Vincent "Vince" Wright (18) - District Seven Male
As the sun rose, Vince was shaking as he saw his sister's head drop to the ground along with her body a moment later. Those brown eyes were still open wide in shock, and Vince longed to see them staring at him in a different situation than this.
The boy still stood above Valerie's body, smirking evilly as he twirled his weapon around on the ground. At this, Vince saw red. This boy was going to feel Vince's vengeance for killing his sister, the light that had kept him going for the majority of his life.
And now that light had been snuffed out. But perhaps he had a newly ignited one waiting for him back home in Seven.
So, Vince stood, anger blinding any of his other emotions, adrenaline pumping through his body. The other boy noticed him after a few moments, smirk flashing back onto his face after a slightly surprised expression that one could have missed if they blinked.
"Here for round two?" the boy spat, clearly expecting it to be an easy victory for him.
Vince put a rather malicious looking smirk on his face before responding. "Are you?"
He clearly wasn't expecting that kind of an answer from Vince, and that gave Vince just a tiny sliver of satisfaction. He was looking forward to a much larger amount of satisfaction that would be coming his way after the boy suffered at Vince's hand for what he'd just done.
Though for now, Vince was done talking to this crazy freak murderer. He'd heard what the boy had to say all throughout their time in the Capitol, and Vince was sure that much of Panem would end up thanking him for getting rid of this stain on society.
He lunged out with his right leg and arm, feinting low to get the boy off balance. Funnily enough, he ended up falling for it, and stumbled a few more steps toward Vince, which allowed Vince to set his plan of action slowly into motion.
They continued on like this for several more minutes, and it was clear that his opponent was getting rather tired of the boring back and forth. That was good for Vince. The more irritated the boy was, the sloppier he would be.
It was exactly like how he'd found some of the more notorious people that he'd been told to seek out. They got bored of getting away with small things, so they shot big and were sloppy with their plans and cover ups.
There was also just a little fleeting thought that came and went through Vince's mind. This boy reminded him of Valerie's urge to always be in the entertaining action of things, but he was also a polar opposite of the sunshine that his sister represented. And with that sunshine gone, only darkness remained, but the world needed to end in balance.
But for now, Vince would continue to be the boring one, and he'd be the one to win when all things ended.
Ruga Palaemor (18) - District Two Male
It seemed that his opponent was beginning to slow down. Maybe he should have just run away when he had the chance. Nobody that Ruga would face would survive after he was done with them and it was one of the many perfect reasons for the Capitol to give him a very important new role in the Peacekeeping Force.
Ruga also felt that it seemed a little ironic that this boy was very similar to his sister, in terms of strategy and mindset. Both hadn't tried to necessarily run away, and they did appear to be fierce. Soon, another couple similarities between them would be the fact that they were both dead and had been killed by him, the future victor.
This was pretty fun for him. All Ruga was really doing was swinging his axe around, taunting the other boy as he dodged around. It was almost sad watching him, darting all around, looking all mad and upset.
But Ruga felt no pity. Pity was absolutely not even a word in his vocabulary. Pity made one weak, and weakness would always lead to the end of someone. Ruga had never been weak a day in his life, but he couldn't say the same about anyone else he'd ever been around.
He was just better, and it was obvious since he was here and others weren't.
Like Goneril, he thought with a rather large smirk on his face.
The battle was getting a bit boring for his tastes though, and Ruga was sure that the Capitol would probably think that too. Time to step it up a little bit.
"I hope you're ready to see dear sissy again soon," he jeered to the boy across from him, who'd just ducked under another one of Ruga's axe swings towards him.
That clearly made someone mad, judging by the look on his face and what he responded with.
"I'd beg to disagree. I hope your district partner has fun with dealing with you when you two see one another again."
Ruga rolled his eyes at that, annoyed at the fact that someone would even dare to think that they could defeat him. He was much stronger and much more prepared than this Outlier boy.
Except, something weird happened next.
The boy kept running around him, and soon Ruga began to stumble on his feet a little bit as the weight of his axe swung him in other directions than he wanted it to. Then, his opponent rushed at him all of a sudden and Ruga had swung his axe again at him pretty much at the same time.
The weapon had nowhere that it could really go, so as it moved, it grazed Ruga's arm instead of the boy's. The bright green of the poison on the blade's edges became smeared with red, and Ruga's arm began to burn as he could feel the poison working its way into his bloodstream.
No. This would not happen to him. Ruga was the better one, and the one that would survive.
But his eyes just wouldn't stay open, and he felt even more off balance as the boy kept going, seeming to get even stronger and faster with his strikes, eventually even disarming Ruga.
"Enjoy whatever pit you get stuck in, monster," the boy spat at him.
Then, he swung the axe at Ruga's neck, slicing through tissue and bone just as the axe had just done to the girl that Ruga had killed.
Boom!
"That was for my sister."
Natalia Maude (18) - District Nine Female
Another cannon had already gone off, but it didn't bring Natalia as much relief as she'd originally thought it would. There would still need to be three more cannons to go off before she could finally relax just a little bit.
She just had to be ready for any situation to come her way, and she needed to potentially be prepared for the fact that she might even need to kill all three people remaining. It was a justifying reason to kill, but it would be even more difficult to convince herself that it was okay that she'd killed four people if the situation happened.
It was a whole lot easier to forgive herself for killing one person in the Hunger Games rather than killing multiple people, but she would much rather be alive and feel guilty than be dead and regret not doing things to save herself even if they'd make her feel guilty about said actions.
God she just needed to stop thinking about all this so much. It was going to end up distracting her and that could be bad if it affected her while she had to defend herself from another tribute.
And of course, the arena couldn't help but not give her hardly any time to shake off her thoughts before she was faced with the exact thing that she'd just been thinking about: another tribute.
It was the girl from Four too, the strong one that had surprisingly chosen to not involve herself with the Careers at all. Natalia didn't blame her much for that choice though, seeing how the Careers really hadn't done all that well this go round.
Once the girl spotted her, she quickened her pace just slightly, but then stopped a couple of yards away. Natalia nodded to her, acknowledging the girl, who did the same a few moments after. At least they would be respectful of one another, and Natalia would much rather go out like this compared to dying brutally of the crazy Career boy that was left (assuming that the cannon that had gone off wasn't his).
Natalia drew her knife quietly, and the Four girl did the same, except she'd just slung her bow smoothly off her shoulder and grabbed an arrow out of her quiver, not yet notching it.
Maybe the fact that Natalia had an easier weapon to use this close could put her at a small advantage, but there was no telling, and Natalia wouldn't be surprised if the Four girl was still much stronger up close even with a bow and arrow.
Naymena Lachlock (18) - District Four Female
This was one fight where Naymena was a little on the fence about whether or not her opponent fully deserved the fate of the other killers that she'd taken out of the Games before.
Yes, Naymena was pretty sure that she'd killed too, but even from a distance away, she could tell that the girl was similar to her for the reason of only really being motivated to kill when it was morally the right thing to do. She really didn't want to have to kill this girl, although morals might sort of disagree, but there would be no way to both spare her and make it back out of the arena.
(That was mainly a goal in order to just spite the curse, not that she really had much to return to if she did win.)
So, both girls ended up drawing weapons (respectfully, of course), and it seemed that whatever happened next would be up to fate to decide. Now would not be a good time for the curse to butt its ugly head, but Naymena was equipped to deal with it if it did.
They were both just a bit slower than if they'd actually been fighting as foes when they first struck each other, but they weren't being lazy fighters either. Both kept up with one another for the next several minutes worth of back and forth strikes, and the battle seemed very even for quite a while.
Naymena was rather impressed with the other girl, commending her for her efforts at keeping up with someone that had actually been trained for situations exactly like this. This was of course mentally, with the fact that all people watching could hear the quiet noises of effort that the girls were making.
This continued on for a good while, seeming like hours of the girls sparring with each other. (Realistically, it was only a little more than half an hour.)
However, it was becoming slightly apparent to Naymena that the girl across from her was beginning to tire and slow down just a little bit more. Naymena kept up her pace, and in the next few minutes, her opponent's pace had slowed a decent amount.
Right now, it was her chance. Naymena took a deep breath and pushed all of her thoughts to the back of her mind. She was going to have to do this to overcome everything that she wanted to prove herself against.
And with her next strike, she was able to disarm the girl. It was a good move for her to make, plus it would be easier for Naymena to use the girl's weapon to kill her more mercifully compared to one of her arrows.
The girl seemed to have accepted her fate, eyes fluttering closed as she was partially sitting and partially lying on the ground.
"You were an honorable opponent and competitor," Naymena whispered to her. "I wish you the best in the afterlife."
She got a gentle nod in response, the girl also mumbling, "You too. I hope you make it all the way."
After that little respectful exchange, Naymena crouched down, now at the girl's level fully and brought the blade of the knife to her neck. Then, she quickly sliced, and the cannon soon followed a minute or two after the blood had begun dripping down the girl's neck.
Boom!
Naymena laid the girl down, taking a moment to close her eyes and lay her in a respectful position.
This was the only time that Naymena could allow herself to be that open to another tribute. Hopefully it would be a lot easier for her to just take out the other two that were left without having an exchange and thoughts like this.
She stood up, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for just a moment to calm herself and lock her mind away fully. It was time for her to focus.
But, as she was bending over to gather the supplies that she'd set down, Naymena noticed a glint from something just over the slope of a rock face that was a moderate distance away just a moment too late.
To her regret, it was another tribute, arrow nocked and released right when she stood back up, startled just a bit by the small reflection of something. It felt like time almost sped up, not giving her hardly any time to respond before the arrow hit her directly in the chest, making her stumble backward just a little bit.
Pain shot through her body, nothing like she'd ever experienced, and blood was beginning to drip down her front. Spots were starting to appear in her vision, and she kept stumbling around, until she finally collapsed on her butt.
Of course. The curse just had to strike now and in this way. After she'd overcome something, it had to knock her down far more than she'd advanced, and this time, she'd been knocked down to a level that she just couldn't sustain herself on anymore.
She was fading, and quickly. It was just something that she was going to have to accept. But still, why did it always have to win in the end. Even after all that it had done to the rest of her family, it still hungered for her end, and much to her disdain, it had finally gotten what it wanted: to end the entire Lachlock family.
But within all of the things buzzing through her brain, she was reminded of the girl that she'd just battled. How she'd accepted her end. Naymena would do the same, and perhaps they'd end up being even more similar than before.
Boom!
Zeno Capricci (17) - District Three Male
Zeno was kind of freaking out right now, and he had no idea what to do other than to keep hiding. It was a strategy that had worked for him pretty well so far, so why not keep doing what worked.
He'd heard the clashing of blades nearby a little while ago, which made him assume that the two cannons that had recently gone off belonged to whomever had been fighting.
Wait, there had been three cannons so far, and the last time Zeno had checked, there had been five of them left. Did that mean it was just him and one other tribute left? Could he really have the chance to make it out of here alive?
That seemed a bit wild to him, because he'd been terrified that he would be one of the first to be killed because he had no fighting or survival experience, but he'd apparently still made it this far.
All he had to do was keep hiding right? Or was the Capitol going to cause something to happen in order to bring him and the other tribute together for one final showdown to decide the winner? If that happened, it would be obvious who would become victor and who would die.
The only thing Zeno could do was hope.
He sat in that tunnel for ages, heart pounding and blood rushing through his head, stressing over what would happen. Nothing did; all Zeno could hear was the terrifying silence of the arena.
Until, a mysterious thundering noise started under him. That alarmed him even more than the silence. What was going on? Things began to sound like they were breaking under him, and soon, the floor of the duct felt like it was crumbling beneath him. (It was)
Zeno yelped loudly as he fell through the crumbling and breaking floor, and as he descended among the rubble, everything just went black.
Boom!
Vincent "Vince" Wright (18) - District Seven Male
The arrow had found its target, and soon another cannon went off, indicating that it was just Vince and one other tribute left.
One more person, he told himself. One more tribute to kill and he could go home. He could go meet his son.
But the question was, where was this last tribute? Surely the Gamemakers would want to draw the last two together to see some epic last battle of the Games before someone died and the other became victorious.
For now, Vince was planning on returning to the middle of the arena, back to that camp that he and Valerie had set up before they'd both left it. He would wait there for his last obstacle.
As he finally came up to the Cornucopia and the little parts of the camp that had been left, Vince was startled all of a sudden by an oncoming rumbling sound beneath the arena. The ground was even shaking below him. Was this an earthquake? What was going on?
Boom!
Wait, was that the last cannon that he'd been waiting to hear? Vince had a lot more questions now. How had it been that easy? Something strange had to be going on, but Vince wasn't going to ask any questions now that he was the one that was getting to leave the arena alive.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Vincent Wright, the victor of the 80th Hunger Games!"
Soon enough, a hovercraft came flying in, and a rope ladder dropped for him to climb on. He did so, and was frozen onto it like he'd seen before on the television. They reeled him into the hovercraft, and Vince felt emotional, not sure how to exactly accept his new situation.
No matter what ended up happening, he wasn't going to take the events of the last nine days for granted, and he was going to carry out his sister's memory for decades to come.
A voice crackled over the intercom in the Gamemaker's room.
"Retrieval was a success, ma'am."
"Good," Head Gamemaker Miroslava nodded. "We have many more things to do."
Final Kill Count:
The Arena - V
Ruga Palaemor (DECEASED) - III
Georgette Coiro-Metaxas (DECEASED) - III
Sublime Winterson (DECEASED) - II
Naymena Lachlock (DECEASED) - II
Vincent Wright - II
Goldena Powers (DECEASED) - I
Kasai Westbrook (DECEASED) - I
Valerie Wright (DECEASED) - I
Natalia Maude (DECEASED) - I
well, i think i just kind of shocked myself with the fact that we now have a victor. i cannot believe that the games are over now and we only have one chapter left before tcoa is officially done. firstly, i want to say congratulations to AstralKnight98 and Vince! secondly, i just want to say, thank you so much to everyone who submitted a tribute: sherazade96, LC-it-gets-better-alt-account, illuminating-spirit, EpsilonChix, Paradigm of Writing, tyquavis, rising-balloons, ladyqueerfoot, Team Shadow, Pacecca, AstralKnight98, Gomex, explosioncat, n3b, goldie031, MilevenShipper28, and Dante Alighieri1308, and to everyone else that has supported me on this amazing journey! you guys are absolutely amazing and i couldn't have done it without you guys. thanks so much to everyone again, and i can't wait to see y'all with the next and final chapter of tcoa!
Eulogies:
5th: Ruga Palaemor, District Two Male - poisoned and decapitated with his own weapon by Vincent Wright
I'm gonna be completely honest and say that Ruga was actually super fun to work with! He was definitely a lot different than the other tributes like Sublime and Kasai, and it was really funny to me to be able to get in a character as interesting as him. Kind of like Georgette, he did end up being more of a villain tribute, but he was a lot more obviously like that from the beginning, which also made him fun to work with. I also enjoyed getting to flesh out the conflicts between him and Goneril, and he definitely made the Career pack a lot more interesting. Thank you so much to LC-it-gets-better-alt-account for submitting Ruga!
4th: Natalia Maude, District Nine Female - throat sliced by Naymena Lachlock
I want to start off by saying that Natalia was my victor from maybe around day two to day three until just after I published day eight. When I first got her, I absolutely loved her and her little bounty hunting job so much, and I really enjoyed getting to write her and develop her arc! In the end, I did decide to change my victor simply because it made more sense for things after the Games, but I would have also really loved getting to write Natalia after the Games! Thank you so much to explosioncat for submitting Natalia!
3rd: Naymena Lachlock, District Four Female - shot in the chest by Vincent Wright
Naymena was also one of my favorite tributes, and she was also considered for my victor at one point. It was super fun getting to write a Career that technically wasn't a part of the pack but still trained for the Games, and her backstory also made her really interesting to me! I feel bad that the curse had to win in the end, but Naymena just barely didn't make it out of the arena alive. I also think that the last little interaction that she and Natalia had was a rather interesting take, since both had pretty interesting mindsets about killing in the arena towards the end, but Naymena was definitely physically stronger. Thank you so much to Paradigm of Writing for submitting Naymena!
2nd: Zeno Capricci, District Three Male - crushed by collapsing rubble
Zeno was another tribute with a really fun concept to develop! He was a great example of how far tributes can make it in the Games if they just manage to find a good hiding place, and it was so neat to see his outlook on Panem and how he could have gone about fixing it with his inventions! Sadly, the arena just won in the end. Thank you so much to EpsilonChix for submitting Zeno!
1st: Vincent "Vince" Wright, District Seven Male - victor of the 80th Hunger Games
Where can I even get started on talking about Vince. I absolutely loved getting to write his and Val's dynamic together, and they were such a fun pair to work with! Originally, Vince was going to be in around fourth place, but after day eight got published, I kind of changed my mind from Natalia being my victor to it being Vince, simply because I felt that I could do a lot more things with him rather than her after the Games. Not to mention the fact that he has a son that he can go see now. I absolutely cannot wait to write more of him in the future, and thank you so much to AstralKnight98 for submitting Vince! He makes an incredible victor!