ficsandfables
Cassia Vale was raised to survive long before she was ever chosen for the Hunger Games.
As the daughter of two District One victors, Cassia grew up beneath impossible expectations, trained from childhood inside the Academy where weakness was punished and perfection was demanded. Every lesson, every injury, every sacrifice shaped her into exactly what Panem wanted her to become: a victor.
When Cassia volunteers for the 69th Hunger Games alongside fellow Academy tribute Thane Corwin, she enters the Capitol determined to prove herself worthy of the Vale name - worthy of surviving the arena her parents conquered before her.
But survival becomes far more complicated once the Games begin closing in around her.
Guilt follows her into the Capitol, and the weight of expectations threatens to crush her entirely, Cassia finds herself drawn toward the one person who understands the cost of victory better than anyone: Gloss Nicholo, District One's dangerously charming victor and her mentor.
What begins as quiet understanding slowly turns into something deeper.
Something terrifying. Something worth surviving for.
(this story was originally published April 2025 but gets a well deserved story update)