Chapter 11: The fall of the Capitol

[Winter in the year after the 75th Hunger Games]

In early December, while we eagerly waiting for news from the hopefully final and decisive attack on the Capitol, we got another announcement, and it started like this:

"Ladies and gentlemen, everybody out there in the districts and from where ever you watch, we have some important and great news for you today."

At this time only we Mellarks were here in the bakery living room, and we were getting antsy. Great news, really? The speaker continued:

"We proudly confirm that the Capitol has fallen and is now under our control. There are a few defense points left with peacekeepers still shooting, but all important positions are in our hand. In addition, President Snow is no longer alive; he was killed in his mansion, and during the storming also President Coin was killed; she was ahead of her protection detail for some reason. But let me give you some more details."

The announcer made a break, and we heard some cheering from outside, where other citizens in the neighborhood had just heard the same. The message continued:

"We had deliberately spread rumors about attacking across the mountains and from the sea. While we did that, too, our main route of attack was from underground. We used one of the tunnel boring machines from Europe to drill tunnels under the Capitol, and we carefully created access to some more remote areas, liked deserted warehouses and such, all at the same time. While our troops in the mountains distracted the Capitol forces, we stormed out from the tunnels, and within a few days we managed to have the Capitol fully under control. We did request a surrender, but President Snow opted for fighting until the end, and that he did. Only once he was killed most of the armed forces finally gave up, except for a very few nests of resistance. Commander Paylor lead the main forces in the Capitol, and her leadership contributed a lot to avoid excessive loss of lives."

There was more cheering outside, and the report went on:

"Things were scary for some time, as the Capitol did have some dangerous weapons. From the previous war, they had a small stockpile of nuclear missiles, and they were already about to blast them off towards the districts when we intervened. We could stop most of them before launch, and for the others one of our tech wizards managed to change the target by hacking into the Capitol war network. Four missiles launched after all, and they all hit Capitol fortifications in Districts One and Three. If we had not stopped the others, many districts would have been hit directly and totally destroyed, and our air defenses probably would not have been able to stop them. Fortunately, our plans worked."

"They have weapons to obliterate an entire district?" my father asked.

"Well, hopefully they had and have no longer" I offered.

"Still, that's scary."

"One of our most challenging tasks of the last weeks was to gain control of what they called 'The Nut', a fortified mountain complex which had many weapon stores and important communication lines. Storming that mountain would have caused many more deaths on both sides and might not even have been possible. Fortunately, some of our electronics experts from District Three managed to get access to the computer network and made the complex shut down by itself, so that the soldiers in there had to surrender. Commander Lyme did an excellent job there."

"We will have more details later on," the voice of the mockingjay continued, "but let me just say four more things. Number one, the forces loyal to the Capitol in Districts One and Three and the remaining section of Two have all surrendered; we are in the process of establishing administrative control in those districts now. Number two, some of the tributes from the 75th Hunger Games were essential in our plans and helped a lot. For now, they have earned a vacation, and those who want will get a chance to be home for Christmas and celebrate with families and friends."

Peeta would come back! Yeah!

The report continued:

"Number three, this decisive and quick victory would not have been possible without the support from our European allies. A big thank you to them for very valuable advise and assistance! Finally, number four, as President Coin was killed as well, we need to determine a new leader of our free and united Panem, and all districts will be able to vote. We will have a list of candidates very soon, and the individual district mayors will be asked to stage elections; this will most likely happen next week, and we hope to have a new president before the holidays."

The message ended on that note, and we all looked at each other. Dad smiled, and so did Wheat and I; that had been good news indeed.

Later on during the day I was called to Mayor Undersee՚s office. The man smiled at me and said:

"Now, Mellark, what do you think? That's it, right?"

I nodded and smiled back, and I could see that he was really relieved. The mayor continued:

"I can tell you, I am really happy that the fighting seems to be over now. Can you imagine how many people have died in Panem in the last months? Enough is enough, and now all districts can finally focus on the important topics again, and we can freely share what we have. But the reason I have called you in is the issue of the elections. I have no clue how to do an election, and how do we know whom to vote for?"

"I do not know either, but Haymitch might have an idea. But look, we are one of the smallest districts, and we have only like four thousand citizens or so, right?"

"More like six thousand by now, actually. New citizens are coming in from Europe and from other districts, mostly to our new city of Appacolia."

"Okay, but still, this is something we can manage, and if necessary we will need to ask Haymitch to walk from home to home and collect votes, at least around here; for Appacolia we may need to find another way, but at least it's only those two settlements for us. But I fully agree with the point of not knowing whom to vote for. We can only hope that they, or whoever is in charge now, present the candidates for us."

The presentation we had hoped for did happen a few days later, via the screens. Prim and her mother were with us in the bakery this time when the screen came to life and the familiar mockingjay announcer showed herself. She seemed to be more at ease, too, and she said:

"Good morning everybody in the districts and in the Capitol of Panem. Today we are going to present the candidates for the office of the President. As you have heard before, President Snow is no longer alive, and President Coin also did not survive the final attack on the Capitol. Our time and resources to find proper candidates have been limited, but we have found a few. Let me emphasize that the future President will not have absolute power, but he or she will govern the country with a group of ministers or secretaries, and for many important decision they will have to agree. Later on, in a few years, we will establish a full democratic government with a parliament and all, but for now we need an operational government as soon as possible, to lead us into the future. Ladies and gentlemen, the candidates for the new and democratic President of Panem!"

At least the candidates were not on chariots, but on a more or less normal stage. They all stepped on it, one after another, and each of them had ten minutes to talk about themselves and their ambitions.

Plutarch Heavensbee, the latest Head Gamemaker, was the first one who was presented. His previous job did not necessarily make him popular, but he explained that he had been part of the rebellion for some time. His experience in organizing the games would help to get the county organized.

Boggs, the dark skinned former executive assistant to President Coin, was the second candidate. He did not really come over as a great leader per se, but he had been intimately familiar with the administration process, which was critical. He stated right away that he would not aim to be President for longer than required, if he was chosen.

The third candidate was Commander Paylor, one of the leaders of the rebel forces. She almost looked too young to be a commander, and even more so for being a President. But, by leading the forces into defeating the Capitol, she had gained a lot of popularity, and she clearly knew how to organize and lead larger groups of people.

When all of the three candidates had been presented, Caesar Flickerman interviewed them, and once this was done, we talked in the bakery. Dad started:

"So, what do you all think?"

"Dad, I think that Commander Paylor has something the other two lack."

"And what would that be?"

I explained: "She radiates confidence, and somehow she makes people listen to her."

"But," Mabel Everdeen said, "Boggs knows much more about administration than she does."

"Yes, but if she is elected and smart, she may want both Boggs and Heavensbee as advisors. Boggs could handle the day to day stuff like he was doing for Coin."

"True."

The elections were to be held next Sunday. Mayor Undersee had Gale and a few of his friends collecting the votes in Appacolia, and Haymitch and I were doing that here. We did not have an elaborate voting system, of course. As we only had a few thousand people, we set up an election room at the Justice Building, used a list of all the people, had them come in during the day, and checked votes on a list. This was not really confidential, but that was all what we could do on short notice. Mayor Undersee supervised the process, and at the end of the day almost everybody had voted. In the evening Gale came in via train and brought his own list, and we had soon added up the numbers and transmitted the information into the Capitol. In our district at least, Paylor had by far the most votes.

On the next day there was a public broadcast announced, and we learned that Commander Paylor had won the elections. She stood on a stage and told us about her plans:

"My team and I have a lot of work to do. Panem was ruled by a dictator for many decades, and we have to transform the country from a centrally ruled and governed entity to one which is a democracy with all districts being equal. Some districts will still specialize on specific merchandise, but all districts will get a chance to expand their areas and claim land which is not radiated outside of their previous boundaries. We have advisors from Europe in most districts already, and some of them will also be based her in the Capitol for some time to assist and provide guidance. After all, there has been a democracy in Central Europe for a very long time, and they clearly have so much more experience in coping with a post war country."

After a quick break she continued:

"Let me clearly put down a few rules now. First, the Hunger Games are abolished, once and for all. The arenas are either getting destroyed or converted to memorials. Second, education opportunities will be equal for everybody. As soon as we have settled and taken account, the Capitol University will be open for every person who is qualified, and we will be sending out teams to schools in all districts to identify candidates. Maybe as early as next fall we may have first courses starting. Third, population in Panem has decreased a lot in the war, and we estimate that we may have lost a third of the total population within just two years. My administration will issue rules to provide financial benefit to couples with children, but I understand that education and family needs to be balanced. For young women, attending a higher school or university while having a baby is difficult, and of course I understand that. Fourth, both Boggs and Heavensbee will be part of my government, and they will help me to run this country. I will also be getting some advice from the group of victors who have been around a lot, and I appreciate that support."

She took a sip from the glass of water on her desk and continued:

"Finally, I have been thinking about something which is not so critical, but which I consider important nonetheless, and this is about the date system. So far, during the Capitol dictatorship, years in Panem have always been named after the so-called 'Dark Times', so that last year we had the year 75 ADD – after dark times – or just the year of the 75th Hunger Games. This is no longer appropriate, and we have been thinking about a change for some time. We cold start from zero today, but we also would like to be aligned with other countries. While we do not have close ties to most other parts of the world again yet at this time, we do have a close alliance with our friends from Central Europe, and I have been told that the dominating country there, the republic of Bavaria and Austria with that complicated long German name I cannot really pronounce – sorry for that, folks – have kept the year naming scheme which the world has used before the Great War. Unless somebody comes up with a serious objection, I intend to adopt that, so that this year, which would have been called the year of the 76th Hunger Games, is the year 2260 AD."

"For those who do not know about that," she continued, "the term AD is short for 'Anno Domini', 'in the year of the Lord'. I am not a strong believer myself, but even I cannot avoid recognizing some divine plan behind finally getting us freedom in Panem. I believe that it will benefit us all to have alignment on that. That's it for now, and thank you all!"

Okay, this was some perspective for now. Prim was of course quite excited to learn about the university going to be opened, and she told me:

"Oh Rye, I so hope that I can attend university and become a professional healer!"

"You think that they will want you?" I teased her.

"I sure hope so! But, I do not want to go without you, my love!"

"Hm, let's see about that."

I had not yet mentioned the talk I had had with he mayor a few weeks earlier, and now I elaborated on that:

"Mayor Undersee already hinted that he may want to send me to the Capitol, too, when the time is ready for that. He seems to appreciate my work as one of his assistants, and I could certainly learn from others there."

"That's great!"

"But we will have to see how this all works. You and I in a big city, being together all of the time, that may be a challenge."

"Why that? It would be so great!"

"Prim, my love, I am not sure if I can have you in my bed each night and still keep our promise!"

"Oh. Good point."

"Yes, oh. But let's see what options we will have. For now, starting in January, I will partially work in Appacolia, but I will be back on the weekends. On some weekends, if you want, you might be able to come to me there, too."

"I will miss you during the week, dear."

"Yes, same here. But we can do that, right?"

"As long as we have the weekends, yes, we can, sure."

Christmas was now on us, and as the population had decreased so much in the core district, pre-holiday baking was not quite on the level it had been in all of the years before. Philip, our apprentice, had been promoted to assistant, and he could do most of the baking on his own by now. One evening he admitted that he now had a girlfriend, and he asked to bring her around to introduce her to us. We met Lydia on the last Sunday prior to Christmas, and it turned out that she liked baking as well and even had a gift for it. Dad immediately offered her a position in the bakery, and later, when we were alone, Wheat and I asked him about that:

"Dad, with the business diminishing here, why are we employing yet another apprentice?"

"Sons, Peeta has already mentioned that he wants to open up a new bakery in Appacolia, and once we get started with that, I will go with him. I have talked to Mabel, and she will also go with us. Philip and Lydia can take over the bakery here and run it for us."

"But what about Prim? There is no school yet over there, and once they have one, it will be too late for her to change!"

"Yes, but Mabel will not be there all of the time, and the Anderson's will be staying here. Primrose will be able to continue her school education right here."

We nodded; that made sense.

Just a couple of days before Christmas a special train arrived, which I had not known about. Expecting just a few more supplies I did not pay much attention to that – train arrivals were more common nowadays – until suddenly my brother Peeta stepped next to me when I was just crossing the main town square on my way home.

"Peeta! Brother! You are here!" I shouted.

"Yes, I am home, finally."

We hugged each other, and I asked him:

"How long can you stay?"

"I have got a few weeks, and then they want me back."

"Is Katniss here as well?"

"Of course she is! I wouldn't have gone without my wife!"

"So, everything is all right between the two of you?"

"Yes, been like that for some time now. I am the happiest man on Earth, believe me! On some days we barely leave the bedroom."

"Spare me the details, brother!" I laughed.

He could not resist the temptation to add, though: "If my wife's sister is even remotely like that, you'll have the time of your life with her!"

I did not really intend to imagine that yet, but could not help myself, until Peeta laughed again:

"Rye, are you actually blushing? You haven't done it yet, right?"

"No, we stick to our promise to wait until we get married, but each year waiting gets tougher."

"I can fully relate to that, brother."

We were at home yet, well, at the bakery, but that was still one Peeta՚s homes as well. Prim had grabbed her sister and went to the apothecary to show her around, and one hour later we sat together around the dining table, exchanging news and opinions.

Same as in the years before we celebrated Christmas Eve in the bakery, and it was a nice evening at home. Only with our own extended family there were eight of us now, and I could see Dad being very happy about having all of this three sons with their loved ones around him; having his own love close probably did not hurt either.

As in the years before we handed out our presents when it was dark outside and once we had read a short story. Most of the presents were small ones, like a few crafted items from Wheat, a book or some clothes. There was one quite large wrapped package, though, and it turned out that it was for me, from Wheat and Peeta together. I hoped that it wasn't going to be too embarrassing when I unwrapped it, but at first I did not really understand what it was. It seemed to be a set of clothing for various body parts, but mostly heavily padded, and with some parts even feeling like there was some metal or something else inside. I looked at my two brothers and Peeta started to elaborate:

"In the Capitol they do all kind of sports, and some of those had a lot of body contact, like we have with wrestling. I heard that some call it 'football' or 'rugby'. For body protection, they use clothes like that one, or maybe it is more like armor. I know your size and got you a set."

"I stopped doing wrestling, and I do not have any intention to start anything in that direction!"

"No, maybe not. However, you have got a pretty wild and energetic fiancée, and it probably won't be long until you need protection."

I looked at him for a few seconds while the others started to laugh, and finally I got the hint. I chocked, and my face must have been priceless. At least my family laughed even more when they looked at me, and Prim was literally rolling on the floor laughing. I slowly dropped to the floor as well, but rather than laughing I covered my face with my hands and wished to be somewhere else. Primrose must have noticed my embarrassment, wrapped her arms around me and told me:

"Rye, I love you dearly, you know. But I can't help laughing; please laugh with me!"

I could not really be angry at her, of course, and finally managed to join in, at least a little bit. Wheat and his pranks – it I had to admit that it was a good one at least.

Later on in the evening Wheat took my aside and said he'd need to mention something. I was getting curious and listened to him:

"Look brother, some part of the body protection may actually be useful for you."

"Which part, and how?"

"We all know that you have Prim in your bed over the weekends, and I am sure that she makes you get hot from time to time at least."

"Well, yes, I guess so."

"I am sure that you more than guess so, but anyway. I can relate to that, when I took Leevy into my room after she had lost her parents in the Capitol attack. For Leevy and me it was only a few months, but that was already challenging at times. I cannot imagine how you do with Prim, as you have had her in your bed for years already, although not all of the time. Does she squirm a lot?"

"Not, not too much. You know, her small size helps; when her head is next to mine for kissing, her hip is on my stomach rather than on my hip, and I only need to make sure that her legs are sideways to avoid too much contact."

"That makes sense, brother. But getting back to the protection" he smiled again. "It has one part which covers your nether region, and it is padded inside and outside. I am not sure if is going to be real comfortable to sleep with that, but at least it's an option when things are getting heated. With that thing on you won't feel anything down there. I actually tested that with one in my size, together with Leevy."

I looked at my brother, not being quite sure if he was serious:

"Wheat, how did you come up with that?"

"Peeta and I thought about your situation, and it was our common idea."

"Thanks brother, I will sure see how this works."

[Author's Notes: I have not been able to find any references about the time scale, and my statement that the year which would have been the 'Year of the 76th Hunger Games' is '2260 AD' is just a guess. I speculate that the Great War and climatic catastrophe happened in the late 21st century, Panem was established in the early 22nd century, and the first rebellion happened about 2150-2160. If somebody has better data, please let me know, but I think that this is good enough for my story.]