Trigger warnings- Electric shock mention and homophobia.

"It'll be up to the dictator what happens," Jasper said, though the audience were cheering in agreement.

"Well, once again, I'm sorry," Kaiden replied.

Jasper ignored his apology and began closing out the show. "That's all for now folks. Don't forget about the Champions' tour, in a little over two weeks. And as always, it'll all be broadcasted live here on CBC. I've been Jasper Fernandez, thank you, and goodnight!"

Jasper ascended the steps as the audience cheered, clapped and threw flowers towards him. Jasper waved and blew kisses to them, before he finally disappeared backstage.

As soon as Jasper was gone, reporters and fans flocked towards the stage. They were all hounding them with questions.

"Adrielle! Are you angry that you're not the only winner?"

"Kaiden! Why are you such a horrible person?

"Finley! Finley! Are you single!"

That last one was from two teenage girls in the front row. Finley simply ignored them, not wanting to lead them on.

—-----

After being asked fifty different versions of the same questions, the Champions headed backstage, and upstairs for a celebratory dinner.

"So, freak, what exactly did you think you were doing when you came up with that ridiculously stupid idea?" Cadence asked.

"If it wasn't for me, your brother wouldn't be here," Kaiden snapped.

"Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing."

"You'd be dead too, idiot."

"Don't call me that, Lynch!"

"Kaiden, the dictator could call for you to be executed," Adri interrupted. "I don't think now is the time for arguing."

"I'll think of something," Kaiden replied, "there has to be at least a few people who like me."

Cadence laughed. "I honestly don't think that there's a single person in this country who likes you except for Raven and my idiot brother."

"Can you go five minutes without insulting him?"

"Why shouldn't I insult him? He couldn't win the Ceremony without cheating his way through it?"

"How did he cheat? I'm the one who suggested the idea in the finale."

"Yeah, but he didn't have to listen to you," Cadence snapped, "but he's so in love with you, he'd probably let someone kill him so you wouldn't be executed."

"Yeah, I would, Cade, because that's what love is," Finley replied, "you wouldn't know because you're never going to find love."

Everyone stared at Finley in amazement. Kaiden had a smile on his face. Finley felt proud of himself.

"I'll tell dad you said that," she muttered, "then we'll see who's right." She raised her voice a little as she went on, "I bet I'm smarter than all of you put together. And I'm obviously much more talented."

Everyone, except for Cadence, laughed.

"You're not that smart, Cadence," Raven said.

"Aren't any of you going to try and prove it?" Cadence asked.

"Alright, I will," Reina replied. It was the first time since they'd met that most of them had heard her speak. "Let's see what you know. What colour represents Ronera?"

"Green."

"It's black," Kaiden said.

Cadence huffed. "Alright, what's her number?" She asked, pointing at Adri.

"814," Reina replied.

Adrielle nodded.

Finley interrupted, "ok, one more question 'cause no one wants to see you show off, Cade. Show us your most impressive talent."

"That's a statement, not a question," Cadence replied, sarcastically.

"Is your talent being an ugly cow, 'cause you're really good at that," Kaiden snapped.

The others burst out laughing.

"No," Cadence snapped back. "I was simply informing my stupid brother that his 'question' was actually a statement. He's not clever enough to know the difference."

Kaiden scowled, "he doesn't deserve to have you as a sister."

"I know."

"Again, that wasn't a compliment."

"I'm not staying around here to be insulted. I'm going to the train to find my room. When I get there, don't bother trying to talk to me." Cadence complained, and she left.

"Your sister is insufferable," Adrielle said.

"I've got used to it," Finley replied.

"I'll bet she's the reason you think so little of yourself," Raven added.

"I....uh...need to tell you something."

"You can tell us anything."

"Well," Finley continued, "Kaiden and Adri, you remember when I told you that Cadence and I have jobs to raise money to help our dad?"

Both of them nodded and quickly explained everything to Reina and Raven.

When they'd finished, Finley went on, "well, I lied. Cadence doesn't have a job."

"So what does she do?" Raven asked.

"She just goes to school, then goes home while I go to work."

"What do you do?" Kaiden questioned.

"I do housework for one of the Cadets," Finley explained, referring to the police officers who enforced the laws in the kingdoms.

"Which one?" Raven enquired.

"You probably wouldn't know him. He doesn't really get out much. He works for the Citadel and he hardly ever goes out since his children died. They were chosen for the last Ceremony. He blames this one person for his daughter's death, but he's never told me who it is."

"What's his name then?" Adrielle pressed. "It's not like any of us would ever meet him."

"Donald Brooks."

Kaiden and Raven looked at each other. Finley looked between them.

"Do you know him?"

"That person he blames for his daughter's death. It's me," Kaiden explained. "He's Lydia Brooks' dad."

He told them all about Donald Brooks being one of the men in the suits. Finley admitted that he knew, but he didn't want to tell them just yet. Kaiden then told them all about the weapons they'd be given and how he was responsible for them having the worst weapons in the game.

"Wait, what trial are we talking about?" Raven asked.

"You don't know?" Adri questioned.

Raven and Reina shook their heads.

The trio explained what was supposed to happen.

"That sounds awful," Raven said, "how did you manage it?"

"We didn't," Finley replied, sheepishly.

"What do you mean?" Reina asked.

Adri tried to explain, "well, Kaiden..."

"Please don't say you came up with some rebellious idea to get out of it," Raven asked, glaring at his brother.

"I...uh...offered the game runners a deal," Kaiden stammered.

"I'm not sure if I like the sound of this," Raven replied.

"I said that they could use their electric shocks on me for an hour, but they had to leave Adri and Fin alone."

"Why would you do that to yourself?" Reina asked.

"That's not it though, is it, Kaiden?" Adri prompted.

"I said that they could make the shocks as strong as they liked without killing me."

"You what!" Reina and Raven screamed in unison.

"Why would you do that?" Raven scolded.

"I was trying to protect them, and I figured I deserved it after how I acted."

"Never mind that now," Reina said, changing the subject to prevent an argument. "Finley works for the man who despises Kaiden. How does he act around you, Finley?"

"He's ok," Finley said, lying through his teeth. "Ok, so, he calls me every name under the sun. Useless, good for nothing, and his favourite, a selfish brat, but I haven't told him why I'm working for him. He thinks I'm earning money for myself. In reality I'm working to make money to buy food and stuff for Cadence and our dad."

"Cadence has no right to treat you like that when you're the one with a job," Reina said.

"Surely she does the cooking and cleaning though?" Adrielle asked, raising an eyebrow.

Finley hesitated for a moment, before shaking his head, "no, I do."

The others were angry. Even Raven and Reina were fuming, despite the fact that they'd only known Finley for half a day.

"I'm going to have a little chat with her tomorrow," Kaiden scowled.

"I'd be more than willing to help you," Raven added.

"We can all give her a piece of our minds," Adri finished.

Reina nodded, and Finley smiled. He felt lucky to have people who actually cared about him. Here, he had four people who didn't think he was useless, or a disappointment. For the first time in his life, he had friends.

—-----

The next morning, the five of them were in the dining carriage on the train, waiting for Cadence.

They'd been planning what to say, when the door opened and Cadence walked in. She didn't even bother thanking the guard for holding open the door for her.

"Good morning," she said, taking the last seat at the table. It was opposite Raven.

"Good morning," Raven replied. He looked around at the others for a few seconds before he continued, "we uh....wanted to talk to you about something?"

"Oh yeah," Cadence said, not looking at him and taking a bite out of an apple. "What's that?"

"Well, Finley was telling us about your dad and..."

"Oh so he's playing the sympathy card again," Cadence interrupted.

"You don't even try to help him take care of your dad," Adri said, slowly and angrily.

"He has a job and you don't even do housework or anything," Kaiden added.

"You don't even treat him with respect, when without him, you'd have nothing," Reina continued.

"It's not fair to treat him the way you do when he does everything for you," Raven snapped.

"He's useless," Cadence complained, "he always makes me out to be the villain. He's been working for ages and he still hasn't raised enough money to get our dad a doctor."

"How long have you been working for Donald Brooks?" Kaiden asked.

"Not that long," Finley muttered.

"How long?" Raven asked in a dangerous tone.

Finley finally gave in, "since I was eleven."

The others didn't get a chance to reply, as one of the guards opened the door.

"100780 and 100781, your dad is here to visit you," he said. "He would also like to meet the other Champions."

Finley and Cadence both stood up. Cadence seemed excited to see their dad, but Kaiden noticed that Finley seemed nervous. Cadence raced out of the room.

"Are you ok?" Raven asked Finley.

"Yeah, it's just...could someone come with me?"

"Of course," Adri replied, "who do you want to go with you?"

"Raven?" Finley asked.

Raven nodded, "sure."

The four of them were rather surprised. Even Kaiden expected that Finley would ask him, but if Raven was who Finley wanted to go, Kaiden didn't mind as long as he was happy.

—-----

"If you need me, just shout," Raven said, when they'd reached the room.

Finley nodded and knocked on the door.

A guard opened it and left as Finley entered.

His dad was sitting on the edge of a bed.

Finley watched as he hugged Cadence. He wished he could be shown that kind of love, but he couldn't remember the last time his dad had hugged him.

"Cadence, my darling, I'm so proud of you," his dad said.

"I know, daddy, but he only won by cheating," Cadence replied.

"I didn't see what happened at the end. I saw that other boy from our kingdom killing the boy from Halei. What happened next?"

Cadence relayed the whole story of the finale, exactly as they'd explained last night.

When she'd finished. His dad turned to him, "so as usual, you messed things up."

"I didn't mean to. I just wanted you to be proud of me for once," Finley replied.

"You listened to Kaiden Lynch of all people. You know that boy is nothing but trouble, but you listened to some stupid idea he came up with? You didn't even kill him when he was almost dead anyway. I would've been proud of you if you'd won by yourself. You are so selfish, and stupid that you just follow the herd. Your sister works hard at her job to help me, and you don't even lift a finger to help. I will never be proud of a son like you, you're nothing but a disappointment."

Finley didn't know how to respond. He was just about to try when the door burst open and Kaiden, Raven, Adrielle and Reina stormed into the room.

"If there is one thing your son isn't, it's a disappointment," Kaiden snapped.

"He isn't stupid either," Raven added.

"He didn't want to kill Kaiden, because he is thoughtful and puts others before himself," Adrielle explained.

"He killed two of the other contestants by himself, so he is clearly far more capable than you think," Reina finished.

"Who are these people, sweetheart?" Finley's dad asked, looking at Cadence.

"Oh, sorry," Cadence replied, "that's Raven, Kaiden's brother. Adrielle, she...was allied with them or something. Reina's her rather boring sister, and Kaiden, the reason Finley isn't the only Champion. Oh, he's also Finley's boyfriend apparently."

"You're gay?" His dad asked.

"Yeah," Finley replied. Annoyed that he'd been outed by Cadence. "I really like him."

His dad lunged forwards and grabbed his shoulders. "You can't date him! The dictator made an announcement this morning. He wants Kaiden to be executed!"

Sooo, it seems as if we have a problem. What do you think of Raven, Reina and Cadence? Cadence is horrible isn't she? It's no wonder Finley thinks so little of himself. It's pretty depressing. So, will our heroes be able to find a way out of this situation? Will Kaiden be executed?