Verbena Grayzer,17, District 11 female
Paisley is slumped in the corner of the room I prepped for her and I give her a hateful look as I look at her and the book next to her. I don't know what this thing is, or what it even is, but I'm pretty sure it's more trouble than it's worth and I have just the way of disposing of this along with her, but first she's going to give me answers!
I look at my mace as well as the container of gasoline and matches I found in the lab downstairs and this is all I really need, nap time is over for her. I step on her hand as hard as possible and she lets out a loud screech of pain before she notices me and tries crawling away but I kick her hard in her abdomen and she cries out again flipping onto her back. She looks at me with her tear filled eyes like I'm a monster, and I don't blame her… i am a monster and I can take my time with her. Her knight was dealt with so there's nothing that's going to get her out of this in one piece.
"I'm sure you at least have an idea on why you're here right now…" I glare her, I'm pretty sure she's deaf but she should still be able to read my lips.
"I so-rry, I so-rry." She tries to explain but I grab her by her shirt with both of my hands to lift her up in the air and I see she's starting to wet herself now, which shows just how terrified she is, good now she feels just a little ounce of what Kade did in his final moments!
"Sorry isn't going to cut it!" I yell throwing her against the wall and the back of her head slams hard against it causing her to cry out in pain and I see some blood is starting to come from her head. She continues crying as she makes a sudden rush for the book, but I kick it away and use my other foot to kick her in the eye and her cries are just music to my ears right now, I can already see her eye starting to swell up from my kick, she still has one good eye left, she can see me and I look over at this book of hers. There's something about this book that's not right and I walk over to pick it up to see there's a pen in here, but all of the pages are blank?
"What is this?" I hold the book out and she gives me a hesitant look as she has one of her hands placed over her badly swollen eye.
"Answer me!" I raise my voice, she can't hear me obviously but she can make out every word I'm saying.
"Don-t- don't- know." She cries but I don't have time for her games, I throw the book on the floor and begin soaking it in the gasoline before setting it ablaze with a match and she looks at her burning book in horror. She thinks that's bad? Wait till she sees what I have in store for her!
I start walking towards her and she cowers in a corner crying but I have no mercy for her, none!
"You killed my friend Kade, he did literally nothing to you, and you show up specifically just to kill him. You're going to tell me why!" I raise my voice at her as she squeaks in fear but still refuses to answer me and I punch her across the face knocking her down to the floor and I grab one of her arms, easily snapping it and her piercing screams causes my ears to ring momentarily. Her arm is now dangling as she cries profusely, and I'm going to break her other arm if she doesn't give me an answer.
"M-my book- it promise me-I can- see Hayden if I kill Kade." She explains to me still crying, what she just explained to me though was that book I just set on fire promised to bring back her dead ally if she killed Kade, just what was that book anyways?
"What was that book for? What did it do!?" I ask through gritted teeth.
"It- it make wishes come-true." She cries and I look back at the book that's now a burning pile of ashes, so that's what that book was for…it makes wishes come true. Her ally died, she wished for him to come back and to make that possible she had to kill Kade…This "book" was just a fucking trap, it wanted nothing but bloodshed to begin with!
"For-give me,please…please." She cries and I give her an angry look but I hear some chuckling across from me and I look up to see Cronoso again.
"What is it you're waiting for Verbena? Can it be that you're thinking about letting her go? You little coward…" he belittles me.
"Shut up!" I yell at him.
"It's the truth though isn't it? Let the world see what a joke you truly are!" he snickers
"Shut the fuck up!" I throw my mace at him but it only crashes against the wall and that's when I look back at Paisley who's only giving me a horrified look as she realizes I'm talking to a "wall".
"You took him away from me…you took him away from me and you just expect me to forgive you?" I grab her other arm snapping it and she lets out a blood curdling scream of pain as I walk toward my mace, picking it back up.
"Stop…please…please." She cries both her arms loosely dangling and I begin bashing my mace into both of her knee caps dislocating both her legs and her cries doesn't even sound humane anymore, she sounds like a distressed animal just begging to be put out of its misery. Blood is seeping out of both of her dislocated knee caps and her arms continue to dangle with tears,saliva and mucus running down her face and as hard as I can stomp on both of her broken arms further damaging them as her animalistic cries continue and I stand over bending down where my face is now next to hers.
"You feel it right? You feel fear don't you, you feel despair, right?" I glare her as she continues crying.
"I asked you a question!" I slam my mace down on her jaw dislocating it and she can't even properly scream anymore.
"kIll…kill…me!" She finally begs.
"Even with all the pain your feeling, all the despair that must be overcoming you, it still doesn't compare to what Kade felt, as you ripped his entire body in half, look into my eyes, look into the eyes of the monster you made me and I hope you rot in the deepest depths of hell with Hayden!" I shout and I know she read every word from my mouth. With that I grab the container of gasoline and begin soaking her with it as she continues her inhumane cries and she tries begging me to stop but I empty the entire container on her body and begin striking a match before holding it over her.
"If you could burn for 1000 years, nothing would satisfy me more, unfortunately your pain will end, but before that happens you will suffer and I hope it lasts as long as possible!" I glare her before I let the match drop and it sets her body ablaze as she cries and screams inhumanely and she can't even move to try and roll put of the flames, no she has to remain there and burn! Her screams eventually end and a sickening burning smell of skin and flesh begin filling my nostrils as a loud cannon fires off. I feel the heat from the flames on my back but I continue looking infront of me where I see Cronoso…
"Good job Verbena, good job, now the whole world sees who you really are and it's ok…".Cronoso begins walking up to me, his voice almost comforting me now, he looks so pure now, the gunshot wound now gone and him seemingly being void of all of the anger he once carried.
"You're not hiding anymore Verbena…" he comforts me as he rests a hand on my shoulder and I look up at Cronoso, no longer resembling a bloodied corpse but a pure soul.
"That's all I ever wanted you to do, to accept yourself, and you'll use this acceptance to find a way home…" he begins to fade and I quickly reach for his hand but he disappears before I can grab it and I'm here alone again. Acceptance…well I accepted who I am, and now that I'm only fighting for myself, I don't need to hold back anymore,I can be…me.
Hyperion Corvinus,17, District 2 male
I gaze down at my sword, seeing the reflection of my face on it. Beauregard…dammit why couldn't she listen to me!? She did so much for me and in the blink of an eye she's gone! She was going to abandon me anyways and honestly I probably would have done the same thing if I was her, who wants to get into an avoidable fight with Amos? I picture his grinning face and my fists clench. The best swordsman back in our district. No one came even remotely close to beating him and yeah I know he had the edge over me but I still didn't expect to be so outclassed.
All the grueling training I've been through and for what? Just to be exposed for the weakling that I truly am? There is nothing, nothing more frustrating than wanting to kill someone so badly and knowing that you can't do a damn thing to them. Amos is fucking everywhere, he's in my thoughts, my dreams,my nightmares, the littlest sound I hear is from him, and he won't let up until he's dead. Despite all of this though, what's my ace up the sleeve? I look up and see the little girl from district 9 cowering in the corner on the other side of the room and can't help but shake my head in shame. This is humiliating but as long as this kid is with me, he won't hurt me.
"W…when can I leave?" she hesitantly asks.
"Shut up." I bluntly say.
"W-why are you doing this?" she continues.
"I said shut up didn't i? Don't know why you're in such a hurry to leave anyways, you think you'll stand a chance out there alone?" I glare her but wince in pain seeing that my bandages are dark red, I'm still hurt badly, and to be honest if she were to run away, I probably wouldn't even be able to catch her…
" I…have to pee." She suddenly whispers and I look over her to she's trembling in fear and I hesitate. I let her go off and I know for damn she isn't coming back, and I don't want to be a weirdo and escort her to the "restroom" either.
"If you're not back within the next three minutes, I'm going to hunt you down and make you regret ever leaving." I threaten her and her lips quiver as she nods preparing to leave and that's when i hear footsteps in the distance causing me to gasp.
"Get over here, hurry!" I panic and she freezes in fear as the footsteps get closer but I yank her arm keeping her infront of me, ready to use her as a shield if I have to.
Whoever is outside of the door tries to turn the knob but the door's locked and that's when I prepare to pierce my sword through it.
"Hyperion, are you in there?" I hear Caspian's voice and my eyes widen, I never thought I'd be happy to hear his voice and all of my fears are suddenly gone, if Amos were to show up again, Caspian would fare much better than me.
"Caspian…" I quickly say opening the door and see him and Reyena at the doorway, even better! Now it'll be three against one! I see a look of shock on his face initially but he looks at me and I can see a flare of anger in his face.
"What's going on here?" Caspian asks me.
"He kidnapped me, he kidnapped me he threatened to kill me If I didn't come with him!" She quickly cries before I even get a chance to defend myself.
"Wait let me explain dammit!" I curse but Caspian glares me.
"Come here…" Caspian holds his hand out to Elsie and she hesitantly grabs it before escorting her towards him.
"You're a sick fuck Hyperion, and you're going to pay…" Reyena glares me.
"Elsie right? Did he do…anything else to you? you can just say yes or no." he calmly asks her and she looks back over at me as tears are coming down her eyes but I see so much anger at the same time, she better not lie, she better not fucking lie!
"I didn't lay a finger on this kid, what the hell!" I shout.
"I need you to be quiet…" Caspian looks over at me and this is the closest to being angry I've ever seen him, it even sends some shivers down my spine, Don't lie Elsie…please fucking don't!
Elsie however shakes her head and I breathe in a sigh of relief.
"Ok then…You're free to go Elsie, and take this knife, so you can defend yourself." He hands her a knife but she suddenly hugs him crying and this seems to catch him off guard a little, but he gently rubs her back and comfort her.
"Thank you…thank you." She cries and he gives her a gentle nod before she looks back over at me being sure to give me a scornful look. I should be thanking her though, things would've easily went south had she lied. I expected Caspian to be in a better mood after hearing this, but he's still giving me an unnerving look.
"Look I'll explain everything to you." I begin
"Yeah, you got a lot of explaining to do, and you can start with why you killed Nyx." His hand tightens around his trident and I can only give him a puzzled look, what the hell is he talking about!?
"Nyx, what? What the hell are you talking about?!" I exclaim.
"Don't try to act surprised, Reyena told me everything." Caspian sternly says and I'm even more confused now and see a sly smirk on Reyena's face.
"You lying fucking bitch!" I attempt to rush at her but he quickly stands in front of her and holds his trident in a defensive stance.
"She's lying Caspian, she's lying, I haven't even seen any of you since we got separated! I don't even know what happened to Nyx, I was just as surprised to see her up there as you were!" I try to explain.
"He's so full of shit Caspian, kill him!" Reyena orders and I look back over at Reyena, I know she never liked me but to really have to make up a lie like this, that's something I'll never imagine her doing, something is really off here…
"I'm going to give you one more chance to explain yourself Hyperion…" Caspian warns me.
"I'm telling you everything I know dammit! I don't know why she's making this shit up, I had nothing to do with Nyx's death…" I explain.
"You're a liar! You killed her, you killed her right infront of me!" Reyena shouts at me and Caspian looks pretty torn as he's struggling to figure out who's lying.
"You know what, it wouldn't surprise me if you had something to do with her death, yeah that's right you killed her, you killed her and now you need someone to frame, this is your way of trying to break the alliance!" I argue with her.
"I would never, she was my bestfriend, I wouldn't even kill a jerk like you behind your back no matter how much you deserve it, kill him Caspian!" Reyena shouts
"Caspian listen to me, I never gave you a reason to like me but you have to believe me right now, she's not telling you the truth!" I plead to him.
"Kill him already! The moment you turn your back to him he's going to stab you, he did the same thing to Nyx!" She counters but this seems to get Caspian's attention.
"Wait…that's not what you told me last time Reyena…" he looks over at her and she looks lost for a moment.
"She's full of it, I told you!" I yell.
"What do you mean Caspian?" She 'innocently' asks
"you told me before that he drove his sword through her chest while they were in the middle of an argument, now you're saying she had her back turned when he did it…" Caspian explains.
"T-that's what I mean from before! They argued, she turned her back to him and that's when Hyperion stabbed her!" she tries to explain herself but Caspian doesn't look fully convinced.
"You know what Caspian, how can we even be sure this is Reyena, for all we know this can be a fucking imposter, this capitol can bring back the damn dead, is it too far fetched for them to create a clone of us!?" I explain to Caspian and he looks at me, seemingly agreeing with me.
"He's crazy Caspian, don't let him fool you! Take him out!" Reyena demands him.
"Even a clone has its flaws though Caspian, ask her something, ask her something that only Reyena would know…" I sternly say to Caspian but Reyena suddenly jabs her trident towards Caspian's back and with lightning reflexes Capsian spins around knocking the trident out of her hands and quickly pierces his trident through 'her' chest, damn that was quick.
'Reyena' gasps in pain as her eyes widens and Caspian keeps a stoic look on his face and pulls the trident out of 'her' chest causing 'her' to collapse on the floor, dead. Her body immediately begins morphing and she now resembles a gray humanoid body that has no face.
"A shape shifting mutt…of course." I shake my head.
"Yeah, but then where's the real Reyena?" Caspian asks with some worry.
"No idea, this is my first time seeing any of you since we got separated…" I explain.
"We need to find her, she can be in trouble, but I want to know why you were with that little girl." He narrows his eyes at me.
"It's Amos, he's still out there somewhere, and no matter where I go, he always finds me! I'm not strong enough to beat him…so that's why I used the little girl as a hostage cause he wouldn't harm me if I had her with me. You know about Amos right? How skilled he is." I explain to him.
"I've heard about him but look help me find Reyena and I'll deal with him. That Reyena wasn't real, but it still doesn't erase the fact that Nyx is dead." He looks over at me and I can see the pain in his eyes, I know he cared about Nyx too and for her to now be gone, I just wonder who it was that killed her…
"Do you think Hunter got to her?" I ask Caspian.
"I don't know…but he's not the only threat out there, he's probably not even the biggest one." Caspian states. The only other person be can be referring to is that creep from district 3. Hunter probably is responsible for a good amount of deaths but there's someone else creeping through the shadows, picking people off one by one and that can only be her, but Caspian…you're the biggest threat of them all, and that's why…
"I'll help you find Reyena Caspian…" I assure him and he seems relieved but nods.
"Alright then, let's not waste anymore time then." He turns his back and begins heading out of the room but this is my opportunity, I quickly thrust my sword forward and it pierces him through his torso as he lets out a pained grunt, I expected more of a reaction out of them, but none the less, the deed is done. There's still Emmerane,Hunter and Amos, but I will find a way to deal with them. Now that Caspian is out of the picture, returning home is looking much more likely now! He remains standing, his back turned to me and I still have the sword pierced through him, but it's almost like he hardly felt anything…
"Sorry Caspian…there are other threats out here, but it's you who's the biggest one and that's why…you have to die." I begin shoving my sword even further into him as his drops of blood continue falling on the floor creating a small puddle but he only lets out another low grunt, why is he barley reacting to this?
"I see…I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but I really should've never trusted you in the first place…" he calmly states.
"Little too late to start regretting that now don't you think? Yeah Caspian… I am a snake, and you're right, you should've never trusted me, This is usually around the time alliances begin falling apart right? Heh, don't feel too bad though. This was bound to happen, I'm just doing whatever it takes to get back home to my mother!" I explain.
"Hmm…" I hear a small grunt from him and he begins walking forward as the sword gradually exits his body and once it does, he continues standing still, his back still turned to me and blood continues dripping out of his wound, expanding the puddle on the floor, I don't understand…. Why is he acting like he's barley hurt?
"Just doing what you have to do to make it back to your mom…Why don't you finish the job then." He calmly states his back still turned to me and I hesitate for a moment but I grit my teeth and rush at him with my sword trying to strike him, but he suddenly spins around, parries my attack and I stumble forward feeling his trident rip into the back of my leg causing me to growl in pain. I spin back around to face him and that's when I feel chills running down my back as I see a smile plastered across his face as he holds his trident in a defensive stance, Why is he's still standing!? This wasn't apart of the plan! It's almost like…it's almost like he is a ghost!
I keep my sword in an offensive stance and inch my way towards him as he stands still, as if he's ready to counter anything I do and I swipe my sword at him but he quickly pivots to the side and quickly jabs his trident towards my eye but I quickly move my head to the side but he rips through my shoulder with his trident causing me to yell out in pain and I drop to my knees for a moment from the pain but I jump back up as Caspian inches towards me. I can feel my breathing getting heavier and I swipe my sword at him as he easily weaves it and slash it at him again as he again weaves it. He then sweeps his trident under my leg knocking me to the floor and tries impaling me but I roll away and jump back up to my feet staggering away from him as he continues smiling and inching towards me, even through this smile, I can see how much pain he's in, but he still outclasses me by a mile…I don't need to waste any more time here!
I begin rushing towards the exit and he pursues me briefly but I hear him let out a grimace of pain as he clutches his torso and rests against the wall and that gives me the opportunity to make my escape. He's finally showing that he's human after all, good! I would've preferred he died here but he'll still die from his injuries soon enough, farewell 'smiling ghost' and Reyena, when I see you, you'll be dealt with aswell, this alliance is officially over!
Genevieve Altruzara,16, District 8 female
I remain seated on the bed as I stare at the floor, my eyes are so puffy and sore from all the crying I've been doing and more fears refuse to leave my eyes as I think about him. Acer…he gave his life for me, but why…why would he do that? He had friends, he had family but yet he still put me before him…why? If the tables were reversed…I honestly don't know if I would've done the same, I couldn't do that to my little brother… but Acer he saved me, he sacrificed himself for me, and I won't let that be in vain.
"So it appears you passed the ultimate test…albeit with some help. Had it not been for him, I would've accomplished just that…" I hear that same raspy voice as black particles begin floating around me but it sounds a lot weaker. It's still here, it still won't go away…even after taking Acer away from me.
"Just what more do you want…just what," I clench my fists as I grit my teeth.
"What I wanted, is something I can no longer achieve, your will to survive…it has exceeded my expectations and after expending my power, there is only one thing left to do…" it speaks in a weakned tone and the particles begin forming a humanoid figure together.
"You know what to do Genevieve…" the figure mumbles and I glare the humanoid shadowy figure.
"Tell me why…tell me why you had to kill Acer…he didn't deserve any of this…none of it!" my eyes water.
"His sacrifice was necessary however Acer wasn't the only casualty suffered because of your reluctance. Your actions directly got another tribute killed aswell, she had a brother and friends, people who were counting on her to return. So how do you feel Genevieve, how do you feel knowing that two people are dead because of you?" it asks and I quickly drive my needle sword through it's chest with tears coming down my eyes and it groans in defeat
"You're nothing but a little fucking puppet, it's the ones pulling your strings that I should be angry with and I am…but fuck you!" I curse at this puppet and it disperses into black particles that eventually disintegrate. This thing is finally gone, dead but it wasn't the only threat out here, not the biggest one either. A cannon rang out earlier today so that puts us in the final 8. I try to envision who's left, and when I realize three of the careers are likely still alive, one who was nice enough to bring me back to this room when she could've easily killed me, and theres Emmerane and Hunter. I don't like my chances. Acer's no longer here and I have no medical supplies so i really need to be careful…
"Ahhhhh!" I hear a panicked screech and it sounds like a young girl, the only other person it can really be is the girl from district 9 and I can hear her footsteps as she seems to be running away from someone, or something.
"There's no need to run…I just need to know one thing." I hear a calm but unrecognizable voice, I don't know who that could be but I clutch my needle sword tightly and slowly creak the door open to see Elsie standing across from Amos Walton, the district partner of Victoria, dammit I remember that thing spawned the entire pack. I wonder how many more of them are left…
"H-help!" Elsie pleads to me as I look at both her and Amos but I involuntarily begin moving towards Elsie and hold my sword in a defensive stance but I can tell by the way Amos is looking at me that he can break right through my guard if he wanted to.
"Leave her alone…" I speak up
" Hmmph, I will prefer not to commit any more unnecessary killing if possible, I just need your cooperation and I'll be gone, where is Hyperion Corvinus?" He asks with slight impatience, but I literally have no idea where he can be at…
"He…he was downstairs, t-two flights down in one of the rooms…I don't know where he is now though, I just barley managed to escape from him!" she explains.
"Hmm, I see, well that should be enough to work with, wasn't so hard was it?" Amos grins and expertly spins his sword in his hand snd he only needs to do that for me to realize I won't stand a chance against him, I hope he doesn't try anything…
"I'll be taking my leave now, but make no mistake I will come looking for you if he isn't where you said he'd be." He warns us.
"I have no reason to lie, I want him to die…he was going to kill me…" she reveals and I look over at her, why does he want Hyperion so badly anyways?
"I see...me and him have a quarrel to settle, he likes to run and hide, but there will be no more running once I find him, on that note, you two ladies have a fine day!" He states and walks off in the direction Elsie told him of and it feels like I can finally breathe again.
"Are you ok?" I ask Elsie and the look I see on her face is what I envision I also have, just a look of complete loneliness, like you just lost everyone that was even remotely close to you in this arena. I remember seeing her with Annabeth and her district partner Harlan, both of them have died since so she's likely been on her own since yesterday when Harlan died.
"As ok as I could be here… thank you, Genevieve right?" she asks.
"Yes, and you're Elsie right, I'm surprised you remember my name…" I admit and she does a faint nod.
"Yes, I'm pretty good with names…look I know there's not that many of us left but…do you want to stick together for a little while, I don't have much but I have a map that I managed to steal from Hyperion." she pulls a rolled up map from her pocket and shows it to me, it's literally showing every location possible on this map, this can be useful for finding places to lay low in.
"W-wow well this can be useful…yeah sure we can stick together, I don't have much either honestly but I think every other tribute here is either a career or some kind of trained killer, probably won't be a bad idea for us to stay close to each other for now." I suggest.
"You're right, we should probably stay in areas where most people won't be, like we can probably camp out in one of the rooms here for now and move towards the bar, that's not very far from us and there's probably stuff there we can use…" she comments.
"Sounds like a good idea to me Elsie." I hold my fist out to her and she hesitantly bumps it making our little "alliance" here official, but why do I have bad feeling about something…
9th place-D6F Paisley Stitchell, Tortured and burned alive by D11F Verbena Grayzer:
Paisley you were always such a fascinating character to write, now this was my first time portraying a deaf character and I did alot of research to portray you as accurately as possible and overall I'm pretty impressed with my effort. Paisley you never had alot going for you and the odds were stacked against you from the very beginning but I wanted to show that no matter the odds, that everyone has a chance to win and you had to go to lengths you never envisioned to try and make victory a reality. You were a very pleasant girl Paisley and me and you had quite alot in common which is why you grew on me, but ironically your fate was sealed the moment you got a hold of that book. Your death was foreshadowed earlier in the story when Elsie came across a diary explaining that anyone who came in contact with the book suffered a gruesome fate and unfortunately the cycle continued with you. Rest in peace Paisley and you and Hayden can now be together!
Here we are with the latest chapter guys and this death puts us in the final 8! congratulations to everyone who's tributes has made it this far and I'm so excited for the upcoming final act of this story! the next chapter will ofcourse be the family interviews where each tribute's friends and/or family will be interviewed by the ever so lovely Carlton vars just like the last story. Afterwards we'll be back in the arena where things are going to be moving at a very hectic and quick pace and I see a victor being crowned very shortly afterwards. Thank you so much for the reviews and support everyone and I'll see you all soon, till next time!
Finalists:
D2M-Hyperion Corvinus(0)
D4F-Reyena Shore(1)
D4M-CaspianDelamar(1)
D3F-Emmerane Vestrat(3)
D11F-Verbena Grazer(1)
D12M-Hunter Skype(5)
D9F-Elsie Pengrove(0)
D8F-Genevieve Altruzara(0)