As with all things, after the 95th Annual Hunger Games, life went on for those left behind.

Remi's friend group stayed together; while he wasn't necessarily forgotten, they learned to move on without him. His parents grieved him forever; he'd been taken from them far too young. While not necessarily changing his tune overnight, this decision led Remi's father to start questioning how he'd gotten there. It'd be the start of a lifelong journey.

With Nascar no longer keeping them together, his parents finally bit the bullet and divorced, each of them taking shared custody of his siblings. Their relationship became no more amicable than before, but far less openly hostile. His friends continued their training regardless; in particular, Dolores would enter the 96th Hunger Games as the female volunteer. If nothing else, she avoided the trap Clara fell into.

The energy at Faolan's parents' ranch didn't fade to nothing, but it cratered with his absence. They'd downsize significantly in its wake to keep the workload manageable, but eventually it still overwhelmed them, and they were forced to sell the farm. While Faolan's parents and siblings each lived relatively successful lives afterward in various professions, it'd never feel the same as when Faolan was there.

Fox's employer struggled to find a replacement for the girl who'd been such a formidable killer despite everything being against her. It was all for naught, anyway; he'd be caught and executed less than two years after Fox's departure. With her parents long dead and District Twelve as a whole unaware of her former presence, she had no one to mourn her.

Alexa's birth parents remained the same as ever. Her adoptive parents did not. Perhaps they wanted to fill the void Alexa left behind or maybe they just wanted to do some good, but Alexa would be but the first of several kids they took in, all of whom would stay until they turned eighteen. Meanwhile, Mahogany took another sabbatical from mentoring tributes after Alexa's year; Mahogany claimed she saw Alexa in every face.

Marius' father would take his son's place: after his son's death, he visited Miller's bakery every day for over three years, no matter the weather. When he didn't show up one warm spring morning, Miller visited the man's house after his shift and found the property vacated. Efforts to find him were unsuccessful, and he was presumed dead.

Aryion's bed was filled by someone else before the Games even started; he might as well have never been there. Fletcher, however, knew better. The next year, he would volunteer for the 96th Annual Hunger Games. He said he'd done it for Aryion when asked why during his interview. Whether it was to avenge him or join him was anyone's guess.

The Gamemakers recovered Artesia's journal from the Arena. As she had no next of kin, it was given to a Capitol museum dedicated to displaying mementos from each Hunger Games. It'd stay there for over a decade until the whole building was burnt down by an anti-Games arsonist. Any memories of Artesia outside the Games would unfortunately burn with it.

Catarina's family was hit hard by the loss of the eldest child and primary caretaker, and the family began to fall apart as a result, quickly exacerbated by an economic recession that cost Catarina's mother her job. Of the six remaining Lynn children, only three would survive to adulthood: two died of starvation during a horrible winter that claimed tens of thousands of other lives across Panem, while another would be a Hunger Games casualty.

If nothing else, Vick joined his mother; perhaps it was the stress from the Games or maybe she just gave up when she saw what happened to him, but she died less than twenty-four hours after he did. Some days, Aqua looked at the ocean and wished she could follow them.

Iridium eventually forgave Galadia for stealing her chance at glory, realizing she probably wouldn't have won that year anyway. However, her former friends never did. Eris and Valerie broke off their friendship soon after Galadia's Games, each blaming the other for turning Galadia down the path she took. Neither ever got anywhere near the arena, but perhaps that was for the best.

Spark's mother took his death hard, but it hit Mel the hardest. Soon after Spark's death, she left her job and disappeared from the District, a largely incoherent note left on her bed the closest thing anyone got to an explanation. According to the most likely theory, she died trying to make it to the Capitol, but either way, she was never seen again.

Odysea's family grew more overt in their rebellious ways with their daughter gone. It wouldn't last long, unfortunately; less than a year later, they'd be tied to the sudden disappearance of a particularly sadistic Peacekeeper. All three would be hanged in the public square to set an example, but that incident would remove the inhibitions of the most aggressive rebels amongst them, and in the aftermath of the fourth Quarter Quell, they'd bring District Eleven to its knees.

Romeo's death hit his family hard, but it hit his boss even harder. The factory where he worked never found an adequate replacement; he'd trained everyone in his sector, and no one else wanted the role. As a result, the factory began a downward spiral they never recovered from, leading to that factory being shut down less than five years later.

Seeing what happened to Sotia broke something inside her father. He soon manifested a deep, painful hatred for the Capitol that began overtaking his entire life. Shortly after the disastrous fourth Quarter Quell, when Sailey and Tarin were old enough to take care of themselves, he quit his job at the factory and joined one of the largest anti-Capitol organizations to exist in decades, giving many a powerful speech to mobilize like-minded men and women, culminating in the largest riot District Three had seen since the Dark Days. However, that is a story for another day.

Poole never forgave himself for not volunteering for Maxxer. The rest of Maxxer's family pushed on; they'd been through enough hardship that this was just another tragedy in a sea of tragedies. District Twelve would have crushed them otherwise.

Rhaemyr's guild would amicably disband less than a year after his death; they were nearing adulthood, and they needed to find something more worthwhile to do with their lives. Matrix became a black-hat hacker so effective that she was only identified posthumously. Frenzy became a bouncer for a popular nightclub. Stryker found a job at an electronics factory, where she worked on repairing computers. She put Rhaemyr's name on her work whenever possible: he would not be forgotten if she had anything to say about it.

Toren's father would not run for reelection. Like Marius' father, he spent the rest of his life in relative seclusion, although he remained in the District until his death. Also like Marius' father, not much else is known about him. (Whether the two of them ever met is also unknown, although certain theories point to that being the case.)

Helena grew sullen and withdrawn without Thomiah by her side, and their parents suffered quite a bit. The fields weren't as lively with him gone, the food not as tasty. In the aftermath, Helena would learn to brew her own alcohol, similar to what she'd had at the party the night before Thomiah had been Reaped; it was one of the only things that made the pain go away. She'd struggle with alcoholism for over a decade before finally going cold turkey.

Lacey's makeshift training grounds had been discovered shortly after her Games started, with any questions about how she'd delivered so much answered then and there. Her parents never figured out how she'd gotten to that point. Taffeta, deeply regretting her final words, visited Lacey's training ground at least once a month for years on end, leaving something behind every time, culminating in fresh flowers.

There would never be a day where Sirena didn't think about her sister, and what might have happened had Godric taken the blow instead of her. However, she tried her best not to hold it against Godric; he'd done everything he could to help Sienna, and for Sirena, that was enough. They became close friends: each was a guest of honor at their opposite's wedding, and their friendship would last until their deaths.

Clara's parents raised Jewel timid and quiet, keeping her far away from the training facility. However, after eighteen years of not being able to see any of what the world had to offer, even she grew restless, and like her Uncle Sunset before her, she jumped on a train without permission or a clue about its destination. Unlike her Uncle Sunset, however, she successfully made it out of District One and spent the rest of her life traveling the country as much as she physically could.

For a long time, the laughter disappeared from Zari's house. Zeke, believing that Zari wouldn't have wanted them to remember her as she was, not as she became, tried to keep her spirit alive at all costs. On his eighteenth birthday, he climbed to the top of the big tree under a full moon; he swore he heard Zari's voice in the wind while he was in the branches, and he heeded her advice. Soon afterward, he became an educator, surrounding himself with children and working his hardest to impart Zari's optimism and friendliness to all of them. Her legacy would live on, even if she didn't.

Despite all the horrible things Godric's father had done, he kept his word, even if out of fear. The two of them never spoke again, and the closest they ever got to seeing each other again was at Godric's father's funeral, about a decade after Godric won his Games. He'd see Dorian off for his duty as a Peacekeeper shortly after his Victory Tour, and would propose to Freya six months later, the two marrying in a small ceremony in the backyard. They'd have two children, neither of whom would compete in the Games, and their marriage would last until Godric's death.

For now, there would always be another Games to play. The world hadn't changed enough to make getting rid of it a possibility. However, as time crept on, leaving slaughtered Tributes and broken families and shattered dreams in its wake, a precious few in the Capitol might have begun to wake up to the horrifying reality. There'd be movements, demonstrations, protests, all of which would slowly gain fervor and numbers. Soon, they'd reach a critical mass, and there'd be no other outcome possible except to cancel the Games.

That wasn't true yet, though. There'd be a time when the Hunger Games was no more, but that time wasn't now.

Maybe one day.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is the end of Inner Beasts: the 95th Annual Hunger Games. I had a few more chapters I initially wanted to write, but I've honestly wanted to wrap this up for a long time, and I can't keep prolonging the inevitable and/or stringing you along when the Victor was crowned a year ago. Maybe I'll add those chapters as bonus features in the future, maybe I won't, but either way, the story's been marked complete.

If you're reading this, the only thing I can say is thank you. Thank you for sticking with me for six and a half years and almost 300,000 words. Thank you for bearing with the slow update times and the problems and listening to what I had to say. Thank you for investing your time and effort into something that's taken up so much of my life. I started this as a high school student without any worries, and now I've got a college degree, a full-time job, and a 7:00 AM meeting that job I'm pushing to get this out before.

I can't do this again. I know that. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and while I'm ecstatic I managed to see it through, I can't capture that magic again. I'm glad it happened, though. Without it, I might not still be writing today. I still am. Maybe I'll even revisit this universe in the near future; there's still stories about it waiting to be told.

That's all from me. I'm going to see if I can find the new Hunger Games novel somewhere. Thank you all and goodnight.