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Chapter Twenty-Three: The Dark Horse that Came to Be

I was in so much shock that I literally could do nothing other than simply sit in a, probably very strange-looking daze. All of this was so very surreal. It was as if I were living a dream of some sort. In fact, it took several pinching and prying of my own flesh to be sure that I was not dreaming and that I would wake up in the maze once again. Whenever I finally realized that this was reality, I didn't know whether to be happy…or scared for my life.

I knew how attached the people of the Capitol became to their favorites. In their eyes, I killed Flux, though he technically took his own life. Needless to say, it would be interesting to see how the people reacted. My life might have been more at risk then than it ever was in the Games…okay, maybe that was stretching it, but I was still nervous to say the least.

I remember the sound of the helicraft as it hovered over head before dropping down a ladder that would lead me back to Panem. How eerie it was that I would be the only one to climb the ladder on my accord and not by being carried. I pushed that thought from my head very quickly and tried to be positive as I climbed the ladder, rung for rung. When I reached a certain point, I looked back over the labyrinth, remembering how odd it had been to me. Never before had the arena taken such a shape, it didn't set up for much hiding and waiting for violence as the Capitol usually preferred. It was almost as though…never mind. I simply looked over the spread of the maze before continuing upward, trying to push the maze from my head forever.

"Are you coming up or do you wanna stay down there?" A voice I had not heard for seemingly ages yelled from the craft.

I looked up, to see the smiling face of Enobaria looking down from the opening above. I smirked back at her and quickened my pace though it seemed like forever to reach her. I hardly had the chance to pull myself up from the ladder when she ripped me up and pulled me into a tight embrace.

I didn't know how to react. I was far too in shock that someone was touching me in a loving way and was not trying to, well, kill me. I softly pat my hands on her back, still in complete shellshock.

She let out a squeal that was very unlike her," I knew you'd do it, kid! Gosh, I'm so proud of you. I can't imagine how your parents are feeling!"

I broke away from her embrace and smirked slightly at her before she continued," You look awful, though. It's nothing the Capitol can't fix up."

I chuckled at this, but had yet to say anything. Looking around, I noticed that there was no one else that I recognized. If Enobaria was there, I at least expected Brutus to be here as well.

"Is Brutus-?" I asked shakily, looking around at the foreign guards around us.

Enobaria led me to two seats in the back of the helicraft, speaking very quietly and somberly as she did so," That stunt Flux pulled wasn't exactly a move that Brutus would approve of."

"As expected," I answered quietly as we both took a seat, the door to the rest of the craft shutting behind us.

"He's taking it hard, Savera," She began, keeping her voice low. "Oh, and don't think I didn't see through what you were trying to do."

I furrowed my brow, I could at least try to appear as though I had no clue what she was speaking of," Enobaria, I didn't-"

"He was going to kill himself and you knew that meant consequences for yourself. The Capitol wouldn't like such an act; you were looking out for them. I suppose they should congratulate you, but I don't know if I could have passed up the opportunity to watch my enemy kill himself," She whispered, barely audible to me.

I swallowed hard, if she could tell, then who else did?

"But don't worry because Brutus still thinks Flux took his own life," She added quickly afterward.

I leaned forward shaking my head," But what about others?"

She shrugged," If anything, they'll think you were either a) simply killing your opponent or b) protecting the Capitol. Either way…it's a win-win situation for you."

I didn't think that protecting the Capitol would have been viewed as a good thing to most folks living in my district. As soon as this thought ran through my head, I realized there would be less people upset in my district rather than other districts were uprisings were more likely.

"I mean, if you have the Capitol's support, then it hardly matters what anyone else thinks, right?" She asked with a smirk on her face that quickly dwindled when she saw that I wasn't laughing along. "Brutus will get over it soon enough."

I couldn't help but think this wasn't true.

"Anyways, we've a lot of things to plan…." She started rambling from the Victory Tour to parties to banquets. It was a little overwhelming to say the least and to prevent myself from saying anything ridiculous, I kept completely silent until someone in uniform came to fetch us from the back room to face the crowd. All conversation dropped as I rose to my feet and followed the man to the door that would reveal to the people of the Capitol their new victor. I inhaled deeply, realizing that anything could happen. As soon as the doors slid open, the brightness of civilization and masses of other people was more than I could handle. For several seconds, I stood in awe of it all.

The bright colors, the banners, the people screaming out my name, the flowers they were throwing. It was just…outrageous and made me feel a little guilty for ever doubting these people in the first place. It took a nudge from Enobaria behind me to actually move forward and walk through the pathway of all the excited fans. I smiled and looked presentable as Enobaria had directed me to do beforehand.

First on our list of "to-dos" was the interview with Caesar Flickermann, the first time had been awkward enough and for a moment, I almost envied those who would not have to face him again. After pushing through the crowd, who apparently were my new best friends, we arrived back into the training complex where all of this had started.


"This is dreadful," Sage muttered under his breath as he pulled my hair from its knotted bun. "Good Lord! How long do I have?"

Enobaria stood in the corner of the room with her arms folded over her chest," You've got until six o' clock this evening."

He clicked his tongue and shook his head," This is absolutely ridiculous. Four hours? You're giving me four hours?"

"Make it work," She said strictly before exiting through the curtain without another word.

I looked over to the stylist, who, in the time that I had been gone changed his hair from electric green to flaming red. Of course, his outfit matched and he had bright red eye shadow atop of his eyes. His stylist team came in and dragged me off, along the way, carelessly stripping me of my clothes as if it meant nothing at all to them. Once the awkward stage was over, I sat in a sterile room with the lot of them plucking and pulling hairs from every inch of my body, not to mention what I describe to be human power-washing. It wasn't until they were completely finished that Sage re-entered the room and I was allowed a garment of clothing-a robe-to cover myself.

"You know, I'm not really supposed to have an opinion on any of this stuff," Sage said as he picked up a makeup set and began swirling his brush in one of the nude shades.

I arched a brow," What stuff? The Games?"

"Yes, you know I'm assigned a tribute every year, but I can have no say in a matter. I can't gamble, I can't publicly express my support for them…and the truth of the matter is that there aren't many tributes from District Two worth rooting for in the first place," He said simply placing himself in front of me and motioning for me to close my eyes as he began to put makeup on me.

I stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

"District Two has many arrogant and far too prideful tributes. All I'm saying is…without directly saying it is that you were different," He said with a heavy sense of vagueness about him.

I furrowed my brow as he switched to the opposite eye," Wait, is that a compliment?"

"Yes, it is. You were slightly less intolerable," He said, taking a step back as I opened my eyes and looked at him while he admired his work.

"Oh, wow. Well, uh, thank you," I finally said, feeling as though any words would have simply made the conversation more awkward, but these at least fit into context.

I could tell that any further attempts to keep conversation with Sage would have been pointless because pure determination set in and he was in "high gear" trying to get me ready for this little interview with Caesar. It wasn't long before the team was zooming back in to adjust my hair and shove me into a nude-colored gown that was very toned down for the Capitol's standards. My hair was even done less than usual, there was no ridiculous heating or pinning, simply washing and then plenty of "scrunching" in order to get what they called a "laid-back look" rather than too "over the top". Was this the same Capitol I was returning to?

The gown on the other hand was another long one that dropped all the way to the ground. My mother would have been pleased to see that this one was covering me entirely with a lace neckline that came up to my neck and wrapped around before tying into a large bow in the back. The trick with this dress was the back. The bow that tied behind my neck at the top was looped through each side of the back of the dress. I found that my back was nearly completely exposed except for the single thread from the bow.

What's there in the front is missing in the back, I thought to myself as I examined the dress in the mirror.

I hadn't much time before Enobaria and Brutus, surprisingly, were both running into the stylist's room in order to attrieve me. Apparently, six o' clock had come rather quickly. In those five minutes alone, I had so much ridiculous jewelery thrown upon me that what was normal about the dress was nicely hidden. The only piece I truly liked was the gold-looking head band that appeared to be branches intertwined they had placed upon my head.

"You must get to the interview," Enobaria finally demanded after prying the stylist team away and storming out. I was nearly sprinting to catch up with the both of them. In all honesty, so much had happened in those four hours that I hardly knew myself anymore and what they had done to my body.

Enobaria and Brutus were in back and forth conversations that I hardly found any room for myself. Therefore, I enjoyed the break in action as I followed them through many back hallways and doorways until finally we reached a vehicle to take us to wherever the interview was to take place. As soon as we were all adjusted in the back of the vehicle, I saw Brutus extend a hand out to me.

Slightly taken a back, I extended my hand as he said," Congratulations. District Two has something to be proud of in you."

I blinked several times before responding with a simple," Thank you, Brutus."

"I'm glad that at least someone brought us glory," He said with a wide smile. It seemed that his period of mourning had been short to say the least.


"So, Savera, I gotta tell you…I don't know if any of us saw this end moment coming. You see Flux, someone you butted heads with several times, pull out the dagger and not only turn it away from you, but back toward himself. You gotta tell me dear, what was going through your head? I mean, I can tell you I was on the edge of my seat!" Caesar Flickerman was dressed in a powder blue suit with matching blue hair. He was just as energetic has before and the entrance I had received was much more than over the top. It wasn't until this moment in the interview that it got…interesting.

I swallowed and crossed my legs," Flux…struggled with much more than just winning the Games, as I'm sure you all know after hearing his speech before he, well, you know…but he was desperate for something. And I think that…he couldn't handle the death of Lila being so fresh. To answer your question though, I was shocked. I was absolutely shocked. I thought that meeting Flux in the grand finale would be my end. I could figure out the clues, but…I don't claim to be able to fight nearly as well as he."

Caesar nodded endearingly," Well said darling. And you brought up the matter of cracking the clues and I don't think I'm speaking for myself when I say that every time you were on a new clue, I was on the edge of my seat at home wondering if you were going to figure it out, but deep down I think all of us knew you would!"

I chuckled at this and the crowd's immediate agreement with his statement," I'm glad someone had faith in me."

He took the joke lightly and laughed at it, as well as several laughing in the crowd," Oh, dear, I think you were always a favorite for some of us."

"That's very nice of you to say, Caesar," I said, still smiling along.

"Savera, I've just one last question for you before you can go off to your coronation and parties later tonight…all in all, why do you feel like you are sitting in that chair right there about to have a crown placed on your head as opposed to…someone else who was in the arena?" He asked as the laughter died down and the room took a much more somber toll. "Not to say, we didn't have faith in you…but what's your take on it?"

I swallowed before folding my hands in my lap," I believe that it's a game of being in the right place at the right time. Any of you could go back and pick out a moment in which I should have been killed, but wasn't for some strange reason. It wasn't my reasoning that saved me; I genuinely believe it was a matter of beating the odds."

A/N: Next chapter we formally meet Seneca Crane :D Please, please, let me know what you think thus far! I'd love to know. Thanks for reading!

**Second time posting because I made an embarrassing mistake the first time...whoops ;)