I underestimated how many Fours there were so I got halfway through and thought two chapters might be okay.

Tabitha Sparks- Swing Vote D*3f

I thought two things when I woke up. The first was "Oh boy, Irina won!". The second was "Ohhhhh... Mom and Dad are probably mad I did that instead of trying to come home". But both were quickly washed out of my mind when the most adorable, oddly large cat padded into the room, followed by-

"Irina!"

The cat jumped onto the bed, preventing me from leaping off, since of course I could not disturb a cat. I petted her and she immediately started purring.

"This is Skraps. She's a therapy cat," Irina said.

"I'm a cat now? I've really made it in the world," I said. I looked down into Skraps' impossibly perfectly round face.

"Maow," she said.

Lyon Cartier- The Poseidon Adventure D*1M

I should have been thinking about the Games, but instead I was thinking about what in the world all my books would have to say about this. Did this count as life after death? Was I the same person? Everything from the Ship of Theseus to the transporter technology from Star Trek swirled in my head. That wasn't even mentioning free will or man vs. society. Was I my own person? Was I now a tool of the Capitol? Was there meaning in life past living in a way that increased your chances of being resurrected? Honestly, it was far more interesting that the Hunger Games thing.

Alsace Cartier- Let the Good Times Roll D1*M

"So obviously we're going to need some more allies. I thought maybe we could pick out the ones who lasted longest last time, since obviously they're doing something right."

Lyon looked back at me from where he'd been staring into space. "Oh, sorry, what? I was just thinking about something."

"What are you daydreaming about? We have to get ready," I said, a little more annoyed than I wanted to be. This was no time for Lyon's weird navel-gazing.

"I'm not daydreaming. There's more to the world than the Games, you know," Lyon snapped back.

"Not for us, there isn't."

Lyon got that distant look again. "Life isn't everything, you know. People live and they die. All of them, eventually. Some things are bigger than that."

"Well worry about that stuff when you have time, okay? Like after the Hunger Games."

"Whatever."

Juniper Triton- Swing Vote D4M

Of course they brought us back. We were a love story, so sappy and heartwarming. People watched us and went away so happy knowing love was real. But that was it. Love was real. Christobal and I didn't do this for cameras. I was a real person who looked at another real person and saw a chance of love. This wasn't a show. This was my life. My life, and Christobal's. Learning about each other. Supporting each other through hard things. Growing old together. When the cameras stopped rolling, we were still people. But they didn't care about that. They just brought us back so they could watch us perform for them- so they could pat themselves on the back and say they were giving love a chance. They didn't know what love was.

Havelock Grimm- The Poseidon Adventure D4M

I was a third wheel in the Games. There were more than a hundred of us, and I couldn't imagine there were many thinking that out of all these people, they wanted Havelock Grimm to win. How did I know that? Because I was a third wheel in my own family. Floki and Whyte were practically married, and people would much rather see them make it big than me.

"Hey," Ember said as she came in.

"It was you?" I asked, leaning forward. "Not that I'm like surprised but, you know, there were just so many."

"No, I won a special Games. I'm just coming around visiting all the people I... I don't know, fancied, I guess."

"Like Jerky?" I couldn't help but say it.

Ember covered her face. "It was like twelve, okay?! Gosh, there's so many. Maybe I love being in love more than I love whoever I think I love at the moment."

"Maybe you're just poly," I said.

Ember looked up in interest. "I kind of like that idea," she said.

See, I'm moving up in the world already. I can be a seventh wheel.

Tulsi Sa- No Way Down D4F

I lay on my side facing the wall, quietly crying into my blanket. I was in a Resurrection Games. It was where second-string Tributes went to slowly peter off into irrelevance. I died because of something I couldn't even have fought. Someone half the arena away from me tinkered with some pipes and my dream was gone. There was no dream now. I was just one in a faceless mass of Tributes. I wasn't Four's pick. I was just another name in an endless list. There would be no support for me. There would be no cheering for me. Most people probably didn't even remember me. A Career had one shot. One glorious, perilous, all or nothing shot. Someone took that from me, and they didn't even make it worthwhile by living. They died just like me, and now here we were- two shattered dreams.

Arroyo Cardoso- No Way Down D4M

"So what's it like being a medic in the Capitol? I can't imagine people get hurt too often here," I said as the woman checked my vitals.

"Sometimes people get hit by cars or little kids fall into pools. Most of the time we don't even work, honestly. It's more of a hobby, like most jobs here," she said.

"Why are you even checking my vitals? If I die you can just bring me back," I said.

She shrugged. "I dunno. Inconvenience, I guess."

At last, after so long alone in the arena nearer the end of my first Games, I was with people again. I relished the movement and chatter of the medics puttering around and the footsteps going up and down the hall outside my room.

"So do you all just kind of sit around doing whatever is fun for you?" I asked.

"I do a lot of painting," the medic offered.

"That's pretty cool. I was never too good at that..."

Mahi Katao- Res D4M

Honestly, I wasn't sure if anyone else would even ally with us. We could maybe count on Patrick, but other than that... I wasn't sure the dumb guy and the pretty lady were prime real estate. But we had each other and between us we... would have a good time before we died.

"Sucks it probably won't be the same arena. I don't think I'll ever top the lion thing," I said as Unique and I pretended to plan for the Games but really just ate lunch.

"Maybe it will be a fashion show and I'll get to shine," I said.

"Or maybe it'll be... something where your friend isn't gone after all!"

Unique turned at the voice and shot off from the table. She and Daisy did teen-girl screams as they met each other.

"You're not gone!"

"They changed their minds or something!"

I ran up after them and stretched out my very long arms. "Group hug!"

Mahi Arapaima- Circle of Life D4M

Not to be self-deprecating, but wasn't it pretty clear I wasn't Victor material? Most of us weren't, to be honest. There were a lot of faces here I didn't even recognize, but there were also plenty I remembered as dying pretty lackluster or early deaths. I died in the Bloodbath, for example, though at least it was in an arena with nothing but Careers.

But... on the other hand... If so many of us were long-shots, that meant the competition was smaller. Sure, there were like 130 of us, but half of them were the ones like me. That meant there were really only like 65 of us for me to compete with. I wasn't sure that was how the math worked, but it made me feel better.

Talise Cicero- Swing Vote D4F

Weirdly enough, I felt really validated. Sure, I was sad I died and all, but I'd been picked to be in a Resurrection Games. There were over a hundred of us, but by now there had been more than a thousand children in the Hunger Games. I was in the top ten percent- higher than that, since the real number wasn't exactly one thousand. All those kids, and they picked me. They picked me. I wasn't just the complementary partner to the one they thought would actually win. They picked me. That's right. I got to the final six and only died because the arena had guns. I was back for more and I had nothing to prove this time. I'd already proven it.

Marley Xander- Back to Normal D4F

"You ladies ever think we'll just keep doing this forever?"

Olivine looked over at me with a strangely guilty expression. "Honestly I'm glad you said it," she said hesitantly.

"What? Just keep coming back and dying over and over?" Lottie clarified.

"Yeah," I said.

"I didn't want to say it," Olivine said.

"I guess it's better than staying dead," Lottie mused. Ava visibly tried to pretend she wasn't the permanently-alive odd woman out.

"I mean... life expectancy is pretty short in Panem anyway. It does beat falling overboard after years of working on the fishing boats," I said.

"We live a few weeks at a time, but half of those weeks are in paradise," Olivine said, looking around the room at the Capitol luxury.

"And with friends," Lottie said.

"Guess I can live with it," I said. "For a few more weeks."

Everyone wanted Daisy back so I went aight I aim to please