80th Games Victor Presentation

She stood there, covered in blood and looking up at heaven.

At least, that is what she did when she finally struck down Bette Sublino.

She doesn’t know how to react, because she never thought she would make it that far. She thought that once she lost her hand, that was it. It was game over for her, and that she would have been picked off with in the coming days.

But she found a way to cope, and she hid behind her knives.

Not only her knives, but her friends as well.

Parson.

Hellion.

Angel.

All of them, together, protected each other from any harm that would come their way, but Annie soon learned that was not enough, because the forces of evil always found a way to work themselves into any little nook and cranny that they caught as weakness.

And one by one the domino’s fell, and Annie broke down each and every time another one landed flat on the ground. She knew better. There was nothing she could do for them when they had fallen, but she wanted to do so much for them.

But she was just going to have to live with the fact that she was the only one that made it out for the rest of her life.

---

That was until Glamour came to rescue her from the hell that he had placed her in.

She was not ready, for any of the information that he was about to dispose on her, but that was just how it was going to be now.

Annie was going to have to live with the fact that she could not stop anyone from telling her anything, because technically, she was now the capitol’s property.

She knew that freedom didn’t exist after getting out of the games.

Her body would become nothing but bones for the take, and each person that even so much as looked at Annie would be a grave robber, even if they didn’t intend to ever be one.

Glamour was no exception, because even though he gave her a choice in hearing the news, she knew better.

So she had to agree to it, and when her spilled, her face became red.

Red with a fury that she did not understand at first, but that fury turned into joy once she realized that meant that the people she cared about while in the arena were still alive. Alive and well in fact.

And while they might not agree with what she did in order to make it, she had no choice.

She did not know that the capitol would show such mercy to the tributes of the 80th games, but they did make it abundantly clear that Annie would be the only true victor of the games.

The rest of them would get their freedom though, and Annie had to pay the ultimate price.

But she could live with that.

---

And as President snow talked to his congregation about the triumphs of this years games, Annie could feel the bile trying to rise out of her stomach and onto the pristine marble that she was sitting above.

The thought of this being anything joyous made her sick, but she wasn’t going to say that. She knew better.

She only had to keep this façade going until she boarded that train with the rest of the tributes that died for her to obtain the title she claimed from the rest of them.

So instead she listened to the words of President Snow and thought about her mother, and just how proud she would have been to see her at this point.

Of course, she never pressured Annie to be a career, that was all her father, but her mother did teach her to not lose herself in the heated moments of the games.

It had been so long since Four had another victor, and her mother always told Annie that she had the potential to make it out alive, because she was willing to do what it took to survive.

And she was right.

But did that make any of this right?

That was still left to be determined.

---

President Snow called forward the team behind the story of Annie, but Annie did not feel close to them, minus Leon. He was the person who told her what to watch out for when she got into the arena after all.

The rest of them didn’t have to endure what Annie had gone through though, and it made each clap they had receive sting that much more. The only person that deserved a round of applause was Leon, because he knew what it was like to kill children that wanted to be where they are as well.

But even sitting up there, Annie would not wish it on any of the tributes that she had to take down to get here.

Annie was just happy that they all got to keep their lives in the end.

And now she had a bunch of promises that she had to keep.

---

And then President Snow called her forward, and the moment she looked over that balcony to see her face plastered on flags and banners for the capitol to relish in, to see people raising their children to get a look at what their parents wanted them to be when they grew up, to see people literally lose their minds because they knew that she was the one to watch made Annie’s stomach flip one hundred times over.

She was not some fucking hero that deserved an ounce of this praise.

She was a murderer before she found out the twist, and she might as well be a murderer now.

She was ready to take her leave from the spot, but the amount of peacekeepers guarding each exit made it clear that Annie was to go nowhere. She had to stand there and accept the praise that she did not want, and relive the horror again and again until she was finally free to go.

And even then, she knew that she wouldn’t be free.