Hello, all, and welcome to my newest FanFiction. This is meant to be a companion piece of sorts to Number One Fan of Journey's Brutal crossovers between Hunger Games and Hetalia: Axis Powers (and, as such, contains MAJOR spoilers). It was inspired by the "Creatively-Titled Contest" on the Brutal forums and will consist of one-shots based on a given prompt and related to the series. Most of these will still make sense if you haven't read the FanFic series they're based off of, but I'd highly recommend looking into it first.

I can't say how regularly I'll be updating this, seeing as I have (soon to be) two multichapter FanFictions on the go. The entries will vary in tense and POV. Also, while the oneshots are meant to be between 500 and 1000 words, they may go slightly over or under the limit depending on how long I felt they should be.

Please note that I do not own Hunger Games, Hetalia: Axis Powers, or the Brutal Series, nor is this intended to be part of the Brutal canon. They're just drabbles that may or may not be part of my own personal headcanon.

I hope you enjoy!

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Challenge: material challenge

Prompt: jewel

Fic(s) involved: Miserable, brief mention of Horrible

Main character (and Hetalia counterpart): Osso Torya, District 1 (Austria)

Other characters (and Hetalia counterparts): brief mention of OC family members; mention of Magya Garrison, District 2 (Hungary); mention of Rome Gnaeus, District 1 (Ancient Rome)

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They call him the jewel of the Toryas from the day he is born, and why should they not? He is the eldest son of the eldest son, heir to a fortune gouged by lesser men from the deep caverns of the earth. The treasures from which they have long profited are memorialized in the names of his aunts and uncles and cousins – names like Sapphire and Garnet and Sardonyx. The walls of his childhood are encrusted in gems, and in them he sees the reflection of his own face, polished and precious and proud.

On his 11th birthday the boy receives a ruby-encrusted sword, ordered specially from the Capitol by his father. It is an exact replica of the weapon which brought District 1 victory in that year's Hunger Games. The children of the neighborhood, those whom he has been raised to regard with slanted eye and upturned nose, gawk in envy.

The sword is placed high on a shelf, to sit and be admired and collect dust. Its owner ignores it and heads to the parlor, from which his music swells throughout the house.

By the time the young man is in his teens, the whispers flitting about high society begin to contain his name. His family is no stranger to rumors. As the wealthiest family in the District, they can and have endured them. These are no mere murmurs, however – they are taunts, barbed and poisonous. Accusatory. They hiss of how the pride of the Toryas does nothing but sit all day at the piano, eating fine food and wearing fine clothes. They mention the Gnaeus boy, heir of a rival family, who lost his life not long ago in the name of the District's honor. The old jewels, those thrones of wealth upon which the Toryas have sat for generations, no longer uphold the family reputation. A new jewel is needed, one of ferocity and fire.

His father and mother take him aside to explain. They tell him he can no longer be like that sword, which sits in splendor but does little else. He must make his own name, for the good of the family and the District. The young man understands what must be done and thinks little of it. He is used to servants bowing, food arriving on trays, crystals glittering while music flows. He cannot conceive of anything different.

The jewels adorn his chest as he lies on the arena floor on the final night of the Games. Big, brilliant rubies, they blossom from the spot where the cleaver entered his stomach and spill onto the grass around him. The girl beside him calls his name; squeezes his hand; refuses to abandon her ally. He knows that it is all in vain. Nothing else can be done but wonder what his parents think now, or whether or not they are watching at all, as the jewel of the Torya family tarnishes and fades.