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→ 𝐈𝐈𝐈.𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐗

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ACT III
CHAPTER XXXIX

the 74th annual hunger games



THANA WATCHES SADLY as both Wirt and Felica leave the floor to go to the arena. The hard part of being a mentor starting, as you must try to keep them alive and get them sponsors. Of course, there is a possibility of losing the tributes fast, and that is super hard as well. Mentally the games plague the victors every year, you relive them and subconsciously see yourself in one of the tributes. Thana's heart aches for people like Mags and Pearl that have seen almost every hunger games there has ever been. The hardships of that must be unhealable, seeing so many children die.

"You ready?" Thana asks Latif as he joins her before the elevator. They both wear warm colours, but a comfortable yet fancy looking outfit. The boy besides her nods slowly, "we can do nothing for them as long as the bloodbath is going on, so we can simply sit in our assigned booth with some drinks."

"Is it scary?" Latif asks as the elevator starts to go down.

"What?" Thana redirects the question, "the mentoring, seeing the games play out when you barely got out yourself? The dying children, excited and enthusiastic capitol civilians?" she pauses as the doors open with a ping, "I guess all of it." She shrugs lightly, "it will be hard, but we are here for you." She smiles sadly at her brother and squeezes his hand.

"I am sorry," Latif whispers as they get closer to the black SUV that will bring them to their destination. "I probably make this much harder than it already is for you."

"I am your sister, Latif," Thana says softly, "I would kill for you and die for you." She smiles at the tall boy, "nothing is too hard if I do it for you."

...

"District Nines victors have arrived," a peacekeeper says into a walkie-talkie. Not a minute later the Jardin siblings are met with a man in a black suit, he leads them through the mass of people trying to get in and close to the victors that are mentoring. Both the siblings smile and wave at all the people as they quicken their pace to keep up with the man that leads them through some door.

Inside the building there is loads of white marble with golden touches, chandeliers giving the whole entrance an even richer feeling. The man is soon joined by a woman in a black suit that motions the two victors to follow her. She takes the two through a door and Thana is once again reminded of last years games. The place designed for the victors only still the same, with the same bar with the same barman. Nothing has changed besides who is with her to mentor this year and the glass wall separating the sponsors from the victors.

The woman leaves the two victors alone and Thana takes Latif's hand, she pulls him towards the white round sofa with a nine hanging above it.

"This place is huge," Latif says looking up and all around.

"With every cent that went into this building to make it like before the rebellion," Thana says, "we could feed all twelve districts for half a year." She looks him into his eyes, "that we have to sit here is just another way to remind us of the rebellion." She sighs, "they never let us rest, especially victors."

...

"Ladies and gentlemen," Claudius Templesmith says with joy, "let the 74th Hunger Games Begin!" the countdown starts, from 60 back to zero. Next to Thana, Latif draws a deep breath.

"Hey, relax," Thana lays her hand on his shoulder, "there is nothing we can do."

"I know," Latif looks at his sister, "but I wish I could do something, and quite frankly I don't even want to see this countdown ever again."

"I understand," Thana smiles softly and lays her head on his shoulder, "but we have no choice."

As soon as the countdown reaches zero, the tributes bolt of their small platforms. Around them a wide circle of grass that changes into a large forest and on the other side a smaller field with tall grass and grains. To their surprise, Thana and Latif see both tributes from district 9 going straight for the cornucopia.

"I am afraid our mentoring will end soon," Thana whispers towards Latif who solemnly nods in agreement.

"I told him so many times, don't go straight for the cornucopia," Latif looks up, "seems like he truly is as stubborn as he looks like." Thana chuckles softly at Latif's statement.

And as Latif's sentence ends, so does Wirt Uriel's life with a knife in his heart. The girl of district 2 having perfect aim, BOOM!

Not a second later another BOOM! Announces the death of Felica. Her head laying in an odd angle while her eyes are wide open and bloodshot.

"Well, that was it for us this year," Thana tries to shrug the death of as the BOOMS! Keep going on. With one look towards Johanna, she knows that she too lost both of her tributes. "I am going for a quick talk with Johanna, you want to come?" Thana asks Latif who slowly nods.

As both Jardin siblings reach the booth from district 7, the bloodbath still continuous.

"We lost our alliance," Johanna laughs without humour, "all three laid down their life to get to the cornucopia."

"Well," Thana shrugs, "we didn't give them a lot of hope to reach each other."

"It still hurts, doesn't it?" Johanna says and Thana nods in agreement. "Saw you both lost the other as well, just like us."

"Yeah," Latif speaks up from besides Thana, "seems like we are here to do nothing for the rest of the games."

"Oh, not me," Blight smiles, "I am going home tomorrow. You should too."

"How I wish I could," Johanna complains, "but seeing as it is three years ago and blah blah blah, I still have to do some boring interview they can publish or broadcast in a few weeks."

"I hate that so," Thana agrees, "I have to go on some cooking program. But it can't be filmed before the games have finished, because we will be talking about the new victors, load of bullshit." The vulgar word making Johanna laugh.

"I can go home, right?" Latif asks his sister, not seeing the hurt in her eyes.

"As far as I know," Thana tries to hide the pain, "you can, they won't bother you for some time, I guess. Don't need last year's winner to celebrate the new one."

"Then we will go together," Blight pats Latif's back, "I think districts 3 and 10 will do the same."

"Well, have fun while we die here," Johanna jokes, "we can go drink lots of drinks at the bar and annoy Finnick." The girl from seven bumping in the one of nine.

"I guess we will make the most of it yeah." Thana agrees with a smile.

...

Nora speaking here!
I have decided that I am too lazy to reread the books, so it will probably be movie based, sorry

Also, I am very proud of the wholesome little moment between Thana and Latif <3