Disclaimer: Five SYOTs in, and the Hunger Games is still not mine.

Note: Yeah, I did it. I did the one thing I said I wasn't going to do with SYOTs: start one while I'm still very much in the process of working on another. But, by this point, I'm convinced I can handle it. So here goes.

Forged in Fire
The 75th Hunger Games

Prologue
Safe

Raphael Angulo, 18
District Three Citizen

Why did his last reaping year have to be a Quarter Quell?

Raphael huddled together with his parents as the screen switched on, heralding the announcement of the Third Quarter Quell, already only a few weeks away. Raphael braced himself as President Linus took the stage. Short, thin, and a bit mousy, the president didn't look particularly intimidating. But, right now, his words could mean life or death for so many in the districts.

Raphael drummed his fingers on his leg, waiting. Watching as the president smiled at the young girl beside him. The little girl who held a box, which held a card, which contained the Quell twist. Raphael clenched his fists to stop himself from twitching as the president removed the card from the box.

"As a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of Victors."

Silence. Raphael blinked, slowly working it out. The Victors. The Victors were going to be the tributes. Raphael stared at the screen long after the president had left the stage. The Victors. He knew he should feel something. Shock. Indignance. Fury that the Capitol would do this to people who had already been through the Games once. But, instead, he felt only relief.

He was safe.

"Safe? No! Of course you're not safe! There's about a billion other things out there just waiting to burn your whole world. But if you want to pretend you're safe just so you can sleep at night, then okay, you're safe. But you're not really."

Yep, it's a Victors' Quell. A non-canon, not-related-to-my-other-stories Victors' Quell. More info is up on my profile, including the tribute form and a few guidelines. You know the drill by now; head on over there if you're interested in submitting.