Spoilers: Major spoilers for Hunger Games
Disclaimer: It's not mine, and when I return Haymitch, he'll be in the same condition he was originally, I promise.
A/N: As always, I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for his incredible mercy and grace and his many blessings. I would be utterly lost without him.
Spectator
The 64th Hunger Games
"I'm not going to kill anyone."
That's the first thing the girl tells him this year, point blank.
"Then you'll die," Haymitch says just as bluntly.
"I know." Her eyes are sad but accepting and strangely peaceful.
The boy looks at her like she's crazy, and maybe he's right, but then again, the boy dies at the Cornucopia, trying to reach the sword positioned at its mouth.
The girl dies too, just a few days later, but when it happens, there's no blood on her hands, and she takes her last breath with a small, serene smile on her face.
Haymitch can't help thinking that if she was crazy, then that's the kind of crazy he would have liked to be.
The 65th Hunger Games
Haymitch's kids have no chance this year - not that they ever do.
But that became especially true the minute the Capitol got a look at Mags's boy. He's just fourteen, but he's handsome and charming, and he strode up to the Reaping stage wearing a confident grin and winking at the cameras like he was in on a secret that no one else knew.
He'll be the winner of the 65th Hunger Games - the Capitol will make sure of that. He already has sponsors lined up around the block.
Later, when Haymitch's kids are headed back to Twelve in their coffins, and Finnick Odair is being presented with the Victor's crown to riotous applause, Mags's reaction is a small, tight smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
Haymitch wonders if she ever told the boy what being the Capitol's favorite will mean for his future.
Given the way Finnick's smile doesn't reach his eyes either, maybe she did.
The 66th Hunger Games
There aren't many people from Twelve that the Capitol would call "bright." That's mostly because the Capitol thinks of them all as country bumpkins who aren't good for anything besides manual labor. It's not true, but there is a grain of truth in the stereotype - a lot people in Twelve see school as a waste of time. After all, why bother with a lot of book learning when your future is already mapped out for you? If you're from the Seam, you'll be stuck down in the mines for the better part of your life; if you're from Town, you'll be taking over your parents' business or apprenticing somewhere else.
But, the sixteen-year-old boy that Haymitch gets this year…he's bright. It's obvious the second he opens his mouth. He probably did real well in school. He's from the Seam, so his options were limited, but Haymitch is sure that if the boy hadn't been reaped, he would have been on-track to become one of the mine engineers. (The girl is from the Seam too, but she's shy, soft-spoken, and sweet, and she won't last five minutes in the Games.)
Haymitch tells the boy to show off his intelligence in his interview. It's a strategy Three uses all the time, and it's bound to get them at least a few sponsors.
The boy refuses, though, and Haymitch demands to know why.
The kid bites his lip, looking uncomfortable. "Because I don't think I want to win," he says at last, his eyes apologetic and more than a little sad. "I don't want to become like you."
Smart kid, Haymitch thinks later, when he's waiting to collect his tributes' bodies for transport back to Twelve. Smart kid.
The 67th Hunger Games
For the 67th Hunger Games, a fifteen-year-old boy and a seventeen-year-old girl are reaped from the Seam. They're not friends exactly, but they know each other, and they immediately decide that they wanna work together. Haymitch lets them because neither of them have the makings of a Victor, and he figures they'll last longer together than they will apart.
They do okay for a couple days, mostly because the arena is a ruined city, and it has lots of places for them to hide. It even has a rickety, unmanned train that continually circles the crumbling buildings. (Haymitch almost wonders if some idiot Gamemaker thought he was being witty, including a train that never stops.)
The thing about the city, though, is that there's not much food to be found, and all the running and hiding isn't gonna help win his kids sponsors. That means they'll probably starve.
Of course, they don't last long enough for that to be a problem.
On day three, they pick the wrong building to hide in, and it collapses around them, killing them both.
But at least it was fast.
TBC
A/N: The next part should be up again soon, Lord willing. Please don't forget to let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading, and take care and God bless!
Ani-maniac494 :)