Violet Emerald had walked through the halls of the Gamemakers' Center numerous times throughout her life. As a child, she used to run through the halls chasing after her cousin or her siblings like she owned the place. When she was old enough to take on a job, running turned into striding, walking with her head held high as she tried to measure up to the older, more experienced Gamemakers. Her manufactured confidence even became real confidence as she rose through the ranks, as her coworkers recognized that she had actual skills and wasn't just a Gamemaker because she was an Emerald. This building had been the site for so much of Violet's growth, both personally and professionally, and there might not be another place in Panem where Violet felt more comfortable.

But today, even though there were still Gamemakers working, and even though it was just as bustling of a place as ever, the Gamemakers' Center felt… different. Empty, in a way. Ruby might not have worked out of the Gamemakers' Center all the time, but her absence was felt in every corner of the building. The loss of the President and the retirement of Head Gamemaker Amethyst Emerald, who had revolutionized Gamemaking in so many ways, within less than a year of each other had impacted every person who worked in this sector. Especially with the elimination of the Games since then and the dramatic changes Garnet had brought to Panem, who knew when the Gamemakers' Center would feel normal again?

Despite the profound sense of loss that permeated the walls around her, Violet's feelings on the matter were much more mixed. She of course missed her aunt and wished she still had her mother around to support her work, but if anyone had benefited from Ruby's death, it was Violet herself. With the Events now taking center stage, Garnet had promoted her to Head Gamemaker and relieved Sami of her duties. She had finally achieved the position for which she'd longed for so long – not in the way she thought she'd get it, but the position and its prestige were hers nonetheless.

These were complicated feelings to reconcile with, and Violet didn't know how to reconcile them. For now, all she could do was keep going, and make these Events the best that they could be. For her mother, for her aunt, and for herself.

Violet stepped up to the door of Garnet's new office, which had been Amethyst's office and, for all of seven seconds, Sami's. She could understand why he wouldn't want to take any of his mother's offices – he would surely want to avoid the one in which she was killed – and Violet was more than happy to yield her mother's office to him if it made him more comfortable. Plus, Amethyst's office had a slew of built-in security features that Ruby's old office in the Gamemakers' Center did not have, which was probably not a bad thing in these circumstances.

Before she could knock on the door, the office doors opened in front of Violet. She entered the room, acutely aware of the clicking sounds of her heels on the hardwood floor. Violet sat down at the desk and placed a cup of coffee in front of her cousin. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing," Garnet replied, looking up feebly at his cousin. "How are you?"

Violet shrugged. "Doing." The two fell silent for a moment, taking each other in. This was the first time that the two had met in an official capacity – really, in any capacity – since the tragedy struck. Violet couldn't help but wonder how many times their mothers had sat in these very seats, talking about the Games or the future of the country or what have you. She hoped that Ruby was proud of the new generation following in her footsteps.

"Should we do the thing?" Violet asked timidly.

"I guess so," Garnet replied, somewhat reluctantly but with a sense of resolve in his voice. He took a moment to compose herself, then pulled a file out of his desk drawer and slid it over to his cousin. "These are the notes from the calls I've had with Delphine. Bellona Terminus, as you know, has also been sitting in on some of these calls and she's been a great help."

Violet picked up the folder and began to skim its contents. "I hope her ideas are nothing too complex; we do need to make this into an Events in less than four months."

"Well, the good thing is that Delphine wanted to use the same Arena that Sami was planning on using for the Games."

"Yeah, a lot of this feels very Games themed. Are you sure you're OK with that?"

"You're right. It is a risk," admitted Garnet, placing his head in his hands. "By centering it around the Games, it could just undermine everything I'm working towards. But at the same time, if we want the Events to replace the Games, it could honestly work. Plus, it's not a bad idea to cater to Two a little bit."

"What do you mean?"

"The two strongest districts physically are Two and Thirteen. We have control of Thirteen because I oversee General Sikka, but Two is much more of its own entity. That has not been a problem because our values aligned. But now that we've pulled the rug out from under them, we run the risk of them turning on us, which might mess up our relations with One and also the Capitol citizens. If we lean into what they want now, we might lose ground in the short term, but it will help us in the long run. Plus, the Games are a huge part of our history; I think it's a perfectly valid thing to use these Events to commemorate them, to mark the end of an era."

Violet couldn't help but feel pride swell in her as she looked at her younger cousin. To think that just about a decade prior this was the boy who just couldn't do what his mother wanted, couldn't be the model citizen of Panem that he was expected to be, for better or for worse. And now, here he was, leading this country with maturity and grace even though the presidency had been thrust upon him in the worst of circumstances. Violet might not have made the same decisions if she were in his shoes, but she knew that Garnet was making what he felt were the best decisions for the country, and for that, she was proud of him.

"That makes perfect sense," Violet said, taking a violet pen out from behind her ear to take notes with.

"It does?" Garnet looked up, a soft, scared look in his eyes.

"Yes."

"That's good. This whole thing is just a lot and I'm not always sure what the right thing is to do."

"You might not always know," Violet said, placing one of her hands on his shoulder. "But so far, you're doing a great job at this president thing. It's gonna be OK."

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be. Now," Violet returned to the business at hand, "let's talk about what the structure is going to be. This plan calls for a lot of kids."

"I know," Garnet acknowledged. "I don't have the exact number off the top of my head just because of the Events Victors and the years where there were double Victors but it's gotta be somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred and fifty of them."

"There's no way that we're gonna be able to run a successful Events with that many kids. You just can't corral them."

"So I said that to Delphine. If you look on page twelve, you'll see some notes about this Five Pillars idea that hopefully negates that issue. We'll start with 150, sure, but by the time we get into the Arena, there will only be 28 of them left."

"It's kind of like a screening process."

"Kind of, yeah, but we're going to present it as just part of the Events So the Events start the moment they touch down in Two, where they'll do the Five Pillars training, and end when one is crowned Victor."

"But what's to stop Delphine from just picking all 28 of the Two kids?"

"She's not going to be the only one picking. Each district is going to nominate a Victor to help the Gamemaking team make the cuts each day, and eventually select a final roster. So that's two people from each district, including the Capitol, on the committee."

"Still, though, we might end up with an uneven number in the Arena from district to district."

"I mean, we're starting that way. Thirteen is only sending in one kid. And yeah, it might not be fair that they only have one, but it's equally unfair to guarantee that kid a spot in the Arena. They're going to have to earn it just like everyone else. I do think that having the Gamemaking team in there will help pick a group that's not just the 28 strongest kids, but also a good cast as a whole. We want this to be entertaining more than anything else."

"I assume people are going to complain that Two has more chances than anyone else."

Garnet leaned back in his chair. "That's just the structure of these Games. It's the choice Delphine and Bellona made. And you and I both know that anything can happen in an Arena. Just look at both Laurel twins."

"That is true. We'll just have to hammer that point in. And I guess the good thing about the cuts is that if we get anyone too contrary or rebellious or who would be unsafe in the Arena, we can get rid of them."

"Exactly. It's a shame that they're more likely to come from the Outer Districts, but that's just how it is. Or at least, that they were," Garnet corrected himself. "It might be different with everything that's happened."

"Yeah."

Garnet switched gears. "I wanna make sure you see that section on page twenty-six about the Arena. There really aren't a lot of big things to worry about, but all of these little things will add up."

"Yeah, and she honestly didn't provide nearly enough ideas for what we'll need to develop, but we have stuff in stock from the Events which will do. We'll have to figure out a way to set all this stuff up though."

"Funny you should say that. Look at the last page of the folder; that was something I put in there without talking to Delphine or Bellona."

"Interesting idea. I don't hate it."

"Neither do I. I know we've done it before, but I think it could be a good security measure for this year."

"I do too."

Garnet checked over his notes one more time. "I think that's all from me. Do you have any other questions?"

"Yeah. Are we doing color selection beforehand? That was very much a Ruby thing."

"It was. We'll see how Delphine wants to differentiate between the kids because there are a lot of them. But that's up to her more than anything; I want you to focus on more important things."

"Very fair."

As Violet reviewed the folder one more time, a knock sounded at the door. Violet looked up in concern as Garnet checked the security cameras. "It's Secretary Walters," he said, pressing a button to allow her to enter. "Hello, Madam Secretary."

"Hello, Mr. President," replied Secretary to the President Auden Walters, a sense of urgency in her voice. "We have a situation."

"Yes?"

"We were finally able to bypass the Presidential business markers in the tapes from the maximum-security prison from the night before your mother died."

"Oh, yes, good. I'm sorry I wasn't more help with that." Garnet stood up from his chair and approached Auden, who was already walking out of the room.

"Totally understandable; you've had a lot of things on your plate."

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes. It has come to our attention that it was your sister who gave Alexios the gun that he used to kill your mother."

Violet couldn't act fast enough; before she could even take two steps, her cousin was already on the floor, unconscious. And she didn't blame him. His mother was dead because of his sister, who now had to be punished for her treason by the highest-ranking member of government, who at this point was Garnet himself.

How could Garnet forgive his sister? But at the same time, how could he possibly convict her?

Hi everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this third and final prologue, and that this gave you a bit of a clue as to how the Events are gonna go! Obviously there's still a lot to learn, but I'm not going to reveal everything just yet; y'all will have to wait and see as we go ;)!

We are at just about two weeks until subs close! If you think you might need a bit more time please do let me know; I'm more than willing to help people out! I will also be DMing people who said they were going to sub but haven't yet just to make sure that everyone has as good of a chance as any!

Oh! Also, just so y'all know, I will probably be taking about a week after the deadline to decide on a tribute list, to make sure that I know the role each kid will play in the early stages of the Events. Also! For people familiar with the OG OTWT there's a little easter egg here - can you spot it?

The next time I post a chapter will be first intros so it might be a bit, but I'm super excited to get started! Thank y'all for all your support!

xoxo, xxxi