XXII. FINAL THOUGHTS

THE CAPITOL

Nobody in the Capitol had expected the field to lower from nine to seven in a matter of hours. As a matter of fact, Caesar Flickerman had been setting off for the first interview in District 3 when he received the notification that Deiondra had died. To be honest, he had been relieved: no well respecting Capitol citizen would ever walk into a rebel's den on purpose- and even so, did Caesar expect them to respect his safety while he visited?

Certainly not. They were rebels.

On the plus side, Caesar, despite somewhat enjoying doing the interviews, now only had to meet with seven families. Only the meetings with Career parents weren't awkward- usually outer district parents were quite cold towards Caesar or cried the whole time- with no style, he added- especially given their kids ended up dying soon after.

District 1 was in a sort of hysterical shock, given that their top pick for Victor was long dead now. They'd expected Lux to be the meat shield for the Careers, but what with her sponsor gift of poison, it certainly wasn't looking like that. The Montagues were devastated at the loss of Merlot, and often the Leblanc parents were seen chatting with and comforting the Montague family. However, being around a family that had lost their tribute only made the Leblancs more nervous for their daughter's safety, but as someone had to keep spirits up, they took on the job.

District 2 was celebrating. Both of their tributes were in the Final 8- as usual, one might add. And given that Hestia was the predicted winner and Nero's lineup fell not far behind, the whole district forgot not to count their chickens before they were hatched. Still, Hestia and Nero were doing great in the Games so far, even though the arrival of the poison had shook the district a bit. Hestia's father, of course, wasn't celebrating his daughter's success at all, and often ended up shouting at his television when Hestia's moves weren't exactly strategic like it was a sports match and she could hear him. The Blastaries shouted too, but in a quite different way for their son, and had made efforts to associate with Hestia's family, though her father had turned them away at the doorstep with harsh words, saying that only one could live and eventually their son would die.

District 3 was as shocked as District One. They hadn't expected Arden to make it to the Final 8, much less past the bloodbath, and had thought that no matter how much the district despised the Millers they'd expected Tesla to be their biggest hope for a Victory. The Goldenrods rarely watched their daughter, and when they did, it was disinterested, oddly enough for a mother who had sobbed upon hearing she wouldn't be having another child. The Millers, however, were full of rage-not towards the Capitol, as they were much too pro for that, but towards the District 1 girl, and whenever she appeared onscreen, they often yelled profanity-filled taunts.

District 4 was like District 1 and District 3- their top tribute had died, leaving the "weaker" one to take home the crown. Of the Careers left, Angelo and Nero were mostly evenly matched in terms of wits, and as such Marris and Angelo's group of friends watched with a somewhat nervous anticipation for Angelo. The Trinidads, however, were in a sort of disarray, and both had returned to work, not taking a single second off in the hopes that maybe they'd be able to work off the pain of losing their daughter so soon.

District 5 was out of the Games at the bloodbath and had very little to look forward to. While Nico's family was definitely upset at the loss of their son, Ella Maxwell was doubly so at the loss of her sister. Like the Trinidads, Ayla's father was desperately working as if it would make him forget about Ayla completely. Brock was too young to understand that he'd lost his sister, and waited patiently for her to come back, wondering why Ella cried so much now. The whole district cursed Nico for not saving Ayla when he had the chance as if he could've saved her without getting killed himself, and as a result, the Benetiezes rarely left their house anymore.

District 6 was in a sort of middling mood. Audi's discovery of the pyramid had boosted her chances by a lot, yet they were disappointed at Avven's death- and his family, such a tight-knit group, were still in a disbelieving sort of grief. Geare and Pilot, however, rarely moved from the television screen for anything greater than minutes, hoping luck would stay with Audi and someone would be willing to sponsor the underdog. Nobody had though, but it was impossible to get the pair's and even the district's hopes down.

District 7 was in mourning. Aspen and Euan were some of the sweetest kids the Games had this year. They'd expected both of them to make it far, what with the fact that they got a six and seven in training respectively, but Euan had to go and die for Aspen and attack a Career! Euan's parents and his brother were grieving, as were the Merediths, and the whole district was full of condolences for them.

District 8 was out of the Games as usual. The Alyssums and the Arks had found solace in each other as their kids died early on- the bloodbath for Lint, and Lyana went a couple of hours later. The whole District missed the boy who wouldn't, could never hurt a fly, and the girl who had felt helpless in her last moments. Opus was beginning to raise her rebellious spirit a bit more, and was even trying to start riots, despite how the Arks warned her not to and that it was a bad choice. They were right, because Opus was jailed for a few months for injuring a Peacekeeper soon after.

District 9 was in the same celebratory mood as District 2 even though one of their tributes was dead- but did that matter, because Demeter Jarniven was still alive, and she was the biggest star to ever come from District Nine! She'd already received three sponsor gifts, the most of any tribute so far unless you counted the girl from 3, who had received four with her ally. The whole District was glad for Reyena's death, because it meant that Demeter wasn't tied down to an ally. District 9 only had three victors, and a fourth looked like she was coming.

District 10 still didn't believe that Reyena was dead. Even though a day had passed since she'd been killed by a replica of Demeter, her ally, they still didn't accept her death. She was so popular amongst the Capitolites that some of them didn't accept it either, ironically enough. Bracken Jade missed his brother, but hoped he had eventually found peace with his mind. As usual, District 10 had come close, but not far enough. They'd fallen short once again, and the Jensens were devastated at their daughter's loss. She went so far in the end but it wasn't far enough at all.

District 11 was usually out of the Games by this point but that didn't make it less heartbreaking especially given how much they'd loved watching Deiondra's transformation and unlikely friendship with the girl from Three, and now cursed the name of the girl from Nine. Bailey's death had hurt some in the district too, especially their family, who had never expected them to go so soon and were secretly glad at the death of the girl from 10, failing to realize just how young she had been.

District 12 wasn't shocked, but that didn't make the loss of Peri and Tristan any less hard, just like District 11. They'd lost almost every tribute that had gone into the Games except for Lucy Gray Baird back in the 10th Games, so Peri and Tristan's deaths weren't unexpected. Preceding their deaths the Calloways and the Sols had spent a lot of time together watching the Games and hoping and praying that their kids could make it out. First Peri died, then Tristan, and now both families were mourning together just like District Eight's families. This was the farthest District 12 had come in a very long time, which only made their deaths harder to bear. They'd come so close to the Final Eight and had broken the hearts of everyone in the District with their deaths. But as usual, District 12 hadn't stood a chance.

With the loss of two Capitol favorites moving into the Final Eight, the Gamemakers were forced to keep upping and upping their game. The girl from 1's sponsor gift of poison was holding every single District and the Capitol in suspense, but the chances of her using it were slim.

The quick arrival of the Final Eight was causing bets for victors to rise. Currently, the most commonly bet on tribute to win was Demeter from District 9, but the population was heavily divided, given only 44.68% of the Capitol had voted for Demeter through stats collected through betting offices.

The finale was approaching soon, and as such, the Gamemakers were retiring the tribute-like mutts that had such success, as they'd ended up taking out three tributes, but they doubted most of the tributes left would fall for the mutts again.

Dulsche Wildgaze could hardly believe how well the Games had been going, and as such, was only more ready for the final leg of the race.

It was anyone's game now.

KILL COUNT

Arena: IIII

Merlot Montague (DECEASED): III

Hestia Mclearson: III

Nero Blastaries: II

Tempest Trinidad (DECEASED): I

Lux Leblanc: I

Angelo Marris: I

Reyena Jensen (DECEASED): I

Demeter Jarniven: I

Alliances:

Careers: Lux, Hestia, Nero, Angelo

Lone Wolves: Arden, Audi, Demeter

A/N

So, shorter chapter today as it's just a small checkin with the Capitol and the districts. This will be my last chapter before Christmas, and I'll try to stockpile over the holidays but it's unlikely. Drop in and leave a review, it makes my day ;) . (Disclaimer: this chapter was stockpiled and I am terrible at waiting to release chapters like it.) See you with Day 7!

-Tia