Author's Note

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Zephyr Almon, 13

He knew Luminita's voice, he heard her screams, and he took off after Thorin.

Celeste was dead.

But if everything had been part of her plan, that meant they just had to hold out. No one else had to die.

Luminita's screams only grew worse as they got closer, until at last they were falling from the darkness to find her on the ground, pinned beneath a bigger boy. Zephyr didn't recognise him, he was scrawny, almost more so than Zephyr himself, with shiny green hair and tattoos across his face. Black liquid dripped from small cuts across his face, as well as his mouth and eyes. The stench of smoke filled his nose and mouth despite the fact Zephyr couldn't see anything burning.

Thorin skidded to a halt. "Fuck."

"What?" asked Marcellina, and then cried out at seeing Luminita on the ground. "Luminita!"

She rushed forward, and Thorin caught the neckline of her jumpsuit to pull her back.

"We have to help her!"

"I have to! She's infected!"

"What?"

"If you get that stuff on you, you'll go the same way. Stay back and don't let it touch you." He raised his whip and brought it down across the boy's back. It took out his remaining armour nodes, and he whirled to glare at them, but upon seeing Thorin, returned to beating Luminita with his bloody bow.

Emeria raised her own bow. "What about ranged weapons?"

"So long as you keep your distance, you should be safe."

Emeria notched an arrow as Thorin gestured Zephyr and Marcellina back. Luminita continued to scream.

"Get water ready," muttered Thorin, before charging forward and bringing the handle of his whip down on the boy's head. There was a terrible crack and he flopped aside. Thorin kicked him, shoving him away from Luminita. "Now!"

Emeria must have understood that as her cue, because she fired. The arrow pierced straight through the boy's neck. Black blood spurted forth. He gasped, clutching at the wound and making awful moaning sounds. Thorin shoved him further from Luminita as blood pooled under him. A cannon boomed across the arena.

"Water, quickly!" Thorin shouted.

Bewildered, Zephyr hurried to shove his canteen at him. Thorin snatched it, uncapped it, and knelt at Luminita's side to force her mouth closed.

"Close your eyes," he muttered, and poured the water over her bloody face.

Luminita made strange noise against his hand and squirmed under him. Thorin held her in place, scrubbing the black blood stuff from her skin.

"Did you get any in your mouth?" he demanded as he removed his hand.

"I don't know, I don't know!" Luminita sobbed.

Emeria folded her arms. "You better have a good explanation for this."

Iridescence Sterling, 17

A cannon boom ripped across the arena. Iridescence gasped, shying back against Ares. Luminescence gave her a very odd look.

The echo of the cannon continued across the arena for a moment before dying down.

"Top twelve," said Ares quietly.

Thirty six others were dead.

Apollo and Artemis were dead.

Radiance was dead.

Phoenix was dead.

So many others were dead.

And here they were.

Just under half of the top twelve.

"Who do you think it was?" Etheria asked after a quiet moment.

Iridescence shrugged. She wished it hadn't been any of them. None of them deserved to die. Everyone deserved their chance to live under the sun.

"We must be the biggest alliance left," Andreas said.

Iridescence glanced at him. "You're welcome to leave if you're not comfortable with us."

He hadn't spoken to her, but Ares had told her about the odd conversation he'd had with him. Then later, Luminescence had said he'd spoken to him, and Andreas had come out with similar nonsense about how Ares was a potentiation threat to Iridescence. Clearly he was trying to separate them for some reason. Probably so he could try and pick them off easier.

Andreas laughed it off. "I think I'm safer staying with other people."

The District anthem began to play, echoing across the arena. Iridescence shifted so she could look out at the sky as it turned silver.

The first face was a boy about her age, who she recognised as having been painted and popular during the interviews. Like with Celeste and her Firebird, there was no death video for him. Iridescence wondered what the situation for him was.

The second face was another boy, this one with tattoos across his face and piercings in his ears, lips, and nose. He did have a death video, and she turned away, as did Ares.

"Well," Luminescence said, but clearly didn't have a thought to go with that.

Iridescence crawled to the back of the cornucopia and laid down. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me when it's morning."

Emeria Delilah Echavoque, 15

The District boy ignored her question while he finished cleaning Luminita up, and the irritation only grew inside her. She had gone through this beating and this was how he treated her?

Luminita herself seemed stunned still, and didn't fight too much, only mumbling thanks and trying to blink liquid from her eyes.

"It's infectious," Thorin explained once he was done washing the black blood from her jumpsuit. "It drives tributes to be highly aggressive. It was meant to be a last resort, but I guess the Captain decided to make things more exciting. Or they might be running short on time."

"Will it infect me?" Luminita whispered.

"I don't know. I hope I washed it off in time. Did you get any in your mouth or eyes?"

"I don't know."

"Why wouldn't it affect you?" Emeria demanded.

Thorin winced and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… it was programmed not to. They didn't want us getting infected. Anyone with the infection will ignore us."

"I guess you're dealing with Luminita until we know then," said Marcellina.

He nodded. "That's probably best."

They set up a small camp against the side of one of the mausoleums, though it didn't feel particularly comfortable. Thorin and Luminita kept a distance, while Zephyr huddled up against one of the gravestones with his back turned. Emeria didn't mind that. She still didn't trust him.

Which meant they now had three people that might murder her in their alliance.

Emeria fed another thin branch to the fire. Marcellina folded her arms over her knees. "Do you think they're trying to get us out, out there?"

"They must be," Emeria said, though really she didn't know. If the hijackers weren't livestreaming this, how would anyone know something was wrong? "They have to be."

Marcellina nodded, apparently comforted.

"They'll be too late," said Zephyr.

Which wasn't comforting.

Vivaldi Perlman, 16

Every step he took sent pain jarring through him from his bad ankle. Broken, he was sure of it. Phoenix never slowed down for it. He might have complained about it under most circumstances. This didn't feel like most circumstances.

"Why don't we just crack open all the pods?" he whispered. There were two of them and thirteen other players left the last he knew. That was six each and an extra for one of them.

"It'll be too obvious," Phoenix replied.

"But surely–"

"They'll realise we're here before we can get everyone out, and for all we know, might just shoot us. We need to find the shut-off."

That was proving easier said than done. Vivaldi didn't know what a shut-off looked like, nor how they were meant to find one. Phoenix seemed to be following the wiring that ran into the ceiling from the pods, but he wasn't sure she really knew either.

What worried him a little more was that he kept catching the scent of smoke, the acrid taste catching at the back of his throat.

They reached the end of the hall, which brought them to a metal staircase labelled 'staff only' and leading up to a room at the top.

"Must be a control room," Phoenix whispered.

"Would there be a shut-off in there?"

"Yeah, but there'll be people too. There must be one down here somewhere. It'll be on one of the walls."

The door at the top of the stairs opened and they both jumped, retreating to shelter behind the pod. They didn't hide them very well. Phoenix glanced around before squeezing between two of them. After a moment of hesitation, Vivaldi followed her example.

"–let Leyton out," a woman was saying. The woman from the arena announcements.

"And the anomalies?" asked a man.

"Only two pods showed any oddities. Most likely the recording simply failed to activate in the other two."

Their footsteps continued across the hall. Vivaldi let out a relieved breath. When he emerged, however, Phoenix looked puzzled.

"What is it now?" Vivaldi asked.

Author's Note

Maximillian Marcus Badondé, 18. Placed thirteenth. Killed by Emeria Delilah Echavoque.

Maximillian… was always a difficult one for me to fit into events, since he was so far removed from everyone else. I did seriously consider having him live, but ultimately this felt like the right place for him to go.

Submitter Check in time!

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