Chapter Text
It was almost expected for them, Mags and Woof Flanagan, of Districts 4 and 8. They'd won their games roughly a decade ago. Mags in the tenth at 17, Woof the following year at 18.
That was ten years ago now. The games had gained momentum. They were a spectacle now. And they had been asked to be Mentors.
They were being asked to train children to die for the Capital's amusement.
They were being asked to train children to die.
Mags sobbed softly into the arms of her husband. Woof stared blankly at the wall with his arms wrapped around her. There weren't many Victors. Despite there being 23 years of games, there were only 13 Victors. The Victors of the first decade of games were mostly unknown.
Only Lucy Gray Baird of the tenth games was known in the Districts and even then, nobody spoke of the girl, a woman with the voice of a songbird and the venomous nature of a snake, who'd disappeared.
The tenth games, while well known throughout the Districts, was deleted from the Capitol. Mags's games were what gained popularity. The mentors were in her games too, but they were young Capitol graduates.
The Victory Tours came with her games. The Escorts came with his the following year. The mandatory viewings followed in the 13th games, only because it took three years from the 10th to the 13th to install enough televisions across the districts.
And now the Victors were being forced to mentor. There were enough of them now, apparently. Any district that didn't have two Victors, like 12, or 7, had the Escorts standing in for them.
And now the punishment had escalated.
This was no longer just a fight to the death. No... it was a game. A real game. No longer a mockery of the word, not to the capital. It was a game for them. And for the districts...it was a competition.
Who would get their tributes home? Which mentors could save the most kids?
What district would get the most Victors?