Miall and Priscilla joined the alliance after I wrote the chapter, so that's why they're here. They're in the alliance though. Shui didn't get a POV for super secret reasons supplied by his nominator.

Miall Piscot- District One male

I was a lot older than I looked. Chronologically, of course, but also on the inside. I'd died three more times than most people. I'd lived three lives. I had a broadened perspective that went past what an immature volunteer had when he went to the Capitol all those years ago.

The Hunger Games was a scam. They promised you had such a big chance to win and it was all a pageant for you to show off your skills. Twenty-four kids went in and you were so sure it was your number that would come up. We were so enthusiastic to kill each other and take riches that people from One didn't even need. I couldn't believe how much younger I seemed when I looked back.

I was old enough now to do the math. Out of eight-eight Tributes, it wasn't going to be me. I had this time in the Capitol and that was it. I didn't want to spend it training or strategizing. I joined an alliance because Priscilla wanted to. I did appreciate that our alliance would probably buy us a few more days. I was going to spend my days in the Capitol with Priscilla. I always used to look forward to her getting married so I could be a cool uncle and hold her little baby. I never knew if she even wanted to have kids or get married. It was just a nice thought. We weren't going to have that now. We had a week. I'd learned to treasure what life I had.

Priscilla Piscot- District One female

Miall had let go. He was never as into the Games as I was. I went into everything in life with more zest than he did. He was a stable and calm presence in my life. He'd grown up and concluded he didn't have a chance. I refused to admit it. If I had to stay a child then so be it.

The ball thumped on the floor as I moved around Miall. He was taller and faster but I had more energy. I usually ended up winning our games, partially because he didn't get as into it as I did. I could see in his bearing that he was happy because he was with me, not because of the game.

"Slowpoke," I jeered as I moved past Miall and took a shot. I missed.

"Four-eyes," Miall said back.

"I need a boost," I said. Miall picked me up around the waist and walked me toward the hoop as I narrated.

"Piscot goes in for the grand slam! She runs a circle around everyone in her way. Nothing but net!" I said as I slammed the ball through the hoop point-blank.

"I think we won," Miall said.

"We did," I said. Not the Games. Not both of us, not ever. But we were here together now, three Games later, still together. Not all siblings had that kind of relationship. I was grateful for it.

Essie Cipher- District One female

It was quite the quandary whether I wanted to run into the Cornucopia or not. It was dangerous for sure, but I wanted a weapon. I couldn't go into an Arena with eighty people ripe for the killing and run away. It wasn't in my blood.

Then again, in this sort of Games, there were certain to be weapons outside the Cornucopia. I might run into the fight for no reason and risk getting hurt. But so many people would get killed in the Bloodbath. So many people that I hadn't killed…

It was nice of the Capitol to give us second chances like this. They already gave us this opportunity to change our destinies and even join them. Now I got to do it again even though I messed it up the first time. If I won a war against another country, I'd have burned them all to nothing.

Until the Games started I had to satisfy myself with just training. The holograms didn't really bleed or die, but they were the next best thing. All around me other Careers honed their own skills. So many people just like me who chose this life and reveled in it. It was going to be grand to fight them.

Francisco Exley- District Four male

Beth found me as I was practicing with my trident. I knew it just from everyday use in Four. I wasn't necessarily trained in using it to fight, but it was my best option. If I couldn't find one I'd kill people barehanded. That was the upside of being so big I barely fit through most doors.

"Hey. You like killing people?" Beth asked.

"It's all right," I said.

"You want to come kill people with us?" she asked.

"All right," I said.

"A man of few words," Beth said.

"This is great!" Lulu said. "You kill people barehanded. That will leave more intact bodies to examine." She was so excited about the prospect I made up my mind to try.

"What's best? Strangling? Head injuries?"

"That's such a great idea. We can kill people in all ways and I'll see how their brains look different," Lulu said. "Do you think they turn blue if they're strangled?"

"I never checked," I said.

"DId you know brains are actually gray, not pink?" Lulu said. "I wonder if they still turn blue…"

Sagar Dewpont- District Two male

I may have messed up slightly. My first time around I was ready to get in there and fight. This time, looking at eighty other people just like me, I wondered if I should be a little more careful.

"Oh hey! Long time no see," I said when I saw Cyrene. "We still a thing?"

"I'm going it alone this time," she said. "Sorry."

Andromeda was similarly reluctant. "I already have some allies," she said. I took a look and they didn't seem like my crowd.

I had to give Medusa my two cents. I flagged her down when I saw her training Karyssa.

"Hey! You brought it home for Two," I said.

"I guess," she said with a small smile. Medusa always was so modest. Even as a Victor she didn't think she was anything special.

"You enjoying the Victor life?" I asked.

"It's all right. I've gotten to go to some pretty cool places," she said.

"In a few weeks I'll find out," I bragged.

"Cool. See you there," Medusa said.

Nimini Dolores- District One female

It was hard not to panic when I was standing among eighty Tributes who all thought they were going to win. I was trained, but so were they. I didn't really have anything that someone else didn't have. Honestly I wanted to hide under my bed.

Deep breath. Don't get carried away. I didn't have anything no one else had, but no one else had my exact mix of skills. One skill didn't win the Games. It took a well-rounded person. Anyone could win this.

I followed the assistant's hands as she demonstrated a complicated knot. I'd never known knots could have so many different purposes. You could tie a noose so that it tightened the more a person tried to take it off. You could tie snares that you could undo with one tug. All the little skills Careers overlooked had value- that's why they were in the training room. I was learning things other people didn't have. I never thought that would be knot-tying.

Why do we even have a hammock-making station? I learned why in minutes. The assistant explained that lying on the ground sucked the heat out of you. A raised platform was one of the easiest ways to retain your heat. And so many Tributes had died of exposure, and plenty of them were Careers.

Plants, fire-making, knots, hammocks, tracking, snares. So many thing I'd never thought of. I wouldn't be a master at any of them, but I'd have so much to draw from. Out of all that there might be a Victor.

Steven Gilbert Kraft- District Four male

Alex had a little alliance all put together. Let's see how much good it does her. Me, I didn't need any allies. I didn't want anyone getting in my way or being stupid.

There were two kinds of Tributes: Tributes I'd fight and Tributes I'd stay clear of. This time around there was more of the second group than normal, but there were still plenty of people for me to pick off. I'd do my part taking care of those and the stronger people could sort themselves out.

My bet was that this year was going to be a hospital. It just made sense. Careers-only Arenas were military-based. Resurrection Games Arenas were rebirth-based. Together that added up to a military hospital. I envisioned people stabbing each other with syringes and scalpels and fighting over gross hospital food. I didn't even want to think about what kind of mutts there would be. Anyway, that meant I should focus on combat instead of survival skills. I wasn't going to freeze in a hospital. Kind of funny how so many people would die in one, though.

Warf Pollman- District Four male

I had four days before I went into the Arena. I could spend them training, or…

One night wouldn't hurt anything. I couldn't go all the way to the Capitol and not sample the nightlife. So I was three shots in at a bar with a view of the entire Capitol. I'd never had such good cocktails before. In the Capitol they weren't stingy. Everyone was rich so no need to water things down.

"Hey, sailor," A Capitolite girl with purple hair and eyes said as she sidled up to me. "Need some company?"

"Always," I said. "What brings you here?"

"The view," she said, looking not out the window but at me.

"I'll be here all week," I said. "But after that I'm gone, so move fast."

"I thought you were supposed to wait until after the first date," she said.

"Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?" I asked.

There was no need to go into the details of the rest of the night. Another good thing about the Capitol was I didn't have to make eggs in the morning. I could push a button and have them delivered. Only the best for me and… what's her name?

Eren Lindell- District Four female

The Capitol was full of everything luxurious and perfect and I wished I was somewhere else. Nothing was real here. The air was clear and had no tang of salt. The pools were square and chlorinated. There was no ocean, at once alive and depthless. Simply put, I missed home.

I wasn't sure about my competitors either. Most volunteers from Four had a bit more of an untamed and adventurous spirit. A lot of us did this not necessarily to kill but because we wanted to test ourselves and live to our fullest. So many of the people here were planning out who they wanted to kill and how they would do it. I didn't understand that way of thinking.

I'd never been good at sleeping when I wasn't at home. I lay awake that night thinking of the Games and the private sessions and the other Tributes lying away with me. After an hour of tossing I got up and started fiddling around. I found the controls that changed what the window displayed and made it an oceanside scene, then started playing some crashing waves white noise. I got back into bed and while it didn't feel real, it was close enough for me to pretend. That was my motivation to win the Games. I wanted to hear the real ocean again.

Siren Kaecko- District Four female

Well, I blew my best shot.

I went into an underwater Arena as a Four girl and lost. RIP me. I couldn't hope for a more perfect Arena. Karma probably meant this one would be a desert. But I'd never heard of a resurrection-y desert. Maybe I was safe…

Last time around Careen had a lot of wisdom to share with me. She was still here to help me with Games stuff, but this time there were things she'd never gone through. The only mentors who knew how to mentor a Resurrection Games were Kazuo, Rhoda, Vera, Frankie, Ava, and Gidget. And no one ever remembered Kazuo existed, even though he won the very first Resurrection Games. Tough break.

When you thought about it, there wasn't much different from a normal Games. There were more people and a fancy-pants Arena, but we were all the same people. Same alliances, same betrayals, same fights, same deaths. And one Victor out there who didn't even know she was the Victor yet. Somewhere in the building there was a Tribute that would outlast eighty other Tributes and earn the hardest-fought victory in Games history. They would have such stories to tell.

Someday I might be the mentor for another Resurrection Games. Ha I wouldn't want me as a mentor. I died once.

Cyrene Longuemare- District Four female

Last time around I accomplished my goal 100%. I kept the Career pack together far past their usual expiration date and brought one of us home. The only problem was it wasn't me.

I saw what I had to do this time. No allies for me. I was going it alone. Allies were what got me so far into my last Games but allies were the thing that killed me. And I couldn't fly under the radar anymore. Everyone knew I was a planner and a long-term thinker. They wouldn't trust me to ally with them. They'd follow me past the first section of the Games and they'd kill me once they thought they could make it on their own.

I was excited to see the Arena. I had a feeling it would be something more structured. The Gamemakers would want to milk this group for all it was worth. That meant an Arena conducive to life so we didn't have to worry about food or shelter. There would be weeks of intricate battles. This was the exact Arena for a strategist like me. I wouldn't be surprised if the Games lasted a month or more. It was going to be a test of who thought not just like a fighter but like a general. I'd seen one of the girls in the big alliance passing out copies of The Art of War. I read that years ago, and far more after it. Clausewitz, Aurelius, Macchiavelli, and so much more. All that was going to come back to me now. We were all ready for a battle. Not all of us were ready for a war.

I shall start working on the Private Sessions as I wait for someone to point out the Tribute I'm sure I missed somewhere.

LOL I KNEW I'D FORGET SOMEONE. It was Shogo. I figured it out before anyone pointed it out though.

Shogo Hara- District Four male

Kanu didn't have to come see me. I knew that. When he was born, I held his head that didn't even reach to the end of my fingers. The man who met me in the Capitol was thirty-eight years old. Kanu had lived longer than I had. He'd built a life with his adopted parents and had grown through and past the loss of his father. I wasn't part of his life anymore and I had no right to ask him to unearth old memories. When I heard that he'd requested to see me before I'd even said a word about him, I cried like I hadn't cried since his birth.

I almost started again when I saw him. He'd been without me for thirty years, but I was still a part of him. I saw me in the curve of his nose and the folds of his eyes. I saw his mother in the taper of hair down his forehead. Kanu's adopted parents raised him and shaped him into what he was and I was forever grateful, but I had a hand in him. I put him on this earth and that would never be taken from us.

"Dad," Kanu said, holding out his arms. I grabbed him and we hugged like two bears. "I love you."

"I love you too," I said. This wasn't our first reunitement and it wasn't the same as the others. Some tendril was missing, some bit of Kanu that was still a child waiting for his father to come back. He was a man now, not reuniting with a father he'd lost but visiting a father he didn't get to see everyday and was busy enough with his life that he didn't think about it.

"This is my wife Tallulah," Kanu said, taking the hand of the woman I hadn't even noticed was with him. I saw the roundness of her stomach and felt myself nearing the brink again.

My son is a better man than I am. We did something right. I laid my hand on Tallulah's stomach and felt a flutter. Once again I cried.