Broken Toys - Johanna Mason x fem reader

Chapter 10 - Invincible Victors

I watched the rest of the victory tour on TV. 

Katniss and Peeta never talked freely again but sticked to the cards. 

I wondered if the Capitol had been able to cut out the uprisings in district 11 fast enough. 

In district 6 two people were brave enough to salute but were immediately brought away by the peacekeepers. The two victors pretended that nothing was happening. 

Katniss had to feel horrible after what had happened here in 11, but it had been our choice. It was not her fault. 

District 3 was the only one that differed. The people were enraged that Katniss just read out the cards. They tried reaching her with their yelling. 

"Tell us what you really think!", someone shouted. 

But Katniss kept reading out the cards. I could only imagine the pressure and guilt she had to feel. At least she had Peeta to hold onto.

The situation in 11 got worse over the next three months. 

Our district's food rations had been decreased. Snow wanted to weaken us and it worked. District 11 had not had enough food before. Now the people here were barely surviving. 

I missed my family and talking to my friends. Snow had cut me completely off from the outside world. 

I had started working again to distract me and to prevent me from losing my muscles. I had the advantage of the fruits and vegetables in the victor's village. In comparison to my life before being a victor, I was still living in luxury. 

The other people of 11 were not so lucky. 

I had wanted to share the food once, but the peacekeepers were watching my every step. Of course, they had not allowed it. 

"Go back into your house and turn on the TV. There will be important news from the Capitol", a peacekeeper instructed me. 

I wanted to disobey just to defy him but the curiosity won. 

Rage boiled up inside of me when I saw President Snow himself on the screen: "Ladies and Gentleman. This is the 75th year of the Hunger Games." 

What? He was announcing the next games? But there were still three months left until the games. 

The applause and cheering in the background made me feel sick. 

"It was written in the charter of the games that every twenty-five years there will be a Quarter Quell. To keep fresh for each new generation the memories of those who died in the uprising against the Capitol. Each Quarter Quell is distinguished by games of a special significance. And now on this, the 75th anniversary of our defeat of the rebellion we celebrate the 3rd Quarter Quell ..." 

Snow took out a card and read it out. "As a reminder that even the strongest cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, on this, the 3rd Quarter Quell Games, the male and female tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of victors in each district." 

My mind refused to process his words. No. This had to be a joke, another sick, cruel joke. 

I pulled my knees close to my chest. 

Was that our punishment? Our punishment for yearning for freedom and the end of unfair poverty? Our punishment for wanting justice? For not wanting to die anymore as an entertainment for the Capitol and a medium for suppression? 

I had been prepared to die the whole time during the riots, but this was different. Snow wanted to break the rebellion from within. Katniss was the only female survivor from her district. He would kill her. The victor's were the only ones, who had contact to other districts. We were the only ones connecting the districts. We were the ones that had overcome the cruelties of the Capitol once during our games. We had become an incarnation of hope, instead of an example of what the Capitol could do to you. That we were standing up to fight now, did not fit into Snow's plans. So he intended to execute us in front of the whole nation of Panem. He wanted to demonstrate his power and extinguish the flame that had built together with us victors.