The 30th Annual Hunger Games.
Cosmo Magnace, District 1.
Orb looked solemnly around the contents of the Capitol cell. Cosmo hadn't been allowed to keep much in his last days, it seemed. A small bed, a sink, one or two old artifacts from back home. On the bed itself lay the older man, his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. Apart from the bullet wound on his temple he could almost be sleeping.
Beetee laid a hand over her shoulder comfortingly. 'I'm sorry' he muttered. 'I had hoped he might have found a way out'.
Orb nodded and sniffed slightly before walking over to the body. Her old mentor's dark blonde hair was mostly silver and she could see the smile wrinkles dotted on his lower face. She bent down and kissed him on the cheek. 'Fare well you old devil' she muttered, smiling fondly. She turned over to the other victor. 'We should take him home. I'll try and contact some of his family, let them know what's happened'.
Beetee nodded. 'I'll call the soldiers in a minute, unless you want a bit more time alone with him?'
Orb looked back at her mentor and considered Beetee's question before shaking her head. 'No, that can wait until the right time'.
As they headed back to the hovercraft and reunited with Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta Orb noticed a grim look on Haymitch's face-he looked a lot paler than usual. She asked what was wrong.
'Old Michael Siltlock, from District 9' he muttered. 'Stuck behind as part of the distraction after the Quell ended, when the Peacekeepers, were coming. Guess they managed to take him alive. I mean, we all knew he was a deep rebel, it was obvious, especially after so long since 9 had had their last victor. So I didn't expect the best possible outcome but…..it was pretty bad'. He winced at the memory. 'Looks like they'd had him under waterboarding, electrical torture, even some of the tracker jacker venom. Can't image he lasted long under all that at his age'.
Peeta Mellark looked rather pale as well. When they asked him what was wrong he winced slightly. 'Just so many. So many prisoners…Avoxes, even Capitol people, some younger than I thought. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to go back in there yet'. Katniss slipped her hand into the boy's, Orb noticed. She wasn't talking at all but maybe that was just her general personality.
The five of them boarded the hovercraft and were set to make their way over to Beetee's base, with the provision that Cosmo's body would later be delivered to District 1, as well as Michael's to District 9.
Orb had known Beetee and Haymitch to see for over 20 years but hadn't really spoken to them extensively since coming out of hiding. Katniss and Peeta she hadn't met at all-she hadn't mentored in the 74th Games and for the Quell Cosmo had returned to the Capitol to mentor Gloss again, while Selena went to back Cashmere up. They were pretty quiet, to be expected of course. Orb had been a bit of a mess to say the least after her own Games, when she was their age, and that hadn't been nearly as challenging as the last few months.
Mellark was the one who decided to break the silence. 'So where do we stand with the actual figures Beetee? How many victors alive for sure?'
Beetee peered up from his laptop, adjusting his glasses. 'Ten as of the moment. You, Katniss and Haymitch for District 12. Johanna. Porter Tripp from District 5. Annie. Myself for 3. Enobaria and an older victor called Mjolnir from 2. And then Orb here, representing District 1'.
Haymitch rolled his eyes, muttering something about how they couldn't have had a better assortment of representatives. Peeta nudged him in the side partial fondly, partial exasperated.
'The two victors from today', Peeta pushed a little bit. 'Which years were they?'
Haymitch answered this time. 'Michael Siltlock, 17th Games, District 9. Chaff and I shared a drink with him from time to time'. Orb noticed Peeta's eyes widen slightly and recalled the footage of him drowning the man from 9 in the Quell. 'Then Cosmo Magnace, 30th Games, District 1'. Haymitch mercifully remembered enough not to say out loud that Cosmo had mentored Gloss in front of Katniss.
'We have rumours of at least 4 other victors moving across the nation' said Beetee, adjusting his glasses again as the craft hit some turbulence. 'We can now confirm no survivors from 6 or 9 since they only had 3 living victors. But there are still around a dozen unaccounted for. In 3 three day's time I will make my way to 4, then 8, then 2 again to check reports of possible survivors. You are welcome to join me but don't feel obligated'.
'I know what you're thinking, Haymitch' he added suddenly, turning round to make eye contact with the other victor. 'We have no news on Fiddler. No body, no reliable footage, no word other then Mjolnir's that he was alive and fine before the arrow. You say the last you say of him was leaving to go the bathroom a few minutes before that?'
Haymitch nodded gruffly. Orb could tell he was hoping for good luck to the older 3 victor. Everyone had liked Fiddler, the same way everyone had disliked Ivy [although she was deceased before Orb's time], respected Brutus and so on. He and Mags had been like the communal grandparents. And unfortunately they didn't have Mags around any more for guaranteed.
Orb noticed Peeta looking rather forlorn at the news of all this death and felt a slightly odd maternal instinct pushing at her. It wasn't unexpected; Orb had had 5 younger siblings, but still. She had never considered having children. As far as she knew only 6 or 7 victors ever had-the very first, Ion, Cecilia, one of the victors from 6, one or two of the 2 victors though she couldn't name them, and one of the 4s as well. It was a very dangerous risk to run as a victor, for obvious reasons. The first victor/victor romance, Turqoise and Coral, had ended in disaster for both. Orb studied the young man from 12 and frowned slightly. Something was tugging at her mind.
Then it clicked into place.
'Peeta', she called as she leaned down to concentrate. The other victor looked over, slightly startled, and raised an eyebrow. Orb smiled reassuringly at him. 'You know, you actually remind me of Cosmo in some ways?'
He raised an eyebrow again. 'Really? I don't know much about him other then a glimpse at the Quell reaping. He won before my parents' time so…..I don't really know his story'.
Beetee, who was clearly pretending not to pay attention, raised an eyebrow quirkily and Orb could have sworn she caught a fond smile on part of his face.
She nodded again. 'In a lot of ways. He grew up in a bit of a…different place, for District 1, not poor but away from most of the luxury and pomp-cafes, not unlike your baking. He volunteered eventually but I don't think it was over glory hounding so much as to help out the poorer neighbourhoods in 1'.
Beetee took his eyes off the laptop completely now. 'I must have been about 9 or 10 for the 30th Games' he mused in distant memory. 'No, 10, since it was six years before I participated. I do remember those Games being rather odd. The boy from 1 was the pack leader, and the quickest to kill, with a huge kill count, but I remember it was over…..very quickly. Strangely so. It was like he killed from one to the next, hanging them up quickly to move on each time. A lot of us had thought he was just trying to get the largest kill count possible. He still has one of the highest ones today'.
'I can assure you that wasn't the main reason' said Orb, smiling bittersweetly. 'Part of the reason he took the charge like that, and killed so many of the other tributes was that he could at least guarantee a quick death for all of them. Do you remember the rest of the Career pack that year?'
Beetee paused for a moment as he recalled. 'Yessss' he muttered slowly. 'I remember the interviews. They appeared especially bloodthirsty that year'. He raised an eyebrow. 'I knew Cosmo was part of the rebellion plans as well, obviously, but I thought he must have changed at some point after the Games. I didn't realise he was already so merciful back then too'.
Orb tilted her head to the side. 'District 1 is actually more rebellious than you might think from seeing the surface. Turqoise and Cosmo directed it for years until the failed attempt in the 50s. Then I sort of glided into it almost as soon as Turqoise was dead'. She raised an eyebrow in memory. 'Then, back to Cosmo. He was, uh…..a pretty unique presence in the Victor's Village. But one of the most important things to remember is his mastery of comic timing. His victor's talent was to be one of the best comedians the Capitol had ever seen. He was goofy, weird, witty, morbid, deadpan, all of it. Apparently it was also the main thing that kept him from being exploited as part of the victor's prostitution ring, like Finnick and Cashmere'.
She tilted her hand out to Peeta. 'Also like you he was quite in love'. Katniss raised an eyebrow at this for the first time but still didn't speak. 'He had to keep it completely secret though' Orb recalled sadly. 'Not just because of the prostitution but because if Snow and the government found out they likely would have forced them to marry and then to have children….and well, you can guess what would've happened next'. Peeta nodded understandingly. 'I only know because I saw him with a photo of some woman once and he explained because we were so close' explained Orb. 'I don't know her name or if she's still alive. I might check with his family when we get back'.
Katniss spoke up for the first time, quietly but distinctly. 'It sounds like he was a good man though. I think he would have liked Peeta after all'.
Orb nodded. 'He went on to mentor me, then Gloss. In the training centres he sort of got established as the off-brand, weird trainer, specialising with knives and arrows. You had to specifically go over to him to have a chance at training under him, then he would evaluate you for weeks or months before tutoring you personally. Very dedicated'. She snorted. 'And he was just as comedic in the Village a lot of the time as in the Capitol. Louis and Augustus absolutely hated it. The rest of us more than got used to it'. She smiled one more time, bittersweetly, glancing at the back of the hovercraft where his body would be stored.
Peeta looked curious. 'Perhaps you can tell me a bit more? I saw him at the Quell reaping with Gloss and 2 other men'-Charmer and Augustus, Orb thought dryly'-but there's still so much I don't know about the whole victor story, and especially the higher Districts'.
Orb nodded. There was the odd maternal twing again. 'I'd be happy to. Although some of the 2s were rather reclusive, you'd have to ask Enobaria or Mjolnir for them'. She raised an eyebrow as their hovercraft landed. 'To be continued later Peeta'…
AN. So now you have another confirmed victor survivor and another confirmed death. We're not far off the halfway point through the story; it is going fairly fast.
Also there's quite a few Districts still with only 1 victor, since I had the Careers and 5/10 do quite well early on. A lot of Districts are set to get their next victor in the next few years, don't worry….
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