Blaine had to say goodbye to Kurt sooner than he wanted, with the Games over and no victor for District 9, there was no reason for Kurt to stay in the quarters for another night. They'd hugged briefly, shared a quick kiss when no one was looking, after which Kurt left with his father and Plutarch Heavensbee.

The first night without Kurt had been uncomfortable for Blaine, as had the train ride back to the District. Nothing, though, could have prepared him for what was awaiting them there. Peacekeepers flooded the place and at some point Blaine believed there were more of them in the District than there were actual habitants. Nine isn't a big District by any means, but there are several villages outside the center of the District, each of them about twenty minutes apart from each other by car. Last year Blaine hadn't paid much attention on the train, still occupied with his victory, but this year he sees it.

They rush past villages and factories, and it wouldnt seem like much if the peacekeepers werent so obvious in their clear white uniforms. The closer they get to the center of the District, known as Center Village to the people living there, the slower the train passes the villages. Its a little past 8 oclock, children are playing outside with their mothers and fathers seem to be coming home from the factory or other jobs they might have. With every group of people, there are at least two peacekeepers around. Blaines seen them before, the peacekeepers, but not in these numbers and never so strict.

Blaine grew up in Victor Village, mostly, and doesnt remember much from the years before Cooper won the Games. Victor Village is a short walk away from Center Village, where the richest people from the District locate. Nines head peacekeeper, Shannon Beiste, has always been a nice enough woman. She buys sweets from Tishs father and has a big garden with chickens behind her house. As they roll into the station at the Justice Building, Blaine knows her days are over.

She stands at the platform the way she stood last year, but she is surrounded by five others and instead of hugging Blaine and congratulating him, she offers him one minute to say goodbye to Isabelle and then hes rushed into a car. Theyre home about five minutes later.

They enter the house, Cooper almost starts talking but his father grabs Blaine by the shoulders and hugs him close, while slapping his back in a friendly matter.

“So good to see you, boy.”

Theres something strange about their father, something doesnt quite add up. Sure, this is completely different from the distance that Blaine has felt since his name was reaped from the bowl, but theres something else about him. Something pleading, almost desperate, as he clings to Blaine. Its strange, feels like the hug is a year overdue, but he revels in it anyway. Hes missed his father, missed closeness and needs it now. Its not until his father whispers in his ear he understands the house must have been bugged, theyre listening.

“What has Cooper told you?” he asks.

“That you want things to change,” he answers immediately. He needs his father to know what he knows. Needs to let his father know hes ready to fight. “That Katniss Everdeen might be the face of change.”

“She is,” his father confirms softly, “people have been angry. Peacekeepers have been sent to keep them in range. Not much has happened here, but with the rules being forced more than usual I know it has been in other places.”

“Im going to fight,” Blaine says. His fathers hugs him closer, kisses his cheek and lets him go. He moves on to Cooper, tells him its good to see him to and their hug lasts much longer. They have more to talk about in secret than his father had with Blaine. Quinns hug after Cooper lasts about as long as Blaines.

“Cooper will fill you in on everything thats happened here when you were gone,” his father tells her and thats when Blaine knows he knows about them. He wonders if hes known longer than Blaine, that they were in love, and how he learned about it. Did Quinn tell him, the same way she told Blaine? Or did he figure it out on his own? Blaine thinks he probably might have, because as soon as she told Blaine it had just been this thing that made sense. Cooper and Quinn, they belong together the same way his mother and father do. The same way he and Kurt do.

Without any clear instructions from his – or Kurts- father, Blaine resumes to his life in Victor Village the same way he did last year. The days are long, with nothing to do and more than before the need to do something. Victors dont work, they get money from the Capitol and spend their time working on their talents. Or at least, thats what the people of Panem think the victors do. Blaine, with his victory tour long over, doesnt have to broadcast his talent anymore. Of course he still loves the grand piano the Capitol got him, a victory gift, and he occasionally plays it, but he cant spend days on end sitting on a piano bench.

He, Cooper and Quinn take up walks to Center Village, they visit the main square and little shops daily. Peacekeepers flood the place and though theyre not doing anything illegal, they feel like theyre being watched more than before. They buy more than they need from every shop, make sure people keep having an income now people from villages across the District are too afraid to come in. Blaine wonders how they feed themselves at times. Before Cooper had won the Games, they had lived in a far off village near the border of the District and his mother once told him she would walk to Center Village once a month to get supplies.

Grain, of course, they could get from the factory his dad worked at, but a family couldnt survive on grain alone and so shed go into town. There were trades back home as well, trading grain for the neighbors eggs and chickens for meat. Blaine cant imagine that life anymore, but he knows its a ridiculous life. Rules in the District are ridiculous, he sees that now.

Its always been a thing that just was, shops are only allowed in Center Village. Every factory is accompanied by a small village where the employees live. Boys and girls go to the school in their village, a week after their tenth birthday they enter the factory for two afternoons a week, still have school the rest of the week. On their sixteenth birthday they discontinue school, work in the factory full time. Until a girl is pregnant, shell stop working at all. Its how it was, how it is, unless you live in Center – or Victor Village. There is no factory here, only shops, the school and the Justice Building.

After Cooper won the Games and they moved to Victor Village, both Cooper and his father were forced to stop working at the factory. Until now Blaine has never wondered what really happened to Quinns parents. It was said to be an accident at the factory, but he is too afraid to ask her. Afraid hell break her when she is reminded. Blaine, being only six years old when Cooper won, changed schools and thats one of the first things he remembers of moving to the Center of the District.

Everything was different, especially what they taught in school. He doesnt remember much from before Coopers Games, but he remembers school. He remembers they taught about the factories and what happened there. He remembers being taught about Panem and the Dark Days, which resulted in the Hunger Games. He remembers having to sing the Panem anthem every morning before class and he remembers the bell ringing at twelve oclock, announcing lunch and departure for kids above ten years old. They were to leave the school for their factory shifts.

Going to school in Center Village, they taught different things. He still had to sing the anthem every morning and he still had to learn all about President Snows greatness but he also got taught about maths and languages and when he was twelve his teacher started telling them about the universe. The stars and how they live on a planet called earth, that rotates around the sun. Blaine had always been amazed by her, and her knowledge, and still wonders where she is now.

She was probably the first person who made him feel like things werent right in Panem, and she might be the reason Blaine was so quick to believe Cooper when he told Blaine things could be different. When he was twelve, apart from learning about the universe, she also told them about an old place called America. She told them about other countries in the world, about a place much larger than Panem where people had choices. To Blaine, at the age of twelve, it had sounded like a fairytale but he knows now that whether she was right or wrong, he needs Panem to be more like that.

He understands now why she was dragged off the way she was. It had been an ordinary Wednesday in the winter. Blaine had sat next to a friend, he thinks it might have been the blond boy named Sam, and miss Holiday had been reading them a story during intermission. It was too cold to go outside, snow had been blazing across the schoolyard and they were still inside. She was reading a fairytale about a princess that lived under water, who wanted nothing more than to live on land, when the two peacekeepers had burst into the classroom. Ms. Holiday had closed her book carefully, put it down quietly and said “Ill cooperate.”

Thinking back, Blaine thinks she knows why they were there. That they were picking her up because she taught them about a better time, thought she was raising these children to be her allies in an overtaking of the government. She cooperated knowing shed be taken away and most likely killed. She didnt want to scar the children, wanted everything bad to start when she was out of sight of her students.

Of course, the peacekeepers were instructed differently. The first one took his lash and had her smacked to the ground with it before she could raise her arms to defend herself. The other one kicked and hit her repeatedly. She took it all, bravely and maybe even with a smug smile on her face. She was dragged away, winked at the children as she was, and the head of school had walked into the classroom with the fragile Ms Pillsbury right after.

He had explained that Miss Holiday was arrested because she was selling nonsense to her pupils, that they were to forget anything she had told them about a weird, far off place called America. That it was, like the story she was reading, a fairy tale and nothing more than that. Blaine knows now it wasnt. Because fairy tales end in happily ever after, and the story about America didnt.

He knows now hes going to fight to get all of that back. Its difficult, of course, to organize an uprising and a rebellion at that, but its what needs to happen. For her, for miss Holiday and her bravery and for every person like her trying. Blaine, Kurt, Cooper, Quinn, with the cooperation from their Capitol insiders, theyll succeed.

Going into town with Cooper and Quinn every day helps a little. They can talk to shopkeepers, they feel the tension among them as well, and they learn Katniss has done more than they could have ever expected. Of course, the arrival of the peacekeepers has made people suspicious as to why theyre here and Shannon Beiste turns out to be a perfect source for that.

Shes in her uniform more often than not these days, and one day she stops Blaine and Quinn as they walk towards the bakery, where Cooper is buying bread for the old lady who lives outside the Justice Building. Beiste asks them to halt for her, then formally requests to have a look into their bags. Theres nothing illegal in there, if thats what she hopes to find, so theyll give it to her obligingly and wait for what she has to say.

“Ever since the Games theres been some trouble in other Districts,” she says, “so I got some extra colleagues. Were cricking up the security. We dont want any trouble here, now, do we?”

“We really dont,” Quinn says with a sly smile. Blaine giggles when he sees Beiste slide a few candy canes into the inside of her uniform. She hands Quinn her bag back, then takes Blaines and she smuggles a pack of bacon inside her uniform from that one. Its not like theyll miss either, but it seems weird that she just takes it from them. Still, Blaine doesnt say anything about it because shes head peacekeeper and therefore has the power to decide on her own if Blaine deserves a whipping for speaking up.

She hands Blaines bag to him again, pats his shoulder and gestures for them to move forward. Blaine is just about to open his mouth as Quinn starts to speak.

“Shes in,” Quinn says, “shes from District 2 and she was forced to be a peacekeeper because of her strength. She never liked it.”

Blaine looks at Quinn in disbelief, but supposes it makes sense that peacekeepers arent all from the Capitol. If the amount of people in white uniforms around the square right at this moment indicates anything, the Capitol wouldnt have a single person left to keep the place running. Besides, getting peacekeepers on their team would help them.

“She had to get rid of her chickens,” Quinn explains, “shes trading information for food. Whenever she stops us, give her your bag and let her take whatever she wants. Listen to everything she says carefully because it might be useful.”

“What about that was useful?” Blaine wonders.

“She told us theres trouble in other Districts. With communication between the Districts forbidden, we need to figure it out a different way. She has ties with other peacekeepers, with the Capitol. She knows.”

“Shell pretend to search our bags?”

“Yes.”

And so another person is added to their team of rebels. Cooper and Quinn fill Blaine in on everything that has been going on so far, how the roof on the training center has been their go to place ever since talks of revolution started. How after Haymitch had shown it to Quinn, shed shown it to Cooperm and then to Finnick Odair. They have used it since, after the tributes entered the Arena, to talk about things the Capitol wasnt allowed to hear. Effie Trinket stupidly enough admitted to Haymitch the roof wasnt bugged.

Johanna Mason, Finnick Odair and Haymitch. Theyre all aware of the rebelling plans and with Beiste, Heavensbee and the Hummel boys on their side they stand a chance. Its nearly impossible to communicate with Kurt or Burt, though, because with his father already suspected their conversations are being monitored in their own home, hes certain their phones are being tapped. Whatever they say, however they communicate, it has to be cryptic and sporadic. Its not the way Blaine wishes it would be, but just getting to talk to Kurt at all is a privilege and so he makes do.

“How are you?” Kurt asks, the first time they speak after the Games. Its three weeks later and Blaine decided hed waited long enough. He could call now without the Capitol being suspicious.

“Were okay,” Blaine answers, including his family though he knows fully well Kurt intended the question just for him, “were having a bug problem, though.”

“Yes,” Kurt answers, “I guess its this summer, we have it too.”

There isnt a bug problem in District 9 and Blaine knows from the way Kurt says it there isnt a bug problem in the Capitol either. No, they both just know theyre being tapped, their conversations are being listened to and they need to be careful with what they say. Everything has changed, with just one girl from District 12 stirring up some trouble, the whole dynamic Kurt and Blaine had carefully built over the previous year fails with the need to filter their thoughts and words.

“Are you still having trouble with your colleague?” Blaine asks.

“No, hes been busy designing pretty dresses for young girls,” Kurt answers and Blaine immediately recalls Katnisss dress for the interview. It was laced, she had pretty bows in her hair and the dress made her look younger than she ever had in the Arena.

“Theyre all a bit innocent,” Kurt adds, “I dont really like them.”

Its hard, reading into Kurts words but Blaine thinks he knows what Kurt means, that theyre not helping the rebellion. That instead of fighting, theyre trying to subdue. She knows shes in danger, shes listening to the Capitol and trying to appease them.

It gets more clear as the time goes on, what they see of Katniss is a pretty girl and sickingly in love with Peeta. Blaine sees every fake smile she throws his way and wonders how the Capitol doesnt see it. He would never look at Kurt that way, Kurt has never looked at him this way. Hes never seen Cooper or Quinn have a smile so forced when they share a look. Its fake, so fake and the Capitol people eat it right up.

As time goes on, Blaine and Kurt find ways to communicate without being too bold, too forward. Sending each other letters is too risky, theyll be read before theyll be delivered and if they are intercepted and their code language understood, their cooperation in the rebellion will be in print. They manage a calling schedule of every three weeks, though, and through talking about minor day to day things they manage to update each other on things going on throughout Panem.

Head peacekeeper Beiste gets knocked down to a regular status when autumn falls, in her place comes a peacekeeper named Sue Sylvester. Center Village is still mostly quiet, but people go hungry when people from the factory villages stop coming in. Tishs mother manages to confirm three of the twenty factories throughout the District have been closed already, and when Kurt says theyre still getting bread and cereal easily in the Capitol, Blaine suspects other Districts go hungry as well.

Kurt tells Blaine about what is and isnt easy to get in the Capitol, confirming a heavy uprising in Eight and smaller troubles in other Districts. Blaine tells Kurt about the new peacekeepers, about Tishs fathers business going slow. He cant tell Kurt about the three factories being closed, doesnt know why they are closed. He wishes he could visit the villages, see how the villagers are doing but there isnt an occasion until his mother announces shes going to visit some old relatives.

Cooper arranges the Mayors car, apparently Cooper is close friends with him. When Cooper puts on that ridiculously charming smile he seems to be friends with anyone. Blaine knows there arent any relatives left in their family. His fathers brother died before either he or Cooper were born and his mom was an only child. All his grandparents were gone before they were born, too, and hes never met any of his far away cousins. Now, his mother announces shes meeting up with a cousin who just gave birth to a baby.

Arriving at their old village, there is no cousin with a baby. Sure enough they run into a woman walking around with a child and when Cooper walks up to her and asks her if she can show them to her house, shes happy to take them with her. Inside her tiny cottage they find an older woman lying on a bed, theres a tiny stove and thats it. One bed for her, her mother-in-law, her baby and her husband.

Blaine unloads his bag of food for her, though theres not much in it. He gave most of it to Tishs father when he visited the shop. With the factories closed and less money going around, with people too afraid to cross the peacekeepers in fear of a whipping for something they didnt do, the sweetshop has been the first to lose customers. Bread, meat, things like that are a necessity, sweets arent. With no more money to buy things, sweets are the first to be cut off the budget.

The woman, Halina, offers them some water in exchange but none of them can make themselves to take it. She keeps pressing, wants to do something in return when Cooper grabs her hand and looks her in the eye.

“The only thing we want is information ,” he says, “tell me whats going on.”

She confirms what Blaine already suspected, the factory in this village is still open and running. People have jobs, but their hours are expanded and their wages are cut. She tells them people across the village are housing people from other villages, where apparently the factories are closed and people are starving. Here they make do with the chickens and the goats, eat their eggs and drink their milk. They sometimes hunt out in the field a little while away from the village but the numbers of rabbits and ducks are quickly decreasing. She bemoans she�s not even able to properly feed her baby because she herself is underfed.

Blaine wishes he could offer her money, but it�s no use. She is in no condition to walk the five hours to Center Village and here in the outer villages shops dont exist. Halina asks them to stay for dinner, says her husband will be able to tell them more. He works in the factory six days a week, for ten hours a day and he talks to the other people in the factory. Blaine, Cooper and their mom share a short look which decides theyll wait.

When six oclock strikes, a loud bong across the village announces closing time. A few peacekeepers start roaming the street outside Halinas house immediately. Blaine wonders where they sleep, where they live when theyre in the outskirts of District 9 every evening. Ever since hes found out about Shannon Beiste and her not being from the Capitol, he has started to think differently about peacekeepers. What are their stories? And how did they get to be the Capitols slaves even more than anyone else has ever been?

He doesnt get to wonder for long, because soon a dark skinned man enters Halinas house. He looks around slightly concerned and about ready to throw the two victors and their mom out on the street, before Halina stands on her tiptoes and kisses him softly.

“Hello darling,” she says, “isnt it nice that my old cousin decided to come visit the new baby?”

Her husband looks confused, obviously aware Halina has no cousins and with two victors sitting on his floor, he seems to think this is some trick of the Capitol. He looks around outside, waiting for peacekeepers to come to his door and when they all pass his house with no meaning of entering it he closes the door.

It doesnt offer much protection, two windows are still broken and the walls are made of thin wood, but it gives them a sense of privacy and concealment. Cooper risks everything when the husband still doesnt seem convinced, and spills the beans.

“Were in a rebelling movement, we have ties in the Capitol but with Nines factories and population spread all over the District rather than centered we lack a lot of information on how willing the people are to rebel. We need information, inside information.”

“From the factories?”

“What people are saying,” Cooper confirms, “whether we can count on District 9 going into rebellion anytime soon.”

The man, or boy really, he cant be much older than Blaine, still looks uncertain. Cooper might be great at convincing women, or boys like in the Capitol, who fall for charm in every form. Here, they would have needed Quinn. One sweet smile, a bat of her eyelashes and Blaine thinks the man would have told her everything. Instead he looks out the broken window, unconvinced and certain peacekeepers are about to barge in on him.

“Im not joining in on what theyre saying,” he says eventually, “I have a child to think about.”

“Of course,” Blaines mother speaks up, “youre our family. If anything happens to the factory, well provide for you. You know that right?”

This seems to gain the boys trust a little. Maybe its because his mother isnt a victor, not as Capitol influenced as people tend to think victors are, or maybe its because in a very unconventional way shes bribing the boy with her sons money. Blaine doesnt mind, knows Cooper doesnt care either. These three people live in this place with a baby, no money and rarely any food. Even if its not actual money but food they send, anything they can get in any way how must help them.

“Just tell them, Tom.”

Blaine had forgotten all about the old woman sleeping on the bed. She had been so quiet, and he had been so focused on what the man was going to do. The old woman puts her hand on Coopers shoulder and squeezes it.

“I remember this boy,” she says, “any victor who looks like this but doesnt have a string of lovers in the Capitol can be trusted.”

She knows.

Coopers face is just as alarmed as Blaines, his mothers face is mostly confused but the boy seems to trust his mothers judgment and settles down next to Cooper.

People are angry, confused. No one really understood what was going on in the last Games until peacekeepers arrived and they knew it was something bad. The peacekeepers are being harder than they have to be. If someone misses one tiny thing, theres a 50 lashes. For the first few weeks people just took it, thought if they were quiet and sufficient enough, the new peacekeepers would settle down. They didnt.

Now, theres no difference in punishments for the kids or the adults. Anyone making a mistake, even children on their first day, get whipped. Several havent returned to the factory. If it goes on at this rate, Halina will have to come back to work. Something mothers in the past thirty years havent had to do. Fathers work, mothers take care of their children. They get paid monthly and its only enough to shop for one week. Houses burn down with no reason whatsoever.

People want to fight, but its hard to organize something. In one small village with only one factory, nothing much is going to happen. The factory will close down, the villagers who are suspected to have started the riots and uprisings will be executed in front of everyone. Theyve heard as much from people who fled their old villages and came looking for jobs and shelter here. Its not much, but Tom being able to hear their thoughts, to and to take that into the factory with him, is a start.

They all thank Halina and Tom profusely for their hospitality and Halina thanks Blaine over and over again for the food he gave her. It doesnt matter if its mostly sweets, she can use anything at the moment. Cooper promises hell send them whatever he can, but Blaine has the faintest feeling nothing theyll send will actually arrive at Tom and Halinas home. Peacekeepers are in charge of checking packages. Theyll eat it all before the packages will be delivered.

Cooper, who out of boredom once took driving lessons, drives them back to the Mayors house. They thank the Mayor for lending his car out to them and meet their father and Quinn on the main square to walk back home. It all seems very coincidental, but Blaine knows theyve been here since early afternoon awaiting their return. The walk back home is the only place they assume their conversations arent overheard.

“We thought you wouldnt be home in time,” Quinn says after theyve informed her and their father on everything going on, “peacekeeper Sylvester just announced the curfew.”

“Curfew?” Blaine asks, “as in, we have to be inside at a certain hour?”

“Eight oclock, everyone has to be in their own homes.”

“Their own homes?”

“Yes.”

Two of the three occupied houses in Victor Village havent really been occupied since they returned from the 74th Hunger Games. Blaines house had never been used much, apart from the music room and occasionally the living room or kitchen when Blaine had friends over. He realizes now that he hasnt even had anyone over in the six months since the latest Games were over. Hes been too busy trying to find ways to tell Kurt what is happening, too busy thinking of what more he can do in the rebellion. What he, as a victor, can do. Hes a face in the media, being only the second to last to win (third, counting both tributes from this year), he can maybe rile people up. If only he had a chance.

The house has been empty, Quinn or his voice never filling the music room with their one song anymore. He is only now reminded, too, that he hasnt heard Quinn sing that song since he himself had gone into the Arena. He remembers how she used to sing it to him when he was just a seven year old boy, who just moved from a tiny village to Victor Village. Leaving all his friends behind, getting his own bedroom when he used to share with Cooper. She used to crawl in with him and sing. He remembers how soothing her presence and her voice had always been, even right up until he went into the Arena. She hasnt sung that song anymore, not to him, but she has let him into her bed on the worst nights and now she cant anymore.

Hell have to go to that big and empty house, where hes never slept before and shell have to go to her big and empty house thats been unused for at least six months. Coming home, with the rebellion fresh about to start, Quinn and Cooper had felt no need to pretend anymore. Quinn had moved her clothes from her bedroom to Coopers and theyd lived in Coopers house ever since. The five of them, all together in one house like a proper family.

That night they still have dinner together, but just before the grandfather clock hits eight, through the front window Blaine sees three peacekeepers arrive. He doesnt recognize their faces, wonders if theyre new here. One thing he does know while he watches them circle around the grass field that centers the square of Victor Village; if he doesnt get back to his own house within the next two minutes hell be punished.

So he gets up, beckons for Quinn to do the same and kisses his family goodnight. His mother looks sad as he leaves her, she clutches his hand for a little longer than necessary and as soon as she lets go, pulls her other son close to her. It pains Blaine to leave her, so determined to fight and yet so fragile and broken when it comes to her children.

“Youre my son,” she says, “you should be allowed to live in the same house as your parents.”

“Im of age,” Blaine replies, “Ill be fine.”

Except he isnt, he wont be. Without Kurt in his bed beside him, hes been relying on his mothers sleep well kisses to get him through the night. The crowded house had been a blessing to Blaines nights. His mothers presence always soothing, knowing shes just a door away. Knowing that if he wakes screaming and thrashing from nightmares, Quinn or Cooper are just a floor away, ready to let him into their bed.

Quinn grabs Blaines hand as they walk out the door and down the front lawns path. She holds it tight, and Blaine realizes she might be even more scared than he is to sleep alone. She hasnt since she and Cooper had realized how much better it is to share a bed with someone who understands. She hasnt slept alone in about ten years. They reach the end of the path and Blaine looks at her with empathy. He cups her face with his free hand and tells her hes sorry.

“Its not your fault,” she whispers, “we knew it would get worse before it gets better.”

“Fifty seconds before eight oclock,” a heavy voice to Blaines right announces. He looks up, the peacekeeper grabs Quinns hand and pulls her away from Blaine. Shes yanked to the side forcefully, lets go of Blaines hand and almost falls over when the peacekeeper lets go. He stands close to her and points towards her house, on the left side of Coopers. Blaine has to walk the other way, his house being situated right of Coopers.

“Im not even allowed to say goodbye now?” Quinn sounds angry, accusing as she says it. She throws Blaine an apologetic look as the peacekeeper grabs her arm and starts steering her towards the house.

“Let go of me,” she hisses and shakes the hand of her arm. Her face has changed, its almost as if she isnt beautiful anymore. If one thing has taken away from it, its the angelic vibe that always seems to shine from her.

“Twenty seconds,” the peacekeeper hisses back at her and with one last look at Blaine, she starts jogging towards her front door. Blaine does the same, and just as he gets inside hears the clock chime eight. He doesnt even get the chance to take off his coat before the phone rings.

“Are you watching?”

Kurt doesnt even let Blaine say hello before he starts talking. He has to think for a moment what Kurt is talking about, but as soon as he flicks on the television in the study hes reminded. Today is the kick-off of the victory tour for Katniss and Peeta. Theyre showing Katnisss talent right now, shes designing dresses.

“Designing?” Blaine asks, a bit confused but intrigued. He can understand why Kurt, being a designer himself, is so enthusiastic about it.

“She was inspired by Cinna,” Kurt says, “hes been helping her out.”

The tone of Kurts voice, it immediately tells Blaine something else is going on. This is one of the cryptic ways Kurt tries to describe something to him. New information about the rebellion, things he needs to remember and tell Quinn, his father and Cooper tomorrow.

“Cinna?” He asks.

“Yes, Cinna has been helping Katniss with her designs. She was inspired when he lit her on fire. She has no idea how lucky she is with Cinnas help.”

“How has Cinna been at the atelier?” Blaine asks, trying to figure out if this has to do with Cinna or with whatever it is Katniss is doing.

“Weve become quite good friends,” Kurt answers, “I introduced him to my father a few nights ago.”

Cinna knows about the rebellion. As soon as Burt is mentioned, it means theyre in. Its not some code language Blaine and Kurt had agreed on beforehand, but its something theyve been able to work out in the six months since the last Games. From just the few things Kurt has said now, Blaine knows Cinna is in on everything thats going on. Hes making sure Katnisss status as rebel against the Capitol survives and he hasnt told her yet. She needs to be compliant for now, until theyve figured out a real plan. Blaine isnt in on that, hell just do whatever it is he needs to do when Plutarch or Burt tell him so.

“I met the new head Gamemaker at that dinner as well,” Kurt continues, “hes a close friend of my fathers.”

Plutarch Heavensbee. Plutarch is the new head gamemaker. Blaine is not sure what this means for the games, how a rebel controlling them will help the revolution, but he fails to see the connection for now. Hell have to discuss that during his walk to town tomorrow.

“Any other gossip to fill me in on?” he asks, but thats about everything Kurt has got so far. They chat for a while longer, stay on the line for as long as the broadcast airs and Blaine hears Kurt sigh irritated when Katniss kisses Peeta. He knows exactly what Kurt feels, or at least he thinks he does. Its unfair, how theyre not in love and have to force it. How he and Kurt are desperately in love and cannot do a thing about it. Blaine hangs up at ten oclock, goes up to the bed hes never before slept in and crawls in.

At eleven, he awaits his mothers goodnight kiss but none arrives. He needs the feel of her hand on his cheek, wants her other hand hovering just above his mouth. He needs her to check if hes still breathing, because the way it feels right now might as well mean he isnt. The air is thick, he chokes on nothing in particular in the empty house. He needs someone around, to keep him safe and warm and having no one within reach makes sleep impossible.

The next day Blaine takes Quinn and Cooper out for a walk around Center Village, tells them about what Kurt told him and takes up their responses to form for himself whether or not he thinks its a good thing. Apparently, he does. With the Quarter Quell about to arrive, Plutarch Heavensbee as a gamemaker will make sure it isnt nearly as bad for the tributes as President Snow would like it to be. Hell be able to tip off fellow rebels about the Arena, and it wont be suspicious if he spends a lot of time with any of the mentors who are included in the rebellion. Its wonderful news, and it makes Quinn have a skip in her step that seems only slightly forced.

They seem even more excited about Cinnas inclusion, since hes on team Katniss as Cooper calls it. The more people supporting Katniss and her being the face of the revolution, the better the chances are she actually manages to be of some significance. Blaine looks at Quinn more than he looks at Cooper, sees her smiles are genuine but short and wonders how long it will take for her to break without Cooper in her bed at night.

He calls Kurt first that evening, getting to his house ten minutes before the clock strikes eight. He hasnt had a chance yet to tell Kurt about the curfew, wonders how Kurt knew to ring his own house rather than Coopers, but he doesnt know how to bring it up without alerting anyone maybe listening in that he and Kurt discuss politics. So instead he decides to have a normal conversation for the night, one he might have with a friend. Thats what they want the Capitol to believe after all, that theyre mere friends.

He sits in the television room, phone to his ear and switches on the television. It feels weird, watching something obligatory on his own television and alone. Usually the square in Center Village is filled with people who cant afford a television, people who want to meet up joining them there. Blaine wonders how they do it now, with the curfew set in place they must have issued televisions for those who had nothing at their homes already. Its still half an hour before the victory tour will air, starting in District 11 this year, so in the meantime he chats with Kurt.

“How was your day?” he asks as soon as Kurt answers the phone, reveling in being able to ask something so simple and domestic. Its almost as if Kurts had a long day of work and just came home to Blaine, the way his mother asks his father how his day was. Kurt waits a bit to answer, probably surprised to hear from Blaine two days in a row and maybe because Blaine asks him about his day so bluntly, but eventually he answers, “fairly uneventful. Yours?”

“I walked to town with Cooper and Quinn, we bought some small stuff from the open shops.”

“They werent all open?”

“No, I think a few of them are on holiday actually, I havent seen them for a while.”

Okay, so maybe things arent as domestic and simple as they seemed. Even just telling Kurt about his day, it turns into telling him about the missing shopkeepers. He hears Kurt say at the other end of the line, shuffling some and then his voice is much softer.

“Things are actually going really well in the Capitol,” Kurt then says, “weve got a flood of new avoxes.”

Avoxes, people from throughout the Districts who committed crimes and get their tongues cut off. They can never speak again, punished from something they did or didnt do, it doesnt matter. One more dreadful way for the Capitol to show who is in charge. Except they arent anymore, sending peacekeepers to the Districts and pissing them off more than ever before. Kurt telling Blaine theres been a flood of new avoxes, in a way defying the Capitol by explaining to Blaine hes noticed the differences. Hes noticed more people are being punished than before and that, those in the Capitol who arent too thick to see the bigger picture, will realize soon whats happening.

Blaines suddenly washed over with a rush of affection towards Kurt. A boy who, before Blaine got to know him, seemed like a strange concept of thick and simple mindedness. Before Blaine got the the Capitol, before he ever met Kurt he thought everyone in the Capitol was the way hes always seen them. None of them aware of the Districts issues, none of them interested. Hed always thought he was a pawn in their game to everyone. He never was that to Kurt. The boy who now helps in standing up against the place hes always loved. He wish he could tell Kurt, he wishes he could explain to Kurt how much he appreciates him and everything hes doing.

“Im looking forward to the Quarter Quell,” he says instead. Kurt knows fully well he isnt. Its the only way he can think of to tell Kurt he wants to see him again, that Kurts still on his mind every single day and even though the revolution theyre trying to start is occupying most of either of their lives right now, they still value each other and are the greatest and most important part. It is, after all, their love that made each of them realize how unfair the laws of the Capitol are.

“Me too,” Kurt says, “I keep counting the seconds on the clock just waiting for the new Games to arrive. Designing for the Quarter Quell tributes must be amazing.”

“It really must be,” Blaine says and smiles. Knowing from the thickness in Kurts voice that hes choking up just as much thinking about seeing each other again as Blaine is. Blaine wants to add more, but falls silent when the image on the screen changes from a simple news station to Caesar Flickermann announcing the victory tour is about to kick off. His hair and eyebrows, just like his suit, are a light blue that Kurt says he doesnt think is his best color. Blaine giggles, curls his feet beneath himself and folds comfortably on the couch. He watches Caesars interview with President Snow with Kurts commentary in his ear. Something so simple and soothing, he wishes he had Kurt right next to him on the couch to curl up to instead. Hed listen to Kurt judge either of their looks and outfits any day.

Soon enough Caesar wraps up the interview and images of the main square of District 11 are shown. Blaine remembers from his own tour that this square could not possibly hold even a fifth of the Districts population. It was the first time he really realized a lot of reapings must be pre-coordinated. Theres no way all Elevens children are in that square during reaping day. Even now the crowd looks too perfectly balanced between child, grown up, males and females, to be coincidental. People are invited, people are forced to be there. Yet another Capitol obligation, dont show up and youre dead. Or your tongue gets cut off, you get thrown in prison just because you stayed at home.

The crowd stays completely silent when Peeta and Katniss follow Effie Trinkett out on stage. Kurt, too, gets quiet after he compliments Cinna and Peetas stylist on the matching but not similar costumes. Katniss looks tortured, Peeta a little less so. When they show the little girls family with her face shining bright and bubbly over them Blaines breath catches. Of course Katniss is tortured in District 11, the same way he was in District 12. She had an alliance with little Rue the same way Blaine had had with Pennie. He remembers kicking off his first day in Twelve, wanting nothing more than to pass through the crowd and climb up on the stage. Hugging Pennies mother, telling her father how sorry he was. Katniss must feel the same, if not worse with the way she did everything within her power to make Rues death something to hold the Capitol accountable for. To make it a human one, rather than a piece of the Games.

Katniss doesnt say anything, lets Peeta do all the talking and it worries Blaine for a moment. What if the rebels think she isnt what they made her out to be? She is supposed to be the face of the revolution, shes supposed to be everything they need and then she stands there numb, holding Peetas hand and staring straight ahead. Of course, Blaine knows the feeling very well and he, like no other, undestands giving the task of offering condolences to someone else. If hed had the chance, hed done the same. The entire thing becomes extraordinary, though, when Peeta offers the families tributes each a month of their winnings for the duration of their lives. Blaine had tried it in his own District, offering Tishs family the house he wouldnt be using and offering them money but Quinn had been extremely clear. It was forbidden. Dear God, what would the Capitol do to Peeta, who is now offering it to people from outside his own District? They arent supposed to be allies, arent supposed to work together like this. Whatever it is, Peeta just made a rebel of himself next to Katniss.

“Well, that was anti-climatic,” Kurt says after the two victors turn to walk back into Elevens Justice Building, “everyone in the Capitol loves Katniss and then Peeta does all the talking.”

Blaine is about to respond and tell Kurt, when Katniss turns back around and starts talking. She addresses the boy tributes family first, tells them how she didnt know him and regrets not being able to get to. That she owes him her life and can never repay his family. She then addresses Rues family with a heartfelt speech that makes Blaines throat tighten up, he fights back tears but is unable to. He hears Kurt on the other end of the line, sighing and aweing in a completely different tone than how Blaine feels. Hes amazed by her words, touched but not struck. Blaine feels her with everything in his body, feels the meaning coursing through his veins. Its a warm thing, something completely out of the blue and it rushes through him like wildfire. Something is happening with her words, something larger is about to start and for a reason Blaine doesnt understand, he knows Cooper and Quinn are feeling it too.

Hes not even in the same house as them, theyre divided over three houses but theyre all feeling it and Blaine just knows. A grim silence falls over the crowd when she finishes, and its almost as if everything happens in slow motion when a man whistles a vaguely familiar tune.

“Rues tune. The mockingjay.”

Blaine remembers then, when Kurt says it, how Katniss and Rue had agreed on a signal in which they used the mockingjays, who can repeat a human tune immediately after they hear it. Katniss token had been a mockingjay, she later had used the mockingjays in her alliance and now theyre coming back to her again. The girl on fire, assisted by a mockingjay.

Its not all that happens, though, throughout the crowd people put three fingers up in the air. The Twelve sign for respect, support and love. Its too perfectly in tune for it to be a coincidental thing. This has been rehearsed and as soon as the screen turns black, Blaine knows something terrible will happen to whoever started this. He doesnt know how or why, he cant even justify it fully in his head but it occupies every single corner of his mind.

“That was illegal,” is the first thing he says to break the palpable silence between him and Kurt, “victors arent allowed to give fallen tributes families money.”

“That sign, the fingers... -”

“Its from District 12.”

“That was Eleven.”

“Change is coming,” Blaine says, “things are about to get really bad between the Capitol and the Districts.”

“Are you safe?” Kurt asks, “District 9, how is it in District 9?”

Everything shifts at that moment, it doesnt matter anymore. Not even the thickest person will be able deny that what is happening now, with Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, isnt significant in some way. Isnt the start of something new.

“Mostly quiet,” he answers honestly, “peacekeepers have been stricter than before but there arent any open fights against the Capitol.”

“I love you.”

“Kurt... -”

“No, Blaine, I love you. I dont care who knows and I dont care what theyll do to me if they know. Its time to stop hiding and start fighting. I want to be with you, Ill even move to Nine and leave all this luxury behind if it means I get to share a bed with you every night. I want to be with you and hold you through the night, kiss away your tears and tell you Ill always be there. I hate that I cant tell you now because Im not always there. I need to fight to be there. If this phone is being tapped, if theyre listening in on us I dont give a damn. I think theyre too busy trying to figure out whats happening in Eleven, though, so I think for tonight were safe. Can we please be safe for tonight?”

“Okay,” Blaine relents, “just tonight.”

“Really?” Kurt asks in disbelief, “weve got tonight?”

“Weve got tonight!” Blaine laughs, carefree at Kurts tone. So happy, so surprised and happy. He needs this, too, just as much as Kurt if not more. He talks to Kurt the entire night, not about any of the revolution parts they keep hiding from the Capitol, not talking about plans or other things but confessing love over and over again.

They talk about how Blaine wishes he could map Kurts body with his tongue, how he had been so relieved and yet surprised when Kurts entire body had been as pale and perfect as his face. That he wants to trace his finger over Kurts tattoo and kiss over it. Kurt tells him he wants to hold Blaines hand in the street and kiss his cheek when his father isnt looking, that he wants to sneak Blaine up to his room during dinners and hold him close the entire night. He confesses how he cant sleep at night because he dreams Blaines going back into the Arena. Knows it can never happen, that victors are excused from ever entering their name in a reaping again, but he still dreams it. He says he, too, only sleeps fully well when Blaines in the bed with him. How he woke up three or four times a night during the past Games, just to check Blaine was still breathing beside him and how he needs to be able to do that every night for the rest of his life.

Of course, its all a fairy tale and theres no way this will happen for a long time, knows that first and foremost they need to clear the way for future generations but in the cocoon of just this night, hearing Kurts breath evening out through the device he holds to his ear, its the best night sleep hes had in a long time.

The next day he grabs his mattress from his bed and drags it to the television room, the room that also holds the phone. He calls Kurt that night again and though they arent in their safe night anymore, something has shifted between them as much as everything in the Districts has shifted. The victory tour is an obligatory broadcast and so everyone has seen it, everyone has seen how Peeta offered the money to the other victors, showing the way Katniss had with decorating Rues body in the Arena, that they wont forget about the fallen people. That they want to give their lives meaning, make their losses count.

Blaine feels, when he walks to town with his father that day, the peacekeepers have grown more distant than before, and when he walks over to Tishs fathers sweetshop he is shocked to see it emptied out and robbed. Her fathers cleaning up and humming a familiar song, the song Katniss had sang to Rue. Immediately Blaine knows this robbing is the Capitols work.

When the victory tour arrives in District 9 on the third day, Blaine is surprised to find theyre not invited to the mayors house for dinner. Every other year Districts victors join. Its where Blaine met Haymitch, Finnick and Johanna for the first time after all. This year they dont want the two victors to meet any of the other victors, in case theyre rebelling. So the Capitol knows there are rebelling victors. Blaine wonders if they know hes in them. He also wonders how the Capitol officially states the reason none of the victors are invited to their Districts dinners this year.

“With two victors,” Shannon Beiste tells him, “it would become two crowded they say. Because theres an extra victor now, theyre traveling with three people from District 12.”

“Of course,” Blaine agrees with her and smirks. Its the biggest nonsense hes ever heard. He, Quinn and Cooper were with three from one District as well and they still got to meet every other victor in the Districts.

Blaine watches the speeches in Nine from the square, the only night he doesnt speak to Kurt live. His face is shown on a screens a few times, but mostly they zoom in on Katniss and Peeta and then on Janes and Lumoxs families. Its a painful reminder of how Blaine lost his first two tributes not even ten minutes into the Games.

The only good thing that comes out of the night is seeing Halina and Tom again. Tom offers Blaine a box as a thank you for the money they gave him. When Blaine opens it at home, he finds crackers inside scripted with Katnisss mockingjay. A tiny letter comes with it. Because everyone at the factory loves a Mockingjay. He says hes been sending them to his family throughout the Districts, though theres no such thing as having families in other Districts, Blaine knows people within the factories have spies in places as well. The people have found ways to communicate with each other, via bread and crackers. Via Mockingjays painted on walls that you can see from one Districts border to another, the mockingjay becomes a signal to show your support to the cause.

People in the Districts chant Katnisss name as she enters. They never do that, they always applaud but never chant. Never are they happy, because this tribute taking their stage always means they lost two of their own. After the disaster that struck in Eleven, Katniss and Peeta keep to the cards that Effie Trinket writes them. Blaine knows its Effie, remembers how Isabelle used to write them for him.

Blaine calls Kurt from the mattress in his television room every night. They watch the victory tour together, talk for a little while longer and fall asleep with each other still on the phone. Blaine starts spending more time in his music room again, now he speaks to Kurt every night, and Quinn joins him almost every day. They spend time with their family during the day, head to Blaines house to make music after dinner and just before eight Blaine will walk Quinn to her house. She keeps insisting it isnt necessary, but the peacekeepers surveying victors Village seem to have their eyes set on Quinn in a way that none of them like. Especially the one who had grabbed her the first night. Blaine doesnt let her out on her own just before curfew, no idea what the men would do to her if shed even be a second late to her own house.

Blaine knows she and Cooper call each other, too, every night. It feels so dumb, unnecessary when theyre only a house away from each other but they cant not speak to each other before sleep. Blaine gets it, needs it with Kurt now he restarted it again. Though, where Blaine is sleeping better than before due to falling asleep to the sound of Kurts breath, Quinns eyes become sunken with dark circles under them quickly. Cooper, too, gets quieter and Blaine wishes he could just put them together.

While they sing, Quinn still doesnt sing the one song she always used to and though Blaine would love to hear it he doesnt ask her. He understands, he thinks, how that song was from before. The same way Kurt hasnt sung since his mother died, Quinn wont sing that song now Blaine isnt as pure as he used to be anymore. The song, after all, was about someone pure and simple, innocent and lucky. No one escaping the Arena, not even Peeta Mellark who was merely saved by love, will ever be that way again. The song isnt right, it used to be something Quinn sang for him when he was the only innocent thing she loved. All of that is gone now.

The victory tour ends with a proposal from Peeta, something that makes Kurt tear up even though he knows their love isnt real. Kurt, and the rest of the Capitol, are simultaneously the only people tearing up over the announcement of the oncoming marriage. In District 9 it seems to be the last flame that was needed to start an uprising, and when Blaine talks to Beiste again he hears there are more Districts who didnt take the proposal as a very positive message. They understand that Katniss, instead of keeping on defying the Capitol, is giving in to what Snow wants from her and theyre not happy with it.

In District 9 it mostly means that the people from the Villages track towards Center Village in a large group, and start destroying anything Capitol made in there. They stop showing up at the factories, break windows and make sure machines are unusable before they leave. Peacekeepers fight back when the Justice Building is attacked and they lose about fifty people in the battle. Its a short battle, where a bomb falls down on the outer square outside the building and its just the people at the back who fall, but with no hospital around all of the injured lose their lives. With Katnisss turn towards the Capitol, her betraying the Districts as the people seem think, they turn against other victors as well.

After the Justice Building attack several people from District 3 arrive, needing to fix the parts where the Capitols bomb had ruined the train tracks. The station is rebuilt, though in a more sober way, in no time. In the square people wont let Blaine into the shops anymore, thinking hes just as much of a Capitol lapdog as Katniss is. For now he knows he has to keep it that way. It hurts, the stares he gets when he hates the Capitol just as much as they do but without a plan he needs to stay on Snows good side. If they ever need an insider, showing he, Quinn or Cooper are rebels now will not come in handy. So he deals with the stares and the whisper, deals with the constant fear of his house being attacked. The people seem to spend nights destroying Capitol builds and the only thing left untouched eventually is Victor Village.

Blaine, Quinn and Cooper have been out of the loop of news in the District now people have taken such a dislike to victors. Its been a few months since the curfew was set, a few months since the victory tour ended and with their access to shops being minimized, they go into town, buy what they need and are thrown out of the shops almost before they can pay for their gatherings. Its been frustrating, not being able to update Kurt on their nightly telephone conversations and its been hell to be cut off from human contact so much. They havent even been able to talk to Beiste about whats happening in other Districts the way they used to.

So when one morning theres an obligatory broadcast announced, Cooper takes Blaine and Quinn by the hand and forces them to the main square. Having learned from the victory tour that it was impossible to get everyone to watch obligated broadcasts back home, the curfew is pushed a few hours for tonight and on the square in front of the savaged Justice Building several screens are being put up. Its still early when they arrive, wanting a good spot where they can overview the crowd and be surrounded by it as well. They feel the need to soak up the crowds energy, feel their mood and meanwhile try to hear the gossip of whats happening around.

What they dont expect is to be torn apart by three peacekeepers when they try to talk to one of the people putting up the screen. These are usually people sent in from the technical District, Three, and now would be the perfect opportunity to figure out whats going on there. Apparently its not allowed.

They take away Quinns bags and open them, one bag holds her purse with enough money in it to buy up every shop in the square and the other holds a large Mockingjay engraved bread Beiste brought the day before, that Quinn was planning on sharing around today to make some friends. Blaines bag is searched next, while Quinn is being cuffed against the pole that stands large on the middle of the square. There is a pole like that in every village throughout the District, but in Center Village it hasnt been used since Shannon Beiste had become head peacekeeper. Blaine guesses now with Sylvester as their new one, things have changed.

“Shes done nothing wrong!” Cooper yells as he sees another peacekeeper approach with a large lash. For a moment Blaine doesnt know whats about to happen, but then the second peacekeeper raises his whip and slaps it down hard against Quinns back. Shes still clothed, so the sound gets muffled but Blaine can understand it must hurt. Quinn, though, doesnt give an inch. She sits there on her knees, hands tied above her head and facing away from the brothers as the lash slaps down against her back again.

“Dont touch her!”

Coopers cries are almost more painful for Blaine to hear than it is to watch Quinn being beaten. Quinn sits there obediently, taking the lash for the fifth time and she still doesnt move an inch. Blaine thinks she might be unconscious, but for the next lash she lifts her head and the point of the whip smashes against her cheek. A cut springs open on her dry skin, and Coopers final resolve breaks as he races over the square towards where the love of his life is being beaten to a pulp.

Blaine runs after his brother immediately, afraid what Coopers interfering might mean. Cooper cries out when Blaine holds him back, gestures for the people who have gathered around Quinn and he stomps and tramps in Blaines arms. He yells for the peacekeeper to stop, but all that gets him is another peacekeeper full in his face telling him to shut up.

“I dont even know what she did,” he says to Blaine, then turns to the peacekeeper, “let me do it, let me take her punishment. Whatever shes done, let me pay for it.”

The loud murmuring that was filling up the square falls silent when a tall peacekeeper arrives, holding her helmet under her arm. Shes got short blond hair and a strict posture.

“Whats going on over here?” she asks in an authoritative voice that tells Blaine immediately she must be new head peacekeeper Sue Sylvester. “I thought I made clear I dont want any onlookers during punishment?”

Cooper thrashes in Blaines arms again, then addresses Sylvester as she walks over to the center of the square. The peacekeeper that was busy whipping Quinn turns towards his boss and then around the square. He scans the crowd, as if trying to find his next victim, and his eyes fall on where Cooper is trying to break free of Blaines hold. Blaine doesnt give, holds him with all the strength he can muster and tries to shush Cooper. Tell him its alright, it will be over soon. That hes only making it worse for Quinn.

“We dont even know what she did!” Cooper yells at the head peacekeeper. Sylvester turns her eyes from Quinn to Cooper and they flash with recognition.

“She was holding more than one bag, maam, and she was traveling in a group larger than two.”

“She was what?” Blaine asks, releasing his hold on Cooper, who immediately sprints towards where Quinn is still tied up and sitting still. He takes her face in his hands and inspects the cut inflicted on it. Quinn looks at Cooper with tear stricken eyes, tries to move towards him in his arms but is held back by her bounds.

“Carrying more than one bag is forbidden, mister Anderson,” Shannon Beistes voice sounds from behind him, “youre only allowed to walk in groups of two or less and youre not allowed to speak to anyone from outside the District.”

“So Im not even allowed to talk to you.”

“Peacekeepers are an exception,” Beiste says and squeezes Blaine shoulders when Sylvester isnt looking at them. Then something weird happens, as one of the girls from the crowd steps forward. Blaine recognizes her as someone from his class, but hes forgotten her name.

“Excuse me, miss Sylvester?” she starts, “Miss Fabray has had fifteen whippings, Ive counted. I believe thats the max for a first offence.”

“Fabray?” Sylvester asks, “as in Quinn Fabray?”

“Yes,” the girl says, “Quinn Fabray from Victor Village.”

Sylvester turns towards the peacekeeper holding the lash, shoves him harshly and then makes it her own task to unbind the rope around Quinns wrists. Quinn sags in Coopers embrace as soon as shes out, and in that moment no one on the square seems to question why he holds her so close and keeps kissing her hair. He whispers to her, Blaine cant make out what, but she starts sobbing and practically crawls inside him. He sits on his knees with her as close to his body as is humanly possible.

“Mister Anderson,” Sylvester says to Cooper in a much gentler tone than she used before, “can you please take your friend away from here? Shes gathering a crowd and I cant possibly whip them all for being in a group larger than two.”

Her words seem to rile the people around, and soon everyone starts back into their respective shops and houses. Sylvester announces one more time that the new rules will be on hiatus from 7 oclock to 9 oclock tonight, where the Capitol broadcast will be mandatory to watch. A few people hear her tell the peacekeepers to never punish victors anymore, and Blaine knows theyre not going to be happy with that. Though he feels somewhat of a relief he wont have to go through this ever again, watch someone he loves be tortured the way Quinn was, he knows it wont help their reputation with the people of District 9. If anything, it makes them look like the Capitols lapdog now more than ever.

Blaine thanks the girl for her interference, she tells Blaine anytime. Says she knows theyre not popular in the District, but that she wishes no one the amount of pain Quinn had to be in. Blaine cant tell the girl enough how much he appreciates it, but she promises him its nothing. He shakes her hand again, with a few coins in it and she kisses his cheek. He finds the coins back inside his pocket later.

Blaine, Quinn and Cooper make sure theyre not together with the three of them at one time, because though theyve been granted immunity from punishment by Sue Sylvester, they dont want to rub it in anyones faces. So Blaine sits alone for most of the day, watches people passing by and arriving from outer villages to be able to watch tonights broadcast on center square. Just before seven buses start to arrive, bringing people in from the factories that are still open. Theyre down for the night, the broadcast apparently more important than grain production. Theres gossip of what it might be about, some people assume its the Everdeen-Mellark wedding and others are talking about the Quarter Quell announcement.

Every twenty-five years a special Games, the last one won by Haymitch. Every twenty-five years an extra obstacle and what could be it now? Once each Districts had to vote their own tributes, which was maybe even crueler than the time they had to send in double the victors they normally would. Blaine gets up to find Quinn and Cooper when the clock strikes seven and he finds them with Halina and Tom at their side. Blaine goes to ask where they left the baby, but Cooper shakes his head.

Blaine sees a few smaller children running around the square ahead of him and gets hit in the chest with a sudden realization. They could be going into the Arena next. With the Quarter Quell around the corner, one of the few things he could think could make the Games even worse are sending younger children in. What if they change the age from twelve to eighteen? What if theyre sending in these children, what if more parents lose their baby to the Capitol the way their hunger forced Halina and Tom to lose theirs.

But Blaine couldnt have been more wrong. After they watch a montage of Katniss Everdeen trying on wedding dresses, after Cinna and Caesar talk about them and Caesar urges the audience to vote for them, the crowd is annoyed. They cant even vote, they dont give a single damn about any wedding in the Capitol and theyve been forced out here onto a crowded square to watch their supposed Mockingjay trying on wedding dresses. Blaine is pretty sure the crowd is about to start a riot when Caesar tells everyone to stay tuned for the exciting news about to air. President Snow himself will announce this years Quarter Quell.

The anthem sounds and seems to rile the crowd back into their calm state, because though everyone is angry with the Capitol, this is still something that they need to know. President Snow takes his place after the anthem ends and then he is telling everyone across the nation about the first and second Quarter Quell. He tells them about the Dark Days and how rebellion should be punished by death. That the Hunger Games are a reminder of this punishment and that no one should ever try to rebel because it only makes people dead. The words seem to hit home to a lot of people, who start hollering at the screen, though they are quickly shushed by roaming peacekeepers.

Eventually Snow takes a small card from a box that has a large 75 engraved on it. He reads the card carefully and then announces its content.

“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.”

The crowd around the three victors of District 9 grows silent with a start, people retreat and turn around to get a good look at them. The existing pool of victors, there are only three in District 9. Quinn Fabray and the two Anderson boys. In the far back Blaine hears a familiar cry, one he heard right before he got hauled of onto a train to the Capitol for the very first time.

Its his mother, and its the agony in her voice that makes Blaine realize. Shes about to send one of her boys off again.