Author's Note

I do not own The Hunger Games.

Artemis Gilmore, 17

Iridescence Sterling was directly next to her in the bloodbath. Artemis grinned as she snatched the sword in front of her pedestal and jumped on the taller girl. They rolled across the muddy ground, hitting and beating at each other. Several points came off both of their armour sets and then a trident came down on Iridescence's head, once, twice, and taking her out on the third strike.

Artemis leapt to her feet and flashed her twin brother a smile. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Where are the other two?"

Ares had found and taken out Luminescence before they got there, but Radiance evaded them. Apollo shouldered a rucksack of supplies from the cornucopia. "We'll find him. They don't do well on their own, and Radiance has a temper."

Artemis took a bag of her own. "Let's get going then."

It took them four in-game days to track down Radiance, and the fight was three on one.

He swore at them as he blipped out.

None of them made Victor, but Apollo came third, which was nice.

Calpurnia Catallus, 16

Lysandra had gained a new pin, this one bronze with '3rd' stamped on the surface. Calpurnia stopped to scoff. "Third place? Is that the best you can do, Pernivus?"

Lysandra touched her badge and smiled. "And how many high placements do you two have?"

"I don't–"

"Exactly." Lysandra turned and stalked away.

Calpurnia flung her hands in the air. "Can you believe her?"

"Bitch," Marcellina agreed.

The two of them were among the slowly dwindling group of teens that had never played The Game. It seemed like far too much effort, and she'd be expected to run and climb and get dirty.

No thank you.

She didn't need to jump into some pretend death match to prove she was superior.

Over the course of the day, all Lysandra's geek friends gathered around her and fussed over her third place badge. The annoyance simmered hotter inside Calpurnia every time one of them opened their mouths.

"Maybe we could just… ignore her?" Marcellina asked.

"Ignore her? First she dumps us and now she thinks she's better than us? How am I meant to ignore her?"

"Let's go somewhere else. Come on, I think Treasa Summerfield's competing this afternoon."

The swim race was fun to watch, but it didn't calm Calpurnia's annoyance.

"We need to get back at that traitorous bitch," she muttered.

Marcellina looked up at her. "What do you suggest?"

Maximillian Marcus Badondé, 18

The baby was crying.

Again.

Maximillian groaned, rolled over, and pulled his pillow over his head.

Just a few more weeks.

The Foster Home he'd been placed in was better than his parents, but barely.

It was mostly the fault of that damn baby.

He rolled from the bed and snatched his jacket. He'd never get any sleep here. Why couldn't he have stayed at Glimmeringson's?

Oh, right, because his fucking estate inheritance hadn't provided for that. Which was why he was now slumming it here instead of being at the boarding school.

He slipped from the apartment and made his way down the outside steps to the street. It was cold, and he pulled the jacket tight around himself as he walked.

He just needed a few weeks more to age out of the system.

Then his life could begin.

Luminescence Sterling, 17

After their twentieth runthrough of The Game, they were officially at war with the Gilmores. The six of them targeted each other in the bloodbath, leaving the others to fight it out. They had officially become each others' biggest rivals. Sometimes one group of them got the advantage, sometimes the other. Luminescence smiled at the girl sorted into his District this time round, a tall, athletic teen with curly pink hair. "Are you looking for allies?"

With four to three, they took out the twins in the bloodbath and Ares a day later.

That started an entirely new game, one where all of them would seek to make allies or truces for the bloodbath, and the dynamics shifted yet again. It wasn't even about The Game any more, it was about proving themselves superior, who could get the furthest, the highest placements. So far the Gilmores were ahead (they were bigger and stronger, despite the frustration of Luminescence and his siblings). Not by far though, and they'd soon catch up.

Luminescence grinned as he opened his pod to the sound of Apollo Gilmore's cursing. They'd lured him into a trap in one of the ravines, and from there it had been wonderfully easy for Iridescence to take him out from afar.

"You'll pay for that!" Apollo was shouting.

Iridescence only laughed. "Give it up, Gilmore. You might have the brute strength, but we're smarter than you."

Luminescence stumbled from his pod, taking a moment to find his feet. Apollo's eyes flashed with anger at seeing him. "I'll get all three of you the next time, just you watch!"