The Hunger Games trilogy is owned by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games film is owned by Suzanne Collins, Lionsgate and their affiliates.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters, themes, and content therein belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions.
I am making no money from this endeavor. As for any original content: Any likeness, similarities, and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places, and events are unintentional and purely coincidental.
This fic has elements unique to both the book and the movie for The Hunger Games as well as elements from the Season 8 comic version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Unbeta'd and all mistakes are my own. Please feel free to contact me if you wish to Beta.
Head Peacekeeper Thread called the entire district to the Town Square for an important announcement. He stood rigid, as if he were made of stone, on the tallest step of the Justice Building. His top officers were steps below him, all looking the same way: completely severe and firm. The underlings weren't even looking at the townspeople. They stared dead eyed straight ahead of them, unseeing and empty.
There was something very unsettling about the Peacekeepers and no one from the Seam or the Merchant Quarter could figure out what was wrong. Other than their odd rigidity, they looked perfectly normal but the goose bumps that rose on their skin when they looked at them told them otherwise. Citizens of District 12 were still milling in but all the while, the top Peacekeepers stood perfectly and uniformly still.
The manager of the saw mill studied them for a moment, waiting for the announcement. He had seen many Peacekeepers come and go but nothing like the ones that stood before him. There was something about their eyes, they set off an internal alarm within him and he quickly looked away. He needed to look at something other than the fathomless eyes. Their emptiness twisted something in his gut; something told him there was something unnatural and wrong about the Peacekeepers. He had met with one of them the other day about potential timber theft and besides the typical malicious gleam there wasn't anything out of the ordinary with the Peacekeeper. But that day, there was something terribly wrong with them and the entire town could feel it tremble under their skin.
Katniss and Gale stood off to the side with their respective families. Nemesis and Chloe were nowhere to be found, not that they had seen the latter in the last few days or even should be at the event. The hunters knew the two girls were having some kind of spat. Nemesis wouldn't talk about it but they knew something was going on; it was hard to miss the death stares the blonde gave the other girl. They decided they had more things to worry about than a row between two outsiders and kept out of it.
The town had finally gathered in the square and all waited for Thread to begin his proclamation.
A microphone was placed in front of and he finally spoke,
"Due to the vast amount of energy used by the electric fences, I have decided to cease the twenty-four hour operation. In the past the fence had served District 12 well when not electrified and I believe anyone who would pouch…knows better."
They all knew it was a direct statement towards Gale but Thread moved nothing but his mouth. His voice was steady and unchanging throughout his speech. It seemed as if he was programed to one neutral setting, the townspeople felt as if he were no longer human.
"Peacekeepers will be patrolling with the same vigilance as usual and will turn on the fence on an as needed basis. I urge citizens to report any suspicious activity. That is all and you are dismissed."
In one fluid motion, Head Peacekeeper Thread and the top officials simultaneously left the stairs and went to their respective posts. The citizens found the synchronicity odd but rationalized it to Thread's tyrannical leadership.
Katniss and Gale were slightly bewildered at the turn of events. Thread had made such a showcase of keeping the fence functioning. The Head Peacekeeper made a show of all the changes he had made to the district but in the following days it seemed as if his efforts were for naught. The stocks and whipping post hadn't been used for a couple of days, a record since Thread's reign began. Both Katniss and Gale were suspicious and did not venture out of the district for the first few days. They checked the fence in the meantime and to his word, the fence was not on. They also noticed the regular Peacekeepers had a sort of glazed look to their eyes. They were still everywhere but it seemed as if they couldn't quite focus completely at the task at hand.
After the third day, Gale and Katniss could no longer resist temptation and ventured out into the woods. The sense of freedom and openness only the forest could provide was welcomed. The anxiety and tension was relieved when they shot their first kill and brought it back home without incident. The new black market was open for business, an abandoned watch post at the furthest end of the district, and the Seam was happy to have fresh meat again.
They still had the Hunger Games and its unknown twist to worry about but for the moment they could breathe easy knowing they could provide for their families again.
Beyond the far opposite end of the district, Nemesis stood beside a small river, holding a cage squirming with life. The river was teaming with fish, bountiful with the coming of summer. She was silent with a somber look on her face when Prim found her.
The young blonde girl was given a task by the Slayer earlier that morning. She was to escape past the fence by herself and find Nemesis using her wits and powers. She had been given the hint that her teacher would be near water and she used the knowledge that had been bestowed upon her in the past week. Prim was to extend her senses to find what she was looking for. At first she was puzzled where to start in the first place but did what Nemesis told her to do in times of stress, she breathed in deep and emptied her mind. Magic was unpredictable by nature, more so when the mind was troubled. She knelt down to the earth and connected to its power. The energy freely flowed from her and it returned the power in kind. She felt connected to everything around her, one big chain binding them all together. Most were unaware of such a link and she felt sorry for those who would never feel it.
Prim soon realized that she could sense the running water several meters away and a strong concentration of power right next to it. She knew it had to be Nemesis and bounded towards her.
A bright grin split on her face, incredibly happy she was able to find her.
Nemesis gave a small smile to the youngest Everdeen, happy that she was growing into her own but sad of what was to come.
Prim noticed the older girl had a cage, upon closer inspection it held six or so rats. All black with shiny fur and beady eyes; eating greedily at the cheese provided. She recognized one rat as Mayor McCheese, Nemesis' pet rat that she's had for a while by its slightly graying fur. The others she was not sure where she would have gotten them or why anyone would keep them as pets.
"Prim, you know the markings on my back?" Nemesis asked quietly, enjoying the sound of the gurgling brook.
"The bird wing tattoos?" Prim asked to clarify because she was aware of more than one tattoo on the older girl.
"They aren't tattoos. They're a mark of devotion."
Prim wasn't sure why Nemesis was telling her so she remained quiet so she could speak.
"I started my magic training at thirteen. I was very excited that I had a natural talent at magic. Not only was I living out my Harry Potter dream but I felt it was another good skill to have; it could only make me stronger. When I formally began my training I noticed I wasn't progressing like the others."
"There are others?" Prim thought excitedly to herself. Nemesis had told her that witches were stronger in covens and she desperately wanted to be as strong as she could be. She could do so much good with more power. She remained silent because she knew that the older blonde would tell her about her past life in her own time.
"I quickly got frustrated and down about my development. I felt like I was the dunce of the magic group and useless. So one night I decided I would get more powerful, damn the costs. So I devoted myself to a goddess…it was probably the biggest mistake of my life. Besides the really bad perm I got when I was fifteen. Anyway, the power boost came with a price. I was marked and bound. Now I'm compelled to meet out justice to those who succumb to hubris."
"Hubris?"
"It's excessive pride, particularly before the gods. The Peacekeepers are especially prone to it. I trained to ignore it in most cases as most mean no harm. But the Peacekeepers, specifically the high ranking ones, have gone far enough that I can't ignore the call for divine retribution."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because this is another lesson. That not only do your actions have costs but so do the choices you make. The consequences aren't always immediate and done with. Sometimes they have a life of its own follow you til death. Sometimes even after death."
Prim didn't argue or ask further, the look on Nemesis' face and the somber tone of her voice told her everything.
"The grey rat is Cray, the others Thread and his goons."
Prim's jaw dropped at the revelation. Her mind was pushed further and further with each new lesson. She seemed to always be amazed at how far magic could go, how limitless the possibilities.
"At first I was going to keep them in this form, let them live out the rest of their lives as helpless pets. Recently, though, that life seems too cushy and good for them."
Nemesis stretched out her arms and held the cage above the river, immediately Prim knew her intent to drown the contents of the crate.
"No!" she shouted not wanting Nemesis to end their life.
"No? You know Cray had designs for you right?"
Prim suddenly felt sick, her fears of the former Head's eyes that roamed her body and what it meant were affirmed.
"You think Thread deserves the cushy life of a pet? Fed every day and kept safe in a cage? A man who didn't blink an eye to torturing your friend and leaving him to die?"
She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She didn't know what to say, everything Nemesis was saying was true.
"How about Abraxis, Quintus, and Polonius? You think they're right for what they did to those two boys?"
"NO!" she exclaimed vehemently and tears were pouring down her face. Why was Nemesis doing this to her? She remembered vividly what Thread's three favored Peacekeepers did to Shale Ackers and Peat Moser, two boys not even out of Reaping age caught doing "disgraceful acts against the Capitol." She had been with her mother in the Merchant Quarter, bartering herbal remedies for supplies when the three brought the two naked and severely beaten boys to the middle of town. Normally law breakers were taken straight to the stocks or the Justice Building but they wanted to make an example of the two so they brought them to the most public area.
"Here we have two deevs, two disgusting soddies that would dare do their filthy acts in your district," Abraxis sneered at them and said to the crowd. His two compatriots had identical looks of repulsion but laughed when the quivering boys were kicked in the ribs.
The Head had come to see what the commotion was about and Prim feared another horrible lashing like Gale had received. Thread had not lifted a finger, only slightly nodded to Quintus. The Peacekeeper knew the unspoken order and took out his auto, pressed it point blank to Shale's temple and pulled the trigger. Peat had let out a tortured wail and embraced his dead lover. He raised his head defiantly to the Peacekeeper, hate in his eyes. Prim wasn't sure how she knew but she knew that the boy was ready to die. He didn't want to live in a world without Shale.
Polonius wasn't about to let the others have all the fun, so he took it upon himself to end the life of Peat. The boy slumped down over his dead lover and it was the end of it.
Prim was horrified but not because they had dared to love the same sex, she was horrified that such love was condemned. She knew the two, both from the Seam and good boys. They helped around when they could and were very hard workers in the mines. They each had a ready smile for anyone that passed them by and she didn't understand why the Capitol hated their kind so much.
The crowd had dissipated and no one knew what to do with the bodies. Their families were afraid to collect the bodies and the Peacekeepers didn't care, they only wanted their message to be heard loud and clear: "You will follow our ways or die."
Sometime in the middle of the night, someone had collected the bodies. There were two fresh graves dug and covered with wild flowers. The Peacekeepers were unaware since they never ventured to that part of the district. The boys families were give wreaths of flowers with condolences and food to last them for a couple of days. Prim knew it had to be Nemesis as the funeral rites were not typical of anyone in the Seam.
No, Prim did not think that the Peacekeepers deserved to live out their life in a cage but she couldn't bring herself to kill them either.
"Killing is never right," Prim said when she finally found her voice. She didn't know what to do with them but she knew that deep down and without hesitance that taking someone's life was wrong.
"What about the Hunger Games?" Nemesis countered. "They force children to kill one another. What do you do if there is no choice?"
"The Hunger Games are a monstrosity."
There, she had said what she always thought but never gave a voice to; what she knew that everyone knew but didn't say. She felt a tension release from her shoulders and inexplicably free from a constraint she didn't know the Capitol had imposed upon her. It was a truth that everyone knew, something so simple but profound.
The Hunger Games were wrong. What the Capitol was doing to them was wrong and no matter how much they said it was for honor or glory they were lying. It was all one huge lie that everyone could see but turned away from out of fear.
Prim was done being afraid.
"What they do to us is wrong and I don't want to be anything like them. What they make us do is wrong and they make us as bad as them," Prim said with more confidence than she had with anything else.
"Even with everything they've done. What they could do in the future, you would show them mercy?"
"Not mercy, I'm doing the right thing. Doing the right thing doesn't always seem like the logical thing to do or even feel right but I know that killing them won't do anything but make me a monster too."
Nemesis breathed out, relived that the pain in her back was no longer there. Prim didn't want the kind of justice the goddess would normally deal out and therefore wasn't her place to do so.
The Slayer knew she was right in choosing Prim as an apprentice. The girl was able to say no where others would have said yes without hesitation or a hint of remorse. As a Slayer she knew she had an unfair advantage and dealing the death penalty was not her place, especially in the non-supernatural areas.
The world had people like Primrose Everdeen in it and it was worth protecting.
"I won't kill them," Nemesis promised as she backed away from the river. She knelt to the crying girl and became eye level. "You're a good soul Prim."
"Soul?" the younger girl sniffled.
"It's the immortal part of all that we are. When we die, our soul lives on."
"We can live on after death?"
The idea comforted Prim, thinking of her late father.
"Although things change, nothing ever truly perishes. Go home, your sister is probably looking for you."
"So you're not going to kill them?" Prim asked, wanting to be sure.
"I won't kill them, I swear."
The youngest Everdeen was satisfied as she knew Nemesis was a person of her word. She headed back towards the district and once she was out of sight, the Slayer opened the cage and unceremoniously dumped its contents.
The rodents scurried along the creek and all went to different directions, never to be seen again.
"I might not kill you but I'm sure as hell not going take care of you. Have fun living in a world with as much mercy as you've shown others mother fuckers."
She tossed the cage aside and headed towards the bakery, she had cakes to ice terribly and a very good looking baker's son to keep company.
A/N: Short chapter but good for character development.
I want to give a shout out to Wandering Eye, I haven't let the story die but do to the unfortunate circumstances of being an adult, yuck, chapter updates are feast or famine. I hope you guys understand and thanks for the continued support.
Thanks to everyone that reviews, favorites, and follows!
Announcement: The winner of the cover art contest is….NO ONE! Because no one submitted any artwork. lol If there is anyone who would like to do artwork for this or any of my stories, feel free to PM me and we'll work something out.