A/N: I do not own the Hunger Games

A/N2: I've been meaning to do this for a while and finally got around to it. So...

Thank you to:

Call Me Bitter

FlitterCherub

Girl On Fire Lillibet Norris

hungergamesforever123

crescentrose22

NewProphecy

MarayaBadica

klhansen22

M-x-M

and two anonymous reviewers: ILOVETARARIEGAN & penguin569

for your dedicated reviews! I really do appreciate them!


Fear


Fear of death
Fear of life
Fear of truth
Fear can bite
Fear devours
Trust at sight
Fear turns logic
Into spite
Fear even doth
Turn light to night
When it upon
Your shoulder lights
Fear twists
Fear kills
Fear is the cause
Of most world ills
Love chase fear away
When fear gone
All just peace

One Day

~Egal Bohen


Ever...

The Games are over. At least they should be. The Capitol got what they wanted.

Death.

They wanted death, didn't they? Colton is dead, his body severed by the scythe. That's exactly the Capitol's idea of 'good, clean fun' isn't it? Colton is dead. The Games should be over. If they're over, then why are we still here?

Oh, that's right. The Capitol cannot be satisfied with the just one gruesome death. They want 23.

23 deaths and 1 victor. Though, if you're around the victors enough, you soon learn that nobody really wins the Hunger Games. They follow your everywhere, for the rest of your life. The faces of the children you killed accusingly haunt your nightmares. I've heard my father violently scream himself awake several times. Worried, I would wake him up and try to comfort him like he did for me after the Dragon Fire Dream. But telling him it was just a dream never helped, because he and I both knew it wasn't. No wonder Chaff and Daddy took to the bottle. No wonder the other people start doing morphling. It all makes sense now.

"If you're going to kill us, then just do it." Asia says harshly, bravely, fearlessly.

A male chuckles. "You really think I'm just going to kill all of you so soon?"

I swallow.

He chuckles again, running his fingers over the blade of his scythe. "Now, if I just go around killing everybody at once, where's the entertainment and the pleasure in that?"

I take a step backwards, and trip. "Oof!"

Slate notices me. "Oh, it's you again." His scythe slowly moves closer to me. It touches my neck, but doesn't cut me.

"Kill me. Go ahead."

Slate laughs mirthlessly. "No, I don't think I will. Killing someone as weak and helpless as you would be no fun. A challenge. That's what I like, a challenge. You District 12, are a little weakling. I'm just going to bet that the arena will kill you instead of another tribute. So why should I waste my time?"

Zayna furiously shoots and arrow at Slate. It lodges itself in his shoulder. The pain makes him wince, but he quickly breaks the arrow. City pulls out his knives and runs toward Zayna. Trendy- City's district partner- doesn't do anything. Why can't she just use her two-handed sword? I look down and see that she only has one hand to use. Someone must have chopped it off at the Cornucopia.

Despite her missing hand, she charges at me with a knife. I can hold her off until Zephyr or Zayna or Asia kills her. I kick her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her for a moment. She quickly recovers however, and charges at me with more rage. I jump toward her, holding onto her neck. I use one of my arms to grab the knife from her. I throw it as far away from us as possible. I proceed to punch her in the face until her nose breaks and her two front teeth are knocked out. The finally throws me off of her and pulls out a second knife.

I realize now that nobody is going to kill her for me. I now realize that I have to become the thing I dread the most.

A killer.

With this realization, I manage to kick Trendy a few times so she would stay down for a little while. As she struggles to get up, I aim an arrow right at her heart. A quick kill. Hopefully she won't feel much. I miss and the arrow gets stuck in her neck instead.

In her jugular. Boom!

She is dead.

"TRENDY!" City screams, abandoning his fight with Zayna and heading right for me, for the kill. I try to set up my bow and arrow fast enough, but more smoke creeps into my lungs. I begin coughing, and when I stop, City is so close to killing me that I cannot set up my bow and arrow fast enough. Zephyr, Zayna and Asia are now all preoccupied with Slate to be able to help. In desperation, I throw a knife at him.


Haymitch...

My mouth drops open as the scythe cuts the boy from 9 in half, "did you see that!" Chaff is swearing so loud that you could hear him in District 12. Seeder is scolding him for his language while Finnick stares is disbelief at the screen. Raewyn is silent, her hands placed over her mouth, eyes closed. I wonder what it's like for her, getting attached to tributes year after year after year. I closed myself off after the third year of mentoring. Raewyn obviously hasn't. I give her an awkward side hug, knowing that more Haymitch/Raewyn teasing would come out of it.

"That was disgusting." she whispers as three tributes walk out of the bushes.

It's the boy from 2 and both from 1. Hm, missing-hand-girl is still alive. Raewyn's girl tribute calmly says to them, "If you're going to kill us, then just do it."

The boy from 2 goes on about how weak she and Ever are and how he wouldn't want to waste his time killing them. Finally, the 18 year old girl from 3 has had enough, so she shoots and arrow at he boy. That sets off the three Careers. The boys team up against the girl who shot the arrow. The boy from 3 and the girl from 9 help her. Ever notices that the girl from 1 has a missing hand. the gril sees her looking and pulls out a knife, ready to kill her. Ever does a great job kicking and punching her.

It soon becomes clear that not even breaking her nose and knocking out her teeth will stop her. Ever pulls and arrow out of the quiver and points it at the girl. She sees this, but doesn't stop. She greatly under estimates the 12 year old girl from District 12.

She pulls the sting back a little further and allows the Career girl to get a little closer to her before she pulls the string. The look in her eye shows a she didn't hit what she aiming for, though she hit the girl's jugular, killing her.

"TRENDY!" the boy from 1 screams.

Why do they always have to have such dumb names?

The boy stops fighting with the other three and is now running right towards Ever. He is too fast for her. She can't get an arrow ready in time. This is it for her, then.

I close my eyes and prepare myself for the cannon that will signify her death.

Boom!

I hear the four people around me breathe a sigh of relief. I get ready to knock them all out, but I take a peek at the screen. Ever is standing up, a knife buried deep into the boy's abdomen. He is dead.

Good, my daughter is still alive. Then I start thinking. She's alive, but at the expense of what?

She never wanted to become a killer but that's just what she had to become. Someone else's daughter is dead, along with someone else's son. Those two Careers probably had siblings too, most of them do. I think Ever is thinking what I'm thinking, judging by how she is acting.


Ever...

Boom!

City Ballantine is dead.

Slate stops fighting with Zayna, Zephyr and Asia.

The full reality of what I just did finally hits me. I have killed two people in a selfish effort to spare my own life. I've killed two people who probably had more worth than me. I killed someone's daughter, sis, granddaughter, friend...someone's son, brother, grandson, friend...killed them. It's all not me.

"Well, well, well. Looks like you can defend yourself." Slate says, walking over to me, scythe at the ready.

"Go ahead. Do it."

"Hm?"

"Do it! Kill me! I killed your friends, you have the right."

Slate laughs heartlessly. "They weren't my friends. Just a strategic move in these games. I was going to kill them in their sleep eventually, anyway. You did me a favor, actually. And I always-" he moves the scythe to where the blade touches my chest. "-repay my favors."

"Leave her alone! Can't you see that she's terrified!" Zayna screams, punching him in the back of the head. He isn't phased by her attack. He ignores her.

"So...I'll let you live. For now. Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky." Slate wanders off.

Zayna prepares to shoot an arrow into his back.

"No. Let him go."

"But-"

"Let. Him. Go. Please." I say, still on the ground.

"Fine." Zayna says slowly, helping me up.

"How can you guys stand to look at me!" I scream.

"What do you mean?" Zephyr asks.

"I killed two people!"

"In self-defense. They would have killed you."

"Yeah, but i still killed them! Murder is murder either way you look at it!"

Zayna brushes the hair out of my face. "Ever, calm down. Listen, you killed them because you had to. Remember at the Cornucopia when I killed that boy? You guys didn't start hating me just because I killed someone, and we're not about to start hating you."

I nod slowly. "Okay."

"Better?"

"Much." I take a deep breath. "I think we should say something about Colton." I say.

"That's a good idea." Asia agrees.

Zephyr and Zayna nod.

We all join hands and Asia starts. "He was a good person." She seems unaffected by his death.

Zephyr goes next. "He was very smart. Probably would have won."

Zayna goes next, "Yeah...what Zeph said..."

I open my mouth to speak, but can't. It's my fault. The scythe would have killed me if he hadn't been standing there tying the canteen to my jeans. "He was very nice, a cared a lot about people." I finally say. We keep our eyes closed for a few more seconds before continuing on. Smoke still pours the air.

"Did anybody bother to grab Colton's backpack?" Zephyr asks as the hovercrafts come to pick him, City and Trendy up.

Asia holds up the black backpack that Colton grabbed from the Cornucopia. "He'd want us to use what's in it to stay alive. Don't you think?"

The rest of us nod as Asia empties the contents of her backpack and stuffs them in Colton's. She tosses her backpack into the flames. "Let's get going." she says apathetically.

We continue walking through the burning forest and ruins. "How did the fire start?" I ask Zephyr after a while. Colton wore the brains in this little confederacy. Now, it is Zephyr.

He shakes his head, "I really don't know."

"I think I have an idea." Zayna says.

"Let's hear it!" Zephyr says, jumping over a fallen flaming branch.

"Well, since we're in the ruins of some sort of town or city, there was likely some sort of gas line. Some propane or something could have been left over and leaked. Someone's fire could have triggered it. Or if this arena is completely of Gamemaker creation- which, it most likely is- then maybe something about the fog and a campfire triggered the massive wildfire."

"I think...a more likely explanation would be a combination of both of those scenarios, plus a little more on the Gamemakers's part. They probably started a fire because the Games were going to slow." Asia adds.

"But we're only 3 days into them!" I protest.

"True, but maybe everybody was doing what we were. Staying holed up in a building or shelter until something happens. If this fire didn't start, then-"

"YAH!" A girl who looks about 14 charges at us with a spear. Elina Herb of District 11. Chaff's mentoring her this year...I don't want to kill her.

And I don't.

Zayna shoots her in the leg with an arrow, obviously not feeling like killing her, either. "What the heck are you doing?"

Elina rips the arrow out of her leg and though she is in pain, she charges at me with that spear of hers. "You killed those Careers! I saw it!"

Oh, I forgot.

Me+Killing people=Threat

Me+Threat=People (like Elina) out to kill me

Great, this just great. I shoot an arrow into her other leg.

"Gone soft, Twelve?"

I glare at her, then my look softens. "Look, I don't want to kill you! Just go away and we can-"

Arrow still in her leg, she stands up and throws the spear at me. I duck. The spear hit's a flaming tree branch. It falls and some embers catch Elina's clothes. "AH! SOMEBODY HELP! NOOO PLEASE!" The flames begin to engulf her. I frantically try to untie the canteen from my belt. I succeed, dump the water on her. The water just amkes it worse. She cries out in agony one last time. Boom! Elina's cannon goes off. Her body is hardly recognizable from the charred remains.

"I'm gonna be sick." I say, trying to not throw up.

"Go ahead. We won't look." Zayna says.

I find a bush and throw up. Zephyr, does too.

"Seems like all of our fire-starting scenarios are at least partially wrong." Zayna says when Zephyr and I are done throwing up.

"What do you mean?" Asia asks as Elina's charred remains are lifted by the hovercraft.

"Ordinary fire wouldn't burn a body that quickly or that badly. Unless some kind of chemical or a whole lot of gasoline was added to it. But even then the process would be much slower." Zayna explains. Okay, maybe Zayna now wears the brains in the confederacy.

"Yeah...you're right." Asia says.


Haymitch...

This brings us to where we are now.

Chaff swearing and drinking more than he already has. Raewyn trying not to faint. My dry heaves. All three of us and Seeder wishing we could un-see what just happened.

Finnick joins us again. "The Careers were boring me." he says, throwing a sugar cube in his mouth.

"Figures." Seeder mummers.

"Glad you could join us buddy! Pal! Best friend!" Chaff says, in a drunken stupor.

Normally I would laugh, but...does the reason even need an explanation? I'm pretty sure today's events are self-explanatory. Finnick tosses another sugar cube in his mouth. "Wait, where did you even get sugar cubes?" I ask him.

"Kitchen. Want some?" Finnick holds out his hand.

"Sure why not?" I take three or four. Mm, sugar.

Raewyn stares at us in disgust. "You two are eating sugar cubes? Hello, did you not just see what happened today?"

"Uh..."

"Maybe when they replay it you'll get it."

"We saw it, we were sitting in this room the whole time." Finnick says, confused.

"Ugh, never mind." I see a small tear run down her cheek and pretend not to notice.

"The Gamemaker's have gone a bit too far this time, haven't they?" I ask Seeder.

Seeder nods. "Way too far." That's when I see it. Seeder, Chaff, Finnick and I are not upset because of the tribute deaths. Sure, they disgust us, but other than that we hardly acknowledge them. We are upset because of how far the Gamemakers went. Raewyn is quite the opposite. That tears wasn't just for Colton Cotton. That tears was for Taya Scout, Trendy Twilight, City Ballantine and Elina Herb along with her own tribute. She cares about people in general. That is rare for a victor. They are usually cruel and heartless, or completely out-of-touch because of alcohol or morphling. I try to think back to the 60th Games. Aside from all the painful memories it brings me, I do remember a few things about Raewyn and how she won.

She only killed one person, Maxwell Tylers from 12 because he killed her ally. The final four were her, the boy from 5, the boy from 7 and the boy from 4. She hid in a tree near the Cornucopia and watched the boy from 5 kill the boy from 7 and the boy from 4 kill him. The boy 4 thought he was the victor, but Raewyn jumped out of the tree and was ready to face him. She knew something the boy from 4 didn't. There were six man-eating foxes in the arena. All but one were dead. Each fox was made to hunt one tribute. They were created specifically for the final six.

The last six were made up of Raewyn, the boys from 4, 7, 5 and 10 and the boy from 1, who was her ally. The boy from 1 was the first to get eaten by his fox. Raewyn expected the fox to kill her too, but it ran away. She killed it though, just in case. Two of the foxes passed her, but didn't try to eat her. She watched one of the foxes that ignored her eat the boy from 10. She killed both foxes, then climbed up into a tree. She saw the other three boys kill their foxes. Raewyn saw the last fox- her fox- sniffing around for her. She jumped into the next tree to delay the fox by at least a few seconds. That's when the boys finished each other off and Raewyn jumped out of the tree.

The boy from 4 raised a spear, prepared to kill her. Raewyn heard a snarl from behind her. She glanced behind to see the fox, smiled as the boy moved to drive the sword through her stomach, moved to the left just in time for the fox to miss her and tear into the boy from 4. The trumpets and the anthem played to announce her the winner.

That is the reason why she can care so genuinely. Because ultimately, she is a victor by chance.

Ever killed two people today, but that was to defend herself. She couldn't kill Elina Herb, though, which worries me. But maybe there is hope for her. If Raewyn, the girl who only killed one person to avenge her ally's death can be a victor, than maybe Ever can too.


Robbie...

Night finally comes around. The flames are still burning in the distance, but Hollie, Amity and I are far enough away to be safe. I volunteered for standing guard first.

The anthem of Panem plays and the faces of the five dead tributes are cast into the sky.

Both from 1. Girl from 4. Boy from 9. Girl from 11.

Five tributes dead tonight. That leaves me and the girls, Ever and three of her allies, the girl from 6, and the girl from 10. Nine of us left. Wow. They're burning through us like coal.


Ever...

We find a nice big tree with large, strong branches and plenty of leaves far away from where all the flames are.

"Sleeping rules still apply," Zephyr says. "We have to stay up and guard in shifts."

"I'll take the first shift." I volunteer.

"No, I'll do it." Asia says, not meeting any of our eyes.

I open my mouth to protest, but quickly close it. She didn't just lose her ally today. She lost her district partner. They probably had nothing to do with each other prior to the reaping, but at least he was from home. I now know why she wants to take the guard shift. This is why she was acting so blasé earlier, so she could mourn in private. "Okay." I say, lying myself to the branch above Zayna with the rope.


Haymitch...

"They're almost down to the final eight, you know." Seeder says, standing up and starting to walk away.

"Where you goin'?" Chaff slurs, completely wasted.

"I'm going back to the hotel room. I can't take another night sleeping on these benches and falling asleep to Chaff and Finnick spinning around in those chairs."

"See you tomorrow." I yawn. I look around and see that the only Career mentors still here are from, District 2. Well, there's Finnick, but he's cool and hardly counts as a Career. Come to think of it, the guys from 4 are just about the only decent Careers ever.

"Seeder's right, you know." Raewyn says sleepily with eyes shut. "You'd better prepare for the questions tomorrow."

"Nah, I'm just going to wing it."

She opens her eyes for a second and says, "Good luck with that."


Next chapter...

The 72nd Hunger Games have almost been narrowed down to the final 8! Will we have the final 8, or will it be delayed one more day?