The morning of the Quell announcement, Ruby Emerald woke up with a pit in her stomach.

She'd had a conversation with her husband and her son three months prior, in which she'd very clearly outlined a deadline for Garnet to follow her instructions.

And he'd taken that deadline and completely ignored it.

Three Months Ago….

"Garnet," called Ruby to her son, "would you please join your father and I at the kitchen table? We need to discuss something with you."

Garnet trudged out of his room and sat down at the kitchen table, his father at the head as always and his mother across the table.

Mike, Ruby's husband, glanced at his wife. Ruby began.

"Garnet, as you know, being the child of the President of Panem, you are expected to serve as a shining example for the children and young adults of Panem to follow. As such, children of the President have always married very young, at the age of eighteen and a half at the oldest. Your sister, Cerise, followed my instructions to a T, and found her love and was married very close to her eighteenth birthday, and now has a beautiful family. As my son, you are expected to follow in your sister's footsteps.

"You will turn eighteen three months from today, one week before the announcement of the Fifth Quarter Quell. Panem is still reeling from the last one, and so it is important that we juxtapose the Quell announcement with something of joy. Therefore, it is a matter of national importance that you find a girl to be your wife between in the next three months and one week."

"But Mom!" exclaimed Garnet. "I'm not ready to be married. I'm too young. Way too young. I refuse."

It was time for Ruby to break out the mother voice. "Garnet," she said ominously, raising her voice on the last syllable. "As your President, I beg you. As your mother, I command you."

A very tense five minutes of arguing followed, during which Garnet did everything in his power to frustrate his mother. Finally, Ruby was done arguing with her son. "You know what?" she concluded. "Fine. As long as you have a spouse by the date of the Quell announcement, I don't care." And with that, she left the table.

"Of course she has to have the last word," muttered Garnet under his breath.

So now Ruby was a bit stuck. She had been planning for three weeks to announce her son's engagement on television that night. Garnet, however, had been avoiding her for days; clearly, he hadn't followed her instructions. She figured she'd ask him one last time and give him the benefit of the doubt. "Garnet, honey," she called, in a softer tone than she usually used with her son.

Garnet poked his head out of his room. "Yes, mother?"

"I just want to know whether or not I should extend the broadcast announcement past the announcement of the Quell."

"No, you shouldn't," replied Garnet, as he slunk back into his quarters.

Maybe he'll have a wife by the time of the Games, thought Ruby. We still have a while to go.

That night, Ruby prepared for the Quell announcement. She donned a conservative red dress to match her ruby-red hair and quickly applied her makeup before heading over to the stage. It was a bit of controlled chaos – everyone was running around under the direction of Portia Andeers, one of Ruby's most trusted assistants and the head stage and technology manager for each ceremonies related to the Games. Portia was well respected, if not feared, by everyone she worked with during the time before, during, and after the Games.

When she arrived, she was met by her sister, Amethyst, who had retained the Head Gamemaker post for a very long time. Amethyst had taken two years off at two separate times, but it became very apparent that the replacements were far from her level. After all, she had put in a lot of effort to make sure that everyone felt comfortable sharing their ideas and working in her office, and it had drastically increased the productivity and effectiveness there, leading to much better Arenas and Games.

"Any ideas about tonight, Amethyst?" asked Ruby, embracing her sister and giving her a peck on the cheek.

"I wish," Amethyst replied. "It would certainly make my life a little bit easier."

"Don't you have an Arena design already? I thought you submitted one for me."

"Technically, yes," Amethyst explained, "but sometimes the Quell twist can change the way that the Arena needs to be constructed. I had one planned for the 100th Games, but I had to change it a lot after the twist was announced."

The two continued making small talk to fill the time until Ruby felt a tug on her dress. She looked down to find her granddaughter, Rose, looking up to her with expectant brown eyes. Ruby swept her granddaughter up and gave her a big hug. "How's my little Rosie today?" she asked.

"I get to carry the Quell box today! Do you like my dress? Mommy got me a new white dress for today"

"Of course I do, baby girl! I'm so proud of you."

Portia suddenly appeared out of nowhere, wearing a black top, jeans, and a headset around her neck. "Madam President, Miss Rose, we must get into position for the Reading of the Card." Portia knew that she absolutely couldn't yell at the President, or at any of the President's family, though everyone else was fair game. Amethyst put an encouraging hand on her sister's shoulder before Portia ushered the two women to their places in the wings. As they walked, Rose whispered excitedly to her grandmother, "She called me Miss Rose!"

Ruby came out onto the stage looking, as usual, very presidential. She knew that all of Panem was watching and so she made sure to look as proper as she could be.

"Greetings, citizens of Panem, and welcome to the Reading of the Card for the Fifth Quarter Quell!" The Capitol citizens in the audience went wild, before quieting down to listen to Ruby retell the story of the greatness of Panem, the Dark Days, and the institution of the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quells, then reminded the people Panem of the previous four Quarter Quell twists.

"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 the tributes who would represent it.

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

"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the youngest and the oldest played a role in the Dark Days, only children of the ages of 19 and 11 were eligible to be reaped.

"On the one hundredth anniversary, the first Centenary Games took place. Two boys and two girls from each district were reaped, as well as two boys and two girls between the ages of 5 and 11. Through a complex and difficult Games, more than one tribute was left alive at the end, as a symbol of the Capitol's mercy.

"And now, we honor our Fifth Quarter Quell." Rose stepped forward, offering the Quell Box to her grandmother. Ruby carefully opened the box and selected the envelope marked with the number 125. She carefully opened the seal and removed the card. "As a reminder of the ultimate power of the Capitol, this year's Quarter Quell twist will be decided upon by the President of Panem."

Hmm, thought Ruby, ideas swirling around her heads. This has a lot of potential. I could really make this work.

Amethyst sat at Ruby's kitchen table, poring over pages and pages of her sister's mostly illegible notes. "Ruby, I still don't think I understand what your idea is. Explain it to me one more time."

"OK, so here's what's going to happen. Each District and the Capitol reaps four girls, regular reaping ages. They go through chariot rides, training, and the interviews as normal. Then, Garnet then gets to pick 26 of them right after the interviews, and from those 26 he'll pick a wife. Any Capitol girls who don't get picked go back to their homes, and the remaining District tributes go in to the Games. A minimum of 22 tributes and a maximum of 26 tributes shouldn't change things much."

"So let's start with the little missed details. First of all, on the technical side, we need to be planning for a set number of tributes. Which means that you can say we have to have 26 tributes no matter what, and pick extra tributes to fill in, or we'll have 22 no matter what, and if we have extra we'll pick names randomly to decide who gets to go back home with no reward but no Games."

"OK, so let's say 24 and we'll reap from a bowl of all the girls in Panem to fill in or pick from the remaining ones randomly to take out. We'll need to reap two more, max."

"And what if those two aren't trained?"

"Let's figure those details out later on. But we can make sure that there's no issue there."

"OK." Amethyst took a deep breath. After all, she was really the only person who could criticize the president, though she had to do so very carefully. "But Ruby," scolded Amethyst mildly, "you're basically using these Games just for your benefit. I think that most of the Capitol people know how old your son is and how young your daughter was when she married. This won't help your approval rating at all."

"Hmm." Ruby thought for a moment. "How about this. Any girls picked for Garnet's selection are safe from the Reaping for their entire lives, as are their siblings. The winning girl gets to move to the Capitol to marry Garnet, obviously, as does her whole family."

Amethyst pondered over her sister's idea. "You know what? That's interesting. It changes the way that families in the Districts handle the reaping. Because a girl from 2 getting picked by Garnet and winning leads her and her siblings to never be able to go into the Games. But a girl from a poorer District getting picked might lead her to not be selected, and she'll probably die."

"And anybody from the Districts who says it's not fair had the opportunity to go in. It's then at Garnet's whim as well, which adds another twist."

"I like it."

When Garnet heard about the Quell twist, he immediately went into his room and flung himself onto his bed. Wow, she's really gonna make me do this, isn't she, he thought, more than frustrated at his mother. She needed to let him have time to find someone to marry. Appearance wise, it wasn't going to be a problem. He was certainly good looking, with his perfectly coiffed sandy brown hair, glistening blue eyes, perfectly tan skin, and impeccable physique. He just didn't feel he was ready.

And now, not only was he forced to find a bride, but he had to find her through the one institution of Panem that he couldn't stand more than anything else. Garnet had never liked the Hunger Games at all. He thought they were a disgusting, anachronistic display of brutality and terror that really needed to end sooner rather than later. (This was exactly why the plan was for his sister to take over from their mother and not him.)

Suddenly, Garnet had a realization. To a certain degree, the outcome of the Games was totally in his hands. And that opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

So here is the next story in my Quarter Quell series. I can't guarantee I'll go past this one, but I had a brilliant idea for this story one day and I though, I have to pull it off!

The form for this story is on my profile, and please only submit it by PM. Please fill in the question "What do they do during the day?" with the answer "Rides horses and reads poetry" so that I know you've read this beforehand. You may submit up to 3 tributes.

You may submit up to 3 tributes. I'm looking for a variety of tributes, so please make them detailed and give them various motivations for entering the Games. Have fun with it!

I'm not going to put a set deadline on tributes, but I probably won't accept new ones past the end of December. Good luck!

-goldie031