Jason Hendrix, 14, District 12 Male
Wow, we're so close to the end.
I never thought I'd make it this far. I thought I'd die like Kat did, but here I am.
I need to get cracking if I want to see Jenson and the others again. The best thing I have after killing Thalia is a frying pan, and that'll be no use against Eridan or Natalie.
A blonde blur barrels into me knocking me into the ground. I close my eyes, preparing for death. Bye, Jenson.
"Please…please make it quick," I stammer out.
"What?", she replies, "I thought you were going to kill me!"
"You're the one with the spear," I reply.
She bites her lip thoughtfully, andshifts her weight from one foot to another, tightening her grip on her spear. It's chilling that she's one year younger than me.
"I let you go," she says, "and you do something for me in return. Something helpful."
"I guess, if I get to live."
"Well, no guarantee that Eridan dear won't find you and cut you to ribbons," she replies with a smirk, "but I won't be the one to do the deed."
"Fine," I say, "What do you want, Thorn Debrasker?"
She stands on her toes and whispers in my ear, "If you get home alive and I don't, make sure Iris Hyland knows I love her. Iris Hyland. Don't forget that. If you do, I'll haunt you for the rest of your days."
"Will do."
"Lovely," she says, with a genuine smile, "Goodbye, Jason Hendrix. I do hope you have some good luck."
And then Thorn Debrasker leaps into the bushes and disappears.
Darn! I just missed my chance to make an ally! I guess I have to do this alone….
Natalie Andrez, 16, District 2 Female
Eridan looks….happy.
But insane. Very, very insane.
More insane than usual.
I hear some chatter from the Horn, and grip my flail tightly, but my district partner is the only one there. I do catch one word though. Feferi.
Crap.
See, I knew this would happen. Velvet didn't have the time nor resources to make enough poison for all of the candy, so she put weakened poison in some, thinking it wouldn't really matter. I studied poisons for years at the Academy. I knew what was up.
But I thought scheming, manipulative Velvet would have another plan. I thought she would have a trick up her sleeve, but she didn't. And that was her downfall, may she rest in peace.
I can't stomach hearing him talk about his imaginary girlfriend much longer, so I get up to leave, but I'm interrupted.
"Why, Natalie, Feferi and I didn't see you there," said my district partner, now inexplicably behind me.
"Your imaginary girlfriend won't help you," I say, "Let's dance."
I start fighting, and he charges in too with his sword. I find myself having to use my hunting knife to block his blows. I'm defenceless. He's closing in for the final blow. I whisper a message to my family and shut my eyes.
Then he stops.
Trumpets sound through the arena, and the raspier than usual voice of Scipio Severo echoes through the arena.
"Tributes, congratulations on securing your place in the final Seven," he says, "There will be a feast at sundown tomorrow, near the Tunnel of Love. Do not try to get there earlier, as there are barricades in place. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour."
"Damn," he whispers, "We need to get ready now, darling."
He walks off alone, forgetting me in his daze, and I run off to my hiding place. I need to rest and recuperate for the Feast tomorrow.
Swanilda Waverly Lucian, 31, Head Gamemaker
"It'll be fine, we have it sorted out."
"Great, that was a close call."
Decimal Techstone, 16, District 3 Female
"So, are we feasting tomorrow?" I ask Zeus as we eat our dinner.
"I don't know," he says, "We have all the stuff we need, and everyone will be there. I don't see the point."
"Smart."
"Thanks!" His eyes move to my wristband, "Pardon me asking, but why did you choose that as your token?"
"My friends gave it to me when I was Reaped. It was supposed to be for my birthday, but….."
"That's a cool token! Binary, right?"
"You bet!" I reply with a grin, "What about your token?"
"It was my father's. He died in an accident. When I was Reaped, my best friend Futurista engraved my name on it."
"Wow, that's way more meaningful than mine."
"Don't say that, yours was great!"
"Thanks!" He really does know what to say when he feels comfortable. And to think he only really had one close friend at school….
"We should probably start thinking about what happens in the finale," he says apprehensively.
"Yeah," I reply, "I mean, I really don't want it to come down to that, but we're in a deathmatch, and there are only five others left…."
"I don't want it to come to this either," he says, and turns to me and takes my hand. "This week, well, I can't say it's been the best week of my life, because, you know, deathmatch and stuff, but because I've met you, it's all been worth it."
"Wow," I say, "When I was young, I'd always dreamed of a man who would sweep me off my feet, but I never imagined it would be here, or now, but that made it all the more amazing when we first kissed."
For a minute, we just sit there, looking into the night, the stars, the moon and the skies.
Then before I know it, my lips meet his, and I fall in love all over again. I wrap my arms around him, and I never want to let him go.
But I have to, as I hear a parachute whistling down. We let go, and go to open it.
"It's…it's a cube," he says.
"There's a note," I point out, "D3M AND F, EVERYONE HERE HAS THIS BOX, BUT YOURS IS DIFFERENT. CC."
Something's wrong. The cube is still in his other hand when I kiss him for heck, maybe the last time, and electricity surges through both of us and the world goes dark.
Zeus Technik, 15, District 3 Male (?)
I blink, and I don't see sunrise.
I see white, everywhere. It's strange, really strange. I was in the arena, but I'm not there in a bed. Did I win? Is this the afterlife? Where's Decimal?
Two women enter the door I'm staring at. It's like there's a….screen in front of them. A computer screen. Is this a weird dream?
"Zeus Technik," starts the elder, "I am Clarry Main, and this is Swanilda Lucian. I am the Editor of Footage, and she is the Head Gamemaker. Can you understand me?"
"Yes, I can, I think," I say, "What's going on? Where's Decimal?"
"Mr. Technik, I think you'll find your girlfriend is next to you," says Swanilda, and it's true. Decimal is….hovering…next to me, albeit a few metres off. It looks like she's asleep. I hope she's not dead.
"Well, Zeus," says Clarry, "your situation is rather odd. Would you like the full explanation now?"
"Yes."
"Okay then," she says, taking a deep breath, "I was a part of a complicated plan to kill you and Decimal. I had no say in any of it. My boss, Cerise Cepheus, is trying to start a movement that will strip Panem from its glory, and leave it worse than it is now. She was hoping that your death would make the country follow her. The plan was to make a device that would kill you quickly, but she made one for every tribute so no-one would suspect anything. I handed them over to the Head of Sponsorship like I would, but Swanilda intercepted with her technical know-how. She couldn't stop you from dying, but she could attempt to re-animate you. Her technology isn't advanced enough to resurrect your bodies, but it is to resurrect your mind. So, your consciousnesses were placed in computer programs, and you are now a part of Panemian technology. You and your girlfriend have escaped the Hunger Games, not physically, but you can technically live an immortal life here in the computers."
"What, but that can't be possible! I've studied a lot and nothing like this could ever happen!"
"Yes, but our technology is kept very hidden even from District 3," says Swanilda, "Here, Decimal is waking up. It might be best for you to avoid physical contact, we're still not sure if this will work."
Decimal wakes up, and the whole thing is explained to her, and she starts to cry silently, and I think I am too.
"This technology seems to be working," says Swanilda, "so now try coming in contact of each other. Maybe a handshake or something."
We launch at each other and hug, crying into each other's shoulders. We're safe. But at what cost?
"Why did you save us?", I manage to ask, "What are we? What will happen next?"
"This is pretty long," replies Swanilda, "so get ready. It is against the rules of the Games for outsiders to interfere with deaths, particularly for their own benefit. Ms. Cepheus broke that rule, and is currently being hunted down. We were too late to save you from death, but we gained permission to put you into he computers from President Aquilo. You'll find that you still feel like you have physical bodies, and you can still use said bodies in these computers, with a bit of added functionality. You can control, mostly, what these computers do and how they do it, as you both have pretty good technical know-how. That is party why we gained permission for you to live like this.
"And what do we have to do in return?"
"For a select time each day, you will work for the Games staff, especially the Gamemakers," Clarry continues, "You will help with formulating ideas for the Games, you will help model arenas, and you will help people communicate through software. You do get time to do what you wish, the President thinks that if you don't get enough privileges, you're more likely to rebel, and soldiers can't fight against computer programs. You will stay loyal to the Capitol, and in return, we'll provide a good life for you both in here. You also may have to communicate with tributes in future Games, who must not know who you really are. Do you agree?"
"We agree," whispers Decimal, and we hug each other, happy that we get to be relatively safe.
"Great," says Swanilda, "Good to have you on the team. We'll give you time to get acquainted with the system. You'll find it's rather lifelike."
The women walk out, leaving us alone. Decimal tucks her hair behind her ear, and grabs my hand.
"C'mon, let's go, explore," she says to me with a smile, "This is going to be very fun."
We soon find that living in a computer isn't really too much unlike living in an actual body. Sure, there are different devices instead of rooms, we can jump higher and run faster, and if we just dig inside the living spaces coded for us, there's the code and components. It's amazing. I feel like I'm finally in my element.
The amount of control President Aquilo gives us over ourselves is kind of insane. We can change our appearances a bit if we go into the Settings, and we've re-decorated our spaces using code I thought was useless at school.
Soon, we're watching a pixeled sunset, coded by a university student, and resting our heads on each other's shoulders.
"This'll be a good life, Zeus," Decimal says.
"Yeah. We're pretty much gods in this system, which is weird," I say, "I don't want to go too power-crazed."
"True," she says, "Remember how Ms. Main said we had to disguise our identities while talking with future tributes? We should probably come up with fake names."
"It'll be weird," I reply, "Zeus is all I've ever been."
"We can still be Zeus and Decimal inside," she says with a fake smile, "but I kind of like Desi. It sounds cute, and the sort of name that might be good for a computer program. You?"
I pause for a moment, and then I finally have an idea.
"Flash," I say, "They can call me Flash."
"Wait, don't tell me," she says, "was it your dad's name?"
"Yes."
We sit there in silence, watching the video change into nighttime. We'll be separated from our family and friends forever, but we still have each other.
And that's something.
And that chapter made me cry.
Well, Zecimal is forever! How do you feel about that? The reasoning behind this decision is that: A: I'm a sucker for Kagerou Project, and I just thought cyber lovers would be great in my universe too. Jin, don't sue.
B: Zeus and Decimal, along with Airisu Wolfe, Cerise Cepheus, and many other characters will play an enormous part in Fantasies Swept Away and my future SYOTs. Without Zecimal surviving, there would be a huge chunk missing from my universe.
C: Zecimal were some of my favourite tributes, full stop.7th Place: Decimal Techstone, 16, D3F, "Killed" by Cerise Cepheus and partially Clarry Main and Actaeon Wolfe (Escaped Arena)
Decimal was just...wow. She was a game developer, pretty popular, and could've been a Mary Sue. Heck, there was even EVERLARK in there. I mean, district partner loves girl, they're both reaped, they develop a relationship in the Games. I think that was just my lack of experience writing and experiencing romance. But you guys seemed to like Zecimal, so it was all good. I always knew Decimal would not be my victor, but would go pretty darn far, because she is truly awesome. Thanks Birk for a dynamic, smart girl!
6th Place: Zeus Technik, 15, D3M, "Killed" by Cerise Cepheus and partially Clarry Main and Actaeon Wolfe (Escaped Arena) Zeus was my Victor. He was perfect, everyone loved him, and it would have been great for my worldbuilding, but eventually, I decided that this path was more suitable for him. I shifted around FSA tributes in preparation for Zeus' victory, I put hints EVERYWHERE, and now it's not going to happen. It pains me to say goodbye to Zeus, as he was truly one of my favourite tributes this year. Thank you so much Thomas for Zeus, and I'm sorry I messed him up a lot (his weapon was meant to be knives and he was way more outgoing in his form).
Thank you for following Moon Skies! WE'RE ALMOST AT THE END OH MY GOODNESS
AND NOW THAT ZEUS IS A CYBER GOD ONLY ONE POTENTIAL VICTOR IS LEFT
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
