Chapter 1: Prologue
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.
"On this, the 100th 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 the existing pool of Victors in each district ."
District 1 had a plan.
When fifty-four-year-old Cashmere Beaumont was Reaped, Shimmer Boleyn, the Victor of the Ninety-Second Hunger Games, volunteered in her place. She was still young, beautiful, and deadly, a favorite for the ultimate crown the moment she called out the same words she had eight years previously.
Nobody volunteered in place of Helvius Glitz.
District 2 was full of excitement.
Eve Charades had won her Games dutifully, and in the same manner she volunteered in place of Enobaria Barrow.
Conan Claymore shouted out "I volunteer!" before the escort had even finished reading an older Victor's name. He leapt onto the stage roaring with glee, pounding his chest, and pumping his fists. He was in his forties, but still powerful, and determined to win not just his second Games, but his second Quarter Quell.
District 3 had some hope.
Its Reaping was a foregone conclusion, as only two of its Victors were still alive. Kori Aoki mounted the stage much stronger physically than she had been during her first Games five years earlier, yet far more broken.
At the age of eighty, Beetee Latier's mind had not failed him yet. However, he was very afraid that, in the days ahead, his body might.
District 4 was split between cheers and mutters.
They tried to Reap Annie Cresta, of all people. Orla Flanagan, great-granddaughter of Four's first Victor and of course a Victor herself, took the stage without a second thought. Finnick and Annie were family, full stop.
Finnick Odair's name was called, but as he was almost fifty, no one was surprised when Four's most recent Victor, quiet yet menacing Leviathan Wells, volunteered himself.
District 5 was enraged, hence the extra Peacekeepers.
Out of its two living female Victors, the Reaping claimed sixty-year-old Sola Vesper. She was relieved that the much older, much more frail Porter Millicent Tripp was spared the moment of terror most Reaped felt after their name was called. Sola would have volunteered for her regardless.
Darien Lopez started towards the stage before his name was read out. He knew this Quell might well be made for him, and not in a good way.
District 6 was silent.
Like with Three, everyone knew who this year's tributes would be as soon as the Quell announcement was made. Axela Gage had been the only female Victor in Six for a very long time, and her longtime co-mentor, Linus, had died six years earlier.
Lee Anders had spent most of his Games detoxing from morphling and couldn't remember much of what happened during them. He wondered if that was why he seemed to dread the Arena less than many of this Quell's tributes. The only thing that truly scared him was the results of District One's Reaping.
District 7 was more rowdy than normal.
Johanna Mason may have been forty-six, but she could still swing a damn ax.
Seven's oldest living Victor, Tim, was willingly replaced by the young man he had most recently mentored to victory: Alder Sawyer.
District 8 didn't make much of a fuss.
Cerise Patel was not surprised to be Reaped. Moments after her name was called, she was plotting how exactly to turn this situation to her advantage, and to the advantage of those she hoped to soon fight a war with.
Tion Weaver didn't mind another shot at the Arena. He didn't have any good friends among the other Victors, and he appreciated the spoils of victory. The possibility of gaining more wealth and accolades appealed to him.
District 9 was tense.
Bonnie Springfield, all of seventy-six, was not much of a threat to her future competition and she knew it.
If he hadn't volunteered for his twin brother three years ago, Ira Millward probably would have been facing his final Reaping at eighteen years of age. He was one of the angry ones.
District 10 was stoic.
Ava Smith was their most recent female Victor and sixty-five years old. She put on her "good girl face" during the Reaping. It would come off soon enough, and she couldn't wait.
Colt Tanner was his district's latest Victor. He was strong, brutal, an excellent tracker, and solitary. He rather liked his chances.
District 11 felt hopeless.
Their most recent Victor was also Reaped. Mika Applegate, known for being small in size but very skilled, was the granddaughter of a fallen tribute, and she never forgot it.
Chaff Fallow was known for drinking in excess, refusing a Capitol prosthetic to replace his hand lost in the Games, and laughing in the face of danger. He did the last of those things during his Quell Reaping, but given his age and faltering health, he knew he was doomed. He planned to raise hell on his way out anyway.
District 12 was heartbroken.
Despite everything the Capitol had put her through in the past twenty-six years, Katniss Everdeen was still the Girl on Fire. And she intended to remind everyone of that, one way or another.
Haymitch Abernathy already knew exactly what he wanted to say during his interview.
Meanwhile, in the heart of the country, the Capitol could scarcely contain itself at the sheer thrill of it all.
Few there suspected that it wouldn't last much longer.