Lily Simmons, 18

Princeton's #2 Male Pick

As the sunset over the treeline and the tributes were settled into their campsite for the night, Lily took a moment to decompress from the events that happened during the day. She could tell that Axton wanted to talk with her, but she wasn't sure what to say.

It wasn't like she sacrificed herself the first time. She was mourning her brother, and then when the going got rough, and she was in the final 2, she fell and ate it at the last minute. There was nothing that Axton did specifically that caused her to lose. It was her attachment to him that led to her demise.

And that was not something that she was going to let happen again.

"I don't want to see her face in the sky," Valerian said as she put a sleeping bag over her shoulders and bundled it around her. "Once she's in the sky, that'll mean that she's gone, and I'm going to have to come to terms with that, and I just can't do that yet."

Lily wanted to warn her sister about what attachments could do to her during the games. Attachments lead to death, and death led to, well, Lily couldn't remember what death felt like. She knew she couldn't mention it, however, because once she admits that, she will become an instant target within her alliance.

Axton stared at Lily from across the campsite before he got up and walked over to join her, where she and Valerian were sitting. Lily felt her heart beat faster as she watched her twin brother move closer, but she controlled herself as he sat down next to her. "I lost my knife somewhere in the bushes earlier. Is there any way that you can help me find it?" he asked me.

Lily didn't know what to say. She didn't want to talk to him, but she knew she couldn't look weird. Lily knew with one hundred percent certainty that no one could find out the relationships the twins had in the arena.

"Sure," said Lily as she got up from her spot in camp. Sagar and Valerian started working on a campfire, and Lily and Axton disappeared behind the treeline right as the sun disappeared. "I don't want this to become a thing, Axton," said Lily. "Last time, it messed me up, and I can't go through that again."

"Two people can get out, Lil," said Axton in the same way he'd call her in their former life. "I know that you died last time too, but there's a reason why we are back together in this arena. There has to be a reason that we are both able to walk out of the arena together instead of one of us dying again. We have a chance at a do-over. A chance to be real siblings without the backward knowledge that we will eventually go into the games together."

It was true that even in their former life, Lily and Axton were expected to train against each other. They needed to compete when they turned eighteen, and due to their twin status, they were both eighteen in the same year. Lily started to feel anxious as she thought about this. She can't allow herself to get attached to him.

"Lily," said Axton. "We can lead normal lives after this. We just have to take out a few more people."

Lily had tears well up in her eyes, and right as she opened up her mouth to speak, the anthem of Panem sounded throughout the arena, and up in the sky was the first picture of the deceased tributes. One by one, they flashed across the screen. Lily mourned for Jupiter and Cerise. She was sad to see Janet die. She was sad about Rana, who kept class lively during those dreary days, and she was sad to see Ajax as well. Rudi could kiss her ass.

When Lily thought back to Rana, something didn't feel right. She stared deep into the sky, and suddenly a picture flashed in her brain.

A face flashed in Lily's mind. A blonde girl with pigtails and blue eyes. She tried to shake it off, but the vision appeared more clearly. "Annalee?" Lily asked herself as she looked at the sky one last time as the pictures seemed to be next to each other in a grid formation. She looked at Rana one last time and then held her hand over her mouth.

"What is it?" asked Axton.

"Ax, we weren't the only ones," whispered Lily, not looking away from the point on the ground her eyes locked on when she made the realization. "Axton, there were replacement tributes. Tributes that weren't meant to be in the games but are!" Lily looked at her brother and grabbed ahold of his hand. "We're going to win this thing, and then we're going to kick Moriah Jackson's ass for messing with our head."

"So that means you're in, Lily?"

For the first time, when faced with a decision, Lily felt her anxiety disappear. Like the missing piece of what she needed finally fell into place, she realized that she didn't need anything other than, to be honest with herself. Even though Lily's brain knew nothing of her twin, her heart and soul did. "They just use us because they can," whispered Lily. "It's like some random game that they just maneuver around with no concept of the consequences of their actions."

"What are you saying?" asked Axton, confused.

"Let's just win this thing," said Lily looking at her brother. "We can put the pieces together after. "

Synth Greene, 18

Shelby's #1 Male Pick

The plan was simple.

Vritra and Synth would accompany one of Caio or Napoleon to hunt at night. Synth knew they would hunt because that's the kind of tributes they were aligned with. They didn't think before they acted. Well, other than Napoleon.

The sun was almost rising for the following day when all the tributes were up and looking around the campsite. Groggy and tired, Synth stretched his back out and looked at the sky.

Once they were on the hunt, they would wait until they found a tribute, and once they found a tribute, they would kill that one tribute, kill Caio, and then bring the head of the other tribute to Kitana as a sign of good faith.

Keeping the alliance intact, as well as evening the ranks.

"I want to hunt," said Kitana, flustered right on cue. "I'm bored and no offense, but the sooner I'm not forced to hang out with you boneheads, the quicker my life would be able to move on!" Synth tried not to beam at the predictability of Kitana and the other tributes. It was falling into place.

"You shouldn't go," said Caio, annoyed. "You'd be overzealous and lead us right into a trap." He straightened up his shoulders and laughed. "I should take myself, and you should stay here and watch the camp and make sure no sneaky tributes come in and steal anything."

"What if you run into Cortana?!" Whined Kitana. "Or even worse, Darcy! I want to be able to kill them!" she stomped her foot into the ground. "No, I am going to go, and you can stay here," Kitana glanced over at Synth and Vritra. "You two can stand guard with him. Let's go, Napoleon."

Vritra stands up to protest, but Synth reaches his hand out to stop her. "We'll stand guard with Caio," said Synth giving swift eye contact to Vritra. "We'll hold down the fort. Don't worry." Kitana flips her hair over her shoulder as she grabs her spear and walks with Napoleon through the clearing.

Synth holds a hand to slow the overzealous Vritra. They had to time this correctly. If it wasn't done correctly, everything is for null. Synth and Vritra would acquire a dangerous enemy. Synth wasn't ready for that kind of showdown. Not yet, at least.

"Get the firewood or some shit," said Caio to Vritra and Synth. "I'm going to take a nap." Synth was excited that Caio was making this all to easy. He looked at Vritra and shrugged, and the two troublemakers got up and feigned walking in the woods as Caio laid down, all too trusting and crashed on the ground.

"What a dumbass," said Vritra as she smiled. "As much as I want it, you get the kill. This was your plan."

Synth shook his head. He handed a knife to Vritra and sighed. "No, friend," said Synth. "This one is on you. Go get your kill."

Vritra grinned as she grabbed a knife and crept toward Caio. She squatted down next to him and angled her blade directly above his head when the earth started to tremble. Caio woke up and screamed as Vritra tripped, landing with her knife in Caio's chest. As the world continued to turn, Synth screamed as a hole formed under him.

He fell about five feet before landing on a brown surface, and either side of him. They stretched taller than Synth. The water was separated like an invisible wall was holding up both sides.

"Vritra, finish the job," said Synth as Caio was gurgling on blood. Vritra ripped the blade out of his chest and slammed it into his head, and Caio's cannon sounded. As Synth looked up, he saw a giant skinny white wall flipping through the air as the white wall landed on the ground across from the water a landform was made.

Holy shit. Thought Synth as he looked around at the background. We are in a book.

The landform had a giant castle on the other end of it, and a beach that led up to it.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" a voice shriek

Synth and Vritra turned to see Kitana and Napoleon staring wide-eyed at Vritra and Caio's dead body. It wasn't just Kitana who was in the divided water wall, but all of the tributes. "Vritra, something tells me we are in for a wild ride."

The water wall started to close, and all the tributes took off running down the brown pathway. Synth and Vritra led the pack as they were the first to reach the shores and continue running down the beach toward the castle.

"I'll find you two!" screamed Kitana as she ran after them. "You'll pay for what you two did to Caio!"

Vritra and Synth disappeared behind a big brick stone wall and ran along a cobblestone road.

"We're in a fucking book!" screamed Synth as he pulled Vritra behind a building to catch their breaths. "They put us in a fucking book!"

"Who wants a second chance at a happily ever after?" Vritra asked him in between gasps of air.

Delaine Ford, 18

Hazel's #1 Female Pick

Delaine jumped onto the shoreline right as the water closed in around them. The beach was getting huge waves hitting it, but Delaine couldn't move as the water crashed around her. They were far away from the shore, and Delaine was one hundred percent sure that they were going to get trapped in the water.

"They're trying to kill us," whispered Cupid as she laid down next to Delaine.

"Something tells me you missed the whole point of this little exercise said Cortana. "They want us to kill each other."

Delaine looked at the arena and raised her eyebrows. "It's weird how the whole world just got changed. I felt the floor rising, and then I was falling." Delaine sat up and looked at the castle that wasn't there originally. She wondered how something could appear out of nothing. "I am more confused though by the fact that the castle wasn't originally there. It was a big white wall, and it just appeared out of nowhere. Like...like,"

"A pop-up book," finished Darcy.

The four girls turned to each other and looked around the arena in shock. "I guess they've been waiting for eighteen years," said Cortana. "It makes sense that the weird arena is a thing. This is probably the most intricate arena I've ever seen."

Delaine stands up and looks over at the castle, and then around at the various other tributes who have parked on the sand. "Guys, we probably need to go hide," said Delaine. "There are a lot of people here, and not a lot of us are ready to fight."

The group of girls stands up when Kitana comes over to them and shoves into Delaine. "Darcy, ready to finish what we started?" she pushes Darcy, who grabs her hand and twists her arm into a pretzel shape. Napoleon just sits back and watches as his two sisters struggle in a fight.

"Do we have to do this now?" asks Napoleon.

"Napoleon, whose side are you on?!" said Kitana as she reached for Darcy's hair.

"I'm on not watching my sisters mutilate each other when there are other options," he walks over to Kitana and wraps her into a headlock that she struggles to get out. "Go, don't wait for her to calm down. You know she won't."

The girls ran to the castle as Kitana screamed obscenities at her brother, and once they got through the gate, they paused. The castle was striking. Delaine was taken aback at the marble flooring and stone sculptures that lined the yard. There was a maze of bushes that were no higher than the girl's thighs that ran to the front entrance of the castle, and in the very middle of the labyrinth was a giant statue of a crab.

"Wow," said Delaine as she followed Cortana's lead throughout the maze. "They went all out for this arena."

They didn't bother going through the maze, rather than just stepped over all of the bushes until they ended up at the very center. The girls walked up to the big stone crab and admired the artwork of the big eyes and giant pinchers. Delaine reached out to touch it, but as she did, the pincher moved.

"Screw that!" said Cortana as she backed away and jumped behind Delaine. She lightly pushed her sister forward, and Delaine couldn't help but feel betrayed at her so-called best friend. There were Darcy and Cupid in the mix, but Cortana decided to push her best friend toward the mutt?

The girls stood still and waited patiently for the crab to move again, but it was all still as stone once again. They gently walked on either side of the crab and ran behind it to get to the other side of the maze. As the girls stepped over the bushes, Delaine grabbed Cortana's arm.

"What the hell was that?" asked Delaine, annoyed.

"What was what?" asked Cortana

"You pushed me into that crab!" she pulled back on Cortana, and they let Darcy and Cupid continue walking ahead of them. "You're supposed to be my best friend, Cortana. We were supposed to get out of here together. So what the hell was that."

"I don't remember doing that," said Cortana, confused. "It must have just been instincts. Don't overthink it."

Cortana walked ahead of Delaine and met with Darcy and Cupid, who were already at the entrance of the castle. She bowed her head in anger. It took a lot to rub Delaine the wrong way, especially for her best friend to do so.

But Delaine can't shake the feeling of betrayal that came with Cortana cowering behind her. She wondered if this partnership was a one-sided ordeal, or if Cortana was just using her. Or maybe you're just overthinking things. Delaine told herself as she walked through the remainder of the bushes and came to the entrance.

"I think we need to hide from Kitana," said Darcy as Delaine joined the conversation. "I don't think we want to fight her yet. Napoleon will hold her off, but even he will lose control of her at some point."

"Well," said Cupid looking up at the giant marble building. "Good thing we have about a million rooms to hide in."

Hadrian Cato, 18

Shelby's #3 Male Pick

Hadrian felt betrayed. Ruben was nowhere to be found. Even when the world opened up and swallowed them whole, he didn't see Ruben. He was either to fast, or he was hot on the Darcy scent.

How could he do that to Hadrian? They were blood brothers! This was supposed to be them winning out until the end. Now here Hadrian is. He was sitting down on the beach, waiting for something to go wrong yet again.

"This is garbage!" Hadrian screamed into the sky.

He quickly remembered where he was and looked around the beach. He didn't see anyone there, and he immediately took a deep breath. You can't sit there and be reckless. He thought to himself.

A beeping started sounding from the sky, and he looked up to see a white package coming down toward him. It landed with a soft thud on the sand, and Hadrian opened it up to see a burger and fries with a note on top of it.

It looks like you had a hard time so far. I thought you could use it.

Hadrian smiled. He brought the plate on his lap and began to feast. At least something was going right for him. He began to eat the burger, taking giant bites of food without thoroughly chewing them. He couldn't help but feel like things were finally looking up for him as he indulged in his favorite meal.

"You left me, and abandoned me when I needed you most," whispered a female voice.

A sharp pain struck Hadrian's neck, and when he looked down, he saw blood drenching his burger and fries. He fell back in the sand, and standing over him was Elizabeth with a bloody knife. Behind her was Carter and Arturo, who looked surprised at the sight.

Carter sunk to his knees and grabbed his brother's hand as he bled out in the sand. "Go find the light, Hadrian," Carter said.

Hadrian closed his eyes as a single tear fell down his face. The Hunger Games were just not meant to be.

Well, this was a sad chapter for me to write. I usually enjoy chapters where I take people out, but I really thought about these characters, and I can genuinely say there isn't a character that I don't like.

18th Place: Caio Sagres, McKenna's #3 Male Pick, killed by Vritra Galloway: Caio was an exciting tribute, but I did not feel it was fair to the submitter to have him run along and be Kitana's lapdog the entire story. So when Synth had the idea to take someone out, I had to weigh the pros and cons. Napoleon just had some unfinished business that I couldn't part with.

17th Place: Hadrian Cato, Shelby's #3 Male Pick, killed by Elizabeth Adews: Fox, freaking hell, I am so sorry. Here's the tea. Jupiter was supposed to be in the alliance of "the bros." When I came up with the Princeton House arc, Hadrian fell in the middle of two arcs. One was Rudi's and his death. The other was Ruben and his quest for love. Hadrian was victim to "last-minute changes and not realizing the danger in doing that." I'm so sorry, Fox.

Alliance Update:

Kitana and Napoleon take on the world: Kitana/Napoleon.

Bad Bitches: Darcy/Cortana/Delaine/Cupid

Side Bad Bitches: Cupid/Darcy

House Princeton: Sagar/Axton/Lily/Valerian

Twin Telepathy (Will also be known as TT): Axton/Lily

Trouble: Vritra/Synth

Check-in: What's your favorite color? Check-in through PMs.

What did you think of the arena? Can you guess the two Disney movies we've seen so far?

Keep it classy,

Caleb