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BELLATRIX BANCROFT HAD ONCE BEEN HAPPY. She was once a carefree little girl who dreamt of true love and marrying the man of her dreams who would whisk her away from Panem and all its horrors. She dreamt of long kisses and soft touches as they basked in the meadow behind her former home in district eight.
Not all dreams come true.
Julias Bancroft had once been a kind man. Always eager for the next thing, he kept a smile on his face and a bounce in his step as he walked the streets of District Two. He had never been good enough to volunteer for the games, instead being one of the children chosen to use their skills to become a respectable guard. Julias was fine with this, wanting in any way to serve the Capitol and bring glory to his nation.
In his second year of his training, he was stationed in District Eight due to the easier work there. It was a fine district. Plenty of good work to be done. It was his second week there when he met her. It had been a long day of work and all he wanted to do was have a relaxing evening with the guys, maybe have a drink or two.
District eight was similar to many of the outlying districts with their underground bars and reputation for being good partiers. It was a cruel twist of fate that Bellatrix chose that night to join her friends for their normal weekend activities. Dancing and drinking to their hearts desire and against the wishes of their parents. Perhaps she would kiss a soldier or two and then return home sneaking through her window pretending that she didn't have the night of her life.
Julias had immediately caught her intention and she had caught his. Stolen stares over the rim of a glass, slight touches as they passed each other, until before they both knew it they were hiding away in a back room getting to know every inch of each other.
He was the thrill that she had been waiting so long for. And she was the tranquility that he so desperately craved after each long day. It wasn't long before they began to meet up every day. Falling deeper and deeper in love as each sunrise and sunset passed.
Then he got promoted.
Julias had been offered a job to work as a peacekeeper in the capitol. President Snow had noticed his loyalty and decided his talents would be most useful there. Bellatrix followed him there, of course, because she was in love.
She became a stylist for the games. Putting her talents to "good use." Those years of her life haunted her. Dressing up children before they were slaughtered in the games. Making them spectacles before they would be paraded through the whole capitol just to have their deaths serve as petty entertainment for a war that was long ago won. It was repulsive and inhumane. And yet, here she was getting her daughter ready to compete in those same games.
