Author's Note: A bit of a different take on being a victor again. Hopefully, this chapter is okay as I randomly lost half the chapter whilst editing so I had to re-write it!

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The Ninety-Third Annual Hunger Games: Stella Perl, District Three (17)

Stella knew she had increased her chances of being reaped. She had taken tesserae to provide for herself whilst continuing at school. She worked at the weekends and most evenings and tried to use the little money she had to pay her keep whilst studying for longer than her siblings had. But still, she reckoned that statistically, some people had far worse odds than she did.

She was not taking as much tesserae as she had heard other girls mentioning and nothing like what those in the Community Homes were forced to take. Statistically, she should have been fine. But on the morning of the reaping, the odds were not in her favour.

Stella knew Halley through her mother's work too, so she wondered if that had played any part in her misfortune. Her mother worked as a cleaner at District Three's university and unbeknown to Stella until after her survival, had become one of Halley's assistants and informants. After all, people spoke freely in front of a low-paid cleaner.

The university was always where she wanted to go. It was why she continued her studies beyond what was affordable to her family. She desperately hoped to be allowed entrance or that her mother's presence would work in her favour.

But it seemed to work against her. She was reaped and Halley immediately offered to be her mentor. Stella thought she saw guilt flash across the woman's face and saw her speaking to her mother, promising that she would do all she could. But at first, she supposed that was what Halley did every year. It was her job after all.

Since she returned home, Stella discovered that it was not just Halley doing what she ought to. Halley had tried to find out if the connection between them had caused the reaping but her enquiries at the Justice Building suggested it was just Stella's bad luck. Still, Halley told her she felt an element of responsibility and they both knew her mother did too, wondering whether she had been seen alongside Halley, speaking to the wrong people or listening in on the wrong conversations. Halley had tried to assure Stella's mother that would not be the case.

Carried by their guilt, both women indulged Stella and her every ambition. She would go to the university, and she faced no opposition at all from the Capitol. In fact, they hijacked her ambition and turned it into their goal and her into the unwilling face of education in Panem.

She was supported through her studies to meet the entrance criteria with extra resources from the Capitol even though the standard textbooks and support from her fellow victors would have been more than enough. Her excellent marks were then broadcast to the nation, and she had to deliver a virtual graduation speech to her supposed peers in a middle-class Capitol neighbourhood.

Cameras followed her on her first day at Three's University, highlighting the nicer areas of the main building and skirting around its obvious deficiencies compared to those in the Capitol. She even had to film a good luck message from the steps of the main entrance to the students on their first day at the Capitol University of Panem.

She was a frequent feature in Halley's ongoing science lessons to Capitol youngsters too. Her mentor's online lessons had become quarterly but were ever popular despite lasting for thirty-four years at the point Stella came home. Halley was running out of experiments, but Stella was able to come up with some new ideas of her own.

Stella's main talent was in mathematics, and she became the Capitol's poster child for getting children to engage in the subject. She featured in advertisements for educational magazines, and television channels and was forced to conduct interviews with anyone who pretended to listen.

They took a keen interest in her studies, and she had to provide regular updates. To get rid of the cameras in their faces and disruptions to operations in the Village, Halley recommended Stella write a column for a magazine aimed at young people. Finding a way in was easy for the pair, with renewed interest in the youngest victors and Stella delivered her first column a matter of weeks later.

She found that by giving them some information up front, she was not asked to take part in interviews or photoshoots so often. Life for the other victors could return to its previous relatively calm level.

Of course, they were as busy as ever and Stella and her mother soon found themselves ingratiated into their operations. Whilst she solved maths and logic problems for the Capitol, what Stella was interested in was the use of mathematics in real-life scenarios. So, she began optimising adaptations the victors had already made to their homes and their main workshop to increase their efficiency and productivity.

Halley would not leave her victor outside of her now almost full-time operations for long, especially now they continued to escalate their activities. Stella was already caught up in Halley's world, so she felt an urgency she did not with Orion. She set about introducing Stella to some of her contacts at the university who were involved in more secretive projects where her victor could be put to best use.

Those projects were centred around developing Three's weaponry covertly, taking advantage of what was available to them and the skills they had been able to develop. As a result, Stella found herself immersed in the world of drone warfare, optimising weapons and ballistics. She worked with Beetee in the Village on his weaponry projects and furthered her knowledge at the university, applying it to Three's developing secret military capabilities.

They knew they could not trust District Thirteen to come to their aid and they could not be left unable to attack their opponents or defend themselves effectively. Soon, Stella found her way into the heart of Three's defences. She was trusted entirely because she was smart, loved District Three and declared her hatred for the Capitol.

It was obvious to her that Panem had started to collapse around them. Small-scale uprisings continued across the districts and the Capitol was running out of peacekeepers to deploy. Shortages followed and Stella's home was at the heart of causing chaos. Medications and vaccinations developed in Three failed to make their way to the Capitol in the numbers expected but because the trains faltered in the borderlands, the Capitol could not pass the blame effectively.

Security increased at critical factories and goods were moved under heavy guard, but it did not affect Three's system. The Victors' Village and their Mayor's house were energised and continued in their operations without scrutiny. The Capitol remained blind to what was happening under their noses and focused instead on making a celebrity out of Stella.

It represented a change in tactics towards the victors who had largely been left alone and able to operate under the radar. But Halley did not think this was a permanent change. She saw the Capitol's panic and the ease with which they latched onto Stella's relatable Hunger Games narrative and hoped it would subside. Her victor's storyline was not going to save them from an all-out revolution.

Stella was a girl who wanted to go to university and because she survived the Games she could. It painted the Capitol in a generous, more positive light. Young people in the Capitol claimed they could see themselves in her. If Stella reached university after surviving the Hunger Games, they could pass their exams and achieve the same success.

It was ridiculous but the officials in the Capitol worried as they could feel their control slipping. They wanted a positive, encouraging story to lead with and Stella gave them the opportunity.

Stella hated it. She was trying to work to destroy the Capitol but had inadvertently become the face of their latest campaign. She was the new symbol of the Capitol's generosity and forgiveness towards the districts and the story of the rewards showered on the victors. She was their success story. Bram and Santiago were quiet. Olive was associated with a rebel family and the threat they thought they had defeated, and people were a bit scared by Antigone, Amethyst and Aquaria's public personas.

Stella was the unlucky victor to become what the Capitol needed. In turbulent times, they wanted a simple, positive story about someone who had overcome adversity and achieved her dreams. So, the attention continued, even after her first year as a victor. There was a rumour that everyone reaped for the Ninety-Fourth Games was either a rebel or had rebel connections and the Capitol did seem rather keen to move on from that year's Games. There was no such eagerness with Stella.

People wanted updates about her progress and career plans after graduation and Stella could not understand why. A good news story was nice, and it was a distraction from the growing turmoil the country found itself in. But she was by no means unique, and the Capitol had for years sworn off making its victors into celebrities.

Unsurprisingly, the attention led to her being sold to Capitol buyers throughout her first year. It was a fate no other District Three victor shared and Halley was wracked with guilt that she could not spare her victor. Stella could sense that it would happen, that the attention could only lead to one thing. She was not surprised by her final night on the Victory Tour or her nights during her first Games as a mentor.

She tried to be as boring and unresponsive as possible, completely unphased by what might be said about her in Capitol circles. Her performance in bed for those who were engaged in trafficking was hardly her priority. She tried to reassure Halley that whilst she was angry, she could handle it and it would not destroy her. The emotional impact on her mentor had been severe and Stella knew that her other friends among the victors were having to comfort her.

Stella found friendship in Calista who had only just been able to shake off the attention that had come with being her mother's daughter. Despite the Capitol's public image and the President's disinterest in the victors, they continued to be trafficked. Calista had plotted her way out of being bought, as had Calico Paylor and they were working on a plan to get Stella away from her fate too.

They figured it was also happening to Olive and offered her their assistance, but she rebuked them, claiming she would work it out herself. Antigone, Amethyst and Aquaria were still regulars on the arms of Capitol buyers too. But their circumstances were different, and they were under different instructions. Still, if they ever needed help, Stella would do her best.

She had taken to being a victor with relative ease. The Games, the trafficking and the Capitol's demands made Stella angry, but she could channel that into her side projects. She was going to be a part of destroying them, and that spurred her on. But she had gained so much from what had happened that when the Capitol was furthest from her mind, she wondered if the odds had been in her favour after all.

She had become closer to her mother, and they now worked together on various projects. Her mother had continued her education and started studying at the university herself, something that Stella was incredibly proud of. Her other family members had better lives and she had gained an extended family and support network.

Halley had become a second mother, offering constant support and guidance. They understood each other on a level that so many others did not. Stella was an easier victor for Halley. She fell into place and naturally fit into a role Three's other victors could understand in their rebellion. Orion had and continued to need more of Halley's attention and support. But he had become another brother to Stella, and neither was jealous of the time Halley spent with the other. Orion was looking for a project they could work on together and Stella was keen to find out what he would think of.

Wiress and Beetee had become a somewhat unconventional aunt and uncle. Beetee followed her progress at the university with a keen interest and evaluated the contributions she was making to their rebel efforts. Wiress spoke to her honestly about her plans and at times, had to put the brakes on Stella's more wild ideas for weaponry and what their capacities could lead to. But otherwise, she was Halley's victor and there was very little she could do wrong because of that.

Stella and Halley spoke honestly too. They could be frank around each other and that had been clear since their first conversation on the way to the Capitol as mentor and tribute. They were on the same page, understood each other's intentions and thought processes and could work entirely in step with each other.

She trusted Halley and knew that her trust was reciprocated. They were two sides of the same coin. Neither left the arena with the significant physical or mental scars that often afflicted the victors. Stella knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life and Halley was able to help make that happen.

Like her mentor, Stella returned from the Capitol angry, knowing that she wanted to be a part of whatever was in the works to destroy it. She was not naïve and knew that the stability the Capitol claimed to provide was falling apart if it ever existed at all. Reports of bad weather to the west were disguising revolts across the districts and Halley told them what happened to the train carrying the flu vaccines and medications. Stella was delighted to find that her mentor was at the heart of Three's rebellion and that she could be too.

From her Victory Tour, Stella knew she had found her most natural allies among the other victors. It became even more clear during the Ninety-Fourth Games too. There was mutual trust and respect and they had an understanding that crossed district boundaries. They would be straightforward and open with each other. They could be themselves and honest in their intentions. It was an old understanding, from the days of victors like Mags, Orchard and Woof and was in place to reduce the chances of treachery and betrayal.

Stella knew from being in their presence that the rebel victors in particular would do whatever it took to safeguard their interests and security. Being a victor gave you a degree of respect among the others by right. But if someone were to betray their shared understanding and betray an ally, the others would not be afraid to resolve the matter by any means necessary. Both Stella and Halley believed that nobody was a victor by accident. Halley, like many of the others had killed since the arena and had made clear to Stella that she should be prepared to do whatever it takes to protect their position.

The victors were loyal to each other beyond most other allegiances. That was particularly true within district groupings as Stella knew that her loyalties now were primarily to Halley. Her mother came in second and they worked together at the university daily, but the other victors had usurped anybody else who may have once come before them.

They would die for the rebel cause, that much was obvious. They loved District Three, and they loved each other. Stella overheard her mentor talking about her standing in their group, now that she had been a victor for over thirty years. It was clear that Halley took her responsibilities seriously. She wanted to look out for the others beyond Stella and Orion. She was particularly keen to ensure that Aria remained supported as she grew into her role, that Poppy had help with Cameron and Bram and that Cecelia had support to protect her children. Halley also confided in Wiress that she would die to protect Finnick and understandably, Wiress was concerned. She loved Halley like a daughter and took protecting her as seriously as Halley took her responsibilities.

The Capitol seriously underestimated the extent of the victors' bonds and the depths of the loyalty between so many of them. Stella's first port of call for any concern whatsoever was her peers in Three and they failed to realise that.

Before the next Games, a visitor to the university from the Capitol approached her during a break in between her classes. He asked her to spy on her fellow victors and report back. She would meet one of his informants, a senior researcher in her department, who would relay the information back to him and those closest to the President and his cabinet ministers.

Stella immediately agreed. He had threatened to harm her family after all. But she returned home at the end of the day, told Halley what had happened and then told her mother who had a right to know of the danger the family could be in. Her mother also continued to work at the university and needed to know who amongst her colleagues posed a threat and who she could target her intelligence efforts towards.

Halley was unsurprised by the Capitol's latest move. Since President Snow started to play mind games with Marshall, the victors had remained alert. It could have been intelligent, putting a spy at the heart of the Victors' Villages, but the Capitol was too slow. The victors' loyalties appeared set from the moment they woke up after the arena in the company of the only other people who could understand what had just happened to them.

There was nothing the Capitol could offer to make the deal more appealing either. The victors would agree to try to prevent their families and friends from getting hurt but would work around it as best they could. No amount of money would cause the victors to switch allegiances because they were wealthy enough already. Any offer to prevent their trafficking would fall on deaf ears because people in the Capitol were depraved enough to continue it regardless of the President's word.

Stella would play the game as she had been asked. She would meet the researcher once a month and tell him fanciful tales about what her peers were doing and hope he would believe it.

As soon as she told Halley and her mentor consulted the others, Stella found out she would be playing their favourite game. Tricking the Capitol and using their tactics against them was a favourite pastime of Three's victors and Stella was about to find out how much she enjoyed it too.

She told the informant that the sudden orders of bricks and building equipment being delivered to Three were because Orion was planning an extension to his home. The frequent sounds of explosions were due to Halley's explosive experiments going wrong. Apparently, her mentor was running out of ideas and was attempting experiments she knew would not work in vain. Beetee and Wiress were considering reducing their commitments and fading into a quiet retirement.

It was all believable. Halley's experiments were well known and Beetee was the oldest male victor so there was very little that could be questioned at face value. Anything to suggest weaknesses or reluctance on their part would help in continuing to create the image of quirky victors from Three going about their usual business.

With her mother's help, Stella also gathered intelligence on her latest contact. He was a researcher who worked his way up the university by selling information about progress made in Three to the Capitol so they could profit from the intelligence and use ideas for their own. He was receiving bribes and rewards for any further information he could gather so Stella decided to continue playing the game.

After re-vetting her weaponry colleagues, Stella knew they had not been compromised and let them know what was happening. They agreed to slowly feed him false information that could cause trouble in the Capitol and compromise his position. Any game the Capitol and their associates thought they could play; Stella and the victors would play better.

It would turn into a game of cat and mouse and Stella, Halley and their fellow victors were ready for the chase. She had fallen headfirst into a new world, and it was one where Stella felt at home. She could fulfil her childhood ambitions and become part of something she could only have guessed at before her Games.

Surviving the Games came with its disadvantages. She had to handle the ongoing attention from the Capitol and everything that came with it. But every time the Capitol overplayed their hand, Stella knew she would find a way around it. Three's victors were far from the quiet, odd type they tried to make themselves out to be in the Capitol. They were strong and powerful and joining their company made Stella feel powerful too.

It had been a transformation. She had done what she could and took her chances with the reaping to try to get what she wanted. When she was thrown a curveball, she came home and all the opportunities she had strived to get fell straight into her hands. Surviving the Games in itself was not the victory, it was everything that followed and she was going to take whatever else fell into her grasp.

She could get through her upcoming 'good luck' and graduation speeches with minimal effort and continue writing her magazine column whilst she filled her days with far more interesting matters. Unlike Halley, she did not need to be busy. But when almost every day presented something new, Stella was going to do all that she could to make the most of the life she had given herself.