I do not own The Hunger Games
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Make sure to follow the story so you can see new chapters coming in. I'm trying to throw in some foreshadowing without being too obvious so let me know if you notice any of it.
She goes under the radar. Spends four days in the underground cellars with the sickly woman who is in fact actually sick now.
She's been down here twice before. The first time was when she was six and a man had became violent with her while she was in the street. Her grandfather had the man arrested and brought down here. The next day he'd shown her the cells and told her they were for anyone who openly questioned the royal family and to use them as she sees fit. He'd given her a gun and showed her how to shoot the man. The second time had been when she was nine and a couple had attempted to kidnap her in her bed, she'd been practicing with Diamond and Gold for a year at that point and escaped. She killed them before she found out the motive.
Today Gold stands next to her listening to Chertly, who's missing both eyes and has more muscle showing than flesh, tell them all of Pelenos's dirty secrets. He'd came to her grandfather just after she'd been born and suggested the idea, it was less about money and more about ensuring they had complete control over the victors. It didn't stop him from keeping a large sum of the cash for himself. He'd spread rumors about Mr. Ridmen's integrity to take the heat off himself after being found with a fourteen year old district girl tied up in his bed. Had been responsible for the murder of Haymitch's and Johanna's families.
She'd loved the man like family, like she thought family should be. The time she'd spent with him, the meals, the dancing, the teasing. He'd visited her during her lessons, would tuck her in when he'd stopped by at night. He'd brought her gifts with the dirty money he'd gotten from the victors. He'd kissed her goodbye.. he'd been grooming her.
She leaves a hole between where Chertly's eyes should be.
Gold doesn't flinch like Katniss thought she would. She's glad to have her there, glad to be able to share her darkness with someone other than her grandfather.
They discuss ways to remove him from power, they could bury his body in the Dark World if they abducted him but that would involve letting Diamond in on everything and neither want that, besides too many people would question such a powerful mans disappearance. Too much commotion. In the end everything falls through and she knows she can't ask her grandfather to get rid of him without cause.
What's to stop her grandfather from replacing him? They can't leave the participants unpunished.
She'll just have to make a cause.
She doesn't tell Gold her idea.
She puts the finishing touches on the 73rd games six months before the games will start. She chooses the whole cast this year as well, her victor will be a male from nine named Rain. She can hear the citizens laughing already about the Rain in the desert.
Pelenos come's around like usual, she plays along like usual. He gives her old poetry and she asks if he can find her hair accessories from the Dark World.
A handful of victors are visiting the castle today. They've been spending more time in the capitol recently and have been regularly visiting Rahella and her trainers since her accident. She'll make herself scarce.
She visits Cinna in his workshop and puts in an order for an upcoming dance taking place in two months. There are half a dozen parties happening before then but she's got no plan to attend those. Usually she leaves her wardrobe in his more then capable hands, he's well antiquated with her tastes, but today she needs something specific. They share a bottle with lunch.
The sun is setting when she makes it back to the palace.
"Katniss." She's passing through the ball room when he calls her from the corner. She usually takes a back entrance in but the front door had been closer. He's not much older than her, eighteen or nineteen at most, blonde hair and blue eyes. Attractive.
"You are?" He introduces himself as Pestilent. "Well Pestilent, has anyone told you it's rather rude to address your superior by first name?" She doesn't typically care but hearing her name being spoken out loud by a complete stranger still irks her.
"I have." He hasn't stopped smiling, he irks her.
"Well, Pestilent, don't you agree?"
"I do agree, you should really stop calling me by my first name." Who does he think he is? "Ah, forgive me. We haven't been formally introduced yet, have we? I am Prince Pestilent Snow. It's a pleasure to finally meet my baby cousin." What? She doesn't have a cousin. She's never had a cousin, never been TOLD about a cousin. Where did he come from?
She keeps a knife on her at all times. Double checks the holo in her pocket and powers it up.
"Don't look so confused. My father, your uncle, was the elder brother of your mother Princess Zahlan, making me your elder cousin. The first prince and heir to the Panem nation." He does have the typical royal looks.
"I've never heard of you or your father, what makes you think you're going to be the next king?"
"Oh? Did you think YOU were going to be the next president?," He's mocking her. Laughing at her. "Well I suppose silly girls are prone to silly thoughts. I've been raised from birth to take the throne, and you, you've been raised since birth to play games, or am I mistaken?" He's right, grandfather had always pushed her to take on the games, never mentioned her becoming queen. She'd made those assumptions all on her own, but she'd never had any competition, taking the throne had always seemed second nature. It was a given. The throne was a given. She feels silly.
A mutt twice the size of Slyth joins him. Slyth is spending the day with Dolly and Rave barely even reaches her hip, she's at a huge disadvantage right now. "Wait, you actually thought the president was molding you to lead the people? You? Forget the districts even the capitol would rebel after seeing your disgusting eyes," He knows. "As if you could ever have a place here, dirty scum." His voice is growing more hostile so she's slips the knife into her sleeve.
"What did you call me?" He's still smiling when he repeats himself.
"Destroyer."
"No, RAVE!" The huge mutt is on him.
She swipes at his face with the blade but he deflects her arm, grabs both her ears and smashes his knee into her nose before throwing her back. Rave is free and running for her. She gets a barrier up on her holo just in time for three knifes to bounce off. He's laughing.
"Thought you were special? The president got me trainers too you know, Ryan, Richard," They must have been guarding the doors. Dark hair and pale skin. "District two trainers, there's a reason district two has more victors than district one you know. They're the best of the best. Destroyer was also a gift, but i'm sure you figured that out by now. You're nothing special. You're just a sad little girl playing games alone, watching chess pieces on the sideline."
She's still on the ground when he makes it to the doors. "You're wrong Pestilent. You call him president, I call him grandfather. I live in the castle with him, eat with him, attend gatherings and meetings with him, where have you been all those times? Grandfather has always spoken about me during interviews and parties, always introduced me to powerful associates. The whole world knows I exist but no one has ever heard your name. He's never mentioned you and you don't live in the castle. You must be a real disappointment for him to hide you away like that." She struck a cord. He's not smiling when he leaves.
Nothing is fucking going right!
Katniss runs through halls, pushing doors open, she needs to talk to Gold. When she finds her she's in the game room surrounded by Diamond and laughing victors. Annie, Chaff, Lyme and Enobaria are sitting with them. Haymitch and Chaff both have their hands on the same bottle. It's too late to be discrete, the door bouncing off the wall made sure of that. "Diamond, Gold. What do you know about the district two trainers Ryan and Richard?"
Diamond shakes his head at Gold when they meet eyes and looks back at her with clear confusion. "We've heard the names before but not much else... Did they do that to your face?"
"They're mean bastards, what do you wanna know for?" Fuck. Enobaria is from two. Lyme is from two as well.
"They're in the capitol."
"Let's walk and talk."
Enobaria is no nonsense. She tells Katniss about how district two much like district one pre-plans their tributes each year, but the training is much stricter. They raise two males and females from birth and only let them volunteer for the games when they turn eighteen, so they have four qualified tributes every year. Unlike district one that focuses on perfecting one weapon of choice, district two demands training in all military weapons including hand to hand combat. The tributes are chosen with a fight to the death between each sex.
Ryan and Richard were both tribute candidates when they were beaten the month before their games, barely surviving. "They started training when they were eighteen, and we had three back to back years before they vanished right before the 64th games, the victor who won the year they were disqualified also vanished. I took the 62nd games under them. Whatever they're doing here probably isn't good." The woman is frightening but honest.
"Say they were training someone in the capitol for the past ten years... what would you make of it?"
"Anyone who would willingly spend that much time with those two can't be in their right mind, especially considering what they did to your face." Enobaria is holding up a hand before she can even think about arguing. "Those two are out here training someone for a reason, you gonna tell me who?"
"My cousin."
They loop back around. She tells Enobaria how her training is focused on the bow and arrow but she's also been taught about plants, fires, and survival skills. When they get back to the game room she stops Katniss with a hand on her chest. "You've been up to some shit recently. You've always been up to shit but now it's more than usual. I know how to read people. Whatever you're doing can't be wrong if Ryan and Richard are after you, so starting tomorrow morning Brutus and I are going to be adding to your training. You'll be at the training center in the victors tower at 4am." The training center in the victors tower is where all the tributes train the week before games, then they come to her center in the castle for scores. She owns both. It's not that she doesn't like her but Katniss has never met Brutus, doesn't really know Enobaria..
"You said a victor vanished the same time the trainers did, don't you think it might not be a good idea to involve yourself with me?" She can see her shark like teeth when she smiles.
"Even if they knew about this, those little roaches couldn't hold a candle to me and Brutus. That's the problem, the president gave the two of you trainers when he could have given you champions. We'll whip you into shape."
She wants to die. There's no way district two trains like this everyday. Her cousin definitely isn't. Training with Gold and Diamond consist of target practice with her bow, cardio, and than they finish with an hour of survival skills. She's been shooting since she was eight but they still don't look impressed with her abilities, even after she hits every target in the head or chest. "Why are you looking? The targets aren't moving and you're stopping to aim? Shoot dammit!" She misses the next target. She's scared Brutus is going to punch her. "This is pathetic, what if that dummy was running at you, would you ask them to stop so you could notch your arrow and aim? This needs to be second nature. We'll come back to this, pick up the throwing knifes."
Enobaria takes her to the hall and tells her they're going to rearrange the room. In two minutes she needs to kick the door in and throw the knifes at all the dummies. When two minutes pass she does as she's been instructed and kicks the door in, rolling in after and releasing a knife at each dummy and also launching one at Brutus by mistake. She hit one of the six target in the leg but the knife doesn't even stick. Brutus ignores the knife that hits the ground three feet from him. "Better, but you need to move faster. Aim will come over time, for now work on throwing two knifes at each dummy. Even if you miss in real life the target will most likely be too stunned from shock to continue attacking. You can go back and finish them off then."
In the end she spends three hours picking up and throwing every weapon known to mankind without pause. She wasn't good with any of them but her new trainers still seemed pleased.
Shower, lessons, training with Gold and Diamond. She has to keep reflecting questions about bloody noses and why she suddenly can't hit any of her damn targets.
Sleep has never felt so good.
The next day goes mostly the same but at one point Brutus makes her run until she throws up. 18 minutes. She would have stopped sooner but he had been chasing her with the threat of, 'If you stop before you vomit i'll beat you into the hospital'. She's never been treated this way before, wouldn't have allowed it. She wouldn't have chosen Brutus as one of her victors if she was alive during the 49th games. She's still glad he's here.
