Niko Lafont- Heart of Darkness D8M

There was so much to consider. I was paralyzed by the sheer overload. There were so many stations, and all of them must have been important, or else why would they be here? Or were some of them red herrings? If so, which? Could I end up choosing the wrong station and wasting my only chance of learning the skills I needed to get out of here? And how good could I get in a few days? Which skills should I prioritize most at each station? Somewhere out there was the combination that would save my life, and I had one single chance to find it blindly.

That wasn't even taking into account the alliances. I knew I couldn't do this alone, but which ally was right for me? Just like training, there were some allies who could keep me alive and some who would kill me before the second day. I found myself staring at other Tributes like a weirdo. Was the girl from six as strong as she looked? She seemed to know what she was doing as she built a fire. But then it fell over, and she scowled. Was she temperamental, or impatient? She had an ally the first time, and they stayed together until one of them died- I didn't remember who. So maybe she was a good ally? But could I know that by watching her for just a few minutes? But if I didn't pick someone, everyone would pair up without me. I'd been thinking I should ask Gavin, but then he joined one of the big alliances. So I flitted from station to station, nervously trying a few things before I thought some other station might be better.

There was only one person at the bomb-making station. She seemed like a Three girl, but I was afraid to ask, in case I was just stereotyping her. In any case, she definitely knew more than I did. I got the feeling this might not be her first experience with bombs.

"Wow, you must learn really fast."

I glanced over and saw the girl looking at me with a little sarcasm but mostly just casual interest. "You've been at almost every station."

"What, me?" I asked. "I just don't know which one is important."

The girl looked down at her assembled bomb. "I guess you could say I have a one-track mind. Anyway, you want to be allies?"

"Really?" I dropped the bit of metal I'd been holding and was relieved when we didn't blow up. "I mean, just like that?"

"I'm in a bit of a tight spot," the girl said. "No one wants to ally with me, since I killed three people before I got Reaped." She smiled at my expression. "Just kidding. I didn't kill three people at all."

"Yes!" It was the first easy decision of the day. I had someone who wanted to be my ally and she knew how to make bombs. A bird in the hand was worth two in the bush.

"Cool." The girl stuck out her hand. "I'm J.D."

Zibby Spooly- A Night to Remember D8F

"Hey, Shinju! Shinju! Do you have a minute?"

I ran after Shinju, waving with one arm while I balanced my tray on the other. She looked back at me, startled at first, and then just looked confused.
"Not about allying or anything. Just about vampires," I said.

"I don't really do that anymore," she said, almost defensively.

"Yeah, but I'm studying parascientific phenomenon, since-" How exactly did I explain that my experiences in the arena, plus the weird coincidences in my life, had started me thinking maybe karma was real, and then maybe other things were? "To hedge my bets, I guess."

Having convinced Shinju that I would just take a few notes while she ate and then leave, I managed to learn some valuable info. It seemed that Shinju's case had been mere delusion- severe, perhaps, but indicating no supernatural activity. While she had consumed blood, she displayed no other unexplained phenomena. She had explained such things as her tolerance of sunlight to herself with mundane explanations such as sunscreen, indicating a disturbance in mental health, not the universe.

"You're Randy, right?" Not that I really had to ask. I wasn't much for romance, but even I could recognize someone as ridiculously beautiful as Randy.

"Yeah?" Randy asked, having just come out of his lounge, where I'd been lurking for almost an hour.

"You saw selkies, right?" I asked, my pen hovering over my notepad.

Randy looked up and down the hall. "Yeah," he said cautiously.

"Would you say the selkies were of a supernatural nature?" I asked.

"I don't know. They were whatever's normal for selkies," Randy said.

"They seemed to possess to ability to transform humans," I said.

"They definitely did," Randy said firmly.

I jotted that down. "Have you encountered more selkies since then?"

Randy smiled secretively. "Would you believe me?" he asked.

"I'm not sure anymore. That's what I'm trying to find out." I looked down at my paper. 1 spurious, 1 possible.

"Castiel!" I ran after the young man.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"You fought a vampire," I said, a little breathless from chasing him.

"Just once," he said modestly.

I pulled out my pad. "Would you say the vampire was a mundane mutt, or something supernatural?"

Echo Osuuchi- To New Heights D7F

I'd done so much training for the Games, and all of it had been for nothing. The rules were nothing like they told us. It wasn't about surviving at all. It was about being chosen. Everything I'd done meant nothing in the end. I was never their pick, because I wasn't from one of "their" Districts. I wasn't even supposed to have trained. If they'd even found out I did what they told their own favorites to do, I could have gotten killed. I trained in a cleared-out dirt ring in the depths of the woods instead of a state-of-the-art academy that cost more than my entire town. All my dedication, all my strength, meant nothing in the end. It was all just a popularity contest.

Watching the tapes only proved it was true. So often I'd see clever, adaptable Tributes from the poorer Districts dominate all throughout the Games, and then in the end it was somehow a volunteer who won. Disasters would conveniently be nearby the undesirables, mutts would conveniently pass by Careers... I had the suspicion that the prizes for feasts weren't placed inside the Cornucopia until the Gamemakers saw who was coming.

I wished I could blame the Capitol for everything, but the cold truth was I'd failed, too. Looking back, I was amazed at how cavalier I'd been about recruiting allies. I'd put myself up as the leader of an alliance and I'd never even thought about what responsibility that brought. I told my allies I was the one who could get us out of here. There was only one winner, sure, but I'd told them I could give them a better chance, and where did it get them? Again and again I'd made decisions I'd thought were best for all of us, and one by one they paid the price when I chose wrong. All except Barley. He didn't die because I failed him. He died because I looked him in the eye and stabbed him.

I'd made my choice, though, hadn't I? I'd made so many choices, all at once. I'd chosen what I would be learning in training this time around: survival skills. Why? Because I'd also chosen my allies before I even woke up. I'd chosen no allies at all- surely no one would want someone who led her allies to their deaths and killed the last one standing. So I was alone this time, and it was coldly comforting. I didn't have to worry about killing my allies this time. I didn't even have to worry about killing my enemies. I only had to worry about being the Victor the Capitol wanted.

Cloey Daleigh- Circle of Life D7F

I was never going to be a Peacekeeper. I knew that, finally. I would either die and stay dead, join the endless cycle of Tributes dying and coming back, or I'd win and the Capitol would want me to be another one of their celebrities. No matter what happened, that was a chapter of my life that was closed.

How could I even talk about something like that? Most people would hate me if I told them I'd wanted to be a Peacekeeper. They were the ones who stole people away in the night, or beat people for eating half a potato. The ones who didn't laugh at me for thinking a Seven girl even had a chance, that was. How did I explain that there was so much more to it than that? I knew about the bad things Peacekeepers did, but it was still true that people needed protection. When I looked forward to my career, I saw myself stopping murderers, or bringing back thieves who'd stolen a family's livelihood. I'd hoped I could bring reform from the inside, ensuring people had someone they could depend on until I'd changed the rest of my force with me. Being a Peacekeeper was one of the only routes an outer Districter had for a career in politics, too. After I'd been on the streets, and I knew what people needed and how to protect them, I could have worked to eliminate poverty at the base, rather than just catching thieves who were probably impoverished, too.

Either way, didn't it mean something that my dream had died? Regardless of what Peacekeepers turned out to be, this was something I'd built my life around. I'd sacrificed years of my life, friendships I hadn't had time for, opportunities that might have meant something. Even if my dream turned out to be horrible, I still felt the pain of losing it.

What was left for me, then? Just winning the Games. Honestly, I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I just wanted to stay alive.

Chrome Cabello- Heart of Darkness D2F

My second year in training, I met a boy named Mellitus. There was something off about him right from the start, but I didn't put my finger on it until a week later. It was that he was always happy. Whether we were punching each other, or hiking ten miles uphill, or getting screamed at by trainers, he always had this goofy, carefree grin. I watched for a few more days and then I just couldn't take it anymore.

Why are you always so happy? I asked him.

He looked at me cheerfully. "Isn't it great? If you start crying here, they stop hitting you!"

I hadn't understood at first. Not until I thought about that one word- here. I hadn't looked closely enough to notice it, how Mellitus had bruises even when classes hadn't started yet. He said it so casually, too, how he was waiting to turn eighteen, when his parents hoped he'd get picked, but instead he'd be of age then and could move out without them calling the Peacekeepers to bring him back. I hadn't seem him since I volunteered. Hopefully he was out somewhere with a family of his own, watching the Games from the comfort of his safe, loving home. But I understood now what he meant.

My father didn't hit me and Jessie, not unless he threw something and didn't look where it was going. What he did was still enough to mark us. I hated how Jessie always looked nervous after she laughed, like someone was going to call her stupid. I didn't know the extent of my own damage, but I thought I'd probably be a more expressive person if I'd felt safe to take up space as a child. By now, though, I'd been in the Capitol so many times it felt like home. Things changed, but there were some things that had been here from the start, like that same stupid petting zoo. Dad wasn't here, and Jessie was. We were together and we were safe from him. I didn't think there was any better ending possible for us.

It was funny, wasn't it, how our childhoods were taken from us, and now we were frozen in them? We'd never get older, more likely than not. We were appealing enough as a set of sisters- and Jessie pulled most of the weight by being far cuter than I was- that we had spots almost guaranteed as long as the Games went on. My father killed both of us by forcing us into the Games, and yet someday we'd outlive him.

It was nice, our life in the Capitol. I loved going out with Jessie and window-shopping, or trying the sugary things the Capitol invented every year. I was especially happy to see her get so close to Fable. We never got to go to sleepovers or have friends over- it was a waste of training time. It was good for Jessie to have someone other than me. Some things just feel weird to tell your big sister. There were plenty of things I hadn't told her.