Chapter Text
Spectator
The 55th Hunger Games
For the 55th Hunger Games, two kids from Town are reaped.
It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
Once, Haymitch might have been glad about that (as glad as he can be about kids getting picked for a death match) just because it means that there won't be another family mourning in the Seam. The fact that they're from Town also means he's never talked to them before, and as selfish as it sounds, that makes it all a little easier.
But, it turns out that even if he's never met Davy Mills and Rin Harwick, he's still connected to them on some level because they knew Maysillee. They were a few years behind her in school, but they both frequented the sweet shop that her family owns.
They make sure Haymitch knows that, and they keep talking about how great Maysilee was and how bad they feel for her sister.
In a weird way, that's almost encouraging because if his tributes are trying to guilt him into helping them win, then they're sneaky and manipulative, and that might just give 'em an edge in the arena.
It doesn't, though, and for weeks afterwards, Haymitch dreams about Maysillee, and every night, she keeps demanding to know why he let them die.
The 56th Hunger Games
His tributes this year are Trev James and Callie Morgan.
As soon as he hears the boy's name, he's struck by how familiar it is, but that doesn't make sense because the kid is just fourteen, too young to have been in school with him, so by all rights, Haymitch shouldn't know him.
And he doesn't, not really. It's just that Trev James is Allen James's little brother.
Allen James. The boy Haymitch mentored his first year. The boy who died in agony because of the Capitol's vendetta with Haymitch. (Trev doesn't die as badly as his brother, but by the second day of the Games, he's still dead, and so is Callie Morgan.)
It's hard to believe. Their district isn't big, sure, but it's big enough. The odds of one family losing two boys a few years apart should be infinitesimal. But the odds, Haymitch knows, never really are in their favor, and it won't be the only time something like this happens.
Not every family is going to lose two of their own, but everybody is connected somehow. It will always be someone's brother, sister, cousin, niece, or nephew. Maybe even the brother, sister, cousin, niece or nephew of someone Haymitch knows. And far enough down the line, it'll be their kids that he's hauling off to the Capitol to die - the son or daughter of somebody he'd been friends with once upon a time.
So, right then and there, Haymitch decides that he'll stop paying attention to the tributes' names because what he doesn't know can't hurt him.
(But of course it can.)
The 57th Hunger Games
It's a gray, rainy day when the Reaping for the 57th Games takes place, which means that they all have to stand out in the downpour, but Haymitch doesn't mind it too much. It's fitting, and it's actually kind of funny because his escort didn't have the foresight to wear waterproof makeup, so all the ridiculously bright colors on her face run together, making her look like a melted, tutti-fruity Popsicle.
The amusement doesn't last long, though, because after the kids are reaped, Haymitch is jumped on the way to the train.
It's the girl's father (the girl - Haymitch is determined to think of her that way now, and not as Kayla Pines). The furious, desperate man presses a knife to Haymitch's throat, saying that Haymitch better bring his little girl home because if he doesn't, then he'll die in a way that's worse than anything the Gamemakers could cook up. (That's not possible, Haymitch knows, but he isn't gonna say that to a grieving father whose little girl is about to experience the Gamemakers' latest masterpiece.)
No, what Haymitch actually does is take the man's knife and call him an idiot because Haymitch is a broken-down Victor, sure, but he's still a Victor, and if the man wants to die before his daughter ever makes it home, then attacking a Victor is the way to do it.
As it turns out, Haymitch is right.
The Capitol doesn't like it when their Victors are jumped in alleyways, even Victors like Haymitch, because as far as they're concerned, Victors are their property, so an attack on a Victor is an attack on them.
Jacob Pines disappears before the Games are even finished. If he's lucky, he's in the Capitol somewhere, serving as an Avox.
Haymitch is pretty sure that he isn't lucky.
His daughter is, though.
She dies before learning just what happened to her dad.
The 58th Hunger Games
The boy is a nice kid. That's all Haymitch can think about this year, and it's not really fair to the girl, but she's a ditzy, Townie teen, a Capitol-wannabe with an annoying little giggle that his escort just finds "delightful." It doesn't mean she should die, but it does mean that Haymitch can't stand to spend five minutes in the same room with her.
The boy, though, he's a genuinely nice, polite, friendly Seam kid. At least, he is when you can get him to talk, but it's getting him to talk that's the problem. When it's time for the interview, the kid barely says three words, and he's not anywhere near intimidating enough to pull that sort of thing off.
In the arena, the girl tries cozying up to a Career, and it makes Haymitch wish he'd spent more time with her because he would have told her not to do it. That ends pretty much how you'd expect it to, with the girl at the end of a sharp blade.
The boy actually manages to make it a few days until he's found by the same Career that killed the girl. The announcers sound surprised when it happens, like they'd forgotten the boy even existed.
Haymitch never forgot him, though.
Not that it did any good.
The 59th Hunger Games
The girl that gets reaped for the 59th Games is eighteen, and she's engaged. It's not that unusual in Twelve. Yeah, she's young, but this would have been her last Reaping, and she's from the Seam, so her fiancé is sure to be heading to the mines soon, if he isn't there already.
She doesn't look anything like Haymitch's girl did. Even with the typical Seam look - tan skin, gray eyes, and dark hair - her nose isn't the right shape, her eyes are a shade too light, and she's too tall.
But every time he looks at her, Haymitch winds up thinking about his girl anyway.
It's not fair to the boy because, like the year before, the other tribute is getting all of Haymitch's attention, but the kid doesn't seem to mind that. He's a Seam boy from the Community Home, and he's too jaded to imagine that he has any chance of winning, with or without his mentor's help. Haymitch gets the feeling that he actually prefers to be alone for the time he's got left.
So, that's what Haymitch does. He spends most of his time with the girl, trying not to call her Nell because then she'll ask him who Nell is, and he doesn't want to explain to his tribute that if she wins, it might just put her fiancé's life in danger. It's selfish, maybe, but he's a selfish guy, and the girl is smart and pretty, and she might actually do okay if she tries.
He wants her to try.
For the interviews, the girl talks about how great her fiancé is, how much she loves him, and how much she wants to make it home so they can marry and start a family.
When the Games begin, the boy from the Community Home dies quick, not even making it past the bloodbath, but the girl lasts five days. Then, on the sixth day, she falls from a tree and breaks her neck.
It's a waste of a death as far as the commentators are concerned because she wasn't even in danger, she was just trying to get a better view of the arena.
Haymitch agrees - it's a waste, a stupid, stupid waste.
But then again, that's what the Games always are: a waste.
TBC