(Absolutely destroying my schedule by posting this on a Thursday evening but university is destroying me, so I don't know what other time I'll have. If I disappear for a while, I promise you I am coming back!)

A lot of tears writing this one... enjoyyyy.


Day Twelve

Salome

Although Salome had decided to fight, to not give up, she certainly didn't look like that was the case. The girl had managed to grasp a few hours sleep, but it was light and fractured, more concerned with looking over her shoulder, and making sure she truly was alone.

Florence and Alfred didn't scare her. Or rather, death didn't scare her. She knew by now that the pair were capable of doing things she would never consider, and whilst she was still going to fight to the bitter end to win, if she didn't, and she never saw the outside of the arena again, she couldn't say that she would be overly disappointed. Salome was broken in ways she had never thought possible and no amount of Capitol food or money or care could fix that. Of course she would fight to survive, she owed that to Doug, and her father and all the other tributes that they had lost, but Salome didn't really care whether it was a fight she won or lost.

Everything felt so final, as she headed towards the Cornucopia, bathing in the small pool that had kept them alive all this time. She surveyed the area, surprised to see no sign of Florence and Alfred, she supposed that this would have been the first place they headed after their attack on Jordan last night. Then the girl countered herself, she was beginning to pick up on the pairs hunting patterns, they liked to stay in the shadows, strike when they thought you had let your guard down. She knew she was being watched right now by them, probably had been all night, and the sooner they got it over with, the better.

"I know you're out there." She called, her words snatched away by the wind, but still loud enough for anyone in the near area to hear. "Come out and we can talk." Still no reply. Okay, so they were smart enough not to walk straight into the territory of the girl whose father and best friend they had just killed. "You should know me by now, I'm not someone to just kill out of the blue." She paused, lowering her voice. "Unlike some of us…"

Slowly, two figures emerged from the far side of the clearing. As far as Salome could tell, there was no sign of weapons poised, ready for attack. They looked like two kids, just walking across a field, completely care and worry free. They all knew better though- they all had guilt they were riddled with, some were just better at hiding it than others. Salome almost pitied them as they walked towards, for a second all the anger and resentment she felt towards them slipped. After all, they were just kids, kids who did what they had to do to survive. The hatred she felt towards Alfred and Salome had almost returned, until they stopped a few meters away, the tears in their eyes clear.

Without warning, Florence dropped her weapons, rushing forward and hugging Salome, not caring that the younger girl still held a machete, and could end her in a second. She didn't of course, Salome herself let the weapon fall from her hand, and embraced Florence, a movement she had not considered she would make. Alfred, too, walked over, embracing the pair.
Salome understood there and then, that no matter how sad she was over the loss of her people, she couldn't be angry at the only two people she still had, the last two people she may ever see. They had all been out to kill each other, that was the way the Game worked. Salome had been more than prepared to watch her father kill Alfred and Florence, leaving one without the other and putting them through pain like she was feeling now. What the Capitol wanted was for them to be divided. It was their duty to make sure the powers that be never got the satisfaction.

"I'm so sorry, Salome. I'm so sorry." Florence was practically begging for the girl's forgiveness as she pulled away.

Alfred took another approach. "I know nothing we can say can make things better. What we did to your father was unforgivable, and I would take it back if I could." Alfred knew that killing Jordan had been necessary- if he hadn't they wouldn't be standing here right now. But Locke's death had just been cold, it had been cruel. Sure, they had heard his plans, but the group had been through so much together that Alfred was sure they could have talked it out, found some way that they could all get through it.

"I… I understand. I don't forgive you." She paused, squeezing Florence's shoulder lightly. "But I understand."
A sigh of relief escaped the pair, they had both knowingly rushed their lives to make amends with Salome, and it had paid off. They were together again, and Alfred knew he would never have to kill another person again, they would work something out. A way they could all live, or a way to find a victor without anymore fighting.

"What a touching reunion." The venom was clear in the Head Gamemakers voice, as it echoed across the arena. "But maybe we could get this show on the road."

"And what if we say no? What could you possibly do that would hurt us more than you already have? You've taken my family, my friends, my childhood, you made me become a person that I never wanted to be, and at the end of it you'll probably take my life as well."

"We could do this." There was something different in the Gamemakers voice now, a slight bit of pity, almost sadness, as if she was in as much pain as the tributes were.

The tributes didn't have time to dwell on the feelings of their superior, as the arena began to fall away. The woods disappeared before them, the shelter and food it contained leaving with it. The deserts and mountains and ice fields turned to a pure white abyss, the home they had grown so accustomed to now unrecognisable. Then finally came the field they were in. The Cornucopia still remained, and the large grassy clearing surrounding it, but the lake was gone. Their only water source.

But the Capitol wasn't finished there, as once more a video was projected to the sky. Split this time into three, it showed a host of Peacekeepers storming buildings the tributes knew all too well. Their houses: surrounded by a countless number of Peacekeepers, all pointing guns at the entrances.

A male voice spoke this time. "At some point, whoever is in your house will have to leave. And when they do…" He trailed off, but they all knew what it meant. If the tributes didn't find a victor soon, everyone they cared about would be gone.

"We could draw straws?" Alfred suggested.

"That wouldn't work. They want a fight, they want blood, they would still kill our families. They want a battle, the drama, and they'll do anything to get that." Salome countered. Alfred had known that was the case when he suggested it, but none of them wanted to accept that they would have to fight.

"Okay." Florence breathed, calmer than she would have thought. The end of this nightmare was in touching distance, and even if she wasn't the one that made it out, she wanted it over with as quickly as possible. "I guess we just have to give them what they want."

"It's not exactly a fair fight, is it? Two against one." Salome questioned, suggesting anything she could to get out of the inevitability that faced them.

"Says the girl that got a score of 12." Florence jabbed, more spiteful than she intended. They all knew how high the stakes were, what they had to lose, the friendliness that they had only just managed to reclaim was already slipping.

"You didn't seem to have a problem with skill when you killed my father, and Jordan." Salome spat, taking account of the way Florence retrieved a sword from the floor. She still had hold of the machete that her father had previously had ownership of, and she could see the line of small knives Alfred had attached to his belt.

Salome once again debated just giving up. It would be so much easier if she just took that machete and ploughed it into her heart. But she couldn't shake Doug's words from her mind, she couldn't shake knowing that if she died in here, her mother would be truly alone- Celeste would have lost her only child, and the love of her life inside the same week.

No one expected Salome to make the first move, but when she sliced the machete through the air, catching Florence's arm and slicing open her jacket, the opposing pair sprung into action. "You bitch." Florence screamed, as the blood started gushing out. It was only a superficial wound, and caused the girl no pain, what hurt her more was how quickly Salome had switched from the friendly girl she had been, to someone ready to kill in an instant. "What happened to your morals?" She asked, only serving to antagonise the girl more.

"They don't apply to my father's killers." Salome didn't believe a word she was saying- when she had told Florence and Alfred that she understood what they had done, she truly meant it. But she knew that having friends in this place got you nowhere. She had to demonise Florence and Alfred, convince herself that she hated them, so killing them and making it home to her mother would be just that little bit easier.

Alfred stood, frozen to the spot. He had no idea what to do, how to control the situation. He didn't think he had it in him to pick up a weapon again. Everytime his hand met with the cold metal of the handle of a blade, he had flashbacks to the day before, to what he had done to Jordan. It had been necessary, and Alfred tried every second of the day to remind himself of that, but that didn't make it any easier.
"Stop." He murmured, but to no success.

It was Florence's turn to attack now, and she jabbed relentlessly at Salome with her sword, failing to do any severe damage. Maybe that was her intent. Both she and Salome were putting very little effort into hurting one another, all the wounds they had so far received were nowhere near lethal, neither of them had the heart to hurt the other.
That was until something in Salome's eyes changed. The kindness that was always present suddenly disappeared, as if everything she finally understood all she had been through for the very first time, as if she was finally feeling the weight of the world pushing down on her shoulders. She sprung with venom at Florence, slashing across her leg with the blade, causing the girl to stumble backwards, winding her. The sword was snatched from Florence's hand, and Salome stood, towering over her, the point of her machete poking into Florence's chest, a small line of blood trickling out.

"Unlike me, you get to say goodbye to the man you love." Salome smirk, almost like a different person to the girl they knew.

There was no mistaking how much she looked like her dad in that moment, Alfred remembering the look in his eye as he attacked Newton and himself. "Like father, like daughter." He breathed, convincing himself that what he was about to do was right. He pulled a small knife from his belt, slowly creeping towards Salome, the girl's attention solely on Florence, as if she too was debating if she had it in her to kill.
Alfred took that moment of weakness as his opportunity to strike, pushing the knife straight into Salome's neck. The girl stumbled backwards, and Alfred retreated, catching her as she fell to the ground. "I'm so sorry Salome, I'm so sorry."

Two words bubbled on Salome's lips as she died, almost drowned out by the sound of a canon, but just loud enough to hear. "Thank you."

Alfred almost missed the thing clenched in Salome's hand as he laid her body down. He prized the small envelope out of her hands, already cold to touch, reading the District Seven address on the front.
"I think this belonged to your district partner." Alfred crossed over to Florence, helping her to her feet. She took the envelope from him, tracing the writing on the front.

"That's my paper." She mumbled, smiling, rubbing it against her face. "It's the posh stuff my parents used to save for and buy me every birthday." Florence paused, inhaling the scent of the paper. It had gone through the entire Games, yet it still managed to smell like home. She savoured it. "I miss him." She spoke, causing Alfred to pull her in, kissing her lightly on the top of her head. "I miss them all."

"Me too, me too."


Alfred and Florence

"And then there were two…" Florence hummed, turning away from Salome's body. It was a bittersweet feeling. She and Alfred now no longer had any threat in the arena, it was just the two of them. But, the thought of what they had done to Salome, Jordan and Locke was still very present in their minds, and would be for whatever time they had left. That wasn't all, though. She and Alfred may have survived, but they needed a winner, the video Mox had shown prior to Salome's death only cemented how crucial it was. "What do we do now?"

Alfred pulled Florence close to him, savouring the warmth of another body against his. He kissed the top of her head, inhaling her scent. "I don't know."

"It's happened before. Two winners. We could do that again." Florence smiled up at him, lacing their hands together.

"Ha." Alfred shook his head, noticing the spark of hope in her eyes, and cursing himself for being the one that had to put it out. "You know full well what happened the last time the Capitol allowed that. They've only just recovered from the fallout of the fallout of the 74th Games, you really think they'll let that happen again?"

"But we're not them." Florence argued, desperate to keep the small piece of hope she had alive, but knowing it would be no use. "We're not Katniss and Peeta. We don't want to start a rebellion, or make a change. We're fine with things the way they are. We're, we're just kids, kids who have been dealt the worst hand. Kids who just want to go home." Florence began to sob, and Alfred instinctively pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her, letting the girl sob into his chest.

"You're right." He whispered, smiling despite the tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "We're not Katniss and Peeta. This won't end the way it ended with them. But do you know what?" Alfred paused, never would he have thought he would be as open about his feelings as he was now. If there was any way he could be thankful to the Capitol, it was for giving him the opportunity to be more than just the silent awkward boy, it would be for giving him a girl that he loved, and friends that encouraged him to go above and beyond, to step out of his shell. "However this ends, I wouldn't change a second of it. I wouldn't do a single thing differently, apart from maybe making my move a bit sooner. Because everything that happened led me to you. And you taught me how to love, showed me that I was capable of love, and that a pretty girl could actually like me."

Florence felt herself blush, witnessing as Alfred did the same. "Are you saying you're in love with me?" She stepped back, holding a hand over her heart, acting like a schoolgirl who had just been asked out by her crush. Then it dawned on Florence that she actually was a school girl. She was still seventeen, despite these Games making her feel like she had aged a lifetime.

"I guess so. Unless you think it's too soon? It's too soon isn't it? Oh God, we've only known each other a few weeks, and only been together a few days. No, it's too soon, I take it back I'm so stupid." Alfred cursed himself, shaking his head and turning away from Florence. He had thought he had managed to rid himself of the awkward rambling that consumed him whenever he was in an uncomfortable situation, but he should have known he would never be so lucky.

Florence closed the gap between them, silencing the boy with a kiss. "It's not been a normal few weeks, I think we're allowed to move a little faster than normal couples. I was going to say that I love you too, but if you're taking it back… then I guess I'll just keep that to myself." She played with a strand of her hair, twisting it back and forth in her fingers, teasing Alfred.

"Shut up. It's weird though, the fact that we love each other but haven't even been on a date." Alfred countered.

"Well sorry, I didn't really have the chance to ask you on one, you know, between running for our lives and trying not to get killed."

"Want to change that?" Alfred smiled. "Close your eyes." Working quickly and clumsily, Alfred pulled a blanket from his backpack, walking over to the Cornucopia and laying it on the floor, before hastily setting out the limited food they had left, some bread, cheese, berries and a small slab of chocolate. He walked back over, taking Florence's hand and steering her towards the picnic he had set up. "My lady. Sorry it's not a three course, five star meal."

"This is better than anything anyone could have done for me. Thank you for making this all seem normal, even for a few minutes." The sun was setting now, as Florence and Alfred took their seats opposite one another.

"Let's just forget about the Games for now. We'll work out what we're going to do in the morning. For now, let's just pretend we're a normal couple. That we met in a cafe and I asked you on a date." Alfred smiled, knowing full well that in the outside world, he would never have had the confidence to approach Florence. The girl knew it too, evident by the smile on her lips.

So they talked, they laughed, they ate until their heart's content and for a short few hours, things were normal. As darkness consumed the pair, and the supply of food they had been hoarding was all but gone, Alfred watched as Florence began to slip into a light sleep.

"Bored of me already?" He joked, pushing the hair back out of Florence's face.

"Never. I could spend the rest of my life with you and never get bored. And I fully intend to do that." She lent forward, kissing him. "But it's a big day tomorrow, the day we end this thing, so I think it's time we got some sleep."

"I was about to volunteer to keep watch, but I guess we don't have to do that anymore." Alfred smiled, laying down next to Florence, wrapping his arms around her, burying his head in the crook of her neck. "Goodnight, Florence, I love you."

"I love you too, Alf."

The sound of a canon woke Florence from a sleep she hadn't realised she had slipped into. She shot up, confused, the remanence of their picnic still surrounded them. As far as she knew, she and Alfred were the only two remaining tributes, and he lay just a few meters away from her. They must have lost count along the way, forgotten about someone that was still there. Or maybe it was Salome, maybe she hadn't died when they thought they had.
"Hey, Alfred." Florence hissed, preparing to stand up and wake him up, surprised that the sudden noise hadn't woken him. She smiled to herself, laughing at how much of a deep sleeper her lover was, how oblivious he was to it all.

She didn't get a chance to wake him, as the Capitol anthem began to lay, a thousand lights bearing down on where the girl sat. Florence recoiled from their glare, more scared than she had been in the Games so far. She turned to the side, stunned that even this hadn't woken her still sleeping partner.

And then she saw it.
It had rolled a few meters away from the boy, she might not have noticed it if she hadn't been looking for answers.
"No." She breathed out, shaking her head, too confused to cry or scream or react.

There, laying close to Alfred's body was a half eaten bread roll, the juices of small dark berries crushed against it. Nightlock stained the boy's hand and the corners of his mouth.
"No." Florence repeated again, unable to do anything else.

"Congratulations Florence Maugham, from District Seven, Victor of the 125th Hunger Games."


Florence

Florence could not feel any further away from being a victor. Since the day her name had been called, the girl had dreamt about making it out alive, but never did she think it would come at such a cost. She had the blood of three tributes on her hands, Jordan, Locke and Salome, who at one point had been some of her closest allies. She had lost her District partner, Flynt and his girlfriend Lilac, she had lost Lya, one of the best friends she would ever have. But what pained her more than anything, something she could barely even think about, was the fact that she had lost the love of her life, the person she had been fighting to make it out with, the person she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with.
So, on the scale of how victorious she felt, it was very, very low.

A thousand people rushed around her, as she sat in the hovercraft, transported away from the place that had taken everything from her. Medics tended to her ankle, still swollen from days before, they stitched up the endless cuts across her body, and pumped her full of fluids, the dehydration headache she had become so used to slowly fading. Then there were the stylists, constantly reminding her that in a few minutes the eyes of Panem would be on her, the Capitol's most prized possession on show for the world to see.

"I want to see it." Florence breathed out, the first words she had spoken since she had left the arena. "I want to see it."

"See what?" One of her stylists, Vanilla, muttered, glancing between her colleagues.

"I want to see how my boyfriend died. I want to see what you did to him to make him take his own life."

The stylists looked to one another once again, clearly panicked and unsure of whether to fill the girl's request. They were under strict instruction to give her anything she wanted, but this was beyond their pay grade.

"Here." A hand broke through the crowd that surrounded Florence, passing a tablet, showing a stream of the Games, paused just before Florence fell asleep the night before. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love, to have them there one minute and then gone the next. But I also know what it's like to watch it happen, and I promise you it is something you can never unsee, so make sure it's what you want before you hit play."

The voice was so familiar to Florence, it was one she had heard so frequently in the Games, most recently to declare her as a winner. It was a voice that haunted her dreams, and one she hoped she would never have to put a face to. "You." She hissed, snatching the tablet from the woman, before she could change her mind.

Mox withdrew instantly, knowing that she was the last person Florence would ever want to see. "Me." She stepped back, taking a seat at the far end of the craft. No matter how much she wanted to walk over, put an arm around the girl and comfort her the way Chamberlain had done for her, she knew that the pain Florence was feeling she had caused, and nothing she could say or do would ever make it better.

Florence took a deep breath and ignored Mox's warning, pressing play on the device, letting out a sob as Alfred's face appeared.


Alfred- Three Hours Earlier

Alfred had every intention of falling asleep next to Florence. He had every intention of just lying down next to her, and letting the night consume them both. He had every intention of getting a full night's sleep, something he hadn't allowed himself to have for the last month, ever since his name had been called.

But every time he closed his eyes, he saw all that had happened. He was himself killing Jordan and Salome, he saw himself let Florence kill Locke, he saw Newton sacrificing himself and the way they had all just left Lya and Ezra to die. He saw it all, and knew then that sleep would never come. Worst of all, he saw tomorrow. He saw Florence die, and him having to go home a broken, destroyed man. He saw his family, destroyed by the Capitol, teffiried, never able to leave their houses again. He saw Florence's family sobbing as they realised their daughter was never coming home, her young siblings not understanding why they would never see her sister again.

Alfred could stop that suffering. He could make sure that Florence got home, that his family were freed from the restraints of the Capitol, he could ensure that he was no longer tormented by the things he had done. All he had to do was be brave.

Since the very first day, Alfred had carried five small nightlock berries in his bag. By now, they were squashed and rotten, but they still held as much poison as they had that very first day, and that was all that mattered. No matter how much he tried to stop them, there was nothing Alfred could do to halt the tears that streamed down his face as he smeared the berries onto the last scrap of stale bread. He debated leaving some behind for Florence, but laughed out loud at his stupidity- after this, she would no longer need this shit food. She would be free. That thought made Alfred smile, the tears slowing momentarily. Florence would be free- she could see her family again, and have a shot at a normal life.
He wanted nothing more than to embrace her now, to hug and kiss her, and tell her that even without him, she would be okay. But he couldn't risk it, he couldn't risk waking her. Because he knew that if he looked into her eyes, he could never go through with what he was about to do.

"Hey Capitol." He looked directly into a camera at the side of the arena. "If you do one good thing, I want you to get this message to Florence. I want you to make sure she knows how special she is. I want her to know that she changed my life, that if it hadn't been for her, I would have given up so long ago. I want her to know that she shouldn't feel guilty for anything that happened in here, and I want her to live a long and happy life, to find love again, and have a thousand happy baby Florence's. Oh, and maybe a fish. Florence, if you get this message, I want you to name a fish after me. And, this goes without saying, but I want her to know how much I love her."
He paused, wiping the tears from his face. "Oh God, dying is so much harder than I thought it would be. And to my family, I want them to know how sorry I am, for everything I've done in here. For this." He raised the bread in the air. "And I hope they understand. Okay, here goes."

Alfred turned, facing the love of his life as he breathed in and out, the bread now soggy, stained with tears as he raised it to his lips. "It's been a good life."


Tributes Graveyard

3rd Place: Salome Leveau (D2F)- Wow. Salome was always a character that I struggled to find a satisfying death for. Firstly, he didn't want to kill so the chances of her getting into a fight and dyind were small, then she always had Locke to protect her, and finally, she was too skilled herself to lose a fight. So in the end, it was her moral debating that was her downfall. I loved her character so much, and exploring her relationship with her father, watching it grow and change.

2nd Place: Alfred Goddard (D3M)- Well if that wasn't the hardest death scene I had to write... I wanted nothing more than for him and Florence to make it out of their alive together, and for a while I was planning on having Mox come in and bust them out, but I couldn't find a way for it not to seem cheesy and bad. Besides, this was the Hunger Games, we rarely have a happy ending. I am so privileged to have been given the chance to write a character as brilliant and complex as Alfred. I loved every second of writing his development and relationship with Florence, and watching him turn into such a great person. Okay, I'm going to stop before I start crying again, but Alfred, I love you bby sorry for killing you


I actually can't believe I'm writing this but... its over, the Games are over and we have a winner. Holy sh*t that was a journey, and one I never thought I would complete. But here we are, 10 months after I posted the first chapter, we have the last one of the Games (don't worry, there will be a couple of chapters detailing what happens after). It feels so weird that the majority of it is just... done, that I killed off 23 amazing tributes and one Gamemaker. Woah. That's insane. And the fact that it's almost 200,000 words is so crazy, that's like... and entire novel.

But what has shocked me most about this whole experience, is that people read it, they reviewed it and actually enjoyed it. I never thought I would write something that people liked and stuck with and came back to read. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for every single review (which there is over 150 of WHAT?), for every time you've read or simply clicked on this little SYOT. Thank you for putting up with my irregular updates, my long ass chapters, my rambly authors notes (like this one) and just for not giving up on Atonement. I'm so proud of us all for making it this far.

Okay that's enough for now. Wow, if I'm this bad at the end of the Games, what am I going to be like on the final chapter?

Until next time,

Alice xxx