Chapter 21: Crystal Montgomery

A/N: So here we go with District One again! Crystal is one of the most common Victor names so I wanted to get in on the action as well. Read on for my version of Crystal!

"Crystal, isn't that a pretty popular name in One?" Katniss asked.

Peeta nodded. "Yeah. There was a Crystal in Haymitch's Games and another in the 73rd. Kind of like Rye in Nine."

Katniss frowned at the girl's name. Montgomery. Something clicked. "Was she Franc's sister or something?"

"His cousin," Peeta replied. "Those noble families are huge. Like they were seriously desperate for a Victor."

Katniss rolled her eyes. "Typical Careers. What about this one?"

Peeta shrugged. "It says here in my notebook that she opted out of the pack."

"Overconfident?" Katniss guessed.

"Probably deemed not good enough," Peeta said.

The pair sat in silence, paying respect to a Victor they never knew.

Crystal Montgomery

District 1

Aged 17

5 Kills

Crystal hated her family. She was just like Franc, a problem child within the proud noble Montgomery family. She snuck out at night to party, pulled pranks on her siblings and even once hid her mother's favourite hairbrush, the ultimate insult among the nobles of District One! No matter how hard the family tried to discipline her, she would always cause even more trouble, smirking all the way. "I knew Franc was a bad influence!" her mother Anita growled. Crystal chuckled at this. Sure, they might think she was the female version of Franc, but there was something that set them apart. She wanted to compete in the Hunger Games. Not for the killing, oh she hated the killing parts. Those disgusted her (another reason why her family hated her). And not for the money or honour either. She already had both. No, the real reason was, she wanted to be left alone. You see, after Franc, the nobles would create forced marriages between their children and people they deemed worthy enough of being wed to their kids. The children never argued and the partners in question didn't either. This was the ultimate chance for great wealth and power, after all. Crystal, however, was having none of it. Every year, the Montgomery family would host tournaments to win their children's hand in marriage. Boys and girls from all across the district would come and compete. The competition was fierce, with numerous competitors being severely injured in the process. On her seventeenth birthday, one such competition was held, with Crystal as the top prize. Sure, she couldn't get married until she turned eighteen but hey, planning ahead never hurt anyone, right? It turned out, Crystal was heavily against it. She was forced to watch a grand total of fifty boys compete in three different stages of the tournament: the duelling stage, the poetry stage and the kissing stage. The duelling stage was horrific. Crystal winced and squirmed in her seat as the boys bashed each other's heads. There were no fatalities but the bloodshed was still pretty gruesome. Soon, the pool was narrowed to twenty boys. Then came Crystal's least favourite stage. The poetry stage. Oh, how she hated having to listen to all those cheesy boys write sappy love poetries about her! She was cringing all the way. Worst of all, she couldn't even have a say in the decision. Anita was the one who shortlisted five of the best boys, all of whom, in Crystal's opinion, should jolly well stuff their stupid declarations of love down their throats. Finally, it was the dreaded kissing stage. Crystal was blindfolded and strapped to a chair, forced to engage in a kissing session with each of the five boys. Each kiss lasted a full minute, with Anita standing closely take notes and record her observations. The first boy had awful breath and Crystal gagged as soon as the awful kiss was over. The second boy touched her in an inappropriate area and was dragged off after twenty seconds. The third boy had never kissed a girl before and was really awkward about it. The fourth boy tried to French kiss her, which ended really badly. The fifth boy was a decent kisser, but certainly far from the best person Crystal had ever kissed. What Anita didn't know was, Crystal had kissed a grand total of ten boys before this, all of whom were either past flings or friends who had a crush on her and wanted a unique birthday gift. All of them were far better than these snooty boys being presented in front of her. Of course, she'd never told Anita. If she ever found out Crystal had her first kiss when she was twelve, oh she'd be steaming! Thankfully, Crystal managed to keep that a secret. Her blindfold and straps were removed and the four boys stood anxiously in front of her.

"Ugh, that was gross," she muttered, earning her a good, hard slap from Anita. Not that she cared. She was a Career! Slaps meant nothing to her. Anita gave her a withering glare before turning to the boys. Crystal awaited her decision. Please not Armani, she silently pleaded, thinking of the boy who'd looked at her lustfully since they were fourteen. She'd correctly guessed that he was the boy with bad breath. No way she was marrying him! Anita pointed a finger at a tall, relatively handsome boy named Royce, who she identified as the fifth kisser. Royce pumped his fist into the air, a wide grin on his face. Crystal, on the other hand, was scowling. She hated Royce! The thought of being his wife, it sickened her. The only way out was if she won the Hunger Games. Then, she was allowed to choose her own path. Well, not really, but she could always do what Franc did and get Anita to disown her. That would be super cool. The only problem was, she was nowhere near the top female tribute in District One. In fact, she was deemed only the tenth best potential candidate. But did it matter when all she had to do was be the fastest one to raise her hand? Burberry had done just that last year. She had only been deemed the fourth-best volunteer, but she had volunteered anyway. And Crystal figured, dying might be a better fate than what awaited her back home, anyway. She couldn't wait until she turned eighteen. No, when she turned eighteen, unless she was the first in line to volunteer, she was expected to get pregnant. Volunteering then would be out of the question. So, it was no brainer when, on the 21st annual Reaping for the Hunger Games, when a small girl from the gem mining industry was reaped, her hand immediately shot up and she uttered the famous words: "I volunteer!" to the cries of disbelief and shock by her family members. As she marched up the stage, she noticed that Franc was smirking. He was the only person who'd been informed of her plan. He knew what she was doing. He loved seeing the Montgomeries' reaction, as well as the Ashtons'. This was supposed to be their year, and Crystal had single-handedly ruined it!

Franc chuckled. "Ah, that's why Crystal is my favourite cousin." He didn't like Crystal's odds, but hey, if Woof and Gwendolyn could win, why couldn't a trained Career like Crystal?

Crystal was sometimes known for being way too adventurous. One of her favourite hobbies was spelunking in the district's many caves. Many of these caves were deemed extremely hazardous, but Crystal had never cared. She'd been in those caves a grand total of twelve times and had only broken her arm twice. Her District partner Louis, however, was unimpressed by this. "This was supposed to be the year Prada volunteered," he seethed. "She's a proud, noble Career. Instead, we get some seventeen-year-old ditsy cavewoman! Disgraceful!"

"Hey!" Franc snapped. "You never know, the arena might be in a cave. Besides, she's a Career too, one brave enough to volunteer. Show some respect."

Louis scoffed. "Why should I show respect to the girl who skydives in the middle of winter and plays hide-and-seek in the abandoned mines? She's a brainless brat!"

Crystal glared at him, but there was nothing she could say. How could she defend herself when what Louis said was actually true? She was a ditsy adventurer. She sighed and slunk into her seat. Franc continued giving Louis an evil glare as the Reapings replayed on the screen. The pair from Two, Leto and Vulcan, were the typical, strong pair. Crystal gulped when Vulcan muttered something about butchering every single tribute in the arena. Franc put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring look. The rest of the Reapings whirled by with few stand-outs except for Neon, a proud, arrogant power plant worker from Five who Louis planned on inviting into the Career pack, and Coney, a strong lumberjack who had a grudge against the Careers for killing his brother in the 15th Games. All of a sudden, Crystal didn't quite like her chances anymore. She'd thought that death was better than living a constrained life married to Royce, but was it really? She trembled a little, thinking of Chanel burning to death and Burberry being slain by that Victor from Six. She muttered to be excused and ran off to her room before anyone could notice the tears in her eyes.

She had spent an hour of staring glumly at the landscape of Panem rolling by when someone knocked on her door. She cursed, dabbing her eyes to make sure no one knew she'd been crying. "Crystal?" It was Franc.

She tidied her hair, trying to hide any signs of her crying fit just fifteen minutes ago. "Come in." Her voice was raspy and both she and Franc knew it. Franc came in, a concerned look on his face. He shut the door.

"Crystal? Are you alright?"

Crystal looked away. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Franc shook his head. "What's the matter?"

Crystal sighed. "I regret volunteering. I-I don't want to die!" She couldn't hold back any longer. The tears flowed down her cheeks as she buried her face in Franc's shoulder.

"That's it, let it all out," Franc told her.

"I can't win! I'm gonna die in the arena! I mean, if Louis doesn't think I'm good enough..."

"Louis will die in the next few weeks," Franc reminded her. "It doesn't matter if the Careers don't think you're good enough. Sapphire and Reyna were considered too weak and they got ot just fine."

"But I'm not Sapphire or Reyna!" Crystal sobbed. "I'm not smart like them! I'm just a girl who likes adventures and..."

"Think of the Hunger Games as an adventure," Franc advised. "You weren't scared when you went diving in that shark tank, were you?" Crystal shook her head. "Then don't be scared in the arena! Just pretend you're in a shark tank or something. You can win this." He stared her in the eyes with the utmost confidence. Crystal smiled weakly. Her greatest adventure was just about to begin.

The Careers clearly didn't like her. It was all Louis's fault, really. The minute the Ones and Twos first met each other, he'd ratted out Crystal, pointing out all her 'ditsy adventurer' moments to Leto and Vulcan. "You know, she went to this cave deep in the jungle during our summer holidays once," he told them. "And she tried to fight off a wolf! By the time she came home, she had a broken arm and a sprained ankle. The best part was, she was stupid enough to try it again literally a month later!" Then he went on about how she had only been the tenth best female candidate at the Career Academy in District One and made a few jokes about her sword-fighting incapabilities. They believed him, and promptly told her she was out of the pack before she could even prove her worth.

"You're just not made for the Careers," Vulcan told her flatly. Crystal spent the entire Tribute Parade sulking in her chariot while Louis soaked up all the attention, even slapping her once or twice to show off his dominance. The crowd laughed at his antics and threw his roses. Crystal, on the other hand, was pelted with pebbles. She winced as one struck her in the head. She turned and saw Leto and Vulcan sneering at her, mumbling to each other as they waved to the crowd. They're mumbling about me! Crystal realised. She gripped the side of the chariot tightly, suddenly feeling faint.

"You're weak," Louis sneered. Crystal couldn't even bring herself to glare at him. He was right. She was weak. After the parade Crystal hopped off her still moving chariot and made a mad dash for the elevator, hoping none of the outliers saw her tears. The adventure was getting off to a horrible start.

Franc grabbed her shoulders. "Come on, Crystal. You can do this!" Three days of training had gone by. Crystal, hard as she worked, was denied a spot in the pack in favour of Neon. She was left sitting all alone during lunch, a time where some of the stronger outliers like Coney and Zebu, the girl from Ten, took great pleasure in mocking her.

"Bravo, Crystal!" Coney said, smirking. "You've just signed your death warrant! How does it feel to be the prey now, huh?"

"Yeah, it's going to one heck of an adventure to hell!" Zebu shouted, hurling a pastry at her. Thankfully, her training had given her fast reflexes. She was able to dodge that easily. But the fact that Zebu even dared to try in the first place, it sent off a strong message: Crystal was weak. On the morning before the private sessions with the Gamemakers, she was crying like a baby. Franc sat next to her, trying his best to calm his favourite cousin down.

"Just be natural," he told her. "Act all wild and perky like you usually do when we're back home." But this wasn't home, was it? Crystal could try, but she wasn't sure she could pull it off. At least she was going first. There would be less pressure.

As her name was called, she caught sight of Coney smirking. She was about to enter the Training Centre when he yelled, "Have fun, loser! Remember, you signed up for this!" It took all her willpower not to break down.

The Gamemakers were staring disdainfully at her, disappointed with this year's female tribute from District One. "Granted, she's very pretty but shows a lack of promise," one of the Gamemakers whispered.

"Maybe another Sapphire?" another whispered.

"Nah, she's not as hot. Not worth it."

Crystal tried her best to imagine herself as an adventurer, as the strong-willed explorer from those novels she loved to read, as the girl who would kick Armani and Royce's asses when she returned home. She displayed all her strongest traits, knife-throwing, climbing, axe-throwing, net-making. When the Gamemakers dismissed her, they seemed a lot less disappointed, but not quite pleased. Crystal sighed. She'd done her best. Hopefully, her best would be enough to warrant at least a seven or eight.

As she waited anxiously for the scores to come out, she flipped through a notebook. You see, unlike most Career tributes from the Academy, she'd bothered to make use of the free tapes of previous Games available at the library. She took note of all the noble tributes' mistakes that cost them their lives and all the strategies employed by the twenty Victors, from weak little Gwendolyn all the way to that brutal Capitol favourite Draco. They all had to make decisions that ultimately led to their victory, while the Ones made costly errors like trusting Onyx to make soup for them in the middle of the night or failing to take out Switch in the Bloodbath despite knowing that she was the favourite tribute. Crystal studied them as per Franc's recommendation, going through each very, very carefully. Louis thought this was stupid, but then again, he would probably die soon enough. Crystal saw the errors he made in the Training Centre: not learning survival skills, only focusing on stations he knew he was good at and of course, wasting too much time intimidating other tributes. He was going to die in that arena. The Capitol seal appeared on television and Crystal braced herself, her heart ramming against her chest violently. The scores were about to be revealed. "You've got this," Franc told her.

"No, she doesn't," Louis yawned.

"Shut up, douchebag. She's your District partner," Onyx scolded.

Crystal's face appeared on the screen. "Crystal Montgomery, with a score of, seven." She heaved a sigh of relief. Seven! That was good enough. Louis didn't see it that way.

"Only a seven? You're a joke."

"Shut up!" Franc roared, pounding his fist against the table. "Behave, young man!" Louis didn't say much after that. Franc was a feared Victor. No tribute could question his authority.

"Louis Beauchamp, with a score of, seven."

Louis roared in anger as Crystal smirked. Onyx shouted at him to calm down but he instead went on a rampage, smashing vases and throwing furniture. The escort shrieked and ran away, shouting, "Get away from me, District scumbag!" Eventually, the peacekeepers had to sedate him to avoid further damage.

"Who's the weak one now, Louis?" she teased, knowing that he could not hear her. Her adventure just got a little more exciting. It got even better when Leto, Vulcan and Neon only got eights, good scores, but not much different from Crystal and Louis. "You know what?" Crystal said to Franc. "I think you're right. This might just be a whole new adventure!"

Her interview angle was pretty clear right from the start. Play the part of a sexy adventurer. The only thing needed was the right execution. "Okay, Crystal," Franc told her. "As you walk up the stage, give the audience a flirty wink and move your hips a little, okay?" Crystal nodded. She'd acted flirtatious before, she didn't need to practise it. "Try to talk about all your craziest adventures, but leave out the parts that make you look stupid or anything. And make sure to throw in some flirty comments too."

Crystal wrinkled her nose. "So you want me to seduce Bartomeus?"

Franc's eyes widened. "What? Heck no! I want you to seduce the nation, not that old creep!"

She chuckled softly. "How about my dress?"

"I think it'll be something similar to Burberry's last year. You two have similar figures," Franc said.

"Okay, got it." Crystal didn't mind having the same dress as previous tributes. It worked out well for them, so it might just work miracles for her too.

"Oh, and one last thing," Franc said. "Trash-talking Anita wouldn't hurt. She hates us both."

Crystal flashed a sly smile. "I'll do just that."

When it was time for Crystal to enter the arena, she had to repeat her plan over and over in her head, just to make sure everything went fine. "Burst in, grab a backpack and a knife, then get the hell out of there, okay," she muttered as she had her last meal before entering the arena. She hoped it wouldn't be her last meal in the Capitol.

Her stylist gave her a wry smile. "Give them hell, Crystal," she told her as her launch pad went up. Crystal gave her a final salute.

The launch plates clicked into place and allowed the tributes to get a good look at the arena. Louis groaned, smacking his forehead. Auroch from Ten, known for being frightened of the dark, nearly wet his pants. Crystal smiled. It was her favourite cave. The same cave she'd visited four times in her life. She knew the place very well, all the hidden nooks and crannies, all the potential hazards and safe zones. This was her arena. Her chance to shine. She balled her fists and waited for the countdown to hit zero. The adventure of a lifetime was about to begin. For once, she wasn't afraid. She certainly wasn't wailing. Shame the same could not be said of Lignite, the girl from Twelve, on her left and Rhubarb, the boy from Eleven, on her right. The gong rang and some of the outliers dashed away, not wanting to risk the wrath of the Careers. As usual, though, the majority went right in. Draco had certainly instilled the importance of taking out District Four and the male tribute from Six first, because that was exactly what Leto and Vulcan did. Dylan was grabbed off his pedestal and stabbed repeatedly with a sword by Vulcan. Leto grabbed Bay's ponytail and flung her around until she cracked her skull and died. Chassis from Six clashed with Vulcan, but the drug addict was no match for the towering Career. He was dead in no time. Crystal didn't see any of this. She had grabbed a blue backpack and a set of knives before turning around and pushing smaller tributes out of the way. What she did see was her enraged District partner skewering Pi from Five with a spear. She gagged, grimacing at the carnage. The boy from Nine, Mizar, crashed into her but Crystal managed to regain balance and continue running while the poor boy was slashed up by Neon. She slashed her knife around fighting to get out of the danger zone. Auroch tried to charge at her, suddenly feeling a lot more confident after he had trampled Lignite and her District partner Cole to death in his earlier panic, but her knife struck his arm and he howled in pain. The injury slowed him down enough for Vulcan to come and finish him off. Neon, perhaps fearing the potential craziness of girls from Nine after last year, made sure to butcher up Kaniwa before she had a chance to even scream. Crystal made it to the edge of the Cornucopia, a trickle of blood splattering onto her boots after Lacey from Eight was horrifically slashed by Leto. Crystal nearly threw up, but she kept running. There was a hole in the cave wall not too far away, where she could hide for the time being. She just hoped it hadn't been filled with mutts. The dying screams of Java, the boy from Three, and Rhubarb filled the caverns. Crystal shuddered. "Yikes, Louis sure looks angry," she muttered, ducking into the hole. There was a freshwater spring inside the hole where she could drink from. She knew she couldn't sit there forever, but at least it gave her to chance to rest. She had to be ready to face the next phase in her arena adventure.

Crystal got out of her hiding spot on the morning of the second day. She knew of another similar spot approximately a mile away, and she had to get there fast, before someone noticed her. With her knife out she navigated through the cavern corridors, wary of traps that might have been put into place. This year, the arena had been locked and loaded with traps, much like Reyna's arena. Leto had been unfortunate enough to trigger an onslaught of vampire bats, the latest addition to the ever-expanding Capitolian mutt family, after she stepped on a wrong stone. The Career pack had managed to escape, with Leto only suffering two small bite wounds on her shoulder. She claimed it was nothing and brushed it off. What she didn't know was that those wounds would quickly get infected and would gradually weaken her over the coming days. But for now, she was safe. Crystal had a close call with a falling stalactite, but she was quick enough to dodge it. "Eep!" she gasped, looking around for more potential traps. The cave hadn't been this booby-trapped when she had last come here with Franc, Emma and her now ex-fling Zircon only six months ago. She made sure to tread more carefully as she walked on. The loose pebble almost got her, but she'd spotted it when her foot was just a mere millimetre away from stepping on it. She heaved a sigh of relief, not knowing that if she had stepped on it, she would have been squashed to death by a falling slab of rock. A scream echoes across the cavern. Crystal looked around, but there was no one. No cannon boomed either. She shrugged and continued walking. It turned out, on the other side of the arena, Carrot, the girl from Eleven with an eyepatch, had triggered yet another trap, sending an arrow into her leg. In the Capitol, the citizens were licking their lips while the district people lowered their heads. This was going to be an interestingly adventurous Games.

Crystal finally arrived at her planned destination. It was fairly similar, except for the lack of a freshwater spring. It didn't matter, not when Crystal had been sponsored two bottles of water by Emma. No, the real issue was the boy staring right at her. Tom. The boy from Eight. Before Crystal had time to react, he had lunged at her and brought her to the ground. In his hand was a club, which he sent smashing into Crystal's stomach. She coughed and wheezed in pain, raising her knife and stabbing Tom's waist. He screamed and Crystal threw him off her. The pair both had in them to get back on their feet. In the Capitol mentoring room, Franc and Woof were both staring nervously at their tributes, hoping that they could eliminate the other quickly. Tom swing his club first but Crystal dodged and spun around, landing a stab into Tom's shoulder. He dropped his club and gave Crystal a weak punch to her ribs but she kicked his groin and swiftly slit his throat. The cannon boomed. Crystal wiped her forehead, blinking in a quick moment of shock over what she'd just done. "He's dead?" she muttered, putting a hand over her mouth. Then she shook her head. "No, he's just a bandit or something. I had to kill him." She reminded herself that an adventurer had moments where he or she to take out his or her enemies eventually. This was one of those moments, she told herself. The adventure rumbled on.

Over the night, the Careers managed to track down and kill Alcove, the girl from Seven and Carrot after the pair had been bitten and left to die by vampire bats. Zebu, not quite feeling as confident as she did back in the Training Centre, had wandered into a small den designed to shoot a flurry of poisonous arrows at anyone who dared to enter. Her not-so-famous last words were, "Damn it, Crystal outlived me?" Meanwhile, while Crystal was busy setting up traps around her area, she noticed that about ten metres away was a loose rock that would trigger what she thought to be a dart-throwing machine. She smirked. She had just the plan.

"Hey, look!" Neon yelled pointing at Crystal's hiding spot. "It's Crissy's hidey-hole!" Crystal woke up with a jolt, banging her head against the ceiling above and only drawing more laughs from the Careers and Panem as a whole. She glared at them, flustered.

"Let's cut her up, shall we?" Leto suggested, grinning.

"Yeah, I call dibs on cutting her face!" Vulcan declared.

"I call dibs on her stomach!" Louis sneered. "Nice to see you again, Crystal."

Crystal pretended to whimper, causing Louis to snicker even more. The Careers approached. Crystal held her breath. Just one more step... She watched as all four members of the Career pack either tripped over a thin wire or slipped on a wet surface and triggered the trap. Instantly, they were hit by at least a thousand darts flying towards them at near supersonic speed. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Four cannons boomed. Despite the fact that she was thoroughly disgusted by their unrecognisable corpses, she forced herself to give the cameras a smug smile. "Not so weak now, huh?" Then she threw up. Yeah, she was still pretty weak, she figured.

Crystal knew she couldn't stay in one area for long, so she packed her stuff and headed for a third spot she knew. It was a high, covered ledge with a small pool of water. Perfect for hiding. A cannon boomed, making her jump, almost into another falling stalactite trap. Gadget from Three had just died, being impaled by a rising stalagmite trap. Crystal sighed. "One less enemy standing in the way, I guess." Another cannon boomed. Coney had bested Fiona from Six in a fight. Crystal jumped again, tripping over a wire and barely managing to duck in time before a spear sailed over her head. "Yikes!" She got the hell out of there as quick as she could. "I guess I'm not making it to that ledge tonight," she sighed. "I've got a finale with Coney. Of all people, why him?" she wondered aloud. She didn't realise that Coney was just thinking the exact same thing.

"Gosh, it just had to be Crystal, did it?" he grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Eh, she's pretty pathetic. I can handle her."

Crystal marched on, constantly glancing over her shoulder in case Coney was sneaking up on her. She thought about home. Of Franc, Emma and her friends Zircon (they'd made up soon after breaking up) and Rhodium. She thought about finally being free from the Montgomeries and from the planned wedding with Royce. She narrowed her eyes. All she had to do was kill Coney and she would be free. It didn't take long for Coney to find her. A scream filled the cavern and Crystal readied her knife, expecting an attack. What she didn't expect was Coney trying to flee a swarm of rats. You see, Coney was quite well known in District Seven for having a huge fear of rats. It was a big joke among his friends, how the towering lumberjack was afraid of something so small and fairly harmless. Well, these rats were going to cost him his life. Crystal didn't like rats very much either. She squealed and jumped out of the way, not wanting to be trampled by Coney and the rats, as Coney ran right into a poisonous dart trap built into the cave walls. Boom! Crystal stared wide-eyed at Coney's dead body. She had expected to fight or at least to kill a dying Coney. But instead, the rats, which had only been meant to drive Coney towards her, had driven Coney straight into a trap. He was dead. Crystal looked up and saw a hole being cut into the roof of the cave. The trumpets sounded. Crystal dropped her knife and fell to her knees. She had won! Against the odd, without the pack, she had completed her great adventure! "I knew I'd win," she said, before passing out, the physical and mental exhaustion of the arena overwhelming her.

Her arrival back home was greeted by thunderous applause and loud cheers of excitement, since District One had managed to bridge the gap between them and District Two, both Districts having four Victors each. The Montgomeries, while still pissed off that she had volunteered, were happy to have a Victor. Royce and Anita ran up to her, laughing with glee. Crystal sighed. Franc gave her a concerned look. "If you want, I can-"

"No," Crystal told him. "I've got this."

Royce gave her a hug, one she did not return. "Great, now we can live in the Victors Village together!"

Anita smirked at Franc. "You may not be a part of us anymore, Franc, but we're still moving into your neighbourhood!"

"Actually," Crystal piped up, shoving Royce hardly to the ground. "I'm living alone."

Royce gasped. Anita smacked her forehead, muttering, "Here we go again."

"I'm not marrying Royce," Crystal declared. "And you are not welcome in the Village. You are not my mother, Anita. Go find yourself another Victor."

Anita snarled at her. "We aren't going to disown you, you know! As family, we have full right to-"

"No!" Franc barked, stepping in front of Anita. Onyx, Sapphire and Emma soon joined him. "Crystal deserves to be left alone. She is not a Montgomery anymore!"

"Yeah, you lot can piss off," Onyx growled.

Anita seemed speechless. As she opened her mouth to make a retort, a band of peacekeepers surrounded her.

"What?" she yelped, trying to break free of their grasp.

"Anita Montgomery," one of the peacekeepers boomed. "You and your husband the Head Peacekeeper have been found guilty of treason."

"Treason?!" Anita screeched, her voice now panicky.

"You are to spend jail time in the Capitol, where another trial will determine if further action is to be taken against both of you." With that, Anita was dragged screaming and kicking away from the square.

Crystal blinked. It almost seemed like an adventurer's dream come true. The ultimate bandit was gone. She was free at last! Franc smiled at her." So, let's check out your new home, shall we? And then we can go bungee jumping again."

Crystal grinned. "Sure!"

There was nothing much to say about Crystal so the pair quickly moved in.

Peeta flipped the page. The next Victor was a girl with short hair that barely touched her shoulders and fierce blue eyes. She scowled at the camera, raising her chin arrogantly. The few district citizens that made it into the shot frowned, their eyes entwined with rage. Behind her, Draco smiled smugly, seemingly proud of his latest Victor. "Freya Carson."

VICTORS

District 1-Sapphire Huntington(4), Onyx Hibonite(9), Franc Montgomery(14), Crystal Montgomery(21)

District 2-Ragnar Sveinsson(5), Reyna Boudicca(6), Draco Hadley(10), Scipio MacAllister(17)

District 3-Nikola Johnson(13)

District 4-Marina Bluebell(1), Mags Flanagan(11)

District 5-Shocker Crimson(8), Switch Kim(19)

District 6-Ford Hamilton(20)

District 7-Hassan Greenwood(2), Jill Wilson(15)

District 8-Woof Casino(16)

District 9-Gwendolyn Whitfield(18)

District 10-Ringo Alvarez(7)

District 11-Orchid Bloom(12)

District 12-Axel Millar(3)

A/N: There we go, Districts One and Two are equal in terms of Victors again, but not for long! I hope you enjoyed the rebellious adventurer girl from District One who wasn't really very prepared for the Games, aka Crystal! So far, none of the District One Victors are loyal to the Capitol, and only Draco isn't part of the rebellion in Two. But soon, that might all change. Which side will Freya take? Stay tuned to find out! Cheers:)