Hey! This is basically just a series of one-shots about different Victor's last moments in the arena, the battle with the final opponent etc. It would be really nice if some of you voted for a certain Victor's chapter on my profile.
Up first, possibly my favourite character, Johanna Mason! If no one requests anyone, then next will probably be Annie Cresta. Enjoy! Please review and vote on the poll on my profile for which Victor you want next!
Johanna Mason's POV
I limp as silently as I can over the fallen brown pine needles on the forest floor, my breath heavy and laboured. I got a deep stab wound in my thigh during a fight with the District 10 boy, before I lopped off his head with my axe that I took from my district partner after killing him. Acting weak had its upsides- I didn't get noticed at the Cornucopia, and it seems that none of the other tributes even remembered that I existed until a couple of days ago, but it also had its downsides- the Gamemakers didn't know I was good with an axe, so they only put one in the arena, for my district partner, Falcon. He was a deluded prick, and I'm glad I killed him. Back to the present- my murder of the boy from 10 left only three people left in the arena; an athletic and able seventeen year old boy from 4 named Sebastian, a brutal yet beautiful girl from 1 named Juniper, and myself- deceptive and vicious. The stab wound that I received from the boy from 10 was bad, and I had to take a break for nearly an hour to try and staunch the flow of blood and re-hydrate myself. Now that I'm back on the move, I have to ask myself who I will be up against in the final two. Just as the thought leaves my mind, the thunderous boom of a cannon sounds across the arena, the penultimate cannon to ever sound here. Ever. I guess my question will be answered soon enough.
I look around for any tell-tale signs of the cornucopia, and then I see it- the flowery clearing that I raced past on my dash away from the Cornucopia on the first day, and then killed the girl from Three in a week or so later. I start heading north east, towards the Cornucopia, where no doubt I will see whoever is left, either Juniper or Sebastian.
After a short trek, I make it to the edge of the clearing where the Cornucopia sits, and see that whoever my final opponent is has not made it here yet. So I take my pack off my back, and take out two short throwing knives, one longer, slightly curved blade, and a silver arrow that the boy from Nine attempted to shoot at me. Before I killed him, too. I tuck all of the weapons into my belt, and drop my significantly lighter pack on the ground, as I will no longer need it. I also take off my tattered and bloodied jacket and drop it into a heap next to my pack. The weather is fairly hot, and I'll probably be leaving the arena in an hour or so anyway- dead or alive. My first steps onto the soft ground of the clearing are tentative and slow, my eyes constantly flitting around to detect any movements at the edges of the clearing. Once I have made it about a quarter of the way to the Cornucopia, I quicken my pace and heave myself on top of the shining metal horn, waiting for my final opponent, my axe clutched in anticipation.
The time I wait seems like an eternity, so when I finally hear a rustle in the trees to my left, I almost scream. That's another thing I'm good at- moving silently through the forest. If it was the other tribute waiting here, they would have never seen me coming. But luckily for me, Sebastian or Juniper, whoever it is, don't have this talent, so I quickly slide off the shiny metal and hit the ground with a dull thud, turning to face where my opponent is about to reveal themselves.
Before I see a body though, something else comes flying towards me. I roll to my left and land in a crouching position, before turning back to see what was thrown at me.
About three feet away from me, sticking out of the dirt at a 45 degree angle, lies a sparkling black trident. So Sebastian managed to kill Juniper? I guess I'll have to congratulate him before I kill him.
Still clutching my axe, I wrench the trident out of the soft earth and twirl it in my hand. I give a soft laugh, before saying "Come on out Sebastian, I know it's you!" I shake the trident before continuing, "This gave you away! Don't tell me you're scared of weak, timid little Johanna Mason!"
The voice that replies shocks me more than when the trident came hurtling towards me. It is not the voice of Sebastian, which I remember being deep and somewhat croaky. It is a soft, trying-to-be-seductive purr. Juniper's purr.
"Oh no, Johanna. I'm not scared of you. And neither is Sebastian." She lets out a loud cackle before continuing, "He can't be! I chopped him up into pieces so small that you couldn't even grab them in those spindly little fingers of yours!"
With that, she finally bursts through the pine branches, revealing a girl who looks incredibly different to the gorgeous creature I thought she was. Her once sleek auburn hair is knotted and slicked with blood, and her clothes and skin are stained with blood too.
"You look disgusting, Juniper. You must be embarrassed, the whole of Panem is watching you now, and you look absolutely vile." I wrinkle my nose in disgust to emphasize my point.
"Believe me, Johanna, You don't look so attractive yourself." She replies with a smirk, one that infuriates me so much. I twist the axe in my hand as she begins to speak again. " Not that you ever did. So what happened, little Jojo? How did you get from a weak little girl to the final two?"
I want to annoy her, so I try mimicking her low dulcet tones when I reply. "Oh no, Juniper, that's where you're wrong. I was never weak. I was acting, and I fooled everyone. Quite smart, don't you think? None of you expected me to make it very far in the Games, so it came as a surprise when I burst out of the trees and killed you all. None of them saw it coming. The girl from Three, the boy from Ten, the boy from Nine. Falcon from my district never saw it coming, either."
Juniper opens her foul mouth to speak, but I interrupt her. "You know who else never saw it coming? That prat from your district. What was his name again?"
Her blood streaked face contorts into a muddle of shock and anger, which contrasts greatly with the smug smile that is spread across my face.
"You little bitch!" screeches Juniper, as she unsheathes a medium length, thin sword, still dripping with Sebastian's blood. She begins running towards me at full pelt, so just before she gets to me I twist out of her way and send my foot flying up towards the small of her back.
The force of my kick and the momentum she built up from her anger-fuelled run send her flying towards the shining metal of the Cornucopia wall, which she crashes into with a loud smack and crumples onto the floor. Before she even has a chance to stir, I rush behind her and grab a clump of her matted auburn hair, which I tug backwards as I pull one of the small and fairly dainty knives out of my belt. Her glare feels like it is boring holes deep into my skull, but I am past the point of caring. I would just finish her off quickly, but I feel that she deserves a long slow death. So I am going to draw it out.
"Say goodbye to the world, Juniper, but don't worry about making it quick, because I'm certainly going to drag this out." I snarl, feeling sick at how vicious I have become. I was never a nice girl, but I was never sadistic like this.
I start to make a thin slit across her neck, not deep enough to kill her yet, but deep enough to draw blood. I get about a quarter of the way across her throat, when she thrusts her elbow into my stomach. Hard.
The force of her blow makes my knife slice downwards across her collarbone, but effectively saves her life. For now I think to myself.
The knock left me hunched over, gasping for air and backing away from Juniper slowly, my axe still clutched in my hand.
"You stupid little bitch." Juniper spits, standing up and dusting herself off. "Did you really think I was going to make it that easy for you? No, no no. You should give up Johanna, you may have been acting before, but everyone is about so see how weak you really are." With that, she smashes her fist right into my nose, sending me flying back onto the slightly damp ground, still gasping for air from her elbow in my stomach. "Now, Johanna, seeing as you were planning on drawing out my death, I think I'll do the same for you."
"You… Cold-hearted… Bitch." I choke out between raspy breaths.
She stands on my wrist that holds my axe, stopping me from swinging it at her, before she crouches down next to me and says, "shh, Johanna. Unless you want me to make this even more painful for you?" I gather as much phlegm, spit, and blood as I can in the back of my throat, and spit it in her face. She hastily wipes it away with the sleeve of her jacket. Her face flushes red with anger, "You obviously want to be in a lot of pain, you filthy little bitch! I'm going to enjoy this!" and with that, she thrusts her sword through my shoulder, deep into the soft ground beneath me.
My vision clouds over as I scream in agony, and I can only just register Juniper rising from her crouching position and nudging my axe just out of my reach with her foot. "I think I'll leave that there," she says, more to herself than to me. "Now, where's that trident…" Her voice sounds muffled, and I fear that the wound in my shoulder is fatal. But luckily for me, and what Juniper doesn't know, is that my injured shoulder, isn't my throwing arm.
I wrap my fingers tightly around the sword's handle, and prepare myself for another round of pain just as bad as when the sword was thrust in.
I bite my lip to stop myself from making a noise and alerting Juniper to my actions. My free fingers bury themselves into the soft brown crumbs of dirt beneath me, and my eyes sting with tears that threat to spill over as I wrench the sword out of my shoulder. The only sound I make is a small whimper, but as I quickly scramble up I realise Juniper hasn't noticed, and is still kicking the dirt around in hope of finding the black trident that is so handily camouflaged in the dark dirt.
My feet scuttle silently towards my axe, and I hold it in my usable hand, as is creep up behind Juniper's quietly muttering form.
I raise the axe high above my head, and bring in down quickly on Juniper's left leg, where it splits in two just below her knee.
She lets out an agonized scream, and quickly flips herself over so she is facing me. I raise my axe before speaking. "You thought you could win just because you come from that shit district! You were going to torture me! You are going to die, Juniper!" I roar.
She raises her hand to defend herself, but I swing my axe down and chop that off too. Again, her scream almost deafens me, but I don't care.
Her screams of pain turn into muffled sobs, and she occasionally mutters "please" or "have mercy", as I stand defiantly above her, my axe dripping her own blood onto her writhing body.
I raise the axe to deliver the death blow, and manage to croak out "Goodbye, Juniper." Before swinging the axe down on her head, splitting her once-beautiful face clean in two. Her blood and brains spill out onto the ground, and the loud crack! of her skull breaking is accompanied by the thunderous boom of a cannon. The last cannon to ever sound in the arena. I have won. I can go home, and see my family. I have won.
Claudius Templesmith's voice booms across the arena, backed by deafening applause and cheering, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the Victor of the Seventy-first Hunger Games, Johanna Mason of District Seven!"
I have won. Still echoes inside my head as the hovercraft materialises and drops a ladder.
I have won.
I am a Victor.
I hope you enjoyed that! Please, review! Tell me what was good, what was bad, how I could improve, and please vote for who you want to see next on the poll on my profile!
To anyone wondering: I am going to re-upload Promises Of Heaven, I just thought I'd upload this cos it's my birthday today! Woo!