Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. They belong to Suzanne Collins.

Note: As has been stated in previous chapters, this here is the absolute longest Hunger Games there ever was. Forty days in the arena, it's enough to drive somebody mad… or at least really make them a little annoyed, haha. In any case, how could a Games last so very long when the gamemakers can just cause chaos any time things start to drag? Oh, I think you'll find there is indeed a way. Read on for the tale of Platinum and her unbeaten record!

"So, forty days was how long she spent in the arena?" Katniss could only shake her head, lost. "Here I was thinking nine days was an eternity in that forest."

"Felt a lot longer than nine. More like nineteen," Peeta said, distant. "That's what the official record is though, forty days. Never beaten. I'm not sure how it happened as they never air these Games. I guess that means they were trying to hide something?"

"Must be the case," Katniss said, gazing down at Platinum's face again. "She doesn't look like much, at least not by the standards of One. Only a single kill."

"A far cry from Mascara then," Peeta noted. "Hardly a bad thing if you ask me."

44th Annual Hunger Games

Name: Platinum Twist

Gender: Female

District: 1

Age: 17

Kills: 1

Few tributes were ever ready for the horrors of the arena.

Sometimes even the careers were completely and utterly unprepared for what awaiting them once the gong rang.

Platinum was one such career.

Platinum Twist was the daughter of a pair of silversmiths, a business she had quite the natural flair for. Her upbringing was pleasant enough and she never lacked any basic necessities growing up. She Had money, she had fine clothing, she even had a dollar sign tattoo on her cheek that she was quite fond of.

What she lacked, however, was popularity.

Popularity that she could only get within the walls of the career academy.

Platinum was never about the bloodshed or the honour of being a tribute in the Hunger Games. Only the showbiz and social status that came with training for the games. She could swing a sword just fine, throw a knife over forty yards into a target, shoot a bullseye with a bow and arrow and was a particularly fast runner.

She was vastly outclassed by the girls whose only goal in life was to win the Hunger Games – or, in some cases, murder innocent people without any fear of consequences – but didn't care any for this reality. She was still in the overall top ten of the year's candidates and that gave Platinum all that she believed she needed in her life.

Parties. Boys. Admiration.

Platinum thought she could simply socially float her way through the academy and graduate with plenty of job offers, networking opportunities and one hell of a fancy lifelong social life. She thought wrong on all accounts.

Per the rules in place ever since the Thirty Seventh Hunger Games, all of the overall top ten scorers of each academy year were considered to be volunteers for the Games. The top rank was, of course, first in line. Second was a back-up just in case the selected volunteer was unable to take part and third was the back-up for the back-up.

At most only the third back-up had ever been needed. Platinum had no reason to assume that anything would be any different as she sauntered into the reaping square, shooting teasing looks towards the boys she passed. She was sexy and she knew it.

She was also seventh in line for the role of tribute.

This was where the trouble began. After Mascara's horrific performance in the Games a few years ago there had been a sudden mass walk-out of several girls from the career academy. It had all been too much for the youths to take. It was too sick, too real. Several girls who left as a result of seeing the long dead psychopath in action were around the same skill level of Platinum, some slightly better, therefore unintentionally moving her from what would've been twentieth on the list up to seventh.

Just enough to seal her fate. The chosen volunteer had discovered she was pregnant, and her love for her unborn child instantly outweighed her desire to win the Hunger Games. The second volunteer broke her leg after falling down the stairs. The third volunteer had contracted a nasty case of the flu and was estimated to not recover for at least three weeks. The fourth volunteer had gotten into a car accident and, while alive, had broken both her legs and four of her ribs. The fifth volunteer had gotten herself arrested for illegal possession of particularly funky, hard hitting morphing. Meanwhile, the sixth volunteer had entered a coma after an ice cream binge following being dumped by her boyfriend.

This was all it took for Platinum to become first in line to volunteer and be told of this mere minutes before the reaping began. When a small girl who seemed to be having issues breathing made her way to the stage Platinum uttered the famous words.

"I volunteer!"

Platinum soaked up all of the applause and admiring cheers sent her way like some kind of elegant sponge. In that moment she felt truly on top of the world, like she was finally getting everything she deserved. The status, the fame, the genuine adoration was all hers!

Only when she was taken within the judgement building did everything finally hit her in one massive proverbial punch.

She was going into the arena and she had only been good enough to be deemed the seventh best option the district had. Most of the time even the best of the academy would die from something or another. Not to mention her district partner, a particularly tall and dashing young man known to his swarm of friends as Trove, had been the first volunteer in line of the boys.

Platinum wanted to throw up. Suddenly she didn't want her status quite so badly anymore.

The pre-Games events were a disaster for Platinum.

It was clear from the very opening moments of the parade that Platinum was not handling the Games anywhere close to as well as most females from One preceding her had done. With all eyes on her, the extremely loud cheering and how with every passing second her very likely death was approaching Platinum wasn't able to hold down her dinner.

"Urgh, sick!" Trove yelled, recoiling from his district partner. "What the hell Plat'? I thought you liked attention! That's, like, your entire thing!"

"S-s-sorry. Must have been something I ate on the train," Platinum replied, weakly continuing to wave to the crowd and try to recover from her goof-up.

Alas, it was not to be. By the end of the parade the Capitol had already dubbed Platinum as 'vomit girl' and the early odds of her victory were set particularly low. While improvement was possible the sheer amount of judgement and laughter sent at her had Platinum becoming more and more of an anxious mess before the first training day had even arrived.

Bronze, mentoring Trove, couldn't help laughing at the once fame hungry girl. He'd never deny being arrogant himself, but he would insist he could back it up and had many times over. He and Trove had hit it off quickly, both working to set down plans for Trove and taking the time to fawn over Crimson when Bronze bought up how 'easy' she was.

Platinum sought refuge on the balcony, unable to stick around her increasingly cocky district partner and the monster of the Nineteenth Games.

The monster whose black soul nobody aside Snow himself could claim to know inside and out. Not even Crimson.

Platinum gazed up at the stars, shaking like a naked person out in a blizzard.

"What have I done to myself?" Platinum whispered, shaking. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Sounds like you've gotten yourself into a sticky situation you're not ready for," said a voice.

Crystal slowly wheeled herself over to the tribute she'd stepped up to mentor. As doctors had predicted for years her health had been dwindling, leaving her stuck in a wheelchair. Even with her time limited, Crystal wasn't ready to say farewell yet.

Not when she had one shot left to save a girl.

"I did the same thing when I was around your age," Crystal said, her voice fairly soft and quiet these days. "I was a silly kid. I got very lucky."

"I got unlucky," Platinum whispered. "I never wanted to be here. I never wanted to be a tribute! I just… I just wanted people to like me. Admire me. Think I was cool."

"And yet, you volunteered," Crystal noted. "Why'd you do that? Was that girl somebody you knew?"

"…I couldn't just let somebody who can't breathe properly go into the arena," Platinum mumbled. "And if I chickened out people would have hated me. I was selfish."

"I don't think you're quite as selfish as you think. Those old families from the Flawless Estate when I was a little girl? They were selfish," Crystal paused to get her breath back. "So, you had a bad day. It happens. But tomorrow's a whole new adventure! So many possibilities! The best part is you get to decide what happens next."

Platinum couldn't help but weakly smile at the enthusiasm of her mentor. Even in her middle age and how she was unable to walk on her own anymore, Crystal still had her childish peppiness. It was practically infectious.

"What happens next… is me making up for the parade," Platinum decided. "I'll make them love me, you'll see."

"That's the spirit!" Crystal exclaimed. "Always remember, tomorrow is a new adventure, and anything can happen. Now, let's talk tactics."

And so, they did. They spoke of numerous plans – many of them fairly quirky and silly ideas that only seemed to make perfect sense to crystal - until Harp, tagging along as she often did, came to the balcony after midnight had arrived.

"Getting late. It's…" Harp paused, briefly forgetting her words. "It's, uh, bedtime. Bedtime for Platinum, bedtime for Crissy."

"Bed sounds good," Platinum agreed, yawning and making her way inside.

"Oh come on Harp, I'm not even tired," Crystal complained, mostly in jest.

Harp just giggled as she wheeled her girlfriend back inside. Some things had never changed over the years they'd known each other.

Despite Crystal's optimism and well intentioned advice things did not, in fact, get better when training began. The whole three days were one ongoing exercise in humiliation and pain.

Platinum hated being judged and looking like an idiot. Alas, both these things happened plenty of times with each day that passed.

On the first day of training Platinum tried to show off her talents with the sword much like dozens of tributes from One in the past. She knew how good she was with the weapon. However, using the sword while being watched by her academy classmates was nothing close to being watched by tributes who could potentially kill her. Platinum ended up dropping the sword twice as at least six outliers stared at her while she trained. The vomit girl nickname came back in full force.

Platinum tried not to cry. Crystal tried to encourage her. Harp tried to bake them cookies.

On the second day of training Platinum tried to brush on her technique with the bar mace. Striking the dummies was the easy part. The hard part was ignoring all the tributes who watched her, the so called 'vomit girl'. This time she managed to ignore the outliers, but the careers were a whole other story. They were willing to let Platinum into their gang, as they all knew they were stronger together. It all came down to if she could win a spare against one of the trainers.

Platinum locked up under the gazes of her powerful allies and the stone cold trainer. Another stress induced vomiting ensued, her spot within the pack withdrawn right as the trainer easily smacked her over.

On the third day of training Platinum was getting desperate. Nobody, not even most of the outliers, were taking her seriously. To the careers she was just another target of many. A joke. A laughingstock. Platinum even became hopeless enough to do something no self-respecting career tribute would ever do – visit the edible plants training station. Learning about mosses did not help her mood.

It did, however, prevent her score falling below a six. Even so, six was among the lowest scores that girls from One had ever achieved. Platinum couldn't look her ever supportive, gentle mentor in her eyes.

The interviews… the less said about them the better. All Platinum knew was that apparently #VomitGirl was trending all across social media within the Capitol and it showed no signs of slowing down any time soon.

She was left with all the vileness. Trove was the one with the hoards of fans and admirers.

Platinum wished she'd never tried to be popular in the first place.

"You can do this," Crystal said, letting Platinum lean towards her so that she could embrace her from her wheelchair. "It's about living the longest. Not being the most popular or strong. I was neither."

"You had fans," Platinum whispered, her voice cracking. "You had Harp."

Harp joined the hug, gently holding Platinum from behind as the trio spent their last minutes together before the tributes were to be taken to the arena.

"You have me too," Harp said, gentle as always. "Money. Lots of it. Mine."

"Harp isn't bound by the same rules I am," Crystal added. "She can sponsor you anything you need."

This did little to cheer Platinum up. She felt like she had no chance at all; it was not unheard of for girl from One to die in the bloodbath. The thought had her spine tingling awfully. She wanted to run home to her mother.

There was nowhere near enough time left for Crystal to be able to calm Platinum down. The peacekeepers came for her soon enough, dragging the girl out of the room like some kind of a limp ragdoll. Platinum didn't fight the pulling, the will to battle quickly leaving her.

"You can do this!" Crystal called after her, trying to keep her own breathing stable. "I had a heart condition and won. All you need to do is believe in yourself! It'll… it'll be… an adventure…!"

Crystal was forced to calm down, the strain of shouting almost more than she could take. She could only hope that her final words to Platinum would be enough to light the fire within her. It didn't matter what others thought; it only mattered that she love herself. Her thoughts were cut off when she blacked out, leaving Harp to call for a medic and some freshly baked cookies for when Crystal would eventually awaken.

Platinum tried to think of anything but her looming fate. The care and support Crystal had shown her, the cheering at the reaping stage, her parents utmost faith in her to not only win but set a new record for the quickest ever Hunger Games…

All she could picture within her tormented mind was Bronze laughing at her non-stop, the outliers snickering when she puked, her once allies in the career pack deeming her to be worthless to have on their side, the gamemakers shaking their heads, the blinding lights on the interview stage making her ever so sick.

Platinum couldn't help it. She tried not to do it. She held out for as long as she could.

She threw up in her seat.

"Vomit girl! Vomit girl! Vomit girl!"

Platinum had no idea which tributes were chanting the terrible name or if she was imagining the whole thing. All she knew was that she couldn't stop herself from screaming. Everything went dark soon after that when, for the sake of keeping the transport peaceful, one of the peacekeepers injected her with something to knock her out for the rest of the ride.

Platinum awoke just as she was sealed into her launch tube. Her head was pounding, her vision was blurry and it took her several lightheaded moments to realise she was now in an avocado green tribute outfit – something cold resistant and woolly – and that she was rising upwards.

She was entering the arena.

Platinum didn't even have the energy to cry anymore or plead for a way out. All that registered into her eyes was pure depression in the face of the inevitable. She'd surely set a record for the quickest death in the history of the Games.

"How could I be so fucking stupid…?"

The launch plates clicked into place and gave Platinum, as well as the other twenty three tributes, a chance to look around at this year's arena. The mere sight sent further shudders up Platinum's back, each one like a razor.

It was another of the rarely seen underground arenas. Nothing like the disastrous coal mine of the Thirty First Games, this one was somewhat akin to the dark cavern of the Twelfth Games. Only this time the underground cavern was a bit brighter, currently glowing a very, very faint shade of icy blue. The roof of the cavern was covered in beautiful crystals as far the eye could see and on the ground it was much the same; where there weren't mossy growths, puddles of water, cliffs, rubble or small patches of mushrooms there were clusters of crystals growing out of the ground.

Crystals…

Crystal.

Platinum, for a moment, as able to picture her mentor within her mind. Her dulled hair, her weak body, her smile full of endless youthful joy.

'So, you had a bad day. It happens. But tomorrow's a whole new adventure! So many possibilities! The best part is you get to decide what happens next.'

"I… I decide… to live," Platinum whispered, balling her fists.

Her confidence was almost entirely broken again as the countdown started, approaching her doom closer and closer with every passing second. Several other tributes were similarly breaking down while the careers held strong in their resolve to commit as much murder in the opening minutes as feasibly possible.

Platinum wiped away her tears when just ten seconds remained, noticing something peculiar. There were not very many weapons in and around the horn of plenty this year. Mainly knives with a small supply of axes and bar maces. Most of the supplies consisted of large packs full of water bottles and food.

Platinum prepared to race into the fray, knowing that whether she died a swift death or got away with food, she'd be better off avoiding starvation.

The gong rang and the mayhem began in under ten seconds. Trove slipped over a small pack of bread that had been hidden with a shadow and cost himself precious time. Enough for the outliers to get ahead of him, especially as both of the tributes from Two had also foolishly stumbled over.

Several tributes had ran off into the darkness with supplies by the time the careers claimed some weapons and the poor girl from Eight was already dead by the hand of the girl from Four. The pack spread out fast, not wanting to leave their sponsors unimpressed.

They got stuck in, briefly oblivious to Platinum's presence. Her arms were absolutely overloaded with packs full of food and water, enough supplies contained within to last for weeks. It made her a tempting target for the boy from Eleven, a fifteen year old who had only ever eaten stale bread and drank rainwater before coming to the Capitol.

It happened so fast, one of the quickest and cleanest kills in recent Games history. One moment the boy confronted Platinum with a shoddy axe and made her panic. The next moment Platinum had stabbed him right in the centre of his chest. He collapsed silently, leaving Platinum to stand in a silence of her own.

She'd gone into shock over what she had just done to a boy who only wanted to eat. The most bare and basic desire of them all, a far cry behind popularity.

Platinum began to hyperventilate, twitch and shiver as she gazed at the boy's corpse. She only came back to Panem when, having failed to prevent the boy from Seven from running off with a big backpack and an axe in each hand, the careers came after her. Even Trove wasn't holding back from what had to be done.

Platinum finally broke, letting out one hell of a shrill scream. The intense pitch had the careers reflexively covering their now ringing ears, flinching from the horrible sound. Platinum scooped up her massive armful of supplies and ran off into the dimly lit crystal cavern, screaming and crying all the way.

The career pack simply shrugged to each other as Platinum fled the area. They'd track her down soon enough and reclaim their supplies. For now they had other issues to worry about, like taking care of their minor wounds, sorting out their supplies and forming a plan to hunt and kill all the other tributes.

All sixteen of them. After all, only five had died at the bloodbath this year; the girl from Three, both from Six, the girl from Eight and the boy from Eleven who had only wanted bread.

The gamemakers made a rough estimate of a three week Games at most, which even then was pretty unlikely.

They were way off the mark…

Three days had gone by without another death. The arena was simply too massive to make it an easy job for the careers to hunt down all of the outliers, especially as there were only three of them. The general darkness and plethora of hiding places only further dragged things out.

Retrospectively, it could be said that the Games winning move happened on the third day, all by a freak accident.

Platinum was walking a mile from the edge of the arena, overloading with supplies and struggling to carry all of the many packs and bags. Her arms were sore from the strain, her eyes stung from the many tears she'd shed and her knee lightly throbbed from where she'd tripped and scraped it the previous day.

It all happened when Platinum was moving through an area where several large crystals were hanging low from the ceiling. As pretty as they were to look at they were also a danger unknown to all, even the gamemakers. Arena construction had been rushed in certain places to keep everything on schedule. Due to this the crystals had not been correctly freeze welded onto the stone ceiling of the cavern.

By the grandest of flukes they came loose just as Platinum went near them.

One moment the crystals were forming light cracks. Next moment they were loose and falling hard. After that the sounds of smashing and rumbling echoed throughout the arena. Not enough for a cave-in – the gamemakers ensured that was impossible this time around – but certainly enough to smash right through the floor and down to the depths below the arena.

Platinum wasn't close enough to be killed by the falling crystals, but she was close enough to be at the very edge of the newly opened chasm. The ground under her feet crumbled and sent her screaming into the darkness.

There was no cannon. Only silence.

Platinum awoke on the fifth day, by which point there were still nineteen tributes alive and one very bored and huffy Capitol audience. But that was no longer an issue to her anymore.

The main issues were the fact she was at the very bottom of a deep, dark hole with shards of crystal scattered all over the place. That and her left leg was broken. Only the fact she had so many packs of supplies to take the worst of the impact had saved her life.

Saved her from falling to her death at least. Being stuck under the underground with no way out was not much better. For a while Platinum was only able to sob and panic, wishing she was home.

Panic turned to anxiety and anxiety turned to depression. How would she ever get out of the hole? Was there a way out? Was this a trap that had failed to kill her or was there a whole new layer to the arena beyond the 'surface of the underground'?

Platinum spent a while looking through all of her supplies, checking for something that may help her. Medical gear was in short supply, though she had a huge amount of food and water.

"Just as well I have all of this…" Platinum mumbled, quietly opened a packet of cheesy chips. "Aaaaah, my leg…!"

Further rooting through her supplies led to Platinum finding a digital watch and a pack of chalk. With nothing else to do Platinum carefully worked out how long had passed since she'd fallen. Luckily, the clock came with a date on the screen.

It had been two days since the fall. It was the fifth day in the arena. Platinum lay on her back, shivering more from fear than cold.

"What am I gonna do?"

A cannon boomed, the careers having finally managed to track down another tribute nine miles to the east of where Platinum lay alone in the dark.

"How many are left?" Platinum paused, realising she had no way of knowing how many did or did not die when she was knocked out. "Shit, shit, shit…"

With a broken leg, no way out of the hole, no chance of winning a fight anymore and seemingly no chance of winning the Games, Platinum began to cry. She was doomed to die, all because of her selfish desires for popularity and being better than those around her.

"I'm guess I'm gonna be here a while…"

Five days and two cannons passed by. Platinum was only now beginning to see just how long days were when you had noting to do to fill up the passage of time. She couldn't climb out, she was unable to walk and even dragging herself around was getting harder. She had food, water and a thick blanket to keep her alive for now, but she was very aware to one particular problem.

With every mouthful of food or water she consumed her supplies were gradually getting lower.

As obvious of a statement as it was the reality was clear: there were no more supplies coming. If Platinum ran out then she was fucked.

"What do I do now?" Platinum muttered. "I can't get out and find anybody."

Platinum paused, a thought suddenly hitting her. One that, for a few seconds, caused her to weakly smile.

"They can't get me down here either," Platinum whispered. "If I stay quiet they'd never know I was here."

And so Platinum lay down, quiet as a mouse. Her only advantage was being hidden from sight and it was one she intended to use to its fullest effect.

By the fifteenth day Platinum was starting to face something worse than the pain in her useless leg or the fear that never quite ceased surging through her bones.

The complete isolation.

Platinum had never gone more than a few hours without seeing or hearing another person. Being alone for a day was strange. Being alone for three days was uneasy. Being alone for over ten days with no end in sight was starting to drive her mad.

How many were still alive? She did not know – it wasn't unheard of for tributes to sleep through the firing of a cannon – and had started to forget what little she knew about the tributes to begin with. She'd forgotten the names of the outliers and several of their faces. She struggled to recall the names of the warriors from Two, Barbus and Hun. The only one who really stood out in her mind was Trove and even then she was starting to have issues remembering his voice. How long until the rest of the memories slipped away as well?

The worst of it all was that, being stuck in the hole as she was, it was impossible for Platinum to see the faces in the death anthem at the end of each day. Each cannon was a mere noise, a statement that somebody died. Nothing else. Was Trove alive? Was Hun? Was the boy from Nine with bad acne? It was impossible to say.

"Crystal, please, can you send me something?" Platinum whispered. "More food, more water… just a note for me to read? Please…"

…But nothing came.

The twentieth day arrived just as slowly as those before it. Half of the tributes were now dead, not that Platinum knew it. She'd slept through the cannon that marked the boy from Three's death at the hands of Hun.

Platinum sighed as she carefully opened a small packaged bun. Time had no meaning anymore. It was just a means towards marking another chalk line upon the wall.

Platinum spent much of day laying down, softly whimpering from the pain in her broken leg. It had only been getting more and more sore as the days went by, the damn thing stuck in an angle it was obviously never supposed to have been put into. Alas, it was far too late now to get any medical gear.

It was around the evening when Platinum heard something. It took her a moment to realise what the noise was, it having been so long since any sounds aside cannons had entered her ears.

Yelling. Laughing. Screaming.

People!

Platinum had to slap her hands over her mouth to keep herself from calling out to whoever was above herself. Being alone for so long made it a brief trouble to remember she was in a game where anybody could be her own personal executioner.

"No! Please! No!"

"What's the matter? You scared?"

Platinum closed her eyes tightly, shaking as a horrible splattering echoed from above. One stumble later and something fell not far from her spot within the darkness, landing with a painful crunch. A cannon boomed throughout the arena right afterwards.

Platinum didn't bare to breath as footsteps of three people drew nearer far above her. Three figures peered downwards into the hole.

"See anything down there?" one asked. Trove, Platinum realised. The same who killed the boy who had begged for mercy.

"Nothing. Just darkness," Hun replied. "Seems like a trap here to catch out people who don't watch their step."

"May as well turn back, nothing around here worth our time," Trove said, already turning to leave. "Ok guys, how many others left?"

"Eight others. Can't remember which ones," Hun replied. "Just kill anything that moves."

"I know your partner is still out there One," Barbus added. "She's good at hiding, I'll give her that."

The three careers headed off from the hole, their silhouettes soon off in the darkness and out of sight. It was some time before Platinum dared to start breathing at a normal pace again. She wasn't about to assume the careers wouldn't be able to climb down and kill her. They, after all, had their legs working fine.

Platinum dragged herself over to the object that had fallen down the whole. She screamed into her sleeve when she was it was the corpse of the boy from Eight, the small boy bleeding from a severe sword wound across his back and having broken much of the insides of his chest from the fall.

With him was a bag of supplies, one that Platinum was quick to claim. Only two bottles of water and three tins of cold vegetable soup, but to Platinum it was like a priceless treasure hoard.

Quite a while passed before, having realised the hovercraft was not coming down to collect the body, Platinum gently propped the boy's body up against the pit wall opposite hers. With his eyes closed and the darkness making his blood hard to see it was like he was just sleeping.

A sleeper who smelt of blood and death.

"Looks like we're gonna be here for a while, aren't we… uh…" Platinum paused, having long ago forgotten the boy's name. "…I'll call you Strap. That a good name, Strap?"

The corpse didn't respond. Platinum huddled a blanket over herself, wondering how long she'd hold onto what remained of her sanity before finally losing it.

Day twenty five began with the girl from Four being bitten badly by cave rats. She was easy prey for the careers after that, the pack having been bought over by the sounds of her screams. Their brief triumph and the knowledge of making it to the final eight and thus ensuring their families would be visited did not last long. A much more pressing concern began not long afterwards.

There was almost no food left.

The outliers had barely any scraps to live off of at all and moss was hard to find. The careers had more than anybody else, but with their bigger appetites, lack of experience handling hunger and how the supplies were split between three of them meant it was running out at an alarming rate.

It would be a wonder if their food lasted halfway through day twenty seven. The pack acted quickly, tearing through the cave like lightning to try and quickly eliminate the rest of the tributes, but darkness hid them very well. The physical activity only caused the careers to drain their supplies faster.

Meanwhile Platinum remained at the bottom her hole, still having a fair amount of supplies left. But with her leg causing pain around the clock and her seeming inability to keep herself warm it was a small comfort at best. The stench of the corpse across from her further increased her suffering, more than once making her vomit what she had eaten.

"How many left… was it seven others or ten?" Platinum muttered, weary from fatigue. "Did I mark today or not… um…"

Platinum marked the wall for the third time of the day, too out of it to know she was losing track of everything going on. She groaned, downing another can of cold soup.

Day thirty's arrival officially granted the Forty Fourth Hunger Games the title of being the longest Games in history, a record that would never be bested. By now the title was particularly apt, the tributes all out of supplies and reduced to eating moss or simply bearing the hunger pains.

A feast was called. The only outlier close enough to attend was the short boy from Twelve. He wolfed down all the soup on offer at the feast, leaving not a single drop for anybody else who had been planning to attend. He died with a knife thrown into his back by Trove, the career and his allies furious that there was nothing left for them to eat.

As the careers continued to force themselves to hunt, slowly starving to death, the remaining outliers were becoming too weak to do more than stumble around. There was nothing in the cavern left for them to eat.

At the bottom of her hole Platinum was running out of supplies. Even with her rationing it was inevitable that she'd have nothing left to eat, or even drink, soon enough.

She distracted herself from her painful reality by creating a fantasy with her dead 'hole mate'. She'd talked to Strap for hours, keeping both sides of the conversation going. She was losing it.

"You got a promotion Strap? The wife will be so happy!"

"She won't be, she wanted me to be running the company yesterday. She'll divorce me for sure!"

"Maybe you could take her to court and make off with half of her possessions?"

"What if I end up with her cats? They smell and they scratch my eyes!"

"Cat is a funny word. Ha… haha… hahahahahaha!"

By day thirty five Platinum had stopped talking to the stinking corpse she shared living space with and just lay in a silence, staring blankly up towards the top of the hole. Her water was low and she had barely any food left. Enough for one and a half meals at best. She tried to ignore the hunger, wondering how long it'd take to leave… or to starve when she inevitably ran out of supplies.

All Platinum could do to hold onto reality was think back to the kindness Crystal and Harp had shown her. The faith Crystal had in her. It wasn't exactly a happy memory, not anymore, but it served as a way to anchor her into the world around her and outside of insanity.

Outside the hole things were not looking good for the other four tributes who were still wandering around. After Hun had died from falling down a steep cliff and onto a punji stick trap the long dead girl from Ten set up weeks ago the pack had split. Trove stumbled around one way in a fit of hunger while Barbus slowly walked another way, his body shutting down one little bit at a time. Their lack of experience of handling hunger was crippling them.

The remaining outliers weren't much better off. The boy from Five lay immobile amongst some crystals to the far north of the area, practically skin and bones after weeks of hunger and terror. The girl from Nine sobbed, moaned and groaned as she walked along like a zombie, her hunger practically eating her from inside out.

No food was coming. No water was coming. Sponsors were too expensive for almost everybody and the few who could afford them were unwilling to spend so much on what they thought was a worthless expense.

It was going to play out naturally. Last to starve would win.

It wouldn't be the boy from Five. His cannon fired at around nine in the evening.

At around the same time Platinum was down to her final slice of somewhat mouldy and particularly stale bread.

On day thirty eight. The gamemakers called another feast, a single fresh loaf of bread on offer for anybody who chose to attend.

Everybody was too weak to do more than stumble a few paces. Nobody was able to attend the feast, not even the once mighty Trove. He was a mere wisp of his former glory.

Barbus' cannon fired that night, a mixture of dehydration and sheer exhaustion claiming him. Oh, and the hunger. The terrible hunger.

Platinum lay almost immobile at the base of her hole, her stomach hurting and everything around her looking blurry and far away.

The cannon fired for Trove just before midnight. The once cocky and formidable giant dying to the merciless withering pain of hunger.

Platinum was silent for the thirty ninth day. There was nothing to do, nothing to say, nothing to eat or even drink anymore. Well, aside a single mouthful of moss on the wall that just made her feel sick. She moaned, slumping onto her side.

The starving girl from Nine aimlessly limped around, barely taking a few steps a minute, as she tried to find the last tribute besides herself. She'd long ago forgotten who it even was.

The grain farmer passed Platinum's hole prison twice without realising it. Platinum hadn't realised the other tribute had been so close to her in the first place.

Platinum just lay down to quietly die on the fortieth day. It wouldn't be long now, a day or two longer at most. Platinum just wanted it to stop hurting. She didn't care what happened to her anymore.

She thought of Crystal one more time as she slowly turned to lay on her back. Her mentor really had tried, even if she'd been unable to send her a single sponsor gift. If there existed anything behind the curtain of the reaper then she'd be sure to thank her one day.

A cannon fired halfway through the day.

Platinum didn't even react to the sound, the noise of cannons having lost all meaning to her a long time ago. She did, however, weakly groan in response to the sound of trumpets ringing through the arena.

"…What…?"

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the victor of the Forty Fourth Hunger Games! Platinum Twist!"

Platinum didn't respond. She was already fading into another blackout. The last thing she felt was the sensation of being lifted into the air by a gentle claw from a hovercraft.

In the moment before it all went dark Platinum felt like an angel ascending from the darkness of hell.

It was a disaster.

Platinum only found out about it once she had been deemed to have recovered enough for the final interview to happen – three weeks of the absolute best medical care in the nation- but there had been a massive accident within the arena and as a result the Head Gamemaker had been hanged.

It took until the last interview and seeing the recap footage of the games to really understand what had caused the Games to be such a strange phenomenon and, in the eyes of President Snow, a failure.

Platinum's past self on the screen had decent amounts of screen time early on, being shown reflexively killing the boy from Eleven and running around in a mad panic. But then on the third day the crystals fell from above and smashed open a large chasm in the arena's floor, taking her down below with them.

She never showed up on any cameras again until the very end of the Games' runtime.

It turned out the crystals falling had not only made a hole in the floor of the cavern arena, but it also smashed right down to the dead space below the arena. For all intents and purposes Platinum had fallen out-of-bounds and technically exited the arena. It became impossible for anybody to find her or harm her in any way. All it took was keeping herself fed and hydrated. Being out of bounds and somewhere that nobody could see her made sending in sponsor parachutes impossible, no matter how much Crystal had tried to send her stuff.

All the gamemakers knew was that she was alive after her fall and that she was shown on the arena map within their control room. She just… wasn't there either. She survived in the hole longer than any assumed possible.

It was a complete and utter fluke.

Platinum didn't care if it was a fluke or not. Especially not that, for all intents and purposes, she was the victor with the hands down lowest amount of screen time, even lower than Pliny. She was just glad to be alive.

She was glad to be able to go home.

"It was all thanks to you, you know?" Platinum said to Crystal and Harp on the train ride back to one.

The couple looked up at the new victor sitting across from them. Bronze, to their shared delight, had ended up deciding to stay in the Capitol for another week to blow off some steam after the Games. They expected this meant blackjack and hookers, probably without the blackjack.

Crystal wheeled over to be beside Platinum while Harp moved to sit beside the newest victor from One.

"What do you mean?" Crystal asked, making sure to keep her breathing stable.

"Me… being here. The fact I'm not dead or insane. It was all you," Platinum continued. "I mean, I'm still… not alright. I doubt I ever will be. But just having those memories of you two mentoring me made all the difference."

Platinum gently pulled the couple in for a three way hug.

"It gave me something to focus on in that hole, something other than reality," Platinum tried not to cry. "Thank you…"

"It was our… pleasure, Yes, pleasure," Harp smiled, patting Platinum on her back. "Happy to h… um… help, yes."

"Just part of being a good mentor and a great adventurer," Crystal said, smiling contently as she lay back in her wheelchair. "For a final adventure… it couldn't have been any better than this."

"Final adventure?" Platinum asked, shaky.

"I'm dying, we all know it," Crystal paused to wheeze a few times. "That's ok. I stand by what I said when I 'died' back in my own Games… I saw something wonderful when I died. Saw my Grandma for a second. Heh… why worry?"

Crystal paused again, trying to find both her breath and the right words.

"Promise your mentor something?" Crystal asked, letting Harp move to gently hug her from behind.

"Anything," Platinum said, wiping away her tears. "Don't go…"

"We all need to go on the ultimate adventure one day," Crystal weakly chuckled. "But… promise me this. Even when you have to grow up, be a kid at heart… treat life like an adventure… that's what it is, a decades long adventure…"

"I promise," Platinum said, the sincerest she had ever been. "You know, I think I learnt something from all of the hell I went through."

"What did you learn?" Crystal asked.

"…It doesn't matter if I'm popular or not. It never did, really. It just matters that I feel ok about myself and that I have just a few people who care about me. You guys, my parents… that's all I need."

Crystal and Harp responded with another hug. It wasn't much, but it was appreciated.

Platinum never would forget what Crystal had told her. She intended to keep her promise and live life like it were and adventure, not something to be feared every day. She reaffirmed this promise often, especially when she was by Crystal's side when she passed away peacefully three months later. Surrounded by family, her lover and her friends Crystal's final words would forever stick with Platinum.

"What a wonderful adventure… now, go have your own…"

Platinum promised she would, no matter what people thought of her.

After holding a further moment of silence for Platinum Katniss and Peeta took another ten steps down the street. It wasn't more than a few moments before they came to the forty fifth face on the famous sidewalk.

The boy who looked back at them had professional looking glasses, an immaculately tidy look to himself, a rather firm and serious sort of look in his narrowed eyes and short hair that seemed to be the result of at least an hour of brushing. Katniss and Peeta paused, rather surprised at what they were seeing.

"…Is this Chaff?" Katniss asked, more confused than anything else. "He's so… so…"

"…Tidy," Peeta finished. "Nothing like he was in his final days…"

There we are, the longest Hunger Games in the entire history of Panem! While careers are trained for the arena, there remains a big difference between being physically ready and mentally ready. Platinum sure wasn't and it took a complete accident to get her out of the reaper's hold. I've always had an interest in the nature of career volunteers and arena stability in general. It hit me that combining these things could make a good tale; have a much weaker than average career forced up the totem and then survive due to an arena fault. Hope you all enjoyed Platinum's tale and Crystal's farewell; the adventurer might be gone, but her lady sure isn't. Harp will return. Until then, get ready for another canon victor! It's Chaff, and with him another logical fallacy of canon to mercilessly pick apart. :D

Stats

District 1: Peridot Gaudy (8th Games), Crystal McCree (14th Games), Bronze Marley (19th Games), Crown Martins (24th Games), Dollar Dettwieller (32nd Games), Mascara Court (41st Games), Platinum Twist (44th Games)

District 2: Baron Overwhill (4th Games), Runa Peace (7th Games), Olga Machete (10th Games), Rook Valiant (17th Games), Boulder Atherston (20th Games), Vercingetorix Carnby (25th Games), Dragon Batofel (27th Games), Rhyder Overwhill (39th Games)

District 3: Honorius Perthshire (5th Games), Pi Orbit (22nd Games), Beetee Latier (37th Games)

District 4: Museida Selkirk (3rd Games), Mags Flanagan (11th Games), Tide Luther (23rd Games), Librae Ogilvy (35th Games)

District 5: Shunt Gaspar (12th Games), Isobel Sparks (18th Games), Crimson Flanders (29th Games), Porter Tripp (38th Games)

District 6: Chassis Macalister (31st Games)

District 7: Pliny Aransio (2nd Games), Fir Buzz (9th Games), Jack Tylos (21st Games), Snag Nakamura (34th Games)

District 8: Woof Casino (16th Games), Paige Murphy (30th Games), Spool Nylon (42nd Games)

District 9: Mizar Aldjoy (1st Games), Gwenith Rosebud (13th Games), Teff Withers (28th Games), Laurel Flamsteel (36th Games), Tabbock Summers (43rd Games)

District 10: Stallion March (26th Games), Lammy Phyronix (40th Games)

District 11: Bear Redfoot (15th Games), Seeder Howell (33rd Games)

District 12: Duke Saint-Rose (6th Games)