Nina Hansen, District 5

"Wide-eyed with a heart made full of fright,

Your eyes follow like tracers in the night,"

Mumford and Sons, The Wolf

The Dark Days hit 5 the hardest.

The factories and fields and mines were all important, but without the power coming from District 5, the Capitol didn't stand a chance. So when all seemed lost for the Capitol, they barricaded themselves in the plants, mowed down village after village, and pushed back against the District forces until the inevitable annihilation of District 13. Twenty years later, the District still hadn't recovered. Even their Victor's Village showed it. It was empty.

But not for long. The Arena for the 20th Hunger Games was a massive tundra, with enough wood and fire to keep the Games going strong, but far from enough to ensure a powerful Career victory. The Capitol loved Barker Rowland, and Head Gamemaker Matrion Sideris knew it.

The tributes were quite the mixed bag as well. For a couple of years now, the Victor had been pretty noticeable from the beginning, with Barker's unorthodox strategy and Neptune's sheer brutality, but this year, there was no real favorite from the beginning. The Careers were strong, sure, but that was nothing new, and the outliers were just as powerful, if not more. Barker's boy, a silent lumberjack, Gizmo's girl, a twitchy fire-starter, and even a tiny twelve-year old boy from Woof's district all captured the Capitol's attention.

But it was only when Matrion watched the District 5 reaping that he knew these Games would truly be something special.

The boy was 15, nothing new, but he was built like the strongest Peacekeeper and, aside from being the biggest tribute under 16 the Games had ever seen, he knew how to talk himself to popularity, too. His interview was filled with so many self-deprecating jokes and tales of bizarre absurdity the Capitol instantly fell in love. The girl, on the other hand, was… different.

She was 17, but half her partner's size, and talked way less. Her interview fell flat, her training score was a measly 4, and by the time the Games began, she was third from the bottom on the betting charts. The victory was surely her partner's.

And then she grabbed a roll of garrote wire in the bloodbath, tackled him to the ground, and quite literally choked the life out of him.

She fled the bloodbath with all of his supplies, plus every dollar his sponsors had given to him, and a fast growing reputation to boot. From there, Matrion, President Invictus, and the entire Capitol watched as she coated a set of arrows she'd stolen in poison and picked off tribute after tribute, kill after kill, sponsor after sponsor. Forget the Careers, the Games were hers from the start.

One quick arrow shot into the chest of the boy from Two and the Career pack was done. They turned on each other like animals until only the half-mad girl from Four stood above a pile of bodies. She was quickly taken care of.

Matrion sat in the office of President Invictus, both of them staring at the massive silver screen as the girl stalked the last tribute, the boy from Eight. As she fired her final arrow right through his head, the President turned to his head Gamemaker.

"Well done, my boy," he said with a fatherly smile. "Another rousing success."

Matrion nodded humbly. "Thank you, sir. It's an immense honor."

"Indeed. May I ask, did you expect it at all when she killed her partner?"

Matrion shrugged. "I had a few suspicions. You know I can't talk about the Gamemaking process." He smiled. President Invictus chuckled.

"Matrion, my boy, you're nothing if not creative. Congratulations on a successful Victor, and I, for one, can't wait to see what comes next year."

Matrion nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

Not a huge fan of how this chapter turned out, but there it is. At this point I'm more or less just pushing to the Quell, where the Games are really gonna take off.

Matrion is slowly but surely growing into one of my favorite characters. We also got to take this opportunity to learn a little about our dear President Invictus. We all know Snow rises to power during 40th Hunger Games, but is there more going on? All will be revealed in time…