AUTHOR'S NOTES: And here we reach Cecelia's Hunger Games. We're approaching the final stretch of tributes from 'Catching Fire', but since this story follows the same AU that all my other stories adhere to, things will start to get a little different the closer we get to the next Quell. However, that's still nearly two decades out, and so fret not. In the meantime, here's a reminder of the power of District 8. Motherly as she might have been, Cecelia wasn't necessarily a gentle fighter...
Happy Reading!

The 57th Annual Hunger Games

After the triumph of such a mysterious and desirable victor, the Capitol wondered how they could bring out the best of tributes like that in future games. A lot of it came down to chance, and rigging the reapings was usually something they only did to send a message to a particular tribute. There hadn't been a single one with a rigged reaping that had not gotten a personal talking-to from President Snow himself sometime between the training week and the games.

As such, the 57th Annual Hunger Games did not have any reapings rigged, and at the end of the day it still managed to produce a handful of promising tributes. From District 2, Kada Zavala and Zerviah Lynn emerged as the heroes of their district that year—the ones worthy of representing their district in the Hunger Games. Over in District 1, Greg Diamond and Mara Stonewall produced a similar scenario, already sowing seeds of the annual career pack before they had even reached training.

There weren't very many others worthy of note that year, although the District 11 pair scored a little higher than most of their outer-district brethren. The pair from District 8 did as well this year, giving hope to a district that had not seen a victor since the controversial win from Alice DeSiete 11 years ago.

Liam Lane and Cecelia Sanchez weren't the mighty warriors that the careers were, but they were still a formidable force to be reckoned with, and with a mentor like Alice teaching them the ins and outs of the arena, they were set to be as sly and subversive as some of the other tributes, even garnering a reputation akin to the ones that District 11 and District 12 had.

Kada and Zerviah impressed the crowds by scoring perfect 12s in training, after demonstrating proficient prowess with bows, swords, axes, and spears all in the 15 minute allotted period. District 1 also performed similarly well. While they weren't as masterful as their comrades from District 2, the two of them both took home 11s, with Greg's strength being his might and power, while Mara's was more her agility and speed.

On the other hand, Liam and Cecelia were about to remind Panem why District 8 had such a sinister reputation not much different from District 5. Sure, plenty of them had died in the bloodbath in various games, but like District 5, the ones that survived were usually conniving schemers that knew how to manipulate the games. With a mentor like Alice, who taught them several of the ins and outs of the 'games, the pair this year went in with an idea or two about how they aimed to survive and escape the bloodbath. Liam's 7 was earned through adept use of poisons, while Cecelia's 8 had required a bit of knife-wielding prowess for the girl to earn.

Both Liam and Cecelia managed to escape the bloodbath with a few supplies, and thus their corpses were not among the 9 that littered the arena's cornucopia meadow. Once they were safely out of view of the careers, who stayed at the cornucopia to take advantage of the food and supplies that this year's games had to offer, the pair decided to explore the arena.

Their vision was very short-ranged due to heavy fog looming over most of the arena. The fog was dense with moisture but not as opaque as some fog, which allowed them to see more than a few feet in front of them. Their clothes were soaked within minutes, but the temperature of the surrounding area was cool enough that it did not cause them discomfort.

Three days passed before any more tributes died, and by that time, Liam and Cecelia met back up after exploring the arena. It appeared to be a large clifflike island surrounded by rough seas about 50 feet down. The cliffs were rocky but otherwise almost sheer, with the crumbly rocks reducing any chance of being able to climb back up—if a tribute even survived the fall.

The moisture from the fairly consistent mist made plant life grow in abundance, and Liam took advantage of this as he poisoned his weapons and crafted a dart gun. It was actually these two that scored the next two kills—both from District 10. Cecelia poisoned her blades and went in for the finishing strikes after Liam had debilitated them. The two cannons that went off alarmed the careers, who also started spreading out to go on a hunt. Their food supplies were running low as well.

Three girls wound up dealing a devastating blow to the career pack during this exploration. Early on in Day 5 as the careers rested by a river, they were ambushed by the girls from District 5, District 11, and District 12, ending the lives of Mara and Greg before attacking Kada and Zerviah. The pair from District 2 managed to escape with a few wounds, but the three girls scattered, likely to retreat and plan their next attack, which would likely be as coordinated as this one had been.

One of the tributes over the next couple days tried jumping off the edge of the cliff to see if they could hit the water, but he died before even reaching the ground. Some of the massive birds circling the beach got him and that was the last anyone saw of the boy before the cameras switched to show the District 8 pair trekking through the humid wilderness, and then back to Kada and Zerviah, who had retreated to recuperate from the attack.

The next couple of days were fairly quiet, although three more tributes died at the hands of the District 2 pair, just leaving them, the District 8 pair, and the three girls from '5, '11, and '12. While Liam and Cecelia seemed fairly harmless other than a couple of kills earlier in the games, it was a time like this that they had spent the entire games waiting for. With the tribute pool so small, they finally attacked.

Liam was killed as he and his partner ambushed the three girls, but Cecelia wasted no time putting his poisons to use against them. While the girl from District 5 got away, the other two were not so fortunate and fell as Cecelia knifed them. Two cannons went off, but Cecelia was not finished. Instead, she followed the District 5 girl's trail for two straight days, where it was clear she was trying to find the careers for whatever reason.

She either found them or succumbed to her injuries, because on the evening of Day 13, her face appeared in the sky after a cannon fired. It was Cecelia against Zerviah and Kada, and while she knew the odds were against her, she wasn't fazed. She would remain as cold and ruthless as she needed to in order to survive. That evening she downed a bottle of whiskey before smashing the bottle on a rock. Tomorrow she was going to end these games.

True to her word, she managed to do exactly that. She successfully disarmed the District 2 pair's larger weapons, forcing them to get into very close quarters combat with Cecelia and her knives. They were used to larger weapons, but daggers and shuriken were not really their thing. By contrast, they were totally in Cecelia's ballpark thanks to her time back in District 8 and the time she spent in the training center, and as such, she managed to lacerate her two enemies enough to finally bleed them out and cause them to die as a result. Two cannons went off, and a bloodied Cecelia Sanchez stood over her opponents, alive and triumphant. Just like that, she became the 4th victor from District 8, and the 57th victor of the Hunger Games.

Despite her cold and ruthless approach in the Hunger Games, Cecelia had just done what she needed to in order to survive. She was fairly calm after the games had ended, and she settled down and had three children of her own later down the line, risks and associated dangers be damned. While they were not known for being the most formidable district, her victory reminded Panem that District 8's sinister reputation of passionate and dangerous rebels was one to be reckoned with, and while she knew that they'd have years where they produced mere bloodbath fodder, she also recognized that there would be plenty of tributes with potential—and she would capitalize on them whenever she spotted them.

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)
45HG: Dezna Meraxa (#4, District 6)
46HG: Alice DeSiete (#3, District 8)
47HG: Aurum Zianja (#8, District 1)
48HG: Layla Aranai (#9, District 2)
49HG: Chip Sangster (#5, District 3)
50HG: Haymitch Abernathy (#2, District 12)
51HG: Derrick James (#7, District 5)
52HG: Chaff Mitchell (#5, District 11)
53HG: Brutus Gunn (#10, District 2)
54HG: Tiffany Waxler (#2, District 10)
55HG: Zak Dreggite (#4, District 4)
56HG: Zoroka Chandaki (#9, District 1)
57HG: Cecelia Sanchez (#4, District 8)