A Game of Chance [THG Fanfic]

The Victor's Interview

-Damon Brooks, District One-

I grab onto the rope that will lift me into the hovercraft with my good hand, still shocked that I actually managed to win.

Looking back towards the ground, I notice that the 'thing' that was once Valentyna glances around, before taking off in a specific direction, towards the edge of the Arena. I have to admire her persistance in attempting to escape her fate, but I am sure that the Capitol will have planned for this already.

Another mutt watches her with curiousity, before sprinting after her. Troy was never one to give up easily.

A couple of people appear at the entrance to the hovercraft, and begin to haul the rope in. I am frozen in place; so that I do not fall off, and so that I don't move the rope around too much. It is easier for them, this way.

As soon as I reach the entrance, they pull me in, and my limbs begin to loosen up. One of them tries to yank me in by my decapitated arm, and I yell out in pain. Their eyes widen, as they step back, looking quite worried.

One of the others who is helping to get me inside of the Hovercraft shoots them a glare, then takes out a syringe with a long, pointed needle. I feel myself tense up; I hate needles.

Before I have time to try and get away from this pointed object, the person jabs it into my intact arm. I feel my sight going blurry, and my strength fading. The liquid in the syringe must have been there to knock me out, lest I struggle, or try to attack them.

My head lolls to one side as I enter a vortex of darkness.

Upon waking, the first change in my surroundings that I notice is that I am now in a clean room, with three beds in that are currently unoccupied.

The second change that I register is that I am strapped into the fourth bed in the room, hooked up to a machine via a lot of tubes that are attached to my body. A table with a bowl of tomato soup and a small bread roll is positioned directly to the left of me, on the opposite side to the machines.

The last noticable feature is one that I am surprised that I didn't notice earlier. Instead of having a stump for a arm, I now have a metal attachment in the shape of my old arm, and hand.

I attempt to flex the fingers of this new mechanical arm, and am delighted to find that I can move them with ease. The same goes for the elbow of it. At least I can still pick stuff up, and I can hold weapons.

Frowning, I realise that I won't have any reason to use weapons anymore. After the games, a victor is showered with all the luxories that they could want, with a promise that they never have to go into the games ever again. They aren't allowed to use weapons, for some reason.

I am glad about the first two benifits of being a victor, but the weapons rule angers me. I will never again be able to do the one thing that I atually have talent for. The victor's immunity doesn't extend to breaking the Capitol's laws.

Slumping down onto the bed again, I allow myself to drift off- to escape from the present, into the dreamworld.

I am walking in a woods- I recgonise these woods as the ones that surround District Two, our neighbouring district. Strange. I've never visited this place before, yet it feels familiar.

A rustle alerts me to another presence, and I skim up a tree, hiding myself from view in the branches as the person who I am least expecting to see comes into the clearing below me, with someone who I can only imagine to be their brother.

In my dream, Valentyna is still alive, in her mutated form.

She turns to the person that I presume is her brother. It is obvious who is the boss out of the pair of them.

"Karl," she begins, demanding his name. "The Victory tour for District Two is today. I should be able to get to Damon."

I almost fall out of my tree in astonishment. Why would she be looking for me, even if she was alive?

Straining to hear more, I almost topple out of the tree. Valentyna glances up, sharply, but I begin to realise that my dream is losing focus.

I open my eyes, blinking away the blurred vision that I have from sleeping for a long period of time.

A worried face comes into focus above me. Stee, our district's stylist for the Games, bites his lip as he tells me that I have the Victor's Interview in less than an hour, and that I must get ready for it.

His words take a while to sink in, but when they do, I jolt upright, almost banging my head into his. Thankfully, he moves away before this can happen.

"Show me my outfit," I demand. "I'd better start getting ready."

Stee's expression becomes one of sheer relief, as he thrusts an outfit at me. I hesitate before looking down at it, remembering my terrible outfit from the tribute parade. Finally giving into my desire to look, I glance at it, and relax when I realise that it is just a simple black suit.

I get changed into the outfit fairly quickly, checking for any creases before shouting to Stee that I am ready. He hustles me out, and stops me, just before I am about to go onto the stage. "Damon, this is your big moment. Enjoy it."

I reassure him that I will, then walk out onto the stage waving, to screams and a lot of cheers.

It seems to take forever for me to cross the stage, and sit in my alotted seat by Yvonne- the interviewer.

She grins at me and rattles off some questions. I answer each in turn, inwardly thinking that she's being a tad too nosy, and that she should ask some bigger questions. I answer them with ease until she comes onto the question that I have been dreading.

"So, Damon, rumor has it that Valentyna's brother is pretty mad at you for killiing her, and that he wants revenge. What do you say to this?"

I give her a stony glance. "Firstly, I didn't kill Valentyna, so that would be a false statement. Secondly, I can hold my own well enough, with or without weapons." The last comment is directed at the Capitol, as I am still mad about the weapons rule.

Yvonne gets this, and clears her throat slightly, smiling as brightly as she can muster herself to. "That concludes the interview. Now, we will showcase all of the deaths in the Arena, in case any of you didn't catch them the first time!

I groan under my breath, and lean back in my chair. The deaths will be boring. I just want to get off the stage as soon as possible.

Unsurprisingly, watching the recap of the deaths is tedious work. Only a few actually catch my attention; the deaths of Troy, May, Valentyna and Mia. I don't have any interest in the other deaths.

Finally the recap ends, and I bow to the audience, acknowledging their applause. I stroll of stage, to where Stee is waiting. Only... he isn't alone.

I rush forward to hug my brother, grinning as I do so. My mother is next, and I bury my face in her shoulder, too happy to speak. When I lift my head up, I see that tears of joy are running down her cheeks.

"You're safe now," she whispers, holding me close. "We'll always be here for you."

I nod, too overcome to speak. I am really going home, and nobody will bother me anymore.

Because I am the Victor of the 125th Hunger Games; the Fifth Quarter Quell. And no-one will ever stand in my way ever again.

A/N: This is the official end of this book - It seems barely any time since I started writing this fanfic.

I hope you've enjoyed this book, and a huge thank you to everybody reading, commenting, or voting, it really means a lot to me, I never expected this book to get over 4K reads :D

Thank you again :)-Wildifae