115th – Jay Enerhodar, District Five
…
When she realizes that her last opponent is Jay, Mariela almost sighs in relief. Jay of all people will understand, even if he has his grandmother back home. He'll have finally seen reason and he'll get it.
"Jay," Mariela says.
"Mariela," Jay says.
She can't read his tone, but he looks…well, he looks like a monster. Blood is dripping down his coat, staining his face, trickling out of his hair. But it's—it's going to be okay. She knows it has to be okay. "You know what we have to do, right?"
She steps toward him, knife clenched in her hand as it drips someone else's blood.
"You know how this has to end," she says.
It's going to be okay. Lucienne is going to be okay. Mariela is going to go home and be with her daughter again. In the time they've been apart, Jay has to understand now that her daughter is more important than his grandmother.
He's just staring at her. He's watching the knife in her hand, and Mariela bursts out, "I don't want to fight you. Please, Jay, Lucienne needs me more than your grandmother needs you. Just let me go home to her."
She really, truly doesn't want to fight him. He doesn't deserve that. But he just wasn't getting it before. She doesn't understand why he can't see that his grandmother has lived a whole life and her daughter is only three. The two aren't comparable at all.
He wouldn't dare, right? He won't attack her. There's no way he could live with it, right? She has to believe that.
It would be…so much easier if he would just let her kill him. It doesn't matter, none of it matters! She needs to go home to her daughter. That's all that matters.
He's going to attack her. She can tell. She can see it in his eyes, see it written all over his bloodstained face. No, no, she'll make this work. She just has to make one last appeal, right?
"You don't want to do this, Jay," Mariela says. You don't want to make my daughter an orphan, right? How would you feel if your mother died before you even got to know her?"
"I don't know," Jay says. Mariela jumps. "I think your daughter will feel similarly to me."
And he attacks. Fuck.
Mariela brings her knife up to block his attack. She can't let this happen. She has to go home to Lucienne. Lucienne doesn't have anybody else. Her father abandoned them as soon as he learned Mariela was pregnant. Mariela's parents have been dead for years, and she has no siblings. Lucienne will grow up in the Community Home, without any love or care.
Mariela buries her knife in Jay's shoulder. He screams, writhing on the rain slick ground. He rears up, headbutting her and knocking her backward. No. No.
Before she can do anything, he's straddling her torso, machete in hand. She grapples with his hands, trying to shove him off, but nothing's working. Nothing's working.
"Jay! Jay, stop! Fuck!" Mariela shouts. "Fuck!"
Jay's machete sinks into her chest. Mariela screams Lucienne's name as the machete tears back out. He stabs her again, and she doesn't stop screaming.
She doesn't stop screaming until she dies, and there's nothing else she can do.
a/n: jay was made by son of arryn for the 2022 victor exchange.