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The Just Series is a series of fanfictions written by misticalcookie, based on the young adult series The Hunger Games.

The series consists of "Death is Just a Game" (which focuses on the 52nd Hunger Games), "Fear is Just a Word" (which focuses on the 53rd Games), "Freedom is Just a Dream" (the 54th), and 2 prequels of sorts, one called "Happiness is Just a Memory", which focuses on the lives of some of the tributes before the Games, and another called "Survival is Just a Maize", which is a full-fledged prequel and is set during the 33rd Hunger Games.

Can be found in FF.net.


Tropes in this series include:

Diana: I look like Dragan from two years ago.
Amethyst: Yeah, that girl really decked him good, she had quite a right hook, and all you got decked with was a tiny little bitty stone.
  • Back for the Dead: Dragan disappears for two chapters during Death is Just a Game. The next chapter he appears in, he dies.
  • Bittersweet Ending:
    • Obviously, since it's a Hunger Games fanfic, this is the case.
    • Obviously, most of the named characters are dead, included the tributes are dead from each year, a Capitol citizen, a Gamemaker, and even the Victor of the 51st Games. It is also stated that Shyla Henley has been murdered between stories.
    • Rosylin and Colten are killed and turned into an Avox, respectively. However, Flamiken and Delaney survive and reach District Twelve, where they become the canon characters Greasy Sae and Hazelle.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Liviana (blonde), Amethyst (brunette), and Diana (redhead), the Career girls from Freedom.
    • Also, from the first story, Lenea (blonde), Sadie (brunette), and Anya (redhead).
    • And from Fear, we have the Girl Power Alliance: Delaney/Tilly (blonde), Meleana (brunette) and Myrrah and Rosylin (redheads)
    • Male example: Stelz (blond), Dragan (brunet) and Nemo (redhead), the Career guys from Death. The Careers seem to have a lot of these.
  • Blood Bath: Diana mentions wanting to bathe in blood in chapter 29 of Freedom is Just a Dream.
  • Cat Fight: Given that most of the main characters in the Games are girls, this happens a lot. The fight between Myrrah and Ivexonna toward the end of Fear actually gets called this. Similarly, the fights between Autumn and Lenea, and between Diana and Amira from the first and third stories are very good examples of this.
  • Dark Action Girl: Lenea, Ivexonna, Amethyst, Tory, Sadie (eventually), Emily, Diana, Tallulah, Liviana, Amira, Sarah, and Aria. Jael was also supposed to be one in her days as a Hunger Games competitor.
  • Darker and Edgier: The first story starts out as a light and possibly even funny Hunger Games story. Once it gets to the arena, it doesn't hesitate to get darker instantly. From there, each story gets significantly more dark and edgy.
  • Dead Person Impersonation: Delaney, who is supposed to be dead, impersonates Tilly, who is actually dead.
  • Death by Irony: Rex from the 54th Games is eaten by a sea lion. His brother's name is Leo, which means lion.
  • Death Glare: Liviana is apparently very good at giving these. The tributes of District 2 also tend to glare at each other an awful lot.
  • Dual Wielding: Diana wields a pair of knives.
    • Also, both Dragan and Aria are described as having a knife in one hand and a sword in the other at one point.
  • Dysfunctional Family: The Arrwood, Halberd, Maurice, and Meneme families seem to be very dysfunctional. Justified for the first three, as they're from Career districts.
  • Enemy Within: One of the tributes from Survival is Just a Maize, Hannah, has this in the form of her evil other personality, Sarah.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Autumn gets one when she stands up for Nan and challenges the biggest, meanest tribute in the arena.
  • Faux Action Girl: Anya, Doris, and Amethyst qualify.
    • First off, Anya does a really good job showing off to the Gamemakers, and thus gets a training score of 8...but once we get to the arena, she does absolutely nothing, makes a point of not killing because "her brothers are watching" and skirts through almost the entire Games before getting killed off simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    • Doris volunteered for the Games, got a slightly good score of 7, and got into the Career pack, yet she's shown to do hardly anything in the arena, not kill anyone, and get killed off herself fairly early.
    • Finally, Amethyst volunteers, presents herself as a formidable opponent, gets a good training score, but by the time she gets to the Arena, she alternates between annoying as heck and giggly girly girl. And then she starts slowly descending into the realm of insanity before dying in agony.
  • Gender-Blender Name: The names of both District 3 tributes in Freedom. Even the Gamemakers aren't quite sure which is which.
    • Um, Seneca Crane, anyone? The character is in fact male, but the name could easily be used for a female.
  • Girl Posse: Whimsical is mentioned to have one, but her only named evil minions are Sapphire and Diana. Diana later gets dropped from the group because she beat Sapphire to volunteering for the Games.
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Sadie. Need proof?
    Sadie: When I was an infant, she picked me up and threw me down the hall, mom wasn't thrilled at all. Then when I was three she tried to drown me in our bathtub at home. When I was seven she locked me in the attic, it was during that really hot bout of summer we had, I almost cooked to death, so yes, you could say we got along swell.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Whenever someone in this series throws a knife or just thrusts one forward, it always lands perfectly on target, right where they wanted it to be.
  • Ineffectual Death Threats: Dragan tells Sadie he's going to kill her. It...doesn't happen. However, he tells Nan he's going to kill her, and he does.
  • Informed Ability: Sadie is apparently a more-than-competent archer, and she is also very good at tolerating pain. The first thing is never mentioned again, and the second is only mentioned in the span of about three sentences during only one fight and is never used again.
  • Intoxication Ensues: Diana and Amethyst seem to be high in chapter 29 of Freedom because of some suspicious flowers found in the Arena.
  • Ironic Echo:
    Ivy (to Louka): You wanna put Jewel out of her misery, or shall I?
    Jewel (to Louka): You wanna put Emily
    out of her misery, or shall I?
  • Like an Old Married Couple: This phrase is used to describe Casey and Nat from the first story, and Traxxton and Emily from the second.
  • Men Are the Expendable Gender: In Death is Just a Game; 11 out of 12 boys got killed off in the first three days of the Games.The only other boy ends up winning, though.
  • Monster Misogyny: For some reason, Dragan only attacks, threatens, or kills younger girls. (Except for Hunter)
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Dragan's full name is Dragan Azrael Halberd, which should give an indication that he is not someone to be trifled with.
    • His parents' names are Vladimir Stanislav and Melinoe Desdemona Halberd. His sister's name, however, is the comparatively nicer Emily Lilith.
      • Also, Liviana's last name is Faustus, and Amethyst's last name is Diabla.
    • Diana's name combines both a name to trust and a name to run away from- Diana Lucrezia Rockefeller. Is it any wonder she goes crazy during the Games?
  • Odd Name Out: The Halberd family seems to have a tradition of Names to Run Away from Really Fast. The parents are named Vladimir and Melinoe, and their son is named Dragan. Then there's their daughter, who has the decidedly normal and non-evil name of Emily.
    • Also, Fiver Flynn is the only one in her family who has a numerical name, and the only one named after her birth order. (She's the fifth child out of six) To poke fun at this, her nicknames for her siblings are their birth orders.
  • Official Couple: Colten and Casey (before she died), Colten and Rosylin (before she died), Louka and Lindi, Angelo and Janie (before both of them died), Lenea and Ritch (before both of them died).
  • Off with His Head!: How Corinne, Autumn, Erli and Rosylin die.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Janie's full name is Janette Swartzchild, but everyone just calls her Janie.
    • Also, Romy from Fear is never addressed by her full name, Andromeda, in the story.
  • Person as Verb: To "pull a Ritch" means in this story that you commit suicide because your lover is dead.
    • Also, a "Trax and Emily relationship" is a relationship between two Careers, sometimes from the same district, sometimes not, and always laden with Belligerent Sexual Tension.
  • Perspective Flip: In Death is Just a Game, Dragan was portrayed as a vicious amoral psychopath. Fear is Just a Word and Happiness is Just a Memory beg to differ.
  • Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title/Double-Meaning Title: The title of chapter 19 of Death, "How to Train Your Dragon". Obviously refers to the movie and book, but also relevant to what happens in the chapter, i.e., Dragan (who is called a dragon in the chapter) gets killed.
  • The Promise: Dragan makes one to his sister that he's going to come home to her and always protect her. This...doesn't work out.
  • Promotion to Parent: Natina Henley gets it after her parents both die. Likewise for Autumn's older brother Leo.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
    Autumn: You! Utter! MONSTER!
    Tessa: I.AM. NOT. A. DOG!
    Angelo: STOP. TALKING. TO. ME!
    Angelo: I. DO. NOT. LIKE. HER.
    Sabine: Never. Ever. Mention. That. Night. Again.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Ritch and Lenea, Colten and Casey, Angelo and Janie, Jace and Janie, and as it turns out,Colten and Rosylin.
  • Take a Third Option: Everyone in Panem was rooting for either Jace or Angelo, but Anika won instead.
  • Unusual Euphemism: The Career characters seem to use "playing with your food" or some variation thereof as a euphemism for "torturing an opponent". This is never really explained.
  • Vague Age: Almost all of the characters don't have their age mentioned or their age is only mentioned in passing. The tributes are between the ages of 12 and 18, though, and the mentors are most likely older than 18.
  • Who's Laughing Now?: Sadie, although she turned evil not to get her revenge, but because she got her revenge.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Dragan, along with most other male Careers, certainly would.
    • It's even referenced at one point: "Dragan had never been taught that it was rude to hit a girl. And even if he had been taught that, he probably wouldn't care."
  • You Monster!: Autumn says this to Dragan after he kills Nan.
    Autumn: You monster. You! Utter! MONSTER!

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