Lucy didn't know how long it took to arrive at the Capital. She suspected that since she was on the locomotive train, it probably took about a day and a half for them to arrive. She did take notice that some stops took longer than others. She was mostly isolated in her compartment, but the two Peacekeepers in Yancy and Elia were there to check up on her and give her some meals when they made specific stops. They were somewhat more decent than what she had to eat at 12, but not something she would eat too regularly.
Lucy noticed the train beginning to slow down again, so she took her guitar case with her in case she needed to play some songs again. The compartment door opened, and it seemed that Yancy and Elia were there to greet her. She slowly got out of the compartment and took some steps outside. She looked around her surroundings, noticed the same place she exited beforehand when she first arrived at the Capital to her games. She also took note of the various other peacekeepers that were on duty…at least 20 that she could count.
She took noticed when the compartment next to her opened, and out walked a large man in his mid 20's. He had long auburn eyes and short black hair, with his dark brown skin showcasing some scars on his right arm. He was wearing a simple farming outfit with a white t-shirt and some blue overalls.
Lucy recognized his as a former winner of the games, Quinton from District 11. He was the winner of the third Hunger Games, and she was kind of terrified to go near him. This was still in the early days when a quarter of the tributes didn't want to participate in the games. But instead of having the Peacekeepers kill the kids out of rebellion, Quinton was the one who killed them all, deciding it was better for them to die by his hands then by the peacekeepers themselves. She was only 8 when she watched these games, and she was horrified at the way he killed them off, with Quinton stabbing each of them right through the head. He had later said in his interview that it was for the best, but she didn't think that was right. He had decided to be the executioner besides letting them just be. She was still horrified at the Games themselves, but she had become numb to the games since she was a part of that as well.
Lucy saw Quinton look over to her, and she saw him with an empty look on him. She didn't know what the look on him was, but she reasoned that it was a look that was guilty and sad. She couldn't comprehend what he was going through at this moment.
"Enough looking. We're moving." Elia said.
Lucy followed orders, as she and Quinton were moved along past the train station. She tried to keep her head straight and not pay attention to any of the guns that were pointed right at her, but it was starting to get difficult to keep her cool. She noticed that construction was still going on to improve the Capital structure, especially since the bombing of the giant coliseum of last year. But it looked like they were rebuilding quickly. After a while of walking, they reached what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, there were various holes inside the building, and Lucy also took notice of the various windows that were blown out or broken beyond repair.
She was quickly brought along inside the warehouse, along with Quinton. Soon after, she noticed in the center of the building, and there were ten chairs situated in a circle, and what Lucy noticed is that they were numbered from 1 to 10. Lucy knew where this was going, and didn't need to be asked by Elia and Yancy on where she was going. She swiftly moved to where the seat number 10 was, and Lucy noticed that Quinton didn't hesitate either as he went and took a seat on the seat numbered 3.
The rest of the victors were quickly filed in. There were a couple victors that Lucy noticed as they entered. Elton Cradus was from District 9, and he was the winner of the first ever Hunger games. He looked…worse for wear. Lucy noticed a dark vein in his left arm, and his right arm was gone. His blue eyes now looked heavy and there were bags underneath them.
Peyton Jest was from District 8, and he looked super arrogant, especially since he was wearing expensive clothes and looked like he was bored out of his mind. He won his games by not getting his hands dirty until the very end. And Ellody was the winner of the second game…and she did not like her at all. Lucy could confirm that Ellody was a full-on sociopath. She didn't feel any sympathy for anyone in the games, and she killed for sport more than anything. She didn't want to be anywhere near her.
Grayson Howard and Ester James were both from District 7, both winning in back-to-back years. Grayson won his games by hiding insider some man-made tunnels. Ester won by killing a few tributes, including a tribute who was about to force himself on her. Ester seemed colder towards the group, with her specifically looking at a tribute named Preston with disdain. Grayson was easier going and seemed interested in starting conversations.
Then there was Polly Waterfield, who was the winner of the 9th Hunger Games, and the girl who was sitting right next to her. She was about two years older than her…but she seemed to be extremely tired, looking like she hadn't slept at all on the train ride. She seemed to be more focused on getting comfortable on the chair than anything else, which mean she was making a lot of noise which was annoying Lucy to no end.
The last thing that Lucy took notice of was the look that the girl sitting in the number 5 chair was giving her. Lucy had already known that this girl had come from 1, since she notice the various jewelry around her neck and her wrists. She recognized this girl as Ophelia West, the girl who won the 5th Hunger Games. She could tell she was a natural beauty since she didn't see any makeup on her. But the look that Ophelia was giving her wasn't one of anger or anything that would hint as jealous. But it was more of one of…curiosity. Lucy didn't know if she was comfortable with that, since she knew that 1 and 2 were most closely related to the Capital. She couldn't trust anyone from those two districts yet.
Suddenly, Lucy heard some footsteps. Lucy saw Polly and Ester get tense at this, while Quinton didn't move a muscle. Grayson and Ester looked nervous. Ophelia sighed in disgust. Elton looked like he didn't even hear the footsteps. Peyton and Ellody didn't seem to care one bit, almost looking a little bored. Lucy then looked at who was entering the room. The first was a woman she had seen before…Livia. She had notice during the interview process she was working with the Male from 1 of last year. She didn't really pay much attention to Livia, but now she was curious about what she was doing here. Then she saw the person who she didn't want to see right now…Snow.
She noticed that he was wearing a black coat with a buttoned up white dress shirt. His piercing blue eyes were still gnawing at her even still, and she saw that his curly blonde had grown back. And what irked her the most was that smile of his. She wouldn't fall for that smile again…not after last time. And she felt this sinister aura related to Snow that she felt around him…she didn't know who would fall under his spell. But she knew she needed to give the others a heads up.
"Hi there, fellow victors. I would like to welcome you all to the capital. I understand the warehouse isn't the best place for introductions, but I hope you understand that we first need to convince everyone here about what's at stake. You see, last year things didn't go well at all…especially since we're still recovering from the bombing that happened last year." Snow said.
"Yeah, I feel ya…really wished we could have seen it live." Ophelia said.
Lucy was surprised that Ophelia clapped back at Snow and was surprised that she wasn't reprimanded for speaking out.
"Anyways, I brought you all here today for something important. You see, last year we attempted to liven up the games by having various students mentor the tributes of last year. Clearly, things didn't go the way we expected, and some of the students of the Capital died. So instead, we came with a solution. We'll have the ten of you be the mentors for these games."
Lucy didn't know what to think when Snow said these words. She was basically being asked to try and save the tributes for the games…and she would have to watch them go into the arena and potentially die. Lucy watched as Ester rose from her chair.
"Hold on…you seriously think I'm going to agree to that!" Ester said.
"Yeah…what she said. I'm not up for just watching kids die from my mentorship." Polly said.
"Uh, Polly…I don't really think we have a choice in this." Grayson said.
"I don't care. I'm not going to be responsible for the death of more tributes." Ester said.
"Now hold on…there could be some benefits to this." Peyton said.
Lucy looked at Peyton in disbelief.
"Don't fucking tell me-"
"I think there might be a reward for us if we do mentor someone to their victory. Come on, you've got to admit that's enticing."
"Honestly, I think there could be some positive in helping a tribute win. Maybe I could-" Ellody said.
"Ellody…don't even think about it." Ophelia said.
Lucy then saw Ellody make a pouty face towards Ophelia, but Ophelia ignored her as she looked towards snow.
"So…are you asking us to mentor these tributes from now on?"
"Yes. Starting this year, we are asking all of you to mentor the tributes for these games and all the future games we hold. Once we start getting more victors, we will have you mentor specific tributes from their districts. Right now, since we only have ten, you will focus on mentoring the districts that you won from. But…that leaves Grayson and Ester."
Lucy looked over to the two of them, with Ester glaring at Snow while Grayson seemed more nervous than anything.
"You are both winners from 7. Grayson, you can mentor 7 since you won first. Ester, you have the choice of picking from the districts that haven't won yet, which include 2, 5 and 10."
"What if I don't want to choose?" Ester said.
Lucy looked over towards Snow, as he smiled.
"That's alright if you don't want to choose. If you don't, we'll just have to give you the weakest District in 10, so that you'll have a harder time coming up with a winner."
Ester didn't respond after that, staying silent instead of answering Snow.
"Hold up…what about the other two districts? Who will be mentoring them?" Polly asked.
"Me and Livia. We've had our…differences in the past, but we should be able to mentor both tributes from 2 and 5 successfully." Snow said.
Lucy slowly looked up towards Snow and Livia.
"There is no way we would agree to this. There is no way I am participating in this. I will not just…coach some kids that I'm trying to save, only to watch them die. Why would we agree to anything like this."
Suddenly, Quinton got up from his chair, and he looked at everyone in the room. Some of the Peacekeepers had their weapons ready in case he tried something.
"We don't have a choice. Think about it…if we don't do what the Capital asks of us…they'll come after are friends…people we care about deeply. Even our family isn't safe. Don't think that we don't have some in our districts who are loyal to the capital. Even spies are around every corner…they would know if we were rebelling against the system. This is the only way."
Nobody said anything after that. Ester and Polly seemed quiet at Quinton's words, and Ellody seemed excited to get started.
"So…when do we meet the tributes?" Peyton asked.
That's when Livia took over the conversation.
"We've decided to bring you all here a week before the Reaping. You'll be able to watch the reaping ceremony on the TV sets we provided. You'll have three days to mentor the tributes before the games, plus work with the tributes that you've got to help them in the games. Oh, and one more thing. Don't bother trying to get to know them. Just focus on getting your tribute to win. Connections with them are meaningless."
Lucy didn't say anything after that…she was still just trying to process everything that had happened in the past 2 days. Snow looked over at her, but she didn't give him the satisfaction of him looking in his face.
I wonder who I'll be mentoring…will I ever be comfortable again…especially since I'm going to be watching kids go into the arena to potentially die. Can I…can I go through all of that again?
And that's the chapter. Thank you all for reading. SYOT submissions are still open, in which users or guests can submit 3 tributes. You can find the submission form on my profile. Submissions are open until February 15th.