The 3rd Annual Hunger Games

Victor #3

Victor's Name: Sapphire Gemstone

Sex: Female

District: 1

Age At Victory: 18

Weapon(s) of Choice: Spear

Kills: 5

Eleven times Sapphire Gemstone forced herself to keep her cool

When her mother was killed during the Rebellion.

It was a year into the Rebellion. Sapphire was 15-years-old, her younger brother only 11. Their father had been killed in an accident in the gem mines three years earlier. The crappy conditions in the mines around the nation, from One's gem mines, to Two's quarries, to Twelve's coal mines, to Thirteen's graphite mines, had been some of the driving force of the Rebellion.

Gratia Gemstone wasn't by any means a big part in the Rebellion. She attended strategy meetings, riots, and the like, yes. But was she high up in command of anything? No. Was she a household name around the nation, or even around the district? No.

But that didn't stop the Peacekeeper's bullets from piercing her body nineteen times during one of the largest riots District One had ever seen.

At what meager "funeral" they had been able to scrape up for her mother, Sapphire's younger cousin and younger brother bawled their eyes out the entire time. Sapphire sure as hell felt like bawling herself, but the girl forced herself to keep her cool. Tears would well up in her eyes, but she would never allow them to fall.

With her death, 15-year-old Sapphire was forced to act as the head of the household. Now she had a house to run, taxes to pay, and her 11-year-old brother as well as her blind 13-year-old cousin (plus the girl's seeing-eye dog) to take care of, all in the middle of a civil war. With a defeated sigh, Sapphire would get a job at a factory manufacturing jewelry, diamond-studded purses, shoes, coats, and the like. Anything that had to do with jewelry, Sapphire helped manufacture it.

Work at the factory was grueling work, but it kept the family fed, housed, and alive. As soon as the Games began and the Tesserae system was introduced, Sapphire went straight to the Justice Building to apply for four Tesserae, one for each family member including Lushe's seeing-eye dog.

She kept doing this during each year of her eligibility. By the time the Reaping of the 3rd Hunger Games rolled around, Sapphire had nineteen slips in the Reaping Ball.

When her last remaining family member was Reaped for the Hunger Games.

Ever since District One had pulled out of the Rebellion early, conditions in the district were beginning to improve. Everybody was paid a bit more, personal luxuries became less scattered around the district. Even by the time the 3rd Hunger Games rolled around, Reaping-eligible citizens of One had taken significantly less Tesserae overall than they had two years ago.

The Reaping, always on the first Sunday in July, was always a hot day. Even in a district located farther to the north such as One is, balmy weather was usually expected for each and every Reaping.

That day was no exception. The air was hot and dry, and the Square was packed with every single citizen of District One all standing in the same place. All the body heat only made it seem hotter. As the Reaping began without a hitch, Sapphire was waiting for two more prissy-looking kids to be called to the stage, before she could take Lushe home and relax. Normally she'd head back to the factory, though everybody in Panem (except for escorts, Mayors, Peacekeepers, Mentors, and the like) has the remainder of Reaping Day following the actual Reaping off from work.

"Lushe Korran!"

Sapphire freezes in place as poor Lushe takes nearly an eternity to get to the stage, even with the help of Lara, her seeing-eye dog. At the sight of her walking up to the stage, Sapphire's throat begins to tighten. The girl's cousin does her best to remain calm, though it's easy to tell that she's petrified. Sapphire knows that she can't let Lushe go into the arena. Lushe is the only family Sapphire has left after her brother was attacked by a swarm of Tracker Jackers lingering from the Rebellion about ten months prior.

"Marvelous," One's escort, Daysha, chirps excitedly. "Wonderful to meet you, Lushe. Although, if anyone would like to volunteer for-"

"I volunteer as tribute!" Sapphire screams at the top of her lungs.

"Sapphire, no," Lushe mumbles under her breath.

"Wonderful! Come on up, Dearie!" Daysha hollers, motioning to Sapphire.

The full effect of what Sapphire has just done only sinks in once she's onstage. She's going into the arena. No matter, though. She had no choice, she couldn't let Lushe go instead! On top of realizing what she'll have to do if she ever wants to see her cousin or her district again, Sapphire soon realizes one more thing. She only realizes it after Daysha squeals about it excitedly in her posh Capitolite accent.

Sapphire Gemstone has just made Hunger Games history. She's the first ever person to volunteer for the Games.

When the first faces lit the sky.

As the first day in the arena came to a close, Sapphire and her District Partner, a better fed, blond-haired, blue eyed 12-year-old by the name of Valour, looked to the sky as the Panemian anthem began to blare.

Seven tributes had perished in this year's Bloodbath. Still nothing compared to the sixteen from the 1st Games, though it's one more than last year. As the Capitol seal faded, Sapphire honestly expected it to be replaced with the face of the poor factory worker from 3, who had scored a mere four in Training compared to Sapphire's eight. Even Valour had managed a five.

Instead, the boy's District Partner, a girl who had scored a seven, is in the sky first. With many lower-scoring tributes, Sapphire hadn't expected her to go on the first day. Though she had said herself that Training Scores aren't everything.

As the girl from 3's face fades, it's unsurprisingly replaced with that of the Morphling boy from District 6. Both from 8 follow. The boy from 11. The faces of both tributes from District 12 draw the Fallen ceremony to a close. The Capitol seal fades and the music stops, the sky returning to its usual near black-ish hue.

Neither Sapphire nor Valour says anything for a few minutes. Sapphire's too busy thinking about those among the dead. She hadn't really known any of them, nor had she killed any of them, though she can't help but feel a bit of survivor's guilt.

In an attempt to make those thoughts go away, Sapphire therapeutically ran her fingers over one of Lushe's bracelets that she had made, the one that Sapphire chose to take as her Tribute Token. Swallowing hard and choosing to think about home rather than about the seven kids who died today, the thoughts of survivor's guilt slowly fade from the One girl's mind.

When she made her first kill.

She thought the girl was going to kill them.

It's only the third day of the Games, no deaths have occurred since the Bloodbath two days prior. Sapphire and Valour sit at their camp, having their meager "breakfast" and talking quietly. She figures that she'll suggest to Valour that they move camp after they eat, perhaps explore the arena a little more and see if they can find anything of use.

Just before they finish up, the two of them hear rustling in nearby bushes. Sapphire and Valour look up to see another tribute, the girl from District 11, stumble through the bushes and stop mere feet in front of their camp. The girl has a sickle in her hand, and looks back and forth between Sapphire and Valour.

She's going to kill us, Sapphire thinks to herself.

Before the girl can do anything, Sapphire jumps up from the sitting position she was in, grabs her spear tight, and thrusts it right into the girl from 11's abdomen as hard as she possibly can. The spear completely impales the girl from 11, going into her abdomen and coming out her back. The younger girl stares Sapphire directly in the eyes as she coughs up blood on her. Valour's screaming, Sapphire's eyes are as wide as oranges, and the girl coughs up yet some more blood. Sapphire rips the spear out of the girl from 11 as quickly as it went in. A cannon fires mere seconds after.

"Sapphire! You killed her! You killed somebody!" Valour shouts accusingly.

"I had to! She had a sickle, and she..." Sapphire trails off.

She feels her throat begin to tighten. Sapphire closes her eyes, takes a momentary deep breath, and looks back at Valour.

"She could've killed us with that sickle, Valour. I was just..." Sapphire sighs, "making sure that wasn't a possibility."

When she made her last kill.

It's just the two of them left. Sapphire, and a frail 15-year-old boy from 3 who scored a four in Training and hasn't moved from his spot in a tree in the seventeen days the Games have been going.

Everybody knows that it's no contest. With all of the other contenders already dead, the small, malnourished factory worker from 3 has nothing on Sapphire. That's the funny thing about it, though. Sapphire is also malnourished (by District 1's standards), and she also works in a factory. The thing separating them? Weaponry skills, bravery, and prowess.

Sapphire, who scored an eight in Training and has killed four tributes with her spear, has those things.

The boy from 3, who's been hiding in a tree since the Games began and surviving off of rain water and tree bark, does not.

When the time comes, however, it's still a depressing event. Sapphire looks up in the tree, to see the weak, hopeless boy merely waiting for his death. He knows that he's going to die, and there's nothing that he can do to stop it. The boy from 3 sighs heavily, before speaking his final words.

"Just do it."

Sapphire really doesn't want to climb the tree - she's deathly afraid of heights. Instead, she decides to throw the spear from the ground, and hope she gets a lucky shot. Unlike countless kids from her district would be in the future, Sapphire isn't trained in how to throw a spear or wield a sword. Sapphire throws the thing as hard as she can, and with a burst of luck, the spear slams right into the boy's exposed backside.

The boy falls, and slams into the ground with a sickening crunch. As blood pours out of the boy from 3's corpse, a cannon fires and Sapphire is announced Victor. A tear falls down her cheek, but Sapphire is quick to wipe it off. No time to cry just yet.

When her Presidentially-ordered "duties" began.

Like Rome and Byron before her, Sapphire is a rather attractive Victor. As such, it was no surprise to Panem's first two Victors when Sapphire too was forced into prostitution. Sapphire resented every single second that she was with one of her so-called "clients", but again, she had no choice. It was either this, or her cousin's death.

Over the first few months following Sapphire's Victory, the District One girl was in high-demand among Capitolite "clients". Each and every time she gets to the hotel, home, restaurant, bar, or any other place she was requested to meet these people at, Sapphire lets out a resigned sigh before entering.

Each and every time she leaves, she feels disgusting.

Like many other Hunger Games Victors would in the future, immediately after finishing up with a "client", Sapphire returns home, or to her hotel room, wherever she's staying at the time, and shower. As the water rains down from the showerhead and onto her body, Sapphire merely feels empty. She feels as though she's an empty jar, feeling hollow after having everything inside of her removed. Around this time, Sapphire will allow herself to cry, albeit briefly. When she does it, she feels just so much better. Though each and every time she does it, she comes up with an excuse in order to stop.

Gotta go to bed now. It's after one in the morning. Or, Should probably head home soon. Don't want to keep Lushe waiting.

When she lost her first tributes.

No matter how much advice her old Mentor, Paris Murphy, has given her, Sapphire still doesn't feel like she's ready to be a Mentor.

Unfortunately, she doesn't get the choice.

Her tributes seem promising enough from the get-go. The girl, Kae, is seventeen and the daughter of a popular jeweler in the district. The boy, Jace, is fifteen and the son of two glassblowers. Sapphire immediately vows to do her best to bring one of them home alive.

Jace and Kae do well enough during the Chariot Rides. They wave to the crowd with smiles on their faces just as Sapphire had instructed. During Training, both utilize a variety of the stations. Jace finds an ally in the boy from Five, while Kae says she'd rather go at it alone. Following the Private Sessions, Jace scores a seven while Kae scores a five. Either of those scores can be worked with, Sapphire figures. At the Interviews, they both do well enough. Neither Interview is legendary, though neither is bad either.

Going into the arena, Sapphire almost feels confident.

The arena's different this year. Instead of the same old forest, following the execution and replacement of the Head Gamemaker, the arena this year is a vast African savanna. There's dusty, brown earth, tall golden grasses, shorter, skinnier trees, spotty boulders, and a large watering hole to the north.

For the first time, there are also Mutts. Creatures mutated and engineered by the Capitol to kill. Vicious Leopard and Snake Mutts roam the arena, ready and rearing to kill on sight.

Kae lasts two days before being torn apart by a Leopard Mutt.

Jace lasts seven before his skull is caved in during his sleep by the girl from Seven's axe.

Upon Jace's death, Sapphire shuts her station down before bidding everyone goodbye and running down the hall. She swings into a nearby bathroom, and sits herself down on the toilet. Then she begins to cry. She thinks of Kae's brutal end courtesy of the Leopard Mutt, and of poor Jace not even knowing what happened to him. Sapphire allows herself to cry for a moment before forcing herself to stop.

You've gotta prepare to talk to the families.

When the Mayor wanted to cancel the plans for District One's Hunger Games Training Academy.

"I approved this plan, I know I did. Though now I'm starting to have some second thoughts. Is this really what's best for District One?" the Mayor inquires.

"Of course it is!" a now 22-year-old Sapphire exclaims. "Think of it: No more tributes crying all the way to the Capitol, no more District One kids dying in the Bloodbath. No more unwilling tributes. Now, we can send kids who want to go, who are prepared to go."

"While that may be true, Sapphire, where exactly is the district supposed to come up with the money to build this thing? We're wealthy, yes, but the cost of this would be astronomical!" the Mayor near-hollers.

Sapphire wants to lean forward and rip Mayor Cannway's head right off. She wants to slap him across the face and give him a good scolding like a parent would to their child. He's so fucking self-centered, worrying about costs. As Sapphire feels her cheeks getting hot with anger, she forces herself to take a sip of water and calm down a bit. As her mother always told her, you'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar.

"Let's go over the pros and cons of the Academy, shall we?" Sapphire suggests.

After another hour of discussion, Sapphire convinces Mayor Cannway to continue supporting the construction of District One's Academy. Soon enough, Sapphire hopes, she won't be Mentoring alone.

When her first Career Victor won the Games.

It's only the six of them left.

Sapphire sits in the Mentoring HQ alongside a jittery boy named Cosmo who she yanked out of the arena five years prior. As the Academy wasn't yet constructed, Cosmo hadn't had any training. And while he did obviously have the skills to win, he did also throw up after making most of his kills.

The Career Pack, composed of six trained volunteers from Districts One, Two, and Four since the 10th Hunger Games, are the only tributes left in the arena. After eliminating nearly all of the other contenders in the Bloodbath, Jett and Jasmine, along with their allies from Two and Four, have been tracking down and killing nearly all of the other tributes. In fact, only two deaths thus far in the Games have been attributed to something other than the Careers: The girl from Nine and the boy from Thirteen were killed by Monkey Mutts.

As the six Careers meet up for a final fight at the Cornucopia at sundown on Day 9, Sapphire watches along with the other Mentors from the Career Districts as Two's girl is the first one cut down. The boy from Four's trident buries itself in her chest, and the second Bloodbath of the 13th Hunger Games has begun.

It's all over in a matter of fifteen or so minutes. The boy from Four spears the girl from Two. Jasmine keeps a distance and shoots an arrow into the girl from Four's forehead. The boy from Two snaps the boy from Four's neck like a twig. Jett and Jasmine work together to take down the massive boy from Two. And finally, Jasmine plants an arrow in Jett's throat, congratulating him on his performance in the Games and bidding him her final goodbyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the Victor of the Thirteenth Annual Hunger Games, Jasmine Litemark of District One!" Neptune Amarillus, the Hunger Games announcer, shouts into the arena.

At her tribute's victory, Sapphire wants to jump up and down, pump her fists, tell the other Career Mentors (mainly the ones from Two) to shove it after being so cocky throughout the entire Games. Only she doesn't do that. Instead, Sapphire remains calm, says goodbye to Jupiter and Venus and Herman and Mags, and walks confidently with Cosmo down to the Infirmary.

When her sons were born.

The first time is always the hardest. Sapphire's heard the horror stories of labor, and the heavenly tales of holding your child for the first time, though she still doesn't entirely know quite what to expect. As soon as labor begins, however, Sapphire knows what to expect.

Pain, plenty of pain. But eventually, her baby.

Labor lasts for four and a half hours, though by the time it's over, Sapphire concretely knows that it was worth it. She holds her baby boy in her arms, a tiny little blond baby that she names Gleame. Sapphire loves her husband and Gleame more than anybody or anything in the world, though after four years, unlike many only children, Gleame voices his desire for a sibling.

And so, Sapphire does it once more. The conception, the pregnancy, the birth, the baby. Though once again, as soon as Sapphire looks into her little boy's eyes for the first time, she knows that she'd endure that pain again and again if that's what it took to get her baby to her. She names the baby Ayce, reminiscent of Jace, the first male tribute that Sapphire ever lost to the Games. She wouldn't want to entirely take the name, though Sapphire thinks that something similar is enough of a tribute to him to make both Sapphire and perhaps even Jace happy.

While rubbing her baby's hand for the first time, glancing down at him along with his father and older brother, and realizing that the baby has those same bright blue eyes as the boy he was kind of named for, Sapphire is taken aback. Tears begin to well up in her eyes, and her throat begins to swell.

Sapphire gulps and blinks, turning her attention back to little Ayce.

When she drew her final breaths.

Sapphire Gemstone is 75-years-old. Not incredulously old, especially not for a resident of District One, or for a Victor. But still, Sapphire's old, and she knows it.

Sapphire stands alone at the top of a staircase in her home in Victor's Village. Her husband has been dead for... fourteen months now, and her two boys are all grown up now, each with spouses and kids and houses of their own. Sapphire's on her way to visit an old friend. She has an old glass swan in her hand that she's had for ages that she wants to show her.

All that she has to do is descend the stairs.

Sapphire makes it two steps before tripping on her own feet. The elderly District One Victor tumbles down and down the staircase, clutching her glass swan tight to her chest. Sapphire would rather smash herself than smash her swan. Sapphire bounces off of the fifth step from the ground so hard that she entirely skips the remaining four steps and slams right into the hardwood floor. Sapphire's screaming, her bones are breaking, though neither of those things are what's on Sapphire's mind right now.

Her swan shatters upon colliding with the ground, sending hundreds, maybe thousands of pieces of glass flying everywhere.

As Sapphire lays there, with a broken arm, two fractured hips, a dislocated shoulder, six broken ribs, and multiple head wounds, she wants to scream at the top of her lungs. There are only two things stopping her from displaying such an emotion: She feels too weak.

And she doesn't want to.

Instead, Sapphire lies on the ground, bleeding like a cow being milked or a tree having sap extracted. She is completely silent, closes her eyes, and thinks of all of the good things that happened in her lifetime. Winning the Games. Making friends. Bringing Cosmo and Jasmine home. Marrying her second husband. Having her two boys. Watching them grow up. Growing old with her husband.

Right now, as Sapphire Gemstone lies on the floor of her Victor's Village home in the midst of death, she could be screaming at the top of her lungs for help.

It's only that she does't feel as though she has to.

A/N: Apologies once more for the long wait. Hopefully this chapter was a good one, though! Any thoughts on Sapphire, our third Victor, or anything concerning her life and legacy? What district does everyone expect will take the Crown next?

Whichever one it is, I sure hope to see you when it happens!

Until next time.

-Bo