There were two more passages leading into the room, and Will got a very, very bad feeling.

"There are more coming!" he yelled at Nico.

Nico looked like he was in shock. "What?"

"More tributes! See?"

"No."

"We have to run, Nico!"

Nico was too slow to move, and Will wondered if this is what he had been like when Lou died. How long ago had that been? Will couldn't remember. It seemed like years that they had been in the Arena. So much had happened. Lou had died. Will had allied himself with Nico. He hadn't killed anyone, but Nico had. (They had kissed. Will reddened despite himself.)

It was too late, as Katie Gardner came sprinting into the room. She had a knife. She was covered in blood.

Katie and Will's eyes met. Will knew what had to happen.

One of them had to die. And it wasn't going to be Will's alliance. He ignored the fact that he would have to kill Nico to live. "Sword."

"No."

Will almost screamed at the expression on Nico's face, and for a moment, he really did believe that Nico was going to break the alliance now and kill him. But no, Nico just charged at Katie.

Will hated feeling useless.

Nico just felt dead inside. He had killed Zoe. He had killed Zoe.

He had expected it to feel good. Satisfying. He finally had avenged Bianca.

Then why did he feel so empty?

Because he was a killer. He was no better than Zoe had been.

Will…Will wasn't. Will was everything that Nico wasn't. Nico wasn't going to let Will put himself into danger. Yeah, Nico wanted to go home. If it came down to the two of them (not, by the way, as statistically improbable as it had been days before), he would probably kill his fr—ally.

But not yet.

Katie charged at Nico as he ran at her, holding her knife aloft. Nico got the first hit in, stabbing her arm, but Katie pulled back and twisted around, grazing Nico's arm with her knife. Nico briefly remembered the poison that Will hadn't been able to cure. That knife wasn't poisoned, right?

"Nice face," Nico baited his opponent. "What happened to you?"

Katie didn't answer, and Nico had a feeling that she was tired, or at least more exhausted than he was. That was good for him. Nico went on the offensive again, forcing Katie backwards with each blow. His arms had become more used to holding the sword aloft. His swings were less wild than they had been on the first day. Nico was grateful that he had picked up the sword. It had saved his life many times over.

Finally, Katie slipped up. She fell for one of Nico's feints, moving to the right to block while Nico stabbed left. With a start, Nico realized that she already had two other open wounds on her arm, and not from him. She had fought someone, probably killed someone, recently. "Who?" he asked.

But Katie gritted her teeth, coming back low and fast, trying to get under is guard. She was close to him. Very close. Nico easily cut into the side of her led, and Katie screamed. But by being close up with a knife, she had more versatility. She stabbed him. It was only by the grace of something big that the blow wasn't fatal. It only hit his shoulder, sending him staggering back. Katie yanked the knife out. Nico felt woozy as blood rushed out of the wound.

He felt tired. Very tired.

He had been tired for a long time. His anger…that was all that had been keeping him from falling asleep. All this time.

He shouldn't have volunteered.

He didn't really regret it.

Someone was saying something, something watery and warbling, at some point above him. Nico felt his sword ripped from his hands. He hoped it was Will. That would be good. Nico might have eventually allowed himself to love Will, if things had been different. Nico imagined a different world. A place with green meadows, houses for everyone, a place where it didn't rain or snow unless you wanted it to. Friends, maybe. Strawberry fields. Nico had had a strawberry once. Bianca gave it to him for his sixth birthday. It tasted good.

Nico didn't feel pain, or regret, or emptiness.

He felt nothing.

A cannon fired, but Will refused to believe that it had been Nico's. Somewhere out there, the fourth tribute must have died. That was the answer. There wasn't any other option. All Will had to do was defend Nico, just until Katie was…gone…and he could heal him.

Katie felt tears stinging at her eyes. Two. Two kills. She was a murderer, worse than a Career.

No! They trained! They wanted to do this! They volunteered!
A laugh burbled in Katie's throat. Oh. I volunteered too. Right.

Not like they did! For all the right reasons! I wasn't gonna let Miranda die! Better me than her.

Better anyone but you. You killed someone, remember?

She had killed two people, yes.

But didn't that mean that she had to fight all the harder to get home? She had gone to far to lose now. She had to fight her best, kill whoever it too, if it meant making it back to Miranda. She'd atone for the murders later, in a time when she could. But not now. Just not now.

There's no going back.

Katie ran at Will, wishing she had a sword and not a short knife. Still, Will was obviously unprepared, and Katie got a good hit in to his right hand, moving in a flurry of motion to scrape up his shoulders and chest. Still, it was all too superficial. Katie felt weak, and she knew that she was badly wounded. Will pushed her back. It hurt. A lot.

Wincing, Will switched his sword to his left hand. It felt wrong. He stood in front of Nico's form. Nico wasn't moving. Or making a sound. But he wasn't dead. They had come through too much for Nico to die. They would be the Final Two.

And then what?

A sob tore its way free of Will's chest.

Nico was dead. Or, he would be soon. And Will couldn't save him. Not if he wanted to live.

Will considered himself a peaceful person. He didn't want to lose himself in these Games.

But he had to.

One. Lou Ellen, dead on the ground. Two. Jason, dead somewhere, somehow, because someone was a murderer and because Will couldn't save him. Three. Hazel, leaving him for Frank. Four. Annabeth, dying of poison because Will couldn't save her. Five. Nico. Gone. Gone forever.

And why not? Six. Austin, not volunteering for him.

Will let the anger consume him as he charged at Katie again.

Katie sensed some sort of change in her opponent. His blows were erratic. His swings went wild. But he had a lot of force behind them. And he just kept coming.

Katie finally stopped trying to block any of the blows and turned around, running away. She chose the tunnel she hadn't come out of. Maybe she was miscounting the cannons. Maybe it was just her and Will left in the Arena. Maybe she was one step away from home. She couldn't stop now!

But she was tired. And slowly bleeding out. And she couldn't run forever. She turned, to find Will there. He crashed into her, sword-end first.

Katie had never felt anything so painful.

"No!" she choked out. "I…I'm not…"

"I'm sorry," Will whispered.

Katie did not accept the apology!

She couldn't be dying!

Final Two! Final Two! She just had to kill…him…first!

Miranda…

She was going home! Katie was going to go home! She tried to lift her arms, slit Will's throat.

Miranda!

Katie raised the knife…killed him…the cannon fired…the trumpets rang…and she was going home.

Katie fell.

It had been a nice dream, at least for a while.

Katie focused on her sister's face.

Miranda would live a long life because of her.

That would have to be enough.

Katie's cannon rang out, and Will collapsed, sobbing. He had killed someone. He had killed someone.

And Will wanted to let himself be consumed by guilt! He deserved to have that happen to him! But he couldn't!

Will knew that he had to keep on fighting. Somewhere in this godforsaken maze, there was another tribute. Will just had to kill them.

And then he would be going home.

Home. He was almost there. He had never imagined that he would be going home again.

There was that same ominous rumbling noise that had sent him and Nico running for the first time. Will stood up, and moved forward. The tunnel was collapsing behind him. I hope you get your good camera shots, Will thought, surprised at the thought.

He started jogging as the collapse came faster, running faster and faster with every rock that fell.

And almost tripped over his last opponent. Walls came down behind and in front of them, giving them a long, not-very-wide rectangular room to have the last battle in.

Of all the tributes left, Will didn't expect it to be Hazel.

Will wanted to believe that he wasn't sure whether he could kill her. But he wanted to go home so badly. He could almost taste the clean summer air of District 9, hear the guitar melodies that Kayla would play.

Hazel didn't even stand up. "Hey, Will."

"Hazel." Will didn't know why he responded to her. She looked almost dead already. Will wondered if this would all just be a big nightmare, something he'd wake up from. He almost wished that it wasn't. If he went home…he would be safe, forever. His family would be safe and secure.

"I'm glad it's you," Hazel mumbled.

Will didn't understand what she was saying, but the ceiling rumbled, making Will's heart go faster. "Hazel…we have to fight."

"No, we don't," she mumbled. "Just kill me."

The ceiling rumbled again. Hazel laughed. "Fine. I'll fight you."

Compared to everything else, their final battle was quick. Hazel had a shield, and Will had a sword. Will, afraid, regretful, made the first few moves. His sword rang on her shield, loud and clear. But then Hazel started swinging herself. Will wanted to move to her side to try to get a clear shot (he was thinking about killing his former ally what was wrong with him?!), but he couldn't. Not with the tiny space that they had.

Hazel was almost going home.

She didn't want to, not without Frank.

Frank Frank Frank…

But there was just something so tempting about life.

She didn't have anything to live for, not like she knew Will did.

But she wanted to live anyway.

Did that make her a bad person? What made a good person? Was it really her fault if she was bad? Didn't that just make her a victim of circumstance? Frank had killed Grover, she knew. But was that really his fault?

Hazel gave some more conviction to her blows.

One of them hit Will in the side of the head, and he fell, groaning. Hazel hit him again. She couldn't let the cameras realize that she didn't want to live. They'd kill her family and Will's. She wished that Will would get up and kill her, in a way. But if he wasn't going to fight back…was she supposed to let him win? No, right?

Again and again, but Will wasn't out yet…

It was the most pain Hazel had ever felt as the sword entered her stomach. Hazel stumbled back, the weapon still in her. Will had stabbed her! He had tried to kill her! Hazel didn't know what she wanted, sure, but she would never know if she died!

She screamed as she yanked the sword out, stumbling forward, something awful shifting around inside of her (would her guts fall out?) and stabbed Will in the stomach before falling beside him.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, hoping no cameras would hear her.

"Me too," Will said.

It hurt. Will's everything hurt. Home…think about home…

It hurt. Hazel's everything hurt. Frank. Frank. Frank.

Hazel almost thought that she could see his kind eyes hovering above her.

Together, the last tributes waited for one of their cannons to fire.

Tributes:

D9: Will Solace
D10: Hazel Levesque

NICO: A lot of Nico's personality was consumed by his burning desire for revenge, one that we see in play a lot in BotL. Still, while this made him a good catalyst character, it stopped us from seeing all of the little moments. This story could have gone very differently if Nico had given up on revenge, instead spending more time learning about Will, opening up, and learning to let go of the past. I think that a lot of people expected Nico to win, and he certainly could have. Still, someone so consumed by revenge would feel a little empty once achieving their goal. I'll miss Nico and his short-lived relationship with Will. RIP, Nico. I hope you see Bianca again.

KATIE: Katie was kind of a surprise finalist. She never got much screentime or much attention from anyone, kind of floating around the edges on her own. I originally had her put down as a much more active character, killing a few people ad eventually winning, but then I changed the Arena design and that changed everything. I think that what made Katie stand out was that eventually, she was willing to do anything to get home to her sister. She was absolutely devoted to Miranda, and would have done anything for her. Katie should have gotten more time to be developed, but sadly, she was ignored for the more dynamic characters that surrounded her. RIP.