Author's Note

I do not own The Hunger Games.

Zephyr Almon, 13

Vivaldi was… gone.

Not exploded, not with light and fire.

Not like Celeste.

Just…

Pop.

And gone.

The District girls clearly hadn't been expecting that either, because they stood frozen and staring at the place where Vivaldi had been.

Though

Thorin

–

Enki

–

Whatever Zephyr was meant to call him

–

was still staring at the spot where Vivaldi had been, his eyes wide, his expression panicked.

"Vivaldi?" He looked at the two girls. "What did you do?"

"Not us," said one.

"Aww, did ickle Enki love the icky Capital boy?" said the other.

"Fuck off. What was that, what just happened?"

"Maybe the Captain decided to just kill him off a moment earlier. She's really mad at you," said the first girl.

"But oh look." The second hefted a large axe, holding it to her side. "She left us another few presents."

Zephyr's blood ran cold. He turned to find a way to run, but Emeria was already drawing an arrow back. Marcellina, however, looked more confused.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"He dumped the other District kids and now they're pissed," Zephyr replied.

One of the girls laughed. "Oh, we're passed. And licke bad boy Enki's gonna be deceased when this Game ends. This is treachery."

"I don't care," Thorin – Enki – said. He was still looking at the spot where Vivaldi had disappeared, his expression twisted with confusion and grief. "All I want– All I wanted was Vivaldi."

Zephyr's eyes burned with tears. Celeste had been weird, but he'd loved her and he'd wanted her to be happy.

"Then this should be easy," said the Capital girl, raising her axe.

A knife hit her square in the forehead.

She still had armour, so the strike didn't kill her, but it did bring her armour straight to zero. While Zephyr was still trying to comprehend what must happened, Marcellina sprinted forward and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, run!"

He didn't argue.

This morning had been too surreal.

"What are you doing?" shouted Emeria.

"The right thing!" Marcellina shoved Zephyr in front of her. She still had a few armour points left, so that made some sense.

Emeria grumbled, but did raise her bow and fire off an arrow at the Capital girls. She hit one in the shoulder, bringing her armour down to a meagre two points. Enki rushed at her and slammed the handle of his whip into her head. The other girl shrieked and ran to help her.

Emeria looked at Zephyr, a vivid dislike painted across her face. "Let's go!"

Luminescence Sterling, 17

They needed to figure out a way to either end this Game with all three four of them alive or win it quickly.

Because Iridescence didn't look like she had much longer in her.

"I'll be fine. It comes and goes like this." She waved a hand. "It's happened before."

"She's right," said Ares.

Luminescence still kinda wanted to punch him in the face. Only a little bit though, because he had been taking care of Iridescence.

"Have you been like this all this time?" he asked.

"We think there's something up with her pod," Ares said.

Iridescence nodded. "Whatever the hijackers have done… it hasn't worked properly on me."

Luminescence balled his fists. When they got out of here – if they got out of here – he would punch someone in the face for this.

"You'll be alright," Ares said, though it didn't sound very comforting, more like something he'd repeated a thousand times. Luminescence wondered how many times he'd tried to convince her or himself of that.

"Keep telling us that." Iridescence hauled herself to her feet, rocking and swaying on the spot. "Maybe you'll make it true."

Luminescence groaned. "Iridescence, be nice."

Ares shook his head. "It's fine. She's in pain. I don't mind."

"So are we still going with the earlier plan?" asked Etheria.

Iridescence and Ares had filled them in on their plan earlier. Personally Luminescence was of the opinion that they were all going to die, but…

"There are worse ways to go out," he said, remembering those zombies that took Radiance. Iridescence had said Phoenix had exploded, which made no sense, but maybe one day someone on the outside could work out what went wrong.

Ares grinned. "And we all have a reputation of fucking shit up. Remember the forty fourth?"

They all laughed, because the forty fourth had been an abomination where fifteen players had gone down in the bloodbath, mostly because of them.

"Maybe it's right that this is how we go out then. All of us actually working together instead of fighting."

Luminescence stared at the ground. "I tried to save Artemis," he whispered, and tears burned his eyes. "I didn't kill her."

Ares looked at him, and his eyes softened with pain. "That sounds like her."

"I'm sorry," Luminescence mumbled.

Iridescence wrapped an arm around him and squeezed him tightly. "It wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself for her choices."

He looked at Ares. "I just wish I could have given her back to you like you gave Iridescence back to me."

Marcellina Arnoult, 16

She wasn't really sure what she was doing, but she was doing it regardless. Somehow, Marcellina just couldn't stand by and watch those Capital monsters cut little Zephyr down.

Even if he had really betrayed them, he'd also travelled with them for days. Marcellina knew him.

His hand shook in hers as they ran. She was sure the older boy, the one she had thought was with the District alliance, was also following, but she didn't dare look over her shoulder to look.

There had been no canon, which meant the girls probably weren't dead, but Marcellina still feared an axe flying out of nowhere anyway.

And Emeria was still glaring at Zephyr.

"Did you know?" she shouted.

"What?"

"About Celeste! Did you know?"

"That she's…" His voice shook.

"What?"

"Celeste is dead," he said, and his voice cracked. "Isn't that enough for you?"

"She betrayed us!"

"What?"

"She dragged us halfway across the arena to find that damn girl, and then… what? They both got out together? Or they both died? I don't care, the former was clearly the plan!"

"Emeria!" Marcellina snapped, pulling Zephyr to her other side. She didn't have a brother, but she was sure she'd be heartbroken if she did and one died. "He lost his sister. Leave him alone."

"If that was the plan, she didn't tell me," Zephyr muttered.

And now it was Emeria's turn to go, "What?"

"She genuinely believed the Firebird – Phoenix, I guess – would get us all out of the arena. I think something went wrong."

Emeria huffed, but she did finally put the arrow in her hand back in her quiver. "You two might have told us the plan."

Zephyr shook his head. "I couldn't. She never told me the plan." He glanced over his shoulder at the District boy. "Do you think all this could have something to do with what happened to Vivaldi?"

The District boy flinched. "I… don't know. Maybe."

"If Celeste freed him first instead of one of us, when we were her allies, we are still going to have words," muttered Emeria.

The District boy looked thoughtful at that, but he didn't say anything.

"Are those girls going to follow us?" asked Zephyr.

"They might. But I think they'll keep going after other players now," said the District boy.

Emeria frowned. "They don't want revenge?"

"They got that by disappearing Vivaldi. And they've nothing to gain by bumping me out of the Game."

Zephyr nodded. "Yeah, fair point."

"How do we know we can trust you?"

The boy shrugged. "You don't."

Maximillian Marcus Badondé, 18

The girl was still running, out behind her like water. Maximillian fixed the last of his icy arrows to the string of his bow. He didn't need to hit her, just slow her down. She had a bag. Supplies. Food. He needed food.

(she was food)

He lined up the arrow, but she kept moving and zigzagging, cutting here and there so he could never find a straight shot.

But his ice arrows would freeze everything in their immediate area, right?

He lined up the arrow, but she kept moving and zigzagging, cutting here and there so he could never find a straight shot.

But his ice arrows would freeze everything in their immediate area, right?

Maximillian smiled and drew his arrow back before firing.

The arrow hit the ground at the girl's foot and exploded in a plume of white snow, turning a fifteen foot circle around it to ice.

The girl crashed to the ground, her knife flying from her hand. She cried out.

Maximillian reached for another arrow.

The girl stumbled to her feet. "I don't want a fight! Just– Stay away from me!"

"I don't want a fight either." He brought the shot even with her head. Through the eye to the brain. He remembered that from school. "I want you dead."

That was how he'd get out of this forsaken arena.

He'd kill all the other players, and then he'd be the Victor.

And then he could live and prove his asshole parents wrong.

He'd prove everyone wrong about him.

He'd be standing atop the world, bow in hand, people at his feet.

The girl struggled across the circle of ice, slipping and sliding over it. Maximillian smiled and fixed the arrow to the bow. It was one of those he'd made, he noticed, and he smiled at that. It felt only right, to take her life using the fruits of his hard work.

He fired, but the arrow spun wildly and clattered to the ground several feet away from the girl. She gasped in relief. Maximillian muttered a curse and grabbed another arrow. This time he hit, but only succeeded in bringing her armour down by three points. Another hit then, and then he could put an arrow through her throat.

He wanted to live, and this girl was standing in the way.