An Unsung Song

Welcome to the Capitol. Welcome to the Games.

An Unsung Song: The Tale of the 405th Hunger Games is a Fanfiction written by the author Lavender Flame, based on the young adult trilogy The Hunger Games.

The four-hundred fifth Hunger Games come rolling around, and this time, everyone is in for a surprise: the Quarter Quell has come twenty years early, as a reminder to the rebels that false preparation was their downfall. To be released from the arena, the final tribute must be in possession of five special objects hidden throughout the arena. Soon secrets begin to unravel and a dangerous enemy is revealed, leaving plenty of material for the two sequels to cover.

The story can be found here. Its sequel, A New Tune, can be found here. The third book of the series, One Last Melody, is in the works, along with a potential second series.

Several companion fics also exist: Memories of Yesterday, Dreams of Tomorrow, a collection of prequel one-shots written by various authors; Another Song Will Rise, a collection of AU one-shots about various relationships between tributes; Special, written by Amata le Fay and part of the AUS one-shot contest; Once There Was a Child, written by jumpsinpuddles for the oneshot-contest; As I Hear the Cannons Fire, by rainbowfreak37, also for the one-shot contest; To Describe a Gamemaker, a multichapter about the Gamemakers.

The whole saga is collectively known as the Before the Music Dies Legacy, and its website can be found here.

Tropes used in An Unsung Song include:

• Abusive Parents: Fabian and Shade's dad. Also, Mist's dad before he passed, and Lina's father.
• Accidental Murder: Young Felina didn't know those were nightlock....
• Action Girl: The female Careers, notably Chenille, and arguably Kizzy as well.
• Action Survivor: the non-Careers. Most of them, anyway.
• Aerith and Bob: We've got Kildaire, Ionia, Namitha, and Replican alongside Carolina, Marco, and Samantha.
• Alternate Universe Fic: Katniss and Peeta were never in the Games. And the Dark Days happened a little bit differently....
• Ambiguous Disorder: Mist, who has problems relating to people and considers his only friend to be a little bird that he sees at work every day.
• Anti-Hero: The Careers.
• Anvilicious: Subverted. Kizzy directly addresses and mocks the Gamemakers while in the arena. Nothing happens.
• Anyone Can Die: Among the tributes. Mentors, too. At least, certain District Ten ones...
  • And, as further proof, Edalene and at least a couple other people were killed during the interviews.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: This quote from Kizzy:

"In my life, I'd lost my whole family, survived an epidemic, lived in the slums of District Six, gotten reaped for the Hunger Games, killed two people, and ran straight into the Careers' camp. But never, never had I been attacked by a swarm of angry, rabid birds. That, right there, crossed the line."

• Author Avatar: Lavender Flame, the Head Gamemaker.
• Beautiful Dreamer: Chenille watches Fabian sleep by the fire. She notes how it "makes his skin and hair glow".
• Better as Friends: Fabian and Devena, although they don't manage to keep it up very long.
• Blood Sport: The Hunger Games.
• Bookworm: Callia.
• Brainy Brunette: Charity.
• Break the Cutie: Namitha is very effectively broken by her allies' deaths.
• Bury Your Disabled: The autistic District Twelve tribute, Mist, who dies in the bloodbath. Also, Cala.
• Children Forced to Kill: Although the Careers need considerably less forcing than most.
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: This works out nicely for Chenille, when the bouncing mutt was closing in. Fabian kindly reminded her of the tunnel exit.
• Couldn't Find a Pen: to write "Welcome to the Games" with. Blood worked nicely.
• Creepy Child: Tod and Cala.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Several of them, among the tributes.
  • Fabian - an abusive father he's trying to save his little sister from.
  • Marco - the tragic orphan story.
  • Ionia - her father died in a boating accident. She thought he wanted her to volunteer. He didn't.
  • Kizzy - an orphan with two dead little sisters (epidemic), living on the streets, and then the Games.
  • Kildaire - scared silent by a near death experience.
  • Kyler - orphan, with only vague recollections of his family.
  • Cala - a dead older brother, who seems to have become the voice in her head.
  • Maine - lost his mother, and also the general joys of District Eleven life.
  • Lina - an abusive and usually drunk father.
  • Mist - an orphan, not to mention being autistic and formerly abused.
• Dead Little Sister: Kizzy has two, but deviates from the norm by refusing to angst.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kizzy.
• Dead Person Conversation: Every tributes' interactions with the ghosts.
• Death Trap: Several parts of the arena, as it's the Hunger Games we're talking about.
• Disappeared Dad: And also Missing Mom. Being an orphan is fairly common in Panem.
• Drowning Pit: Subverted. Charity expects the underwater tunnels to do this, but they just shake her around a bit.
• Dumb Muscle: Arsin. He's also a villain, making him The Brute.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Some of the tributes from A New Tune feature in "Back Home in the Districts" and "This Is Your Insanity" (chapters), alongside the epilogue.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Charity betrays Kyler, stabbing him in his sleep.
• False Friend:
  • Charity, to both of her allies, though especially Kyler.
  • The Careers. Chenille and Fabian betray Ionia and Samantha first, but they get back at them the next day.
  • Arguably Kizzy and Tod, as they're district partners but not allies.
• First-Person Smartass: Several, although Kizzy is almost certainly the best example.
• Five-Finger Discount: Kizzy Ericssen usually just steals her food. Even in the Capitol, she insists on relying on theft.
• Good Is Not Nice: Marco's motivation for volunteering may be securing a better life for his Annoying Younger Sibling, Fade, but that doesn't mean he can't be a jerk to everyone else (and occasionally even her).
• Gray Eyes: Describes Lina (and several other people from District Twelve). Also Link, and possibly Gavin.
• Hearing Voices: Cala hears a voice in her head called Kane. He's a warped form of her dead brother.
  • In the last few chapters, both Namitha and Chenille hear the voices of dead allies.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Who knew that being able to camouflage butterflies well would get Maine an 11 in training, the highest score of the bunch?
• Heroic BSOD: Namitha, after every other member of her alliance is killed by the Careers. Tara's death also catches up to her.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Nellie tries to do this for Namitha. Namitha doesn't let her.
• I Gave My Word: There are several examples of this.
  • Just about all the tributes, saying that they'll come home.
  • Devena, (Fabian's best friend/ex-girlfriend), who says that she'll take care of his little sister, Shade, while Fabian is in the Games.
  • Ionia, who promised her father that she would volunteer for the Games. She later finds out that she promised to actually not do this, so it's also subverted.
  • Ondrew, who promises Mr. Velius and Ms. Velius that he would take care of their daughter and his district partner, Cala. Somewhat subverted, as he dies in the bloodbath, leaving most of the work to Lina.
  • Namitha and the rest of the District Ten team, who tell President Paylor that they won't tell anyone the truth about Tara's death.
  • Also applies to the trust established between all of the alliances. This doesn't work out so well with the District Eight alliance or the Career pack, at the betrayals of certain members.
  • In A New Tune, a group of victors is sworn to secrecy about their knowledge of District Fourteen.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Kyler's angst about Kildaire.
• I'll Kill You!: It's relatively common to hear someone threaten if a tribute with death if they don't return.
• Improbable Weapon User: Kyler, who can use a sword despite being from District Eight.
• It's All About Me: The District Six escort, Mrs. Twine.
• Katanas Are Just Better: The apparent justification for Samantha's grandfather training her with that specific type of sword.
• Killed Off for Real: 23 tributes each year. And also some others.
• La Résistance: District Fourteen is an unusual deconstruction. While they do fight the Capitol, their true motives are ambiguous at best.
• Leitmotif: "One Last Melody" (sung by Kizzy to get out of the toucan attack), "Another Song Will Rise" (sung by the Career pack before the Games), the anthem of Panem, and this mysterious song that keeps appearing in the arena.
• Lesser of Two Evils: To help the Capitol or District Fourteen?
• MacGuffin: The books. Justified, as they need to have them in order to escape the arena.
  • Subverted later, as they provide critical information about District Fourteen.
• Meganekko: Callia, who is described as a beauty but is also quietly studious and wears glasses, seems to be one.
• The Mole: D3 Victor Trey and tribute Saber, who actually work for District Fourteen.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Kizzy, after she wins the Games.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Arsin never got to say goodbye to his girlfriend, Arbenia, as she was taken away by Peacekeepers at the Reaping.
• Nietzsche Wannabe: Tod. Dear Lord, Tod.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We don't actually see most of the people who supposedly die before the Games get killed. Such as Arbenia, Tara, and the unknown people at the interviews.
• Older Than They Look: Chenille describes the girl she volunteers for as looking about eight.
  • Also, Ikky is described by Kizzy as looking closer to thirteen than fifteen.
• Only Known by Their Nickname:
  • "Replican" is never called anything other than Tal, except officially. (End of story, according to him.)
  • "Ellink" is only ever Link - to his family, his allies... everyone.
  • "Caladium" is strictly Cala. Most readers probably wouldn't recognize who she was, if called "Caladium".
  • "Carolina" of District Twelve is almost always called Lina.
  • "Andrew" gets annoyed if called anything other than Andy.
  • President Paylor has never been referred to by her first name. In fact, it's (so far) unknown.
  • "Mistina", one of the Gamemakers, is only ever called Misty.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Somewhere around night one, things start getting spooky for a few of the groups...
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: Marco uses "Capitolness", and immediately states that he knows that's not a word and doesn't care.
• Phobia: Tons of them in the arena. Almost all of the tributes are scared of both dying (in general), being all alone, and losing the people they care about though these fears happen to most of them.
  • Chenille is scared of climbing/heights, although there are three different times she has to climb--(before the Reaping, in training, and up the cliff in the arena).
  • Samantha is terribly afraid of being betrayed by her allies, which also happens.
  • Ionia is terrified of the wind, as she blames it for her father's death in a boating accident.
  • Tal is extremely frightened by mutts, as he's heard too many horror stories about them, coming from District Five.
  • It's never really stated, but Kizzy did seem to be quite scared by the toucan muttations.
  • Kildaire stopped talking because, in her memory, she was almost crushed by a falling tree. Some believe she was "scared silent".
  • Kyler's greatest fear is becoming someone he's not. He feels he's failed this after he "lets" Kildaire die. Ironically, he felt no guilt for killing Tal and attempting to take on the Careers, as both were in a situation to defend his allies, Charity and Kildaire.
  • Cala seems to have many vague fears, as she's frequently confused by reality.
  • Ondrew is claustrophobic, and, like Chenille, has a fear of heights.
  • Namitha is scared of spiders, but her worst fear is dying alone. Hence the shut-down when all of her allies die.
  • Lina is most afraid of rejection.
• Plucky Girl: Namitha.
• Professional Killer: D10 Victor Litiea from A New Tune does assassin work from the Capitol, including killing Edalene the interviewer.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "I. Would. Win."
  • Also, Chenille's "Will… you… just... die…!"
• Sacrificial Lamb/Lion: The lambs: anyone who dies in the bloodbath. The lions: the couple of strong tributes who die in the bloodbath.
• Sarcasm Mode: "That was sarcasm, by the way." (-Andy Radke, A New Tune)
• Schedule Fanatic: Replican ("Tal") is a mild version of this. Enough so that, when one of the stations during training is out of order, he has a mini-panic.
• Shrinking Violet: Callia Marshan.
• Shout-Out: A few, mostly from the creators of the characters.
  • Tod is named in reference to Sweeney Todd.
  • Gunner from A New Tune is named after Gunnerkrigg Court.
  • Henrik Armfeldt from A New Tune is named in reference to A Little Night Music, and his friend Georges is from Sunday in The Park With George.
  • Ikky Delacroix, also from A New Tune, is a shout-out to both The Lottery and the short story Singing My Sister Down.
• Storming the Castle: Several of the Careers' attacks on tributes, including the Alliance of the Mockingjays and the District 7/8 Alliance.
  • Additionally, Kizzy's plan to steal the book from the Careers.
• Strange Girl: Namitha.
• Super Drowning Skills: Poor, poor Cala...
• Switching POV: One per chapter, among the tributes.
• Tempting Fate: Oh, Samantha...

"But I wouldn't go in to the arena. Why would I?"

• The Antagonist: During the actual Games, either the Gamemakers or the Careers. And in a larger sense, the Capitol and District Fourteen are each antagonists in the perspective of the other.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Cala, who remembered how to get out of Section Four. It seems she also might've known something about the song that no one seems to really know, but keeps appearing in the arena.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
  • Maine, who gets stabbed twice by Kizzy, in addition to almost being eaten by the prairie-dog mutts.
  • Kyler, who gets his own sword dropped on him repetitively when Charity misses the first few times.
• The Schizophrenia Conspiracy: Cala and the voice inside her head, Kane.
• The Speechless: Kildaire Kalitlin.
• Theme Naming: November is the eleventh child in her family. Guess what the other siblings are called?
  • Unknown if this was intentional, but Maine and Carolina are both states.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Subverted, several times over. (Twenty-two, during the four-hundred fifth Games.)
• Too Dumb to Live: Kildaire is killed rushing the Careers, outnumbered two to one.
• The Worf Effect: Maine is played up as an incredibly strong tribute only to be killed on Day Two by Kizzy, the future victor.
• World of No Grandparents: Subverted. Samantha is very close to her grandfather.
• Would Hit a Girl: Several cases, as there are both girls and boys in the Hunger Games, and only one of them can live.
  • Averted by Kyler, who refuses to kill Charity, even when she tries to kill him (and succeeds).
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: A lot of the Capitol citizens fit this trope.