.

Throw your sticks and your stones, throw your bombs and your blows.

But you're not gonna break my soul.

Carisa Lenette, District One

"Come on, Eidra," I hiss, tugging her hand and wincing as my own begins to tingle. "I saw him come through here, I know it."

She wrinkles her nose and sighs. "Carisa, you don't have to seek him out. For all we know, that cannon could have been his."

"It wasn't," I insist, lips peeled back in a snarl. I jab a finger to the mist in the distance, piercing through the muggy air. "You and I both know that he's out there. He wants to kill me, he wouldn't die before that happens!"

Eidra wrenches her hand free from my own and gives me a sad frown. "Carisa, are you feeling alright?" she mutters. "This isn't like you. At least take some time to think this through?"

I roll my eyes at her suggestion. That's the thing – I know what I want. I know I sound stupid and mildly insane for demanding this. But I also know one thing, and that's the only thing that's crystal clear in my mind.

Soren must die.

I plod forward, leaping over a felled lollipop stick and scowling as I whip my head from side to side, searching for something – anything – that will lead me to Soren.

A small item on the ground alerts my senses.

I stoop low to the soft cloud and pluck it up. It's a small, glossy photograph. Somebody must have dropped their token. But as I inspect it closer – first the beaming little brunette girl, then the gawky, shy little boy in the background, clutching her hand… everything unfogs in my mind and I crumple the sorry picture up in my fist. His token was a picture of me and him, from, what, ten years ago?!

"Show yourself!" I screech, throwing my face to the sky, squinting my eyes shut, and clenching my teeth in the aftermath of my cry.

And, surprisingly, small, padding footsteps.

My eyelids fly open and I see Eidra immediately, her lips pursed in a melancholy manner as she watches something behind me.

I whip around.

There stands Soren.

And it's a rush – all the memories that he's caused come flying back to me in one shocking instant.

When he first met me, or rather, I met him… when he was getting bullied on the playground, so I tightened my pigtails and told the bullies off, before snatching up his hand and storming away so he could meet my own circle of friends.

A few years later, when he looked me right in the eye and told me how I was the most beautiful girl he had ever met.

And a few years after that, when words actually meant something and we tiptoed around them, instead opting to speak with actions and emotions. Every little movement that one of us made, was felt whole-heartedly by the other. We cried for each other, laughed with each other, and sometimes, we just sat and listened.

Then, when we were around sixteen, and I met him… Hollis. My prince. My boyfriend. My fiancé. He was the most handsome and romantic guy I've ever met, except for maybe Soren. Of course, I could have never had any feelings for Soren – he was like my soulmate, except in a brotherly form.

I remember one distinct night, when Soren took me out to dinner on a nice little plaza, and we feasted on breads and thick steaks, and I told him how I had met my prince. Something changed in his eyes.

It wasn't much later when it became clear that I was carrying Hollis's child. Awkward at first, but my parents, and Hollis's, were fully supportive. It was then when Hollis proposed to me, albeit a bit ashamedly.

I didn't see Soren for months. It was like he had vanished.

And then, one night, when Hollis was sleeping over at my house, a timid knock came at the door. I opened it, expecting my friend Rumira, or somebody similar. But no, it was Soren, my old friend.

I greeted him warmly, offering him a hot drink and an embrace. And he was so kind to me, asking about the baby, about Hollis, about everything. He listened to the baby's kicks, his eyes full of joy, and he couldn't stop talking and kissing my cheek.

Hollis came upstairs at one point, obviously not happy to see Soren. We stood at the top of the stairs arguing, and I told him multiple times about how good of a friend Soren was, like a near brother to me.

And Hollis jabbed a fist out at Soren – and Soren fought back, like he'd never had the chance to previously. He shoved Hollis against a wall, gritting his teeth and spitting out curses, telling him to protect me and my friends. Hollis replied by shoving his fists into Soren's eyes. And somehow, just by standing there, Soren, half-blinded and wheezing, shoved me, instead.

And I fell down the stairs.

And the baby, that Soren and I had loved so much, was killed.

And I hate him for it.

"The perfect chance," I breathe, slipping my hand inside my pocket and giving the little baby bird figurine a squeeze. "The perfect chance for revenge…"

Soren Valen, District One

Cary stands before me, peering through her long eyelashes at me, lips quivering in a grimace. I want to hug her, embrace her, tell her it'll be alright… But something tells me that that would only end with me getting a knife slid into my back.

But I'd do anything for Cary.

Even die for her.

She strides forth and whacks me in the jaw, and I hear something crack under her hand. I ignore the pain and the tears that immediately well up in my eyes, instead opting to stare right into Cary's.

"Fight me," she growls, lowly at first but then louder. "Fight me, you son of-"

My lip trembles and I swing my fist towards her hip. It only bounces off, thanks to the thick bone, but Cary takes this as a full-fledged attack. Baring her teeth and uttering a guttural cry, she leaps on top of me, making me topple to the ground and hitting my head, hard, on a lollipop pole.

I relax my muscles through my adrenaline, preparing for whatever torture she has in store for me.

She punches my cheek first off with her bad hand, panting quickly as she inspects the cracked skin, and then stares at me in confusion, head tilted to the side. "Why aren't you fighting back?!" she mutters lowly.

I blink, cold tears staining my cheeks.

She dismounts me and pulls me off the ground, eyebrows knit into a glare. "I want you to stand up like a man, not a coward, and fight me," she snarls.

I shake my head slowly, crossing my arms. "I could never hurt you…"

"You killed my child, didn't you?!" Cary howls, whipping her head so she can see Eidra, who stands silently off to the side, aware that she's about to witness something despicable. "The baby that I loved so, so, so, so much. You murdered her."

"I never meant to!" I cry out, my voice strong even though my tears flow freely. "Cary, please understand that… I just wanted to-"

"You wanted to get revenge on me," rages Cary, gnashing her teeth as she stomps, like a bull ready to charge. "You wanted payback for me, leaving you for Hollis!"

"Never!"

"Newsflash, Soren!" she screams. "You're dead to me already! You're dirt on the ground, to me! I hate you, Soren! I hate, hate, hate you! And you know what, Soren? I'm going to kill you!"

She lets out a loud howl as she runs towards me, tackling my wiry body easily with her big-boned frame, and she sends punch after punch to my throat and face, sending spikes of pain up to my brain. One blow knocks some teeth out. I feel them hit the back of my throat before I swallow them.

"Fight me, Soren!" shrieks Cary.

Whatever you wish, princess.

I raise my hand and slap her cheek, catching her off-guard in her horrendous fury, and using this to my advantage, I roll out from under her. Swinging my head up, and pulling myself off the ground, sending sears of agony throughout my body, I deliver a swift kick to her ribcage. Another kick goes right for her pretty little mouth, and she screams.

"You told me to fight you," I sniffle, wiping my nose and coming off with a mixture of blood, mucus, and torn flesh. "I'm only doing what you wanted…"

Cary laughs hoarsely, showing off teeth stained with crimson blood. "Always one to obey, weren't you," she mocks me.

Only you, I yearn to say.

She lolls her head back, making her bones crackle, before pushing herself slowly off the ground and punching my shoulder after she strides over to me. I stand silently, taking the abuse.

"Why am I even messing around with hand to hand combat?" Cary asks gruffly. She walks over to her bag, by Eidra's feet, and grabs a lance, thin and glimmering pink. Returning to me, and not once sparing a pitying look, she slams the butt of the lance over my head. I collapse to the ground, eyelids fluttering open.

The ripe sound of my flesh being cut open is music to my weary ears.

I can finally escape this world, and yet, still be true to Cary. My princess.

All of a sudden, as I'm just about to close my eyes to the harsh world, a gasp comes from Cary, and she topples to the ground. Her eyes are wide, tearful even, and she presses a cold hand to my cheek. "What have I done?" she breathes. "S-Soren?"

"I'm here," I croak out. I offer a small smile that's tainted by my own blood. "Are you finally getting it, Cary? All I ever wanted to do was protect you…"

Cary nods, lips quivering. "I'm so sorry," she sniffles, a tear dripping down her cheek, mingling with blood, and landing on my chin. "I didn't know…"

Without offering another word in my weakened state, I slide a knife out of my boot. The very knife that could have ended her life. My backup plan. The one thing that can bond us… for life.

She takes it, and is prompt to lie down next to me. "You were my prince, Soren… Now we can be together… forever… and I'm so sorry…"

Resting her head on my chest, inhaling with a wavering breath, she reaches up to her throat and drags the knife across it, a bubbling cry rising before her eyes go glassy, and a cannon – her cannon – erupts.

We'll never be apart now.

I twist my fingers in her soft hair and take my own last inhalation of air, before murmuring three words.

"I love you…"

Boom.

Tethys Acosta, District Eight

The newest cannon, one right after the first, makes me tilt my head up and smile. I glance over at Shael. "Two more down."

"How pleasant," she responds, lifting her head from her hands. Her palms are tearstained, her eyes puffy and red. This is hitting her harder than I would have expected. She looks so strong on the outside. "I wonder who these were."

"We'll see in a bit, won't we?" I gesture to the grey sky, rapidly turning jet black. "I expect we'll see the faces of the dead soon."

"You're right." Shael nods, opting not to reply to me with much verve. To be honest, I don't blame her. If I were more attached to Cayley, and she died, I'd probably be mourning, too. But Shael? She was more attached to Cade than she let on. Probably reminded her of somebody back in District Ten.

I recline, staring out of the window. The gingerbread houses, though repetitive, offer more of a cover than one would think. By being slightly unique, yet basic in every other way, they give me the concealment of being bland. It's a tricky thing to understand, really.

We sit in complete and utter silence for an hour, maybe two. Shael stops crying once or twice during that time, though her tears are quick to return, unfortunately. I watch in serenity, quietly feeling bad for her, as she sniffles and tries to dry her eyes.

The anthem blares.

My eyes drift upward to the sky, where the first face pops up. It's Carisa from one, dark eyebrows lowered into a threatening expression, yet her smile suggests she's appealing. I shrug – it's good to get the threats out of the way, really. Makes a better chance for people like Shael and me, where we could barely get a knife to stick in a dummy.

The second face that slides into the sky is her district partner, the boy who never smiled. Soren Valen. He stares down at me with a mournful expression, mouth pulled into a gloomy frown. The boy who was kicked out of the Careers is gone. Interesting.

The next face is, once again, unexpected. The pale, stocky male from Two, Wraith. His kind eyes and innocent smirk speak volumes. How was he killed? Who was his killer? I shrug, wrapping my arms around my torso, hugging myself to give me warmth.

And another unforeseen death – the blond boy from Four. Merritt. That's what, half the Careers down in a day? As he scowls down on the arena, his face magnified so I can see each flawless detail, I turn to Shael. "Are you getting this?"

She lifts her head, dabbing at the corner of her eye with her sleeve. Her expression is bland, hardened. "Well, apparently the Careers this year absolutely sucked, or there's some psycho killer on the loose. I don't doubt either of them."

I snort. "I think it's the first one – though their scores were good, their team dynamics weren't as strong as they could have been."

"You're right," Shael says, staring at the next face to appear – Aria from Six, with her petite, silent smile and pitch black hair, and then Halcyon from Six, bleach blond hair and sparkling eyes apparent. "And plus, the outlier districts aren't the strongest. I mean, sure, there's a couple of tributes that scored high – like Maya or you and me, but to be perfectly honest, there's nobody that would really… crack under the pressure. I mean, I doubt many people would cry about a fallen tribute that they barely knew…"

She's lying to protect her emotions from me, I muse. Not the brightest move, considering I'm her only ally, but I nod and smile just the same. "Definitely. We're all pretty good, mentally."

The next face appears – Cayley – and Shael hisses, blinking her big eyes. "Aw, Tethys, I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about her?"

Obviously, she's got a grip on what loss is.

I watch Cayley, sphinxlike smile and glittering eyes, as she slowly fades from the sky, and I heave a sigh. "She was my district partner. I'm just glad that I wasn't more attached to her, you know? Otherwise this would be tougher."

"Yeah."

"But she was from home, and, well…" I trail off. I specifically wanted no reminder of home – I wanted to do this all on my own. I mean, that's why I didn't bring a token – no matter now many little trinkets I have at home, they'd all drag me down. I want to be free to accomplish whatever I can, on my own.

"I get what you're saying." Shael straightens her spine. "That's partly why I was so attached to Cade… no matter how annoying he was, he was somebody from home. And I was attracted to that."

I offer a smile, and rub her forearm. She flinches slightly at the mere touch. "I know the feeling."

We sit in silence and watch the next face streak across the sky, Maysa Barric from Nine. Her troubled eyes watch us accusingly, thin lips stretched into a forced smile.

"Maya Verone's all alone," I muse. "I wonder how she's faring."

"Better than me, obviously." Shael smiles weakly, and I fake a confused expression. "Come on, Tethys. I know you've seen me cry. It's hard to mask."

So she wasn't lying about her feelings about Cade earlier? I perk my ears up and force a smile. She's more complex than I previously thought.

I've been thinking that the ones to beat have been Careers, like Brux and Eidra, but maybe the real competition is my own ally.

Maybe Shael's more victor material than any of them.

But I can't let that happen.

Haven Faye, District Twelve

"Wake up, sleepyhead!"

My eyelids fly open to the grinning buffoon hovering above me, chuckling as he moves away. Groaning and delivering a quick slap to his cheek, not enough to harm him but enough to let him know how stupid he's being, I slowly arise from my sleep.

Kinton sits back on his heels and watches me as I rub my eyes, albeit a bit creepily, I try not to mind. "Did I miss much?" I yawn sleepily.

He shrugs. "Everybody else died, it's just us, and yeah, final two. Thought I should wake you, so you get a fair chance to fight."

I blink.

And then I realize that he is joking.

I hit his forehead with my palm and groan again. "Please don't mess with me like that, Kin," I moan.

His devilish grin grows wider. "You said please for once. What's the occasion?"

I roll my eyes and reach for the bag. "Come on, can't I be polite once in a while? I might as well be."

Kinton chuckles and watches me as I reach for an orange, tearing open the soft rind. "I don't know, really. It's been a boring night. Did you have any dreams?"

I shrug. "If I did, I sure can't remember."

"Oh." He stares at his feet. "Sometimes I have dreams, but they're mostly nightmares. Well, ever since we got to the Capitol, anyways."

"Aw, Kin, why's that?"

He smiles, shrugs. "Most likely fear of dying and stuff like that… I mean, to be perfectly honest, I don't believe I'm making it out – but who knows? Most of the Careers are dead, and we're well-off. Maybe I do have a chance. Maybe we can bring District Twelve another victor, aside from just Grey."

"That would be really nice," I muse to myself, but half consumed with the knowledge that if I live, I'll have Kinton's coffin riding on my conscience, and vice versa. We've bonded, and maybe even have some tentative little odd friendship thing.

But I can't let that happen.

"But, I mean, you've obviously not making it out of here," I say, closing my eyes and pushing the guilt away, the guilt of damaging Kinton, both his pride and his relationship with me. "You're way too nice. And who has a baby face like that, honestly?"

Kinton watches me, lips curved downwards into a small frown. Instead of looking gloomy or angry, he just looks… hurt. "You really think I don't have a chance?" he croaks out in his strangely high-pitched voice.

I bite back the remorse and shake my head.

His shoulders slump inside the baby blue suit, and he turns away slightly. If I were stronger, braver, I'd simply grab a blade, and push it between his shoulder blades. But even if I am a monster for hurting him, I can't really injure him – not physically, anyways.

He is a good guy. A friend, if this was a different circumstance.

Except for the fact that I never had too many friends at home. Zero, to be exact. I was kind of a loner.

But Kinton doesn't have to know that. And he is a good person, inside and out.

"I'm only joking, you big dummy," I say quickly to cover up my tracks, forcing a small smile and shoving his shoulder. He makes an unpleasant sound and slumps onto the ground, scrunching up his nose like a big baby.

"Fine, be that way." I stand up, taking the pack with me, and sure enough, he scrambles to his feet. I smile on a whim, briskly erase it off my face. No need to encourage him any further; he's already following me.

"Hey, look, more dolls."

I whip my head around to see Kinton, standing in peacefulness as he watches four or five ragdolls mill about, only twenty feet from us. They're huge in comparison to us, and it doesn't help that the chanting has completely stopped – something that I find scary. It was a sort of background noise, to remind me that no matter what happened, at least something would stay consistent.

But it doesn't appear that anything is steady here anymore.

I fumble around for a blade as the dolls notice us, thanks to Kinton's quick little announcement. There's no point in running. We're against the forest, and the lollipop sticks would offer no reprieve. Plus, the dolls are circling us. And Kinton's petrified, frozen with suspense.

Looks like it's up to me.

Wrapping my fingers around a blade, forcing the backpack into Kinton's trembling arms, I snarl at the nearest doll, about my stature. It reaches up to twirl a red curl of hair, before giggling in this freakily high voice and snarling, lunging towards me. It jaws clamp around my wrist, and I scream.

Lashing out with the knife, cutting through canvas-like fabric, I force the doll off of me as another one leaps forward towards me. I'm quickly overwhelmed with just two dolls, and the rest are still waiting hungrily behind me, breaths heavy and reeking of candy.

I swing the blade into another doll's torso, slicing through a gingham dress, before turning to Kinton. "We need to escape," I pant. "Help me fight, at least!"

Kinton, pale as the moon, reaches a shaky hand into the bag, before one doll rests her head on his shoulder and he freaks out.

The backpack is thrown into the air, half of the contents spilling out thanks to the giant tear in the bag. I groan again, staring at the mobile object, as the tiny pacifier hurtles out into the misty air.

A shrieking noise pierces the arena.

The dolls simultaneously gasp, eyes locked on the small pacifier, and as one person, in perfect unison, they all start marching towards the area where the pacifier is sure to land.

"This is our chance!" I shriek, grabbing a couple of the items that spilled out and darting away, hoping to any heavenly source that Kinton's trailing in my wake.

One quick glance behind me tells me that, like always, he is.

A/N: Part of Me by Katy Perry.

12th – Carisa Lenette, District One. A knife to the throat.

11th – Soren Valen, District One. A lance to the abdomen.

Cloe, what can be said about Carisa, or, rather, Cary? I surely loved her, contrary to what others thought. She was real, a bit angry over the things Soren had done, but still, realistic and vibrant in every way. I didn't have a place for her in any further plots, but thank you so much for submitting her!

Kitty, like Carisa, Soren always had a special place to me. He was solemn, a little mournful, and dogged over his attempts to win his only true love back. A sort of twisted love story, really. And once again, like with Carisa, any further plots would have been stretched for him, but thanks for submitting him, really!

Once again, a little bit more of the arena's plot is revealed through Haven's POV. The pacifier controls the dolls? What? ;O Looks like things are about to get heated up, yesssssssss. I can't wait to write.

But first, of course, I gotta get out that Teen Idle update! ;)

Anyways, guys, I think I have more of a layout for these arena chapters – four POV's to each, and a nice little rotation to match. How cute.

Question Time!

Thoughts on each POV?

Thoughts on each death?

Who do you think will die before the top 8?

Who do you want to die before the top 8?