Sorry about the late update again! I'm starting a new school right now, and I've had zero time on the computer a lot of the time. I had been hoping to update on the 10th, but that's not really possible. Sooo…I just want to say happy birthday to theangelsarecoming, who submitted the awesome Scott!

Day 11-Almost There

D5-15-Aurora

"Aurora!" Mason grabs my hand quickly, and before I know it, he pulls me out of the cluster of tracker jackers, running me to the edge of the island. My body feels like it's on fire, even though I had only been under the cluster for about two seconds before he grabbed me. I try to move, but I know that there's no point. The tracker jackers will kill us any second. I can feel my own weight bringing me down as my vision begins to go fuzzy, and I know that the hallucinations are starting…

"Aurora!" Mason stops, and although my eyes are closed, I can feel myself being lifted, and put over his shoulders. I open my eyes slightly to see that he is shakily jumping on the small islands, desperately trying to get across. But I can feel the stings continuing, and Mason grimacing as they home on him too. Everything looks horrific, the sky below us keeps changing colour, and the little islands keep disappearing, so I know we'll never get past the tracker jackers. And when I raise my head to see the cornucopia I can see that there's blood everywhere. So much blood…

"Almost there." Mason says weakly, buckling under my weight. It's all I can do to stay awake, and not drift into death. But he manages to do it, and throws me onto the field. I see blood, but I can't feel anything, and for a moment I lay there, looking behind me to see several tracker jackers still heading towards us. Mason is standing, despite the fact that he looks worse than I probably do, and turning around to try to help me. He is covered in blood, and leaning over to help me, but then falls backwards. I use whatever strength I have left to try to fight these hallucinations, and I lunge forward to catch Mason's arm as he rolls over, almost falling over the edge.

"Let go!" Mason says as I clutch his arm. I cannot trust the illusion of his now decaying body, so I simply close my eyes and pay attention to his voice. "There are more tracker jackers coming! I'll die one way or another!"

"No you won't!" I say. "You've made it this far! You've conquered your fear. They won't try to kill you!"

I can hear Mason grimace, as if one more lone tracker jacker stings him. He howls in pain, although still managing to hold on. I don't let my grip loosen, despite the excruciating pain. What Mason says next sounds like it is coming through tears, as are my words.

"I never would have conquered my fear on my own, Aurora. I got past them because of you."

"Mason…" I choke back my own tears, my eyes still closed. I open my eyes slightly, trying to get one last look at him.

"I love you." He says. I open my eyes fully to see his sleeve tear, and I watch as he falls through the sky. I can't scream his name. I can't cry. I feel like death.

I fall backwards as I try to hold onto Mason's last words, his last moment of life. The cannon seems to be the thing that lulls me to sleep.

I love you too.

D6-11/13-Scott

I wipe the sweat off my brow as I make the finishing touches on my machine, twirling the screws with Ryder's knife.

Ryder…I still miss him. I was with him for only a week, but he was like a big brother to me. I still see him in my nightmares; screaming and writhing in pain as the girl stabs him and kicks him off the cliff. I want to kill Ophelia as revenge, but I know that going straight to her is suicide. That girl has visible mental health problems. I know that much, what with all of the morphlings walking around at home. She looks like a morphling addict, but…different. As if she started taking a more powerful drug more recently. I'm not entirely surprised. The Capitol likes killers. They sponsor them. However, they also like scores, and they have been sending me materials and building equipment to me for the past couple of days. I was surprised with my score back when we were still in the Capitol; I thought that they had to be mistaken. But now that that score has rewarded me with these supplies, I don't really care.

And I'm not building this auto man for myself. I know that there's got to be at least one more decent tribute out there, one that deserves to win. I don't have a family, and I know that even if I did, the Gamemakers would slaughter me and everyone else that I love. For all I know, they killed my uncle the minute that I told Ryder the truth. Not that I care, he was the one who screwed my life over. I want this day to end; I want this life to end.

Maybe the Capitol likes me, and maybe they want me to win. But I know that I can't, even with this auto man. My top priority is to find the winner, and give them my tools to get through the rest of the Games.

I bend down and turn the auto man on, stepping back quickly as it creaks to life, moving forward until it chops down a nearby tree.

I run forward and turn it off just in time, before it clear-cuts the forest. Smiling, I turn the auto man around and begin dragging it back towards the Cornucopia, waiting for the next tribute to come by.

I stop paying attention for a moment, however, and jump back when the cannon suddenly goes off. Tripping and falling over, I fall back and lie on the ground for a moment, grimacing and pulling myself upwards. I'm so clumsy…

When I stand up, however, I am shocked to see the presence of someone who had not been there a moment before.

At the end of the field, I see the shape of a person-a girl to be precise. I don't know if she's dead, or alive. Even so, I run forwards.

D11-16-Ophelia

The girl pulls back, drawing out her gun, shooting blindly. When she realizes that she missed, she drops her weapon, pulling out a small knife instead. I smile, not hesitating, as I jump from behind her, knocking her to the ground. Although the girl is small, she puts up a fight, and it takes me a little while to finally pin her down and take my knife out. My knife is no bigger than hers, but I can see that she has not used her own. It doesn't matter, though. I will kill this girl. This girl that touched MY hair ribbons. She will pay dearly. I will show no mercy.

She looks at me for a moment, her eyes wide with fear. This makes me pause for a moment. She's scared of me. Not in the "scared of dying" way. In the other way.

I don't pause for long, but I lift my knife high and smile, laughing as I drive it into her chest. Although she moved at the last second so that I could not strike her heart, I still stabbed in a spot that would kill her. She doesn't even scream, but simply lies motionless as I stand up. I lazily pick the knife up from her chest and put it back into my jacket. Before I walk away from her however, she says something in a weak voice. I can barely make out the words before she croaks. I don't smile when I hear the cannon. I don't feel joy in the same way that I did when I made my other kill of the Games. I just stand motionless, trying to comprehend what that little girl just said.

"What have they done to you?"

I remember these words even the day after I kill the girl, wondering what she meant? I'm fine. I'm great! The Games have given me a newfound power, and yet this girl was looking at me as if I'm some sort of monster. Why? If it is because I killed her, then it is her own fault. She touched my hair ribbons, something that is completely forbidden in my eyes.

But…no…she was looking at me like I wasn't human.

I sit down quietly now, not even bothering to clear my knife. I lie down and look upwards, trying to make sense of what that girl said. My mind goes blank for a moment, until I see a beautiful crimson butterfly go over my head. I want to kill the butterfly, but I am too tired to try. I haven't been doing many things that I usually do since coming into the arena. The forest isn't a good place for skipping, playing with my hair, laughing and being myself…

My thoughts are interrupted by the sudden burst of pain that enters my head. I bolt upwards, screaming, trying to stop this horrible sensation. My eyes are closed, my hands are on the sides of my head, and I feel like tracker jackers have just attacked me.

Then suddenly, it stops. When I open my eyes, I pull back, trembling, looking up to see the one person that I never thought I'd see again.

My brother.

Head Gamemaker Apollo

Apollo slipped another nerve pill into the corner of his mouth, grimacing as he swallowed the drug. These tributes were really getting on his nerves. He was trying to get rid of that wretched girl from District 5, and she proved to be too strong, yet again. He was furious, and knew that if he didn't kill that girl soon enough, Davus would execute him without a second thought. In the end, it was the District 9 boy that fell to his doom. It was a shame to take out such a strong competitor. If he didn't run off with that girl, then he would have been content to make him the victor. But now he was left in an uncomfortable position. Four tributes left, two of which had broken all of the rules of the Games, one of which was pissing him off, and one who he wished to keep alive, but had been pressured into killing by his fellow Gamemakers.

It must've been because it was a Monday. Apollo hated Mondays.

D11-16-Ophelia

"Ophelia…" He says softly, helping me rise to my feet. I am trembling at the sight of him, shocked, no-horrified that he is alive. How-how could he have lived? I watched the peacekeepers slaughter him. I cowered from his horrible screams as they tortured him before delivering the final blow. That day was the final straw. That's why I need my morphling.

"Don't-" I choke out. He puts his hand underneath my chin, lifting it up. My hands reach towards my belt, where my knife is, but I realize that it's not there.

"Ophelia, I don't understand. What happened to the loving sister I once knew? What have they done to you?"

I cringe, remembering the words of the girl. I am truly terrified right now. My own brother, seeing me in the Games. He thinks I am a monster. He thinks I am a bad person. I thought my own brother could understand that it was for good reasons! I want to get home, to be with mother and father, even if they hate me and fear me! Even if they want me dead!

"Aaron…" I begin, biting my lip, collapsing onto my knees. I say my next words through tears, not caring if other tributes can hear me. "What's wrong with me?"

He sits down beside me, putting my head on his knees, the way he used to when I was little.

"Ophelia, please try to remember. The morphling. All those times when your life seemed to be a blur, and then you woke up to see people cowering before you?"

Of course I remember. I had tried to be polite all of those times, being myself, acting like the sweet girl that I always have been. I had simply forgotten about all of those other times, when people had been scared of me.

That's it. I realize. That's because I have hurt them in ways that even I do not know.

And then, all of those memories come back. The blurs become colourful, and I see myself as a monster.

After remembering this, I cry harder on Aaron's lap. I'm so scared. I'm not scared of the Games, or of dying. Right now, I'm scared of myself. I'm scared of my brother, and what he, and the rest of the District will do when I go back, knowing what I have become.

"Ophelia, there is still a way to escape this fate." He says, standing me up. I immediately collapse onto my knees. I look beside me to see my knife, standing there. I stand up, knife in hand, giving it to my brother. He refuses, but I do it again.

"No. You have to do it." He says, giving it back to me. In my heart, I know that it's wrong. I know now, what I have been doing all of these years. I cannot return to my District as a monster.

"You do it with me." I look up to him. He smiles widely, clutching the knife just below my hand. I look into his eyes one more time, trying to see the loving brother I once knew. But as I bring the trembling knife closer to me, I look at him and see his expression change, as if slowly turning into a monster.

"We'll be together again, Ophelia. Just you and me." He says softly, still smiling maniacally. I try to stop, try to look for another way. He looks like he will kill me anyway.

"No-" I say quietly, pushing the knife back. He resists me, however, and pushes it back towards me, forcefully enough to make a small cut in my neck.

"Ophelia, do it!" He yells!

"No!" I yell in reply. He screams this time, and I scream. Next comes the choking, as I allow the knife to go through my neck. I fall to the ground and my brother disappears, his maniacal smile being the last thing to disappear.

D9-15-Sky

Three of us left.

My eyes are still wide open, even after the anthem concludes and the faces disappear. The girl from two…I didn't know her, so I don't respond to her face. Mason is the next to show up in the sky. I am paralyzed when I see his face, smiling, with that twinkle in his eyes. After Mason fades, there comes the young girl from District 10, the one who got in with the Careers. After, I see the two from District 11, the boy, and the hair-ribbon obsessed psychopath Ophelia. Lord knows how many people that girl killed.

When the anthem finishes playing, and the sky goes dark again, I sit there for a while longer, not even trying to stop the tears that inevitably flow down my cheeks. I can't believe Mason's dead. I liked him. I wanted to tell him sooner, but instead I helped Essence set him up with Aurora. They were a better couple than we would have been, and I tried to be happy for Mason. I don't hate Aurora at all. She's great too. I don't want to face her in the finale. Facing Mason would have been even harder. But I'm still doing to win this. I don't care if I have to kill someone. I will conquer my fear, win these sick Games, and go home to Hazel. And I will find some way to help Mason's family.

You're probably going to kill me now, everyone. You were mad about the last chapter's cliffhanger, and now I've killed off two more characters. RIP Ophelia Oralee, the BEST psychopath I have ever seen or written. There are going to be psychopaths in the sequel, but I don't think anyone will measure up to this one. Yes, her fear was a bit weird, and I used it as a bit of a symbolic thing. Her deepest darkest fear (even if she didn't know it) was of her brother seeing what she had become. And yes, she was a bit OOC in this chapter, but I guess I have a small excuse for that. The "modified morphling" actually wore off.

And I am especially sorry for killing off Mason. He was an incredible tribute, one of two male candidates for victors. Thank you to wjjmwmsn5 for submitting Mason, and I'm sorry if you hate me now for killing your tributes. You're still an awesome writer! And I'm sorry if you guys didn't like how I wrote his death. Okay…yeah, you can flame it. I understand that it was terrible and probably nothing like how it should go. I've never actually done a tracker jacker scene before, and I was trying not to make it sound too much like in the book. I wanted both of them to suffer (now I sound evil), and add a nice final romantic moment. Bad combination, huh?

Now...the finale has begun! Aurora, Scott, and Sky! Who will come out on top? You'll just have to wait and see!

Now, I only have two more chapters before the sequel gets underway (I'm currently in the process of writing the first few reapings). I currently have five bloodbaths, which is quite a success (for this one, I only had two submitted as bloodbaths). I'll keep the psychic twist thingie, and I'm partly using Xylia Ren's fic (150th Hunger Games) for inspiration (she's awesome too!).

Now, you can place your bets! Who will come out on top? Will it be the fabulous Aurora, the District five girl who has conquered not one, but two fears? The very pattable Scott, child-genius-who-technically-shouldn't-be-in-the-games? Or Sky, the clever, determined tribute that survived this long on prosthetics?