A/N- Welcome to my newest story. To everyone who's here and hasn't read Genius and Insanity, please go back and read my other story first. Otherwise, this will make no sense at all. To everyone else, in case it isn't obvious, I have the story up!
Please read and enjoy!
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Snow POV (3rd Person)
Coriolanus Snow stared at the cameras that were swarming around District One's train station. A ridiculous amount of people crowded around the platform, and Snow could feel the tension even from the Capitol. He'd exported hundreds of extra peacekeepers to the area as an added precaution. The time of pretending that nothing was wrong had passed. Now, within a matter of days, it was much more crucial to keep the districts under control than to keep up a facade of total power.
The thought made Snow's hands clench into fists. None of this ever should have happened. The Everdeen girl had worried him from the second she volunteered for her sister, and even the obvious pity that the small girl from District Eleven evoked had been vaguely concerning, but the smiling idiot from District One hadn't garnered a moment of consideration. Actually, Snow had gone so far as to be thankful to the idiot for forcing himself into the sickening love triangle. He'd been foolish enough to think that the boy's presence would cause it to lose its legitimacy.
Then the idiot had proceeded to unknowingly tear Panem apart within a matter of weeks. Peacekeepers had been flooding into Eleven from the moment he allied with Rue, District Eight was on the brink of collapse, and some fool had attempted to set fire to the training academy in District One.
It was ridiculous, and the moron had no idea what he was doing. Not until the very end, when his actions became more censored and his words more careful. Snow had almost let himself hope that things would turn out alright. Then the ox from District Eleven had almost called the nation to explode.
Leaving both remaining tributes alive had been a necessity. He needed Marvel to reverse the damage that had been done, and Katniss would have died a martyr had he allowed her to be killed. And Marvel had been doing his job quite well… his supposed romance with Katniss had dissolved, his behavior was discouraging certain rebel groups from acting out quite so obviously, and his district was no longer in danger of disowning him- something that would have placed Snow in the unwanted predicament of having a victor with nowhere to go.
However, the footage that he was getting of District One reminded Snow that the threat was by no means extinguished. Mockingjay necklaces and pins glittered in the crowd. A worrying number of rebels had been arrested earlier for holding up signs that protested the Games. The district was not as content as it should have been after gaining a victor.
The train rolled to a stop, and Snow leaned back in his cheer and steepled his fingers. He trusted Marvel to act his part; the boy was a talented bullshit artist, and that was what the president was counting on to reunite his nation.
As expected, when Marvel exited the train, he was wearing another gaudy suit. He waved and smiled as he was supposed to. He cheered with the crowds.
Snow frowned. He'd refused to allow Marvel's arrival to be filmed live- too many things could have gone wrong- but so far everything was going quite smoothly in the most important undecided district. Perhaps airing it would have been a better idea-
Then Snow heard it. Four familiar notes. One person whistled the tune. Then someone else. There were no mockingjays in District One, but there were people dispersed throughout the crowd who were more than willing to take up the role. Within a matter of seconds, the sound was spread throughout what much of the main city. Snow's hands clenched into fists and his mouth pressed into a thin line.
No. Panem was not that fragile. This wasn't happening.
Marvel quickly started laughing at the crowd, callously asking, "Is that my new theme song or something?" Several wealthier families laughed, and the song died down with no shots being fired.
Snow hardly cared how quickly the problem had been resolved. It didn't matter.
What mattered was that the bird song had been disturbing. That there were still so many people who would actively do something rebellious in one of the districts he expected to be most loyal- in one of the wealthiest, most powerful districts- troubled him exceedingly. Marvel was doing well, but there were too many things to be undone and too many fools who were too smart for their own good, who at least suspected that Marvel had been threatened into taking back his old persona.
Hmm… Snow looked at the papers in front of him; suggestions from his most trusted advisors on how to take care of the problem. He already had one appealing idea; the same idea that had destroyed Finnick Odair's reputation when he was gaining too much power among the districts. However, Marvel and Finnick were very different characters, and Snow worried over the consequences of placing the boy in a role that he so obviously did not fit.
Of course, there were other option. The Gamemakers, for one, were quite set on the idea of rigging the Quarter Quell to allow for a competition amongst victors- one that would conveniently kill off Katniss Everdeen and perhaps Marvel Metzger- but Snow would not consider that idea as anything other than a last resort. He did not want to give those two anymore screen time- not when Marvel was so clearly aware of how to use every second of it to his advantage.
No… For the time being, Snow would have to concern himself with destroying the reputation that Marvel had built; pushing him, but not breaking… at least not until his usefulness was up.
On the District Twelve camera, Snow could easily see the small crowd that had bothered to show up. Katniss's mother and sister. Her interesting male friend with the big mouth that he thought Snow wasn't aware of. Gale… He could provide another interesting chess piece… too old to be worked into the Games, but perhaps another way to play with Marvel.
Ah… so many choices. Snow frowned to himself. He had plenty of time to make a move, but he was beginning to grow concerned that Metzger had started something that could not be stopped, an inferno that refused to be put out.
He shook his head. But of course not. He was allowing Katniss's reunion to be filmed- the one that consisted of a district that was hoping for two victors, and instead wound up with one- with a victor who had been manipulated and lied to and was generally not victorious enough to bolster the district's hopes. Showing the state of District Twelve would greatly reduce rebel confidence, and as soon as he could figure out what, exactly, to do with the person who started all this... well, the rebellion would be extinguished firmly and efficiently.
On another screen, in District Five, a power plant worker snuck a can of kerosene into the plant, stuck it near a reactor, and lit a fire next to the can.
Snow turned towards the screen just as the plant went up in flames.
From somewhere, he could hear a voice scream, "DON'T FORGET!"
Snow cursed and slammed a first on the control panel as another one of his fears was rubbed into his face.
It was not Metzger who was the problem. It was Thresh. And what the brainless oaf had done could not be erased.
The president grabbed a remote and shut both screens off. He refused to acknowledge that manipulating Metzger would not fix the problem. It would. It had to.
Or his fragile, fragile nation would crumble to pieces.
A/N-
Alright, that's really short, but it's a prologue. Honestly, I was going to do a full chapter, but I've been drowning in homework all week, so this is all I got done. I do have it half written, though, and it should be up within a couple days.
Anyhow, thanks for continuing on to the sequel if y'all are here. I know this was super short (and honestly, I think I might have told some people it was gonna be in Katniss's POV, but I changed my mind) but it also sets up the entire story. After this, everything is going back to Marvel's POV just like in Genius and Insanity. Or at least, I think. I guess, if you want to hear from Katniss, tell me and, if I get enough votes, I'll think about it, but as of now it's all from Marvel's eyes.
That's all I think. Oh, and thanks for all the title ideas. I actually wound up getting a PM from Wishing on Fireflies suggesting the title I wound up picking, so a shout out to her for coming up with what I thought was a cool idea, and... I guess that's everything. Bye.
~bballgirl32~