All the Victors' Villages throughout the country were silent. The silence was cold and deadly, as if during a funeral. All the victors were positioned in front of their televisions, some with family, some with fellow victors, and some alone. There were others too, the people that were unwanted by the Capitol, staring at the screen. President Snow was about to announce this year's Quell twist, and all the citizens of Panem, whether the ones in Districts or the Capitol, where the supporters of Snow or the rebels, were waiting with baited breath.
Cress Woods Jr. could hear the loud applause from the Capitolites even from the television as he stared at the old man, dressed in his usual suit with a white rose. Cress bit his lip anxiously as Coriolanus Snow talked about the treaty of treason, the importance of Quarter Quells and how there were cards that already contained what twist would be implemented in Quells. Cress was nervous; despite being a victor on run and currently hiding in District Thirteen, he couldn't but feel bad for whoever would volunteer from his home district of Four. He ran his hand through his hair, agitated, as President Snow looked at the mass of people gathered in front of him.
"Before I proceed to read out the twist of the Quell, I would like to thank our current Head Gamemaker Matthew Hayes for his continuous services. He has produced Games that have been magnificent and have truly carried our traditions. He also took the pains to be the interim Head Gamemaker for previous year while we were looking for someone else who could match his legacy. Luckily, we have found that someone. Matthew, thank you so much for your services as the Head Gamemaker."
The screen focused on the former Head Gamemaker and current Vice President of Panem, Matthew Hayes, who smiled at Snow. Cress' ears perked up; Matthew had been replaced? Why hadn't he told the rebels? Matthew was their agent in the Capitol, it was basically his job to pass the intel. Thus, Cress was even more worried now.
It was at that moment that the door of his small 'room', or whatever it was in District Thirteen, opened, and his roommate Alan Aquila walked in. Cress looked up and sighed as the older man sat down beside him.
"Did he announce it?"
"Not yet. Matthew has left his post."
"What on earth?!"
"Yeah, Snow just announced it."
Before Alan could respond to that, the President called upon the new Head Gamemaker.
"Panem, welcome your new Head Gamemaker: Claudia Horatio!"
The camera focused on an elegant woman sitting in the front row, her long tresses cascading down as if like a waterfall. She was of impeccable beauty and grace, a princess instead of a murderer, and Cress' jaw dropped as he looked at her.
"It's rude to stare," Alan muttered.
"I'm sorry but she's just so beautiful!"
"Yeah, she'll kill children beautifully too."
And that made Cress shut up.
The two men watched now, as President Snow chose a card from a bowl of cards that contained various Quell twists. Cress often wondered whether these 'twists' were really predetermined, or did the Capitol just add in a few slips with the same twist as a pretence and basically chose the twist as they felt like. It seemed highly likely. And then, President Snow spoke.
"On the 75th anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors."
It was as if lightning had fallen on Cress' ears. He jumped to his feet with a loud cry, eyes wide, mouth agape, and soon he was sweating, shivering, even as he felt Alan grab his shoulders tightly to steady him.
"Wh-what…?" he whispered, tears falling down his cheeks, "H-how could he…how…?"
"Cress calm down. You're here, you're safe."
"That's beside the point!" Cress yelled out, eyes wild as if he was turning crazy, "We have fought to death Alan! We've become friends, lovers, family- and we have to kill each other! Do you get it? Do you get it?!"
Alan pulled Cress into an embrace rather forcefully as the younger man almost started hyperventilating, his heart beating at an abnormal rate.
"Calm down Cress!"
"I-I-"
However, he was so distressed that he couldn't get the words out, and continued to tremble. Ultimately, Alan did the only thing he could think of.
He slapped him across the face with all his might, and probably that was what Cress needed to get a hold of himself.
She picked up the glass vase with its flowery designs and hurled it at the television, the screen shattering into pieces.
Minerva could not believe that this was happening. HOW COULD THEY?! She was crying and heaving and panting, and she then proceeded to upturn the centre table, the glass again breaking into thousands of minute pieces.
"WHAT THE ***!" she cried out in rage, punching her fist into the glass shards, blood trickling down her fist but she did not care. Behind her, Sagittarius was sitting quietly, head in his hands, sobbing softly. Minnie punched the floor again, even as a highly audible gasp escaped Sage. The two had won in consecutive years; Seventy Second and Seventy Third, and it was angering Minnie even further that her mentor was not even expressing his sadness openly.
"Cut it both of you!"
Both Minerva and Sagittarius looked up at their friend Haley Oceanus, the victor who had mentored both of them, a stern frown on her beautiful face, arms folded across her chest. Minerva could not quite understand as to why Haley looked unfazed about the Quell twist compared to Sage and herself. Did she not know that she could be Reaped as well?
Whatever the reason for her demeanour, Minnie did become silent, trembling in anger but quiet nonetheless. Sage just let out a deep sigh and stared at the carpet of the floor, the carpet that was so red, like the blood that was about to spill…
"Buckle up," Haley said, "We have some training to do."
"You're not serious!" Minerva exclaimed, jumping to her feet, while Sage just nodded sadly.
"She's right, Minnie," he said shakily, "If any of us goes back in there, we need to be prepared."
"Wh-Sage!"
"We need to be real about this," Haley added, her voice much softer now, "We have to look at this objectively."
Minerva looked from her one mentor to the other, both of them looking at her as if she should accept what was happening; Sage looking resigned to his fate and Haley looking as if she had anticipated this. Speaking of which…
"You're not surprised at all," Minnie noticed, her voice now purely curious, devoid of the rage she had felt a minute ago, for she knew what Haley was like.
"I'm not," she replied, "Ever since Cress has been discovered, I was sure Snow wasn't going to leave the victors alone. Any of us could be rebels. He wants to drive home a point."
"So that picking up the card…"
"That is pure nonsense, Minnie," Haley sighed, "They don't have any cards. In the beginning, they did have a few ideas, but the President and the Gamemaker already decide what the twist is going to be. This time, they just made their own idea and presented it in a way that looked as if the twist was chosen."
"So they've planning it for a while?!"
"Quite likely."
And then Minerva screamed. She screamed in frustration and anger, in hatred of the Capitol and the unfairness of the whole situation, but most of all she screamed in grief and dread over what the future held.
Ruby didn't quite know what to do.
She was staring at the screen blankly, staring as if her life had been sucked out of her body. Probably it had, because what she had just heard could not be true.
Her first thought was that she was safe. Ruby Platinum, a victor from One, had had to fake her death years ago because of a tiff with Snow, and she had changed her appearance surgically and adopted the persona of Micky, a bubbly girl from Five. She was so used to being Micky that she had forgotten that she was a victor in the first place.
The second thought that crossed her mind was that she was the wife of the only male victor from Five, a man who was passed out in his room due to the drugs he had taken, and had no idea what was about to happen. That was when the tears started trickling. She and Sasha had a lot of differences, and it was true that their relationship had started on hatred instead of love, as he was the one who had destroyed her prototype, a cloning machine, during its initial run, but that was behind her now. sure, they argued quite a bit, but Ruby now loved him.
And that was when this 'twist' happened.
Ruby wished that she had never fallen in love with him, that she had never accepted him. maybe the twist might have made her happier then, but right now she was just empty, and her hand moved to her stomach protectively, because she was carrying their child. She had not even told him yet, she had found just a couple of days ago, but now she didn't have the strength to tell him. she didn't know how she was going to break the news of the twist to her husband, but she knew that she had to bring him back home anyhow. She was a Career after all, it was her duty to prepare her husband for the fight that was approaching, the fight to death.
"Don't worry," she whispered to herself, "He had six kills."
However, Ruby knew that she wasn't worried about that. Sasha had probably murdered more than most Careers combined, with six kills in the arena and countless others outside on his rebel duties. She was worried that she would lose him, because there would be people who would hurt him, kill him, and probably knew how big of an addict he was. He was addicted to alcohol, drugs, tobacco…just about everything. And that had made him weak.
Nonetheless, it was time to be objective, so Ruby wiped her tears away furiously and got up. It was time to wake Sasha up, wake him to face the reality.
"Hahaha!"
Charles leaned back in his sofa, slapping his thigh as he laughed, as if a great joke had been thrown at him. He was partially right, Snow had played a joke on them, a very dirty joke at that. Beside him, Anya was crying, her head against his shoulder. She wasn't crying only for herself though; she was crying for her best friend too. Charles was the only male victor in Six. She couldn't believe that he was going into the Games again. Those other victors were strong, the whole Panem thought Chip was a psychopath. Yes, he was a sociopath, but nothing too dangerous! How was she supposed to ensure that he returned home?!
"You're crying for nothing," he muttered, eyes as cold and emotionless as always, "Pull yourself together."
"You're going back in!"
"And I'm going to have the time of my life in there," he mused, reaching out for a chocolate bar. Anya briefly wondered how on earth he hadn't become a diabetic by now, he was always devouring sweets, but she shook the thought away.
"You're not going to survive in there," she whispered.
"You underestimate me Anya."
The girl sighed, searching her friend's face for a possible weakness, or a show of emotion of any kind, but she was met with a void. Charles wasn't going to let his thoughts about the twist show at any cost.
And that was when she made her mind. If he was going in, she was going in too. After all, Chip was all she had. He was her family, her friend, and was possibly the only person she truly loved, even more than herself…
She was going to do everything in her power to bring him back, and this was the time to start preparing their moves.
She hugged him again, eyes shut. And Chip stared at the screen, a frown slowly appearing on his usually passive face. He was not happy about this at all, and he could already see that his chances were low.
But he did not have to show that to anyone.
Well, hello guys! Welcome to Sinners and Saints, and I hope you liked this prologue! I know this is a bit early, but I'm not really starting it right away. So this is a partial SYOT, so a few spots will have my characters, characters some of you might know if you've read any of the prequels (Surviving the Sea, Glass Glade, Dawn of Light, Mirage of Lies). The submissions will most likely be open for a month and a half, so we have plenty of time.
Now, since this is the last of an established series, there are a few guidelines that you need to keep in mind while making a character. Those will be on my profile, along with the form and a summary of the verse. The one main thing is that your victor CANNOT be from these years: 54th, 58th, 59th, 60th, 66th, 68th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd and 74th. The rest are fair game.
I would recommend reading a summary of the last four stories that I'll put up on my profile so that you can make a tribute with ease. In case you have any questions, feel free to PM or discord me.
See you guys soon and have a happy new year!
Have a great day!