Constantine Cacace, District 2

"Don't worry.

I'm worrying for Two

So don't worry, baby."

Car Seat Headrest, 1937 State Park


Romulus Diodato hated outliers.

Apart from District 6, every outlying district had at least one victor and all those victors were annoying. If the urban kids weren't murdering people with household objects, the rurals were dominating these new arenas. Over the last three years, Romulus' tributes had been killed by a needle, a puddle of mud and a bumblebee. They'd hardly been deserving of the title he'd given them - Elites.

To make matters worse, Brock Eska had just mentored his first victor, matching Romulus' total of one. Romulus knew that he needed to prove, once and for all, that District 2 was the best. He was going to mentor a second victor this year.

Two weeks before the reaping, he sat in his office, poring over the data from this year's crop of eighteen-year-olds. This year, there was one boy who really stood out from the rest.

His name was Constantine Cacace. He was going to win the Twentieth Hunger Games or his mentor would pitch a fit.


Constantine Cacace never really had much of a choice.

He was taken from a community home at the age of fourteen to train for the games. He didn't really want to kill kids but when Romulus Diodato told him he was the chosen volunteer, he knew he'd have to volunteer. Otherwise some poor kid would go in unwillingly.

All he'd wanted to do was protect kids, especially the vulnerable ones like he'd grown up around. He wanted to give them their best shot at life.

He was glad when a twelve-year-old boy was reaped for his district. It dashed away any uncertainties he might've had. He was absolutely sure he'd volunteer.


Romulus Diodato wished the parade had never been invented.

Ever since the year it'd been founded, the year that damn Starkwain kid had showed up dressed as a god, the parade had been a chance for the prettier outliers to get an advantage over the fighters, the ones more deserving of victory. And in Romulus' mind, winning the Hunger Games was about fighting, pure, simple and brutal. It wasn't about how sexy a tribute looked in a toga.

This year, though, he was pleasantly surprised.

Constantine looked powerful, dressed in a suit of body-armour that looked like jagged pieces of rock. Aside from his district partner, Calpurnica, the volunteer pair from One and the girl from Ten, everyone else looked scrawny and weedy.

From this standpoint, it looked like there'd only be three legitimate threats to Two this year. But Romulus knew that there'd often be a surprise contender.

He hoped that Constantine wouldn't get too cocky.


Constantine Cacace was nowhere near getting cocky.

He'd hated training, watching all the weaker kids struggle through. His allies - Calpurnica, the Ones and the girl from Ten - had constantly teased the outlier kids. He'd complained about it to his mentor but Romulus had just told him to stop being such a precious snowflake and man up.

Constantine didn't like his mentor much.

At least he'd managed to score a nine in training. He was confident that his promise to use his newfound riches as a victor to help those in need would win him some sponsors in his interview.

Not all the sponsors. Just some. He was feeling confident, not cocky.


The games were fun for Romulus Diodato to watch.

Eleven tributes had died in the bloodbath, two of which by Constantine's hand. The rest were shared between his allies. Letting the girl from Ten into the alliance had been a good move as the girl, Sofia, was used to the dusty terrain and knew how to find food and water. This looked like the year the Elite alliance would finally get to grips with natural arenas.

One by one, the outliers fell to mutts, harsh conditions and the Elite alliance. All the while, a storm gathered on the horizon. When it was just the alliance and two outliers left, Sofia decided it was a good idea to turn on her allies. As rain began to fall, four of the five allies were slashing each other up.

But Constantine, Romulus was shocked to see, was on the ground, having set his weapons down.

It was only when lightning started to fork down from the sky that Romulus realised what Constantine was doing. His four allies were all holding metal weapons high in the middle of a lightning storm, risking electrocution. In a matter of minutes, all of Constantine's allies were fried to a crisp.

Romulus rubbed his hands together with joy. Constantine was now clearly the strongest tribute in the arena. The girl from Eleven was on the verge of starvation and the boy from Five was deaf. The only tributes standing between him and another victory were two pathetic outliers.


Constantine Cacace heard the cannon and hoped it was the boy from Five.

He didn't feel comfortable killing a deaf kid, especially one mentored by his favourite victor. He knew he was a traitor to his district for thinking it but Luka Starkwain was more of a hero to him than any of Two's victors. He'd been the first tribute to volunteer to save another child's life. Before his life had become one long training exercise, Constantine had been fascinated by District 5, especially the lightning that had adorned his hero's parade costume.

It had saved his life when lightning had struck.

Unfortunately for Constantine, it was the girl from Eleven's face in the sky that night. He found his final opponent almost two weeks into the games. The poor thing was lying on the ground, too weak from hunger and thirst to move. As Constantine raised his sword to put the poor boy out of his misery, his confidence wavered.

Extra food parcels. He steeled himself. No child in my district will go hungry for a year.

He brought his sword down.


Romulus Diodato cheered when Constantine was declared victor.

Finally he had something to hold over the other mentors. Sure, Surf had been the first to mentor one victor but he'd been the first to mentor two!

Halfway through his victory lap of the Control Centre, Romulus got a call from President Snow. Since the second decade of Hunger Games were drawing to a close, there was going to be another celebration of the new victor, a tour of all the districts in the winter. As Constantine's mentor, Romulus would also be invited.

Romulus was overjoyed. Now he had more opportunities to tease Surf, and maybe check out the rival training academy that Emerald had set up in One. The victory tour would be so much fun!


Constantine was a hard one for me to write. He's pretty solid and reliable. He's a product of the earlier Career alliances, where people volunteered to protect the weaker kids rather than to torture the weaker kids. I can definitely picture him clashing with Romulus at some point in the future. They're both pretty invested in mentoring victors for their district but Romulus is motivated by glory and Constantine is motivated by protecting the kids.