The Angel (Finnick Odair x OC x Johanna Mason)

9

After I leave Snow's office, I feel almost numb and void of emotions. We return to our place, a temporary lodgings that is set up for us at the Capitol during our stay.

Immediately after entering, I break down in tears, no longer able to hold it in now that I'm finally out of the public's eye and have some time to myself.

Falling into Jason's brotherly embrace, I let my tears out, glad that he's giving me a shoulder to cry on. After all, he's been in the same situation before; he must know what it feels like. Only difference is, I've at least got my brother here with me to get through this, while Jason had no one to confide in when he won his games.

"It's okay, Harmony," he murmurs while patting my back in a soothing way.

"No, it's not," I heave out through my ugly sobs. "I don't— I can't—"

"Look at me, Harmony," Jason says, and I raise my head to look at him through my tear-stained eyes. "You are strong. You can get through this. I did, and so can you."

"How?" I ask, my voice barely louder than a terrified whisper.

"It gets easier after the first few times. And you usually won't get too many clients at one time. We only need to travel to the Capitol once a year anyways."

My face twists at the thought, fear once again overtaking me.

"What will Mum and Dad say? What will they think of me?" I ask quietly. "A winning victor, but still a puppet pulled by someone else's strings."

"They won't know," Jason tells me. "They've been ignorant about me for years, and they will remain so. I can't bear the thought of them finding out, and we know that there will be consequences if we tell them ourselves. Nothing gets past Snow."

I sniffle as I nod, knowing that Jason is right. I'll get through this. I have to.

***

We spent the next few days sightseeing in the city, in order to get my mind off things and for a much-needed distraction. However before I know it, it's almost time for my victor interview with Caesar, and the prepping begins.

Leto and my stylist team have designed a gorgeous golden gown for me. It's meant to look celestial, to fit in with the epithet I've earned of "The Angel".

It shimmers with diamonds and jewels as I stare at my reflection in the mirror, but it doesn't look like me. Just a persona that I've created for the games. That's who Snow will be selling to the people of the Capitol.

I mumble to myself as my mind runs through the lines I've rehearsed. This interview will mark the first time I appear to the public as a victor of the games, so there's no room for mistakes.

Calming my nerves, I try my best to convince myself that I can do this. I've won the games, how hard can an interview be?

However, when I think about how I'll have to sit through the next two to three hours rewatching the games and reliving the terror, all my courage leaves me when I remember the faces of my fallen allies. The faces of those that I've murdered in cold blood. The faces of the children who died so that I survived.

Too soon before I'm ready, the time of the interview is here as I stand backstage, waiting anxiously for Caesar to announce my entrance.

"And now, I'm sure many of you have been waiting for this — let's welcome to the stage, the victor of the 70th Hunger Games, the Capitol's Angel, Harmony Skylar!"

A deafening round of applause erupts across the audience, with whoops and cheers and whistles mixed in between.

Swallowing my last pang of nerves, I step out onto the stage, the anxiety no longer visible in every line of my face, instead replaced by a smirk of victory.

I step out onto the stage not as Harmony Skylar from district 2, but as the Capitol's Angel.

Or as I will soon be, the Capitol's whore.

"My, my, your stylist has outdone herself once again, hasn't she?" Caesar remarks, complimenting my outfit, which is no doubt dazzling the room beyond imagination.

"Speak for yourself, Caesar, you look amazing as always," I reply, eliciting laughter and applause from the audience. "But yes, I'm extremely grateful to my wonderful stylist Leto, who really puts her everything into these dazzling outfits."

"Now, Harmony, tell me," Caesar says as he leans forward, drawing the audience in, "how are you feeling today? Having won the Hunger Games, is it everything you imagined?"

"It's definitely that and more," I answer, keeping my words vague, afraid that I'll slip up if I say something I don't mean.

And it's true. It is what I imagined: the glory, the Capitol, the people cheering for me and all the attention I'm receiving from them.

Too bad no one mentions all the downsides of being a victor. The feeling of survivor's guilt, of knowing that your hands are submerged in blood. Of all the expectations and horrible things that come after.

"I'm just glad I'm able to return alive to see my family again," I add after a short pause, knowing that I'm expected to say more. "But I must say, I never would've won if it wasn't for my mentor, my brother Jason, who helped me every step along the way, so I guess I'm partly winning this for him."

The audience awwws and cheers, which prompts me to say my next sentence.

"And I also couldn't have done this without my allies from district 4, Annie and Ripley," I cut in before Caesar could ask his next question. "They were more than my allies; they were my friends."

Tears begin to brim in my eye, but I don't let them fall. Instead I listen to the audience's sympathetic cheers and encouragement, pretending like they actually give a fuck about the children they sent into the arena to die. I take a deep breath to calm down as I feel anger start to boil within me, the once beautiful and ethereal Capitol blackening in my eyes.

"Wow, what a beautiful and touching sentiment," Caesar's voice draws me back to the present as he dabs his eyes with his handkerchief. "Now, without further ado, let us rewatch the games in all its glory and see once again how our beloved Angel snatched her victory!"

The audience cheers as the scene of the bloodbath begins to play on the enormous screen. And as I stare at the faces of the crowd and remember my earlier conversation with Snow, I realise that I might've won the Hunger Games, but the real games have only just begun.