ARROYO CARDOSO- Alysanne Audren

I watched the handsome face until it blinked into nothing. Id been hoping it would happen, of course, but at the same time hoping I could somehow not be present when it did. So many people were gone. Twenty-four people came here with me and five were gone. Nineteen little lights all flickered out in a big empty Arena.

Careen Ellis- District Four mentor

It was beating a dead horse to say we all thought Tulsi was going to make it out. It was a dirty trick that did her in and Four would be bitter for a long time. As for me, I didn't really believe in dirty tricks anymore. Whatever kept you alive was what you had to do.

Shane Donegal- District Four mentor

A lot of people had a lot of complaints about Arroyo. I didn't have that luxury. I couldn't look down on him for being reckless or headstrong or hedonistic because I was all those things went I went into the Arena. It was only the protection of whatever watches over drunkards and children that saved my life. For some reason it had passed him by.

EDWARD MATTHEWS- Flint Kenyte

People like him had no place here. The Arena was for killers. People like the Careers and people like me. If I died I'd been prepared for it for years. I was already past my life expectancy. It wasn't fair someone had to die with their whole life ahead of them.

Meenah Turbine- District Five mentor

Lay a two-dollar flower on Erida's gravestone and call it good. Edward, however, I would remember. I'd been suspicious of him turning a new leaf at first but if I was willing to give Caio a second chance I really had no grounds not to do the same for Edward, who hadn't even killed anyone. I'd pass his wife and kid some money when the baby came. Childbirth is expensive.

District Five

A single black-eyed Susan appeared on Erida's grave on day, laid there by a young man with scars crisscrossing his back. Zephyra gave birth some weeks later to a healthy baby boy named Ori Edward, a child destined to grow up without a father but who valued the stories his mother told of him.

Alysanne Audren- District Six female (15)

Arroyo's face in the sky didn't just fill me with sadness. It also filled me with fear. Someone out there was strong enough to kill Arroyo and they'd be coming for us next.

"It must have been Flint," Lacey said. "Maybe Edward was with one of them." The cannons had come close together so it was the only conclusion.

And he'll be looking for me next, I thought. Of course if he found me he'd find Lacey too, but he was looking for me. I was the only obstacle left for him. It wasn't a nice feeling.

"I heard he was a hit man who's killed like twenty people," Lacey said.

"Who said that?" I asked. It certainly didn't help my nerves at all.

"I just heard it in the training room," Lacey shrugged. "Could just be gossip."

"I definitely heard he was in the mob," I said. "I heard he was a bodyguard, though." Back when the Careers were all still together Charybdis had mentioned him a few times. She saw him volunteer for someone he didn't know. That must have been the guy he was protecting. Guy's devoted to his work, anyway...

"That's just great. Now he's bodyguarding himself!" Lacey said.

"We need to kill him," I said.

"What?" Lacey spun around and looked at me like I'd suggested we get naked.

"He's going to be coming for us," I said.

"Coming for you," Lacey said. "I could just split and wait until you kill each other." But she was just teasing.

I don't even know if I can kill him. Each martial arts style had other styles it was strong against or weak against. All of them had one weakness in common, though: an untrained fighter. It was easier to fight someone who knew a little aikido than someone who knew none at all. Untrained fighters didn't use their bodies to their potential and lacked the strength and discipline found in someone who had been training for years, but they had one secret weapon. Untrained fighters were extremely unpredictable. I knew countermoves to every conventional strike but if someone just did something totally weird out of nowhere, even if it wasn't a good idea, I just couldn't prepare for it. It was like having a rap battle with someone who broke into Elvish every few sentences.

"We'll have to sneak up on him or something. He's really strong," Lacey said.

Easier said than done. This was exactly what Flint had trained for. I learned aikido for the self-improvement and the culture. I fought to exhibit and improve my skills. Flint fought to kill. At the end of the day, what happened when we crossed paths was going to determine the outcome of the Games. We may not have been the strongest two to enter the Arena but we were the strongest two left. Whichever of us died, it was almost certain the other would win. If we both died... I really had no idea. That was how Hades won. At that point it would be pure dumb luck.

Just a lil short chapter this time since all the obits and notes made it an awkward length to have two POVs and also because I was lazy.