I will now tell you what happened next.

I know, this shouldn't be the way it ends. I was only ten chapters from finishing! But the wind has gone from my sails. I have finally accepted that this has been on the back burner for so long it is charred. I am not going to be able to finish this, especially as I have put it off for so long I couldn't even write the characters again the same way without basically rereading the whole thing. I'm sorry. The last years have been too crazy. If you want to read stuff I've written since (mostly oneshots), I'm on tumblr as captainofthegreenpeas, just search under #fanfic. I've also written some meta and world building under #thg I'm also on archiveofourown under the same name, which is where I post my BBC Sherlock fanfiction. I'm even writing original fiction now! I might post that on ao3, but it is early days yet.

I think this is definitely the longest week in the history of fanfiction.

I remember a review way back when which said "just seven days, huh? These games will be short :P" (something along those lines)

Jokes on you, sucker. (I mean that nicely, you poor sod.)

One of the things I hope you've noticed is that every seven chapters, the story left the arena and covered non tribute characters. That was deliberate.

It was an ironic "sabbath day" where we take a break from the plot to cover the subplots. On the seventh of the every-seven chapters, chapter 49, the two worlds- arena and outside- were going to collide with the two climaxes happening simultaneously. Stop sniggering at the back, you two.

There were going to be 52 chapters because there are 52 weeks in a year.

...the most well organised and structured of my stories is the big one that never gets finished FML...

So what happened next?

Last chapter we said goodbye to Coriander when she saw something and then dropped dead.

Chapter 42 takes us out of the arena. The Franchez family are all shot by firing squad in their own home because the secret of 13 is out and Faer is fuming.

Violent jerk though he is, Garcia's dad (dad? Stepdad? Can't remember rn) does at least die nobly, killed while trying to protect his family, but he is overwhelmed by peacekeepers and beaten to death. Defeated and despairing, they sing a mournful reprise of the horn of plenty while the firing squad load their guns and then "FIRE!"

Chapter 43 is the feast. The area around the cornucopia is filled with water from the heavy rain forming a shallow pool. 7 baby dolls are at the feast table. They're creepy, but if you pull the head off, what is inside keeps you safe. Each doll wears a sleeping suit in the different colours of the rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. The tributes wait around the edges of the pool, ready to run.

A piece of driftwood floats by. Then, out of one of the holes the tributes came through at the bloodbath is Daisy, who can go under the arena now that Team 3&9 unscrewed the pedestal on the tribute tube in order to get parts for the Device, it formed a tunnel that lead to the launch rooms under the arena. With a headstart, she grabs Yellow and heads back the way she came into the tunnels under the arena. Nobody can follow her without risking losing their chance at a doll. The driftwood is overturned to reveal... Anita and Iresse, hiding underneath. Iresse intends to survive the terror out of sheer spite, so the two of them grab dolls Indigo and Violet. As they also have a headstart, they GTFO there.

With three dolls gone already, everybody freaks out. Velvet grabs Blue, but Calion grabs Velvet. Blue spins out of her hand and is snatched up by Shayen, who also GTFO because she isn't a fighter. Lynna grabs Red and Orange, Charlotte grabs Green and then tries to attack Lynna whose hands are full, but she hasn't reckoned on Matt, who tackles her and the two roll around fighting, dropping Green in the process, with Lynna getting in the odd frustrated kick as she doesn't want to drop Red and Orange.

Calion and Velvet have an epic duel, until Morgan, resurfacing from picking Green

out of the water, trips up Velvet. You shouldn't kick your opponent when they're down, so Calion cuts her head off instead. Morgan and Calion stare each other down, until they are interrupted by Charlotte and Matt's brawl coming between them.

Calion decides that if any Career wins, it should be him, as only a Career offers any serious competition. He passes up the chance to take Green in order to take out Charlotte, who is just about to kill Matt when Lynna pulls him away and they GTFO there.

In order to freak out Charlotte, he throws Velvet's decapitated head at her stomach and she screams her head off. He kills her messily, with big swipes of his sword for the benefit of the Capitol audience. By the time he's done, Lynna and Matt are out of reach. He is now the only tribute sans a doll and that only makes him MORE violent and bloodthirsty.

Running away from Calion, Lynna decides to break off the alliance with Morgan and Shayen because the game is getting late and because both of them abandoned Matt rather than help him fight Charlotte. That night, Lynna and Matt have a close heart to heart that is so cute I literally can't tell you. They officially bury the hatchet. the next morning, when Matt's on guard duty while Lynna sleeps, Daisy creeps up on a drowsy Matt and cuts his femoral artery, he bleeds out in Lynna's arms while she desperately tries to save him, passing up her chance to go after Daisy because Matt begs her not to, because he doesn't want to die alone while she's gone.

The day after that, day 6, Calion catches up with Iresse and Anita. He pins Iresse against a tree while Anita screams. He stabs Iresse, at the collarbone, but she spits in his face and tells him he doesn't deserve her tears. She mocks him for a tool and a puppet.

Calion is about to roar with rage which turns into a scream when he sees the nail sticking out of his neck. He drops Iresse and Anita stabs him over and over again. Realising how in a matter of seconds he went from hero to zero, Calion laughs at the ridiculousness of it all and to wind up Anita who stabs him faster and faster the more he laughs, which makes him laugh harder.

The hard harsh sound of his laughter jars horribly with the wet squelching sound of the nail stabbing his flesh and the combination drives Anita a bit insane. Calion's cannon fires quite a few seconds before Anita stops stabbing. Anita tells Iresse she'll always be her friend.

Iresse's hand squeezes Anita's a second before her cannon fires. Anita finds the syringe of poison on Calion's corpse that Calion took from Aden who was originally supposed to use it on Jenny. Feeling alone, despairing and frustrated at how unfulfilling Calion's murder was and how even revenge for Iresse doesn't help, Anita injects herself with the poison. That Chekhov's gun is finally fired.

On day seven at dusk the arena shrinks to the cornucopia and the area just outside of the ring of pedestals. The water has been drained. Shayen cracks from all the suffering she has been through in the arena and has a breakdown. Morgan and Lynna agree that they don't want to fight each other and decide that Daisy is the bigger threat, being a homicidal nutcase. They decide not to fight until Daisy is dead. Then Daisy comes out of her hiding place.

They battle to a standstill, at one point stopping calling off the fight to all take a break, standing well away from each other. Daisy bites off Lynna's ear, Lynna nearly snaps Daisy's neck in a headlock but Daisy slips out. Daisy breaks Morgans nose and nearly takes his eye out, coming very close to breaking Shayen's leg, which only makes her breakdown worse.

Seven chimes sound.

Now they must face the terror.

Inside the dolls are gas masks. (I must admit this bit is harsh in hindsight given developments in current affairs) Lynna pulls hers on and then helps Shayen. Morgan is slow to put his on and starts to feel the agony of the gas. Daisy tries to pull Morgan's gas mask off. Shayen defends Morgan and accidentally tears Daisy's gas mask apart on the process.

The gas dissolves Daisy from the inside out and panic makes her hyperventilate which only increases her intake of the poison gas. The remaining three watch in silence and horror as she dies in agony in front of them, unable to feel anything but pity, even Lynna. Long after her body is removed from the arena, they are too shell shocked to think of fighting one another.

The three are so busy watching her die they have lost track of time

A gong sounds.

Midnight.

No victor.

Like the irresistible pull of magnets, the bones on the ground draw together to form skeletons that stand up and face the four. They have straggly silver hair attached to their skulls like moss and claws long enough to skewer someone.

These skeletons are all composed out of body parts that are hideous exaggerations of the main villains: The Head Gamemaker's creepy hollow looking eyes, faer's nails, Silver's heart (the villains have bloodstained rusty cogs for hearts)

These monsters were what killed Coriander back in ch41: the jumpscare of them behind her gave her a heart attack.

Meanwhile, Colleen Hanran has dinner with Faer and Rufilla and Logan. Faer's intentions are to have Colleen become mayor of district eight and officially turn in all of the rebels, who are no longer useful now that 13 was betrayed onscreen by Garcia and are starting to resist the orders of their leaders as they suspect their leaders are actually the Capitol because their leaders refuse to ally with 13.

Logan will stay with Faer as hostage to make sure Colleen is successful, until she's old enough that is.. old enough to train as a Career.

A pawn too long, Colleen finally snaps. She grabs a knife and leaps up and cuts Irma Faer's throat. As Faer topples over, her foot catches the table and pulls most of the meal and tablecloth with her.

Enraged, Rufilla grabs her own knife and makes for Colleen, telling the guards to let her kill Colleen herself. Logan trips Rufilla up and she hits her head on the table, knocked unconscious. Colleen and Logan dart past the reach of a guard and out of the door.

The final three- Shayen, Morgan and Lynna- pull themselves through the pedestal hole tunnel. This is where it gets uncertain.

MAYBE Lynna breaks her neck clambering through the tunnel. Regardless, Shayen and Morgan (possibly with Lynna in tow, depending on whether she's just broken her neck or not) run around the under arena area chased by the skeletons.

They find an open launch room door (composed of bars, remember)

Morgan (and maybe Lynna) dart inside and instinctively they slam the door and it locks itself. Morgan has a moment of pure undistilled horror.

Shayen's locked on the other side.

Colleen and Logan run through the presidential palace and hide inside a store cupboard. Logan whimpers silently and Colleen can barely bring herself to hush her because it is only a matter of time until they're discovered..

Someone opens the door.

Shayen is screaming and banging at the bars while Morgan (and maybe Lynna) scream as the skeletons catch up with them.

With one sweep of his terrible claws, a skeleton shreds Shayen in half horizontally at the waist. She slowly slides to the floor, one hand still wedged between the bars.

Morgan hears the pedestal at the top of the tribute tube being opened. A silver parachute slides down through the tribute tube.

Hiding in the cupboard, Colleen and Logan are discovered by a guard who fortunately takes pity on Logan because he has a daughter the same age. He sneaks them down a servants staircase dressed as Avoxes and out into the night.

Inside the silver parachute is a camera and a small silver bonesaw. They/ he guess/es immediately what it means. A second chance. If Lynna is still alive, either she or Morgan uses the bonesaw to slit the others throat on camera, thinking that will spare them from the Capitol

The survivor looks at the camera expectantly and realises they haven't done what the Capitol wanted, what the Capitol meant by sending a /bonesaw/.

Like Thirteen, the Capitol is demanding a right hand.

Colleen and Logan sneak aboard an outgoing supply train to an uncertain future.

Lynna or Morgan cut their right hand off; and doctors remove the body of Shayen. This is the last thing Lynna or Morgan see before they pass out from shock. Doctors carry either Lynna or Morgan to freedom.

Interviewy stuff happens

If Morgan wins, he attempts to electrocute himself with his television back in the victors village

His sister disconnects the wires, stopping him, telling him to make his life worth it.

If Lynna wins, she holds a knife and wavers with the idea to cut her own femoral artery, but Matt's brother(?) stops her, telling her to make her life worth it.

Whoever wins, they start a small school in their district as their talent and start to feel some tiny shred of hope for the future. Winter comes and a mockingjay is sitting on the frozen birdbath outside.

They release it into the wild; cupped between their two hands, flesh and prosthetic, and as it flies away, the winter sun catches on the white of the bird's wings, turning them to gold.

The end!

So here we are

10) Velvet Marble

9) Charlotte Stillwater

8) Matthew Sower

7) Calion Pharazon

6) Iresse Nolofinwean

5) Anita Perkins

4) Alwilda Brooks

3) Shayen Romach or Lynna Wheat

2) Lynna or Shayen or Morgan

1) Lynna or Morgan

I know, I never picked a victor. I couldn't. For ages it was definitely Morgan, then it was definitely Lynna and then I gave up. Writers block resolves itself, they say, but this didn't. At least not yet; and I wanted to finish it now.

Favourite/ least favourite tributes.. my favourites were probably Jathan and Iresse. I liked Coriander too. Least favourite.. Bif. Not a fan of Virginia either, but there was stiff competition because mostly these were all good characters. I shipped Lynna/Matt, Iresse/Anita, Morgan/Shayen, Sadiki/Anita, Calion/Damian, Calion/Garcia, Jathan/Coriander (otp) and unrequited!Jenny/Aden. Among the non tributes... I like Irma/Rufilla, ngl.

Favourite death scene... Calion's, so it sucks even more that I never wrote it.