Chapter 42:
Day Seven
Seraphim Lukianas, Head Gamemaker
Time slowly ticks by, getting closer and closer to the start of the end. A tense air fills not only the hovercraft where Seraphim sits waiting, but also the arena below him. For the first time ever in his time as a Gamemaker…Seraphim isn't excited about the finale. Too much uncertainty in the air with the rebels, too many opportunities for them to interfere despite the Gamemaker team doing everything to lock down access into the arena. In theory, the only device controlling the arena right now should be the tablet in Seraphim's hands.
In theory.
But the pit in his stomach says otherwise, no matter how much the security team or Laelia or even Zephyr tries to reassure him that this will go smoothly. He doesn't even care anymore about it going smoothly, he just cares about ending these Games without starting a war and with a victor. That reason alone is why he watches the final moments of the tributes alone on screens inside the hovercraft sitting above the fighting pit, waiting for the precise moment there is a victor to grab them before the rebels can even think about taking them.
Five screens sit in front of Seraphim. One is a secure video call with the Games Headquarters where Laelia nervously frets about, but is doing a good job keeping the others in line as the finale approaches, reassuring him that someday she will do well as Head Gamemaker.
The other four monitors display each of the tributes in their last moments before the finale. Two of them show a similar view for now, focused on Elias and Demarcus as they sit quietly eating some of the food Demarcus has shared, but the heart rates at the bottom of each screen show just how nervous they both are. One shows Delta in the area just below them, sitting in front of the cornucopia and slowly drinking water as she continuously looks around her, trying to give off the air of being relaxed but her tension is visible in her shoulders. And the fifth shows Odyssey as he sits next to a bathtub running water, his face in his good hand to hide his face from the cameras as he prepares himself for this last fight and whispers to himself, the water drowning out the words and making the country unable to hear what he's saying. Each tribute screen is split up, showing Seraphim the live feed of them, their heart rate, and their vitals so he'll know the exact moment to fire the cannons.
"Who do you think it will be?" Zephyr asks him quietly from where he sits just behind Seraphim, close enough to be there for him if he needs him, but letting him have his space to do his job.
"I really don't know," Seraphim answers honestly as he swivels in his chair to face Zephyr. He glances back over his shoulder at the screens, taking another look at the tributes before facing Zephyr once more and shrugging, "Who knows? It could be any of them. If Demarcus and Elias work together and actually fight, they could take down Delta and Odyssey. If not, well, maybe it would be one of the other two, but Delta seems…off, and Odyssey can't use his ranged weapon. There's too many factors to make a good guess with four tributes left."
Laelia clears her throat and Seraphim turns his chair back around to face Laelia in front of her screen, looking at Seraphim with a nervous expression. "Seraphim, we're all set on our end. The rooms are prepped with their armor and choice of weapons, and the doctors are waiting in the operating room here for when the victor arrives. And Magnus is still pouting that you took his mutts away."
"I'm not pouting!" Magnus shouts from the lower level of the Games Headquarters and Laelia shakes her head at him, fighting back a smile.
Normally their antics would have Seraphim laughing, but not today. Not when they have a victor to crown before anything else goes wrong. "Very well. Start the fanfare and have Kora give them the announcement."
Seraphim sits back as he watches the tributes as the fanfare begins in the arena, signaling the start of the finale. "Good morning, tributes!" Kora's voice enters the arena. Delta stands up right away, gripping her spear in front of her tightly. Odyssey picks his head up, revealing red tearstained eyes that he wipes away quickly before shutting off the water to hear her better. Elias' face pales as he looks around and Demarcus' shoulders slump, looking resigned to what is about to happen. "It is time to begin the finale of the Sixth Quarter Quell! In just a moment, you will be brought down below the arena to receive your armor and take your pick of any weapon to use before you will be brought back into the fighting pit surrounding the cornucopia. There will be a force field surrounding that area, so please do not make any attempt to run from this fight. Best of luck and may the odds be ever in your favor."
As the fanfare resumes once more to end the announcement, Seraphim directs his team, "Bring them down below."
Delta and Odyssey don't react much to the sensation of being frozen in place to get brought below, having already experienced this for their Trials by Combat. But Demarcus starts breathing faster and muttering to himself, clearly on the verge of a panic attack, while Elias looks like he might start crying at any point.
"Some finale we might have," Zephyr mutters to himself as the tributes are brought into separate prep rooms and their stylists begin the process of preparing them. "Do any of them want to even fight?"
"They will fight," Seraphim reassures himself and Zephyr as half the tributes have their armor checking and any damaged pieces replaced, while the other half are given their armor for the first time. He can thank Lisia for the armor idea, having studied her Quell in great detail when preparing for his own and he is glad he made this decision. It will be a fight for the ages – four tributes all trained to fight, wearing beautiful – and practical – armor, and given any weapon to fight with.
Just as long as they actually fight. Which he really doesn't know if they will. Maybe he should bring back in the mutts...but he still has hope they will fight.
"Bring in the weapon racks," Seraphim directs once the armor is set for the four tributes.
In each room, quite the intense collection of weapons is brought in, each tribute having a different design and look to match their armor – gleaming gold for Odyssey, deep sea blue for Delta and Demarcus, and sleek dark gray for Elias. Delta is the first to make her choice, immediately going for the spear. Odyssey steps forward next, examining the selection of different knives and testing out a few in his hand before settling on a medium length knife. Demarcus asks the stylists to hand him the spear. Elias takes the longest to decide, continuously looking between his hands and the rack of weapons before hesitantly speaking up, "May I have blades attached to my prostheses?"
The stylist looks confused by the request and glances around the room, clearly searching for Gamemaker approval. Seraphim pulls up audio to the room and speaks to them, "Go ahead."
Seraphim watches with an eyebrow raised as two thin blades are attached to the side of each of his prostheses, curious about the request. Zephyr lets out a low whistle behind him and Seraphim glances back at him for a moment. "If he fights with those, good luck to the others."
"The others are careers," Seraphim reminds Zephyr as he turns back to the screens, watching as the stylist finishes up with Elias. The boy stands up hesitantly and takes a few steps around the room, testing out the prostheses with the attachment, wobbling a little at first but soon getting his balance. "I think we're ready to go."
Seraphim takes a deep breath, trying to slow down his quickly beating heart as he switches on the audio control to all of the prep rooms. "Tributes, please enter the launch tubes."
All four tributes hesitate for a moment at the announcement, before Odyssey lets out a sigh and makes the first move into the launch tube, followed very shortly by Delta. Demarcus is directed towards the tube and slowly enters, and Elias is the last one to enter, tears finally falling down his cheeks. The tubes shut around them, and then it's time to start the finale.
"Let's bring them up and get this over with."
The tributes are slowly brought back up, soon in darkness as they are pushed to the ground level of the arena from down below. Soon they will have their victor.
But as soon as the tributes are in the fighting pit, it's clear that they did not have everything secured from the rebels.
"Where's Elias?" Seraphim shouts at the screens as only three tributes are brought into the fighting pit. "What happened to him?"
"I don't know!" Laelia says as they try to pull up the video feed for Elias. He was there in the tube, but then in the darkness, a buffering… "It looks like it's looped, hang on."
"Fire a cannon for him and we will figure it out later," Seraphim commands them, realizing they have much bigger problems to deal with. And that means getting the victor crowned and out of there as soon as possible.
Boom.
In the arena, the three remaining tributes are a disaster. Delta screams from her launch spot, rubbing her eyes and ears as she yells around, "What's happening to me?!" She soon starts scratching the skin on her face, causing bloody streaks on it that she's unable to feel.
"Sir, her senses have all been knocked out," Laelia tells him and Seraphim's eyes widen in panic. None of them should have had the ability to have their senses taken away, more than the one they lost at the start.
"Well switch them back on!" Seraphim yells at them as he realizes that Delta's senses weren't the only ones changed. Demarcus is staring right at Delta, blinking in confusion as he can see once more. Odyssey is frowning as he looks back and forth between the District Four pair, before searching around the area for Elias. "Why can Demarcus see? Did they do anything to Odyssey?"
"It doesn't seem like it," Laelia answers him, her voice quiet with fear and confusion. Why would they leave him alone but mess with Delta and Demarcus? Delta, he can understand given her past. But Demarcus? Why grant him back his sight for the finale? Does he have some secret rebel connection none of them know about?
Seraphim's heart is racing as the tributes stay put, confusion keeping Demarcus and Odyssey in place and Delta unable to see or hear anything about her surroundings. Seraphim jumps when Elias' screen is brought back to real time and shows Elias screaming in his room as people in Peacekeeper armor are trying to drag him away before quickly getting cut off as a needle is jabbed into his neck, knocking him unconscious. "Shit…"
"Seraphim," Zephyr says coolly as he puts a hand tightly on Seraphim's shoulder. The Head Gamemaker is frozen in place by fear, trying to understand just what is happening right now. "You need to end these Games now."
"Right…" Seraphim says slowly, his brain unable to focus on what is happening until Zephyr not so gently shakes his shoulder. "Right, yes," Seraphim clears his throat as he glances at the video feed to the Games Headquarters, finding all of them confused as they watch him for guidance. "Try to restore Delta's senses now, but we can't wait. This has to end."
Seraphim switches to audio into the arena, getting the attention of Odyssey and Demarcus, the latter having been looking around in confusion and growing fear as he realizes Elias isn't there and there was a cannon fired. "Tributes, we need these Games to end now. It's a matter of national security. So…fight, I guess? Please?"
Gong!
The tributes don't move immediately for a couple seconds after the gong and Seraphim is about ready to yell at them to get moving already, before the first tribute starts running. Odyssey has made up his mind about who to fight first when facing the pair from District Four alone. He races towards Delta – now the weaker of the two, at least until the Gamemakers can get her senses back – and Demarcus hesitates for a moment, confusion and panic all over his face at everything going on, before chasing after him, realizing Odyssey is going for his District partner.
Delta is completely unaware of the impending threat as she takes a few steps forward, still screaming in panic over all five senses being taken away from her. And as Odyssey gets closer, Seraphim realizes what the rebels did. By taking away all of her senses and leaving her vulnerable, they guaranteed that Delta would not win the Games.
Demarcus yells at her to run, but it's useless. Seraphim briefly glances at the Games Headquarter feed to see if there's any chance of her getting her senses back, but it's too late. Odyssey slows as he reaches her, glancing down at his knife for a moment as hesitation crosses his face, before he flips it around in his hand to drive it down into her neck, getting past her armor and hitting vital arteries. Delta swings her spear blindly at the impact of the wound and slashes Odyssey's cheek, dangerously close to his eye, causing blood to start pouring down his face. Odyssey steps back quickly as Delta gasps and puts a hand to her neck, her eyes widening in surprise and realization as she stumbles back from him. She never saw the attack coming, nor can she feel the blood pouring out over her hands as she drops down to her knees, gasping for air before falling face first into the sand.
Boom.
"No!" Demarcus shouts at his District partner falling and Odyssey tears his gaze away from the body of his former ally, his face unreadable as he turns towards the last tribute remaining in the arena with him. Demarcus stops about ten feet from Odyssey, staring at the boy from Two as he takes rapid shallow breaths and grips his spear tightly in front of him. "How could- Delta- how could you?"
"I'm sorry, Demarcus," Odyssey tells his former ally slowly, glancing down at the bloody knife in his hand and his face twists with guilt before turning to look at Demarcus once more. "You know how the Games work… I couldn't fight both of you together."
Tears start to form in Demarcus' eyes as he glances at Delta's body, surrounded by a pool of blood, and he shakes his head at Odyssey, "You didn't even give her a chance."
"Would you have done the same if it was Bell?" Odyssey asks, pain in his voice as he mentions his fallen friend. He takes a deep breath to steady himself as he prepares himself for one last fight, "Demarcus… I'm sorry for this, I really am. I promise I'll make it quick…"
"No," Demarcus whispers as he takes a step back from Odyssey while shaking his head. "I can't- no, I can't lose."
"Neither can I," Odyssey answers as he lunges forward, starting the last fight of the Sixth Quarter Quell.
Demarcus sidesteps to dodge Odyssey's knife, only for the boy from Two to make another move right away, forcing Demarcus to use the shaft of his spear to knock Odyssey's hand away. Demarcus keeps taking steps back and blocking Odyssey's attacks fairly easily as Odyssey is slower with his non-dominant hand. Odyssey's choice of weapon forces him to keep getting dangerously close to Demarcus, well within the range of his spear, and as time goes on, Demarcus slowly starts making hits on Odyssey. Some just slide off his armor, doing no harm, while some cut his skin in the few places not covered by armor.
"He needs to get off the defensive," Seraphim mutters to himself as he watches the fight making little progress. They'll be here all day at this rate, and Seraphim can't afford that. Not when it gives the rebels more time to interfere.
But as time goes on, there's a slow shift in Demarcus as his expression grows less panicked, finding comfort in the routine of a fight and his body shifts into instinct that was drilled into him from years of training. Odyssey starts to notice the change too, growing a bit more careful with his attacks as he's forced to start defending himself more from Demarcus. He dodges the spear better than Demarcus dodges his knife, more comfortable moving around in the armor, but it doesn't stop Demarcus from stabbing his spear out, trying to strike Odyssey in the neck.
Odyssey gasps and steps back in shock as he tries to put his metal hand to his neck to stop the bleeding on instinct, but flinches away from the cool metal and looks down to find blood on it. Demarcus only sliced the side of his neck, not deep enough to kill him, but enough to spark fear in Odyssey. Demarcus starts frowning at the injury he caused as the two boys stare at each other for a moment, both breathing heavy from the fighting and bleeding from various injuries. "Odyssey," Demarcus tries to tell Odyssey, but the boy from Two has anger slowly burning in his eyes.
Odyssey lunges forward once more with a yell, fueled by rage and guilt from the things he's done in the arena and starts attacking Demarcus with renewed vigor. But Demarcus fights back, driven by fear to defend himself. Both boys keep landing blows on each other, but Seraphim can start to tell they're growing tired from the long fight and it will only be a matter of time before the adrenaline starts to fade away and one of them slips up.
Sure enough, that moment happens not too long after. Demarcus has been defending himself from Odyssey's attacks, watching the boy's movements and studying them. Seraphim does the same, noticing the not so smooth movements of his knife in his non-dominant hand, and Demarcus soon takes advantage of that and makes an attack with his spear. Not at Odyssey's neck or chest, but one of the other small exposed areas of skin.
Odyssey cries out in pain as the spear pierces his hand, forcing him to drop his knife to the ground. He quickly steps back from Demarcus while holding his injured hand to his chest, fear in his eyes as Demarcus stares back at him with shock in his eyes. Odyssey shakily moves his hand away from his chest, trying to see how bad the damage is, and his face pales as he sees the wound going through his hand.
The two stare each other down as both realize that Odyssey no longer has a weapon to fight with. He could go for the knife but put himself at risk of getting attacked when he reaches for it on the ground. Odyssey holds both hands to his chest as Demarcus frowns at him, guilt all over his face. "I don't want to do this, Odyssey, but I have to. My family…they need me to win."
Demarcus adjusts his grip on his spear, having the chance to end this, but clearly hesitating. Odyssey takes a shaky breath as he stands up taller, but he doesn't look resigned to his fate. No, Seraphim can see his brain turning and the fire in his eyes as he faces Demarcus. Odyssey briefly glances down at his hands before facing Demarcus once more, shaking his head at the boy from Four. "No, Demarcus, I'm sorry for this."
Odyssey lunges towards Demarcus and the boy from Four goes to defend himself with the spear, but Odyssey knocks it to the side with his metal hand. Demarcus' eyes widen in panic at losing his weapon and at the realization the Odyssey does still have something to fight with, more so than he does with just his bare fists. Odyssey yells as he steps forward, knocking his fist into Demarcus' jaw, the crack of metal on bone making Seraphim cringe as the bone shatters. The hit sends Demarcus sprawling back, crying out in pain at his broken jaw.
Odyssey tackles Demarcus, his fist raised to keep punching and end the fight. His breathing is heavy from anger and the fight, but he slowly realizes what he has done to Demarcus and what he was about to do. He steps back as guilt replaces the anger on his face and shakes his head. "No…not like this," he whispers, but it's barely audible over Demarcus' groans of pain as he tries to clutch his jaw. Odyssey glances around, finding the spear closer than his abandoned knife and does his best to pick it up, taking in a sharp breath of pain as he struggles to hold the spear in his damaged hand. His hand shakes as he steps back over to Demarcus and the boy from Four tries to push himself back from him as he sees Odyssey standing over him with the spear. "I'm sorry about this, Demarcus. But after everything…I can't lose now."
"No-" Demarcus yells out and tries to put his hand up to stop the spear as Odyssey brings it down, stabbing through Demarcus' neck, quickly cutting off his screams. Odyssey lets go of the spear and takes a few steps back, staring down at the boy from Four as he rapidly bleeds out, just waiting and waiting…
Boom.
Odyssey drops down to his knees at the final cannon, letting out a scream of…relief, anger, grief…Seraphim can't tell what. The fanfare begins and Odyssey turns his face up to the sky, tears falling down his cheeks as Kora's voice enters the arena, with Odyssey being the only one left to hear it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the victor of the Sixth Quarter Quell is Odyssey Gunderson!"
Seraphim lets out a breath at the announcement and stands up, his legs shaking as he turns to face the crew around him. "Let's get him up now."
The hovercraft is quickly in motion as it appears and drops down a ladder, all the while Seraphim watching as Odyssey stands up to step onto the ladder, making sure nothing is going to happen to him. Odyssey is frozen in place and brought on board with no problems and it's only when the hovercraft is in motion back towards the Capitol that Seraphim allows himself to relax and turn to Zephyr. He immediately shakes his head at the grin on the victor's face, but fights off his own smile, "I'm going to get accused of favoritism, you know."
"Nah, the victory was all him," Zephyr answers him, still grinning at the fact that District Two has a new victor. "He fought through hell and earned it."
"Well let's go see him," Seraphim takes Zephyr's hand and leads him over to the next room of the hovercraft where a team has descended on Odyssey, cleaning his wounds and temporarily stopping the bleeding until they can get him to the Capitol to thoroughly heal him. Seraphim stops for a moment, studying his newest victor. His hair is a tangled mess with sand and blood mixed in it. Cuts are all over him as the armor is taken off of him, revealing his body that's lost weight over the seven days in the arena. But his eyes…a haunted look is in his eyes as he stares down at the floor, just letting the doctors do whatever to him.
Despite having the victor sitting in front of him, Seraphim doesn't find happiness in his Quarter Quell being over. Not after everything that has gone wrong at the hands of the rebels and with tributes missing still. But he does his best to focus on the new victor in front of him, knowing there will be time later to deal with that. He has done his job by finishing the Games and crowning a victor.
Seraphim clears his throat as he steps into the room, bringing Odyssey's gaze up to him. "Congratulations, Odyssey," Seraphim tells him as he steps closer to the newest victor and the doctors move out of his way. "I wish this were a more joyous moment but there are some things that I-"
Seraphim never gets to finish his sentence as Odyssey jumps up and punches him in the face – something he probably deserved –sending him backwards and knocking him unconscious.
I am SO incredibly excited to finally say that the victor of the Sixth Quarter Quell is Odyssey Gunderson from District Two! Congratulations to Dreamer for submitting the victor!
Okay before I keep talking about Odyssey, some eulogies to do:
Delta Zale [4], Ranked 3rd, Killed by Odyssey [2]:
Delta was a hell of a firecracker, but I always knew that she would never be allowed to win by the rebels with how much they were interfering in the Games. At one point, I considered them taking her out to kill her themselves, but then decided it would be a worse thing for her to get so close to winning the Games and have that opportunity be taken away from her by the rebels. She was a ton of fun to write and added a lot into the subplot, and I enjoyed writing her start having feelings other than just anger and begin to feel friendship. Thank you Goldie for sending her! RIP Delta.
Demarcus Pollock [4], Ranked 2nd, Killed by Odyssey [2]:
Poor District Four could not catch a break this year. I'm a sucker for the careers that have a really good reason to win and are good people, and I channeled a lot of myself into writing Demarcus and his anxiety. He was a really good person and just doing his best to get the opportunity to help his family struggling with their own mental health, yet he struggled with the idea of killing and I knew his hesitation would be his downfall. He certainly tried his best in the finale, but it wasn't enough, even with the rebels tampering with his sight to make sure that Delta didn't win. Thank you Pi for sending him! RIP Demarcus.
And of course, this wouldn't be complete without acknowledging our newest victor:
Odyssey Gunderson [2], Victor of the Sixth Quarter Quell:
FINALLY I CAN SAY THIS! Holy shit, this has been the hardest thing for me to not spoil. I know this will sound crazy, but it's the truth - it was always Odyssey. He was the first tribute I received for this story and he was my first and really only choice for victor. If you've followed other stories of mine, you know usually I'm so indecisive and torn between several choices and it changes over the course of the story, but not this time. I first thought about Odyssey being victor from when subs were open and once I wrote his intro, I was in love with him and could not even imagine killing him in the Games. So yeah, I've known the victor since summer of 2018. It blows my mind too just how long I have known this. Honestly all the things that happened to Odyssey in the Games were things I had to put in to make it less obvious that it was going to be him and to also try and knock Dreamer's hopes down because she has been so very hopeful this entire time. Dreamer, you don't even know how incredibly excited I am to finally get to share this with you! And also how incredibly difficult it has been to not reveal this to you XD I know he's your favorite valid boy from my stories and you finally have the answer to which one of your boys is my favorite too XD Also fun fact I can now share with you, for a while I had been considering Garth for the Wayward victor but then had to change those plans because you sent in Odyssey and I couldn't doom him lol. Thank you so very much for sending me Odyssey. I've truly loved him from the very start when you submitted him and I am so very happy to have him as our newest victor and to continue writing his story! Congratulations Odyssey!
AHHH I'M SO EXCITED I FINALLY GET TO SHARE THE VICTOR WITH ALL OF YOU! Like I said, my victor choice has always been Odyssey so it's been a real struggle this entire story to not say something. We will of course be seeing Odyssey a few more times over the remainder of this story and how he is adjusting after his victory. I hope you're as excited as I am about the victor!
The fate of five (5) tributes is still up in the air at this point. Buckle up, we're jumping full force into the subplot now! There are no guarantees on the fate of the tributes so you will have to sit tight and wait. The Games may be over but we're far from ending this story.
I'll end this long A/N with one question: did Seraphim deserve that punch? (He'll be fine lol)
I actually have the next two chapters written because I'm excited and have been impatient in the wait for this chapter lol. I'll see you all very soon with the next chapter!