Author's Note: It's the end of an era in District Two and some important conversations to be had before it all changes for the canon (and my headcanon) victors.

….

Transition

Cleo was fading. It was now clear to all of District Two's victors that she was slipping away. Lyme was slowly adapting to the thought of life and leadership without her mentor. She had consciously decided not to approach Cleo regarding the running of the Institute. Lyme knew that with Brutus, she would have to decide everything soon, without Cleo's guidance. But Lyme did her best to keep her old mentor informed on the candidates' progress, so Cleo still felt useful and connected to her purpose.

Enobaria was struggling the most. Her life had been connected to Cleo's since she came home and required the guidance and support of her mentor. Since Tiber's death, their lives had become even more intertwined. Cleo used the company of her youngest victor to fill the space left by Tiber whilst Enobaria still looked to her mentor for advice. She was the only person she trusted entirely.

But Cleo was immensely proud of both of her girls. They were her victors. Both were different, although Cleo believed they were more alike than either of them acknowledged. They were both hers after all and Cleo knew what she looked for in a victor.

It was after another day at the Institute that Cleo found herself telling Lyme all of this as she tried her best to prepare her girls for the time when she would no longer be around.

It was strange sitting in her old office and it no longer being hers. Everything was almost the same. Lyme had not altered the decoration and Cleo knew she would not. Interior design was never going to be her priority. Different things were in different places and to Cleo, it was symbolic of their changing times. The Institute was the same but different. It remained immensely successful, but Lyme and Brutus were placing their stamp over what was once Cleo and Tiber's.

"You're doing an excellent job, Lyme. Both of you. Not that I expected anything less."

"It's good to hear that. I'll always value your opinion."

"You managed back-to-back victors. It goes without saying."

"But it's about more than that, and you know it, Cleo, after so many years."

"I do. But outwardly, results matter. We need to deliver."

"And we won't if the pipeline dries up."

"This year's intake looks solid. If you continue to provide what people want for their children, there will always be a volunteer programme."

"As long as Enobaria doesn't terrorise them all away."

"She's being no harsher than we were on her."

"She's not. But Baria is Baria. She has her ways."

"Which aren't too dissimilar to yours, Lyme. You can be just as cutting. Only you don't have the fangs to back it up."

"You keep saying we're more similar than we think."

"You're both my girls. I know what I want in a volunteer and a victor, and I got that with both of you."

"That's because you did an excellent job. You saved the Institute. You and Tiber both and District Two has an awful lot to be grateful for."

"Don't you go shouting all that when I'm gone. I don't want to hear it. Put me in the mountain next to Tiber and be done."

"I don't like thinking about it."

"Well, you're going to have to. I'm on my way out. I'm ready, Lyme."

"I know. I won't tell you to stay around any longer than you want to. I'm in charge now and doing things my way."

Cleo laughed, "You don't tell me everything anymore."

"Thought you'd want the break."

"I do. I'm grateful for it. But it's different. I've sat in this office for years. It's a great office. The window, you see. You can see everything. The grounds, of course, I always loved watching the candidates. But the Village too. I knew everything that was going on."

"So, it's been a change. Not knowing everything. I can tell you more if you want."

"Not about the Institute, no. You and Brutus have it all in hand."

"The Village?"

"That's Petran's domain now and he's got that covered too."

"Is there anything you do want to know more about? Before, you know."

"You," Cleo said. "I want to know more about you, Lyme."

Lyme laughed awkwardly, "Me. You know me. There's not much to say. Wake up, spar with Brutus, come here. Shout at the kids and do some paperwork. Spar with Brutus as a demonstration. Maybe punch Mal a bit."

It was Cleo's turn to laugh, "I know about that. I haven't been away all that long. But you forget Lyme. I've sat in this office and seen everything for years. Where everyone goes, day and night. I spent lots of nights here, looking out that window, often just watching. Where have you been going, Lyme?"

"When?"

"When I see you leaving at night or on a Sunday morning when you think nobody knows."

"You know I go on walks sometimes."

"Stop being evasive."

"I'm going out, Cleo. I'm allowed."

"Now you're being defensive, Lyme."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"I want you to tell me who you really are. You're my girl, we both know that. My first victor and I am so proud of everything you have done. But there's a distance between us. I don't know you like I used to. There's something you're not telling me."

"I don't live in your pocket like Baria."

"You're still not answering my question."

Lyme sighed, "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Tell me the truth. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"And you know as well as I do that this room isn't bugged. Nothing planted on me either. I don't play those games and you know that."

Lyme sat quietly for a few moments before Cleo cut in again, "I'm dying, Lyme. Tell me."

"Don't play that trick, Cleo."

"I want to know."

"I don't want to disappoint you."

"I'm prepared for your answer. I'm too ready to go to be disappointed."

"So, you think you know?"

"If I know you as well as I hope I do."

"Well, why can't you leave it at that?"

Cleo said nothing. She simply glared at Lyme until she relented.

"I won't argue with you," Lyme said as she stood up to double-check the room's security, all whilst not entirely taking her eyes off her mentor. "I want things to be different."

"In Two?"

"Everywhere. Panem. This can't go on."

"The Games?"

"The entire system."

"Go on," Cleo encouraged.

"We give them our best. As tributes, as peacekeepers and we don't get them back. Two loses, year on year and it's always the same. And it's worse in the other districts. At least we save more of our kids and peacekeeping doesn't mean a life of poverty."

"But it's not enough."

"No, the kids still die. We become collaborators and our people are sent across Panem for over a decade during their best years. They come back and try to restart their lives in Two and then for so many, it's too late for them to have the lives and the children they wanted. And our population starts to decline. This isn't sustainable."

"How long have you felt this way?"

Lyme tensed and sighed once more. She was finding it difficult to meet her mentor's eyes.

"Go on. I've told you this office isn't bugged, and you know that much anyway. I'm not wearing any devices. I haven't lined peacekeepers up to burst in at the right moment. You can tell me and whatever you say won't surprise me," Cleo said.

"Because you know anyway?"

"I've suspected for a while. But I need to hear it from you before I go."

"It's been a while. It's been building steadily for a few years after I got out of my arena. Mal's Tour really did it for me. Seeing what a mess everywhere is, I realised how messed up so many of us are too."

"But we do a good job here."

"We do and we have each other. You and Tiber did a brilliant job, taught me and Brutus well. We won't leave anyone to struggle, it's not our way. But it's not like that everywhere. Woof and Haymitch have spent decades alone. Maria has been lonely too. Look at what has been put on us, on Baria."

"Where do you see the Institute in all this?"

"I'm staying put. I'm committed. Because it's how we save as many as we can and prevent terrified, unprepared kids from finding themselves in an arena. Gives us the most control we can have. It's compatible with everything else, my cover too. I'm not leaving."

"Good. I needed to hear that. The people you meet, and I know you're not just going wandering when you go on your walks, what did they think?"

"They were surprised at first. They get it now. But now there's fewer of us."

"Since the Quell?"

"Yes, you must have known things were tense."

"I wasn't blind, even though I'd just lost Tiber. You wanted it all to fall then?"

"Of course. We were so nearly ready."

"What now?"

"We rebuild."

"You'll recruit too?"

"Yes. We need to here."

"So, you're a rebel, Lyme."

"I am."

"But you'll stay loyal to the Institute, the Village?"

"I'm loyal to Two. That means loyal to the Institute and ensuring the security of the Village."

"If they conflict?"

"I'm hoping I'll have had the time to make sure they don't."

Cleo laughed, "You'll look after Baria won't you? Take her with you."

"That's my plan. Already working on it."

"Good. Because I think she gets it or will do if you get through to her."

"You're giving me permission?"

"You clearly don't need it. You've started already so, carry on."

"You haven't got a problem with me and want me to recruit Baria. Where do you stand?"

It was Cleo's turn to stop and sigh, "I'm tired, like I've told you. Tired of everything. I know what you're saying is true even if my head doesn't want to acknowledge it. If things had gone your way in Seventy-Five, I think I could have followed."

Lyme reached out to her mentor and took her hand, "You've been brilliant, Cleo. None of this would have happened without you. You've done Two a great service. No, I won't shout about it, but I want to carry it on."

"Even if it means tearing it all down."

"There'll always be a place for the Institute. You've made it part of our fabric. Life skills, sport, self-defence, just not the Hunger Games."

"Sounds like you have it all worked out."

"I've been dreaming, Cleo."

"Well keep on dreaming, even when I'm gone. It's going to be on you, my girl and if I know you half as well as I think I do, I know you'll succeed."

….

Cleo died just weeks later. She said goodbye to the Institute, to District Two and then to the Village. She told Petran and Brutus to keep everyone together and then spent her remaining hours with Lyme and Enobaria.

They said goodbye to their mentor, called the doctor for the formalities and then buried Cleo in the mountains, next to Tiber. There was no preaching about her role in Two, no lengthy eulogies, just quiet drinks in the Village before they announced the news. The Mayor offered his condolences and Petran did a couple of interviews and asked for their privacy to be respected.

Brutus and Lyme were watching Petran's interviews from the television screen in Lyme's house, even though they could hear him speaking outside.

"He's the old man now. He'll hate it," Brutus started.

"He'll be around for ages yet. Petran isn't going anywhere. He's keeping up a decent regime. Got to remain the victor who brought Two back from the edge and then brought us you. Tiber was right, you were enough glory for him. He never needed to mentor again."

Brutus laughed at Lyme, "It's a good job we don't think like that."

"It's why we have the Institute and Petran the Village."

"Cleo knew where to put us."

"Cleo knew us, full stop. We were talking a lot before the end. She still knew how to get under my skin. But she's happy with the pair of us. Paulus and then Diana right as we took charge, it couldn't have gone much better."

"We're an old hand at this now, Lyme."

"And there's still plenty of life left in us."

"I said we're old hands, not old! Just that we know what we're doing."

"I know, I know. It's a good thing too. A lot is going to rest on us."

"What do you mean?"

"Cleo heard from Gem not that long ago. Theodore won of course and seems to be adjusting but there are lots of distractions in One. Gloss is getting married to some awful-sounding woman called Ermine."

"Because he was told to."

"Yes. And Cashmere is seeing someone but resents the whole situation. Aria seems on the brink and there have been lots of arguments about how to handle her. Gem and Cashmere have her under an almost constant watch."

"What's this got to do with us?"

"We must keep up the mantle for strong volunteers. We can't be distracted when the others are. And if there are signs the others are falling apart, we need to keep our pipeline going, the kids coming in and getting them volunteer or peacekeeper ready. We can't afford for the Capitol to be disappointed and reconsider its interest."

"You think they might?"

"It was a worry of Cleo's. But we need to keep our position, yes. Keep the perks of being Two."

"I'm not going to argue with you there. Are the Fours distracted too?"

"Mags isn't going to live forever. There will be a huge shift in dynamic there."

"And the Fours might drop the ball in their grief."

"That was Cleo's concern."

"But not yours? You've seen them."

"They're a strong bunch. Tight-knit so it will be hard for them, but Song will keep the Centre together."

"Chloe and Coral?"

"In excellent health. Still technically in charge at the Centre but completely devoted to Mags right now."

"Distracted," Brutus said.

"Not necessarily. They still know what's going on in Four."

"At least we can be confident in what we have here. Still getting the benefits from Paulus and Diana. The Quell winners, three wins in four years. That can't be beaten surely."

"I don't think so. Not anytime soon. Marcus is still riding high too."

"He won't come down for a while yet," Brutus laughed. "Too caught up in all things Diana and victory."

"That's gone pretty well."

"She's safe and he hasn't had to resort to bargaining or dodgy negotiations."

"I know we're both watching that situation. But if Gloss and Cashmere can play ball, it's attention off Diana and onto the successes of our new expectations."

"Which so far, we've avoided."

"We haven't shown ourselves as the pretty, marrying type. Besides, most of us are too old for it and the Capitol is too busy showing the younger three in their winning moments."

"But they're a good three. In fact, the most recent lot has all turned out well. Since Mason, we've had eight victors and none of them are cracking under the weight of it all. Three of them are Chaff and Haymitch's too so that's something."

"They might be in a state, but they've made sure their victors aren't and that's got to be admired."

"It was a shame about your boy in Seventy-Eight," Brutus said. "Could have been another good one."

"He could. But he dropped the ball. Got too confident and never realised who the threat was. It's one thing killing One's boy for failing as a guard but none of them thought about the next steps. Not even when they were all sent food. That should have been obvious, and they were careless."

"Can't begrudge Cecelia that win. It's good for her to have a mentoring partner. Cotton can't be easy."

"I was surprised but can't say I wasn't also a bit relieved for her."

"It's for the greater good, that victory."

"That's not something I thought you'd say!"

"Well for stability in the Mentors' Centre and Cecelia and her husband's sanity."

"Not anything else, of course," Lyme laughed.

"Why would there be?" Brutus asked.

"And here was me thinking you'd got all philosophical!"

It was the tiniest of sparks, but for Lyme, it was still something. Enobaria would be easy compared to convincing Brutus. But as she had said to Cecelia during Calico's Tour, getting Brutus on her side would be the way to ensure the support of the others.

It was a mountain for Lyme to climb but in his comments, Brutus at least showed some understanding of the depths of their relationships beyond Two and of the importance of strength in the Mentors' Centre beyond simply producing victors they could all work with.

But victors were what Brutus understood the most and Lyme realised she was not going to manage this on her own. Poppy, Halley and Cecelia had already agreed to help rope in Enobaria. Chaff and Haymitch would happily have another honest talk with Brutus about their homes. Her friend wasn't deaf or blind to everything either and he had a good heart. She had the materials to work with and she had the time.

But Brutus would follow his head before his heart. So, Lyme needed to use the time to fill his head with evidence. Showing him the wrongs of Panem and making him think about them would be the easier part. Brutus would want evidence that Lyme could win. That there was enough support in Two to carry them through without leading the district to total destruction. Lyme knew she had more work to do. But it was her assigned role, and she was dedicated to it. When the time came again, and Lyme knew it would, Brutus would stand alongside her, and Lyme's mind would be at ease.