The Degenerates: We Made It Out

by averyrandomauthor

24 tributes go in, only 1 goes out. It's a daunting task, surviving the Games, but before Katniss and Peeta, 73 children managed to beat the odds and cheat the jaws of death to survive the deadly Hunger Games. These are their stories, and how they morphed into mentors of varying loyalties over the years.

74. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark

Chapter 74: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark

---

A tight grimace flashed across Katniss's face. Glancing down at the photograph, she could feel a surge of emotion rush through her. Grief, sadness, anger, relief, fear, it all exploded inside her chest, shattering whatever calm she'd built for herself throughout the train ride.

Yet it also filled her with a tinge of hope, ever so fleeting, ever so fragile. But the image that sparked a rebellion brought back something within her, releasing a cascade of hope for a better future, for a better life. This was what they'd fought for, what every single one of the seventy-six Victors strove for, culminating in a meeting that would usher in the start of a new age for all of them.

It also marked the start of her blossoming future with Peeta.

"We were so young," she breathed, her voice lowering to a mere echo quietly blowing in the wind. "Anything and everything could've happened to us."

"We got the happy ending, though," Peeta assured her, holding her closer to him. The warmth of her skin muzzled against his neck as the pair held each other in a sweet embrace. Her hair smelt like woodsmoke, perhaps it was the shampoo of the train, but Peeta found it enchanting as ever. They'd fought alongside each other for moments like this, friends and family alike had died for moments like these, Peeta was going to cherish them for their sake.

"So many others didn't get the happy ending," Katniss mused. She gazed back at the picture, a mixture of spite and longing lingering within her eyes as the train screeched to a halt. "Guess we're about to find out who did and who didn't."

"Hurry up, you two!" came Haymitch's trademark snarl. There was a loud banging, followed by some frantic chiding from a train worker that neither of the pair could quite catch.

Peeta grabbed the notebook and stood up. Helping Katniss to her feet, the pair started for the door, but their photo fell out of the book, slowly floating its way to the ground. As Peeta bent down to pick it up, the stats popped to life, violently throwing him back to a bygone era that continued to haunt him by his side, a spectre neighbour on a ghastly mission from the beyond.

---

Katniss Everdeen

District 12

Aged 16

2 Kills

---

Peeta Mellark

District 12

Aged 16

1 Kill

---

Annie watched as the train rolled to a screeching halt. Somewhere above her, loudspeakers began to blare various announcements, all painstakingly recorded by Caesar Flickermann over the past week since the old ones made by Bacchus Furpwood spread a little too many pro-Snow messages. All around her, the gaggle of commuters gathered and milled around in little groups that clustered to form a large crowd of life, heads bobbing up and down like a wave of both excitement and nervousness. A whole array of faces, both District and Capitolite alike, swarmed across the station, buzzing with mixed bags of energy. Yet Annie sat on her bench, a pensive look on her face as she gazed ahead, once more lost in her own little world. It was better than the alternative of reality, at the very least.

Beside her, Coral stood on her tiptoes. Craning her neck, she scrunched her eyebrows, fervently scanning the sea of faces rhythmically oozing out of the train. "Ugh, where are they?" she sighed, her lip twitching in frustration. She tiptoed a step ahead and yelped as she nearly tripped on a loose piece of paper litter on the floor. "Oh, for the love of mermaid scales!"

Annie couldn't resist cracking a smile. Even by District Four standards, Coral's 'swears' were laughably wild and bizarre. But Annie liked bizarre, it suited her just fine. Perhaps that was why she bonded so well with Coral, the pair, despite their sizeable age difference, shared a liking for being out of the box at times. "They'll come, don't you worry," she told Coral, her voice gentle like the sea breeze, hints of her fragile nature crackling in its tone.

Just then, Annie heard a few shocked gasps from somewhere near the platform's edge. Turning her attention to them, she saw a couple of excited swoons and a few camera flashes from a section of the Capitolite swarms, along with a few salutes by the District folk. She didn't need any further hints, this was undoubtedly the grand entrance of the District Twelve entourage.

"Flipping mermen, it's them!" Coral exclaimed, bursting forward to greet them. Pushing past a couple of passers-by, she yelled, "Out of my way, folks, hey watch it, Victor coming through!"

A small grin rippled through Annie's lips as through the crowd, Haymitch emerged, looking a lot sharper than he usually did when arriving in the Capitol. He'd gelled his hair for a change and seemed to have shaved, a rare phenomenon in years gone by. It felt weird seeing him so prim and proper, but Effie probably had a hand or two in it. Haymitch's head swivelled around before finally resting his gaze on Coral, whose energy knew no bounds as she leapt right into Haymitch's arms. In yet another rare occurrence, Annie saw Haymitch let out a genuine guffaw of joy. He held Coral in a tight embrace, wrapping his arms around her back as he laughed in a fit of mirth. "Coral, great to see you again, lassie!"

Coral gave him a sideways smile, putting her hand on her hip in what Annie knew to be an attempt to look cool. "Missed me, Mitch? I wasn't going to miss out on all your fun by, I don't know, dying or something."

Haymitch patted her shoulder. "Glad you didn't, Coral." His eyes shifted and saw Annie, standing there a few feet away, hands placed delicately in front of her waist, a serene smile painted on her face. The last time they'd met, Presidents Snow and Coin had both been assassinated, an event that still left a deep, searing scar in Annie's memory. The blood, the rage, the mangled corpse of the man she hated the most...

She shook her head slightly, giving her stomach a light pinch to snap herself back to reality. As Haymitch drew closer, Annie whistled out a soft tune, one she'd often used to signal to others, as well as to calm herself down a little. Haymitch came up beside her, but made no move to hug her or even pat her shoulder as he'd done with Coral. Annie had always appreciated Haymitch for doing this, the guy might seem like nothing more than a crazed, drunk alcoholic to many of the other younger Victors, but little acts like these showcased how much he actually cared for his fellow Victors.

They were, after all, one big, albeit slightly dysfunctional, family.

But the main attraction was yet to come. Shoving a large Capitolite camera from his face, there emerged Peeta, that familiar slightly awkward yet excitable grin flashed upon his rosy cheeks, a much healthier shade than the last time Annie had seen him, back when he was still under heavy influence of the Capitol-induced trauma torture. Right behind him came Katniss, a nervous grimace and a narrowed gaze adorned on her ever-regal face. The pair shifted to walk side-by-side, their arms linking together. Annie felt a gnawing pain in her heart. Young lovers with a bright hope for the future, that was supposed to be her and Finnick, yet fate, cruel as it can be, had snatched them apart, this time for good.

It was hard not to feel a lingering jealousy as Katniss leaned closer to rest the tip of her head on Peeta's shoulder. Annie had done that countless times before with Finnick. This was their gimmick, their love story, the story that had been blotted out of existence so that of the star-crossed lovers could continue.

Stop that, just be happy for them. They deserve it for what they've been through.

When they saw Annie and Coral, their eyes lit up and with a sudden burst of energy, the pair threw themselves at Annie, laughing as they held her in a close embrace, one that Annie was willing to accept just this once.

"Come on guys," she murmured, gesturing for them to follow. "Everyone's already waiting."

Katniss raised an eyebrow. "Everyone?"

"Everyone who's made it out," Coral clarified, slinging an arm around Katniss, who jerked away, giving Coral an apprehensive look.

"Uhh, which one were you again?" Katniss asked, burrowing her eyebrows.

Peeta rubbed a hand on her back. "That's Coral Thiller, District Four, remember?" he whispered.

A lightbulb flashed inside Katniss as her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh! Coral, yeah, sorry, didn't recognise you there."

Coral giggled. "It's cool, I ain't hip enough for the kids these days it seems, I'm already one heck of an old sea witch!"

Katniss gave Annie a nervous look. "Witch?"

Annie subtly rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her, she's just a little- excitable," she reassured Katniss, who continued to give Coral the wary eye. Peeta on the other hand was exchanging lame jokes with Coral and Haymitch, the trio walking side-by-side together across the platform. Annie chuckled, giving her head a little shake.

Humour was strange indeed.

Then again, she did let out a guffaw when a tall Capitolite man wearing a zebra-shaped wig and a winged suit danced his arms around in frustration at his polka dot-faced daughter, so perhaps she wasn't really one to judge.

It was a short walk to the newly-renovated Tribute Centre, now converted into a sprawling resort by a couple of eccentric members of the Montgomery family who'd survived the war via their ties to the rebellion. Annie glanced up at the spiral dome that now crowned the top of the main building. Six years ago, this had been the palace of nightmares, where twenty-four young children came every year to face their ultimate demise.

This had been her worst nightmare, the start of a neverending internal apocalypse that imprisoned her mind in its cold facade.

Thankfully, the building's new management had taken note of the nature of this area's past, significantly changing the architecture of the building until it was virtually unrecognisable from the Tribute Centre of old. They'd also incorporated the old Gamemakers' Tower into its grounds, turning the regal structure that had once housed the nation's worst monsters into a palace of joy and laughter. Families of tributes were given free stays at the resort for however long they liked, allowing them to escape poverty and live the life of luxury their children had been days or weeks away from being able to afford. Many had taken up the offer, as a final gesture of preventing their children's ultimate sacrifice from being in vain. These days, a mixture of Capitolite and District folk populated the resort, now the premier party place in Panem. Where the annual Tribute Parade had once ended its route, the new route of Victory Day celebrations would begin, snaking its way to the fateful train station that had once carted children to their dooms, a symbol of reversing the wrongs done in yesteryear.

Still, Annie couldn't shake off the chills running down her spine just by being there. Yet, Coral and the other Victors had insisted on using this place for the party. After all, it would be a symbolic gesture of trampling all over the place where the Gamemakers had once tormented them, filling the halls once filled with despair with a newfound jubilation. Sauntering into the all-too-familiar elevator, she pressed the '4' button. Gritting her teeth at the thought of that floor once housing many now-deceased tributes, she held the elevator door open as the others filed in. Katniss wrinkled her nose, her eyes straying to the '12' button. Her gaze looked lost, timid and angry all at once, her dark bangs crumbling limply over the side of her face. Annie wrapped a protective arm around her as the elevator started upwards. "Don't think about it," she whispered softly. "Just enjoy yourself, okay?" She let out a tiny giggle, a trademark random laugh of hers and Katniss's gaze softened a little. She gave Annie a nod and Annie moved away, just as the elevator came to a stop and the doors flung open to reveal the revamped corridors.

Brushing past a couple of security guards from Thirteen, Annie led her small group of Victors through a corridor of hotel rooms, each decorated with designs crafted by the more artistic tributes that died in the arena. The new owners had gone around collecting old scrapbooks containing such designs, incorporating them into the resort to ensure their memory remained alive and well even after all this time. Annie paused at one door in particular, room 415, where a delightful landscape painting of the District Four beaches blazed true on the wooden door. This was the work of none other than Alon himself, Annie's old District partner from years gone by. Gently touching the door, Annie gave a sad, longing smile. She could never truly move on from Alon's fateful death moment, but she'd learned to avoid letting it get the better of her. After all, Alon himself would want her to be happy.

"Thank you, Alon," she murmured quietly, brushing her hand down the door. "For everything."

Coral gave her an encouraging smile and prodded her forward. Annie nodded at the gesture. It was time to move forward.

At the end of the corridor was a door guarded by yet another Thirteen security guard. Giving him a warm smile, she moved past the guard and pushed the door open, revealing a brightly-lit function room jam-packed with people.

---

Peeta nearly fell to his knees. As soon as he entered the room, scanning the sea of people for a familiar face, a monstrous force pummelled him from behind, almost taking the wind right out of him. Instinctively, he whirled around and balled his fists, only to find a young woman with strawberry blonde hair grinning wickedly at him. She raised her arms in surrender. "Whoa there, buddy, I come in peace!"

Lowering his fists, Peeta blinked. He recognised her, but for some reason, he could hardly put a name to her face. Surely, he'd seen her younger image just an hour ago, how on earth had he forgotten? "Hi there, erm-" That's when he saw the array of mockingjay pins brandished across her bottle green collar, mixed in with a few wheatstalk pins Peeta had seen amongst members of the District Nine rebellion. Rebellious blonde girl from Nine? There could be only one candidate. "Demeter!"

Demeter chuckled, giving him a finger gun gesture. "Ding, ding! That's right, buddy boy, Demeter Jarvinen, at your service! And you're Peeta Mellark, the boy who helped take down the Capitol. I owe you and Katniss plenty!"

Peeta returned her smile. Shaking his head modestly, he said, "Nah, you did just as much as I did, probably even more. I hear you went around all of Panem training people to fight?"

"You bet I did!" Demeter said with a quick nod. "Capitolite raids in Eleven and Eight left plenty of disgruntled youngsters, the instant I showed up to deliver intel on Peacekeeper movements, they came rushing to me for training sessions and I simply couldn't refuse! Oh and I manufactured and supplied those grenades the Ones used to blow up the Montgomery estate, two years before that, I snuck inside their mansions for a 'party' and stole their blueprints to find secret passageways for the rebels to infiltrate. As you can tell, I've been having tons of fun with the rebellion, eh?"

"That's one way of putting it," Peeta replied with a grin. "We're finally free, Demmie, oh wait, can I call you that?"

"You most certainly can," Johanna told him, sliding up to where they stood, twirling a glass in her hand. "But I'm afraid you might not leave with all your limbs still intact. That nickname doesn't really bode well with her, I'm afraid."

"You're damn right it doesn't," Demeter said with an exasperated eye roll.

"Alright, Demmie," Johanna murmured, waving the glass in Demeter's face. Demeter tried to protest, but eventually sighed in defeat. "Alright, Johanna can call me that on special occasions, but not you, Peeta, nuh-uh."

---

On the other side of the room, sat on a large, bright orange couch with plenty of fluffy cushions, there was an elderly man, with a prosthetic arm holding a warm glass of hot chocolate to his lips as he stared ahead at the younger folk laughing away in the middle of the room. An even older woman, with hair white as snow and a hardened gaze, rolled up to him on her wheelchair. She gave him a grateful smile, her teeth still brilliant as ever. The man glanced at her. Even in her final years, the beauty she'd once possessed and had been revered for as a young girl was still apparent in the silkiness of her hair and those dazzling blue eyes, once bright and peppery, were now crestfallen with the woes of life. "Hey there, Sapphire," the man greeted in a gruff voice.

Sapphire gestured at the crowd. "You're not joining them, John?"

John shook his head. "Nah, I need some alone time. It's been a hell of a year for us, you know? I talked with Haymitch and Coral for a bit though, before you drag me back out there."

Sapphire nodded in understanding. In truth, her mind had still yet to recover from the horrors witnessed over the last year. The rebellion, while a delightful surprise, had not been easy for either of them. It had been the culmination of her sixty-one years of pain and suffering at the hands of the Capitol following her Victory, a deadly rerun of the Games she'd been forced to endure.

She could vividly remember the moment her life turned around for good, though, and every now and then, the flashbacks whirled through her head as a reminder that ultimately, she won, not Snow, not Draco, not President Ravenstill, Sapphire Huntington won the ultimate war.

It had been a quiet night in the underground caverns that dotted District One's landscape. Once a fabled mine for gemstones all the way back in the time of the Thirtieth Hunger Games, this was now a refugee sanctuary, where many of the District's most vulnerable sought refuge from the intense fighting that raged on overland between the Montgomeries and the common District folk.

Sapphire had sat quietly in the main part of the caverns, directing groups of orphaned children to their assigned chores and helping senile old folks with directions to their assigned cavern rooms.

But that night, disaster nearly struck.

A figure had wriggled through the defence systems via a small secret passageway that Sapphire had tried to blockade. In no time, Draco Hadley and a couple of his henchmen had stormed into the sanctuary, snarling in fits of rage as they led a small yet heavily armed group of Montgomery boys and girls straight through the screaming crowd of refugees, blasting their guns at anything that moved. Sapphire could feel her heart race at the sight of that face, that sickly, horrible face that had been her tormentor for sixty-four long, hard years.

Draco Hadley marched right up to her, leering over her with a sadistic smile smothered over his face. He bared those beastly fangs of his, blood coating the yellowed, gnarly teeth that had been his greatest taunt for her entire life. Those hands of his, the ones that had prowled over every inch of her body ever since she'd emerged from the arena, plaguing her life with misery, they reached out once again, and just like before, Sapphire was powerless to stop him.

"Sapphire Huntington," he sneered, placing his hands squarely on her chest. Sapphire flinched, giving him a cold glare that she'd been forced to hold back for far too long. "My first ever plaything, how nice of us to end things just the way we started them."

He trailed his hands down her body, his wrinkly fingers sliding over her dress and Sapphire had to fight back tears of pain. So many times, he'd done this so many times, she'd been practically numbed to the feeling. No longer did she have any modesty about her, nor any innocence, no, such things had been violently robbed from her by this sick, vile, perverted monster who sold her out for quick bucks every waking moment of her life.

Sapphire spat in his face. "Rot in hell, you fucking son of a bitch, ROT IN HELL!" She tried to back away on her wheelchair, but one kick from Draco was enough to send her tumbling over. She lay sprawled on the grain, groaning as a throbbing pain crunched at her ageing thighs, so often in the past used as a rag doll for sick freaks all around the Capitol.

Draco gnashed his teeth. Loading a bullet into his gun, he triumphantly put his foot on her stomach. "You are of no use to me anymore, Sapphire. You've lost your beauty and your lustre!"

Right before he could shoot, however, the entrance to the sanctuary barged open. One of the orphans had escaped to alert the nearby armies, which had strategically been the ones under John Gatwick's command. Positioned near the sanctuary in order to keep watch over her, John marched right up to Draco and with a loud roar of rage, fired straight at Draco's legs. The elderly monster howled in agony, belly-flopping on the ground in one, thunderous thump. The rest of John's army swiftly eliminated the rest of Draco's small force, before a group of battle medics rushed forward to aid the wounded refugees. Thankfully, everyone was alive and no one was in critical condition.

But the question remained, what to do with the monster from Two?

"Tie him up," Sapphire spat out. She couldn't even bring herself to look at his face. The face of pure, horrid evil. "Keep him in the cellars. Do whatever you want with him, but keep him alive. I'm going to phone the other Victors."

And sure enough, three days passed, feeling like almost an eternity. Time, however, went even slower for Draco, who wailed and moaned in his chains as every morning, Sapphire would splash scalding hot water right at his most sensitive parts, a murderous look on her face. "Just. You. Wait," she whispered in his ear, giving his wrinkly skin nasty bites just to increase his pain factor by a bit.

At last, however, a small group of surviving Victors who were located near the area arrived to their location. Sapphire grinned mercilessly as she watched Draco sat there, chained to the floor fully naked, tears brimming in his eyes as he begged and pleaded for mercy.

Just as he'd made her do all those years ago.

Iris, Jolien, John, Geneva, Coral, Valkyrie, Thalia, Porter, Augustus, Enobaria and Timmy, alongside other allies of the Victors, namely Tia and Blenda, all gathered around the whining old Victor, their eyes glinting with a lust for revenge, all seeking payback for all the crimes Draco had committed.

"Sapphire, please, I'm sorry..." Draco begged, screaming and banging on his chains for any glimpse of hope, but there was none to be found.

Sapphire twirled a knife around her wrist. She raised an eyebrow at Draco's pitiful form. Oh, how she'd longed to have such a moment with him, to see him beg her for mercy, to be able to hold his fate tightly in the clenches of her fists. "Cut him apart," she ordered the other people gathered there. "But don't kill him yet. I want my final masterpiece to be achieved with him alive and aware."

Iris lunged at him first. Screaming a fit of rage that Sapphire had never heard before from the diminutive Victor, she lashed at his feet, slashing away at his toes one-by-one. Draco screamed and shrieked as glorious, delightful blood squirted all over the floor. "This is for my brother, you coward! This is for making him try to kill himself!"

"Yeah, this one's for him, and for all the pain you've caused our family!" Jolien roared, and with a clean, effortless, swing of her sword, she chopped off both of Draco's ears. "You put your grubby little hands all over me, remember? Well, you ain't laughing now!"

"Yeah, tell him, sis!" Timmy howled. "Sis, I mean, the plural, it doesn't matter, this is for selling me out to all those awful women who beat me up every night!" Timmy pounced on Draco's bleeding feet and dug his nails square into them, before scratching all over his sensitive parts. "Feel this? This was my pain! Every fucking night!" He stomped on his face, causing more blood to pool from Draco's mouth and nose before huffing away to allow others to take charge.

John fired a bullet into both of Draco's kneecaps. "You sold me out too, Draco. Oh, and this one's for Ringo, Mare, Colt and all the people of District Ten whose lives you've ruined! Don't think I'm forgetting all those raids you've sponsored on our towns!"

Thalia marched over next, a quizzical look on her face. "Elementary, my dears, this is, I feel, appropriate judicial punishment for the nonconsensual bedding of a minor, aka me." With that, she poured vials of acid all over Draco's body, causing it to steam and burn. "By the way, Orchid and Sprout could not make it here today, they have their own fight in Eleven, but they send their best regards." She proceeded to lay some irritable plants on each of his wounded areas, before whacking him with a thorned vine.

Coral, for once in her life, had nothing to say. No, she simply preferred to let her actions speak for themselves by kicking a football repeatedly at Draco's head and sensitive parts, before grabbing a knife and slashing at his stomach.

Porter also had nothing to say, although she did make some fiery sign language curses. Then, she let out a sharp whistle as two baby tigers pounced forward, devouring the remains of Draco's ankles.

Enobaria gave a deathly snarl. Baring her golden fangs, she jumped on Draco, before ripping his fingers off with her own bare teeth. Giving him a bloodied smirk, she hissed, "Here's a taste of your own medicine, you sick freak. Here's for using me and Brutus as your private cash cows in the Capitol, and here's for torturing Academy recruits back in Two, oh and here's for telling my parents to abandon my infant older brother in the woods just because he's deaf. Yeah, thought I'd never find out, did you, bitch?"

Tia leapt forward, brandishing two knives which she slashed across Draco's thighs and shoulders. She punched him hard in the face. "Remember me, Draco? Remember the day you barged into our house right after Cecelia won? Remember what you did to the both of us? Remember what you've done to Cecelia since then? Do you remember, Draco, huh? Remember the firebombing you ordered on Eight? Remember the raids you and your cronies went on in our old neighbourhood? Remember the purge of all the people we ever knew you commandeered? Remember the bombing of that school you planned? Well, I hope you never forget the Rheys sisters." She slashed her knives a final time against his abdomen and trotted off furiously.

Valkyrie was next, the girl thrusting a jagged blade straight through Draco's arms, hissing with a menacing glower in her eyes. Sapphire could understand how she felt, Draco had treated Valkyrie like the second coming of Sapphire, just another toy for him to fool around with and a cash cow for him and his Capitoite cronies. Valkyrie slit the skin off Draco's forehead and continued to slash him, before John had to pull her away before she could go for his throat.

"This is for bullying my brother!" Geneva shrieked, firing bullets into his body. "For bullying all of us, for funding those Avox owners, for kidnapping a bunch of impoverished Ones for your shitty businesses!"

"You harrassed my family for a century," Blenda snarled. "I know Lyme wants to be here right now, and so Mum and Dad, staring deep into your eyes as you beg and please for any bit of mercy, but you know me well, you know me so well, you tried to drown me when I was eight!" She slashed her knife across his body and dumped more irritable plants and chemicals over his skin.

Augustus roared in anger as he slammed and punched Draco multiple times, using his limp, weakened, blood-drenched body as a punching bag. "I know you told your tributes to go for my brothers and sisters in the Games, I know you did! And you used me as a pawn for the Capitol, paraded me around in the most humiliating ways to spread your shitty propaganda messages, and then you had the audacity to desecrate my siblings' graves and sell me out when I even hinted at saying no."

By now, there wasn't much of Draco Hadley, the once proud and strong Victor, left. He was still alive, and somehow awake, but every last inch of his body was soaked in blood, there was hardly a part of him that was still even remotely intact.

Yet Sapphire wasn't quite done yet with him, oh no. She'd waited so long for this, she wasn't simply going to let the opportunity slip.

"You murdered my mother, you executed all of my friends, you used me, Draco, every single day of my life for sixty years, oh, you've tortured me, you've drugged me, sold me out, touched me, engaged in the most horrific of practices with me, deprived me of basic humanity, barred me from wearing decent clothing, mocked me to no end, you deserve what's coming for you, Draco. See you in hell, bitch."

What Sapphire did to Draco, history would never dare to record. But even the other spectators began to grow squeamish at the sight of Sapphire's rage-infused actions, and by the time she was finished, there wasn't much of Draco Hadley left. In fact, all that remained was a pool of blood and some gnarly bits lying around.

But now, she was finally free of his clutches.

Back at the party, Sapphire blinked away the memories and raised a glass to John. "To freedom," she toasted.

John chuckled, holding up his cup of hot chocolate and clinking it against her glass. "To freedom and beyond."

---

Over at the buffet table, where a wide array of Panem's most delectable dishes had been lain out before them, a teenage girl in a thick coat sniffed her plate of vegetables cautiously, her deep, wisened eyes regarding the carrot slices with a look of apprehension. One could never be too careful, after all, and this girl had learned so the hard way more than once.

A man slid up next to her. Rolling his eyes, he told her, "Relax, Thalia, that thing isn't poisoned. I've tasted everything here, it's all safe, no traces of chemicals or any other undesirable 'seasonings' to be found."

Thalia bit her lip, Grabbing her fork, she slowly brought the carrot slices to her lips, before gingerly taking a bite. "They're fresh. And delicious. Safe, for now, Ampere."

Ampere sighed. "I had those an hour ago. Realistically, if those were contaminated, I would have felt some side effects by now. Besides, don't worry, I've got you covered." He leaned into his coat pocket and discreetly showed Thalia a set of bottles strapped to his coat.

Thalia's eyes widened in amusement. "Antidotes, huh? You plan very well, Ampere. Colour me impressed."

"They were my idea!" a teenage boy piped up, peeking from behind Ampere to flash Thalia a wide grin. "Coulomb Chang, Ampere's little brother, pleasure to meet you Thalia, you've always been my fave!"

A smirk tugged at the edge of Thalia's lips. "Your favourite Victor?"

Ampere jabbed Coulomb's side. "Ah, don't mind him, he's always had a little bit of a crush on you, he's got a crush on anyone with looks and brains."

"Because they're a wonderful combination!" Coulomb protested. "Especially the brainy part, you know?" He wriggled his eyebrows at Thalia, who simply laughed and shook her head. "I'm a huge fan of your sleuthing skills, you know? Like the time you solved-"

Ampere pushed him aside. "We don't need to hear a recap of all of Thalia's cases, I don't think she wants to-"

"On the contrary, do go ahead, my dear, perhaps it's time for a short walk down memory lane," Thalia interjected, giving Ampere a smug smile. Ampere merely groaned as Coulomb droned on and on about the wonderful feats of Thalia Wheeler. Not a bad way to boost your ego, Thalia reckoned.

---

In the centre of the room, two muscular women scanned the crowd warily, maintaining at least an arm's length worth of distance between themselves and everybody else. The younger of the two had been unusually quiet all night, glancing nervously every now and then at the fanfare that swamped an overwhelmed Katniss and Peeta. She wrung her hands, just barely reminding herself not to grit her solid gold teeth. These were uncharacteristic of this strong woman, yet tonight, there was an air of awkwardness around her.

"Lighten up, Enobaria," her companion told her, although she herself didn't look too comfortable with the party atmosphere. "Enjoy yourself, it's all done and dusted now."

Enobaria regarded her with a look of unease. "I know, Lyme, but still, I- you know what I did to even be here."

Lyme gave Enobaria a sideways glance. "We all do, and none of us blame you. You will be a District Two hero for what you did, you stood up for what was right, that is all that matters."

A small shudder went down Enobaria's spine as she gripped the edge of a nearby table tightly, careful not to stab her own palms with her sharp, well-chiselled fingernails. "I fought and killed my own parents, Lyme. And the rest of my family too."

"They wanted to kill you first, Eno. Remember that part? They were part of the purge that tracked down Evan. They were part of the ploy to send you back into the arena. You did the right thing, don't even think about beating yourself up for it, literally and metaphorically," Lyme countered, the veteran commander-slash-Victor elegantly taking a sip of her wine.

Enobaria nodded silently, her head still lost in her own thoughts. She stared blankly ahead at the dance floor, where Peeta, Annie and Lyme's twin sister Blenda were busting out a series of trendy new moves. Enobaria had never been one for the dance floor, but perhaps Lyme was right, she did need to find a way to loosen up tonight.

After weighing her dance partner options however, she hesitated and decided her current spot worked just fine.

---

Rushing towards the dance floor were three elderly women, clad in simple mustard yellow dresses, their hair white as snow yet their spirits still as lively as ever. Well, two of them were lively, the third groaned as she found herself being dragged onto the dance floor by her rather annoying sisters. "Why do I have to do this?" she whined, crossing her arms and donning a sulky expression once they'd firmly planted themselves smack dab in the centre of the room.

"Because you need this, Gadget," the tallest of the trio chided, wagging her finger at her pouty sister. "It's been fifty years, we've finally got a chance to live and be free, now come on, back me up here, Delphi!"

"Unity's right, you know," Delphi told Gadget. "The therapist said it would be good for you to let your hair down a little at this party."

Gadget sighed, but ultimately, she couldn't think of an argument to refute her sisters. "Alright, so long as you're not going to stuff me with food or anything."

"We won't, we promise," Delphi said.

Then, she grabbed Gadget's hand and twirled her around. Gadget yelped, nearly tumbling on her backside at the sudden move. Gadget scowled, and her scowl only deepened when from the drinks bar, she heard a familiar chuckle. "Beetee!" she snapped. "Don't embarrass me, hey!"

Beetee held his hands up in apology, then resumed his conversation with Effie and Demeter's sister Teff. Gadget rolled her eyes and sighed, but before she could dive deep into an internal monologue, Unity grabbed her waist and spun her. Gadget shrieked again, prompting a couple more hushed giggles from Beetee and a rather tipsy Teff. She began to protest, but her sisters wasted no time swinging her around as the music shifted to a more upbeat rhythm. Slowly, the musical gears in Gadget's head began to click and she started to sway her body just a bit. As her sisters continued to jump and twirl, however, Gadget found herself, for the first time since her youth many decades ago, starting to dance. Her old ballerina instincts kicked in and she swayed and swerved to the beat like an absolute pro, a steady half-smile slowly peeking out of her lips as she tried to do more advanced twirls, which surprisingly, even in her ageing state, she was still somehow able to pull off.

For the first time in eternity, Gadget was happy.

---

In the corner of the room, hunched over an empty bowl of crisps, a plump woman sat with a wicker basket by her side, staring with murky eyes at the little crumbs left behind in the bowl. She hadn't eaten much, only the last few scraps of the crisps, but already she felt like throwing up. Had she drunk any liquids, she would've gone sick right onto the floor. The food tasted like sandpaper in her mouth, a bitter reminder of how she'd tricked those kids in her arena.

It tasted like the poison. Her poison.

"Dear me Calico, why the long face?"

Calico glanced up and saw a pale woman with the world's largest pink wig and an eccentric purple dress approach her. She winced. The woman's bright, bubbly eyes petrified her with their seemingly endless vat of energy. Calico bit her lip but there was no avoiding the ensuing conversation, that much she was sure of. "I- I'm fine, Effie," she quietly murmured under her breath.

Effie dragged a chair next to her. Calico sighed. Oh, how she regretted coming to this party. Annie and Camilla had practically towed her straight to this building, refusing to take a 'no' for an answer. Was it really too much to ask for her to be left alone? "Oh, my dear Calico," Effie crooned, well aware that 'dear Calico' was in fact older than her. "I get how you feel, but you can't spend the rest of your life like this, look around you, you're surrounded by friends who want to help you, come on Calico, try to forget your Games for a second and enjoy yourself, alright?"

Calico shot her a withering look but Effie didn't even flinch. Perhaps she'd been used to receiving the same looks from Katniss and Haymitch, Calico heard those two could throw some monstrous glares. "How can I possibly forget them?" she hissed, but her voice came out in a low whimper. She sighed, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "Everywhere I go, everyone I meet, everything I eat, reminds me of them! And now Woof and Cecelia are gone too, and I have nobody-"

"You have us," Tigris assured her. Sliding up to Calico's other side, she rested a careful hand on the older Victor's shoulder. "I might be just another stylist to you, but hear me out for a sec. "You messed up, big time, and so did all of us. But those kids would want to see the girl who at least made their final days a little happier enjoy herself. It's not your fault, it's not theirs, and it's not the Careers' either. It's the Gamemakers' and now they're gone for good. If you mope around for ages, well, you're giving the guys that sentenced more than a thousand kids to die in the most brutal ways imaginable the final laugh. Which you can do. Or, you can give them a huge middle finger and loosen up a little with us. It's not dishonouring the memory of those kids, it's making sure their sacrifices are not in vain."

Effie nodded. "She's right, you know, don't give in to the enemy, Calico, they may be gone in real life but they're still in our minds. We can't let them win."

Calico blinked, unsure of what to think of their words. She stood up, her legs wobbling from the effort. "I- I don't know."

Tigris ushered her forward. "Then perhaps we can start with a dance?"

---

The room also had a foosball table, where two men were twisting and turning the knobs by the side of the table in a fervent desire for victory, sweat trickling down their eyebrows in eager excitement. It had been ages since they'd last felt such an exhilarating rush of freedom, yet here they were, locked in a match, only this time, no one had to die for their victory to be sealed. Fate had decreed their meeting several years ago, and fate too had been the sponsor of their blossoming friendship, a relic of an even older friendship that one of them had once so deeply treasured.

"You're going down, James!" one of them wheezed, scuttling to block an incoming shot on target by slamming the stick with his goalkeeper towards the ball.

"Oh, you think so, huh?" James said with a twinkle in his eye. "Well, Sprout, today, you finally learn who's the true master of foosball in this realm." With two swift shakes of his sticks, he sent the ball battering towards Sprout's goal, and this time, Sprout wasn't quick enough to stop him. The ball slid in comfortable, prompting a small cheering effect from the machine. "Checkmate, what's new?"

Sprout sighed, but he couldn't hide his smile. "Well played, old man, but I bet you can't beat me in a geography-related game."

"Indeed I can't," James agreed with a shrug. "Which is why I've never challenged you on those. I simply create the maps so you can continue thrashing Geneva in your little games."

Sprout scratched his head. "Yeah, but only because she's terrible at geography, and she won't ever stand down a bet, so she makes for an easy target."

"You boys mind scuttling over? I believe it's our turn." Both men turned to find a tall, slender woman with a smaller teenage girl tagging along behind her looming over them with expectant looks on their faces.

Sprout threw his hands up. "Well, James, seems like the fun police has arrived. Here, Officer Tia, take it away!"

Tia murmured something under her breath, then brushed Sprout aside to make her way for the table. The teenage girl stood opposite her, a calm, confident look on her face. "Ready, Tia?"

"Ready, Camilla," Tia confirmed. "You're going down."

"Careful," Sprout warned. "I said the exact same thing to James, and look what happened."

"Oh, but I'm not James," Tia said, waving him off. "I'm not going to- hey!"

With a giggle and a small cheer, plus a high-five from Sprout, Camilla scored a goal. "Yippee!" she hooted in celebration, flexing her muscles as she prepare for the next round. Tia sighed. "Yo James, you got any foosball tips?"

---

At the drinks bar, two blonde women, both middle-aged, sat on tall stools, comprehending the younger crowd before them. "Busy night eh, Iris?" one of them pondered aloud. Iris gazed longingly ahead, wishing she had any sort of self-confidence to enjoy herself while out in public. The other woman took a sip of her hot chocolate, a drink she'd recently grown to be a massive fan of as an alcohol alternative when the traumas and nightmares came around.

Iris bit her lip. Nervously brushing a strand of hair away from her face, she sighed. "Yeah, I don't know, Geneva, it's a little too crowded for me." She wrinkled her nose, glancing at the jukebox as it blared some extra loud hard metal tunes. "The music isn't quite up my alley either."

Geneva nodded slowly, a pensive gaze on her face. "Cartier tried to get me into this stuff a while back, it hypes you up in the mornings and lets you run wild, I'll give it that. Better than that outdated ballad Sapphire's been making me listen for the last five years or so."

A hint of a smile glimmered across Iris's face. "Hey, Sapphire's ballads are pretty relaxing, we enjoyed them back in Four."

Geneva snorted. "To each their own." She nudged Iris, gesturing to the dance floor. "Caesar's having a rocking good time with Haymitch and Audrey, you should join in on the fun."

And Caesar was indeed having a smashing time, busting out the smoothest moonwalk Panem had ever seen as Haymitch tried to push him over, Sprout's aunt Audrey (who'd spent the earlier part of the day deep in conversation with James over Shaddock) rolling her eyes as she watched the two men goof around. Part of her wanted to stay put, hide away from everyone and watch from the sidelines like she always did, but another, teeny tiny bit inside her heart egged her on, willing her to step forth and join the dancing.

It was, after all, what her siblings would've wanted her to do.

---

As the afternoon bloomed into the evening sunset, the partygoers descended upon a large balcony, where a long dining table had been set up, along with platters of dishes from all across Panem, from the Capitol to District Fourteen. Victors, families, friends, rebel leaders and friendly faces alike took their sites, their voices still high in excited chatter. The mood swelled into a delightful bliss, as ahead of them, the Capitol skyline sprawled into a glowing, amber sunset, the towering, shining peaks that had for centuries been its greatest gatekeepers looming in the distance, the vast plains in the direction of District One peeking out in the horizon, a reminder of the great nation that lay beyond these city limits. Tonight, the Capitol streets were, at long last, abuzz with life again, as the last remaining war stragglers finally emerged from hiding, basking in the rebuilt streets of the Capitol, clutching onto the remnants of their families, seeking to reignite the sparks of joy that had once been a staple of the Capitol.

As the conversations began to dim and the guests wolfed down the food, at the edge of the table, President Paylor, a fashionable latecomer to the festivities, tapped her glass. Instantly, dozens of heads swirled to face her, dozens of eyes gazing in her direction, rapt with attention for their new leader, elected fairly and democratically for the first time in over two hundred years. President Paylor scanned the faces. She knew each and every one of them well, knew that those happy smiles and cheerful looks all masked years of undying trauma and pain, pain that they each had to endure and suffer at the hands of the people they'd strived so hard to finally depose.

But she also knew that they were merely the lucky few.

She hated to be the mood killer, but the topic had already been floating over their heads for the entire dinner, she couldn't put it off much longer. Besides, it was only right that she, as Panem's new President, gave them the honour they more than well deserved. "While I'm glad we have all been able to enjoy ourselves today," she began, gazing at a half-eaten piece of roast chicken across the table on Effie's plate in a bid to avoid anyone's eye. "I feel this is the best moment to remember those who are... not with us today."

Silence. Paylor gritted her teeth as all around her, all the fire and light in the guests' eyes disappeared in a flash, replaced with traumatised, empty stares, filled with haunting memories of how the rebellion and the Hunger Games had ruined their closest friends.

Calico, surprisingly, was the first to speak up. She cleared her throat, a nervous, guilt-stricken expression scrawled all over her face. "I guess since Eight were the first to break away from the Capitol, Woof and Cecelia's efforts should be recognised first." She paused, the sun's setting rays beaming right in her face as the guests turned to listen. "Woof... what can I say? He helped to rekindle Eight's rebellious fire, all with more than a few subtle subtexts in his novels. It's a wonder just how many people can be swayed into unrest just with a few well-written romance stories about hapless freedom fighters, really."

"I read those books as a child," Tia piped up. "Honestly, I didn't really pick up on the rebel subplots then, but they did make me believe that some handsome bloke was out there waiting for my hand in marriage." She snorted, shaking her head with a bittersweet smile. "Gosh, I was a stupid child."

"And Cecelia, well..." Calico's voice faltered.

"Mum was incredible," Camilla said, a steely look masking the profound grief that battered her chest. "She fought to the bitter end, even taught me how to work with pyro, that came in handy when Eight finally took up arms against the Capitol."

Tia nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. "My sister was my rock, and she always will be."

Across the table, Enobaria's lips quivered. Her head hung in guilt, she decided to speak up. "I wish I could undo that moment, you know? I'm sorry."

Tia gave her a sympathetic nod. "It's alright, you were just trying to survive."

Haymitch went next. Neither Katniss nor Peeta had ever met Axel, so they could only speak a little about the bits and pieces they'd heard of him. Haymitch, however, knew firsthand the wits and humour that District Twelve's first ever Victor brought to the house. "Axel was the life of any party," he said. "Well, if it was a party that involved lame jokes and sarcastic quips, that was. But he was the complete opposite of me, always smiling, always trying to cheer everyone up, it's no wonder he and Switch became besties."

A steady smile spread across Sapphire's face in remembrance. "Yeah, Axel tried to cheer me up every night on the phone after the Capitol sold me out. He never stopped trying to be unashamedly himself, he was truly a special person."

The older Victors nodded and mumbled in approval, recounting some of Axel's best (and worst) puns and jokes. Sprout tapped his glass, signalling he wanted to go next. "Well, I'm certainly not exactly my District's most memorable Victor, but Chaff sure was. Yeah, he was a bit of an alcoholic but he had a great sense of humour and was a brilliant artist."

"Remember the time he spray painted all over Julia's face?" Haymitch said with a snicker as the other Victors chortled with glee at the memory.

"And Orchid, everyone misunderstood her, she wasn't very popular in Eleven, but she truly cared for our District and did everything she could. She even bought me time to flee when the Peacekeepers came to execute us." He sniffled, resisting the urge to cry. "She gave her life to save mine, along with a dozen other innocent civilians. She's a real District hero, and the same can be said for Seeder too. Children were her first priority and she did all she could to help the children of Eleven. Built schools, paid for children's healthcare, gave them food..."

"Rue's family told me she also helped to tutor Rue as a child," Katniss said, her voice crackling at the mere mention of her fallen young ally.

"A true hero indeed, many of the kids she took under her wing revolted as soon as her death was confirmed in the Quell. And believe me, there were many. The Justice Building fell within a day of fighting and the Peacekeepers were relegated to several scattered strongholds by the end of the week. Inspirational, she was."

Next up were the Victors from One, the District that, to everyone in Panem's surprise, were among the first to break free from their Capitolite chains, leaving an opening in the Capitol's defences and paving the way for a swift victory in the rebellion. Geneva was the first to give her eulogies. "Cartier..." she began, but her voice had already begun to strain under the yoke of her emotions. "I'd known him since we were little kids. What happened to Pandora-" She shook her head, heaving in a sigh of grief. "It shook him for many years to come. But he always found a way to carry on, he thought out of the box even in the most dire of situations, and, well, an aquarium explosion in the Montgomery mansions proved to be the perfect distraction to allow the rebel troops to storm the place. But the Montgomeries and the Peacekeepers found out and they tracked him down and, well, killed Cartier." She took a deep breath, then went on, deciding that she too should speak for the Irvine twins who she'd been close friends with. "Gloss and Cashmere lived horrible lives, they were abused from the start by the Montgomeries, and just as they found an escape after going through hell in those arenas, the Capitol had them pimped out and to top it all off, killed them in the Quell. But they didn't die for nothing, they left behind a network of tunnels underneath the mansion and frequented them right before the Quell, filling them with supplies and weaponry to aid any invading army, which our rebels found very useful. They fought for each other more than they did for themselves, admirable pair, they were."

Sapphire took the reins for the subsequent Victors. "Onyx, he was a stubborn man, never took my advice and liked to rough it out his own way. But we still helped each other out when the Capitol tried to turn our lives into pure misery, and I'm grateful I had him as a friend." She paused, steadying her breath as she silently recalled the other District One Victors who'd long since passed. She'd been present at all of their Victories, and she'd been present for most of their deaths too. "Sterling, poor girl, she arguably, wait no, definitely, went through the worst arena of all time. They violated her, and brutalised everyone in that dreadful dystopian town. It's no wonder she could barely speak for years after that."

Demeter gritted her teeth. "I remember Gwen telling me about her, how she'd turned to self-harm multiple times before being eventually rehabilitated by Gwen, well maybe not fully, but she could at least talk and socialise again. I think as a kid my parents told me to be as brave as Sterling Jones, it was a fairly common metaphor back in Nine, everyone in Panem appreciated her for being the sanest tribute in that arena by far and living through everything that came her way."

"The image of her riding a dragon has also become like our Mockingjay," Geneva confirmed. "We never really needed a symbol to inspire us into rebellion, no offence, Katniss, but we had our own uprising brewing over the years, we just needed the perfect distraction and then we instantly pounced on the Montgomeries. It was a unified District effort and the leaders of the whole thing were called the 'Sterling Dragons' in Sterling's honour, rather fitting, I should say, given their bravery in the midst of certain death."

"Then there was Luxe," Sapphire continued. "Oh, Luxe, he was such a sweet, charming fellow, never tried to cause any trouble for anyone, and he had the brightest smile on his face at all times. He loved going on adventures and I like to think he died smiling on his last adventure to the Capitol as a rebel fighter for Thirteen."

"He did," Paylor said. "Luxe was on our unit. My goodness, he was by far our most skilled fighter, could run laps and swing around entire enemy units with a fedora strapped on his head. Alas, he was cornered into a pod by an entire squadron and we couldn't get to him in time, but he had a smile on his face and waved while the pod blew him to bits."

"Valkyrie too, was something else," Sapphire said. "She understood her greatest strength was her beauty and she used it to her full advantage in manipulating men and women alike into practically funding Fourteen's rebellion with their 'generous donations'. Still, Draco used her beauty to curse her, that was horrible. She died on the battlefield as the Ones, Threes and Fours pushed into the Capitol before even waiting for support from Thirteen or Fourteen and made significant inroads under her leadership. She was one of the bravest women I ever knew."

"Hear, hear," Geneva agreed, raising her glass in a silent toast. "Then we had Franc. A family man by all accounts, wanted nothing but the best for those he loved. He didn't go into the VPR, thank goodness, because he had a wonderful love story going for him. No doubt Woof had a hand in inflating its popularity over the years to keep Franc out of the VPR. I didn't really know him that well, but the few times he spoke he was always concerned for my wellbeing and wanted to make sure I was mentally alright. I'll miss him."

"His cousin Crystal was great too," Sapphire added. "My goodness, that girl was the epitome of rebelliousness, did everything to undermine the Montgomeries, and we all loved her for that!"

"She kept on stealing Draco's prized cookies too, real icon, that woman," Enobaria said with a giggle.

"She helped to storm the Montgomery mansions with the rebels, but alas, her own family had her killed. It wasn't pretty," Sapphire said, grimacing.

"Augustus, though," Geneva chuckled softly. "He used to be super pro-Capitol, but the poor kid watched all of his siblings die in the arena, that's more than enough to really mess someone up. But boy, he was brave. And strong. It took fifteen soldiers to have him pinned down and killed when he rushed to Four to help weed out the paratrooper invasions there."

With that, the Ones ended their eulogies. Next, Beetee raised a hand to speak. "I was quite close to both Wiress and Nikola, they were like family to me. Wiress was arguably my best friend, whenever I struggled with a particularly difficult issue, I could always count on her assistance."

Gadget nodded, her lips contorting into a pained scowl. "Wiress... She never could recover from the trauma of her Games. We had that in common, but she was a lot more ready to confront reality than I ever was. Attended every single dance performance of mine, without fail. She was the most loyal friend that I could've ever asked for. Well, bar Nikola, of course." Her eyes drifted upwards momentarily, a small smile melancholically tugging on her lips. Regardless of what had happened, she knew that Nikola was somewhere up there with Wiress, watching over her, guiding her, smiling down at her with that warm grin of his.

It gave her the courage to wake up each day and continue the legacy of District Three's Victors.

"Nikola gave me something I didn't think I could ever have after the Games: hope. He never stopped believing in a rebellion against the Capitol, not even after Snow came to power and consolidated his reign. All the tech he made and designed, he never told the Capitol about them, he simply had them secretly shipped off to Thirteen and Fourteen for their use. He fought all the way to the end, and even managed to gun down a couple of their guys when he was being chased through the Capitol. But he was overwhelmed, and they got the better of him. They weren't the ones who got the last laugh, though, Nikola had thought one step ahead and promptly blew them all up with an impromptu napalm bomb."

Unity smiled sadly. "I remember Nikola, kindest man you could ever meet. Helped us cook and clean the house from time to time. And I could never repay him enough for what he's done with Gadget, he's saved her life."

There was a rumble of agreement around the table before the spotlight shifted to Johanna and James, the pair from Seven. The pair exchanged glances, silently discussing how best to give their fellow Victors a proper farewell. Ultimately, it was agreed that James would start first. "Hassan, well, he was quite old when I got to know him, but he's a proper District legend, and he's got a lovely family of pets at his home that I took care of after he passed. Even when he was sick, Hassan would always take good care of them, and even gave me a few veterinary tips as well when it came to dealing with them. Oh, and who can forget how he spent half his life pacifying the mutts that ravaged our woods? The guy's a proper legend, and it's fitting that even during the uprisings he was still remembered as a hero for our District."

Johanna chuckled. "A legend he really was. And so was Jill. I never met her, at least not in person, but I heard she was a proper badass. Enchanted a bunch of madlads with a violin in her Games, simply because she could, only to trap them and send them straight to the afterlife. She'd been secretly doing that with the small pro-Capitolite group of folks within our District too, and that music school of hers? Prime rebel headquarters, definitely my favourite spot in town."

"She raised Olive too," James pointed out. "Oh, Olive, now that girl was special. The best flautist in Panem by a mile and a half and a proper enchantress too. She had magic in her veins and in her words too. Every time she entered a room, you just knew there was going to be tons of laughter and plenty of smiles. Shame she couldn't be here today, I'm still half-convinced she faked her death as some sort of epic prank, but considering how she used her flute performances back in the day to steal Peacekeeper intel and divert the Peacekeepers' attention from raids and rebel activities, I would've loved to see what she had in store for a grand finale of sorts."

"Oh, definitely," Johanna agreed. "And then there was Birch. Master thief, he could steal anything from anyone, heck he even stole those bomb codes right off the President himself! The Peacekeepers never could hold down our District in the rebellion, and that was all down to his stealing of all of the Peacekeepers' crucial plans and best equipment. But alas, even the Capitol knew he was trouble and sent three of their best snipers to gun him down, but hey, not before he actually stole one of their rifles. Proper legendary stuff from him."

"Blight's one heck of a guy too," James pointed out. "Best drummer in town and a penchant for some good fun. He was a bit of a late-coming specialist, though, but hey, watching him think of the wackiest excuses in the world was pretty funny. He even married his escort too, Jana, she was only a year older when she got the job as Seven's escort in Blight's Games, after all. They brought plenty of fun and drumming everywhere they went, and I think we all loved them. Jana's a fully-fledged citizen of Seven now, she couldn't make it here since she's been sick for the past couple of weeks, alas, but she sends her regards."

There was further chatter about the Victors of Seven before it was time to move on to the next District: Four. Iris, Coral and Annie gazed at each other, chewing their lips in nervous anticipation of the rush of nostalgia and bitter sorrow they were about to relive. "I-I'm the oldest so I guess I should start first," Iris piped up. "Marina, she was the living symbol of District Four. A fisher girl at heart, she never forgot her roots and always tried to lend a helping hand anyway she could. The kindest soul you could ever meet, everything she did, she did with the good of the District in mind. She sacrificed her own dignity and allowed herself to be ridiculed just so kids from Four like, well, us, could have a shot at preparing ourselves for the Hunger Games. Considering how Draco was fixated on eliminating Four's tributes year after year, her bargaining with him gave every kid that followed a shot at making it out. Without her, all the subsequent Victors of Four might've been reduced to being nothing more than Bloodbath cannon fodder for the Careers. And she kickstarted the rebellion across Panem too."

Coral nodded in agreement. "She fought night and day so we could live happily and free, all of us in Four. Oh, and did I mention? She campaigned for better education, better healthcare and most importantly, funded our sports teams to give us Fours an identity and a purpose in life beyond just fishing. And she took care of sailors when they were lost at sea or injured in a storm. It was only fitting that her statue stands tall at our main harbour, guiding sailors home as she'd always done so."

Annie took the reins, and with a deep sigh, she continued talking about Four's Victors. "Well, Mags was one of a kind, and I know that sounds cliche and stuff, but it's true. Most people couldn't understand her thick accent, but for those who could, she offered plenty of wisdom, even if it was simply 'go kick their asses'." She let out a small chuckle, sighing and shaking her head as the memories swept over her like a tidal wave. "She was with the rebellion from start to finish and never gave up on her tributes, always coming up with genius tactics that suited them perfectly. She could motivate even the most downcast of kids and stirred up rebellion everywhere she went."

"Jolien..." Iris's voice faltered. Tears began to brim in her eyes.

No, I can't cry, not in front of everyone!

She inhaled, her breath shaky. Blinking back a tear dangerously close to slipping out of her eyelids, she gritted her teeth.

You can do this, Iris. For me.

Perhaps it was the gentle breeze, perhaps it was just her mind playing tricks on her. But in the distance, she could've sworn she heard Jolien's voice, echoing through the glittering evening, serenely giving her that extra boost of confidence, just as she'd always done from the day Iris was born.

For Jolien.

"Jolien was the best sister I could've ever asked for. She was actually adopted from a pirate crew that found her drifting in the ocean as a baby, but still, she's family. Jolien encouraged me to stay true to myself even when the world tumbled around me. She taught me that I was Iris Fisher and that I could do anything I wanted if I just showed the world who I really was instead of putting on a facade."

She paused, giving Caesar a small smile. The pair's hands interlocked, the warmth of his touch bringing an added spark that Iris sorely needed. "And she was right. I won my Games, settled down with a wonderful husband, got to design my own clothes and sitting here amongst all of you today, I have the rest of my life to look forward to." She dipped her head. "Shame Jolien couldn't. Those darned Peacekeepers and their airstrikes... She never stood a chance."

"I loved Jolien, she was incredible and a true inspiration for rebels around Panem," Demeter added thoughtfully.

"Indeed, she was a joy to work with," Tigris purred out.

"Timmy..." Iris continued, choking back a sob. "Oh, he was a national treasure! Joked around, made us all happy, even in our darkest moments. Heck, he even fended off bullies for me at school, even when they were twice his size. I- I miss him, I really do. I miss how he would hug me whenever I cried and all the dad jokes he would whisper in my ear to make me laugh. The Capitol had him captured in a battle, I'm not quite sure where, but they tortured him and- they were merciless when they did it, I heard."

Caesar rubbed her shoulder. "I miss Timmy too, he was the best drinking buddy and brother-in-law I could ask for." He stopped himself. "Well, there was another brother-in-law who fits the bill too."

This time, Iris didn't care. When it came to her younger brother, there was no point in trying. She let the tears fall, sobbing and quietly wailing as a typhoon of regret struck her square in the chest. "Oh, he- he deserved so, so, so much better... He had a future, you know? He was going to be one of Four's finest athletes, he was clever in school, he was kind to everyone. But then the Capitol, those Games, he never could forget. And Delphin, gosh, she was like a third sister to him, having to kill her, oh gosh, the sheer horror of it all-"

"He taught me how to play football," Coral said. "Calm as a sea urchin with the ball at his feet. And he was patient with me even when I floundered like a pile of kelp. He's the reason I survived my Games, I owe him my life and more."

"H-he fought a Peacekeeper to save my life," Iris sniffled. "They were going to shoot me, but he- he wouldn't let them and they shot him for it!" Her voice grew and rose to a wail as guilt and regret coursed through her veins.

She could never forget that fateful moment.

A moment that would haunt her for the rest of her life, more so than anything that had happened in her Games.

"Then there was Poseidon," Annie murmured. "He was a maniac, always on edge. I was really scared of him, and he was weirdly supportive of the Capitol too. But still, he didn't deserve his fate. He thought he was safe in the Capitol with his buddies, until they turned on him and had him locked up and tortured for literally no reason at all. He lasted a full month in there before they finally got the better of him. Apparently he was a real banshee for the guards at night too, so I'll give him credit for that at least."

"Nemo, oh, he was humble as heck," Coral sighed. "Not a single arrogant bone in his body, he was the classical embodiment of a fisher boy and lived by those principles. But when it was time to fight, he stepped up and was always there whenever we were in danger. Like, he crawled through a sea cave just to save me when the Capitol blew up our boat and sent us tumbling under the waves. But not even he could escape an air strike from the Capitol, alas."

"Finnick, well," Annie sucked in a big gush of air.

She was brave, she was strong, she was Annie flipping Cresta.

She'd promised herself and Finnick's spirit, wherever it may be, that she would give him a proper eulogy. No tears, no quivering, nothing.

"He was known as a playboy and a whore by many, but really, he was doing it to protect his family. To protect me. Finnick Odair, once you got to know him, was a kindred friend who was there whenever you needed him. He did everything he could to help me out, from the day I had to seek refuge at his hut to the day he married me. A legend and a hero of all Panem, he deserves such recognition."

"She may not be a Victor, but Willuna Amora, our veteran escort, deserves a fair shout as well," Tigris pointed out. "A point of contact within the Capitol, she did all she could for Four and the rebellion."

"And for Eight as well," Calico uttered. "She was a damn good escort for us too."

"The Capitol, however, got wind of this and had her publicly executed, unfortunately," Tigris rued.

A few of those present shared a few more words before the conversation shifted to District Five. Ampere sighed, taking a big swig of wine. "Well, I guess it's my turn. I know Shocker's got quite a bad rep outside of Five for the horrible stuff he did in his arena, but he was a changed man after that. Did his part to serve the rebellion and was constantly behind raids on Peacekeeper bases and frequently went around recruiting damn workers. The whole dam explosion thing? It was his idea, decades in the making."

"And then there was Switch," Haymitch said with a chuckle.

Ampere gave a bitter smile. "Ah, Switch Kim. I maintain to this day that she was the happiest person in Panem. Even when the Capitol had her sold off to those awful men, she still found ways to smile. Her constant energy of jumping around and doing cartwheels was intoxicating, to say the least. 'Switch, baby', well that was one heck of a catchphrase too. She really deserved to live and see a day when she could be free, I'm sure she would've had a whole show lined up for us today."

"She was my mother too," Caesar said.

Katniss blinked, her mouth agape in shock. "Wait, you're joking, right?"

Caesar gave her a blank smile. "One of the men she was sold off to happened to be my father. We didn't speak much until I was around fifteen or so, but since then, my goodness was she an absolute blessing to be around. Always cheering me up before the interviews, always spending time with me after the Games, and always trying to teach me magic and quick change, though I was never the best at either. Lovely, incredible person, loved her to bits."

"Flash, on the other hand, was not very pleasant to be around. Always drunk, always fooling around and rather misogynistic too. Still, not even he deserved the Quell, no one did," Ampere said. "Meanwhile, Porter, ah yes, she was rather, what is the word that people use these days? Badass? Yes, I believe that is the one. She grew up on the outskirts of Five alongside wild beasts, no wonder she could work and communicate effectively with even the most exotic of creatures. Single-handedly created an army of mutts that helped to fight against the Peacekeepers and helped to blow up the dam. Unfortunately, snipers and paratroopers were sent in specifically with the goal of capturing us and she tried but ultimately couldn't survive endless Capitolite torture."

"Marie was wild, too," Coral said. "Okay, not wild in like, the hyper-crazy sense. But she seemed so shy and unassuming, constantly hiding behind a sketchbook or a novel from Woof, yet so petrifying at the same time."

"One simple glare was enough to scare nearly everyone, including Draco Hadley, the macho man himself," Ampere confirmed. "The art she drew though, it was the first time I felt so provoked by a bunch of lines strewn across a sheet of white canvas. Man, those deserved to be in a museum of their own. She was incredibly gifted, shame the Quell had to pry away all her potential from her.

A couple of glasses were raised to honour the Fives, before Thalia stood up to speak. "I did not have the pleasure of being in very close acquaintance with my fellow Victors from Six, however I must say, they were very noble indeed. Ford, as far as celebrities went, was a model citizen. He was modest and despite garnering immense fame from his racing achievements, he never once liked to brag. In fact, he used his influence for good, going around to expose abusive factory owners and help families hurt by substance abuse. His influence became too great for the Capitol, who tried to double down on him by selling him out to the highest bidder more often. Ultimately, they took no chances and rounded him up before he could even escape the Mentoring Room. Still, what a legend, he deserves his statue in the heart of the former Reaping Square."

"Kimi too did his District proud," Lyme said. "He and I often talked and while I certainly did not approve of his spiral into drug abuse, when he was clean and sober, he was a lovely person to chat with. Oh, and give that man a screwdriver and he'll fix up an entire armada by the time you're back from a bathroom break."

"Yes, and let's not forget about Audi as well," Thalia continued. "An incredible painter with a fascinating affinity towards camouflage, I must say. She had a weekly show in which she would camouflage herself into the facade of a local school and the kids would rush around in search of her, with my help of course. It encouraged them to run around and think critically instead of resorting to drug or gang violence for some entertainment in their lives."

"Audi..." Peeta shuddered as he spoke. "She saved my life and I didn't even bother to learn her name."

"Don't blame yourself over it, she rarely introduced herself to others anyway," Sprout said. "I mean, I only got around to learning her name was Audi during the Seventy-Fourth Games. I think she wanted Jason to potentially ally with Thresh and during our conversation, Ford told me her name. It was a little embarrassing, trying to avoid addressing her, but she was really cool about it."

With that, the conversation drifted to the Victors of Nine. Demeter took a sip of her wine, swirling the liquid around in her cup with a thoughtful stare. "Gwen was an angel amongst mortals, that is probably the most fitting description of her. She had a rocky upbringing, with her anorexia and orphanage woes, but she didn't give up on herself. She spent a good twenty years studying psychology so that she could help not only herself, but everyone around her. Every Victor, regardless of what they did in the arena, could find a listening ear in Gwen. She took it upon herself to ensure none of the seventy-six Victors committed suicide, and she made the same efforts for the people of her District. And when in battle, she found herself in the company of hundreds of citizens willing to fight tooth and nail to protect the woman who'd done so much for them. Sadly, that wasn't enough, but she went down in style, at least, in a brutal brawl with a Peacekeeper after blowing up two of their positions."

"Then there's Miller," Geneva murmured, a tinge of bitterness coating her words. "That boy was trouble."

"Yeah, he was a great trickster and illusionist, I'll give him that, but goodness me, he was one heck of a psychopath," Caesar said with a shudder. "The constant talk of his gang life always did make me uncomfortable during parties. But again, he didn't deserve the Quell, despite the fact that he spent his Quell interview promising to exterminate everyone with his 'latest flicks'."

"At least Laurel was much better," Demeter offered. "She was a real sweetheart and made the best tea in all of Panem. But mess with her and you'll find just a teeny tiny drop of the world's deadliest poisons slipped neatly into your cup. That's why by the time the Peacekeepers took up arms against the rebels of Nine, half of them were struggling to even lift their guns, Laurel's poisons revolutionised Nine's tactics, effectively giving us the upper hand by simply poisoning the Peacekeepers and then making it seem like an inside job. They crumbled apart in no time. We owe her our victory back in Nine."

There was some toasting to the Victors of Nine. Then, it was John's turn to speak up for District Ten. "Where do I even begin with Ringo?" he mused, shaking his head as the memory of Ten's pioneering Victor unfurled in his mind. "The man loved horses. I think he got along better with his horses than with people in general. He would ride across vast plains and deserts on his horses just to get away from everyone for a week or two. He took me out on one of his trips after the first Quell, to help get my mind off of the carnage that happened. Man, let me tell you, you haven't lived if you haven't gone camping out in the wilds of Ten. Ringo showed me a whole host of constellations and planets, talking about worlds beyond and how he wondered if we could ever go to any of those places. He wanted to be the first man on the moon, at least. And he showed me the most wonderful of rock formations and arches plus a few ancient rock carvings that must've dated thousands of years back. Magical, breathtaking, that's all I can say about it. He would ride his horse across the entire District too if it meant helping the rebel cause. Ringo was beyond dedicated, he was the fighting soul of District Ten."

"Ringo was legendary, yes," Haymitch agreed. "But boy, Mare was something else."

"Oh, she definitely was," John said with a sad chuckle. "She was terrifying! One wrong move and she'd lob your head off. Damn, I never could meet her eye, she seemed constantly ready to hurl someone into her fiery abyss of rage and I did not want to be that poor fellow. But as merciless and sadistic as she was, I'll give her one thing: she never gave up fighting for the rebellion. She trained and armed as many men and women as she could muster within Ten's borders, wrestled control of key outskirt towns before the Quell had even been announced to set up rebel bases, covertly destroyed Peacekeeper barracks on a regular basis such that their forces were already exhausted by the time they arrived here, stole key documents and files and even frequently infiltrated the mayor's house to make demands that would help the rebellion. It wasn't a secret that the Capitol loathed her, especially after Demeter's Victory and the pair seemed to band together to turn Nine and Ten into a joint rebel stronghold, so into the arena she went. Shame, really, she would've loved to see a free Panem, though I wonder how she would've adapted. Still, she should've had a chance to at least do so."

"Mare was like a second mother to me," Demeter confirmed, nodding her head sombrely. "Took me under her wing, I'll never forget that."

"Colt too, deserves plenty of credit," John added. "District Ten has always had a strong chess culture, it was only fitting that one of the District's best chess prodigies won us our fourth-ever Hunger Games. Even when under the heavy influence of alcohol and drugs, he could still remain perfectly still and maintain a deep sense of concentration. And his final 'checkmate' in his Games has long since morphed into somewhat of a rebel slogan for us in Ten. Whenever a Peacekeeper unit was destroyed, we'd always scream, "Checkmate!" in honour of Colt Dias. A true king of Ten, he even developed crucial rebel tactics for us, such as hiding slips of information in chess pieces and communicating publicly via his moves on the board to deter suspicion. He's a legend in my eyes."

Several Victors nodded in agreement. Finally, the time had come to discuss the final, most controversial of the Districts: the warrior District of Two. The homeland of some of the arena's most savage Careers, several guests glanced at each other with unease, in nervous anticipation of one name in particular that was simply inevitable in such a conversation. Lyme began first. She cleared her throat, then stood to address the crowd. "I know that we may not be very popular amongst many of you, but not all of our Victors were horrible. My father Ragnar, for example, was heavily misunderstood amongst the rebel community. You see, it had not been his intention to compete in the Hunger Games, rather, he was forced into it. While many saw him as brutal and savage, I know him as a loving man who did everything he possibly could to care for not only Blenda and me, but also our mother Reyna, who, by the way, was also forced into the arena to teach Ragnar a lesson. They were the first star-crossed lovers, before the days of Katniss and Peeta, there was Ragnar and Reyna, the strong warrior and the compassionate toymaker. They both fought for the rebellion and from a young age, taught Blenda and me how to recognise Capitolite propaganda. Reyna, in particular, despite her unpopular nature in Two, was absolutely pivotal with the secret messages she hid in her toys designed to scare children away from the influence of the Capitol. And Ragnar remained faithfully by her side, never giving up on trying to restore the mental health of the girl he'd always loved."

"Misunderstood is also a term that can be used to describe Scipio," Enobaria chimed in. "People often refer to him as the 'Revenge Victor', and yeah, he started out as that, but by the end of his Games, he realised that killing kids was not the way to go and devoted himself fully to the rebellion. Not that everyone welcomed him with open arms, of course," she hastily added, giving the Sevens a nervous glance. "But Scipio genuinely tried to make up for his vengeful past, constantly donating to charities and opening up an orphanage where kids whose parents were killed during Peacekeeper duty or in the quarries were given the best care they could possibly have. He's a man with a true heart and I can't ever stress that enough."

"So too was Hercules," Lyme said. "He hated the Games and only competed because his sister was threatened and, well, the Reaped kid was a twelve-year-old boy, he couldn't possibly let him go off into the arena. But the arena would forever traumatise him, that damned dumpster was a horrific place to be for even the most strong-willed of the tributes. And he hated Capitol Couture with a burning passion, which is always a plus in my books. He exposed some lies and discrepancies regarding the magazine's shady finances and backgrounds, stirring up quite the scandal and forcing the Capitol to rebrand its star propaganda mouthpiece. He is a good person, and I hope that people will remember him as such."

"Hear hear," Enobaria mumbled. "Then we have Freya. Oh, dear Freya. She was a handful to be around. Always shouting, screaming, barking orders. She was one of the more pro-Capitolite of the Victors, that was for sure, outshone only by her major idol. But in private, she was a little nicer and was actually quite understanding at times. She had compassion in her veins, just that the Capitol and Two's propaganda sucked all of it away, but deep down I knew there was a softer, more childlike side to her."

"She turned up in Eight one day," Calico interjected. "Covered in blood and critically wounded. Said she witnessed the Peacekeepers murder innocent children and families and found out that they were after her next. Rushed straight to Eight to stop her once-major idol in the act as a way of atoning for her brainwashed years. His cronies got the best of her but soon our armies chased them off and tried to tend to her. She died in my arms, in tears and wishing for a bit of peace and tranquillity in her life for once. I think we can all sympathise with that."

"Julia Dawson, we all hated her, she warrants not much of a mention other than I did feel sorry for her," Lyme uttered, nearly spitting out her words. "She had a terrible upbringing that led to her becoming such a horrible person. The Capitol ultimately saw her as a terrible influence and had her finished off right there in the Mentoring Room. On a more positive note, there was also Brutus. I know you might think of him as well, a brute, but in reality, he was quite a pleasant man to be around. Always tried to help out in the District, volunteered for the Quell solely to protect the other male Victors, yep, his whole speech was all a cleverly fabricated lie, and honestly, was just trying to protect himself and those he cared about throughout his life. He was never into the rebellion, but I think from time to time he made hints about his lack of loyalty towards the Capitol. He certainly never sung the anthem or said the pledge out loud unless a certain someone was watching, that was for sure."

"Evan was always a bit of a wildcard to me," Enobaria admitted. "I never really knew him well personally, but he seemed quite chill. He was definitely very passionate about wildlife and was heavily involved in wildlife conservation efforts, spending much of his free time cataloguing the different species of animals within District Two and setting up special zones and habitats to protect the most vulnerable and endangered ones. I heard he hid out in the woods during the rebellion before the Capitol ultimately tracked him down and well, shot him. But as a consolation, the troop that killed Evan were subsequently mauled by his band of trusty orangutans."

"Behanzin, that kid had only been a Victor for a year before the whole rebellion began to prop up," Lyme said. "He was constantly anxious, kept on scribbling in his diary. He never could calm down and I don't blame him at all. The world was turning upside down right before his eyes and he was far from prepared. But he was on our side at the very end and contributed some of the funds used to sponsor Katniss in both her Games. Sadly, he was gunned down in the Mentoring Room. Shame, the kid really deserved to live a life of his own."

"Are we going to ignore the elephant in the room?" Enobaria asked, her gaze shifting timidly. "You-know-who?"

Lyme nodded. "Yes, that monster warrants not even the slightest of mentions."

There was mass agreement on this as the dinner went on and the mood lightened up. As nightfall approached, the city lights began to flare up, the bright, colourful lights of the Capitol flickering on one-by-one, dotting the cityscape in a myriad of energetic, bold hues. In the distance, amid a tapestry of dark shades of night, a star twinkled, faintly, yet resonating so brightly in a world where a whole host of possibilities had emerged. As the Victors and their friends gathered on the balcony, laughing and whistling in the gentle night breeze, the star remained, a final farewell from all those who had sacrificed their lives so that this moment could be enjoyed by those who'd made it out. From Ingrid Souttar in the very first Games all the way to Primrose Everdeen on the final days of the Second Rebellion, the innocent lives lost shone on in the brilliant dazzle of that one, singular star that illuminated the night sky, and in the hearts of all those who cherished their heroic sacrifices. They were the martyrs who'd paved the way for true freedom across all fourteen Districts and the Capitol and in a bid to remember them, they would be forever engraved in a memorial site smack dab in the heart of the nation's capital.

But for the plucky few who remained, the scars of seventy-five years of the Hunger Games would never cease to wreak havoc on their minds. Their loss of sanity, the crazed way they would lapse into moments of absolute vulnerability, would be seen by many ignorant folk as signs of them being degenerates within a new society of peace, insane folk of the past who were no longer relevant.

Yet, they were more than happy to be no longer relevant.

They were fine with the label of 'The Degenerates'.

For all they wanted was peace.

And the calm assurance that they, as one large family, had made it out.

At long last, it was finally over.

---

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), Gloss Irvine(63), Cashmere Irvine(64), Augustus Braun-Montgomery(67)

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), Enobaria Golding(61), Behanzin Musa(73)

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), Poseidon Nakamura(58), Nemo Williams(62), Finnick Odair(65), Annie Cresta(70)

District 5-Shocker Crimson(8), Switch Kim(19), Flash Morrison(27), Porter Tripp(38), Marie Meredith(52), Ampere Chang(66)

District 6-Ford Hamilton(20), Kimi Bentley(51), Audi Lando(59), Thalia Wheeler (72)

District 7-Hassan Greenwood(2), Jill Wilson(15), Olive Sanchez(26), Birch Davison(35), Blight Gavin(53), James Silva(60), Johanna Mason(71)

District 8-Woof Casino(16), Calico Pepper(48), Cecelia Rheys(56)

District 9-Gwendolyn Whitfield(18), Laurel Flamsteel(29), Miller Thompson(49), Demeter Jarvinen(68)

District 10-Ringo Alvarez(7), John Gatwick(23), Mare Trybull(43), Colt Dias(57)

District 11-Orchid Bloom(12), Seeder Crue(30), Chaff Mitchell(46), Sprout Skhosana(69)

District 12-Axel Millar(3), Haymitch Abernathy(50), Katniss Everdeen(74), Peeta Mellark(74)

Victors that are underlined are deceased.

---

"Night or day, rain or shine, should you ever be in need of help, know that you have a new family of friends, ready to welcome you into their arms. We are the Victors, the Degenerates, we made it out."

-Marina Bluebell, District Four, First Victor of the Hunger Games.

---

A/N: Hi everyone, so this marks the end of our journey, 75 Victors, their stories now told and given their due justice. Thank you to everyone who's read and supported me through this entire journey, it started at the beginning of the Singaporean lockdown when I was 14 and didn't know any better, a story crafted more out of impulse than an actual desire to write. But here we are, I'm now 17, it's been a long journey but it has finally come to a close. Special thanks to Marie464, thank you for being my friend and helping me out through parts of this story, we may no longer be friends, but your contribution to this story and my own writing journey in general lives on. There may be more side stories published in the future, but for now, for one, final time, thank you for choosing to devote your time to read this little story made by a little boy from a corner of the globe relatively uncharted by Fanfiction writers, you've truly been the driving force behind this entire story. On behalf of all 75 Victors, have a good night everyone, and goodbye.