Hi! Thank you everyone for your continued support. I know it's been a while since my last update. I'm working hard on them for everyone who has continued to read and is invested in Scarlet and Finnick's story. 

I do think it's important to go through the Victory Tour as it really sets the stage for how receptive everyone is--or isn't--to Scarlet's Victory. 

We will be wrapping up the Victory Tour soon though!

Please, like and comment and vote if you are enjoying. If something doesn't make sense, or if something is boring, comment and let me know so I can adjust it. :) If you are enjoying the story, let me know. If there are questions that you have, ask! Sometimes, more context is needed (my bad), sometimes you aren't meant to know until later. 

As always, take care and stay safe! ~CANGEL

***

Scarlet Wolfe

     District 3 passed in a blurred rush. Scarlet had killed both of the tributes in District 3. The girl, Linux, had been killed in the bloodbath. She had been Scarlet's first kill in the Arena. Her family mourning her loss had seemed real. Though Scarlet had no comforting words to offer to them, as Linux never had much of a chance to win.

     Perhaps in a different Arena...but in that one, she'd had no real chance to utilize any skills that might have kept them alive. The boy on the other hand, had also been killed by her. But Ayoel had fought. He'd survived the bloodbath and braved the elements with little to no survival gear and even surviving a single night in those fridged temperatures was an impressive feat.

     He had attacked Scarlet out of desperation thinking she would be a weak opponent. And even though she hated him a little for that, he had fought to survive and that, at least, she respected. Even if she could still feel the echo of pain where he'd stuck her with a dagger, resulting in several near deaths for her until the end of the game.

     When she'd given her speech on the stage of District 3, she'd stuck mostly to the script given to her by Penelope. Despite her grand speech about not working together until Scarlet was officially in her mentorship role, she had no desire to purposefully make either of their lives harder. The District 3 Mayor was definitely antisocial, speaking in a near robotic and logical manner, but he hadn't been rude or overtly friendly and she'd boarded the train leaving District 3 unscathed by her often wicked tongue.

     District 2 had been different, though, and surprisingly, not unpleasant. She'd been greeted by the Mayor, but like District 4, she'd also been greeted by many of the Victors, this time though, they greeted her on the stage in which she would shortly deliver her speech. As a Career District, there were many Victors to greet. Scarlet wondered if that was why they did it. As a reminder to Scarlet and all of Panem, just who the best Victors were.

     After all, one of their tributes died in the blood bath. It wasn't a regular occurrence in general but considering that if District 4 was included, then four tributes who would have normally survived until the end of the Hunger Games were killed in this year's bloodbath on the first day. It just wasn't expected and would have left a sour taste in their mouths.

     The oldest Victor from District 2 on the stage, was in his mid-fifties, stood proud and strong. His body was still well formed and muscular underneath a loose layer of skin with some wrinkles on his face. His hair was white and black, but Septimus Paddick was still a proud and spirited Victor from District 2.

     Flavia Nixon, who had won the 41st games at only fifteen years old, also stood proudly on the stage. She had a small child in her arms, though Scarlet didn't know if it was her own child, or her grandchild. Brutus Gunn, who she recognized after years of seeing him in the Capitol on the screens of a television as a mentor of the District 2 tributes each year. He was in his late thirties and was a monster. Scarlet tried not to look intimidated by the man, but the guy stood several feet taller than her. She bet his one leg weighed more than she did.

      Obviously, she'd have found a way to beat him, if he'd been in her Hunger Games, but she didn't know how. That was a problem that she turned around in her head over and over again, even as she was introduced to Lyme Christie, Victor of the 51st Hunger Games, Plato Hamasaki, Victor of the 59th Hunger Games, and the latest Victor from District 2, Enobaria Golding. She was the Victor of the 62nd Hunger Games at seventeen. Enobaria Golding was now twenty-two, and even as the youngest and smallest of the District 2 Victors, she still stood a foot taller than Scarlet and outweighed her considerably, in what appeared to be mostly muscles.

    She had gained fame during her time in the Arena after killing many of the tributes by ripping their throats out with her teeth. After she was crowned Victor, Enobaria had undergone drastic body modifications after her own Hunger Games, as a tribute to her actions in the Arena.

     "Congratulations, Wicked Wolfe." Enobaria shook Scarlet's hands, flashing her pearly white teeth that had been filed down into sharp looking fangs at the same time. Scarlet couldn't help but feel like Enobaria's words were weighed with a challenge to test Scarlet's worthiness of the words themselves. Like Enobaria didn't know if Scarlet truly deserved her congratulations. Scarlet didn't care if she got them or not, but she didn't like the veiled threat.

     Enobaria was ten years older than Scarlet. Taller and stronger. But Scarlet would not cower before any of these Victors. In front of the cameras and the large crowd of District 2, Scarlet made sure to let her sharpened black claws skim across the back of Enobaria's hand, her smirk firmly set in place beneath the snarling wolf mask adorned across her lower face as she met her gaze head on without flinching.

     A reminder to Enobaria and the other Victors from District 2 that they weren't the only ones to be looked up to. Scarlet's small frame and delicate build could easily make someone forget how deadly she could be. But no one who watched the games could say that Scarlet had simply made it through on luck. Scarlet had fought fiercely during her games with skills and strategies. She had faced many opponents in the Arena of all different skills and sizes and no matter how the odds looked, Scarlet had always found a way to survive.

     Scarlet let go of Enobaria's hand and faced the District 2 crowd. When she did, the entirety of the crowd cheered. For all of them on the stage. And even though Scarlet felt certain no one in particular cheered for her, she still felt it. Standing on the stage next to the proud Victors of District 2...Scarlet felt it—a tickle in her chest. A pull at her heart. The same as she had felt in District 4, with Finnick and Mags.

     She felt united with the Victors on the stage with her.

     It made no sense. They were all different. She was different to them. She wasn't a career tribute, and though she had been born and raised to send into the Arena and she had volunteered for her games, no one had thought she could win. She wasn't supposed to have won.

     No one had believed in her.

      At least not until she'd nearly won the games.

     Yet, as she stood on the stage in District 2, she felt it. She felt the unity that had them standing together as one.

     There was nothing she could think of that would connect them outside of them winning their own Hunger Games. What unity? Scarlet didn't understand the feeling inside of her.

     Scarlet stuffed the feeling down deep inside of her. The feeling of being one with the other Victors. She didn't want to be one. She didn't want to be apart of them.

     She wouldn't be.

     It wasn't until after her speech, as she was lead down the stage, following the other Victors and the Mayor, into a caged in area, that she began to realize what it was that made her feel like apart of them.

      Standing with the other Victors, and only a portion of the District 2 citizens, lucky enough to snag a spot near the chained fence where they could watch the show, Scarlet stared down the fielded area, to where a target stood. Two spears, one arrow, and a blade stuck close together in the tiny red circle of the target, well placed by every Victor who had gone before her. Each Victor was allowed to choose their own weapon of choice.

     The metal of the blade felt cool in her warm palm as she waited for her turn to throw it. Scarlet wasn't sure if their intention was to humiliate her by showing everyone their skills outweighed hers, simply witness her skills, or reinforce their strength and skills to their District after the early deaths of the Career Tributes.

     Scarlet wasn't concerned about being humiliated. The blade's weight was familiar in her hand, grounding her in the familiar sensation of combat. She knew her blade would find its way to the target as surely as she had known it in the Arena.

    She took her place in the worn-down dirt that indicated where countless people before her had stood to practice here in District 2. Scarlet took a deep breath, centering herself as she focused on the target downrange.

     With one fluid motion, Scarlet launched the blade, letting it spin through the air with precision honed through countless hours of secret training in the cold abandoned basement of an old, broken-down home in District 14. It sliced cleanly through the air, traveling to the target at a rapid pace, before hitting the target with a satisfying thud, landing directly dead center on the end of a spear that stuck to the target.

    Scarlet's lips curled upwards in satisfaction and as she turned away from the target, she paused for a moment, as her eyes caught on the cheering crowd just outside the metal linked fence.

     A crowd cheering for her performance. A crowd acknowledging her skill with genuine admiration.

     Scarlet felt a surge of pride swell within her chest mingling with the echoes of unity she had felt earlier. She may not have sought to be part of their circle of Victors, but in that moment, she understood the bond that connected them whether she wanted it or not.

      It wasn't just about the kills in the Arena or the Victory of the Hunger Games themselves. What they all felt inside was the pride in themselves of overcoming the odds stacked against them and surviving the Arena. It was about the urge to prove themselves to everyone around them. Prove that they deserved and were worthy of being crowned Victor of their Games.

     Scarlet swallowed the emotions threatening to rise inside her. She couldn't afford to show any weakness here in front of so many people, and the ever present cameras.

     As Scarlet stepped back from the throwing line, she glanced at the other Victor's standing beside her. Enobaria handed her another blade, her own lips curled in a grin as she met Scarlet's gaze. "Your skills are good, Wicked Wolfe."

     Scarlet took the blade from Enobaria, her smile fading as she sensed impending danger looming ahead. Trap. The word echoed through Scarlet's mind. Her spine stiffened and Scarlet reminded herself that she was not from here and as much as she felt apart of them, they were still not friends. She could not let down her guard.

     "Almost as good as someone from District 1 or 2." Enobaria continued.

     Carefully weaved in Enobaria's words. A veiled threat hung in the air between them. Training was technically illegal in all the Districts. Tributes were not allowed to train for the games before the Reaping's selected the tributes that would be brought to the Capitol. It was supposed to limit any advantages any tribute would have over another.

     However, everyone knew that tributes from 1, 2 and most of the time 4, came into the Hunger Games highly skilled and very deadly. Even now, in the midst of a highly publicized event that was being broadcasted throughout all of Panem, District 2 was hosting a competitive event with weapons.

     Yet even Scarlet didn't dare to say she trained in District 14 in secret. Instead, she laughed, lifting her shoulder in a careless shrug.

     "I used the training sessions well in the Capitol." While aware that she was skating on precariously thin ice with a huge potential for disaster, Scarlet didn't feel the need to lie to Enobaria. Lies could always be found out by someone looking for the truth. Scarlet did use her time in the training sessions well during her time in the Capitol before she was sent into the Arena. It just wasn't where her skills had originated from.

     "It would seem so." Enobaria said. "Congratulations on your Victory, Scarlet Wolfe of District 14." Unlike the first time Enobaria had congratulated her, Scarlet felt the sincerity of her words. Despite her slight threat at mentioning her skills with blade throwing, she was acknowledging Scarlet's skills and accepted her as a Victor who'd earned the title.

     She flipped the blade in her fingers, feeling the smooth metal against her skin. The weight of the weapon so even and perfectly crafted. Scarlet wanted to learn to make the beautiful weapons. Not for the sake of using them, but because the artist in her could recognize the care and skill in the craft of forging them.

     She knew the Capitol would never allow that though. Scarlet spun on her feet with her heels digging into the ground, her fingers releasing the blade after only a second to view her target. A breath later, the blade stuck into the target hitting the outer edge of the red circle.

     It was still a skillful throw, but perhaps showing some flaws would be good for her. If she was accused outright about her skills and where she gained them, it wouldn't be easy to talk her way around her ill-gotten skills.

     Scarlet stepped off to the side as the other Victors finish taking their turns to show off their skills to their District and all of Panem.

     At the end of the event, Scarlet was offered some refreshments. Water with leaves in the drink that provided a cool, minty aftertaste to her tongue and soothed her parched throat.

     There was no winner announced and Scarlet found herself strangely relieved. It had been fun to compete with these skilled Victors. It had been cathartic to use the skills that she had spent most of her life gaining in a way that wasn't meant or intended to kill another person.

     Even the training in District 14 that she had done before the Games had always happened with an image of a person as the target instead of the homemade paper one. Here and now, it was just the target, and it was just for bragging rights and bolstering each of the Victor's pride and ego. If there had been a winner determined, she'd have had to be worried about hurt feelings of the losing Victor's and the repercussions from the Capitol.

     Scarlet was escorted out of the metal linked cage as quickly as she was brought inside of it and since District 2 hadn't offered a feast or a tour, Scarlet was escorted back to the train. Though the district citizens let her pass without a hassle, they surrounded her and her entourage until the very end, nearly to the point where Scarlet wondered if some of them would try to enter the train and follow her to District 1.

     But the citizens of District 2 stopped at the edge of the platform, smiling and waving and cheering. Congratulating her on her Victory. As if by her gaining the approval of the Victors of District 2, she'd also gained the approval of the entire district. The strange feeling rose inside her once more as she tried to avoid looking directly into any faces of the still cheering crowd.

     It wasn't until the doors closed behind her, separating them from her, that she was fully able to lock that rising emotion away.

     Scarlet returned to her room, outwardly, the perfect picture of calm and collected, but inwardly, she tried to wrap her mind around the differences between her District and this one. She'd thought the tributes from 1 and 2 were arrogant. Even the District 4 tributes had been overconfident and egotistical, but if they came from these Districts where competition was most likely an everyday occurrence and Victory in the Arena was expected, how could they not be that way?

     In District 14, she was shunned and scorned and looked down upon for her the skills she had and her methods of winning the games. Here, she was applauded for her skills and ruthlessness.

     Scarlet wondered if the difference in the mindset of the citizens played a role in the success of the tributes. But then she realized that of course, it had too. Many of the tributes in District 14 were volunteers. But they weren't volunteers of actual choice. They were slaughter-children who had volunteered out of familial obligation. Not because they thought they could win the games.

     Scarlet knew that if a person didn't believe they could survive the games, it wouldn't be long before their blood stained the ground of the Arena.

     It was just how it was. Unless a person were to get extremely lucky, it would be hard to win without killing or making intentional decisions that lead to their victory. There were a few, Justin Hix and Megan Hayes from District 6 had both won their games by hiding in the Arena until all the other tributes had died, but most of the Victors had to fight in some way or another to become one.

     Soon they would be approaching District 1. The last District on the way to the Capitol for their feast, and then she would be sent back to District 14.

     Augustus Braun and Elixia had been the tributes from District 1. They had both been eighteen years old and both had volunteered to enter the games with the expectation of winning, and at the very least, representing District 1 well by providing a good showing of their ferocity and skills.

     In Scarlet's opinion, only one of the tributes succeeded.

      Elixia had survived until the end of the games, killed by Crimson when he turned on her and Urban with the help of his wolf, Crimson's Tide. If Crimson hadn't had a wolf as his deadly weapon, and if Scarlet hadn't had hers and Cadmium's, the games could have ended much differently. Who knows if Crimson would have been able to defeat the two remaining Career Tributes? Or if she would have been able to defeat Flax, Keenen, and Derrick.

      Meanwhile, Scarlet had killed Augustus in the bloodbath with a well-placed dagger to the eye. Thanks to the surprise showing of skills in District 2, no one would question whether it had been luck or skill that caused his death.

     Scarlet couldn't decide on how District 1 would react to her appearance there. Would they respect her strength and her hard-fought win to be a Victor? Or would they hate her for the actions she took inside of the Arena as many of the other Districts did?

     Scarlet rested on her bed, waiting for Verra to come and get her. It wouldn't take long to get to District 1 from where they were now. Scarlet was so tired, her eyes were drooping low, yet her mind refused to settle down.

     No matter how she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about her time in District 2.

     Scarlet found that most people looked down on her or even hated her for her actions in the arena. Those that didn't, Cadmium and the old man, Mr. Fox, and even Finnick, seemed to want to make excuses for her choices or pretend it never happened. Even though she hadn't felt entirely comfortable in District 2 and she couldn't shake the feeling that Enobaria and the other District 2 Victors would happily watch her crumble from her pedestal with one miscalculated move, she couldn't shake the other feelings that arose too. The pride she always carried in her had exploded with the approval from Enobaria.

     Finally, she had received validation for her fight in the Arena—

     Movement by the door of her room caught her attention and interrupted her train of thoughts. Scarlet sat up, slightly annoyed at the interruption, but when she saw Verra and her prep team there, she knew she would not be able to delay. Their arrival meant they were getting close to District 1 and it was time to get her ready for the presentation.

     Though she may have conflicting feelings about her visits to some of the District's, one thing was for sure.

     Scarlet Wolfe could not wait to get back to her District. Despite the hostile environment, it was her home. It was where Cadmium remained, her uncarved crystals, her memories of Crimson, and the little shop owned by Mr. Fox. Even her parents and her siblings, who had shown her little love, yet shaped her to be strong and unyielding.

     Seeing all of these different Districts had made it very clear. District 14 was what had made her who she was.

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Let me know your thoughts and feelings and opinions as we wrap up the Victory Tour? What did you think about her time in District 2? 

If you are wondering where I'm getting the names for the past Victor's and the games they won, aside from Enobaria and Brutus, who were mentioned in the Hunger Games books and movies, I've gotten most of them (along with some of the tribute names from Scarlet's Hunger Games) from http://hungergamestales.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Winners

This is of course, adjusted to fit my plot line and it is not to say it is 100% or even 50% accurate, but it is what I am primarily basing the secondary characters that participate in the Hunger Games off of.

Please comment, like, and remember to Vote if you have enjoyed this chapter!

Stay safe and take care!~ CANGEL <3