you guys ive been lazy XD

Cornell Wheaton(D9 Male)

The initial shock subsiding from Cameron's death, I almost instantly went to the only true thing that mattered, not so much as vengeance but pure, hollow grief: who was his killer. I had to know, who had the heart do so such a thing, and why?

I had a suspicion, but it was a brief one. My senses had been buzzing since the second my eyes lay on his dead body, like they had suddenly come back to life after a while of numbness. My palms ran sweat like blood as I slowly touched his arm. It felt scary, like he had suddenly turned to cobwebs. My nerves twitched as my fingers brushed against the sleeve of his jacket, feeling like the whole thing was completely surreal. How could this happen? What did the Capitol want to achieve by this? Ruin everyone's lives?

'Cause they're doing a pretty good job at that, I thought very bitterly. Moments later I wanted to bite my tongue out for thinking with such fervent negativity. I was supposed to be that one guy who could power through anything, keep his calm, and be a good person in general. I vowed to myself, the night before the Games had started, when I had been unable to sleep, that I would never be one of those people who lost it from an onslaught of bad things upon their life, living the rest of their days out of revenge. I would stay good, pure. And I would never, even with this terrible thing, let myself down, let the bad person who had done it win.

I rolled over Cameron's dead body but could not find a single thing to pinpoint the murderer. I was just about to give up, let go.. until I found something, fluttering slightly in the cool air. I removed it from its place beneath a stone, and read it through shaking fingers, feeling like this place was haunted, a murder scene.

It said, in a delicately curled script, He was part of my plan. But now that everyone knows what I'm going to do, I can start my backup. I am not a fool. I did not tell Calamity because I thought this wouldn't happened, no. I told her because I already knew I was going to kill Cameron.

And then the penned ink skidded to an abrupt, scratchy stop at his name, which was written through scratchy, unclear lettering, Wendigo.

Okay. I breathed in, and out, my energy sharp and beating rapidly through my heart. I could do this. I could.. oh. Oh.

Now it was down to me against Azurine. I cast my thoughts ahead, willing myself not to be nervous. Me against a Career? What were the chances of me winning? I mean, I could have a decent amount of hope if it were some other tribute, although my guilt level would be high but... A Career? Who had trained all their life for this and could probably stab me in a half with a knife before I even picked up my weapon?

Breathe in. Breathe out.

You can do it.

After Cameron's death, it was the least I could do.

Claim victory.

Azurine Bahari(D4 Female)

Honestly, I had been expecting a fiercer opponent than Cornell for the end. I had thought I would be fighting Cameron. I had been confident, because we were both good with the throwing knife, but I had much more experience.

The thing was, maybe Cornell had some kind of hidden talent I knew nothing about. He hadn't really give me much of an impression but that he was...I guess...Farmer boy? I mean, I didn't want to appear shallow, but in all honesty, this was what I thought.

And what I thought was more important than anything else now. I wouldn't be forced by just the thought of proving myself. I would do what was truly seen, and visualized, as good. Better than good. To achieve redemption, I would have to be perfect.

Gee, that would be difficult. This thought transported to a few weeks ago would have made me shiver by all the things I had dismissed as weak efforts. But, patience. Be patient. Slowly make yourself likable.

I remembered, queerly, a saying my mother had liked to toss around every few days, just for fun, with that toss of her head without care: Azurine, the world revolves around the people. To achieve far in life, you must respect that, and you must respect society.

I clenched my fists, biting my tongue hard. The excess, the onslaught of memories was tiring to hold. It was like an imaginary weight upon my back, one that refused to be lessened. I dug my jaw in harder and felt blood tingle at the tip of my tongue. It tasted of salt, carrying a bitter tang like olives. The salt-and-bitter flavor filled my mouth and I couldn't remember the last time I had devoured something sweet.

The world isn't about showing everyone your sweet, kind shell, Azurine.

I gritted my teeth and decided I would do it now. I would set out to find Cornell. I would kill him. I would go back home.

And I would never harm a soul ever again, for as long as I lived. It seemed hard to keep that promise, which made me want to stab myself because to be a kind person I should be, well, genuinely kind, but when I was angry, I could do things I would regret later on. Like whenever I killed an innocent tribute in the Games, for example, Harriet Wilson: the thing was, I hadn't wanted to kill her. I had just reminded myself about all those bad things my parents had told me and that had been enough to send the knife flying.

I remembered how innocent she had seemed, innocent and, with a bit of sniffy scorn, weak. There was no way she could have won; from the moment she was Reaped, it was obvious she would be a Bloodbath tribute. But these reminders didn't tamp down the wave of nausea I felt every time I touched this tender subject. The kinder, the sweeter the tribute, the more I was prone to feel guilt. And with more guilt, I felt like I was being weak, that my parents were right, I could never win, could never do well.

I shoved it all down, my stomach burning. I was really mad at letting this get to me, especially because Careers tributes who had won in the past Games had killed many without remorse. This partially taken care of, thee annoyance suffocated for a moment, I stalked out of the cave, believing I was closer to winning.

Cornell Wheaton(D9 Male)

She was shorter than I had expected. I hadn't seen her in a while so this aspect was quite surprising to me, especially since I was considerably tall. For a second I underestimated her. After all, how could this girl whom I was a head higher than win?

I told myself to push down this strange feeling which had come up. She was good with the knives, and it would be a deadly mistake if I thought she wasn't capable of destroying me in a heartbeat. I took a deep breath in, a cool determination flowing over me.

She shoved her way out of the shadows, her eyes glinting sharply in the rays of light scattered down in the clearing. And then a second figure appeared, looking average at first. But then I caught a glimpse of his face- and my heart went into my throat.

I took out my scythe, hand shaking ever so slightly as I held it up intimidatingly. Azurine looked like she was about the scoff, or laugh, or at least make some other sound of cruel amusement. I was about to retort sharply when I realized the doubt flashing in her eyes as well.

Had she changed? Had Azurine Bahari, top killer, changed? It was impossible. Nobody who had thrown multiple knives into others' flesh could change. She was a monster. I had to remind myself about that so I didn't hesitate. I was killing a monster.

Wendigo snarled. His gaze flashed cruelly and his nose flared. His face was poisoned with shadows, full to the brim in anger. He withdrew a long, pointy spear, with a large end that looked quite scary. I spun the scythe between my hands nervously. Was I going against Azurine and Wendigo? How the heck was I supposed to win?

All my fears vanished, though, as Azurine unsheathed a lethal knife of her own. It spun the light in dizzying patterns, its reflection showing the trees momentarily. She held it tightly between her fingers, which were laced tightly around the handle. Holding it up, her muscles tightening, she looked like she had the potential to get rid of him. And I was grateful for a moment she was not on Wendigo's side.

"Child," he purred in a strong, silky voice. "Are you really thinking? I could protect you, kill your opponent right this instance, without a blink. Do you really want to kill me? You know my plan, don't you? Well, it was all a lie.

"I thought Cameron was too weak to be of much use. So I got rid of him. But you, my dear, you are a deadly asset. You cannot be harmed."

Azurine looked thoughtful for a moment, like she was really considering his words. My stomach tightened with fear as she turned the knife toward me confidently. Her eyes were dim. Her knuckles had gone white as snow.

Then, in one quick flash of a movement, she spun around and let go of the knife. It zoomed through the air, faster than I would have possible, with lethal potential. A blink later, the knife had dug into Wendigo's chest. Blood flew through the air, arcing in ruby-red waves. The knife was locked deep into his flesh.

Azurine looked down at her hands, her chest heaving with slight guilt. I wanted, for some reason, to tell her it was okay. That she had done a good thing, finally. She had defeated the enemy.

But here was one thing to question- was he really the enemy? The Capitol was evil and all he had wanted was to get rid of them. Sure, he had used evil intentions in order to go through with his plan, but he had sacrificed so much, his reputation, his perfect life, just to start a rebellion.

The spark would stay, I was sure of it. Though he had failed, maybe somebody else would come, in future years, to craft a plan that would not involve so much death. Rebellions were full of death, I knew. But I had to hope.

I turned my gaze to Azurine, knowing I had to kill her in order to see the rebellion come to life, burst into flames. But an invisible force stopped me. I did not want to kill. Even her...I did want to commit such a crime. I would live with the guilt for the rest of my life.

She dug out another knife from inside her jacket. How many did she have? I wondered. If I dodged, would she simply produce another one? Or was this her last weapon?

If this was her last weapon...and I ducked, I might be able to kill her. It would be difficult, however...

I drew in a steady breath and raised the scythe into the air, seeing it glow in all its dull bronze. I lifted it into the air, lip quivering. It was not from cold, just nerves. I had become numb to the weather long, long ago.

I then felt a sudden force hit me, knocking me back. I opened my mouth to utter a scream, but I couldn't. My mouth felt sore, no words could get out. My eyes fluttered open anxiously.

The knife was deep into the snow, an inch away from my foot. I wondered if she had done it on purpose. She was excellent with the throwing knives, after all...

I looked up and knew my theory was right. She didn't want to kill me after she had just done such a good-hero deed to surely boost her long-gone reputation. Gulping, knowing she was staring at me calmly and expecting me to kill her.. I flung the scythe.

It gleamed, dark in the light. And she did something totally unexpected.

She caught the scythe as it was spinning in mid-air.

Azurine Bahari(D4 Female)

It was just of pure instinct that I used my outstretched hands to catch the scythe. It was heavy in my hands, the force of the catch making me stumble back a few steps. But I was alive. And he was weaponless.

I swallowed. I had missed him on purpose. I was so ready to die, a hero, always remembered. But just then, I met a face: I was afraid to die.

Everyone's afraid to die, I thought reasonably as I twirled the scythe in my fingers. So, would I rather want to see darkness and nothing in front of my dead eyes forever...

Or would I do anything to live?

The scythe was thrown with incredible force as I made my decision. It sank firmly into his neck, looking rather like a painless death as he crashed to the ground, the 5 foot 11 weight sending snow flying. I stepped closer, catching my breath. I had really done it. I had really won.

We had both experienced doubt, but in the end, I had been the one to throw the scythe. I had never thought I could kill someone ever again, but maybe the fact that I had done so so many other times helped me step over my hesitation.

My head was spinning wildly as I looked up to the skies. A cannon sounded, and a voice was projected over the invisible loudspeakers: Congratulations, victor of the 36th Hunger Games: Azurine Bahari.

over thirty-five years later..

I looked out the window, at the chaos that was crashing into my street. A rebellion had been started. This time, I hoped it would succeed without so much bloodshed, so much of a twisted mind. I took a deep, shuddering breath in as I watched snow flurries beginning to fall. Even through the knowledge that many would die now, I cracked a faint smile.

I hadn't seen this much snowfall since three decades before.

3/3/18

and we're done.