MORNINGS LIKE THIS WERE PEACEFUL. At least as peaceful as reaping day could be. The silence that engulfed the district was something that was almost tangible, you couldn't hear a thing in Victors' Village on a normal day. But there was something special about reaping day that made the silence different, numbing almost. Of course there was that fact that it was reaping day and would send two new kids off on the train to the Capitol with Haymitch and Sage— it had become somewhat of a routine for Sage. One he didn't have to really try to follow, it came easy to him. Walk on stage, force out a smile for the cameras, leave the District, try to give the unlucky tributes a glimmer of hope while Haymitch lost more every year. It was the same every year.

Sage finished his small traditional reaping day breakfast of one glass of whiskey and one morphling tablet in addition to a piece of toast with peanut butter on it before he checked as clothes for any crumbs or spills before leaving. Marcel would probably kill him if Sage appeared on television with anything out of place. Across the street, Sage made his way up to the window looking into Haymitchs' dining room. Sure enough, sitting on one chair with his feet on another— Haymitch had his arms crossed and his head hung back allowing his mouth to be wide open.

Sage contemplated letting the man sleep, but decided against it as soon as he even considered it. Quickly pounding on the glass until Haymitch nearly fell from his chair.

He chuckled a bit as he made his way to the door and let himself inside.

"You really should know better than to scare someone like us, you know." Haymitch said loudly, as if the dining room was on the opposite side of the house or as if Sage was hard of hearing. His voice sounded strained as he tried to make his words sound coherent.

"You really should know better than to drink a bottle the night before the reaping." Sage echoed as he approached the table and grabbed the emptied bottle and brought it into the kitchen.

"Says our resident morphling." Haymitch muttered loudly enough for Sage to hear him.

Sage rolled his eyes. He was in no way what any normal person would consider a morphling. If he had been popping more than his usual two or three tablets a day, then maybe. But as far as anyone was concerned, his morphling was strictly used to control the residual leg pain or horrendous migraines that he got. "Come on, time to get up. It's a bright new day."

"Oh please don't start quoting that woman." Haymitch groaned as Sage smirked and added the bottle to the bottles on top of his fridge. "Having to spend a week, two weeks tops with her is enough."

Sage scoffed as he turned around and scanned his counter for something to give Haymitch for breakfast. "Effie isn't that miserable." Sage called into the dining room.

Haymitch huffed out a sigh and waved a hand over his shoulder as he muttered something.

"Haymitch, you have to get up now. You can't start this year by being late." Sage replied, settling with a bowl of what was probably stale cereal. "It could be the year. Who knows."

"I know." Haymitch replied, "It's not."

"It better be, I can't be the only one taking care of you anymore." Sage sighed heavily.

The two of them had begun to form some sort of dysfunctional family after Sage won. After Sage won, after his father died in a mining explosion— he wasn't exactly in great shape. In fact, for about two years, Sage wouldn't have admitted that he was no better than Haymitch. If not worse. His nightmares became more frequent and thanks to the liquid form of morphling that he had ended up stuck with— the quick acting drug left him with a good amount of hallucinations. From snakes, mutts, the lifeless look on the face of the first tribute he saw dead, or the first tribute he killed. Or Marena. It resulted in a few days where Sage would lock himself away from his family. Not because he wanted to be alone, but because he had to be. His hallucinations would come up out of nowhere, he didn't trust himself to be safe for his family. What if Katniss was suddenly Watt with a venomous snake in his hand? What if Prim was Marena? He didn't find himself capable of trusting his own mind, and it didn't help that on the days he was coexisting with his family, his mother was checked out. He wasn't sure if it was because of his fathers death, because in the months following his death she did the same thing, or if it was because she was seeing what his father had only begun to see. But Sage tried, he did. He tried to resume his normal activities in Twelve. And for the five months before his Victory Tour he thought he finally had it under control. He had gotten himself to finally humor Katniss and going beyond the fence. He never killed anything except for a rabbit or squirrel once in a while. But he left most of it to Katniss. Who by the time he left with Haymitch for his tour, had graduated from the bow she was using to Sages'. But by the time he got back from his tour, where he had to actually face the families of the other twenty-three tributes...he was right back to square one. If not worse. By the time the sixty-ninth games came, Sage was on his own entirely in Victors' Village. His mother snapped out of whatever pit she was in enough to decide that living there with Sage was no better than living in the Seam.

"Sage."

Sage quickly looked over his shoulder to see Haymitch, who had grown his hair out now, pushing his hair back from his face as he rubbed his eyes. "Haymitch." Sage echoed.

"You had-" he motioned to his face, "-that look."

Sage rolled his eyes as he picked up the bowl he had filled with cereal, "Eat up."

"Where's the milk?" Haymitch asked as Sage handed the bowl to Haymitch.

"You can see for yourself if the milk you have is even still milk." Sage replied, "Then get dressed. Please. I'll see you at the reaping." he stated before stepping past Haymitch and seeing himself out of the house.

After giving Haymitch a decent wake up call, Sage made his way back to his house across the street and grabbed the two duffle bags that he had prepared the night before. Both stuffed so full the zippers could burst at any moment. Each of them had two one pound bags of flour in addition to a bag of sugar, a bottle of morphling along with bandages of all shapes and sizes, some money although it didn't have much worth in districts like twelve since everyone for the most part used the bartering system. Both bags also had a new sewing kit. Then in one, he threw in a couple new sets of crayons and paints. Once he had a bag over each shoulder, he made his way down the street of Victors' Village and into District Twelve. He didn't consider the village a part of the District; he and Haymitch were on their own there. Nobody ever came to bother them, and they made themselves scarce when they were among the other citizens of the district.

Sage made his way past the bakery owned by the Mellark family— Talon Mellark had been his age. But soon after Sages' games, he had joined a small group of other eighteen year old to go to District Two to complete peacekeeper training. Besides the Hobb, the bakery was one of the few places Sage went to. After the bakery which sat in the nicer area of the district, the buildings and roads began to get smaller and smaller, and needed more work to be kept up. Until he entered t. he seam, which was eerily quiet. There were no children sitting outside waiting for friends to walk to the school together, no miners heading to the mines or back home. The only sounds were those from the dogs that mingled amongst each other and went from house to house, but few really had a house to call home. In twelve, pets were somewhat of a rare thing. Unless you consider goats or chickens pets.

"Morning, Sage!" the familiar voice of Vick Hawthorn. The second youngest of the Hawthorn kids. He was just barely nine, and like Prim, hadn't taken to hunting like his other siblings.

Sage scanned the small house until he saw the boy looking out the window of the kitchen that tripled as a dining room and a bedroom for Gale. "Morning, Vick," Sage replied walking up towards the house. He tried to stop by the Hawthorns whenever he could.

Before Sage could even reach the door to knock, Vick pulled the door open to welcome Sage into the small house. Despite visiting once in a while, he never felt like he was welcomed there. Specifically by Gale, and their mother Hazelle who tried to act like his presence there wasn't something that made her miserable.

"Were you able to get any chocolate this month?" Vick questioned eagerly.

Sage shook his head, "But there's a few things in here that I think your mom could use to make something good."

Vick sighed heavily as he turned around and took a seat again at his seat at the table against the window as the next oldest, Rory, emerged from the room to the left of the kitchen not yet ready for the reaping. And Hazelle stepped out of the smaller room next to the one that Rory had left with their younger sister, Posy, on her hip.

"Early start today?" Hazelle questioned, she had dark brown hair and a round face. Paired with light blue eyes.

Sage sighed as he nodded a bit, trying to move his eyes away from the family briefly. He hated seeing them. After what happened to Ella— he practically despised seeing them sometimes. Specifically Hazelle, who Sage believed that if Ella had stuck around in District Twelve, would look almost identical to her mother. "It's a big day today." he said simply, "But, I wanted to stop by and drop this off. It's not as big as last month, but I threw in plenty of medicine that could get you a nice trade at the Hob."

Hazelle smiled as she set down Posy and took the duffel bag that had the coloring utensils in it as Sage offered it to her.

Once Sage finished the small talk that followed, he left the house. As soon as he did, it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He knew that he was partially to blame for what happened, and he knew that they weren't wrong for putting it on him. He tried to convince Katniss that they didn't need to hunt anymore, but he never pushed the topic on Ella. Hunting had been something she enjoyed, she was thankful for it because if Sage hadn't ever hunted he probably wouldn't have won...

Sage pushed those thoughts and memories away, and focused solely on where his feet were going. Carley not to step in any puddles, trip over any rocks or uneven pieces of the road. When he finally got to the small house that he had once lived in. In the kitchen window, Prims' cat was perched. Buttercup, a stupid name for a cat. But when Prim found him under Sages' stairs in Victors' Village, she instantly knew that would be his name. And no matter how many other names Sage suggested when he was walking her back to the Seam, there was no changing her mind.

He didn't bother knocking on the door, instead he stepped right in and set the final duffel bag on the table.

"Ma? Katniss? Pr-"

"Back here!" his mother called from the room that had formerly been his but now had long since turned into his mother's so they could take down the curtain that made the additional bedroom and have more of a dining area.

Sage sighed heavily as he made his way to the familiar door frame that he had replaced a couple times after he slammed his door one too many times when he was younger. He poked his head in to see that Prim was sitting in a chair in front of their mother, and she worked away at pulling her hair into a tight braid. Prim wasn't yet in her nice clothes for the reaping. Which Sage saw as a bit of a relief, because for a second Sage didn't think anything different of the reaping this year. But in reality, he was terrified this year. Not only would Katniss be entered yet again, and more than likely refused to listen to Sage when he said she didn't need to take out any tessera. But this would be the first year that Prim was entered into the reaping too, and he hoped that unlike Katniss, she would have listened to what he told her to do.

"Morning, Sage," Prim greeted, trying to smile a bit and look up at him without moving her head too much.

Sage smiled back, "Morning," Sage replied, "are you nervous about today?" he questioned, leaning against the frame.

"A little," Prim replied honestly.

Sage sighed heavily, "You don't have a thing to worry about, Prim." Sage told her, "I promise."

Making any sort of promise on reaping day was a risky thing to do. But when he had been reaped for his games, he had promised to win. To come home. Sure, him being home hadn't turned out how they had all hoped. But he had come back to District Twelve nonetheless. That was a much more dangerous promise to try and keep than promising that Prim wouldn't be chosen.

His mother seemed uneasy with Sage's promise, giving him a side eye as she wove strands of Prims' hair together. "Sage, would you mind cutting the loaf of bread on the counter so it's ready once the girls are ready?"

Sage sighed a bit, pressing his lips into a fine line. "Sure."

Sage turned and left the doorway, his mother hated talk about the games. Rightfully so too, and this year was no different. If anything it was worse, because now Katniss and Prim would be included in the reaping.

"Where is Katniss anyway?" Sage asked stupidly, he knew exactly where she was.

She was hunting. With Gale Hawthorn, he thought that was her own personal screw you to Sage. After Sage had returned from his Victory Tour, he had attempted to put his foot down with her regarding the hunting. It turned into a you aren't dad type of conversation that Sage couldn't get out of. No matter what he said, she had the same response.

You aren't dad.

Stop acting like him.

Just because you won, doesn't mean we have to stop. Dad wouldn't want us to.

That last one was complete and utter shit, and now he liked to think Katniss knew that. But never would she admit that Sage had been right. But to be fair, all he could really say was we don't need to do this. He never dared breathe a word of what President Snow said right before his games began. Sage had been there because Katniss had been spotted by the ship, Katniss revealed that people were going beyond the fences. But because she wasn't old enough, Sage had been the next best person to face the consequences. It had been up to him to go back to twelve if he won and put an end to it, if he did that, the odds of Katniss and Prim ever being reaped were next to none. But he never told Katniss or his mother that, that would open a whole other door about life as a victor that Sage wasn't willing to talk about.

"I was out,"

Sage looked over his shoulder towards the window beside the door as Katniss answered his question. Her voice coming in through the window, causing a low growl to come from Buttercup.

"Ignore the angsty teenager, Buttercup." Sage told the cat as his ears pressed down against his head as Katniss pushed the door open and let herself inside. "Anything good out there today?"

Katniss kicked off her shoes and quickly began to slip off her jacket to hang it by the door. "You'd know if you had gone out there-" she paused, sighing heavily, "-oh, wait, you're too well off to even have to find enjoyment out there. You're comfortable in the Village."

Sage rolled his eyes.

"But, if you must now," Katniss said, approaching behind him and holding up two light brown squirrels and bloodstained fur. "It was a good day."

Sage wrinkled his nose a bit, "Lovely."

"Katniss, come on, please, you need to get ready."

Their mother cut into their conversation, causing Katniss to finally rip her grey eyes away from Sages' blue ones. Katniss was shorter than Sage, her chin barely met his shoulders. But her attitude made her seem much bigger than she really was. She had always been stubborn, or strong-willed as their mother liked to call it. But as she got older, she only got worse. Especially once Gale Hawthorn became her hunting partner. At least Sage assumed that was all he was. He hoped he was. Sage could vomit just thinking about Katniss being with him, he hoped that she at least had enough respect (if not for him), for Ella to already consider Gale like family. Too much like family to even consider seeing him than anything else besides a friend. But then again, if Katniss wanted to get a good dig in towards Sage, she knew Gale would do the trick.

Katniss set the squirrels on the table before she made her way towards the room that Prim made her way out of. Sage sighed heavily and reached towards the table and picked up the creatures that were tied together with a piece of string and dropped them on the opposite end of the counter.

"That went well." Prim huffed as she took a place standing beside Sage as he picked up a knife to continue slicing the bread.

Sage glanced down at her and felt his grip had tightened on the knife. She was in her reaping clothes, a shirt and long skirt that Katniss had worn just a few years ago. "I agree." Sage said, cutting into the loaf of bread that their mother must have made early the morning after Katniss unknowingly woke her when she left that morning.

"Sage,"

"Prim," Sage echoed, that was one habit she had never gotten out of. Every time she was about to ask him something or tell him something she found serious, she had to begin with his name. Almost like it was a nervous tick she had ever since she was little.

"How did you feel during your first reaping?"

"Nervous," Sage replied, "but I'm serious Prim, you don't have to worry. The odds of you being picked are next to nothing."

Prim wasn't convinced, "I'm sure everyone thinks that." she stated as Sage set down the knife and handed Prim the plate with the bread on it. She took it and moved to put it on the table. "Would you be my mentor if I was?"

Sage sighed heavily, listening for his mothers voice as she spoke with Katniss in the other room. If she heard the questions that Prim was asking, she'd put an end to the conversation right away.

"I couldn't." Sage replied, "If you were chosen, it would be Haymitch."

"Oh."

"Haymitch is the only victor from Twelve to bring home a victor, you know." Sage reminded her, "There's nobody I would rather have as a mentor for someone like you."

Prim rolled her eyes a bit, "He isn't exactly a very hopeful looking mentor."

Sage sighed heavily, "Try not to worry, Prim. In a few hours, the reaping will be over, and you will have to listen to mom and Kat bicker for a few weeks without me."

"Can I still house sit?" Prim questioned.

Sage smirked a bit as he grabbed the dish of soft butter and placed it on the table beside the bread. "My house is your house. Just don't break anything."

AUTHORS NOTE;
welcome to A Puppet & His Master!

OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY ON TO THE NEXT PART OF SAGE'S STORY! I'm so excited for you guys to see what's in store for Sage as Katniss' story begins! Please be sure to show this some love and follow me for updates!

Stay Classy!

*unedited*