cold nights // coriolanus snow

eleven

"And how, soon or late, Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face, and cold hands folded over a still heart," Your voice begins to shake. "Pass the green threshold of our common grave, Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart, Awed for myself, and pitying my race, our common sorrow, like a mighty wave..."

Coryo is angry when the face of Dr. Gaul interrupts your eulogy on the screen. He would miss your last words, your death. He couldn't even be there in your final moments, and it made him sick. However, it was the respect you deserved. As she talked on about the death of his classmate from the bombing, he hoped the cameras wouldn't show you at all. Just your body covered by the fabric of the flag, a new figure wrinkling the material, occupying the space underneath it next to Jessup.

"I swear to you here and now, before the sun goes down tonight, a rainbow of destruction will engulf our arena. Even if it means there is to be no victor in these games." Dr. Gaul's words finally pique your mentor's interest, memory, and realization coming back to him. He quickly taps through his communicuff, typing rapidly and hitting send before rushing out of the hall. He promised you he would do everything he could. The least he could do for you was stay true to his word.

"Well, those were some lovely last words." Coral laughs bitterly and you just hum.

"They are for you as well, should you see it fit." You tell her, opening your eyes but making no effort to flee, palms resting on the battered and bruised skin of your thighs.

She chuckles, shaking her head. "No, no. The difference between me and all of you is that I'm gonna win."

You watch as Mizzen looks away from his ally, eyes landing on the ground and Reaper clenches his jaw.

"Swept away all my pride, and trembling, I forgave." You finish off the poem, looking back down to the red sheet in front of you.

"What are you even talking about?" Coral asks. "Genuinely, what do you mean? I'm sick of this. I don't understand a thing you say!"

"I forgive you, if you win." You tell her in plainer terms, tilting your head. "I hope you can forgive yourself, that is all."

"No forgiveness needed." She says through gritted teeth, raising her trident as she moves to run at you.

You close your eyes again, tipping your head back and letting out a slow breath to combat the intense beating of your heart.

Again, the pain doesn't come as you hear the clashing of weapons just next to you, and the subtle hum of approaching drones.

Looking up behind you, you see several flying in a row and you duck quickly enough as it flies toward you for it to just miss you. You scramble to get up, ignoring the chaos around you as one by one, the water bottles fly into the other tributes. Reaper was much better at dodging them than the other two were, and you can't help but view it as some kind of justice. If Coryo was sending them in one after another as some kind of distraction, to save you, you were glad Reaper wasn't being harmed in the process.

It must have been Coryo. All of them seem to circle in on you, and as you spin out of the way they take out Mizzen and Coral just enough to buy you time. Their mentors had clearly been less generous; to you, their efforts to evade the flying metal drones were pointless.

The last one is different, coming in moments later than the others as Coral and Mizzen struggle to get back on their feet.

You drop down to let it fly over you, scrambling for the small container that looked like the previous ones that had contained a note. You grab it and run into the debris in the middle of the room, using it to hide while you open the note.