Author's Note: We go to a district that is yet to have its first victor in this new timeline and back to the arena.

….

The Eighty-Second Annual Hunger Games: Fern Hazel, District Seven (16)

Fern was steadily making her way through the narrow network of dark caves. Her knees were bleeding so she was crossing the arena using her hands and trying to grip as much as she could with her shoes. But everywhere was wet so she kept slipping and landing back on her already damaged knees. The constant dripping of cold water had by now soaked through her clothes and Fern was freezing, wet and lost.

She knew she would have to find somewhere where a sponsor gift could get through. It was one of the traps of the arena. The parachutes were unable to reach the lower levels of the underground network. The tributes had to make their way to the higher levels or to somewhere where the gaps in the walls allowed parachute access. But that left them exposed. It was a game within the Hunger Games, knowing when to take a calculated risk and decide if your mentor had been able to gain sponsor support at all.

But Fern knew she was down to the final five. The attention was spread across fewer tributes now and her district partner was dead, making it more likely that Linden would have the funds for her.

He had told her before the arena that he would be pragmatic. If there was no urgent need or she was near what she needed, he would be slow to send in a gift, unless he could see that her clarity of thought was deteriorating. So far, the strategy has worked. Fern remained hidden from the start. She escaped with an axe that another tribute had dropped and hid deep within the caves. She had drunk the water dripping from the ceiling and changed to nearby hiding places to ensure she was relatively mobile.

On the second day, she used the axe to break through one of the caves' walls and Linden found a way to get some food to her. But shortly after the wall's collapse brought another tribute to her. Fern did what she had to do and was rewarded with some clean water for her efforts.

Now, a week later, she was making her way closer to the surface. She had killed another tribute since the second day and had proven she could do what was required of her to make it out alive. She knew that District Two's girl was alive too and that the classic battle between their districts could be reignited. Fern was not scared of the girl. She was bigger than her and had been wielding an axe for almost as long as she imagined the girl had been using a sword.

But her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cannon firing. Four tributes remained. Fern could see a gap through the caves emerging too and tried to speed up, as much as her grip would allow her. She finally reached the light and waited in the shadows. Another tribute ran past her. They were all clearly being directed to the same place. The parachutes were numbered too, and she could not see a Seven yet.

The other boy she could see was holding his parachute and was running towards an abandoned sponsor gift before he slipped on what Fern had realised was black ice and fell through one of the craters on the surface to his death. Fern figured that must have been the source of the other canon and decided not to risk the approach to the gift.

This also meant there were only three tributes left and sure enough, parachutes labelled Seven, Two and One appeared at the same time. Fern moved as quickly as she could in the direction of her parachute, using her axe to grip the floor of the cave and pull her forward. She did not want to lose to a volunteer by slipping on ice and plummeting through the arena.

She grabbed her parachute before moving into the nearest shadows once more. The other girls had done the same. Fern took a moment to see what Linden had sent before making her final preparations. Her parachute revealed thin knee pads, gloves to aid her grip and covers for her shoes that she thought would help combat the ice on the cave's floors. It was the finale and she agreed with Linden that this was what she needed the most to be able to face One and Two's girls effectively. She had her favoured weapon and she needed to be able to use it offensively rather than as a tool for balance.

Fern was ready and she figured it was as good a time as any to go on the offensive. She weaved in and out of the caverns, searching through the shadows and looking over her shoulder until she heard a canon. The other girls must have already found each other and decided to go for it. But it did not take Fern long until she found Two's girl, alive after her battle with One's final tribute. They looked each other up and down, realised they were evenly matched and moved out into the open, inviting the audience to watch the final battle.

It was messy and bloody. Both girls traded blows in a drawn-out affair and at one point Fern fell onto the blaze of her axe and impaled her knee. She gritted her teeth and removed the weapon before aiming the handle into the stomach of Two's girl and knocking her off balance. Fern realised that she could not stand and crawled using her better, more protected knee towards her opponent and they began fighting once more.

There was a final trade of blows until a cannon sounded and Fern realised that she was alive.

…

"That's four hours' straight sleep, Linden will be proud," Johanna said as Fern woke up in a sweat in the living room of her new home.

"Where's Linden?"

"Getting his beauty sleep. He needs it what with having a new victor at his age. You got a problem with me being here or something? Don't want me seeing you after a nightmare?"

"No. I just wondered. He's usually here, that's all."

Johanna snorted, "I know he is. Blight was like that with me at first. Do you need to talk about it? I'm not great with that sort of thing so be careful what you ask for. But I've been there. I get it."

"Not really. It was the usual. Being chased by that boy and not making it, the Two girl, my damn knee."

"That was gory. Something else. Can't believe I had to watch that."

"I know, I was there. It was worse for me."

Johanna laughed, "You win on that front. But Fern, I think we'll manage for now. Linden and Blight will be pleased to know we aren't about to kill each other."

"Were they worried about us?" Fern asked.

"They just know what I'm like. But I think I care enough about you. Not sure about that brother you brought with you, but you'll do for some new company around here."

Fern knew that Johanna was referring to an argument she had with Fern's brother who had moved to the Village with the family. Her parents were delighted that their daughter was home, and her brother loved their new life and the fact that he did not feel the need to work any longer. Linden had tried to politely advise that he take a less physically demanding job as his position was entirely dependent on Fern and that unless he wanted to always live with his parents, he would need a source of income. Once someone was not under the same roof as a victor, there were rules prohibiting full financial support and Linden was keen to stop trouble in its tracks.

But Fern's brother was headstrong, deemed Linden to be interfering and ignored his words. Johanna tried to explain, in her own, more direct way but it only resulted in an argument.

"He'll figure it out," Fern said. "But sometimes I do wonder if he'll just stay in the Village forever, even if he does have a family of his own."

"I can't blame him for not wanting to work. Lumber's tough. But he could find something less exhausting."

"It's all a novelty to him right now. He's spent more of my money than I have, what with me being stuck here with my knee. But he'll get bored eventually."

"Or I'll just shout at him until he does something useful. It's so boring here. Or maybe he will get tired of Linden and do something just to get out of his way."

"Linden doesn't want to interfere."

Fern knew that Linden was trying to tread a careful balance. She had moved to the Village with a supportive family, and Linden wanted Fern to retain their affection. Her parents were staying alongside her, trying to help her adjust to their new life, the nightmares and her knee injury whilst hoping they still knew their child after what had happened to her. Linden was hoping he knew how to help Fern recover, both physically and mentally.

Her rehabilitation was becoming the most difficult issue. The Capitol doctors had presented Fern with a set of exercises to help her regain strength and mobility. She would be reassessed during the Victory Tour and hopefully, she would be able to progress onto new things. But Linden had sought the advice of Two's victors who had suggested that the Capitol's programme was deliberately too slow and suggested a variety of exercises and activities which might help Fern recover faster. Brutus had learnt a lot from his own experience with Ember and her extensive injuries from the maces.

Fern's parents insisted on following the Capitol programme to the letter, on their understanding that their doctors knew far better than the mentors of the girl who had tried to kill their daughter. Linden had tried to explain that Brutus and Lyme had nothing but good intentions and had dealt with difficult recoveries previously and understood the most about mentoring. But Fern's parents did not have the inside knowledge that Linden had. They only had Games footage of Two's victors and the images of Two's girl in the Games as she attacked Fern in their minds. Linden grew frustrated and tried to tell them that the Capitol would deliberately want to leave Fern weak and would not act with her full recovery in mind, but they told him he was paranoid.

Linden's possible paranoia was something that Fern had noted. Her parents were right to consider the possibility of a victor having irrational thoughts, but her experiences in the Capitol so far had started to tell her there was a reason for her mentor's attitude. In her quiet moments with Liev when he spent his afternoons with her, she had confided in him, worried that she would offend her mentor. Seven's oldest victor told her that Linden was the most likely one of them all to succumb to paranoia but Linden's fears surrounding the Capitol were neither irrational nor unfounded. He was correct in his estimation that the Capitol would favour leaving her weak because she would be less inclined to put up a fight. They had a proven record for acting in the same way with some of the other victors. So, Liev resolved to try to assist in working with Fern's parents and hoped that as the one they saw to be the most reasonable, he could smooth over the emerging tensions.

….

Fern's life had transformed, and her family's had too. Being back in Seven helped her feel normal again, away from the trauma of the Capitol. But her family had never left the district and moved straight from the lumber camps into the Victors' Village. Their worlds had changed too, and Fern knew it was a lot to take in. She wanted to help her family adjust and not just spend money on getting instant improvements in life, although it was obvious to everyone why they would do that, Fern included. But she knew they all needed to find something else to occupy themselves with.

On one of her first walks outside the Village with Linden, she raised the subject with him. Her knee and mobility had improved sufficiently, and Linden had deemed her stable enough for a walk where she would not be under the constant supervision of five other victors. Fern was desperate for the air beyond the Village and to let go of the stifling feeling the recovery process had given her.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

Linden laughed, "That's a question nobody can answer. Victors have lots of time, too much really. The families too if they move over."

"Your parents joined you," Fern said.

"They did and they were unsure for a while too. It's normal to be feeling out of sorts. It's all new. You're still in Seven but suddenly Seven is different. New people, a different part of town with different places open to you. It's not just axes, trees and peacekeepers anymore."

"I'm glad for the trees. I can do without the peacekeepers."

"We still get them here sometimes. They've calmed down a bit now. But they'll be back, and we'll all have to be on our best behaviour."

"What does Johanna do then?"

"Grit her teeth and try not to kill them. Blackmail them perhaps. Blight's deliberately given them food poisoning before."

Fern laughed, "I'll keep that in mind. But when it's normal, what did you and your family do?"

"Mum learnt basic emergency medicine. She became one of our permitted medics, unpaid of course, so she did not count towards the quota. But Snow didn't like that one. My dad stayed at home. Gardening, cooking, woodwork, little things that kept him happy. Your parents don't have to go to work. They can stay here for life, well as long as you're alive."

"But my brother?"

"It's up to him. I told him what I thought best, but he didn't like that. So, I'll stay away from that one. I don't want to tread on your family's toes with him."

"You're doing a good job. They're grateful really. I don't think they quite know what to do or say."

"They watched you do what they thought unthinkable. They love you but don't know how best to help. But do you think I'm helping? Doing a good enough job by you? I know I've annoyed your parents."

"I'm still sane, aren't I? You've been patient, and kind, but determined to see me up and about and not falling into bad habits, because I can see how some people want to do that. I want to forget but I can't."

"You tell me if you ever feel like you're slipping. We all get nightmares; we all get down. There's nothing to be ashamed about. It does get better too. But if you get stuck, talk to me and we can work through it."

"What did you do at first?"

"Not much. I was so scared all the time. Then angry. Then when I turned eighteen there was the risk I would be made into a whore so I made myself as unattractive as possible. I was a mess for three months and then better the rest of the year until I sorted myself out. You're in better shape than me, Fern."

"Even with the bad knee?"

"Well, physically I was fine when I came home, mentally I was a mess. But my parents continued to love me and were affectionate and endlessly patient. Liev and his father were brilliant too, so they all brought me back. Mentally, you're stronger and I don't know how, you're only sixteen. I was fifteen and that's not all that different."

"I feel so much older now."

"We all do. The arena ages you like nothing else. But you need to find something you like doing. Get your knee back to strength for sure. It's good to get reading, finish proper schooling, and learn more than what they're allowed to teach here. Make some new friends, go climbing with Johanna if she'll let you."

"She'll always be faster than me. But I think we're going to get on."

"You'll beat her at wrestling though, call it even. Blight will be happy to hear that. He's long wanted someone else around for Johanna. She'll be good for you too."

"You seem like you have lots of plans for me."

"Only ideas, Fern. It's up to you."

"But there's a reason isn't there? You want me fit and strong, better educated, still speaking to people outside the Village."

"Because you should make the most of the time you have now. You have so much you could do and the only event in your calendar after the Tour is the damn Games. You should keep yourself well and busy."

"Sure. But there's more to it than that. Liev said you're right to be concerned about the Capitol."

Linden laughed, "Ah, so you have noted my enduring trauma, my old friend, paranoia!"

"I'm sorry, I just wondered why. But if it helps, Liev said you aren't being paranoid."

"Don't apologise. I presume it is obvious to everyone who knows me but I'm pleased Liev still thinks I'm connected to reality."

"So, there is a reason why you're so concerned?"

"Because they've done it before with other victors. Kept Max ill, Claudia and Levi addicted to morphling. They're dead now and Max is dying but the Capitol never helped and actively made things worse. Nobody intervened for Aria, they would have let Ember flounder with her horrendous injuries, never helped Wiress or gave Mags anything to help when she came home after her strokes. They want us weakened, tired, unable to question and less likely to try to fight."

"And you won't have me like that?"

"I know you well enough to know you wouldn't like that, so no. It's no good for any of us."

"It's why you turned to the Twos."

"Yes. They do mentoring better than most, other than maybe the Fours. They've learnt from their seventeen victors, and they always come back strong and well. Besides, there's a reason the Capitol plays on our supposed rivalry. We're similar enough. Two and Seven make us strong and stoic. It makes sense to turn to them."

"You really trust them?"

"When it comes to mentoring, I trust Brutus and Lyme more than most. You'll see when you meet them."

"They'll want to meet me? After I killed their girl?"

"They're in the finale most years. It nearly always takes the victor to kill theirs, when it's not Two coming home of course. They get it. We all killed a Two in the finale here. They'll respect you. Enobaria might push your buttons a little and Ember won't care much but they're decent."

"I'll just have to wait for the Tour, I guess. But the Capitol actually want us weak? They could have left my knee completely if they wanted that."

"Oh, they'll do enough to keep you grateful. Getting you looking how they want. But when they get an opportunity to exploit a weakness, they'll take it. Anything to remind us that we're still district. Victors or not, we'll never be on their level."

"I take it you don't like them very much!"

"They killed my parents, Blight's cousin, Johanna's entire family."

"Could they kill my family?"

"Of course. If you disobey or ignore them or any of you get ideas beyond your station, they won't think twice."

"Am I in danger? Now I mean?"

"The same danger as we all are. Of course, Johanna doesn't have many pressure points now, beyond Blight and Finnick Odair, but they'll try to mess with her still, even though she's past caring. Being a victor is dangerous by nature."

"So, what do I do?"

"Get them to ignore you. Blend into the background like I've done. Make sure that brother of yours keeps his head down. Now, blending in will be hard this year. You're their new favourite, but they'll have a new one next year, so you'll need to be boring or try to put them off to keep them away."

"How do I do that?"

"Talk to Poppy about being boring. Although you're from Seven, for some reason we're more interesting than Six so it might not work."

"How about putting them off?"

"It's risky. Could backfire. It's what I did but it won't work now so well. I turned up to the Capitol unkempt, greasy, poor hygiene, binge eating, drinking too much beer. They'd sell you anyway now. For you, we had strong and fierce as your angle. We could make it into scary but then you could get the attention of the weird ones who would want to tame you."

"Unless I got there first?"

"What do you mean?"

"Get it straight that they can't do that."

"Don't pull a Johanna."

"I won't. I won't go killing anyone who gets too close. Snow already used Johanna as an example to tell me to behave."

"How original," Linden rolled his eyes.

"Look, if they're going to sell me or play games with me, which we can't guarantee, I want to be the one in charge, or at least make it look like I am."

Linden sighed, "It needs work, but we can think about it. We'll get a sense of their anticipation surrounding you before the Tour and we can plan."

"You're not writing it off then?"

"Of course not, Fern. There's room to make it work in the right circumstances. When they have us against a wall, we all try to take back something from them. You're thinking like a victor already."

"And you're taking me seriously, in fact, you always have."

"You're a victor, Fern. You got yourself out of that arena. I think that demands that I at least listen to you. We don't stick rigidly to the whole mentor and tribute relationship here, not like Two. You don't have to do what I tell you like a child. We're both victors after all."