A/N: Hello! I'm back! I had writers block with the tributes, so I decided to have an interlude of sorts. There will be another one that's probably going to be shorter. I only have three spots left! Guys, I can't believe I almost have a full cast of tributes. Thank you to everyone who submitted. I still need escorts though! I'm going to have at least two more chapters before the Reaping, so if you guys could get those in that would be great. I'll also need the mentors, because there's going to be a plot point in this chapter that I'm going to need a full cast of mentors for. But thank you to everyone who submitted, favorited, reviewed, and followed! You guys are appreciated more than you know. Now, onto the story!

TW: verbal abuse in Celestia's section.

Athena Victor, 18, District 2 Mentor

Athena walked off the stage with a sigh of relief. She hated public speaking. That might have been why her Victory Tour wasn't very well received by the people of the districts- and of the Capitol. They preferred Victors like Finnick Odair and Shimmer Gonzales- charismatic and extroverted. Not people like her, who couldn't even project with a microphone. Well, at least it was over. Although that meant in the days leading up to the Reaping she'd have to get to know her tribute, who was a complete stranger and probably would hate her for her inexperience.

Athena's first meeting with Yara Pritchard was in two hours. Plenty of time to get nervous, but not half the amount of time she'd need to actually come up with a plan. But Yara worked with a circus. She knew how to work a crowd, and since Athena couldn't, that would be an asset.

All too soon, the two hours were up. Athena was supposed to meet Yara in meeting room two. Athena hadn't been to the Academy much since her Games. Too many bad memories from the Games kept rushing in and messing up her mind. But there was meeting room two, right across the hall. It was lucky that it was right there. Otherwise Athena would be late to meeting her own tribute. Her parents would get mad, and Yara probably wouldn't be too pleased either.

Athena made it into the room, and looked up at the clock. It said that she still had five minutes. Good. She would be able to slightly compose and hopefully not embarrass herself. But with her introverted tendencies and terrible social skills, who knew what would happen.

The door creaked open. Athena mentally braced herself for the disastrous meeting that was sure to follow.

"Hello? Is this the right room?"

Of course Yara would be early too. Well, they had to start sometime. And it was better to be prepared then to not know what to do when everyone got to the Capitol.

"Y-yes, please come in." Athena willed herself to control the stutter that always happened when she was nervous.

Yara sighed with relief. It seemed that she was as nervous as Athena was.

"Ok, good. I didn't want to go into the wrong room. That would have been so embarrassing!"

Athena laughed despite herself. That was a feeling she knew all too well, having been guilty of accidentally walking into the wrong room herself on multiple occasions. Some of her nervousness evaporated, seeing that Yara was probably a bit nervous too.

"Hi Yara, I'm Athena, and I'll be your mentor for this coming Games." she said, as confidently as she could. She thought that she did pretty well. It seemed like she did, because Yara smiled softly.

"Hi Athena! It's a pleasure to meet you." Yara said smoothly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too! Now, we probably should get down to business. We have less than a week until the Reaping, so we need to get your strategy down before then, so that on the train it's just reiterating what we already have."

Wow. This wasn't as bad as Athena had thought it would be. Maybe she had a fighting chance of bringing her tribute back alive.

"I agree. We need to have our strategy down before we make it to the Capitol." Yara said, surprising Athena a bit. She wasn't expecting her tribute to be so amiable.

"What have you been thinking, strategy wise? I want to make sure that we are on the same page before we move on." Athena said.

"Well," Yara said hesitantly, "to be honest, I was surprised when I was chosen. I had put my name down to be a candidate, but I never expected to have this result."

Huh. So Yara was different from most Careers. Most of them were confident, dangerously so. To have one that hadn't expected to be picked was different. Extremely different. Even Athena herself hadn't doubted that she'd be picked. She had a sword in her hand since she was five, albeit a wooden one. She was brought up as the child of two victors, the Victors. It was expected of her to volunteer and win, and volunteer and win she did. This would change what little plans she had. Before, she was going to use her tribute's confidence to their advantage, and while Yara had confidence, it wasn't the confidence that Careers, especially Careers from Two, normally had.

"Well," said Athena, "we can use that to your advantage. Although we can't broadcast the Academy- because strictly speaking we aren't supposed to have an Academy- we can say that you were advised to volunteer, and you were surprised. It will show humility, and might rack up sponsors as well. Not that you'll have any issues with sponsors. Districts One and Two always get the most. Are we on the same page?"

Athena was surprised at the ease with which she was speaking. It was if she was channeling her mother, who never had any issues with public speaking. It was certainly unexpected, but it was welcomed, and she didn't want it to go away.

"Yes, we are," Yara responded, "and I think I have another good way to get sponsors and popularity."

Athena leaned in, interested.

"Oh? What is it?" she queried.

"Well," Yara said, "My longtime boyfriend just proposed. If we can get Caesar to focus on that, people will want to get me home to my fiancé, and I'll have sponsors pouring in. Do you think that will work?"

Athena was kind of shocked. She did not see that coming. But it would work in their favor.

"Well, for one, I believe congratulations are in order, so congratulations on your engagement." Athena paused, considering how they could play it up for the crowd. "And yes, that would definitely work. It worked for Katniss and Peeta in the 74th Games, and even though the situation is a bit different, it could work for us as well."

Yara nodded. She had probably already thought of the 'star-crossed lovers' approach.

Athena and Yara continued talking strategy, such as what kinds of things she would do at training (swords, knives, and possibly spear) and her interview angle (entertaining and likeable) until almost three hours had passed. They only stopped once Atalanta Victor came in to announce that Athena was needed for other preparations. What the other preparations were for, she had no idea. In her memory, there was never anything else that needed to be done. Maybe it was something that the new President had concocted. Athena bid farewell to Yara, and followed her mother.

"Mother, what do you need?" Athena asked, confused.

"Athena, we will be going to the Capitol for a couple of days. President Celestia has an information session, so to speak. I don't exactly know what it entails, but I think that it is preparing the mentors for the Games. Your Games was a rushed affair, trying to get things back to normal. This Games will officially be the first of the new regime. Yours will be a sort of in-between. I think that things are changing, and I'm not sure how, but I intend to find out."

Athena was still processing the information as Atalanta spoke again.

"You'll need to pack your things, just enough for a two to three night stay. We'll be taking the three o'clock afternoon train, and we'll be there by nine o'clock at the latest."

"Ok then, I'll get packing I guess." Athena responded.

Atalanta gave a sharp nod, and walked away.

Athena walked home from the Academy, contemplating what it could be. An introduction to Celestia's way of doing things? A twist in the Games? A new Head Gamemaker? As far as she knew, the current Head Gamemaker, Clio Uvele, was relatively stable in her position, and was rumored to be friends with the President. A twist normally only happened during Quarter Quells, excluding the twist of the 74th Games of course. That left only one option. Celestia was probably going to change things up a bit, but Athena had no idea how.

Celestia Snow, 16, President of Panem, The Capitol

Celestia sighed. All of this Games stuff was getting tiring. And now Clio had advised her to get all of the mentors to come to the Capitol for a couple days for an explanation on how the Games were going to work this year. It was going to be tiring, but probably a good idea in the long run. And a plus was that she was going to see Shimmer again. She had just gone home after a week in the Capitol, and wasn't going to be coming back to the Capitol until the Games. To be fair, that was in less than a week, but still. And maybe she would be able to make friends with the newest victor, Athena. Doubtful, but it was possible. And maybe she could try and talk to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. From what she had heard, Katniss had withdrawn into her house, not speaking to anyone but Peeta, her mother, and her sister Prim.

Celestia had idolized Katniss when she was younger. She was twelve when the rebellion started, and when she heard her grandfather say that all things that had any relation to the Mockingjay would be punishable by death, she was devastated. She had a side braid that day, so she unraveled it. But Celestia vowed to not be the same person that her grandfather was.

She loved him, as a granddaughter loves her grandfather, but she never quite understood him. He was so caring to her, but he was a dictator to the rest of Panem. It didn't make sense to her when she was twelve, but now she understood. Her grandfather was not a good person. He might have had a small amount of affection for her, but he cared more about keeping his power than he did his family. And she had heard that he went to extreme lengths to keep it.

So when Clio advised her to gather all of the mentors, she took that opportunity to show them that she was not her grandfather. She would implement new policies, make the Games as humane as possible. But as long as the Games were a present part in Panemian tradition, things wouldn't be able to be the best they could be. At least she was doing the best she could, although in her mind it would never be enough, not as long as the Games were still in existence.

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in!" Celestia called.

"Celestia. Why are you sitting here? Shouldn't you be preparing for the Games?"

Celestia bit back a sigh and retort. Of course it would be the one person Celestia didn't want to see.

"Mother. How nice to see you." she said, purposely not standing up to acknowledge Drusilla, something that would make the older woman furious. And sure enough, it did.

Drusilla sputtered, most likely wanting to say something but not, only because last time they interacted beyond a quick hello, Celestia had gotten her taken away. By Peacekeepers. Which, to be honest, was a high point for Celestia.

"My original question still stands." Drusilla snapped.

"Well, not that you have any clearance to know, but I was contemplating the benefits of having the mentors come to the Capitol for an introduction to my way of doing things. I will be changing things, and the 79th Games was only a stepping stone in my Presidency." Celestia said.

Drusilla looked shocked. She was probably thinking about how Celestia was a brat who didn't respect the rules of her predecessors. Celestia had heard that speech many times before.

'You are a disgrace to the Snow name'

'You don't deserve the power you have'

'If only your sister had been chosen to be President, things would have been much better'

'Why in Panem did your grandfather think that you were fit to be President'

'I ought to have you kicked out of office'

'You'll regret the day you snubbed me'

All of those were common things that Drusilla had said. Many times. Celestia had become numb to it at this point. Her mother was terrible. That was nothing new. Celestia should make good on her threat to get her mother kicked out of the Snow mansion. That would be a just punishment for the years of favoring Agrippina and hating Celestia. But Celestia couldn't let her personal biases start turning her into the dictator her grandfather was. It would make her seem like a monster, 'snubbing' her mother for some small slight. Unless.

She could record her mother talking. Act like a desperate little girl wanting her mother to love her. Have Drusilla rage and rant. Then, send the recording to Caesar Flickerman and request an interview. Drusilla would be banished to the outskirts of the Capitol and Celestia wouldn't be painted as a monster. But was it worth it, using the power she wielded for such selfish reasons?

Yes. It was worth it, paying Drusilla back for the years of torment she inflicted on Celestia. It was.

Celestia surreptitiously reached under her desk. There was a button under there that recorded things, in case a President needed it. She pressed it, and immediately shrunk into herself as Drusilla kept ranting.

"- You selfish little brat! You have all this power, and you won't share any of it! Why, if Agrippina was in power things wouldn't change. But no. You have decided to change the way Panem is run, and you will ruin this country. I don't know what your grandfather saw in you. He favored you, and left your father, Agrippina, and I in the dust. But just you wait, little girl. One day, you'll drink your coffee and fall down dead because so many people will despise your way of ruling this country and you will cause another uprising!"

Celestia almost smiled, but caught herself. She was the devastated daughter, desperate for approval. She was playing a part.

"B-but Mother, I only did what I thought best for the country and our family! I- I don't want to favor some and bestow power on my family, because that wouldn't be fair to the rest of Panem. I'm not trying to cause another uprising, but some things need to be changed. The Games were terrible under grandfather's rule, but I can make them better. Please, just try to understand." Celestia hated the way she was acting, but it had to be done.

"Ha! You think that I will ever approve of the way you rule? You ruined your grandfather's legacy. The Games were supposed to be terrible! They are a way to punish the districts, not something that little girls change around to make them 'better'. Someway, somehow, I will get someone more worthy into the position of President, then you'll be out and things will be back to the way they were before!"

Celestia smiled. "Thank you, Mother. Your comments have been most enlightening. I'm sure the entirety of Panem will enjoy hearing about your plans for treason." she said, triumphant.

Drusilla paused. "What?"

"You see, I've been meaning to pay you back for the years of torment that you inflicted on me. Once I send Caesar Flickerman this recording, I will set up an interview. Then the whole of Panem will be able to see how you have treated me. You favored Agrippina, coddled her even. You locked me in my room. You pretty much had me in a servant's uniform. You came into my room every single day to tell me what a horrible daughter and person that I was. The only solace I had was when I met Shimmer. She was more of a mother to me than you ever were. Who was it that I called when I got my first period? Not you. Shimmer. Who was it I called when I was sad? Not you. Shimmer. When were you ever present in my life except to criticize me? I felt more comfortable with a stranger who had just come out of the Hunger Games than I did with you. How dare you ask me for power. How dare you call me a brat. I am trying to improve this country, and all you try to do is make my life miserable!"

For once, Drusilla was speechless.

"Thank you Mother, for providing me this opportunity. You know why Grandfather preferred me? It was because I wasn't trying to get myself in a position of power every single second. I'm following through on my threat. You will be moved to an apartment on the outskirts of the Capitol, guarded with Peacekeepers. And you will not try to manipulate me again."

Celestia stopped the recording.

A/N: Did you like this chapter? It was a bit heavy emotionally, but I think it turned out well. Athena is my OC, and Celestia is not, she's a side character in the original series. The wiki says that her name is Celestia though, and it also gave the names for Drusilla and Agrippina. So thanks to the HG wiki.

Side note though, if you are engaged your tribute will have a higher chance at winning the Games, and your other characters will have more/any POVs. Just letting you know. I have questions for you guys though, even though it isn't a normal chapter.

1. Who do you like better, Celestia or Athena? Why?

2. Do you think that Celestia will be a good President? Why or why not?

3. What kind of changes do you think Celestia will implement?

That's all for today, love you all!

-Annabeth