The Scent of Roses || Coriolanus Snow

Chapter XXVIII

There was something unsettling about being back on the train platform. Memories flooded back of a time when you were secure in your ideals. Back when the Capitol was your savior, and the Districts were nothing but scum. Things were more manageable when the world was black and white, but after the Hunger Games, your world had become a terrifying rainbow.

Coriolanus stood by your side. Though it seemed sweet that he offered to come alongside you, he only did because Doctor Gaul insisted on it. If Coriolanus were to one day become a head game maker, he would have to learn how a Victory Tour is conducted.

The Capitol was Garnett's last stop. He then would finally be taken home to celebrate with friends and family. You wondered if his friend's little brother... whose name you couldn't remember, was alive and well. He would need someone still with innocence to comfort him when he made it back to District 2. For weeks, Garnett had been traveling around Panem, facing the families of tributes murdered in the arena. Deaths of which he benefitted from. You couldn't imagine how heartbreaking it was for those families to see someone else who wasn't their own claim a Victory. They probably hated him for it. Though you doubted his sight was restored to see them clearly, perhaps that was for the best. At least he wouldn't have to look them in the eyes and see their despair while he sang praises to the Capitol.

What was said to the families of fallen tributes and members of the Districts wasn't his choice, but he must've felt so guilty for it. Or, you could've been projecting your own guilt. Garnett had opened your perspective to a whole other side you never dared to venture towards before. It was wrong for a Capitol citizen to bite at the hand that feeds them. But, the morality of a government that prides itself in making its children slaughter each other deserves to be questioned. It's not that you were planning to start a revolution; that would be mad. All you wanted was to ensure that Garnett stayed safe and lived a happy and simple life, even if that meant you never saw him again.

A burning sensation tinged in your eyes as you tried to suppress tears. The last time you saw Garnett, he kissed you with such pure and enchanting love. He knew neither of you belonged together, and a reality in which you two could exist as one was not the world you lived in. Yet, he didn't care. He kissed you as if the world around him wasn't the one he existed in. He made his own rules for a day, and you ravished in his storytelling.

However, you now stood next to Coriolanus Snow. A man responsible for so much damage and heartache to the Districts. And, you had joined him. You had conjured painful ideas that would be used to punish Garnett, and yet, you hoped he would still love you after hearing all of it.

You were disgusted with yourself. Despite knowing you would never realistically be by his side, in this life or any, you still wanted his attention. Was there some excitement in having a District boy fall helplessly in love with you? It did seem like quite the victory. A person enters an unfamiliar area full of people they have been raised to hate and still manages to find love. To make the prize even sweeter, he couldn't even gaze at you. He knew nothing about your appearance, yet he still knew you were what he desired.

A nudge at your side came from Coriolanus. His eyes showed great concern for the shaking of your hands. You hadn't even noticed your body was showing so many signs of anxiety. You were too distracted by the worry in your mind. If you didn't love Garnett, and this was an elaborate scheme to help boost your confidence, what kind of person did that make you? It certainly didn't give you any right to judge Coriolanus for his actions, especially the ones with Lucy Gray.

You would've been lying to yourself if you said that girl hadn't plagued your mind for days. No matter where you were, whether at the Academy, at home, or snuggled next to Coriolanus after a night filled with enough sex to last a person a lifetime, all you could think about was how he was with her.