Caspian Moreland, District 4
"Feel like I've been living in
A city with no children in it
A garden left for ruin by a millionaire inside of a private prison."
Arcade Fire, City With No Children
Five Days that Changed Caspian Moreland's Life:
The day he won the Hunger Games
Caspian Moreland was the strongest tribute in the Arena. Hell, he was the strongest tribute in the history of the Games, stronger than the giant from Two who won the first Games. His victory was a shoo-in. Everyone said it, from the tributes in the Arena to the people back home, so grateful to see their boy again.
Sure, the lumberjack from Seven had given him some trouble, but he'd stuck his trident in the boy's head, just like the others. Sure, that fox from Twelve tried to backstab him, but she'd slipped on the sand and now she was dead, just like all the others. Seven of his eight kills didn't bother him at all. The only one that truly haunted him was the twelve-year-old boy from Two that was his last kill.
He'd never liked Two. They were strong, almost stronger than him. Caspian didn't like people who gave him a run for his money. But the little boy who, before the Games began, told everyone in earshot that he just wanted to go back to his mom, scared him. Scared him more than any of the other tributes in the Games. It was his face that gave him nightmares when he slept. The feel of his blood spattering against Caspian's face as his trident shredded the boy's brain.
None of that mattered, though. Caspian had won. And he would never let anyone forget that.
The day his son was born
Caspian fell in love with Aria Cole four years after he won. Aria was beautiful, everything from her long hair to her sea-green eyes captivated Caspian. At their wedding following the 11th Hunger Games he would tell her that she was the only person who made him forget the Games.
One year later, he realized he was wrong. The birth of his son, Aaron, made him forget it, too.
Aaron was Caspian's pride and joy. He would tell anyone who would listen that his boy would follow in his footsteps and win the Hunger Games, just like his daddy. Aaron was perfect, just like Caspian. And he would never let anyone forget that.
The day his son joined his Academy
When Aaron was 10, Caspian signed his son up for the Academy. His Academy. His other pride and joy. His dream of being the first person to mentor their child to victory would come to fruition. Aaron would become the strongest in the district, in Panem. He would win the Games, and maybe even beat Caspian's record. Aaron would be a legend, just like his father.
But there was one problem. Aaron wasn't very good at fighting. He was abysmal at hand-to-hand, his swordplay was mediocre at best, and long range was, for lack of a better word, a fiasco. Aaron just wasn't a fighter. And when Caspian talked to his son's personal trainer, he found out what his son's best talents were. And they ashamed him.
His son was a doctor.
Medicine came as naturally to Aaron as warfare and fighting did to his father. Healing, while not exactly in his blood, was by far the boy's best skill, and the medic at the Academy was more than grateful for his help. His trainer was beyond proud of him, but Caspian, on the other hand, was not. Caspian took his son home that day, closed the door to their house in the Victors Village, and proceeded to scream profanities and insults of disappointment at his son. Why couldn't he be like his father? Why couldn't he be a good swordsman, or a knife fighter, or something Caspian could understand? What did Caspian have to do to get his son to be just like him?
After Aria talked to Aaron, trying to make him understand that Caspian just wanted him to be successful, Aaron swore to his father that he would become the best fighter in the Academy. Aaron would become the strongest in the district, just like Caspian. And he would never let anyone forget that.
The day his son volunteered
True to his word, Aaron devoted hours upon hours training himself to become the strongest kid in the Academy. He would stay up late into the night slashing at training dummies in his backyard, driving his neighbor Mako insane. He could recite more than fifty different ways to kill someone with a knife, and that was just the start. Caspian couldn't have been more proud of his boy, that was for sure. But the day before the reaping of the 27th Hunger Games, he was proven wrong. Because at just 16, Aaron was chosen to volunteer and represent District 4. The youngest ever volunteer from 4, Aaron made history, just like his father had planned.
His son was a legend. He would win the Games with ease. And he would never let anyone forget that.
The day his son was murdered
The bloodbath was a relatively small one, claiming the lives of only ten tributes. Aaron killed three. Caspian, his proud mentor, bragged to the whole control center that his son had it in the bag. And from an outsider's point of view, he was right. The only person who got close to Aaron's total was the boy from Two, but that was to be expected. He had two kills in the bloodbath, but he didn't look very interested in leading the pack. That job was Aaron's, as it should have been.
A monster tornado in day 3 killed six tributes, including Aaron's district partner. By then they'd killed three others, so it was down to five. Aaron, the Ones, the boy from Two, and a tiny girl from Eleven who was only alive because she'd ran for so long. Sure enough, day 5, the Careers got her. Aaron, of course, finished her off.
Then came the moment of truth. Four tributes left, all Careers, only one would make it out alive. The Capitol was on the edge of their seats.
The boy from One died first. He'd only made it that far by staying with the powerful Careers. Two got him, unfortunately, but Aaron still managed to kill his district partner. She died with a scream, falling off the side of the Cornucopia into the fiery inferno below. It was down to Aaron and Two. Caspian knew his son was the stronger one. He'd trained him, after all, so how could it be any different? Aaron was the Victor for sure.
So when the boy from Two, Julius Vextal, put his sword through Aaron's throat, Caspian thought there had been a mistake. He was sure the cameras were faulty or something, because his son couldn't have died, not by some little upstart from Two. It wasn't possible. But there it was, right in front of his eyes. Aaron was dead.
Julius was the Victor. Aaron was runner-up. Believe it Caspian didn't, not at first, but he soon accepted it. And, of course, he accepted the sheer hatred of Julius Vextal that came with it. Sure, Caspian wouldn't try anything against Julius, he was above all that, but Julius Vextal had murdered his son, and he would never let anyone forget that.
Caspian was an interesting victor. In my head, he was a lot like Mako from 40th Hunger Games, just a very stereotypical Career, all in it for the fame. But once I got the idea for him to have a son, the idea really ran away with itself. Caspian isn't the best Four victor, not by a long shot (cough, Finnick, cough), but he does have his moments. His hatred for Julius is a primary reason Mako chooses to ally Four with the rebellion in 40th HG. Next up is another major pre-Careers victor, and the first victor to win from a district that already had.