Vincent "Vince" Wright, 18

Victor of the 80th Hunger Games

Vince had been told that he was one of the luckier victors to count after he'd woken up from his really long recovery nap. He'd only had a few minor cuts and scratches that the doctors had skimmed over with some sort of cream that had made them pretty much vanish. Of course, they hadn't wanted their newest victor marred by such injuries from the arena.

And obviously, they weren't going to let their victor go home just yet. He would need to go through the entirety of the country, the Capitol flaunting their newest trophy around before finally loosening the leash on him by just a hair. Right now, it wasn't too obvious to Vince that he was fully under the control of someone other than him, but he could almost feel something wrapping around his neck just moments in the future, choking him if he even tried to step an inch away.

His past couple of hours had been just sort of sitting, mind thinking up a bunch of random thoughts. They'd mainly been about what was waiting for him back home, most about Isaac and then the remaining couple about Diane. Vince was truthfully on the fence about whether or not he should even trust her anymore. The last time he had, she'd betrayed him. Now, he was worried that she'd do the same, the news about Isaac catching him off guard enough for her to do so.

But Vince wasn't going to let it happen. He would care for his son, but he wasn't just going to automatically forgive his ex just for revealing that they'd had a child together.

A knock on his door drew his attention back into reality and away from his thoughts. Moments after, the voice behind the knock told him to be ready and that his train would be departing in half an hour. Already time for the victory tour to begin.

On the train, Vince watched through the window as the scenery outside sped by. They were well on their way to District One, and then it would be on to Two after that. Then the next day would be Three and Four, the next Five and Six, the following Eight and Nine, then Ten and Eleven, and finally Seven and then the Capitol. After a hectic many days of that schedule, then he'd finally be able to return back to Seven and move into the house that he'd earned with his victory.

He almost didn't want to have to move into that house. The old one was perfectly fine and it had a lot of memories that went with it. But, it wasn't as if he had a choice, so Vince would be sure to draw the moving out and moving in process just so that he could manage to relive and recall as many of those memories as possible.

And once he was in his new home, a plethora of new memories would be made, except while raising a different member of his family.

However, Vince didn't get the luxury of getting to begin making said memories just yet. The victory tour seemed to crawl by, and each train between the districts felt as if it was longer than the last.

And of course, he had to read the same speech off those white cards that got more worn at the corners as the districts went by.

Nobody in One truly seemed upset at him, but the brother of the One girl looked as if he was incredulously angry at the world and maybe even his sister. Vince almost felt bad for him, because he'd definitely be angry at his sister if she'd volunteered for the Hunger Games. Instead, he was just incredibly upset with the world because it had somehow felt the need to make the escort pull his sister's name out of that glass bowl. And she'd ended up paying the price for it too. On the other hand, the boy's parents had blank looks on their faces the entire time Vince was up on stage, and he couldn't tell what they were thinking at all.

Two definitely had Vince a bit worried about his safety. First, there was that crazy girl that claimed to be the Two boy's soulmate and had almost made it up onto stage to wrap her sharp and artificially nailed hands around his neck. Then, of course, the Two girl's brothers looked as if they were ready to jump off their respective platform and come up and jump him. He was on edge for his entire speech and Vince definitely wouldn't deny that he was in a hurry to get back into the Justice Building and onto his train to get out of there.

Three was sort of a refresh before he was going to have to visit the last of the Career districts. The poor boy had only had some man show up, and he could tell based on the reactions of the people in the crowd that this was very normal. It hit Vince kind of hard, reminding him of exactly the parent that he didn't want to become. The girl's father seemed upset, and Vince could definitely understand why. He'd just lost his daughter and had to look at the person that had survived the Games instead of her. Still, this was a lot less stressful place to read his speech and then move on to the next district.

Four reminded him of One, in the sense that nobody was necessarily too upset at him but rather the world similarly to Vince himself. On the boy's side, those that seemed to be his family just looked a bit disappointed, but there was one other boy that stood off to the side and definitely stood out with the almost smirk on his face about the fact that the boy hadn't returned to Four. How curious, but Vince wasn't much about getting into the other tributes' business. He already did that with other people's business while working. It also looked like there was no family to support the Four girl, but some of her friends or maybe her coworkers had taken places on the platform beneath her projected image. They didn't look too upset, clearly having had accepted the aftermath of the finale.

Five was both crazed and solemn at the same time. The district seemed to be almost happy about the death of the boy, clearly because of what he must have done before he was reaped and maybe even the reason why he got such a large score. The trio standing under his projection had to have been his family, and while Vince initially thought they were all glaring at him with hatred, he soon realized that the glares were actually targeted towards all of those standing on the stage from the Capitol and the Peacekeepers stationed around the square. The girl's platform was depressingly empty, and this was where it seemed almost silent when attention was turned towards her projection.

Six was very similar to Three, except the boy had people on his platform (Vince just naturally assumed that they were his parents) and the girl had her mother (Vince was pretty sure of this) on hers. Both platforms gave off an aura of sadness, and nobody really even looked at him much. Six was more focused on the ground and when they could return back to their work so they could just avoid thinking of how they felt about the Games.

Eight was definitely not like the rest of the Outlier districts that Vince had been to so far. Those on the girl's platform looked royally upset that she'd been reaped into the Games and hadn't survived, and the little boy on the boy's platform kept bursting into tears and then getting slapped and hit by the broad, scowling woman standing next to him. That poor little boy. Vince honestly just wanted to march right on over there and just take the little boy with him, but he knew better than to try with the Capitol being all over him.

Nine was also fairly interesting, nobody gathered on the girl's platform but a few younger men in Peacekeeper uniforms did pause in front of it briefly to hear Vince's words about her. The boy clearly had some family that were upset that he had died in the arena, but his father almost seemed as on edge as Vince had been in Two. Vince had a hunch that it was because of who his son had chosen to ally with.

Ten was pretty much in full on mourning, but it wasn't necessarily even between the two deceased tributes. The girl clearly was a lot more well-known and liked among the district, and there really wasn't anybody that looked sad for the boy. Not because nobody liked him, simply because nobody knew him. Even though Vince had originally not been fond of the idea of having the two youngest tributes in an alliance, he actually kind of missed it now. He missed his sister giggling and laughing along with her adopted children and teasing him as he tried to be the realistic one. However, it did at least provide him with the comfort of the fact that his sister had people that she could laugh with in the afterlife now.

Eleven was even more gloomy than Ten. There were two decently-sized families standing on those tribute platforms, and Vince could tell that all of them were not doing well after the loss of their family member. Vince hadn't necessarily known either of the Eleven's personally, but he could just tell from the air of the square that they would certainly be missed for years to come.

And then it was time to venture to the Capitol and grit his teeth as he lasted through the blasted victor's ball or whatever it was that was thrown at the Presidential Mansion. Even though he was only there for a couple of hours, nibbling on a few of the simpler appetizers and barely sipping his non-alcoholic beverage, Vince felt like hours in the arena ticked by faster than minutes in this party. Eventually, the party started to end and Vince was able to make his escape, loosening his tie the minute he stepped off the mansion's grounds.

Finally, it was time for the last stop of the tour, and the one stop where Vince would not get back on the train to go somewhere else for at least a while. And as the train slowed to a stop in Seven's station, Vince let out a sigh as the doors opened and it finally smelled like home.

The speech he gave here, and the last one of this kind he would ever have to do, for the first time felt truly heartfelt. He actually put some emotion into each word that came out of his mouth, and when it was over, he relaxed and let a tear or two drip down his cheeks. It was then when he finally looked directly at that projection of his sister in the square across from the very stage he was standing on and then looked down at the figure on the platform beneath it.

The moments between then and when he was finally able to walk off that stage flickered by like a snap of someone's finger, and Vince immediately moved towards that platform in the center of the square once he was told that he could go.

He covered the area in only a matter of seconds and just a few steps, and soon he met the eyes of the very person that had made his life just a little brighter after his sunshine had gone out. The boy just looked right into his father's eyes and babbled a few syllables, not understanding the gravity of the situation but still smiling at the man that he'd heard all about but hadn't met yet.

Zeno Capricci, 17

Survivor of the 80th Hunger Games

tw: suicidal thoughts and mild descriptions of gore

Zeno could still remember when he woke up in the Capitol, more confused than he'd ever been in his entire life. He'd been convinced that he was dreaming, but then he didn't know if one could dream when they were dead.

Oh how he wished he could have been dreaming this entire time about the Games or honestly had just died in the arena.

He would give anything to be back at that moment, left alone with all of that medical equipment around him that he could have used to just end it then and there. Sure, they would have definitely been watching him on cameras in the room or whatever, but Zeno was smart enough to know how to do damage that a human couldn't recover from.

Oh god, he heard her footsteps outside of his door, and then the familiar sharp knock that always followed when she reached his door. It was her excuse of saying that she was courteous and all to him, but he could never see her in a different light than how she appeared over him that night.

"Nice to see that you're finally awake Zeno," the Head Gamemaker smirked at him as he blinked, confused as to why he was restrained in this chair in such a dark room.

All he could feel was terror and Zeno was trembling as a man in a white coat walked into the light behind the woman standing over him. From there, all he could remember was a blur. And then there was that phantom feeling of searing pain and Zeno screaming as he was held down and his tongue was forced out of his mouth. Soon, he could scream no longer and the pain was too much for him.

When he became conscious once more, he was horrified to realize that it was all a reality and he couldn't speak a word, the bloody stump of his tongue not even able to move so that he could even attempt to utter a syllable. Instead, a digital tablet lay in front of him, a stylus pen laying beside it. When he turned it on, the screen had instructions for him.

Zeno, please start on a design based on one of the ideas in your journal for us. You'll be allowed to use it as a reference. Thank you for helping us out, and I feel we're even now.

Sincerely,

Levana Miroslava

Head Gamemaker

holy crap we're actually done now. it's honestly kind of hard for me right now to think of words, but uh who was expecting that little twist at the end? i know for me, i'm not the hugest fan of having survivors alongside a victor, but as my ideas for Zeno's arc stirred around, i thought this would be a pretty interesting way to take things for him. again, i want to say thank you so much to everyone who submitted or just supported the story in general. i would not have been able to do it without you guys. and uh, i'm excited to say that i will be dropping a new SYOT in the coming days or weeks or just whenever i get done with some prep work and the first prologue, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

see y'all on the flip side! - livi