Two chapters left, then I swear this is done! Thanks again to any who have followed this story, your support is always appreciated! I've redone the first chapter of Ladies First if you would like to submit; there's plenty of room! I plan on making shorter chapters to flow faster, rather than the 3-6000 word behemoths I've been trying to keep with.


Henry Reynoso, Age 14, District 8

Sixth Quarter Quell Victor


The car ride from the Tribute Center back to the theater where Julius'd give me my Final Interview is short, but I'm thankful for the final moments to clear my thoughts. Velvet will be there with me this time, helping me with the questions and talking about how he had helped me to get where I am. Soon after, the coronation.

There are thousands of Capitol citizens outside the building, and we drive around to a back entrance policed by Peacekeepers. No pedestrians get back here, and Velvet and I find the stage quickly as the throngs pile into the seats. I go in to see my stylist, Aeliana, and she fusses over my hair and makeup, sticking me in a suit and calling it a day. She makes the finishing touches as an intern knocks on the door, reminding us that I was needed on stage in a few minutes.

A tech holds me back, checking her watch and waiting for Julius to call for me. He's talking with Velvet now, the two bantering before my appearance. The tech pats me on the shoulder moments before Julius calls, "Ladies and gents, Henry Reynoso!"

I take a deep breath, adopting a broad smile as I cross the stage toward Julius. He and Velvet are standing, Julius milking the crowd as Velvet just watches me, his expression one of sorrow and relief. Sorrow that this will be my own life now. Relief that I still have a life.

I imagine my thoughts mirror his own.

I take Julius' hand, shaking it firmly before taking my seat beside Velvet. I sit straight, remembering the other times I'd been on this stage. The first time, my first interview, I'd been seated next to Tulle, listening as the Careers spelt out death to myself and the others. I remember vaguely the fear that coursed through me three weeks ago, watching those beautiful killers flash their smiles and promise pain. The second time I sat here, I watched a replay of all their deaths, one by one.

The crowd gives a final roar before taking their seats, though the chatter doesn't really die down. Julius sits back, eying Velvet and I for a moment.

"Henry Reynoso." He flashes his trademark grin, and cheers arise again. "We have much to go over and so little time, so let's get right into it, shall we?"

"Of course, Julius." I smile again, leaning back into my seat. I feel small and insignificant under the spotlights, but I try to not betray the thought. Many people in the crowd wish I wasn't here, I know, and if I want any chance of a normal life, if ever I want to bring a tribute of my own home alive, I need to be calm and collected. Grateful and spirited. I have to lie.

"Excellent! Let's begin with the day you became the Tribute from District Eight." The Reaping from Eight appears on the screen above me, and I give it a cursory glance before turning away. It seems like a lifetime has passed since I was last home. Perhaps it has.

I remember Tulle climbing the steps of the Justice Building, looking out at the crowd as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Ready to break the streak?" Fifty-five years since our last Victor, and nobody thought it would happen any time soon. Yet Tulle gave them hope.

Friga calls my name, and screaming rips through the crowd, high, terrified, deafening. The camera pans to a tribute in the fourteen-year old section of the crowd, pushing through other boys in an attempt to escape his fate. Peacekeepers seize the boy by the arms and drag him to the stage. I'm confused; why would they show that?

"Did you know, even then, that you were cowardly?" Julius' eyes are dark, and I'm taken aback.

"Wh-what?" I stutter, shaking my head. "N-no, of course not! Why would you say that?"

The Bloodbath appears again, showing me running from the mass of bodies and screams and waiting for Blue to find me in the trees. How useless I was when we ran into Malaya and Aran, how Blue saved me from drowning. How I hid as Devon killed my Ally, poisoning her soon after. "Poison! A coward's weapon!"

"You hid even in those final minutes, letting Cassia and Aran kill each other while you nursed your wounds out of sight!"

Chanting comes from the crowd, a tidal wave of fear washing over me. "Coward! Undeserving! Coward! Snake!"

Velvet stands, shaking his head at me before walking away. Julius stands over me, and I shrink further into the chair. "Coward!"

I wake suddenly, jumping up from my bed and hefting the lamp from my bedside table. I stand there in the darkness for a moment, sweat running down my face, the dim light of the Capitol filtering through the window to my bedroom on Floor Eight.

I don't sleep for the remainder of the night.


Camilla King, Age 19, Capitol

Student at the University of Panem


I watch the Victor's Interview closely, noting the ease with which the newest member of Panem's high society carries himself. Henry Reynoso underwhelmed the Capitol when last he was here, and he seems keen on changing the people's minds.

The Interview starts normally enough, Julius Incandes asking Henry about his life before the Reaping, mixed with very idle chatter. This goes on for perhaps ten minutes before Incandes turns the conversation in the direction the viewers want to hear.

"What was going through your mind when you first saw the Arena? The vast jungle, launching onto the side of a literal volcano?" He chuckles to himself, and I smile. The Arena this year was a little more… exotic than normal. My District Studies class will be visiting the Arena in a couple weeks, the first to step foot in there since Cassia and Aran's corpses were lifted from the island. After the memorials are placed and the jaguar is stuffed, that is.

"The first thought that struck me was how different it was from home. The bright sky, the heat of the lava, the sheet of green surrounding the mountain; it was very… overstimulating." He smiles faintly, as though recalling a fond memory.

Behind Henry and Julius, a bird's-eye view of the Arena plays, soaring around the volcano and the Cornucopia before documenting the expansive beaches surrounding the western half of the island, the cliffs to the East. For a moment, I'm jealous of the younger boy; I'll be able to study and examine the Arena with my class for four days. He got to experience it for nearly three weeks.

"And that was very smart of you, teaming up with Jasper-"

"Blue."

"The most outlying of the Careers. What made you choose him?"

"I was looking for an Ally. I thought long and hard about my options, and he seemed like the best thing for me."

"Because he was trained?"

"That helped, sure. But he wasn't younger than me, nor was he that much older. He wasn't unapproachable, nor would he baby me during our time together. In the end, it came down to Cordin, Blue or Harvest. I chose Blue."

"Interesting! How did you feel when he died?"

Henry's breath is sharp, hissing through his teeth loud enough to be picked up by the mic hanging on his cheek. He pauses for a moment, glancing into the crowd.

"I felt like I had lost a brother. I was angry. I was scared. He had been all I'd known in the Arena, and suddenly he was gone. I thought I was about to die too." His shoulders tense up, and I lean forward attentively. His eyes shine in the light of my projecting screen, and I hold my breath.

"Is that why you decided to kill Devon Rose, the girl from Five?" The question we all wanted the answer to, the one no amount of speculating could solve.

"Partially, yes. Back home, I worked closely with my grandmother, a renowned nurse in Eight. Her teachings taught me much, focusing on how various herbs and animal parts could cure a variety of ailments. She taught me to protect life, rather than destroy it."

"Come on Henry, get to it." I mutter under my breath. "Come on."

"And yet…?" Julius pushes after the pause.

"And yet I was so angry. I was blind to anything else. And her death would mean I was one step closer to going home. If not me, someone else would have killed her anyway."


Henry Reynoso, Age 14, District 8

Sixth Quarter Quell Victor


I feel like everything I say in this interview is a lie. Most of it is truth, sure, but the way I talk about it is a lie. The expression on my face is a lie. Despite how long I've had to come to terms with it, the idea of being a Victor still seems a lie.

"So it was a mercy?" Julius presses. Velvet warned me that Five's death would be a heavy topic tonight, so we spent hours preparing. Many of the things I say in regard to her are lies, too.

"Not so much a mercy. After all, I continually gave her the antidote to keep her alive a little longer. In case I still needed her." The biggest lie of all. In truth, I felt so guilty.

"Indeed! Between you and me, that was the moment you really became a player this year. The moment some of the betting pools turned in your favor!" I laugh with him, though my stomach twists into a knot. He talks as though I made a strategic move in a Hoverball game, a turning point which allowed my team to win. Not the moment I sentenced another person to death.

"Now then, Day Thirteen! An earthquake, triggering devastation everywhere you look!"

"Most definitely!" I relax a bit now that Julius seems to have moved on from Devon. "I got very lucky."

"I'd say so! Nearly being swept away by the tsunami wave, climbing a volcano as it actively erupts! The top of the volcano evaporated."

"Not to mention the mutts." I chuckle again, trying to not imagine the recap of Cordin Bolt's death. Technically, I was closer to the mutts than he was; it could have just as easily been me. "It was a good vantage to watch the rest of the Arena, though. I think I was the first to realize that the entire northern half- the one the tidal wave came from- had been swallowed by the ocean. By the time the sun had set, ash was falling from the sky, blanketing everything. Smoke blocked out even the stars."

"Were you worried about the ash?"

"At first, yes. By all means, it should have made it more difficult to function during those last days. I was more worried, though, by the mechanical spider that visited me that night."

A clip plays behind me of the moment I first met my spider, the one that would show me the recap. I was so exhausted that I didn't move, dusted in white ash, mingling with my sweat in streaks down my face. The relief in my face is evident when it stands off to the side, a small screen unfolding from it.

Julius laughs at the little automaton, before delving into the dark days leading up to the finale. Allying with Aran, dispatching Esmeralda, slaying the jaguar and inadvertently saving Cassia.

My shock at Cassia surviving the explosion, despite her cannon sounding. He even asks me for the exact recipe for the paste that I applied to the knife wound. Then, the big question.

"In that moment, when the final cannon sounded, what was going through your head? When Cassia's screaming stopped, and you knew it was over?"

Deep breath. "For the first time in weeks, I felt as though a huge burden had fallen from my shoulders. The Games were over. I hadn't died. And unlike most, I had won by default."

"Well I knew for a long while there that it would be you coming out on top there, Henry! Never a doubt in my mind!" He laughs cheekily, and I do my best to seem bashful. "With that, we're out of time! Henry Reynoso, ladies and gentlemen, your Victor!"

The crowd screams in their cheering, and I bow slightly to them. I shake Julius' hand when he proffers it before turning backstage. Over the speakers, a voice cuts through the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the Panem Anthem!"

Velvet meets me as I exit the stage, grasping my shoulder and grinning broadly. "You did great!" He whispers excitedly, glancing around at the Capitol techs and interns around us, whose heads are bowed as the anthem plays. "Just one more thing, and then we head home tomorrow."

Home.

Velvet leads me around the halls of the theater, up a couple flights of stairs, to a set of doors guarded by two Peacekeepers. I take a deep breath, walking through the doors as the men in white pull them open before me. There are only a handful of seats on this private balcony, and a man stands at a podium overlooking the throngs below. A tech ushers me into a seat next to the podium, and I stare out as the anthem comes to a close.

All remains quiet as the President of Panem speaks just to my left.

"Panem! Today we celebrate the achievements of our champion, our Victor! When I read the Quell three months ago, I must admit I had never imagined a young healer from Eight would be the one occupying the throne tonight, yet here we are!" He turns his back to me, leaning down to collect a pillow, atop which a gold crown is nestled. My crown.

"Henry Reynoso. Your spirit and strength propelled you through the Games, and now we welcome you home a Victor!" I barely get a glance of the crown itself before he places it on my head, but it seems to be engraved with trees interwoven so thickly that it's difficult to tell where one begins and another ends.

He leans in close as the cameras turn away from us, whispering. "You aren't what I had expected, Mister Reynoso."

"Unpredictability is the best way to stay alive, sir." Is all I say back. He sighs slightly, nodding. I breathe deeply, standing to shake his hand. "It's been a pleasure, President Snow."

We're up bright and early the next morning, wasting no time to catch the train home. People of the Capitol mob us on the platform, screaming, begging for pictures and autographs while Velvet and Friga trying to keep them off my back. We all sigh in relief as we board the train, doors closing behind us.

The trip back to District Eight takes about six hours, and I spend most of it staring out the windows of the dining car. We pass through Seven and Five, though the Districts themselves are little more than a blur as we pass by. Avoxes bring me food and water, and I eat without so much as looking at them. I watch, intently, for the first signs of home.

I smack my head against the window in surprise when I hear a voice from beside me. "Henry, we need to talk." I rub my head slightly as I turn to Velvet, who takes a seat in the chair across from me. "I've just been on the phone with the mayor of Eight. I don't know why we didn't hear about this sooner, but you deserve to know." I tilt my head in curiosity, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Deserve to know what?"

"It's your grandmother." My heart leaps into my throat. My stomach twists. "She's gone, Henry. She-"

Tears stream down my face, my vision blurred, my blood pounding in my ears. I vaguely hear Velvet continue- heart attack and day four swim through the murk. I look back out the window, away from my mentor, forehead pressed against the glass. I choke, coughing loudly. Velvet gets up and leaves, patting my shoulder as he passes. I barely notice.

Two hours later, I'm being dressed up for the last time. An Avox offers to dry my eyes and put on makeup so they appear less red, but I'm too exhausted emotionally to care. He takes care of my puffy eyes while I just stare off into space, unaware of anything else.

There are four people waiting on the platform when we return to Eight, and my heart sinks further. James and Rebecca stand off to the side while Paula and Jessica nearly tackle me in a hug, but soon the five of us are embracing each other in front of the District. The tears freely fall, and I don't care enough to wipe them away.

The mayor gives a quick speech about my sacrifice and honor before a car pulls up to take me to my new home. The drive to the Victor's Village is short, and I'm almost overwhelmed by the massive mansions to either side of the long drive. The fourth house on the right is mine, right across from Yvonne's, labeled 8. District Eight's Eighth Victor.

Velvet excuses himself while we shuffle into my new house, and I watch him as he makes his way to his own old home three doors down. The last time he saw it must have been seventy years ago, when he brought Satin home.

The inside of the mans is as big as I'd have expected from the outside. The stairs to the second floor are wide enough for a full-grown man to lie on, and the living room by itself seems large enough to host more people than I've ever met. Rebecca disappears upstairs while my sisters go to check out the kitchen. James gently grabs my hand and starts pulling me toward what Velvet explained would be the room I use for my talent, something I'm not even sure of yet. I'm about to reluctantly follow when my eyes catch sight of something shining over the mantle of the fireplace.

I let go of James' hand, entranced as I walk across the Foyer. A note lies folded neatly atop the mantle, and I open it hesitantly.

A reminder.

I look up at the spear hanging in my living room. James takes my hand again, following my eyes. The tip is black, the metal corroded, fingerprints along the shaft. This weapon served many, but ultimately it ended up in District Eight. Not One or Six. Eight.

"Are you okay?" James whispers.

I shake my head, turning away. "I will be."


Only two chapters to go; the Victory Tour and the Epilogue, I swear! If you haven't yet, check out Panem: A History, because I intend to finish that before truly getting into Ladies First. Also, submit! As of right now, I have 16 submissions out of 52, so there are plenty open! Submit however many you want!