Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
A/n: Ha ha, just as i say that, it comes true! Internet was down since Friday and has only been back for the last few hours so yes, sorry about that. Anyway, hope you enjoy and i'll try to reply to more reviews.
16) Enobaria – Hope
"I know you," someone would gasp indignantly. "You're Enobaria Fitzwilliam."
That's how it always started.
"Yes, I am," she would reply gravely. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
The person would back away, disgusted. "You should have been executed," they would say.
"Very humane," she would answer dryly. "Should I go in the next Hunger Games too?"
At this point, her husband would always arrive and ask what the problem was. In a way, it's slightly ridiculous that he has to fight his wife's battles. But it is only when these people see that she has a husband and a child and a simple life in District 11 that they begin to back off from her.
It is a strange thing to be Enobaria Fitzwilliam in a post-Hunger Games world. She is one of the only remaining victors and the only one who didn't fight the Capitol. As such, she is the only one who is seen as an inhumane monster who should have been executed along with the leaders of the Capitol and many other soldiers for war crimes (though, she notes that none of the rebellion soldiers were executed for being as brutal as the Capitol soldiers). When she was first dropped in District 11 and told to make a living as a farmer, it seemed like a punishment. People avoided her and she didn't know how to do the work.
But she was a victor. And victors survive. It's what they do best.
Gradually, people warmed up to her presence and began to help her. The work was easier with people aiding her. Although they could never understand her memories of the Hunger Games, people would listen and sympathise with her. She met someone she fell in love with. They adopted a child. In many ways, her life is better than it was as a Capitol celebrity. She barely misses her old, bloodthirsty life.
In reality, it isn't perfect because no life ever is. Her husband can't always understand the way she reacts and there's always a slight rift between them; his older brother had been killed by Brutus in the Hunger Games. Her Games – a point of pride for most of her life – has become something she fears. And, of course, there are the people who think she has no right to be happy. People who throw things through her window and abuse her in the street.
But she still hopes for things to stay the way they are and improve. And that, in itself, is a change because, before, Enobaria had no right to hope. Just to be manipulated by everyone and everything.
She can endure everything people tell her. She can't change who she was, only who she is. But she doesn't think it's selfish for her to be happy and to have hope. After all: she's human now. Just like everybody else.