Tomaz Wellflower, 12: Victor of the 72nd Hunger Games


"Important matters?" Hal asks. "What important matters?"

"Nothing that pertains to you," Lucian says, his tone sharp and caustic. "Now, if you don't mind, Draco and I are going to speak to Tomaz in private."

"You can say whatever you need to say to everyone," Hal says, growing increasingly irritated.

"When I said private, I meant it," Lucian says in an even more visceral tone.

"Why do you need to talk to me in private?" I ask. The last thing I want to do is be alone with the person who was responsible for all of my trauma. I could've gone my whole life without talking to this man. Knowing that he was the one who made my life a living hell is already enough. I don't care what he has to say to me. I just want to get out of this awful place.

"I can't explain in front of them," Lucian says. Before I can react, he roughly grabs my arm and starts pulling me away from Hal and Ion. I try to break free, but he has a vise-like grip on me. Hal grabs onto my other arm in an attempt to pull me back.

"Back off, Hal," Lucian hisses. His grip on my arm tightens to the point where it hurts.

"I think you're the one that needs to back off, buddy," Hal says.

"I guess I'll just have to make you," Lucian sighs. He gives a little whistle and four peacekeepers appear seemingly out of nowhere. Hal immediately lets go and throws his hands up in surrender. I'm left to be dragged off by these two men who played a role in ruining my life. Lucian leads me into my bedroom. I hear the door shut and lock behind me. The blonde-haired man, who I believe is named Draco, stands in front of the door, blocking my only means of escape.

"Are you going to tell me why you needed to talk to me in private?" I ask.

"Because Hal and Ion can't know anything about what I'm going to tell you," Lucian says.

"Then why are you telling me?" It doesn't make any sense to me for Lucian to tell me anything that he wouldn't tell two adults.

"Because there's nothing that you'll be able to do with this information," Lucian says.

"What makes you so sure about that?" I ask.

"Let's get something straight, Tomaz." Lucian's eyes bore into me like two icy blue lasers. I've never been uncomfortable with eye contact, but now things are different. "You may have won the Hunger Games, but you're still just a helpless little kid. There's nothing that you could possibly do that would influence anything that goes on here. With that being said, you won't tell Hal or Ion anything about this conversation. Understood?"

I nod my head. Lucian's words cut through me like a knife. There's something about his tone that's just so harsh that stabs right at my heart. It reminds me of how my mother used to talk to me after Isaac was killed. I had become so accustomed to it that I was numb. But now, I can feel all of the pain those words caused tenfold.

Lucian's gaze gradually softens. He must be satisfied with my obedience. He strolls over to the floor-to-ceiling window with his arms behind his back, looking out at the Capitol skyline.

"You were never our pick to win, you know that right?" Lucian says.

"I would be surprised if I ever was," I say.

"It was quite the shock when you made it out of the bloodbath," he continues. "Even after that, I told my team to have your cannon ready no matter what, but somehow you weaseled your way through each day."

"I was just trying to survive," I say

"I know you were," Lucian says. "But it would've been better if you didn't."

"Excuse me?" Despite my rather sour first impression, I wasn't expecting Lucian to be this harsh with me.

"What I'm saying is that we should've killed you when we had the chance," he says.

"Then why don't you do it now?" I ask. "You probably wouldn't get in any trouble."

"Oh, but I would be," Lucian says. "And I already am."

"What are you talking about?" I don't understand why Lucian would be in any sort of trouble because of me. If he killed my right here, right now, he would get away with absolutely zero consequences.

"President Stone isn't happy," Lucian says. Now I'm even more perplexed.

"I just saw him and he looked fine to me," I say.

"You clearly didn't recognize that it was an act," Lucian says.

"So, why isn't he happy?" I ask.

"Because your victory did one of the worst possible things in all of Panem." The amount of irony in Lucian's words is unreal. This man, who is in charge of the thing that brings so much pain and suffering to the districts, is saying that I did something bad. It's so glaringly obvious that he's only thinking about the Capitol, just like everyone else who lives in this horrible city.

"What did I do?" I ask against my better judgement.

"You gave the districts hope," Lucian says.

"And what's so bad about that?" I ask.

"Hope is the very thing that drove us into the Dark Days, Tomaz," Lucian says. "You sparked that hope again. If there's too much of it, the Capitol could face another rebellion."

Everyone has to be overreacting here. There's no way that me winning the Hunger Games could ever spark a rebellion. Lucian said it himself. Nothing that I do could possibly affect anything that happens in Panem, so why is he going back on his word and saying that I did something that is apparently so terrible that it threatens the life of the Capitol? Honestly, another rebellion doesn't sound too bad. I just don't think that I could ever be the one to make it happen, but I guess I'll play along for now.

"So, what do you want me to do about that?" I ask.

"District 5 is getting back their biggest ray of hope soon," Lucian says. "Then in six months, the rest of Panem will. Or at least that's what they think. You won't be a ray of hope, Tomaz. You're going to be just like every other victor before you. You won't feed that hope in any way because if you do, the results will be catastrophic. Just the thought of you raises the spirits of the districts and that's a dangerous thing. If I or President Stone receive word that you're going against our instructions, things won't be pretty. Do you understand?"

"Yes," I say.

"When we walk out of here, you won't tell anyone anything about this conversation," Lucian says. "If anyone asks, we were just discussing your mentor position for next year."

"Okay," I say.

"Good," Lucian says. "Draco, I think we're done here."

Draco opens the door and steps out of the way, finally allowing me to leave. Lucian follows close behind as I enter the living room once again. The peacekeepers are still surrounding Hal as he sits on the couch, looking worried sick. He quickly stands up, but one of the peacekeepers pushes him back down.

"Let him go," Lucian says. The peacekeepers part and Hall gets up and races to me. He places his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eye. I have no problem looking Hal in the eye, because unlike Lucian, I see no malice behind his expression. He actually cares about my well-being while Lucian outright said that I would be better off dead.

"Tomaz, are you okay?" Hal says. "Lucian didn't do anything to you, did he?"

I glance back at Lucian, whose piercing gaze warns me against telling Hal the truth about our conversation. I still think he's overreacting, but I don't think I want to deal with the immediate consequences of spilling the tea on everything.

"I'm fine," I say.

"What did you guys talk about?" he asks.

"Just some mentoring stuff for next year," I say, just like Lucian told me. Hal looks up at him raising an eyebrow.

"Tomaz said that he can't wait to work with you next year," Lucian says.

"Is that right Tomaz?" Hal asks me.

"Yeah," I say. "I'm just happy that I get to do it with you."

"I feel the same way," Hal says.

"It's nice to see that we're all on the same page," Lucian says. "I'll be going now. You guys have a good night."

Lucian and Draco leave with the four peacekeepers in tow. They enter the elevator, its glass doors sliding shut. They descend down the elevator shaft, out of sight, leaving the apartment with palpable tension in the air. I want to tell Hal everything that we talked about, but I have a feeling that I'm still being watched. I have to get out of here. I have to get back to District 5.


Lucian Sterling, 39: Head Gamemaker


The Control Center is empty for the first time in months. Every seat in the main room is left unoccupied after another Hunger Games. However, this one didn't go as smoothly as the last one thanks to Tomaz's unexpected victory. Jason Lager was so close to pulling off the win, but his knee gave out in the Finale. Everything would've been perfect, Tomaz would've died and fizzled out with the rest of the dead tributes while District 4 would've brought home a victor for the second year in a row. But I couldn't have that, and now I have to deal with the fallout. There's a new hope amongst the outer districts and President Stone isn't pleased. I can almost feel the ground crumbling beneath me.

I leave the Control Center and head for my office. I pass by Draco's on the way there. The light of his computer screen glows through the dark office. I can hear the keyboard click as he types furiously, most likely responding to some unhappy sponsors. Almost everyone bet on Jason, leaving them with no payout. We're running the risk of losing some of our best sponsors all because the wrong person won. The Hunger Games may be over, but Draco and I are on damage control now. As I approach my office door, I take out my key and put it in the keyhole. I turn the key only to find out that the door is already unlocked, which is odd. The only people that have keys to my office are me, Draco, and-

"Good evening, Mr. Sterling."

"President Stone, I wasn't expecting to see you again today," I say.

"Did you talk to Tomaz like I told you?" he says.

"I did," I say.

"Well, how did it go?" President Stone asks.

"It went pretty well." I can feel my calm resolve being chipped away by President Stone with every word we exchange. The man in front of me controls my entire future, and my job and more importantly my life are on the line. He's aware of how much power he holds over me, and that's what scares me the most. He is my only lifeline, and he also holds the scissors. And I know he'll be ready to cut it whenever the time is right.

"What about it went well?" he asks.

"Well, Tomaz was very responsive to my warnings and he understood the severity of his actions," I say. "He shouldn't cause any problems for us."

"He better not, because if he does, that means severe consequences for you," President Stone says. "I don't want to replace my best Head Gamemaker, but I will do it."

"I don't think there will be a need for that," I say.

"There better not be," President Stone says. "But if there's any more of this 'hope' nonsense in the districts after next year, you can kiss the Control Center goodbye."

"That won't be happening, I can assure you." My attempt at keeping my cool is failing. I can feel the sweat on my brow being evaporated by the rays of President Stone's gaze. He's reading right through me and it's making my skin crawl.

"And what will you do to ensure that this doesn't happen?" President Stone asks. This is probably my last opportunity to come out of this mental battle unscathed. If I can just walk out of this office without any more of my character defaced, all will be okay.

"Let's just say that I intend to crush all hope with the 73rd Hunger Games."


Hello again! I am back with more Capitol subplot tingz. I hope you enjoyed.

In terms of submissions, I've gotten a few and I'm very happy about that. However, there are still hella spots up for grabs so hop on that shit if you want. Remember that you have until January 8th to get those in! The link to the form is still on my profile.

Until next time,

Ty