AUTHOR'S NOTES: A while ago I mentioned that some chapters got written out of order before others. This chapter is one of those. It's also important to note that the victor of this year's games has also made appearances in many of my other to my 35th chapter, this is one of them that I've been really looking forward to sharing, and so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. All feedback is appreciated.
Happy Reading!
The 44th Annual Hunger Games
Even over 50 years after the fact, few people could ever forget the greatness and excitement that was the 44th Annual Hunger Games. There was an exciting array of tributes that year, from the ruthless and cunning Mason Hua and Alexis Alewine from District 2, to the fierce and merciless Flint DiFronzo from District 1—one of victor Gleam DiFronzo's children.
Across the country, however, District 11 produced a rarity as well—two volunteers. The boy, Rye Grove, had volunteered in place of a much weaker boy that wouldn't have stood a chance. The girl, Sagittaria Svenja, had actually been reaped, but had screamed to volunteer so quickly that most people assumed she had planned on volunteering regardless of whose name was chosen. Thus, everyone considered them "the volunteer pair from District 11."
The oddities did not stop there, however. Over in District 12, the widowed Lelani Togisala had to watch both of her children get reaped for the games, and knew that even if one returned home, she would still suffer a considerable loss.
The Chariot parade was notable that year as well, as if a sign of things to come in the actual games. It was full of exciting costumes, from the ironclad warriors that District 2 was depicted as, to the gadgety geniuses in District 3, all the way down to the agricultural goddesses that District 11 got dressed up as. Their popularity that year gave rise to a catchy little Capitol chant that lasted for decades all the way to the present day:
"District 11, District 11; who gives us fruits, gives us strength!"
In the training hall, however, the District 11 pair made the most unlikely of alliances: Krystal Saffron, the girl from District 1. She was hardly as bloodthirsty and sadistic as the girl from District 2, or as her own partner Flint. Naturally, Rye and Sagittaria were a bit hesitant to trust her at first, and this lasted all the way through private sessions as well.
The careers certainly had some competition this year, as the District 11 pair continued to steal nearly all the limelight. Flint had scored a perfect 12 in training, but both Rye and Sagittaria had scored 11s, a rarity for most non-career districts—especially in those days.
Sagittaria in particular stole the show during the interviews though—clad in a fiery red dress and coupled with her outgoing and passionate personality, she was dubbed the original "Girl on Fire" (her favorite color was red, even). By contrast, Rye's getup was an icy-colored suit that shimmered in the dazzling lights of Caesar's stage, but he managed to remain impressive on-stage with his honest and down-to-earth statements that expressed courage and valor—a relaxing departure from Sagittaria's wild humor and outrageously funny lies.
Conversely, few people expected anything out of District 12. Kyla Togisala was a tiny little thing that had clearly never eaten a full meal in her life before her trip to the Capitol, and her broken speech hinted at some other type of malnourishment. She had to lean in close to hear Caesar talk even—the girl had poor hearing. Most people assumed that she would be toast within minutes. On the other hand, most people figured that District 11 might produce another victor this year—that one of "the two lovers" might wind up winning. After all, despite them trying not to think about it, Rye and Sagittaria had indeed fallen somewhat in love. They figured that as long as one of them died before the final two, everything would be alright, but otherwise, dismissed the thought of having to kill each other, entirely.
In the arena, both Rye and Sagittaria escaped the bloodbath nearly unharmed, and were soon joined by Krystal from District 1, who they agreed to let onto their alliance. The career pack, while only three strong, would still be deadly though—all three of them were particularly bloodthirsty this year.
Rye figured that a three-on-three would be a fair enough fight, but didn't exactly want to encounter them. The rich jungle that made up the arena that year was full of food and water, almost to the point of having too much water.
10 tributes died in that bloodbath, and another one was killed that night, coincidentally marking the 1000th tribute to die in the games—not that any of the other tributes knew this.
The next morning had Krystal, Sagittaria, and Rye meeting their matches as they stumbled upon the career pack, and a fight began. Krystal's sword, Sagittaria's bow, and Rye's mace were up against Alexis' spear, Flint's sword, and Mason's knives. They were fairly evenly matched for a while until Flint managed to hack a nice-sized wound into Rye's leg, causing him to start to bleed out. Krystal told them to run, while she held them off.
It was at that moment that they knew they'd never see her again. Within 15-20 minutes of the incident, another cannon had gone off, and they were pretty sure it was not Flint.
Luckily, the high-scoring District 11 pair were not without fans and followers, for they were sponsored a large poultice of Capitol medicine for Rye's leg that managed to curb the bleeding after it was applied on the wound and then wrapped.
A couple of days later, Rye and Sagittaria made their way back to the cornucopia, only to hear another cannon go off. As they hacked their way through the jungle to reach the clearing, they saw a hovercraft picking up the body of a boy, but there was no sign of any other tributes in sight.
"Think they triggered a mine?" Sagittaria quipped,
"Doubtful," Rye shrugged, "I don't think there'd be anything left of him to collect if they did."
They approached the cornucopia with caution, only to see a small tribute lurking in the shadows, who they were fairly certain was that District 4 boy's killer.
"Look kid, I can see you back there and I've got an arrow at the ready." Saj warned, although both of these statements were lies, "come on out—maybe we can bash some career skulls in or something."
Hesitantly, the tiny girl stepped out of the cornucopia, revealing a number 12 on her shoulders—it was Kyla Togisala, the half-deaf girl that no one thought would get anywhere. An alliance was formed that day, where Kyla revealed that surprisingly, that was the 4th tribute she had killed since the games had begun. Kyla had a wicked fighting spirit to her that was not going to die easily.
Days 5, 6, 7, and 8 were slightly unusual, insomuch that it was an extremely long night (and only one tribute died), and for a while the tributes thought that the Gamemakers were going to pull that "endless night" scheme again. Rye and Sagittaria wouldn't have minded it, especially because even despite their efforts to try and curb it, their relationship grew stronger with each passing day that they were at each other's side. Kyla thought their little romance was cute, which also helped.
However, as the sun rose on day 9, these theories were dismissed, and the days of Districts 12 and 11 livin' the high life in the cornucopia came to an end. They were attacked by a swarm of large cat-like mutts, which drew the tributes together. Rye and Sagittaria met up with the District 3 pair, but soon had to split up as they were chased by the careers. Rye went with the latter pair—Bolt and Techa, while Sagittaria and Kyla took off another direction. Rye managed to wound Flint, which in turn caused him, Mason, and Alexis to draw back, but Flint had not gone off without dealing some damage, and Bolt was mortally wounded. Rye put him out of his misery, knowing that there was nothing he or Techa could do to save him. This same lake was where Sagittaria and Kyla ended up making camp much later that evening, albeit on the other side.
The next couple of days were silence, until Sagittaria woke up during the night to find a boy standing over her and Kyla, about to kill the smaller girl. She wasted no time in whipping out her bow and dropping him, shrugging it off as simply business. Eventually, Rye and Sagittaria managed to reunite at the lake where Bolt and the District 7 boy that had nearly killed Kyla had died, and things started looking up again.
Day 13 was when things started happening again. After two more days of "endless night", the sun was up again, and the games were ready to draw to a close. It seemed the Gamemakers enjoyed 14-day Hunger Games, given the recent history of games of that length.
Near the end of the 13th day, Kyla managed to scout ahead for her alliance and put an end to a District 8 girl, as the tributes made their way to the cornucopia—knowing that if they strayed too far the Gamemakers might send another mutt on them. On the other hand, they were all fairly confident that they had a chance to win. Over the course of the games, Sagittaria had been sponsored a snazzy new bow, Rye had been given a pair of spiked iron knuckles from their mentor Seeder, and Kyla had been sponsored a pair of handaxes that she wielded almost like a kid from District 7.
They knew that the games would probably end tomorrow, and so they prepared for it by sleeping early. When asked if she was worried about it by Rye, Sagittaria simply chuckled, and also gave birth to a catchphrase that would later become a nationwide meme.
"it's true what they say then…" she quipped, "May the odds make it true that when you're mortally wounded in an excruciatingly painful way, your body goes into shock so that you don't feel anything when you die."
Early the next morning they were woken by a rumbling sound. The arena was collapsing around them (or so it appeared). Rye, Sagittaria, and Kyla barreled through the jungle, appearing in the clearing right as another girl appeared in front of them—Techa.
They had had a decent friendship prior to this moment, but in surprise, Rye had slammed his mace into her skull, mortally wounding her. However, they realized that she had not been helpless.
"She's armed!" Rye exclaimed, "The mines! They're gonna blow!"
The others knew exactly what had happened. Techa and Bolt had been one of those crafty pairs of District 3 tributes that knew how to dig up and reactivate the landmines around the tributes' pedestals.
Sure enough, not more than 8 seconds after they had put some distance between themselves and that District 3 girl, her weapon exploded in a rather spectacular fashion. No one was hurt, although it did nearly knock Kyla off her feet from the sheer force behind the blast.
But they were out of the frying pan and into the fire. In front of them were Mason, Alexis, and Flint, who had similarly been drawn to the cornucopia to bring the games to a close.
"I was wondering when I'd get to kill you, Kyla," Alexis jeered, "your brother was too easy. Seems you were the one with the fighting spirit, after all…"
"I suppose at this point," Sagittaria butted in, "that fancy talk isn't worth the trouble, and that at this point, we should just fight and get this over with—and that's coming from the professional liar."
"Fair enough," Flint cracked his knuckles, "to the death!"
Rye and Flint were immediately locked in combat, with the mace against the sword. Sagittaria used her knives against Mason's, while Kyla and Alexis engaged in a furious combat that few had ever seen.
Mason was the first to fall, but everything that happened after that happened so quickly. Moments later, a spear was sticking out of Kyla's back. Alxeis used both hands to raise the impaled girl into the air, where surprisingly, Kyla's grip on her axes did not falter.
"And here is where you die, child." She grinned. "you… lose."
"no…" Kyla wheezed, "You… LOSE!" with the final burst of her strength, Kyla swung her axes and all but decapitated Alexis instantly, falling onto her back, motionless—but still alive.
This death gave Rye another surge of strength, and he screamed at Flint, as if to blame him for all of these problems.
"THIS ENDS NOW!" he roared, before tackling the career boy and using the spiked knuckles to almost literally beat Flint to a bloody pulp. Within minutes, the fight had ended, and two tributes remained.
Three actually remained, because Kyla's cannon had never gone off. Clearly the girl was mortally wounded, but before she fully died, she managed to give the District 11 pair a heartfelt salute and some of the most touching words a fallen ally could give.
"we… won…" she whispered, before finally giving up the ghost.
However, this left Sagittaria and Rye in a dilemma that they feared from the get-go: they were the last two, and one would have to kill the other.
"Coin toss?" Sagittaria whipped out her tribute token—a beat-up old silver dollar from a bygone age. "winner… has to kill the other, I guess?"
"No." Rye closed her hand. "The winner goes home."
"But even then," Sagittaria sighed, "I don't want to have to kill you."
"I guess it's a mixed blessing then?" Rye shrugged, "I don't want to kill you either."
Much to Sagittaria's dismay, she won the coin-flip that happened a moment later.
"Best two out of three?" she offered, hoping that the odds would fall into Rye's favor so that he could go home, but he agreed to sacrifice himself for Sagittaria just as she wanted to for him—so there was no changing his mind.
"I know you'll end it fast," he put his arms around her, before touching his lips to hers. "I love you, Sagittaria. District 11, District 11; who gives us fruits, gives us strength."
"I love you too, Rye." Sagittaria's eyes watered as she stepped back, drew her bow, and ended Rye's life almost instantly. A cannon went off, and the games had ended. Sagittaria was the 4th victor from District 11, and the 44th victor of the Hunger Games.
The golden-tongued girl that Panem had met before the games had managed to survive, and comedy became one of her therapies. However, it was a long time before she was ever able to love again, for she could only ever think of the boy who she had met on a train, fallen in love with on a balcony, bonded with in an arena, and then killed at a cornucopia.
The Capitol found the story absolutely thrilling, and while many of them were also sad about Rye's death, the games became some of the most thrilling ones in history: the powerful District 11 pair that nearly swept the field; the malnourished girl from District 12 that defied all odds and nearly won, and the heartwrenching romance between Rye and Sagittaria that was doomed the moment they had volunteered for the games.
And thus, the tale of Sagittaria the Storyteller was born. Her old catchphrase about the odds ended up spreading all through District 11, before seeping into Districts 12, 6, and 2 by the following year. It did not take long after that for it to spread. Whatever the case, Sagittaria had left a legacy.
VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)
3HG: Naseru Litzak (#1, District 3)
4HG: Naisha Szasz (#1, District 2)
5HG: Jade Prima (#1, District 1)
6HG: Cedar Hardin (#1, District 7)
7HG: Susan Jackman (#2, District 5)
8HG: Malcolm Reed (#1, District 6)
9HG: Mags Cohen (#1, District 4)
10HG: Faren Dragmire (#2, District 1)
11HG: Maius Karuha (#2, District 2)
12HG: Iunius Karuha (#3, District 2)
13HG: Hilda White (#1, District 10)
14HG: Minali Otoyome (#2, District 3)
15HG: Willow James (#3, District 1)
16HG: Lark Chandnea (#2, District 11)
17HG: Woof Casino (#1, District 8)
18HG: Leah Holden (#2, District 7)
19HG: Zeruda Mezkiel (#2, District 6)
20HG: Muscida Lee (#2, District 4)
21HG: Kada Lahka (#4, District 2)
22HG: Gleam DiFronzo (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ivette Coronado (#3, District 5)
24HG: Olivia Thurman (#1, District 9)
25HG: Laurel Fox (#1, District 12)
26HG: Daron Armstrong (#5, District 2)
27HG: Cobalt Evans (#5, District 1)
28HG: Lyme Golding (#6, District 2)
29HG: Ash LosDias (#3, District 7)
30HG: Challis Worth (#2, District 8)
31HG: Beetee Latier (#3, District 3)
32HG: Fletch Crossley (#4, District 5)
33HG: Seeder Howell (#3, District 11)
34HG: Price Emerson (#6, District 1)
35HG: Leto Irizari (#7, District 2)
36HG: Jackson Kjelle (#5, District 5)
37HG: Zerviah Hawke (#3, District 6)
38HG: Wiress Plummer (#4, District 3)
39HG: Nephi Lott (#3, District 4)
40HG: Miriam Luxio (#7, District 1)
41HG: Marcelina Kovac (#6, District 5)
42HG: Niles Lincoln (#8, District 2)
43HG: Blight McKay (#4, District 7)
44HG: Sagittaria Svenja (#4, District 11)