a compromise, a way to diffuse some of that anger." Her last words were almost whispered, "I hope it's enough." She left without another word.

The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games

From the time the Justice Games were announced they were known as the Vengeance Games. The Districts had seen their children murdered for the entertainment of the Capitol and now they wanted revenge.

Jeff Frobischer had no fear for himself. Even though he was fifteen years old, he was from District 2 and like all the other districts, they had sent two children to "play" every year. Sometimes one even came back.

Then came the announcement. "It has come to light that only the children of the workers were ever entered into the reapings in District 2. Those of the military and the Peacekeepers were never entered. It has therefore been decided that six additional tributes will come from District 2 and this time only the children of the military and the Peacekeepers will be eligible. The three boys and three girls selected will be chosen by a vote of all the workers and their children."

That was the moment when Jeff Frobischer knew he was going to die. Jeff Frobischer senior had been head Peacekeeper until he and his wife had been killed in the uprisings. He had been harsh even with the other Peacekeepers, ruling with a rod of iron. The one daughter of a Peacekeeper who had been a tribute had been the daughter of his deputy, who he had feared was after his job after he had challenged him to loosen his harsh grip on the population.

Because of who his father was, Jeff had been pretty much isolated even before the uprisings and even from the other children of the Peacekeepers. Left alone after the uprisings, he lived from the soup kitchens which had been set up for those who had no work. But even when he went to eat, he was avoided, like he had the plague. Jeff Frobischer senior was hard and cruel, even to his own son, the son that would now pay the price.

The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games

POV Ariana Snow

I was shaken awake in the middle of the night by the guard who had been stationed outside the door.

"What?" I asked sleepily, by eyes hurting at the bright light.

"Sh! Don't wake anyone. You've got a visitor. Put on something warm."

He left me alone to dress. "Follow me."

We walked through the door that led directly to the corridor that wound it's way for almost a mile under the City to the war bunker. "What's going on?" I asked.

"You'll be told in a minute," he replied without slowing down. "In here."

I stepped into a small empty storage room, empty except for two armchairs. Sitting in one of them was Katniss Everdeen. "Sit down," she told me.

I sat down, uncertain what to say.

We sat there looking at each other for what seemed an age, the girl who won and the girl who was going to die.

"How are you holding up?" she asked me.

"Fine," I answered, as defiantly as I could manage.

"That bad, eh?"

I didn't answer. There didn't seem to be anything to say.

"You know the twenty-four tributes from the Capitol are going to be joined by six from District 2?" she asked me.

"I heard."

"The tributes from District 2 will be selected by a vote." She began to explain how the vote would be held.

I interrupted her. "What has all this to do with me?"

"Organising the vote has pushed the games back a few weeks," she explained. "The Capitol reaping will be held on the third of April."

Any remaining sleepiness left me in that instant. April third was Tatiana's twelfth birthday. "Tatiana! She could be picked!"

Katniss should her head. "Not could be. Will be. Her name will be the last of the girls picked."

I heard an awful agonised howl. Then I realised it had come from me. I had stood up somehow and found myself enveloped in someone's arms. Katniss was crying almost as much as I was.

I tried to push her away, hitting her in the chest. "How could you? How could you?"

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

When I had calmed down a little, I said, "You're the Mockingjay. You can stop them. They'll listen to you."

"Listen to me?" she cried. "Half of them want me in jail for killing their President, the other half don't trust me. It took a week to arrange having a guard I can trust on duty with you tonight so that I could speak with you. They want the family of President Snow dead."

"Why bother telling me?"

"So you can decide if you want to tell Tatiana or wait and let her find out with the others who are picked."

"Wait. Please. It's been hell, these last weeks, knowing I'm going to be killed and probably in the worst way they can find."

She nodded her understanding. "There is something else to consider."

I looked at her, puzzled.

"I could train you both, in secret."

I didn't reply. I couldn't think what to say. All I could think was that my little sister was going to be killed along with me.

The guard came in with coffee then left.

"Drink," Katniss ordered.

"I don't want..."

"Drink! It'll calm you down. I need you to listen and understand."

Obviously it contained some sort of calming draught. I drank.

"They are determined to fix the games," she explained, "to make sure that both of you are killed."

I laughed bitterly. "If you're trying to calm me down, you're got a funny way of doing it."

"Shut up and listen. If not for yourself then for your sister."

I shut up.

"Their plan is to make sure you both make it to the final six, then the others will kill you both. They know neither of you have ever had to do anything physical in your lives."

"Why let us live to the final six?" I asked.

"They want you to suffer. More to the point they want all of the Capitol to see you both suffering. I've argued against this, argued from the position of protecting the integrity of the games, to prevent them from becoming a mockery, the same argument I used to try to stop you and Tatiana from being picked."

"You didn't have much success, then."

"No," she admitted. "But I think we can turn it back on them."

"How?"

"I've deliberately only argued to protect you out of an interest in the integrity of the games, not just to protect you personally. Everyone knows I hate your grandfather and have done since he threatened to kill everyone I loved."

I gasped involuntarily.

"It doesn't matter now. But it's useful. I can turn it against them."

"How?"

"They didn't want either of you to have mentors or anyone to help you. You'd be on your own, though if they had no other choice you'd be given gifts to ensure you stayed alive until the final six."

"Wouldn't want us to die too easily," I said, angrily.

"I pointed out that it would look bad, if you didn't have a mentor, so I volunteered to mentor you myself. They know how much I hate your grandfather so they couldn't jump at the chance fast enough."

"I bet. It even makes them look good. Providing the granddaughters of their enemy with one of the only mentors who's survived two games."

"Their plan for you could backfire. We know you are going to make it to the final six. That's only four you have to defeat."

"Only," I said.

"It's better than twenty-eight."

I didn't comment.

"But even if it all works, I can only try to save one of you."

"Tatiana," I said, firmly.

For the first time, I sure Katniss give a genuine smile. Then it faded. I remembered seeing on some documentary that she originally volunteered to save her sister, but her sister had been killed in the final battles around the Capitol.

"I'm sorry about your sister," I said.

She nodded. "If you hadn't have said Tatiana, I wouldn't have bothered trying to save you," she said, bluntly.

"This is all very good, but why bother?"

"What do you mean?"

"They want us dead. Even if Tatiana survives, she'll be a target. She won't last a week. I think the only reason we're alive now is because of the guards, that and they want to watch me die. How long do you think she'd survive in an orphanage?"

Suddenly there was a fire in Katniss' eyes that I had only seen before on television, and then only once or twice. "If she survives... If we can get her through the games alive, I swear to you if there's no other way to protect her than to adopt her myself, I will protect her. They'll have to kill me first."

I was stunned... and suspicious. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would you do all this to help us?"

"Because it's not fair!" she cried.

"None of this is fair. The games aren't fair. But you voted for them!"

"I know," she almost deflated visibly before my eyes. "I'd not long before seen my sister blown to bits. There was talk of killing everyone in the Capitol. The Districts wanted revenge. Coin thought this could end it. I had to try, for Prim... for Rue... for all the others."

She broke down completely now and this time I found myself with my arms around her, comforting the girl who had effectively decided my death,

She finally pushed me away. "The last games. All those victors were murdered because your grandfather wanted a way to kill me, publicly. It was more than just being a tribute by chance. It was being victimised, like you and your sister are now."

"I understand," I said.

"No, you don't. I couldn't save Rue. I couldn't save Prim. I have to save Tatiana. I have to save someone." The desperation in her voice matched my own when she'd told me that Tatiana would be picked.

Suddenly, she straightened up. "Perhaps I should have had some of that calming draught," she said.

"Well," she said a minute later, her manner all business once again. "Will you trust me to train you?"

"Yes," I answered without hesitation. "But can Tatiana just come along with me? So she doesn't have to know, to live with this?"

"I don't see why not. It's be in secret though. I'm not supposed to train you yet. It'll be whichever night I can get a guard I can trust.

"I understand."

"You understand there's no guarantee? Nobody that young has ever survived the games. If they were playing it fair, she wouldn't stand a chance."

I nodded.

"So I have to make sure they don't play it fair, that we don't give them a reason to play it fair. They must keep you alive until the final six. They will make it as..." she searched for a word, "unpleasant for you as they can and I can't even try to protect you. In fact, in public, I will be your worst enemy. If we are to have a chance of saving your sister's life, I cannot make it easy on either of you."

Once again I nodded my understanding.

"Make it believable. Protest as much as you like against me being your mentor. I suggest you don't tell your sister of our plan. Let her hate me right up until the last six. Then you can tell her. If she does make it out, tell her she has to trust me, no matter what."

"I'll just remember it was your vote that got us all into this."

She gave a brief start. I added, "That should make it easy to hate me."

The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games - The Vengeance Games

Author's notes...

This is my first story for the Hunger Games. Please review.

Brian

THE STORY SO FAR

Chapter 1

Ariana Snow, granddaughter of the ex President Snow, learns that not only her, but her little sister are to be murdered at the Justice Games, the only chance to save her sister's life is to trust the Katniss Everdeen, the Mockingjay, the one who voted for the games for the children of the Capitol in the first place.