Tesla Mason, District Five Male, 17 years old
It's still surreal for me to think that I, Tesla, killed Calloway. He was a nice guy, sure, but that's not why it's hard to believe - he was the guy from Two. Those guys never die, or very rarely, yet I killed him. Sure I took advantage of past injuries he sustained but that's besides the point. He's gone and now there's a real chance that I'll win the Games.
I had spent the night sleeping inside the Cornucopia and, when the light floods the inside of it, I wake up and decide that I need water. I'm sure that if it came to it I'd be able to pull through in a fight but I don't want to take any chances in decreasing my energy. The lake is the closest source of water and I know if I go now I might be able to miss Dion waking up. I say that because as I walk outside I can see Candella in her tree, sleeping. Knowing she's not a threat at the moment, I pay her no mind as I pick up a few spears, some food, and the last remnants of my water supply and run in the forest.
It doesn't take me long to get to the lake, maybe twenty minutes tops with me running, and I'm glad to have not seen Dion throughout my journey. I don't doubt that he'd be some serious competition but I'm confident I could take him down - maybe I should hide out though until he kills Candella so I don't need to do that myself. There's a lot of decisions to be made but for now I focus on filling up my water bottle, taking large swigs of it, before filling it back up again. Today'll be the last day of the Games for sure and I want to be as energised as possible.
With both my water bottle and the canteen I brought with me filled to the brim, I stuff them in my backpack and make my way back to the Cornucopia, keeping my spear held offensively just in case I see either of the other tributes.
Today'll be the roughest and hardest day in the arena since the Bloodbath.
Candella Cartwright, District Seven Female, 15 years old
When I wake up one of the first things I do is look into the mouth of the Cornucopia from where I am in my tree to see if I can see Tesla. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, I don't see him and then I begin to worry. I then look down to the ground around me, making sure he's not stalking me and waiting to kill me. When I'm sure he's not there, I lean back against the trunk of the tree and exhale loudly.
I gaze idly down and see a large rock and my mind begins to go into a thought process; while my knives have proven effective by killing Brock, I'm not too good at throwing them and dropping a rock on someone has a better chance of damage than dropping a knife. Doing another look around the arena, I clamber down the tree and run to the rock. It's not too big where I can't carry it comfortably but big enough where it'll seriously hurt someone if thrown with the right amount of force. Tucking it under my arm, I begin to climb the tree again to the best of my ability. It's harder climbing with one arm, really, let alone having a rock to heave up too. But I make it - my determination makes me make it.
Again, I lean back against the trunk and cradle the rock in my arms. I don't care if I throw it on Dion or Tesla, either will do.
That's when I hear the snap.
I look down and see Tesla creeping up to the clearing of the Cornucopia. I glance from him to the rock to him again and make my decision there and then. With as much force as I can muster, I throw the rock down on top of him. I close my eyes as I want for the sound of the impact, the sound of something cracking and then the canon, but none of that happens. Instead there's a silence. I look down and see that Tesla moved out of the way in what seems to be the nick of time. He looks at the rock for a few seconds before looking back up at me and I know then that I need to escape.
I try to scramble and pick up my bag but it falls off the trunk, falling to the ground but it works out in my favour - it distracts Tesla enough to mess up on his aim of the spear and it misses me. Standing up on the branch I'm on, I make the daring leap to the branch over, and then the next one, and then the next one, all while missing spears being thrown at me.
He's getting frustrated - I can hear the simple profanities being whispered under his breath. I keep on jumping from branch to branch until I get to the point where, around the Cornucopia, there's a decently steep incline which causes Tesla to stop advancing. I turn to face him and his eyes are on me, his final spear raised and prepared to throw. Giving him one last glance, I jump to the branch before it snaps.
In the few seconds that I fall I can see his spear disappear into the forest as the branch I was going to jump on breaks away into little pieces, half under my weight and half of his attack on it. I hit the ground with a resounding thud and, for a few seconds, all I feel is pain. I can hear a ringing in both of my ears that gets louder and louder until it stops, and that's when I know I've died.
BOOM!
Dion Ouyang, District Ten Male, 16 years old
As soon as the cannon goes off the anthem plays and, in the sky, Candella's face is shown. She was a sneaky one - if I win I'll have to see if she's responsible for any deaths when the victor watches them all. But I've got bigger problems to worry about first.
I was on the other side of the clearing as I watched Tesla advance on what - or who - I assume was Candella. I walk across the clearing swiftly, sword raised offensively and clutched so tightly that my knuckles go white. I can't see Tesla at first when I get to the side of the clearing that he was on but, with a few steps, I see him at the edge of the incline, looking down.
I don't know what he's looking for but I don't care - in that moment my instincts take over. I charge at him, jumping over roots and logs before I tackle into him, sending him down the incline. I slip too, inevitably, but there's a lot more control to my descent; unlike Tesla who falls at the mercy of gravity, 'oofs' and 'ughs' sounding the area, I'm able to somewhat control my decline until I'm at the bottom.
It takes me a second or two to get my bearings and, when I do, I barely have time to register where I am before I feel a sharp pain to my cheek. Stumbling back, I look to see Tesla with his fist raised, that clearly being the reason for my pain. He looks bruised - the fall hasn't treated him nicely. His once perfect nose is wonky, broken, and an eye is already swollen. He looks at me for a second before charging again, ready to punch me. I didn't pay too much attention to Tesla before, but even I can see that he's putting in all his effort to survive.
I move out of the way, albeit just in time, and he missed, swinging at the air. The only time I was taught to handle a sword was during the training days and I'm apprehensive to use it but, with the sheer will to survive, I raise it and bring it down on his arm, dismembering it from the rest of his body. He howls in pain as he stumbles back, falling over a branch and hits the floor. I can see that his head makes contact first; it bounces once and he groans.
With a breath, I walk over to his body and look at him. He's writhing in pain but I mean, I would be too if I had just fallen down a steep hill, lost an arm and fallen unexpectedly. I look away as crouch over his body before hacking, hacking like I've seen the butchers in Ten do. He screams in pain, and he keeps screaming. So much that it's almost unbearable and I nearly stop. But then it goes silent.
BOOM!
Dropping my sword, I look at him and see that I've made a mess out of his chest. His face, whilst un-moving and oddly calm, still shows the remnants of the pain he felt in his last few minutes.
I look up to the sky, or what I can see of it through the trees, and I can see his face displayed in the sky. There's some silence before a voice booms throughout the arena.
"Congratulations to the Victor of the 70th Annual Hunger Games, from District Ten, Dion Ouyang!"
And then it hits me. I'm going home. I'm going home because I won the Hunger Games.
Eulogies:
3rd - Candella Cartwright, District Seven Female, killed by Tesla
Ahhh, Candella! You were the one that I kept swapping. First you were meant to die in the Bloodbath, then you survived. Then you were meant to die to Phantom, but I didn't think you deserved that. For some reason I kept falling in love with your character and almost let you do what you want. I'm sure it'd kill you if I told you that you nearly escaped Tesla but he's smart - too smart for you. Thank you so much to Skyheart033 for submitting Candella!
2nd - Tesla Mason, District Five Male, killed by Dion
TESLAAAAAA UGH! I had mixed feelings about you, honestly. I know some didn't like that you were recycled but that didn't matter to me - in fact I was honoured that your submitter said I was writing you well! I never knew how I felt about you because you were that well rounded. I loved giving you the whole battle with Victoria where neither of you could do it and part of me thinks it's sad how in your final moments you went a lil crazy for survival but that's the vibe I got from you - calm, composed with morals until the very last moment and I don't doubt that you threw it all away just for that fight. Originally I had placed you around the 10th mark but I fell in love with your character and I'm glad you made it to 2nd! Thank you so much to kgeesy for Tesla!
Remaining Tributes:
Dion, District Ten
Alliances:
N/A
Solo Tributes:
Dion, District Ten
Victor: Dion Ouyang of District Ten!
Dion! When you were first submitted I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU OK and you were my personal favourite tribute but that didn't mean I was going to be easy on you. aha, lmao. You somewhat fell in love with Ellie, though I'd say it was more admiration and a close friendship, and you had to watch her die. You had to throw away the pacifist morals you had to kill and I think that was hard on you. In terms of the polls you and Calloway were tied for top, so I left it to the reviews in the final chapters and you came out as a victor people would like to see. The people had spoken and, well, they spoke in your favour. Thank you so much to SparkALeah for Dion! He was a pleasure to write!
AHHHH! WE'RE DONE! OMG
I'd like to thank everyone who submitted - you guys really made this happen!
The next two chapters will be the victory parade in the Capitol and then Dion watching all of the deaths, I think. We never really see the post-Games stuff and I thought it'd be fun to provide that.
Dion'll also be featured in my other SYOT, the 100th HG, more than likely as a mentor of sorts.
I'm so thankful that you all stuck with me for this journey! :)
I might make another SYOT in the next few days but university is coming up (23rd Sep!) and I've got two other SYOTs so don't count on it! (It'll probably happen but I can't tell you when - would you all like a quell or a regular Games?)
As always, reviews make me happy~!
For the last proper time this SYOT,
~ Oli