Chapter 55: Evan Fortis

A/N: District Two are back with yet another Victor, and Evan at first glance might seem like a typical, strong Career, but there is something else about him that makes him stand out amongst the crowd of Career recruits, and in an arena where creatures come into play, he'll definitely benefit...

P.S. So yeah, my friend EvanPengu asked me to do a chapter with him as a Victor, so congratulations, Evan, you got yourself a chapter! (and yes, I included that orangutan and child meme lol)

P.S.S. Join my, wait no, our (Marie464 and me), Discord server! The link is in my profile :)

P.S.S. The story is gonna get a new name! So it's now gonna be 'The Degenerates' :)

Katniss raised an eyebrow. "The guy with the monkeys, huh? Didn't expect someone like him to win."

Peeta shrugged. "Well, Cartier, Laurel and Porter all won in rather quirky ways, so Evan wasn't that big of a surprise in comparison."

"Still," Katniss said. "Porter had a thing with lions, that was it. Evan, he just had a way with literally every animal in his arena."

"If only we did too," Peeta murmured, shuddering at the thought of the mutts chasing him and Katniss to the Cornucopia during their Games."

"I wonder," Katniss continued, tapping the picture. "Did Evan survive the war? And if so, did he by any chance hide in some jungle or woods and became, I don't know, the King of the Jungle or something?"

Peeta chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if he did."

Evan Fortis

District 2

Aged 18

6 Kills

They thought Evan was just another big, strong brute hell-bent on winning the Games at all costs. And after Valkyrie's method of victory last year, mental and emotional strengthening had become a key lesson taught during the Career Academy training sessions. One would expect that Evan would have a heart of stone. But they were wrong. Evan's father was a Peacekeeper who had been to the Capitol and had visited mutt zoos on regular occasions, and his mother was a mutt hunter who was also tasked with the study of the wildlife in the District in order to design better equipment for future mutt hunters. This led to Evan being exposed to the nature around him from a very young age. Whenever they were free, his parents would take him to the forests near their mountain village, a vastly uncharted land full of mutts and creatures that lurked about amongst the dense, imposing trees, but a land of adventure nonetheless. While here, Evan would learn how to climb trees, forage for food, hunt mutts, swim in rivers and find freshwater sources. This forest was officially called the Crowned Beaver Forest due to the mass population of crowned beavers, a rare breed of beavers that were accidentally cross-bred and produced in Capitol mutt zoos approximately twenty years before the Dark Days, before being set loose in the wild in this forest. The forest itself was an Academy of its own in Evan's mind, and a far more effective one than the established Career Academies across District Two. It taught him valuable survival skills and allowed him to get to grips with the wild surroundings. Furthermore, he developed a liking towards animals. His favourite ones were those orangutans, or at least that was what he thought they were called, he couldn't really remember. Supposedly brought in from a distant, long-gone land called the Misty Islands, these orangutans had evolved and adapted over time, eventually becoming plentiful and thriving in these woods. Along with the other monkeys and ape-like mutts that inhabited the Crowned Beaver Forest, Evan grew to admire their intelligence and uniqueness and spent what seemed like an eternity alongside them, sometimes even camping in their territory just to get close to them. He didn't understand why in other District Two households they were feared and often hunted down for sport. After all, they were gentle creatures, friendly beings that often regarded Evan as one of their own and treated him with the utmost care and respect. They were nothing like the snake monkeys that lurked about in the swamps and were known to be bloodthirsty, vicious monsters. His mother made sure that from a young age, Evan knew how to hunt and kill them, mostly because their meat was actually rich in nutrients and very nourishing, especially in times of hunger and crisis, assuming you could even hunt one down, much less quell the attacks of its troupe that would almost certainly follow the killing of one of their own. But the orangutans weren't like the snake monkeys and Evan felt that they deserved to be treated better. But oh well, who would listen to the opinions of an eighteen-year-old kid from a random mountain village?

In his village, when he wasn't out in the forest, Evan trained at Grest High, the local Career Academy renowned for its survival training due to its proximity with not only the forest, but also Lando Peak, a tall mountain frequented by recruits for hiking and endurance training. It was also near several rivers such as the Flame River and the Bone River, both of which provided ample opportunities for survival training, as well as the Fanghook Pond to practise swimming and fishing skills. However, the safety regulations decreed that they couldn't go too deep into the forest or too far down the trails, something Evan found ridiculous, because the real challenges lay deep within the dense forestry, with tracker jacker nests and nightlock bushes and all that kind of stuff. Sure they might get lost and one or two kids might die, but it would be good training for the Hunger Games. When they weren't out and about Evan trained in the massive main building of Grest High, specialising in knives and daggers, as well as archery, a skill that was much needed in hunting. He rose through the ranks, proving himself to be a tough challenger for the volunteer spots, which at the time, seemed to be almost certainly clinched by another stronger boy named Zeus Ferguson, a tough, sword-wielding boy with powerful arms and extraordinarily fast legs. However, Evan wasn't going down without a fight. Before their last fight to determine the eventual volunteer, he slipped some special mushrooms in Zeus's soup during their lunch break while his friend Charles distracted the hulking boy. Evan had gotten them whilst out with his family in the Crowned Beaver Forest, and he had learned the hard way that while they were far from lethal, they left you with a bad feeling in your stomach and a splitting headache. Zeus had never seen these mushrooms, since they could only be found far beyond the set 'safety zone' of the Grest High survival sessions, so he ate them without even a sniff of suspicion. Big mistake. Just an hour later, he was on the ground, groaning in pain as Evan loomed over him, smirking as he knew he had won the fight. Zeus had pushed himself to begin the fight despite feeling some discomfort in his belly when he could have just postponed the fight. However, peer pressure and a fear of being mocked as weak led him to make the stupid decision to fight Evan anyway, and Evan took the already pained Zeus down without a hitch, securing his place as the official male volunteer from District Two for the Fifty-fifth Hunger Games. He smirked at the boy on the floor as medics rushed to his side. Zeus had for years called him 'monkey boy' since he never did stop chattering about the orangutans and creatures he encountered in the wild. The amount of mockery he received just for being him was simply appalling, to say the least. But now, at least he wasn't the one on the ground with sprained ankles and bruised ribs. At least he would be the one going into the arena, not Zeus or any of his cronies, all of whom were attention-seeking jerks.

His District partner this year was a daredevil girl who hailed from a relatively wealthy family in the heart of the District. Katoptris Welch was a mischievous girl with wicked brown eyes and a sly smirk on her face as she skipped about the train, attempting to climb up to the roof of the train with one hand tied behind her back and purposely jumping off just so she could feel the adrenaline rush as she was propelled back onto the roof by the forcefield. Evan knew she was good with knives and all, but he seriously doubted she was Victor potential. She didn't seem very smart. But hey, at least she was the one who got Draco as her mentor. Evan respected the dude and all that, but he was so strict and demanding and patriotic, it was a little annoying at times. He very much preferred his current mentor, Brutus. Brutus seemed like a terrifying beast of a Victor and his reputation only served to fuel this belief, however, when you really got to know him, he was in fact a very nice person who seemed to genuinely care about Evan instead of simply desiring 'honour' and 'glory' like Draco. Evan struck up a good bond with him and even shared about his experiences out in the wild with the animals who dwelled in District Two's vast uncharted lands. Brutus himself was a city boy who didn't even know what an orangutan or a flying squirrel was, but he showed genuine interest in them, asking questions and even asking if Evan could show him a few of his sketches, which he had drawn out on a folded, yellowed piece of paper that served as his tribute token. Brutus and Evan talked tactics too, and both decided that getting too close to Katoptris was probably a bad idea. "Try to assert yourself as the pack's leader," Brutus advised. "You don't want Katoptris or that bratty boy from One leading everyone into a foul situation."

Evan took one look out of his window, and decided that Brutus was right. Katoptris was doing a one-armed handstand on the edge of the train roof, not exactly the sign of a capable leader.

It was fair to say that the chariot rides did not go as planned. Evan stood by his chariot, waiting for the other tributes to finish dressing up. He looked around him, as chaos pretty much reigned over the entire place. He wasn't sure what he had expected in the first place, but the orangutans and monkeys he hung out with out in the woods were often far more civil than the people here. Blight, the Victor from Seven and Jana, a former escort, were hiding behind a wall, holding a blonde wig as a stylist from one of the Outlier Districts ran around, screaming frantically. The boy from One was shouting at the boy from Five, hurling some rather foul insults at him as Marie rolled her eyes and shouted back at him. "Oh come on, I know you're from One, but please, grow some brain cells!" The pair from Seven was in tears, wailing loudly like the red fox Evan often encountered in the woods. They were usually friendly enough towards him, but one time a rogue fox had attacked him, and he was forced to kill it. As all around him, tributes, mentors and stylists bickered, ran around and made loud noises resembling a peculiarly wide variety of animals, Evan found himself wishing that the Parade could just start.

Oh boy, he was really going to eat his words.

The Tribute Parade began as usual, with the tributes rolling out in their chariots to a particularly large crowd. A recent poll had shown that the Capitolians were by and large in favour of changing their demonym to 'Capitolites', a desire that was immediately granted. From then on, all official documents and TV programmes and newspapers ceased to mention the term 'Capitolians' and instead used 'Capitolites', bar a couple of mistakes here and there initially due to tendencies. The Capitolites even switched up their clothing style to fit the occasion, something Evan could vividly see as the colour schemes and choices of clothing had changed rather significantly this year. He gave the crowd a dazzling smile and waved, pretty typical of a District Two Career tribute. Beside him, Katoptris flashed a wicked smile as she raised a plastic sword into the air, all whilst balancing on one foot with her other hand tied behind her back. Evan had to resist a strong urge to roll his eyes. Yep, she definitely wasn't going to come out of the arena alive. And then things began to go wrong. As they rounded a corner of the street, Evan heard a loud screeching noise. Before he could react, the chariot sank beneath him and he was thrown to the ground. He yelped as his body hit the street with a loud thud and the horses began to whiny loudly. What the heck was going on? He groaned, a slight pain in his back, but nothing he couldn't handle. But the chariot, it was skidding at a wild pace, right towards the screaming crowd, who were now screaming in fear rather than excitement. Evan held his breath as the crowd began to push and shove out of the way, fleeing for their lives as the chariot zoomed through in a zigzag motion, slowly skidding to a halt but not before knocking over an unfortunate young couple and a man dressed in a bright red toga. He looked around him and gasped. Katoptris was on the ground, murmuring in pain as blood oozed from a large gash in her leg. The District One chariot had stopped abruptly and the tributes were thrown off, before the chariots ripped at their dresses and they ran off to the Tribute Centre half-naked and screaming in humiliation. The District Three chariot had also stopped, a lot less abruptly, as the two tributes stared on in utter confusion. All the way at the back, Evan could see that the District Nine chariot had ended up just like his, swooshing through the crowd as the tributes were on the ground, clutching their bodies and rolling in pain. It was utter chaos, and Evan tried to get up so he could walk away, preferably to the Tribute Centre, which he could see in the distance. President Snow was ill that night so the speech to the tributes had been cancelled anyway. But just as he was about to stand up, the horses came. His eyes widened in shock as one of them brought its hooves down on him, and everything went pitch black. The last sound he heard was a faint scream in the background, from one of the tributes, probably that girl from Four judging by the distinct tone and accent, and that was it. He slipped off to the world of nothingness that awaited him.

Coral sat on one of the chairs outside the Hospital Wing, cupping her face in her hands as a couple of beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. The Tribute Centre was fully air-conditioned and, compared to the sweltering heat of District Four's summers, was a little too cold for Coral's liking, so it seemed weird that she would be sweating in a place like this. But the cold was merely secondary at that very moment. How could she think about it, when her own tribute, Turquoise Borja, one of the most promising athletes in the entire District, was inside the Hospital Wing with broken legs and in an unconscious state? Oh, that nature-loving boy from Two Evan was in there too, but her main focus was on Turquoise. Coral didn't really know Turquoise very well, after all, Nile had brought her to their team, not her, and she was one of the most recent recruits, but Coral still cared for her nonetheless. She could nab the ball off an opponent and practically fly across the pitch before making a delightful pass to set up a goal, an incredible talent that had wowed Coral. But now, here she was, forced to compete in this god-awful Hunger Games. And to make things worse, those stupid Capitolians, no, Capitolites, Coral reminded herself, hadn't properly built the chariots, which almost immediately malfunctioned due to broken parts and unscrewed wheels. The fact that they had severely underfed and abused the horses only made things worse. Poor Turquoise had to suffer the effects of it, having been roughly thrown off her chariot and trampled by the rabid horses that were running away from the chariots of Districts Nine and Ten. The doctors had refused to talk with her regarding Turquoise's condition, although according to Katoptris, that daredevil girl from Two who was recently discharged, she 'didn't exactly look right'. Shaking her head, Coral continued to sit there, waiting for someone, anyone, to give her an update. Willuna sat on a chair beside her, quietly humming as she scribbled something on a notepad that Coral couldn't quite read. Coral, being the dumbass she was, hadn't brought anything along with her to ease her nerves or pass the time. Willuna had given her a Rubik's cube to play around with, and solving it became an engaging activity at first, but she had soon grown frustrated at her inability to solve it and decided to return it to Willuna, who could solve it with ease. Just then, the door swung open. Instantly, Coral perked up, her eyes glittering with hope. Was it the doctor? Or better yet, Turquoise herself? No, it was neither. Just Evan, who looked fine now, in comparison to his battered-up self the other day. The tributes had been given five days off in the Capitol to allow the injured to recover, and most of them were starting to crack under the stress of being confined on their respective floors, knowing that there was a high chance they would end up dead very, very soon. Evan gave them a pitiful look as he passed by, his eyes sunken and tired. "She's recovering, if that's what you want to know," he told them. "She's recovering faster than a sea cucumber."

Coral blinked, slightly taken aback by Evan's words. On the one hand, she was glad that Turquoise was recovering well, but how on earth did Evan know about sea cucumbers? District Two was nowhere near the oceans, where sea cucumbers were plentiful and sometimes consumed as part of District Four's local diet. (Coral herself had never been a fan of sea cucumbers, but Mags and Timmy were) "How do you know about sea cucumbers?" she asked him. "Do you have like, an aquarium or something?"

Evan smiled weakly, a twinkle emerging in his eye. "My father showed me a picture of one. He's been to a Capitol aquarium and saw one, so yeah. They're fascinating, aren't they?"

"I guess they are," Coral said, a little absent-mindedly. Sea cucumbers and other marine life were so intertwined in her life, she never thought about them being anything out-of-the-ordinary or fascinating. Then again, she found the concept of grain incredible, so who was she to talk about what was and wasn't interesting?

Willuna nodded, looking up from her notebook. "Thanks for telling us, Evan. Brutus is waiting for you on your floor, by the way."

Evan gave them one last smile and walked off, murmuring to himself as he walked. Coral couldn't help but feel a tinge of awe towards this boy. He wasn't just the typical Games-oriented Career tribute. In fact, he was a far more complex person, with a genuine interest in nature, much unlike Draco, who had just recently put forth a proposal to destroy an ancient forest, the last bit of nature in the already stinking, polluted, urban District Six, for the purpose of building new, bigger factories and landfills. Evan seemed like a nice guy, he didn't seem to care much about the attention or anything of that sort, so she was fine with him. Jason from last year, however, ugh, heck no. He was nothing more than a wishy-washy rotten fish with hormones raging like an underwater volcano. Before she could continue her train of thought, however, she heard footsteps approach. Tilting her head, she bit her lip as Cartier Cooper, the Victor from District One, came into view. Honestly, Coral was usually a very nice person who could tolerate most, mostly because she was too shy to do otherwise. Every time she felt even a little bit mad, the image of Strawberry McMuffin, the tribute from District Eleven she had brutally murdered so many years ago, with his violent rage towards her and her District, would come into mind and haunt her, forcing her to shrink back into herself. But Cartier, oh he was something else. The slimy piece of whale blubber with a clogged blowhole had tried to kiss her for goodness sake! It just made her mad that he was just trying to invade her personal space, so much so that even the soggy, surf-smacked ghost of Strawberry McMuffin couldn't come back to haunt her. She got up to leave for the bathroom, when Willuna held her arm out, stopping her. Coral gave her a pleading look, but Willuna gazed firmly into her eyes. "Give him a chance," she whispered. Reluctantly (and against her will), Coral sat back down and stared glumly ahead as Cartier sat down next to her, the tension rising in the air. She raised her chin in an attempt to look defiant, but only succeeded in banging her head against the wall, causing her to yelp in pain before shaking her head, ignoring the throbbing in her head and trying to look angry and failing miserably. Drat! This wasn't how things were meant to be!

Cartier shuffled his feet nervously and pulled out a packet from his bag. "I, uhh, brought you some crisps. Iris, erm, told me these are your favourite snack."

Coral snatched the packet from his hand, a little too roughly, and ended up dropping it, only to catch it with her foot. She bent down to pick it up and examined it. It was her favourite brand of crisps (she knew she shouldn't be eating junk food, but the trauma and stress were making it hard. PTSD could be such a dolphin-murdering, crappy ass lobster sometimes), and sea salt flavoured, just the way she liked it. She flashed Cartier a smile, against her will, and he returned it meekly. Coral clamped a hand over her mouth. Smiling? What was she doing? No, Cartier was the bad guy! She continued glaring at him whilst munching on her crisps, not exactly the toughest look, to be honest. Just then, Cartier's sister, Geneva, walked by, carrying a chessboard. Instantly, Coral perked up, realising that there was an escape. Geneva had saved her! She opened her mouth to greet Geneva, hoping she would draw attention away from her brother. But no, she walked straight towards Willuna and began playing chess, the pair laughing and chatting like old friends (to be fair, they were). Coral turned her head to watch them play, completely ignoring Cartier. Over the years, she knew that Willuna secretly loved Geneva, but she highly doubted that Geneva had any feelings for her. "How's life, Willy?" Geneva asked, moving her pawn forward.

"Oh, the usual," Willuna replied nonchalantly, making a move with her knight. "Just one of my kiddos getting badly hurt."

Geneva rolled her eyes. "The Gamemakers probably got a good tongue lashing for that incident."

Coral didn't realise how intently she was watching their chess match until Cartier snapped his fingers to draw her attention. She turned and glared at him. "What?"

Cartier blinked, a little taken aback by the harshness in her words. "Coral, it's been years now, can we please just forgive and forget? I just want to be friends," he pleaded.

Coral narrowed her eyes, putting another crisp into her mouth and chewing on it slowly. She wanted to be angry, to be furious with him, but over time, looking at that innocent look on his face, she found it surprisingly harder than expected. "I'm gonna make it clear: we are not fries, I mean, friends, we can talk but we are not friends, cool?"

Cartier nodded. "Sure, just hope you change your mind. Please, Coral, I'm really sorry."

Coral rolled her eyes. "Cool bubbles. See you later."

Cartier's eyes widened. "Wait, where are you going?"

Coral threw the now empty bag of crisps at him. He flinched as he tried to dodge it, but it smacked him in the eye. "To the bathroom, you soggy little manatee!" Coral exclaimed, an exasperated look on her face as she trudged off, only to bump straight into Evan, who apparently had had to make an emergency trip to the bathroom. She fell to the ground, her shoe flying into the air, before landing and bonking her on the head. Behind her, she could hear Willuna and Geneva stifling their giggles as she rubbed her sore head. Evan reached out his hand to help her up, but she refused his help, opting to try and stand on her own and failing miserably. Ugh, why on earth was she such a bumbling bag of mouldy clams?

Caesar sat in his seat, shifting a little uncomfortably. Claudius sat beside him, having put on quite a fair bit of weight over the years, but never losing his sickening sense of excitement towards the Games. Well, he wasn't the one who had married a traumatised Victor, or the one who had to get up close and personal with the doomed tributes, or the one who was the byproduct of a horrifying system that prostituted the Victors. Claudius swirled about in his swivel chair, minutes before they were about to go live, a huge grin plastered upon his pudgy face splattered with all sorts of makeup that was never really Caesar's style. On the big screens in front of him, he could see the arena in its full glory. An abandoned zoo, one Caesar himself had visited as a kid, but it was closed down when he was about fifteen or so, due to allegations of animal abuse and an explosion that killed many of the animals and six Capitolites. Caesar had never even thought about what had happened since then, but now it was right there in front of his eyes, serving as an arena, the scene of a deathmatch between twenty-four innocent kids, where innocent blood would be spilt. To think that just a couple of decades ago this place was filled with the echoing laughter of children and the playful sound of feet running across the pathways was a sickening thought, because now it would be filled with the echoing screams of dying children and the desperate sound of feet running across the now nonexistent pathways. There were still the same old restaurants and wooden maps and tiny exhibits that Caesar remembered from his old childhood, as well as that cool gift shop where he had bought a stuffed bear, but they were all run-down and had been partially reclaimed by nature. The animals were in their exhibits, but there was little in their way of escape, and the pathways were, as he said, nonexistent, so this would no doubt be a dangerous arena full of beasts of the wild. Maybe this would give that boy from Two, Evan, an advantage. Caesar remembered his interview vividly. He had talked about nature and animals and had shown him his wildlife and plant sketches. An amazingly rare interest, especially coming from a Career from District Two. He was expecting a deadly, cold-hearted killer, but Evan seemed to have more heart than he would have imagined. Maybe he would win in this arena. One minute left on the clock. Iris, the girl from District Four Caesar had somehow been able to marry despite the fact that she was clearly way out of his league, walked up to him, looking as lovely as ever. He glanced up at her and smiled, but his smile was etched with a hint of sorrow for the certain death that he knew would await several tributes in the coming moments. Worse still, he had to hype up their deaths. That made his stomach churn to no end. Iris smiled back down at him, a timid, yet encouraging smile. "Good luck out there," she told him, before leaning down and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Caesar grinned back at her. "Thanks 'Ris. Hope District Four does well this year."

Iris nodded, biting her lip as her legs shook ever so slightly. "Yeah, gosh, I just hope Turquoise and Callum won't die. But it's the Hunger Games, what can you do?" Just then, the director called out for her, and she slipped away, but not before giving Caesar one final wave. Caesar returned it, then took a deep breath for what was to come. The dreaded Bloodbath. The director raised his hand as a signal, and Caesar donned his usual flashy but fake smile as the cameras went live.

"Good evening Panem!" he purred, staring ahead at the cameras, trying his very best not to let his smile slip. It was ever so tempting, to just blurt out the truth about the VPR, about the sheer destruction of the Games, about the Districts' suffering, about just how wrong this was, but he knew that doing so would only result in his head being chopped off, although not before a whole bunch of torturous means were put into place just to make him feel the horrifically painful consequences of rebellion. He and Claudius did all their usual pre-Bloodbath commentary, including reading out the names of the Gamemaker Team. Then came the part Caesar was absolutely dreading. The launch. Caesar could see them, twenty-four tributes, all looking either nervous or excited, emerging from their tubes, swirling their heads around as they tried to get a good view of the treacherous arena that loomed before them. Caesar gritted his teeth, tapping his feet nervously as the countdown began. The cameras were off of him, so he could bite his chair for all he cared, just as long as he didn't make a sound that would lead to speculation about his behaviour in the commentary room. Caesar found Evan in the midst of the bunch, the tall boy raising his eyebrows as he examined his surroundings. His gaze fell upon the map, and he squinted a little to get a closer look. All of a sudden, his eyes widened and a distinct gleam of excitement appeared. Caesar watched as Evan cracked his knuckles, a sly smirk popping up on the Career boy's face. He gripped the edge of his seat and braced himself for the ensuing melee as the gong rang. "And they're off!" Caesar announced, holding his breath as he forced himself to focus and narrate all the action going on. "The boy from One (yes, he knew his name was Maestro, but those shallow-minded Capitolites didn't, so he had to address him as such) is running for the sword. He's got fantastic sword-fighting ability, doesn't he, that fine lad?"

"Why, certainly, Caesar," Claudius replied. "According to Head Gamemaker Lyana Leon, he was brilliant with the sword in training! Ooh, I simply cannot wait to see this amazing killer in action!"

"I can't wait either, Claudius," Caesar said, through gritted teeth. Ugh. he hated Claudius. In fact, why on earth did Caesar have to join him in the commentary room anyway? He would very much prefer to cuddle up with Iris in a room far away from the screens displaying the Hunger Games. Or maybe he could use the time to plot out pranks with Blight and Jana. Either way, he would definitely have a plethora of options to help steer his mind away from the Games. Alas, here he was, stuck in an unfortunate scenario. Oh well. "And he might well get a kill here! The boy slashes his sword and down goes the boy from Nine, and oh look! The boy from Two has gotten a knife, and he's sent it flying into the girl from Nine's throat! Well, District Nine are out with a wee patter this year, they've just lost both of their tributes in the opening seconds!"

"Ah well, such a shame," Claudius bemoaned. "I was hoping for another Miller, you know? A crazy, super-awesome guy who loves to kill, that would be brilliant! Imagine the blood, imagine the gore!"

Caesar nearly puked at the thought of this, so he decided to move on. "The boy from Seven has gotten into a tussle with the girl from Five, but she's nabbed his backpack and is on the run! There she goes, wow, she's an incredible runner and- oh! The girl from Four has speared her! Ladies and gentlemen, we thought we would be seeing a second Switch right there!" Caesar froze, the mention of his mother forcing the bile up his throat like a sickening wave. Shaking his head, he adjusted his poise and tried his best to refocus.

"And the boy from Twelve has just been stabbed in the back by the boy from Two!" Claudius said, practically hopping with glee, his face going bright red with sheer excitement. Eagerness and euphoria oozed out of him like melted chocolate, a reminder of just how brainwashed this pudgy man truly was. "And his District partner has been hit with a knife by the boy from Two too! Oops, didn't mean to say 'Two too', hehe."

Caesar resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, this boy from Two is really something, isn't he? There's a potential Victor right there!"

"Definitely! But now, here comes the girl from One, and she's got her eyes set on the boy from Ten, the boy's trying to fight back with his dagger, but yeesh, that's horrible technique right there! Even my grandmother could do better for crying out loud (no she couldn't, Caesar thought, trying his best not to snarl at Claudius). Typical District scumbag, can't even use a weapon correctly. And he's dead, as he should be." Claudius sighed, the disappointment towards the boy from Ten, Lazaro, clearly written all over his face. Caesar decided to try and ignore him, although it was harder than one might expect.

"Now then, here is the girl from Two, what can she do? Oh! She's killed the girl from Eight, that's what she's done! Look at that daredevil smile and cheeky cartwheel, it tells you everything. What about the boy from Four, we haven't seen him- oh never mind, he's just killed the girl from Seven! Alas, she was already a goner when the boy from Five stabbed her in the leg. It's sad, really. She had such good axe-throwing skills according to Lyana. She could have done better had it not been for the boy from Five," Caesar announced, his hands getting clammy from terror. The nightmares, the nightmares about the horrific deaths that had happened before, they were suddenly coming back to him now, paralysing him with fear. The girl from Eight, lying dead in a pool of blood with her face carved apart and her intestines carved out and wrung around her neck, oh that scene, it just brought back cruel, horrific memories of murders that had occurred in past Games, ones he could never forget. A cloud passed over his eyes, but he did all he could to fight back, trying to stay calm. Deep breaths, Caesar, he told himself. From outside the room, Iris, whom Caesar could still see through a transparent glass, gave him a thumbs up for encouragement. She smiled warmly, even though he could tell by her eyes she was scared out of her wits. Caesar took one final deep breath and continued on. "The boy from Three, ooh, he's gotten himself into some trouble with the boy from One. And off goes his head!" Caesar's face turned a horrific shade of green in disgust at the mere sight of that. He wanted to vomit, to puke, to hide, just to get away from this!

"Ooh, that's so incredible to watch!" Claudius exclaimed, clapping his hands excitedly. "And the girl from Six has met her end too! A fantastic kill from the girl from Two! Jumping from the roof of the Cornucopia with a knife and backflipping whilst stabbing your victim, that is so cool!"

Caesar couldn't hold it back any longer. He raised his hand and flashed a 'T', a sign that he needed to go to the toilet, and the director waved his hand to allow him to do so. He was allowed to take five-minute-long toilet breaks, but no more. Caesar didn't care. He ran straight for the toilet and barfed everything out.

Caesar sighed quietly as the Games drew on. It was his night shift whilst Claudius slept in a special bedroom he had previously been assigned to for five hours, before he would come back within an hour, and then it would be Caesar's turn to sleep. In the morning they would have a thirty-minute long breakfast while on air, and the same would happen for dinner at night. This would also double as a food review as they were able to review snacks and meals that had been ordered from newly-opened restaurants such as Kylie's Lobster, which they reviewed just last night and both agreed that it was frankly not worth the eye-watering price tag. They would each get a one-hour long lunch break and would be in shifts for that period. This was the only time Caesar could interact with Iris, who remained outside the commentary room, nervously watching the Games, fiddling with a Rubik's cube that Willuna had given her. She was doing quite well with it, although according to her, Coral hadn't had the same luck. For the moment, the Games were slogging on in a dull fashion, and Caesar was content with just entertaining the audience with some statistics about the tributes. If anything, he hoped that this dull period would drag on, and that Claudius would be the one commentating on all the action. Of course, such luck could never befall upon him, and even the relatively optimistic Caesar knew that it would be futile to hope. The director directed his attention to one of the numerous big screens displaying each and every tribute and their movements. Caesar followed his gaze and saw the Careers. He raised an eyebrow, and the director signalled for him to comment on them. "It looks like Evan (after the Bloodbath, he was allowed to address the tributes however he liked) has sensed something, folks," Caesar announced, peering closely at Evan as he held up a hand to halt the pack and began treading slowly, all the while glancing with a strange look at the trees that towered like giants above him. What was he doing? Sensing a threat? There were no tributes nearby and they were in the orangutan exhibit, so, hang on a minute. "Folks, I think he's looking for an orangutan!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening as an orangutan slipped into the view of the cameras, a dark orange spot amongst the trees.

In the arena, Katoptris nudged Evan. "Yo, Ev, whatcha looking for again?"

Evan put a finger to his lips and began approaching the tree where the orangutan was. Katoptris rolled her eyes, seemingly annoyed by his lack of a response. "The question is, what's he gonna do with an orangutan?" Caesar pondered aloud. He was almost certain that across Panem, people were probably scratching their heads in confusion. The orangutan swooped closer, an inquisitive look upon its face as it peered carefully at the Careers below, their shiny metal weapons glistening in the moonlight. Caesar watched as Evan brushed past a branch and made eye contact with the creature above him. His face broke into a smile. "He's seen it, now what's he going to do?" Caesar announced, not quite sure what to make of this. These orangutans were probably fierce, but he doubted that they would be anything like Porter's lions.

Behind Evan, Maestro grunted in irritation. "Dude, what the heck are you trying to-" Then he saw the orangutan, now joined by several others, and his eyes widened, the alarm bells no doubt bellowing inside his head. "Oh gosh, get those ugly things away from me!"

"Shut up," Evan murmured. "They're not ugly." He stood on a plank of rotting wood, which had once been part of a swing if Caesar could remember correctly. He reached out to the orangutan closest to him, and it reached out its hand too. "Hey there, buddy." The orangutan chortled in reply, then moved its hand to Evan's head. Katoptris moved forward, but then stopped. The orangutan wasn't trying to hurt Evan, rather, it was patting his head. Evan leaned closer and made several gestures to the other Careers as he whispered something in the orangutan's ear.

"Well this just got interesting," Caesar announced. "They're bonding! Could we possibly have another Porter in our midst?" The orangutan listened and watched attentively to what Evan had to say, and nodded along, as if to signal that it understood.

Maestro narrowed his eyes and Caesar could tell that he was smelling a rat in all this. "What are you doing?" he barked, causing the orangutan to back off a little.

Evan glared at him. "None of your business. Now let's get moving."

Maestro rolled his eyes. "Ugh, finally." Evan waved one final goodbye to the orangutans and then they all parted ways. Caesar blinked, not quite sure what to make of this uncanny interaction. He sighed, glancing at the clock. It wouldn't be long before his shift ended.

Caesar sat down at the table, relieved that it was finally lunchtime. He was hungry and the sight of Evan killing that boy from Five after he'd sent a poisoned dart flying into Maestro's neck for a slow, painful death hadn't exactly done much to help his mental health. His lunch table was right outside the commentary room, so he could still see the arena action, but could also choose to ignore it this time. He could see Claudius in his usual stride, chattering on and on about the tributes, Evan in particular because of his exceptional kill count thus far. Iris sat across him with her own plate of food. Both of them were eating lamb stew for lunch, Caesar's favourite food ever since he was a child. This particular lamb stew was his favourite, ordered straight from Nala's Kitchen, his favourite restaurant and one that was right across this building. Iris picked up her spoon, glancing cautiously at the screen every now and then, which showed the Careers walking around rather close to the now-destroyed border between the elephant and barasingha exhibits. At least Evan had called those deer 'barasingha'. Caesar himself wasn't quite sure, but they seemed peaceful enough when the Careers had encountered them. Caesar swallowed a mouthful of stew, the savoury, magnificent flavour tumbling down his throat, the warm liquid igniting a sense of forgotten comfort in his stomach. "How's your brother?" Caesar asked Iris.

"He's doing fine," Iris said, her voice cautious and halting whenever Rafael, the controversial Victor from Four, was brought up. Caesar slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a tiny pouch of antidepressant pills, something the Victors were forbidden to buy or possess. He slid his hand underneath the table and into the pocket of Iris's skirt, and placed the pouch there. Iris nodded in acknowledgement, then bent her head and focused on her food. These pills had been recommended by Gwen herself, and the psychologist Victor lady had instructed Caesar to buy them and smuggle them into the Tribute Centre for distribution. The risks were sky-high, but at the time, with Gadget, Rafael, Haymitch, Sapphire and the now-deceased Sterling edging closer and closer to suicide, it was deemed a vital necessity. Thus, ever since the Second Quarter Quell, Caesar, Willuna, Jana, Prudens, Lori and several other rebels from the Capitol had purchased these antidepressant pills at sporadic times, and at different shops, before handing them on to the Victors at secret locations. Their biggest threat was Draco, the brutish Victor and best friend of President Snow himself devoting time and energy to policing the Victors and ruling over them with an iron fist. Caesar hated that man, even the Victors from Two did. Freya, usually his most loyal follower, was also starting to wake up and lose her usual loyalty. And if Scipio had been right, neither Katoptris nor Evan particularly liked Draco either, and viewed him rather negatively. He was a monster, full of inhumane cruelty and nauseating patriotism, an absolute blight to the lives of the Victors.

"How're things going with Sparko?" Caesar asked. Sparko was their codeword for Alma Coin, the new president of District Thirteen after the old President Coin had passed away due to an epidemic.

"No word from her," Iris replied, slurping some stew. "She's busy with her dog industry." By 'dog industry', Iris meant 'weapons industry', but that was another codeword.

Just then, Caesar heard loud shouts from inside the commentary room. He turned, only to see that Claudius was practically jumping with excitement, his face lighting up brighter than a Christmas tree. Iris squealed in fear, clutching her chest as she stared at one of the screens, horrified. Caesar followed her gaze. He gasped. A giant elephant was charging through the trees, bellowing loudly like the loudest of foghorns, a furious, rage-filled expression on its face, its hooves thundering across the zoo in its pursuit for the Careers, who screamed and ran off. Caesar's eyes widened. The elephant, it was so big. He had seen elephants before, and never in his life had he ever lain eyes on such a humongous creature. This was a genetically-engineered mutt, no doubt about it, but the Careers were screwed. Caesar knew blood would be spilt. The elephant was too big, too fast. Caesar could only let out a silent scream as the elephant burst forward in an energetic lunge and crushed Turquoise and Callum to a bloody pulp under one hoof. Two cannons boomed, but neither could be heard over the loud screaming from Iris, who fell to her knees, clutching her chest, tears welling up in her eyes. Caesar bent down next to her, a horrified look on his face as the elephant finally stopped its ruthless rampage and trudged off in a different direction. Turquoise and Callum's bodies, no they weren't bodies. Remains. The crushed, pulpy remains of those two poor, innocent kids who hadn't even volunteered, they made Caesar wish he could run to the toilet and vomit out his lunch, which he had no plans to finish. His appetite was lost, but now his main concern was Iris, who was in a tearful mess on the floor. He held her in his arms, softly singing a lullaby as she cried in his shoulder, bemoaning the fate of her tributes. He didn't say 'it was alright' or 'it will all be fine'. He knew Iris was too smart to even for a moment believe in such things. He just sat there cradling her, singing that same soft lullaby he had heard her sing for Rafael after his Victory, hoping it would soother her pain. And to an extent, it did.

Caesar bit his lip, trying hard not to lose it. Here it was, the finale, between Katoptris and Evan, two District partners out for blood. Evan had killed the girl from Three the other day, so it was down to these two. He hated it when District partners had to fight each other to death. The trauma, the nightmares, you couldn't possibly ever recover from them. Evan was weaponless, having been disarmed by Katoptris earlier on, and he was dashing through the zoo, desperately running for his life. "He's running, but how long can he keep it up?" Caesar's voice boomed. He didn't really care who won, to be honest, although Evan did seem like a nice guy to be with. Maybe he should win after all. "Katoptris is gaining on him, she's got a pair of sais with her, but sais aren't really her speciality, are they, Claudius?"

"Certainly not, Caesar, which only makes this a whole lot more exciting!" Claudius squealed. Leave it to Claudius to hype up child murder and bloodshed. He was far gone, too brainwashed by the system.

"Evan's getting tired, but so is Katoptris! They're on the edge of the orangutan exhibit, maybe Evan can win this after all? Remember Porter?"

Claudius chuckled. "Oh, how could I possibly forget? She was simply legendary, I say! But to win with orangutans, ooh, that would be something would it? Oh my gosh, the hype!"

Caesar gritted his teeth. "Yeah, oh! Katoptris has thrown one of her sais and it's impaled Evan's leg! Yikes, now that will no doubt hurt a lot!"

"And the other one's in his knee!" Claudius exclaimed. "My my, she really is a queen. Such fine skill! Die, Evan, die!"

Caesar rolled his eyes. "It's not over yet," he reminded Claudius. "She's walking over with a murderous look, ooh this is gonna be nasty."

"Indeed. Evan there looks so pathetically scared. Wait, what's he shouting?"

Evan was shouting something Caesar couldn't quite catch. Caesar frowned, unsure, but Katoptris didn't seem to care. Maybe it was some sort of last-minute prayer for a miracle? Katoptris smiled toothily, the sunlight glinting in her shiny teeth, her eyes blazing with bloodlust. Caesar gripped the edge of his seat, preparing himself for a bloody end to this Games. But even he knew that no matter what he did, he could never be ready to face the nightmares that followed.

But he wasn't ready for what happened next either.

Suddenly, from out of the blue, an orangutan, that same one Evan had interacted with earlier in the Games, came bursting through the trees on a bicycle, roaring with rage, a deadly, fearsome look in its eyes as it charged straight for Katoptris. Caesar nearly dropped his microphone. "What the- It's the orangutan!" he yelped.

Katoptris screamed in terror and tried to run, but it was too late. Caesar could only watch in a horrific sense of awe as the orangutan knocked her to the ground and sank its teeth into her legs, before ripping a huge chunk out of it, causing blood and flesh to be sent flying into the air in a sickeningly gory burst. It took everything within Caesar not to faint or vomit, and he forced himself to talk on through the action. "Ooh, that orangutan may well have won it for Evan!"

"Indeed, Caesar! Don't you just love the blood and gore?" Claudius exclaimed, his face gushing with excitement.

Caesar wanted badly to say 'heck no', but all he could mutter was, "Mm-mhm."

Katoptris wailed in agony, crying out like a wounded lamb, and Caesar felt a pang of sympathy towards her. Thankfully Evan snatched the sais and made it quick. Claudius declared Evan the Victor and Caesar ran out of the room, not even a fraction of a second after the broadcast was over. He wasn't going to stick around to see that bloody mess!

Katniss and Peeta held their minute of silence for Evan. "You know, that finale was brutal," Peeta said, shuddering at the mere thought of it. "But Evan wasn't so bad, at least compared to some other Victors from Two."

"Agreed," Katniss said, nodding. "I think he survived. He seems like the kind of guy who could wait out a war in the middle of the woods or something."

"Yeah, better him than Julia or Draco," Peeta said. With that, there wasn't much else to add on, so the pair swiftly moved on. Peeta flipped the page, and Katniss gasped. Both Victors from Twelve exchanged pained looks as they realised just who it was. A girl with glossy brown hair that flowed in a smooth, wavy way down her left shoulder stared back at them with tired brown eyes. She was fairly thin, as was expected from an Outlier District girl, and her rough, calloused hands were clasped together tightly. She wore simple clothing, clothes that she probably stitched herself, and slouched a little on the stage. "Cecelia Rheys."

VICTORS

District 1-Sapphire Huntington(4), Onyx Hibonite(9), Franc Montgomery(14), Crystal Montgomery(21), Sterling Jones(25), Luxe Carmichael(36), Geneva Cooper(37), Cartier Cooper(44), Valkyrie Montgomery(54)

District 2-Ragnar Sveinsson(5), Reyna Boudicca(6), Draco Hadley(10), Scipio MacAllister(17), Freya Carson(22), Hercules Nichols(28), Julia Dawson(39), Brutus Gunn(42), Lyme Sveinsson(45), Evan Fortis(55)

District 3-Nikola Johnson(13), Gadget Schroeder(24), Beetee Latier(40), Wiress Jansen(47)

District 4-Marina Bluebell(1), Mags Flanagan(11), Jolien Fisher(31), Timmy Fisher(32), Iris Fisher(33), Rafael Fisher(34), Coral Thiller(41)

District 5-Shocker Crimson(8), Switch Kim(19), Flash Morrison(27), Porter Tripp(38), Marie Meredith(52)

District 6-Ford Hamilton(20), Kimi Bentley(51)

District 7-Hassan Greenwood(2), Jill Wilson(15), Olive Sanchez(26), Birch Davison(35), Blight Gavin(53)

District 8-Woof Casino(16), Calico Pepper(48)

District 9-Gwendolyn Whitfield(18), Laurel Flamsteel(29), Miller Thompson(49)

District 10-Ringo Alvarez(7), John Gatwick(23), Mare Trybull(43)

District 11-Orchid Bloom(12), Seeder Crue(30), Chaff Mitchell(46)

District 12-Axel Millar(3), Haymitch Abernathy(50)

Victors that are underlined are deceased.

A/N: And there we have it! Evan comes home alive and District Two get another Victor at last! Evan was somewhat based on EvanPengu, and the whole orangutan thing was related to the fact that he posts a lot of orangutan memes aha, including that finale, which is based on the child running away from an orangutan with a tricycle meme. So, that wraps things up for today and yeah, that's all we got! Oh, and the cover pic is now Mags! Yeah, that's about it, so have a good day and cheers:)