Announcement!

If you have reserved a spot in Venus, please get your characters in soon otherwise the spot will be opened once more.

And now, the moment I have been waiting for, the final showdown! Who will win out of Janae, Marzio, and Clarissa? Is there an exit? Read on and find out! Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy!

Nathalie smiled as two hedges blocked Belinda's path. Not at Belinda's misfortune but at the fact she had yet to be cut off. The arena couldn't keep up with the scattered Warriors and was having trouble blocking all their paths. But there was one problem. She knew she wasn't running in the wrong direction. Nero ran in front of, quickly dodging hedges that tried to cut off his path.

"Nero!" Nathalie called breathlessly, The well-built boy grunted as he looked back at the girl who was starting to slow down. After running for half an hour, Nathalie was having to admit that her body was reaching its limits.

Her legs were starting to buckle from under her, her feet unable to keep to a straight path anymore. So, with worn out eyes, she looked up at Nero and frowned. "I can't do it anymore," she panted as she slowed down, rounding the corner. Nero glanced over his shoulder at the girl, her eyes wide and mouth hung open. "Nero!" she screamed, her voice hoarse.

At first, Nero thought Nathalie was alerting him to Evelyn who dragged her infected leg slowly behind her. Then he looked past her, to an opening in the labyrinth, circled by fog. Stood at either end of the opening were two Peacekeepers, guns held tightly.

A smile spread on Nero's face. "Evelyn!" he shouted to the dark haired girl, yet she only grunted in reply, her stubbornness propelling her towards the exit. For her, it was now a matter of life and death. Nero sighed as he turned to run but just as he did, something large ran at him from either side.

The dark haired boy stumbled back, falling to the sandy ground. He watched in horror as two large hedges blocked the path, Evelyn and the exit. They wanted to see Evelyn run for the exit with her infection. Just the thought made Nero's blood boil.

Evelyn understood the plan too but she did not feel anger, only the need to push herself to prove them wrong. There were no hedges to stop her now, and it was only a hundred meters. A distance Evelyn, a healthy Evelyn, could run in her sleep. Yet now, she dragging her body to the limits. Pulling her numb, swollen leg behind her, her lungs sore with illness and vision blurred from her puffy eyes. The only thing she could stay focused on the small amount of light that was in front of her.

Just then, a mechanical sound run through the Arena. Like a siren and a bright light, almost like the sun. She squinted at the lights. The most she could make out was that they were numbers. Single digit numbers.

It was then, despite all the pain, she forced herself on, pushing through the pain as she reached out her hand towards the exit, shuffling, inches away from freedom and victory.

"Five, Four, Three," as the Ryken started to speak these numbers, Evelyn flung herself at the opening in one last attempt to reach it.

"Two."

"One."

There were three doors that circled the gladiator arena, the sandy earth still bloodstained from the fallen. Marzio, Clarissa, and Janae were lead out individually from one of the three doors, being escorted to the center.

Each Warrior looked broken, holding a large, circular shield and spear tightly in their hand. Clarissa could barely stand, she had to be dragged to the center. She had been patched up well enough to survive her wounds but she was still yet to recover from the blood loss.

The three-eyed each other up but there was no battle to be had with each other, something that made Marzio smile. The three of them would be no fun to watch in the battle, Clarissa was almost dead and Marzio and Janae would not have been the most interesting battle. Both used their gift of outsmarting to win their battles, there was no such thing when facing each other.

Marzio looked towards the large, wooden doors that stood before him, the terrifying sounds of spears against shields on the other side. The shapes of humans clear from between the gaps in the shrunken wood.

"Welcome, Gladiators!" Ryken cheered, flashing his handsome smile at the Tributes. Neither of the three reacting, Marzio was straight, Clarissa was gay and dying and Janae just didn't care. "You have reached the final battle...a battle where we will say goodbye to all but one of you." The crowd whimpered, some people fake crying for the camera, a display Marzio visibly turned his nose up at. "To show our gratitude towards your loyalty for the Capitol by killing your friends, we are offering you a chance of freedom. If the three of you are able to kill everything we throw your way, we will let you walk free. However, if even one of you dies, only one will win and that person will still have to enter the Arena."

The crowd cheered on the offer but the Warriors felt sick to the stomach. They all knew it was a cruel twist to play with Clarissa in the condition she was in. The girl couldn't even stand, her knees buckling from under her as she fell to the ground. Janae knew that Ares would have fought with a more gentle touch if he knew her lack of health risked all three of their lives.

"Are we going for it?" Marzio asked as Ryken finished up his speech, holding his spear tightly.

Janae shrugged. "It's worth a shot. If one of us dies, doesn't really change anything than if we didn't try." Marzio smirked, offering his right hand, that was covered in a leather glove, towards Janae. The younger girl smiled, taking the boys hand in her ungloved one and shaking with far more strength than he expected.

The doors started to creak open, two peacekeepers pulling them open by strings. Marzio frowned, maneuvering around so he was stood over a shivering Clarissa, Janae followed suit. "Make sure whatever comes at us stays away from her, she is the weak link, they will target her first," Clarissa mumbled a protest to Marzio's plan but she could not hold her weapon, let alone form words.

The three Warriors turned towards the doors as they opened, the dusty air clearing to reveal nine well-known figures. Loretta, Pallas, Romilda, Ares, Annabella, Berik, Tori, Maurice, and Vulcan. Yet, their bodies were rotten, the wounds from their deaths crawling with maggots and the skin that clung to their bones were torn and rotten. Some, like Pallas, had missing eyes yet he still seemed to make eye contact with Marzio, a smirk forming on his crumbling lips.

"Watch out, Annabella and Ares will attack you...you killed them." Janae could not reply to Marzio in anything more than a nod, her eyes looking deep into the frosty ones of Annabella. She rubbed her hand against the edge of her shield as she looked on as the blue-haired girl snarled at her. Annabella's green tongue almost falling out of her rotten mouth as she let out a primeval battle cry.

The other eight followed suit, charging in unison towards the living Warriors, their various weapons thrust into the air. Marzio envied the fact that they held their preferred weapons while he was stuck with a spear. Then again, the boy was not sure how well electrical currents worked on the dead.

Some were faster than the others, Tori and Loretta being the first to reach the three. Just like Marzio had predicted, they went straight for Clarissa, Tori aiming his silver throwing star at the girl. Thankfully Clarissa had enough energy to pull the shield over her head, the weapon lodging in the wood.

Just as Tori got ready to throw enough star, Janae quickly broke away from the group, charging at the boy and throwing her spear into his eye. "Hit them in the head!" Janae shouted towards Marzio who was waiting for Loretta to come closer for him to attack her.

Seeing Clarissa was open, the blonde girl charged at her with a high pitch scream. Marzio left Clarissa open to thrust his spear at the girl, pushing it into her mouth and out the other side. Once her body had become still, Marzio kicked her from the end of his spear and ran back to guard Clarissa.

As he turned, she found Pallas, looking down at him, his empty sockets looking deep into Marzio's brown, almond-shaped eyes. The blonde male raised his sword but was unable to hit Marzio, instead slumping to the ground, a knife in the back of his head.

Janae smiled as she pulled the knife free and turned her attention back towards Clarissa who was growing weaker by the moment. Marzio jogged to joined her but by now, the other six dead Warriors had joined them and were attacking them from all areas.

Janae was taking on Romlida, Annabella, and Berik while I was faced with Vulcan. The dark haired male swung his sword at Marzio, the short boy ducking underneath his swing. In Vulcan's split second of loss concentration, Marzio jabbed the spear up towards Vulcan, piercing through his lower jaw and into his head.

As he kicked Vulcan's body away, he glanced over to Janae who was now a few feet away, straddling Annabella and stabbed her knife into girls head until she became still. Marzio noticed that Janae was using her gloved hand to fight and felt a pang of guilt flood his body.

"It burns!" Janae screamed through tears. "My hand burns-"

"Focus!" Marzio screamed as he looked around frantically for Clarissa. He found her trying her hardest to push Romilda away from her as he tried to pry the shield away from her. "Fuck off!" Marzio bellowed as he pulled the spear and threw it towards Romilda.

The weapon lodged itself in the boys head but it was too late. As he fell to the ground, Berik pushed his dagger into the back of Clarissa's head, her cannon sounded straight after. As the dark-haired Warrior's body slumped to the ground, Janae let out the most blood-curdling scream she could muster.

"What have you fucking done?" she screeched, holding her red, swollen hand tightly.

Marzio took a sharp intake of breath. "I couldn't risk you being full health," he said apologetically. Only now did Janae notice Marzio's leather glove that he shook her naked hand with was missing, discarded before the fighting even started. Then she remembered the darkest yet most overlooked thing about Marzio. He always trumped the Warriors when it came to poison and irritants. Marzio could make either in his sleep so he could make them in their current situation, he just needed the right contacts. Then she remembered Pallas' death by poison. How Marzio seemed so calm and ready for it, the same way a man who just gave a broken poison would act.

She had never felt such anger inside of her as she did when she pulled free the knife and threw it with her gloved hand. It was not her dominant hand but it hit Marzio in the shoulder nonetheless. The boy screamed as she pulled the knife free instinctively and threw it to the ground.

Janae was still angry, reaching for her spear as she rose to her feet. "You fucking slimy dickhead-" She was cut off as with a clean cut, Maurice swung his sword at her, cutting free her head from the neck.

Marzio watched in shock as her youthful head rolled across the arena. His eyes stayed fixated on the sight as the final three Warrior mutts, Berik, Ares and Maurice bowed before him, their weapons lowered.

Marzio felt his body become numb as the crowd stood before him, chanting his name and clapping in his honor.

"May I present to you, your champion gladiator, Marzio Ottone!" Ryken bellowed to the screaming crowd yet Marzio did not feel happy. He felt lost. He felt like a victor but he wasn't one. He still had to fight twelve more of the people he had grown up with. The thing is, Marzio was not sure he wanted to anymore.

The scream Evelyn let out was like none Nathalie had heard before. Evelyn was now crying for Nero or anyone else, she was crying as now, her infection would be able to kill her.

Nathalie felt sick. The blank, unmoved looks of the Peacekeepers as they watched on, making no attempt to help a weakened Evelyn. No to mention their trust in the Warriors. A normal Tribute would have thrown a spear into their head. The Warriors? They were trained to respect Peacekeepers so would never dream of such a thing. Only now did it hit Nathalie that Peacekeepers were trained to see them as Tributes and nothing more. The hours they had spent watching them grow up meant nothing now.

As she watched Evelyn pull herself to a standing position, with the help of her spear, the anthem echoed through the Arena. Yet, there were no faces to show. Only the symbol of a hammer, burning in the night sky. Then Ryken spoke once more.

"Over the past twelve hours, the eliminated have been fighting for the honor to fight alongside you. Eleven have died but the victor will be joining you very soon. I hope you will give your champion a warm welcome." and with that, the anthem ended and the symbol vanished, leaving the Warriors in awe. Confused but frightened that someone, one of them, killed eleven of their friends and was going to try and kill them too.

For the first time, Nathalie felt untrustworthy. Nero no longer looked attractive, he looked deadly. Damon, who ran to Evelyn's side, along with Shelly, no longer looked amused. They all looked like killers. Then there was Evelyn who hadn't changed since before the Arena.

Just as Nathalie's eyes darted over to the girl, something spilled through the air, lodging itself in Nathalie's stomach.

Blood pushed it's way through Nathalie's throat and out of her mouth, dribbling down her chin. As she fell to her knees, she didn't feel betrayed. If anyone was going to make the first real kill, it would have been Evelyn or Shelly. Even when ill, the Two girl was able to get a fatal shot in.

"Go!" Evelyn growled at Nero as she fell to her knees. The boy giving an understanding nod as he vanished around the corner, not wanting to pick a fight from the girl who was from home. Damon and Shelly paid Nathalie little mind as her canon sounded, their minds focused on getting Evelyn to safety.

15th Place-Clarissa Silvia, District Eleven

Snow would have never allowed Clarissa to win, not with her cult following. That was why I placed her in the eliminated. She would have done well in the Arena, smart and cunning. Sunbeam will miss her. R.I.P Clarissa.

14th Place-Janae Rayon, District Nine

I honestly thought Janae had this in the bag. I thought Marzio would have been hated after his stunt during trained. Janae was an interesting character who played on her young looks. Her face claim was also one of the most child-like I got. R.I.P Janae, you will be missed.

13th Place- Nathalie Sibylla, District Five

Nathalie was just unlucky, she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She should have run with everyone else and foolishly thought Evelyn might still be interested in allies. R.I.P Nathalie, you are with Janae now.