mastermind | the hunger games

MASTERMIND

CHECKMATE, I COULDN'T LOSE!

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BLOOD RUSHED OVER Persephone Chase's arms as Ember Sparks' decapitated body laid beneath her. The blonde sixteen-year-old looked around from where she stood as she dropped Ember's head straight into the soft snow below her, her ears still slightly ringing from a canon that had just shot off in the distance. She saw about five lifeless bodies laying around her, mutilated, as the snow beneath them began to bleed red. Persephone then heard an announcement coming from above the snow fallen landscape.

"Our new winner of the 67th Annual Hunger Games, our Victor, Persephone Chase!"

Persephone looked up at the sound of the voice, only hearing the muffled words "Victor" and her name being called. Her blood stained face then looked back down to the snow beneath her as she collapsed to her knees, letting out a horrific scream that told the entirety of Panem the agony she was in. Tears flowing out of her eyes, smearing the dried red along her cheeks.

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"AW WHAT A SHAME," a brightly dressed Capitol woman complained as she swallowed the rest of her bright green drink in one go.

"I know, I had fifty on that Ember tribute. Should've known District One would win," another Capitol man groaned as he pulled out a bill and laid it in the palm of a man passing by.

Hades Grace looked over the brightly dressed people around him and rolled his eyes, trying to keep his anger at bay as he watched a mix of cheering and complaints about the young girl on television. The girl just fought off all of her allies, not to mention all the careers, as they tried to kill her in an ambush. "Could they at least wait until she left the arena before complaining?" He was thinking before he left a hand on his shoulder.

"Well if it isn't my favorite District Two Victor," Haymitch Abernathy drunkenly slurred as he took a seat at the bar Hades was sitting at.

The eighteen-year-old rolled his eyes as he looked at the older man that reeked of liquor beside him. "You're still here?" Hades asked casually as he took a sip of his drink. The other mentors had already left once their tributes were killed, Hades staying because his were just killed by the girl on the screen.

Haymitch laughed as he took another heavy sip of his clearly spiked drink. "I never pass up free alcohol from our dearest President," he said slowly before looking back at the crying girl on the large screen, "you know, I was almost surprised that she won. Played the innocent and soft girl that relied on the protection of her allies, until she completely killed them all very quickly, and brutally, if I may add. I don't know what they were feeding the District One tributes this year, but I want whatever she's having."

Hades looked back at the girl, Persephone, and felt something pang in his chest as he watched her be escorted from the arena. He then watched as her mentors, Cashmere and Gloss, quickly left the room and head immediately to the medical facility where they would put her until she was cleared.

"You know, the two of you would make a match. Both brutal killers. And your names, of course," Haymitch added, chuckling quietly as he watched the boy observe the newest Victor.

Hades immediately snapped his attention onto Haymitch, his eyes darkening slightly, "What do you mean by our names?"

Haymitch rolled his eyes, "C'mon Two, you know. Hades and Persephone. Rulers of the Underworld?"

Hades just shook his head in deep thought. He knew his parents named him after the god of the dead and the underworld. He knew that a lot of Panem's citizens had names inspired by Greek mythology, but he had never heard the story of Persephone.

"Persephone was goddess of the spring, until Hades' kidnapped her to be his wife. She became a powerful queen of the Underworld, and Hades fell deeply in love with her. While others thought Hades ruined her, many thought he made her more powerful. He unleashed the dark side of her, her truest form," Haymitch explained to Hades.

The eighteen-year-old nodded as he then decided he was going to head back home to his mansion in District Two. He wanted to visit the library immediately to find books on the so-called "Queen of the Underworld", and he was exhausted of being around the obnoxious Capitol citizens.

The intimidating Victor immediately rose from his seat at the bar, nodded to Haymitch, and then started making his way through the crowd. He stook out like a sore thumb wearing only black, a black button-up with matching black dress pants. He made eye contact with Finnick Odair, a District Four Victor, and nodded at him as well, before looking for his own mentor.

Chiron Fables was a District Two Victor that trained Hades Grace into the intimidating and ruthless man that he was today. Of course Hades trained his entire life for The Hunger Games, but Chiron smoothed out all of his rough edges, making him someone the Capitol was even scared to go around. This worked in Hades favor as he was never approached with a deal by Snow, as the Capitol citizens were too scared of Hades' dark aura to ever see him as the attractive man he was, they only saw him as a merciless killer.

Chiron was a father figure to Hades, as Hades' own parents had passed when he was younger. Chiron had saw himself a lot in Hades and made sure that the boy would win no matter what.

Hades had spot the almost forty-year-old blonde man and immediately made his way to him, putting a heavy hand on his back. Chiron turned away from the group of Capitol men he was talking with and turned to face Hades, a smile immediately appearing on his face. "Hey kid, you heading out?" the man asked as the rest of the men walked away.

"Yeah, just got something I have to take care of," Hades said smoothly, giving a quick hug and pat on the back to the man.

Hades then walked away, going straight to the train taking him to District Two, a new-found interest in his mind.

And Haymitch watched as the boy walked away, a smirk on his lips.

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WHAT IF I TOLD YOU NONE OF IT WAS ACCIDENTAL!