District 7, a mid-sized community built in the lush forests along the northwest coast. Nearby in the hilltops is an artificial reservoir held back by a large dam. The region provided paper and lumber to the nation. After leaving the station, I walked straight to the mayor's office, and purchased a directory. Johanna Mason's number and address were both present. I made a call, but received no answer. I decided to swing by her house instead.

The directory address led me into the old Victor's Village. A young blonde woman answered the door. The woman was a housekeeper. She directed me towards the lumber yards.

I passed between buzzing sawmills and stacks of lumber. I asked the foreman about Johanna Mason. He let me wait nearby until lunch break. At noon, the workers came and sat together at long tables in the open air. The formean pointed me towards a middle aged woman with dark hair. She was sitting alone at the end of one of the tables. I walked over, she showed no reaction to my presence.

"Excuse me, miss?" She ignored me, keeping her attention fixed on the beef stew the workers had been served. "um… Johanna Mason, isn't it?"

"Who's asking?" She said brusquely, not even bothering to make eye contact.

"I'm Marcus Fidelis… I'm a reporter for the EPB… I… uh… was wondering if I could ask you some questions."

She fixed her eyes on me, her head stayed pointed down, only her eyes had moved. "Make it quick."

"Thank you… do you mind if I sit here?" I asked, as I set up my camera.

"Actually, I kinda would. But you just used up one of your questions, so I guess this will go faster." She said, finally tilting her head up to face me. Her face was showing signs of age, but she had cold eyes like a snake. I found her glare to be quite unsettling. I pulled out the file, and placed it on my lap, out of her view.

"I understand you were involved in the civil war. Now while you were going through military training in district 13, did you know a… Katniss Everdeen?"

"Who?" she replied without so much as a second thought.

I opened the file and pulled out the picture. I set on the table and slid it towards her. "Katniss Everdeen… Girl on Fire… the Mockingjay…"

"Dammit… Plutarch can't keep a secret, can he?" she said, dropping her silverware and leaning back in her seat. "Yes… I know her."

"Why didn't you say so at first? And you mentioned secrets-"

"It was a government cover-up. But I'll tell you what, you have a sharp nose if you were able to find this, and I've never been a fan of government lies… so screw it, What do you want to know?"

"Well, what can you tell me about her?"

"She was sort of like the rose bushes you see growing around here, pretty to look at, but will prick you if you get to close. She was from district 12… a victor… 74th games. I'm going to guess you already know that."

"As a matter of fact yes, and I understand you were a victor too. Now let's see… I do know she was some kind of poster girl for the rebellion, do you know how she ended up there, because I have this enlistment record and talked to her trainer…"

"It was that stunt she pulled at the end of the games with bread-boy, they both decided that rather than kill each other, they would commit suicide."

"Really? They were just going to defy the capitol like that?"

"It was a huge deal! The game makers ended up letting them both win."

"Oh… it makes sense…" I pulled out Katniss' transcript. It says she won the games, but they must have censored out… what did you call him? Bread-boy?"

"His name was Peeta Mellark. They had the whole capitol hooked on some kind of love-affair. Quite honestly, it was nauseating."

"Peeta Mellark? All the public records list him as the winner, perhaps because he is alive somewhere to verify it? But was their love story… was it real?"

"Yes, as far as I could tell. Wouldn't put much hope in them still being together. The boy is probably in the looney-bin now."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, something happened… the two of us… we were captured by the capitol after…" she paused for a moment, looking off into space. "You know what? Conspiracy be damned! I'll give you the whole story."

I sat on the edge of my seat, enthralled by the words coming out of her mouth. As it turns out, many of the protests that led up to the rebellion were sparked by that one act of defiance. The mere ingestion of toxic berries. A large number of victors were organized by former secretary of communications, Plutarch Heavensbee, who in turn was in contact with District 13. Then came the biggest secret. The 75th hunger games, a spectacle since struck from history. It was a quarter quell, and had a special twist added. Only former victors were eligible for the reaping. Johanna Mason had ties to this conspiracy, and was one of the victors to be reaped.

She had been blacklisted ever since she was a victor. After refusing to cooperate with the Snow administration, who planned to use her as a prostitute, her family was taken and murdered by the Capitol. This in part fueled her rage, but also made the path of no-return easier to walk. She verbally defied the Capitol at every chance. Her Victor status kept her alive, and with no one left to care for, her attacks became much more frequent.

Katniss and Peeta had no knowledge of the conspiracy, but were reaped as well. The victors present defied the capitol, and managed to break the arena force field. Johanna used a knife to remove a tracking device from Katniss' arm after the field went down. A district 13 hovercraft squadron arrived immediately after, and an air battle ensued with Capitol hovercraft. Katniss was among the victors to be rescued during the chaos, Johanna Mason and Peeta Mellark were seized by the capitol. Johanna and Peeta were tortured, and suffered major psychological trauma as a result.

After rescue, Peeta had been brainwashed, and was confined to the care of a psychiatrist. Johanna still suffers from Hydrophobia, due to immersion-shock torture. It was hydrophobia that caused her to fail her training, and likely spared her from the meat-grinder of the frontlines. She and Katniss apparently warmed up to each other as they spent more time together.

"Are you still friends with her?"

"Well that's a difficult question, it's been twenty years. If I met her now, she'd probably be the same bitch she was when we first met, just plus twenty years. Always moaning and moping about her life, even though she was surrounded by family, and her two strapping lovers Peeta, and Gale Hawthorn. We may have been friends, but that didn't make her any less difficult. She promised to kill President Snow for me, she never fulfilled that promise."

"You mentioned Gale Hawthorn, is that the same Gale Hawthorn who was senator?"

"The one who passed all those 'open-gate' laws? Yeah that was him."

I asked a few more questions, about Katniss. I had experience with teenagers before, I knew that underneath all the angst and anger, there was a person. I got what information I could, until Johanna ran out of answers. I said goodbye, and left for the capitol.

Upon my return, I was forced to put my investigation on hold as my vacation was up. My boss detected a noticeable decrease in my work performance. Often in the middle of writing a story, I couldn't help but daydream. The thought of returning to my obsession, to find the Mockingjay, and uncover the truth behind the start of the civil war. One day, he called me in to his office. He asked about my poor work performance, I decided to pitch an idea to him. An EPB documentary, "Mockingjay: The Hero History Forgot." I showed him my video footage of the interviews, as well as the documents and records I had access to. He told me he would consider it. On my off-hours I would lay on my bed, reading over the documents dozens of times. Speculating, thinking. What other secrets were being hidden? What else would my search uncover? And why was it kept secret to begin with?

Three days later, I got a call from my boss. The network had agreed to air my story in the form of a three part documentary. I would have all travel costs covered, as well as be paid during my investigation. I was overjoyed. The network offered additional personnel to assist, but I refused. Perhaps a bit of selfishness over "my" discovery. But I wanted to be the one to hear these stories, as well as the suspense and joy of putting the pieces together. Later that day, at the archives, I picked up a lead.

It would seem Johanna was right about Peeta. I found his name in a medical record of admission to the Panem Mental Institution in District 1. There was no train ride this time, the EPB paid for private hovercraft transport, and I was there in mere hours. Using my new position as a documentary maker, I was allowed access to the hospital. And a chance to meet Peeta Mellark. A guard met me at the entrance, a precaution, as the hospital treated many violent and unpredictable patients. I was led down the corridor to the cell, I used a hand-held camera this time. The walls were painted a variety of warm and soft colors, giving the place a very calm feel. I was met by a doctor, she led me to the cell.

The cell was white, and padded on every surface. The lights were turned off, turning the windowless room very dark. I was informed that seeing people's faces had been known to make him aggressive, and with visitors in the room, it helped to be cautious.

"Hello, are you Peeta Mellark?" I asked as nicely as possible. The man was in a straitjacket and sat in the corner.

"I don't know…" he replied. "That's what the doctors call me, so I guess I am." He twitched nervously. The doctor had a sedation syringe at the ready in case things took a turn. The doctor had given me a small flashlight, so that I could show him the picture of Katiniss.

"Do you recognize this woman?" I asked, I turned on the flashlight. Making sure not shine it at myself or him, I held the picture out at arm's length with the light on. I walked closer, I was within a few feet of him now. "Her name is Katniss Everdeen."

He began to shake, making an animal like hissing sound. I turned the light off and he lurched forward. I jumped back and the doctor came in and sedated him immediately. "What did I say?" she said calmly. "Faces make him aggressive." I shined the flashlight on him, getting a look at his face for the first time. It was apparent almost immediately. He had blonde hair, but his face… it was wrong.

"You said this is Peeta Mellark?" I asked.

"That's what the files and cell ID say." The doctor said.

"No…this isn't right." I turned off the camera and headed out the door. The victor records had plenty of pictures of him, this man looked nothing like him. I went straight to the main desk and demanded to speak with the head of the establishment, Dr. Aurelius. I produced photo evidence that the man was not Peeta, and angrily asked if the lights had been turned off to prevent people from identifying him as someone else. The man was adamant that it was not the case, and that the fellow in the cell was in fact Peeta Mellark, victor of the 74th games. He also mentioned that he did have violent reactions to human faces, and the lights had been out for that reason. Given the reaction to the photograph, I took that as truth. Eventually, I was escorted out of the institution. Although I did not have my camera, I kept a small audio recorder in my pocket and recorded the whole conversation.

Upon return to the capitol, my search turned to Peeta Mellark. However every source I could get a hold of, classified and public, pointed to the man in the mental institution. Could it be that he and the Mockingjay were together to this day? They were a young couple thrown into the Hunger Games, an incredible coincidence. Perhaps his identity was shifted to that man to cover the Mockingjay's trail. Could he have returned home to District 12? A search of the directory showed no Mellarks and no Everdeens. Perhaps his name was changed? Or likely was simply not included at all, an agreement with the government to keep the truth about their existence covered up.

Soon after my trip to district 1, I received a letter from an unknown sender. Handwritten and of few words. "Marcus Fidelis, you may not find what you are looking for, but here is something you may want." Beneath the words was coordinates. It led to central Panem, 3 miles from the capitol and nestled in a forgotten valley. I had the network provided hovercraft readied and did some research into the coordinates. A record of the hunger games. The coordinates were for one of the arena sites. The capitol had over a dozen sites, usually 11 of which were under construction. The Capitol was planning ten games ahead. The Paylor administration had the sites destroyed. But this one seemed to have remained.

As the hovercraft drifted down into the valley, So this is the war's big secret. The arena of the 75th hunger games. Most of the area had been firebombed as an air forces practice range, however that was a cover-up to prevent the spread of mutts that inhabited the arena. Even without the bloodthirsty abominations, the arena still contained an array of environmental hazards, so we were not allowed to set foot inside. This is where the war kicked off. According to Johanna Mason, the arena was like a clock divided into sections. Every hour a new hazard would occur. At 12, lightning would strike a large tree, the victors/conspirators strung a piece of wire and used the lighting to overload the force field. Most of the forest had been reduced to ash, however a lake in the center and the silver cornucopia still remained. Littered across the area were the twisted metal carcasses of military hovercraft, remnants of the aerial battle that ensued after the force field went down. We circled many times, I recorded every second of it. Proving the existence of the 75th games, and further legitimizing the existence of the "victor conspiracy". The existence of the 75th games was concealed. And the events soon faded from people's memory. Perhaps the then president, Alma Coin, didn't want to risk another civil war. And insured that Katniss Everdeen, the embodiment of rebellion, and all connected to her, were sealed away from history. Maybe this was one path to achieve peace.

With my obsession now being turned into a full blown documentary, I decided to go out and capture more about the revolution she sparked. I figured it would make it more interesting than just me chasing after a girl with no solid proof of her existence. I arranged transport to District 8, the first district to rebel. I wanted to capture the Mockingjay from their point of view, the peacekeepers and the rebels. The ones who didn't know her, but had seen her on TV. Her single act of defiance shook the entire nation, and I was determined to learn the magnitude of the tremors she caused.