HOT, THAT'S WHAT it was always during the summers of District Eight. It didn't matter whether you were poor and lived in a house of shambles or if you were rich with enough money to buy decent a.c, you were always hot during the summer.

It was hot the day Ember Madden was reaped, it was hot the day she came back with nothing but blood-covered hands, it was hot the weeks she went on the Victory Tour where she had to apologize for being forced into games that made her do what she needed to survive, and it was hot this very day where she sat on the sofa in her mansion, waiting for president snow to announce what cruel twist was being put on the already cruel Hunger Games.

Ember was alone, as always, being one of the two victors that District Eight produced. The other victor, Declan Stroll, wasn't the warmest or friendliest soul, especially not to Ember considering what had happened during her games. The two didn't see each other much, both avoiding each other and the world, but in the rare few times that they did, it would always be Declan giving Ember a glare as Embers' eye filled with guilt as her heart did.

Through their relationship wasn't important as of now as the opening song of the Quarter Quell announcement Embers' ears and snapped her out of whatever daze she was in to watch the President, eyes full of interest, hatred, and fear.

"On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it." Snow started to speak as Ember scoffed at his words.

"Their choice of violence", there aren't many other choices when you dictate and control the district for your gain only to do absolutely nothing for them," Ember thought in her head as Snow continued to speak once again.

"On the fiftieth anniversary, as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes," Ember remembered hearing about those games, hearing about how Haymitch Abernathy won at the cost of his loved ones due to him rebelling against the non-spoken rule of going against Snow and the Capitol. It seems as though district twelve has a pattern of rebelling victors, the lasted additions being Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the first-ever victors to win in the same games.

Ember wasn't going to lie and say that she only felt happiness for them, she actually felt quite a bit of envy, envious of the fact that they both got to live while Ember and one of the greatest people she had ever known didn't. But another feeling that Ember felt when she saw them was déjà vu, they reminded her of herself, or what she wanted to be. The feelings for them as a whole were quite mixed, but Ember found it best not to dwell on them, as she thought it probably wouldn't be a big deal within the next few months due to Snow.

While Ember thought about all of this, Snow had gotten a little brown box which Ember would assume the twist for the Quarter Quell would be in. she now resumed watching intently as Snow carefully opens the lid of the box, scanning through the rows of envelopes, only stopping once he got to an envelope with 75 on the right-hand corner.

"And now we honor our third Quarter Quell," the President said with the tiniest bit of a smirk on his face, which made Ember sick to her stomach. Snow started to open the envelope, he opened it in a graceful way, making sure not to damage the card within it.

"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, 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." when those words left the mouth of the President everything went numb and silent for Ember.

Her breath started to deepen, her hands shaking, the tv that had been so loud a second ago was silent, ember could only see Snows' devilish face that had a trace of a grin on it.

Ember slowly started to shut down, she couldn't process the fact that she was going back into the area, she was the only female victor of district eight. Embers' shock quickly turned to sadness as her eyes grew damp. She had just realized that, while she was going in, that it didn't only affect her. Not only would she have to go back into games that caused so much pain for her in others but, her friends, who were the only family she had left, were also going in, and she would have to fight them if she wanted to survive.

She didn't want to hurt them, she didn't want to hurt anyone for that matter, but she knew that if it really came down to it, she would only die one person going into the area and the rest could be killed by her or by someone else, she didn't care, as long as Johanna Mason was alright.

Ember started thinking more and more about the games as she curled up into a ball on her sofa, she was trying to think of a way to get both her and Johanna out of this somehow, or just Johanna out of it, ember didn't mind sacrificing herself for her, she didn't have anything left but Johanna so if Johanna died, ember would be truly alone. While she thought about this, a wonderful thought came into her mind.

The thought being that she had no one left to lose (other than Johanna of course, but she too was already going to suffer the same fate as Ember), meaning that not only could she act however she please, but before she goes into the games she can give the one man who had made her life hell and give him all the hellfire she has.

Ember Madden was going to show Snow all the fire she has left in her if it's the last thing she'll do, and eventually, Snow will melt from the heat of her fire.

•─────────────•°•✩•°•─────────────•

sydney speaks !

no bc my love for johanna really came out towards the end but it's ok guys they only have a sister/best friend relationship sadly 😔 but she's getting her own fic that's gay and soft bc i said so.

i also wrote this entire chapter with no auto caps but then it looked weird so i changed it manually 🤡

feel free to call out my writing, grammar, and spelling mistakes bc i feel like something is wrong with this even though i have checked i've fit three times and run it through multiple grammar and spelling checks.