Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He’d anticipated at least one if not several excited text messages from his assistant, but Wait until you see District 5! was not something he had expected specifically.

Most years, Plutarch Heavensbee watched at least the majority of the Reapings live. This year, with Seneca Crane still panicking over the close calls of the previous Games, Plutarch had stepped up to assist and had spent much of Reaping Day in a series of frantic logistics meetings. There were, after all, many potential issues to consider when dealing with a very...unique crop of tributes.

It was evening by the time he was able to settle on a comfortable sofa in his apartment and watch the Reapings at his leisure. There was an official recap that would soon air, of course, but as a Gamemaker, Plutarch had received a full-length set of recordings to review as he wished.

Given a message like Fulvia’s, many people would have started with District Five’s Reaping. Plutarch, however, liked to savor things. So he started the way he usually liked to when reviewing Reapings: with districts One, Two, and Four.

Understanding the dynamics of the “Career Alliance” was often the first step in predicting the flow of the Games, after all.

District One was painfully predictable, with a pair of volunteers who Plutarch knew were former Academy trainees. The man seemed more eager than the woman. District Two was similar, with an almost-gleeful female volunteer and a male tribute who called out the same words but seemed much less excited about it. District Four’s volunteers both looked wealthy, or, in the case of the man, like he had aspirations to be so.

Plutarch then skipped to District Twelve, which appeared even more beaten down than usual. The male tribute volunteered for a man who looked a lot like him and also very ill. Yet the indescribable moment created the previous year by one Katniss Everdeen was not repeated.

A shame, that. That moment could have grown into something much more, given the chance.

With that still at the back of his mind, Plutarch skimmed the other Reapings, noting that very few if any of the tributes seemed outright weak this year. He supposed that surviving long enough to have Reaping-age children would require some strength. Then again, it could just be coincidence. Luck of the draw, literally .

Finally, satisfied that he’d learned enough about the other district’s tributes for now, he switched to Five’s Reaping, to see what Fulvia’s excitement was all about.

He skipped over the mayor’s regular speech about Panem’s history, resuming the recording as the man read out the complete list of Five’s Victors. Four of them were still alive and on the stage.

Jute Torres, Eighth Hunger Games. Porter Millicent-Tripp, Thirty-Eighth. Percy Jules, Forty-Ninth. Sola Vesper, Fifty-Seventh. Mari Teal, Seventy-Fourth.

Plutarch eyed the sixteen-year-old Victor as Five’s tribute escort took over. The parents of Victors were not exempt this year if the Victor in question was still under nineteen; he wondered, for a moment, if one of Mari’s parents had been Reaped. That would justify Fulvia’s reaction and message.

Although, he reflected, if that had been the case, she probably wouldn’t have been able to contain her excitement and would have told him outright.

Danae, Five’s tribute escort...a rather insufferable woman as Plutarch knew from personal experience...did not call Mari’s mother’s name after plucking a slip from the first Reaping bowl. She called out the name “Nova Kellan.”

After a moment, a slim brunette woman stepped out of the crowd and walked up to the stage, dressed in a gray-blue shirt, black shorts, and what looked to Plutarch like old work boots. Her expression was unreadable as she mounted the steps and took her place onstage.

Plutarch noted that a lot of people in the crowd appeared noticeably more displeased than they had a minute before. This woman was well known, then. Even well liked.

Wasting no time, Danae called for volunteers that did not exist, then headed over to the other glass bowl. Her tattooed eyebrows went up as she read the slip. “Val Kellan!”

Someone on the stage let out a choked scream, and the cameras cut to Nova, who had one hand clamped over her mouth. Then, out in the crowd, someone started wailing. More than one someone.

The camera operators found the source of the noise a few seconds later, back in the crowd around the square: a brown-haired teenage boy and a redheaded girl who looked a bit older, both crying and seemingly trying to rush forward as two older, dark-haired girls held them back. Then the cameras returned to the middle of the square, catching a man with reddish hair and a short, scruffy beard emerging from the roped-off area. When he got to the stage, he pushed past Danae and wrapped his arms around Nova, who pressed her face against his shoulder as he whispered something in her ear.

A closeup shot showed that they were both shaking.

For the first time in his viewing, Plutarch found himself leaning forward, taking in more details, realizing what he was seeing. Why Fulvia had been so excited.

Danae managed to Reap a married couple.

Something about it seemed a little too coincidental, but Plutarch filed that away for later consideration as the video continued.

Usually, District Five offered up some applause for tributes when the escort requested it; plenty of the district’s residents were kept quite comfortable by the Capitol, after all.

This year, the silence from the crowd was deafening.

The mayor convinced the couple to stop embracing eventually; however, they didn’t separate and go to either side of the stage for the Treaty of Treason as was customary. They stayed on Nova’s side, holding hands and clearly struggling to keep their composure as the sounds of their children’s sobs echoed around the square. When the moment came where tributes were usually instructed to shake hands, Val and Nova kissed instead.

And as the tributes, still holding hands, were being ushered into Five’s red-walled Justice Building, a strange, undulating hiss began to rise from the crowd. It was soon drowned out by the anthem.

Plutarch paused the recording and leaned back in his seat. “Well, well,” he murmured to himself. “This year might be even more interesting than I'd thought.”

Chapter Text

It had been a standard Reaping Day morning for the Kellans, all things considered. Nearly identical to the previous year’s, in fact.

Nova had driven down to the hydroelectric dam for a standard solo inspection that she really could have delegated to someone else on such a pseudo-holiday but never did. Midway through doing her external look over from the crest of the structure, she’s seen Val heading back up from his customary visit the cramped, poverty-stricken neighborhood known as “Downriver.” She’d met him at the car that technically belonged to the Capitol instead of them, and they drove home together, only encountering a couple Peacekeepers along the way who recognized and waved them on.

The morning sun crawled down the sides of District Five’s rocky, red-brown hills as they drove, and the desert night chill was already fading fast by the time they arrived at their one-story house in one of the district’s better neighborhoods.

Also per usual on Reaping Day, they had found Juno already up and making breakfast for everyone, hiding her nervousness behind activity and oldest-child responsibilities. Val had announced that he was raiding their precious coffee stash whether anyone else liked it or not and Nova, clearly seconds away from doing the same, had teased him about it. Nicola had come wandering in as Nova was setting the table, dressed but disheveled. And, just like the previous year specifically, she had announced that thirteen-year-old Avin was refusing to leave his room. Nova had gone to coax him out, and they had all eaten breakfast together.

After breakfast was when the differences started.

Usually, Val didn’t even worry about what he wore to the Reaping; stained work clothes would suffice if they were comfortable enough in the typical summer heat.

Usually, nobody’s eyes are on the parents.

He managed to tracked down something decent, briefly checked in on the kids, then went to find Nova. He found her standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror, wearing a pretty, gray-blue sleeveless top and looking lost in thought.

“Almost ready?” he asked as he stepped up behind her.

She appeared to shake herself and smiled slightly. “Yes, I...Oh, so you did find something that doesn’t look like you slept in it.”

He snorted. “Very funny. Speaking of, where did that shirt come from?”

“Don’t remember.” She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “Up or down?”

“Well, I’m no expert.” Resting his hands on her shoulders, he added, “But I like it down.”

“I’ll go with that, then, and put it up if it gets too hot.” Closing her eyes, she leaned back against him. “The kids ready?”

“Just about.” He dropped his hands from her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her waist. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“For us, maybe. Seven slips each. Not much. But what about you friends Downriver? They aren’t so lucky.”

“...Yeah.” Kep’s wife is still sick, their and everyone else’s children down there take out tesserae… “There’s a lot of parents in Five, though.”

She sighed again, opened her eyes, and met his gaze in the mirror. “Always such a shitty day.”

“It really is.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Come on. Time to go.”

The walk to the town square was familiar, the crowds and extra dust kicked up by the cars that belonged to the arriving “Upper Towners” just as much so. The heat was punishing by 11:00, yet this was also within the realm of normalcy. Nicola complained about the dust, Juno teased her about her complaints, and Avin clung to Nova and Val in turn.

Twenty-year-old Elena Rios met them when they arrived in the vicinity of the square, greeting Juno with a kiss and the rest of them with a bright smile and “How are we all doing?”

Val responded first. “Coping. But the sooner this is over, the better.” He felt Avin’s grip on his arm tighten.

The differences started piling up again then.

Like they had in past years, they hugged their kids goodbye and promised to meet up with them as soon as the Reaping was over. But instead of watching one or more of their children walk towards the registration tables, they had to get in line themselves. It wasn’t long before they had to separate from each other; they were just one of many couples doing the same.

He found this rather stupid. “They’re not even separating by ages; why bother separating everyone at all?”

She scoffed. “It’s a half an hour, tops. You’ll survive. Then we’ll take the kids swimming in the reservoir.”

“And Elena, I suppose,” he said, with mock disgruntlement.

“Oh, shush. You love her, we all do.” She gave him a quick kiss. “Let’s get this over with.”

Going through the registration process brought back less-than-great memories of doing this very thing for years on end; he tried to remind himself that this was a one-time thing. It’s just this year. Then things will go back to normal. Not that normal was all good, either. The Games were an ever-present threat as long as he and Nova had children between twelve and eighteen, but it was somehow better than whatever the hell this Quarter Quell was.

He followed the crowd into the half of the square roped off for eligible men along with hundreds of others, feeling almost like a teen again. At least the odds of me getting Reaped are lower than they were then.

As the stage filled and the mayor gave his regular speech followed by the newly-lengthened list of Victors, Val almost managed to convince himself that this really was, more or less, a typical Reaping Day.

Then it wasn’t. It really, really wasn’t.

Things got hazy after his name was called. His ears had started ringing like a transformer had blown next to his head as his wife took the stage, and after that it just kept getting worse. The only things that came through clearly were the feeling of Nova’s fingers clamped around his, and the sound of Avin and Nicola crying.

How the fuck could it be both of us?

He abruptly found his way back to reality after the ceremony ended, when he realized he and Nova were being ushered into the same lavishly-furnished room inside the Justice Building. “This isn’t standard procedure.”

The Peacekeeper at the door wore a helmet like the others that had left seconds earlier, but he recognized her voice when she spoke. “Plumbing issues, leak in the other usual room.”

Unconvincing, but we’ll take it. “Thank you, Olympia,” he said quietly. She gave him a curt nod and turned to follow her fellow soldiers, shutting the door behind her.

He turned back to Nova, who looked just as shaky as he felt, and pulled her into an embrace. All he could think of saying in the moment were profanities...Probably not the most helpful right now…so he held it in as Nova pressed herself against him.

“...I thought we’d be okay,” she whispered after a minute or so. “I honestly thought…”

“I know. So did I.” His throat kept threatening to close up. “The math checked out, right?”

“It should have!” She pulled away, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. “Val...What are we going to tell the kids?”

He didn’t think he had an answer until it came out of his mouth. “...We’re gonna tell them the truth.”

“Which is?”

“That we’ll fight for them. Like we always do.”

She shook her head. “In the Games, that means…” Letting out a choked noise, she continued, “I can’t, Val. I can’t…”

An invisible vice closed around his chest and throat, and all he could do was pull her close again.

Less than a minute later, the door slammed open and the kids came rushing in.

Avin latched onto his mother and Nicola threw her arms around Val; both were still sobbing. Juno stayed back, her struggle to hold back tears obvious, until Val held out his hand. A second later, he had both of the girls in his arms.

Neither Val nor Nova tried to say anything for a while, although they did switch children midway through the first few minutes.

It wasn’t typical for Avin to start talking first; that was more Nicola’s style. But start talking he did, the moment Val loosened his grip enough for him to pull away, directing his words towards Nova. “You said the odds were good!” he cried out, almost accusingly, tears still dripping down his face. “You said you’d both be safe!”

“Avin!” Juno exclaimed. “Don’t…”

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” Nova let go of Nicola in order to hug her son again. “I’m so sorry, baby…I really thought...” She seemed to want to keep going, but apparently gave up as Avin broke down sobbing again.

There’s so much to say, but too little time…

There didn’t turn out to be much talking for a while after that, just quiet embraces as they all soaked up the last precious minutes together. Eventually sensing that the time for farewells had nearly run out, Val and Nova gathered the kids together, encircling them together.

Struggling to keep his voice steady, Val said, “Nicola, Avin, promise that you’ll listen to your big sister. Try not to give her too much trouble.” He waited for their mumbles of assent, then continued, “Juno...remember that there are people you can ask for help if you need it.”

“Your dad’s right,” Nova said. “You always take care of things. But you can’t always do it alone.”

“I know,” Juno replied, blinking the remaining tears from her dark eyes. “I’ll...I’ll try my best. I promise.”

“We know you will.” Val pulled them all closer. “We are so proud of you three. Don’t you ever forget that. And we’re going to go into this fighting for you, every way we can.”

“But we’ll still lose at least one of you,” Nicola whispered.

Meeting Nova’s gaze, Val saw the same pain he was feeling reflected back. There’s nothing we can say to make that better. Instead, they settled for telling their children over and over how much they loved them as the Peacekeepers came in to say their time was up.

Nova broke down again as soon as they left, only collecting herself somewhat when Elena arrived. “I’m gonna do everything I can to help them, I swear,” was the first thing she said.

She got a hug from Nova and sincere thanks from both in response. “Juno is very lucky to have you,” Val told her.

She almost smiled at that. “Nah, I’m the lucky one.”

After Elena, it was Kep, Val’s close friend since childhood, who came to visit. Then a couple of Nova’s coworkers, then Juno’s supervisor and mentor from the medical clinic. There were more tears, more promises of help should the kids need it, more reluctant farewells.

More of everyone avoiding any direct mention of the Games themselves.

Not that Val wanted to have it mentioned directly, either. Not by people he would probably never see again.

Then they were being rushed off to the train station in a car far nicer than Nova’s work vehicle, paraded past more cameras a soldiers, ushered onto the train by the babbling tribute escort. The lavish rooms they passed through blurred together as Danae prattled on about what time dinner would be served, how Val and Nova could go ahead and share one set of tribute quarters. And, as they arrived at those quarters, the Capitolite even brought up how exciting she found the entire situation. “This is such an unprecedented occurrence!”

When she said that, Val couldn’t help himself. “It’s not so exciting for us, though, is it? Leaving our kids behind to be orphaned and all.”

That shut her up, at least momentarily, and she rushed off the moment she had shown them into their room.

Nova gave him a pointed look as soon as the door slid shut behind the escort. He just shrugged. “Gotta get it out before the whole country’s watching, right?”

He could see the smile she was trying to hide. “If you must, I suppose now is better than later.”

After a shower, a change of clothes, and a fair stretch of time spent poking around their quarters while trying and failing not to worry about the kids, they headed to the lavish dining car for dinner. Danae was there, seemingly back to her normal too-lively self and giggling over her phone. Val and Nova more or less ignored her in favor of the Victors in the room.

In recent years, Porter Millicent Tripp had often stayed in Five during Games season due to some health concerns, so her absence was not surprising. The three on the train were Percy, known for his humor and ability to mingle in large groups of people without being noticed, Sola, Five’s “Upper Town” Victor with a reputation for emerging out of the desert unexpectedly, and Mari, Five’s newest Victor who everyone knew was as brilliant as she was reclusive.

Unsurprisingly, as Val and Nova entered the dining car, Mari stayed quiet. Percy and Sola, on the other hand, wasted no time in officially introducing themselves and welcoming the couple to the table, which was already weighed down with an impressive spread of food. “I’m guessing we aren’t going to need the ‘are you two going to work together’ conversation this year,” Percy said as they sat down. “Which I appreciate; it’s never a fun one to have.”

“Yeah,” Val attempted a grin. “If I tried to go it alone, Nova would know all my plans before I made them myself.”

“Yes, and then I’d be dead the minute someone jumped me with a weapon.” Nova accepted a tureen of brightly-colored, roasted vegetables from Sola, but didn’t look very enthusiastic as she scooped some onto her plate.

Sola tilted her head, blue eyes narrowed. “You’re the head engineer at the dam, aren’t you? You’ve made a lot of friends over the years.”

“I suppose.” Nova shrugged. “Made a few enemies, too.”

“Hmm.” Percy looked at Val. “And you? What do you do for work?”

“Just town infrastructure maintenance. Nothing special. I do know how to wrestle, though. Can hold my own in a hand-to-hand fight.”

He sensed before he saw Nova’s sharp glance at him, and he knew what she was thinking.

There’s more to it, but I’m not going into it with people I just met a couple minutes ago. Even if they are our mentors.

Which might end up being rather weird for all of them no matter what. Usually, mentors were at least a bit older than their tributes. But Percy was forty-two, the same age as Val; Sola was several years younger than both him and Nova, and Mari was…

Only sixteen. Just like Nicola. Suddenly, the rich food he had been piling onto his plate didn’t look appetizing at all.

Percy and Sola were talking again, already tallying up his and Nova’s strengths, as well as speculating on what sort of other tributes they would be facing. Nova seemed to be listening intently, leaning forward with her dinner mostly forgotten. But Val’s mind wandered back to the Justice Building, by now many miles behind them, to that last glimpse of their children.

Avin, teary-eyed and shaking. Nicola, somehow looking angry under her tears. Juno, determined and holding on to her siblings almost too tightly.

Realizing that Mari was looking at him, he tried to give her a smile. She smiled back, briefly, then looked back down at her plate. She looked just as young as she had almost a year earlier, when she had emerged the unexpected Victor of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games.

She’d played it smart the whole way through, running for the woods while most of the other tributes battled at the Cornucopia. She’d spied on the Careers, learned to evade the mine trap the boy from Three had set up for them and stolen bits of food to keep herself alive. After the announcement that a pair of tributes from the same district could both live, everyone’s attention had been on the Twelves and Twos, not on silent, solitary Mari. When a feast was called by the Gamemakers to grant each remaining contestant what they most needed, she had done what no one else thought of and hidden in the Cornucopia.

She had escaped the battle and the death of the Two girl that followed, although the food she’d gotten for her trouble didn’t last long. Meanwhile, the medicine for District Twelve’s male tribute had arrived too late, and his district partner had been left alone. And after the boy from Two killed the boy from Eleven, a manufactured lack of water in the rest of the Arena had driven the remaining three tributes towards the lake in the center.

Cato’s gifted armor had protected him from Katniss’s arrows long enough for him to finish her off, but when the wolf-like mutts were brought in for the finale, Mari had managed to climb the Cornucopia faster.

The “rule change” allowing for two Victors from the same district had been very publicly “reexamined” and rescinded as soon as the Games ended.

Damn shame, that. Nova and I could’ve used the option.

“You should eat something,” Mari said suddenly, voice reaching him under the ongoing conversation of the other Victors and Nova. “Trust me. It’ll help.”

He met her gaze again and actually managed a real smile this time. “Okay.”

This food is pretty fucking good, after all.

Eating did seem to make everyone feel a bit better, at least until it was time to watch the Reaping recap.

Districts One’s tributes, an elegant dark-haired woman and a powerful-looking blond man, were both eager-sounding volunteers. District Two’s unusually tall female tribute was clearly just as eager, her somewhat older district partner a bit less so. Predictably, the next district’s tributes were both Reaped, with the man appearing emotionless while his district partner visibly struggled to contain her tears. District Four produced two more volunteers, less formidable-looking than One and Two’s but still undoubtedly a threat.

Val found watching Five’s Reaping to be a strange experience, seeing and hearing the details he had missed in the moment. Like how Juno and Elena had literally had to hold Nicola and Avin back from rushing the stage, like how the escort’s request for applause had been ignored even by those who usually clapped.

Like how a large part of the crowd had started hissing as the Peacekeepers escorted Val and Nova into the Justice Building.

“Porter said that the hissing is a Downriver thing,” Sola commented. “Is that true?”

“Yeah,” Val said, trying to ignore the frenzy of excitement from the commentators on the recap. “You mostly hear it when there’s a public street fight and the less popular person wins.”

“So...a lot of people must’ve been angry,” Mari said. “To do that.”

You’d think they should be just as angry every year. Maybe it’s all just a bit less...defeating when something, anything changes. “I guess so.”

The recap and its nonstop Capitolite commentary continued on. District Six’s tributes looked worn down, although they both kept their composure. Thalia from Seven turned out to be the elderly mayor’s daughter. Eli from Eight was distantly related to the district’s first Victor, Woof. Nine’s female tribute, Jessamine, was younger than any of the other tributes and stunningly beautiful. The daughter of Ten’s male tribute cried in the crowd just like Avin and Nicola had. Sally Root from Eleven was fifty-two years old; apparently her youngest child was weeks away from turning nineteen.

District Twelve actually had a volunteer again. Although she did confirm that Rhody Prewett had volunteered for his sick brother, the escort did not make as big of a fuss over the situation as she had the previous year.

Exhaustion hit Val as the recap wrapped up, and it looked like everyone else in the room, besides maybe Danae, was feeling the same.

Percy got up from his seat first. “Well,” he said, “It’s late and we’ll be in the Capitol early tomorrow. I think we’d all do well to get some rest.”

Don’t have to tell me twice.

After saying goodnight to the others, Val and Nova retreated to their rooms. They didn’t talk much as they got ready for bed, and when they were both getting comfortable under the fluffy blankets and silky sheets, Val finally asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” Nova rested her head on his chest. “Do you?”

He wrapped his arms around her. “No. I'm just too fucking tired.”

“Okay.”

The pattern of her breathing in the dark told him that she didn’t fall asleep any sooner than he did.

Chapter Text

It was a typical day of maintenance work in Five’s Nuclear Sector, north of the main town. One of the coolant towers at an older plant needed re-fortification, and Val had grabbed his tools and taken his place on the scaffolding without hesitation along with everyone else. Having a young Upper Towner with no common sense as a new supervisor didn’t make their crew any less good at their job.

But skill didn’t make the heat any less fierce as the day wore on.

During their lunch break, Val heard the crew foreman arguing with the supervisor, who was demanding that the job be finished that day, weather be damned.

Wish I could knock some sense into him. But a guy like that will just call the Peacekeepers on me. And I’m not so protected anymore, am I?

So he went back up on the tower without complaint, dreaming of the day when he was much older than twenty-two, could be a crew supervisor himself, and would have to deal with less bullshit. Hopefully less, anyway. And I’ll be doing as much heavy lifting as the rest of my crew, unlike that lazy fucker down there.

By mid-afternoon, the heat was making Val’s head spin, and he knew the rest of the crew wasn’t doing much better. He began to lose track of them as he stayed high up on the scaffolding, struggling through every task no matter how sick to his stomach he felt or many black spots clouded his vision. He ran out of water at some point, and the ground seemed so far away that he didn’t bother to go get more.

I can get through this...

It was definitely not his smartest decision ever.

He was struggling to focus so much that he didn’t even hear the unfamiliar feminine voice yelling at first.

“You fucking idiot! Get him off the goddamn wall before he falls off!”

Then someone he knew was calling him down, and he left his platform to start the long climb. He made it most of the way.

He never remembered if he blacked out before or after he started falling.

When he fully came to, he was on the ground, propped up against a wall in the shade of the building nearest the tower. His entire body ached, he could feel what would surely soon become bruises all over his left side, and the foreman was next to him, bandaging a cut on his left forearm.

There was also a brown-haired young woman in faded clothes that he sort of recognized crouched in front of him. When she saw he was fully conscious, she held out a water bottle. “Take it slow.”

He took it with his uninjured arm and began to take careful sips, trying to figure out where he’d seen her before.

This morning, when we were getting ready to climb up...She showed up for some inspection or training or something? I saw her talking to the onsite manager...

His brain was still pretty foggy when the foreman told him that he was being sent home early due to his condition, while the rest of the crew finished out the day with more precautions. His accident had scared some sense into the supervisor, apparently.

He didn’t realize whose work truck he was guided into until the young woman from earlier got into the driver’s seat. “I’m done with the inspections my boss sent me here to do, so I offered to drive you back to town,” she explained when he gave her what must have been a bewildered look. “Finish your water. I have another bottle in here somewhere if you need it.”

She had already pulled out of the power plant’s lot and onto the rough southbound road before he managed ask, “...Who are you?”

“Nova Pinyon. I’m an apprentice engineer...Got sent out here today ‘cause everyone else who would usually do it was either too sick or too busy today. I was supposed to be shadowing at the dam…” She shifted gears as they hit a rough patch of round. “You’re...Val, right?”

“Val Kellan, yeah.” He swallowed a couple more mouthfuls of water. “Thanks. For driving me. And…yelling at my supervisor?”

“My pleasure. He’s an asshole. A maliciously stupid one, seems like.”

“Someone probably bribed someone else to get him that job.”

“Ugh. Familiar story. Upper Towners, right?”

“Yeah. I take it you’re not one?”

“Nah, I’m Midtown. You?”

“Downriver.”

He didn’t miss the look she sent his way. “Most Downrivers I know don’t have red hair and blue eyes.”

“Well, now you know one of the few that does.”

“Fair enough.” She hit the gas as they reached a relatively smooth patch of road. “Want me to take you to the clinic?”

“I’m fine; I just need rest. Foreman said the cut is minor and I didn’t break anything. You can drop me off near the town square.”

“So you can walk the rest of the way in your condition?” She snorted. “I’ll drop you off Downriver.”

For some reason, he wanted to protest, but couldn’t summon the energy at that moment.

Soon he did start feeling better, however. They chatted more here and there, on the way through the rocky desert, through Five’s main town, and across the river to the low-lying neighborhood he called home. Val soon found out, that Nova was twenty, was seemingly smart and capable enough to have higher-ups letting her work in multiple different sectors while she solidified her career path, and was most interested in hydropower above solar, wind, and nuclear.

She’s also funny. And beautiful.

He could only partially blame the lingering remnants of heat illness for what he said when she stopped the truck as close as he’d let her drive to his house on the notoriously bad Downriver streets. “I know this is...forward, but is there any chance I could see you again? When I’m not falling off a wall, preferably.”

He regretted saying anything the second he saw her hesitate. Yet her actual response was not what he expected. “I...I’m flattered, and I actually would like to, you seem great, it’s just...See, I’m pregnant. The father’s not in the picture and won’t be, but I understand if that scares you off…”

“...I’m not about to be ‘scared off’ by that. I’d still like to see you again.”

Maybe it was the heat exhaustion that allowed him to say it so easily in that moment. Maybe it wasn’t.

Either way, he never once regretted those words.

Two decades later and hundreds of miles away, Val woke up from muddled dreams trying to remember if he’d already told his work crew about the Upper Town pressure washing job they’d been assigned for the coming week, and if he’d be able to get their equipment sorted out for that within a day.

It took almost a full five seconds for him to remember where he was, and that his crew was going to have to do that job without him.

Nova had apparently already gotten up and left, and the train had stopped moving sometime in the night. No surprises there. Nova’s always the early riser and Five isn’t that far from the Capitol, relatively speaking. But all Val could see out of the windows as he rummaged around for a change of clothes were the brick walls of some secured train station.

There was a bit more of a view from the windows in the dining car, where Nova was already seated at the table with Percy and Sola. Not wanting to linger on the sight of the Capitol’s insane-looking colorful streets just yet, Val barely gave them a glance in favor of sitting down next to his wife and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Morning, all.”

“Good morning!” Sola smiled. “I hope you also got some sleep?”

“Some, yeah.” Val blinked as Nova shoved a full mug in his direction. “Um…” Then the smell hit him. Coffee. “Okay then.”

“Drink up; there’s more where that came from. I’ve had two already so you’ve got to catch up.” Nova’s smirk didn’t last as long as it should have. “If Percy is to be believed, we’re going to need it.”

“I was just telling Nova about the Remake Center,” Percy said, refilling his own cup of coffee. “It’s not a fun experience.”

“There’s a lot of ripping off body hair.” Mari had entered when no one was watching, and almost looked startled at her own comment as everyone looked to her. She ducked her head and added, “For the girls, at least. I don’t know about guys.”

Nova muttered something about “probable Capitol beauty standards” as Percy said, “There’s less for us men, if I recall correctly. The real question is going to be if they let those with facial hair keep it or not. Usually they give a treatment to keep it from growing for a few months. For ‘better audience recognition’ or something like that.”

“Well, I hope they let me keep mine,” Val said. “I’m used to having a scruff at least.”

“You do look better with it than without.” Nova gave him a sideways look.

He almost laughed. “Is that a backhanded compliment?”

Her grin was so fleeting that someone not familiar with her expressions would probably have missed it. “It’s called an observation.”

That did get a chuckle out of him. It turned out to be the last for most of the day following.

The only good things about the Remake Center were that the prep team let him keep his wedding ring on and let him keep his short beard intact, besides a light trim. All the scrubbing and inane babbling, however, was extremely painful. And being left naked to wait for his stylist was something between embarrassing and infuriating.

During the few minutes he had alone, he decided it was more infuriating. I don’t have that much to be embarrassed about, after all. But it just goes to show that they really don’t respect us. District, age, it doesn’t matter. We’re not people to them.

His stylist, a woman covered in metallic tattoos and named Arachne, only gave him a couple thorough head-to-toe looks before handing him a robe. She talked incessantly during their following lunch, but Val started tuning her out after he realized that her conversation was about as tedious as the prep team’s. The one interesting tidbit of information that she dropped was that her nephew, Cyrano, was Nova’s stylist. It was his first Games season on the job, although Arachne had been working with Five's tributes for years.

Wonder if her nephew is just as boring as she is. He got some amusement out of imaging Nova ignoring her stylist in favor of figuring out exactly how the split-topped lunch table worked. Doubt it would take her long.

Still, the food was excellent, so there was a definite silver lining to the lunch with the stylist. She didn’t seem to mind his inattention.

A few hours later, he decided that he minded her stylistic choices a lot more.

District Five’s parade costumes had been strongly solar-panel themed for the past few years, so it could have been a positive that Arachne and Cyrano had gone for something a bit different. But looking at himself in the mirror, taking in the gold metal sunbursts of various sizes that covered just enough to not be scandalous, he wondered if inaccurately-colored solar panels would’ve been a better option.

And the less that’s said about the crown, the better.

Nova started giggling as soon she met him by the elevators on the ground floor of the Remake Center, and he couldn’t help but join in. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“I’m not complaining about the view I’m getting of you, necessarily, but the rest of it…” She sighed. “If it helps, I look just as bad.”

“Sort of, yeah.” Her costume was the same as his, other than the placement of some of the sunbursts. “Your hair looks nice, though.” It had been intricately braided around her head in a way he didn’t think she’d ever worn it.

“I do like that. Shame the spiky crown’s covering most of it.”

“How was the hair removal?”

“Horrid. I still feel like I’m getting bitten all over by ants.”

“If it helps, it doesn’t show.”

“Thanks.” She smiled and took his hand as Cyrano, as heavily pierced as his aunt was tattooed, came rushing up with Arachne to escort them to their chariot.

It didn’t take long to find Five’s tribute chariot, drawn by a team of light brown horses with black manes and tales. On the way, they passed some of the other tributes, including the Threes in bodysuits covered in tiny light bulbs and the Ones in outfits made of what looked like hundreds of iridescent glass bubbles. The Twos looked particularly interesting in silver armor that somehow looked both intimidating and like it was melting.

Their male stylist looked almost normal for a Capitolite and also vaguely familiar. When Val mentioned this to Nova while their own stylists were again babbling to each other by the chariot, she said, “Pretty sure that’s the guy who set the Twelves on fire last year.”

“Huh. Guess he got promoted.”

“I guess so.”

They were still waiting for the parade to start when reality hit Val like a freight train yet again. “Nova.”

“Yes?”

“...We’re about to be in a fucking tribute parade.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t notice.” But her expression softened as she looked at him. “It’s going to be okay. This part, I mean. We just have to smile and wave, right?”

“Yeah.” He helped her into the chariot as the order came through a loudspeaker. Once the stylists were done fussing and had departed, he asked, “Think these things will stay on?”

“Probably.” Nova fiddled with one of the narrow golden straps that held her costume together. “I’m sure we can fix it if something comes off mid-parade. But I’m also sure our stylists know something about structural integrity of outfits. Even if I have concerns about the style.” She wrinkled her nose. “They do know that Five produces more types of power than solar, right?”

“Arachne and Cyrano? Wouldn’t bet on it.”

The anthem started blasting then, so the only viable response from Nova in the moment was an eye roll. She did grab his hand as the chariot started moving, and he held on tightly as they made their way through the massive gates and out onto the Capitol’s streets.

Between the anthem and the endless roar of the crowds, Val didn’t think he’d ever been exposed to so much noise at one time. Downriver parties have nothing on this. He managed to smile and wave alongside Nova just the same, noting vaguely that a lot of people were yelling “District Five!” Positive attention already? Do they like the costumes that much, or is it the novelty of a married couple in the Games?

He had a pounding headache by the time the chariots reached the City Circle, and when President Snow started to speak, welcoming the tributes to the Capitol as he always did, all Val could hear was the same voice reading off the Quarter Quell card on television six months earlier.

Avin was panicked about the twist from the start, wasn’t he? Maybe we should have been, too. Trusted our son’s instincts instead of the numbers that for once didn’t work out in Nova’s favor.

Maybe they would have been more prepared that way.

They were met on the ground floor of the Training Center by not only the stylists and prep teams, but by Percy, Sola, and Danae as well. “You looked pretty good out there!’ Sola said as over the excited babbling of the Capitolites.

“We have our reservations about that,” Nova said.

Percy laughed. “The important thing is, you made a good impression. Let’s find an elevator and go on up.”

Their escort again showed them to a single suite of rooms, although these were about ten times more luxurious than those on the train. “There’s plenty of clothes for the both of you, and you can order whatever food and drinks you like…there’s a menu...Dinner will be in about an hour, I’ll call you...Enjoy yourselves until then!”

Val and Nova spent the next several minutes trying to get out of their costumes and change into reasonable cloths, with thankfully wasn’t too difficult with each other’s help. After a trip to the toilet, Val found himself investigating the ridiculously complicated shower….This is going to be fun to try out...when Nova called from other room, “The menu includes alcohol! Should I order some?”

He found her sitting on the bed, her expression nowhere near as light as her voice had been moments earlier. “Nice fancy place we got here, huh?”

“That would be an accurate statement.” Her gaze was distant.

Some of the feelings he’d been suppressing all day started welling up. “Thinking about the kids?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” It sounded shaky. “Though I’m trying not to. Because when I do, I…” Her breath caught.

He finished the thought for her. “It’s too much.” Knowing that we’ll almost certainly never see them again. Not knowing if they’ll be okay without us.

Nova took a deep breath and looked up at him. “I know we’re supposed to go to dinner and watch the parade recap with everyone, but...How about we just order some booze and stay in here for the rest of the night?”

“Just the two of us? Sounds like a plan. Fuck the schedule.”

That got a bit of a laugh from her. “Think we can come up with a distraction from all this? Besides drinking, of course.”

He walked over, leaned down and kissed her. “I know we can.”

Tomorrow...and all the bullshit that’ll come with it...can wait.

Chapter Text

“When a shower has enough knobs and buttons to confuse an engineer, you know it’s bad.” Nova came stalking out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her, headed for the closet.

Val, still working himself up to leaving the admittedly very comfortable bed, blinked bleary eyes in her general direction and said, “Did we already use it at some point last night?”

“Yes, but I sure as hell didn’t remember anything we may or may not have figured out this morning. And before you ask why I needed another shower anyway...I woke up sweaty. Damned hot flashes.” Half disappearing into the closet, she began rummaging around and called, “Any preference on an outfit? And do you need a shower before breakfast?”

“No preference. And I feel clean enough.” Just hungover. Thankfully not to the level of throwing up. “I need coffee.”

“That makes two of us.” She emerged from the closet and tossed a pile of clothing at him, keeping another armful for herself. A second or two later, she scowled as Danae’s voice came through the door, squealing about a very big day ahead and what time they needed to be at the training gymnasium. “You would think she’d get the hint after we yelled at her last night.”

We were half a bottle of wine in by that point. “I guess it is her job to get us to where we need to go. But even if she didn’t take that so seriously, I don’t think self-awareness is one of her strengths.”

“It probably isn’t anyone’s around here.”

Percy and Sola were eating breakfast in the dining room when Val and Nova arrived. “Dig in,” Sola said, waving at the loaded sideboard, next to which stood a silent, white-clad young man with his eyes downcast. “Training can take a lot out of you if you do it right.”

“Or you could just do nothing; as long as you show up, no one will stop you.” Percy chuckled when Sola gave him a shove. As the couple filled their plates, he said, “To be clear, we’re not planning on micromanaging your training. Unless you want orders for some reason, all we’re interesting in giving you is advice. All I will say right off is that you don’t want to show the very best that you can do in front of the other tributes. There’s different skill stations, all with trainers...Learn anything you want, but save anything you’re really good at for the scoring sessions.”

“Although it would be good for us to have a clear idea of your strengths. I know we talked about it a bit the first night on the train, but it’d be great to get some more details.” Sola gave them another one of her bright smiles as Val and Nova sat down at the dining table. “We’ll know how to better present you to potential sponsors that way.”

“Makes sense.” Nova glanced around the room. “Will Mari be joining us today?”

“Oh...No.” Sola’s smile faltered for a second. “She...has other obligations today.”

“The company of new Victors is always in high demand,” Percy said.

Just like with the mute server in the corner, something was off about the Victor’s tone. But Val didn’t have time to think about either thing further before Sola said, smile back in place, “So...Nova, as you said that fighting skills will definitely not be your best bet, do you have an idea of what you might like to focus on instead? I spent a lot of time learning how to set traps and snares when I realized just how bad I was with most weapons.”

“She’d pick that kind of thing up in no time,” Val said. “Might pass up the trainers, too.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Val.” Nova started cutting up a pancake with more force than necessary. “I’m good at remembering how things fit together and recognizing patterns, that’s all. I doubt knowing how hydroelectricity is produced will help much in the Arena. I’ve said it before: You’re the one who’s going to be winning any actual fights.”

“Well, sounds like he’s got the experience.” Percy took a slow sip of his coffee as everyone’s gazes turned to him. Setting his cup down, he went on, “I made some calls back to Five last night, after I didn’t have a chance to talk to you directly.”

“Sorry about that, by the way,” Nova muttered.

“That’s all right, we get it. Anyway, as I was saying...” Percy looked at Val. “Back alley Peacekeeper enforcement, was it?”

Figures he’d have the connections to find out about that.

His response came easy. It was what he’d been telling himself for years, after all. “I was young, desperate, and stupid. Haven’t done that shit in a long time. Since before I met Nova, actually. Had to stop when I pissed off the wrong Peacekeeper.”

“That’s what I heard. And, though I can’t say I’ve been there myself, I do understand.” Percy shrugged. “I wouldn’t bring the subject up on camera or anything, but I’m sure that hunting down people the Peacekeepers would rather not deal with officially can teach a person a lot of skills. The kind that will, if you still have them, help keep you alive in an Arena.”

And keep my wife alive, preferably. “Okay then. I’ll resist the urge to show off in front of anyone besides the Gamemakers.”

“Except for me, I hope,” Nova said under her breath.

Val pretended to be hurt by that. “What do you think I do every day?”

A brief pause and a smirk from Nova later, Sola giggled. Breakfast and the continuing conversation on training strategies felt a lot less tense after that.

Val spent most of the first morning of training following Nova to different non-weapon stations and sizing up their competition in person for the first time.

The Careers, especially the Ones and Twos, were terrifying. Any other year, their obvious strength and skill could be downplayed a little bit by the simple fact that they would still be teenagers. These Careers were not; they were full adults near if not in their prime, who had clearly been trained from a young age and kept very much in shape even after not being chosen for the Games as eighteen-year-olds.

The sort-of exception was Rasmus from Two, who looked to be in his fifties. But the first spear he threw ripped the dummy it hit from its stand and pinned it to a wall several feet back.

The only non-Career who could rival their size and apparent strength was Michael from Nine, although he didn’t seem interested in showing off like they were. Clem from Seven, in contrast, went straight to the ax station and started swinging one around like it was an extension of his own arm. The smallest tribute in the group was Fawn from Ten, yet she didn’t seem nervous at all as a trainer showed her how to throw knives.

Most years, the weak tributes stood out even to those watching from the districts. But this year...None of these tributes look weak.

Even the Twelves, usually considered “cannon fodder” by those invested in placements and betting outcomes, looked relatively healthy and sturdy. Val, who in his late teens had been been bigger than most of the outer district kids who went into the Games, was very much average in this crowd. Which I’m guessing more or less applies to overall strength, too. And Nova…

Smart or not, she’d had a point about her lack of fighting ability. As long as I can get her away from the Bloodbath, though…

After lunch, which was served in a dining hall just off the gymnasium and during which most tributes besides the Careers, Fives, Elevens, and Twelves sat alone, Nova led the way to the knot-tying station. Sure enough, while Val did pretty well and even knew a couple knots already from having to use climbing ropes for repair work, his wife mastered almost every single one the trainer showed them within minutes. When he started showing them how to set traps and snares, she caught on just as quickly.

As they were leaving that station, Val said, “So, just as I predicted, you’ve already impressed the trainers at knot-tying, fire-starting, edible plants…”

“Shut up.” She rolled her eyes. “Let’s try the camouflage station.”

They both turned out to be horrible at camouflage, but at least it was fun trying.

Val was occupied trying to get most of the berry juice off of his fingers when Nova said, “The Gamemakers are staring at us.”

He didn’t bother to look. They’d been observing from their balcony almost all day. “All of them?”

“Several. Oh, now they’re looking away.”

“Now that you’re staring at them.”

“Hmm.” She dropped the subject, but he caught her gazing at the balcony multiple times throughout the rest of the day, even when there were no Gamemakers watching them.

I’m sure she has some reason. Then he forgot all about it.

Day two of training was when the women from Seven and Nine started working together. Meanwhile, Nova and Val split up a couple times to work on different skills. During one of those periods, Nova ended up at the edible plants station again and struck up a conversation with the woman from Three. Val spent that time practicing spear-throwing and talking with Noah from Eleven, who had four kids including a pair of twins at home.

He’s kind, hardworking, apparently some kind of genius when it comes to fruit trees...He doesn’t deserve this.

He said as much to Nova, who just sighed and said, “No one deserves this, Val.”

During lunch that day, Joel, the male tribute from Ten, stopped by the Fives’ table to talk about something he called a “low-aggression pact.”

“I don’t want allies, but I don’t want to fight until I have to, either. So, if we cross paths before the final eight...You all right with not fighting? I won’t if you won’t. You have my word.”

“You’ve talked to others about this?” Nova asked.

“Yeah. Already got Fawn, the Twelves, and the lady from Three to agree.”

Val and Nova looked at each other. After a few seconds, she gave a nearly imperceptible nod, and he turned back to Joel. “We’re good with that.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

They watched him head over to the table where Thalia from Seven and Jessamine from Nine were sitting together. “Hope he’s not lying,” Val said.

“Do you think he is?”

“No. But we’ll have to keep our guard up if we do run into him.” He’s not one of the showoffs, but he seems like someone who can hold his own in a fight if he has to.

That afternoon, he and Nova started to focus more on combat-focused stations together. He did well, even more so than they’d expected. Nova did not.

“Told you so,” she said when he described the latter half of their day to Percy and Sola during dinner. “But Val was even better than he’s letting on.”

On day three, they only had the morning to work on skills. During and after lunch, while the tributes were called one by one to their individual scoring sessions, a surprising amount of mingling started to happen. Val found himself and Nova drawn into conversations with the Elevens, the Twelves, the Eights, Fawn from Ten, Seven-Nine alliance, and Meg from Three.

Sally was as down-to-earth and kind as Noah. Rhody from Twelve was surprisingly comfortable joking about the whole situation; Violet talked less than her district partner but was very sweet when she did. The Eights both came across as more listeners than talkers. Fawn commanded attention every time she spoke, despite being inches shorter than anyone else. Thalia and Jessamine were both friendly as individuals and already a solid team together. Meg from Three seemed to get on particularly well with Nova.

Val listened to them talk for all of thirty seconds and understood why. They’re the same type of genius. Go figure.

The conversations mostly stayed light, with jokes about spouses and discussion of Capitol food and questionable fashion trends. The hardest part turned out to be whenever someone mentioned their children.

All those kids who are going to lose parents...My kids, who I’ll most likely never see again...

He got called in for his scoring session before Nova. “Wish me luck.”

“You won’t need it.” She kissed him. “But good luck, just the same.”

“Right back at you.”

He threw some weights and a few spears, held his own with a sword against a training assistant, and beat the wrestling trainer in under five minutes. When Nova joined him on the fifth floor after her session, she told him how she’d demonstrated her knowledge of edible plants, started a fire without matches, and set several very effective traps all over the gymnasium.

“And you managed all that in fifteen minutes?”

“Are you surprised?”

“No. But I am still impressed.”

Later that night, her score of eight was a relief to see, and his own...a ten...was better than more than one of the Careers.

We’re not going into this as complete underdogs, are we?

Before they all headed off to bed, Sola explained that the next day would be split between etiquette training with Danae and interview coaching with their mentors. “We’ll have to teach you both separately to be most efficient,” Sola explained, “but I doubt you two will take up all of the allotted time we’ll have anyway.”

So we might get more time to ourselves? I’m not complaining.

In fact, Val was kind of looking forward to it. Might be a kind of nice day. He knew Nova agreed with him.

They still got drunk that night as they had since arriving in the Capitol, using intoxication to keep too many thoughts of future horrors and the kids at bay.

It didn't stop Val from dreaming about them.

Chapter Text

Besides the expected hangovers, the next day started off less-than-optimal with Percy asking, “Why does your oldest child look nothing like either of you?”

Sola mumbled something that sounded like, “Really , Percy? Over breakfast?” and Val glanced at Nova. “Want to take this one?”

Nova didn’t hesitate. “I was already pregnant with Juno when Val and I met. We got married before she was born. He’s listed as her father on her birth certificate, is the only one she’s ever known, and that’s the end of it.”

I haven’t even thought about it in years...

“And I agree that it should be.” To his credit, Percy did look apologetic. “But if you two make it far enough...and I honestly believe that you can...they’re going to start interviewing friends and family back home. If Juno’s biological father makes an appearance, that could complicate matters. The Capitol loves drama, and there’s a good chance that sort won’t help either of you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry.” Nova reached for her coffee cup. “He won’t be a problem.”

“Why? Is he...no longer alive?” Sola looked embarrassed to have asked.

Nova seemed to be refusing to focus on anything but her drink, so Val put in, “As far as we know, he isn’t dead, but she’s right. He won’t be an issue.”

“How can you be sure, though?” Percy learned forward. “Those Capitol interviewers are bloodhounds, and if…”

“He’s a Peacekeeper!” Nova blurted out. After a moment of stunned silence, she heaved a sigh. “He was a Peacekeeper stationed in Five, he was transferred to another district before I even realized I was going to have a baby...and that was that. If he’s out there now, or even here in the Capitol...He might put the pieces together, seeing me and Juno on TV, but I highly doubt he’s going to risk any life he’s made for himself by admitting that he knocked up some district girl twenty years ago. And anyone else in our lives who knows about the whole situation is isn’t going say anything.”

“Well...That does seem like a reasonable assumption. I mean about him coming forward,” Sola said. “Right, Percy? The Capitol itself wouldn’t want to get into all that.”

“Probably not.” Percy shook his head and grumbled, almost inaudibly, “What is it with these people and Peacekeepers?”

Val and anyone else who did hear that chose to ignore it, but he did pull Nova aside after breakfast, before they were split up for coaching. “You good?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Her blank expression didn’t last more than a couple seconds under his skeptical look. “Val...It was a reasonable concern, that it would come up. But it really shouldn’t end up being a problem.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s not on top of our list of concerns for sure.”

Something in his tone must have worried her, because she looked up at him with her brow furrowed and said, “You know it doesn’t matter to Juno, either, right? If...if it comes to that, and they ask her...they’ll say the same thing I did. And she’ll mean it.”

“Yes, I know.” He tried to smile, but it was hard when the suddenly the only thought circling around his head was “If it comes to that” means if we even make it to the final eight…

Being called away by Danae was, for once, a relief.

Val had to give it to the escort: grating mannerisms aside, she had what seemed like a lot of very good tips on being clear and engaging while speaking to large groups of strangers.

However, when she kept criticizing how he walked and sat and even breathed, his patience ran out.

“Lady, I am forty-two years old. I know how to fucking sit down without scandalizing a nation.”

That earned him an early end to the coaching session and a welcome nap, which his wife soon joined him for. Later, when a still-offended Danae gave a dramatic rendition of the exchange over lunch, Nova laughed out loud, probably for the first time since before the Reaping. “Damn, Val, here I thought I was always the lucky target of your sass!”

“Aw, babe, If you’re feeling left out, I’m sure I can save some for the bedroom tonight.” When Danae squealed indignantly, Val leaned into the bit and said, “What? Am I not allowed to have sex with my wife?”

Nova and Sola started laughing so hard they couldn’t sit up straight for almost a minute, with Percy staying marginally more composed. Val soon joined in, mostly set off by how flustered Danae got.

Didn’t take Capitolites for prudes, honestly. Guess it takes all kinds.

Everyone had managed to compose themselves by the start of afternoon sessions. Except for maybe Danae, but...That’s Nova’s problem to deal with , Val reflected as settled into a sitting room chair facing Percy and Sola on the couch. Nova can handle her, anyway. “So, did you lot decide on Nova’s angle?”

“She didn’t tell you?” Sola asked.

“We were busy. Napping and then scandalizing our escort.”

“Ah, yes. Fair point.”

Percy also looked amused, but moved on to say, “We went for smart and witty. Not too much of a stretch.”

“Makes sense. What do you want me to go for? Strong and silent guy who lets his wife do the talking? I’m only half-joking, by the way.”

Sola laughed. “Silence won’t be necessary. You’re likable enough just as yourself. But we could do some practice questions and answers? So you’re prepared for what Caesar is most likely to throw your way.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Sounds good.” Glad I won’t have to act too much.

In the end, he was grateful for the “practice” for a reason he hadn’t expected. A lot of the questions Percy and Sola gave him were about the kids. It took a few tries for Val to be able to get through his answers without choking up.

“Did they do that to you, too?” he asked Nova when she, like him, was released early from afternoon coaching. They were on their way up a back staircase Sola had showed them, suggesting that they spend some of their extra free time exploring the roof. Apparently there were fantastic views and a garden. “Ask about the kids?”

“Yes, some. It was awful.” Her sigh echoed around the stairwell from in front of him. “Still, I’m glad they did. Better than having it come at us during the actual interviews first.”

“Agreed. Although, I’m surprised Percy didn’t throw anything in there about Peacekeepers.” He didn’t bother hiding the irritation in his voice.

“He’s doing his best to help us, Val. But seriously, Caesar won’t be asking shit about corrupted Peacekeepers hiring district thugs. And in case I haven’t made it clear enough over the past twenty years, I don’t care about it, either. What matters to me is that you stopped and won’t do it again.”

Okay, better shut that train of thought down...“And how about why Juno looks so different from her siblings?”

“The Capitol saw her for about ten seconds on the TV. I doubt anyone, let alone Caesar Flickerman, is dwelling on that. And on the outside chance he does ask...Just leave out the Peacekeeper bit. The rest of it really doesn’t matter.” She reached the top landing of the stairs and pushed the door open. “Oh, this is nice!”

The door opened into a sunlit flower garden also filled with potted trees and wind chimes. Past them, a small windowed dome rose out of the flat stone of the rooftop. A railing surrounded the rest of the flat roof, and beyond it, the shining, rainbow-tinted Capitol stretched out in all directions towards the towering mountains.

As it turned out, they weren’t the only people out on the roof at that moment. Jessamine Rivers from Nine and her district partner Michael were already there. “Hi there!” Jessamine said as soon as she saw the Fives. “Bonnie was running late to my afternoon training, and Michael doesn’t like our escort and is skipping. What are you two doing up here?”

She seemed happy to talk to them about her family for a while, while Michael didn’t speak much at all and wandered off alone after a few minutes. Eventually, Bonnie Springfield, one of Nine’s Victors from almost four decades ago, came up to get Jessamine for coaching and convince Michael to leave the roof.

After the Nines left, Val and Nova stayed on the roof for an hour or so, briefly encountering the Twelves and Joel from Ten at different points. Joel didn’t even approach them and the Twelves were polite but obviously not interested in talking for long. Hunger drove the Five’s downstairs soon enough, anyway.

They were too early for dinner, so they ordered some obscenely rich snacks in their rooms and got cleaned up. Nova wanted to stay in the shower longer than Val, so he got dressed and wandered out into the rest of the apartment alone.

Only to find that he wasn’t so alone, because Mari was sitting on the floor a distance down the hallway, knees drawn up to her chest, wearing gray sweatpants and an over-sized green sweater, staring blankly at the opposite wall.

Val approached her cautiously. “Hey, kid. What are you doing here?”

She jumped a little at the sound of his voice. When she turned towards him, he saw tear tracks on her cheeks. “Oh. Hi. I was looking for Sola...She’s not here yet.”

“Well, dinner should be soon, so she’ll be here by then.” Thoughts going back to the multiple times Nicola had come home crying due to some incident at school or with her friends, he took a couple more steps forward and sat down against the wall facing Mari. “Are you okay?”

She wouldn’t look at him, and it took a minute for her to slowly shake her head.

“Do you want to talk about it? Because it’s okay if you don’t. I’ll even leave right now if you want me to.”

“You can stay.” Her face crumpled. “I hate it here.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

“...I want to go home.” Her voice broke on the final word,

Val didn’t know what else to say, but Mari didn’t ask for anything else as she started crying silently. He was almost thankful for that, given the nauseated feeling growing in his stomach along with a wave of fury. He’d been putting the pieces together in the back of his mind for the past few days. Other obligations...The company of new Victors being in high demand...The way some Victors are paraded around in the Capitol, as I’ve seen on TV here and there...The Capitolites themselves, entitled to our very lives…

It had been a long time since hunting someone down had sounded like a good idea to Val. But now, he wanted to hunt down every disgusting person who had made her cry, this young girl who reminded him so much of one of his own daughters. Even if she didn’t...Fucking monsters. All of them.

It was too easy to forget, surrounded by the luxuries of the shining city.

Sola did show up and take over consoling Mari, while Val went to find Nova. Something on his face must have given away his state of mind, because she asked him what was going on immediately. He told her, and saw anger and disgust matching his own in her expression as she processed what he was saying.

Mari and Sola were both absent from dinner that night, and it was especially hard to stay civil with Danae during the meal.

After hours and hours of what was more or less a repeat of that first day in the Remake Center, Val looked at himself in a full-length mirror and thought, Guess I do clean up well.

The prep team seemed to think the same, although it was hard to tell among all the squealing. Arachne was much calmer as she stepped up to brush imaginary dust from his shoulder. “There is something to be said for reverse aging treatments and a well-cut suit!”

Val wasn’t sure what she meant by “reverse aging treatments”...Probably all the body scrubs...but the outfit was nice: a black suit jacket and slacks over a dark gray, button-up shirt and a dark, wine-red tie. Not sure what inspired the tie color choice, but it looks good. Much better than the parade costume. Even with his limited experience, Arachne’s talents seemed much better shown in formal wear.

He did understand the tie color a few minutes later, when they met Nova, her prep team, and Percy by the elevators.

Cyrano had put her in a wine-red strapless gown with a plunging neckline. The bodice was covered with red, pink, and gray crystals, as were the mesh gloves that reached to just about her elbow. Her hair was done up like it had been during the parade, and gems matching those on her dress glittered among the braids and dangled from her ears. Her eyes looked much larger than normal, lined and surrounded by shimmer, and her lips almost matched the color of her dress.

“Wow,” was all he could get out initially, and she laughed.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” She started fiddling with his tie, much to Arachne’s annoyance. “Ready for this?”

“Not even close.”

“Good, we’re on even footing, then. Except maybe not, because high heels were invented by sadists.”

Percy left them on the ground floor of the Training Center with the promise that he and Sola would be in the front row of the audience. Then they were being drawn into the crowd of other overdressed tributes, being put in a line to file out onto the stage, taking their seats under blinding lights as the entire Capitol roared.

Fuck. This is actually happening.

Caesar Flickerman took the stage among the uproar, hair and eyelids painted a shiny light purple. He made some comments, none of which Val managed to absorb, then the interviews began.

Val made a valiant attempt to focus. Last time to assess the competition before we’re all locked in an Arena together...

Dina from One wore a gold-and-mesh dress that left almost nothing to the imagination. She talked about being model for the jewelry made in the factories her husband’s family owned, about how much she loved dancing, about how she hoped to bring honor to both her and her husband’s families by entering the Quell. She barely spoke about her fourteen-year-old daughter, even when prompted.

Her district partner, Marble, oozed confidence and excitement. Hippolyte from Two came out dressed in crimson and with an aura of quiet ferocity that almost made Marble seem like a joke. Rasmus came across as calm and prepared. He spoke more about his family that the others that had come before him. He had three children: a nearly thirty-year-old son with his now-deceased first wife, and a teenage daughter and son with his current wife, Carta.

The Threes were next. Meg seemed much more shy onstage than she had been in training, while Chron was very clearly drunk and miserable. He only gave one or two word answers, if that. The Fours brought more energy, with Pearl all charming smiles and funny stories about her two children, Lucan and Una. Toby acted even more excited for the Games than Marble.

And just like that, it’s already our turn.

Val gave Nova’s hand a squeeze as Caesar called her name, and she gave him a small smile before making her way to the front of the stage.

After welcoming her, Caesar said, “So, Nova, I heard a rumor that you have a very prestigious position at Panem’s largest hydroelectric dam,” and that was all she needed to launch into a simplified and slightly humorous description of her job, complete with a joke about how lead engineers like her were always feuding with the site managers. She didn’t linger on that last thing, despite a positive reaction from the crowd.

That’s weird. She almost never passes up a chance to complain about Williams and his type.

Instead, she switched to a more technical discussion on why and how dams like the one she ran were rather obsolete, and how she would replace them with hydrokinetic systems if she could. Caesar, obviously not understanding most of what she was saying, asked if she had ever designed anything like that.

“Well, I have drawn up some schematics, but I’m afraid I forgot to bring those with me, Caesar!”

He laughed and made a comment about tech whizzes, then said, “Now, Nova, our time is almost up, so allow me to ask you one more question. A more serious one.” He paused for a moment, for dramatic effect, no doubt. “How do you feel about going into the Games with your own husband?”

“Well, I do wish he was back home keeping an eye on the kids. He’s very good at that.” Nova had been wearing a smile throughout the interview, but that was gone now as she glanced Val’s way. “But...If I’m being honest...In a way I’m glad that I get to have him here with me. Even if it’s just for a little while longer.”

Can everyone else hear that shaking in her voice? Or can I just because I know her so well?

He kissed her when she got back to her seat, just as Caesar was calling his name. “You okay?” he whispered.

“Not even close.”

Caesar started off Val’s interview by asking how he and Nova met. Val gave a version that left out some details, such as why the supervisor had been dumb enough to leave the crew up on the wall in the first place. But the story seemed to be a hit, regardless. “So we did meet up like a week later, then kept on meeting...Within a few weeks...less, actually...I knew I wanted to marry her. Lucky for me, she somehow felt the same way.”

He turned to wink at Nova, and she laughed and shook her head slightly in response. The crowd screamed their approval.

“So that was it, then?” Caesar exclaimed. “Happily ever after, just like that!”

“Sure was. Or that’s what it felt like, for a long time.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. This must be difficult.”

Do you actually mean that, Caesar? Or is your empathy as nonexistent as everyone else’s here?

The Master of Ceremonies kept going. “While we’re on a related topic, let’s discuss something else that is surely weighing on you, given the circumstances. Your children. You have three, yes?”

“Yeah.” He swallowed, trying to push the lump in his throat down. Hold it together, just like in practice with Percy and Sola. “Two daughters, one son.”

“Can you tell me about them?”

I’d rather be talking with them. But he realized then that maybe he could, indirectly. They’re back home, watching, listening. Hanging off every word. The last words I might ever be able to say to them. He opened his mouth, and all of a sudden he was saying things he’d been trying to not even think for nearly a week.

“Our son Avin is thirteen. He’s brilliant, just like his mother. He likes to spend most of his free time alone, but you better believe that when I’m doing some project around the house, he’s there to lend a hand...and give suggestions on how to do the job easier. He’s usually right, too. I wish I could hear him him, just one more time, explain to me...in the most polite way possible, mind...why I’m doing things the hardest way possible.

“Nicola...She’s sixteen, probably the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. But she’s loyal. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for the people she loves. And if you’re having a rough day...she’s there. Making jokes, coming up with wild schemes, anything that she thinks might help. I’ve never seen her hesitate to help out anyone who needs it. Even right after she’s been complaining about her chores. Damn, I miss that crazy ray of sunshine.”

He paused, took a shaky breath. “Juno...She’s kind, hardworking, motivated...She’s been training at Five’s medical clinic since she graduated school a year ago. All she ever does is make the world around her better, even when she doesn’t see it. And I...While it’s difficult, being here and wondering if they’re okay, it helps a little that I know, deep down, that Avin and Nicola are safe with their big sister. We...Nova and I love all them so much.”

If I keep talking, I’m going to start crying. Half the crowd was a crying mess, but he didn’t care about them; he looked towards Nova again. There were tears running down her face.

“…That was beautiful, Val.” Caesar looked almost shaken. “Just one final question...the same as I asked your wife. How does it feel to go into the Games with the love of your life?”

Knowing that, at best, only one of us is going to be coming out?

Val didn’t have the energy left to censor himself. “Next to having our kids in the Arena, this is a worst-case scenario, Caesar. But...When it comes to having my back in there, there’s no one in the world I would trust more than her.”

When he got back to his seat, Nova took his hand and didn’t let go until the interviews were finished.

They went by in a blur after that, bits and pieces sticking out at intervals. The pair from Six were very quiet. Thalia from Seven was the mayor’s daughter. Her district partner was an asshole didn’t give a shit about his three sons, all from different mothers. The Eights were subdued. Jessamine cried as she spoke about her children, while Michael gave short, curt answers to every question. Fawn had a few choice words for her “good-for-nothing” ex-husband.

Joel addressed his daughter directly. “Luna, no matter what happens, you’ll survive. Listen to your uncle and stay out of trouble. I love you.”

Sally from Eleven sang a short song in the middle of her interview. Noah cracked jokes about trees. Everything the Twelves said sounded painfully scripted.

Finally, it was over.

Back on the fifth floor, the stylists and prep teams said goodbye first, although the stylists would see their tributes again the following morning. Nonetheless, they were all soon ushered out by Danae. “I hope you’ll make me proud!” she said before exiting herself.

Out of the Victors, Mari said her goodbyes most quickly, giving Val and Nova abrupt, brief hugs before saying a soft, “Good luck,” and leaving.

After a short recap on strategy, while Sola and Nova were saying goodbye, something that had been rattling around in Val’s head for a while clicked into place. “Percy, can you do something for me?”

“Of course.”

Speaking quietly so the two women wouldn't hear, Val said, “If it somehow comes down to it, or there’s some situation...Save her. Not me.”

She’s needed more than I am.

His mentor didn’t look surprised. “Okay. I’ll do my best.”

Like he always does, I guess.

Neither of them spoke or slept much that night. Dawn was fast approaching when Nova said, “Promise me something.”

“What is it?”

“If something happens to me...like if I don’t make it out of the Bloodbath…”

“Which you shouldn’t be in at all if things go to plan.”

“Shut up and let me finish. Whatever the circumstance, if I die...Don’t give up. Keep fighting. Do everything you can to get back to them.”

It all comes back to the kids. It always does. “I promise. But only if you promise the same.”

“Okay. I promise, too.”

Before they separated, they kissed longer than they usually would. “I love you,” Val said.

She choked back a sob. “Love you, too.”

The hovercraft ride passed, then the walk through the catacombs beneath the Arena, then the period Val spent getting into a sheer, gray-and-black bodysuit with Arachne’s help. The suit came with a strange padded belt and thin, tight black boots. The stylist said something about the outfit being suited for a very warm climate, like a tropical jungle or a desert.

A desert would be nice. Or at least familiar.

When the signal came, Val got onto the pedestal in the corner of the room and watched the clear plastic tube slide down around him. Then he was moving up, through the darkness and into blazing sunlight.

He closed his eyes for a moment, picturing Juno, Nicola, and Avin laughing, splashing around in the shallows of the reservoir, under the shadows of Five’s reddish rocks. Whatever happens, you’re fighting for them. And Nova.

He opened his eyes as the pedestal clinked into position. Maybe she’s close...I need to find her as soon as I can...

For a few seconds, however, only one thought kept cycling through his head as he took in his surroundings.

This is definitely not a desert.

Chapter Text

Blue water lapped around the base of the starting pedestals. The jet black Cornucopia gleamed on a small island in the middle of the lake, connected to a sandy shore by narrow rock jetties. Past the beach, vivid green forest sloped up to the horizon. The burning hot sun shone down on the tributes from a cloudless sky, and the air already felt thick.

The countdown had already started. To Val’s right, in the same sector bordered by two jetties, Michael stood on his own pedestal. To his left, in the next sector, was Rasmus from Two.

I don’t see Nova anywhere... But he couldn’t worry about that yet; they had a plan. He looked toward the Cornucopia, the mouth of which was facing him. Not many packs or crates, but a lot of weapons…

Claudius Templesmith’s voice boomed through the Arena. “Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games begin.”

The last few seconds began to tick by. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.

Val forced himself to take a deep, steadying breath. Good thing I know how to swim.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

The gong rang, and he dove forward into the water.

As he swam, angling towards the nearest jetty, some water got into his mouth and he tasted salt. It splashed up into his eyes when he tried to get a look at where he was going; he ended up colliding with the rocks. Ignoring the stinging from the impact, he dragged himself up and stood, seeing Michael still in the water. Guess he can swim, but not as fast…

He was sprinting towards the Cornucopia before he could look around for anyone else, only glancing over his shoulder every few steps to make sure he wasn’t being closely pursued. Each time he looked forward again, he could see even better that his first impression was right. A lot more weapons than anything else…

He wasn’t the first person to reach the Cornucopia. But none of them were within several yards of him, so he focused in on the nearest pile of weapons. He’d snagged a spear, slipped a machete into his belt, was just scooping up a set of throwing knives when he saw male tribute from Six coming at him.

The knives clattered to the ground as Val gripped his more viable long-range weapon, but someone else’s spear got Jace in the back before he could even position himself to throw his own. Marble from One. And now he’s coming towards me.

He spun around and began to run around towards his left, around side of the giant horn, dodging another tribute who he didn’t recognize in the moment and grabbing a small blue backpack on the way. He headed for the tail of the Cornucopia with the goal of outrunning marble, but a shout from somewhere in the direction of the shore halted him in his tracks. “Val!”

Nova. Looking in the direction he’d heard her call, he saw her on one of the jetties, nearly to the shore. No other tributes near her... He heard someone start screaming behind him. I’m not going back into that…

Looping one of the backpack straps over his shoulder, he raced down the jetty towards her; she saw him coming and moved onto the beach, waiting there until he reached the sand. He took the lead as they charged into the jungle, going in a random direction, leaving the yelling and clanging of weapons far behind. A few yards in, Val switched the spear to his left hand and pulled out the machete, using it to cut through the many vines and branches in their way. Leaving a trail, but that won’t matter if someone’s chasing us...We can be more careful later…

It was at least an hour before they stopped, although they slowed their pace long before that. The adrenaline wore off as they reached a shallow, rocky gully under the cover of some particularly thick vegetation. Val found a large rock and dropped onto it, his lungs struggling to draw in enough of the heavy, wet-feeling air.

Nova collapsed onto a similar rock a few feet away, pushing back strands of hair that were escaping the braid down her back. After a couple minutes of also gasping for breath, she looked up at him, the ghost of a smile on her face. “Well. Hi there.”

“Hi.” He laughed, almost silently due to his continuing struggle for oxygen. “Come here often?”

“No, not really.” She laughed with him, then grimaced. "Fuck, it’s hot.”

“And humid. I was hoping for something more like Five.”

“Me, too. I mean, dry heat contributed to both Percy and Sola’s wins, if I recall correctly. Anything good in that pack?”

“What? Oh, yeah.” He slid the backpack off of his shoulder and unzipped the only pocket. Besides a decent-sized coil of rope and smaller roll of wire, both of which would undoubtedly be useful for traps and snares, the contents were a bit disappointing. “Empty water jug, very small tarp...Oh, a knife! Just a pocketknife, though…looks sharp at least...”

Nova held out her hands, and he handed over the pack for her to look at. “No food or water, unfortunately,” he said as she sorted through the supplies herself.

“We’ll have time to figure out food. Water is going to be an issue, fast.” She zipped up the backpack again. “We should keep moving.”

“Yeah.” Val took a few moments to listen to the forest around them. Besides the occasional unfamiliar bird call, he didn’t hear anything. “I think we’re alone in this area. We can probably move a bit slower for a while, conserve our energy.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Nova took the pack while Val kept the spear and machete. They had been making their way uphill, deeper into the jungle, for a while longer when the cannons started to fire. Stopping to listen, Val counted internally. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Silence.

“Only seven,” Nova confirmed.

Val looked at her. “That’s not quite a normal-sized Bloodbath, is it?”

“It’s on the small side.” She shrugged. “Let’s keep going.”

Hours later, Val felt so thirsty that he could barely concentrate on the path he was still cutting up the hill. Even without the exertion, the heat would have been brutal. Pull it together...You’ve been dehydrated before and survived…But back in Five, the air never felt quite this heavy, like it was weighing him down more with every breath he took.

“Val, stop!”

He froze mid-stride, just about to lift his machete for another swing. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a force field in front of you.”

“Oh. Shit.” Backing up a couple steps, he turned to her. “I...How did you know?”

“There was a distortion…It’s gone now...” She picked up a small stick and tossed it up the hill. A loud crackling noise, a flash of something beyond the force field, and the stick fell back to the ground, burnt almost to ash. “Definitely stronger that the one around the Training Center roof. By a lot. Damn.”

“...Did I miss the part where hydropower involves force fields?”

“What? Oh, no, I learned about spotting them from Meg, I asked her if she could explain...There was one around the Gamemaker balcony in the gymnasium. “

Huh. Explains the staring that one day. “So what do we do now?”

“Try to get around it, I suppose.”

They turned right and started moving slowly along the force field, keeping track of where it was by tossing twigs and rocks. Val even spotted the rippling in the air that Nova kept looking for at one point. A couple times, they stopped to gather some nuts Nova recognized from training as edible.

And as the day wore on, it soon became clear that getting around the force field wasn’t an option.

“It’s the edge of the Arena,” Nova said. “Guess it’s just small.”

Makes it more likely we’ll have to face other tributes. Val looked up, past the thick foliage above them. “Looks like it’s getting dark.” Well, darker, anyway. “We can stay near the force field, gives us one less direction to worry about an attack from.”

Nova only nodded in response, and they set about finding a suitable area to make their camp for the night. Above them, the stars started to come out, seeming unnaturally bright.

Dinner started out as raw nuts cracked between two stones, until Nova figured out how to “cook” them by tossing them into the force field. They tasted very good that way, but by then, eating anything just made Val more thirsty. But we have to eat, even if it’s just nuts. He started talking mostly to distract himself. “I’m sure there’s edible animals in here. Like the birds...Wish I knew how to hunt. Like that girl from Twelve last year. Maybe we could try setting some snares tomorrow, when there’s more light? Meat would be nice. We could even cook in on the force field.” Nova’s not listening; she’s got her thinking face on. “Nova? You good?”

She seemed to jolt back to reality without even registering what he’d said. “I’ve got it!” Reaching into the pack and pulling out the pocketknife, she stood, walked over the nearest tree, and started stabbing it.

Okay, no, that’s actually closer to drilling into it…He got up to join her. “What did you figure out?”

“It doesn’t make sense to have an Arena with no water right away, not one that’s this hot apparently twenty-four-seven...The lack of supplies you described at the Cornucopia suggests that even the Careers are going to have next to no water. And yes, it could be gifted, but not everyone’s going to have sponsors. People will be dropping like flies from dehydration in no time, and that would be boring to the Capitolites, right? So water is in here somewhere, and if it’s not on the ground or in the sky...no clouds...then it’s got to be…” She twisted the knife one last time, then pulled it back, allowing a small but steady stream of water to come spraying out from under the thick bark. “...in the trees!”

The water was almost as warm as the air, but Val was far beyond caring about a detail like that as they filled their water bottle and took turns drinking as much as they could without throwing up. Once they were finished, they stuffed the hole in the tree with leaves and finished off the nuts. “We can always find more,” was Nova’s logic.

They were sitting quietly, leaning against each other and waiting for the nightly death recap that had to be coming, when Val said, “Have I kissed you today?”

“You kissed me this morning.”

“Did I? Feels like weeks ago.”

“Hmm. It does, doesn’t it?” Nova tilted her head, smiled, then leaned up and pressed her lips to his for a moment. “There. Feel better?”

He returned the kiss. “Yeah. Much.”

The anthem started blaring a few seconds later, and they watched the faces of Chron from Three, Jace from Six, Natalia from Eight, Michael from Nine, Fawn from Ten, and both Twelves appear and disappear one after the other.

I saw Jace die… It hadn’t sunk in earlier. I saw Michael swimming towards the same jetty as me...Both Twelves gone right away, nothing like last year…

That, like many other things he’d noticed since the Reaping, felt...odd. But he tried to push that thought away. We’re alive. That’s what’s important right now. As cold as that might seem.

He took the first watch of the night; however, Nova did wake up when the tolling started, echoing through the Arena.

Sounds almost like the starting gong, but a different tone… “I counted twelve.”

“Yeah. So, midnight? Maybe districts. Who knows.” Nova yawned, and seemed to fall back asleep immediately despite the lightning that started cracking and striking somewhere in the Arena, over and over again for a long time.

They switched places what felt like a couple hours later, after a cannon fired. Val was surprised by how much sleep he managed to get in before dawn broke. That’s exhaustion for you. He was still too tired to do much except nod when Nova suggested they go back towards the beach and see if they could find out what the Careers were doing, and maybe spot some other tributes. “If we’re lucky, we might even get to look over what’s left the supplies. Just in case.”

The going was a lot easier downhill, and for breakfast, they found more nuts and some brightly colored edible fruits along the way. Val was just reflecting on how it still didn’t feel like enough food...Although I do feel more awake now...when another cannon went off.

Nine down, fifteen left.

There was no one on the beach or at the Cornucopia when they exited the jungle. Guess all the Careers are sticking together…“Should we take a look at the Cornucopia?”

The picked-over weapons and supplies didn’t yield much that they wanted besides another pocketknife, a second machete, and a small handheld drill of sorts clearly intended for use on the trees. As they walked towards a portion of beach they hadn’t been yet, Joel from Ten emerged from the trees on the other side of the lake and headed for the Cornucopia himself.

“There was at least one other drill left,” Nova said as she and Val stepped onto the sand. “I hope he finds it. And figures out how to use it.”

“I’m sure he will, if he hasn’t already. He seems pretty smart.”

Joel was still in the horn, and the Fives were debating on how they might be able to catch some of the fish they could see darting through the water when they heard the roar. It started off faint, then grew louder and louder by the second. A section of trees, almost directly across the Arena from them, began to shake violently as a massive wall of water tore through them, poured into the lake, and turned into a wave that soaked the entire beach.

“Glad we didn’t set anything down here,” Val said water swirled around their ankles for several seconds before it retreated. Nova snorted. Across the water, Joel emerged from the Cornucopia and hurried back into the jungle. “We should probably do that, too,” Val said as the man from Ten disappeared into the trees. “After I try spearing some fish.”

He failed miserably at the fish-spearing, and they retreated into the cover of the trees as the lighting started up again, seeming to strike only one of the several extra-tall trees that ringed what might be the edge of the Arena. They didn’t bother to go as far into the jungle this time, especially not after they came across a patch of trees that were relatively full of fruit and nuts.

“I’m going to hate these things pretty soon, aren’t I?” Val said, holding up one of the bright yellow-red fruits he found particularly tasty.

“Unless you get better at fishing very quickly, yes.” Nova smiled at him. “Don’t feel bad; I should’ve asked one of the trainers to show me how to make a net.”

“Because it was so obvious that there would be fish in this Arena.”

“Okay, fair, but nets are useful for other things, too.” She glanced around. “If you want to stay in this area for a while, I could set some snares. Hopefully there’s animals around that they’ll actually be able to catch.”

“Please do. Worth a try, right?”

Twilight was setting in when they returned to a semi-hidden spot among the largest trees in the grove, having set three snares. Another cannon fired as the first stars were coming out. Ten gone.

Seeing Dina from One’s face in the sky later was a shock. Careers so rarely go out that early...Mavia from Six and Thalia from Seven were rather less surprising.

“That’s two districts eliminated,” Nova said. “Six and Twelve...And the Careers are down one.”

“Still wouldn’t want to run into them.”

“Agreed. Want me to take first watch tonight?”

“Sounds good.”

He somehow slept through the roar of another distant wave and the lightning, and Nova woke him as what sounded like rain pattered in the distance. It stopped almost as soon as Nova laid down, having never reached them, and in the following silence, Val’s mind wandered.

I wonder how the kids are doing. Avin’s most likely withdrawn, refusing to talk a school, hiding from everyone at home... He imagined that Nicola didn’t like that. She’s alternating between storming around and trying to coax Avin out of his room when they’re home, I bet. I hope her friends at school are there for her. And Juno…

Juno was almost certainly doing what she always did. Keeping shit together, her own and everyone else’s. At least she has Elena…

His speculations soon turned to mental replays of memories, occupying him so thoroughly that he didn’t notice the thick, creeping fog until it was almost upon him.

The fact that his first instinct was to reach out and touch it was, in hindsight, very stupid.

He yell of pain woke Nova up, and she hadn’t even gotten to her feet before he was stumbling towards her, right arm already almost useless as blisters sprouted across his skin. All he could get out was, “Run!”

Without a word, Nova swept up the backpack that held all their supplies and took off. Val followed her, for the first time struggling to keep up.

Logically, he knew it didn’t take them that long to reach the beach. Yet it felt like hours. By the time he felt sand under his boots, he was dizzy and unstable, ready to crash to the ground. Nova dragged him all the way into the water, which turned out to be unnecessary as the fog never made it past the treeline. But the salt water did seem to draw the poison out, in the most painful way possible, leaving bare, raw skin behind in place of the blisters. 

It was definitely a good thing that the Careers weren’t near the beach while Val was writhing and screaming.

Afterward, once the fog had dissipated, Nova made the decision that they were returning to the jungle, albeit to a different section of it. They found another spot to hide, not far from more fruit and nut trees. Once the sun came up, Nova set more snares, with Val following alone, still shaky and feeling like there was no way he could fight anyone if they should turn up.

Another cannon fired in the morning, and another just as the lightning started later in the day. Yet another, in the afternoon, woke Val from a fitful nap.

“Sorry I’m not much use to you today,” he said as they got ready to check the snares. 

“Don’t worry about it. You were injured.” Her tone was curt, but her expression softened when she looked at him. “It’s okay, Val. Really. I need you back to normal as soon as possible.”

He chuckled. “Sure thing, boss.”

The snares turned up empty. The disappointment from that was softened by the arrival of a silver parachute bearing two thick packages of jerky. Both of their mouths were already full before they thought to call out a thank you to Sola and Percy.

I suppose our sponsors, whoever they are, are to thank, too. But I don’t feel very grateful towards them. Given the circumstances.

Meg, Jessamine, and Sally’s faces were shown during the death recap that night. Thirteen gone. Another two districts eliminated. Less than half of the tributes left.

As their faces vanished from the sky forever, it was hard not to think about them in the Training Center. Talking, laughing...Living.

No one deserves this.

Nova insisted on taking first watch again, but Val soon realized that he wasn't tired enough to sleep. When a now-familiar roar of water echoed through the Arena again, he got up and walked over to the tree his wife was leaning against. “I can’t sleep. You get some rest; you’ve been carrying the weight for both of us all day.” When she didn’t answer him, instead staring blankly out into the forest, he gave her a light tap on the shoulder. “Earth to Nova? What are you thinking?”

Just like with her revelation about the water in the trees, she appeared to snap back into the present in an instant. “Of course . I should’ve figured it out after the first twenty-four hours!” She turned to him, expression a bizarre mix of excitement and exasperation. “It’s a clock, Val! This whole Arena is a fucking clock!”

Chapter Text

“...A clock?” It all made sense to him a second later. “So that’s why the same shit keeps happening. And that tolling the first night…”

“It was for midnight.” Nova started pacing back and forth beside the tree, where a small patch of ground was fairly clear. “Twelve to one is lightning...going by angles and sections from there, the wave comes at ten o’clock, the fog would have been...two? Damn, we’ve been lucky so far, if every sector has its own threat…”

Not sure I feel that lucky. Val flexed the fingers of his right hand and winced. Still tingly and the skin’s still painful. But Nova was right; getting hit by only one of an entire day’s worth of hourly horrors had to be lucky, in the grand scheme of things. “So we’re...in the one o’clock sector right now?”

“Yes. In a couple hours, we won’t want to be here.” Nova stopped, frowning. “The lightning. We’ve seen it a couple times; it hits one tree and only that tree. The rest of the sector is probably safe.”

“That tree isn’t burning up, is it? So it’s conductive...What if the rest of the sector is? Like the ground? We’d get electrocuted even right by the beach.” Which we don’t want to be on at night anyway because the Careers are almost certainly based at the lake...

“That would be hard to pull off, assuming the ground the same as it is everywhere else. Then the beach is wet and extra conductive by that  time of the night, so that’s more potential to spread electricity to other sectors...People wouldn’t be dying one by one if that was happening. I think it’s worth the risk.”

She looked at him, a question in her expression, and he said, “You know I trust you.”

“I think we’re close to that side of this sector. If we go right now, we can check the forest floor before the lightning starts.”

“It’s dark, Nova, and we're in a jungle. Still a stretch to go the distance and check all that before midnight.”

“Ugh. You’re right.”

Less than a minute later, a silver parachute landed in a nearby fern, carrying a flashlight.

“Thank you, Percy and Sola,” Val said with a grin.

To avoid drawing anyone and everyone to them, they only pointed the flashlight almost straight down at their feet and kept it on the lowest brightness setting as they picked their way through the forest, as quickly as possible. They had to get uncomfortably close to the beach to be sure they crossed into the next sector, and after they had confirmed it, they went back up the hill for a short distance.

Val stood guard as Nova investigated multiple spots, digging around under the vegetation in nine different spots before she let out a relieved sigh and clicked off the flashlight. “No way this entire area gets electrified. If we keep our distance from that one tree, we’ll be fine.”

It felt like mere seconds later when thunder boomed above them, signaling the beginning of the lightning strikes. They both tensed, but slowly relaxed as the telltale cracking noises reached them from up the hill. “Feel electrocuted?” Val asked.

“Nope. And we’d know.” Nova laughed. “Pretty sure we’ve both been zapped a few times. I remember the last time you were, because I heard all about how Avin told you that the washing machine wasn’t completely disconnected from power and you still messed with it anyway.”

“In my defense, I’d just pulled an all-night shift because everyone who works residential district maintenance had to when that idiot Upper Town boy caused a rock slide with a car crash.”

“You should’ve waited for me to get home from the dam, then.”

“I was trying to be nice!”

“And I’d have appreciated it if you didn’t almost due!” But there was no anger in her voice; he could practically hear her smirking. “Okay, okay, enough reminiscing. You still want to take watch?”

“Yeah. You get some sleep.”

She got up again about an hour later when rain started to fall in the next sector, closer than they had expected to their camp. “I have to pee,” Nova said before grabbing the flashlight and disappearing into trees. She came back a few minutes later with an explanation of the one o’clock sector’s threat. “It’s raining blood over there. I’m going back to sleep.”

Lightning, blood rain, acid fog, giant waves...This Arena is insane. I’m honestly shocked so many of us are still alive. I wonder if anyone else has figured out the clock thing…It’s a definite advantage, knowing how to avoid traps while staying hidden in the jungle…

He got tired enough a few hours later to wake his wife and get a couple hours of sleep himself.

“I’d like to go back to the beach again,” Nova told him over a very small breakfast of jerky and fruit. “We can hear better there, for one thing. The jungle deadens noise when you’re in it, which is probably why we haven’t heard anyone else even though the Arena itself is so small.”

“And what’s another thing?”

She sighed. “...You know I struggle to just wait around anywhere. And I don’t want to accidentally leave this sector wandering around the forest, either.”

We’re not hunting anyone, and no one’s caught up to us yet. It’s a waiting game, at this point.

They skirted the beach when they had almost reached it, practicing for when they went back in to the tree later; they didn't want to leave tracks right back into their “safe” sector. “The Cornucopia’s tail points towards it, so it’s not like we’ll lose track,” Nova pointed out.

The Careers were gone, though a quick trip to the Cornucopia confirmed that they were staying there at night. “A lot of Career packs hunt at night,” Nova said. “But as they’re not this year, I’m guessing their weren’t any night vision goggles in the supplies. Sponsoring them for the entire group would be extremely expensive, I’m sure.”

“They must not be worried about stuff being stolen,” Val observed. “Not much besides some extra weapons. They probably carry all they think they’ll need.”

With that in mind, he took one of the swords. Someone else must like spears, because there’s none of those left.

They were back on the beach in time to watch the next wave come roaring through the jungle. Val thought he heard a scream as some of the water began to splash above the treetops, and a cannon fired as remnants of the wave soaked the sand around the lake.

Fourteen. They saw the hovercraft appear and snag the body. It was too far away for them to tell who it belonged to.

The heat of the Arena, which was taking a long time for them to adjust to, was much more bearable if they sat by or in the almost-cool lake water. So, between more failed attempt at fishing and brief forays into the trees for fruit and nuts, they mostly stayed by the water, on the rocks or sand, keeping an eye out for other tributes. The small tube of sunblock Percy and Sola sent around noon made the decision to stay out in the sun even easier.

Nova didn’t bring it up, but Val knew that it was more than temperature and the lack of uninterrupted sleep leaving them exhausted. I haven’t been starving in a long time, but I remember what it feels like.

He had almost been a community home kid, would have been if some former coworkers of his father’s hadn’t taken him in to spare him from what was, at the time, a notoriously awful establishment. After his father died in a construction accident...his mother had died so long ago that Val didn’t even remember her...he had been shuffled from house to house for years, mixed in with other people’s kids, families he never felt like he was a part of. Kep was one of the very few not-really-siblings who had made the effort to become and stay his friend.

There was never enough money in those homes, never enough room, and never, ever enough food.

Not wanting to be hungry anymore had made it far too easy to hear out the Peacekeeper who had seen Val win a wrestling competition at school. “I can use men like you...Sometimes district people need convincing from their own kind…”

Then he’d lost his temper on one of those Peacekeepers who gave him orders, the one who kept talking to Val like he was a stupid animal who couldn’t understand words, and that whole situation had been over as abruptly as it started. That same Peacekeeper hadn’t been liked by a lot of his fellow soldiers even if their superiors didn't care, which was why Val had gotten another job so fast. A couple of them really looked out for me. Not all of them are scum, I guess...I mean, I’m friendly with some even now. Although he knew a lot of Downrivers wouldn’t agree with him on any of it. And I understand that, too.

He wasn’t sure if it was ironic or fitting that he’d ended up raising a Peacekeeper’s child.

Not that I ever thought about it like that. Never thought about Juno being someone else’s at all. In any way that matters, she’s not. Any doubts about that had left him the moment he held her for the first time.

“What are you thinking about?” Nova was leaning her head against his shoulder as they sat on one of the jetties, legs dangling in the water. The lightning had stopped hours earlier, and the sun was descending towards the horizon.

Val watched as some silvery fish swam into view, then darted away as quick as they’d come. “Just now? Juno.”

“I was thinking about Avin. Well, all three of them, but especially him. He...He’s so fragile sometimes, Val. He has this incredible mind, but…He’s just always alone, on the outside looking in. And I know how that feels...it was similar for me at that age...but somehow, I never know how to help.” Her breath caught. “And now I’ll never be able to.”

“Don’t say that.” Val gripped her shoulder, forcing her to sit up and face him. “We’ve made it over halfway, haven’t we? We...well, you...figured out the Arena, so we have a clear advantage if no one else has. Clearly we have sponsors, too. All you have to do is keep using your big brain to strategize, make it through a couple fights...I can help you there...and you can go home.”

“Without you.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “...I don’t know if I’d survive that.”

Not something I want to hear at all. Not when she’s the one who needs to make it back. “Nova…”

Someone shouting in the jungle cut him off, and they were both on their feet in seconds. “Three o’clock sector, and it’s mid-afternoon,” Nova said. “It’s most likely the scheduled Gamemaker trap, not the Careers…”

They hadn’t even reached the beach before the shouts turned to screams.

Val was mere yards away from Joel when the Ten came stumbling out of the trees, uniform shredded, covered in blood, and almost unrecognizable. The orange-furred monkeys pursuing him stopped short of the sand; one of the leaders snagged Joel’s left leg with massive claws before he could fully leave the jungle. Val threw his spear, striking the muttation in the shoulder. With a screech, it released Joel and retreated, taking his spear with it.

Ignoring that, he grabbed a collapsing Joel under the arms and dragged him down the beach, away from the snarling mutts. Nova rushed to meet them at the water’s edge.

It’s almost funny; I was thinking about Juno earlier, and she’d be more help in this situation...Except it didn’t take someone with medical training to know that the man from Ten wouldn’t survive this.

His body was covered in deep lacerations, and every single one was pouring blood. Where visible, his undamaged skin was draining of color, and it was going cold under Val’s hands. His breaths rattled in his chest.

Val and Nova looked at each other across the dying man, and she seemed just as much at a loss as him. There’s nothing we can do, except…

He reached down and took Joel’s hand. “Hey, look at me. We’re here, okay? You’re not alone.”

Joel managed to focus his tear-filled gaze on Val as he began mumbling words, all of which sounded like gibberish, save one. “Luna.”

Feeling like he couldn’t draw a real breath either, Val said, “She’s gonna be okay. You said it yourself: she’s a survivor. And she has her uncle, right? Luna will be okay.”

He didn’t know if Joel heard or understood him, because just as the Ten seemed to relax, his breathing stopped.

Jungle noise insulation or not, they knew the risk of the Careers hearing the commotion and returning early. They still waited by the edge of the jungle until Joel’s body was lifted out.

Another cannon fired minutes before the anthem that night. The face of Toby from Four showed up in the sky, followed by Eli from Eight, then Joel.

Percy was right. We made it to the final eight.

They got a slow start the next morning, even after hearing another cannon. Nova wanted to see the twelve o’clock tree up close, but there didn’t seem to be any point in rushing and reaching it before the hour of lightning strikes. They took a few detours to forage; Val was irritated to spot some kind of large tree rodent during one of their stops. If only I still had a spear to throw, maybe...

Reaching the tree not long after the lightning stopped, Nova went about examining every inch of it that she could reach while Val stood by. He spotted something while she was using her pocketknife to scrape off some bark. “I think the force field is…well, right there.”

Nova looked where he was pointing, at one of the distortions in the air. “You’re right,” she said after a moment. “I guess we can cook the nuts again. I was getting bored of them raw.”

I’m getting bored of them altogether, to be honest. The fruits, too.

Trying to cook the latter of those things didn’t work out as well.

“Val,” Nova said after dodging the bits of exploded fruit and juice, “Do that again and I’ll divorce you.”

“Noted.” He started plucking bits of pulp out of his hair; she laughed and came over to help him.

Lunch still cleaned out the rest of their food, including the last few bits of jerky. “Guess we’re going gathering again,” Val said.

“You can go now, if you want. I know you get bored just standing around, and I want to look at the tree a bit more. Still not sure as the specifics of why it’s not burning up. There’s also an identical tree in each sector...I wonder if they’re built the same, just in case the Gamemakers want a bigger light show…”

“Well, maybe we can check on that later if you want.” Preferably when any traps going off are on the opposite side of the Arena. On their way to the tree, they’d heard the terrifying clicking from the eleven o’clock section. I don’t even want to know. “Call if you need me. Or just come find me if you think someone’s coming. Haven’t seen or heard signs of anybody all day...” There’s not a lot of us left. “...but I won’t go far.”

For maybe an hour, this plan worked out fine. Val was actually on his way back to the tree, excited to have found something different along with the rest of the food: some berries for Nova to double-check. But I remember these from the Training Center, pretty damn sure…

Then he heard her screaming. And it wasn’t even his name she was screaming.

Just terrified, wordless screams.

He had his sword in hand when he arrived at the tree, but he forgot about using it when he saw the male tribute from Seven pinning his wife to the forest floor, trying to clamp a hand over her mouth. Val had him tackled off of her and onto the ground in what felt like an instant.

There were just two issues with this approach. One, Val managed to drop his sword during the tackling.

Two, Clem Towers was actually really fucking strong.

If the man hadn’t been trying to kill him, Val might’ve admired what a good wrestler he was.

As things stood, Val knew he was losing in less than a minute. Clem had him pinned, was pressing down on his throat, cutting off his air. Black spots were already forming in Val’s field of vision as he struggled in vain. I used to be good in fights, but he’s younger, stronger...

Then Nova was there, slashing at the Seven from behind with their extra machete. He sensed her coming and dodged the worst of it; however, he had to let go of Val to rip the weapon out of Nova’s hands and shove her into the nearest tree, cursing from the pain of the gash down his back. Val flipped onto his stomach, struggling to get his machete out of his belt while looking around wildly for the sword he’d dropped.

He saw Clem’s ax instead.

The man from Seven had just turned away from a crumpled Nova, getting a good grip on the machete he’d taken from her, when Val swung the ax into his torso.

Panic or adrenaline or some cursed mix of both kept Val swinging the ax into the Seven, crushing bones and spraying blood, at least six times before the cannon fired. As soon as he heard that, he dropped the weapon as if it had burned him and rushed to Nova, who had managed to get back on her feet and seemed to be hyperventilating. It took a few minutes of Val demanding if she was all right and checking her over himself for her to say that she was fine. “I’m just bruised up, I swear…” She shivered as Val hugged her, tightly. “He came up from behind...Stopped me from me from making noise...until I bit his hand…you heard...”

Relief washed over him, along with a wave of anger towards himself. “We can’t split up again. I shouldn’t have left you…”

“I told you to. Don’t blame yourself; it’s on both of us.” She pulled away, still shaking a little. “You’ve got blood all over you.”

He glanced down at himself. She’s right. “None of it’s mine.”

“Good. I...we need to get away from the body…”

“Yeah, okay, let’s find somewhere to drill a tree and clean up.”

They gathered their things, but left the ax behind.

It felt like hours before Val managed to get all of the Seven’s blood off of his skin and clothes. The adrenaline had worn off by the time he was done, and he started to feel the aches and pain from the fight. While taking a drink of lukewarm water, he saw Nova wincing as she rotated her arm and asked, “Are you sure he didn’t do any major damage?”

“No.” She wasn’t looking at him. “He...He wasn’t trying to kill me right away.”

Val thought back, realized that Clem hadn’t been holding a weapon while he was on top of Nova, and suddenly understood exactly what she meant. “Fuck.”

I almost wish he was still alive so I could kill him again.

“Val. It’s fine, it’s over. He’s gone.”

None of this is fine. He walked over and cupped her face in his hands, guiding her to look him in the eye. “Are you okay?”

She hesitated, biting her lip, then shook her head, so quick that he almost missed it. Yet again, she pulled away from him. “We need to find a secluded spot to stay for the night, further from the tree. Some food wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. Although we could live without it tonight.”

“We’ll keep an eye out. I don’t know where I dropped what I had.” And I don’t want to go anywhere near that damn tree again.

It turned out that they didn’t need to worry about what they would be eating that night. While they were settling into a sort of cave formed by the giant raised roots of several trees, about halfway down the hill in the lightning sector, another sponsor parachute arrived, carrying with it an entire basket of food.

The idea of devouring the bread and cheese and fruit that was not of a jungle variety in one go was very tempting, and the crackers and jerky that came along with the fresh stuff looked almost as good. But they were sensible, rationed it out, and ate slowly.

Another cannon fired at dusk.

As Nova dozed off before the death recap started, so Val watched it alone. Rasmus. That piece of shit from Seven . Noah.

There were only five people left. Three Careers and us. The odds aren’t good if they find us...We were hardly able to handle what happened today, and that was two on one…

Nova woke up when the lightning started, claiming she wasn’t tired anymore. Val filled her in on the recap before going to sleep himself.

His dreams were full of blood and living, moving jungle vines that kept choking him into oblivion.

Chapter Text

The next day was quiet.

“I didn’t thank you yet,” Nova said as they were setting up a couple human-sized rope traps near their hiding spot. At this point, moving around the jungle while evading the Gamemaker traps seemed just as likely to get them caught by the Careers as staying put.

“Thank you for what?” He handed her another length of rope.

“For...for taking over with Joel. For having something to say to him.”

“I’m just glad I thought of something. For all the good it did.”

“But it was something. More than I could do.” She seemed truly angry at herself as she tied a final knot for the trap, rather like she had been regarding skills and survival odds in the lead-up to the Games. “Sometimes I wish I was better at knowing the right thing to say. Like you seem to.”

“Sometimes I wish I was better at a lot of things, things you do well. Like when...like with the dam incident last year. Think I could’ve come up with a plan to deal with the problem, gotten a couple dozen people to follow that plan without question, and fended off Williams, all at once?”

The “dam incident” had occurred in late spring, a couple months before the previous Hunger Games. Water levels had been unusually high. Cutting corners in overall maintenance had led to a lack of comprehensive repairs over a long period of time, which had led to a buildup of debris and severe wear in one of the dam’s main turbines. And while most of District Five, Val included, had never fully grasped or even been made aware of all the exact technical details, the result was easy enough to understand. The turbine had shut down with almost no warning, and the resulting overload of pressure in the system had threatened a full-on breach.

Nova had been there, working her usual shift. Her superior, the person who supposedly managed the entire dam, Joran Williams, had not. In the middle of everyone’s desperate scramble to shut down what needed to be and fix what was necessary to keep the place running and intact, they had finally managed to get Williams on the phone. One of the several useless orders he gave was, “Don’t turn on the flood warning siren.”

His logic was that, unless a breach actually happened, a siren would just cause panic and disruption, including an unnecessary...and very “uneconomical”...evacuation of the one area of Five that would be directly impacted: Downriver.

Never mind that a siren going off after a breach would be too late.

Nova had told Williams as much, hung up, then gone and switched on the siren herself to keep anyone else from taking the fall.

The fact that her being in charge had very likely saved the dam, as well as a lot of the Capitol’s money and resources, kept her from being fired or even disciplined...despite Williams’s best efforts. He had the wealth and connections to keep his position regardless, but he had been embarrassed and furious as the story traveled across the district. His reputation had taken a major hit. Nova’s had taken the opposite.

Nova had gloated about “putting that idiot in his place” for months. Rightfully so, in Val’s opinion. Still surprised she didn’t take the opportunity during the interviews to get a few last digs in. “Look, I know how to put a day’s work plan together, or what to do if one of my crew members drops a hammer on their coworker’s head. But run the largest power-producing structure in all of Panem? Not a chance. My point is...We’ve got our own strengths. We balance each other out, always have. Honestly, I think that’s why we’ve gotten so far in here.”

“That, and luck.” Nova began moving fallen foliage to conceal the rope snare somewhat. “I’m convinced that the Careers this year are shitty hunters. Relatively speaking, of course. Hourly traps are slowly them down, sure, but packs from most years would’ve already found us. Six months probably wasn’t a lot of time to train...or retrain...them on everything. And that’s assuming they figured out who was going right away.” She straightened up. “We have enough rope for one more trap. Let’s find a spot.”

The rest of the day was split between collecting water, foraging to bolster their sponsored food supply, and hiding out in their almost-cave, taking turns napping. No one showed up to attack them, and no cannons fired.

Night had fallen, and they were seated together, backs against a towering tree root as they took turns sipping out of their water bottle. “No deaths today,” Val said.

“No. My guess is the Careers spent the day sweeping other parts of the Arena. Shit pack or not, it’s only a matter of time before they find us, even if we start moving again. If we don’t...We’d take out maybe one of them with a trap, if that. Three against two, even two against two, is not good odds, Val. Not given who they are.”

Male from One, female from Two, female from Four. All trained killers. The man from Seven had been difficult enough to deal with. “What should we do, then?”

She’d clearly already though about the answer. “Set a trap.”

“Thought we already did. With the rope.”

“A better one.” She straightened up, turning to him. “It’s a long shot, but...If we lure them to the lightning tree, at any point during that hour, the noise and light will confuse the hell out of them. We know how to spot the force field, where it is in relation to the tree. They might not. All one of them has to do is dodge the wrong way while chasing us, get hit by the lightning or run into the field, and our odds go up. By a lot.”

“And if we get struck by lightning? We’re gonna be doing a lot of dodging ourselves.”

“...I’ll take getting electrocuted over being cut to shreds by Careers.”

Val flinched. Horrible way to put it, but I can’t argue with the logic. He put his arm around Nova’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him as the anthem started to play. No faces. Tomorrow night…

Assuming there was a tomorrow night in this Arena.

They talked through the logistics of the plan a little more after the anthem ended, then just sat quietly for while, still looking up at the sky, now lit up by a million stars.

“You think they’re real?” Nova asked. “The stars, I mean. Or are they just projections like the death recap?”

I hadn’t thought about it. “You’d know better than me.” She’s the one who watches them, even maps them out when she has the time. Which is almost never, but Avin likes to join her...

“I don’t think they are real. Going by how far Five is from the Capitol, and how long we traveled in the hovercrafts to get here, the constellations wouldn’t be too far off from what they look like in Five. But they’re all wrong, at least for summer. Not right for winter, even.” She sighed. “I wish they were real.”

“Would be nice. Seeing the same night sky as we do at home.”

“Hmm.” She paused. “After my father died, I would go up to the roof every night to look at the stars, often all night. My mother was upset...Not surprising, I mean I was ten and needed to rest...But I guess it made me feel closer to him. He used to spent hours and hours explaining the stars to me, telling me the names he made up for some of them when there didn’t seem to be official ones...He said his favorite thing about them was that no matter how the earth moves, no matter what happens down here, in Panem...the stars still shine, somewhere out there, so far away. They’re so predictable to us that people used to navigate just by them all the time.”

For a second, it seemed like she might say something else, but seemingly gave up on it. Val knew her well enough to fill in the silence.

They took turns trying to sleep as the hours went on. Neither of them had much luck with that. For some reason, the sweat and grime that had almost baked onto Val’s skin over the past week started to feel extra suffocating that night, and his mind wouldn’t turn off no matter how much he told himself that he needed the rest.

This ends tomorrow.

The ten o’clock wave had just started to roar in the distance for the last time when Nova and Val started a fire near the lightning tree. Thanks to their mentors and sponsors, they didn’t even need to struggle or improvise to make a spark; Percy and Sola sent matches.

It wasn’t a big fire, but it started giving off smoke almost immediately. The trick had been finding fuel: It turned out that reasonably dry wood and other plant debris could be found in spots by digging under the layers of thick foliage on the forest floor.

“You’d think it’d be wet with all this humidity,” Nova had commented. “But the lack of rain means that the upper layers of leaves and such are enough to keep it somewhat burnable.”

“Huh. Good thing we’re not digging around in the blood rain sector.”

“Exactly.”

They put enough green wood in the fire to keep it smoking, then found a log to sit on and waited.

“It’s two on two now,” Val said as they watched the pillar of smoke surpass the height of the treetops. A cannon had fired earlier in the morning. “Who do you think is left?”

“If I had to bet? The One and Two. But it could be one of them and the Four woman instead. Doesn’t matter much at this point.”

Whatever math Nova had done to determine when they should light the fire must have been excellent, because as the clouds right above the lightning tree started to darken and rumble, they heard voices coming up the hill.

Or maybe the Gamemakers sped things up a little. Who knows.

They both stood, and Val said, “Okay, we’ll split up, try to make them separate, hopefully take out at least one…”

“Yeah. Got it.” Nova looked up at him. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

The lightning, and the arrival of Marble and Hippolyte, cut their following kiss short.

Guess the Gamemakers did want a “bigger light show.” Because it sounds like all the trees in each sector that look like this one are also being struck by lightning.

Marble was bigger so Val felt relieved when the man from One charged at him. Problem is, we both have a sword but he’s actually good with it…

Between the endless thunder and lightning, and the struggle of fending off blows from Marble while deliberately falling back without ending up under the tree or in the force field, Val couldn’t have looked for Nova or even heard a cannon if he tried. Everything shrunk down to green and silver and the roar of the artificial storm above, and every moment turned into a lifetime of terrifying decisions, where the wrong choice meant death.

And at some point he chose wrong, because Marble managed to get past Val’s defenses for a split second. Val didn’t feel pain when the sword entered his abdomen, just the impact, and as Marble yanked his weapon back and raised it, the red that was suddenly covering everything must have made the One lose his grip. The bloodstained sword dropped. Val’s was already on the ground, but he had a pocketknife in his belt and just enough strength to tackle the other man off his feet.

He heard a cannon, followed by another maybe thirty seconds later, but he didn’t know which one was for the man he was stabbing. The lightning ceased, leaving the jungle eerily silent besides the ringing in Val’s head.

After the second cannon, however, he was already dropping the knife, dragging himself off Marble’s body, trying to call for Nova while unable to draw enough air into his lungs. He glimpsed the body under the lightning tree.

That’s Hippolyte.

Then Nova was beside him, rolling him onto his back, trying to put pressure on his wound, sobbing “It’s my fault, it’s all my fault,” over and over again.

I don’t understand what she's talking about...He didn’t need to, though. Two cannons. It’s over.

“It’s okay,” he managed to choke out. He could feel the pain now, tearing through him and making each labored breath a hundred times more difficult. “It’s okay...”

Nova’s going to make it.

And, just like that night after the interviews, it all clicked into place. “You’re going home, Nova. You’re going home.”

He wanted to say more than that, he couldn’t make his voice work anymore. Nova was still close, talking, shouting, words that he couldn’t understand as the world around him went from green to black. It’s okay...We’ve said everything that really needs to be said, many times...She’s going home, to the kids...She’s safe…

He could see District Five, Juno swimming far from shore in the reservoir, Nicola laughing with her friends by the shopfronts, Avin sitting on the rooftop with his mother, looking up at the stars.

Then there was nothing left at all.

Chapter Text

When he woke up in the dimly-lit recovery room, it took less than a minute for him to get over the surprise of still being alive and panic.

What the fuck did she do?

Fortunately, Percy was there to help a frightened attendant hold Val down and shout, “She’s fine, Val! Nova is alive!” It took him repeating himself several times for Val to understand. 

Once he was no longer trying to escape the restraining band holding him to the bed and Percy had ushered the Capitol employee out, the Victor sat down heavily in a chair that looked like it didn’t quite belong in the room and muttered, “Thank goodness they listened when I said they needed to let me in here early. And actually let me talk to you.”

While Val didn’t feel any pain, probably due to something in one of the multiple tubes attached to his right arm, the short burst of exertion left him almost too weak to even lift his head. “Where is she?”

“Safe, in her own recovery room. They want to have your reunion happen live at the Victory Ceremony.”

“I don’t understand.” Val squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to ward off the headache creeping up on him. “How are we both alive? I remember passing out after the Careers died...”

“Well…” Percy’s sigh sounded like a mix of exasperation and exhaustion. “Long story short, you were bleeding out. The Gamemakers had the cannon and the trumpets all ready to go...Then Nova threatened to walk into the force field. Turns out they don’t have a simple off switch for that thing, or even the equivalent of a dimmer. And with you mostly dead already, the possibility of...They went ahead and called it for both of you. Two Victors from the same district.”

Like they said they would last year. Everyone knew it was meant for those kids from Twelve, the ones who were in love...But then they said it didn’t apply anymore after the end of those Games. “Why would she risk that? How could she?” Risk dying and leaving our children alone when she was finally guaranteed to survive?

“You’ll have to talk to her about that,” Percy said, standing up to leave as one of the silent white-clad servers from the Training Center entered the room with a tray. “Just eat and rest, Val. That’s all you need to do right now.”

For an indeterminate amount of time, that was all Val was allowed to do. He would wake, be fed a tiny portion of food that still felt like too much, and be knocked out again by some sort of drug delivered intravenously. He didn’t have much time to think during those brief periods awake, and any thoughts he did have only left him more confused.

What the hell was Nova thinking? And why did it seem like Percy was holding back something?

Up until the end, Val hadn’t really believed that the final two would be him and Nova. The odds, though rather unreliable this year, had been very much against it. Somewhere, sometime, he’d resolved to protect Nova until he couldn’t anymore, until she would have to remember her promise to him and, like Mari had, use her brain to somehow outlive the rest of the tributes. And I would’ve done the same. If I failed, lost her...I would have done my best to fight my way out. There hadn’t been any doubt in his mind about it. We were both ready to keep that promise.

But she’d apparently thrown that all out the proverbial window as soon as it looked like he would die.

I was ready to. To save her. She had to have known that…

He couldn’t even figure out what emotions he was feeling every time he thought about it. All he did know for sure was the he wanted to see her more than anything.

His puzzling over the finale consumed so much of his still-muddled mind, that it took until the final time he woke up restrained for a much happier realization to strike him.

We’re going home. I’m going to see my kids again.

That thought alone nearly cleared his mind. As he slowly ate the broth and applesauce brought in by the server, he passed the time imagining Juno, Nicola, and Avin’s faces when he and Nova stepped off the train in Five. I can’t wait to hug them and tell them how much we missed them. He wished they could skip all the ceremonies and get on the train right away. Hell, a hovercraft would be faster...

The next time he woke up, the tubes and restraining band were gone. A simple set of plain clothes were laid out at the foot of the bed; Val was halfway through putting them on when he realized the had the exact same gray-and-black color scheme as the Arena uniforms. He shuddered involuntarily, hurrying to finish getting dressed so he could wait for the automated door out of the room to open.

Percy, Arachne, and Danae were waiting for him in the hallway. He was a pleasantly surprised to see Sola, too, as she was technically Nova’s mentor. She was also the first person to wrap him in an embrace. “How is Nova?” he asked as he hugged her in return.

“She’s okay!” As Sola stepped back, she smiled up at him. “Just missing you, of course.”

Percy hung back, only exchanging a nod and smile with Val, while Arachne and Danae babbled nonstop all the way to the elevator down the hall. The mentors and escort got out on the ground floor of the Training Center, while the stylist brought Val up to the sixth floor. “Nova’s on the fifth! We flipped a coin.”

Doesn’t matter much. This floor looks about the same as the one below.

The prep team descended then and talked all the way through a delicious but portion-controlled lunch and all the Victory Ceremony prep afterward, going on and on about how exciting the Games had been, where they had been when certain events had happened, how thrilled they were to be assisting a brand-new Victor. While attempting to tune them out, Val caught sight of himself in a mirror and noticed two things: One, he was a lot thinner than he’d been before the Games; and two, he didn’t have any scars where Marble had stabbed him.

That’s a lot of weight to lose in one week, although maybe some was lost in recovery. As for the scars...Medical miracles. That’s the Capitol for you. He could remember one Games, back when Juno was still a toddler, after which rumors spread that the Victor had died and been revived multiple times while his injuries from the finale were treated. That man had survived, obviously. Did my heart stop on the operating table, too? He decided that he’d rather not know the answer.

Arachne had made him another suit, black pants and a black jacket over a dark blue shirt. The tie that went with it was studded with tiny, glittering gemstones.

“Not bad,” was Percy’s comment on the outfit when he met Val under the stage in front of the Training Center. The cavernous, musty space seemed halved, with a rough but sturdy barrier put up down the middle. “My stylist put me in all red...and not a nice shade of red, mind you.” He took a deep breath. “Okay, so the rest of us are going on stage a more traditional way as we're called, then you will rise up to it on that.” He pointed to a new-looking metal plate set in the floor. “Don’t worry, they’re not known to be wobbly.”

“What a relief.” Something’s off.

Percy stepped forward to give him short hug, which Val accepted, but it came with a harsh, rushed whisper. “Capitol leadership is furious. I think you can figure out why.” When he let go and backed away, he added, much more loudly and as if he was joking about something meaningless, “So let’s try not to make it worse, yeah?”

Val tried to match his tone. “Well, I’ll try, Percy, but I’m still pretty damn tired.” And not as confused as I was before.

“Just get through tonight and tomorrow, and you can sleep all you want!”

As Percy disappeared into the shadows under the stage, Val was left trying to steady his breathing.

There’s not supposed to be two Victors. Ever. The cruelty of one is the point.

It seemed so obvious, all of a sudden. Even if two tributes from the same district had made it to the finale during the previous Hunger Games, the so-called rule change would have certainly been revoked. What a showdown, right? Would’ve been either two lovers, or two training mates with the Twos...Either way, fantastic TV.

Maybe the Gamemakers had hoped for something similar this year. A married couple in the Games, surviving so much together, only to be tragically defeated in the end. Or even have one sacrifice themselves for the other.

Which is basically what happened.

Until Nova, for whatever reason, had used part of the Arena itself to force their hand.

What the fuck did you get us into, Nova?

His heart was still pounding as the anthem blared, as the crowd roared, as Caesar Flickerman announced the prep teams, the stylists, the escort, the mentors. Then the metal plate was rising, and Val forced himself to breathe deep and steady.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good people of Panem, I give you the Victors of the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games! I give you...Val and Nova Kellan!"

Just a few seconds, and you can see her…

And when he did, any thoughts or worries left his mind in an instant.

The next thing he knew, they were clinging to each other in the middle of the stage, the cacophony from the crowd faded into the background. When he did loosen his grip enough to look into her face, all he managed to say was, “Hi, there.”

She laughed. “Hi.” Reaching up to caress his face, tears in her eyes, she said, barely loud enough for him to hear even from inches away, “Thought I was going to lose you for a minute. Many minutes.”

Me, too. He kissed her, and the crowd lost their damn minds even more than usual.

Caesar eventually approached and guided them to a tiny couch, located where the Victor’s chair would usually be. Nova had to sit almost on Val’s lap, but he wasn’t complaining; he kept his arms around her as Caesar gave a few more lead-in comments and the Games recap began.

Val did wonder, as the three-hour film of Games highlights began, if it would be easier to watch in some ways, compared to other years when they’d watched from home like the rest of Panem. For once, it won’t be a bunch of kids dying.

It was still horrible.

There was, naturally, a lot of focus on him and Nova. But when the video wasn’t showing them, it was showing everyone else dying in awful, high-definition detail.

Everyone who went down in the Bloodbath had been taken out by Careers. The acid fog had devoured Mavia from Six; crocodile mutts had torn Dina from One into pieces as the other Careers fled the sector.

We were one sector over at the time. They were following us.

The death of Thalia from Seven, at the hands of her own district partner, might have been the worst. The edit didn’t show everything Clem did to her before swinging his ax into her throat, but it showed enough.

If I ever did regret killing him, I think I’d stop regretting it right about now.

He had found Thalia’s ally the next day, sometime after Sally from Eleven was ripped apart by giant carnivorous plants. Jessamine from Nine had hidden herself when Thalia told her to and fled after the other woman’s cannon fired, but the monster from Seven tracked her down nonetheless. She had stepped into the midday lightning rather than be caught.

The nightmare seemed to never end as Meg from Three was killed by the Careers and Eli from Eight, injured by giant cockroaches in the eleven o’clock sector the previous night, drowned in a ten o’clock wave. Toby from Four was killed when he got into an argument with Marble, Noah from Eleven fell victim to a swarm of dozens of venomous snakes, and Rasmus suffered the same fate as Toby when he tried to leave the Career pack “too early.” Pearl had managed to sneak away on the sixth day, only to be suffocated by the thousands of poppies that opened at eight o’clock on that final morning.

In between all the deaths, Val watched himself and Nova survive the jungle, feeling almost as if they were people he didn’t know. The filmmakers had had to make an effort to highlight any real action that involved them. Showing moments when we were affectionate was a lot easier, clearly. We did get lucky in regards to dangers.

Except with a couple things, it hadn't been luck. Up until the last two days, where Marble and Hippolyte realized how the traps were activating in sequence and used that knowledge to aid their final hunts, Nova had been the only tribute to figure out the clock. And other than the Fives, only Meg had found and recognized the force field surrounding the Arena.

The deaths of Joel and the man from Seven were shown in full like the others. Val didn’t recognize himself at all during the clip of the latter. I almost took his fucking arm off at the end there and didn’t even notice…

One oddly nice thing that had been left in was the clip of Nova talking about the stars during the final night. When Val looked over to see her reaction, he realized for the first time that her deep blue gown was covered in tiny gemstones, some colorful, most just diamond-like, arranged both in clusters and scattered across the fabric, looking like the night sky captured in a dress.

She understood his expression and leaned over to say in his ear, “I hope they let me keep this one. Just to look at.”

I agree. Cyrano outdid himself. He smiled at her, then reluctantly turned back to the screen.

He couldn’t focus on the fight with the Careers due to his anticipation of how it would end. Missed it the first time around, after all.

As Marble succumbed to Val’s frantic stabbing and Hippolyte’s third attempt to spear Nova ended with the Two getting too close to the lightning tree, Val could hear people in the crowd shushing each other. The two cannons fired. Val saw himself go limp among the ferns and vines as Nova tried in vain to help him.

What was it that she thought was her fault? Me getting impaled, or something else? I need to ask her…

Val’s final “You’re going home,” was next to inaudible. He thought he could hear sniffles in the audience as the version of himself onscreen succumbed to blood loss.

A few moments after his eyes had closed, something seemed to shift in Nova. Her sobs had turned into a mumbled, “I can’t do this, I can’t leave without you, I can’t…” Then she had stood, taken a step back, then looked up, almost directly at an overhead camera as if she’d known it was there. She looked heartbroken, defeated...and angry.

Oh. I get it now.

Because he knew his wife better than anyone, and he knew just how fast her pain could turn to rage.

“I will walk into that force field before I let you take him.”

And now I know exactly what Percy meant by “don’t make it worse.”

Some people could, no doubt, interpret the shaking in her voice as pure grief and terror at the thought of losing her husband. But not everyone would.

Not everyone did.

The recap didn’t end with her unhesitating strides towards the force field, or the announcement of their dual victory, or even with her rushing back to his side as a hovercraft arrived. It ended with her screaming his name, kept away by a glass wall as the doctors struggled to revive him.

He took the cover of the anthem and cheering to give her another hug and whisper, “What the hell were you thinking?”

He could feel her shaking. “I...I don’t know.”

It doesn’t matter, anyway. Intent doesn’t matter if you piss off the Capitol. All that matters is that you did.

They stood at attention as President Snow took the stage to officially crown them Victors. He didn’t seem very interested in Val; his cold gaze kept going back to Nova.

All I did in there was protect my wife. She did everything else. Figuring out the Arena, setting the traps, defying the Capitol with a single sentence…

At no point in the Arena had Val felt as terrified for her as he did watching the most powerful man in Panem place a crown on her head.

He expected that they’d be ushered off the stage shortly after the president left. However, while the cheering went on, Caesar stepped up next to them with his microphone, trying to settle the crowd. This doesn’t seem right, not like the end of Victory ceremonies in other years, people just screech and clap like mad until the Victor leaves...He glanced back at their mentors, also still onstage, but all he got was gesturing that seemed to indicate that he should look forward again.

He knew for sure that something was weird when Caesar quieted the crowd enough to say, “Now, ladies and gentlemen, before our Victors head off to the Victory Banquet, we have a very special, once-in-a-lifetime surprise for the both of them! Something that has never been done before in the history of the Hunger Games...but as this was a Quarter Quell, and our first double victory ever, President Snow thought it fitting to arrange this next, very important...reunion!”

Val immediately looked to Nova, and saw in her eyes that she knew, too.

Fuck.

He’d never experienced such a collision of joy and pure terror in all his life as he did the moment their children walked onto the stage.

Nicola, wearing a very sparkly red dress that definitely wasn’t from home in Five, threw herself into Val’s arms first; Avin slammed into him a second later, almost knocking him over. Assuming Nova had Juno, Val took a moment to hug them back with all the strength he had.

Guess we didn’t have to wait for the train.

When he could bring himself to let go and get a better look at them, he saw that Avin, dressed in a suit that was a smaller version of his own, visibly struggling to hold back tears. Looking at his son, all he could get out was, “Hey, did you grow an inch while we were gone?”

The metaphorical dam broke then and Avin started sobbing. Nova had him in her arms a second later, then Nicola was hugging her, too.

Val turned to Juno, who wore a dark blue dress just as glittery as Nicola’s, and who appeared like the only somewhat composed Kellan on stage. But her rapid blinking gave her away. He held out his arms, and she rushed into them.

“Thank you,” she whispered under the ongoing din of the crowd. “For what you said during the interview. It was bad, after the Reaping...I needed to hear that.”

“I only told the truth.”

Once they got through another round of embraces, they were guided off the stage and to a car, which whisked the entire family to the Victory Banquet at the Presidential Palace. Eating and drinking was the last thing on Val’s mind as cameras flashed nonstop and what could very well have been hundreds of Capitolites, some of them sponsors, kept shoving their way forward to introduce themselves. Percy, Sola, and Danae hovered nearby the entire time, as did Juno, who only relinquished her grip on Avin whenever he was holding onto Nova or Val. Nicola, tears dried and seeming utterly thrilled by it all, kept disappearing into the crowd, which made Val anxious. He felt a little better when he spotted her with Mari.

Dawn wasn’t far away when it came time for them to leave the party, and Val, though thoroughly exhausted, was ready to start a fight when they found out that the kids were not coming back to the Training Center with him and Nova.

“You have to concentrate on resting for your interview tomorrow!” Danae said. “They are being put up in the Capitol’s finest hotel, and they will meet you on the train tomorrow afternoon. We have to stay as close to protocol as we can get in these unprecedented circumstances!”

Great, I can start by punching you, then.

Mari, of all people, diffused the situation. “It’s the same hotel I’m staying in; I’ll stick with them tonight if it makes you feel better.”

It did, but only a little.

The kids being here isn’t a gift; it’s a threat. It’s Snow showing us just how easy it is for him to get to our children. Cruelty disguised as benevolence. Almost like the Games themselves.

He’d only slept for three hours or so when he woke to find Nova gone. Fortunately, he found the note she’d left on her pillow before he could panic.

Gone to the roof.

He found her in the garden, sitting on the ground with her back against a bench. She had a bottle of wine in her hand.

“Nova, it’s nine in the morning, if that.”

“Don’t worry, I’m pacing myself.”

Last time we were up here, so were other tributes. The Twelves, Joel, Michael, Jessamine...All gone now.

Taking a seat by another bench a couple feet in front of her, Val noted that the city around them seemed quiet. Everyone must be sleeping off last night’s celebrations. He accepted the bottle when Nova handed it to him, taking a slow sip. Above them, a brisk morning breeze rattled the wind chimes, filling the air with their sound.

Enough to cover a conversation, maybe?

“Did you know what would happen?” he asked, passing the bottle back to her. “During the finale. Did you think they were going to let us both live?”

If she’d just let me die, just let the Games go the way they’re supposed to, our kids wouldn’t be in this awful place right now, in danger now and probably for the rest of our lives.

She didn’t answer right away. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t at the back of my mind the entire time. What happened last year, even if it was just a lie...But I wasn’t thinking about it during the finale, not consciously, anyway. I didn’t plan what I did, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Or what you said?” He sat forward, making eye contact before he went on. “Nova, the Capitol...Snow…”

“They’re pissed, I know, Sola told me. I take it Percy told you.” She shook her head. “Was it the stupidest thing I’ve ever done? Yes. But you’ll never be able to tell me for sure that you wouldn’t have done the same thing if I’d been the one dying.” Taking another gulp of wine, she held out the bottle again. “I told you, Val. I’m not sure what I was thinking, or if I even was thinking at all. I panicked. Maybe if you ask me again in a few years, I’ll have a different answer. Right now, though? That’s all I have. I’m sorry.”

I can live with that. For now. He took the wine and leaned back against the bench. The noise from the wind chimes had died down; he waited for the breeze to pick up again to ask his next question. “At the end there, you kept saying ‘It’s all my fault.’ What did you mean, exactly?”

“Oh. Right. That.” She grimaced. “My math was correct.”

“Which math?”

“The odds of us getting Reaped. One was highly unlikely, both was...astronomically unlikely, to put it simply. Didn’t matter, though, because it was rigged.”

“...I’m sorry, what?”

She shrugged. “It was the fucking dam, Val. I humiliated Williams, he’s friends with the Head Peacekeeper in Five, those Reaping slips are printed in the district...Maybe it was just supposed to be me, and both was a coincidence; I don’t think Williams has anything against you. And he has kids, so rigging one of ours in for the Seventy-Fourth might’ve been too much for him. But maybe his pal the Head Peacekeeper thought a married couple would be great television for his family and friends back home. That part’s all speculation, though. All I know for sure is that Williams conspired to have me put in the Games after the Quell twist was announced. Percy has his informants, he told Sola, and she told me. Right before the interviews.”

Which explains why she didn’t talk about him the way I expected, not during her interview or afterward. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He had to wait for another gust of wind for her to respond. “I should’ve. But I didn’t really want to even think about it, let it distract us from the Games. Plus, it’s not the kind of thing to talk about where you’re being recorded. So not in the Arena, or last night...this morning, rather...in the bedroom. Because yeah, our rooms are definitely bugged now if they weren’t before.” She snatched the wine bottle from his hand. “Let that sink in for a minute.”

Nowhere is safe here...And if our rooms were bugged during the whole time before the Games...Someone would've gotten goddamn show, so to speak. Multiple times. Val felt like throwing up. “What the fuck are we going to do, Nova?”

“Get tipsy to survive the prep teams, get through the interview, then get our kids home and try to behave ourselves.” She chuckled harshly. “You know, Williams is going to get one thing that he wanted: me out of the dam. Victors don’t work normal jobs.”

Shit. That’s what we are now. Victors.

He didn't know if that would ever truly seem real.

The final interview, conducted within the Training Center in front of a small crew and broadcast live, went surprisingly well.

The stylists and prep teams put Nova in a sky blue dress that reminded Val of the one she’d worn when they got married and him in an outfit that included a matching shirt. After greeting them and starting the interview by emphasizing that District Five was now only one of three districts that had produced back-to-back victories, Caesar went on to ask them a multitude of questions regarding things neither of them wanted to talk about. But none of those questions made them too nervous, not until near the end.

“So, Nova, during the finale, when you told Panem you were ready to die to save your husband...What was going through your head in that moment?”

She and Val were holding hands, and he felt her fingernails digging into his palm as she said, “I...In that moment, I guess I had a realization. I’d already known, for a long time, that I didn’t want to live without him. But then, watching him bleeding out in front of me, I knew...That I can’t live without him.”

This sounded very rehearsed to Val, yet when he looked across the room to check Percy and Sola’s expressions, he saw relief. Good enough. He turned to Nova and leaned in close. “About time you got there, too.”

“You’re so ridiculous sometimes,” she laughed; however, she followed that up with a long kiss, and every Capitolite in the room acted ready to swoon.

The interview actually ended with the kids being brought in for another mini-reunion and a few lighthearted questions. So much for Danae’s protocol, I guess. Someone was still committed to dressing Avin like a miniature version of his father... Despite him looking a lot more like Nova than me...while Juno and Nicola showed up in sundresses, orange for the former and pink for the latter. 

The last question Caesar asked the three of them was, “What are you looking forward to most about going home?”

“Seeing my girlfriend,” Juno said with a small smile.

“Telling my friends all about visiting the Capitol,” Nicola said, grinning. “It’s amazing here!”

I don’t think she’s entirely faking the excitement. That’s...concerning.

Avin answered with a quiet voice. “Having Mom and Dad back.”

Some tears got shed over that.

A whirlwind of goodbyes with Danae, the stylists, and the prep teams later, the Fives were at last taken to the train station. Mari retreated to her rooms as soon as they boarded, Sola announced that it was high time she and Percy got to have a few more drinks than recommended after restraining themselves for weeks in the interest of being good mentors, and the kids expressed an interest in exploring the entire train. “We were too nervous last time,” Nicola explained. “Everything happened so fast!”

“Peacekeepers literally showed up out of nowhere and took us out of the house the day before yesterday,” Juno said. Unlike her sister, she looked somber. “No one really explained what was going on until we got to the Capitol.”

“We figured it out what it might be, though,” Avin put in. “They’d already announced when the Victory Ceremony was scheduled.”

Nicola gave him a good-natured shove. “Yeah, well, it all turned out fine, didn’t it? Race you to the back car, Avin!”

Such a difference from the Reaping...Does she feel safe now because we both survived? Is that why she's not nearly concerned enough about all of this? 

Juno followed her siblings with an eye-roll and a half-annoyed “I’ll keep an eye on them.”

As the kids’ voices faded and the train began to move, Val asked Nova, “Want to take a nap?”

“Oh, yes, please. I’m so fucking tired.”

Less than a half hour later, when they were both showered and in bed, Nova said, “I forgot to mention...Did you know they did some extra work on us while we were out?”

“I noticed I’m missing scars from the Arena. And before, too.”

“Yeah. Guess they did something similar to me. I don’t even have stretch marks from being pregnant anymore.” She snorted. “Could’ve been worse. Apparently Sola had a full-on battle about whether or not they were going to do ‘extra’ alterations on me.”

Fucking Capitolites. “I’m glad they didn’t. I mean, if you wanted any of it, that would be different.”

“Exactly. Thank goodness for our mentors. I already feel strange enough in my own skin now.” She buried her face in his shirt. “I don’t want to wake up until we’re home,” she mumbled.

“Go to sleep now and maybe we’ll both wake up there.”

She dozed off first, leaving Val with a few disjointed thoughts still circling through his head. The Capitol, angry at us...We’re going to be watched all the time now...Fucking Williams...This isn’t over yet; there’s a Victory Tour in a few months, then past that…

As sleep finally overtook him, all he could hope was that things would start feeling a little easier, now that the actual Hunger Games were behind them.

Chapter Text

Things weren’t easier six months later.

“Avin is apparently becoming even more of a recluse the older he gets, most of Nicola’s old friends have distanced themselves, so all her free time is either spent with Mari...which I don’t mind, obviously, I think that’s great...or on the phone with that goddamn boy she met at the Victory Banquet. Can’t tell her not to talk to him, though, because he’ll probably complain to his parents, who according to you and Sola are close with Snow...Meanwhile, Juno keeps dropping hints about moving out and getting a place with Elena, which I would be happy about, or at least supportive, if I wasn’t scared shitless every time one of my kids leaves home these days.

“And then there’s Nova. She’s going crazy without a real job. At least she has extra time to spend with the kids...when she’s not vanishing into the desert for hours on end. She’s not sleeping, comes to bed after midnight and stays awake for hours after; I can tell. She’s not investing any time in her engineering ‘talent.’ Not sure I blame her for that one; how did she put it? ‘Why waste time on something that will never be good enough for the Capitol, as long as it comes from me?’ Worst part, though? Besides stuff like that, she won’t talk to me about anything. I’m lucky to get a sentence out of her at a time. We’ve never had this much trouble communicating. Ever. But, honestly, I might be just as bad, because I can’t even bring myself to confront her about it. Hell, I’m afraid to have a heart-to-heart with Juno or try to talk sense into Nicola. I’m terrified all the time no matter how I try to distract myself, and...I’m fucking exhausted from all of it.”

Percy, sitting on a low concrete bench in the backyard of the Kellan’s house in Five’s Victor’s Village, watching to Val prepping garden beds for next spring, and listening to him rant, let out a sigh. “If you want parenting advice, you’re gonna have to ask Porter. As for marriage advice...you’re still gonna need to ask Porter. But I hear you. Being a Victor...it’s a surprisingly shitty reward for surviving a massive death trap.”

“Yeah.” Val jammed his shovel into the dirt again. “You were lucky to be 'mostly forgotten' by the Capitol. No offense.”

“None taken.” Percy snorted. “Being forgotten by them is a privilege.”

“One that Nova and I are never going to have.” The leaders are enraged by us, the civilians are never going to be able to forget a married couple that survived a Quarter Quell…“Hopefully one silver lining to us being forever famous is that we’re seen as an inseparable pair. So maybe not such a target for certain...obligations?” He hated even thinking about that aspect of being a Victor, let alone mentioning it.

“I would say that’s very likely.”

Those fuckers still feel entitled to everyone else, though. Pausing in his shoveling, Val glanced at the other Victor. “I’m surprised Mari hasn’t explained to Nicola why getting close to Capitolites... any of them for any reason...is a bad idea.”

“Mari doesn’t talk about the Games or the Capitol to anyone but Sola, and rarely that. And she really likes Nicola. I think she’d rather not air out her struggles and possibly lose a friend.” Percy leaned forward a bit, adjusting his coat. It was uncommon for temperatures to hit freezing for more than a day or two in a row in Five, but the winter months were still chilly. “Val, Nicola’s sixteen, didn’t go through a Hunger Games herself, and likely thinks she’s in love. She’ll learn what the Capitol is eventually, and when she does, you’ll be there for her.”

Fuck, I hope so. “Thought you weren’t giving parenting advice.”

“I’m not. I’m just trying to make you feel a little better about...everything.”

“Everything” being Nova’s withdrawal, wondering if the kids are okay every second of very day, hoping Elena’s going to be safe at that job at the dam that Nova helped her get, keeping old friends at arm’s length so the Capitol doesn’t go after them next...Like they did with Williams.

Joran Williams had died less than two months after Val and Nova’s return to Five. The official cause of death was a heart attack. Anyone who had learned anything about the Reaping rigging knew better.

And when I ran into Olympia last week, she mentioned that the Capitol would be sending us a new Head Peacekeeper any day now. Their previous one was still around, but he was appearing in public less and less. Maybe he’ll get off easy, since the whole thing wasn’t a personal vendetta for him. Maybe Snow feels the message was already sent. Defy the Capitol again, cause any sort of trouble, and we’ll pay for it.

Williams may have been some kind of monster to do what he did, yet Val knew that he and Nova hadn’t wanted the man dead. He has a family...More children that will have to live on missing a parent thanks to our victory.

He hadn’t needed Nova to do that math for him. The number of children who had lost a parent in the Quarter Quell was over fifty.

Although it’s always like that, in a way, every single year. Twenty-three dead tributes, leaving who knows how many wrecked lives behind. And then some of the Victors come back broken, too.

Going through the Games as an adult had left Val with a family that seemed to be rapidly growing apart, nightmares every night, and a lurking terror that never left him for a moment. He couldn’t imagine what going in as a literal teenager would be like. I don’t know how Porter, Percy, and Sola manage. Or Mari, for that matter.

Maybe his life, his family’s lives, would have to continue on like this indefinitely, with the only way forward being keeping their heads down and pushing through.

I hate it already.

The day after that conversation with Percy in the garden, Danae the tribute escort arrived in District Five with Nova and Val’s stylists and prep teams, plus a small camera crew. They descended upon the house with their typical nonstop babble. The Victory Tour began with a long distance “check-in” with Caesar Flickerman in the Kellan’s front yard. The whole family gave cheerful answers to superficial questions, smiled and waved for the distant crowd. Then Val and Nova said goodbye to the kids and headed to the train station, bound for District Twelve.

Panem’s smallest district was awfully quiet. Danae gave the Victors each a pre-written speech on fancy cards. Rhody’s wife cried with their three children in her arms. Violet’s daughters stood alone.

That night, after months of avoiding alcohol in an attempt to stay alert at all times, Val started drinking.

Every district came with new outfits for the stylists to obsess over, a short tour of some approved areas, a party in a mayor’s house, and the occasional glimpse of other Victors. The tour entourage, however, seemed dedicated to keeping the Fives from speaking to any of them. Percy and Sola appeared displeased. They didn’t push back, though.

Don’t cause any trouble. Just follow the script.

In Eleven, Sally’s husband and Noah’s wife were both alive, mourning alongside their families. Some of Sally’s children had brought her young grandchildren with them.

In Ten, Fawn’s children were alone like Violet’s had been. Luna was sobbing loud enough to be heard across the square, but a man who looked a lot like Joel stood with her.

In Nine, everyone under the portraits of Jessamine and Michael was crying, with the exception of Jessamine’s husband. To Val, he looked empty. Dead inside.

That could’ve been me, if I hadn’t been Reaped alongside Nova.

In Eight, there were extra Peacekeepers, and the crowd seemed subdued in a way that felt like a snake playing dead. There weren’t many family members standing for Natalia or Eli.

In Seven, there were even more Peacekeepers, and the empty platitudes Val and Nova read off the cards were undercut by persistent mutters and hisses. Across the square, Thalia’s husband, daughter, and son started off looking very calm and well put together; the cracks were showing by the time the event was over. No one bothered or was made to show up for Clem.

Not that surprising.

In Six, Jace’s wife wailed while Mavia’s adult son visibly struggled to stay composed for the sake of his four younger siblings. His mother had been a widow.

During that night’s party, while catching his breath and downing another drink by a window, Val thought he heard shouting and screaming in the nearby streets.

In Three, Chron’s oldest child was still only twelve, the youngest was a toddler, and all of them were tiny. Meg’s husband and daughters sobbed the entire time.

That night, while the Fives were boarding the train, the station was swarmed by workers cleaning already-unidentifiable graffiti off of nearly every wall.

In Four, Two, and One, the families of the tributes seemed much more composed overall.

I guess they see the Games differently.

Seeing Marble’s four children, the youngest too young to be eligible for the Games, still felt like a gut punch.

What do they see when they look at me? A worthy opponent? Or a monster who killed their dad?

That night was the first that Val almost blacked out from drinking and ended up sleeping on the floor.

Thus far, he had avoided Nova finding out the extent of his alcohol consumption by making sure he was in bed and asleep before she finished her nightly trying-to-tire-herself-out prowling of the train. This time, he woke up the next morning still on the floor, with a pounding headache, a blanket over him, a pillow under his head, and Nova curled up beside him.

“I’m sorry,” was the first thing he managed to say when he saw that she was awake.

“No, I am.” Nova propped herself up on her elbow. “I haven’t been...present. Not during this trip, not before.”

“Yeah.” He tried not to let the bitterness seep into his voice. “I noticed.”

She winced, clearly hearing it anyway. “I’m so sorry. I should have been there for you the past few months. As for the Tour...I should’ve figured this out. Should’ve talked to you about everything before this even started. We shouldn’t be trying to fight through alone.”

“It wasn’t just you. I should’ve reached out sooner...and maybe not started binge drinking by myself. Always a dumb thing to do.”

“I appreciate that, but don’t make excuses for me, Val. I’ve been awful, you’ve been...Well, taking care of everyday things better, for one. I just…” Her voice started shaking, and she stopped for a moment. When she spoke again, it was in a whisper. “I’m so fucking scared, Val.”

Should we be talking about this in here? Recording devices and all...Then again, Snow would probably happy to hear of us being afraid. He kept his voice very quiet anyway. “So am I. Every day, all the time.”

“Ever since the Games, I’ve been behaving myself. Doing everything right, following the script this past week...trying to correct what I did in the Arena. Because it was all me, wasn’t it?” Nova’s eyes were filling with tears. “Maybe you said one questionable thing at some point, like at the end of your interview, that thing about worst-case scenarios...But the finale? The moment everyone remembers? Me, not you. Unlike...unlike what got us into the Games in the first place...because I know you don’t agree with my assessment on that...This is my fault. We’re in danger, our family is in danger, because I couldn’t do what you asked.”

Despite every horrible truth she was listing, Val couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. This is what I’ve wanted for months. For her to talk to me. For us to talk. “I feel like we’re being watched every second. Like every time one of the kids leaves the house, they’re going to be snatched away.”

She rubbed her eyes roughly with one hand. “I keep telling myself that if we get do everything right and get through the Tour, everything will settle down and it’ll all be okay. But then I remember that we’ll still get dragged to the Capitol every year until they get tired of us, have to help mentor tributes, still have to worry…”

She’s not wrong. Although, to some degree, isn’t that last bit true of just being alive in Panem? Val cut her off. “I think you have a point, though.” He reached out to stroke her cheek, continuing, “Let’s get through the Tour first. Together, like you said. Obviously, going alone didn’t work well for either of us.”

“You’re right.” Leaning into his touch, she said, “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. And, for what it’s worth...I’m not complaining too much about being alive.”

“Very funny.” She sighed. “Sleeping on the floor is going to fuck up our backs for a week.”

“Knowing mine, it’ll be longer.” He winced while pushing himself into a sitting position. “Let’s not do it again.”

“How about you don’t drink until you pass out on the floor anymore?” she said as she sat herself up beside him.

“Sure, if you promise not to wall yourself off from me again.”

“Deal.” She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment. “We both need a shower. Preferably before Danae shows up to shriek at us about the schedule again.”

The prospect of being in the Capitol again, finishing out the Tour without causing more trouble, and even dealing with his latest awful hangover, felt a lot more manageable to Val after that.

For the final Victory Tour party, held at the Presidential Palace, Arachne put Val in a white suit heavily trimmed in gold and far too gaudy for his taste. He felt slightly less conspicuous in it after seeing Nova’s golden dress, complete with a short cape and embroidered with what looked like thousands of diamonds around her waist, chest, and shoulders. “If they’re gonna to put you in gold, I think this suits you much better than the parade costume did.”

“Same to you, but I will say that I wish I had my Victory Ceremony dress back. If only because this thing is heavy.”

He lifted the edge of her cape. “Oh, shit!”

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “If my back didn’t hurt already…”

“Hey, did I tell you to sleep on the floor with me? That was your decision.”

Danae overheard them then and demanded, “Why would anyone be sleeping on the floor?”

Val and Nova didn’t respond, opting to exchange looks and short laughs instead.

They didn’t find many reasons to laugh at the party. It was loud, overwhelming, and full of people who apparently called for a special cocktail to make themselves throw up when they got full of all the decadent food. “Just a minute’s discomfort, and you can go on eating!” one of Val’s prep team members explained with a too-wide smile.

The one part of the experience Val liked was dancing with Nova, if only because everyone left them alone during it. Everyone, that is, except a Gamemaker named Plutarch Heavensbee, who was introduced by Danae then swept Nova off for a waltz.

When he got his wife back, Val asked, “How did that go?”

“He was surprisingly pleasant. Also, worth noting that he’s the new Head Gamemaker. I guess Seneca Crane...resigned.”

Her slight hesitation, and her near-frozen expression, told Val all he needed to know.

That’s someone else who died because we both lived.

Nova was noticeably quieter for the rest of the evening, and Val found himself following suit. Later, while they and many of the other guests were out in the Palace’s gardens watching a firework display, Nova used the explosions as a cover to say, “We’re not in the clear. I saw Snow while you were in the bathroom…”

“He said something to you?”

“He didn’t have to.”

We’re going to have to watch our words next time we’re here for Games season. And every time after. For the rest of our lives.

Pushing down the fear, he gripped her hand tightly and pretended to enjoy the fireworks.

Going home was a relief, even though the nightmares and urge to keep drinking himself into unconsciousness and Nicola’s infatuation with a Capitol boy hadn’t gone anywhere. The boy in question had, in fact, given Sola a gift for her to take back to Five for Nicola. “I guess he thought you two wouldn’t approve,” she told Val and Nova on the train ride back to Five. “Protective parents and all.”

“We don’t,” Val said as Nova started carefully picking apart the packaging covering the small, square box. “You sure you want to do that?”

“If it’s nothing inappropriate, we’re going to have to let her have it. I’ll re-wrap it so well she won’t know the difference.”

It turned out to be a rather pretty ruby necklace, which unfortunately seemed an appropriate enough gift. The note that came along, however, was so painfully full of teenage angst that all four Victors on the train had a hearty laugh over it before putting it back in the box.

Nicola was thrilled to get both necklace and note. “Aloysius is so sweet! I have to call and thank him!”

He might very well be just as naive and crazy about her as she is about him. Talk about star-crossed young love. It’s almost adorable.

Except that Aloysius had almost certainly cheered on the deaths in many Arenas, and would likely grow up to be a high-ranked Capitol official with the ear of a president, like his parents allegedly were. Maybe him meeting Nicola and giving her his number was pushed by his parents, part of a plan he didn’t fully understand. Another way to keep Nova and I in line. Just another game in a rotten city full of them.

District Five had gotten its new Head Peackeeper while they were away, although Nova and Val didn’t hear much about him until a few days after their return. Nova had invited Val on one of her long, early morning walks, and when they got home, actually feeling somewhat relaxed and invigorated, Avin met them at the door. “The Head Peackeeper’s here. He said he wanted to introduce himself to all the Victors in person.”

Val tensed up instantly. I might get along with Peacekeepers more than the average Five, but that doesn’t mean I want one in my house.

The girls were in the kitchen, having tea with the Peacekeeper, who had his back to the entrance. Juno stood up as soon as she saw their parents walk in. “I’ve got to get to work. It was nice meeting you, sir.”

“It was good to meet you, too, Juno.” The Peackeeper, notably not wearing a full uniform, also stood and turned towards the door.

Out of the corner of his eye, Val saw Nova freeze. Hang on...Then he got a better look at the man. 

Tall, broad-shouldered, darker skin, dark hair, brown eyes...Oh.

“Avin, Nicola, do you have somewhere to be?” Nova said as Juno hurried out of the room with small wave and a confused look at her mother; Nova sounded both ice cold and utterly distant.

Her tone seemed to alarm her other daughter, too. “Um…” Nicola glanced around, then hopped to her feet. “I should go see Mari...She said she’d help with some school stuff. You too, Avin.”

“But I don’t need…” Avin’s protests faded as his sister brushed past their parents and pulled him towards the front of the house with her.

Their unexpected guest stepped forward and held out his hand for Val to shake. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Kellan. Maximus Florentine, Head Peacekeeper.”

“I heard.” Val turned to his wife as he let go of Florentine’s hand.

So did the Peacekeeper, a slight smile on his face. “Hello, Nova.”

She looked oddly resigned. “Hello, Max.”

Val took a breath. “I take it we’re gonna need to have a talk with Juno later.”

“Yeah. Guess I put it off a little too long.”

Nova never even told me his name, let alone told Juno what he was…

“I’m very glad I got to meet her today,” Florentine said. “She’s a lovely young lady.”

“She is,” Nova said harshly. "And she already has a father."

“I’m aware. A damn good one, at that. I have no intention of overstepping there. I won’t even speak to her again if you’d rather I don’t.” Florentine looked at Val. “You’ve both done a wonderful job with all three of them.”

“Why are you here, Max?” Nova snapped.

“To introduce myself. Didn’t your son say?” He fiddled with the watch on his wrist, then said, “I want to help you.”

Not going to trust flattery from someone who was absolutely sent to watch us. “How? By telling us to behave? Because we’re doing that already. We don’t want any trouble.” Val looked to Nova, but she seemed honed in on the watch.

“Oh, I know.” Florentine took a step closer, rotating his wrist so they could better see the face of the watch. For a second, as it tilted at a certain angle, an iridescent symbol appeared under the ticking hands.

An infinity symbol? No, not elongated enough, just two interlocking circles…What the hell is that supposed to mean?

It disappeared as soon as it had appeared, and Maximus said, “I’ve still got the others in Victor’s Village to meet, so I’ll be going. I would very much like for all of us to work together. For the good of the district, and Panem.”

He left without saying much else. Val, following Nova’s lead, put his confusion aside for the rest of the day. Got to clear things up with Juno first.

Their oldest daughter took it incredibly well. “I always wondered if he were a Peacekeeper or some visiting Capitol official or something,” she said. “Since you always dodged giving me his name, Mom. And this morning...The way he looked at me. The more I thought about it today, the more it made sense.”

She asked for time to process it before they talked about it further, gave both Val and Nova long hugs, and went to her room.

“That went...well, I think,” he told Nova as they were getting ready for bed.

“I should have told her the whole story a lot sooner. But I honestly never thought he’d be back here, so...” Nova absently ran a brush through her hair. “It’s up to her, if she wants to talk to him or anything. Out of our hands.”

As for the rest of what he said...Somehow, it didn’t feel safe to discuss that yet.

A week went by with nothing more exciting happening than a “midwinter celebration” dinner at Porter’s house, with her husband and adult children, the Kellans plus Elena, Percy, Sola, Mari, and Mari’s parents all attending. It was a casual affair that turned boisterous as the night went on, the company was overall fantastic, and Val left feeling happier than he had since before the Reaping.

The next morning, word spread that someone, surely an entire group of people, had graffitied the dam. Although cleanup crews got rid of it within a few hours, someone managed to snap a few pictures first. And when Val saw one of the pictures, courtesy of Percy, his heart started to pound.

The massive, crooked words, scrawled in red, were enough on their own: The odds are NEVER in our favor.

However, the two interlocking circles below them were what he couldn’t stop staring at.

Extra Peacekeepers in Eight. The whispers in Seven. Shouts and screams at night in Six. The train station graffitied in Three. Our best behavior not being enough for Snow. That symbol on Maximus Florentine’s watch.

Things were adding up in a very specific way, and Val knew who he had to talk to about it.

They got their chance a couple days later, on another morning walk. Standing atop a cliff right across from Downriver, Val and Nova had privacy and an unobstructed view of the dam.

Between the spillways, smears of red paint were still visible in spots. I’ve cleaned up enough graffiti myself to know it almost never comes all the way off. “Must’ve been quite a night. Wouldn’t the guards usually catch something like that?”

“According to Elena, they’re undergoing personnel and schedule overhauls because of Florentine. Some confusion there...Add that to the relatively simple logistics of staying out of their line-of-sight...Still a lot to do so fast, had to be a sizable group. Even if they were tipped off about shift changes and such to make it easier.”

“Yeah.” By Florentine? Or on his orders? Val hesitated. “Do you trust him, Nova?”

“Max? Not really. Not that much, not yet. But...” She stopped, glancing over her shoulder.

Val did the same; there was no one there. “That symbol on his watch…It was on the dam. Maybe it was part of the graffiti in Three, too, at the station. It keeps turning up. Why?”

“...I think it’s us.”

“Us?”

She held up her left hand, wiggling her fingers a bit. “Wedding rings, Val. We both wore ours into the Arena, as our tokens.”

“And we both got out.” Together.

“Yes.” She kept her gaze on the dam as she continued, slowly at first then faster, “Whatever the Capitol...whatever Snow was hoping we’d do with our good behavior after the Games, with the Tour...It didn’t work. Something’s changed, something...big. It’s not just here, it’s across the country. Sola’s hinted as much to me, and if she knows about it, so is Percy. Porter, too. They have connections, information they haven’t even begun to share with us yet, because we’re being so careful. But I…” She looked to Val, meeting his gaze, eyes lit up in a way he hadn’t seen a long while. “I’m sick of trying to make the Capitol happy.”

He could hear his heart in his ears, yet its racing felt more like excitement than terror. “What about the kids?” Back to them. Always.

“Our kids are in danger no matter what. Give it a year or so...If things don’t quiet down, they’ll Reap Nicola or Avin, or stage an accident to kill Juno or Elena at work. Because, in Snow’s eyes, we failed to clean up the mess we made by surviving. We started something we can’t stop, Val, and you know what? I don’t want to.

“I've been going back over some things...I told you I wasn’t thinking during the finale. And I wasn’t, not clearly, because I was terrified of losing the love of my life, of going home and having to face our children alone...and furious that I was being given no other choice.”

The winter wind whistled against the canyon walls. “I know.”

“Of course you do. Because you know what anger looks like on me.” She let out a dry laugh. “So I gave them an impossible choice. And people have already died for it. More will have to, if the Capitol is to fall.”

Rebellion. She’s going that far. “…And you’re okay with that? Ready to take that risk?”

“If it means our children never have to face another Reaping? Yes. I’ll do anything.” She looked away, back towards the dam. “But not without you.”

Val stared at her, thoughts racing. If Percy, Sola, and Porter are already rebels...If Panem is already ready to rise up against the Capitol...No matter how careful, the risk of punishment…

Yet, for the reasons Nova had already pointed out, they and everyone they cared about were already at risk for that. They were as soon as we were both announced Victors.

He tried to imagine having to help mentor another pair of kids every year in the coming decades, watching them die and being helpless to stop it. He remembered the feeling of being trapped, cornered while thousands upon thousands of invisible eyes watched him and Nova literally kill to survive. He thought about the faces and voices of the twenty-two people who had gone into the Arena with them. Maybe a couple monsters. Mostly just people. Parents, like us. Many of them had children who would still have their names in the Reaping bowls next year.

Like Nicola and Avin would.

“Val...What are we going to tell the kids?”

“We’re gonna tell them the truth.”

“Which is?”

“That we’ll fight for them. Like we always do.”

He took Nova’s hand. “Where do we start?”