Prologue I: Peace

The Art of War

District11-Olive

Mr. Apelles stood from his desk, signalling his class to be silent as their break came to an end. Though many of the subjects his students must study did not interest him, he had always looked forward to history lessons. Whispers died out around the room and two dozen young faces turned to look at him. "Does anyone remember where we left off yesterday?"

Tycho, one of his keenest students, raised his hand quickly and Mr. Apelles nodded towards him. "The end of the Mockingjay Rebellion."

"Ah yes," Mr. Apelles agreed, feigning forgetfulness. "Can someone explain to the class the importance of the Battle of District 2?"

Tycho raised his hand once again, but the teacher instead called on Caia to answer. "It was the first and only ground battle of the Mockingjay Rebellion, fought in District 2."

"Very good," Mr. Apelles nodded. His students were some of the brightest in the Capitol and many of them had heard the story of the last rebellion long before they even entered his classroom. Their parents were among the most influential in the nation, and history is an important reason for that.

"The Capitol won that battle," Tycho offered as he crossed his arms smugly over his chest. The teacher cleared his throat to regather everyone's attention and Tycho sunk back down into his seat.

"Following the battle, what happened?" Mr. Apelles asked, and his students looked at him blankly. He shook his head and continued. "Which of the lost districts were determined to have been responsible for the attack on District 2?"

"9 and 11," the class chimed.

"They conspired against the Capitol," Tycho added confidently. "They had to be punished."

"Tycho is absolutely correct. The Capitol's state of the art surveillance system tracked rebel activity back to them and, in order to keep Panem safe, the districts were defeated. Can anyone tell me the numbers of the other lost districts?"

"1 and 12!" Misa called out, slapping both hands over her mouth when she realized that she had spoken out of turn. Mr. Apelles gave her a warning look but decided to let it slide this time, after all it was hard to blame them for being excited about their history. It was all the old teacher could hope for.

"What happened to 1?" Caia asked and a few of the other students looked at the small girl; some rolled their eyes but others appeared curious as well. Districts 9, 11, and 12 had to be destroyed by Capitol forces during the Mockingjay Rebellion, but District 1 had always been a loyal region as far back as the first rebellion. Mr. Apelles had yet to teach them about the loss of their nearest district, but some already knew the tragedy from their parents.

"Does anyone know?" The teacher asked. A few of the students looked as if they might, but none wanted to be the one to say it out loud. It was truly one of the darkest spots of the rebellion and many had likely visited the memorial that lies just outside the Capitol walls. Mr. Apelles took a seat on the edge of his desk and stared back at them for another moment before he decided to continue himself.

"Two weeks after the defeat of districts 9 and 11, rebel troops descended on District 1 which was being used as a safe haven for the displaced soldiers from District 2. Luckily, much of the Capitol army was able to be shuttled out before the destruction began." Even speaking the words himself brought tears to his eyes. His own family had roots in the lost district, and it was only thanks to the Capitol's generosity that his ancestors and other District 1 survivors were welcomed into the Capitol at all. He couldn't imagine a life outside the Capitol walls or the selfishness that led District 1 to be targeted in the first place.

"The rebels destroyed District 1, leaving thousands dead and hundreds wounded. The Capitol was able to shoot down the rebel hovercrafts, and then launch their own counterattack on what remained of District 13. It was due to District 1's sacrifice that the Mockingjay Rebellion was thwarted and we finally saw peace as we have it today."

"No more rebels," Tycho said with a snort and a couple of other students nodded their agreement. "Not if they know what's good for them."

"A good leeway into our next discussion, thank you Tycho," Mr. Apelles laughed. "I'm sure that you will all find this one much more interesting."

It's true that, like all Capitol children, his students always loved to hear more about the Hunger Games. It was the annual event that drew crowds from across political and class lines. It served to remind everyone of the tragedy that struck Panem all those years ago and ensured that no one dared to make the same mistake again. Not only that, but it was fun to see the districts and the Capitol alike become so invested in the games. No other sporting event, because in essence this was what the Hunger Games were, could draw such widespread interest.

"The Hunger Games have not always been as they are today," Mr. Apelles began. "For example, centuries ago, each district used to send only a pair of tributes and they did not always work together."

"Why?" Misa asked with disgust evident on her freckled face.

"Because," Mr. Apelles continued after shooting a stern look at the young student. "Only one tribute could win back then. They had no reason to be united and so tributes would often defeat their own district partners in order to win. Thankfully, the Capitol was gracious."

"We changed the rules," Caia said with an eager smile.

"We did," Mr. Apelles agreed. "Twenty years after the Hunger Games were reinstated with three tributes each, it was decided that tributes from a single district could all be crowned Victor if they were the only ones remaining. This rule allowed districts to remain united in the arena and prompted them to fully embrace the Hunger Games."

"That's not what my dad told me," Tycho said sharply. "He said the districts didn't like them very much, except 1, 2, and 4 because they won all the time."

"That was true, certainly," Mr. Apelles agreed. "Those formative districts began training their tributes long before the Mockingjay Rebellion. Following the rule change, along with the addition of a substantial reward for victorious teams, all other districts got on board as well."

"If they didn't train before, how did we get tributes?" Misa asked.

"They just picked them," Tycho shrugged.

"That sounds barbaric," Caia said. "What if they didn't know what they were doing?"

"Then they died, duh," Tycho snorted.

"Enough," Mr. Apelles chided. "Like I explained, it was quite a bit different back then. As the Capitol continued to prosper, we shared our wealth with the districts to allow more training for the tribute teams. Then, just over fifty years ago, another rule change came into effect. Does anyone know what it was?"

"Team rules, right?" Misa asked.

"Yes, each team member was given a specialization and they were each given special names. Can someone give me one of them?"

"Artillery," Caia said excitedly. Mr. Apelles was not surprised that this was the first role to come to her mind. It had been the favourite among the younger folks since it was introduced all those years ago.

"And what is their role?"

"Offense," Tycho said as he raised his hand high in the air. "They deal with weapons and fighting. They're the best ones."

"Another role?" Mr. Apelles asked as he looked around the classroom.

"Tactician," Misa said proudly. "They handle strategy and technology."

"Nerds," Tycho snorted and Mr. Apelles gave him a chiding look.

"Tacticians play an important part on their teams," Mr. Apelles reminded him. "As do all roles. Who can name the final role we haven't mentioned yet?

"Operative!" Misa and Caia sung in unison. Misa shot a look at Caia but allowed her to continue with the role's explanation. "They're all about survival skills and surveillance. That's what I'd want to be."

The bell rung to signal the end of the period and all the students were shuffled off to the cafeteria. Mr. Apelles took a seat at his desk and opened his planner to jot down where the class had left off. There was, perhaps, more to the story that he dared not tell the children about. The Hunger Games may have united the districts with the Capitol, but it may also have created deep divisions between them. This was not part of the curriculum and, to be honest, Mr. Apelles could not be sure that it was even part of their history at all. He had never been told about it from any history professor, but it still came to mind when discussing Panem's past.

Mr. Apelles was far too young to remember the days of free travel between Panem's districts, but his grandfather passed down the stories. His grandfather and generations before him had worked as Peacekeepers while the nation changed, and because of this his grandfather had many tales to tell. According to him, as the Hunger Games grew, fences were built and entrances were guarded because they could no longer trust one another. While it was certainly true that the Capitol had provided districts money to train tributes, apparently it had never been enough. Many districts poured everything they had into bringing teams home and the most vulnerable suffered for it. Crime rates apparently soared while income rates plummeted. His grandfather told him that the Hunger Games destroyed the districts, turned them against each other. Worse, his grandfather said that this had been the intent of the Capitol all along.

Mr. Apelles grandfather had been ill, that's what his mother had told him. The things he rambled on about were nothing but wild ideas crafted from his broken psyche. Mr. Apelles was never certain, but he was indebted to the Capitol for saving his lineage when the rebels could have destroyed them. He convinced himself that his grandfather was a liar; that he'd been plagued by something that made him mad until the day he finally died. The Capitol that Mr. Apelles knew would never destroy its own people. He refused to believe it could be true.

A/N: Hello from Olive [District11-Olive] and Corey [JabberjayHeart]!

This story isn't quite open yet, but we are posting this to test the waters and see if there is enough interest in this story to make it happen. It will be an SYOT collaboration following the 338th Hunger Games based on 'The War Game', a discontinued story that some of you might remember. We both agree that this is a good time to be rehashing the concept we fell in love with, and we're committed to bringing it to life in a way that we weren't able to all those years ago.

Above is much of the history behind this universe and we've also posted more information about Panem, the Hunger Games roles, and the individual districts on the story's blog [theartofwarhg . blogspot . com]. The form and details about submitting will be posted along with the second prologue in approximately a week.

Tell us what you think about the concept! What more would you like to know about this universe?

If you want to talk or have any questions, feel free to send a PM to both/either of us.

~ Corey & Olive