Prologue III: A Victor's Dilemma

Agava Citrus, District Eight's Mentor

2 months before the reapings:

Agava falls to the ground, trying desperately to catch her breath, she feels the blood accumulating in her head, as she struggles to contain her laughter. All the other Mentors are looking at her with disbelief and discontent. Especially the Mentors from District one, District two and District four. Quickly Agava gets up from the floor, apologizes for her behavior and sits back on her seat.

It is two months now before the beginning of the 6th Quarter Quell and Agava knows how hard the Career Districts have been working on getting their volunteers trained so that they can bring glory to their Districts once more. She looks over at Dolph, the Mentor from District 1, she sees the fury in his eyes and how much he just wants to shout and throw a tantrum. Oh, how funny it is when the Career Districts get outsmarted at their own Game.

Agava can't help but remember the first time that she had an encountered, face to face, with a career during her Games. Agava was attempting to shoot arrows at moving targets. It was a miserable sight to behold. She couldn't hit a single one of them and took hours to reload the bow. Venice, the Career from Four, scoffed and pushed her aside as he grabbed the bow from her hands and swiftly shot all the arrows at the moving targets, not missing a single bulls-eye.

"You stand no chance…", he told her quietly as he walked past her, pushing her aside once more with his big and bulky frame.

"Hey, Venice!", she shouted over to him. "How about you get your head out of your ass and come fight me!"

She knew that she'd regret having said that, once he turned his head to face her, and yet, although she was terrified out of her mind and knew that she stood no chance in hell against this Battle God, she kept on smiling. Luckily for her, the other Careers called for him and so she found herself in the clear. There was one thing he said to her before leaving: "I'll kill you, I give you my word."

These words of his ended up taking an ironic twist no one saw coming in the Hunger Games.

Agava was pretty lucky when it came to her Games. She had made an alliance with Ferrel, the boy from Nine, and the pair from Twelve, Joss and Sylvana. Her District Partner, Camillon, went solo and wanted nothing to do with Agava. Her alliance had made a pact to stay together until the end and only then would they turn on each other. Everyone was onboard with the plan. The Arena was a simple one, a freezing tundra with wild and aggressive bears and hail storms with Ice boulders the size of Agava's head. The alliance made it past the bloodbath and managed to gather a good amount of supplies, enough to get them through the next five days at least. As the numbers went down, they started to believe that they would actually make it to the finale. Well, they were wrong. Everything started to go down-hill when they were thrust into a hail storm out of nowhere. They tried to find cover but it was a god damn tundra, so they didn't have any luck with that. By the time they managed to find a small cave, Joss and Sylvana, the pair from Twelve, had received multiple head concussions and collapsed on the cold, wet floor, dying instantly. Agava couldn't help but cry over their death. Ferrel, however, didn't seem to have any remorse for the two and his true colors showed the following day when he ended up turning on Agava by attempting to shoot an arrow at her with his bow, luckily, he missed. Agava then proceeded to dash at him with her dagger, while the kid from Nine desperately tried to load the next arrow onto his bow. But by then it was too late and Agava had slit his throat, cutting through his carotid arteries. The boy fell to the floor, choking on his own blood. Agava watched as the blood pumped out of his throat and his mouth. She had no empathy for him. None.

It was day eight and there were 5 Tributes left in the Game.

Three Careers: Venice, the cruel boy from Four, Garnet the wicked girl from One, and Braxley, the bloodthirsty maniac from Two.

And then there were the two from the outer Districts: Maki, the quick-witted and cunning girl from Six, and Agava herself.

It was on that fateful day, that Agava and Venice had their last encounter, from which only one would walk away with their life.

Sweating, freezing, shivering, Agava ran through the plains of the tundra, as the rain poured on her, making her toes and fingers go numb from the cold. Agava rubbed her hands together, hoping to prevent frostbite from making parts of her body fall off. Never in her life had she been in such horrible pain.

So focused on her agony, Agava blindly walked into the Careers pack's camp. It took some time for either of them to realize the situation they had just found themselves in. They looked at her with disbelief and yet there was also a hint of excitement coming from their eyes as if each one of them wanted to be the first to strike at her. They looked like three predators just waiting for the opportunity to tear this frail little lamb apart.

"She's mine.", Venice said as he pushed Braxley out of the way and took his blade out of its sheath. Agava's eyes widened as she turned around to make a run for it, not looking back once, fearing that he'd be right behind her.

Finally, at some point, she stopped running, when she realized that she'd gained some distance on him. Taking out the bow she took from the District 9 kid's corpse, she hid behind a bush and waited.

"Come out, come out wherever you are…", Venice lullabied. She hated him so much. She felt the anger rise to the surface of her body as her muscles contracted, reaching out for the arrow in her quiver and placing it delicately on the bow.

"Well, here I am." Agava popped out of the bush, pulling the arrow back, tightening her grip around the bow and finally releasing the arrow. She watched it sore through the air, pushing the rain out of the way, as it made its mark on Venice's temple. She heard his blade drop to the ground, as his legs gave in and finally the rest of his body joining his fallen weapon.

Agava wasn't a psychopath because she didn't find pleasure in killing people and yet at that very moment she couldn't help but smile at the sight at hand. She went down on her knees and pulled the arrow out of Venice's temple, putting it back in her quiver.

The rest of the Games were quite uneventful. Braxley, the maniac from Two, couldn't control his bloodlust and so he turned on the girl from One, decapitating her.

Maki, the intellectual from Six, was also victim to Braxley's bloodlust when he found her resting at the lakeside.

Finally, it came down to Agava and Braxley. It wasn't an epic fight because the boy recklessly dashed at her, not even stopping one second, to realize that her bow was aimed directly at his chest.

For that reason, Agava can't help but always laugh at the Careers' arrogance. She loves how they just think that they can do whatever they want in the arena and still end up coming out victorious. She killed two Careers in her Game, and all because their pride and hubris consumed them.

Watching the Mentor's for these Districts find out that they wouldn't be allowed to select their representatives for the 6th Quarter Quell truly is a delight for Agava, which is why she couldn't help but fall to the ground in laughter, as she looked at their faces.

Dolph Vermont, District One's Mentor

"Ladies and Gentlemen, for the 6th Quarter Quell the reaped tribute pair from each District will represent one sin and one virtue, however, there will be no volunteers as we have hired people to look into the lives of the people best fitted for the categories, we have set for them. We kindly ask you to respect our decision and to adjust to the modified plans.", the ignorant Head Gamemaker says proudly.

Dolph can't believe what he is hearing. For over thirty years he has been training Tributes for the Games and has brought back four victors. He is excellent at his job and produces some of the most skilled fighters, adored by the Capitol and the Districts alike. His pride, his dignity, no, his life is on the line. Everything he has worked so hard for. Everyone speaks of him with the utmost respect.

"Oh, I can't wait to see which tributes Dolph will select for the 6th Quarter Quell!", he heard them say recently and now you are telling him that he might end up training a goddamn twelve-year-old? Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

Dolph slams his fist against the table, rising from his chair and standing tall above all the other Victors gathered. Now that he has a good view of all of them, he recognizes a few faces.

Quilla, District Two's mentor, with whom he had slept multiple times, Norval, District Four's mentor, whom he hated so much. The man could go hours talking on and on about how great he is and about how much he is adored by everyone. Dolph couldn't stand listening to his annoyingly charming voice.

Furthermore, there was Nadia, District Nine's mentor, the girl was a legend, he'll give her that. Dolph usually hates it when outer Districts win but she truly deserved to come out victorious. The girl grabbed a sickle from the cornucopia, which yes, it was a cliché that the Tribute from Nine picked the sickle, but she was a goddess with that thing, decapitating three Tribute in the Bloodbath, one of which was a Career.

Another Familiar face was Iben, the youngest one here, who is mentoring Three. Dolph has nothing positive to say about the boy. He simply is a coward, nothing less and nothing more. In his Games, he went to grab a bag in the cornucopia, watched his partner be brutally murdered, panicked, dropped everything he had, made a run for it, continued running, and running, and walking until he finally reached a secluded area, where he climbed a tree and stayed there. For the whole entire fucking Game…

And, yes, that is how he won. A bastard.

The last Face he can recognize is the annoyingly loud girl on the floor, Agava, District Eight's Mentor. She killed two people in her Games. Both were Careers. He hated her. The only reason she won was because the Careers in her Games were idiots who weren't trained properly. If Dolph would have been their mentor, Agava wouldn't have made out of the bloodbath alive.

He continues to look around the room. He can't really find any other memorable or significant Victors. The rest were all more or less Newbies. Winners of the more recent generations.

"This is unacceptable!", he shouts. "My pride is on the line here and I refuse to mentor an inexperienced and pretentious kid from One. So far I have handpicked almost every Tribute in the last couple of years and you will not take that away from me."

The Head Gamemaker takes a deep breath.

"First of all, Dolph dear, may I remind you that you have no say in this what so ever. I couldn't care less what you think of the twist because you have no actual power over me. You are nothing but a replaceable pawn. I could remove you from your duty at any given time and trust me, there are many who are dying to take your place to mentor the Tributes for the 6th Quell. Second of all, you are old-school. The way you do things is old-school. The way you think is old-school. Honey, there is no place for old-school anymore. The Games are slowly developing every year from what it used to be: A primitive gladiator arena. At that time it wasn't an art form yet. It was just vile. Vile without creativity. Vile without purpose. Now there is a purpose. A purpose to show the country that it is time to make some changes around here. So, how about you sit back down and shut up or I swear I'll have you removed immediately."

Dolph silently sank back into his chair, like a puppy that has been scolded. It is true. He has heard it many times before.

He is old-school.

Old-school is a term that is used to describe Victors like him. Victors from the older generation. Back when the Hunger Games were still simple, with very little twists and surprises. The Games were fun in their original little way. They didn't need any kind of glow up. There would be volunteers from One, Two and Four. They would usually dominate the Games, especially the males. It didn't happen often that a Tribute from an outer District came out victorious and when it did happen, it would be a big surprise. The arenas were usually nothing more than a forest, a desert, a jungle and sometimes when people got a big creative it would be an Island with a volcano, but honestly, it was never more than that. In the past couple of generations Gamemakers have started to try and get creative by creating flying arenas, moving arenas, rotating arenas and the victors became more and more diverse, in terms of the winning Districts, There were some years where outer Districts would win Games in a row and cast a dark shadow over the Careers.

Dolph hates new-school.

Dolph wants things to be the way they used to be.

Hello people! So, this was the third prologue already, meaning we are getting nearer and nearer to the start of the Games. The submissions are coming along well. I still have some spots open and there are still a couple of reserved spots. So, we'll see how the submissions go for the next week and if the reserved spots stay the same, I will notify you, that your reservation has run out. You can then re-reserve if you'd like. So, all reserved spots will stay reserved until Friday. I will then open any remaining spots.

Ok, with that out of the way, in this chapter we met two Victors, Agava and Dolph. I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot, mainly because I like writing 'Mini-Games' and flashbacks from Victors. I really do hope that the many names in the chapter didn't confuse you. If it did, don't worry. It's not really that important. I also felt like I needed to emphasize Old-school Vs New-school. It is a concept I am intrigued by. Some people prefer the simple old-school Games while others prefer the flashy new-school Games. I'd be happy to hear your opinion in the reviews.

The last thing I'd like to point out real quick is that someone in the reviews had a complaint about my punctuation and my mistakes. I'd like to apologize for that. I usually don't carefully re-read my chapters again, so I don't notice small details like this xD

But I'll try to better myself! ( Remember this is also a learning process for me xD )

So yeah, I have nothing else to say for now! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and peace out!

P.S Thank you, Anna, for your lovely review!