Hunger Games: All-Stars

Chapter 3

District Two only has three representatives, so it's way shorter.

Avariella Hanson POV

Why would they pick me? I was a terrible Career. I didn't even join the pack. I ended up with two geniuses from Three and I was the first to die. Was this some sort of joke? I already wasted my life once. Why would they give it back to me so I could ruin it again?

I shivered underneath my hospital gown and wished the doctors would leave. The scientists must have messed up when they regenerated my body. My stomach was squishy with fat and my face was round with flab. I looked terrible. I felt like everyone was staring at my freakish form. I huddled under the fabric and tried to make myself look smaller.

"There's someone who wants to see you," the head doctor said. I couldn't imagine who. They'd told me Tillo won my Games. We weren't even allies. I was even more confused when Pray walked in. She looked me over and stood at the foot of my bed.

"You ready to try this time?" she asked.

"What?" I asked.

"You could have gone all the way. What happened? It's like you gave up. At least you look like a fighter now. Maybe you actually weigh more than me," she said. I crossed my arms over my stomach. Did she have to mention that?

Pray saw my face and squinted. "What's wrong?" she asked. I didn't know how to answer without calling more attention to my weight. She waited a moment and let it go.

"I hope you're ready. You get a second chance and most people in Two don't get a first. I know you can do this. You need to know it," she said. I wanted to cry and roll up in a ball, but Pray's words were stirring. Did she really think I could do it? Silver Claws Jager thought I was a good fighter? Maybe she saw something I didn't. She couldn't be that wrong. This was the one thing she knew. She had to be right.

After Pray left, I had a lot to think about. I felt even more displaced in my new, alien body. My skin was smooth and perfect, but there was so much of it. I'd never felt comfortable in my own body. How could I live in this new one? It didn't even feel like mine. I wanted to tear it off and go back to the body I knew. A Career's greatest weapon is her own body. I would have to make peace with mine quickly if I wanted to prove Pray right.

Thompson Kirsten POV

I was running into the Bloodbath. Alayza's spear shot through me and I bled out in seconds. I died. I was there and then I just died. That was all there was to it. I never knew what death really was until I went through it myself. Was that what I trained for? What kind of person was I?

I didn't understand why the Capitol picked me, either. I was the worst Career ever. I died in the bloodbath! Now I had to do it all again? I wanted to cry and hated my own weakness.

A Capitol reporter kept buzzing around the room, waving off doctors and trying to get closer to me.

"Thompson, how do you feel about the All-Stars twist?" he asked.

"Uh, I'm happy to be alive again," I said.

"Do you feel cheated about your Games?" the reporter continued.

"Yeah, I do feel like I died pretty early, but that was kind of my fault. I should have been more careful," I said. The reporter nodded eagerly.

"How do you intend to change your strategy this time?" he asked.

"I'm not going to die this time," I said.

"Excuse me. This is a hospital," a doctor said. He shooed the reporter away as he yelled questions over his shoulder. My stomach flipped and I wondered if I was going to throw up. Was it a side effect of being cloned, or was I just scared? The room seemed to get smaller and I couldn't catch my breath. One of the machines in the room started beeping rapidly and the doctors looked at me.

"His pulse is elevated," one noted.

"Are you feeling all right?" another asked.

"I'm fine," I said. I tried to loo stoic while I was falling apart inside. I should have been excited to get back in the Game. I could reclaim my honor and save my trashed reputation. Instead I was just terrified. I was going back in. I'd already died once to a two-bit outlier Tribute. The All-Stars would tear me apart. I was a laughingstock among the Careers and a murderer to the others. There was no one who would take me and no sponsor would waste money on the boy from Two who died in the Bloodbath. I wiped away a tear before it spilled from my eye and turned to face the wall. I was everything I hated in the Tributes I trained to kill: a helpless, weak coward.

Kestrel Hood POV

Ugh, last night was terrible. Whatever I ate, it disagreed with me. I spent the night puking my guts out and woke up in... a tank? A cluster of men in lab coats stood around me staring at me. What on Earth happened? The Arena looked nothing like this. Were they some sort of bizarre mutt? I leaped out of the tank and grabbed for a weapon. Then I noticed I was naked. Am I dreaming?

"Welcome back, Mr. Hood," one of the men said. "Are you coherent?" I snarled at the man and crouched into a fighting stance. The man stepped back.

"Please stay calm, Mr. Hood. It's natural to be disoriented. You were just resurrected. Do you understand?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"What's going on?" a different doctor asked.

"The rest have all remembered," a third said.

"Mr. Hood, what's the last thing you remember?" the first doctor asked. Obviously something had gone wrong in my Games. We must have been evacuated until it was fixed.

"I starting throwing up like crazy and I went to bed," I said.

"I see. You don't realize. You didn't go to sleep that night. You died," the doctor said.

"What?!" I demanded. It was a trick. Some cheap Capitol muttation crap.

"It's all right. Don't panic. You're alive now and you're going back soon," the doctor said.

"I'm going back?" So it was all a trick. It didn't matter. I'd be back in action soon. The doctor nodded.

"Then get out of my way," I said. "Okay, first give me some clothes. Then get out of my way."

Kestrel's form said he was the son of the Victor of the fifth Games, who was the first Victor from Two. In my canon, Jonah from Four won the fifth Games, but it's not that important what year it was. My first male Two Victor was Cassius Svenson from the sixth Games. Kestrel can be his son if his submitter wants. It's harder to know Kestrel since he's new, like Diamond and Miall, but I'll work on developing him in this story.

Some important things:

1. It's been weighing on my conscience that one of my Tributes was supposed to wear this really cool outfit that broadcast images of whatever the interviewer said. He was supposed to say "Pray" and it showed her leaping on Kazuo. I can't remember who it was but that was a really cool idea and it's been bothering me ever since that I forgot to put it in. Sorry, madam or sir.

2. I've been wrestling with whether this Games should be Canon or not. I wanted to be able to include the Victor in forthcoming stories, but this does seem like a separate universe. If I make it a separate canon I can have new All-Stars Games closer together since I can set them in the future. Then Victors from the All-Stars Games could be their own lineup. For that reason I'm leaning toward non-canon and will consider it that unless I change my mind. Victors are still canon, they're just a separate canon.

3. LadylyssaArren offered to make a forum for us all to gather on. Since I have way more free time, I did it myself. The link is forum/LadyCordeliaStuart-Hunger-Games-SYOT-Forum/184107/ and I hope we can have lots of fun there.

If the link doesn't work the title is LadyCordeliaStuart Hunger Games SYOT Forum You can try searching it.