I was buzzing after my time with President Snow. I mean he might be the head of the Capitol, the place that created the evil Hunger Games, but he saved Annie's life. On purpose. That has to count for something right? Not only that, but he's willing to allow me to become a citizen of the Capitol as long as I play my part. I mean, I was going to have to play that part regardless, but now I get the chance to keep my brother safe, Finnick safe, and god forbid I ever decided to have children they would be safe too.

I walk into the Victor party smiling at everyone. We were all being corralled into a room for Victors only, forced to wait for Annie to make her entrance to the room that contained the Capitol socialites before we were released to the jackals. Unfortunately for me, that means that I'm in a room full of Victors. Luckily, it's a big room because do they ever do anything small in the Capitol?

The Victors from District glowered at me with venom in their eyes. They knew that Annie was just another Victor who would align themselves with me so when the time came, more tributes would be aligning with District 2 instead of 1. As much as it mattered on the year and what was going on inside the arena, on the outside it's all a numbers game.

Before I get too tempted to push Cashmere into a shrimp cocktail, Johanna steps towards me smiling. She's wearing a beautiful brown dress with branches coming out of her hair in an ornate manner. She sips her drink and smiles up at me menacingly, "So, are you gonna tell me what was going on the other night?"

I choke on my own martini, and try not to laugh. "Well we kissed. I mean you already knew that."

"Yea but did anything come after that? Like what are you guys now? Because I can't handle the goo goo eyes and the will they won't they for another year."

I rolled my eyes. "We haven't gotten to talk about it yet, after my meeting with Snow and Annie being so unstable I haven't been able to talk to him yet."

Jo shoots me a glare.

"What? Why are you always looking at me like that?"

"Because your hands are shaking doofus."

I look down to see that my hands are indeed shaking. "Sorry I'm just nervous to see him, what if he—"

Jo interjects to shut down my self-doubt. "He's not going to turn you down. You're all he ever talks to me about. It's kinda annoying really."

I shake my head as I laugh along with Johanna. Sadly that joy doesn't last long because Cashmere begins to make her way over to me. Her shimmery and golden dress doesn't cover much or leave much to the imagination. She may be a bitch but that doesn't mean she isn't pretty. I suddenly begin to feel insecure in my long and flowing grey dress.

Jo must have sensed this because she adjusts the olive branch wreath on my head to give me assurance.

Cashmere walks up to the two of us and looks us up and down. "Hm, looks like you've cleaned up slightly."

Jo rolls her eyes and she takes another martini from the Avox with a tray behind me. "I see you haven't." Cashmere sends her a glare, but a wide eyed Jo is already making her exit as she downs another martini. I give her a mock glare but she flips the bird at me in return.

Great. She left me with Cashmere. But to be fair I wouldn't want to be in this conversation if I didn't have to.

Cashmere returns her attention to me begins to speak with a fake sweetness in her voice. "I'm so sorry to hear about Finnick and Annie hun. I know that you were close with him. Those interviews and all the gossip in the magazines and on TV must've been really hard for you."

I know she's trying to get under my skin. "No not really."

Cashmere looks bothered that I don't seem irritated. "Oh really? Well I feel bad for you either way. I mean on one hand you can't compete with the dead girl, but now? I'd probably wish she were dead instead you know."

To my surprise a snarky and sharp voice calls to Cashmere. "Cash, your brother is looking for you," says Enobaria. Cash looks at Enobaria and after being given a look, Cashmere takes off in search of her brother.

My eyes widen at who has come to my help. I thought Enobaria hated me. She gently and gracefully links arms with mine as we begin to walk away. That's a lot coming from me considering I never thought I would use the word graceful and Enobaria in the same sentence.

"What did Gloss want?" I ask curiously.

"Oh, I don't know, he's probably talking to Brutus about workout regimens."

My eyes widen. "So he wasn't looking for her?"

"Don't look so surprised. We need to talk," she says calmly. She's definitely softened a bit over the years that's for sure. She guides us to an unused corner of the room so no one is near. "Your little friend group is growing. You've managed to get yourself onto every recent Victors good side. My friends," she says glancing to where Glimmer, Gloss, and some other older careers stand, "We may be in control for now but not for long. Times are changing. I'm afraid the era of the careers is changing into something different. Four's academy is slowly shutting down."

She continue, her eyes looking at me with intensity. "We're seeing more wildcards come out of the woodwork like your friend Johanna. And I'm sure by the next Quarter Quell, your group of friends are going to be the ones running this place instead of us."

I furrow my brows in confusion. "Enobaria what are you trying to say?"

"The way the games work is changing and we need to make sure District Two stays on top. The kids going into the Games ten, twenty years from now are going to rely on the political connections you make for them outside of the Games."

"But our academy is the best in Panem. We have the most Victors out of all the Districts, how's Four's academy shutting down be good for us?"

She shakes her head in agitation. "District Two and Four used to work together all of the time so we lost a close ally." I nod thinking that this makes sense, because of how close my grandmother and Mags were. "District One wants our Academy to be the one to fall next. To be the only Career academy left."

"What does career pack politics have to do with my friends? In case you haven't noticed they're not careers."

She rolls her eyes and grabs me by the shoulders. "Right now you're leading our legacy into the future, you're going to be the face of District Two in this new era where careers don't win every year. District One is too proud and rooted in the old ways to survive, but we have a link to the new Era through you. If we can leave them behind then we'll be the District coming out on top, and eventually once their Academy breaks down, ours will be the only one left; a District Two victory every year. You have to ensure that District Two survives, that our future children will survive."

I don't know what to say. Never had I thought Enobaria would care about children. The patriotism for the district I could see coming, but not the children. I say the only thing I can to try and break the tension. "Damn Enobaria I didn't know you hated One that much."

She chuckles slightly at my attempt to diffuse her intensity. "We all bide our time and do what we can for our District. I used to not understand what you were doing, but now I see you."

"So why are you friends with them then? Why don't you come join the 'new era'?" I say jokingly.

She glances back at her group of Careers. "I didn't say the era of the Careers was over quite yet darling. I still have a couple years until I'm past my prime. So until then I'll have to play the waiting game."

I look at her mischievously. I may not like the Games, but it's in my blood to get excited about brilliant tactical strategy. And I want people like Cato and his friends in the academy to have the best shot at winning as possible. "I like that, you cover that side and I'll cover this side."

She taps her nose, letting me know I'm right on the money. Enobaria begins to walk away, but turns to me one last time. "Oh and one last thing. As far as anyone knows, all I did during this conversation was threaten to rip your throat out, got it?"

I nod, trying to hide my actual fear for this woman. I stare at her with confusion as she begins to walk away. Where did the woman who sharpened her teeth go? The woman who shook my hand so firmly when I won the Games I thought my hand was going to fall off? The woman who ripped someones throat out and beat up twelve year old me in the academy?

As she makes her way to Cashmere and Gloss I notice her gently touch her stomach. She's pregnant.

Before I can begin to reminisce about how Enobaria would be at parenting, Brutus approaches me.

Brutus notices my loss for words and glances in Enobaria's direction. "What did Enobaria want?"

Shaking off my moment of being distracted by Finnick, a mischievous grin appears upon my face. "She threatened to rip my throat out," I say smiling.

He furrows his brow at me and then looks to where Enobaria went. His voice is full of confusion.

"And you're happy about that?"

"Yes, and we need to talk. I'm not going to be coming back to District 2." I see the confusion on his face and try to clarify. "I'm going to be staying here in the Capitol for probably half every year outside of the Games."

Brutus seems like he wants to ask more, but instead simply asks, "Are you working here?"

I know what that's code for; it's code for what they make Finnick do. I try and reassure him that's not what work I'll be doing. "Yes, I'll be working for the house at the casino and doing some ad campaigns."

He seems to be a bit relieved that I'm doing more favourable work.

"That's why I'm going to need to call in that favour. I need you to train my brother while I'm gone. He wants to go into the Games bad. You need to make sure that he's a winner. Not second place, not third, a Victor."

He nods. "Now that's a favour I can get behind. He's a strong kid in the academy, I won't have to do much."

"Of course I'll try to train him when I'm back."

He agrees. "Naturally. And hey, when you come back we were thinking of implementing new stealth training at the academy. Since you were so good at it in your Games why don't you teach the kids that?"

I nod. Stealth was one of my strong suits, but I wasn't quite yet a Master. If I want to teach the kids I'm going to start to have to practice on my own. A girl needs a hobby anyways right? "I can do that."

Before we can continue the conversation I see Finnick for the first time tonight and lock eyes with him from across the room.

"I'll see you around kid," says Brutus, noticing I've become distracted.

I look to see Finnick, it's like all of the thoughts of the games and strategy melt away as I'm overcome by emotion.  The me who had just went toe to toe with Enobaria in match of wits went out the door. When I see him gliding across the floor to me it feels like it's the first time I've looked at him and really seen him. I always understood why the Capitol women found him handsome but it's almost as if I'm truly noticing how handsome he is for the first time.

Once he reaches me he looks straight into my eyes as if he's looking into my soul. I don't say anything. I can't.

Just as I'm about to attempt to stutter out a few words, he pulls me in for a kiss. I momentarily forget where we are. Everything else and everyone else just melts away. It's just him and me together.

I open my eyes after a moment and we pull apart. Everyone is whispering around us. Haymitch the crazy drunk begins to clap from his little corner but soon the attention is off of us and onto him.

"Finnick what was that for? In front of everyone?" I whisper.

"Relax, we're just with the Victors they all know they'd get in trouble. And the Avox's but it's not like they're gonna tell anyone..."

I scoff at his rude joke and lightly hit his arm. "You're terrible."

He quirks an eyebrow at me playfully. "Does that mean I'm terrible and your boyfriend or just terrible?"

I smirk at him. "Terrible... and my boyfriend."

Folks if that was the end of the story for me, I would have had it all. Sure I was forced to kill children in a fight to the death and living under a corrupt government, but back then I was as happy as you could be in those conditions. I had friends, family, and I was in love. I would live the perfect life for almost four years after that ball; If I could describe them I'd call it my era of 'ignorant bliss'.

But I made mistakes. Looking back on it all, I can see all the red flags and the blaring warning signs that I sped past. And the repercussions came. It just took time. Because four years went by and the walls of my castle of ignorant bliss began to crumble. And that's when my life took a turn for the worst......

END OF ACT I

~~~~~~~~~~

That's all for the "Prequels" of Octavia's story everyone! We're going to be jumping into 74th Games next, meaning we'll officially be on the books. Thank you to everyone whose stuck with this story. I started writing this story when I was 13 years old and I am now 20. This project was something that really started my passion for writing and I am about to get my degree in Creative Writing. Even though I go back and cringe at some of the stuff 13 year old me wrote in this story, and of course there's things I would do differently now, I am so proud of this story. While it may not mean a lot to some, getting 100,000 reads on this story absolutely blew my mind; it helped to give me confidence as a writer—something I never had before.

That all said, as I've promised before this story will be completed. It's a mission. They will be slow because I'm in University, but it will be done by this time 2020. Even with 7 years gone by the original ideas that sparked this story are fresh in my mind. There are chapters that will be coming up that were some of the first, if not the first, chapters written for this story. So thank you to all of those who have been with me since the beginning and thank you to those who are just joining us now.

Cheers and here's to Act II. And PSA I will be continuing Act II within this book, so no need to look for another book coming out. It'll all conveniently be kept right here since the limit for Wattpad chapters has increased from it's old 100 chapter limit. And if there is anyone willing to Beta read future chapters and/ or go back and do previous please PM me!