Zananova "Zan" Pixa,13, District 3 female
I continue chuckling to myself, finishing up my toxic batch and allow the contents of it to fly up into the air and disperse. Here it is, my ultimate creation and a fine way to wrap up these games if I may say. This is an airborne toxin when inhaled by someone, it begins to inflame the lungs causing them to begin filling up with fluid. This leads to shortness of breath and the symptoms will begin to rapidly worsen. This kind of toxin also greatly impacts the nervous system, you can start experiencing hallucinations even minutes after inhaling the toxins and the hallucinations will gradually worsen over time, they're so powerful that the illusion of them ties into reality, When a hallucination attacks you, your brain will actually register it as an actual strike. It'll take a very large toll on your heart in general and combined with the added pressure of your fluid filled lungs, your heart will eventually give out from being overworked.
The toxins won't have any effect on me though, I already created a vaccine, consumed it and only I know the properties so it's not like any one will be able to replicate it. Still though, it'll be quite entertaining seeing everyone lose their minds while I just sit back and marvel my work. My laughs grow louder as I envision those remaining four tributes dead and being crowned the victor, the victor! It'll all be a reality soon too. Tyvon, I hope you're watching, because I've now surpassed you, I have become even better than you! So watch and continue being proud!
My toxins continue flying through the air and dispersing into it and this continues until my container is completely empty, now it's time for the madness to begin!
Winter Baromet,13, District 9 female
"Winter…Winter…" I hear a ghostly voice wafting around me and I let out a low moan as darkness continues to envelop me.
"Winter…" the voice repeats and my eyes slowly begin to open where I'm looking up in the sky, but it's now tinted a blood red with the clouds being an even darker red, what is going on? I try to take a deep breath but I feel a light pain in my chest and let out a small cough, what is this? Why does everything feel so…disorienting?
That voice though…is it?
"Fall…" I mumble.
"I'm here winter…look." The voice tells me and I look around for a moment and see Fall standing against a tree across from me, he looks so clean, so pure…but that can't be him, right?
"Fall…it's you." My voice cracks and I slowly make my way to my feet and begin walking towards him.
"Fall, you're back, you're back!" I stumble towards him and he continues smiling.
"Yeah Winter, I told you I'd never leave you!" He tells me and a tear rolls down my eye as i open my arms out to him.
"I was so scared Fall, I thought you were gone…" I begin crying.
"I know, it must've been terrifying, but I'm here now Winter and I won't leave your side…I promise." He assures me and I hug him tightly but I hear a menacing growl afterwards and I immediately look up to see it's a gray humanoid like creature with sharp claws angrily growling at me and I let out a gasp, immediately releasing my grip from it but it slashes at me and I manage to stagger out of the way faling onto the ground. The creature then continues growling and plodding towards me as I stagger to my feet but several hands shoot out from the ground and try to grab my foot but I leap over it and begin sprinting away, I'm already so out of breath and I've barley even moved! I continue trying to run, hearing ghostly voices around me.
"You can't escape your fate, you cannot run." Ghostly echoes fill my ears and I look back up at the red tinted sky and the eerie looking trees surrounding me. I'm hallucinating and my lungs feel like they weigh a ton, am I sick? I must…I must've gotten poisoned but how? Did I breath something in?
"Winter, accept your fate." A voice echoes and I look around me to see those grey skinned humanoid creatures plodding towards me, howling like they're in pain. I begin coughing and phlegm mixed with some blood comes out as I'm still struggling to breathe. I don't know how it happened but I'm clearly being affected by some sort of toxin right now. Something that causes lung inflammation and hallucinations, I need to try and create an antidote and quickly because it's getting worse!
Victoria Aspen,18, District 2 female
I let out another cough as I hunch over against a tree, pain radiating throughout my body. I then fall back to my knees continuing to cough into my hand and I notice blood on it, I'm coughing blood…dammit.
I rest against the tree and only groan in pain trying to breath, but it hurts with every breath I take. I'm still in the same spot I was where Barbel died, his body was collected while I was unconscious, but the large amount of blood he left behind still remained. I can't move, my broken arm is now red, swollen and in even more pain that it was in yesterday, my torso is throbbing in pain and the stab wounds are now oozing a yellow fluid which is an indicator that it's getting infected and my head is pounding in pain in sync with my heart.
"All you had to do was listen!" A voice echoes as everything around me is disoriented and I look around to see two figures standing next to each other, are those…my parents?
"Mom…dad." I struggle to say.
"Always disobeying us, always being a rebel, you were bound to pay the price Victoria!" my father scolds me as him and my mom start walking closer to me.
What's going on? This can't be real, right?
"Don't come any closer!" I warn them using my only arm to pull a knife out of my belt and point it at them as my arm trembles.
"You're not threat to us, you're no threat to anyone!" My mother mocks me continuing to walk closer to me.
"Stop!" I shout and throw my knife at her but it misses completely, no my aim is never this off!
"All these years of training and you still can't even hit a target, shame on you!" My father chuckles.
"Leave me alone…" my voice cracks as I take out my last knife but my grip is so weak that it falls back onto the ground.
"Stupid girl!" My father scowls at me and stabs me in the torso with a knife and I cry out in pain as I see the knife sticking out of my torso, this is real!? But how?
I try crawling away but I can barley move, I then feel another sharp stab in my back and I cry out again.
"Do you regret It now Victoria? Not listening to us? You can be home right now, in your warm cozy home, eating a good meal, spending time with your best friend Sasha, but no you just got to be miss badass all the time, just always have to find creative ways to piss us off!" My mother snarls at me as tears run down my eyes. I roll onto my back and look at my parents as they stand over me. They're right…They're right.
"You got anything to say Victoria? Not even an apology?" My father looks down on me and prepares to stab me but I kick him in the torso and it's strong enough to knock him on the ground but I feel a stab in my leg afterwards by my mother and she begins strangling me but I'm too weak to fight back.
"I wish I never had you! It's ok though, I won't have to worry about you anymore soon enough!" She shouts in my face still choking me as I struggle for air.
I envision myself in my room, my hands clasped together with Sasha as we spin around, laughing, dancing together. Just being happy, I just wish I can dance with her one more time. I should've never done this…I should've never volunteered. I should've listened to them. Tears begin rolling down my eyes as my mother continues strangling me but her face, it begins to contort and morph into a different face and I can only helplessly look into the face of Rylee, the girl from 6 as she continues to strangle me, tears are also coming down her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeatedly cries strangling the life out of me. It's ok Rylee,it's ok. You have a family to get home to as well…you're just doing what you need to do to make that a reality.
"I'm sorry…" she mumbles again sniffing but a trident Is suddenly stabbed into her shoulder and she cries out in pain rolling off of me and it's Oswine, Oswine…he came back. He has a terrified look on his face as he can't seem to process what he just did but he brings the trident down on her and she manages to roll out of the way and kick him across the torso causing him to grunt and fall to the ground. She then quickly grabs her rapier that's on the ground and charges at Oswine who's still trying to recover and I weakly crawl towards my knife that's a distance away from me.
Oswine manages to make it back to his feet but Rylee strikes him with her rapier and he manages to block it with the trident but falls against a tree. She then tries to pierce him through the chest but he rolls out of the way and tries stabbing her but she maneuvers out of the way and slashes him across the shoulder causing him to gasp in pain and she stabs him in the torso with the rapier causing him to cry out in pain and fall on the ground.
"Oswine!" I cry out as I wrap my hand around the knife and Rylee is about to finish him off but my cry gets her attention and she looks over at me, but in an instant, my throwing knife lands into her skull and her limp body falls to the ground with a cannon firing off after. I then roll onto my back struggling to breath and look up at the sun as it begins to rise from the dark clouds.
"Oswine…" I call to him but my voice only sounds like a mere squeak.
"Vic-Victoria!" I hear him crawling towards me. I feel myself fading, falling but I try to keep myself afloat. I promised Sasha that I'd return, I promised her, I can't die…not here!
"Victoria!" he repeats and his face looms over mines, I can see his eyes watering and I can't help but start to cry after.
"Oswine…a-are you ok?" I sniff.
"Y-yeah I think so, but you…" one of his tears drops onto my face and I weakly raise my hand to his cheek, I don't have enough strength to keep it raised but he grabs onto it and holds it.
"Victoria…don't leave, please!" he begs me but there's no point in fighting it…death comes for us all someday…even when we have so much to live for, so much to fight for…it'll always take us in the end.
"Oswine, you have a family right? Friends?" I weakly ask.
"i...i have my dad…my mom too, but you're the only friend I have left!" he cries and I burst out crying at this point.
"I've made so many mistakes Oswine…so many bad decisions. My parents…they wouldn't even come to visit me. That was all I wanted…to just see them again." and he looks at me listening intently.
"I regret going down this route, I regret…being a career, fighting for honor, money, glory. I should've just listened to them…I should've!" I weakly cry.
"Victoria…" Oswine mumbles.
"I regret it Oswine, just doing things for the sake of upsetting them. My last memory of my parents is just burning my bridges with them. I would say I regret all of this…but then that would mean that I would've never had the chance of meeting you…" I admit and his lips quiver as he tightens his grip on my hand.
"I, I'm glad I met you too Victoria…but please, your parents...they love you, I know it! Not coming to see you must be their biggest regret,a realization that they'll have to live with for the rest of their lives. They love you though and...it was only after you were gone that they likely realized the true meaning of love. Accepting you for who you are and supporting you in whatever you decided to do!" he assures me as more tears roll down his face.
"Oswine…" I cry.
"So think about that Victoria…Think about how precious you are to them and how precious they are to you because, that is something that'll live forever!" he cries and I find a little bit of strength to clutch his hand.
"You're right, you're right Oswine…they love me." Tears come down my face.
"I'm sure your family loves you too…and that's why you continue fighting, you fight for them and for yourself, ok?" I sniff.
"Y-yes, I promise!" He assures me wiping away some of his tears but they're quickly replaced by fresh ones.
"Promise me one more thing Oswine…" I weakly say as the sun is beginning to be covered by a cloud.
"Yes…anything Victoria!" he answers.
"Just…stay with me please,I don't want to be alone." I whimper.
"I'll be here, I won't leave you!" he states and I sniff doing a faint nod.
"Thank you, thank you Oswine." I thank him and the sun is now completely covered by the cloud as I take one last breathe and slowly exhale as oblivion takes over me…
5th place-Rylee Turbin-Knife thrown into skull by Victoria Aspen: Rylee to be honest you were originally supposed to die in the bloodbath after being brutally murdered by Vladimir but i began to really embrace your underdog role and i began rooting for you! I even considered you for victor for a moment. You had a huge moment two chapters ago where you managed to overcome the odds and took down the monster Vladimir and nearly killed Victoria and Oswine as well. I wanted to show that despite all that you've been through, it hardened you, wisened you and made you a strong woman who went from being a definite bloodbath to nearly becoming the victor. R.i.P. Rylee and don't worry about Scrapp, the orphanage has accepted him and he is being well taken care of!
4th place-Victoria Aspen- Succumbed to wounds sustained by Barbel Beacher and Rylee Turbin: Victoria you were the initial victor i had in mind. You really had all of the qualities to make for a great victor, you were a career but you weren't a typical muscle head like most careers are. You were very relatable, rebellious but also a very kind and caring woman that was so approachable and easy to get along with. It honestly hurts so much killing you but atleast you die knowing your parents loved you as much as you loved them and i just hope you found some peace in knowing that. R.I.P. Victoria, I'll miss you immensely!
Here is the first part of the finale and we are now into the final 3! A victor will be crowned next chapter and that's when I'll start opening up submissions for the sequel! This has been quite the ride people and thank you all so much for sticking with me, this journey is nearly over and but we'll be beginning another one soon and i hope you will all submit and stick with me in my next story. I'll see you guys soon with the finale, till next time!
Finalists: Zananova Pixa, Winter Baromet, Oswine Nanshope