Author's Note: We start, as things often do with my stories, in District Four, the heart of the rebellion effort and the home of Mags, my Queen of all victors, and Annie, our familiar narrator a la 'Her Entire Species'.
Towards the end of this chapter, there are some lines taken directly from the Catching Fire movie, so obviously those are not my own work, and it goes without saying that I don't own the Hunger Games universe. This is Suzanne Collins' world and I'm just living in it.
Prologue
"We were ready in Four, Peeta," Annie started. "Right at the crest of the wave after so many years of building. Ready to rush in with the tide and sweep Four up, united. The district against the Capitol. And we could have won. We all believed it. But instead, the tide ran out away from us, leaving us stranded."
"It really was that close? The system almost collapsed after Katniss and I got out of that arena?"
"Yes. We were on the edge. Four was ready to go with Mags' command. Three would have followed. Eight and Eleven had already descended into chaos. District One, surprisingly enough, would have come with us too. But we couldn't finish the job. Couldn't quite drag everyone else over the line."
"Why?" Peeta asked. "After all those years. So much work from you all, by so many of those earliest victors. Twelve was small, but there was anger. It could have become something."
"Because the right people, or the wrong people, from our point of view, changed Snow's mind. I don't understand how. You'll have to talk to someone else about how that worked. I was too distant from the politics of it all then. But it was just enough to bring the districts back from the edge, to stop people from joining us."
"Haymitch thought we might have been the spark."
"We all did," Annie replied and Peeta's brow furrowed with disappointment. "Don't think it was your fault. That the pair of you didn't do enough or that you weren't enough. You didn't know what you were caught up in and everything was changing around you. You were sixteen. Victors no less, but young victors in an old victors' game. And that game changed quickly, and we were caught playing catch up. We had to adapt and the two of you came through so well. Mags would be proud. Seeder and Maria too. All those victors you wanted to impress because they were Haymitch's people. I know they're happy with how it's all turned out now. I can feel it."
"I'll have to trust you on that, Annie. But tell me what you know. How it changed for you all in Four."
….
District Four's victors were in Mags' living room, as they were for every mandatory announcement.
"The Quell?" Chloe started. "They'll be reading the card soon."
Mags shook her head in response, "Not yet."
"Too close to the Victory Tour," Shai added.
Their musings were interrupted by the screen coming to life, with President Snow, dressed in his finery in the drawing room of the Presidential Mansion taking centre stage.
"Good evening, to all of you in the Capitol and across the districts.
I address you all in the midst of a very difficult winter. Dangerous winds in District Four, brutal rain in District Seven and perilous storms in District Eight have brought shortages to the very heart of this nation. The people of the districts toil hard, and the Capitol remains in gratitude for your efforts. Panem will endure this turbulent era together.
But in the middle of this national struggle, we are witnessing love blossom before us. Our newest victors continue to share their love with the nation, inspiring us all and have recently announced their engagement. The country awaits the announcement of their wedding date with bated breath.
It is in the image of their dedication to one another in this torrid period, that I declare my own dedication to this country. To mark my gratitude to you, I make the following special announcements that will enable our great nation to continue to prevail.
The recent quota increases across the districts will be abolished with immediate effect and we will revert to the previous measures in place. This will enable a steady flow of goods across our country and avoid delays in the supply chain whilst we push through the recent difficulties. Our great peacekeepers will be motivated to ensure the strictest compliance to these quotas, whatever the industry. We must all work together to support our collective deliverance through this time.
Every worker, across this nation, whether Capitol or district will be permitted, by law, a further guaranteed half day of rest with no reduction in pay. This means that the hardest workers across Panem will now enjoy a shorter working week, no longer chained to six days of work, leaving us all more time to spend with our families.
As the days begin to grow longer, Panem will also celebrate a new national holiday, to mark the arrival of Spring and our endurance over the winter. I hope that this can be a day to celebrate our unity and collective spirit, marking what we continue to achieve as a nation for our people.
We will continue to drive out those who attempt to thwart our success and threaten our prosperity. Panem is one nation, working together to achieve greatness and we will not allow those who threaten our security to share in our good fortunes or take advantage of our more trying times.
Rewards will follow those who work hard and display their commitment to our national effort whilst repercussions will be sure to find those who work against us.
It is up to you, Panem, to decide what kind of nation we want to be. You can choose to contribute to our greatness, our shared efforts, or you can work against us, striking at the heart of the ambitions of your peers.
Think about who you want to be, what guarantees your safety and your family's prosperity. Make sure you make the right choice.
Thank you, and good evening."
….
Four's victors remained silent, exchanging glances around the room as the announcement finished. Their quiet confusion was broken by Rowan standing up and hurriedly leaving the room. Song followed behind him and suggested to Mags that she would lead him to their meeting point at the end of the Village where she knew they would meet soon to talk freely.
"That won't address the issues our crews have here. Decades of overfishing, travelling longer distances. They couldn't even reach the previous quota, and definitely won't with half a day less," Noah said.
"But it's a giveaway in other respects. They'll get that extra half day and no drop in pay. He didn't say what the sanctions for missing the quota would be after all," Coral replied.
"He won't just leave it be."
"Probably not. But this is a change in tone and a strange one at that."
"It doesn't make sense," Noah replied as he left Mags' house, claiming he would go for a walk around the Village.
Finnick and Annie left to join him, leaving the four oldest victors sitting quietly.
"Noah's right," Shai said. "This is different. A total change in direction."
"You can tell it was paining him, having to sound grateful for the efforts of the districts," Coral laughed.
"I think we can guess there's someone new, somewhere," Chloe said. "He hasn't suddenly turned to kindness in his old age."
"But what have they said or done to make him listen?"
"Blackmail?"
"Chloe, this is Snow. If someone had blackmail material, Snow would have snuffed them out by now, not let them in."
"Keeping his enemies closer?"
Mags shook her head, a pained expression on her face. With a heavy sigh, she stood up, reached for Chloe and Coral and together they left to reach their meeting point at the Village's end.
….
The younger victors were awaiting Mags' arrival as they stood at the bottom of the Village, looking out at the sea as the sun set over their home.
"We can still do this, can't we Mags?" Finnick asked. "Look at us. At Four. We're ready. Three too. Eight and Eleven can't be held back. It's time. This announcement hardly changes things."
"That's only four districts, Finn," Rowan replied. "Two will never turn now. A half day's holiday and they'll be on their knees in gratitude. And they're spineless in Five and Nine. This will have convinced them not to bother."
"Rowan!" Song snapped. "Just because they're not in the same place as us doesn't mean they're lacking. Their circumstances are different. Five is richer than we are and Nine isn't a collective like us. We have to reach the difficult places."
"Continue on," Mags said.
"But Ten needed a push to join and this will have pushed them in the other direction! Twelve is too small to be influential."
"Rowan, Twelve follows. We know that."
Noticing Mags look towards her, Chloe continued, "Twelve would be crushed if they tried to lead anything. This announcement doesn't change that and people still like Katniss and Peeta. The other districts are favourable to Twelve right now."
"So, what we're saying is it's four versus four and Twelve will follow who wins out. It's even, not lost," Finnick said.
"Thirteen. It all depends on them. How they perceive things. If support remains on the west and Twelve can follow Eight and Eleven in the east, Thirteen will come through."
"I don't trust Thirteen," Rowan snapped.
"None of us do. We use them and figure out what to do with them afterwards. If we outplay the Capitol, we can outplay Thirteen too."
"But now we don't know what's happening in the Capitol. What's brought all of this on?"
"There's someone new around. We just need to find out who they are and what their aim is."
"If Plutarch doesn't come through, I can do that," Finnick said. "The excitement of the Quarter Quell will make everyone even more talkative."
"What if it's too late by the Quell?"
"Coral and I will keep our ears to the ground with the peacekeepers," Chloe said, looking to her partner who nodded in agreement.
"Carry on. Find out more," Mags concluded.
"We can do this."
….
"What I do know is that we tried," Annie started. "Mags, Shai, Chloe and Coral, after all their work, never stopped believing. Rowan was defeated quickly but he kept on because that was what Mags told him to do. The rest of us did our jobs too. Song readied our people, Finnick and I carried on gathering information. Noah went out with the Centre's oldest to cause trouble."
"Were they the 'borderland bandits' we heard about?" Peeta laughed.
"Yes. Noah got a kick out of that. He loved it. Disrupting supplies and taking them for Four, derailing peacekeeper trains, targeted abductions. That's how we smuggled Dora into Four. Pretended the train taking her for her annual holiday here was raided and she was killed in the chaos."
"That's not how she describes it."
"No," Annie laughed. "She probably told you about Noah taking her into his arms and bringing her home. She loves the romance of it all."
"Then Dora has strange ideas about romance. And so does Noah."
"But it's how they reached each other. I guess after years of seeing each other in secret once a year, Dora, as our escort acting as a double agent and Noah always living on the edge, more danger would be how they got what they wanted. And Dora stayed too. Even after we could tell it was going wrong. We offered her the chance to escape, to pretend to have survived in the wilderness and go back to the Capitol. But she refused. Said she had made her choice and would live happily with it. She loves Four, even now it's her favourite place, and she loves Noah.
It's taken us so much longer to get here than we had hoped. It gradually dawned on us that Rowan was right from the start. Two, Five and Nine were never going to be convinced after Snow made that announcement. Ten was pushed into quiet compliance. Enough people wouldn't give up the little extras that they were given, and Maria never got over the guilt. She was embarrassed about her home which had always been a point of pride for her, but you know that Peeta. You were there to hear her. She could never understand how half a day a week and an extra holiday won people over."
"But it was exactly as Rowan predicted. Four districts against four districts and Twelve could never get moving. Things were just too bad, and despite the anger, people accepted the small improvements because the starting point was so low," Peeta said.
"Exactly. Controls got tighter in Six to ensure compliance with the quotas and to prevent sabotage. Poppy and Max were being followed everywhere. Some of their friends disappeared. They were prevented from organising. It was similar in Seven. Except they were further along, they had started to riot already. So, when people did try once more, the pushback was incredibly violent. The victors and the other rebel leaders couldn't justify more bloodshed."
"Johanna told me they were all being followed too. At one point they were assigned peacekeepers as guards, apparently to protect them given the violence in the district."
"I'm surprised Johanna didn't kill the people following her."
"She blackmailed them instead. Caught them breaking various rules. Visiting brothels, buying from poachers, dealing morphling. The usual stuff."
"Of course she did. But there was a drive on peacekeeper discipline too wasn't there. After the worst of the riots were put down."
"They could use extreme violence until they couldn't. Then they had to be professional, upstanding citizens, beyond reproach. Basically, they'd been given a pay increase and weren't allowed to show off in case it brought the uprisings back."
"You learnt quickly, didn't you?" Annie said.
"No choice. Haymitch wouldn't have it any other way. Twelve was dangerous, we were in trouble, and he couldn't have two liabilities. Katniss was difficult enough," he laughed.
"You're right. None of us had a choice. I was leading a double life then, as so many of us were. Lyme had been for years, and around your Games, Gem was doing the same. She helped bankroll the rebels and got the money in from other sources too. Then One's jewellers went quiet. People started to buy from them again as the richest used that extra time on shopping. As more districts stabilised, goods got through and the rich Capitols who brought from One came back. The rich craftsmen stopped going to meetings, rebels in amongst the musicians were assassinated and the miners were subdued. One couldn't get over the line then and Gem had to hide again.
Eight and Eleven were put down violently. So many people were killed. Pulled from their houses and executed in the streets in front of everyone. I don't think it mattered whether they were rebels or not. They just wanted people frightened. If Eight and Eleven were scared, nobody else would dare do anything."
"What about Three and Four?"
"We were left alone to carry on our decades-long performance. We were never going to lose our independent spirit. Of course, we saw peacekeeper changes and the Mayor, who wasn't even a rebel was swapped out for someone stricter. But we got around it. The Capitol wanted to go to Four on holiday. They weren't going to bomb us. Three saw more controls in their factories, sabotage was prevented, their black markets disappeared for a time, but then they were left alone too. People kept their heads down. Their Mayor was a rebel and they had had a taste of relative freedom. They weren't going to let that go. So, they started acting along too. People were loyal to Three and only Three. The rebels remained in charge."
"But with only two districts on side, Thirteen was never going to come out of hiding in support of the districts," Peeta said.
"No. They pulled back after Seven began to settle. We didn't hear anything else after One went quiet. We knew it was over."
"I'm sorry, Annie."
"Why?"
"Because it should have happened when you were ready. You'd all done the work. Haymitch often talks about how Mags should have been here to see it. He hated seeing her upset at the Quell."
"She tried to hide it. Obviously couldn't show Snow she was upset and reveal her hand. Four had a good chance too that year, what with the water arena. They died in there and it devastated Noah. It was his first major chance at mentoring a victor. Mags lost her purpose and then the Quell. She was devasted too and without her to guide him, Shai began to fall apart, and he was ill for a time. Chloe became withdrawn and Coral had to coax her back out."
"We didn't meet Rowan or Song for a while."
Annie laughed, "Rowan was a loose cannon, we couldn't have his anger around the Capitols. He became obsessed with the security of the Village too, so he wouldn't leave. Song had to stay back to try to keep him under control even though she wasn't finished mentoring. Finnick had to mentor the girls and he hated it."
"He was never one for mentoring, was he? Officially the name on the sponsorship paper but not the one sat at the controls in the Mentors' Centre."
"No. He was bored by it all. He found the tributes boring, the Mentors' Centre depressing and he knew he was put to better use on the sponsorship floor tricking the Capitols and gathering intelligence. He reported back to me, and I followed up with it all in the hotels in Four."
"You all carried on whilst we pulled Haymitch out the bottle."
"It wasn't just us affected by it. Haymitch was driven by the thought of rebellion for decades. I'm not surprised the drinking got worse. Finnick said Chaff was the same, for the first couple of years at least. Cecelia lost her children's chance at freedom, Linden and Poppy lost their chance at a life together and Gem lost the chance for her victors to free themselves from the Capitol. Lyme wanted a better Two and got years more of collaboration for her efforts. There was a lot of hidden anger when you and Katniss first arrived in the Mentors' Centre."
….
"The poor girl," Mags whispered.
"They're all awful. Completely drowning her."
"It's what they want isn't it," Finnick said. "Cover her in Capitol so nobody can see the district. Make her one of them."
"Make her look complicit."
"We'll help them," Mags said.
"Need to get an invite to the wedding first."
"I think that's guaranteed," Song said. "For you at least, Finn."
"I'll upstage the bride!"
"Why? You going naked?" Noah joked.
"You wish, Noah! I'll ask Cinna to make me something too."
"You'll need a plus one, Finn. We won't be letting Annie go with you," Song said, cutting through the jokes.
Mags raised her hand, "I'll go. Support Haymitch."
"And I was hoping I could be the one on Finnick's arm!" Noah said as the group laughed whilst the images of Katniss Everdeen in her various wedding dresses were swiftly replaced on screen by President Snow, preparing to make the latest announcement.
"The card," Mags said.
"Now?"
"Still in mandatory viewing. Still covers the Twelve girl in the Capitol's image," Finnick said as the group fell silent.
President Snow was by now standing on the podium in the middle of the city circle overlooking the vast crowds gathered in the Capitol who burst into rapturous applause at his appearance.
He calmed the crowds with a wave of his hand and in District Four, the victors listened in attentively. They knew where the arena was, their tributes would be fighting at home. They could win, if the card was in their favour and its content was not what they thought it might have been. They might pull some success out of the disaster of the quashed rebellion.
"Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the Seventy-Fifth year of the Hunger Games.
And it was written in the charter of the Games that every twenty-five years, there would be a Quarter Quell, to keep fresh for each new generation, the memory of those who died in the uprising against the Capitol. Each Quarter Quell is distinguished by Games of a special significance. And now on this seventy-fifth anniversary of our defeat of the rebellion, we celebrate the Third Quarter Quell.
As a reminder, that war deprives children of the lives ahead of them and takes away our strongest and bravest before they have the chance to reach adulthood, the tributes shall be reaped from those who are eighteen years of age and in their final year of eligibility."
The victors breathed a sigh of relief. They knew what the Quell could have been. They knew how much worse it could have got for them. But they were safe. Plutarch Heavensbee was safe and had done his job. They had a chance.
"It's boring compared to the others," Coral said.
"A rushed job."
"But we've got this," Noah said, meeting eyes with Mags.
"We carry on," Mags replied.
"The long game. A new generation of victors."