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Chapter Text

Juno

“ District 8 boy…. Juno Phipps” Dean Highbottom announced. 

This was a joke, Juno thought, right? There was no way, absolutely no way that she, a direct descendant of a founder of Panem, was delegated a tribute from District 8 of all places. Dean Highbottom that ingrate, didn’t even seem to realize he’d done anything wrong. She wouldn’t stand for this disrespect, and there’s no way her grandmother would either. Not with all the money her family had funneled into the school's reconstruction, you’d think she would be given the respect she deserved, clearly, these thankless nobodies needed to be reminded of their place. Juno was just about to give them all a piece of her mind when the anthem swelled again, and the broadcast started from District 8. 

The camera landed on Mayor Tucker, an ancient-looking older man, who in Juno’s mind probably should have died 20 years ago, as he hobbled over to a burlap sack on his right and reached inside at an agonizingly slow pace, after what felt like an eternity to Juno, he finally pulled the slip free and made his way back over to the microphone. Squinting he moved the slip back and forth in front of his eyes, fate forbid this man should be forced into retirement no wonder District 8 was so disgusting. “Bobbin Powers” the man finally croaked into the microphone. 

Instantly the camera turned away from Mayor Tucker to scan the crowd, finally landing somewhere near the middle. A younger blonde boy pulled himself from his group and stomped angrily towards the aisle shoving anyone who failed to move out of the way. That seems promising, Juno thought as he finally burst his way out of the crowd and into the aisle. Finally, she got her first good look at him. This boy, Bobbin?, certainly wasn’t a winner, he was truthfully one of the better-fed tributes, he was much too short and that wasn’t to mention the fact that he was missing one of his arms. There was no way this boy would win, but perhaps she could get him to the top five, unless of course the assignments were changed, and she got the tribute she truly deserved.  

Her tribute mounted the stage, still shaking in what seemed to be fury, and took his place next to the mayor. Suddenly he attempted to bolt off the stage, just to be surrounded by peacekeepers, the boy then quite literally started hissing at them, only for them to shove him to the floor in return. The cameras cut away at that, Juno hoped whatever punishment the peacekeepers dealt out wasn’t too extreme; she needed him in the best condition possible if she was truly stuck with him. The camera focused on the crowd again landing on a man in the very back, who was currently bent over heaving.  

How disgusting. 

****

Juno set her bag on the floor and lowered herself into the uncomfortable hospital chair, the constant beep of the heart rate monitor filled the otherwise silent room. The doctors had taken Boreas off of the ventilator yesterday afternoon and had promised he would wake up soon. Why exactly he hadn’t worried Juno, she was no doctor, but she couldn’t imagine being unconscious for over a week was good for anybody. Especially after getting your face bashed in by who she could only assume was a stone-cold psychopath, hopefully, it was one of the tributes that died and not that songbird they’d shipped back to District Twelve.  

Honestly, the games were something she would rather forget, how something that killed four of her classmates could be allowed to continue use was beyond her comprehension. That’s not even to mention what it had done to Boreas, how exactly they failed to notice he was still alive all that time, she would never understand. It was an incredible stroke of luck he’d still be alive when she went to see his corpse. He definitely would have died had they sent him back to 8, but he wasn’t dead, he was alive and in the capitol with her. Juno reminded herself when her thoughts threatened to drift towards the darkness. A part of her wondered if any of the others were still clinging to life when they were shipped home, after all these games were so horrifically managed it wouldn’t shock her if they failed to check a single one of the tributes pulses before declaring them dead. Not to mention the fact they’d brought her the wrong corpse twice, the girl from seven and what she could only assume were the remains of the boy from four, before bringing Boreas to her. The fact that they’d let her leave with his “corpse” with little to no question as to what she was doing, well that was a trail of thought she would rather not follow.  

The rise and fall of his chest served as her only consolation as she waited for him to wake up. Juno stayed at his bedside for another hour before she decided it was time to head home. Grandmother would be angry if she was late, especially if Boreas was the reason. She’ll come around she told herself, but ultimately, she doubted that would ever be fully true. She reached into the bag at her feet and pulled out the gift she had hoped he would be awake to receive. 

“Hey Bor” Juno started, a bit embarrassed to be speaking to someone unconscious, even though the doctors had assured her previously that he could in fact hear her. She opened the box and pulled out an anthropomorphic stuffed frog. “Mother, Father, and I got this for you, he’s from Hassenfeld's” she explained, “Everyone in my family gets one when we’re born so I thought you should get one, now that your family!”. Juno stopped, why was she doing this, would he even remember when he woke up, would he wake up? “Uhh….” She gulped and looked down at her feet urging the tears not to come. “Anyways” she continued, sniffling she needed to leave before she got too upset “his skin is made of two different colors of velvet, and his suit is red satin” She paused as though waiting for him to respond “You can get him more clothes if you like, Celere my rabbit she has at least twenty outfits, anyways his eyes are black pearls” she rambled on for a few more minutes before one of the nurses appeared outside the door. Juno took that as her cue to leave. “Anyways,” she said, affixing the frog in the crook of his remaining arm. “I really hope you like him,” she whispered, before pressing a kiss to his forehead.  

In the hallway, she spotted the nurse messing with the labels next to the door. Juno's blood ran cold as she watched the nurse remove the label that said Dr. Wayne and replace it with a new one, that read in big red letters: 

“Dr. Volumnia Gaul” 

Chapter Text

Bobbin

Plink 

Plink 

Water slowly dripped from the holes in the ceiling slowly filling every cup, bowl, and bucket the Powers family currently had in their possession. Bobbin dug through the back of the cupboard, why he didn’t know perhaps he hoped another cup would appear before they had no choice but to use the plates to catch the water as well. 

“You know I’ve thought of a bright side to all this rain!” Brocade, announced picking up one of the buckets that threatened to spill over 

“Oh yeah,” Bobbin groaned, “what possible bright side is there to our house flooding”. 

“We finally have enough clean water for a bath” he exclaimed, laughing as he emptied the bucket into the tub.  

“That water’ll be freezing by the time you can take a bath you know” Bobbin rolled his eyes, “not to mention full of plaster, most likely,” he said, pointing to the evergrowing crack in the bathroom ceiling”  

Brocade sighed, and closed his eyes, “Bobbin you need to try and not find the negative in every little thing you know, think of the positives” he chided, “We can warm the water”. 

“And the plaster?” Bobbin reiterated, glaring at the ceiling. 

“Let's not speak such negativity into being” Brocade hissed, hands on his hips. “Bobbin” Brocade deflated; he never could stay angry for long. He crossed the room and took Bobbin's face in his hands, “We have to try and find the good in things, otherwise….well we…we” he trailed off, suddenly finding the hole in the floor the most interesting thing ever it seemed. 

“Okay, Brocade I’ll look on the Bright Side” Bobbin singsonged, rolling his eyes at his brother. 

“Good, that's all I ask of you, " Brocade announced, clearly missing or completely ignoring the fact that Bobbin had been mocking him.   

~~~ 

The world was nothing but a void of darkness, and an endless empty plain stretching out in every direction. Is this what death is? Bobbin couldn't help but wonder, he was dead wasn’t he, killed by that blonde psycho in the Arena. It was the only explanation he was dead and doomed to this nothingness for all eternity.  

“Mr. Phipps…………….Mr. Phipps can you hear me” a voice came from somewhere in the emptiness. “Mr. Phipps, can you try and open your eyes for me” the voice called again, from where exactly Bobbin couldn’t tell, somewhere far was all he could discern, and who were they talking to? A veiled light joined the voice in piercing through the darkness, he flinched away from it but found it followed his every move. “Mr. Phipps, I really need you to try and open your eyes for me” the voice rang out louder than before, almost like it was right in front of him, the light joining it in its increased intensity. Oh, they're talking to me he realized with a start, sensation beginning to spread back through his body.  

Open your eyes, Bobbin thought, that's what the voice wanted after all. However, he found himself unable, the weight of his eyelids too monumental, he’d crack them a bit before they would slam back shut. The voice's encouragement and the brief glimpses of the world beyond the darkness serve as his only encouragement to keep trying. With every passing attempt, he found the weight, less and less crushing, allowing him to pry his sight back into his control.  

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Phipps” the voice announced, much too loudly in Bobbin's opinion, once he finally managed to pry his eyes open all the way. The world blurred around the edges as he scanned his surroundings, most of which were currently blocked by the face of an older man who was much too close for his liking. “Can you tell me where you are?” 

A room much nicer than any other he’d ever been in, well besides the ones at the academy, his mind supplied unhelpfully. He certainly wasn’t in Eight, that was for sure, and there was no way the people in the Capitol had kept him alive. “N…...n……no” he finally croaked out, noticing the man's unwavering attention on him. Who was this guy anyways?  

The man frowned at that, “Ah, well some confusion is to be expected, it was a nasty car accident” the man explained. 

Car accident? Bobbin had never been in a car in his life unless you count the trucks, they took him and the others to the zoo and then used to parade them through streets during the mentor's funerals. What this man was talking about he had absolutely no idea, either he had Bobbin confused with someone else or was completely insane.  

“We’ve called your parents” the man continued, apparently failing to notice Bobbin's shock. “They’ve assured us they will be here first thing in the morning with your sister.”  

Fat chance at that Bobbin thought, his mother had abandoned them three years ago, and he hadn’t had a sister or father since he was seven, but sure this guy called his ‘parents’. Whoever was coming tomorrow was sure to be disappointed to find him instead of their actual child, but that was a them problem, not a him problem.  

“Is there anything I can get you before I go?” the man asked.  

“Wa..water” he managed, his mouth was the driest it had ever been, even dryer than those days when they drank nothing cause the water in the faucet ran brown.  

“Oh, of course,” the man exclaimed, a bit too loud for Bobbin's liking. He reached to the side of the bed and brought a cup with a straw to Bobbin's lips. Bobbin latched onto the straw and drained half the cup; it tasted like heaven. “There we go,” the man said, pulling the cup away after a minute, setting it on the side of the bed his arm could reach. “Now, if there's anything else you need, I’m Dr. Wayne, and I’m just a call away” the man, Dr. Wayne, apparently, explains and presses a metal rod with a single red button on the end, into his remaining hand. “Goodnight, Mr. Phipps” 

Wait, Phipps 

Juno 

~~~ 

Morning came much too soon, for Bobbins' liking. The dullness that had enveloped him the previous night had faded away allowing pain to creep in and overtake his entire body. His attempts to sit up were halted by a large strap fastened around his chest, keeping him anchored to the bed. 

“Well look who's finally awake” a voice came from the other end of the room. “How nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Powers, or should I say Phipps?” The voice chuckles. 

“Who are you?” Bobbin hissed, attempting to move just to find his hand chained to the bed as well. This person was not Juno, and while he had never met them, he sincerely doubted this was Mr. or Mrs. Phipps, the doctor had said they were coming to see him, hadn’t he? Bobbin didn’t know everything hurt still and was kind of fuzzy around the edges. Especially the left side of his face where his eye was now missing, and hadn’t that been a pleasant revelation when he’d woken up for the second time. He attempted to sit up again, but the strap stopped him once again. 

“Careful now, I don’t want you hurting yourself” the voice commanded, an older woman, with frizzy graying hair and two different color eyes emerged from the darkness. “I am Dr. Gaul, and I will be overseeing your treatment” 

Dr. Gaul? That name sounded familiar. “You're the Gamemaker aren’t you?” Bobbin hissed, a flicker of shock crossed the woman’s face, if he had to guess that meant he’d hit the nail right on the head. “Listen if you're going to kill me just get it over with” 

“Kill you, now why would I do that” Dr. Gaul chuckled, tilting her head to the side, “you’re much too interesting a subject for me to just throw away” 

“Subject, what does that mean exactly, you're going to mutilate me before you kill me” he fumed, “Cause last time I checked you already did that, seeing as I’m now missing an eye. So how about you save us both the trouble and just get this over with? I'm certain you have better things to do than waste your time on someone from District 8 of all places.” 

Dr. Gaul erupted into a humorless almost sinister laugh as soon as Bobbin finished his tirade. “So feisty aren’t you, Mr. Phipps I must admit I’ve held a certain fondness for you since your interview with Lucky Flickerman” she explained “It takes something really special to conjure up images like that.” Dr. Gaul sucked in a breath, her face splitting into a sinister grin “All those graphic, almost perverse images, of ways you could kill someone with a sewing needle. All fiction, of course, both you and I know that, but the lovely citizens of the Capitol bought each and every lie you were selling them, and that takes real talent”  

What on earth is wrong with this woman? In Bobbin's opinion, everyone in the capitol is insane by virtue of being from the capitol but this woman took it to a whole other level. 

“So no, I will not be killing you today” she announced “I’ve grown much too fond of you in our brief time together already. In fact, I’ve grown so fond of you that I have prepared a very special gift just for you” 

Time together, did she mean the games? Cause otherwise they hadn’t spent any time together at all, unless she was counting the time he was unconscious. 

Dr. Gaul walked over to a table at the other end of the room and picked up a box that appeared to be made of solid gold. She situated herself at Bobbin's bedside and lowered the box directly into his line of sight “For you, as a token of my appreciation” she cooed, opening the box to reveal a bright blue very human eye. 

Bobbin recoiled and thrashed against his restraints, this woman was a psychopath plain and simple, who knows what poor person she carved that eye out of. “You’re a monster” Bobbin spat. 

“Careful now Mr. Phipps,” Dr. Gaul chuckled, returning the box to its original resting place. "Here in the Capitol, only children believe in monsters” 

“I doubt they stop believing in them” Bobbin sneered “They just realize they’ve become one, and luckily for me I am a child, so no one should care.” 

“What an interesting hypothesis, perhaps you're correct” she conceded. “Do you want to know the other thing that caught my attention about you, Mr. Phipps?” Gaul turned around, and stared directly at him, probably hoping he would continue to play along, but he wasn’t going to enable any sort of delusion the woman held. 

Gaul waited, and waited, honestly much longer than he ever expected her to, “Well it's your relationship with the Phipps family of course” she chuckled, pretending he had acknowledged her “Years of loyalty to the Capitol and their beliefs the Phipps, from the very founding of Panem, unquestioning loyalty and then you came along”. Her face contorted into something, Bobbin thinks was her attempt at showing glee “Now, they’re running around the city passing you off as one of their own, forging documents, illegally accessing the Capitol archive to add your biometrics signature, committing the highest of treasons all to save the life of a boy from District 8, who only one of them has known for less than a month!” The doctor's face contorted into a countenance of pure awe, “now that is something truly extraordinary!” 

Was Juno really doing all those things she said, no way Juno didn’t even like him. Sure, she said she would help him escape before they took him to the arena but that hadn’t happened, the plan was for her to cause a diversion while the interviews were happening and then he’d run for it. Instead, she just handed him over to the peacekeepers slipping him a note that told him to take a hit and go down in the arena. Apparently, she had arranged for someone to take his ‘body’ out after his death, instead when he approached that capitol weirdo, she had sent they legitimately tried to kill him. So yeah, he wasn’t going to hold his breath that Juno had decided to save him now. 

“So” Bobbin questioned, “what does that matter to you?” 

“It matters more than you could ever comprehend” she declared, “The Hunger Games are an experiment, one that has yielded a result beyond my wildest fantasies” Dr. Gaul moved around the room almost fanatically. “Bobbin Powers died in that arena” She screeched, causing him to recoil attempting to get as far away from her as possible, “and Boreas Phipps was born, and with him, an entirely new species, not District, not Capitol, neither tribute nor victor, but something entirely new, and I must understand it.”  

“You are completely deranged” he observed, “I am not a new species, I’m a person the same thing I was before.”  

Dr. Gaul huffed, “Of course, you’re a person, Boreas, can I call you Boreas?” she questioned, not that she waited for his answer, “however, you are a person unlike any other, I fear you may be an unreplicable outcome, so I must do everything in my power, to keep you around until I figure out how to replicate you.” 

So, she wasn’t going to kill him, that's a good thing maybe? Who knows what horrors she could have planned that don’t involve his death? Also, Boreas, what kind of name was that a ridiculously Capitol one he decided. He pulled against his restraints, to no avail as Dr. Gaul trifled through the cart to his left.  

“Ahh here we are” she declared producing a hypodermic needle full of some chartreuse-colored liquid “You know the Phips have been paying top dollar for your care” she stated, approaching the bed. “Not to mention how very special you have become to me Mr. Phipps; I believe it's only fair you get the best treatment the Capitol has to offer. This” she shouted brandishing the syringe “will heal, what should take months of recovery in mere hours.” She grabbed the tube attached to his arm and inserted the syringe into one of the notches on the line “Unfortunately” she hissed “It is quite painful, but don’t worry once you wake up you will be good as new, eye included”  

Bobbin thrashed away from her, but it didn’t matter, she pushed down on the plunger and injected the strange liquid into his veins. He knew the second it entered his body, a searing pain, ten times worse than when he got his face bashed in, spread outwards. It felt like every cell inside him was burning, like he was being melted from the inside out. Bobbin bore the pain for only a few moments before it overwhelmed him, and the world once again went black.

Chapter Text

“It could be worse ya know,” Florus said “At least you made it to the final twelve, my tribute didn’t even make it to the arena” 

“I suppose you're right” Juno replied, though the thought did little to ease the guilt eat away at her. 

“I mean there really was no way for yours to win” Florus continued “I mean with the one arm and how scrawny he was, you're lucky he made it as far as he did”.  

Yeah, but Bobbin wasn’t supposed to win, he was supposed to survive, with all the time and effort she put into the escape plan, he should be alive. What went wrong, he was fine, everything was going according to plan, then the feed cut, and suddenly Bobbin had gotten his head smashed in, and no one could tell her how it had happened or who had done it. That was probably the part that bothered her the most, the not knowing.  

“I guess I should be proud of how far I did get,” she said, “I just wish things could have ended differently” 

“Don’t we all” Florus agreed “I think I care less about the games after competing in them, than I did before, what about you?” 

Honestly, Juno hated the games, she’d disliked them before but ever since Arachne died, she had felt nothing but contempt for them, and now that Bobbin was gone she honestly wished they would cease to exist entirely, but that’s not what she said instead she told Florus “I never realized how boring they were until now, honestly they’re not worth the time it takes to watch them, I have more important things to do."

~~~  

The open door to Boreas’s room was the first thing Juno noticed when she rounded the corner from the study. To say the talk with Grandmother and Great-Uncle Aquilo had been unproductive would be delusional at best, in fact, she was convinced if it hadn’t been for her presence they would have killed each other then and there. Great-Uncle Aquilo still refused to accept the fact that Boreas had legally become a part of the family and would be coming to live with them when he finally got released from the hospital. Not that this was surprising, Boreas was just the latest addition to the long list of realities the man refused to accept, honestly when the last time the man was in touch with reality was anyone's guess. At least Grandmother was coming around on Boreas, even if it was just to spite her brother.   

Opening the door revealed Falacer sprawled on the bed flipping absent-mindedly through a book he had taken off the shelf. “Falacer, what are you doing in here, you know you're not supposed to come to our wing without permission” she chided, of all of her cousins Falacer was easily the worst, he’d been heir to the family fortune before her birth and still felt entitled to it after all these years.   

“Why hello, Juno I was just settling into my new room” he cooed, a smirk playing at his lips, before rolling over to the edge of the bed allowing the book to drop to the floor unceremoniously. “Don’t you just love it?” he laughed, grabbing the edge of the bed's canopy and swinging himself around.   

Juno rolled her eyes, “This is not your room it's Boreas’s” she groaned, there was no way he was letting this go.   

“No, I think it should be mine” he replied, making a point to fiddle with several of the nicknacks spread across the room. “It is much too nice to waste on that faux Phipps, you and your side have decided to drag in off the streets”.  

“Still mad, you’re getting passed over once again aren’t you Falacer” Juno mocked, “to think you could have had this all at one point”  

“Oh please” Falacer snarled, “that…that plebian will never inherit a dime this family has, no matter name he will never be a real member of this family”.  

“Like it or not, from a legal standpoint Boreas is just as much a Phipps as I am, which of course means he's more a Phipps than you’ll ever be” Juno grinned, “Like it or not we both know my grandmother would prefer an adopted Phipps inherit over one from your side”.  

“Great-Aunt Dido is a foolish old woman” Falacer sneered “Just because she was able to manipulate her parents into giving her what is rightfully my Grandfathers, does not mean she can manipulate the rest of our circle into accepting that urchin you call a brother, she can’t even convince her own husband too”  

As cruel as Falacer may sound he wasn’t wrong. Grandfather did not want Boreas here, nearly as much as Falacers side didn’t, but he was going to have to suck it up. What Grandmother said went and as far as she was concerned Boreas was coming so that was the end of the discussion. As for the others, well once they realized that the great Dido Phipps did in fact consider him her grandson, as shallow as her consideration may be, they would fall in line if only to avoid her wrath.   

“Well luckily for Boreas, no one cares what my grandfather thinks” Juno stated “In fact, they care almost as little about what he thinks as what your side thinks, so it shouldn’t really be a problem”  

Falacer balled his hands into fists, his face contorted in rage “You know if my side…”  

“Your side doesn’t matter” Juno interrupted “my..MY grandmother is head of this family, and I am its heir, you and your side are nothing, and I think it's about time you accept that”  

Falacer stormed up to Juno and shoved his finger into her face “You can think, that just because your grandmother is so great you are as untouchable as she is, but you’re wrong. I know you're up to something; you already humiliated this family once with how poorly your runt performed in the games, not to mention the scene you caused once he got eliminated” he snapped, his spit flying hitting her face. “I may not know what game you're playing, but I’ll be damned if I let you pull one over on me, and deny me what’s mine”  

Juno slapped his hand away and shoved him back “I may have embarrassed this family with the games” she screeched “but each and every one of our humiliations lay on your side, and I won’t forget that, and the rest of the capitol won’t either, so go ahead Falacer act like your important act like you know something, but at the end of the day you are nothing and don’t you forget that, and when Boreas comes home tomorrow h…”  

“Tomorrow” Falacer interjected “I thought he was supposed to be in the hospital at least another month, how is he coming home tomorrow”  

“Dr. Gaul has taken over his care” Juno smirked, “and with her help, he has made a rapid recovery, so yes he will be coming home tomorrow”. She knew that would get under his skin, Falacer had tried for years to get an internship at the war department before finally giving up, so knowing the woman who had refused to acknowledge him despite his family name was paying attention to someone he considered less than garbage would be real salt in the wound.   

Falacer trembled with rage, “I don’t know what you’ve done to get her attention, but I will find out if it's the last thing I do”. With that he stormed out of the room slamming the door so hard behind him it shook the photos on the wall.  

Juno looked around the room for a moment before grabbing the discarded book off the floor, she went to return the book to its spot on the shelf before deciding against it and dumping it in the trash. The maid would have to deep clean this room before tomorrow, fate only knows what Falacer did while he was in here.  

Chapter Text

Bobbin

Bobbin found that the thing about being reaped for the games is you start to consider what exactly would make you want to kill another person. The other tributes hadn’t done anything to him yet, and even once they did it would only be because they were forced to not of their own malice. Perhaps he could convince himself a petty reason was justification enough for committing murder.  

Bobbin began a list of people he would want to kill, given that justification alone.  

The Glovers from down the hall. For somehow no matter what time of day, managing to hog the bathroom on their floor, forcing everyone to risk being late to work or angering their neighbors by going downstairs. 

The guy at the grocers, who always spends extra time inspecting the people from his neighborhood’s money. Newsflash: If we were going to steal, we’d just take it and run.  

Warpa from school, for always managing to somehow forget every instruction and assignment. Resulting in the teachers repeating themselves over and over wasting class time. Piny from school as well for always sitting in Bobbin's seat, no matter the day or class. Honestly, if he looked for petty reasons, he could probably find one for everyone from school. 

But at the top of the list. Forever at the top of the list is Loden Schoenbrock. Who had made fun of him for losing his arm.  

Loden Schoenbrock who always shot spitballs at the back of his head for no apparent reason.  

Loden Schoenbrock who had called Brocade insane and spread the rumor that’s why their mother had abandoned them. 

Loden Schoenbrock whose grandfather was the Mayor meaning that no matter what he did, if it was anything short of murder, no adult dared to do anything. 

Loden Schoenbrock who had bullied everyone he deemed beneath him. Who had decided that the poor's from the weft daring to breathe the same air, as his upper-class selvage self, was an offense worthy of torment.  

Loden Schoenbrock for subjecting anyone and everyone who dared to commit even the smallest perceived slight against him to an endless campaign of physical and mental abuse.  

Loden Schoenbrock was like disease, or the Capitol. Always ruining someone’s life, maybe he’s worse than those things, at least people knew how terrible they are. No one knows about him, and by the time they realize he’s already ruined their life.  The world would be better off without him.  

No matter what the other tributes did to him. No matter the abuse, violence, or torture they subjected him to. Bobbin could not think of a single thing that would make them more deserving of death than Loden Schoenbrock did. Congratulations to the Capitol he supposed they found out exactly what would make him want to kill another District. Turns out it was years of abuse against himself and others, the very thing everyone in the Capitol was guilty of.   

~~~  

The hospital wasn’t the worst place to be if you asked Bobbin, AC, three meals a day, and indoor plumbing made it the nicest place he’d ever lived. However, according to the staff, he should want nothing more than to go home. He knew Juno was rich, but apparently, she was like super-rich. At least rich enough for everyone to apparently kiss his ass, or maybe it was cause Gual was his doctor. Either way ever since he woke up the second time everyone he’d met had gone on and on, about how this or that must be better at home and how they hoped things at least came close to his expectations. Panem these people are so out of touch.  

A soft knock came from the door before one of the nurses cracked it open. “Excuse me, Mr. Phipps,” she announced “A gift has been left for you at reception. Would you like me to bring it in?”  

“A gift?” he questioned. Who on earth would send him a gift as far as he knew the only people who know he is here are the Phipps and Gaul, and any gift the Phipps had given him so far had been hand-delivered, and he doubted Gaul would send him a gift after all she’d already given him the new eye. “What is it?”  

“I’m not sure it's been gift wrapped” she explained, entering the room, she had a large box wrapped in a mauve-colored paper with a large magenta-colored bow, which he believed based on its gloss was made of satin or silk, sitting on top.  

“Set it here” Bobbin commanded, patting a spot at the end of the bed.  

The box wasn’t something he would consider particularly interesting. It was about two books thick and about as wide as the hospital bed. Whoever sent it clearly had money, seeing as they had spent it on something as frivolous as wrapping paper. The wrapping paper was the magenta color he’d recently learned was meant to be associated with the Phipps family, with intricate golden lines printed along it. Either this person was a Phipps, or they were sucking up, he hoped it was the former but had a sinking suspicion it was the latter. Shoved under the bow was a small piece of paper with a golden trim, reading “For, Boreas Phipps”   

“Are you going to open it?” the nurse asked, certainly more excited that he had received a gift than he was. Perhaps she too, wondered what people as rich as Juno gifted each other.   

Bobbin thought for a moment before gently unwrapping the bow from the package, it was definitely satin he could tell by the feel. He tore into the wrapping paper with reckless abandoned tossing it to the floor and opened the finding another card. “Wishing you a quick and fabulous recovery - Fabricia Whatnot” he read, pretending not to notice as the nurse grabs the satin ribbon and shoves it into her pocket.   

Pulling back the paper inside revealed a tailored Grey checkered suit and a pair of shiny black and white shoes. Running his fingers along the fabric it feels almost like touching a cloud.  

“Is this Cashmere?” the nurse asked, having stuck her hand into the box alongside his.   

“Vicuna” he corrected, cashmere was very smooth and soft, but it was nothing compared to Vicuna. “It’s like cashmere but like ten times more expensive and softer” he explained, noticing the confused expression on the nurse's face.   

Back in eight they hadn’t even been allowed to leave the factories producing Vicuna fabric without the peacekeepers checking them that's how expensive it was. Fate knows how many people took a beating because they dared to sneak a bit of thread out with them.   

“You have an excellent eye” a new voiced announced, standing in the doorway was a willowy older woman. She had the same tan skin and soulful eyes as Juno, her graying hair cascaded down to her shoulders. She had an air about her that commanded the attention and respect of everyone around her. This must be Juno’s grandmother, the famous Dido Phipps. He’d heard the staff whispering about her, wondering if she would come to see him or not. He knew little about her other than they seemingly didn’t want to get on her bad side.  

“Thank you, Ma’am,” he said, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.   

“So how are you feeling today Boreas” the woman asked, “ready to come home?”  

“Yes ma’am, I would love to go home today” Bobbin answered, trying not to look at the nurse who was unsuccessfully trying to flee the room. “I have been feeling much better since Dr. Gaul took over my care” he said, pretending like that wasn’t just two days ago.  

“Good, good” Dido continued, as crossing the room “Volumnia has always had an almost…inexplicable knack for medical treatment”. Dido places one of her hands on top of his head and begins to pat on the side of his face, a gesture a more foolish person may have mistaken for maternal. “Such a wonderful thing you know that she was able to so quickly cure you of your….affliction shall we say” dido announced her gaze focusing directly on the eye Gaul had replaced, though the moment didn’t last for long, suddenly her gaze shifted towards his missing arm. “Such a pity there is no cure for your other ailments at the moments” she continued, she sounded almost sympathetic though Bobbin didn’t believe it for a second “though perhaps Volumnia still has a trick or two up her sleeve”   

“Perhaps” Bobbin said, after an awkward moment of silence.   

“What is this anyways?” Dido questioned, pocking the gift box with her finger.  

“A gift” he answered, “from Fabricia Whatnot apparently”  

“How peculiar I wonder how she found out you were here” Dido mused.  

“I don’t know, but I'm more interested in why she sent me a several hundred-dollar suit for free ma’am” he said, trying to appear as respectable as possible, old people liked manners back in eight so he could only imagine how crazy old people in the Capitol are about them.  

“That my dear is very simple” Dido announced, “Fabricia is a social climber, through and through, she’d do anything to get the attention of someone in our position”.  

“I see” he droned, utterly bewildered by the fact that Dido had referred to him as if he was in the same standing, she was. Perhaps it had to do with the possible witnesses.  

“Now get dressed” she commanded turning towards the door, “I’ll send Juno in to bring you down to the car, while I go file a complaint about this hospital’s failure to protect patient privacy” and with that she stomped out of the room.  

Pulling himself out of bed Bobbin began to dress in the outfit Fabricia had gifted him. Dido hadn’t brought him any clothes to go home in or if she had she’d forgotten to give them to him in her anger.   

Someone rapped on the door, clearly not Dido seeing as she’d just waltzed right in last time. “Who is it” Bobbin called.  

“It’s Juno” she replied.  

“Yeah, come on in” he said.  

Juno entered the room and looked around for a moment, “you look nice” she said eyes raking across his new suit.  

"You know, your family is full of crazy people," Bobbin said fiddling with the hem of his new shirt "I mean it each and every person I have met in this family is completely out of their mind"   

Sure, he’d only met Junos parents for a good five minutes the day before, but he was still pretty certain they should both be put away.   

"Well then, you should fit right in" Juno huffed, rolling her eyes at him clearly unamused. "If it's any consolation they’ll all think you're crazy too"  

Bobbin glared at her, "You'd be crazy too if you got kidnapped from your home and sent to fight in the child death games," he spat.  

"Whatever," Juno groaned, "You're fine, and now you get to live in luxury at the top of society, so it wasn't that bad if you ask me"  

“Sure, cause money will just make everything better” he grumbled.   

“In my experience it does” Juno announced not an ounce of sarcasm in her voice. “Now we should get going Grandmother will be upset if she has to wait in the car for us”   

Juno grabbed the plush frog she’d brought him during her first visit off the bedside table and started down the hall.   

“You know your grandmother is kinda weird” he told her as they walked towards the elevator, he found himself trailing a bit behind her his legs easily growing sore from inactivity.  

Juno didn’t reply until they were in the elevator alone, “Our grandmother” she hissed at him facing forwards eyes not drifting away from the door “She is our grandmother, no matter what happens, no matter what you are doing you need to act like you were born a member of this family, otherwise we risk getting caught!” she exclaimed.  

“I think people already know I wasn’t born a Phipps” he said as the elevator door opened. Juno ignored him instead marching towards the front door.  

“The car is parked out front,” she said, now walking with purpose, towards an expensive-looking gray automobile idling right outside the front doors.  

The fact that the Phipps had a car, which was impressive itself in Bobbin's mind, but it turns out these people were actually too rich to drive it themselves, fate forbid they actually do anything. When he and Juno stepped outside the hospitals entrance a man in a very expensive-looking gray uniform opened the door for both of them. Apparently, they were too rich for that, too. Climbing inside Bobbin found the car has two rows of plush red leather seats facing each other, and a soft and expensive-looking black floor. There was a divider on one side that separated them from the driver, which it appeared could be raised and lowered at will.  He waited for Juno to sit down then took the seat at the end of the same row she sat in; he assumed Dido would be sitting across from them.   

“Listen” Juno began the second they were alone in the car, “people know you weren’t born a Phipps, but that doesn’t matter what matters is that you are a Phipps now. Understand” she scolded.  

“Yes bu...” Bobbin tired  

“If you act like you have always been one of us and acknowledge us as though we are your biological family, people will care less when you refuse to answer their questions” Juno interrupted. “The last thing we need is some sort of convoluted backstory that people can poke holes in okay, So from now on as far as anyone is concerned you were born in a poor part of the capitol, your family died during the war and then one day you got into a horrific and we decided to take you in, no one needs any information other than that, no matter what they say or do, don’t say anything else do you understand me?”  

“Yes, I understand you,” he said, mostly to get Juno to stop glaring at him. Honestly, if that's all he has to do then this will be easier than he thought. He also couldn’t help but wonder what her reference point for poor was cause everyone he’d met in this place seemed fabulously wealthy compared to the districts though he was starting to notice the divides.  

They sat in the car for a few more minutes, before Dido came out the front door in a huff. The driver opened the door for her, and she slid into the seat across from them mumbling about how the people here had no respect anymore and they would live to regret crossing her. Bobbin didn’t know exactly what this person had done but he doubted Dido was a woman of empty threats.   

“Now Boreas,” Dido began as the car pulled away from the hospital, “we have prepared a room for you already, but there is still much to do in the next few weeks”  

“Like what” Bobbin questioned.   

“Well for starters we will need to get you an appropriate wardrobe, before you can go out in public” Dido stressed, “not to mention the fact that school begins in less than a month and we will need to have all of your uniforms tailored before you can attend”.  

Dido said these things like they were the most important thing in the world, but Bobbin simply couldn’t bring himself to care.   

“Now mentioning school” Dido dictated, her expression turning serious “the school you’ll be attending does not usually allow for new admissions, especially of those whose academics are… shall we say questionable” Dido leaned forward, her voice losing all semblance of warmth, “I had to pull many different strings to get you admitted to this school, Boreas. Do not embarrass me! Do you understand” she said cocking her head to the side.  

Bobbin turned to look at Juno, her expression was just as grave as her grandmother's, clearly this was a make or break for them.  

‘I understand…. Grandmother” he stuttered out, “When the time comes, I will do my very best to make you and the rest of the family look good.” That seemed to please her as her expression softened once again, into something someone more foolish would take for genuine care.  

“That's good, just do as you're told and we shouldn’t have any problems” she affirmed, “now relax dear we’ll be home very soon.”  

Bobbin turned to look at the window, taking his time to actually marvel at the beauty of the Capitol in a way he hadn’t when he’d been dragged through it before. However, his mind kept coming back to the same question “what exactly has Juno dragged me into?”  

Chapter Text

Juno

They were coming up from the basement when she heard it, the strange gurgling sound. It was the worst thing she’d heard in her entire life.

The air raid sirens never sounded, bombs had just suddenly started to shake the manor causing her family and whatever staff was closest to flee into the basement to await the all-clear. Her entire family had made it safely downstairs but only about a third of the staff was with them when grandmother closed the blast door. “If we all crammed in there is a good chance we’d suffocate dear” Grandmother had told her at one point when she asked why they didn’t wait longer before closing the door. She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that. The staff was supposed to believe if they ran fast enough they for sure had a spot in the bunker ignorance is bliss her father told her once.

It was a good hour, maybe two before they could even begin to venture back upstairs. Of course, the manor was in disrepair when they did, with furniture tossed this way and that, windows blown in, fresh cracks in the walls, and, of course, the sound.

A strange gurgling sound emerged from a servant girl lying on the floor an enormous piece of glass from one of the windows lodged in her chest right below her neck. Had it impaled her just a few millimeters higher it would have certainly killed her almost instantly. Instead, fate had decided she needed to suffer. Mother had been the first to find her, screaming out in shock and horror when she’d stumbled across the girl. They’d all rushed in at first to help, and then to gawk at the sight before them. It was terrifying and gruesome, and yet no one even tried to remove Juno from the room. There was no point she’d see what the war would do eventually grandfather had said later, in one of the only moments of actual fondness she can remember him actually showing.

They’d stared at first all of them, as she gurgled on the floor eyes flickering to each and every one of them silently pleading for help. Aunt Lua had knelt down next to her, promising she’d be okay, that help was on the way she swore it. The girl soaked up every moment, unaware they would be her last. Not because of the glass in her chest, but because of her employers, because of grandfather picking up a marble bust of Sulpicia Phipps, “The Mother of Panem” and unceremoniously dropping itonto the girl's head causing it to splatter across Aunt Lua and the floor.

There was shock of course, from all of them. But no one screamed no one cried. They just stared.

And stared.

And stared.

Longer than anyone should have, and it was in that moment that Juno learned that people could die and no one would care.

***

Boreas was weird; it’s almost like the second they’d finished showing him the manor, he’d made it his goal to stay as far away from them as possible. Juno wasn’t sure exactly where he was going, no one was, not even the staff. The only thing they were certain about was that he wasn’t leaving the manor grounds. If he had been surly, the Heavensbees or Ravinstills or one of the other families in Pantheon Forum would have alerted the peacekeepers, or at least to them if they had witnessed a strange one-armed boy wandering around the neighborhood.

Despite his insistence on avoiding them most of the time, everyday like clockwork at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he would emerge from wherever he’d squirreled away to eat with the family before retreating to his hidey-hole

That wasn’t the only weird thing about him, not in the slightest. Of course, she knew he was going to be odd at first he was still district, after all, but that could only explain some of his behaviors, others were completely incomprehensible. Like his relationship with Dr. Gaul or Volumnia, she supposed, as he claimed the woman had instructed Boreas to call her now.

In fact, a few days after Boreas’s arrival that lunatic of a woman somewhere in her demented mind had for some reason decided it was a good idea to call the house and demand to speak to him alone. Causing the entire family to scramble and find him before Dr. Gaul decided his absence was a personal slight and did something horrific to them like she had Clemensia Dovecote. Luckily he’d heard the commotion and emerged from his hiding place to speak with her. Banishing Great Uncle Aquilo from his own office in the process, something Juno had probably found much more amusing than she should have.

Boreas had gone to see Dr. Gaul at the citadel again today. What she wanted or what she had planned Juno had no idea, it was probably something she couldn’t even begin to imagine seeing as she wasn’t a crazy person. Boreas had left early this morning before breakfast in fact and had once again pulled his vanishing act before the driver had even begun to clean out the car.

She’d looked everywhere she could think of for him the attic, library…did Boreas know how to read? She wasn’t entirely sure. Panem, she’d even checked the servant's quarters for him, but to no avail. So either he was hiding in multiple different spots inside the manor or he was hiding somewhere outdoors.

Juno could have sent an Avox or the gardening staff to find him, but seeing as he is her brother, it would probably be best to look for him herself.

The manor grounds were a sprawling thirteen acres so it could take a while to find him. He wasn’t hiding in the conservatory or next to the pool, did Boreas know how to swim? Nor was he hiding by the cliff face admiring its view, and he was nowhere to be found amongst the tools in the gardening shed, much to her dismay. Leaving only one viable option as to where he could be, the hedge maze.

The maze was one of her family's prized possessions, rows upon rows of manicured shrubs, in green and red and all colors in between with flowing plants both natural and man-made, which had been kept clean and pristine throughout the decades even through the darkest days of the wars. It was truly a beauty, a living breathing reminder of the Phipps's wealth and influence. Though truth be told, Juno had loathed the very thought of the thing, ever since that Nox Arcanorum, when she’d gotten lost inside of it for hours eventually witnessing a plebian man kill another in a desperate attempt to claim the coveted prize waiting in the middle. She’d also be witness to the man's despair when he realized he wasn’t at the center like he’d thought in fact he was at one of the Maze's outer fountains, about as far from the center as one could be.

Honestly, it was a good hiding spot, she had to give him that, at least once you figured out how to avoid getting lost that is. Boreas had always been clever, and more than a little slippery, even before he died back when he was District back when he was Bobbin. It made sense he’d pick this place to hide, especially once he realized it required the family trek out into the August heat and then find their way around the maze.

She was pulled from her thoughts when a purple bird, unlike anything she’d ever seen before landed on the pillar in front of her. The bird looked up and down almost like it was examining her, sizing her up. The strange bird cocked its head to the side and then,

“Juno” the bird cawed, in a sickening singsong voice that sounded like Boreas.

Trajan

Fucking

Heavensbee!

What in Panem?

The bird looked at her again turning around and checking over its shoulder like it was beaconing her to follow, before taking flight over the maze.