02-Wait For It
Banners flooded the skies in District Two, celebration over the first ever Inter-District Training Academy Exercise raining from the heavens, with boisterous music, a supportive public, and a respectable showcase of the best that District One, Two, and Four had to offer. Just five young men and women were chosen from each of the three districts (as well as a bonus one from the hosting district), and were put into a friendly competition to support comradery among the Careers in a time when they had never been so splintered. The events of the sixth quarter quell had fractured the long-lasting alliance, and after five years of mediocre results the victors had decided to pull out all the stops and push the three districts back together forcefully.
While the majority of the selected trainees were awe-struck by the chance to meet the greatest victors from the Career-trio, and were devoting their time towards training for the competition that would be held that night, four of them, each for differing reasons, found themselves wandering off towards the side of the district that they were told not to go to. The side that held banners and loud music just like the rest of the district, but held no enthusiasm towards the visitors, or the hosts for that matter. There would be no fanfare, no children asking for autographs, no flashing cameras, or hasty interviewers.
That was precisely why Alexander Rolland found himself in this dimly light section, dressed in a brown jacket that he somehow managed to pull off as casual and belonging to the poverty-filled, crime-stricken area, while also exuding a sense of class that would make him fit in perfectly with his honorable peers from District Two. He didn't walk this area often, but with all the craze and noise, he had needed a break from the madness, someplace quiet. Perhaps he would have found it if not for the other District Two trainee one year his prior who had also wandered off.
Felix Jones was slick, in every sense of the word. He walked through the street with an air of superiority about him, not from snobbiness, but from an overbearing sense of confidence that Alexander would come to describe as narcissism. The two hadn't met, not properly, and neither even knew that anyone else had wandered off to this section of town in search of a dingy bar away from the action. Felix wasn't searching for quiet though, he was searching for something. There was no object on his mind, nor even a faintest idea, instead just the concept that he had to find something, anything that would make him stand out, not content with being one exceptional man among sixteen.
The two bumped into each other, just a hundred feet away from the bar they had both been headed for. Felix was the first to notice who the man across from him was, and immediately he sensed an opportunity, and took it. "Excuse me, are you Alexander Rolland?" He asked, with a nervousness that he rarely felt.
"Depends, who are you?" He shot back, eyeing up the man in front of him, just one year his prior yet containing a boyish sort of wonder that betrayed him.
"Felix Jones, I'd like to congratulate you on being selected as the volunteer, that's quite an honor," he quickly replied, stumbling over his words.
"You're one of the other trainees for the competition, correct?" Alexander inquired, letting down his guard only by a miniscule amount.
"Correct," Felix responded, sounding awkward in his formality where Alexander felt natural and suave.
The man nodded, and motioned over to the bar, "That's no small feat yourself, let me buy you a drink," he said in an unreadable voice, patting the man on the shoulder and offering a short smile.
"That sounds nice," Felix said with a nervous laugh.
The pair walked into the bar, finding a beaten down, ancient place inside, wooden stools that cracked under the least amount of weight, dusty counters, cobwebbed booths, and two other people, silently sipping from mugs of beer.
"Place closed a few minutes ago," one of the two people called out, a boy just a year younger than Felix.
The other patron, a girl who looked strikingly similar to him despite being a couple years his junior, shrugged and motioned over to the booth opposite the pair. "You can grab a pint with us though, stuff is disgusting, and I for one don't look forward to downing two full mugs of these."
Felix and Alexander shared a glance before shrugging and joining the two at the booth. It was only now that the four were up close together in the dimly lit room that recognition struck the boy.
"Alexander Rolland," he said confidently, pointing a finger at the man and chuckling before extending his hand. "Ryan Locke. I was your sparring partner yesterday, me and my sis are the pair from Four."
"Of course," Alexander smiled, accepting the handshake. "And your sister is-"
"Leona Locke, youngest one here by two years and victim of parents who think alliterative names are a good idea." She paused, quirking a smile at the pair.
"Suppose that leaves me. Felix Jones," the last of the group chimed in cheerily, returning the smile with Leona and quickly shaking hands with Ryan. "I'm another of District Two's chosen trainees."
"Was there some meeting here we didn't know about?" Ryan laughed, half-serious in his question. "Came here to kick back and relax, grab a beer and enjoy myself before I get my ass whooped tonight," he joked, taking a long swig of his drink, simultaneously sliding two mugs over to the newcomers.
"I just wanted to try a form of alcohol that wasn't moonshine or rum," Leona stated in a dull tone, taking a sip of her drink, recoiling as she forcibly swallowed it. "Turns out I wasn't missing out."
"You're on the wrong side of town for a good drink," Felix said.
Leona shrugged, a cheery smile back in place. "I don't think the fine establishments that have my face plastered on a poster every other block would be too willing to serve to a fourteen-year-old."
"Never know until you try," Alexander offered.
"I did," she responded with a wink, going back to slowly nursing her drink.
"So, what do you all think of the competition then, enjoying the scenery?" Felix laughed, gesturing to his surroundings.
"Yeah, next year let's try District One," Ryan exhaled, wiping the foam from his lip as he pounded down his suddenly empty glass. "I like it though, we need to stop, you know, killing each other while we're sleeping. Makes this whole volunteering thing a much less fun time."
The group all nodded in agreement at that, silence falling over them for a long moment before Leona spoke up suddenly, her voice slow, deliberate, and nearly silent. "So, what made you guys decide to, you know, volunteer? And none of that bullshit District Two honor shtick, I can tell you guys aren't mindless robots."
"Thanks," Felix laughed, while Alexander offered a smirk. "Pretty easy for me really," he continued easily, drumming his fingers along the wooden table. "Dad left me when I was a kid, mom died not long after, grew up in foster care until I got good enough to earn a scholarship at the academy. I don't do this and I'm a nobody, just another kid born in the slums and with aspirations that go no higher than being a bartender at a crummy little shack that's fallen apart on itself."
"So what'll you do when you win then?" Ryan asked, his interest visibly peaked as he turned his attention away from his drink for the first time.
Felix leaned back into his seat, grinning. "Go to uni in the Capitol, get my law degree, become a politician, I hear that they're gonna start giving each district a representative in the Panem senate, I get myself into there, and I can actually change things." He paused for a moment, thinking hard about his next words. "Become somebody that they teach you about in history class."
The bar went silent at that, the words sinking into all of them before Ryan let out an awkward cough, nodding his head absently. "Damn, makes my reason look stupid as hell," he joked.
"Ah, no it doesn't," Felix waved off casually, allowing a smirk to slip past his deadpan expression. "It makes you sound stupid, quite a difference."
Ryan snorted at that, while Leona let out a violent laugh, spitting out some of her drink, Alexander watching the rest of the table with an amused gaze.
"So, let's hear it then," Felix smiled warmly.
"Nothing fancy," Ryan shrugged. "I hate sailing, I hate farming, and that leaves zero job opportunities for yours truly."
"Ah, leaving the only logical choice to volunteer for a deathmatch, right," Alexander quipped with a light grin.
"Beats fishing on a crummy little sailboat in hundred degree weather every day for the rest of my life," he responded casually.
"Yeah," Leona smirked, "Now you just get to get your ass whooped every day for the rest of your life."
"At least this life is shorter," Ryan joked. "And besides," he continued, turning his attention towards his sister, swatting her on the shoulder. "It isn't like your reasons are any better."
Leona shrugged at that, waving him off. "Hey, at least I have the excuse that I'm probably just insane."
"Let me guess," Felix jumped in, putting on a serious expression as he pointed towards the girl. "Volunteering because it's at least something interesting to do in this boring world of ours."
"Not how I'd put it, but about right, yeah," Leona laughed, Felix's seriousness breaking up as he trailed off in laughter.
"I always respect insanity," he said, quirking a smile.
"I'd argue that none of us could possibly be insane," Alexander jumped in, leaning back into his seat and giving the group a knowing smile.
Ryan snorted. "Naw, trust me, I've lived with her and can confirm it."
The rest of the group laughed at that, while Alexander just offered a brief smile before continuing. "You know, there was this thing my father used to say, or at least, I'm told it was something he quite liked to say. 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results,' that's what he would always say." Alexander paused for a moment, giving a short laugh as he leaned into the rest of the table, lowering his voice. "The way I look at it, we're not going to be given that option."
"Sounds a lot like mentoring to me," Felix suggested after a moment's pause.
Alexander thought on that for a second, then smiled. "I suppose it does, well then," he said, raising his near-empty glass into the air. "What do you say, to dying in the Games, to relieve us of our insanity?"
"Yeah, I'll pass on that one," Leona chuckled, sliding her glass away from herself. "Insanity ain't half bad."
Ryan murmured a half-hearted agreement, while Felix turned to Alexander with a curious eye, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "You know, you never told us what your reasons were, for partaking in this insanity of ours."
"I'm not quite sure I've told myself that, either," Alexander quipped, offering a half-smile. "My parents' were geniuses, they worked their way from dirt to the very top and kept climbing until the ladder gave out from underneath them. They left me everything, wealth, connections, an overbearing amount of pity."
Felix nodded at that, leaning in towards the man.
Alexander paused for a moment, trailing off as his eyes blankly stared off into the distance. After a moment, he snapped back into reality, turning his gaze downwards to his drink. "Left me a legacy too, I suppose that this is me trying to figure out how to protect it."
"So," Ryan said after a long pause, drumming his fingers along the edge of the table. "Do the academies here, like, grade you by how epic of a reason you have for volunteering, because it feels like you guys have much better reasons then us."
The group all laughed at that, before Alexander shrugged and turned to the other trainee from Two. "I wish that was so, but Felix here must be the first trainee I've met whose reason for volunteering did not contain the word 'honor' at any point."
"Don't forget 'glory' and 'pride,'" Felix chimed in with a chuckle, "We aren't usually known for our brains around here."
"Well, I suppose we'll have to do our best to break those stereotypes," Alexander hummed, tipping back the rest of his beer. "But until then, I do believe that I have a competition to win tonight. If I recall the bracket correctly, Felix and Leona are facing off in the first match."
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Leona winked.
"I won't," Felix smirked back.
"Grudge match, fun," Ryan laughed, sliding out of the booth and hopping onto his feet. "I'll see you all in the infirmary."
As they left, Leona running off ahead, dragging Ryan along with her, Alexander turned towards Felix. "We need more people like you, you know. People who actually have drive, ambition, the type of people who will make this place worth living in."
Felix nodded at that, suppressing a proud smile as he turned towards him, patting his newfound friend on the shoulder. "Well then, let's go change the world, shall we?"
A/N: Greetings true believers! We are now just one prologue away from starting this story proper! In case you missed it, this prologue was set 5 years after the 6th quell, AKA before the 155th Games, AKA 20 years before this story starts. Spoiler alert, but these four all won their respective Games and are going to be mentors. Sadly this will be the last mentors intro we'll be getting however, as we'll be taking a glance at the Capitol side of things next chapter.
Keep on submitting away, message me with any questions and concerns, and let me know what you think!