Part 1 - Feast

Prologue

~Coriolanus Snow, President's Mansion~

Savory.

President Coriolanus Snow bit into the slice of steak that was placed in front of him. A light steam rose from the plate in front of him as he took nice slow bites of the medium rare slice. The scent of roses decadently filled his senses as he let the juicy spoils of his meal spill down his throat.

A hint of rosemary topping the delectable meal rounded out the cacophony of flavors which practically melted in his mouth.

"Heaven, wouldn't you agree?" He said after swallowing a bite.

There was no response.

"Oh, I see it's already taken effect." President Snow chuckled a bit as he looked at the slumped over corpse at the other side of the table. The former Vice President Lysistrata Vickers lay motionless as a small trail of a silvery liquid trickled from her lips. Wine was one of the easiest liquids to sneak poison into. Against the bitter tones of the merlot, it was practically impossible to detect rat poison.

He was finding he was getting better and better at creatively sneaking in the poisons to various foods. Just a couple months back, when he'd found out his informant in District 6 was selling insider secrets about his wealth status to the mayor, he'd treated both to a breakfast with various fruits. Almost impossible to tell the difference between nightlock and blueberries when they were cleverly mixed together. He'd grinned the entire time they'd gasped for air, choking on their own poisonous words.

"Well that's okay, I suppose that's what you get for trying to stage a coup against me." He spoke to the lifeless Lysistrata as he took another bite of steak and downed it with a sip of his own wine...or rather the other glass of wine he'd stored for after the former Vice President was dead.

Yes, that's how he did it most of the time. Take his own poison that he'd stuffed his body with the antidote for, so his enemies didn't suspect a thing.

"You know, this could have all been avoided if you'd just followed my advice." He shrugged and ran a hand through his golden beard. In recent times, he'd found he liked growing out his beard, it gave him a more distinguished look, something befitting a President. Plus with his young-ish age, he found that people seemed to think he was getting more mature with the beard. "I did say that you would regret the day you cross me if ever it should come to pass. You clearly didn't understand that threat when I posed it at your coronation."

He'd thought about killing the rest of her family, a husband and infant daughter, however he suspected deep down after many long talks, that the thing Lysistrata valued above all others was her own life. And anything short of that would just be a minor inconvenience.

Such was the way of many of the upper class of The Capitol. Power and life, with a sprinkle of family, were the only things that mattered. At least, that's what he'd come to find. Dr. Gaul had helped open his eyes after many years of being an Assistant Gamemaker. The cruelty of man mixed with the power that came with domination is what ran Panem.

He dabbed his cheek with the corner of his white, laced handkerchief and put it down after his last bite. He was finding that the meal, as delicious as it was, was more filling than he'd anticipated. Perhaps it was the idea that another enemy of his was now dead. Whatever the reason, his appetite was satiated and he stood up.

His freshly pressed black vest, topped with a cuffed white dress shirt and form fitting black trousers, and military grade black boots were the perfect display for a young President such as himself. With the blood red jacket he put atop it, adorned with gold garish buttons and many intricately tailored designs, he truly looked the part of wealth and power.

Good.

He turned to the nearby lavish doors and pushed them open.

"Sir."

Great, the perfect person to clean up the deceased body. A young man, Baron Crane, assigned to be his personal assistant, approached. At times he could be a bit of a nuisance, but this would keep him occupied.

"Baron, my boy." He plastered on a fake smile intending to keep the conversation short. "It appears my guest for the evening has had a rather unfortunate accident. I would require you to dispose of the remains appropriately and discretely. I hope you can handle that?"

"R-remains." The boy said, his pale, blue eyes reflecting a momentary fear on them. "Yes I believe I can help with that." There was a waver in his voice that he attempted to steady.

Snow watched the lad. He needed to know that this would be handled with little to no blowback on him. He'd been hesitant to take on an assistant, but it did keep the Plinths happy. Honoring the memory of the lad's deceased sister and what not.

"Are you sure?" Snow asked looking at him. "This is a very important task, and if completed correctly, you shall be rewarded." He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out several gold coins, a rarity post war, but he had quite a few more where that came from.

Whatever hesitation had been present before, the flashing of those coins seemed to change Baron's demeanor. After Arachne's death, the family had fallen on hard times. Apparently, the grief had been too much for her mother who had taken her own life shortly after those games ended, and her father had taken up drinking. Baron was too young to remember much of this as his father had eventually ended up on the wrong side of a drunken gun fight, and the lad had been placed in the care of his aging grandmother. As she was now on her final years of life, he'd been fortunate to have been noticed by the Plinths as a lad who needed a benefactor. This was one of the things the two had in common, but as time passed, the Plinths were aging as well and their finances going to support Snow's advances. So the time came for them to opt to ask one favor, that Snow take Baron as an assistant.

It was the only thing they'd asked of him since pseudo adopting his family. He felt...some sort of indebtedness to them, and as such obliged. He did need their coin after all to continue to support the treasury if nothing else.

Also, the boy was about to prove his worth now.

Anyone could be bought for the right price.

"I'll deal with it sir. Appropriately and discretely." Baron nodded.

Snow grinned and handed him one of the gold coins. "Very good. I'll have the other waiting for you once you report back."

"Yes sir." Baron said as he scampered in the room. The scrawny lad barely fit the military outfit he wore and it was a little pathetic to Snow.

But maybe, if he kept showing his loyalty and being his assistant he would continue to prove his worth. Maybe investing in this little runt would prove useful after all.

He began to stride away from the dining hall now, wandering the marble interior of his mansion. It was, rather empty this late at night, an Avox or two could be spotted cleaning various surfaces. But otherwise no one else lived here or visited here without the President's permission. There had been a room for Tigris, his cousin, at one point, but they'd had a falling out some months back. Apparently, she'd begun to hate the way he conducted his business and wanted nothing more to do with it.

And so she'd left. After that he'd occasionally have a visitor or two, perhaps the Plinths or maybe Domitia Whimsiwick, the woman he was currently courting, and a former friend from his academy days. But otherwise he preferred his privacy, if for no other reason, than his ability to trust had been soured when just a year back, after his coronation, that bitch Liliana Dovecote had attempted to slit his throat in his sleep with a letter opener.

Of course he'd survived by overpowering her and then force feeding her a nightlock pill. The entire exchange had not gone over well with the public, given they'd adored his wife during his campaign, but the scar on his neck from where she'd nicked him with the opener had been more than sufficient to garner sympathy for him. Apparently, a letter had surfaced that Liliana had wanted the Presidency for herself and thought she'd take a moment after the election to attempt to take it by force.

At least, that's what the forged letter was supposed to convey to the public.

The real reason is she'd wanted to run off with a peacekeeper who she'd been having an affair with, but Snow had refused to agree to a divorce. Apparently, this had driven her to the insane plan to assassinate him.

Needless to say, the peacekeeper had also died under mysterious circumstances awhile after.

Mysterious being poison, of course. Snow was nothing if not consistent in how he killed his enemies.

He passed by a vase with white roses in it, running his fingers along it. One of the final things left by Liliana. A wedding gift she'd fawned over. By putting roses in it, he liked to think this symbolized he'd gotten the last laugh in their loveless marriage. At least he'd secured something of a dowry from the Dovecotes. Plus with the sympathy, he'd maintained a working relationship with the family. How dreadful their daughter and sister attack him like that!

A cold smile crossed his lips. He'd debated breaking it, but thought it more fitting that he spread roses on it.

Snow always lands on top after all.

He retired to his room shortly after, done with his sauntering about the empty Mansion as he arrived in his room.

As he was about to disrobe for his night routine, the phone on his nightstand rang. Curious. Who would be calling at this hour?

He reached over and picked it up.

"Snow speaking." He said.

"It's been awhile."

He felt tension rise up in his body as he heard the crackly deep alto voice on the other end. It had been awhile since he'd heard it, but it was the same voice that had given him renewed life all those years ago. A voice he expected about this time every year.

"Dr. Gaul. Don't you think it's a little late for Hunger Games preparation discussion? I do need to sleep at some point for my Presidential duties." He chuckled. He didn't really mean the chuckle, but he had some sort of presence to maintain. The woman was a genius. A mad, evil genius. And some of that had rubbed off on him over the years.

"We need to talk." The voice said with a serious tone.

Coriolanus rubbed his temple. He could already tell he wasn't going to like what she had to say.

#

It was approximately midday the following day when the stylish car pulled up in front of Dr. Gaul's laboratory. The door was opened as President Snow stepped out of it. He had a visible scowl on his face as he headed for the main doors, his feet making a clacking noise as he stomped.

The news last night was enough to make him glower with anger. Apparently, Capitol news had conducted a survey from citizens regarding the Hunger Games and had put it out without running it through him before.

In a world where people had died for doing much less, Snow had half a mind to kill everyone associated with the news station and their families along with them. How dare they make a mockery of this.

"Gaul!" He shouted as he marched through the doors. The doctor stood there arms folded with her assistant, Dr. Victorious Moss, a mousey woman whose glasses were so thick framed they barely stayed on her nose, standing beside her.

"President Snow." She said with a perturbed look. "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances."

"Obviously." Snow grit his teeth. "How do we fix it?"

"We?" She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "I've already begun work to fix it, but you need to get your head in the games. You've been out so long focusing on 'making things better' for production, that you've forgotten the most important thing." She said as she nodded to her assistant who began to scamper towards the nearby doors.

"And what's that?" Snow said. He could feel an enlarged vein in his head about to burst.

"You've forgotten what the people want. They want to be entertained."

"And?" Snow blinked.

"Come." She said following the same way her assistant had gone moments ago. "I've got plans that need your approval."

Plans? Well at least she hadn't gone behind his back this time and executed them without his authorization. After nearly a decade, she was starting to learn her place in his Presidency. So far the only good news from all of this.

He followed her behind the doors into that same laboratory he'd been sequestered in for decades before finally gaining political power to take over. He could smell the sickly concoctions she was brewing and knew it was better to not question what exactly she was making.

"With Capitol support of the Hunger Games declining, we need to change things up, keep them exciting. The problem these days is that people are better off than they ever have been thanks to your strict control and taxes over the districts. Specifically 9, 10 and 11 are outputting so much that no one in the Capitol is struggling or hungry. In fact-"

"I know all of this." Snow pursed his lips. "Everything's better, so...what's your point?"

"The point is that people are starting to be entertained in other ways. They feel like the Hunger Games are basically the same from year to year. Finding new forms of entertainment such as singers and street performers and artists are starting to become more prevalent. They are beginning to question the point of them at all. A new generation is coming in and-"

"Yes yes, I saw the news report. Remind me to send them some of your snake mutts." He scowled.

"One of these days you are going to have to stop killing everyone who breathes on you the wrong way." Dr. Gaul rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I would advise against it. Instead maybe starting to replace the newscasters would be smarter. Give them people who support your agenda. In the meantime, we need to get ahead of this."

"Agreed." Snow said folding his arms. "Now, you've called a very busy President down here to show me something. Please tell me what it is."

"Yes." Dr. Gaul said as a cold grin spread across her wrinkled face.

It was a grin that made Snow's blood run cold, and very few things achieved that anymore.

"Well...go on." Snow said getting a little annoyed.

"...I present to you. A new type of Arena." She said as she pulled out a remote and clicked a button.

President Snow turned his attention to the screen, and as it began to feature all of the plans and features of what it was she was proposing, he felt the momentary fear of The Capitol losing interest in the Games start to fade away.

It was beautiful. It was brilliant. And it was terrifying.

But most of all, if this could be achieved, along with putting in some of his own promotions and government finances into this...

This would be the greatest technological advance that The Capitol had seen since the rebellion. This would change everything and immortalizing his own name in the history books.

"How long will this take to execute?" He asked after the presentation was over.

"I've already begun work on the foundations, thanks to assistance from Dr. Moss. I should have the prototype ready in about a month assuming no delays. I assume this is to your liking?"

"I do believe so." He said, still trying to comprehend just how much power he stood to gain if this worked.

He licked his lips at the thought.

Delicious.

A/N: Been on a Hunger Games kick lately and while I was both watching the movies and reading the books, I realized there's a specific niche in which I could insert actual lore and meaning behind the games and to the overall narrative. I'm really excited about the ideas I have for this and I'm hoping the perspective changes will help keep the story fresh and engaging. I hope you enjoy, feel free to leave reviews/feedback/comments I love hearing from readers 3 I hope you all are well.