A/N: Thanks to MJElliot, richards25, mangesboy01, Violagirl23 and Emipop123 for reviewing! I appreciate the support :)

Here's a chapter that I've wanted to write since I first published this story, so I hope you enjoy it.

Of course, you should all know this victor from Catching Fire, where he was killed by Peeta in the arena for the Third Quarter Quell.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy today's chapter, which is about the 44th Annual Hunger Games :)


"What's the difference between you and me?

I do as I want, and you do as you're told

So listen up and shut the hell up

It's no big deal, and I'll see you in hell."

- Billie-Joe Armstrong, 1997.


The 44th Annual Hunger Games

Brutus Severus Cato (18), District 2 Male

Green Day - Reject (1997)


What's in a name?

A name gives so much away about you in one word. To a person who knows you, of course.

I might be moderately intelligent, reasonably good looking, charismatic, strong and overly determined. But I could also just be described as Brutus. That explains it all so much more simply to anyone who knows me.

Of course, where I'm headed, everyone knows the Hunger Games victors. They don't need to be described. Their name is enough for most people to remember what they are like.

Except for those forgettable victors, of course. In my years at District 2's Training Centre, my father has made sure that I have seen reruns of every single Games at least five times. I know every single way of winning the Games that has ever been attempted, and how to use those tactics to my advantage to come up with my own strategy for any situation. But even after seeing so many Games, some of the forty-three victors seem completely forgettable.

Even now, I couldn't tell you the name of District 12's lone victor. She's a woman in her sixties who's in ill health, but I've no ideas what she's called. She won the year before my father did. I can remember some victors for reasons that aren't due to them. Arturo, for instance, who won the First Quarter Quell. He is only remembered because he won in an important year for the Hunger Games. Few victors stand out for their own merit. Charity. Jon. Topaz. Jared. Melissa. Rose. Satin. Natalie. Timothy. Danielle. Velvet. Blake. Seeder. Lilac. I remember the names, but the people themselves are utterly forgettable. When I leave this arena as victor, everyone will remember my name. And not just because of who my father is, either.

I'm pacing through the arena, which appears to be set in a very large, dingy warehouse. Rows and rows of shelves filled with useless junk (mainly empty cardboard boxes) that only serve to hinder my line of sight. The aisles seem to extend infinitely in every direction. I wonder if I run far enough, whether I'll end up back where I started. I doubt it, as we've been in here for twelve days and I haven't retraced my steps yet.

With only six tributes left, I'm close to realising my dream of becoming a Hunger Games victor. My father Amadeus is one of the most well-known of all victors, and has been accepted as the greatest victor of us all for as long as I have known. He did the unthinkable during his Games; all of the other Careers died during the cornucopia bloodbath. He then went on to wipe out the entire field in less than twenty-four hours, which is still to this day the most impressive solo performance of any tribute in the history of the Hunger Games.

I have no way of equalling him in that sense, but it'd be a nice bonus to hold a record by the end of the Games. Having been keeping a tally during the Games, I know that I currently have twelve kills to my name; both from District 1, my district partner, both from Three, both from District 4, the girl from District 5, The boy from Eight, the girl from 10 and both tributes from District 12. This equals a record; the most kills by a single tribute in the arena. Currently held by Molly Higgins of District 6, beating this record will definitely get me remembered by the people of Panem. I will be judged on my own merit. Remembered for my own achievements.

You might think that it would be great, but having a celebrity parent isn't all that it should be. Yes, I've been travelling to the Capitol with him every year since I turned ten, and I've had the best expertise that I could ever wish for going into the Games, but along with this comes expectation and responsibility. At least I know that everyone will be watching me when I make history. Father is, despite all that he has achieved, still annoyed that when we arrive in the Capitol every summer for the Games that our stay is short-lived. He is Capitol-born himself to a highly powerful family, wrongly accused of treason and exiled to District 2 in the run-up to the rebellion that spawned the Hunger Games that I now compete in. Father volunteered to prove a point to the Capitol; that the Cato family wasn't going to take our injustice lightly. We deserve a place in our home; we even fought for our injustice in the Hunger Games, even though District 2 was on the Capitol's side itself and we are actually a Capitol family.

Maybe with two victors, we can finally show the Capitol and most importantly President Snow (a man who sat alongside my great-grandfather Tobias Cato in the pre-rebellion government under the control of President Shawcross) that we deserve our place back in Capitol society.

But first, I've got a Hunger Games to win.

Five other tributes left, none of them trained.

It's time for me to put on a show.


Inside the massive warehouse arena, the tributes from District 7 (who had been allied) were both killed by a Gamemaker trap on day fourteen when two sets of shelves collapsed onto them, crushing both tributes. The noise of the collapse attracted all the tributes to be near each other within the maze of shelves and aisles. With all of the other three tributes in close proximity to him, Brutus (who was armed with a sword) had little difficulty in dispatching all three within the next twenty-four hours to win the 44th Annual Hunger Games.

The highlight of the Games had been the opening bloodbath, in which only eight tributes died, and five of them were Careers, all butchered by Brutus,who then gained access to all the supplies at the cornucopia. Most tributes managed to escape the cornucopia whilst the Careers fought among themselves, but a couple of stragglers were finished by Brutus. Every face in the sky on the first night was the face of a tribute that had been killed by the eventual victor, Brutus Cato.

Another interesting fact about this Games was that a new record was set; the most kills by a single tribute in one Hunger Games. Previously set at twelve, Brutus Severus Cato raised the record to fifteen kills.


A/N: If you enjoyed the chapter, please review! Hopefully we can get to 185 reviews with this one :)

Maybe this one was a little different, but I hope that you liked it. If you enjoyed Brutus' story, there's more about it in his father's oneshot (The 8th Annual Hunger Games), and also in the oneshot 'Family Pride', which set during the 66th Games and attached to my other stories that I have posted on this site. If you haven't read them, then they kinda go over the same points, but it's some extra reading :)

Also, writing this chapter has led me to want to ask you, the readers, a question. After looking back over previous chapters myself to gather names for the list of victors midway though this chapter, I'm curious to know this: who is your favourite victor in the story so far?

Anyway, I'm sure most of you know who's coming next. It's mentioned in the original books, after all ;)