Prologue, Part Three.

Two Weeks Later.

Caius Holt, 36

District Seven Mentor

Presidential Palace

Blue.

Now he finally understood why the room was bathed in the color.

As Caius watched Linden and President Voss descend the marble staircase hand in hand, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Both women were dressed in royal blue gowns, smiling and waving at the guests cheering below.

Idiots.

Couldn't these people see how artificial this whole thing was?

Blue drinks. Blue tablecloths. Blue drapes. Blue candles in the crystal chandelier hanging overhead. Hell, you couldn't even walk more than a couple of steps without seeing a blue rose.

It was all one big subliminal message of unity and peace.

All bullshit.

If these people, no, if this country believes that crap for even a second, then they're seriously deluding themselves.

Caius watched as both women finally stepped down onto the marble floor of the ballroom. It was funny to see how uncomfortable Linden looked standing beside President Voss. It was even funnier to see how pleased their country's leader looked. She always enjoyed the attention.

The cheers dimmed as President Voss held up one of her perfectly manicured hands.

"Thank you all for being here tonight," she beamed. "It's such an honor to be in your presence."

More lies.

"As many of you know, these past two weeks have been a celebration of hard work and determination," Voss proclaimed.

Murmurs of agreement could be heard among the guests. Voss' grin grew even wider.

"As we watched twenty-four brave souls fight for honor in the very same trenches in which their neighbors died, only one possessed the qualities necessary to claim victory. As a country, we watched with bated breath to see who that person would be. I know I'm not alone when I say that I was very pleased to see a strong and graceful young woman be that person. Over these past few days, that same young woman has shown us again why she triumphed over twenty-three others to claim glory. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Victor of the Second Annual Hunger Games: Linden Anderson!"

The cheers that resumed were deafening. Caius knew that President Voss was an excellent public speaker, but that was impressive to say the least.

As the applause continued, Caius could see how Linden's sky blue eyes grew darker with each passing moment. He'd spent enough time with the girl to know what that meant. Caius had to grab onto his ornate chair to stop himself from running over to Linden so that he could bring her back from whatever memory she was living through.

"Linden, I know I speak for everyone when I say that we wouldn't have wanted anyone else to claim that title."

"Thank you, President Voss. I have appreciated your constant support and kindness," Linden said stiffly.

With that, President Voss lifted their conjoined hands high into the air. The applause grew even louder.

Finally, Linden and Voss let go of each other and were quickly swept away into the eager crowd.

Caius looked away and took another swig of wine from his glass. At this point, he really didn't care if anyone saw him get shit-faced. He was the only one still sitting at his table so it probably wouldn't even matter. Worst case scenario, he'll end up puking all over the perfectly polished marble floor of the Presidential Palace.

"Getting drunk already?"

Caius nearly jumped out of his chair. Of course she would seek him out first. He quickly rose from his chair and turned around to meet the owner of that all too familiar voice.

"Hello, President Voss. It's nice to see you again."

Golden eyes stared back at him.

"Why so formal Caius? I thought we agreed that we were on a first name basis," she paused, placing her caramel colored hands onto the lapels of his suit. "We are friends after all."

"My apologies, Pres-," he stopped himself. "Hadriana."

Voss smiled knowingly, slowly pulling her hands back from his chest. "So, the Victory Tour was a success by my standards. Thank you for ensuring that everything went smoothly."

Caius wanted to laugh. Sure, Linden didn't break down in front of the cameras, but there plenty of nights where he watched the poor girl lose it.

"Just grateful that I won't ever have to do this again," he quipped.

"Oh dear. Caius, you didn't hear?" Voss asked.

Caius didn't like the way she looked at him, feigning innocence.

"What?" he hissed.

"Amalthea, the mentor for District Twelve, just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!"

"And what does that have to do with me?" he asked cautiously.

"Well, I told Amalthea that she needed to spend time with her new baby," Voss paused. "Did you know that the first few months of life are critical for a child to bond with its mother? I wouldn't want to disrupt that crucial process, so I gave Amalthea the year off."

"Get to the point Voss," Caius growled.

"Well someone needs to take her place. I wasn't sure who was qualified enough to handle all the responsibilities that comes with being a mentor, but then I thought of you! Isn't that wonderful!" Voss grinned.

"Well that's too bad. I was told that when I produced a Victor, I would be able to retire. Linden's alive, so you're just gonna have to find someone else," he sneered.

Two could play at this game.

"Unfortunately for you Caius, the Games Council lost your retirement paperwork. I made them search all week but they just couldn't find the forms," she frowned.

Caius clenched his fists.

"I put in that paperwork months ago. How could they just disappear?"

"Well, the new Games Headquarters was being built over the past year. Maybe the forms were lost during the move?"

"That's complete bull-," he stopped himself mid sentence.

"Oh come now Caius, mentoring another year isn't the worst thing that can happen. I mean, we'll be seeing much more of each other over the next few months. That isn't too bad."

With those last few words, it was honestly like a lightbulb went off inside his head.

"Oh. So that's what this is all about?" he questioned.

"What?"

"You did this on purpose," he stated.

"What? How could you even assume such a thing!" she argued.

"Stop playing dumb Hadriana. We both know that you planned this."

"Absolutely not! How dare you even assume that!"

"Listen, we had some good times together but we were never meant to be. You know that," he said sincerely.

"Of course I know that! I can't believe you think I'm still hung up on you!" she yelled incredulously.

"I know it must be hard-," he started.

"Stop right now," she interrupted. "This conversation is over. I came over to be cordial, but now I regret trying to be nice. I hope you enjoy your time tonight, because guess what? This year's Hunger Games are coming up in a few months and they're gonna completely revolutionize the way the Games are played. So when your tributes are crying out for help in the Arena this year, you're gonna wish you could be back here. Back when you were happy and drunk."

"Hadriana," he said weakly.

"Goodbye, Caius. I hope you enjoy the party."

Caius stood there in shock as Hadriana stormed away. How did things become bad so quickly? He let out a groan of frustration as he looked up at the carefully crafted ceiling of the ballroom.

Great, just what he needed. Mentoring two more sniveling kids from some backwoods District and the President of the whole damn country having a personal vendetta against him.

As Caius sat back down in his chair, he couldn't help but replay the last few things Hadriana had said to him. This year's Hunger Games are coming up in a few months and they're gonna completely revolutionize the way the Games are played. Oh shit. If Panem thought these past two Games were rough, then they have no idea what's headed their way this year.

Not only should the Districts be ready, but he needed to be too. While it sucked that Hadriana was now out to get him, she actually gave him some pretty valuable information. The other mentors thought this year was just gonna be the same as the past two. They couldn't be more wrong.

Caius now had the distinct advantage of knowing that he couldn't just sit back this year and let his tributes do whatever they wanted. If he wants to break free from these stupid Games, then he has to make sure that one of his tributes make it out alive this year.

He already did it once before, how hard could it be to do it again?

Caius quickly gulped down the rest of the wine in his glass and started towards the closest exit.

He had work to do.

So I guess I have a thing for writing about colors? Idk XD Anyways, I really enjoyed writing this chapter and can't wait for y'all to see what I have planned for the future! Again, the deadline for submitting a tribute is June 7th, 2018 at Midnight (ET). It would be nice to get some more submissions :)