Tyler Alvarez- Swing Vote D7M
The medic was looking at me with a most gleeful expression, which, coming from a Capitolite, was rather ominous.
"What's with the face?" I asked.
"Isn't it just so juicy?" the medic said, shimmying a little. "How they brought Deciduous back with you-"
My heart fluttered.
"and also Jude?"
My mouth went dry. Was that the whole reason they brought me back? To watch me try to handle meeting the boy I'd only just started to admit my connection to and see that cut short by a years-long love story? Wasn't it enough they killed me? I guess in the end it was just stupid on my part. I was dumb enough to think there might be a future in this world.
Castiel Wickham- Over and Over D10M
Strange that dying so many times didn't shake my faith. Probably it was because I didn't remember Heaven. If I could remember that I'd probably be pretty angry about having to be back on Earth, if Samuel was anything to go by. My real question was whether I could still witness to people. The Bible was pretty clear that you had until you died to become saved. What about someone who has died? I couldn't imagine we were all just living in perdition, so in the absence of clear evidence, I was going to operate under the assumption that we were all still savable. Well, our souls, at least.
Mati Berlin- Child's Play D10F
The gang was all here again. I'd hoped some of us wouldn't be, but that was life. I felt bad that I secretly hoped a little that Jay wouldn't win, since he'd be so torn up it was him and not one of us. The weirdest thing about all of this was that my chances were among the best of our entire group. Our group was such a bunch of chivalrous, noble guys. They were all fiercely protective of me, like I was the little sister in a huge, testosterone-filled family. I loved them all and I just wished I could measure up to it. I would have felt bad about benefiting off my gender, which I had no control of and didn't seem egalitarian, but they were just trying to make something good in the world. They wanted to live in a world where people protected the weak and cared for people other than themselves, and I was the one they'd chosen to live that out. No matter what, I knew they'd never give up. In this one tiny rebellion, the Capitol would never win.
Gavin Booth- Descent into Madness D10M
Probably the arena would be less dark than last time. That wasn't a metaphor or anything- my last arena was a pitch-black cave. Chances were, this arena would be less dark than pitch-black. That might mean my chances were better, since I would be able to see better when there was light. Unfortunately, most other people also see better when there is light. So maybe this more or less evened out.
Paloma Bennett- Descent Into Madness D10M
They brought me back. Was it because I was a villain? Did they know I let Othella die? I didn't, really. I really didn't. She was going to die anyway. We couldn't have stopped it. We just would have died with her. Wasn't it better to save as many lives as I could? I'd saved Yttria. Was she worth less than Othella?But she died anyway. I made the hardest decision in the world and got nothing for it. And then I remembered Verlynn. She'd lived all these years without me. She'd lived all these years without me. All this guilt and fear I had, she didn't. It made it all worth it.
Felix Veaux- Into Your Hands D10M
One lonely night in the arena, I daydreamed of growing old with Tillo. Of course I'd known then it could never happen. But oh, how could I imagine it halfway did? Over and over I came back to Tillo and watched her grow old in fleeting snippets. Tillo, growing older, and me, staying the same. I dreamed of raising a child with her. It was halfway true. Tillo raised him for both of us. I wondered if my son was like me. Not my son in blood, not my son in presence, but I wondered if he was like me.
Briar Hampton- Into Thin Air
I got someone killed and I didn't even have the decency to live. I sat on the bed trying to figure out how I could ever joke about anything again. Then Gidget walked into the room.
"I'm sorr-" I started to blurt, then stopped when I saw how old Gidget looked.
"Don't worry," she said, smiling. "I'm not back. I won."
"But you died!" I said. Nothing made sense anymore. I could honestly say I didn't know what to think.
"There was another Resurrection Games. They didn't pick you, but I was there. I won."
"So you got to go back to your kids?" My face split into a smile so warm I could feel it.
"That's right. So don't worry about it. Everything turned out all right," Gidget said. She said some more things before she left, but I didn't hear them. I sat in bed still not sure what to think, but now I was smiling.