6. Reddish brown eyes

The sixth victor turned the tables.

It had been a year, after Sappho Humes had won the fifth Hunger Games, that District 1 was in everyone's mouth in the Capitol. Along with Leo Vollard, the pair of victors from the luxury district had become so famous that they rarely spent any more time at home, rather preferring to attend any party they were invited to in Capitol City, especially since Sappho had joined Leo's training project after becoming a mentor for future tributes from District 1. And the reader can believe us when we tell them that these parties were a lot – 34, to be precise, thrown by the Capitol's celebrities and government officials between the end of the fifth Games and the start of the reaping for the sixth. Furthermore, President Ravinstill had Sappho also entering the crew of actors playing in movies written by Capitol City's film productions, although just for a few years until she decided to leave the company to pursue "other plans". Needless to say, the faces of the two victors were everywhere in the country, shown on the district citizens' screens when mandatory viewings were broadcast, and especially in the Capitol, where they had become real stars, shining bright on the first five years of a new found peace.

Alas, not all stars, we could all agree, are liked, loved and adored by who witnesses their success. Haters will be haters, I suppose. But there had been people in the other districts that quite despised the honors and fame that were due to Leo and Sappho. Among these people, there was one, in particular, that surely envied the victors, especially Leo, Sappho, and but that had managed to eventually turn their envy into success of their own. It was not Huck Barron, that had failed to become the portrait of the perfect victor President Ravinstill had hoped for. So wasn't Stream Ravine, that just two years after having won had been forgotten by mostly anyone who had their name known because of the Games. And it wasn't Dedalus Wright for sure, who, although had provided the Capitol with the basic services that were to be offered by a standard victor, hadn't really quite lived up to the name of "First Victor" yet.

It is correct, however, to point out that there is a link between Dedalus and this person.

The families of the two knew each other, for example. The fathers of both families served as first and second battle ministers in the same regiment when the Dark Days occurred. The two men were also both awarded a badge of honor from the President himself, as they had also worked as spies in disguise on behalf of the Capitol during the war, and they were called "heroes of Panem" by the President himself on a speech for the fallen soldiers. Their kids, according to what Madam Wright had recounted in an interview, always used to play with each other long before the Dark Days. Dedalus and this kid had met each other.

The two had many things in common. Both had dark hair, a small mouth, a jaunty look that all girls loved, were determined in every task they were given. They were both their class' standout, the typical "straight A's" kid that every teacher likes, which led to both of them being mocked until they decided to stand up to their bullies in school, which happened sooner for one than it did for the other.

But the eyes. Dedalus had blue eyes, probably thanks to an ancestor originating from District 4. In those eyes you could see joy, bravery, honesty, life, before the Hunger Games made the blue of Dedalus' eyes pale, turning it into the gray blue of the cloudy morning sky. The other kid's eyes were brown (which the girls probably didn't love as much as they loved Dedalus'), a brownish color, to be correct. Many even said they could see red in those eyes, the red of the fire that burns, of the rage that boils, of the anger that is waiting to be released. His eyes were reddish brown, and his look of malice. He had never liked Dedalus.

His mother had forced him to play with the Wright children. She had told him to bond with Dedalus, but he had always preferred Aenius, they got along better. When Dedalus won his Games the two completely lost their relationship, although it was never really strong enough to feel bad about it (not that there was ever any relationship in his opinion him), and Aenius thus became his best friend. He used to come to Aenius' house to play as a child, and continued as an adult, even when they started "playing" in preparation for the Games. When Dedalus came back home, he had almost forgotten about that kid, he no longer even remembered his name or his family. Probably because of the pain he had to endure to get out of the arena, probably because he was in the Capitol more than he was in his own district, or maybe because, simply, he was not a person of relevance to Dedalus. But that boy was there when Tigre was attacked by Aenius. When Aenius was brutally killed by Stream two years later. When at the Reaping for the sixth Hunger Games the District 2 escort asked if there were any volunteers.

Eighteen at the time, he raised his hand confidently and fearlessly, and walked towards the stage to which the escort had invited him to step. Once he got on, he watched the crowd looking for his mother who was applauding him, and he didn't see the look of Dedalus, standing behind him, trying to figure out where he had seen this boy before.

He was chained in the cages of the zoo where the tributes were kept at the time, and endured the first two days of torrential rain and starvation while the two District 1 tributes, also kept in cages but sheltered and fed kindly by the Capitol, represented , to him, an insult to the duty each tribute had once they entered the arena. Become a victor. When Leo Vollard and Sappho Humes went to visit their tributes, that boy watched them from a distance, stone in hand and hatred in his eyes. If he'd had the chance, he'd surely have killed them with his gaze—or with a stone, as the case may have been.

On the third day Dedalus came to see him, but that boy refused to see Dedalus, and drove him away. The victor accepted that reaction, and walked over to the cage of District 2's female tribute, Albina, and attempted to offer her help to her. During the half hour that Dedalus spoke with Albina, that boy listened to every advice on how to survive in the arena, how to avoid conflict and how to respond to the offense if it were inflicted. It is not strange to understand why that boy pierced Albina with a spear twenty-six seconds into the Games. He had maintained his hatred of Dedalus and the victors, yet made the best of their aid that he could. And any threat to its success had to be crushed.

That boy knew how to play his cards. After the gong sounded, he hurried to arm himself, and took out some of his most formidable opponents, such as the boy from 10, the girl from 7 and, of course, Albina. He then escaped, and hid in a tunnel of the amphitheater, where he patiently awaited the arrival of the two from 1, Celestia and Maxwell, who had teamed up and were looking for tributes to kill. He killed Maxwell first, throwing another spear that went right through the latter's neck. Celestia watched with horror as her district partner fell to the ground lifeless, and tried to escape, but her attacker came out of the darkness of the tunnel and quickly chased her, reaching her in a short time and stabbing her head with a knife twenty times.

The last fight of the Sixth Games was between that boy and the emaciated 14-year-old from District 3. She tried to hit him with a rock, but he overpowered her easily, and held her down for a short time, until a sword cut her head in one clean swipe. The trumpets of victory sounded.

Only when Dedalus was summoned by President Ravinstill to the Stage of Honour, set up in the Venue which would later be dedicated to the Tributes Parade much later, did he have the opportunity to see his successor in the face. Dedalus received the crown and instructions to place it on the boy's head (Sappho had refused to pass on his title of victor regnant to the new one), and as he was about to place it on the boy's head, he recognized him.

Taurus Minelli, from District 2.

The boy who supported Aenius in his mad quest to follow in his brother's footsteps.

The boy who continued to train for the Games on his own ever since Aenius' death, engaging in fights with the drunks at the Beach pub, winning time after time and always leaving them with a "souvenir".

The boy who would create the Blade Academy in a few months, imparting to his students the same type of training that had won him the Games.

The boy who would have surpassed him, humiliated him, reduced to a memory - at least in the live coverage of CapitolTV - and who would never have forgiven him for what Dedalus' father had done to him.

The guy who would finally, according to him, replace the fucking faces of Leo Vollard and Sappho Humes on the streets of the Capitol.

The one who would have been the protagonist of his own story.

The two locked eyes for a brief moment, Dedalus with horror and Taurus with the same hatred as always. And from there the preparations for the return home began.

We decided to include in this chapter an excerpt from Dedalus' diary concerning the victor of the sixth Hunger Games:

DOCUMENT 06:DEDALUS' DIARY_PAGE59

Jul 10th

We have not learned.

Neither me nor him.

But he won, for real this time.

I've lost. I've lost Aenius, I've lost Briggs. I have lost myself.

I would like to see another way out. But there is not.

The horror, the horror.

[End of DOCUMENT 06]