After the interviews finished, Ruby and her kids walked over to the Gamemakers' Center to handle some last-minute things. Garnet and Ruby walked in front of Cerise, talking in hushed tones that Cerise couldn't hear. And Cerise wasn't thrilled about it.

Cerise was thirteen years older than Garnet. Up until about ten years ago, there was no doubt that Cerise would take on the presidency; even as her brother grew up, she was still the older sister, and Garnet had basically no interest in it. So Cerise had done what she thought her mother wanted her to do: settle down early with a husband and a family, and remain involved enough in government, meaning not too involved. After all, how much did the president really do? Her future in the country, as its leader, was secure.

Then came the Fifth Quarter Quell. The goddamn Fifth Quell. The year when Cerise's life changed forever.

For the worse.

For whatever reason, her baby brother, the one who had no interest in government, who had vocally protested the Selection, became incredibly interested in government and very, very popular nationally. Her mother's opinion on which kid would take over clearly began to shift. Now, Cerise didn't seem like the shoo-in for president anymore. And as the nearly ten years since that day had passed, she was becoming surer of that fact. Cerise had once confronted her mother about it. But her mother's response was simple: "He's more involved in the future than you are."

That was the other problem. The "future." The country of Panem was now unrecognizable from the one that she'd grown up in! Cerise could not understand why her mother wanted to change a system that was working under President Snow. He had settled on the no-change clause because it was working, and he didn't want anything to mess it up. Now the industries were all changed, and even worse, the Games were on their way out. The single most important institution in Panem were nearly gone! Without them, there would be no reminder for the districts to not rebel. Things could go so badly in a way that Ruby could not understand without the Games. For the security of Panem, they needed to remain in existence. And all of the provisions that Ruby had included had to be removed. The whole point of the Games was to show that the Capitol was better than everyone else, and that anyone was susceptible to the Capitol's wrath and power. Thirteen could stay in the Games, but that was the only change that could remain, because they were a district, after all; even if the redistricting was undone, they could stay.

The worst part of all for Cerise was that her closest friend and cousin, Violet, was ceding to Ruby's diabolical plan. Instead of holding firm to the proper beliefs, every other Emerald

The three Emeralds arrived at the Center and made their way to the room where final preparations were being made for the next day's Events. "Did everything go according to plan tonight?" Ruby asked a Gamemaker.

"Yes. Everyone is prepared for tomorrow."

"Good work, everyone. Now, Cerise, I have to talk over some stuff with your father. So feel free to go home, because you're not needed."

"All right, mother."

Cerise was mad. Things were being kept from her, incredibly important things about her country's future. Why was her mom hiding them?

Something needed to be done.

Cerise had told her husband that she would be home late that night, because she'd need to help out in the Gamemakers' Center. But instead, she ventured out into the Capitol proper, making her way to a building she'd read about in some of the few dossiers she'd been allowed to read. Cerise found the side entrance, knocked on the door, and descended to the basement.

"What are you doing here?" said the man in the room.

"I wish to join you," she said.

"No you don't," he said. "You're just a mole for your mother."

"I want to take her down. This country is not the country I grew up in. And I want to bring it back."

"You know that that is not entirely our goal, right?"

"But you alone have the resources to bring on a full-scale rebellion."

The man thought for a moment. Then he reached out his hand. "For now, you have a deal. But this is very temporary."

"That is good to hear, Alexios. Very good to hear."


What is my story missing that most other good stories have? A good antagonist. Short chapter, I know, but it gets the point I needed to across.

I'm still missing a bunch of check-ins. I'll post a list on my profile with what I'm missing from whom at this point, but if you have a question, send me a PM!

A quick note regarding POVs. Every character by this point has had a POV, and I'm going to try my absolute best to keep them even as we go through the story. But one thing that I've noticed about the storylines I'm developing is that not every character is fitting in to them. In the Games, you can kill them off. But these are not the Games. So those characters will probably have more narrational roles. I apologize in advance to the submitters whose characters aren't featured as much as some others, but as a consolation, I'll remind you that your characters aren't going to die.

It might be a little while until the next chapter goes up, because I have to do some more long-term planning. But I promise I will finish the story! Not that that was a concern. Anyway, see y'all then!

-goldie031