Chapter 1 - Victor

She took another step, and groaned loudly.

"Food…please!" She croaked to the cameras she knew must exist all around her. She heard a twig snap behind her; the bait had been taken. She took several more slow, over-dramatic steps before collapsing at the foot of a tree. The smell of earth and pine needles bombarded her as she lay face down. Barely moving she gently felt through it's roots for her dagger.

Come on, come on, where are you?

The clear sound of footsteps behind her, slow, cautious. Face down; her fingers continued to grope through the soil beneath her. As the footsteps behind her grew bolder and louder she began to fear her dagger was gone. Had she fallen in the wrong spot? All these stupid trees looked the same. A sickening pit had begun to form in her stomach when she finally slid her fingers around the hilt of her weapon.

The footsteps behind her were painstakingly slow and uncomfortably close; she could almost imagine his eager breath on her neck.

Just a little closer, you bastard.

The footsteps stopped, just inches behind where she lay facedown. In an instant she jumped to her side and threw her dagger in the direction of the footsteps. With a thud the blade buried itself into the body of a young boy from District One. Still holding an axe above his head, he shrieked due to a mixture of pain and confusion. He dropped his axe and suddenly the pine scented air became drenched in the smell of blood. His face began to pale and he fell to the ground. She quickly jumped to her feet and retrieved the fallen axe. He was panting as a sickening crimson stain spread from his wound.

"Please..?"

"Don't worry I'll make this quick." She said, bringing the axe down on his neck. Blood spurted across the woodland floor as the sound of a cannon rang through the air.

"And there you have it folks. Today we've witnessed history being made. The winner of the 71st Hunger Games is Johanna Mason!"

There were many things Johanna could have done in that moment. If she were from District One or Two she might have jumped for joy. But she wasn't, she was just Johanna, and in that moment all she could do was laugh until laughter turned to sobbing.

Light and voices muffled as if by water. Crisp and clean, no smell of blood on pine here.

"She's coming around. Johanna?"

The female voice sounded familiar to Johanna, like home?

"Mom?"

"I told you she hit her head hard when the careers were after her" Johanna recognised this voice. A male one, one that used to spark irritancy but now fuels anger. That anger centred her. That fire in her stomach cleared the fog that Capitol drugs had left in her mind.

"Blight?" Johanna asked.

"I'm here darling. So is Sola."

"Excellent. Sola can stay. You can go jump off a cliff."

"What?"

"You heard me. Victor's orders. Get out!"

"I…but, what?" Blight attempted to stutter a response.

"I'm going to say this calmly, but if I have to repeat myself once more I'm going to start looking for an axe. You didn't help him, you left him to die. Get. Out. Of. My. ROOM!"

"Blight, maybe you could give us a moment." Sola said. Her voice was calm but there was an edge to it. Johanna's vision cleared just in time to make out the sight of Blight storming off. She was in a small room. It was white and clean, the site of her reconstruction post-games. A quick glance at her body and it was clear that all the damage had been undone. Not a single scar remained.

Sitting at the end of her bed was Sola. There was a softness about her features that made her seem like someone who wouldn't harm a fly. Her brutal victory in her hunger games told another story.

"You did it, girl. I knew we had a winner in you." Sola paused before quickly adding as if it were an after thought, "I'm sorry about Edwin".

"When I met him he said he hadn't received anything from the sponsors. He was terrified… I lost my axe trying to save him… I, why didn't he get anything? Why did Blight abandon him?"

"It wasn't Blight's fault. Sponsors often tend to favour one tribute over another from each district. We didn't see how it ended by the way, tributes fighting to save one another tends not to make the highlight reel."

"It's my fault? I got a lot of gifts. I killed-"

"No you did not. There is a murderer here but it's not you, sweet girl."

Sola moved up the bed and cupped Johanna's hands in her own. For a moment they stayed like this in silence. It was the first human contact Johanna had had in days that held no potential for danger. There was great comfort in it.

"I just can't wait until we get to go home." Johanna said. Her voice quivered and threatened to break "Screw the interview, can't we just go now?"

Sola frowned for a moment before pulling Johanna into a hug.

Her face buried into Johannas hair, she whispered "The games don't end in the arena. Never show them your true face. Cameras everywhere. Keep playing."

Sola quickly retracted from the hug and stood.

"No one get's to come between the capitol and their victor." She said as she walked towards the door. "Your interview is in a few hours. I'll go get Florin and Noctus to help you get ready."

Johanna's hands were balled into fists so tight that her knuckles appeared as white as the walls of her room. She said nothing for fear that if she opened her mouth she'd start screaming and never be able to stop. Over and over in her head she could hear Sola's words as if they were on repeat.

The games don't end in the arena.

"We've met the prep team, spoken to the escort, and applauded the mentor but now it is time for the moment you've all been waiting for." Caeser paused for dramatic effect before continuing on to say, "Now it is time to meet the devilish dame from District Seven, Johanna Mason ladies and gentlemen!"

The crowd went wild as the lowly figure of their victor was raised on a platform from beneath the stage. Screams of declarations of love and adoration were all that could be heard. Johanna laughed, smiled and waved; all of her actions guided by what Sola had said to her earlier, keep playing. Johanna had never really considered what happened to victors after the games because winning and survival had been the only two things to focus on once she had been reaped. She had thought the victors went home and once a year acted as mentors but other than that were free to live out their lives as they wished. She had been so naïve. Becoming a victor offered no freedom, it just made you into a very special kind of pet to the Capitol. A pet that would be punished severely if it did not appreciate it's master.

Caeser Flickerman quickly made a few jokes as he escorted Johanna like a mother duck to her throne. The throne was a monstrosity of excess; polished metals and sparkling jewels. It looked both gaudy and uncomfortable, which Johanna mused is likely the true aesthetic of the Capitol. Caeser made a few more jokes before he settled into his seat beside Johanna. This show would last three hours and would be mandatory viewing for all of Panem. The lights dimmed and as the symbol appeared on the screen Johanna's heart began to race. She couldn't face this again; she couldn't face what she had done in the games. She killed people in order to survive and that blood would never be cleaned from her hands. Her gut instinct was to flee, to just run from the stage and never come back. But she couldn't, her legs were frozen, her heart continued to race and the effort of maintaining a smile on her face was nothing short of excruciating pain. She tugged nervously at the hem of her dark green dress and then without warning the footage began to play.

The footage was a condensed three hour highlight reel of weeks worth of material. Whoever edited this had the opportunity to skew it into their own story and Johanna quickly realised with grim dread that this year's story was that of a deceptive, cut throat from District Seven. They showed her interviews where she pretended to be completely incapable and unthreatening. She remembered Sola mentoring her for those interviews; Make them think you are uninteresting. Make sure they underestimate you, you don't want them to see you as a threat and attempt to hunt you down. Never show them your true face. As the interviews faded to be replaced by the pine forest of Johanna's hunger games the knot in her stomach tightened. Cheesy uplifting music began to play in the background as the footage became made up of mostly action shots juxtaposed with footage of her meeting the other tribute from District Seven, Edwin. This was followed by footage of her first kill, a boy from District Twelve whose axe she stole. Video Johanna looked terrifying as she killed him with his own weapon. Her demonic face as he cried out for help was monstrous to behold but the crowd kept cheering. Johanna knew she wasn't smiling now; it was taking every aspect of her self-control to not cry. More footage of Edwin, he was starving and she shared her food with him. This scene was cut short. Tributes becoming friends was not something to showcase. The scene changed to her as she faced off against the careers pack with Edwin; he looked terrified. She threw her axe, the camera angle didn't allow the viewer to see who she was throwing it at but Johanna would never forget missing that smug bastard from District One as he caught her axe and threw it back. Of course the footage didn't reflect this, in it she throws the axe and then in the next clip Edwin is falling to the ground with an axe buried deep into his chest. Tears welled in Johanna's eyes as she watched video Johanna flee from the scene of the 'double cross'. This is how the Capitol had decided to paint her, as the double-crossing tribute that would do anything to win. With tribute numbers dwindling the footage began to jump between clips of tributes fighting and Johanna pretending to be starving or fainting in order to lure other tributes into traps. The highlight reel had been spliced together with only one goal in mind, to make the Districts hate her.

The three hour spectacle ended with video Johanna looking up at the sky and laughing. The mania of her laugh was only matched by the chaotic applause of the audience. The video cut out before she began sobbing to complete her demonization in the eyes of the viewer. With the video concluded the anthem began to play and they all rose. Johanna couldn't force herself to smile as President Snow walked towards her followed by a small girl carrying a cushion on which a crown to match her throne rested. He smiled gently as he placed the crown on her brow but his eyes were full of gloating. Johanna tried her best to smile back but the video had sapped her of her spirit. She had been crushed. Despite this, the audience erupted into cheering once more as Caeser Flickerman finally bid them goodnight.

It wasn't until she was on the train home that Johanna began to relax. Sola was sitting beside her holding her hands to comfort her. Blight had taken Florin and Noctus to another carriage to keep them from bombarding Johanna with questions of the games. While she may not have much patience with Blight, for that small reprieve she'd be eternally grateful.

On the screens all around her played her interview from earlier that day with Caeser Flickerman. She looked positively insane as her smiling façade threatened to break every time Edwin was mentioned. Sola had warned her from revealing the truth of the video manipulation live on camera; the repercussions would be dire.

"His family are going to hate me, aren't they? Johanna finally asked.

"Probably, yes. You could tell them the truth in private but even if they believed you it may not change anything. You're alive where he died." Sola answered. She was always so matter of fact. Something that Johanna greatly appreciated.

"Is this what you meant, when you said the games don't end in the arena?"

"Yes, the rules change and the enemies become more shrouded in shadows but you never stop playing."

Johanna felt cold, like all the joy had left her body and would never return again. She thought of her family back home, she thought of Lucy. Would they be punished if she didn't play the Capitols game? For the fist time ever she wondered if surviving the games was worth it.