Prologue

Albinus Snow, President of Panem

Albinus spreads the papers across his desk, sighing and wishing that he could just ignore them all and retire to bed early. It's two weeks before the reaping ceremonies will take place and his schedule could not be more packed. Most days, Albinus enjoys the busy work but this time of year always leaves a sour taste in his mouth. Luciana hates the Hunger Games more than anything, but the start of the event always brings back memories of her. It's been months since he last spoke to his wife, and years since they've shared a room. Albinus opens his top desk drawer and a wallet-sized picture of Luciana looks back at him. He can't remember the last time he saw her smile like that.

A sharp knock on the door forces Albinus to slide the drawer closed. His eldest, Coriolanus, nods at his father as he enters. Albinus had forgotten that his son was going to stop by today, and he usually plans his day around the visits. In addition to attending the Gamemaker meetings this year, Luciana keeps him plenty busy helping with the twins. Coriolanus nods solemnly and takes his usual seat in front of Albinus, who happily clears his desk. Albinus has been proud to see Coriolanus invest more interest in his work over the past few years.

"Father," Coriolanus says simply with another nod.

"Coriolanus, it's a pleasure as always," Albinus responds. He folds his hands neatly on top of his desk and smiles down at his son. Coriolanus keeps polite eye contact but the obvious tension in his shoulders will be something to look into fixing soon. He is a young man now, hardly a child, and these little demure tendencies will have to be worked out of him.

"Indeed, thank you for having my visit. I was worried that you would be too overrun from work."

"I look forward to seeing you," Albinus smiles. "I will always make time where I can."

"Of course," Coriolanus nods, his eye contact slipping for a brief moment before it returns. Albinus raises an eyebrow and Coriolanus offers an apologetic smile. Albinus hardly has to mention etiquette to him anymore, but some well-placed looks are often helpful. Coriolanus is still learning, but he is an excellent student.

"How is your mother?" Albinus asks, struggling to keep the sadness out of his voice. It's through Coriolanus that Albinus is most able to gauge the state of his wife. He knows that these next few weeks will be difficult for her, but it's no longer his place to comfort her. Thankfully, Coriolanus and the girls have taken over that role for him. Luciana has always been such a doting mother, it's only proper that her children would dote on her as they grow able.

"She's well," Coriolanus says. It's the same sentence that he always begins with, but Albinus knows that if he is patient he will learn more. Albinus wants to hear everything that Coriolanus could tell him, but he doesn't want to press his son. He knows that it is difficult that his parents are no longer on speaking terms. Albinus remembers how hard it was for him as a child when his own parents separated. Luciana and Albinus will never officially divorce, it would look bad on their family and may put Luciana in danger of losing the nation's respect. No matter what has happened between them, Albinus does not want to anyone to look down on his wife. She doesn't deserve that.

After a moment looking over the desk at his father, Coriolanus continues. "She does not approve, but I have been talking to her. Perhaps she will come around to the Hunger Games soon. The rest of Panem seems to have."

Albinus leans back in his chair and cannot help the sad smile that crosses his lips. He understands that Coriolanus is trying to comfort him, but there will be no change in her opinion. That has been made very clear in the past years. "Luciana will never approve."

"Maybe if you spoke to her," Coriolanus begins gently but Albinus puts up a hand to stop the thought. It's not the first time he has tried to get Albinus and Luciana to talk things out. Though he is older now, Albinus knows that this is no less difficult for him. The Snow's all have the inclination to fix things, it's in their blood, but this relationship is too broken to mend. Albinus will not speak to Luciana, exactly as she has requested. He has already taken so many things from his wife, and he refuses to take another. He will give her his silence.

"Tell me about the Gamemaker meetings," Albinus says, changing the subject. He has been sending Coriolanus to learn more about the Hunger Games, as it is inevitable that he will take them over when he becomes President. Albinus received word that the meetings have been excellent thus far from Claude, but it seems proper to hear it from Coriolanus.

"They've been going well, father," Coriolanus tells him. "We have been discussing the alterations for the coming Hunger Games. Training schedules have had to be rearranged, and then the topic of commercials came up today. Annika believes that shooting them in district pairs will decrease the number of scenes and allow us to show them more frequently. She thinks it could increase sponsorships."

Albinus smiles. Of course, he has already heard about the many changes his son and the Gamemaker's assistant have pioneered. Claude says that they make a wonderful pair and that he is excited to hear what they will bring to the next meetings. It's great to see Coriolanus so excited about something, especially something that will be such a large part of his future career. "And what do you think?"

"I think it's brilliant," Coriolanus grins. "Panem will get to root for entire districts, similar to sport teams, and not just specific tributes. This can help decrease the mental power required to enjoy the event. It'll be perfect for the Capitol."

District 1 | Ashara Nox, 18 & Romello Dupree, 18

District 2 | Aristona Villiour, 18 & Delias Vayne, 18

District 3 | Capri Romano, 15 & Erdan Yates, 15

District 4 | Noemma Dobra, 16 & Jordan Kalisco, 18

District 5 | Emilia Rorfile, 18 & Doran Ibarro, 16

District 6 | Chiara Truist, 16 & Fitzroy Gordon, 15

District 7 | Verdana Corbel, 14 & Levi Mirani, 18

District 8 | Evi Tolbert, 17 & Aberro Tripe, 14

District 9 | Sinead Kennard, 16 & Jory Danton, 17

District 10 | Jayde Cassidy, 17 & Chase Hauver, 18

District 11 | Sadira Abdelli, 16 & Rion Dehart, 12

District 12 | Ira Adley, 18 & Florian de Avila-Coronel, 15

A/N: tothewolveshg . blogspot . com

I first of all want to say thank you for all the support. I received a really amazing variety of tributes which made choosing very difficult. Above you can find the final tribute list and congratulations if you tribute made the roster. I was lucky to get a lot of really good tributes, too many in fact so I was unable to take everyone and had to decide which would work best in this particular story. I'm very sorry to everyone that I didn't accept this time around. To those that did get accepted, you might notice some movement with respect to districts, faceclaims, ages etc. If you take issue please let me know. I tried to stick to form as best as I could, but a lot of tributes were vying for the same districts and I simply had to move people to make it work.

First impressions from the blog?

I will be doing pre-reaping POVs, but they will be short snippets of each tribute in their districts (think ½ the length of a normal POV). I will be spreading them out over approximately 4 chapters. Following these will be 2 chapters of Reapings from outside POVs and finally 12 Capitol chapters where each tribute will get 2 POVs. Then, of course, comes the real fun. Good luck everyone!

~ Olive