A/N: This was SUCH a hard decision for me. More about that below. Without further ado, though, your finale!


The eleventh day


-Kendal, D7M-

I wake up from sleeping.

After Kade died, Riella's dot hadn't moved at all, and from there I figured that she was sleeping. I decided to risk it.

I'm tired of this. I'm tired of being here. I want to be back home where I belong. Maybe I thought at one point that I didn't have a chance, but I do. I do have a chance. I can get back home. And, at this point, I would do anything to get there. I have so much to prove. I have so many people that need to be inspired. I have too much to lose. And, dang it, I'm not going to lose it all now, not after everything I've been through. Only one more person is in my way.

I'm. Not. Running. Any. More.

I'm ready for her when she's ready for me.

I want to be back home with my parents and Aunt. I want to be with Agata. I want to make a legacy.

I want Panem to sit there and watch this little brown, pansexual demiboy from District 7 do something as catastrophic as winning the Hunger Games. I want Adler Shelton to have a heart attack at the thought that this kid who nobody thought had a chance is going to live across the street from him. I want him to dread it. I want him to watch Cobra be successful and get the heck away from the District that has abused them for so damn long. I want to be brave in front of the nation and tell all the kids out there who don't fit on the gender binary that they're. Not. Alone.

I'm so tired of feeling alone. I'm so tired of feeling like a second-class citizen. I'm tired of being abused and dehumanized and just sitting there and just having to take it with a smile on. I'm tired of being quiet. I'm tired of people that make us the bad guys when we're only asking for some basic decency.

Nuh uh.

No longer.

I will do anything to get back home. And when I get there, I'm going to change things. You just watch me.

"I'm getting out of here," I say as I pull the map up to see where Riella is. "You're gonna be sorry, Shelton. You're going to be so sorry."

I'm going to kick Riella's ass.

"I'm going to win for people that have never had a voice. For people that have been told all their lives that they have no chance. We do have a chance. We're not wrong. We have as much of a chance as everyone else."

I'm ready to be back in District 7, where the breeze smells like pine and the autumn brings piles of leaves to jump in. Where the library is pitiful, small, and all the books smell like rotten eggs. Where the pages were yellow even though they had once been white.

Pansexuality, or omnisexuality, is the sexual attraction, romantic love, or emotional attraction toward people regardless of their sex or gender identity. I think about the pages of those book, in which I'd been immersed the morning of my reaping, preparing to tell my parents and aunt. A demiboy, also called demiguy, is someone whose gender identity is only partly male, regardless of their assigned gender at birth. I take a deep breath visualize the pages with the flags on them.

We're not alone.

It's about time that I prove that to the entire nation.

The thought of seeing Agata's perpetual bitch face again makes me laugh and cry from desperation. The thought of hugging my parents and telling them I love them and never letting go. The thought of moving into a real house, a home, with my Aunt and taking a workload off of her shoulders. The thought of reaching out to a people that have so rarely been reached out to. The thought that I can stand up on a pedestal and say whatever I want to people that need to hear my words. They want something to divert attention from the disasters of the Gamemakers. I can help with that. I don't want to scare anyone, I want to inspire them. I want to help out those in need.

The thought that I can keep on spreading light, just like my sponsor note said.

And, though it's not very likely of actually becoming reality, the thought of seeking out that guy from District 1 is still there, too. As silly as it sounds. Yeah, yeah, it's unreasonable, but I have to incubate what little imagination I have left.

I want to see the world. I want to learn about everything and use this to make changes for the better. I don't want to hunt down the Capitol like I'm sure Riella does. I didn't spend too much time with her but I know the kind of person she is. If she goes after this crazy new guy that's been saying he's the President, she's going to be in trouble.

The outside. What's happening out there? I have no idea what I'm even getting back to. From the sound of it things are pretty messed up. It's going to take someone that knows how to solve problems one step at a time, no matter how tedious. I want to make peace, first and foremost. These are things I don't think Riella has in her. These are impacts only I can make.

I want to win and prove to Adler Shelton that there's strength in teamwork. I want to prove that brains can get you places. That pansexual and confused are not even close to synonyms. That nonbinary doesn't mean unloved, or alone, or abnormal. That brown skin is not a crime.

I double check all of my supplies, making sure they're organized. I don't want to kill Riella while she's sleeping, so I decide to let her start moving first.

I know that the Games have to end today, soon, and can only hope that everything works out how I want it to.

Riella's dot starts moving and I prepare my supplies to meet her face-to-face for the first time since she and the Careers killed one of my own.

~.~.

-Riella, D7F-

I'm so close.

I'm so close to Andy.

After the battle with Kade, I decided to lay down and get some sleep. The stab wound he made in my stomach luckily didn't hit anything vital, so I wake up the next morning in pain but ready to fight.

I rub my eyes and wince as I sit up. The pain may be intense, but more intense is my drive to get home. I see a sponsor parachute coming down just then and reach over to grab it. Inside is a roll of bandages. I sigh and take them out, wrapping them around the wound. They're quickly bloodstained, but it's better than nothing. Inside is another note.

"Good luck, be brave, remember what's waiting for you at home."

I swallow hard.

I'm not going to pretend that killing my District partner is going to be easy. I know it's not going to be. It's going to be really hard. I would hope that it'll be really hard for him to kill me.

This is someone who shares your home. Someone whose allegiance lies where yours does. Someone whose family I will always have a risk, however small, of running into when I'm at home. It's not going to be easy. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to do it.

For Andy. For Maggie. I'm going to succeed.

As soon as I finish eating a breakfast of jerky, I force myself up on my feet and start to the other dot on the map. Kendal's barely moved since I came here, but I don't care if I have to chase the kid down. I will do anything to end this before they put one of his loved ones' lives on the line, or even worse, Andy's. I keep walking, having to stop every few minutes because of my stomach. That's the other reason I need to end this quickly. Get this treated before losing blood makes me weary. I should probably be resting to let it set, but I can't stop now.

I've been through too much pain and fear to die. I've watched so many people die. I've been tormented by so many ghosts. I've been drug through the fucking wringer and if you think I'm going to be Miss Happy Smiley Victor when I get home you're mistaken. I'm going to make sure that those in charge know what happened to not just me, but all of us here. It isn't fair, us being left here with no answers as to why this is happening to us.

I keep going, drinking from a canteen to keep my energy up and to try and keep from being light-headed. It's so hard to stay focused.

I had no doubt I had it in here to make it this far. After all, that's why I was so ready to volunteer for Andy if she had been the one that was picked. I knew that I could do this. I knew I could make it to this point if I just stayed smart and strategic. I never meant to make friends, but I did. It's human nature. My allies were killed one by one. Callum by his own District partner, who thought he would slow us down too much. Maggie by torture and fate and hell. Iridesce by… Probably the same thing.

Andy and I are going to live in the Victor's Village together and nobody will bother us there. We'll be able to live well and I'll be able to buy her a ring. We'll never be apart and we'll never have to as much as see my parents' faces again. Every morning I'll wake up to her face. We'll eat breakfast together. She'll hold me close as we watch some pointless TV program. I'll make her lunch. We'll go on a walk outside in the woods and look at the trees. We'll have an evening smoke. Maybe sometimes we'll shower together if we just can't wait. We'll spend our nights together just like before. I'll fall asleep in her arms.

Sure, I'm not going to be who I was. But it's not going to matter because Andy loves me well and I would do anything for her. Maybe it'll be hard. But if anyone could handle that, it'd be me. Kendal is too sweet, he wouldn't be able to take it. He'd feel too guilty. He wouldn't use the power he had. He wouldn't seek justice for those that were lost, he'd be too timid and afraid. He would let them make excuses for what they did to us. I can't let them get away with what they did. Never again will tributes have to go through what we did. I will ensure that. I will win justice for everyone that lost their lives.

I keep my eyes on the map and keep walking. The Arena is so desolate and quiet now. Not that it wasn't desolate and quiet before. But now it's just sad. It's not even tasteful. The roller coaster I'm walking towards is a heap of nothing. I realize with a start that they may not have retrieved Maggie's body from within the rubble yet. I don't want to find out if they did or not. It wouldn't surprise me if she was still there. These Gamemakers have been notoriously awful at doing their jobs.

I keep walking, eyes focused on the maps as I get closer and closer to the other dot. Maybe he's still sleeping. Maybe he's trying to hide. No, he's smart enough to know that hiding won't do him any good when I can see where he is on the map. He knows he's going to have to fight me sometime. He's probably just preparing himself.

I keep walking. I have to make it home. I approach the dot and start to look for Kendal's silhouette in the distance. This is it. All I have to do to win is

My feet are whipped out from under me and I cry out as the wound on my stomach is stretched.

The world is upside down.

Dammit, Riella! One stupid mistake and you're here! I immediately start to look for a way out of it. How could I have been so stupid!? I was so focused on killing Kendal that I completely forgot his most powerful weapon. The same thing he used to kill Callum. And I walked straight into his trap like a fucking idiot! Andy had to watch and yell at her TV and I couldn't hear her and now I'm here. Dammit, I underestimated him!

"This trap was brought to you by the letter H." That's the first trace I've heard or seen of him since we met earlier with the other Careers. Any other year, this bullshit would have been taken care of. It would have had to be an epic fight. Now, I'll be lucky if I even touch him before he finishes me off.

"This isn't fair!" I shout at him, trying to break free. "You fucking coward! Too afraid to face me head-on so instead you take the coward's way out! You're nothing but a scared little boy!"

"To face you head-on would have been a death wish, sweetheart," he says. He sounds different than he was when we talked on the train. I struggle to reach my axe, knowing that if I can just reach it I can get free, somehow, some way…

His eyes meet mine in my struggle. "We've all suffered too much. But I have too much to get back to."

This can't be the end! It can't! Not of me! I keep struggling.

"You COWARD!"

"It's called using what you've got. Like you would've used that axe to cut me to pieces."

"Please Kendal!" I resort to begging. "Make this a fair fight! Please! Please don't kill me by playing dirty! Please!" I squeeze my eyes shut as my stomach screams out in pain. "PLEASE!"

His next words are dark and heavy. "I promise I'll look out for Andy."

I know what's coming. I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing myself and gasping out, "I'msosorryAndyIloveyoupleasestaystrong-"

Kendal's knife digs into my chest, causing me to scream out in pain.

The world becomes a burst white and I leave the one who needed me the most to face the horrors of the world all by herself.

~.~.

A/N: Okay, so… You're going to look at the results of the poll and see that Riella outscored everyone by a bit of a landslide. And I'm sure that people may be pissed off at me because she was definitely the crowd favorite. But, as the author, I refused to choose a Victor that didn't feel… Right. Trust me, I've rewritten entire scenes before because they didn't feel right. Another thing, this wasn't anything personal at all. I promise. It's fully about the characters, not the submitters. Think what you want about that, but I will sleep well at night with my decision. If you're mad, then just don't submit to Danzón and get on searching for other SYOTs, there are plenty of them. I chose the Victor based on who I could connect to the song, who would tie up the most plotlines, and really just who felt right to me. After all, I'm the one that's going to continue writing with him. Plus, an added bonus was giving someone their first Victor! :D

That being said, I hope you enjoyed the finale! And Cloe, thank you soooo much for Riella. Man, it really was such a hard decision between this two, I can't even express to you how hard it was. I was back and forth for weeks, maybe even months. But, as I said, I'm at peace with my choice, and I hope you are as well. But, you should be incredibly proud of Riella, and we'll definitely hear from Andy again soon.

So, that's it. We have our Victor. And tomorrow I'll post the District epilogues, and then I'll post the final epilogue and… That'll be it. Wow, I can't believe it.

So, thank you so much to everyone who submitted tributes to me. I'm so sorry that all 24 couldn't have won, but I hope that you are satisfied with the outcome. Thank you all so much for your characters and for your support and reviews on this crazy journey of a year in which we've all grown so much. Okay, I'll stop being sappy now, I'll save it for Monday XD

Stream tomorrow! I may write epilogues or Afterlife!AU, or just draw. Still not sure. But I'd love to see you there!

Chapter Question: Thoughts on the Victor? Which District epilogue(s) are you most excited to see?

I won't be posting scores here anymore but I'm still keeping track.

Once again, reviews are always appreciated.

With everything in me I thank you all for your support and kindness. And, of course, thanks Jess for Kendal. Can't wait to write more with our 84th Victor!