Hi everyone. I don't want to dwell too long on the allegations against Craig and Lui, but I will say this:
I do not condone nor support their behaviour. I think their actions have been disgusting, and I do not feel comfortable writing about them in fics centring around the BBS. Please don't ask me about the allegations, I'm really not here to talk about them (everything is up on craig and sami's twitters if you're curious).
Because of this, I've made the difficult choice to discontinue this fic. I don't know if I'm going to write for the BBS anymore, I've half moved on from the group anyways, but the good members will always hold a special place in my heart.
Below I've included what I had written for the seventeenth chapter, along with the plot line for the rest of the story and some mini-scenes i had outlined. I want to thank those who supported this fic, it never got much attention but I really appreciate all the support. This is for everyone who is curious on how I had the ending planned out. Bear in mind that I've had this outline since 2017 and it's been unchanged since. Trigger warnings apply for suicide.
***
"This day has dragged on forever, they're already showing the tribute deaths," Jon drawled as he threw his arm up towards the sky.
"Adam Montoya - District 6
Brock Snuckel - District 10"
Craig frowned when he saw the boy from District 10 in the sky. Although he didn't want either of them to win, if no one from his own alliance couldn't survive, he would have wanted one of the District 10 boys to go home. Their relationship had Craig initially shaking with envy, but then it hit him like a freight train that their relationship would only last until they died in the arena.
Suddenly only being friends with Tyler seemed like the brighter option.
"Kinda sucks that Brock died, he seemed like a nice person in training. Can't imagine how Brian must be feeling," Jon said, chewing at a charred piece of fish. Jon's words wafted over Craig's ears, the heat of the fire and his proximity to Tyler made his cheeks burn.
"Yeah, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be stuck in here with the person you were in love with," Tyler said with a gloomy expression on his face. Craig bristled, the hairs on his arms standing up. Craig spared a glance at Tyler. His words seemed genuine enough, but his face told another story.
His eyebrows were furrowed and his knuckles turned white with how hard he was grasping the stick used to prod the fire. Craig didn't look away quick enough and Tyler caught Craig staring at him. Craig flushed and whipped around to face the fire again. He could still feel Tyler's gaze on him.
Across the fire, Craig watched as Evan side-eyed Jonathan at Tyler's declaration. Just as Evan looked away, Jonathan turned his focus to his District partner. They were so obviously to one another it was starting to hurt Craig.
Evan cleared his throat in the silence and spoke, "At least we still have each other, right?"
"Right," Jonathan replied after a pause. None of them wanted to address the elephant in the room. In any other circumstances, Craig could see himself becoming lifelong friends with Evan and Jonathan. But not here, not now. It wasn't fair. Nothing was fair.
"So who's left now?" Tyler asked. Evan leaned forward on his chin, resting his elbows on his knees.
"Us four, Ryan, Bryce, Luke...Brian," Evan paused as he tried to remember the names of the other two.
"And Scotty and David," Craig finished for him.
"Yeah. Ten left," Evan mumbled.
"I swear I haven't seen the last two since we arrived in the Capitol," Tyler laughed bitterly.
"They're both probably hiding out until there's only three or four of us left," Jonathan mused, tracing a pattern in the dirt with his stick.
Dread settled in Craig's stomach. Something didn't feel right, his gut was telling him that tonight wasn't going to be as uneventful as they hoped.
***
Bryce was glad Ryan and Luke had left him alone at the camp during the day. Having Ryan constantly around him was physically and emotionally exhausting, he was always on alert when he was around.
He spent the day wandering aimlessly around the circumference of their campsite and stash of items. It was nice to not have Ryan breathing down the back of his neck every minute of the day. Bryce could finally let his guard down seeing that he didn't have to restrain himself from strangling Ryan every second.
As the sun set, Bryce spotted Ryan and Luke emerging through the trees. Ryan sported a bloodied knife and Luke carried a grimace on his face and sorrow on his shoulders. They leisurely walked back to the camp and Ryan tossed the dirty knife onto their weaponry pile.
"What happened out there?" Bryce asked.
"I killed one of the bitches from 10," Ryan stated, "You should have seen it, he was practically begging me to spare his life. It was pathetic, right Luke?"
"Right, it was great," Luke replied. Bryce knew a fake smile when he saw one, and Luke was sporting the widest, forced smile Bryce had seen in a long time. Luke's eyes betrayed his thoughts, clearly Ryan was lying about how the killing went down.
"Exactly. The little faggot had it coming, he deserved to die," Ryan scoffed.
Bryce grasped his stomach as it writhed with anger. How dare he insult the couple from District 10 when he was a thousand times worse than anyone else in this arena? Bryce couldn't believe his ears; Ryan had assaulted him, but he had the nerve to bash Brian and Brock like they were the foul ones?
The hairs on Bryce's neck stood up as he realised Ryan's icy gaze was fixated on him. He was waiting for Bryce to kiss his ass, he realised.
"Good job," Bryce huffed, turning his attention to the dirt under his thumbnail. Anything was more appealing than Ryan's gloating face.
"What did you say?" Ryan spat. Bryce whipped his head back up to face the man. He stalked over to Bryce and brandished a knife from his jacket pocket. He grabbed Bryce by the back of his head to hold him in place as he pressed the blade to his throat.
"Do you want to repeat that? Maybe make it sincere this time?" Ryan threatened. Bryce fought back a hiss as the blade made a small incision on his neck. A bead of blood welled up and ran down his throat.
"Congratulations Ryan, that kill was very risky but I knew you would be capable," Bryce rattled off. Ryan nodded and withdrew the knife from his neck. Bryce's hand flew up to staunch the light blood flow.
"That's what I thought you said," Ryan glared. Ryan walked away, head up to the sky as the tributes' names and faces flashed above. Bryce caught Luke's gaze and froze. Luke gave him a pitiful look, but Bryce could tell that he was fed up with Ryan's ego as well.
***
The rest of the notes are for the above chapter, yes the notes are rather crude but again these are here for the people who want to know how this ends:
•David POV: stumbles around, lost without Lui, stumbles onto Tyler's camp. Begs for mercy, he wants to join their alliance or have a quick end. Tyler takes mercy on him, he wishes him well in his afterlife asks him if there's anything else he wanted to say. "Lui, I love you, even though we didn't know each other for very long, I never experienced a connection like that before. And fuck the Hunger Games, for making children slaughter each other. Kill me now, Tyler." Tyler snaps his neck, cannon sounds.
***
I had only a handful more chapters planned after this one, and the ending is quite dark so I'll warn you once more, trigger warnings apply for suicide:
Chapter Eighteen - With a Kiss, I Die
•Scotty POV: walks through trees, went back to cornucopia to steal a left over spear for defense. Spots Jon and Evan through the trees. They're walking towards him, talking and laughing. Scotty feels bad for interrupting the moment but the competition needs to move on. With great precision he throws the spear and pierces Jonathan's stomach.
•Evan POV: Next to him, Jon stops walking and Evan turns around. Jon sways on the spot before collapsing. "Hey you!" Evan screams at Scotty as he runs away. "Don't risk your life running after him for me Evan," Jon coughs. Evan's attention returns to Jon, slowly bleeding out with the spear still in his stomach. Evan sits next to Jon and rests him on his shoulder. Blood gets all over his clothes. "I never got to tell you Evan, but I've been madly in love with you my entire life. I only regret waiting until now to tell you. I only have one request, win these games for the both of us," Jon gets out, looking at Evan with matching teary eyes. "I feel the same way, I can't believe you waited until now to tell me," Evan replied. Jonathan's eyes slipped shut and he smiles. Evan leans down and kisses Jon, then the cannon sounds. He pulls the spear out of Jon and rests his body down. He gets one last look at the love of his life before running off to find Scotty. He finds him hiding by a nearby creek. Evan chases him into the water and holds Scotty under, drowning him.
•Tyler POV: hears two cannon sounds several minutes apart. "Fuck you don't think that could be Evan and Jon, do you?" Craig asks. "No, they're strong people." Several minutes later, Evan returns, sopping wet and covered in blood. Tyler's heart stopped when he didn't see Jon with him. Evan collapsed at Tyler's feet, hugging his legs and crying his eyes out. "It was Scotty from District 9. He speared Jon then I drowned Scotty. Jon told me he loved me," Evan sobbed. "...you didn't know?" Tyler asked. "No...apparently I'm missing everything today, missing love and missing the chance to save his life" Evan cried even harder. Tyler and Craig just look at each other.
Chapter Nineteen - All Seven And We'll Watch Them Fall
•Brian POV: tear streaks on his face since Brock's death. Brian is weak, malnourished, tired. He sees a light in the distance. It's Ryan's camp. Time to get his revenge. He approaches silently, Ryan's back is facing him, Luke is doing something and Bryce spots him but does nothing. Brian sinks a knife into Ryan's shoulder. Ryan howls with pain.
•Ryan POV: blinding pain, searing hot heat. He turns around as Brian withdraws the knife. He reaches out and quickly snaps Brian's neck. Brian drops like a rag doll and the cannon sounds. Ryan's body screams with protest and he reaches out for the bandages. Bryce offers to do it. "You would have seen him, why didn't you warn me?" "No, I didn't see him, it's too dark now." Bryce dresses the wound. "Thank you for dressing the wound but you're on thin ice, Bryce."
•Craig POV: watches Tributes in the sky, Evan starts crying again when Jon's face is in the sky. Evan leans into Tyler's chest to sob, Craig gets jealous. "Wait what am I doing the love of his life just died and I'm being irrationally jealous." Tyler then swings an arm around Craig and pulls him closer, jealous feelings immediately disappear. "Don't you think it's strange how we haven't had an arena event?" "There's only six left"
Chapter Twenty - Fifth Day
•Evan POV: wakes up and decides to finish the competition today. "It's just us, Ryan, Luke, and Bryce, let's kill all three then we'll decide what to do from there" they pack up their camp, only bringing weapons and water. They reach the cornucopia and find the three are at the entrance of it, trying to set up a new camp. Evan leads, he drags Bryce outside, covering his mouth. At first Ryan and Luke don't notice until Bryce bites Evan's hand and screams. Evan quickly stabs Bryce and guts him from naval to neck. Bryce falls to ground and quickly bleeds out, cannon sounds. Ryan and Luke run out as the three retreat a bit, Evan knows what will happen next and he accepts it, waiting to be reunited with Jonathan.
•Ryan POV: draws a knife and Luke loads a bow, Luke releases and arrow which pierces Evan's lung. Evan sways a bit. Ryan throws the knife and pierces his throat. Evan falls backwards, Tyler sees body fall around corner. After several moments, cannon booms. Hears Tyler shouts, put down your weapons, let this be honourable. Tyler rounds the corner without Craig. He quickly snaps Luke's neck. Ryan feels a sick sense of grief for Luke that he didn't feel with Bryce. He would have considered Luke a friend, while Bryce was just a toy.
•Tyler POV: while Ryan is distracted by Luke's death, Tyler gives a cheap kick to Ryan's groin. He doubles over in pain and Tyler gives an uppercut to the stomach. "That's for Evan," he whispers. Ryan quickly regains his composure and starts flying fists at Tyler. Tyler is pretty skilled at hand to hand combat, but so is Ryan. Tyler sees an opening and delivers a quick right hook to the temple, Ryan falls to the ground. Tyler picks up a nearby boulder, maybe the size of his chest, and drops it on Ryan's head. There's a sickening crack, then the cannon sounds. Craig emerges from the other side of the cornucopia and sees Tyler standing there with, staring at Ryan's corpse, one foot on the ground and the other on the boulder. Tyler turns to face Craig with an ill look "we're the only ones left."
Chapter Twenty One - Finale
•Craig POV: refuses to believe it. "Maybe there's some way we can have two victors. If neither of us kill each other what else can they do, wait us out?" Craig offers. "I have a better idea," Tyler says. He draws a knife and Craig inhales sharply, taking a step back. Tyler holds out the knife, blade facing towards Craig, then flips it so the blade is facing towards himself. "Do it" Tyler says. Craig shakes his head, tears filling his eyes and pouring over. Tyler starts crying too. "No, that's not fair, all I've done is piggy back off your success the entire Games, you have to win" "no I don't, you're going home, and living the rest of your life without me," Tyler replies. Craig shakes his head frantically, "but I love you Tyler". "And I love you too Craig, I've always wanted to be with you, since school. But I'm not making it out. So if I don't die by your hand I'll die by my own." Craig hesitantly steps forward and grasps the handle. "Together?" Craig asks, "together" Tyler replies. Craig leans forward to kiss Tyler for the first and last time, pushing the blade into his heart. Tyler kisses back. Craig pulls out the knife and looks Tyler in the eyes. "I love you Tyler, I'm so sorry this was your fate." "I know Craig, and I'm sorry this was yours." Tyler drops into Craig's arms and dies. Cannon sounds.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our victor for the 100th annual Hunger Games is Craig Thompson."
Craig drops to his knees and cries, banging his fists on the ground. He can't bring himself to look at Tyler's corpse. Rushed away in plane back to the Capitol. Sent to grooming to be cleaned up for interviews, tested for illness and disease, sobbing the entire time. Craig is tired, he asks to go to the bathroom, is allowed to go alone. As he looks at himself in the mirror, he realises he's a waste of a human being, he can't live with the memories of all the horrible things that happened in the games. Lying several metres over was a small pistol. Left by a peacekeeper. One bullet. Craig picks it up and fiddles with the trigger. He returns to the mirror and looks at himself. He puts it in his pocket and makes his way to the stage for his interview. He sits down and as the interviewer starts his first question Craig stands up.
"I have something to say first." He pulls out the gun and rests it on his temple. Guards in the wings start to run on the stage.
"I can't wait to see him." He pulls the trigger. Black.