Chapter 13
822 Words
Valerie Fallow POV
After the weighty repercussions of immortality and resurrection passed, more concrete realities set in. First, it was clear I was going to have to do better this time. The girls at home were probably already laughing at me for dying once. Of course, if I died again I wouldn't be around to hear them gossip.
Of course right away I asked who else was in the Games. When I found out Venus was still safely dead I felt happier than when I realized I was alive again. If she was alive too, I might as well kill myself now. I couldn't figure out why they didn't pick Aspen, though. He was a lot more likable than I was. I was going to miss him. He deserved another chance.
Eight years had gone by, and Twelve still didn't have a Victor. I was still stuck with Demi. Then again, maybe us girls from Twelve would get more sponsors. Everyone loves an underdog. I'd have to take a page from Aspen and play to the crowd. Goodness knew I didn't have many other weapons. The people might be my only way to win.
Mary Sue Brooklyn POV
Obviously Mase cheated, which is why the Capitol amended the rules to make things up to me. You can't just lie to your allies! The very idea. Now that I was back, I'd be sure to win. Pity about all those other Tributes with me. They didn't have a chance.
Alex Trent POV
Life wasn't through with me yet. After all I went through, life grabbed me back and threw more pain at me. But I didn't have time to worry about myself.
"Did Natasha win?" I asked. "Or is she at least here too?"
"She's here. The people insisted on both of you," the doctor said. Despair and hope canceled each other out. Natasha died and I hadn't been there for her, but she was back with me again. This time would be different. I wondered what Tyger was doing back home. She was tough. She'd be all right. I didn't like thinking about how she was going on, though. There were two options for someone like her. She was too cold for the conventional female path. That left organized crime, and life expectancy was low in that career. No matter. I'd make sure one of us got home and we'd be a family again.
Natasha Trent POV
So much had happened. I didn't know what to remember first. The pain I felt when innocents died in the first Games. Watching Alex die in front of me. The rage that took over and the monster I became. That's how I died- as a crazed, brutal monster. Was that who I really was? That's how the Capitol saw me. I was the "difficult" child forced on an unwilling mother and adopted by a brother as dark as I was. I proved it by my actions. Did they choose me for the Games because they wanted a villain?
Alex was here too. He was another thought screaming for attention in my jumbled mind. He couldn't know what I'd done after he died. Whatever happened, I couldn't let him find out. No one could love someone who'd done what I did. But then, it might not matter. We were going back. I had no reason to believe it wouldn't happen again. I'd seen what most people never think about. I'd found out what I was at my worst, and soon he'd see it too.
Elara Angelo POV
What is death if it's not permanent, and what is life if death doesn't end it? I could sense how unnatural it was to slip between the states. I was like a ghost with a body. But it was so much bigger than just me. The Capitol could reverse death and they used it for their cruel games. They could revive sick children or reverse tragedy. They used their power over life to make an endless supply of death. How can anyone be that merciless?
They told me there were four others from Twelve. Maybe this year our time will come. Twelve will rise from ashes and death to finally achieve victory. I wanted to care about lofty things like that, but really I was just afraid to die again. Since death wasn't final it didn't bring the same terror, but the process of dying was still frightful. I remembered death running after me and the knowledge that life was about to be torn away from me. I never wanted to go through that again. Now I knew that if the Capitol wanted, I could go through it a thousand times.
Twelve is the only hen party, I think. Sorry Mary Sue's was so short, but she really doesn't have any character to expand upon. Next is the parade, which will have some changes due to this unique Games.
- Writer
