Author's Note (Dec. 27, 2013) - This story is the 72nd Hunger Games. Yes, it used to be the 71st, until I realized Johanna won the 71st, which I'm surprised no one ever pointed out. So, wherever you see it mention the 71st, it's actually the 72nd. Thanks a lot! PS, if you're reading this, I'm still here. Reviews are always appreciated, just keep in mind, this was my first story ever, so be gentle!

Then I don't mind masquerading with all those other fools

I don't mind the games I'm playing,

Because I've learned the rules

It doesn't matter when we're home, all alone

All we've got to be is me and you

On our own there ain't nothing that we can't get through

But when in Rome, do as the Romans do

Hana Morale

"Help! Please, please someone help me! Help!"

My eyes widen and my hand reaches for my belt as I turn to look at Harbor.

"Fuck. What now?"

I don't get a chance to answer him as the boy from District Seven, Noah, I believe, comes stumbling out of the darkness. He falls to the floor a few yards from us and looks up at us with tearful eyes. I gasp as I see the four knives sticking out of him; two in the back, one in his arm and one in his calf.

Without a moment's hesitation, I rush toward him.

"What happened? Who did this to you?" I gently ease the knife from his arm, cursing to myself as blood begins to gush from the wound. I should have known better than to pull it out without gauze handy.

"Hana, someone's chasing him, we should go. We need to get out of here."

I look back and forth between Harbor and Noah. I know I should run with Harbor, whoever did this to Noah is probably not far behind. My stomach churns uncomfortably at the thought of running into the monstrous pair from Two. Yet, I can't seem to bring myself to leave Noah behind. There is no point, really. His wounds will surely get the best of him. I just want to believe that someone would stay and help me if I were in his situation.

"No." I assert.

Harbor looks at me with narrowed eyes, and for a second I think he is going to run off and leave me.

"Please, Harbor? Just help me get him to the tent."

After a few seconds of contemplation, he obliges, and picks up Noah under the arms, while I carry the boy's feet. Slowly, we move him right outside the tent and lay him down on his stomach. I peak inside where Celeste is still fast asleep, and listen carefully that she is still breathing. I pull of my jacket and hand it to Harbor.

"Here, slowly pull the knives from his back, make sure they come out straight so you don't damage anything else. Then hold this on the wounds to soak up the blood. I'm going to get some more supplies."

I stand and walk down to our stash of supplies and bend down to pick up some more gauze and antiseptic. Suddenly there is a searing pain in my lower back and I fall to the ground, unable to feel a thing.

"Hana!" Harbor screams, abandoning Noah and rushing toward me.

I can't feel anything below my waist. Turning to look at my attacker, I see that it is Audrina. She looks tired, dirty, starving, and outraged. Tear stains mixed with dirt streak her face, and there are messy pieces of hair poking out of her once perfect braids. She has already pulled another knife from her jacket.

"Take another step and I swear this knife will be in your throat before you even have a chance to think about helping her."

Harbor ignores her, keeping his knife pointed directly at her.

"Harbor, listen to her. Drop the knife. She can kill you quicker than you can kill her."

A sadistic smile spreads across Audrina's face. Harbor resists until she starts to step toward him, and he finally drops the knife, which she bends down to pick up. Without another word, she brushes past us and heads toward Noah.

Harbor collapses beside me and removes the knife from my back, using my jacket that I meant for Noah to soak up the blood.

"You." She circles around him a few times before throwing two knives into his abdomen and pulling two more from her belt.

Audrina crouches down to his level and uses one knife to carve a line from Noah's temple to his collarbone. I wince and bury my eyes in Harbor's shoulder, trying to ignore the blood curdling screams coming from Noah.

"You took him from me. He was all I had and you had the nerve to take him."

I hear the loud crack of bones breaking and look up, horrified to see that she is breaking Noah's fingers, snapping them as if they are twigs. When she is done she rips open his shirt and pulls the two knives from his stomach, stabbing one into each shoulder.

"Oh, does that hurt? Is this the most painful thing you've ever felt? Try holding the of the love of your life's corpse in your arms and then talk to me about pain."

"I h-have... I d-do know. R-Riah."

This angers Audrina even more, and she shoves a smaller knife into Noah's cheek.

"That wasn't love you imbecile! That was some pathetic crush you had on the only person who was stupid enough to become allies with you! I've spent every single day of the past five years of my life with Crisis and you took him from me!"

There is an eerie silence in the air as angry tears run down Audrina's face. Noah cannot speak anymore.

"Nothing else to stay then? Perfect, let's get started. You'll be reunited with your precious Riah soon."

With that, she lifts her remaining knife and stabs it into Noah's ribs, dragging it in a clockwise circle around where is heart must be. After a few seconds of crunching bones and spurting blood, a cannon sounds, and all I feel is relief that Noah is no longer in pain.

It is not enough for Audrina, though. Blood covers her hands, all the way to her elbows and smears across her face, mixing itself with the tears that pour from her eyes. She pulls Noah's heart from his body and repeatedly stabs it. Through the hysterical sobs wracking her small body, I can hear her mumble Crisis's name over and over again until she finally collapses in a heap of tears.

Harbor and I remain motionless, knowing that as soon as she composes herself, we will be her next victims. There is no point in running, and we both know it. She was our ally, and we have seen her in training. Like all District Two girls, she never once missed a target.

Finally she stands and makes her way over to us, looking like something out of a nightmare; matted hair, blood soaks her skin and clothes, her entire face stained scarlet with bloody tears. She stares at us before finally speaking.

"I'm not going to hurt you. We made a deal, we wouldn't turn on each other until the final four. And there's still six of us."

I expect her to leave then, but she doesn't. I wonder if she is going to laugh and kill us anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. She simply continues to stare through us with heartbroken, teary eyes.

"You're supposed to hate me. Just as I am born and raised to kill, you are born and raised to despise what I am. An abomination. A hybrid of a human and a monster. I know that's how you feel in the other Districts. But you don't know how much I'm like you. I didn't fucking know until we got thrown into this hellhole. You think I'm a soulless, heartless killer. But there's two sides to every story."

She casts her eyes away from us, fixating them on one of the stone walls, where I'm sure cameras are implanted. I know she is no longer speaking to us.

"I'm not what you think I am. I've probably disappointed you. But I don't care. I really don't fucking care anymore. I'm more than your little robot, programmed to kill. I'm just a teenager who lost everything I ever cared about."

She turns back to us now.

"So no. I'm not going to kill you. Not now, at least. Because that's what they want. And I am so done giving them what they want."

With that, she turns and disappears into the darkness.

It feels like hours before either of us speaks.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Harbor finally whispers, giving me a small smile.

Frowning, I push his shoulder, "So not funny! Noah broke her heart. So she made sure to break his."

Harbor nods sadly and pulls the tiny metal canister from his pocket.

"Hana you have to take these. I know Finnick meant them for Celeste, but you need them more."

He unscrews the lid and pours the pills into his hand. I shake my head furiously.

"No. They're hers. She should have them. I'm a lost cause anyways."

"No! You're not! These could fix you. And you can't leave me, we're allies until the end."

"I can't feel my legs, Harbor. I don't think those could fix me."

"Please, Hana?" He looks up at me with tears brimming in his eyes. "Please take them. Just try? It can't hurt anything."

I can't ignore how close I've become to Harbor. I see him as a younger brother, someone to care for, but someone who also cares for me. He's right. We're allies to the end, and I can't leave him.

"Fine," I say, nodding. "But I'm only taking two! The other two you need to save for Celeste, or for later. For emergencies. You know, if she doesn't make it either."

"Shut up." He says, dropping two of the purple tablets into my palm. "You're going to make it."

I smile and take the pills. I chew them up to make them dissolve faster. Surprisingly, they don't taste bitter or medicinal. In fact, they taste tart. Like berries. Suddenly my tongue goes numb and my eyes feel like they are going to pop out of my skull. My heartbeat slows and my throat feels as if someone is strangling me. I bring my hands to my throat and try desperately to cough them back up. But it is too late.

"Hana? Hana wha-" He drops the canister and shakes my shoulders violently. "Hana!"

I wrack my mind of every possible poisonous berry I had ever studied before volunteering. My head feels fuzzy and my lungs feel like they are filled with water. I make one conscious thought before everything goes dark.

Nightlock.

Celeste DeWynter

"Hana! Harbor!" I gasp, my eyes finally opening after fighting the drugs that kept me asleep for so long, leaving me trapped in a world of terrible nightmares of bloody hearts and shark muttations, piles of bones and children screaming.

"I'm right here, Cel." Harbor says in a hoarse, monotone voice. "How did you sleep?"

"Terribly. I had nightmares. Nightmares of the worst things I've ever seen."

"Me too."

"I'm sorry," I say, honestly feeling for Harbor. I can tell that the stress of the arena is getting to him. It's getting to all of us.

He doesn't answer, so I probe him with another question, "How long was I out?"

"We gave you some sleep syrup last night, so I'm guessing around twenty four hours."

Sleep syrup. Bones. Muttations. Screaming. It all comes rushing back to me at once and I cannot control the sob that escapes my throat. I bring my hands to my mouth and let the tears stream down my face in silence, willing myself to gain control.

"Listen, Cel. I know you're still upset about Daniel, and I'm sorry. But Hana died last night. Noah from Seven did too."

"H-hana? But how?" I whisper in disbelief, as more hot tears pool in my eyes.

"Finnick sent some pills. They were dark purple and they smelled funny. We should have known."

"Wait-what? Finnick sent pills?"

"He sent pills for you, to heal you. Audrina came after Noah and killed him. She stabbed Hana in the back and paralyzed her. I thought-"

He chokes on his words and swallows to compose himself. I can see that he is crying now too, but he brings his hand to his eyes, swiping away any fallen tears. We are both breaking. Or maybe they have already broken us.

"I-I thought that they would fix her. Finnick sent them to heal you, I thought they would heal her too. So I gave her two of them, and we saved the other two for you. But it wasn't medicine. It wasn't there to make you better, it was poison, meant to kill you quickly and painlessly."

He makes no effort to hide his tears now. I struggle to comprehend everything he has told me, everything that has happened.

Daniel. He loved me. Muttations. Dead.

Noah. District Seven. Audrina. Dead.

Hana. Ally. Audrina. Paralyzed. Finnick. Poison. Meant for me. Dead.

"Why would Finnick Odair want to poison me? I mean, I get that he wants you to be the victor, but why would he try to kill me directly?"

Harbor clears his throat and wipes the tears from his face with a shaky hand.

"I-I wondered that too. At first. I didn't think he would try to kill you without reason. But I thought more about it. When I went back to save you, from the mutts, I did it because you reminded me so much of Annie. I couldn't let you go, because I couldn't disappoint her or Finnick. I think he saw Annie in you too."

It still doesn't make sense. I reminded Finnick of his crazy girlfriend so he tried to kill me?

"Finnick loves Annie more than anything on this planet. Not a lot of people can see it, but I do. In our District, we can all see it. But it's been hard on him, watching her suffer. I think that he didn't want anyone else to end up like her. He couldn't watch anyone endure the same fate."

I nod slowly, absorbing this.

"Do you still have the other two pills? The ones you were saving for me?"

Harbor opens his mouth and then closes it, before opening it once more to speak.

"No. I threw them in the lake after the claw took Hana's body away."

We are silent for a few moments.

"Why? Would you have taken them?"

I shake my head vigorously. Of course I wouldn't take them. I may be heartbroken. I may be just plain broken. I may be completely losing myself in here, but I would never give up. I made a promise to come home. A promise that I have every intention of keeping.

"No. Of course not. But they could have been a valuable weapon."

"I guess you're right. They are definitely potent... And sneaky."

His eyes shift downward and something about the way he says it makes me think he lied about throwing the pills in the lake. I make a mental note not to touch, eat, or drink anything he gives me.

"Celeste. There's only five of us left now."

I nod slowly, counting the remaining tributes in my head. Me. Harbor. Audrina. The girl from Nine and the girl from Six.

"No one has seen Roman or the Six girl since the bloodbath. Somehow, someway they're not dead. And while I hope to God they are starving or bleeding to death somewhere, I don't know that for sure. But they both scored high in training, and I think there's more to them than they let anyone know."

"And...?" I press, knowing where this is headed.

"Audrina has completely lost her mind. If you had seen the way she killed Noah," he shudders at the memory, briefly squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head as if trying to erase it.

"It was terrible, Celeste. She's insane, and she's out for blood. I just, it's dangerous. Now more than ever before. I don't want it to have to come down to us."

I nod, thankful that he said it first. I know his ties were to Hana, and he owes me nothing. Having already saved my life twice, I'm the one who owes him.

"That's probably for the best. What are you going to do?"

"I packed enough supplies to last me a few days. I figured it would be, you know, over by then. I'm going to find a spot in one of the tunnels and wait it out. Maybe Audrina will find the other ones before they find me..."

He trails off, but I do not miss the implications of his words. By "other ones" he meant me too. I'm clearly the weakest link here. He hopes Audrina finds me and kills me so he won't have to.

"You can have all the leftover supplies and medications. Just try to lay low and get better. Who knows, you might pull through and win this thing. If it's not me, I'd rather it be you."

"Same." I say, giving him a halfhearted smile.

"Well," he stands and slings his backpack over his shoulders. "I guess this is it then?"

"I guess so."

"Good luck, Cel."

"May the odds be ever in your favor." I mumble sarcastically, giving him a small wave.

He gives me one last smile. A genuine one this time. It reaches all the way to his eyes.

Then he is gone.

After his footsteps fade I pull my shirt over my head and peel back the gauze bandage taped to my ribs, wincing as I see the bloody mess underneath it and replacing the bandage immediately. I uncover my leg and notice that there is a metal rod strapped to it, keeping it in place. Tears make their way to my eyes and I collapse back down on the floor, pulling the sleeping bag over my head. I can't even walk, there's no way I can win now. Harbor knew that, that's why he left. He couldn't care for me, and worry about the crippled girl while trying to watch his own back. Of course he had to leave me, and as much as I want to, I know I can't hate him for it.

I let myself cry until my eyes burn and I drift off to sleep. Just as my mind tries to reenter the world of snarling shark beasts, a soft beeping sound jolts me awake. I ease myself up and notice a small blinking light outside the tent. I smile and exhale in relief, knowing that it has to be a parachute. Finally.

I use my arms to scoot myself closer to the opening of the tent and then lean over on my good side to reach the parachute. It is exasperating, and agonizing pain shoots through my entire body.

I pop open the outer casing and pull out the folded note from Cecelia.

Finnick says he's sorry. Annie and I gave him hell for it. -C

I smile to myself and pull out the tiny glass vial containing one large white pill. I look around for some water and notice two plastic canteens next to my pillow.

In one, the water is crystal clear. In the other, the water has a purple tint.

He gave me a way out. And as much as I appreciate his thoughtfulness, I reach for the clear canteen and swallow the pill.

The effect is instantaneous. Tingly warmth spreads through my body and I begin to feel sleepy again. I rest my head back down on my pillow and allow myself to drift off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Aphrodite Gleam

I gotta hand it to her, Roman's really living the good life up here. I mean, she really knows what she's doing. We sleep, we hunt, we go down to the cave for water once a night.

We are completely flying under the radar. It's hilarious, really, how I can feel so safe in such a dangerous place. I start laughing, just thinking about it. I can do that here. In fact, it's better if I do start to randomly laugh. It makes me more believable.

Sure enough, Roman is in a fit of giggles as well, smiling and laughing as she scratches the ears of one of the many rabbit heads she has collected.

It's been an entire day since the last cannon. Both of them happened after the death recap. The sun has just set and the moon is full and bright, as it always is in this place. I know it is only a matter of time before the anthem will play again. I turn my attention back to Roman, who has left the rabbit heads for now, and returned to stitching her blanket.

She pulled all of the thread from one of the backpacks and made some crude needles from the rabbits' bones. For the past three days she has been stitching all of her pelts together to make a beautiful white fur blanket. It would be beautiful, if it were not streaked with Roman's messy blood paintings, but I suppose that in our world, it is considered of the utmost beauty.

She's a sweet thing, Roman. Extremely misunderstood, though. She's the kind of person everyone should strive to be like. She's so innocent. So good. She finds beauty in everything, even in evil. I admire her childlike qualities. She turns murder into a game.

I laugh again. Well, that is what the Capitol intends, isn't it? The Hunger Games? Roman may have just been the first to figure it out.

She turns blood into beautiful pictures. No wonder she's still alive and well. She doesn't know better. She doesn't take it too seriously. She's winning because she doesn't want to win. She's winning without even trying.

Oh, how I wish I could be like her.

But I am, aren't I? Because we're the same, right? We're not so different, her and I?

I suppose not. If the shoe fits, I should probably wear it.

I return to braiding my halo of grass. I have already woven one for myself, but this one is for Roman. She likes gifts. They tend to make her laugh, and when she is laughing, she is happy. It's good to keep Roman happy.

Several hours pass and I am finally finished. Roman is talking to her rabbit heads again, and the sight makes me smile. She loves them as if they are her children.

"Ro, I have something for you." I whisper, handing her the halo. "Wear it on your head like me."

This excites her. Light ignites in her eyes and she takes it from me, placing it on her own head gently and giggling. I join in.

"There, now we're both beautiful."

"We're both pretty."

"Very pretty."

She points to the rabbit heads, "Can they be pretty too?"

"Of course they can! Here, I'll show you how to make them."

A wide grin spreads across her face as I hand her a handful of grass. I teach her how to braid them together and knot them at the end. She is a quick learner.

We braid until the sun rises, making a halo for each of her eight rabbit heads.

When the sun is up and the rabbits are made pretty, we stand and prepare to hunt. Roman slings her bow and arrow over her shoulder and I pick up my set of knives.

"Time for more friends, Roman?"

She nods excitedly as we set off into the taller grass to find today's meal.

We find two rabbits today and Roman is ecstatic. We skin them and roast them. I fit their heads for halos and she adds their pelts to the blanket.

When the sun is in the middle of the sky I turn to her once more.

"How would you like to find even more friends, Roman? Friends inside the cave."

"Inside?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yes, inside. There are three friends in there. Three very pretty friends, like you and me. I think they need halos too, don't you?"

This excites her and she begins to laugh.

"Yes! Let's go now. Can we go now?"

I join in with the laughter and we pick up our weapons once more.

"Of course we can!"

We laugh until our sides hurt, even though it was never funny in the first place. I'm beginning to wonder if all this pretending is getting to me. Surely I can't actually be crazy? I contemplate if this was even a good idea. Of course it was, though. With Lex, we wandered around starving and desperate. Now I'm full and warm and completely safe. So what's a little more imaginary hysterical laughter? I'm still alive, aren't I?

Without giving it another thought Roman and I skip toward the cave, laughing and singing the whole way there.

When in Rome, do as the Romans you're like me, it might just save your life.

Well, we're down to the final five! Looks like Harbor is stuck in an arena full of crazy girls. Poor little guy!

Major props to Vacant Hearts (Hana's submitter!) who guessed from the beginning that Aphrodite wasn't actually crazy, and that she was pretending to stay alive. If you remember, her label was "The Genius" and her weapon of choice is manipulation.

I was extremely sad to kill these two! Just as sad as I was about Daniel and Crisis. I feel as if I'm killing my children and having to choose the order in which they die. It's horrible! :(

Deaths:

Noah Cooley

Hana Morale

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The 124th Hunger Games: A Lost Cause by The Silver Panda (My tributes are Scarlet and Arrow, also vote in his poll!)

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-Becca

***Extremely Important Information: I posted the application for my next SYOT, You Better Run. Go read and apply if you'd like to be apart of it! There will be seven chapters left of this, and then I will start that one!