Chapter 35:

Viola Arquette, District Two, Age 18

Victor of the 110th Hunger Games

They've all been underestimating her since the moment she stepped forward to volunteer for the Games. It kept up through the Capitol, validated by her getting the lowest score of the careers. Even Viola herself is guilty of it. The only ones that never seemed to doubt her ability to win have been the victors, especially Clemont, and she wasn't going to let them down.

But even matching the others for kills at the bloodbath didn't completely take away their doubt. It bothered her at first, but now she's starting to realize that's a blessing in disguise. She's been able to just coast by within the alliance as the others made the bolder moves that slowly killed them off until only she was left with the two buffoons sleeping. Her District partner wasn't much better, but at least he was better than these two idiotic men.

Men. When will they ever learn to not underestimate women?

Viola twirls the knife in her hand, watching the embers of the fire that's been dying out in front of her as she remained still, waiting for her moment to act. Well…maybe a little bit of hesitation to make her move. She can keep telling herself that she's just waiting until she's confident she can take out the first idiot without waking the other, but she knows deep down there's some lingering self-doubt. Old habits die hard and she's sure she'll always have some of that doubt. But the one surefire way to keep away doubts of her capabilities is to win, and the last of her competition is sleeping right in front of her.

No time like the present to make her move. She just…has to move.

Her gaze skims over the two men – boys, really, they hardly qualify as men in her eyes – and wonders if she can really do this. They're bigger and stronger than her and she won't get out alive if they wake and try to fight her. Which is exactly why she has to get rid of them now. She'll never win if they get to the finale. Five minutes from now, they can be past the halfway point with Viola as the last threat remaining.

"Viola Arquette, victor of the 110th Hunger Games," she mutters under her breath, trying to boost her confidence to rise up and stretch out her cramped legs. She won't ever hear them say that if she doesn't do this now.

Her hand goes to her pocket, finding the one note Clemont sent to her – really, miraculous that she got any sponsor gifts at this point. She unfolds the crinkled paper, checking that the quiet noise didn't wake the others, but they don't stir at all. She looks back at the note, reading over the sentence she had long since memorized at this point.

Knock 'em dead, firefly.

She had never really understood why he called her that and part of her thought maybe he just had some head trauma from his Games that makes him say odd things. But being in the arena now…she finally gets it. She sees what he's seen in her all this time. She doesn't let them see who she is and what she can do until she chooses to, and then she makes a big flash of it.

It's time to make her biggest flash yet.

Viola carefully puts the note away, not wanting to get any blood on it, before standing up. She gently tests the edge of her knife, making sure it will kill right away, before silently moving over to Payton. The boy from Four has so much more to prove, trying to get back to back wins, and she knows he'll fight harder if he were to wake up after she killed Ashish first.

She crouches above Payton's head, adjusting the grip of her knife in her hand. She takes a deep breath before driving it deep into his neck while throwing her other hand over his mouth, desperately holding in any noise from him as his eyes shoot open in shock. She rips the knife out and slices his neck for good measure, watching him quickly bleed out.

Boom.

Shit! She needed to kill Ashish before the cannon. Her eyes dart over to the boy from One as he startles at the cannon and before he can even stand up, she jumps onto him, pinning down his shoulders with her knees as she stabs him in the neck. She scrambles off of him and takes a few steps back, watching as his eyes barely register the shock and betrayal before he sputters out a last breath.

Boom.

At the second cannon, Viola lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, but kicks his foot, verifying that he is really dead. Neither of them move, their lives snuffed out that fast by Viola. She did it. A laugh starts to bubble up in her and she quickly clamps it down before sinking back to the ground, catching her breath as adrenaline rushes through her. She starts to put a hand over her heart, before realizing it's covered in blood. She grimaces as she wipes her hand in the grass, trying in vain to get the blood off. Ugh, gross.

She uses Ashish's pant leg to wipe off the blood on her, giving herself one last moment to collect herself after that before she gets moving again. They'll be waiting to see what she does now, their only career left. The time for her to sit back is gone, she must be the one in charge. But the others still won't see her coming. Not until her knife is in their throats.

With that satisfying thought, Viola makes quick work of sorting through the supplies the boys had before taking the items she was already eyeing from their joint supply. Well…her supply now. She knows she won't be coming back to the cornucopia. Why would she come back to a place that has no tributes?

Happy with her supplies, Viola swings the heavy bag onto her shoulders and looks out into the dark forest. She won't risk a flashlight in there. No, they won't see her until right before she kills them. A firefly waiting to show her light.

She lets a smile fall on her face as she sets off into the bamboo forest to hunt down the rest of the tributes. Let them underestimate her now.

And there we have Viola Arquette, victor of the 110th Hunger Games! This was definitely one of the more fun ones I've written and I just love my D2 careers XD This chapter is like the reason why I wanted to do this story, to get to explore the victors we've only seen bits and pieces of in other stories. Also I love the underestimated girl trope, sue me lol.

Let's see, do we have a break from careers next? Oh yes we do! Next up is the first victor for Seven since the Second Rebellion. Alrighty, I'll see you then!