Keeping the Peace//Bianca One-Shot

On the roof of the The Future Victor's Training Center, Bianca sat crossed legged staring up at the sun slowly descending into the horizon. She had spent yet another grueling day in the gym and while she felt her skills improving and felt her peers' admiration the girl still felt empty. She was strong, smart, and adaptive. Everything a Victor needed to be- everything a tribute could ever ask for in the Games. However, her eighteen birthday was looming over Bianca was beginning to feel like her time as a Career was coming to an end after never actually being reaped. She had finally done the math. Bianca only had one more reaping left and the number of Careers in her district was mind boggling. The chances of her being reaped or being the first to volunteer was slim to none. While some people dreaded the reaping, Bianca was depressed that she would never experience it. The Games would have given her a platform for her skills. She did not exactly want to settle down as a citizen, to wear the dresses her mother had bought her over the years that were stuck in the back of her closet. The girl didn't want to hang up her weapons. She could already feel her father's eyes on her back, his "told you so" flinging from his mouth like venom. Like Bianca wasn't already poisoned by him. Selward Tarbuck did not support his only child through any of her training or interests. When she came home sweaty from the gym he would remark on how unappealing she was- big, red faced, and drenched in sweat. What man would want a woman like that? Bianca had decided long ago not to care about what her father said or what any man had to say about her. That did not mean that none of his words got to her though.

As a younger girl it was like being cut open every time he spoke. There was still time for her to grow into a beauty then. Now, settling into her adult features, her father was as disappointed as ever in her. He had wanted strong boys to train for the Games, not a girl. Her mother was a sweet as she could be with her husband constantly breathing down her neck. With all of the hostility in her own house Bianca had spent most of her life in the gym and now she had to come to terms with the fact that she was outgrowing the one place she had ever called home.

Hugging her gym bag to her chest, Bianca gazed out to the horizon. She looked out to the tall mountains that surrounded District Two, watching miners crawl around the slopes like ants on their way home from work. The whistle of the train pulling into the station sounded in the distant, echoing against the giant mounds of earth. Blue eyes scanned the District before stopping on a giant white stone arch. It was the gate to the Peacekeeper Academy, a giant stone building off to the side of the District that Bianca had never concerned herself with.

To Defend Panem Against All Enemies that's what the arch read. She stared at the compound for a few more minutes, taking in the small windows and officers in white uniforms patrolling the grounds. Peacekeepers were shipped off to all over the country, they gave up family for the good of the citizens.

She wouldn't have to see her father ever again...

She could explore a new district, meet new people....

She could earn respect.

Pressing her lips together, Bianca tossed her gym bag aside. She struggled to her feet, her battle worn knees protesting the movement after sitting motionless for so long. The sun, now a deep red ball throwing pink and orange tones across the sky, dipped behind the Academy. The light bounced off the white stone making it appear like something out the Capitol on television.

Bianca always thought she'd wear a Victor's crown and live a past tribute's life of luxury and glamour. Now, she felt her real calling tugging at her chest. She was meant to wear a white uniform and live a life of duty. She would protect the future of Panem against crime- against disaster and murder. The girl would battle uprisings to keep the rules intact. She would calm any storm that got in her path by her mere presence.

She would keep the peace.