Chapter Text
Chapter One:
Prelude
Relian Ceres, 31, Capitol, D10 Escort.
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Relian woke up with a hangover and a pounding headache. The hangover wasn’t all that uncommon, while the headache was a rare occurrence. There were specific Capitol medicines that he normally took to ensure this didn’t happen, but he hadn’t planned on getting drunk the previous night. It was a shame that he couldn’t remember most of what happened, as he must have had a good time, and it took him several minutes to climb out of his bed and stagger over to the window.
Opening up the curtains, he checked the time on his alarm clock, groaning when he realized that he actually had somewhere to be later in the day. Couldn’t he have picked a better night to party? Maybe he needed to exhibit self control every once in a while.
Now the games season was over, he was mostly free to do whatever he wanted. His work as an escort for district ten paid him well enough to only have to work one job, and having a victor last year certainly hadn’t hurt his paycheck. He’d been hoping that he wouldn’t have to work during the Visitation. Of course, he’d never get that lucky. Not when his district just had a new victor.
Before he got dressed, he managed to find a bottle of pills on his dresser. Taking one, he let the sensation of relief travel through his brain as he stood still. Once his headache had been soothed, he was finally able to calm down slightly. Today was going to be a long day. He needed to make sure that he was in top shape, especially since he’d be receiving a special assignment.
His phone buzzed from where it sat on the charger. Grimacing, Relian swiftly snatched it up, checking to see who was calling. To his surprise, it was his boss. It felt way too early to be getting a call of that much importance. Answering it, he waited for the person on the other end to speak, trying to tame his unruly hair as he did so. He looked like he’d just lost a fight with a curling iron.
“Is this Relian Ceres? Your assignment is ready,” announced a familiar voice on the other end. Nodding, and then realizing that his boss couldn’t see him, Relian cleared his throat. He needed to sound professional and not hungover.
“This is him. I’ll be at the building in the next hour,” replied Relian, hearing the usual click of the line hanging up as soon as he spoke. His boss wasn’t one to mince words, nor was she one to spend longer on a phone call than she had to.
Sighing, Relian looked around to find his jacket. After he’d gotten dressed, he slipped the jacket over his shoulders, the familiar leather feeling comforting as he moved to leave his room. His apartment was small, though it had the top amenities that Capitol money could buy. He’d worked hard for his games’ escort position, and had been rewarded with a stable income.
He probably had some time to kill before leaving, given that he lived fairly close to Games Headquarters. Picking up his phone again, he dialed a number that was ingrained in the back of his mind, one that he’d gotten used to calling during the last couple of years. Gallus Kio would most likely be awake, and Relian figured it would be good to inform him of his current plight.
The line rang for a couple of seconds, then Gallus picked up. He sounded wide awake, probably having been up with the cows at dawn or whatever district ten victors did. Relian prepared to launch into a speech about his recent news, only to be stopped.
“Hey, Relian. Isn’t today the day you get your pod assignment? How’s that going?” asked Gallus, his voice crackling through the phone line. Relian held the phone slightly further away from his ear as he shook his head. Of course Gallus knew his schedule better than he did. The district ten victor always seemed to be on top of things.
“Yeah. I haven’t gotten it yet. I’ll call again once I’m done at headquarters. The rumors are saying that Pippa will be in the group you were with last time, though,” responded Relian with a flat tone to his voice. He definitely sounded like he’d had a rough night.
“Well, for her sake, let’s hope that the rumors are wrong,” Gallus sounded like he was smiling on the other end. Rolling his eyes, Relian knew that the rumors were almost guaranteed to be accurate. The groups of victors for the visitation didn’t often change, and when they did, it was in a way that allowed new victors to be slotted into other groups.
“Sure. Talk to you later, alright?” Relian replied, then the phone line crackled once more. Gallus hung up, and then it was time for Relian to leave his apartment. Taking the elevator down to the first floor, he prepared himself for the upcoming day, only realizing that he’d forgotten to eat breakfast when his stomach growled loudly during the ride to headquarters.
Games’ Headquarters was a large building next to the training center, surrounded by a campus of lush greenery and parks that displayed statues of past victors. As Relian stood in one of the many meeting rooms, high above the first floor, he spun around when he heard his name being called. His boss, a woman named Thyla, gave him a curt nod as he greeted her with a wave.
“Hello, Relian. Thanks for coming on such short notice. I assume you got the message I sent you yesterday?” asked Thyla, causing him to nod in return. Thyla motioned for him to walk with her, with Relian following her out into the hallway and down past several other conference rooms. She remained quiet for a few seconds, and then they arrived at a window that looked out over the park.
“Here’s the letter with your assigned victor pod. As the escort for the winning district last year, you have the unique pleasure of automatically getting a spot to escort for the Visitation. You probably know this already, but Lipizzaner will be depending on you to help her out during the visit. Her mentors won’t be with her for most of it. Don’t let her down,” commanded Thyla.
Relian felt his headache return, and then quickly disappear again. Thyla turned down the hallway to return to her office, leaving him alone to figure out what horrible combination of victors he’d be stuck with for the two and a half weeks that they’d all be in the Capitol. Opening the letter, he immediately grimaced, wishing that Pippa had been placed in any other group.
“Alfonsine. Armora. Auclair. Charde, Crucible. Diaemus. Ethyl,” he read, each name hitting him like a wall of bricks. Could he have been any more unlucky? These were notoriously difficult victors to deal with. Either he was being punished, or the coordinators had it out for Pippa. He felt sorry for the poor girl. She’d be in for a tough visitation.
As soon as he was out of the main office and outside in the park, he picked up his phone again, dialing Gallus’ number. When the district ten mentor picked up, Relian immediately repeated the list of names to him.
“Well, Auclair and Ethyl are nice, at least. Are you sure you can’t change it?” asked Gallus, causing Relian to let out a heavy sigh. He had about as much control over the visitation groups as Gallus did. Out of the rest of the group, other than the two names Gallus had listed, not a single one of the five other tributes would be likely to get along with Pippa.
“No, Gallus. I can’t change it. Pippa is just going to have to deal with them,” replied Relian. Gallus let out a sigh of his own on the other end. As Relian walked through the park, he stopped in front of the newest statue in the 150s victors’ quadrant. Pippa’s face looked so strange immortalized in marble. It was hard to believe the spoiled, horse loving girl he’d met last year was now a victor.
Soon after Gallus hung up, another call came through. This time, it was Sonnerat, the other district ten mentor. Relian was surprised when the voice that responded wasn’t Sonnerat, instead being someone else whom he recognized the clipped accent of.
“Hi, Relian! Can I ask you a few questions about the other victors I’ve been placed with?” Pippa stated, her voice surprisingly cheerful. Relian figured that she didn’t really know what she was getting herself into. After a long conversation about the seven other victors she’d be stuck with, Pippa asked a question that took him by surprise.
“Why didn’t they put me with Ferroxe? I don’t believe it would have been a good idea, though I am rather surprised that they didn’t do it for the drama,” she asked, causing him to let out a small laugh. She always surprised him, being smarter than he gave her credit for. Relian didn’t know what group Ferroxe was in, but he was thankful that it wasn’t Pippa’s.
“I’m honestly not sure. Hey, by the way, why are you calling from Sonnerat’s phone?” he asked in reply. Pippa was silent for a second, then another voice took the line as the phone was handed off to someone else.
“Her phone is broken. Somehow it got disconnected from the wall,” replied Sonnerat. Relian had momentarily forgotten that the victors didn’t have access to personal phones in the districts, only allowed them in the Capitol, and that they had to make do with the built in wall phones that were attached to their houses in their Victors’ village.
After several long minutes of conversation later, Relian found himself ending the conversation. He certainly had his work cut out for him, that was for sure. Hopefully Pippa would be able to deal with the other victors.
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Zenaida Vallis, 18, D10
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Zenaida was getting ready to say goodbye to her girlfriend as the inhabitants of Victors’ Village prepared for their pilgrimage to the Capitol. It had been several days, almost a week, since Zenaida had heard Pippa’s victor group assignment from her aunt. In that time, she’d watched numerous games reruns with the victors, trying to prepare for Pippa to meet them.
“Are you sure you’ll be fine? Sonnerat said I can use her phone. Don’t forget to call,” Zenaida sniffled as she buried her face into Pippa’s shoulder. Pippa nodded, patting Zenaida on the back before the two separated. It would only be a matter of two and a half weeks, yet it felt like it would be a lifetime. It would only be slightly longer than the victory tour, after all.
Someone coughed behind them and Zenaida turned. Relian, the escort for the district who continued to be assigned to Pippa, was waiting for them to finish saying their goodbyes. Zenaida didn’t plan on letting Pippa go anytime soon.
Sonnerat, who had just finished giving her luggage to one of the train attendants that had rode in to pick up the victors’ things, also came over to Zenaida to give her a hug. She hugged her aunt in return, wishing that she didn’t have to go. It was always tough to have Sonnerat leave for the Capitol, as she was Zenaida’s closest family, and things were only made worse this time by Pippa leaving too. Relian was still tapping his foot behind them, and Zenaida glared at him again.
Somewhere over by the car that would take the victors to the train station, an older man with a cane was walking over to the attendant. Zenaida knew him to be Rover Donn, the eldest living district ten victor and perhaps the victor that she knew the least. He was fairly old, and spent most of his time in his house. She’d only met him a couple of times before.
“I’ll take care of the house for you while you’re gone,” added Zenaida, spinning back around to look at Pippa. Her girlfriend had already said goodbye to the Farren family earlier that morning, which was why they weren’t present at the gathering.
“You’ll take care of Joy too, right? She needs daily brushing and a treat once you’re done with it,” Pippa smiled, knowing that if anyone was going to take good care of Joy, it would be Zenaida. She’d also be helped by Jersey and Pippa’s other friends if the job got too much for her to do alone. Jersey was always more than willing to help out, especially after Pippa’s victory.
“Of course I’ll take care of her! She’ll get the best treats I can give her,” replied Zenaida, nodding at Pippa. Pippa gave her another hug, then moved to go toward the car. Zenaida felt herself sniffling once more. It was less than three weeks. That’s what she had to keep telling herself. Plus, she’d see Pippa on the television on the regular, and could call her whenever she wanted to.
Pippa had also said farewell to Joy earlier, and she could be seen looking back at the stables as they prepared to enter the car. Trying to delay the inevitable, Zenaida shook her head, mouthing a “please” to her aunt as she held on tight to Pippa.
Sonnerat moved to distract the driver, and Zenaida got a few extra moments with Pippa. At this point, both Gallus and Relian were trying to get them to move along with little success. The girls didn’t want to leave each other.
“Come on, Pippa. Let’s go,” said Relian, walking over to the car and gesturing to Pippa. Rover and Gallus were already in the car by then, and Sonnerat was no longer able to distract the driver. With a sigh, Zenaida let Pippa go, waving to her as she got into the shiny vehicle. They wouldn’t be able to call each other until the train ride was over.
As the car pulled away, the dark haired girl stood alone on the victors’ village road. She’d be staying with some friends for the time being, at least until her aunt got back, and was slightly disappointed that she didn’t get to go. Having never been allowed to go to the Capitol, Zenaida could only dream about what it was like there. She did feel sorry for Pippa, though, given the victors that she would be stuck with. The games that they’d watched in the last week had all proven that none of them were like Pippa in the slightest.
Eyes heavy as she yawned, Zenaida trudged back toward Sonnerat’s house to lock up. All of her things were already with her friends, and she’d have to take the short walk into town to meet up with them. She put the key in the lock of the house she lived in with her aunt, then looked up at the front door. It was a miracle she was even allowed to live with her aunt.
With one last glimpse toward the road that the car had left on, now faded far into the distance, Zenaida shook her head. Hopefully everyone would be nicer to Pippa than she thought that they’d be. Surely there had to be more nice victors out there than she imagined, right? At least Pippa would occasionally get to see Sonnerat and Gallus. It would be nice, having people from home, even though Zenaida was frustrated that her aunt had to leave her.
Zenaida said goodbye to the house under her breath. Two and a half weeks. She could do this. It was only two and a half weeks. What could go wrong?
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Gallus Kio, 28, D10, Victor of the 149th Games
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Gallus, much like many of the other victors, was never looking forward to the Visitation. It was the worst time of the year, and the fact that he’d be forced to go for the next three years made it so much worse. Normally, he’d had the relief of knowing that it would be over and he wouldn’t have to worry about it again for a while. This year, he had to worry about more than himself, however.
He still thought of himself as Pippa’s mentor, even though she was now a victor and was able to hold her own in a conversation. It was hard to let go of that, especially since she acted almost exactly the same as she had during her victory tour.
The constant stream of questions that she unleashed upon him was giving him a headache, though he’d long since learned to take medication before any train rides to the Capitol. It was a medication that Relian had recommended to him, and was fairly effective.
Sitting next to Gallus was Sonnerat, the other mentor that he’d grown used to working with. He’d always been glad to have her there, as she’d been mentoring far longer than he had. She was also relatively calm most of the time, which was a bonus. Her illness from the winter had also disappeared after treatment in the Capitol. That was a major relief for the other district ten victors.
To his surprise, Rover had also decided to sit down with them. The man was in his early seventies, having won the 102nd games, and was rarely in a condition that allowed him to spend time with Gallus and the others. His health had been slowly declining, making him appear older than he actually was. Not that 73 wasn’t old, but he looked somewhere in his eighties.
Relian was also present, walking around the train car as he talked to whoever would listen to him. Gallus had grown fond of Relian in the last couple years of the escort working for district ten, though he still was annoyed by him at times. Relian had proved to be more reliable than Gallus had initially thought. When it came to Pippa’s games, Relian had been mostly helpful.
“Pippa, you’ve met Rover before, right?” asked Relian, coming over to where the victors sat and gesturing towards the eldest of the four. Pippa nodded. Gallus knew for a fact that she’d only met Rover twice in an official capacity. Rover yelling at Pippa to not let Joy trod on his lawn didn’t count as them actually talking to each other. The two seemed to be cordial towards each other now, at least.
Rover decided to ignore Relian’s question, instead attempting to take a nap while sitting up. Gallus let out a small sigh. It was both a blessing and a curse that the victors would be in separate groups for the Visitation. Rover usually traveled to the Capitol early during games season, so normally Gallus and Sonnerat didn’t have to babysit him like they did now.
“So, the visitation! Will all of the victors be there? You said that I’ll be in a group of eight. How many groups are there? Will we interact at all? You also said that we’re supposed to be on camera sometimes. Will that be every day?” asked Pippa, firing off a boatload of questions that made Gallus pause to absorb them all. Sonnerat also nodded at her, and Relian moved to sit down.
“Yes, all of the victors will be there. Well, at least the ones from the past fifty years,” started Sonnerat, answering Pippa’s first question. Gallus decided to take the rest of the questions, nodding to Sonnerat to take over.
“There are enough groups for all of the victors to be in a group of eight, so at least seven. Possibly more. I don’t know the exact number. For the most part, you’ll stay with your group, as you’ll be living in an apartment with some of them for the majority of the visit. Cameras will be on during outings, and you’ll occasionally have interviews and dinners to go to,” explained Gallus, trying not to miss any of the younger victor’s questions. He wasn’t surprised that Pippa had a lot of questions, as this was normal for her.
“Should we run through the other victors in my group again? I already know Auclair, but the others all sounded.. Intense,” replied Pippa shaking her head after she’d listened to Gallus’ answer. He pulled out a list that he’d jotted down in a pocket sized notebook, ready to read off the names and see what Pippa remembered about all of them.
“Alfonsine Kasuri,” was the first name, causing Pippa to scrunch up her nose as she tried to remember. Alfonsine’s games would have been when Pippa was a preteen, so she probably would have remembered them better than the games of some of the older tributes. At least none of the tributes in her group had won before she’d been born.
“District eight. 151th games. Apparently he’s not very nice, and doesn’t talk a lot,” replied Pippa, shaking her head. She didn’t mention Alfonsine’s arena, nor the rest of his games, though Gallus hadn’t expected her to.
Alfonsine was one of the victors that would probably pose the least amount of problems for Pippa. He most likely wouldn’t take to her a lot, but at least he wouldn’t be mean or condescending like some of the others were known to be toward the younger victors.
“Next one. Charde Allthorn,” continued Gallus. His mind flashed with an image of a victor a couple years older than he was, with a bright smile on his face and a scar above his eye. Charde had always been pleasant to be around.
“District nine. 145th games. Overly friendly and likes to make jokes,” Pippa stated as if she was reading off of a teleprompter. Clearly she’d tried to memorize as much as she could about the other victors. Gallus suspected that Zenaida had helped her, and wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been some sort of flash cards or trivia game involved.
“Armora Trivet,’ he added, this time causing Pippa to pause. This should have been one of the easier names, as Armora was one of the more recent victors. To the side of Gallus, Relian was still scrolling through his phone, and shook his head when he heard Armora’s name. It was bad luck for Pippa to end up with a career in her group, especially a career like Armora.
“District two. Either the 152nd or 153rd games. Mean and doesn’t like younger victors,” Pippa responded after a second of silence. Sonnerat gave her an approving look, while Rover was starting to snore. With a jolt, the eldest victor woke up, then grabbed his cane to walk off toward one of the individual compartments. Relian followed him to make sure he didn’t need any assistance.
“152nd. Good job. Alright, next. Ethyl Roxen,” Gallus mentally went down his own list again, then looked down at his piece of paper. He hadn’t added many notes to it, just the names of the victors, since he knew most of them well enough at this point.
“Ethyl. You said she’s nicer, right? District thirteen. 148th games,” Pippa was starting to look more concerned, though her face relaxed when she managed to get the games year correct for Ethyl. Gallus suspected the only reason she was struggling today was because of her nerves about heading back to the Capitol for the visitation. It would be a long visit, after all.
Gallus was also worried that Pippa would struggle in the Capitol due to her allies in the games. At least she wasn’t in a group with Ferroxe, though he wasn’t sure the Capitol victor she’d ended up with was any better.
“Diaemus Falx,” Gallus watched Pippa’s eyes narrow as she thought about the Capitol victor. She didn’t know it, but Diaemus had been Ferroxe’s mentor, and had probably known Elis. Gallus wouldn’t bring that up unless it was absolutely necessary.
‘The Capitol. 143th. Supposedly scary, and is close with one of the district six victors,” Pippa replied with a higher pitched voice. The two mentors, or former mentors, had warned Pippa about Diaemus. He wasn’t outwardly threatening, but he couldn’t be trusted.
With a grimace, Pippa sat back in her chair, eyes darting around as Relian returned. It wasn’t often that she said anything bad about the Capitol or its victors. However, Relian was fully distracted when he came back, eyes glued to his phone.
“Hey, guys, listen to this. Just got some big news from the Capitol,” casually said Relian, almost bumping into the table as he scrolled through what must have been a news article. Pippa immediately sat up, and Gallus rolled his eyes at Relian.
“Has the visitation been cancelled? Can we go back home?” asked Pippa, perhaps a bit too eagerly. Sonnerat smiled at her kindly, clearly not wanting to be the one to break it to Pippa that the chances of the visitation being canceled were almost zero. The Capitol was too controlling for that. Relian’s news was most likely about some celebrity break up.
“Nope! Paris, you know, President Atropha’s nephew ? His selection had been pushed back until next year. Until after the 159th games. Isn’t that wild?” Relian replied as he finally looked up from his phone. Gallus hadn’t been expecting that at all. Paris’ selection was supposed to be the most exciting event of the year, taking place after the games were over, so this was a big deal.
“Oh, wow! That’s surprising. I met him at the gala in the Capitol last year. He was… nice, I suppose,” Pippa responded. Gallus was tempted to tell her that she didn’t have to humor Relian, that she didn’t need to use her polite upper class district ten manners with him. There wasn’t much to be done about that with Pippa, though, so he dropped the thought and shook his head.
“That means more eyes will be on the visitation. They didn’t say they’re extending this year, or canceling the extra one next year?” asked Gallus, trying to get the more pertinent information out of Relian. The escort didn’t typically start with the important stuff.
“Nope. My theory is that Paris is stalling for time on the selection, or that they have something extra special planned for the games this year,” Relian shrugged, sending a shiver down Gallus’ spine. They still weren’t sure whether Pippa would have to mentor this year, and while the three victors and Relian hoped she wouldn’t have to, it hadn’t been confirmed or denied yet.
“That’s mildly concerning,” added Pippa, sitting up with perfect posture as she usually did. Relian moved to sit down on the couch across from where the victors were sitting, immediately leaning back and putting his feet up on the coffee table. Sonnerat gave a quiet cough, while Pippa quickly glared at the escort. Relian moved his feet and hastily sat up straighter.
Checking to make sure that Sonnerat’s cough hadn’t been real, as they were all still paranoid after her illness in the winter, Gallus was relieved when Sonnerat winked at him. She’d merely been agreeing with Pippa on Relian’s lack of manners.
“Think of this as a good experience for how it’ll be during the games. Don’t worry about what the arena will be this year, or which tributes will be reaped. You mostly likely won’t be mentoring anyway,” Gallus spoke directly to Pippa, trying to distract her from Relian’s misstep. It was more important that they all were prepared for the Visitation being an extension of her victory tour and of her games. If Pippa did end up mentoring, Gallus suspected he’d be mentoring with her after Sonnerat’s health scare.
‘At least there'll be less pressure to perform while the games are going on if you’re not mentoring. The visitation is rough,” Relian said unhelpfully, causing both Gallus and Sonnerat to glare at him. He didn’t need to be making Pippa worry more.
Gallus handed Pippa a scone from the table, and then the victors all settled in for their long train ride.
This was the easy part. The worst was yet to come.
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????
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The constant feeling of eyes watching him had been tiring from the start, and it was only getting worse. If only the games hadn’t gone in the way they had last year. If only the one person he thought he could trust hadn’t been chosen for a fate worse than death.
He supposed that it was Elis’ fault, really. It had been Elis’ fault that they’d gotten caught, Elis’ fault that he’d been selected for the games, and then Elis’ fault that they’d been selected for the games three years later themself.
There was always someone to blame, both for the tattoo hidden in swirls of other intricate ink on his chest and for the lasting consequences of being a victor.
There were some days when he wondered if this was all worth it. If what he’d done for them had been worth it, if what they’d done for each other had made any impact in the world.
Perhaps it had. Perhaps it hadn’t.
Maybe the real meaning of everything was part of the plan all along. Did that make any sense? It didn’t, not really, not to him. None of Elis’ words before the games had made sense to him. Not anymore
They’d called each other traitors.
There had been no end for them other than death, other than the games.
It was what they deserved, and only one of them had gotten it.
He shook his head. One day, things would be easier. One day, maybe people would forget.
That was wishful thinking. They’d never forget.
As long as he continued to breathe, his scars being a constant reminder of what had happened, no one would ever forget.
Ferroxe Amarum knew that for certain.