Chapter 61: False Victories


Huxley ripped off the posters from the wall and tore them into two before crumpling them up. He glared at the harsh summer sun. His eyes were a little red from the pollen floating in the air.

"And now there's another one." He spat out.

"How many was that?" Sera pulled up the sleeves of her green cotton blouse and stepped back to make sure her skirt wouldn't get drenched while she watered the flowers.

She barely caught a glimpse of the poster between opening the shop and listening to her brother-in-law's rants.

The shredded poster of Huxley, a younger him, fresh out of the arena with bold letters signifying that he was a victor along with his district.

"Four or five? I'm not sure. They keep popping up everywhere." He grumbled and tossed the ripped poster to the side. "It's like an infestation."

"You're ripping up Capitol property," Zephyr said, dragging pails of flowers to the front of the shop. "If a Peacekeeper catches you, you'll be in big trouble."

"Zeph, have you been drinking?" Clarisse interjected for a second, stepping over the puddles on the floor to drag out another set of orders for pickup.

Zephyr's eyes darted to the sides before he answered. "No, I'm as sober as…" He turned his head around to look at Sera. "Sera."

Yeah, Zephyr had been drinking. Sera said nothing but both Zephyr and Sera knew that he'd been drinking. Clarisse turned her head to the side and Zephyr looked away, knowing she'd be able to see right through his lies.

"And you," Clarisse called out to her brother when Huxley moved to discard the ripped poster. "Are you trying to get yourself into trouble? You know that's Capitol property. You can't just…go around destroying things like that."

Sera slowed down, tipping the watering can upwards to slow down the speed of the water, and hovered around the Foret siblings.

Clarisse had never been the cautious type.

Sera knew her too well. Zephyr knew as well, he looked over his shoulder to give Sera a subtle look that Sera mirrored.

Between the two siblings, Huxley was the cautious one, not Clarisse. But things had changed in Five when she'd returned. Clarisse had become more careful, constantly looking over her shoulders and Nox had turned more careless.

One started locking doors and covering windows during the day while the other snuck out when the sun set. Sera had never felt so lost being back home. She'd barely recognized how almost everyone and everything had changed over a few months.

Only Talissa, Huxley, and Ramiel had stayed the same.

While District 5 had changed.

There was a perpetual haze of winter over Five. It was not the coldness but rather the bleakness that had been left behind in the wake of winter. Everyone seemed to be in mourning, they just didn't know it yet.

Sera knew some were mourning.

Like Oran, whose father had died of sickness caused by his injuries in Nero's accident. Oran hadn't buried his father. He had dragged his father's corpse into the streets, a day before Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, alongside their party, were set to arrive in Five.

He'd paraded his father's corpse and started fights with a few Peacekeepers in Foxhalo in front of so many people. By late afternoon, everyone from Slog to the Lux knew about his father's death. By evening, he'd been tied up to a lamppost and whipped for public disobedience.

Mirri, Ira's friend, had thrown herself over Oran to protect him, only to get struck. Both were whipped and the mayor had to intervene before the Peacekeepers started using electrical whips on either of them and they were let go.

No one wanted to treat them after that. None of the healers, apothecaries, or doctors wanted to see them. They all shut their doors on them.

Clarisse was the one who turned them both away without a single word to either Sera or Talissa. Nox was the one who had run to Sera, despite their icy relationship.

When Sera asked her about it later. She'd said. "It's not our problem." Nox had slammed the table in anger. "We can't get tied up in his punishment. Nobody told him to drag his father around the district so close to the victory tour."

Sera and Huxley didn't know what to say. She was right but it wasn't something to say out loud. Still, Sera had slipped Oran a note through Ayla and Cyrus, telling them to gather at Sera's family home—not her victor's house.

Under the cover of darkness, Sera snuck into her old home with a timid Talissa and a very overprotective Huxley. Oran was hiding in Sera and Talissa's old room alongside Mirri.

His wounds were deep but so was Mirri's. They were splayed out on the floor, being careful not to taint the concrete floor with their blood, not that they could. Their blood dried and caked around their lightning-shaped wounds.

That was the end of Oran as an errand boy. Mirri was made homeless soon after. Her parents couldn't support her, not when Peacekeepers started breathing down their necks.

Last Sera had heard, those two had moved in together since Oran had found a stable job at a water plant.

Oran's father had died. There were suddenly more vacancies in power plants that would never over-hire or barely hire any workers.

Something was wrong with Five.

She just didn't know what.

"Give it a rest." Talissa's footsteps interrupted the two as she walked out of the shop with her satchel filled to the brim.

"It's only a punishable offense if Hux gets caught and besides, who'd punish a victor." Nox chimed in, following Talissa along with a crate of medicine in clay jars. No doubt, those medicine jars were meant for distribution in the Slog.

Talissa, on the other hand, had two metal bottles in her gloved hands that she was struggling to stuff into her satchel. She tried to shove them in with no luck. She gave up and turned to her husband.

"You should burn the posters you find in the incinerator." She suggested.

Huxley walked to Talissa, taking the metal bottles from her. "That was the idea." He said, unwrapping her satchel from her body before rearranging the insides in quick and careful movements.

He'd managed to fit the bottles in, causing Talissa to smile at him. She stood on her toes and gave him a quick peck on his cheeks and then his lips. He laughed in turn, whispering something sweet for his wife's ears.

Sera turned away and hurried to finish watering. She put down the watering can while Nox watched her.

"You're gonna do the display?" He asked, almost itching to do it himself. "Can I—"

"Knock yourself out." Anything they'd do to distract themselves from witnessing Talissa and Huxley's public moments of affection.

"What's that?" Clarisse pointed to Sera's neck where a small chain of silver with two yarrow blossoms with pearls inside hung around her neck.

Her sister pulled away from her husband and looked at Sera in mild curiosity. Awkwardly, she tried to cover up her neck but almost everyone around had already seen it.

Clarisse narrowed her eyes on the necklace and looked back up at her with a conflicted look. "That…looks expensive." She commented, a hint of hurt in her voice for Sera not confiding in her.

"It's a gift," Sera said softly, backing away from the sudden attention. Her face turned red and hot. "From a…friend."

"A gift?" Echoed her sister, who like always, was suspicious. "A friend?" She placed her cold hand on top of Sera's forehead, checking for fever while eyeing Sera with suspicion. "No fever." She mumbled. "Are you sure this is from a friend?"

"Something like that." Sera met Zephyr's gaze and he pursed his lips. Their conversation back on the train echoed in her head.

"You don't…really have that many friends," Nox said blankly.

Sera glared at Nox as Zephyr snickered. "I have a few."

"Zephyr, Clarisse, and what? Oran, maybe?"

"And Zephyr is the only one that can afford a gift like that." Clarisse chimed in.

Nox nodded and Sera wished she'd just stayed in bed, reading Finnick's letters that he'd sent under a different name. "It's a friend that you know…but we recently just caught up." Sera tried to say.

"Is that yarrow?" Nox ignored her and leaned down to look at her neck. Sera moved away and tried to complain to her sister who now was also looking down on her neck.

Carefully, Talissa lifted the pendant and glared at it. "This is yarrow."

"What's wrong with yarrow?" Clarisse asked and Huxley sighed. He knew or thought he did.

"Nothing." Talissa let go of the necklace, letting it fall. "It's used to stop bleeding, good for making medicine but…it's mostly seen in District 4."

"It's also a symbol of love." Nox added with a smile and Talissa sighed.

"You didn't."

"I'm not answering that." Sera said, turning away but Talissa caught her by her arm, her fingers digging into the folded arm of her blouse.

"Seraphine!" Talissa hissed out. "Why—I thought you were smarter than this." Sera's eyes welled up with tears and she looked away.

"Lissa…" Nox tried to calm her down but her sister wasn't listening. He'd probably already known the extent of Sera and Finnick's relationship. He just didn't bother to say it out loud.

It wasn't the first time Sera had worn Finnick's gift at Five. She'd worn it twice, once at his birthday dinner and the second time during Talissa and Huxley's daughter's birthday. He noticed the necklace but never said a word about it, unlike Clarisse.

Huxley pulled Talissa back, his arm around her waist as he leaned in close to her ears. "You're gonna be late for your house visit. Mrs Griswold wasn't looking too great last I saw her." Only then did Talissa calm down. She breathed out and shut her eyes, defeated.

Conflicted, Talissa looked between her husband and her younger sister. "We're gonna talk about this at dinner with Miel after the kids go to bed and you're gonna tell me exactly what's going on between you and…" Talissa didn't even want to utter Finnick's name.

It wasn't like Talissa hated Finnick. She was just careful. Finnick Odair was the opposite of what she wanted for Sera. Someone safe and someone who had eyes only for her sister. Given Finnick's history and image, it was obvious why she didn't like Finnick.

Sera knew what was going on in her sister's head as she turned away and with a fleeting look left them to go check on Faline's mother. Clarisse quietly apologized while Zephyr told her off.

It wasn't Clarisse's fault, it was a matter of time before Sera had to let her family know about Finnick. Clarisse had just ripped the bandaid off before Sera could let them know gently.

Sera took a step back, letting Nox finish up the display. She paused. Another poster on the side of the shop caught her attention. She spared a glance to Talissa, Zephyr, and Huxley, they were too busy bickering to even notice her.

Her younger self looked back at her. Short black hair cut close to her ears with light makeup that made her still look youthful but a little older at the same time.

A flower crown in her hand made up of artificial flowers and that blue floral dress that made her feel older than she was.

Her silver eyes were dull and hollow with a weak smile that looked like it belonged on paintings like the ones made by Ores. The entire poster reminded her of a painting from before the Dark Days and the disaster that created Panem. Maybe if she squinted she'd see brush strokes on it.

But in the corner of her picture, there was a simple message, not brush strokes or streaks of paint.

'Celebrate 75 years of the Hunger Games with the 'Flower of Panem', Seraphine Reza of District 5'

Ripping the poster into shreds was easier than crumpling and throwing it away. She didn't expect her ghost to haunt her like this and it didn't help that neither Fulvia nor Plutarch had warned her anything about it.

Like an omen of death, those posters had appeared the minute the victory tour of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark ended. Those posters were accompanied by a small broadcast about the upcoming Quarter Quell.

The Capitol was making celebrating the Quell a bigger deal than Sera had thought. She couldn't help but contribute that to the small ratings boost they had for the 74th games.

But there was no guarantee that would carry on to the 75th games. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were the only reasons why the 74th saw such a huge rise in interest. Sure, the star-crossed couple as mentors could garner some interest in the 75th but she had doubts that it would be enough to keep the Capitolites hooked.

Those posters were a sign of something. Something else that Sera was missing and she was sure of it. For one, none of the posters were of the victors in recent years but rather outtakes or photos ripped straight from their victory tour advertisements.

So far Sera had seen Huxley, Uriel, Wells, and Estelle's posters. She'd seen young Estelle's image in Foxhalo first while she was running errands for her sister.

Hidden in the corner of a street on a freshly painted lamppost was Estelle's poster. Estelle Weathers, herself looking—no, glaring at her younger self in a trance.

Like a mirror to the past, Estelle's younger self glared back at her with the same intensity. Her fists balled up the skirt of her metallic bronze gown, bunching it up like she was going to rip it apart. Her other hand was on the spiked halo on her head.

'Celebrate 75 years of the Hunger Games with the 'Star of Panem', Estelle Clarence of District 4'

"Some celebration, huh?" Estelle had croaked out, her throat closing up.

Sera had walked right up to her and ripped the poster off the post before anyone had seen her.

The crumpled poster of Estelle Clarence in her hand was light but the Estelle Weathers' gaze on her was heavy.

"At least, they're using the outtakes." Sera tried to ease the tension and Estelle cracked a small smile. "Imagine if your old Victory Tour photos started going around again?"

When she turned around, there was another poster of young Estelle glaring at both of them.

The second poster was from Estelle's victory tour. Gone was her halo and she was facing the side with her hands clasped together as if she was praying.

Estelle spat on the poster on instinct and looked around to see if anyone passing by had noticed the perfect mayor's wife's imperfect behavior.

"You were saying?" Estelle rubbed her hands together and ripped the second poster.

Sera left after that without seeing another poster. Not that she wanted to stick around and maybe stumble upon her own past.

She didn't want to see her younger self but she couldn't avoid it either.

"Looks like someone didn't get an invite for the Victors' Banquet this year." Leora's voice dragged Sera back to her aunt's shop.

A sudden wave of sickness overtook Sera but she held her ground well enough. She pursed her lips into a thin line and smiled. Leora was unfortunately just as observant as most of the other still sane victors.

She didn't even get a single letter from Snow or anyone since she'd left. Plutarch sent her one coded letter through her personal doctor, Dr Jadewell and that was it. He'd acknowledged the weapons on the train and made a note of it.

After that, it was all silent.

Throughout the winter, she'd been frozen out of the Capitol circle with nothing to be heard or seen. She didn't even get an invite to the Victors' Banquet like she usually did in the past.

She'd be happy if that was all there was to it but her gut told her otherwise. She felt more sick with each passing day with no word from anyone in the Capitol. Her anxiety was reaching its peak and the sudden ominous appearances of those posters didn't help at all.

"Can I help you, Leora?" She asked instead, burying those anxious thoughts deep down.

"Business as usual." Leora held her canvas bag close to her sides and loosened the scarf around her neck. "I'm here to pick up an order."

Sera nodded and turned around to open the shop doors, only to stumble back. Clarisse had flung the doors open with a wide smile.

Her coily hair was now up, tied into two buns on each side which bounced as she moved. She flipped the sign from 'closed' to 'open' and turned to greet Leora.

The two chatted amicably while Sera stood to the side. She swept the front entrance, clearing any leaves or petals that had fallen to the ground. Nox grumbled out something under his breath but didn't dare look up, busying himself with the display.

"Clarisse." Huxley grabbed a wooden crate filled to the brim with undelivered bouquets and medicine. "Did you label all the deliveries?"

Clarisse huffed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I did label the deliveries. Nox helped me finish them."

"He dropped the first batch of deliveries at daybreak." Sera chimed in a quiet voice.

Her head faced the floor. Nox and her were still on very shaky ground, he'd made several attempts to mend their relationship. It had improved a little on his birthday but it was clear that she wasn't happy with his letters.

"I'll…take the rest for now." Huxley eyed Leora warily and backed off.

He looked like he wanted to say something more. But with a single pat on Sera's shoulders, he was off.

"Come on in." Sera led Leora in while Clarisse followed behind.

"I'll get your order ready and be right back." Clarisse went to the back where the small storage had been extended and divided into two, one for medicinal products and the other just flowers, leaves, and stems.

Leora kicked her feet and took a seat on one of the moss-covered concrete seats while waiting. Her eyes were trained on Sera in silence.

She ignored the older victor who looked the best she'd seen her in years. Her face was no longer as gaunt as before. Gone was the haunted look in her eyes and she even looked a few years younger than she was.

She seemed to dress more freely, wearing a long mustard yellow loose cotton dress that had some cut-outs by her shoulders. That was something she'd never wear in the past.

'Leora had changed and was, dare she think, happier than before?'

"Something wrong with the books?" Leora asked, trying to kill time.

Sera flipped over a page and shook her head. "You're more chatty than usual. It's not like you."

"Ha." Leora threw her head back. "That obvious, huh?"

"How…are you?"

"Never been better." And she certainly looked the part too.

Sera flipped a page and scanned the ledger. She kept her ears open for the sound of the store bell. Leora's tapping feet had other plans for her.

She looked up to warn Leora but the older victor immediately stopped the minute Sera's head had lifted. She dove right back into checking the ledger, only to stop again.

"Are you here to get some poppy seeds again?" She asked without taking her eyes off the ledger.

"And some seed oil." Leora added nonchalantly.

"Poppy seed oil?"

"That's the one." Leora didn't see what was wrong with Sera. She'd stopped at a single page before she started flicking back and forth between pages. "Oh and remind Clarisse to not forget the laudanum. I need laudanum. She forgot last month's one and it caused me a lot of trouble."

Sera didn't respond. At least not first. She stared at the pages with a difficult look on her face. She wasn't the one to be concerned about others needlessly—she didn't care about them.

The problem was Leora was taking too many. If she died or became ill, her sister would be the one taking the blame.

"How long have you been taking these?"

"Over a year?" Leora answered, tilting her head to the side. She wasn't phased by Sera's questions at all. "It's not all for me." She added almost as an afterthought.

"It's not?"

"No, it's not." She confirmed. "Don't worry about it. Your sister signed me off and it's not all for me. I'm not selfish."

"That's not what—"

"Most of it is for Porter."

"Porter?" Sera's hands slackened, and the flimsy page she was holding up, fell from her grasp.

Leora's grin widened, her dark eyes glimmered too brightly with a spark of what Sera could see was…madness. "Porter." She repeated. "I decided to take care of her."

"...why?"

"She had a nasty fall while we were having a talk, she didn't want to…listen." It was like Leora wasn't even there. Her face was as blank as a canvas as she recited what had happened, detached and cold. "She tripped and fell. I tried to catch her but…well, you can imagine what happened. I tried being kind and decided to help take care of her."

"How did she fall?"

Leora didn't answer her.

The bell chimed and Sera cursed under her breath. She'd missed the opportunity to press more answers out of Leora. She plastered a smile on her face, welcoming a potential customer.

With her hands on her hip, Estelle scanned the shop with a grim look "Oh good." She said with a grim look. "You're both here. Are Huxley and Zephyr around too?"

"Zephyr's out in the back—behind the shop." Sera answered, closing the ledger.

"You might want to keep that open." Estelle pointed at the ledger and closed the door behind her after Wells had dragged himself inside.

The two stood side by side, almost guarding the entrance. Wells' face was dark, his fists balled up in silent anger or something Sera couldn't quite read on his face. Estelle, on the other hand, was teary-eyed like she'd just finished crying on her way to shop.

"I've got your order…" Clarisse's smile faded and she heaved the small wooden crate onto the counter in front of Sera. "Estelle. I mean Mrs Weathers, aren't you supposed to be looking after the kids?"

"Lito's looking after them and I ran into Talissa on my way here, she's done with her house visit so she'll be back in the Victors' Village by now."

"Oh." Clarisse didn't know what to say. She awkwardly shuffled around and looked to her brother for anything. "Would you like to buy something?"

Estelle smiled politely and shook her head. "Can you handle the rest of the deliveries?" Sera asked, passing over the list for the deliveries to Clarisse.

"It's just medicine, no arrangements for this week." Huxley added. "We'll close the shop so go home and help Talissa. We'll be home soon."

Clarisse tried to argue, looking to Zephyr for support. "I'm gonna be late, I have to redo the books. There are a few…errors." He said without looking up from the new ledger.

"But the old one was fine. I checked it." Clarisse said.

"Just a few mistakes." Zephyr's words were almost muffled by the scratchings of his pen against the paper. "I'll be done soon enough and Sera can ring Leora up. Go home for now and take Lennox with you."

There was nothing for Clarisse to say or do. She called Nox in, who with a glance around the room could tell something bad happened.

Unlike Clarisse, he didn't question it. He just dragged his half-finished display. He handed Sera the keys to the shop, reminding her to water the plants in the upstairs nursery before leaving.

"Two things." Estelle began, circling the shop floor and not wasting a single second. Her heels sawed a perfect circle on the floor as she moved. "First," She stopped in the dead center of the room. "Porter Millicent Tripp was found dead."

Laughter bubbled out of Leora. Her body shook with glee and the blank canvas on her face was ripped apart in euphoria. Tears of joy fell from her eyes and even Wells cracked a smile.

Sera kept her face blank. She'd barely known Porter apart from a few meetings here and there. The only real conversation they had in the past was about Porter begging Sera to tell President Snow about her deteriorating condition and to be invited back to the Capitol.

Porter was already barred from being a mentor by the time Sera had won and then shut out of the Capitol apart from a few hospital visits. She was discarded so quickly and now Sera feared she'd meet the same fate. At least, Sera wouldn't be so upset about being shut out if she was allowed to stay in Five with her family.

"You could at least pretend to be sad." Zephyr sighed out. He didn't know Porter well enough to say much about her but he was somewhat glum about the news.

The death of a fellow victor was not easy news.

Leora only smiled. "She couldn't even pretend to be kind. Why should I even mourn someone like her? After everything she did to me and Wells."

"Put on a show at least." Estelle said, rubbing her forehead with her index finger and her middle finger. A headache was coming up to her and she prepared for the worst before Sera handed her a glass of water and a tablet.

"I did." Leora fired back, watching Estelle have the tablet. "For over a year, I put on the best damn show of my life and now, I won."

"Lee…" Wells shook his head in disapproval. "Peacekeepers might've ruled it out as an accident but that doesn't mean you should get too comfortable."

"I'm not sorry that I'm not sad." Leora almost spat at the floor but Huxley's glare made her stop. "I'm not gonna mourn for her."

"Nobody told you to." Estelle fired back. "Just have some decency to not get caught celebrating her death."

"Oh, I'm so sorry…sorry, some of us didn't get the opportunity to marry the mayor to save themselves."

"Leora!"

Huxley clapped loudly twice as if he was dealing with his children, not two older victors. He motioned towards the door and then put a finger to his lips. Even if the shop was closed, there was no saying who could be outside.

"So Porter's dead." He said to himself, poking the insides of his cheek like it was nothing even though Porter was his mentor.

He leaned on Talissa's apothecary's bench and clasped his hands together in a moment of silence in respect for his late mentor. The only one in the room to care a little.

"About time too." Leora added with a little chuckle.

"Leora," Huxley warned without looking up. "Don't make me throw you out of here."

"Let's calm down for a second," Sera spoke up. "Porter's gone. Her family…is probably gonna have a funeral so we'll need to be ready. But if that's all, I'm gonna need you all to leave so I can re-open the sho—"

"There's no funeral happening." Wells grumbled out and Sera raised her brow in question.

Wells sighed, an inexplicable heaviness in his chest that Sera knew was not because of Porter's death. He never liked her and he made that known to everyone whenever he'd have enough liquor in his system.

"What do you mean by that? No funeral? That's something we can't skip, it's a custom."

Estelle was the one who answered Sera in a dry-cut manner. She wanted to be done with Porter and move on. "Her family is having her cremated and her ashes dumped into Lake Leuce. They don't want anything to do with her and have made it very clear they won't be involved in any final rites."

"So what do we do?" Zephyr asked, perplexed. After all, Porter was not Uriel. "Where do we come into this? I mean do we take over the part of the family—I don't want to do that. I don't even want to attend her funeral."

"You don't have to do a thing," Estelle answered and stared pointedly at the old ledger. "But make sure to take care of the old ledger." She added quietly.

Wells looked at Sera, almost pleading. His bleary eyes moved to Leora and Sera understood exactly what she had to do. She tore out a few pages from the ledger. The pages came apart with ease before she made a note in the front page margins about the ledge being erroneous. She picked up a new ledger and passed it to Zephyr to make corrections.

Wells nodded in thanks while Zephyr cursed Porter and Leora under his breath. He pulled up a chair by the counter next to Sera and started to write up the records of sales and inventory.

"Is that it then?" Sera asked with a heavy breath. "Porter's dead. That's it? Then I'll just send her family something and open the shop again."

Almost in grief, Estelle stopped her. She was pallid, red-eyed, and more gaunt than Sera had ever seen her. But Sera knew it wasn't Porter she was mourning.

Porter's death seemed almost inevitable and as harsh as her thoughts were, she was almost waiting for the older victor to die. Porter wasn't Uriel, who had made it out of the arena in one piece.

Porter was broken, and damaged from the arena with clear marks of her time in the games. One of the few reasons why they had spared her from being sold.

No one in the Capitol wanted a broken victor.

And it was obvious that she, even with all the best medical treatments that the Capitol could provide, would not last long but she did last longer than what most had predicted.

"Actually," Estelle reached for Sera weakly, her fists curling up around itself before she shoved her hands into the deep pockets of her light cotton shirt that she wore like a coat. She took out a crumpled poster, another one of those Quarter Quell posters, no doubt.

"So you found another?" Zephyr remarked, sharing a look with Huxley and Sera. "Those things are everywhere."

"Not…this one." Estelle vomited out. Her face became more green as she stared at the poster. "This one hasn't been distributed yet."

Huxley crossed the room and all but ran towards the counter. He stopped in front of Sera and in quick desperate moves, unfolded the scrunched-up poster.

Sera watched in silent confusion as his face dropped and pure horror and anguish washed over him.

He swayed on his feet, feeling faint. His fingers were wrapped around the scrunched-up paper like a vice. For once, the stoic and blank-faced Huxley was emotional.

His eyes welled up with tears and his throat closed up. He shakily looked up at Sera before covering his mouth with his fist, trying to stop himself from crying.

"Hux…" Sera quietly called out to him, reaching out to her former mentor and brother-in-law, steadying him and stopping him from falling.

He silently shook his head, his fist still covering his mouth and muffling his words. His dark face gradually turned red with his teary eyes as he struggled to breathe.

Zephyr frowned. He looked over to an equally confused Leora and the crestfallen pair, Estelle and Wells. He dropped the ledger and the pen onto the counter, almost jumping over to Sera.

He tried to rip the poster from Huxley's grip, barely managing to get it free from his vice-like grip before he froze on the spot the minute his eyes lay on the paper. He stayed there in resignation for what felt like hours to Sera.

"What's going…on?" Sera asked, her voice trembling with apprehension.

Her mind was hazy despite her not being on any poisons since she'd left the Capitol. She felt sick and she hadn't even seen what Huxley and Zephyr had seen.

"I don't know how to tell you this…" Wells began, wetting his cracked dried lips.

"Tell me what?"

Leora ripped the poster out of Zephyr's hand. Her eyes settled on the printed paper and like Zephyr, she stood still. Her stillness only lasted a minute before she started to laugh.

Her laughter was the only thing Sera could hear in the shop. Even the pitter of the run-off water from the plants was drowned out by Leora's sudden crazed laughter. She fell back onto the concrete seats with her head thrown back and stared at the ceiling as if she could burn a hole into the second floor.

Estelle glared at her but Leora didn't even look at her. The poster in her hand was further damaged and crumpled beyond recognition.

"They're screwing with us, aren't they?" Leora asked between her laughter.

"What do you think?" Estelle spat out, covering her face with her shaky hands.

Holding her breath, Sera slowly approached Leora. The crumpled poster hung from her hand. Sera didn't rip it from her hands like Leora did when it was in Zephyr's grasp, she tried to decipher the words and images on the poster from the crumpled mess in Leora's hand.

'Annual 75th Hunger Games'

She managed to make out the title and the image below was of Capitol child models dressed as tributes. The rest of the text was harder to read and she almost didn't want to read it, wanting to pull away and leave the shop—leave everyone behind.

"For the first time in the history of the Hunger Games, we invite the victors of Panem back into the arena for the 75th Hunger Games and 3rd Quarter Quell." Estelle passively recited from her memory.

"No…" Her strangled gasp came out before she could even register what was going on. "No. No. No. This–this—is…can't be real?" Estelle looked down at the ground and Sera laughed in disbelief. "This…has to…be a joke. No. No. No. We—we…we won, d-didn't we? Didn't we?!"

Nobody could answer her. Huxley was still reeling from the shock and stopped himself from breaking down. Zephyr lifted his head. His tear-soaked face met hers while Wells wouldn't even look at anyone.

Air was sucked out of her lungs, her weak heart erupted in red-hot pain. She stumbled back and Leora helped her sit down. Shadows crept into her vision as a cold chill froze the shop floor.

Poison would've hurt less than knowing that everything she did meant nothing in the end. Every careful step she'd made led up to nothing. What was the point of surviving back then if there was a chance to be called back?

What was the point of it all?

Estelle took a heavy breath and exhaled. She clasped and unclasped her fists, shaking them to steady herself. "I…found this on my husband's desk this morning." She said, dragging out her words and over pronouncing each word to make sure everyone in the room was listening to her. "There was…a whole pile of it."

"Tha-that…this is a joke!" Sera wasn't listening. She was gasping for air and it was like the shop was abandoned with no one but herself and the grotesque shadows dancing on the walls.

"Seraphine…" Estelle tried to reach her but Sera swatted her hands away.

"We won…" She repeated. "We won, didn't we?" Her desperate eyes searched the faces of each of the surviving victors of Five but none of them looked like they had the answers that she wanted—she needed.

"We did win, didn't we?" Huxley repeated her question in a small child-like voice so foreign to him that it took a second longer for everyone to see that it was him, Huxley Foret, who had spoken.

His wide teary gaze landed on Wells. His mentor was no longer there with him and Wells was the only other person who was there for his game.

Wells tried to speak. His words came out a garbled mess that he tried to rectify a few times before turning away to cover his face and then return to Huxley. "I'm…sorry, Huxley." He managed to get out. "I didn't know…"

"No one did," Estelle added. "This isn't the way it's supposed to be."

"No, it wasn't."

The small voice in the back of Sera's mind whispered and she felt sick. Bile rose to the top of her throat and she swallowed it, trying her hardest not to vomit on the shop floor.

Plutarch. He knew. He knew all along. This…was him. There was no doubt about it. Sera should've seen this coming. This was him. His stupid…stupid plan to kickstart the rebellion.

"It's not," Sera spoke up. "It's not supposed to be like this."

"No, it's not," Leora said, sober. She gingerly reached out her arm towards Sera's shoulder, wrapping them into an awkward half-hug. "It's not supposed to be this way for us." She patted Sera's shoulder in comfort and tried to smile.

"No, that's not—" Sera stopped.

Zephyr's wide eyes and a subtle shake of his head told her to shut up. She didn't know what to do or say. A hurricane was ravaging her mind and her thoughts were pouring out. She was lost.

"H-how will I tell Lissa this?" Huxley cried out. "How will…I tell her that there's a possibility that she might lose me or Sera. Or both of us?!"

"She'll know soon enough." Wells replied.

Huxley glared at him. "She's…gonna lose me and her sister."

"No one is losing anyone, okay?" Estelle tried.

Zephyr snorted. "There's six of us. Wells, Huxley, and I already have a high chance. So that's one in three chances that either of us gets picked." He stated. "Porter's gone so the chances of either you, Leora, or…Sera being picked as the female tribute—no, the female victor of Five just went up."

"And we don't stand a chance against the careers." Wells sighed. "I know those bastards have been training day and night for a chance to do it all over again."

"Let's not forget the…star-crossed lover of District 12," Estelle added in sadly. "They'll be the most prepared ones. They just came out of the arena. Katniss is locked in for the next games while the male victor is a toss-up between Peeta Mellark and Haymitch Abernathy."

"Either way, none of us are making it out this time."

"That's…a little pessimistic." Zephyr tried to joke but his heavy heart didn't let him laugh. "We have a higher chance than District 6."

Wells smiled sadly and sighed. "They're doing this because of 'em—those damned star-crossed lovers, aren't they?"

"Wells…"

"So they are." Wells laughed. "Two people screw up and the rest of us get punished."

Sera pursed her lips and tried not to make a sound. Not for the shadows on the wall but for the victors around her. She acted as if she wasn't even there.

It was partly her fault that Plutarch had even managed to get his plans through. President Snow would never have approved it otherwise.

"So this is…it." Leora breathed out in defeat. "Porter survived again."

"Porter was exempted from participation," Estelle answered and Leora cursed out. "She'd survive again."

Exemption?

Maybe…

"Am…I…" Sera looked up and tried to ask Estelle, grabbing onto her shirt. "Am I…exempted?"

That broke Huxley from his stupor and he gazed at Estelle with hope. Estelle bit her lips and shook her head. Huxley broke, covering his face with his hands.

"I'm sorry." Estelle apologized even though it wasn't her fault. "I…just saw Porter. I don't know why you're not on the list." She pulled at her shirt and breathed heavily. "You…didn't go through that operation, did you?"

"No," Sera answered. She might as well have if she was going to be thrown back into the arena. What was the point of everything?

She'd never felt so tired in her life than at that moment. She was numb to everything and didn't even feel Leora's hands press hers in a clumsy attempt to comfort her.

"We…should…we should…start preparing." Huxley rubbed his eyes vigorously and Sera feared that he'd rub his eyes out of his face with how hard he was struggling to get rid of the tears.

Zephyr plucked out a handkerchief and handed it to Huxley. The two didn't trade any more words as Huxley accepted his help in silence. Zephyr had nothing more to say. He probably knew that Plutarch was behind this but he couldn't say anything.

"You two should come around for dinner this evening." Huxley addressed Leora and Well. He dabbed the embroidered handkerchief on his eyes and paused. "This is Clarisse', isn't it?" Zephyr shrugged, too tired to argue.

"So dinner at Sera's or Huxley's?" Leora asked.

"You know we all live in Sera's victor's house," Huxley answered. "It's easier for Lissa and the children…the children."

Another heavy load on his chest. His children. Sera's nephew and niece. How could Huxley and Sera tell them? They were far too young to know what was going on. Too young to lose their father.

Wells patted his shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. Huxley let out a sob into his embrace. It was like he was that young boy again. The one in the Quarter Quell celebratory posters, the ones who'd been reaped so close to his freedom.

"Dinner at Sera's, then?" Leora repeated and Sera nodded. "Two weeks till reaping. This is the last dinner between us, isn't it?"

"No." Estelle said and Leora laughed.

It was the last dinner between the six no matter what Estelle tried to tell them. Two would never return from this game and more could be lost in the rebellion they didn't know yet.

By the time dinner came around, Huxley and Sera had done their utmost to hide from the rest of their family alongside an unnaturally quiet Zephyr. The three had gathered in one of the empty rooms with melted ice bags pressed to their eyes.

Zephyr hadn't said a word since then. He'd just stared at the ground half-alive, barely moving. He had walked past Clarisse when she tried to talk to him and locked himself in the empty room for a few hours before Huxley came home and knocked on the door with a bag of ice in his hand.

"So…what do we do if we're reaped?" Zephyr's voice was hoarse and rough. "Do we…just…"

"I don't know." Huxley bit back, more violent than he'd intended before he sighed. "I don't know anything. I don't even know how I'm going to tell Lissa about all of this."

Sera looked at the two. Her vision was bleary and she could barely make out their shapes. "Do we have to tell her?" She asked in a small child-like voice.

"Lissa will know something's wrong."

And Sera blamed herself for it.

Nothing she did mattered. If this was Plutarch's gambit, she'd already lost. She fooled herself into thinking that someone from the Capitol would understand, would know how hard it was for them to be in the arena.

But most of all, she didn't know what she would tell him. Finnick didn't know. He trusted her. They planned out a future for themselves but what was the point of it when there was a chance one or the other would live to see it come true?

A knock on the door and she was up on her feet with a pleasant plastic smile on her face. She opened the door and on the other side was a very suspicious Nox. He looked Sera up and down, scrutinizing every inch of her face from the pull of her muscles to the light in her eyes.

"Dinner's ready." He announced, backing away. "Miel cooked since you know, Lissa's not that great at cooking."

"She's learning." Ramiel's voice came out from around the corner. "Even if she burnt down Huxley's kitchen a few times." Her eyes were instantly drawn to his prosthetic limb. "Are you three done with your little meeting? I made venison mushroom pie and I made sure the venison wasn't left rare."

"Where'd you get venison from?" Huxley asked, back to normal or as normal he could pretend to be.

Ramiel cracked a smile. "The butcher in Foxhalo saved me some. I happen to be very good with people, much better than Lissa."

Sera snorted. "Don't let Lissa hear you."

"Or what? She'll strangle me in my sleep? Slip some poison into my food?" He joked and Sera's face darkened. It took Ramiel a second before he quickly apologized and led them to the dining room. "I…um…heard from Lissa about you and…"

"Finnick." Sera was too tired to deal with dinner and would rather just go to bed, and sleep until the games and everything had blown away. "Before you ask, I am…involved with him. I don't care what Lissa or anyone has to say about it." Not that it mattered.

Ramiel stopped and turned around to face her. "I'm not complaining. I just…I hope this is what you want."

"And if it is?"

"Then I'm happy for you." And he meant it. "As long as he doesn't break your heart."

Zephyr chuckled and Sera's eyes widened. He'd laughed. He'd actually laughed. His eyes met hers and he cracked a smile, telling her he was okay now.

"What's so funny?" Ramiel asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't see what's funny either." Huxley stated.

"It's a long story." Zephyr answered for her. "Just know that Sera really likes to make her own life hard."

"That is not true." Sera said, less tense than before.

Ramiel had that effect on people. He could always light up a place with a few words.

"Tell that to Finnick." Zephyr fired back and Sera tried to trip him. He skipped over her leg and grinned as she rolled her eyes in contempt.

The dinner table was already set up by Clarisse and Estelle was there with her family. The mayor was running a little late, a last-minute meeting with the Head Peacekeeper. Leora and Wells still hadn't arrived.

Talissa had taken her seat and left the seat at the head of the table empty. It was Huxley's seat. Her brother sat opposite Talissa while Sera sat between Nox and Ramiel with Clarisse and Zephyr opposite her. Dia and Faro, Huxley, and Talissa's children were secured onto high chairs behind Talissa while Estelle's children sat next to her.

Almost everyone was in place for the dinner. Talissa leaned forward and looked around the table with her hand clasped, her form being bathed by the colors of the setting sun piercing the tall windows in the dining room.

"So Finnick?" She asked and Sera groaned.

Ramiel laughed. "You know, maybe you should go easy on her. You married Huxley."

"What's wrong with me?" Huxley said, offended.

"You're…Huxley." Zephyr answered. "Nobody knows what's in your head."

"I do." Talissa refuted.

"And that's all a good marriage needs." Estelle chimed in. "A wife understanding her husband and her husband understanding his wife—that's the key to a good marriage. I don't think Sera's gonna find that in…Finnick Odair of all people."

Sera stared at Estelle blankly. She'd rather worry about the upcoming games than have her life picked apart by her family.

"Usually, it's Sera misun—" Sera kicked Zephyr under the table and he swallowed his words.

Talissa gave Sera a questioning look and she looked away, wishing they'd move on or pick another topic.

"Hux and Lissa are a good match. They grew up together and were together before I was even born." Clarisse chimed in. "But I don't blame Sera for going for Finnick Odair. I'd do—"

Sera kicked Clarisse under the table and gave her a pointed look. "Can we just eat?"

"Leora and Wells aren't here yet." Nox pointed out. "I don't know why Huxley and you invited those two for dinner."

"Why not?" Estelle said, looking over to her children who had blocked out the conversation at the table and instead busied themselves with playing with Sera's niece and nephew.

"It's…very last minute," Ramiel stated. "I don't mind but I'd like a heads up next time since usually it's me, Sera, or Huxley doing the cooking around here."

"I try and help." Clarisse pouted, a little red in the face. "Nox does too."

"I only do breakfast," Nox said. "And everyone's acting like Sera's getting married to him or she's engaged. At most, he's just her boyfriend." He was trying to defend her and usually Sera would be grateful but the situation was very different.

She went silent and reached for the glass of cold water her sister had set aside. Her hands wrapped around the cold glass, sapping the warmth out of her fingers. She took a small sip of water and avoided the gazes of Estelle and her family.

"Sera?" Ramiel called out to her, tapping her shoulder. "You're not getting married, are you?"

Zephyr let out a laugh and she buried her head between her hands. She could feel the burning gazes of everyone around the table. Estelle chuckled. She was less gloomy than before but there was still an unshakable air of melancholy around the victors of Five.

"You're getting married."

"Just engaged," Sera replied, tensely. "He…proposed."

"And you said yes?" Nox was judging her and she let him. "You're…engaged."

"And you didn't even tell us?" Clarisse felt betrayed and taken aback, turning to her brother for a word but Huxley gave her nothing.

On the other hand, Talissa and Huxley had grown quiet. Huxley looked so disappointed yet resigned himself to accept whatever Sera had chosen. Talissa had just sat there, tapping the table.

Her sister's chair scraped against the wooden floor with a loud screech as she got up. "Anyone want a glass of wine? I know I could use some for what just happened."

"It's not…that serious for you to be drunk." Sera said.

"I need to be a little tipsy to understand what you two saw in each other." Talissa fired back and Huxley bowed. "Why couldn't you pick someone from Five? Like Oran. He was the only one of your old friends that tried to see you or maybe Zephyr, if you wanted to marry a victor."

Zephyr's face turned green. "I really don't want to marry Sera." And Clarisse smiled.

"I don't want to marry you either." Sera fired back in disgust.

"I would." Clarisse said quietly.

Huxley stared at his sister and then at Talissa who had a look on her face that mirrored his. "I'll have a glass too." He breathed out.

"Why don't you just get a bottle of hard liquor out?" Estelle leaned back into her seat with a carefree smile. "God knows, we're gonna need it."

"Estelle." Huxley warned and she shrugged.

"I'm not wrong, am I?" She looked around the table almost sadly like it was the last time everyone would be gathered around the table.

"Sure, why not?" Ramiel said and got up.

He passed Talissa by and went to the wine cellar where Sera barely went. It took him a few minutes but he was back with a deep rose-colored bottle and a few glasses, just enough for everyone but Sera and Estelle's children.

Nox had left the table for a moment to go get the door for the mayor, Leora, and Wells. The three were led into the dining room.

"Sorry we're late, we had to handle Porter's final rites." Wells began, pulling out a chair next to Nox as the mayor did the same after a quick peck to his wife as a greeting.

"That was quicker than I thought." Talissa remarked, uncorking the bottle of liquor Ramiel had brought. "They're not giving her a district-wide send-off."

"Her family chose not to." The mayor replied. A short reply, nothing more to be said or asked. He didn't want to talk about Porter anymore than his wife wanted to keep Porter's memory alive.

"She didn't really deserve one." Leora added bitterly.

Huxley let out a loud audible sigh, bowing his head down. Even though he didn't want to say it out loud, he did mourn Porter a little. She was his mentor, the one who got him out of the arena. Without her, he wouldn't be sitting at that table.

"We should…start eating, the kids are getting a little impatient." Sera said, getting up to help her brother serve dinner before taking her place again.

Quiet scraps and clangs of cutlery against the china plates were all Sera could hear as the sun set and painted the sky a deep blue that almost looked black. Every few seconds, she'd pause to look out the window, mimicking a quiet Zephyr who'd once again retreated into his thoughts.

Discreetly, Talissa glanced around the table. Her eyes trailed over everyone around the table, lingering on the faces of the victors a second longer than she'd liked. She stared at her sister for far longer than Sera would've liked and took a sip of her liquor without taking her eyes off Sera.

With a heavy sigh, she placed her knife over her half-eaten pie still drenched in gravy. "How are you two planning to make it work?" She asked.

"Who and who?" Leora interrupted.

"Seraphine and…Finnick Odair, apparently." Talissa answered, swirling the rose-gold liquid around her glass. "They're engaged."

Leora's eyes widened and her lips stretched out into a pleasant smile, a genuine one too. She grabbed the liquor bottle and poured herself more before holding it up. "That is some good news and," She took a big gulp of the liquor, burning her throat in the process. "One I welcome—about time too."

"About time?" Talissa's face scrunched up, her brows knitted together. "About time?" She repeated and looked at Sera with a wild look.

"Looks like the Capitol rumors from back then were true." Wells laughed and reached for the bottle of liquor, only for Leora to pour him a glass.

"Oh, okay." Talissa said to herself, breathing in and out. "So we—I am the last to know."

"I didn't know either and he's not the worst person Sera could marry." Ramiel stepped in before Talissa started crying out of frustration or even threw a fit. "I mean, she could be engaged to that old guard of hers."

Sera made a face of disgust and wiped her mouth with her napkin, glaring at her brother for ruining her appetite. Zephyr cracked a smile and promptly got kicked under the table by her again.

"You mean that cat-eyed bastard, the one with the blood-colored hair and the scar?" Wells asked with a lopsided grin. "That…could be worse."

The mayor covered his mouth with his napkin, stifling his laughter. "Um…that is Icarus Redcliff and he is a very important person in the Capitol."

"Who cares?"

"What he said, dear." Estelle squeezed her husband's hand as he sighed.

Talissa relaxed and reached for Huxley. "I guess it could be worse but I don't know how you're going to make it work. He's from Four, unless you move to Four which we all know is never happening."

"It could happen." Zephyr said, reminding everyone he was still here.

"How? President Snow becomes overly generous and let's cross the borders." Clarisse joked and reached for his glass of liquor. "That's something that's never going to happen."

"All the more reason it's not going to work." Estelle said. "Your aunt would have agreed with me. There's no way for you two to be together without the entire system of Panem changing and that's not happening."

"A little harsh." Ramiel gave Sera a comforting pat which Sera returned with a sad smile. Unfortunately, Estelle, Clarisse, and Talissa were all right.

"Just call it off and spare yourselves the heartbreak." Talissa said and reached across the table to give Sera's hand a little squeeze. She meant what she said, trying her best to be gentle. Zephyr was right. Talissa didn't want her to leave the nest, ever.

Sera and Zephyr shared a silent look and the conversation about Finnick ended just like that. Estelle looked like she was about to say something only to swallow her words. She laid her head down on her husband's arm, lost in a gaze.

And just like that the sadness over the Quarter Quell settled on them like fine dust after a heavy sandstorm.

Sera made a note to ambush Plutarch for not telling her about the Quell but the more she thought about it; there were clear and obvious signs he'd been sending to her and Beetee. Both of them had missed it, far too occupied with the rebellion to see the signs for what they were.

'So much for future plans.'

She gathered all the plates around the table and left the room in a daze, not even noticing Nox shadowing her every step. The running tap blocked out the sounds of his footsteps and she lost herself in the routine of washing the dishes, drying them, and putting them away.

"Sera—" Nox's words were cut off as Sera pressed a wet butter knife to her cousin's throat. He trembled with fear and stared at her with wide eyes.

"D-don't do that." Sera quickly removed herself and threw the knife into the sink, leaning over it in horror. "You know I don't like being startled."

"Neither does Huxley and Zephyr." He rubbed his neck and took a few steps back. "I should've…remembered that. I forgot. I'm sorry."

She waved him off. It was her who was supposed to be apologizing. She thought she was getting better and had left those terrible habits in the past. But the sudden news of the upcoming games had awakened something in her that she'd wished was lost to time.

"No…I'm sorry." She bit out, returning to the abandoned routine of washing dishes. "I wasn't thinking straight."

"Is everything okay?"

She paused. "Why? Why would you think that?"

"Because," He rubbed his neck again. There was no cut or scar on his pale neck. "It's just…you've been distant again. You said you'd let it go. Let go that I blamed you for ma's death."

"It was my fault." Those self-blaming words nearly slipped out of her mouth.

She bit her tongue and shook her head. "I did let it go. I've just been…dealing with something else…something you wouldn't understand."

"Is that why you told Lissa and Miel to not send you any letters when the games started last year?"

"Something like that." The tap stopped and she picked up a rag to clean the plates, only to have her work stolen by Nox. "No–"

"Just let me do it. I feel bad and I want to make it up to you."

"I'm sure you do." Sera moved to let Nox dry the dishes while she stored them away.

"I'm sorry." Nox looked down, not meeting Sera's gaze. "For writing to you when you told us not to."

"It's fine." What was done couldn't be taken back. All she could do was work around her mistakes. "Don't think about it too much."

He sighed. "I just wanted to see how you were."

"It's fine." She repeated.

"No, it's not. I know it's not." Of course, Nox wouldn't believe her empty words like Ramiel would or even Talissa. "You know, I feel like something is going on with you—I don't think it's your sudden engagement with Finnick Odair. He's not as bad as Lissa thinks he is."

"She just doesn't want me to leave her sight."

He nodded. "It's bad for her every time you leave for Capitol."

"You'd think having her own kids would make her less of a mother hen."

Nox cracked a smile and tried to laugh but it came out as a strangled breath. The two fell into an awkward silence that Nox broke. "You—whatever's going with you, I can help—if you let me."

But she couldn't. The last thing she wanted was for Nox or her siblings to get involved in the rebellion. She patted his head, standing on her toes to reach the top of his head. Sometimes, it felt strange knowing how much Nox had grown over the years. How everyone had changed in the blink of an eye.

A sense of sadness washed over her and she felt even more depressed thinking about the games. Maybe the rebellion was not worth it. It wasn't too late to give them all away to Snow.

But only if she had a plan to exonerate herself. She didn't have one. Not yet anyway.

"Sera?" Nox looked down at her and she smiled. "I can help." He said again.

"You can help by packing a few bags and being ready." She answered. A cryptic answer with a hint of humor, knowing her cousin, he'd take it to heart. "Tell Miel and Lissa too but only when I've left for the Capitol."

Nox laughed, abruptly cutting himself off to study his cousin. "Ready for what?"

He'd barely manage to ask when Talissa's distressed voice cut him off, followed by the sound of furniture hitting the floor. She could hear a storm of argumentative voices from the dining room with her distressed niece and nephew being carried out by Estelle's children, Lito and Lucia.

Faro, Huxley and Talissa's eldest son covered his eyes as tears streamed down his face. He buried himself deep into the embrace of Lucia. His sister was fast asleep with dried tears on her honeyed skin in the arms of Lito.

"What's going on?" Nox tried to pick up Faro but Sera pulled him away. "Wh—"

"I don't know." Lucia answered. "My ma and pa told us to go upstairs with Faro and Dia but I don't know where to take 'em." She was trembling as she spoke, looking over her shoulders where the dining room was and where Estelle's voice could be heard loud and clear alongside the mayor's.

"Nox, take them to Faro and Dia's room and set up two extra beds." Sera motioned him towards the stairs and started towards the dining room.

Nox tried to grab onto her, to stop her. She'd slipped through his grasp and was already halfway down the hall leading to the dining room. For a quick second, she thought about turning around and going upstairs with the children but with a deep breath, stepped inside the room to be met with the chaos inside.

A chair or two were on the floor. Her sister was pacing the room wildly while pushing away Huxley's attempts to calm her down. Clarisse had pushed herself into a corner of the room, ignoring her brother and Zephyr while Leora and Wells tried to speak over them all.

Estelle was in the center of the room by the tall windows overlooking Lake Nike. She was arguing with her husband, telling him that she wanted to hide away in the hidden bunker behind the mountains of Five while the mayor tried to tell her otherwise and persuade Leora to volunteer for his wife if her name was called out.

The only person still sitting in their seat was a despondent Ramiel. His hands were wrapped around his artificial limb. His head hung low with his eyes shut and dried tears marring his face. He didn't move or make a sound while he sat in the middle of the chaos.

"Miel…" Sera tried to call out to him.

"Sera!" Talissa ambushed her, crashing into Sera. Her fingers cut into Sera's shoulders as she pulled her close to her embrace, eyes wide and frantic. "You're…not…going in…again. I'm–I'm not losing you."

"Lissa, you're not losing anyone!" Huxley tried to pull her away, only for his wife to latch onto him. "Lissa, please…just listen."

Talissa tore herself away from her husband and looked around the room. "Listen to what? How ridiculous this is? Or how I might become a widow and lose my sister in the next few weeks?!"

"Lissa…"

Sera tried to reach for her but Ramiel had stood up and cradled his older sister into his embrace, saying soothing words of comfort, heard only by him. Her throat constricted and it felt like she'd swallowed up a handful of sand.

Her brother shakily pulled Sera into their embrace and said nothing. Time stood still as she buried her face into her siblings' embrace.

Just for a minute, it was like those three were children again who'd just lost their mother to an unexplainable sickness. The three stood hand in hand in front of the Justice Building not so long after they'd managed to register their mother's death and amass enough money for a second cremation.

Ramiel's tears bled into her hair and dripped down to her dress but she didn't say a word. Talissa's body shook, and her grip on Sera and Ramiel tightened like a lifeline. She couldn't bear to part with those two.

"C-can't Sera be exempted?" Ramiel's voice was barely above a whisper so hoarse that Estelle and the mayor had to move close to hear him speak. Ramiel repeated his question and Estelle immediately looked to her husband.

"I'm sorry, Miel." Mayor Clement Weathers had never truly looked more upset than he did at that moment. "They—the folks from the Capitol were clear that only Porter was exempt, not Sera."

Talissa laughed and tears spilled from her eyes. She'd accepted that Huxley could go in but maybe a small part of her hoped that Wells or Zephyr would volunteer for him.

Sera was another matter since it was clear to everyone that Estelle wouldn't be volunteering for anyone even if Talissa begged her to. Leora was a wildcard, nobody knew what she would do.

Exemption was Talissa's last hope for Sera.

"Wh-what do you mean Sera's not exempt?" Clarisse left her corner with Zephyr following her. "What—that doesn't make sense? She's sick—she needs pain medication to even get through the day and they're not exempting her?"

The mayor shut his eyes and shook his head. "I tried sending out a request when I got the message for the games but they shut me down."

"They shut you down?" Ramiel repeated what he said breathlessly.

"Why would they do that?" Huxley asked even though he felt like he knew the answer. He looked at Sera with a darkened accusatory gaze that screamed that he knew she'd done something in the Capitol that she shouldn't have. "Never mind." He said after a moment before anyone could even muster up an answer for him. "Forget it. Sera's probably not going to get reaped."

"It's a one in three chance." Zephyr repeated his own words from before. "Who knows? Maybe Sera and I could go back in or maybe it'll be Leora and Huxley or you know, so on and on."

"Zeph." Clarisse gently pulled him back.

Her hands were tightly wound around his yet so gentle that it usually would've gotten a loud comment from Huxley. But no there was nothing but a strained silence.

Breathing in heavily, Sera massaged her neck, her fingers dancing with Finnick's around her neck. "Maybe I won't get reaped. Maybe, it'll be different. Maybe, it's all just a hoax to get the ratings up and maybe they'll do regular reapings."

"Hopeful words." Estelle commented sadly.

"I'm trying to be hopeful."

But unfortunately, hope was not enough when the day of Reaping eventually arrived.

Sera saw the signs on the wall and felt like burying herself where she stood. Her sister with Dia in her arms held a tight grip on Sera's hand. She was dressed in her best, a simple navy dress with her hair up in a bun with a tear-stained face.

Her other hand was occupied by Ramiel's grip on her. Like Talissa, Ramiel wore navy as well and so did Nox, Clarisse, Huxley, and Sera. From a distance, their near-matching navy clothes looked black. It was like they were dressed for a funeral.

"How appropriate." Zephyr had joked, dressed very much in navy despite not being an official member of her family.

But Sera and Talissa stood out from their family. Theirs was much more colorful than the rest of them. She'd chosen to wear one of her mother's dresses; the one Sera remembered she'd worn for her father to celebrate what would've been the anniversary of their marriage.

A simple navy cotton dress with embroidered pink camellias, marigolds, rosemary, and lemon leaves. Her mother had made it herself with a little help from her aunt. There was a matching set to the one she wore, the other half of the set was worn by Talissa. It had far less embroidery than hers but it had the same flowers on her dress but more muted.

The three siblings almost refused to let go when it came to going up the stage. Talissa was much more clingier than Ramiel who had barely let go but Talissa didn't want to. Huxley had to step in and force a teary-eyed Talissa to let go.

Talissa all but collapsed once she'd let go of Sera into Huxley's arms, attaching herself to him. She wouldn't let go of him either. The cameras quickly turned away from the victors and started to film the other people around the stage. They wouldn't dare to show how the victors truly felt about it all.

"Lissa, look at me." She heard Huxley say. "It'll be fine. I won't be the one they'll call out. I'll be fine and so will Sera. I promise." He kept repeating those words like a spell to a sobbing red-faced Talissa. "I promise we'll be fine."

He pulled away and pecked Talissa's lips before pulling her into a deep embrace. Sera turned away. Her heart was empty and her eyes were dry of all tears. She'd already cried the night before while Zephyr snuck into her house to spend some time with Clarisse.

She was all alone.

A flash of dark hair and dark eyes caught her attention in the crowd. A familiar haunting face looked up at her with a mixture of pure hate and pity. Eugene? His hair was longer, he was less gaunt than she remembered seeing him in her nightmares and he looked…alive.

No, not Eugene.

It was his brother. He stood among the sea of people, his gaze trained on her and only on her. He probably wanted her to go back into the arena. She wouldn't blame him if he did.

Creon, the District 5 escort, stepped on the stage and the crowd fell into a quiet hush. He was much more jittery than before as he wrapped his arms around himself, scrunching up his silk black and gray pinstripe shirt. He had little triangles painted on his eyes in a muted violet that matched his nails and his hair was black, a natural color for once.

He clasped his hands together around the mic stand, looked out at the crowd with his artificial gray-pink eyes, and began his little speech he had prepared. "Welcome to the Reaping for the annual 75th Hunger Games and the 3rd Quarter Quell. For the first time in history, we welcome back past victors from the games gone by back into the arena."

He moved through the motions in a nervously rehearsed manner, calling forth the mayor to give a little speech and then quickly moving past the Dark Days to get to the reaping. It was like he was running out of time with how hasty he was being. He even managed to drop one of his notecards onto the stage floor in his haste.

"Now, onto the reaping." He breathed into the mic and shuddered. "The boy—no, the men's first." He looked back at Wells, Zephyr, and Huxley and turned back to the crystal bowl in front of him. Mechanically, he pulled out a single paper from the three and looked back at the lineup once more.

The three faces were displayed proudly on the screen, each as blank as a canvas. Zephyr didn't crack a smile like he usually did.

"Julian Wells," Creon called out in a booming voice.

Wells smiled and nodded to Zephyr and Huxley. It wasn't them. It wasn't Huxley. Talissa let out a breath of relief and Clarisse's face brightened. It was harsh but Wells didn't mind. He'd let Sera know that he was going to volunteer anyway without even asking.

Creon moved aside with a sad smile and let Wells take the center stage. "Any words you'd like to impart on us before—you know…"

"None." Wells spat out and then laughed, stumbling back to the other side. "I have nothing to say so get that thing out of my face." He glared at the camera and took his spot.

"Alright then." Creon nervously looked to the sides at the overly eager Peacekeepers. "That was District 5's male tribu—victo—tribute, Julian Wells!"

Nobody cheered or clapped. Just a wave of sad smiles and pitiful gazes was all Wells got.

"Moving on." The first crystal bowl was taken away and a second wheeled in.

Three other images took the place of Wells, Huxley, and Zephyr's. Estelle, Leora, and her own image were projected onto the screens behind her for the entire district to see.

Sera sucked in a breath and looked over to Talissa and Ramiel in the crowd, mouthing to them that it would be okay. She'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't scared.

She was terrified.

The crowd and the Justice Building behind her, just everything made her feel sick. She was fourteen again, out of her sickbed and finally healthy, attending the third reaping of her life. Emilia was on the stage with her crass yet melodic voice, trying her best to be sympathetic but still entertaining to the Capitolites at home.

The escort for Five looked at the bowl with deep regret and pulled out a single slip of paper. They didn't open it immediately. They stared at it a second longer than Sera would've liked.

She felt sicker than ever when the name was called out.

"Seraphine…Reza."

And she was fourteen again.


Plant Dictionary:

Rosemary - Remembrance

Pink Camelia - Longing

Marigold - Grief and Despair

Lemon Leaves - Everlasting Love