Prologue
Even after war, life goes on.
This very fact bemused Anastasia Snow. She sat upright at her desk, her elbows resting on the polished oak in front of her and her chin resting on her clasped hands. Her gaze was fixed on the scene below. A group of children, around the age of ten, were kicking a stone about, occasionally getting it between the makeshift goal - upturned buckets and flowerpots as goalposts - and creating an uproar of cheers and whistles in celebration. There was quite a crowd gathered around, friends who yelled excitedly and older siblings with toddlers on their hips telling them to hurry up, ma's waiting and dinner is getting cold.
Had they already forgotten? The Uprising and war that had plagued this land, not even two years ago? Did they care? Of course, the rebels never got to the Capitol but security was heightened. Guards were everywhere. Soldiers constantly marched up and down the very spot they were all carelessly playing games. Parents left and never returned. Huge scandals were in the news - YOUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR COULD BE A SECRET REBEL! TRUST NOBODY! Friends and families turned on one another. The last President, Anastasia's father, had killed himself three days before the Rebels were defeated.
The only things separating the President and the children were six stories and a thick window, frosted from the early signs of winter. Anastasia carried on staring down below, even as the last of the players had drifted away, preferring warm homes and food to the October cold. A forgotten glove, tiny and woolen, lay on the hard concrete, being picked up by gentle winds and dropped again, before being picked up again. Anastasia watched this dance between wind and glove, until the pink stripes were out of view - lost forever and damming it's other half to be alone forever.
President Snow had come to dislike children. She couldn't have her own, several doctors had already told her that. Her biggest fret was how was she to carry her bloodline on? She needed a child to take over her one day. The solution was simple. She was infertile, but her twin sister was not. Anastasia had approached the recently pregnant Alexandra and asked her for her child. Her sister reluctantly said yes, she knew she didn't have a choice, and now Anastasia would have to make the public believe she was pregnant. Alexandra was to adopt an infant immediately after birth, and continue her life as if the orphan were her own. Anastasia - who would not go out in public without a pregnancy suit - would raise the child as hers.
Her husband, Nicholas, had already began talking about baby names. Alexandra was only two months pregnant for God's sake, and it was annoying Anastasia a lot. At the minute he liked Coriolanus for a boy and Theodora for a girl. Personally, Anastasia thought that if her child was called Coriolanus she would hate him. She would probably hate him anyway. Children just cry and complain and want things and get sick and wet the bed and Anastasia did not want to deal with it. At all. So to escape from Nicholas's constant talk about nurseries and cribs and middle names, she was up in her study, writing her Quell Cards.
The Hunger Games were to start next year. They are vicious, spiteful, evil and perfect. They had been her idea and she loved them. Oh, how this would make them pay. And the Quarter Quells? Genius. So far she had:
-Making the Districts pick their tributes
-Double the amount of tributes
-Victors as tributes
-All tributes are aged 7-17
-All tributes are aged 30-40
But now, she was stuck. What else? What else, what else, what else?
Her thoughts flickered back to the glove - damming it's other half to be alone forever - and her hatred for children which had occupied her thoughts these past few minutes.
The idea swam into her mind and with a wicked grin, she picked up the fountain pen and found herself writing.
an
HELLOOO and welcome to Sacrifices, my new partial SYOT:)
before i go any further i would like to make a few things clear:
-this is a partial syot meaning that one of my main characters will win! i have the 2 tributes from district 4 and i won't say who because otherwise that will spoil the ending but one of those will win!
-this will all be from third person, i think. in the training every character will be looked at but in the arena i will probably focus on my 2 and their alliance - and i do plan for them to have a big alliance. PLEASE do not stop this from adding in detail, i still want to write about and interact with your character! the more detail, the more chances of them being a prominent figure in this story:)
-there will be only one reaping bowl per district and it will have the name of the boy/girl twin pair on it. volunteering can still happen, but BOTH siblings need to want to volunteer and do so at the same time. this means there can still be career tributes, but their reapings will probably be a lot more messy.
-my main focus at the minute is the 97th games. the updates for this will probably be slower. it's just a chance for me to work through my writers block, and i am super duper looking forward to it!
-this does mean that you have to send in 2 forms. i understand writing more than 1 character and writing males is harder for some people, but you do still have to send in 2. if i don't have all the spaces filled by when i want to start, then i'll make the characters up myself, and they'll just be bloodbaths, but please do submit!
-form&rules will be on my page! submissions by pm only, please:)
BUT YEAH!
i'm super excited and i hope you are too:) the next few chapters will purely revolve around lana&leven but once they get to the capitol all the characters will be introduced:)