Author's Note: An unfortunate first of their kind for the victors which will play out across both of this week's chapters.

….

The Eighty-Fourth Annual Hunger Games: Calista Jean Arnel, District Eight (16)

"I'm scared, mum."

"I know you are, Cali. I was too."

"But you did it. And now you know what's coming for me."

"I do. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you like I could Merino. And if this is because of Kersey-"

"This isn't your fault. We know whose fault it is. But you've prepared me."

"I have and circumstance will have helped too. You're better fed, you aren't exhausted or injured from work, and you haven't caught a disease. Physically, you're not far from the volunteers."

"Because I can fight too."

"You can. And you'll need to. Now isn't the time to be your nice self."

"I have to be like you were."

"Be yourself, Cali. But take the strength I found in the arena and come home. Be your own victor."

"You'll be with me?"

"Of course. Think about what I would tell you to do and keep your head."

"You have sponsors so you can talk to me?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. We're going to do this, together."

"I love you, mum."

"And I love you too, Calista. More than you'll ever know."

….

Cali wanted it all to be a dream. She woke up in the tribute hospital to see her mother sobbing at her side, holding onto her hand tightly as Halley and Poppy sat alongside her.

"You did it. My brave, beautiful girl. We are so proud of you," Cecelia said.

"I feel awful, mum."

"That's normal. It's been a huge ordeal."

Her mother's words did not fully describe what Cali had been through. The arena had been a living hell and now all she could think about was blood, how it was on her hands, her clothes and in her hair. Through her mother, Cali knew more of what to expect than most victors and now she was living it and her hell continued. There was no escape, and she knew it from the moment she opened her eyes. The blood would stay with her before it would be replaced by another horror, and it would continue.

The next time Calista opened her eyes, she was back in her room in the Training Centre with Cotton sat alongside her.

"Mum?"

"Sleeping. She's just done lots of interviews. But I can get her if you want."

"No, don't wake her. But, Cotton, you aren't crying?"

Cotton laughed, "I've done plenty of that, don't think I'm completely reformed. But I've had to focus."

"I want to cry."

"Then cry all you want. I won't leave you."

….

She was Calista to the Capitol. Polished, poised and charming. The perfect victor's daughter who had become a victor herself. The first of her kind. A new type of victor had been born. But she would be Cali to her mother, those at home and her fellow victors. But now she did not know who Cali was.

She knew she did not want to be Calista. Calista was in perpetual danger. Her life's arc was now set in stone, all her control slipping away whilst she became the model citizen of Panem. She was unique and because of that, she knew what fate awaited her.

Cali knew why Calista was dressed in high-neck, long, flowing ball gowns in pink and pastel hues. She was to be regal but still a girl. Someone her mother hoped the Capitol would never touch. But they both knew that would never work.

Because there was nobody else like her. Everyone knew there may not be another for generations. Victors' children and wider relatives had entered arenas before, and none of them had walked out alive until now. It had taken eighty-four iterations of the Hunger Games before Cecelia's daughter survived.

In her final interview before going home, despite the talk of family, Cali never told them how Calista was a product of her victor parentage. She spoke of her deep love for her mother and her affection and closeness to her father. She told them about her older brother's protectiveness and bickering with her younger brother. But never of the training their parents had encouraged them in. Never about sparring with her older brother, her mother trying to impart her skills with a knife, and she would never let on about how her talent with a trident came about.

It was simply her mother's luck and Calista's fortitude. She had not been wielding a trident gifted by Finnick Odair for eight years and had never watched footage of Chloe throwing spears that Cecelia had somehow obtained. She would never let the Capitol discover how several victors had either intentionally or inadvertently coached her and prepared her for what was to come. Victors protected each other and Calista became a victor already knowing that.

….

Calista was going to figure out who Cali was as she returned home with her mother, Cotton and Calico. Cali would not have to adjust to life in the Victors' Village because it was already home. The Capitol simply showed the family walking home together before Cali was given the keys to her house. Despite Cali's unique status, her return home was distinctly underwhelming.

Her mother's suggestion had been ignored, however. Cecelia had asked that Woof's home be repurposed into Cali's house, across the pavement from the family home. Her daughter would be close, and it would honour what Woof would have wanted had he been alive. But victors had to have their own house in the Capitol tradition, so Cali took the next house to be used in order. Next to Cotton and opposite nobody. It was a silly attempt to isolate her, and the next morning Cali announced that her older brother would be moving in with her to spite the Capitol.

Cali had not wanted to be alone, but she also thought Merino needed more of his own space. Their house was one of the biggest in District Eight but five of them had been living there before Cali had been reaped and sometimes, they needed space to breathe.

She did not wish to disturb her younger brother either. Of Cecelia's children, Leno was a quieter, academic child who was the most easily swayed and disturbed. He was doing well at school and Cali did not want him to see her at her worst. She wanted to remain his big sister. Merino, as the confident, stable older brother was more prepared for what living alongside a new victor would entail.

He came to her aid when she woke up crying about the blood on her hands and he knew what to do when she started screaming in the shower, frantically scrubbing at her skin. Importantly, he understood when he was out of his depth and needed their mother to take control.

He gave her space and let her go to Cotton's house to cry and Calico's to shout and be angry at the world. He put his life on hold to be there for her when she needed him the most. Merino helped her figure out who Cali was going to be too.

He wanted his fun-loving, middle child of a sister back, but he knew she would be different too. He wanted her to enjoy the things they usually did. They had financial freedom in Eight compared to almost every other child and whilst they never flaunted their financial position, they went out in Eight's centre and were able to have fun. Merino wanted Cali to be able to return to being seen in public going about her days and spending time with him, but he knew it would take time.

Like Cali and their younger brother, Merino had grown up around a victor. But they had never known their mother before her Games. Everything they knew about Cecelia involved Cecelia the victor. Her quirks were just part of her and they had never known anything different. But now the family were watching their daughter and sister become a victor, different to the girl she was the previous year, and it would take time to adjust.

It was something they never understood in the Capitol. Cali remembers her victory interview with Lucretius Flickerman. Ceasar Flickerman had retired after a period of ill-health in favour of his son, named after his grandfather and first presenter of the Hunger Games and the role remained in the family.

"That's what I love about the Games! Don't you, Cali? That it's such a family affair. You and your mother. Myself, my father and dear grandfather! Bonded by the Games."

Cali did not know what to say. It was such a ridiculous comment. To think the Flickerman family's enduring complicity was in any way comparable to her and her mother's suffering was absurd. But she was on stage and in front of an audience. She knew she could not be seen to insult the Capitol so she made something up about how the experience could only strengthen her bonds with Cecelia with a fake smile plastered across her face.

It was the same as the Victory Tour approached and Lucretius Flickerman appeared in her life once more.

"Calista Jean Arnel! The image of her mother! The picture of victory herself! How lovely to see you, my dear."

"It's lovely to see you again too, Lucretius," Cali said as she began to feel sick. The image of her mother. She knew what that meant for her during her time in the Capitol and looking at her mother's face, Cali knew Cecelia knew it too.

"Tell me about your life now. A victor in your own right. Can't have your mother stealing the spotlight anymore, can we?"

"Lucretius, you know as well as I do that my mother's Games were twenty-six years ago! It's a different time now."

"It's your time, Calista and I hope you're taking in every moment!"

"I certainly am, and I can't wait to see everyone on the Tour!"

"Another shared experience with our beloved Cecelia. Mother and daughter, taking on the Victory Tour together. Tell me, Calista, your victory must have brought you and your mother closer."

"I understand my mother in a way I didn't before. We had a lot in common before my Games, but now we've grown so much closer."

….

Cali was trying to think of the positives. But the shine of survival and the trappings of victory were so much less when you had grown up in the Victors' Village. Cali was not going to be impressed by the Capitol's offerings. She was already richer than most of Eight and never wanted for anything. But now, the family were rich beyond belief. At least Cecelia's fears about what would happen to the family when she was no longer around had been resolved. Cali's brothers always had a home with her. She would never allow them to be removed from the Village.

She had almost been looking forward to the cushy office job she would take upon leaving school. Basic administration in the Justice Building beckoned given she was still attending school at sixteen before she was reaped. Now she finished her education at home, given Cecelia would never let her not complete the full period of schooling available to her as one of Eight's most privileged.

She could be independent, however, in a way that she could not have been before. The money she was receiving was now hers alone and not an allowance from her mother and she was going to look to find things to buy. Her mother and Calico made the best clothes, so she did not need to go on endless shopping sprees. Her father and brother made the kind of jewellery she liked too, so she did not feel attracted to the diamonds of the Capitol or District One either.

Her mother had overhauled the décor in her house and had made it into their family home and Cali was hoping to do the same. It would be a productive use of her time and money too. She had already brought some pieces from Poppy's interior design collections and decided she might look into art when she was in the Capitol. The old paintings of glorified Capitol figures and scenes in her home were not to her taste and reminded her of who had control over her life.

She was going to have to wrestle back control of her life. Her mother had done so by getting married and having children but because of what had happened to Cali she was blaming herself and doubting everything. Her mother's path was never going to work for Cali, and she knew that from the start. Any child she had would be guaranteed a spot in an arena, to see if lightning could strike again and if the Arnel family could produce an incredibly unlikely third-generation victor.

Merino had said the same to her too. He was already intent on living an independent life, supporting their parents' cause to the maximum and his sister's fate had cemented his stance. Any child of his would likely face an arena for the same reasons. They had found out that his own name never even entered a reaping ball. Cali's name was on every slip of paper for the Eighty-Fourth Games. As the family were in the Justice building hoping they weren't about to say goodbye to Cali, Calico had taken hold of the reaping ball and thrown its contents on the floor to find the proof she was looking for. Nobody even tried to stop her.

Cali knew she would always have Merino at her side, and she was united in fate with her mother. She was hoping her existing friends would remain in her life too. So far, she had managed to go for lunch with her old friends, Merino in tow and Cecelia waiting outside in the event of a breakdown, but they had made it through unscathed. Her friends, used to being in a victor's presence through Cecelia, had taken it all in their stride and were proud to see Cali return home and be seen alongside her.

She was determined to hold onto what she could from her old life, and because her old life revolved around the Victors' Village, she had the best chance of doing so. It also meant she could see through everything the Capitol was trying to do to make her one of them. She had grown up with more than enough money so that did not impress her. She already lived in a nice house so receiving a replica was not going to make her feel that grateful. Materially, whilst the money was her own, nothing felt too different. She and the family retained their circles and carried on in their lives, with only Cali's added trauma to change things.

Nor did it change District Eight's perceptions of her either. She was already a rich child, benefitting from her mother's money. She could afford to stay in school and not take tesserae either. Cali was never destined for hardship in a factory. The fact she would not undertake an office job did not make that much difference.

She was already lost to the Capitol's cause and she was not blind to her brother's zealous drive for rebellion. She was guilty by association and was reaped for that very reason, so she was going to join in because she would be punished for it regardless. She had nothing else to do with her time either and her victory only served to free up more time for her father and brother to devote to the cause too.

The Capitol had tried to frighten Cecelia and Cali knew that they had. But they made another rebel from their own mistakes. The more they pushed for control, the more they lost it. District Eight was tied to them by force, but it was clear to Cali, now that she had seen the Capitol through her own eyes, that as soon as they had the chance and the strength of the other districts behind them, there would be nothing that the Capitol could do to stop them.

Cecelia and Calico's resolve had been shaken in their belief that they might have been discovered. But Cali was at home when they found Kersey Paylor and there was nothing to tie the woman to them beyond her last name. She was not found anywhere near the Village or the entrance to the tunnels Cali knew had been dug and they all knew she would have never given them up either.

Besides, they were all still alive. Perhaps Cali was supposed to die. But she had not, and the President did not seem angry when they met. He was indifferent, despite her identity, placed the crown on her head, shook her hand and left the stage once the formalities were over. There were no threats and her mother had confirmed that she had received none either. They had simply let her victory be and allowed her to come home.

But the Capitol's media would never let her forget or move on from her ordeal in the arena even if those in charge appeared indifferent. It seemed to Cali that footage of her Games was repeated daily, and she had to see herself bloodied and battle-worn on repeat. It did not help the nightmares or the desire to constantly scrub away the blood that had dirtied her hands and this would be something she would deal with for some time to come. She would forever be tied to her mother, despite being her own victor and never touching a knife in the arena. Lucretius Flickerman would never let her forget or stop trying to forge a connection between them. She had no idea what game he was playing but she would never play along with him. She would answer his questions and then move on.

He had already thrown around the idea of mother and daughter mentoring together so Cali and Cecelia knew that would be what had to happen in the Eighty-Fifth Games as the Capitol now expected it. The novelty would give their tributes more attention and Cali would have to learn how to play the game.

But she would learn from the best and go to the Capitol surrounded by the other victors, some of whom she had known to be family through their love of Cecelia. It was a community she could walk into with ease, another aspect of her transition to life as a victor that was simpler for her than most.

Cali was under no illusions that her time in the Capitol would be hard and that she would suffer to meet their demands. But her mother knew what she was dealing with from the outset when Cali came home and was able to help her adapt. As much as Cali already hated the Capitol reminding her of it, her position was unique, just not for the reasons the Capitol thought. It would only further their undoing as District Eight produced another female victor able and willing to take them on.

Cecelia had been unsure when Cali first broached the subject, but it was her father who quickly agreed. Cali may be a victor like her mother, but so often she thought the same as her father.

"Merino's in and our girl is a victor. It's not what we wanted for her, Cecelia. But it's where we are. If you do get caught, it doesn't matter whether she's in or out so you may as well get on with it. Build our numbers. They think we're down because of Kersey but we need to keep our hand. Cali is alive and we should make the best of her."

Cecelia relented easily, she knew there was no realistic alternative and Calista had fully joined their ranks by the first anniversary of her survival. District Eight had lost the woman once at the heart of their rebellion, but now their leadership was emboldened again. Cecelia and Calista would continue to make the best of the lives that had been handed to them. They had become closer, the Capitol was right in that respect, but they would never fully understand what that meant until it was too late.