Haymitch POV –67th Hunger Games

Once again here we go again. Two innocent children that I am about to prepare to go to the slaughterhouse. The girl, only 13 years old, has not stopped crying since we left district 12. She is aware of her reality, she is going to die, I don't blame her for being scared. The 17-year-old boy who doesn't looks more than a 14 years old, due to his malnutrition, seems to be more willing to survive. Like every year I will try but I am more than sure that neither of these two will have a real chance to win.

I pour myself one last shot of whiskey before going to see the kids. Some would say that after 16 years as a mentor, I would get used to it and be immune to the pain, fear and guilt that overwhelm me every time I see my new mentees but in reality it gets worse every year. I am supposed to tell them how to survive and help them but the harsh truth is that there is nothing in this world that I can do to save them.

Effie has met the two kids. Her insufferable optimism seems to at least give the girl some hope. She is no longer crying, apparently Effie has convinced her that she can maybe make history and be the first tribute to win the games at just 13 years old, even beating Finnick. I bite my tongue not to contradict her. These may be the last days of the girl, better not ruin them.

Once Effie notices my presence in the room, she begins with her usual speech that I should stop drinking, that we are late in the program because of me and I don't know what else. I have stopped listening to her until she finishes scolding me. 15 minutes later, I put my full attention on the children, and I asked them what they know to do. What ability do they have that might make a difference for them in games.

The girl enthusiastically replies that she is the fastest in her class, and that she is always the one who runs errands around the house with her 3 brothers just a few years older than her. She also points out that she knows how to make a good meal from any plant. She helps her mother cook for her and all of her family. I feel sorry for her. I nod and look at the boy. He is more concrete, he has experience repairing houses and making tools out of anything within his reach. This seems useful in case he survives the bloodbath. Once I give them my instructions for what is to come in the training period, I retire to my room to drink until I lose consciousness. I need to forget about those big gray eyes full of hope of the girl

As night begins, the parade by car of the tributes from the 12 districts begins. I analyzed them all, comparing them with my two pupils. The girl is not the youngest among those reaped this year, there is also a boy, 12 years old I think. The tributes from the career districts don't surprise me much. All well fed, strong and proud. Oh! How useless are the stylists they gave us, although I am not surprised, again they disguised the two children as miners. So original! I can see the reactions of the people in the capitol, my kids have not made any impression to remember.

Once the show was over, together with Effie and the preparation team, we escorted the children to the elevator. They will have to go to bed early, tomorrow their training sessions starts. I let them go alone as I see Finnick and Johanna talking. Maybe I can say hello to my not so old friends. Johanna the victor of the games 2 years ago, she is 19 years old now and she is alone, President Snow killed all of her family, just like he killed mine. She remains strong though, with an indomitable spirit despite it all. It is to admire. The vast majority of winners who have somehow challenged the capitol, ended up falling into some vice or addiction. But not Johanna. Finnick on the other hand hasn't had it easy either. He has sacrificed himself to keep his own alive, at a high price.

"How are the young people?" I greet them

"Amazing at this year's display of pomposity, and longing for the quick death of 23 innocents, so I can go home" Johanna snaps with her charming sarcasm. Finnick just shakes his head and smiles.

"Maybe I can stop by for a drink one of these days Haymitch, I think it wouldn't hurt to disconnect for a moment" Finnick says" of course it will have to be behind Mags's back, I doubt very much that she would like me to have bad habits" I don't doubt of his words, Mags has protected him as much as she could considering the circumstances, he is as if he were her son.

"Woof and Cecelia come, they don't seem very happy from what I can see" Johanna points out

"hi guys, impressed with all the paraphernalia displayed this year?" I tell them sarcastically.

Before either of them can open their mouths, the female tribute comes out behind them and answers me.

"Yeah! everything is so spectacular and beautiful, I can't wait to see what other things the capitol has prepared for us" no, there isn't a drop of sarcasm in her voice, she really believes it. I can't help but stay like everyone, there stoic watching her. She is not very tall, with very pretty features with large and incredibly green eyes and a rare feature in all of Panem, red hair like burning fire.

"oh! I can't believe I'm seeing you in person"the girl squealed with enthusiasm, while she looked at each one of us with wondering eyes "I'm Leila Brightlock, I volunteer as a tribute for district 8, I'm 16 years old, I wanted to volunteer earlier but my daddy advised me to wait a couple more years so I did it. I have seen all the games, I always dreamed of being here. I was very impressed by your strategy Miss Mason, I would never have thought of playing the victim like that and the way you hunted down and killed the remaining tributes! Wow! impressively bloody" the brat laughed with amusement. I didn't need to see Johanna's face to know that this wasn't a compliment, but the brat didn't seem to notice and continued "my daddy advised me to follow M. Odair's footsteps, and get sponsors to get many gifts" she giggled and stopped for a moment watching me "it's you? Haymitch Abernathy, you won the second quarter quell, it's one of my favorite games, still when I see it I think the girl is going to win but she doesn't. That move with the force field was very intelligent, however my daddy advised me not to do something like that, for him it was a move for cowards but I still believe that it wasn't that bad" I was left with my mouth open, stunned by the the stupidity of this brat. That she is openly talking about using or not using the force field is not the worst but her perception of the games. Hadn't she realized that she had a high chance of dying, she didn't look like someone who could compete with many of the tributes I saw today, big and strong, and of course with the experience that this fool lacked for not coming from a career district. Looking at the faces of Cecelia and Woof, I saw my thoughts reflected in them and even more displeasure in Woof's face. It was the first time I had seen a mentor dislike one of his tributes.

"Well I'm glad you liked each of our shows, that was the most important goal for us, to entertain!" Finnick replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Well, he was the only one who dared to answer something to the girl

"You know, I'm worried about the interview with Caesar Flickerman, I hope to look pretty that day. It is very important to impress everyone"

"for the gifts I suppose" Johanna replied in a harsh tone

"of course!"said Leila "today I don't think I impressed anyone, my stylist doesn't like me very much I hope she does a better job for the interview"

"I wonder why she wouldn't like you?" I finally added. she just smiled sweetly at me. I had two conclusions at this point: either she was crazy or she was too dumb and naive to realize the obvious.

At this point Woof was at the end of his patience, he furiously pressed the elevator buttons. The brat was going to say something else when her mentor shut her up with a scream

"Enough Leila, that's enough, you'll go straight to bed right now, I don't want to hear anything else from you for today" The girl shuddered slightly. But she immediately recovered with the same sweet smile as before.

"Lec you should rest too, training starts tomorrow and you shouldn't be tired." With a kinder tone, Cecelia urged the male tribute to go to the elevator.

"It's a pleasure to have met you all , and who knows maybe next year I'll be here as a mentor and maybe, be your friend. so.. Good night and enjoy the games" Leila said, and to everyone's surprise, and even more so for the three of us, the girl approached us before leaving and hugged us and gave each of us a kiss on the cheek. The two tributes left. Woof and Cecelia sighed wearily almost at the same time.

"Is she real? or an infiltrator of the capitol" asked Finnick

"I would like that. The fool doesn't stop talking about the privilege of being here and how lucky she is to finally be in the capitol" Woof responded irritably

"Calm down Woof" said Cecelia "Maybe is because she comes from the rich part of the district she doesn't realize what is about to happen. The merchant class always tends to be on the side of the Capitol" Cecelia tried to excuse her, although she did not believe her own words

"that's crap! Not even the merchant class in 8 is so privileged as to be so blind" Woof replied

"She's not going to last long in the arena, I highly doubt she'll go past the bloodbath" Johanna said, ending the conversation. No one was going to say otherwise.

We took the elevator and each one returned to their respective apartment. I went straight to the bar to drink a bottle of whiskey that would accompany me on one more sleepless night. I couldn't stop thinking about the decision I had to make. The boy had a better chance of surviving but the little girl was so hopeful of getting out of this that my conscience pricked me to think that very probably in a few days those eyes full of hope would close.


A/N: All rights and characters belong to Suzanne Collins, I just use them for entertainment.

1- This story is my reinvention of the original story from Catching Fire. I'll make changes to certain timelines. In this version Finnick will survive and Johanna and him will have a happy ending 😀

2- Sorry in advance, English is not my first language, so I'm open to suggestions/corrections etc. Now, I hope you enjoy it!