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AN: A brief look at the reactions of other parties to the apparent 'losses' in the arena, and a brief reference to events from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; we return to Katniss in the next chapter.
Twice Chosen
Clove
When six cannons went off in short order, Clove had been pleasantly surprised, even before she saw who it was.
The Capitol would probably complain about the lack of a good show, but Clove didn't have a problem with this turn of events; anything that made it easier for her to get home was good for her. She was idly curious who or what could have been responsible for six Tributes getting killed off so quickly, but that was something she could find out once she won the Games and could take a look at the recap.
Besides, she didn't think she had any reason to complain about a few mysterious deaths when at least half of those had been trouble if the Games had let them stay in play for much longer. The redhead from Five and the little girl from Eleven obviously wouldn't have been a problem, and as tough as the boy from Twelve was, they could all see that he didn't have the instinct to actually do any damage to them. On the other hand, Clove was willing to admit that she'd been worried about facing the big guy from Eleven if things had come down to the two of them, and the girl from Twelve had showed a good edge with the bow and arrow during training. Glimmer had been an obvious threat simply because she was from One, but Clove would have to admit that Eleven's guy and Twelve's girl gave the impression that they would have been an interesting match-up if things had come down to her and either of them.
As it was… unless she'd lost count, the only non-Career in play right now was that guy from Ten, and she vaguely recalled that he'd had a limp or something that would stop him just charging in. Four's girl was nothing special, she was fairly sure the guy from Three had some kind of plan so she just needed to keep an eye on him, and despite his name, Marvel wasn't coming across as anything special so far. She didn't particularly like the idea of fighting Cato after all the time they'd spent training together, but if it came down to the two of them…
Well, she'd do what she had to do to get back home.
Gale
Katniss was dead.
Every time Gale thought those words, he just wanted to hit something all over again. It was only his promise to Katniss that he'd take care of her family that stopped him trying to go out and attack the Peacekeepers with his bare hands if he couldn't get a weapon; anything that would let him vent the rage he felt at the Capitol that had condemned Katniss to death for 'crimes' that had been committed decades ago.
She had gone into a situation that she should never have been forced into because she wanted to protect her sister, and now she'd ended up dead in some stupid cave-in with a bunch of randoms. Her death hadn't even given her a chance to make some kind of 'statement'; she hadn't taken anyone out, and she hadn't been able to show anyone what someone from Twelve could really do…
He didn't know if he was angrier at Haymitch or Mellark; Mellark had just gone and basically stabbed Katniss in the back after all that talk about how he 'loved' her and then led that One girl right to her, and Haymitch had probably just kept on drinking rather than deal with any real business! The only good thing Mellark had done was die with the other five, and Gale still would have liked to kill him for what he'd done.
He just wanted something he could kill to vent over this whole situation; the Capitol had taken the most important thing in the world from him, and life went on as though this was just another day…
God, I hate those assholes.
Prim
Katniss was dead.
No matter how often Prim tried to take that fact in, it still prompted a fresh round of sobs from the little girl lying in her room, clutching her sister's pillow as Buttercup paced around the room.
She understood why Katniss had volunteered for her, but that just made it worse; even as she grieved for her sister, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was still glad it wasn't her who'd been in that arena…
She was a horrible, selfish person who hadn't deserved a sister as caring as Katniss… and now her sister was dead because she'd wanted to protect Prim… dead with four strangers and someone who'd tried to help them in a dark moment years ago…
Why did the Games have to go on after something so stupidly pointless?
Cinna
Cinna knew that it was an unfortunate attitude to take for any stylist, but he had genuinely liked Katniss Everdeen. He had requested District Twelve partially for the challenge of making something suitably distinctive for what many saw as the least impressive District, but he would admit to those he trusted that he had enjoyed the chance to work with Katniss. She had been honest in a manner that few Tributes were in his study of past Games, and he had appreciated her courage in volunteering for her sister from the beginning.
He might have been involved in attempts to find a suitable symbol for the rebellion, but right now, he preferred to focus on the tragedy that a promising young woman had been lost in such a manner before she could truly show Panem's public what she was capable of. He appreciated Thirteen's official goals, but he liked to consider the human cost as well; what good was it to rebel without a clear idea what you were fighting for?
He fought to give others a chance, and his only regret now was that he hadn't been able to give Katniss a better one…
President Snow
Six tributes in one moment…
They hadn't experienced loss on that scale since Beetee's little trick with an electric cable during the Fortieth Games, and on that occasion they'd at least had an interesting few days leading up to a suitably dramatic showdown.
Still, Snow couldn't object to the result in principle. As he'd observed to Seneca Crane during their earlier talk, the Games worked as a means of providing hope to the masses to keep them in line, but an accident like this could serve to reinforce the idea that the Districts were always destined to remain in line like the animals they were.
The Capitol was the only truly deserving victor in Panem; those who won the Games just got to share in the glory under the conditions he and others imposed upon them.
As frustrating as it was not to know how the cave-in had been caused, Snow could live with his ignorance if it ensured that he didn't have to put up with potentially troublesome Tributes. As much as he had tried to deny the idea to Seneca Crane, Katniss Everdeen had shown herself to be a potential threat to the system; if someone from an outlying District could earn such a score in the final assessment…
The remaining Tributes were all interesting, but none of them should particularly 'rock the boat'; the survivors from One, Four and Ten were nothing special, Three overestimated his understanding of the rules and his place in events, and the Twos were little more than the standard Career Tribute. As Doctor Gaul had observed so long ago, the important thing was to maintain control of the system; Katniss Everdeen had the potential to be significant, but now they were back to the stereotypical Tributes who didn't merit much attention.
With the Games back to the standard symbol of Panem's power, he could turn his attention to the question of those rumours he'd been hearing about someone stealing gold in some of the Districts. The murders in themselves weren't too significant so far, but he couldn't allow it to develop further in case certain people began to join the dots and express their dissatisfaction with the Capitol's ability to maintain order…