The girl is the first to wake, struggling to rise up from the hospital bed that she's been bound to - to ensure that the massive bruises and cuts from almost hitting the motor of the boat that saved her aren't aggravated too badly. The nurses have been fussing over her bruised legs, but they believe that the small girl will be alright. She's doing well for someone her size, although the Russians would claim that most of their native women would recover in the same way - although England would have a better case for claiming her as one fo their own.
But yes, Juliet Acres has won the competition.
"Hello?" she croaks in her native tongue, hoping that someone will reply in English. It hurts even to talk now, and she's desperate for water. Her throat is so dry, too dry to speak.
"You're awake!" the voice of an excited Russian nurse drifts over to Juliet, and she watches as the large figure, clad in white, shouts to the other nurses. "She's alive, ladies! She's with us!"
"I… what? How am I alive? Weren't the others alive after we were hit by the wave? Wouldn't one of the boys have survived instead of me? Or that girl?" she manages to cough-whisper, in Russian this time. They must have outfitted the staff in Russians to make sure that she felt as comfortable as possible.
"Oh, you wouldn't have known what had happened after you hit that nasty boat, poor thing," says another nurse, with a voice that's seen a lifetime of lit cigarettes. "You're a joint victor of this competition, darling! There are two others alive!"
.oOo.
"Joint… joint victor?" Magdalena asks the woman, her eyebrows furled in confusion. "But I thought we were all supposed to die - isn't that what the Fuhrer wanted? Isn't there only supposed to be one of us left now?"
"Yes, but he also wanted one of you alive - and I suppose the man didn't like his chances with that dam." The nurse clucks her tongue sympathetically, checking Magdalena's bandaged hands one more time. "Are your legs feeling alright? They have a few nasty cuts still, poor things - not to mention all of the bruises. You've been through quite a time, Magdalena. You'll have to stay with us to get all healed up for a while!"
"I… I suppose so," she says quietly. She's been through what's felt like a lifetime of terror, where she only survived because she was fueled up on adrenaline and what just may have been bloodlust. Perhaps she'll feel guilty about the girl from Italy later, whose name she had learned to be Maria. Perhaps she'll remember what she did in there, how she almost killed a girl - no, a child, how she thought of nothing but her own survival. Maybe she'll remember her wrongdoings as she lies here.
But now? She can't feel anything but her tired body begging for a few more seconds of sleep.
She drifts back down into sleep, her mind only thinking of the last question - who were the other survivors?
.oOo.
"So his name was Norman?" Karol says again, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his final enemy had died in the wave that had thrown them underwater. He had almost succumbed to the same fate - except for the fact that he had held his breath just long enough to be picked by the boat, Karol should have died under the water with Norman. It doesn't feel right to be the one who's left, to be the victor despite never finishing his battle.
Perhaps it's for the best.
"Yes, and the others were a wee girl named Juliet and an older one named Magdalena," replies the doctor. "Other than your wounds, you have a clean bill of health. You'll be right as rain with a few days of rest. The others are recovering well - the Russian was torn up a bit from being pushed into the rescue boat by the waves, but that's probably what saved her in the end. She was drowning, just the same as the girl from Northern Europe - who was still semi-conscious when they picked her up. She was going to be fine all along, but we were worried about the little girl. She had a bit of a fever, and was burning up the last time I checked on her personally."
"But she's fine now, right?" Karol asks, trying to remember the little girl from Russia. She was small, small and pretty with hair that went past her shoulders. She was wearing something blue at the ball, and had been speaking to the girl from Canada if he remembers correctly.
The girl from Canada, who was dead now.
Just like the other twenty-four victims of the competition.
.oOo.
"You're all healed up! How does it feel to be free from the competition?" the journalist asks while fiddling a pen between his fingers. Juliet still feels nervous about being interviewed, but the nurses looking after her have promised that she'll be alright if she keeps her head up and answers like a lady.
Funny, being told to act like a lady would have prickled her esteem a few weeks ago, but not now.
She feels like she's aged a thousand years in the three days she was in that maze.
"I'm still feeling alright, but it's strange to be back. I've been told that us three will all be meeting together in a few days, and we'll get to talk to each other," Juliet replies.
"Have you been affected by your time in the maze? You've killed, you've hunted, you've been hunted - how do you feel about that? Can you live with yourself?" The journalist seems to be probing for something juicy, and Juliet feels a wave of disgust wash over her.
Then she remembers stabbing the boy and then being pushed against the boat until she couldn't breathe, until she was breathing in water in one last attempt to stay alive, how her lungs felt like fire under the water. She remembers how she thought she had died in those final few seconds in the water, how she was trapped under the surface and couldn't find a way up as her consciousness faded…
She refuses to answer any other questions, even when the reporter curses at her and storms away.
She cries for the rest of the day.
.oOo.
It's strange to walk through a building now - Magdalena feels uneasy between the cramped walls that are pushing in on her, that are taking away the rest of her breath - that's forcing her to drown in the water of the arena, pushing her under again -
It's only because the kind nurses are still with her that she manages to keep walking out of the building and into the blessed, blessed sunshine. When she sees the sun, she's so happy that she could cry - and she does, all the way to the hall where she'll meet more of the German elites and her fellow victors. She's supposed to be displayed to the nation here, to shine as the co-victor that she is. With the two others.
She doesn't know what to feel about that.
The nurses usher her out of the van and into the building again, and she's now on a stage in the darkness of the hall. Someone turns on the lights and she can see that the others are here - the boy from Poland, rubbing his eyes in the light of the stage, and the little girl from Russia, who sees Magdalena and rushes towards her with a cry of recognition.
They hold each other for a long, long time, and Magdalena tries not to cry when they have to let go of each other again.
.oOo.
"Your victors: Juliet Acres, Magdalena Pichler, and Karol Karski!" cries the announcer, and the hall bursts into thunderous applause. Juliet flinches, and Karol reaches out a hand to comfort her, which she accepts. Even if they were supposed to kill each other in the maze, the fact that none of the three had seen each other inside except at the end means that it's easier to be around one another.
"How… how did you make it to the end?" Juliet asks the others when they've finished speaking with German elites and being promised lavish sponsorships for whatever they want to try, now sitting in a circle of chairs with interpreters for each of them sitting in between the three.
"I… I killed the girl from Italy, Maria," Magdalena manages to choke out. "I don't know how I did it - I thought I was too kind to kill, too nice to murder, but I suppose there's some animal in me that knows how to kill."
"I killed the boy that murdered my ally with a knife. The boy from Afrikka," Juliet replies, and she lets the others raise their eyebrows in surprise. None of them had expected the boy to die, especially Juliet.
"I killed the two from Slavia..." Karol whispers, flushing. "The girl trusted me… I trusted her too, but I just wanted to live. I was a stupid child, but somehow I was cunning enough for them not to kill me when they first found me. And then I killed… I killed them. The girl was barely conscious..."
The girls sit quietly as Karol buries his face in his hands, choking back deep, shameful sobs.
They know all too well what he feels like.
.oOo.
Juliet breathes in the air of the train as it comes to a stop, attendants guiding her out of the train and to a waiting car. It's to take her home, but it doesn't go the way she expects - instead, it heads into what used to be the burning countryside, now blooming with summer flowers and full of the sounds of songbirds.
Then, in the distance, there's a beautiful mansion - surrounded by a dozen others, but it's the only one with two figures in front of it. They're waving at the car, waving at her, while she sits on this seat, clad in a lovely dress that was given to her on the train. It's as blue as the sky above her head.
When she throws herself into the arms of her parents, it feels like they'll never let go.
.oOo.
The mansions look too beautiful to be real, too large and spacious to fit on their property. But there they are, in a long line from the edge of her own mansion down to the woods that they didn't own. It belonged to another family, a German family, Magdalena remembers as she's being driven up the long driveway. They've explained to her that the houses are for future victors, for when they'll need a home provided by the Germans, and that they based the Northern European ones off of her own - so that she'd feel at home.
She's just happy that she can go back home.
"Magdalena! Magdalena, oh, my darling girl!" her mother shrieks as Magdalena steps out of the van, running - an act that she had never expected from her mother - towards her. "You're home, you're home!"
"She is indeed," her father says before pulling them both into a hug. When they let go, Magdalena takes in the beautiful mansion. Other than the flag of Germany fluttering from a pole above the large doors, it's exactly as it was when she left.
It's perfect.
"Oh, one more thing," her mother says as Magdalena rushes inside to look around the house. "Your brothers and sister are still here."
And as the three children that had come from the woods to become part of her family rush around her and squeeze her until she squeals in surprise, Magdalena feels nothing but joy.
.oOo.
When he comes around the corner and sees the houses, Karol lets out a whistle of appreciation. "All of this, just for me?"
"Provided for you and future victors to come from Poland," the man who's driving the car replies. He soon reaches one of the homes and pulls into the driveway, beckoning to the doors. "Your family is inside."
Karol walks out of the car as if he's in a dream, taking in the summer sun that's striking the windows of his new front door. His hand reaches out and turns the knob, and now he's inside - inside, where his mother and father weep before they pull him into an embrace that lasts for a long, long time.
And when he tells them everything, from his actions to the shame and fear and fright that came with winning, he knows that they've already forgiven him.
.oOo.
Otto looks out at the city of Berlin, watching the stars sparkle in the night sky from the balcony that he's standing upon. Hana emerges from their bedroom, still wearing the dress from the gala they had attended tonight. She's still as beautiful as ever, he can say that for sure as she stands in the light of the moon.
"Remember our old joke?" she asks him as she walks towards where he's leaning over the railing and staring at the city. "Whenever we fought, you'd always tell me that and then we would make up. I miss that."
"If you're ever lonely, I'll give you the country for company," he replies, smiling at the old memories. It was simpler back then, just himself and Hana and the love they had for each other.
"And if I'm sad?"
"All of Europe to dry your tears in," Otto whispers. Hana giggles, and asks her last question.
"And if I forget that I'm beautiful?"
"I'll give you the sky, so you can wear a necklace made of stars," he tells her, leaning towards her for a kiss. She obliges, and for a while they stand there, just looking up at the stars that he always promised would be hers.
There may be trouble looming on the horizon, but they will always have each other.
They'll always have the stars.
And they'll be able to say that they've conquered the world.
Together.
So.
Et Vici Mundum is finished, only a few months away before its second birthday.
WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO
There's a LOT to unpack, but let's begin with our eulogy - for the odd man out.
4th: Norman Bennet, British Male; Drowned.
Norman was always a frontrunner in this SYOT, ever since I got his form. There was something about him that was likeable and friendly, and I pegged him as someone to go far before disappearing into another character's motives. After I gave up my initial dream of Luka and Milena winning the competition together, - yes, I didn't put it like that in their eulogies but they were SUPPOSED TO WIN TOGETHER - Norman was supposed to be the sole victor: I loved his personality and motives for volunteering, and how everything was just him pushing to be a brave, honourable person.
Unfortunately, I think I decided that he wasn't going to make it while I was writing the final eight and was repolishing some foreshadowing in the arena. Norman was a great guy, but he never had much of an arc - I think that's mostly on me, not developing him as much as he deserved. Norman never got the chance to explore the arena and truly test his limits like the others did, just being in the right place at the right time for most of the competition. He was due for something bad to happen, and it did: in a very unlucky ending, Karol had been pushed out of the maze, while Norman was pushed down by the wave - hitting his head on the walls and drowning. He didn't deserve it, and it's the death I regret the most in this. I'm going to miss this guy. Thank you, CragmiteBlaster, for Norman.
And now, I can say that YES WE HAVE THREE VICTORS AND THEY'RE ALL PERFECT AND I AM SO SO SO HAPPY
I went through a lot of changes for this SYOT. Two of these competitors were supposed to die in the bloodbath in the first draft of my plans, and the other was supposed to be a tragic death around the final five. But as I went through writing this story and really getting to know the three, I realized I was too attached to them all and had to let them win.
Victor: Juliet Acres, 13, Russian Female; 1 Kill.
Juliet, you were likely the easiest victor to choose, yet the hardest one to accept. I always liked this girl, with her complicated but very well-done backstory of being a diplomat's daughter, stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her British citizenship is the reason that Otto and Hana didn't veto her out of the competition once she started doing well, especially once she started performing at the level of the other competitors.
Juliet was supposed to be Abigail's comfort at the beginning, the one who was going to sort Abigail out before Abigail has to deal with emotions of losing the one she killed to save. But NOPE, I really enjoyed writing Juliet and I liked the idea of having a younger underdog. AUs make anything possible - one of the reason two extra kiddos are still here - and the fact that Bosede was just distracted enough and Juliet was strong enough to knock him down and stab him in the neck, especially when Abigail put up a fight. It was the moment, for me at least, that she proved that she was worthy of becoming a victor. Juliet had the rare personality of a young tribute who wasn't a complete wimp or a little psychopath, being reasonably balanced and knowing that she can fight, she can win. Sure, she got a ton of lucky breaks in the maze, but she deserved them. Thank you to mysticalpineforest, who sadly isn't on the site anymore, for making a girl who never gave up.
Victor: Karol Karski, 15, Polish Male; 2 Kills.
Karol was supposed to die in the bloodbath.
*cowers* It's true, I was originally killing off Karol around where Marius found himself dead. But the Polish spitfire got to keep living because I had a change of heart when I got to Johannes' kill in the bloodbath, and let Johannes save him from death. From there, Karol kept surprising me - with each ascent of the wall, he kept growing in maturity and cunning until he proved himself to be smart enough to twist Luka and Milena around his pinky finger. Hunger and sleep deprivation played a big part in driving them apart, but Karol learned how to fight the two and to pick his battles, all the way to where he managed to kill Luka. By that point, I was all in for Karol to survive the finale - he was supposed to kill Norman himself, but the wave came too soon for them to finish and the water did the work instead.
I did love this guy, though: he was another well-made tribute who I kept warming up to until he became one of my favourites in the competition. He's still rebellious, but he's going to have to deal with a lot of shame and regret about his actions in there - but he's grown a lot, and he's going to get over it. He's too good of a guy not to. Thank you to Liliblossoms for submitting the one man who overcame his weaknesses and got back out.
Victor: Magdalena Pichler, 18, Northern European Female; 1 Kill.
Magdalena, Magdalena, Magdalena.
Honestly, Magdalena was the person I expected least to win out of these three. Juliet and Karol were smaller than her, but she was never the killing type the same way that they could be. Those two knew they could do it, and didn't regret it - until after they realized what they did. But Magdalena was kind, and she regretted things easily. I wasn't sure at first if she'd survive a meet-up with Maria (fun fact, Magdalena was also supposed to die in the bloodbath, being replaced by Elaine, who would die in the Maria fight while Maria moved into the final eight - yep, quite different than what happened). But after writing the bloodbath, I couldn't not let her go, and I knew she was smart enough to run. When she got into the fight with Maria, I wasn't sure who would win again - until I re-read her form and saw that she had the potential to kill if it came down to actually fighting.
And then it was decided - Magdalena killed, regretted it, but then was able to forgive herself and function in the arena well enough to escape Bosede - of the few who came up against Bosede, only Karol and Juliet managed to get away from him, along with Magdalena (more foreshadowing!). When she got to the finale, she was still in that fight or flight mode, and stopped herself from attacking Juliet because they were both human and consequences be hanged. If she had tried to go after Juliet, she would have died after killing the girl to Karol, who would have been our sole victor, but Magdalena was the kindest of the three. If there was anyone who was going to stop themselves, it would be her. She would have fought Karol if he came after them, but she thankfully didn't have the chance to - the dam breaking was more than enough for Germany to save the three. A big thank you to paperairline, for a girl who learned to forgive herself for the one thing she thought was unforgivable.
I'm going to miss EVM a lot. This was the second full SYOT that I took on. I never considered ending it or summarizing the story, even when I took those long breaks and wayyyyyy too long to update every chapter - I was too invested in the characters and the story I was telling with all of them. But these twenty-eight, with this concept, really took on a life of its own that I could never let go of. The arena was probably my favourite part of this all - I got a bit too excited with writing and wrote it all in four days, along with the epilogue. I'm proud of these three victors, who'll join the ranks of JAJ's SYOT Survivors: along with Ashira Marlstone and Isa James. (Poor Karol, he's the only guy here D:) Thank you to everyone who followed this story, especially my submitters and reviewers. You made this journey so, so worth it.
I'll still be writing SYOTs, but my next one won't start for a while yet as I finished the other two SYOTs I'm writing - when it does, I'll PM any of you who are interested to make sure you have ample time to make a character if you'd wish. I hope I did these twenty-eight justice, and I hope that you guys would like to see more!
And once again, thank you. I'm still in shock that this is over, and I'm so glad to have written this story. It'll be hard to publish this last chapter - I don't want to let go quite yet.
Until we see each other again, TheAmazingJAJ