The capitol, 3 days before the reaping takes place for the 74th hunger games.

Seraphina

She won the Games 2 years ago and has since then become many things. She'd like to say that she's chosen these things for herself, but everyone knows that Victors don't get to choose. Forced into the dark underbelly of Capitol society, she doesn't have much to live for. The reaping. Something she has dreaded since turning twelve. Something uncommon in the district 2. Lots, if not all careers, are eager to be reaped and even volunteer. But she had hope to rather turn nineteen and never be reaped, she wanted to live. She wanted to marry Tenax and live a quiet life but instead 2 years ago at the age of 18, she was reaped alongside her fiancée even though people volunteer almost every year, that year no one seemed interested in doing it. She was forced to enter the games and leave as a victor with the weight of 23 dead tributes and a broken heart filled with dreams that cannot be fulfilled anymore.

standing in the balcony, she could feel the cold night. Frigid, wintry air slips into the room from the open window. Outside, far below in the busy streets of the Capitol, people are carousing and cheering. It is an endless party, these cold wintry nights. There she sits on the balcony looking out at people as a bird dies from her gilded cage. They say that her beauty is what allowed her the opportunity to win the games as she had the tribute who showed the most potential striving to protect her. They all seem to forget that like Tenax she was a career too, she was trained to survive in the games and that it was her skills that scored her a 10 in her assessment for she not only was skilled with swords and knives but also the only tribute that knew advanced medicine and thus had better odds of survival.

Children from District 2 were raised with a warrior mindset in preparation for becoming Peacekeepers or tributes. Like other Careers from Districts 1 and 4, those from District 2 tended to be strong and well-prepared, but they had an additional level of brutal discipline. Her father was a victor and he had trained her to wield a sword and throw knives, but he had also encouraged her interest in medicine, which is what led her to make into the top 3. None of it mattered in the end though, if the training was all that mattered then Tenax who had been training since the age of 8 would have been the victor and not her, as it was him who was the true warrior, she was good with the sword but he wielded the sword like it was an extension of him. Tenax had wanted to volunteer since he turned 16 but it was her pleads that stopped him only for him to be reaped alongside her, it was the sole year no one volunteered to be a tribute and because of this she was forced to fight beside her and later against the man that she loved.

She remembers that day so vividly yet certain details are such a blur, she remembers Tenax strangling her on the desert ground and getting shot in the head. But she cannot remember the conversation they were having before he wrapped his hands around her neck. She remembers Tenax's dead body on top of her and his blood pouring into her but she cannot remember picking up her double swords with which she stabbed and sliced Axel, the last remaining tribute who put an end to her fiancee. She remembers screaming in agony while covered in blood as they announced her as the victor but she cannot remember what happened after they escorted her out of the arena. The arena that year was a snowy terrain, and the theme was a melting ice cube. Many tributes died by freezing to death. Since the Games took so long to complete, people were tired of seeing the same old thing. So, in the finale, the arena was almost completely unrecognizable, since the snow had melted and now it was a hot desert. Later tributes started dying from the heat and dehydration. In the end, after all the deaths it was she who won the 72nd Hunger Games and. everything changed. Justifiably so, she had made it to the top three without killing any tribute, all this honour and kindness in the ring of animals was exuded only to be bathed in Tenax's blood as his lifeless body lay on top of her; a vision that still haunts her.

It's been two years since she won, two years of falling into new patterns, and new habits. She still has nightmares from her time in the Arena. She is still haunted by the sounds of each cannon, especially the last two which had felt the loudest and most powerful. Each time she goes back to the Capitol she feels something tear at her, deeper and deeper. But even District 2 no longer feels like home, earlier she had a job at the hospital and a wedding to plan while repairing the small cottage she bought with Tenax all she had there now was an empty house in the Victors' village and withering looks from what once could have been her in-laws. In reality, Tenax was her only family but she was gone now only ever appearing in her nightmares. The capitol is now her reluctant home as she like most other tributes has become a puppet and servant to the capitol. Now here she sits in a room adorned with lavish decorations and furniture which acts as her cage. She sits here like a silver songbird waiting for her master to command a song. A ghostly glance is delivered to the clock that hangs just above the bed,

"ma'am me Crane is here to see you," says Riva her housekeeper from the doorway behind her, and the sound of the clock is suddenly drowned out by the sound of her heartbeat, which begins to beat a touch faster in response to it. Even after two years sometimes the unannounced presence of Seneca Crane still manages to startle her especially when she thinks about the fact that her trauma and misery have brought is what gave him fame and success which he uses to buy her time. Although Seneca Crane, despite being a Capitolian and a Head Game maker at that, isn't unkind. He doesn't regularly hurt her and most days buys her lavish gifts, spends a strange amount of time simply talking to her, and takes care of her comfort. He seems considerate enough to treat her like a human being most days. He has been kind enough to take her out to dinners, galas and events and not expecting any more from her than a few kisses and caresses. But in her heart, Seraphina knew that for him she was representative of a trophy of his ultimate triumph as a head game maker as her year of the games was very popular and well-liked by the audience. The people loved watching the interviews she gave before the games talking about her skills, the wedding she wanted to plan and her relationship with Tenax. Together him as a career and her as a trained medic who mainly patched up peacekeepers they had good odds to win which resulted in many sponsors. In the end, none of it mattered as that life which she had planned at 18 was not behind her and now she would have to act as a mentor for a new batch of tributes that would be reaped in three days. In three days all the patched-up wounds would reopen in her interview with Caesar Flickerman tomorrow night where he being the capital socialite and journalist scum would ask her questions all aimed at her games and Tenax.

she stands there in the balcony lost in that train of thought.