"Is it written in the stars? Are we paying for some crime? Is that all that we are good for; just a stretch of mortal time? Or some god's experiment in which we have no say, in which we're given paradise, but only for a day."
-Elton John, "Aida"

The sun rises on the ninth day of the 227th Hunger Games, each of the four remaining tributes finds themselves in a different position. Little did they know, the Hunger Games would be over within the hour.

Julius Helios from District 1 sat in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia, still overflowing with supplies, as he sharpened all of the swords, spears, and knives that would fit in his belt in preparation for the final battle he knew was soon to come. His mouth was set in a line and he refused to look up at his one remaining ally, knowing that if he made eye contact with her, the situation would become all too real. For some time now, Julius had been the Capitol's favorite to win, and his fans seemed to be coming together even more as they were nearing the end of the Games.

Across from him was his ally, Alecto Caraway from District 2. Her knives were already polished and sharpened as she sat on top of a crate, trying to force down a packet of beef jerky and a bottle of water. She realized that in the hours to come, she would need all the strength possible, but for once in her life, her nerves were getting the best of her, and she found it difficult to eat. She was a dark horse to a lot of viewers at home; people had started expecting her to win simply because it would be an interesting twist. Alecto really was nothing like any Victor Panem had ever seen.

In a different section of the arena laid Terry Kartcher of District 10. She wowed audiences all over Panem by killing two Career tributes in the first eight days, but now she laid curled in the fetal position, still sobbing over her killing Dustin from District 4. 24 hours had passed since his death, and she still wasn't able to eat, drink, sleep, or do anything but wallow in her own emotions and think about how bad of a person she must be. Everyone seemed conflicted on whether or not they thought she had it in her to win. She proved herself worthy with her two kills, but could she make the three more necessary to go home?

And then there was District 12's own Tessa Ray, the youngest tribute left in the Games by three years. Like Terry, Tessa was a vastly different person on the last day of the Games from who she was when she entered. The fact that she made it out of the initial bloodbath was surprising enough for most audience members, so seeing her in the final four came as quite a shock. The Capitol was split; was her death long overdue, or was she the underdog who could win it all?

Each tribute remaining had two kills under their belts. And they all wanted to go home.

The arena was peaceful; the most peaceful it had been since the gong Rangoon the first morning and all of the tributes set out for blood. The peace was short-lived, however, as the tributes heard a loud thumping in the distance, and the leaves on the trees began to shake. The large mutt of the child that had killed the girl from District 5 just days earlier had made an appearance. The tributes all scrambled to get their bags onto their shoulders and take hold of their weapons as the mutt barreled closer to them. It started with Terry, picking her up and carrying her over to Tessa, who she also picked up. Lastly was the two remaining Career tributes.

She carried two tributes per hand to the exact center of the arena; a clearing with two glass boxes, each one a 30 foot cube. The mutt placed Terry and Tessa in one box, and Julius and Alecto in the other. The tributes looked at each other confused as the mutt skipped away without speaking another word. Suddenly, a voice boomed overhead.

"Good morning, tributes," it said. "I'm sure you're all eager to be done with the Games, so we've decided to speed it up a bit."

The tops of the boxes snapped shut, and digital timers appeared on each wall, counting down from fifteen minutes.

"In 15 minutes, your boxes will run out of oxygen. It's up to you to narrow your pool from four to two. The last tribute in each box will be released, and the final two will fight until only one remains. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

The tributes took several precious seconds to digest what was just said. The Games would be over today.

The first to move was Julius, who walked calmly over to Alecto and shook her hand.

"Whatever happens," he began. "It was a pleasure working with you. I wish every day that we met under better circumstances."

"Me too," she replied.

With that, the two pull their weapons and begin to fight, Julius with his sword, and Alecto with a throwing knife in each hand. He lunged for her chest, but she caught his blade between her two and disarmed him. His sword went clattering to the ground, and as he bent over to pick it up, she threw one of her knives. It whizzed past his ear, missing his head but only slightly.

Meanwhile, the two outer District girls had begun their fight, rather up close since they each had only knives. Their inexperience is clear, especially as their fight alongside the two remaining Career tributes. Incompetence aside, Tessa was still struggling with her stab wound from a few days ago, and Terry was generally weak from lack of sleep, food, and water.

After less than two minutes, Terry and Tessa struck at the same time, and they both twisted their arms until Terry's blade fell from her hand. Wasting no time, Tessa tackled her to the ground and slit her throat.

BOOM!

Julius and Alecto looked over to see Tessa, hair a mess and eyes wild, standing with a bloody knife over the corpse of their former ally. She noticed them watching her and sat down, cleaning the blood off of her knife before dipping the blade into a bag and watching the others. The top of her box vented, allowing fresh air in but not allowing her to leave.

Once the other two realized what was going on, they focused their attention back onto each other and their fight. They were clearly upset fighting each other since they had been close during the Games, and since they had sworn to stick together until the end. But at the end of the day, they were the two fiercest competitors in the Games that year, so they fought ruthlessly. Alecto had been doing remarkably well holding off Julius, who was twice her size and had a large close range weapon, but with four minutes left on the clock, Julius was able to knock her knives out of her hands. He pointed his sword at her, and without being able to make eye contact, he stabbed her through the heart.

BOOM!

Julius's box also opened its vent, and he took the opportunity to go into his bag and drink from his water bottle. Tessa sat on the floor of her own box, legs crossed and watching him without blinking. After a minute, the walls of the boxes fell, and both tributes walked out into the open.

Julius looked worse for wear after his nine days in the arena combined with having killed his closest friend in the Games. He was grimy, noticeably thinner, and seemed dazed. Tessa, on the other hand, looked absolutely feral, hair matted, clothes torn and bloody, and eyes unblinking and frightened.

"It's just the two of us, right?" Julius said, breaking their silence. "No surprises?"

Tessa nodded, and without another word, Julius charged her with his sword. She stood unmoving, allowing him to come within inches of her before falling to the ground and sliding between his legs, grabbing his ankle and pulling him to the ground. He looked at her in slight shock before shaking it off and standing up. He charges at her again, but this time, he's too fast for her to dodge and he slashes across her chest. She screams in frustration, then jumps at him and drags her fingernails down his arm, but he pushes her away as if she were nothing.

"You're putting up more of a fight than I thought you would," he said, holding his sword out in front of her. "Terry wasn't your only kill, was she?"

"No," she said, getting defensive. "I got her District partner, too. Rowan. And the boy from District 2."

"You got Topher?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I figured Terry came back for him. How'd you do it?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," she said.

With that, she removed the knife from her belt and ran at him. His arm was still extended out towards her, but she stabbed him in the right wrist. Luckily for Julius, it wasn't enough to make him drop his sword, so he ripped the weapon out of his arm and threw it on the ground. Tessa had two more knives, but they were tucked away in her backpack. In the time that it would take for her to get them out, he could stab her in the heart, just like he had done to Alecto. Julius's eyes light up at the realization that he's about to win the whole thing. All it takes is one stab.

"You know what I think?" Tessa asked, maintaining intense eye contact. "I think you're surprised."

"Excuse me?" Julius asked, lowering his sword only slightly.

"I don't think you ever expected to make it this far," she continued. "Sure, you were the best one in District 1, but compared to Alecto? Dustin? Christopher? It's a wonder you've made it this far."

"It's not a wonder," he spat at her. "I scored a ten in training. I've made three kills. I made it to the end because I'm the best."

"Are you though? I only scored a six, but here I am in the finale with you, also with three kills under my belt. What separates you from me, hm?"

His grip around his sword tightened as his left hand formed a fist. His eyes grew stormy, and his lips formed a snarl. But before he could speak, Tessa continued.

"I don't think you're here to win the Hunger Games," she said. "I think you're here because you need people to think that you're the best, and the only way you think you can do that is here. What, being a Peacekeeper wouldn't be enough? Or a store manager, or a teacher? You just had to be a Hunger Games Victor?"

"I was always going to be a Hunger Games Victor," he said. "And I'm done letting you stand in my way."

"But who are you trying to prove yourself to?" she asked, completely ignoring his words. "Your family? Your friends? Your enemies? Your District? Oh, I get it. You need to prove yourself… to yourself! Everyone else thinks you can win, but you never really did, did you? You're here to make sure."

"Shut up," he growled. "If you stop talking now, I'll make your death quick."

Then, something happens. Julius dropped his sword. He shook his head and looked down at his right hand, only to find that he couldn't move his fingers. Shrugging it off, he knelt to the ground and picked up his sword with his left hand. But as he started to walk towards Tessa once again, his right leg twitched, and he almost fell to the ground. He stared at her in disbelief, and she smiled softly.

"What did you do?" he choked out. With that, he dropped his sword that he was holding in his left hand and began looking around frantically.

"I told you if you wanted to know how I did it, I'd have to kill you."

He fell to the ground flat on his back and craned his neck to see her. For once, he was speechless. Just moments before, he was convinced that he would win this year's Hunger Games. Was it possible that he was going to lose to the girl from District 12?

"But you know what?" she asked as his head dropped to the ground. "Since you were so kind as to offer me a quick death, I'll do the same for you."

Without any further hesitation, Tessa retrieved her knife that Julius had thrown to the ground and stabbed him through the throat. They wasted no time before the trumpets.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Victor of the 227th Hunger Games: Tessa Ray of District 12!"

4th: Terry Kartcher, District 10 female, killed by Tessa's knife. Terry was never my winner, but that doesn't mean that I didn't love working with her and wasn't sad when it was time to kill her. I just think that after killing Dustin, she just was not in the correct mental state to be the Victor. Not to mention, Fenton won the last story, and I wasn't about to give Chayse two District 10 Victors in a row.

3rd: Alecto Caraway, District 2 female, killed by Julius's sword. Alecto was in my top five for this entire story. I think if I had to redo this story with the same characters but a completely different plot, Alecto probably would have taken home the crown. There's not a whole lot I can say here other than the fact that I really liked her, and I think she was really unique.

2nd: Julius Helios, District 1 male, killed by Tessa's knife. James, I'm so sorry for giving you second place again. But with the way I wanted to develop Tessa and the ending, it just made the most sense for Julius to be her final kill since he was the one that had the most insecurities that she could play off of and manipulate. But Julius was a treat, really. For anyone who doesn't know, Julius was my Victor for… five years. When I picked out all of my tributes, I decided pretty immediately that I wanted Julius to win, and I stuck with that the entire time I was writing. Then, about halfway through my return, James told me that he didn't want me to feel like I was stuck with Julius as my Victor, and if I wanted to change things up he wouldn't be offended. At the time, I didn't think I wanted to change my mind. Then I thought about it more and more and made a decision: Alecto would be my Victor! But then I got so stuck in my own head about how I felt like I couldn't write her well as a Victor, so I went back to Julius. And then one night, my world came crashing down around me and I panic FaceTimed Lindsay (lady queer foot) and said "please talk me out of making Tessa my Victor." (Yes Laney, that is correct, Lindsay knew but she was a Good Friend and didn't tell you). But the more I talked through my ideas with her, the more I realized that Tessa winning was the ending to the story that I wanted. The short version of this very long eulogy is James, Julius rocked, and I'm so sorry I had to do the two of you so dirty.

Victor: Tessa Ray, District 12 female, 4 kills. Oh my God, Tessa was a wild ride. When I first got her form, I remember thinking "fantastic! A terrible person to kill in the bloodbath!" Then I worked with her for a little while and worked for five years with her being a fantastic antagonist/antihero. But when I came back from my long hiatus, I was looking at everyone's forms again and realized that there was a lot on Tessa's form that I originally overlooked, and in fleshing out these small details, I turned her into a real person that I genuinely became obsessed with. Up until about a month ago, she was never my Victor, and if you had told me when I came back from hiatus that Tessa would have won it all, I would have laughed. In my original outline where Julius won, I had Tessa dying when Rowan stabbed her, meaning she placed seventh. But I really think that the decision that I made in the last month of five years was the right one. What can I say- redheads from outer Districts just get me.

So now I have exciting news! I'm starting a new SYOT. I know this one was a train wreck and a half, but I think I'm in a much better headspace this time around and will be able to finish the next one in less than five years. The new story is completely unrelated to this series that I've had going on because frankly, I'm so sick of Alicia. But it's called "Deceit Kills: The 100th Hunger Games" and it's getting posted shortly after this chapter is up. Submissions will be open for about two weeks, so I want nice well thought out tributes.

This story will have one more chapter (an epilogue with some acknowledgments and thanks), and then after more than half of a decade, Dollhouse will be all over.