Soli Deo gloria

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Hunger Games or Disney.

OH MY GOSH HERE WE GO YOU GUYS WE'RE AT THE LAST CHAPTER HERE WE GO. Oh, and Guest (who asked about the anthem of Disney) the anthem is that song that plays when you watch an old Disney cassette and the logo shows up and then there's GLITTER AND SPARKLES and then DISNEY appears. Look up the Disney logo on YouTube or something, it should be there because it is awesome. Oh, and kudos to MysteryGirl7Freak for the ending!

Here is the point of view of Rapunzel!

Eugene takes his last breath and I feel like I want to scream. Cry. Sob. I feel like I want to be so loud from all the pain I'm in, but instead, I just look at him sadly, choking on sobs.

After a minute or two, I gently wipe the hair out of his face before I stand up and back away. I wipe at my eyes as I back away until I walk into the cornucopia, and I use that as a support as I watch a hovercraft show up.

A claw lowers picks him up, and he rises into the air.

There's this sign, from the districts. It's an old sign that means respect and almost . . . like a thank you. As I watch him rise, I put three fingers from my left hand to my mouth and raise them up as high as I can. He deserves respect. He was protecting me, and he's gone because of the Capitol's horrible Games.

The hovercraft disappears and I hear trumpets play as the voice of Goofy says over an intercom, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce the victor of the Seventy-fourth Disney Games, Rapunzel Corona, the victorious tribute from District Eight!"

The roar of crowds from the Capitol fill the arena along with the noise that the hovercraft makes as one appears, a ladder coming down toward me.

Gulping, I swing my braid over one of my arms and hold onto the ladder as it takes me up, the sound of hundreds of people cheering in my ears.

Why are they cheering?

Once I'm up in the hovercraft, I'm swept up by several white shirted people, all sporting crazy haircuts and spewing furious orders to each other. I'm put on a gurney, and I begin to panic, wondering what they're going to do. I struggle, saying, "Please, please, what are you doing?" and then I see black when a sharp pain enters my arm, and I black out.

I wake up sometime later in a white bed. I open my eyes to see yellow light filling the room I'm in. It looks like I'm in a box, for I don't see any doors or windows. I sit up, gasping. At least the house I lived in in District 8 has windows and a door, though I rarely use it.

I'm wearing a bedrobe; I try to pull the white blanket closer to me, but then I see my hand and gasp. My fingers had been covered with tiny faded bits of paint, and now they're gone. I had a cut from one of the leopards' claws, and it's gone. My hands are seemingly flawless. My fingernails are perfect looking, and I pull back my blanket to see that my legs are hairless, flawless looking. I look around the room, shocked.

How can I look so flawless when I'm just this little girl who survived the Disney Games? The Capitol has done this to me, and while I look better, I don't look so much like me.

Suddenly I hear a noise and I gasp when I see an Avox girl come in with a tray.

I don't know what to say as she sets the tray on my lap. Broth and water. Sounds good. Some normal food that's not dried or foraged or roasted. Something that doesn't look like it's from the arena. The arena is the last thing I want to think about. I want the arena to go away, like a bad dream.

"Thank you," I say, and she quickly goes. The Grand Duke had told me that you're not supposed to talk to an Avox unless you're giving them an order. I hope I don't get her into trouble.

I stay in the room for several days before I'll allowed to go. My clothes are put out for me to wear to see my team; the clothes I wore in the arena. A blue tank with a black jacket. I put boots on over my shoes and socks that go up to my knees and a pair of dark tan pants. They feel slightly more tight, and I wonder why. I don't think I'm eating as well here in the Capitol with their delicious but small portions of broth and bread and applesauce as I did in the arena with our berries and meat and such.

I gulp, feeling sick in my stomach. This is the outfit I wore when I won the Disney Games. This is the outfit I wore when Eugene died.

I sniff slightly, and just wish I were home, where I can sew and paint and live with Pascal and not have to be here.

The wall slides open and I leave the room, my blonde braided hair trailing behind me. It's just gold now. I had covered with it flowers in the arena. They're gone now.

I look around curiously. I'm in a hall, and there are lots of unopened doors. I look down the hall and in a chamber at the end of the hall there's people I know. I sigh in relief when I see them. Jaq. Gus. The Grand Duke. Fairy Godmother, my stylist.

I throw myself at Gus, who gives me a hug, saying, "You did good job, Punzie!"

"Yes, yes, good-good job, Punzie," says Jaq, patting me on my back.

I want to nod to acknowledge them but instead lean against Gus's shoulder and shudder. A tear slips down my face as the Grand Duke says, "My dear, we must keep on schedule." He turns and says, "Fairy Godmother?"

"Yes, Rapunzel, it's time to get ready," says Fairy Godmother as she gently guides me so that she has an arm around my shoulder. I sniff and lean against her as she leads me to a room.

Within a few hours, I'm picture perfect, and I feel miserable. I'm wearing a pretty pink dress and soft pink shoes. My nails are done in pink and my hair is braided with a style in the back. I would rather have my hair loose, but when I had tried practicing walking for my first interview, I had fallen when I got tangled up in it.

"My goodness, do you look pretty. They wanted to cut your hair so that your head was lighter but no, no, no, I told them she has beautiful hair that must not be cut," says Fairy Godmother, looking at me with a smile.

She looks at me with happiness but all I can feel is sadness for all the dead tributes.

I sniffle as I munch on a strawberry as she leads me to my place to go up on stage. She hands me off to Jaq, who leads me to a plate that's supposed to go up to the stage. I gulp. It looks like the plate that I stood on that took me to the arena.

"Come on now, Punzie, get on it," says Jaq, and I obey him; he gives me a hug and leaves. I tremble. This interview is going to be broadcasted, live, all over Disney, and I'm trembling. I don't care much, though. I'm about to see everyone who went into those Games being killed again. And I'm going to have to smile through it.

As my plate rises, I feel a jolt; I wish Pascal was here. He'd be able to make me feel better. He's good at that.

I rise and the first thing I see are tons and tons of bright lights. They clear, only slightly, as the sound of the crowd and cameras fill my ears. I see the giant crowd; I put a hand over my open mouth in shock.

I feel so small as I look around the stage; I see my team, my prep team and Fairy Godmother and Jaq and Gus and the Grand Duke, sitting in their own special spot; then there's Genie, who has been hosting the interviews for forty years, dressed in a purple suit with gold lining.

I see the night and a rainbow of people, and colors I've never seen before. I hear Genie saying something, and I turn to him and say uncertainly, "What?"

Everybody laughs and he says, "Why don't you join us, Rapunzel?"

"Oh," I say, and I walk over and take a seat opposite him. It's yellow and soft and big and I feel awfully small in it. I feel really small looking around at everything because all of this is for me because I survived their horrible Games.

I gulp and look at Genie, who kisses my hand nicely and then leans back in his chair, saying, "Welcome, welcome Rapunzel, winner of the Disney Games! How does winning make you feel? Have you . . . absorbed it all yet, the fact that you won?"

"Not really," I manage in a nervous, giggly voice. "I've just been so overwhelmed."

Genie nods as the crowd laughs and says, leaning forward, "That's what happens when you come back to the Capitol. It's normal, don't worry."

"Oh. Good," I say, and he nods with a smile on his face.

"Now, Rapunzel, tell us, did you have any sort of strategy going into the Games?" he asks me next.

I sigh quietly and say, my voice coming out easily instead of nervously, "I headed into the Games with the idea that Eugene and I would stick together. I would grab a weapon if I could, and see how far I could go."

"You went far, I'll tell you. Rapunzel, if Eugene had not been stabbed at the end, do you think that you would be the victor right now?" Genie asks.

I can feel the anticipation of the crowd as I say slowly, "I'm not sure I can answer that, Genie, without lying in some way or form."

"What do you mean by that, Rapunzel?"

"I'm not sure I would win. Eugene is a great competitor," and I secretly know, in my heart of hearts, that Eugene Fitzherbert would have died anyway so that I would win. He had told me, back in the penthouse, that he was just an orphan criminal in District 8, and he'd just go back to be killed by some accident. He actually had promised me that he would keep me alive, and he said that he never broke his promises. Ever.

I believed him, and he carried out what he set out to do.

"He was, he was," says Genie. He smiles and turns to the crowd, saying, "Shall we get to the Games, then?"

They cheer and we all turn to look at the big TV screen. The people who broadcast the Games have edited down all the time that I was in the arena down to three hours. I gulp as I remember I have to watch twenty-three deaths.

It plays, and we watch it mostly in silence, though there's some random cheers occasionally. I sink lower in my chair, the soft material folding into me. I watch only when I feel like I can bear more pain. I realize, as I watch the little kids go, that I'm going to be a mentor next year. I'll have to go visit all the districts and then train one of the kids that's Reaped to survive the Disney Games. The sad life of a victor is not all glitz and glam.

I sink lower and begin to play with my long blonde hair.

Soon the program ends and everyone claps as we all stand. I smile for the cameras, but it's forced. I've never felt so miserable in my life.

The Rulers come onstage; and the one everyone calls Mother Gothel steps forward and gently puts the victor's crown on my head. "Congratulations, Rapunzel," she says quietly in an arrogant sort of voice, "the end of the Games was quite . . . heart-wrenching."

"Thank you?" I say quietly.

"Rapunzel," she sighs, "there is nothing I hate more than mumbling."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am," I say. The crowd is screaming too hard to hear anything we're saying, which is just in fact between us two.

"Oh, it's all right, Rapunzel," she smiles, and she pats my head, smushing my hair as she says, "can't wait to see you next year!"

She leaves and I curtsy to the other Rulers, who all nod their heads and then turn and walk away, their long coats and silly hair trailing along with them.

I get to sleep in my bed that's in District 8's penthouse, and it feels a little bit like home. I wear a tank and shorts and end up in a cocoon in the covers. I clutch my token that I brought from home. It's a piece of purple fabric with a gold sun on it. It's made out of old spare rags, though I like it. I couldn't bring in Pascal (which I never would have done even if he was allowed) or one of my paintings, so I brought my piece of fabric.

I let my thoughts go back to the Reaping and the goodbyes. I didn't get many, for I don't know many people, but Pascal, panting heavily, had made his way over to say goodbye, and then, to my surprise, the mayor and his wife of District 8 came to see me.

The mayor's wife has long, dark brown hair and looks regal next to her husband, who was greying slightly. She had said quietly that she and her husband came to say goodbye to me, though they had never really met me. They just . . . felt like I couldn't go into the arena unless they saw me. She had suddenly reached out and we slowly hugged while her husband watched, and for some reason, I felt relieved and safe, even for a moment.

I felt like someone had loved me then. I wonder now as I get into a more curled up position what they think of me winning. Are they happy? Are they glad, relieved?

I get little sleep and I wake up to my prep team in my face. I smile at their smiles, a tired smile, and they get me ready for my last interview before I go home.

As I eat a muffin as they wash my hair, I realize that I get to go home. I get to go home. After all this happening to me, I get to go home.

I get into a sunny yellow dress that shines and my hair gets put up with orange flowers that look like lilies and then I go to a secluded stage where Genie is waiting with my mentors and my escort.

They settle me in the regular interviewing chair as Genie drinks coffee while getting his beard done.

"Morning," he says, "how have you been doing?"

"Fine, I guess," I say.

"Hey, Rapunzel, I want you to know that I think you did great in the Games," says Genie with a smile as his head gets pulled about.

"Thank you," I say, and he nods as his stylists leave and the cameraman starts him off.

He jokes with me and keeps it lighthearted. Without all the lights and noises and people, I feel a bit more comfortable. I smile a lot more and I laugh a bit more easily as he imitates some of the mentors at the interview.

Things go well, Jaq and Gus nodding enthusiastically behind the camera. I feel good until the end when Genie says in a sad voice, "Now, what were you feeling, exactly, Rapunzel, when Eugene died? What were you feeling at that moment?"

I gulp and look down at the floor and say quietly, "I felt . . . completely and utterly crushed."

A moment passes, and I assume that Genie is nodding sadly as he says, "I know. We had all grown to love him."

The interview eventually ends with Genie signing us off. I smile, shake his hand, and then follow Jaq, Gus, and the Grand Duke to a car that takes us to the train station. I say goodbye to Fairy Godmother before we enter the car, and then we're off.

We manage to get on the train without too much trouble and before I know it, we're off to District 8; the Grand Duke says we should get there an hour or so after supper.

I sit in my room while Jaq, Gus, and the Grand Duke hang out in the lounge with their drinks. I normally love and want to be with people. I hardly ever got to be with people, but now I just want to be alone, for I have too many feelings.

I lay on my bed and watch the window as we roll past the districts. District 7. Jane and Tarzan. District 5. Aurora and Arthur.

We eat and I have a lot of chocolate chip cookies and their delicious hazelnut soup, the only two things that are not making my tummy hurt at the moment.

We get to the train station and the Grand Duke and Jaq and Gus go out first; I can hear the crowd through the door. Gosh, they're loud. I take a deep breath and step out to the crowd of District 8. They're not all yelling but nodding to me, like I did something right. They're wrong. I haven't done anything worth all this fuss, but I nod and smile and wave anyway, anything to make them think that I'm happy.

Anything that will allow me to go home.

I'm in my new house, in my regular clothes. It's the day after I came home, and there's still people who want pictures and reports for the Capitol. Jaq and Gus and the Grand Duke are entertaining people in my new house, the one in Victor's Village. People had taken all of my stuff while I was out of it in the Capitol and filled my house up.

I found a spare room while I wandered around the house the first time I entered it. It, or, it was, a white room, and I got a wonderful idea. I got dressed in some old clothes, grabbed my paints and brushes, and I started to paint.

It's taken me nearly all day, but I'm almost finished. I have paint on me and a paintbrush behind my ear and I'm messy but I don't care. I add one little stroke, and then I step back.

I sigh and Pascal chirps from the window.

"It's done, Pascal," I say.

I look at it for a moment before the Grand Duke pokes his head in and says, "What are you doing, dear?"

"Look," I say, and his eyes widen at the wall.

The wall is covered with a dark green background with exotic flowers and iavins meandering everywhere. All across the wall are the twenty four tributes of the Seventy-fourth Disney Games, all in order of death. I didn't put them together in district by district because I know that we're not all divided district by district. We're all brought together, all the districts, in the Capitol every year, to fight to the deaths.

There's strong looking Hercules and sweet little Wendy and smiling Eilonwy and grinning Naveen and quiet looking Alice and a smiling softly Aladdin. We're all on there, Eugene and I at the end.

I want the Grand Duke to see us all standing together. Look at us. We're all together, though most of us are gone. Because of the Capitol.

I painted the painting so that I'll never forget those people who died so that I could survive.

THE END. GOSHY.

Anyways, I hope you liked the ending, and please, let me know what you think because it's really, really late and I need sleep and I'd love to wake up to reviews.