Chapter Text
Ten minutes later
In Snow’s office, the Presidential Mansion
President Snow was at his desk, processing paperwork and grumbling about how Katniss Everdeen had ruined these Games, when Snow’s telephone rang.
Calling was 52-year-old Septicus Kopf, who was Panem’s Minister of Security. Kopf’s job was to uncover Rebellion plots in the districts and among misguided Capitols. A year ago, Kopf had ferreted out that privileged Capitol siblings Cassius and Lavinia Lockhart were planning to run away together to District Thirteen. Because of Minister Kopf’s tipoff, Snow had sent a hovercraft after the young Lockharts. Cassius had been killed, Lavinia had been Avoxed, and a point had been made.
But now, Snow was sure that Septicus Kopf was not calling to report on Rebellion plots.
Septicus Kopf was a fashion disaster, which was almost unforgivable in a man of such prominence. Kopf had been wearing the same purple wig in public—and only that purple wig in public—for the past five years.
But Kopf’s ever-present purple wig was by far not his worst personal failing.
Septicus Kopf was a pervert. He liked sex with young District women, and even sex with young District men—because both parties knew that the penalty for a District person to injure a Capitol citizen was death. Kopf loved the power imbalance. And Kopf’s favorite young District sex partners? Victors, who were unwillingly whored out by Snow.
Meanwhile, the list of young Victors had just bumped up by two. Septicus must be drooling enough to soak his shirt, Snow thought.
“Good morning, Minister Kopf,” Snow now said into his telephone. “What can I do for you?”
“Two Victors to be whored out! I can’t wait,” Kopf said. “I’m guessing that they’ll be made available at the usual time—the end of the Victory Tour?”
Snow was about to unthinkingly reply Yes when realization hit: Handle this wrong and you’ll see riots in every district.
So Snow instead said into the telephone, “I have not decided yet whether they shall be whored out at all, Septicus. The fact that they are publicly seen as a couple complicates things.”
“All the better! I can’t wait for that boy to suck my dick, then I fuck him in the ass, after he’s publicly declared his love for the Girl on Fire. As for Katniss, it would not surprise me if she’s still a virgin when I get my hands on her. Three holes she might have, all untouched!”
“Septicus, contain your excitement. If one of ‘the Star-Crossed Lovers of District Twelve’ is ever seen ‘dating’ anyone from the Capitol, and there is even a hint that the Twelve Victor is doing this unwillingly, there will be riots in every district.”
“I’m sure the Peacekeepers can handle it,” Kopf said dismissively. “Trained Peacekeepers versus District monkeys? Pfft. No contest. But do I need to remind you that I’m owed this? After all the sponsor money I’ve pledged, not only to Katniss, but also to Thresh and the inner-district volunteers? Also, my large sponsor-pledges go back years! If the Games ever come when the ‘gold’ Cornucopia will actually be solid gold, it’ll be because of money I’ve paid in!”
“So what? Avoiding massive unrest in the districts is more important than you ... indulging your hobby, Septicus. If I decide not to whore them out, you would do well to make your peace with this. Meanwhile, you saying to me variants of ‘You owe me’ annoys me very much—I trust you understand.”
“Fine,” Kopf said, in a tone of voice that said that nothing was fine.
****
Days later, before the Games Recap
Cinna had dressed Katniss like an innocent little girl—her shoes were flat-heeled, and while the bust of her dress was padded, the dress was gathered just below that bust, hiding whatever hourglass figure that Katniss had. The hemline of the dress stopped above Katniss’s knees—like dresses that little girls wore.
In terms of color, Cinna had dressed Katniss like a candle flame: her shoes were blue, the tights that covered her legs were orange, and the dress was yellow—but a yellow that shimmered when Katniss moved.
Katniss thought Cinna was a genius.
What bothered Katniss was that she picked up from Cinna that she was being dressed up like a tiny, innocent girl so that unspecified people would not get “ideas” about her. In one sense, it was ridiculous that a girl who had killed three Careers (four, if she counted mercy-killing Cato) could ever again be thought of as “innocent.” But Katniss did not argue about Cinna’s choices, because Cinna knew the ways of the wicked Capitol much better than Katniss did.
The last thing that Cinna did was to pin Madge Undersee’s gold pin to Katniss’s dress. By now, Katniss knew that the bird within the gold pin was the mockingjay, the symbol of the Dark Days rebellion.
****
The Games Recap
The first thing Katniss did when she saw Peeta was to run up to him, hug him, and kiss him. Which made him stagger. This was how Katniss learned that Peeta had a prosthetic leg now, and that he needed the cane that he was holding.
Guilt smashed into Katniss; she tried to apologize. Peeta stopped her mid-word by kissing her again.
Then Katniss and Peeta sat down on a red-velvet love seat together, and Caesar Flickerman began hosting the “fun.”
Soon Katniss wanted to cover her eyes with her hands, but Haymitch had warned the new Co-Victors that this was not allowed. As Haymitch had warned her and Peeta, Katniss discovered that the Games Recap was a horror.
Whoever edited the holo-film loved to show every killing in the Bloodbath in full, then loved to repeat a killing from several camera angles. As a result, the Bloodbath, which had lasted maybe ten minutes long, was stretched out to twenty or thirty minutes during the Recap.
This dragging out of the Bloodbath during the Recap had been bad enough for Katniss in previous years, when she had had to Mandatory-View the Recap in District Twelve’s Square. But this year it was agony for Katniss to watch outer-district kids whom she had known, at least a little, be killed for the entertainment of rainbows.
Katniss and Peeta were holding hands during the Recap; and often during the Bloodbath part, Katniss squeezed Peeta’s hand hard.
Soon the Recap showed the tracker-jacker nest being dropped on the-Careers-plus-Peeta, in all the attack’s gory glory. The Recap paid extra attention to the death of the District Four girl (who was named Marina, Katniss learned) and to Glimmer’s death. Right afterward, the broadcast showed woozy Recap-Katniss having problems stealing the silver bow from Glimmer’s disgusting corpse.
(Real Peeta leaned over to real Katniss and murmured, “Those bugs hurt worse than anything my mother ever did.”
Katniss murmured back, “I know.”)
The Recap was three hours long, and the Gamemakers used that time to tell a story. This year, the story was how Katniss and Peeta, the eventual Co-Victors, fell in love. Katniss saw clips of Recap-Peeta with the Careers, swearing that he hated Katniss and pledging to lead them straight to her—then he led the Careers everywhere but where Recap-Katniss was (with two exceptions). Recap-Katniss, for her part, once the “two tributes can win” rule-change was proclaimed, searched and searched for Recap-Peeta, not quitting till she found him, then she nursed him back to health.
Almost at the end of the Recap, the trumpets sounded—before then, both the “two tributes can win” rule being revoked, and the berries stunt, had been edited out.
Then both Recap-Katniss and Recap-Peeta were standing in water at the edge of the lake, with some of their skin and clothing wet—but why the new Co-Victors were wet and standing in water, the Recap did not explain.
Recap-Katniss said, “Peeta, I want you to be more than just a friend. To hell with You-Know-Who.”
Recap-Peeta pulled Recap-Katniss in for a kiss—
Then he collapsed in her arms.
“The End.”
Now, the real Katniss and Peeta kissed. The Capitol audience awwed.
****
One second later
The “Anthem of Panem” played, as President Snow, followed by Minerva Snow, walked onto the stage. Minerva Snow was carrying a white pillow on which laid two Victor crowns.
By the time President Snow and Minerva were standing in front of the Co-Victors, with the Snows’ backs to the studio audience, Katniss and Peeta were respectfully standing.
President Snow turned toward the pillow, picked up the larger Victor crown, and placed it on Peeta’s head. President Snow’s eyes peered deeply into Peeta’s eyes, as if searching for something. Katniss could not guess what Snow was looking for, or whether he found it in Peeta’s eyes. Meanwhile, no words were spoken between the man and the youth.
Then President Snow stepped sideways in front of Katniss; his teen granddaughter moved sideways by the same distance. President Snow turned toward the pillow, picked up the smaller Victor crown, then turned back to face Katniss, the crown in his hands.
All the while Snow spent bringing his hands up and forward, placing the Victor crown on Katniss’s head, and bringing his hands down—Snow spent those seconds glaring at Katniss.
Snow’s right hand came up again, to push Katniss’s styled black hair aside, revealing the mockingjay pin.
Snow, while still glaring at Katniss, said sarcastically, “What a lovely pin.”
****
An instant later
Katniss gasped, hearing Snow’s words. Those were the words of her soulmark; President Snow was her soulmate!
Then Katniss thought about the words themselves, not as she had always imagined them being said one day, but as Snow had now spoken them. Snow had said the words sarcastically, while glaring at Katniss—his message was You are wearing jewelry that symbolizes sympathy for the Dark Days rebellion, and I disapprove! Fine, Snow was Katniss’s soulmate now, but Katniss was not going to stop wearing the symbol of the rebellion just because Snow disapproved of it, nosirree! Nor was Katniss the only person in District Twelve, not by a long shot, who liked the Dark Days rebellion and who was sorry that the rebels had lost.
Now, how to say all this?
Katniss was angry now, and angry Katniss was better at words than even Peeta, so it was no surprise when the perfect words popped into her head—
Katniss gave Snow an Effie-fake smile and said with sugary sweetness, “Thank you.” Katniss glanced meaningfully at the mockingjay-pin and added, “It’s from my district.”
Snow's eyes went wide, then he muttered, “Shit!”
“Grandpa!” exclaimed Minerva Snow, who looked shocked down to her toes.
****
One second later
Snow’s back still was to the audience. He turned his head to look at Caesar Flickerman; Snow murmured, “End the show!”
Caesar Flickerman faced the audience (and the cameras) and said cheerfully, “And now ends our recap of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, starring our romantic Co-Victors, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen. Tune in tomorrow for the final interviews—I promise you an entertaining conversation. You in our audience, thanks for coming, and drive home safely. Goodnight, everyone!”
The bright camera-lights shut off; ordinary-brightness lights came on.
Snow turned to Flickerman and ordered, “Show us where is a meeting room in this building. Miss Everdeen and I need to talk—alone.”
Snow turned to his granddaughter. “Ride back to the Mansion with Desdemona. Miss Everdeen and I have business.”
By now, Caesar had taken a few steps toward the wings of the stage. “Ready?” he asked.
“Let’s go,” Snow ordered Katniss.
“Hold on,” Katniss said angrily. “I’m not moving one centimeter till my team knows what’s going on.”
Oddly, Snow did not push the issue. But he did fold his arms and renew his glare at Katniss.
Meanwhile, Peeta was saying, “And what is going on, Katniss? I’m lost.”
Katniss chin-pointed at Snow. “He is You-Know-Who.”
Caesar Flickerman’s eyes went wide, as Peeta said, “ ‘Shit!’ is right.”
Minerva Snow—still on stage, still holding the pillow—was looking at everyone else in confusion.
By now, Haymitch and Effie had climbed the stairs to the stage and were walking toward the group. Both of them looked worried (although Effie was much better at hiding it).
When the newcomers were close, Haymitch asked, “Sweetheart, what’s the story?”
Katniss sighed. “There’s something I haven’t told y’all, though Cinna knows. Sorry, I didn’t think it was important. Anyway, I have a soulmark.” Katniss kicked her right foot out briefly. “Just now I met my soulmate: President Snow.”
Haymitch said nothing; he only stared. Effie murmured, “Oh my.”
Snow said, “Miss Everdeen, now that everyone has been informed”—he shot Minerva Snow a quick look of apology—“do I now have your permission to confer with you?”
Katniss looked at Haymitch and Effie, as Katniss took Peeta’s hand and squeezed it. Katniss said in complete seriousness, “If I’m not back in the Twelve Apartment by dawn, it means I’ve been shot.”
“Miss Everdeen, you are acting overdramatic as usual,” Snow said. “Mister Mellark, Mister Abernathy, and Miss Trinket, you three are going straight to the Victory Banquet. Miss Everdeen and I will be along later.”
“Correction,” Katniss said to the Twelve Team, “I won’t be shot till after the party ends.”
Then Katniss, with her Victor crown on her head and her mockingjay pin reflecting the light, said to Snow, “Let’s talk.”