It's the Final Countdown...

Norman watched the girl from eight collapse. Watching Ten attempt to comfort her reminded Norman of his own killing of Aspen, in a way. "Look pony boy. The Capitol loved that more than us, but it's a fact," he said shakily. Slowly, Norman's insanity began to creep back in, and he found himself facing the heat of the battle once more. "Now let's finish this dance pony boy!" Norman exclaimed. Watching Ten attempt a similar attack to the one he opened the fight with, a sadistic laugh escaped Norman's mouth when he missed. "Gotta do better than that, pony boy," Norman said. Arching his knife towards the boy, Norman smiled. "Now that your girl's outta the way, we get to dance like you wanted all along."

Hearing the squirt of blood from the dying boy's leg, and hearing Leda's spike enter some other part of his body, Norman gave a small smile. It was over. At least, that part. "Stay golden, ponyboy," he muttered as a final goodbye. Turning, his only opponent was someone who had turned into his partner recently. He was thinking of calling her the sassiest of the sassy, but somewhere in him he knew that title belonged to Aspen. Sighing, Norman looked at Leda. "This can't end well, you know? Only one of us makes it out," he said. Norman was unable to tell if ponyboy had yet died. Dropping to a knee, Norman pulled his, Aspen's, backpack from his shoulders. Setting it on the ground, he opened it and pulled out two apples. A few small bruises covered them, but that was fine and was to be expected. Setting one to his right, in remembrance of Aspen, Norman handed the other to Leda. Pulling a third out for himself, he slung the bag back onto his shoulders.

"A final meal of sorts, I guess," he said, taking a bite from the apple. Looking Leda over, he shook his head. "I swore that I'd never kill my partner again, but it looks like that is what it's coming to," he said around bits of apple. "One of us has to kill the other, but let's finish the apples first. Apple Lord Supreme might be watching." The joke would have gone far over Leda's head, but he knew that Aspen would've been happy. "We all just wanted to go home. And that was stripped from us. The least we can do for each other now is to be as civil... I mean sassy, as possible," Norman joked, biting into the apple again.

Listening to Leda, Norman smiled. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Unless the Capitol poisoned them, they aren't. That's a bit of a cheap kill," he said, winking at the pet-ish name. He heard the boy muttering words, but he was beyond comprehending them. Taking another bite, the final bite, of his apple, Norman stared at Leda. Tossing his apple core towards Deno, Norman wielded his knife ahead of him. "It has been an honor, for what time it was," Norman began, "But sadly, that time is up." Moving into a defensive stance, Norman held his stake out for a blocking device and wielded his knife near it.

With Leda's word of the sassiest sass master, Norman shook his head. "If they were to win, I wouldn't be here. She died awhile back," he choked out. "Second-best, my dear?" he said with a strong hint of sarcasm and a smile. Shifting his weight forward, Norman swung his knife into Leda, hoping he'd land a good hit, but also hoping for a bad one. His emotions were divided, and he didn't know if he wanted to win or lose; live or die; bleed or cry.

Shaking his head, Norman felt Leda's stake fly a few inches from him, but no where near enough to harm him. Letting out a light chuckle, Norman looked at her. "Not a very good opening for the Capitol," he said, laughing at both of their misses. She mentioned something of promises, though to low for Norman to know what she said. Shrugging, he gave a weak smile to Leda. Twisting his knife back, Norman lunged again at Leda, aiming his knife at some part of her, with a small hope that he wouldn't miss again. One way or another, he thought to himself.

Norman felt his knife bounce off of Leda's stake. Taking a deep breath in, Norman shook his head. Not gonna get any slack now, he thought to himself. Looking up, Norman flinched, raising is stake up in an attempt to block Leda's attack. "This is how it's gonna be. Attack, block, counterattack, counterblock," he muttered. Swinging his knife, Norman attempted to hit Leda again.