President Fox comes on stage and smiles, opening up a card held in her hand. Delicately she unfolds and reads it to everyone. "Here is yet another scenario in which one of the three remaining Tributes wins. Give it up for second place!" Everyone cheers as the cameras flash the face of one of the tributes...

Coriolanus Adver, wrapping up second place! Congratulations.

    Finally, after weeks spent near-starving and losing their minds further each day, the tribute’s days in the arena were coming to a close. The clock was ticking, time was running short; with only three of them left, the Victor was a sure-shot straight ahead. Since the death of one more tribute, Asher Brix, the arena and its deadly creatures changed drastically, but who am I kidding, you all saw what happened on your television didn’t you? 

   Coriolanus Adver, only one of the remaining three, had been steered in the direction of the silver cornucopia, being chased there by the blood thirsty reanimated bodies of fallen tributes. His silver eyes scanned through the darkness, prepared for any attacks, that was all his mind thought of as he made his way to the cornucopia’s center. 

    Once there, the psychotic boy from District Five finds nothing. Absolutely nothing remains. Just an empty, shiny room. He instinctively kicks the ground, scuffing up his shoe in the process, out of pure rage. It seemed to the eyes of those watching from the Capitol that this was the boy’s only way of functioning; that through it all, he failed to manage his sanity, not that he ever had any back home, and thus became the Capitol’s own lapdog. It seemed his killings pleased them. 

    Momentarily he lingered there, until hearing the moaning horde behind him coming through the tunnel, then he took off to the outside where his eyes met lava; pools – no – lakes of it had already flooded half the arena. Despite the sudden change in scenery, Coriolanus’ smile only widened as he scanned his surroundings. A few of the fallen shuffled around at a distance; a few giant birds which Corio could only describe as horrifying circled what seemed to be a giant tower made completely of obsidian. Surrounding the tower huge spires of the same material kissed the sky. As those terrifying eyes one could only describe as being lovers of pain and companions of death searched the area, they found what they sought, and his smile stretched like rubber. Tay and August, still teamed up it seemed, were heading towards the great tower on a pathway through the lava. The insane child decided what would be the harm in going there himself to take care of them, and so headed out in their general direction. 

   He climbed rocks to reach a path leading straight to the tower, temporarily losing sight of his intended targets. The path was long and smooth, seemingly with no troubles at all. Reaching the great tower would be a piece of cake. His fingers twisted and clenched to fists along the way, narrow eyes spotting several hungry-looking Magma Wolves swishing through the molten lava as if it were just any sea. Their beady eyes bore into his skin, but nothing – I mean nothing – could scare this boy. With one dirty look, he let out the most horrifying scream of all time, and threw some pebbles at the monstrosities. Almost unbelievably, even to the Gamemaker’s who had not programmed their mutts this way, the wolves whimpered and swam away as quickly as they’d come. Corio then, feeling satisfied with himself, broke into the most horrifying laughter known to man. His bloody chucklings continued evilly as he trudged, all the way to the black tower. Capitol families back home had to send their children to bed, as, for once in a lifetime, the Hunger Games had become too gruesome for them to watch, all thanks to a special little boy from the district of power. 

  Several minutes later, when the clock rang almost to an hour, Coriolanus had reached his destination and now set out in search of the only remaining victims of his wrath – the armless girl and the baby boy. His dark hair blended well with the darkness inside the tower, but the same cannot be said for his pale skin, not even tanning from the hot sun which he spent so much time in. The clicking of his own footsteps, proud and bold as ever, become the only sounds to him as he trudged through the castle. Some find it best to sneak up on your victims, but Corio, oh he was all about the fun of killing them while they were well aware of it. 

    In one particular room of the obsidian tower, Corio found himself some weapons, much to the Capitol viewers chagrin. Honestly, they’d all prefer it if Coriolanus were the one to die. If he won the country would be up for...well, something far, far worse than a simple hunger-games. 

   A couple magma bats fluttered away as Corio selected his deadly assault weapons. He chose quickly and wisely, taking the deadliest weapon from the small selection. There actually wasn’t much there, some snare material, a couple knives, and the two swords which Corio seemed to fancy. He slid the two blades against each other, creating an echoing sound that most would find extremely irritating to the ears. Like nails on a chalk board, only worse. 

     Just before he could send his signature laugh spiraling through the echo chambers, a face appeared in the nearby door frame. Immediately his tom-foolery came to a halt, and he stared right through the face of Taystarian Gray. 

In a matter of seconds Corio was battle-ready, twirling his swords like he was some sort of professional, jumping over to Tay so as to get there fast. But instead of running away to hide in the many crevices of the tower, to maybe last a little while longer so she might come up with a strategy to kill her two enemies, Tay ducked to the right of her attacker and into the same room of weapons he now defended. The madman swung back, slicing air with his white blades. Oh he so wanted to soil the white with red...he liked red. 

   The armless girl stood her ground but kept her stance ready to launch away if he attacked again. She was defenseless, no weapons lay on the table that she could use without taking up a lot of time constructing it. All she had were her wits, which, sadly, were no match for the crazy psycho killer now armed with duel swords. 

    “Where’s your little pet, Four?” Coriolanus taunted through big, scary eyes, while tilting his head in the way that just screamed crazy. Tay trembled, though she stayed strong. 

   “We split up. Only one can come back, but you know that.” The girl explained. Already irritated by ‘too much chatter’ Corio took a big leap forward, slicing his sword down only to miss the agile girl. She leapt away just in time. 

   Both panting, but only one thinking, they took their stations once again, a staring, circling contest following. “Without him you’re all alone, poor little thing.” The boy took another jab at her, missing  by mere inches. 

    “It’s for the best, and besides, aren’t you missing someone too?” At the mention of dear Jess, who died by the hands of Tay’s ally, Corio fell deeper into the pit of insanity which he owned. 

   He launched forward, both swords up above his head only to come crashing down. One sliced part of Tay’s shoulder, just above the place where her limb had been cut off years ago. She let out a small yelp of pain, wishing she had a hand to clamp over the bloody line. 

  For a second Corio was lost again, numbness and then pleasure washing over his entire body as his eyes landed on the small specks of blood drizzling down his blade. The pure white, as he’d wanted, was tainted by blood. 

   He turned to his opponent, eyes wide with insanity as he asked; “Why did you come here, you know I’m going to kill you.” This got Tay thinking. She hung her head, the reason tugging at her heart. Corio had no heart, but he let her finish, curiosity overcoming him, holding back the urges to slit her throat and catch her blood. 

  The girl looked up, half surprised that she wasn't a carcass on the floor by now. She parted her lips to speak: “I know.” She whispered. He gave her a curious look, distinguishable by the way his head turned sideways and his eyes bore into her soul, smile stretching as far as his face was wide. 

   “Why do you think August and I split up?” She challenged, eyes meeting his, though terrified she remained strong. “You remember the bloodbath. Back in the beginning. You could’ve killed him, back then, but you didn’t.” She started circling him, seeing that she had the upper hand, and his attention, she knew he wanted to hear the moral of her story. 

   And he did. Corio began circling as well, silent, but observant. He kept his swords at the ready, though hesitating again to spill her blood. 

   “This may sound strange to anyone watching on TV –” she glanced directly at a camera on the wall. “ – but there really is a motive to your kills.” They halted, Corio’s eyes shifting from being cold and distant, to softer and more vibrant. Finally someone was beginning to understand. Shame it had to be someone he needed to kill. 

  “After the interviews I looked you up. I found out a lot about you, Coriolanus.” They began circling each other again. “I know why you killed your family. Out of mercy...” Corio lowered his weapons. “...your sister, well, she had cancer. And your mom, she had been beaten by your father. His death was no accident, was it?” Corio hung his head, swords lowered to the ground. “You burned the shed on purpose, to save your mother. You shot your sister because you loved her, she was in pain and you only wanted it to stop, so she could be free. You shot your mother because she was in pain, too. She was losing her daughter, her heart was breaking. You killed at the bloodbath as an act of self-preservation, I get that.” Now the audience was seeing a totally different side of the killer who masked his identity with a smile; they were seeing the side of him that Jess saw, that his family saw, and that Tay saw. Things were rapidly starting to make sense, or become even more complicated. 

  “You killed Scarlet Aspen because she was wandering into our camp, she would’ve freaked out, being so timid, and possibly killed or injured one or all of us. Although your intentions weren’t exactly to protect us – because you killed K-Kaleb.” The memory of her old ally and friend still hurt her, but she continued to reveal all of Corio’s secrets before the world. “You killed him because he killed Jess – whom you actually cared for, the first person you cared for since the death of your family. You killed Jemima Electra out of mercy, she was injured, and poured her blood on me to seem crazy. That's what you want, right? For us to think you're mad? And finally you’ll kill me, to protect the one person we both want to protect, to save the life of the boy who actually has something to go back to, unlike us. This whole time your goals have been in line, all your actions have been thought out and planned out completely so that in the end, only one can survive this – August.” 

  "You're lying." Corio accused, afraid to lift his mask of insanity the world forced him to wear. "How do you know this?"

  "Because, I know! I just know." She cried. The two teens stared at each other, no words were spoken, no majorly significant looks exchanged, they only watched. Back in their homes, the Capitol citizens began to sympathize with the mad boy. And maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t so mad after all. 

   “I know why you want to protect August.” Tay spoke at last, breaking the silence. Corio still held his weapons down, now having second thoughts about his kill. “Why?” He asked as though he didn’t know himself. But deep inside, he did. 

   “Because, like you, August is losing someone he loves. Back home there is a little girl dying of cancer, just like your sister. Right now she needs August, and your goal ever since the interviews has been to protect and preserve August Rush so he can return to the girl and be with her in these last moments. And that, Corio, is an act of true selflessness.” Once again, stares were exchanged. Unbelievable was the story, as shall the ending be. Fate is a funny thing, and when trifled with, can be deadly. “To just cast aside all your own feelings of self-preservation after just one interview revealing the secrets of August, man, no one can compare. You are unlike anyone else in the world Corio, you have a heart, a true heart.” Coriolanus looked down and away, smile vanishing from his lips. 

   “You know,  when I look at you and I see that big smile spread across your whole face – I don’t see a monster. I see a shy, scared boy whose home life had been ruined, and who just wanted to be loved. When you smile Corio, people shouldn’t see it as insanity, they should look closer. Your smile isn’t insane, it’s just really, really big, like your heart.” The boy turned, smile stretching from ear to ear, only this time everyone viewed it differently. And, she was right; he didn’t look insane, he looked timid, and happy. Tay smiled, stepping closer to the boy, and nodding to his arm which held the sword. 

   “Do it.” She begged. His eyes stayed locked on hers, knowing what he must do but now, now his heart was breaking. Already too many people who understood him had died, she could not die too. It would not be fitting. He could not stand it. 

    “Do it.” She repeated, tone steady, unafraid. Then again, when this was all over, Coriolanus’ body would be dragged out along with all the others. Ultimately, it was August who was going to win. Raising his hand to do the deed, his eyes wavered a moment. It was only now that both teens realized the fondness in each others eyes; the light. They were not dying in vain, this was for the perfect cause; August. 

   Tay closed her eyes, and Corio slit her throat. In a fluid motion it was over; Tay’s head was removed from her body, toppling over and crashing to the floor. A tear slipped through Corio’s eye as her screams echoed the chambers while she was still very conscious when decapitated. In slow motion her head bounced around, and Corio leaned down on his knees. 

  “I’m sorry.” He whispered to her, just as the life faded from her eyes. “You understood me.” The boy continued. But she was already dead. 

  Horrified by his act, gazing at her blood on his blade, though now all of Panem understood that those looks cast toward blood were not because he was obsessed with it, but because he was horrified by it. So horrified he could not look away. 

   Corio lifted his sword in front of him, blade aimed at his chest. He took in deep breaths, thinking of August and Angel’s reunion. He smiled, that same, slithering smile that crept its way to the very corners of his cheeks. In one long sweeping motion he stuck the blade to his chest. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

.

But....nothing happened. He opened his eyes and the hilt still poked out from his chest, but he felt no pain. He was not in Heaven for sure, nor Hell, as far as he could tell. He was in the same place; the tower in the arena. So why was he not dead? The confused boy pulled his sword out with a cringe, only to straighten up his posture when he again felt no sense of pain whatsoever. Was it something in his sponsor gift? Maybe that iron put something into his blood... 

    His mouth dropped when he held the hilt of his sword at arm’s length; there is nothing wrong with the hilt of your sword, whatsoever, except that this one he held in his hand had no blade. He felt his chest; it was not stuck there, so where was it? And why wasn’t he dead? 

  “No.” He mumbled, searching the floor with his hands to find it. This was like a dream, one from which he could not wake. Cursing under his breath and still finding no sword blade, he took up his other sword, holding it the same way as the other and thrusting it into his abdomen. This time he was a witness to the following catastrophe. As the tip of the blade met his skin it began to disintegrate into millions of tiny, white dust particles. And as he moved the blade further into his stomach, the rest of it began to blow away in the cool breeze. Stuck in shock and horror, Coriolanus began to realize what this meant; he could not kill himself, August would have to lose...No, just because I cannot kill myself, doesn’t mean he can’t kill me. With that thought kept front and center, he made his way out of the place where Tay’s body lay headless and down a few corridors to find the kid. Mentally he prepared himself, but feared August may not be prepared. The poor boy never made a single kill, it was tragic and heart-breaking. To think that Corio would be his one and only kill...then going home to live with that. It was almost unbearable. But, Angel needed him, Corio knew that. 

At last his troubles were rewarded; August huddled in a corner, swarmed by gargoyles in a far room, one very near the golden throne of the victor. The twelve year old was stuck in a corner, guarded by gargoyles, but something else prohibited escape; he stood at the end of a very precarious looking support beam laying across a hole in the tower floor, about a hundred foot drop down into a pool of smoldering lava. 

  Smiling in relief, though to innocent August insanely so, he ran to the little boy’s aid. “Get away!” August screeched, batting his hands not at the gargoyles, who lashed at him and cut him, but at Corio who approached at an alarming speed. The younger boy screamed, cowering behind his hands, stuck in a corner. Immediately Corio took action, fighting off the gargoyles with his bare hands, bruising and cutting them in the process while trying to keep his balance on the beam. But with no weapon, and the knowledge that suicide wasn’t an option, Corio felt confident. At least a few of the beasts flew off, leaving only a couple for Corio to fight off. He looked down and reached a hand out to August to help him, but the boy remained in his place, terrified out of his mind not at all by the mutts but by the psychopath. Corio tossed August a knife which he managed to swipe from the room before leaving, and mouthed the words ‘kill me’ to August, who held the knife like it was gold and looked at Corio like he was insane. 

   “Kill me!” Corio screamed, fighting off two gargoyles who were soon joined by a third. August desperately looked around for his ally, then for a way of escape. But there wasn’t one that didn’t involve gargoyles or a raging psychopath. 

   “You have to kill me!” Corio begged, being constantly beaten by the flying creatures made of stone. August had no idea what to do. Sure in training he aced the knife throwing section, but killing an actual human being was asking too much. All he wanted was to run. But run where? Maybe he should just jump and get this over with...he shook the thought from his head. Angel wouldn’t want that, if she were still alive and waiting for him. 

  Corio begged once more for August to kill him, before finally making a move for the boy’s safety zone between two other support beams. The gargoyles had mainly lessened their attacks, but still persisted, following Coriolanus. August began to scream and fight, praying for a way to escape the monster coming at him. If only he knew, Corio wasn’t a monster... 

    “Kill me.” He muttered again, insanely close to where August stood, knife held close to his chest. Corio, in an act of desperation that was going to cost him, made a move for August’s knife, merely intending to get the boy to stab him in the heart. But it wasn’t Corio’s heart that was stabbed, as a gargoyle distracted him for a split second, and one wrong move was made. August’s body was pressed against a wall already, hands gripping the knife close to his chest; Corio moving scared him, and he pulled back a little too far just as Corio’s hands went for the knife, and it was lodged inside of the twelve year old's boy. His face went from stunned, to pained, to hopelessness. As Corio realized what he’d done he reached out for the boy, whose lifeless form fell from the beam and into the lava. The moment seemed to last an eternity, Corio staring into the pool where a gentle splash was made when the body hit. His entire purpose had just been tossed down the drain, everything he’d worked for in the arena, gone. In a split second. It took a while for him to come to grips with this, to accept his fate as the victor of the 70th Hunger Games. The mutations all stopped attacking; they split apart, revealing a pathway for Corio to take. Still in shock by the sudden death, he could only follow it. They lead him deeper into the tower, passing several rooms with things and various weapons in them as they moved along. At long last, the trail ended at the very top room in the tower. From here the entire arena was visible through the windows, and a golden throne sat in the exact center of the dark room. Two Magma Wolves sat and guarded it, at first growling at the approaching boy, then relaxing when a speaker overhead announced this year’s victor. 

   Corio crumpled into the seat, still stunned, still hoping he might be able to take it back. But death had already wrapped its grimy hands around August’s body, he was gone forever. “No.” He whispered before the sound of a hovercraft came from above to take him to the Capitol. His life was doomed.