I worked every day this week so here's an update finally

GALVAN FABRE- Charm Sterlingshire

It would have been unfair if someone like him had outlived me. The outliers had an advantage- they were used to filth and skulking around. Not to worry, though. I could beat them at their own game.

Meenah Turbine, District Five mentor

It was always hardest when your Tributes were most like you. One of the benefits of the Games was that my victory gave me access to medical resources I'd never had before, and I was able to learn that so many things I'd just thought were eccentric about myself were due to hyperactive/impulsive ADHD. Like most people in the Districts, Wren and Galvan hadn't had those resources, though clearly they both knew there was something going on. In any case, they would never have the life I did, or reap the fringe benefits of lifelong PTSD and ownership by the Capitol. And most importantly, they were dead. Two bright candles snuffed out for no reason- no reason at all.

District Five

Everyone reacts to grief differently. Galvan's mother turned inward. His big sister Colette threw herself into her work. His teammates put on their best performance in years and inscribed their trophy in his honor. His father saved for months until he could travel to the ocean with his family and scatter Galvan's ashes. And his twin brother spent the rest of his life grasping for a piece of his soul that was no longer there. Wren's parents defied the odds and stayed together after their only child's death- all they had was each other and they couldn't lose any more.

Cornflower Fields, District Ten mentor

Most Tributes are idolized after their deaths. People vow they'll never forget and make all sorts of grand gestures that fade with time. Others have no one to speak to them and lie forgotten in their graves. My least favorite of all were the ones who were hated. There are so many things that go into making a person who they are. We're all responsible for our own sins, but I've been forgiven so much I can't deny it to anyone else, no matter what they've done. Anjou wasn't a good person, but I believed he was a valuable person. If I was the only one in the world who mourned him, I would bear that for him. Every life has value. Rainbow was so much easier to miss, but everyone else was taking care of that. Everyone missed Rainbow.

District Ten

Funny how so many boys had said they were hopelessly devoted to Rainbow, and how very few flowers at her grave. Strangest of all that when there were flowers, most of them came from Anjou's mother. While his father retreated into denial rather than face his son's misdeeds, his mother had long seen the effect he had on the women in his life, and she felt the least she could do was lay flowers for his last victim. She spent a lot of time at that lonely grave, wondering why it was so bare and whether Rainbow would have liked to know someone cared about her.

Isabella Disney-Busattil, District Eleven female (18)

"Isabella!"

I shot up in an instant, not even aware I was awake until I was on my feet. That was Mike's voice, and Mike was the most important thing in the Games. I loved my allies, but Mike was something else. I honestly wasn't sure I wouldn't die for him. He would never ask it in a million years, and that was why he deserved it.

"Whatisitwhat'swrong?" I asked all in one breath. I saw Zebulon disappear into the trees and assumed he'd gone after whatever Mike was yelling about.

"It's okay! Don't worry!" Mike said.

"Then why did you wake me up?!"

"Don't freak out, okay? I got something to tell you but it's not bad, okay?" Mike said, holding up his hands.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You know how someone killed Jack?" Mike said.

"It's been on my mind, yes," I said. I glanced out at where Zebulon had gone.

"It was Zebulon," Mike said.

"What?!" I said, honestly believing I'd heard wrong.

"It was Zebulon," Mike repeated. "It kind of just happened and he left so it doesn't matter, right?" His face crumpled and he started to cry. Zebulon left my mind as I flew to his side.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. We'll be okay," I said. I still had no idea what was going on, but Mike was far more important than anything else. "What happened?"

"I was thinking about how Jack wasn't bleeding much when he died and I just figured it out," Mike said between tears. "Zebulon figured out I knew and I assumed he would kill me, but he didn't. He didn't kill me, okay? He just said he was sorry and ran away. He was really sorry and you don't need to kill him." Mike looked up at me with nothing short of terror. I felt suddenly like a very big and scary boogeyman and immediately set about remedying this notion.

"It's okay. I'm not going to do anything, okay? You don't have to be scared," I said as I hugged Mike.

"He thought Jack would die anyway so he did it in his sleep so it wouldn't hurt," Mike said. He wasn't meeting my eyes, and I could tell he was embelleshing a little to make Zebulon look better. "It was wrong, but this is the Games. People mess up, right? He didn't mean it."

"This is the Games," I agreed. "People do things they don't want to."

"He's gone now," Mike said. "Let's just let him go and hope we don't meet again."

As long as he stays away from you, I thought but didn't say. I could take Zebulon, not that I wanted a fight. As long as he stayed away from Mike, I didn't care at all anymore. But still... I couldn't make sense of it. Zebulon? The one who cried when Sky died? The one who hated blood? I couldn't make it come together in my head that he had murdered a helpless blind child. I knew the Games did things to people... I guess I didn't want to think it could do things to one of us. I guess I wanted to believe we were different, when really we were just people like anyone else.

"It's just us now." Mike looked up and dried his eyes. "Everyone is gone but us."

"I guess... I thought we'd last longer." It made my own chest tighten. We'd been such a little oasis of friends. I'd loved Zebulon, and Sky, and Beth. I guess I'd thought we'd be together until the end. And then what? We'd somehow magically defy the Games and all come out, all alive and all still friends? It had been a delusion from the start. It didn't matter how much we liked each other. The Games were the Games and friendship didn't magically defeat that. This was our fate from the start and ignoring it only made it more painful.

"We'll be okay," I said, fooling no one.

"We'll be okay," Mike repeated, breaking my heart again. He still wanted the dream to be real. Over and over Mike had told me he knew he wouldn't win, but he was being entirely sincere when he said we'd be okay. To him, that meant me winning. If I won, we were okay. He would die, and he was okay with that. But it's not okay with me, Mike...

Romeo Auto, District Six Male (18)

Valencia was somwhere out there. I would find her. I would make her pay. She left me. She abandoned me. In all my life, she was the only person I'd trusted. Never trust people. All the want is your vulnerability, and once they have it, they have you. Never let anyone in. All they want is to take you down.

Dirt curled under my fingernails as I dragged myself forward. I was dying, I knew. Dahlia knew it, and that was why she'd left me. She was just like me, Dahlia. She knew that people weren't worth anything but what they could give you. Once I couldn't give her anything, she left me. I'd have done the same to her.

I winced as burning pain swept up along my leg. I'd known this would happen as soon as I saw the blood oozing from my foot. Death was everywhere in this arena. It was only waiting for an opening. I'd only hoped I could find Valencia before death found me. Then we could go together, like we were meant to. Valencia was the only one I'd let into my life. She was the only one who deserved to go with me.

The air was hot around me. The gamemakers had been making it hotter lately. I was covered in cold sweat and even then I was hot. I was burning up from within- melting like a candle. The air was hot and the ground kept coming up to get me. I would try to stand and the ground would come up after me and I'd be lying down again.

When I get home, I thought. When I got home, everything would be all right. Valencia would be dead, and everyone would know not to cross me. Valencia crossed me, and look how she turned out. Dead, she was dead, and she couldn't take my son from me. I would see my son again. I deserved to be a father. I was a good father.

The ground rose up again and hit me in the face. It hit me in the face and I lay facedown, gathering the strength to fight back. Valencia thought she could get away, but she couldn't. I would find her. I would never stop. She wasn't strong like me. She hadn't killed like me.

Why couldn't she love me? I'd been a good boyfriend. I'd bought her things. I'd taken her places she couldn't afford. She would have been nothing without me. Nothing but rich trash, living in her sheltered life and never knowing what the world really was. I showed her the world. I showed her what it was.

Hot. Hot. Burning. Burning pain. Pain up my leg. All the way up into my lungs my heart my body my mind. It was so hot. How could it be this hot? Burning hurting hot hot hot.

Forward. Onward. Don't stop until Valencia. Valencia was out there. Dirt under my nails until I found Valencia. I was moving forward. I didn't remember being so slow. So much dirt between me and Valencia. She was probably coming for me, too. She knew I was her best chance at getting out of here. For our son. She would come. She would come so our son would have a family. She was a good person, yes? Children deserve a family.

Hard to breathe when there's dirt in your nose. When did I fall asleep? I woke up with dirt in my nose can't breathe. Dirt goes under my nails since I'm moving forward. Forward to see Valencia. Forward see my son.

Hot. Hot. Hot. I think I'm burning up. I think I caught on fire I'm burning up. Think I might be dying. Why would I be dying? I'm a good person. Valencia is a bad person. She should be burning up. What is our son like? I want to hold him. He should know his father. I'm his father. I should hold him.

I killed her. I killed Valencia. I'm holding my son. He knows what sort of man his father is. A good man.

I didn't kill Valencia. I was dying of something I didn't know. I was facedown in the dirt and I. Couldn't. Breathe.

Funny story, I got one serving of alcohol thinking I'd get a little tipsy but forgot I hadn't eaten all day so it was more potent than I expected so I wrote Romeo since he's currently half-insane with his infection so that worked out.

11th? Counting is hard, Romeo auto-Infection caused by Valencia

I thought this was the fitting end for Romeo. No big showdown, just embarrassingly killed by Valencia and he didn't even know it. an ignominious end for a very undeserving tribute. Romeo was slotted to be killed by Valencia and in keeping with this most cynical story, I didn't even give him a cinematic end. Just facedown in the dirt from the infection from Valencia's shit. It's what he deserves. So thanks queenoffunerals for Romeo and I gave him all the respect he deserved.