District Two's Victory Valentine's POV

Ruined.

My body was ruined to almost complete oblivion. My skin was in constant, burning pain, even with the narcotics that Kendrick had supplied me with. My burnt skin was shedding off like dog hair, my hair was nearly all disintegrated, pieces of metal were embedded into my flesh, one of my eyes was missing, my nose was broken, and my face had been sliced open by fingernails.

Of everything that Calamity had done to me, of all the damage that he had caused to my body and clothes and the weapons that I had with me, there were a couple of things that he hadn't managed to ruin. The items of which I only cared about intensely. Those items were the dog tags. The dog tags that belonged to me, and my brother.

Neither he, nor Kendrick, or anyone, or anything, had been able to bring harm to them. Not even the fire and the explosion that had destroyed just about everything else on and around me.

I was grateful for that. If anything ever happened to these dog tags, someone was in for a world of pain that was only rivalled by the heat of Hell itself. Nobody, and I mean, nobody, messes with the tags. They were gifts from our father, and the only physical thing that I have left of my brother other than memories, and the tombstone that showed that he died in the games. Fifth place, killed by Creek Drake.

Well, I managed to kill Dylan Drake, so a little part of revenge was given. The only thing that was left was to win the games, kill Creek, kill my mother, get Valley out of everything that was The Hunger Games, keep her away from the Capitol propaganda that glorified the games, and live my life as best I could.

Valley didn't need to suffer like Vlad and I did. Even though we never saw it as suffering. Not until later in our life. Not until we discovered just how horrible our training was.

*Twelve years ago*

"Victory!" A deep male voice called out. "How are you so good at this? Is this really your first day at the academy?" The training instructor seemed to be really impressed at me. Did I really complete the obstacle course that fast? I mean, I did finish it faster than the other kids, but was I really that good?

"It is my first day, sir." I told him, glad to hear that he was happy with my performance. "And I've been training as well."

"Training." The instructor said. "Right. How long?"

"As long as I can remember." I told him honestly. Because really, I can remember training with my mom, and brother, everyday for as long as I can remember. No missed days or anything.

"How old are you Valentine?" The instructor asked.

"Six." I answered.

"That explains a lot." A pause came as he looked like he was thinking about something. "Is your mother by any chance Venus Valentine, the sister of Venom Valentine?"

"Yes sir." I told him.

"Well that explains even more." He muttered as he looked at his clipboard. "Your brother, Vladimir Valentine, is also an excellent student. Strong, agile, a great fighter, he's one of the best in his age group. You though." He then smiled at me. "I can see you going places. I mean, I can see Vladimir going places as well, but, I don't know, I think that you'll be able to succeed him. Heck, you're better than him when he was your age."

I didn't know what to think of that. As far as I can see, Vlad is better than me in every way. He's stronger, faster, a better fighter, a better everything. But it's not like I'm jealous of him, he's older, and bigger, had more training, so it was only natural. That, and he was a boy.

But on the other hand, it was nice to hear that I was being compared to Vlad. Hearing that I might exceed him, something that I hadn't thought was possible.

"Glad to hear that, sir." I told my instructor.

He nodded at me before he started to call everyone to the center of the room. When everyone was accounted for, he started to explain about the next stages of the academy.

"Now everyone listen up! This right here. Everything you just did right now, was a test."

I heard some of the kids groan, others sighing, and others, like me, who didn't make a sound and just listenened. "This was to test your strength, speed, endurance, and agility." Now that I thought about it, weights, running, push-ups, sit-ups, obstacle courses, it all made sense that it was a test. "You needed to of meet the minimum academy standards to enter and continue with your training. For those of you that failed, don't worry, you'll be put into a two week fitness program that'll try to get you into good enough shape to enter. For those of you that fail to meet the standards, you'll have to wait another year to try your luck again."

I looked around at the other kids, wondering how any of them could of failed something so easy. This test was a walk in the park. It was nothing. But maybe if it was timed, that would be a whole nother story. But still, I hardly broke a sweat doing this.

Some of the kids looked nervous though. I couldn't understand why they'd be nervous. As far as I've been told, nobody ever fails to get into the academy unless they wanted to fail. "I'll start naming who got in."

And he did. He started saying the names of everyone that succeeded the test. I wasn't surprised that he had read out my name, I was confident that I had passed, but I was surprised that a couple of kids had failed. The instructor said that they were just a few seconds slow on the obstacle course, and that they'd be more than ready once they completed the two week program.

As for the rest of us, we would be expected back here for two and half weeks.

*Later*

"Mom!" I shouted as I happily ran into my house. "Vlad! Guess what!"

"What?" I heard both of them ask, excitement in their voices.

"I got in!" I told them, proud of myself that I hadn't failed like a couple of them did. "I mean, I always knew that I was going to get in, but, still. I got in!"

"Congratulations!" My mother shouted as I felt Vlad pick me up in a giant hug. "Aren't you glad that I got you some training before you even entered?"

"Yeah." I told her as Vlad congraduatated me as well before putting me on the ground again. "Because of the training that you gave me, all the things they told me to do were easy. I didn't even have to put too much effort into completing the test."

"Makes you think that you and me could end up in the same class." Vlad laughed. I laughed too, though I didn't think that I'd be as good as him. He always beat me in any event that we did.

"I'll never be as good as you older brother.' I told him.

"Don't think that way, sis," He told me encouragingly. "One day, you just might surpass me."

"That'll be the day." I said as I thought of me being able to beat him at anything. The thought was so ridiculous that it made me laugh.

"Okay now kids," My mother interrupted. "Don't go around trying to beat each other. Just do your best and you'll eventually get better."

"Yes mom." We both answered at the same time. Though truth be told, we would always compete against each other.

"Now Victory, just because you got in doesn't mean that you can just slack off now." She explained. "There are still a lot of things that you need to learn, and the training academy isn't just going to let you slip through if you end up being lazy."

"Yes mom." I told her, already knowing that because of her explaining it to me earlier. And because Vlad was already going to the academy and training for the games.

"So, hop to it," She said as she clapped her hands rapidly. "Training waits for nobody."

"Yes, ma'am." Me and my brother shouted as we started running to the back yard with smiles on our faces. We didn't mind that mom was getting us to train, even though we were both in the district academy now. Training was fun, we enjoyed it.

*Three years later*

As Vlad and I did a series of push ups at the count of our mom counting out numbers, our new sister, Valley, was now running along the lawn. Valley had just learned how to walk and run without falling, and because of that, she was now training with Vlad and I.

Mom told us that she had done the same with us when we were her age, so there was nothing to worry about. I believed her, because if she did the same with us, then Valley would be as good as us when she reached our age group.

I heard mom call out

"Twenty." That was the number of push ups we were supposed to do before switching over to sit ups. I got onto my back and started to pull my head up to my knees, feeling my stomach start to tighten up. But I could push farther, I still had energy in my, I could still go.

I looked over at Vlad, to see that he was sweating just as much as I was. His clothes were darkened from the sweat, and his face was flushed from the heat. But he kept on going, so I kept on going as well. "Twenty." My mom called out again, before we were expected to jump up and start running to the other side of the yard.

As soon as we got to the other side of the yard, we had to get down and start the routine all over again.

This was one of the easier work outs. All we had were push ups, sit ups, and running. I liked this one because it was easy. But at the same time, it was easy, so it wasn't much of a challenge and it took longer for us to tire out.

We continued. We kept on doing the same thing over and over again. For hours. I started to get hungry, but the best mom would allow us was some water every half hour or so. I looked over at my brother, to see that even he was getting tired. His clothes looked heavy from all the sweat that they had absorbed.

I looked over at Valley, to see that she could barley walk as well. Did mom do this to us as well?

"One more!" My mom shouted at us. "One more!"

I heard myself and Vlad groan as we got on our stomachs to do some more push ups.

"Venus!" I heard someone shout. I looked up to see my father standing at the door, looking at us and our mom at the same time. A look of disappointment on his face. I didn't like that look, it made me feel as if I hadn't done the training good enough. "What are you doing?" He asked not so nicely.

"Training them." Mom answered.

"Working them to death more like it." Dad told her. "Kids, stop doing those push ups and get to bed. It'll be sunrise in about seven hours, get some sleep so that you can be ready for classes tomorrow."

"Not until they-"

"Vladimir's twelve!" My father interrupted loudly. "Victory's nine! And valley's only one for...ERUGHERREAH!" He shouted as he roughly ran his hand through his hair that was practically all shaved off. "Get to bed! All of you."

Mom looked like she wanted to say something, but dad shot her a look roared. "ALL OF YOU! NOW!"

It was at that moment, Vlad, Valley, and I, ran into the house so fast I couldn't even believe we ran that fast. I was in my best before the echoes of my dad's yell had even faded.

Mom and dad started to shout at each other, but I didn't catch what they were shouting about. I only heard the first couple of words before my world became nothing but darkness.

*Four years later*

"Harder!" Our mom shouted at us as we did our excursuses. "Faster! Better!"

Ever since she and Aunt Venom had last seen each other, and fought with each other, mom had became even more mean then she had been before. She was now making us work harder and longer and more intensely then before.

It was painful, exhausting, and it wasn't even fun anymore. It was like we had to do it, like a chore. But there was still a part of me that enjoyed doing this kind of thing, so that's what made me keep on going.

Valley, only five years old, didn't seem to be enjoying it at all. She was complaining and saying that she was tired and thirsty all the time. Mom would give her a little bit to drink and a little time to rest before demanding that she continue her training.

Vlad told mom to give Valley a break, but mom kept on insisting that it was for Valley's own good. "Don't you see how good you are?" She asked. "Don't you want Valley to be as confident in her abilities as you two are?"

I thought about that, and thought of how I was the best career in my age group. At thirteen years old, I was as good as most of the fifteen year olds, even some of the sixteen year olds. I still wasn't as good as Vlad, but that was because he was Vlad, the best student that the school had had in a long while. There was no way that I could compete with that.

And I was confident, everything that I did I knew that I could do. Everything that the academy could throw at me, I could pass and complete. Did I want Valley to be like us? Or did I want her to be like one of those kids that said that they couldn't finish something that they had to do? The answer was easy, I wanted her to be confident, like us.

I was about to say that, but Vlad interrupted me before I could even speak.

"She'll be real confident of you break her body first!" Vlad shouted at her, which made me gasp and mom to get a look on her face that I didn't like. Vlad had never talked back to mom like that. At least, I had never heard him talk like that to her like that.

It was then that I saw something even more shocking. I saw mom hit Vlad across the face.

Vlad didn't stumble or anything, but what I did see was a surprised look on his face.

"You will not talk to me like that again Vladimir!" Mom yelled at us as she pointed a finger at my brother. "You will respect me and my decisions!"

*Present day*

After that incident, mom started to get more and more harsh with us as the months went by.

What started out as simple punches, turned into full on beat downs.

If we didn't do something right, or good enough, or fast enough, we'd get hit. It could be something as simple as her combat boot, or we could be getting hit with a wooden sword. Every night we were sore, but not every night would end with bloodshed. Those were special days.

Kids from the academy started to talk about how mom was still pissed off with aunt Venom was chosen to volunteer over her. How everyone thought that aunt Venom was the better career. Aunt Venom had won her games, something that mom had never done. Her sister had stolen her dream, and now she was trying to get us to live up to it. She was going to get the closest thing to becoming a victor herself, she was going to make one of her kids a victor.

I didn't want to believe it, but when I thought about it, all the fights that she had with aunt Venom started to make sense. The reason that she hated her sister with a passion, why she trained us so hard, the reason she wanted to make us 'the best'. It was all to make Vlad, or I, or Valley, a victor. And it wasn't because it was our dream to become one, it was because she couldn't let go of the past.

I started to not like her. I started to not like her and training, and that was a horrible feeling for me. I used to love training, training was my life, and because of that, if I even thought about quitting training for the games, I would feel lost.

After Vlad died, I started to hate my mom even more. Because we were supposed to be the best. Vlad was the best. All of mom's training, all of the academy's training, all of the Capitol propaganda that told us that District Two was the mightiest district of all twelve districts, all of them failed to bring Vlad home alive. The only thing that was brought back home was a corpse of what used to be my brother, while Creek Drake got to go back home to her now dead brother and bastard family.

All the glory and money and fame the Capitol could give me wouldn't bring my brother back.

Fame. Glory. Money. A dead cocktail of desire that drew my brother into playing into the Capitol's hand and volunteering into The Hunger Games for the Capitol's sick entertainment. They didn't care about us, I knew that. The reapings only solidified that realization.

Fame and glory. Aunt Venom took those away from mom, and that made her get a deadly reaction that passed on to her sanity. She became obsessed with having one of us winning, brain washing us like the Capitol did. Telling us of all the good things that would come from winning.

But the second my brother died, I saw past the paper thin disguise that she and the Capitol put on. And I hated that I had been manipulated all those years.

I wanted to tell mom that I was no longer interested in volunteering, or training. But I held my tongue because I had seen what she had done to Vlad that one time. She had devastated his mind, and all it took was a rag and a rain barrel.

I didn't want that to happen to me. But Valley, Valley was suffering from all the stress that mom was putting on her. Dad couldn't stop her, because he couldn't stop what he didn't know. I never told him. Valley never told him. And he was a peacekeeper, so that meant that he was away from us for a vast majority of the time. And it was funny, a peacekeeper that couldn't even keep the peace at home.

I should of told him, that might of made her stop. But then again, when dad saw her pushing us past our limits, he tried to stop her by confronting her about it, but it didn't make a lick of difference when he went back to work.

Mom carried on her practices, and nobody stopped her. Through all the bruises, injuries, and bloodsheed that she caused, nobody stopped her.

Eventually, I got sick of this entire thing. I may of been too late to save Vlad, or myself, but I wasn't going to let Valley suffer. So when I was sixteen, I made a deal with mom. Stop training Valley, and I will become a victor. Mom agreed, so mom continued to train me and me alone. Valley watched, but that was okay, I was going to save her from everything that was wrong with that house hold.

When I came back home, I would take Valley away from her, kill mom in her sleep, then Valley and I would live happily ever after. Simple as that. All I needed to do was kill everyone in this god damn arena.

Yes Valley, you won't have to volunteer. Big sister Victory will make sure of that. Mother will never harm you again, because she won't be able to harm you again. Big sister Victory will make sure of that.

These mutts. They were cashing me to my next target. I say, bring it on! Unlike the rest of you, I have a real reason to live! One that doesn't involve fame, glory, honour, money, or some stupid shit like that!

I have a sister that I need to protect!

What to you have? What do you have that's so important?

A/N: It's really short, I know. But I just want these history chapters done. I don't want a really long chapter, like last time.

One last history chapter, Jen's, then it's back to killing.