The Hunger Games has been proven to test everyone's virtue, not just the young and unfortunate kids plucked from their districts and thrown into the arena. Venus Hummingstill has never cracked under pressure. Regardless of everything being stripped...
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Venus returned home from the laboratory with her heart in her hands.
Opting for walking in her heels, rather than being driven, so she could use the pain within her feet to focus on something else than the disaster of her birthday.
The day she dreaded was lingering for quite too long, her nerves in knots, and emotions unsure of if she wanted to cry or angrily destroy something within her grasp. It was evening, the perfect time prior to nightfall when the sky was painted its hues of pinks and oranges as the clouds began their retirement for the evening. Venus attempted to distract her mind and focus on the sunset, its fusion of beauty almost taunting her in its own twisted nature.
She tried to not think of him, to push away the harshness of what vile words Clemensia lashed her with this afternoon. Even with attempting to bury the echoes of her statements to the furthest pits of her mind, Venus could not shake the scent.
Roses.
The purest, most beautiful flowers in all of Panem and she smelled like a field of them.
Her heart allowed her mind to wander longer than normal. Thinking of Coriolanus and what he was doing in their shared moment, districts away. Was he winding down for the evening after a day of combat training? Were there any mentions of an uprising in which he had to be sent out to the frontlines? Was he safe?
Was Coriolanus with Lucy Gray?
Venus shook her head as if it would remove the question from her mind permanently.
Were they sitting huddled together in a far-off meadow? Was he listening to her soft and buttery voice sing him another calming ballad? Were they embraced by each other in a way similar to his and Venus's last night together within the Capitol?
The girl halted her steps. Taking several deep breaths and trying to rewire her mind. There was no way she would survive the next twenty years if she continued to torture herself with thoughts of the girl from District 12. Venus refused to accept defeat. Loathed the idea of Clemensia's insults being true for the fact that Coryo loved her, and he always would just as he said.
She found herself entering her home. The cheers of those celebrating her solar return faded within her hearing. There was confetti sprinkled about, some even finding its way into her now shoulder-length hair that she had no desire to cut as of late. The fire of cake candles illuminated her tanned skin, highlighting the mist of sweat kissing her forehead from her lengthy walk.
"Happy Birthday, Honey!" She heard her mother cheer. The sounds of excitement within the grand apartment echoed on the walls. Just beyond her mother, she could see an envelope on the table...Sejanus's handwriting catching her eye. He hadn't forgotten about her. "Make a wish!"
Her doe eyes flickered between the cake, her mother, her father, and the Avoxes stationed behind them with smiles on their faces. Venus inhaled deeply, blowing out the candles with no form of wish in sight. What was the point? She wished for Dill to live and she still perished. She wished for Lucy Gray to meet her bitter end and yet she continues to enchant the world. She wished for Coryo to not leave and he remained stationed in 12, only letters to keep her company until he would inevitably send his last.
