You're The Reason Victorious Novels & Stories

I won’t let them win. And gods help them… Because now they’ve given me one more reason to fight. And they’ll regret it. Every. Last. One.

I feel a sob rise up, a great tide moving inside my chest. “They were so sure you were helpless, so devastated by the events of your life that you would never be whole. They resorted to these tactics to help you. Well, really to help Victory, I think, so that she would have a strong and healthy mother. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that now you’re the one to help them.”

And we were more than victors. We were absolute. We were unstoppable.

“Victory is going to help that.” I could only hope.

We pulled all of the stops for this one. Beauty and I held our fists in the air to catch everyone’s attention. Fist after fist was raised as everyone quieted down. “We want to thank each and every one of you for choosing to fight beside us today. This war is not just to protect us and our loved ones. It’s also to protect the innocents that are being slaughtered and will be slaughtered. The fate of all rests on that battlefield today. It’s an overwhelming thought to consider, but it’s also an empowering thought as well because it’s the best motivation that we could have. We’ll fight today, and we’ll win because even the Gods believe in us!”

Angela was lost in her head. Victory was sweet, it left a lingering taste on your tongue, it makes you forget everything else, makes you blind to your enemy's counter-offensive response. Everyone else would be fooled by victory’s sweet lingering taste but not her. She had been a victim of it in the past, she had relished her victory so much that she was oblivious to her enemy's attack and her victory had been spoiled almost as soon as it got to her hand. So she had to learn, the hard way and learn she did.

"Winning provides validation that your sacrifices meant something. Without victory, suffering is just suffering." "Round one rebuttal." Sebastian's voice dropped into its debate register, lower, sharper, intimate. "Victory doesn't validate suffering. It just adds a trophy to the altar of your pain. You're still bleeding. You're just bleeding in a nicer room." Mira's chest tightened. He wasn't talking about the abstract anymore. He was talking about her. "Round two," she said, ignoring the shift. "Winning opens doors. Opportunity. Freedom. Without it, you're trapped."

It wasn’t friendly. More like victorious.

My future is bright and wide open. I am a winner. And being here with all the people I love is my greatest victory of all. THE END

VANESSA'S POV The victory celebration in the great hall was a cacophony of relief and roaring life. Mead flowed, the fire roared in the hearth, and warriors clashed tankards, recounting their blows with booming laughter that shook the rafters. The air thrummed with the pack's restored vitality, a powerful, heady current of shared survival.