Sienna Asher, 15, Victor of the 85th Hunger Games

six months after the Games- January 10th, 86 ADD (After Dark Days)


Just as she had six months ago, Sienna Asher stepped onto the train. But this time, she left District Twelve alone. There was no Dale Orion-Poplar to accompany her. Her parents weren't tearful as they hugged her goodbye, because they knew she'd come back. Her district wasn't resigned with the dread of burying two more child-sized caskets. There wasn't even a Quarter Quell to rip her away from them anytime soon.

No, Sienna Asher was alive, and she was going to stay that way.

The only remaining element was the presence of her Mentor, Aurelia Charm. It had been six months since the two last crossed paths, and Sienna was fine with that. Since leaving the arena, she'd seen the interviews. She'd watched her own Mentor tell the world that she was going to fail. It had taken winning the Games for Sienna to earn more than an eye roll and a wave of the hand from her Mentor. It hadn't been until the Games had ended that the two had accomplished a full conversation. Sometimes, though, Sienna wished they would go back to the old ways of avoiding one another entirely.

This was one of those times.

"You look better," Aurelia noted, sizing Sienna up as the train began to pull away. Her eyes strayed to Sienna's hand. "What's in the bag?"

"Thanks," Sienna replied, not bothering with sincerity. Even though Aurelia wasn't being nearly as bad as Sienna knew she could be. "And it's just some of my things that I wanted to bring."

"You know they have an entire wardrobe ready for you, right?" Aurelia asked, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow. It didn't take an expert to recognize that Aurelia wasn't from around here. She was too pristine, too polished. Too District One. Before winning, Sienna's family wasn't struggling, but even they usually found traces of coal dust under their fingernails.

"Yes," said Sienna. "I know."

"Whatever," Aurelia replied. She gave Sienna a calculated glance as the two went silent. Being on this train was already bad enough, and reuniting with Aurelia wasn't helping. It was difficult enough to repress the familiar anxiety of being carried away to her death.

Since leaving the Capitol, it was hard to relax even on the most mundane of days. Even now, Sienna didn't feel quite whole again. Every time someone moved too quickly, Sienna would flinch. Or when someone came up behind her- or, worse, touched her- Sienna would shrink away, her heart racing. But being awake was always better than sleep, because sleep meant dreams, and dreams meant nightmares.

The nightmares were always similar. The faces sometimes changed, but the location, that miserable old forest, never did. Sienna tried so desperately to hold on to Levi's advice- to hold on to the happy memories, just like she'd said that very first afternoon- but the bad memories wouldn't fade completely. Just the other week, she'd seen a boy who looked strikingly similar to Cal, and she'd gone silent for the rest of the day. She'd shut down.

Sienna didn't know how she was going to get through this Victory Tour. Her friends were dead, and it was her fault. The entire country knew it too. District Twelve was overjoyed to receive another Victor, but she wasn't sure that she was their first choice. They hadn't expected the innocent little saleswoman to sell the idea that others should sacrifice themselves for her. And she hadn't, and she knew that- the others made their own choices, as terrible as those choices were- but Sienna also knew what they said in hushed tones when her back was turned. Sometimes they didn't even bother with whispering.

She convinced them to die for her. And the one time it didn't work, she finished the job herself.

Careful, she might make you off yourself if she's in the mood.

Me, talk to her? Do I look like I want to die anytime soon?

At least Sienna still had her closest friends and family by her side. They were willing to put aside what she'd done, just relieved that she'd made it home still breathing. They'd been afraid to hope- who wouldn't have been? And they tried to understand her troubles, they really did. She had good people in her life and this time, she wasn't letting them go. She'd made that mistake too many times. Five, to be exact.

Five.

And now the time had come to confront those losses once again. It was safe to say she really wasn't looking forward to this next week. It was her chance to convince everyone that she wasn't a monster, and she was aware of that. But reliving those memories in nightmares- let alone in front of the entire country- was plenty enough for Sienna.

Finally, Aurelia broke the silence. "Go put your stuff away," she said. "We have a tour to discuss."


If Sienna had thought the last six months were bad, then the Victory Tour was an entirely new level of terrible.

It didn't help that they were starting with District Six. It wasn't far off from the way Salome had described it. From miles away, the sun seemed to grow dimmer, and the factory stacks pierced the sky with their grim gray smoke.

Her hands shook as she stood in front of the district. She reached for the small podium that held the microphone in front of her, using it to hold herself steady. She'd never been shy, but here she couldn't stop shaking. She ran through the points Aurelia had told her to mention one last time in her head- gratitude, patriotism, apologies for their losses- and began to speak.

"Thank you for welcoming me to District Six," she said, her voice echoing emptily through the square. "I've heard a lot about it from Salome. I… I miss Salome a lot."

She looked at the leftmost podium. On it stood a man and a woman, clutching each other as they took in Sienna's words.

"Salome was a good friend," she said, swallowing hard. "She was a really, really good friend. When I was all alone, she was the one who kept me company and made me laugh. We needed each other, I think, and she was always there for me. I think about her every day."

She turned to look at the other podium. A single woman stood there, her arms crossed and her eyes despairing. Even from a distance, Sienna could see her sorrow.

"I didn't know Deltro, but Salome spoke highly of him," she said. "He never gave up on coming home, and I think that says a lot about him. He had good allies too. I saw them together a few times, and they were friends. He wasn't alone."

She couldn't bear to say anything else about the tributes, so she switched to the points Aurelia had instructed her on for the rest of the allotted time. It was a relief when the Peacekeepers escorted her away.

The next districts were a welcome reprieve. Nine, One, Seven- she hadn't known any of them personally, just seen them here and there. It wasn't fun, but it was bearable. She kept it vague and continued on until her next stumbling block: District Four.

The home of the first person she'd killed.

It didn't help that on his family's podium was his mom and two small children. Sienna practically choked through the speech, her words uncharacteristically stumbling as she expressed her condolences as quickly as she could. She never looked them in the eye.

The next districts, Three and Five, weren't as bad either. But up next was another she'd been dreading: District Two.

Sienna and Caligula had discussed home several times. And really, Two wasn't that far off from Twelve. It was better maintained and the people stood taller, their cheeks fuller, but their stoniness and uniforms made Sienna a little nostalgic. Most of them were watching her with disdain, silently cursing her for taking away their win. She didn't blame them. They'd been so close.

And really... Cal deserved to win. More than me, anyway.

If only she'd been strong enough to stop him.

On the leftmost podium were the girl's family, a copper-haired boy and an aging pair of adults. On the right was a family of three, each with the pale blond hair Sienna had come to know well in the arena. Among them were one man, one woman, and a girl not much older than Sienna.

After talking about the girl, Sadie- who Sienna had always been terrified of- it was time to talk about Cal. She took a deep breath before she spoke.

"I owe Cal everything," she said. "Everything. Everyone knows it, but I need to say it. I wouldn't be here without him, and I'm so grateful to have known him. I'll never forget him and what he did for me."

The man's frown deepened, and the woman looked away. The girl, who Sienna assumed was his sister, kept watching.

Sienna chose her next words carefully. She knew his ideas weren't exactly popular here. Neither was she, for that matter. "He struggled a lot with figuring out who he was and what he believed," she said. "But I knew that he was a good person with a good heart. I'm sorry he's gone."

Her speech hadn't lasted too long after that, thankfully. But next was Ten, and as soon as she saw the rolling hills Jess had described so lovingly, she had to take a moment to pull herself together. When she finally looked at Jess's podium, she saw that her parent's eyes were boring into her with the heat of right-out-the-oven sweetbread.

"Jess loved it here," Sienna said. "She told me about how much she loved it once, not long before she died. She missed it a lot. And I'm so grateful for her friendship. I'm so grateful that she used her last moments, when everything felt hopeless, to be selfless. She represented Ten well with her bravery and strength, and she will be missed."

Jess's mother was wearing a cold glare, but her father was nodding reverently at Sienna's words. She gave him a small nod in return. Such a tiny gesture for such a large deed.

Eleven was her last reprieve before Eight. If there was any district she was dreading more than Two- which was a very high bar- it was Eight. As soon as she made her way up onto the stage, her allies' families waiting to hear what she had to say for herself, the anxiety began to twist around her heart.

She started with Ianto. Ianto was a little easier.

"Ianto was a fighter," she said. "All he wanted was to make sure his brother was okay. I didn't get to say goodbye to him, but if I had, I would've thanked him for saving my life. He pretended like he didn't care sometimes, but I know he did. He was a good guy."

Sienna hesitated. She glanced at the small family gathered on the leftmost pedestal, where a girl held a baby in her arms. Her mouth went dry.

"Levi… Levi was…" she faltered. She looked down, blinking rapidly, before raising her head to speak again. "One time she told me to focus on the good things. Levi was one of the few good things in the Games and I hate myself for what I did to her. I'm so sorry."

She wanted to say more. But there were so many words rising in her all at once that they clogged her mouth and left her with nothing. She stared at the silent audience, defeated, until the Peacekeepers pulled her offstage and put her back on the train.


That night, Sienna was curled up in her compartment when Aurelia knocked on the door. Before Sienna could respond, Aurelia let herself in.

"Please-" Sienna started, wanting to be alone. Spread out on the bed in front of her were pictures she'd brought along- friends, family. All from before. They kept her going. Right now, she was close to her breaking point, but she was so close to home. Aurelia's games were the last thing she wanted or needed.

Aurelia didn't wait for her to finish her sentence. "Have you been paying attention to the news?" she asked, right to the point for once.

"No," Sienna replied plainly.

"Well, you should be," Aurelia said. "Snow's dead."

"What?" Sienna asked, sitting up on her bed.

"Yeah," Aurelia said. "He's dead. They found him in his room an hour ago."

"What… what does that mean?"

"It means we get a new president," said Aurelia. She pursed her lips. "And that can't mean anything good."


The train was nearing Twelve, about to complete its loop, and Sienna gathered the few things she'd brought with her back into her small suitcase. She was beyond relieved that the tour was over. Aurelia watched her go, her arms crossed as she leaned against the wall.

"This is my last time Mentoring you, you know," she said. "After this you're on your own."

"First and last," Sienna said.

She braced herself for a scathing reply, but it never came. Instead, Aurelia said, "Fair enough."

"So you admit it?" Sienna asked. "That you abandoned me to die?"

"I'm not a liar," Aurelia replied. "Of course I assumed you were going to die. Look at you."

There was the Aurelia that Sienna knew.

"Look at me," Sienna said, sarcasm tinging her words. She frowned. "Not dead."

"Not dead," Aurelia agreed. She leveled her signature stare at Sienna. "Maybe there's a lesson in this somewhere. Maybe there isn't."

"I think there is," Sienna replied. "I think the lesson is that I'll be a better Mentor than you ever were. It's not as though there's a high bar."

Aurelia didn't blink. "Maybe," she said vaguely. "Or maybe you'll start to understand."

"Understand?"

"I know you, Sienna Asher," said Aurelia, her voice dark. "Because I was you."

Sienna stared right back. "I won't end up like you, though. I'll be better."

"Maybe," Aurelia said again, infuriatingly, just as the train pulled to a stop at District Twelve. She gave Sienna a little wave. "I'll see you at the Games."

Sienna didn't wave back.


Hello everyone, and welcome to my second SYOT: Gilded Cage! I'm glad to have you here :)

If you're interesting in subbing, all info can be found on my profile. This will be a selective 24-tribute SYOT, and submissions are open all through April. I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys, and I'll see you at the next prologue!

-r-b