I wasn't feeling a last chapter with some random POVs, but I wanted more character definition before the Games. So I took a third option and gave everyone a tubes mini-POV.

Grande St. Leger- District One male

My fingers shifted and wrapped around my token. I turned it over and over in my hands. I wasn't scared of the Arena, I told myself. I was focusing on my token. My other hand was laced into Elissa's.

Dr. Splendor would have called that obsessive-compulsive behavior. That was a sort of anxiety disorder and they were often comorbid, but I'd never had to deal with that, which was nice. In this case, a cigar was just a cigar. I was about to go into the Hunger Games, and it was an old-fashioned nervous fidget.

Elissa de Angelo- District One female

Grande wasn't as nervous as I thought he'd be. I was worried he would get overwhelmed by the suspense and the lack of medication and support, but he was holding up like nothing was out of the ordinary.

With him taken care of, my mind started darting around. Blake and Ravi were looking around and glancing at each other from time to time. The tubes made a little groaning noise but didn't come down. Stylists fussed with my hair like it mattered. My neck itched. We were wearing dark long-sleeved shirts and pants. Were we going somewhere hot? I hoped not.

Atticus Scipio- District Two male

Donnatella was talking to Pray and Ava. The prattling was getting on my nerves. I didn't have time for this. I wanted to fight.

Hurry up, tubes. Hurry up, hovercraft. Time to go.

Donnatella Bronos-Palassaqua- District Two female

"So go after the fastest ones first to save effort," I confirmed with Pray. I asked her half a dozen questions, staring so hard at her as she answered that I must have looked insane. I frenziedly wrung out every last bit of strategy and murder I could get in the last minutes I had.

With maybe seconds left, I turned to Ava. "If I can't, tell Kallista I love her."

Coby Keyes- District Three male

What do I ask what do I do?

A question I didn't know to ask might be the one that would have saved me. I had minutes left to prepare and didn't know what to prepare. And if I'd asked it, Beetee could only help with formulas and science and smarts. That wasn't me. I was on my own. Just me and Adair.

Yttria Noxus- District Three female

I pictured the Arena. It was sort of a vague image, since I didn't know what environment to picture. I pictured all my allies together. We were standing strong and we weren't scared. My parents might not have approved of such smarmy-sounding tactics, but visualization was powerful. I visualized us strong and not dying. I wouldn't think about dying and running scared and people running after us until we couldn't run anymore. I visualized every one of us, looking determined and like a team. We were winning.

Caio Sagres- District Four male

"On the right and left two seas enclose you, without your possessing even a single ship for escape. The river Po around you; the Alps behind hem you soldiers, where you have first met the enemy, you must conquer or die; and the same fortune which has imposed the necessity of fighting hold out to you, if victorious, rewards than which men are not wont to desire greater, even from the immortal gods."

Seychelle Devries- District Four female

There was a strange gleam in Careen's eye as she stood watching for the tube to come down with her back tilted to me.

I came up by her. "What was it like for you? Were you scared?"

"No," she said softly. "I wasn't really scared. More like I was thrilled."

Thrilled. A good way to put it. The heat and vibration of adrenaline, but not the paralysis and melancholy of terror. Anticipation, not dread. Excitement, suspense, agitation, even trepidation. But not fear.

Klaus Riviera- District Five male

I sat cross-legged on a couch that looked like the sort in a doctor's office. My hands were clasped on my lap. I looked ahead at the empty tube without moving.

"Are you all right?" Skye asked. Really my mentor was Erwin, but he didn't seem concerned about me.

"Yes, I'm just fine," I said. I wasn't scared. I didn't need help. I was handling it myself. I was a capable and intelligent young man and I didn't need help.

Meenah Turbine- District Five female

I was known for how fast I talked. People said I was a real windjammer. They said if they could hook me up to a generator, we'd have infinite clean energy.

People said I was charismatic. I'd seen the effects and even made a living off them. I could convince people to buy anything, even if it wasn't worth a cent. I painted a picture of what it would do for their lives and the people they would be if only they had what I was holding.

I never had trouble making friends, either. I came into a room and it just got fuller. I took up so much more space than my body. I went from one end of a room to another and every bit in between. I talked to everyone and everyone felt like part of a party instead of a gathering of individuals. People saw me coming and smiled.

And none of that mattered. I was sitting still, and I wasn't saying a word.

Enzo Ranger- District Six male

"Am I going to die?"

Lancia looked back at me. Her face closed off, like a mother telling her kids that Daddy did love them, he just wasn't coming home because he had very important work to do and it would last the rest of his life.

"Why would you ask me something like that?" Lancia asked.

"You're supposed to know everything," I said.

"It wasn't enough, what I went through? Now I'm supposed to know everything?" Lancia asked. I knew she wasn't asking me.

"You have to do this every year," I realized. And her unspoken answer came back. And you don't.

Gasoly Wayfarer- District Six female

"I hope there are animals in the Arena," I said to Puff as she braided my hair. "Are there usually animals?"

"Most every time there are at least some," Puff said.

"I hope there are horses like last year," I said.

"I'm glad you're so positive about all this," Puff said.

Oh, I'm plenty scared. It just won't change anything. I know I'll probably die. I just want to see horses first.

Adair Oakson- District Seven male

I hoped Coby was close to me when my platform came up. If we could just get to each other, I knew we'd be okay. We were friends. Sure, friends weren't forever in the Arena, but it wouldn't be like that. The odds were too long. Coby wouldn't be the one to kill me, because someone else would first.

Jezzebell Fern- District Seven female

I wanted to do something crazy.

I could kiss one of the stylists. Yawn. Cliche. Excited girl kisses someone for "one last fling". Old hat.

Throw something against the wall? Nah. I didn't want to freak out the stylists. Capitolites spook easily.

Uggggh I want to do something crazy.

Got it.

I reached out and snatched a pair of sewing scissors from one of the stylists' belts. I snipped a fat vee out of the front of my shirt, making it into a plunging neckline. I tucked the edges into my bra as the stylist noticed and started freaking out.

"Sorry, no time to get a new one," I said as I hopped into the descending tube. "Guess I'll just have to stick out."

Linden Anderson- District Eight male

One of the stylists leaned in close as she checked for smudged makeup.

"A little birdie told me Visenya is four platforms to your left," she whispered.

What do I care? I thought, and then remembered we were in love. And apparently so convincingly a stylist would risk Avoxing to tell me. A little late but not too badly, I remembered to smile gratefully.

Othella Fline- District Eight female

Hadley stood in the empty tube funnel.

"You're gonna diiiiiie," he said.

I didn't answer him. He danced closer.

"You're stupid and weak and there's no way you can win," he said.

"Yttria says we can win," I said when no one was looking.

"Then she's stupid too," Hadley said.

"At least she's real," I said.

Hadley glared at me and fell silent. He was still there when I got into the tubes. He waved sarcastically as I rose away. I liked Yttria better.

Porter Crane- District Nine male

Nassor shuffled his feet and tried to think of a way to help.

"Anything you need?" he asked.

"Yeah, a ticket home," I said.

"Don't I wish," Nassor said with a tired smile.

"Must be hard to go home at night and be rich," I said, and inwardly I cringed. It wasn't witty and it hadn't landed at all. It just sounded snarky at best and mean at worst.

Nassor didn't get mad. "Good luck, kid," he said.

Visenya Lloyd- District Nine female

"Is it okay if I don't want to win?" I asked Nassor.

He looked up with alarm.

"Oh no, I don't mean I want to lay down and die," I said. "I just… everyone deserves to live. I don't want anyone to die."

"That's okay," Nassor said. "I wish everyone felt like you."

"Still try to win, though," Porter broke in. "You're the only one who deserves it."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," I said.

Porter smiled. "I'm not smart, I guess."

Gavin Booth- District Ten male

Bambi and Cornflower always seemed like they were made of glass. Thin glass with long, slender extensions that made you nervous every time they moved on hard surfaces.

"I'll be okay," I told the two of them. "Don't worry about me."

Labyrinth padded up to me and I stroked his puffy fur. I'd always imagined therapy dogs as labradors. It never stopped seeming funny that Labyrinth was a poodle.

"It's going to be just fine. Nothing will happen to me," I said. "You two take care."

Calvary had been eyeing me oddly from across the room for some time. She finally came over. "Dude, they barely notice you."

"You two get lots of rest and take care of yourselves…"

Paloma Bennett- District Ten female

The tube was right in front of me. It was coming, I knew it. Like a living creature that stretched its paw down into the darkness to trawl up anything it could find and drag it into the sunlight of its open mouth. It was up there, laughing at me. It wanted me.

It was like a dream. I kept opening my mouth to scream, but it was stuck inside me. All that came out was tiny bits of breath, all quiet and anemic. My eyes hurt from how I wasn't blinking as I looked at the tube. I wasn't crying because the tears were locked the same place the screams were. But my eyes stung and blurred from keeping them open.

I wanted to throw myself at the wall. I wanted to dig my fingers into my scalp and tear as hard as I could. The only thing strong enough to express this emotion was my body and pieces coming off of it. I wanted to tear it apart until there was nothing left.

Apollo Courfeyrac- District Eleven male

"Hey, what's this made of?" I ran my hands down the material of the tube, which was firm but not glassy. "It's warm. Is there a heater somewhere?"

I ran across the room. I ran back to where I'd started. I stood on my toes and looked out the peephole on the door.

"How much longer? Is the Arena very big? How long until after I get into the tubes does the Games start? Do many people fall off and blow up? Where do they put the mines after the Games are over? Hades was thirteen, right? If I win can I come back and visit the Arena?"

Wisteria Rose- District Eleven female

A stylist held out a wrapped baby to me.

"They said you can hold her until the tubes come," she said.

I didn't move to take the baby. "Are you sure it's mine? I don't feel like it's mine."

The stylist checked for a name tag. "I think it's yours." She laid the baby on my lap.

Half a dozen stylists gathered around, cooing and feeling at the baby's hair.

"You must be very proud," one said.

"I guess," I said. That's really my baby, isn't it? Marie. My Marie. I made it. I got to be a mother. It was nothing like I'd dreamed.

Argent Ore- District Twelve male

Nubu was discussing something with Haymitch. Probably mentor stuff. I waited until they were done to ask.

"Does this mean anything?" I asked.

"Does what mean anything?" Haymitch asked.

"Me. Doing this." Dying.

Nubu came over and sat next to me. "Yes. It means something."

I wasn't sure I believed him. But at least I wasn't sure I didn't.

Sundew Keope- District Twelve female

When the platform came up I would have to see where I was and quickly make a plan. I tried to prepare myself for a variety of Arenas, anything from a forest to underwater. Then I had to determine where the Careers were and chart an escape path farthest away from them. From then on my main focus would shift toward survival, since the most dangerous part of the Games was the Arena and not the other Tributes.

As the tube descended, my stomach dropped with it, like when you go over a sudden dip in the road. I steadied my hand on the side as I went in. It left a smudge on the glass. My breath made a cloud on the door as it closed. The elevator floor rose, pushing against my legs so they bent a little. It rose up, me in it like a pregnant animal, and slid into darkness.