~Eight years later~

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find Ava Kingsley?" The woman said. Jennifer looked up from her calculations.

"Uhh…Not at this moment," Jennifer said. "She's a bit of a wanderer. Always going for long walks by the rivers and through the woods and all that."

"And she's on one of these walks right now?"

Jennifer nodded. "She'll be back soon, though. Her sons are racing today and she never misses a chance to see them run." Jennifer rolled her eyes, going back to her calculations.

The woman walked purposefully through the narrow street. It wasn't hard to find the race, as a crowd was gathered already to watch the younger children race. The woman watched as a blonde-haired boy of about five ran onto the track, followed by four other boys. They lined up behind a stick positioned in the dirt. One of the adults, a man who looked almost seventy yelled, "Go!"

The boys took off. The woman watched them running. The blonde kid had started off in the lead, but one of the other boys, a skinny, dark-haired kid, was quickly gaining ground.

The people around her were all cheering, and she figured that she must look rather odd, so she started screaming, "Go! Go!"

The dark-haired boy ended up winning, and the woman saw money changing hands around her. She shook her head. People would bet on anything.

Then a group of slightly older boys took their places. The youngest was about seven, skinny and wiry, with the same blonde hair as the younger kid. The oldest couldn't have been over nine.

The same routine went on. The old man yelled, "Go!" And the boys went. This time, however, there wouldn't be any contest. The youngest kid was well ahead of everyone, and gaining every second. He reached the finish line a few seconds ahead of all the other competitors. Almost as soon as he got there, he was whisked into the air by a tall, blonde woman. She was smiling widely.

The woman smiled too. After all, in only a few seconds, she'd be the victor of the 60th Hunger Games.

She thrust her way out of the crowd, preparing herself, waiting for the right time. She drew her bow, nocked an arrow.

Ava Kingsley, who had once been called Alyss Mainwaring, was in the process of forgetting her past. After she'd fled the arena, she'd gone straight to Hibernia, hitching rides when she could, walking when she couldn't. She'd changed her name, gotten married, and had two sons.

Alkaney Herord, who was the recorded victor of the 60th Hunger Games, refused to call herself victor, not until all of the other tributes were dead. She'd searched for Alyss as soon as she could, but she'd lost time with all of the intricacies involved with being victor. So it had taken eight years for her to find Alyss again.

Alyss wasn't expecting Alkaney to even come after her, but she'd tried to make herself as hard to find as possible, just in case.

She wasn't expecting the arrow when it came.

Acknowledgements(because I feel like I need them for this story that probably would have given me cancer without these people):

First of all, every single story that I have on this website is owed to peargirl97, who told me about this website and made me actually DO something on here. Also, she did like all of the Arridi and-I think-Gallica characters, which, even though I pretty much never really used any of them, was pretty helpful.
Secondly, thanks to my two best friends(ever), tuglover98 and KscoElak, for being my best friends.
Thanks to ForeverTexas3(AKA . .Again.) and Muha4 for being my first two every-chapter reviewers. There's no way this story would have even gone anywhere without you two.
And finally, thanks to everyone else who's ever reviewed-Cryptic Metaphor(awesome username, by the way. Also, thanks for the cookie!), SwiftslashxLeafstorm, Cloudseeker6729, Something Spiffy, a random Guest, maddie, and NeoGenesis2013(Oh my gosh, that's the actual year right now!)

And finally, finally, thanks to Suzanne Collins and John Flanagan for these two series!