Ha ha they're both L's so this doesn't tell you anything. Doesn't L you anything, ha ha ha.


Loki Saberhagen- District Seven male

Lyon was coming for me. He was picking the Arena apart, searching for any trace of me. He would reach this place eventually. I had to be ready for him. If I wanted to have any chance of surviving, I needed every advantage possible. It was going to take every trick I had. They called me silver-tongued back home. The words that flowed from my mouth originated in my mind. It needed to be even sharper than they said.

I swam down to the murky sand at the bottom of the kelp, knowing what a risk it was. If Lyon saw me, the trick was up. Clouds of silt stirred up as I searched through the muck. Some hours later, I found what I was looking for. A dead fish the size of my arm was tangled in the roots of a clump of seaweed. Its flesh was soft and pulpy, already rotten of decayed. I tore its stomach open, unspooling white threads of intestine. I yanked them out and brought them with me back to my perch.

Once I was in position, I started to tear myself apart. I rubbed at my arms, bringing off white strips of waterlogged skin. I tucked them into the edges of my wetsuit, letting them dangle and drift. I cut a slit down the front of the suit, ripping at the edges so they were rough and worn. I shoved the fish guts into the hole, wedging them against the edges and letting them billow out underneath me. Jaydalin had been dead for almost a week. Lyon would be suspicious if she wasn't rotten. I relaxed into a limp position and floated for hours, a young man buried under a girl's scalp and a corpse's leavings.


Lyon Cartier- District One male

I searched the whole ocean. From the Cornucopia to the abyss I searched, stopping at the dropoff. Anything down there would have been killed by now. I doubled back, combing the coral reef. I knew I couldn't search every inch of its caverns and cracks, but I didn't have to. The Gamemakers wanted a fight, and they hated a coward. They would have flushed Loki out when I got near him.

I didn't know the reef ended. I'd thought it went right to the force field. But the coral under me started to dwindle and grow pale, and then I was at the far side. Ahead of me, there was an underwater forest. Ominous towers of kelp stretched from the ocean floor to the surface, waving like the living woods of a fairytale. Shafts of light wafted through it, giving each tower a glowing aura. I had the sense that some terrible monster could lurk in there, some creature of water and shade.

It was just the sort of place Loki would hide. He was an eerie, dark character, all tricks and deflection. He would know no one wanted to go in there, and he would stay, waiting for everyone else to kill each other. No longer.

I swam between the kelp trees, shivering when a stray branch fell across my legs like a dead woman's embrace. The sunlight was starting to die out, leaving a twilight cast over the forest.

I shuddered again when I saw the streaming hair. It looked like just more kelp at first. My stomach dropped when I realized it was a body. I'd passed two during the last few days of hunting. Merry's had looked peaceful, disturbed only by the eel gnawing her cheek. Study had been dead longer. She didn't have a face at all. Jaydalin had been dead a long time. I was glad her face was hidden by her long, brown hair.

It made sense a body would wash up here. The kelp would tangle it up, drawing it in like a spider snares a fly. Jaydalin probably wasn't the only one, I realized. If she was here, the same current would have carried others. They wouldn't get past the grabbing, holding branches. I was swimming through a cemetery, as silent as the graves.

I knew there was something I had to do. I didn't want to look at her nightmare face, but I had to go closer. Jaydalin could tell me if Loki was here. If he was here, he would have seen her first. He wouldn't have had any qualms about going up to her and searching her body. If I pushed back that long hair and saw something missing- rebreather, mask, anything he thought he could use- I would know. If she was intact, I could leave this place.

I swam up underneath Jaydalin, dwarfed by the massive trunk of the kelp she was tangled in. I reached up, and strands of her hair tickled my skin. As I started to push it back, Jaydalin's corpse stabbed me in the throat.


Loki Saberhagen- District Seven male

I shot out my hand, sliding down the dagger I'd been palming. The blade sank into the hollow of Lyon's throat, and I realized it hadn't pierced him. It slashed down his throat, slicing across his collarbone and sticking into the very top of his chest. The element of surprise was used up, and I had to think quicker than I'd ever thought.

Lyon wasted no time bringing up his spear. I tore Jaydalin's scalp from my head and shoved it in Lyon's face, blocking his view for an instant. I grabbed the kelp trunk and pulled myself behind it, avoiding Lyon's strike. His lance stuck into Jaydalin's scalp. Her hair tangled around it, cushioning the tip and giving it a strange sideways drag when he moved it.

I kept pulling, twisting myself around the trunk downwards. I stuck my dagger into Lyon's calf as he ripped Jaydalin's hair off his spear. When he shoved the lance down at my face, I kicked off the kelp, pushing myself out of the way and shoving the kelp into his lance, tangling it again. I scrambled down the kelp as Lyon raged after me, shuffling plans and tricks through my head and praying desperately for two more seconds to think.


Lyon Cartier- District One male

Damn Loki. Havelock had the manhood to fight like a warrior. Killing Loki was like running down a clever dog. I let him flee for a second as I gathered my thoughts. I had all the advantages. I was twice his weight and had twice his reach. He wanted me to try to use that so he could throw some trick at me. I was as intelligent as he was, and I was going to fight like it.

I pushed off the kelp, propelling myself down at Loki. He was trying to reach the bottom, where he could stir up the silt and make his escape. He wouldn't reach it in time.


Loki Saberhagen- District Seven male

I wasn't going to reach it in time. Lyon was coming at me like a shark, lance trained at my face. My mind clicked an idea into place and my hands were moving before the thought was fully formed.

I yanked the top off my empty water filter and shoved the funnel up. Bubbles spouted from the top, passing in front of Lyon's face. The instant they were over his eyes, I darted underneath him, sticking my dagger into his thigh and pushing off his back with both legs, pushing him down and giving me a head start on my way back up.

Lyon was fast. He pivoted his arm around, catching me by the foot. He yanked me down as he brought his knee up. My face smashed against it, sending the rebreather crashing into my mouth. Two of my teeth cracked, and so did the rebreather. Water leaked into my mouth, telling me what would happen if I tried to inhale.

I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

The utterly terrifying, primal fear threatened to put a stop to my tricks forever. My mind flashed over the situation, looking for any way out.

In what seemed like slow motion, Lyon brought his lance toward my heart. I bent to the side, grabbing a handful of the kelp behind me. When Lyon's lance grazed under my armpit, I flung the kelp across his arm. The seaweed tangled around the point, taking care of one weapon for one instant. But Lyon was more than his lance. He was a weapon.

I grabbed onto the shaft of the lance, using it to push myself upward. With my other hand, I stuck the dagger under Lyon's chin, through the top of his throat and into the roof of his mouth. I bent my legs and pushed off his shoulders, getting far less distance than I wanted.

Lyon jerked his lance, slashing through the kelp that ensnared it. He followed me up with a final effort, blood and bubbles streaming from his slashed throat. He grabbed me by the foot again and slammed the spear into my calf, sticking it all the way through. I gritted my teeth and yanked. The lance was torn from his grip, still impaling my leg.

Lyon stopped in the water, starting to lean back. I saw his throat sputter as he tried to breathe, air leaking right back out. My own lungs were burning. The awful claustrophobia tightened on me- the undeniable reality that I was surrounded by water and there was no way I was ever going to breathe again. Lyon's rebreather smirked up at me. I couldn't go after it. Lyon was dying, but as long as he had a single spark of life, he would kill me before I got it off him. I stayed very still, suspended above Lyon, my chest clenching and pleading with me to breathe, to just take a breath.


Lyon Cartier- District One male

The blood was going to kill me before the air. Lifeblood gushed from both my leg and my throat, the warm water drawing it out easily. Mere feet above me, Loki hovered, looking down longingly at the rebreather on my face. It would have done him more good than it could do me. All the air in the world didn't matter if it couldn't reach my lungs.

I raised myself up, unwilling to lay down and die. Loki pushed off the kelp we were dangling by, drifting perhaps ten feet. He was that close, and he was a million miles away. The water seemed to grow thicker around me, slowing my limbs and weighing me down. I became aware of how beautiful my blood was, rising up against the blue water and framed by the waving green kelp.

Death is the final question.

Everyone had a theory. But death was the last mystery. I was about to find the answer. I would share it with everyone who went before me. Every mind that reached its last thought and flew away. Every soul that found the end of its path and went past where the sidewalk ends. I thought of Marseilles. She always called me a thinker. Before I went where she couldn't follow, I wanted her to be the last thought in my mind.


Loki Saberhagen- District Seven male

I felt the cannon rather than hearing it. The soundwaves hummed through the water, jarring me. I heard a sharp scraping as the top of the Arena lifted away. Something splashed into the water, pushing me down a foot. It's the claw, I thought. Coming to lift me out. That was the last thought before the water took over. My mouth opened then, and water flooded my lungs.

I passed out as the claw tightened on my chest. It just happened, whether or not I wanted it. My eyelids went limp and closed, like I was falling asleep all at once. I felt the tug, and I was moving up, like my soul was floating away from my body.


2nd place: Lyon Cartier- Blood loss and suffocation caused by Loki

Lyon was my initial pick. As usual, kiss of death right there. I really wanted a Career Victor, since it's been so long. All along the way, I thought it would be Lyon, Siren or Havelock. Lyon resounded with me because I'm also into philosophy. Not Emerson in particular, but others. I could write Lyon easily and eloquently because that's something I know. He would have been a dynamic and very significant Victor, and definitely would have changed Panem for years to come. Second place always sucks, but it's just because I changed my mind so late. Thanks PrinceofCorinth for Lyon. He broke stereotypes, made his own way, and reached past conventions to try to find something more.

Victor: Loki Saberhagen

He's not dead, don't worry. He DID drown, clinically speaking, but that's not always fatal. Loki started out as almost a joke character. The way he was so close to Marvel Loki made me think he'd be good for some references and then would die. As I was wondering which Career to pick for the win, Loki kept whispering. 'Hey. What about me? How about me? Wouldn't that surprise everyone?' I quickly got attached and started to look into the possibility. I was worried the readers didn't want it, so that's why I felt around and stalled with Lyon so long. Reading the input, it was pretty evenly split, with not many people having a very strong opinion any way. So I decided that this once, I'd pick what I wanted. I picked Loki for a few reasons. First, I liked all the tricks and the unique way he did things. Second, I really identified with his insecurities. I've always had sympathy for Loki because I'm the second daughter and the eldest is a golden child. Loki felt his lack of parents and love deeply, and that gave his detachment and coldness poignancy for me. He didn't have a past, and I wanted to give him a future. I also liked how far he went to win. People say he did nothing and it's sort of true, but it was WEAPONIZED nothing. He floated perfectly still under a dead girl's scalp for DAYS. That can't be good for your mental wellbeing. Then, to make up for those comments, I pulled out all the stops for a trick-filled, hopefully pulse-pounding finale. If he hadn't earned it before, I made sure he did with this chapter. I loved finding ways for his razor-sharp mind to weaponize everything from kelp to bubbles, and I think it's one of the cooler finales I've written. I have great plans for his Victorhood, and I think it'll be even more clear why I picked him over the next few chapters. Congrats Sparky She-Demon. Come take your place in my Victors' Hall of Fame.