Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins.
Viola Velveteen, 20, Capital Citizen, 1 month and 3 days before the Reaping
It is not a typical day at the Gamemaking Center. Usually the halls are filled with the hustle and bustle of the workers, some dressed elegantly, some in the plain white uniforms that signify the status of Gamemaker higher up, and avoxes weaving in between the crowds of Capitalites delivering drinks and messages written on sheets of paper. It was from looking at these normally packed halls, now clean of personnel, the obsidian corridors looking almost daunting, that one could get their first clue that this is not, as previously mentioned, an ordinary day at the GC.
Viola has had many more clues already. For one, something going on here is top secret. For two, the president is here.
Viola prides herself on her ability to keep a secret. And she has a very big one. That she really shouldn't be here at all.
It is her family's doing. The Velveteens are one of the richest in all of the Centre, where all of the most important people roam. Now, she has this thrilling job, where she gets to take part in the best thing in the world. The blood, the slaughter, the drama! All it took was a bit of crying and pleading. They bought her this job, one much higher than she deserves: an assistant to Calandricalla Moon, one of the leading architects in all of the Capital, whose job is to create buildings in arenas. Viola knows for a fact that there will be a beautiful castle in this year's arena, which she is oh so excited about. She can go home to brag to her siblings, all still living in their ancestral home, and say that she helped create the arena, that she is a bigger hotshot than they will ever be.
Of course, the only reason Viola knows about the castle is her eavesdropping ability. That is the reason that she is here, after all. She overheard some workers talking about today, or tomorrow then, and decided to spend the night in the broom closet to see what was going on. A Velveteen should never stoop so low, but Viola made an exception in the name of curiosity. It really is quite easy for her to eavesdrop, and curiosity and a thirst for information bolster her skill at the art. In fact, that is what Viola is planning on doing today. Eavesdropping.
Peeking her head out from behind a towering wall of black stone, as far as her bespectacled eyes can see, there is nothing but shut doors. But Viola knows that President Nero is here, she saw his limosine pull into the circular driveway, and his unmistakable slicked back red hair and towering figure emerge from it, his scarlet cape gliding up the stairs feet behind him.
Seeing that no one resides in the hall, Viola tiptoes forwards on her high heels as conspicuous as a person with magenta hair and skin, golden fangs, electric blue glasses, and butterfly wings surgically added to her back can be. It doesn't help that she is wearing a fountain dress, the newest trend in the Capital, velvet like her name, along with noisy high heels. Most would call it tacky, but Viola calls it stylish.
When, alas, she reaches the end of the hallway, Viola notices something out of the corner of her eye, a bright yellow sign adorns the farthest door on the left, a warning on it:
WARNING! DANGEROUS GENETIC EXPERIMENTS! DO NOT ENTER UNLESS CERTIFIED BY HEAD GAMEMAKER OBSIDIAN!
The sign, Viola notices, is covering a window. She tries to pry is forth, by her sapphire-taloned nails do not allow it. Above the sign rests a golden-plated lapel with the words "Mutation Wing" in cursive.
Giving up on the mysterious door, Viola turns around. In front of her stands a set of hydraulic doors, fittingly obsidian black. Beside them is a hand-recognition device, stuck to the wall. "This should be easy," Viola thinks. She takes out the metallic pad she stole from Vivienne's workshop and presses it to the scanner. A number of zeroes and ones flash across the screen, and then the doors emit a noise that sends goose bumps up Viola's oddly colored skin: The sound of stone clashing against metal mixed with a sparking sound that gradually lowers in tone. Then the doors fall limp.
Perfect.
Viola reaches for the doors, but as her hand moves towards it, the corridor suddenly goes dark.
"Vivi," Viola says in anguished whisper-yell to no one in particular. "Always screwing up her inventions."
Viola's hands finally reach the door, and slides it open easily. She steps inside, to the place her curiosity has always inspired her lust to visit.
The first thing Viola registers is that the lights are still on. "That's odd," she thinks. There must be on a different power source. Hopefully the cameras were shut off.
Looking away from the fluorescent ceiling lights and blinking bright spots out of her eyes, Viola looks in front of her. Though it is much shorter, the hall is not unlike the one she just exited. It has obsidian walls, and doors on either side, though much less, and shaped differently, bending out slightly as if part of a circle. These must be the Gamemaking Rooms.
Viola takes a peek into the first room on her right, her curiosity getting a hold of her. Twenty-four empty and comfortable-looking rolling chairs sit in pairs around a collection of dormant screens spanning the whole room. Above each pair of seats is a number, one through twelve. This must be the Mentor Room.
Viola walks around the seats, stopping at the D7F and looking down onto a tiny screen beside the chair. She touches it and it flickers to life, showing a map of the previous year's arena, that nightmare, with a big Seven and capital F below it, and beside it, in square letters, the word "LOCATION", and the letters n/a. Below that is a list of sponsor items.
Viola shudders as she thinks of the disaster of last year. Every last Gamemaker, intern, and avox had died, what a tragedy, though they might have had it coming, given their horrendous failure. Of course, Viola has no idea the real cause of death, a Capital loyalist she is.
Getting bored with the room, and still eager to find out what is secretly going on, Viola leaves the room and walks out into the hallway again.
Further on, there is another door, this time on the left. Viola peeks inside, but there are only a few TVs, and a few people manning them. They have numbers flashing across them with different programs, and the biggest screen displays TV shows that Viola recognizes as hits in the Capitol. Viola has heard of this place. It's the Ratings Room.
Unimpressed, Viola creeps out, and looks to the end of the hallway, with a large set of doors on top of a long staircase. That must be it.
Creeping along, Viola peeks inside. There are Peacekeeper guards on each side, but her attention is drawn to the main area of the room. Viola let's out an audible gasp. It's like a cathedral. Rows of white desks on different levels circle downward, with touchscreens and monitors by each of them. Looking up, Viola can see more levels of seats. At the front of the room is a series of tall holographic television screens showing angles of the arena, still under construction. Looking down by the screen, she can see two figures. One she recognizes as Head Gamemaker Cassiopeia Obsidian, the other President Nero. They seem to be yelling, their words echoing and reverberating around the room.
"… a new era for the Hunger games." It is President Nero who says this. "And you need to give it a good start. You need to show them who is boss."
"What else must I do, President?"
President Nero waits a while, face reddening, as if he is trying to hold something in that will always come out.
"We need to punish the districts! Punish them for their stubborn rioting! We don't need this becoming too big of an issue!"
"Yes, President, I know, sir. I am hoping my creations will suffice."
Creations? Viola has no idea what these will be.
"Hoping or knowing?" Nero leans into Head Gamemaker Obsidian's face. "I want it to show them that they are powerless to us. I want them to see their own tortured and suffering because of their deeds. Is that clear?!"
"Y-yes, President Nero, it is."
President Nero nods, and leans in to whisper something inaudible to the Head Gamemaker.
Nero still has his naturally commanding presence, part of what earned him his position back in the rebellion of a few years ago. He was elected after leading his squadron to end the two-year-long war, going from the highest rank in the Capital military to the highest rank in Panem. Looking at him closer than she has ever been, Viola can truly see the fear his presence causes. Viola used to think him almost as a godfather to the Capital, good and heroic, her parents big supporters of his, telling their children all of his exploits. Now, Viola is as scared watching him as she was when Vivi went missing for a day.
Caught up in her thoughts, Viola doesn't register that President Nero has gotten up to leave until it almost too late. He doesn't see her, nor do the guards, but he is gradually getting closer, and closer, and closer to the doors.
Viola breaks into a run, shuffling along as fast as her high heels will allow her to go.
"Oh shit," she says. "Oh shit!"
Viola's hands bang on the obsidian doors, and they burst open. She slams them shut milliseconds after she hears another door open. Viola is back in the dark. Feeling around, she finds the nearest door, and swings it open to jump in. Peeking out the window, she can see nothing, but eventually a light flickers on around the edges. Something must be blocking it… She's in the Mutt Lab.
Right as the thought occurs to her, a hideous sound pierces her ears: Screeching noises, mixed with what sounds like sandpaper being torn apart, and cage bars rattling.
"What was that," Viola silently asks herself. What could this be? The thing meant to scare the districts?
Viola looks back at the window. She has no way of knowing whether everyone has left now or not. She knows she shouldn't, but her curiosity pushes her forward, and Viola starts down the series of cages, and scientific desks. What's the harm? She probably has time to waste.
As she walks, undulating bioluminescent things guide her along her path. Viola takes a closer look. Snakes. They come in all shades of green, all turned neon. Eventually, following their light, Viola walks into one of the final rooms.
Once again, it houses multiple televisions, all dormant. But that is not what draws Viola's attention. It is the series of glass cages, all holding reddish colored and grotesque dogs… But something is off. The red, it isn't their skin, it's their flesh. Blood leaks from their jowls, their fangs elongated and black, their skeletons visible through their muscles. And there is another thing in cages… Trees?
Viola steps closer, trying to get a better look. Nothing seems wrong with the trees. They look perfectly normal, short, with stumpy branches, and beautiful fruit hanging from the leaves. And then they rot, the leaves disappearing, the fruit turning rotten, and the trees become withered and black. Viola steps back in disgust, when all of a sudden, the hideous sound from before occurs again. Tendrils sprout from the trees, tendrils that look like they could shred someone in minutes, and a gaping bladed maw appears at the bottom of the them. One of the tendrils comes towards Viola, and she jumps back just in time.
She is overcome with shock. These trees… they're brilliant. They look like they could cause immense pain, immense suffering, to any district vermin. Not a Capitalite, like her, but a district kid… Yes. The Capital's bloodlust shall be fulfilled. Because these will be a bloody Hunger Games.
Hey guys, I'm back with a second chapter! :D Was that ominous ending good? Was it too gruesome for you? Please tell me in the reviews, I need those a lot.
Now, here are the questions of the day:
Which mutts scare you the most? The snakes? The dogs? The trees?
What color are Viola's glasses? (No looking back in the story!)
Thank you for reading this chapter, and hopefully reviewing and/or submitting. Please come back for more.
PS: Once I get to the tribute intros, I may or may not be switching to first person for them, I don't know yet. Capitol POVs will still be written in third person though.
-Mills