"I'm starting to wonder if it's even a good idea to have an Events."

Sighing, Garnet sinks into his desk chair, his head lolling as he spins from side to side. "I mean," he continues, "what benefit does it give us? Pulling a bunch of kids away from their families for like two whole weeks? Taking away that source of income? All for a show that I don't know if anyone even cares about."

"We did discuss providing a stipend to the families of the tributes," Violet points out, looking up from her clipboard. "We can increase it for those below a certain poverty line."

"That's not the point, Vi."

"It was your mother's passion-"

"I know! I know. It was her passion project. But it's just not… it doesn't have the same allure. Capitolites have no interest, the Districts have no interest, even the Gamemakers have no interest. And I don't want to force people into it. That doesn't feel right. What makes that different from the Games?"

"Nobody's dying."

"Well, yeah, but… you know that's not what I mean."

Violet gently clicks off her pen, then slides it behind her ear. "So why don't you just cancel them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing says we have to have the Events. No official documents or laws or constitution. The only thing pushing for them was your mother's will."

"I know."

"So why not just cancel them?"

Garnet's shoulders slouch as he nearly folds in on himself, pulling his legs up to his chest. His voice comes out quietly, that of the scared little boy his mother never let him be. "Because they were my mother's passion project."

Images flash through Garnet's mind of late nights with his mother, poring over paperwork and plans together. There was never a doubt in his mind of just how much his mother cared about the Events, just how much they mattered to her. Ruby wanted nothing more than to make Panem a better, safer place.

It's a privilege that she entrusted that hope to Garnet.

(No matter how much he doubts himself.)

Carefully, Garnet slides open the desk drawer and pulls out a slim purple folder. "I found this when I looked in the Nucleus for the first time," he explains. "I'm not sure when Mom wrote it. Probably close to when she signed the Transfer of Power paperwork. She told me more about the no-change clause, about how much of her life she spent waiting for the day when it would expire. She told me that I'm about how old she was when she became president. And she… she said that she hopes that I have the chance that she never got to finally make things better."

"Do you think she knew she was going to die?"

"I don't know. She knew there were people who didn't like what she stood for. I don't think she could have guessed that…"

Images of gleaming metal, dulled by the camera that captured them, flash through Garnet's mind.

A gun in his sister's hands. The sun on a rebel's helmet.

Handcuffs clamped around dainty wrists.

Garnet shudders. Just as he does every time he remembers that he sits in his mother's chair.

(Just as he does every time he remembers that his sister sits in Alexios Nox's cell.)

Violet puts a delicate hand on Garnet's shoulder. "Do you want to go back to talking about the Events?"

"Yeah," Garnet replies, dragging himself out of his musings. He takes a shuddering breath as he unfolds, opening his shoulders as wide as he can.

(Even if he doesn't yet feel like a president, he can at least sit like one.)

"Maybe," Violet nudges gently, "it would help you make a decision about the Events if we think about why they were created in the first place."

Garnet takes another deep breath. "Mom's hope for the Events was that they would replace the Games."

"Correct."

"I don't… I don't know if that was ever realistic."

"Your mother was hoping to make the shift more gradual."

"I know, but even still. The Games were supposed to drive the Districts apart; it's not like we could erase the goal of the first 125 years of the Games once the Statute System was put in place. And the Events were designed to bring the Districts together. If we'd had the two in place at the same time for too long, the morals would absolutely have clashed. Both would have seemed disingenuous, and we would have gotten nowhere. Or, maybe even worse, half of the districts would have latched onto one message and the other half of the Districts to the other and we would've wound up with an even more divided Panem."

Garnet reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out another folder, this one red. "I'd originally asked Delphine if Two would host the Events," he continued. "She said they were willing, and she put together a draft of what the Events would look like. But it's all just glorifying the Games. And that's what Two is built around, but it's not what the country needs. Our country needs closure."

I need closure too.

Violet nods, waiting a beat before jumping in. "Do you think there's anything in what Delphine put together that we could work with?"

"It's possible. I like some of her challenge ideas. We just need to find another way to frame them. Something that truly promotes unity; something that helps put the past behind us and move towards a brighter future."

An idea rests at the tip of Garnet's tongue. He leans back, shutting his eyes as he replays his words in his mind. Bring the Districts together… our country needs closure… move towards a brighter future…

He pauses. His hand reaches for the folder again, absent-mindedly flipping through the pages. "I don't think the Events would have worked the way Mom set them up," he repeats. "And yet…"

"And yet?" Violet urges.

"I think they might be just what we need right now."

For the first time since the end of March, Garnet's eyes begin to sparkle. "Think about it, Violet. The children of Panem have always represented the future. For as long as the Games existed, the growth of that future was stunted. No child could truly embrace their potential until they became an adult – until their future was guaranteed. Yes, we need the Events to give this country closure somehow, to end the era of the Games. But we also need to use the Events to teach children to look forward, to embrace their fate rather than to fear it.

"Imagine if we invited each district to select four children. Two whose lives have been affected by the Games, and two whose lives hold promise for the future. We'll invite them to the Capitol, and give them the chance to meet, to just be kids. We can design a ceremony for and with the first group that's some sort of formal ending to the Games, and we can work with the second group – or maybe all of them together – to help them develop their talents and hold some sort of exhibition or fair, to show both the Capitolites and the Districts what the Districts are truly capable of. And maybe… it's too close to this Reaping Day. But next Reaping Day we can hold the ceremony and the fair and finally, formally end the era of the Games."

A smile graces Violet's face as she continues to jot down notes. "So we'll develop the ceremony over the course of a year?"

"I think it would be nice – no, fitting is a better word – to hold it on Reaping Day. And there's no way we'll create something meaningful enough for this year."

"So the kids will need to have multiple trips to the Capitol."

"Yeah, that's right. And maybe we could even give them the chance to visit each other's districts too. It might give them all some more inspiration… oh! And we can encourage the kids to maybe make projects that unite their districts' industries in some way."

Violet looks up from her clipboard. "You know, you're starting to sound a lot like your mother."

"Really?"

"Really."

Garnet looks down, beginning to fidget with the hem of his shirt. "Do you think she'd be proud of me?"

"I think your mother would be very proud of you. And you know why I think so most?"

"Why?"

"Because you also still sound like you."

There's another pause. A tear slips out of Garnet's eye. Violet slips out of her chair and walks around the desk, wrapping her cousin in a tight embrace. As professional as their relationship is – as rigid as their age gap forces it to be – she knows that he just needs a hug and a shoulder to lean on.

Ruby and Amethyst always had each other. Garnet might not have Cerise, but he deserves the same.

Garnet allows himself to sit in Violet's arms for a moment, tears that he's held in for weeks finally flowing out. It's only once he has none left to cry that he straightens up, sniffles, and reaches for a folder again. "Was anything sent out to the mentors based on Delphine's plans?" he asks, a new confidence to his voice.

"I'm unsure; I can check on that."

"If they have, please ask them to refrain from making any further selections. Either way, notify the District teams that selection information will be released on June 25th, and that those selections will be due on or by July 25th. I just want to make sure that everyone, myself included, has enough time to prepare."

"Do you want my Gamemakers to help plan?"

"Maybe. I want to figure out what the events of the Events would be before I commit to anything."

"A wise idea."

Garnet takes a breath, then opens a new green notebook to the first page. "I need some time to map out my ideas. Let's plan to meet again in a few days, and we can start to think about how to delegate all of the elements of the Events."

"Very good."

Garnet watches for a moment as Violet collects her belongings, then turns to the notebook, letting all of the thoughts in his mind spill out onto the page. He knows that the road ahead is going to be long and bumpy, and that the difficult days will probably outnumber the good ones. But the knowledge that Violet is still in his corner, even after everything, gives him the boost he needs to push forward.

Garnet Emerald might not feel like a president yet. But if Violet believes he can be, then maybe by next Reaping Day, he finally will.

*slowly peeks around the door* Well hey there.

I know it has been a hot minute since this fic last updated. If you've been following me since then you know I haven't stopped writing - far from it! In fact, since I last posted, I finished one fic and opened and closed another, which is now in the intros phase. In the process, I've seen my writing style - and the types of stories that I'm interested in writing - really shift. And that shift definitely applied to the original structure of this fic.

I say original because I've decided to do a pretty significant overhaul of this fic. Some of this I'm sure is clear in this chapter - a shift from an Events a la IDIDE1 and IDIDE2 to something broader - but I'm gonna choose to leave the rest of it somewhat ambiguous for now, partly because I'm still organizing the story. This is also why you might see the current Chapter 2 (Delphine's pov) get deleted at some point in time. I just needed to get out of the void that is the SYOT Verses archive; now I have the chance to make some decisions that I just need to sit and think on. Suffice it to say that the fic will be less about longer, story-spanning arcs and more about one-shots, of sorts, focused on one or two of these characters at a time.

The new structure of the story means that a few of the characters I'd originally selected when subs opened no longer work. I'm still working out a few last details, so I will be letting submitters know about those choices either by PM or by posting on my profile, so please keep an eye out for that. Right now on my profile, however, you can find submission information for a few newly opened slots! I'm specifically interested in characters whose lives have changed for the better since the Games ended (for example, a child who was on a Reaping Statute and is no longer). Worldbuilding is still up on my profile from the NGDGU sub period, which in turn is from the LHFNP sub period, so go ham. Subs close firmly (and I really mean firmly this time) on February 19.

Thank you all for hanging in with me through this process with LHFNP. I'm determined to see the fic through to the end - and to do so in a way that makes me proud of the finished product.

xoxo, xxxi