— THE DAY SAGE WON THE GAMES HAD BEEN THE BEST DAY OF HER LIFE. Katniss could remember it vividly, she had taken to using Sages' bedroom as her own while he was away. Having a room to herself hadn't been the reason why either, she had grown used to sharing one with Prim when she decided to stay there for the night. She just didn't like the idea of Sages' room sitting empty, she didn't want Sage to come home even for a second and find his room gathering dust.

      On the final day of the sixty-eighth games, Katniss had spent the entire day in school with knots in her stomach. Despite the rules of the games having to be broadcasted during their lunch period, the teachers had opted to not have them on. But that day has been different, everyone knew the games could end at any moment. In a way, Katniss wished she hadn't seen Sage kill the girl from Four. She wished she hadn't seen the look on his face the moment he was announced the Victor of the games. Because it was that moment that despite the relief she felt, she saw the last part of the Sage she knew die. The Sage that got off the train wasn't the same. His eyes were hollow looking, when she looked at them, it was like they were looking right through her. His laugh was different, it was forced and instead of it being paired with a wide grin, it was nothing more than a chuckle through a tight lipped smile. The look of complete exhaustion never really left either, despite the nice beds they had in Victors village. He no longer felt like the same person who would wake her up at the crack of dawn to go hunting. Katniss didn't even care about the hunting. She enjoyed just being beyond the fences. Sage made it fun, he made learning how to track something as small as a rabbit fun. But after he won the games, he barely could even hold his bow and arrow, he let Ella get most of whatever they were hunting, he let Katniss get used to using a bow too big for her.

      Prim had noticed a difference too. The first few nights, she disappeared from the room she and Katniss shared and ended up in Sage's room. But eventually Sage started locking his door. Katniss could remember a night shortly after their father died, he had been at Haymitch Abernathy's house for a few hours, and had come back home. Loudly too. He hadn't exactly been quiet coming back inside, the wooden front door shook the house at least enough to wake up Katniss and Prim who had taken to shoving her way into bed with Katniss. Katniss had crawled out of bed and hissed at Prim to stay there as she went to the door and cracked it open just as their mother groggily went downstairs. She heard Sage and their mother go back and forth with one another, Sage's voice sounding more and more like Haymitch on one of his runs to the Hob the more he spoke. Assuring their mother that he was fine and didn't need her help, and also something along the lines of "I got all of this for you guys, I think I can handle getting myself upstairs", which he hadn't. The next morning he was in the living room, where their mother insisted the two girls also ate breakfast while she worked at cleaning something up.

      It wasn't until a few weeks later that Katniss found out what she had been cleaning up. She and Prim had to leave the house, they had to move back to their small house. Prim didn't know this, but she put it together eventually— but Sage didn't think he was safe to be around. His night terrors that caused him to lock himself in his room, or spend hours with Haymitch to try and get them to stop, were only getting worse. And the mess that their mother had been cleaning up that morning was a majority of the nice dishes that came with the house that Sage had smashed all over the kitchen.

     So not only was the day he won the best in Katniss' eyes. It was also the worst, because it was the last day the Sage she knew and wanted to come home existed. Because the Sage that came home wasn't the same. And he never came back.

"And then you said..." Haymitch laughed from his chair, ripping Katniss' eyes from the interview of Gloss and Sage. "Thank you..."

"...for your consideration." Katniss nodded, smirking a bit as she recalled the look on the gamemakers faces once they realized she had shot the apple out of their pigs mouth.

Haymitch laughed, "Oh, I would've loved to see the look on their faces."

"Sage, you're in a bit of a tight spot, I'm sure! On one hand you've got your own tribute to mentor, but on the other..." Caesar Flickerman spoke, furrowing his brows as he shook his head, "your own sister."

Katniss leaned back in her seat, her eyes watching Sage carefully. But she wasn't even sure if he was Sage, he looked so at peace sitting at the long table with Caesar. More at peace than he ever looked at home.

"I'm kind of jealous, Caesar if I'm being honest. I can't recall two tributes from twelve having so many people talking about them!" Sage replied.

Caesar laughed, "You obviously don't recall being named Panem's very own Prince Charming then. You had quite a few people talking about you too."

Haymitch scoffed.

"It's true though, isn't it?" Peeta questioned, looking from the television to Haymitch. "People loved him then?"

Haymitch nodded, "When they weren't placing bets on when he was going to die. Not if. People loved him, sure. They didn't expect him to win."

"But really, we've heard from Gloss, but what's it like seeing your sister go through all of this? And having watched her volunteer for your even younger sister?" Caesar dramatically placed a hand on his chest.

Sage sat in silence for a moment, leaning back in his chair with his finger tapping the table. But he never looked away from Caesar, "Well, you know, Katniss is..." he paused, "oh what's the word..." he paused, "very resilient. She put up with me when I was at my worst-"

"Were you really that miserable to be around before the games?" Gloss asked sharply, cutting Sage off as he was speaking.

Sage looked at him quickly, "Seriously, the cologne in Twelve isn't nearly as nice. I was a typical teenage boy in Twelve, I couldn't have been any worse." Sage said, playing up his words to make it sound more convincing, earning laughter from Caesar.

"Well, the thing is Caesar, while I'm sure Sage wants his sister to win, he's got his own tribute." Gloss interjected, reaching a hand over to Sage's shoulder.

       Katniss glanced at Haymitch just in time to see him leaned forward with his mouth hidden behind his hands, and his elbows digging into his knees.

"What?" Peeta questioned.

Haymitch was quiet, "He never talks in circles." Haymitch stated, "He always wants to get his answers out and over with." he muttered.

"So?" Katniss chimmed in.

"But surely you want to see your sister win, right Sage?"

"Of course I do,"

"But if Peeta wins, you'll be just as happy. It's been a while since Twelve has been able to take home a winner." Gloss said, watching Sage for a moment before smiling back at Caesar.

"Well, I'd say you have good odds this year regardless. An eleven and an eight are two very good scores for District Twelve."

      The penthouse stayed relatively calm for the next half hour while they waited for Sage to get back. While they waited, Katniss stayed glued to her seat. Watching a particular avox clean up their dining table. The same avox who just a few years ago, Katniss had partially blamed for not being able to fix whatever part of Sage needed to be fixed after the sixty-eighth games.

Ella Hawthorne.

      Gale had always talked about what he thought happened to Ella. He hoped she had finally decided to leave. That she was somewhere living a life without a single worry caused by the Capitol. Instead she had been here all that time. And nobody ever knew.

      But Sage knew. Whatever Sage had come out of the arena, he knew. But he never told anyone. Even while her mother worried day after day about what happened, after she went to the peacekeepers themselves to ask for help finding her...Sage allowed the Hawthornes to worry for months before they finally came around to the idea that she really did just run away...

       Sage felt relieved as he finally stepped off of the elevator at the Penthouse floor. He knew that the interview hadn't been his best. But what did people expect? His sister was likely going to be dead in a few days, and he'd still have to try and get Peeta sponsors as if he always believed in him. Gloss had saved him a handful of times in that interview— if he hadn't cut him off, Sage would have told all of Panem how miserable he had been after he became Victor. He would have ruined the facade of what it looked like to be a Victor...

note; i know it's short okay but the songbirds and snakes trailer has me feeling a certain kind of way 🥺

stay classy :)