𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐘, 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑, 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 || 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐒𝐍𝐎𝐖

𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈

"They said I might find you out here," Coriolanus stated, his voice carrying the weight of unspoken sentiments.

Lucy Gray, still recovering from the unexpected intrusion, stuttered in her response, "Sorry, I—I still got one foot in the arena." She carefully explained her shock at his presence, placing her guitar down and standing to face him.

Coriolanus observed her keenly, the juxtaposition of her against the backdrop of the tranquil field accentuating the complexity of the moment.

"Your hair, that uniform," Lucy Gray noted with a discerning gaze.

"I thought you were dead," Coriolanus confessed, his words laden with a mixture of astonishment and confusion.

"Yeah, I thought I was too... but your dean, Highbottom, he had them send me home," Lucy Gray explained, her revelation punctuating the air with a sense of incredulity.

"Highbottom did?" Coriolanus replied, disbelief coloring his expression.

His thoughts swirled, the unexpected revelation challenging the assumptions he held about the Dean's intentions.

As Lucy Gray continued her revelation, Coriolanus found himself walking closer to her, drawn by the gravity of her words.

Her disclosure about Highbottom's actions and the contrasting paths they had been set upon echoed in the silent expanse of the field.

"He put me on a train himself and gave me some money. He said they'd sent you to 8," Lucy Gray explained, her eyes holding a depth of experience that Coriolanus hadn't fully comprehended until now.

"For breaking their rules. Saving your life."

Coriolanus stood face to face with Lucy Gray, his thoughts in a tumultuous whirlwind. Her eyes, windows to a complex journey, held his gaze, and the weight of what he had done bore down on him.

"But I gave them my last cent so that I can come here to 12," he admitted, a revelation tinged with the sincerity of an uncharted path.

"Because I had to try and find you," Coriolanus whispered, his voice carrying a veneer of charm.

Charm, or perhaps manipulation, had always been his ally, and now, he felt the need to wield it again, to carve a way out of District 12 and back to the comforts of the Capitol.

His thoughts crystallized at that moment as he stared into Lucy Gray's eyes— the decision was made.

A silent vow to navigate the complexities of District 12 and ensure his own ascent, even if it meant weaving a tangled web that ensnared Lucy Gray in its threads.

"Your dean, he told me the strangest thing. He said he was glad I survived you." Lucy Gray said.

Lucy Gray's revelation about Highbottom's sentiments struck a chord within Coriolanus, a dissonant note in the symphony of his internal turmoil.

As Lucy Gray spoke about the dean's peculiar satisfaction in her survival, Coriolanus could feel the anger simmering beneath his carefully crafted exterior.

"He told you what I did to that boy in the arena?" Coriolanus questioned his attempt to conceal his fury only partially successful.

Lucy Gray acknowledged with a nod, acknowledging the unsavory details that connected them in the eyes of the Capitol.

"I didn't have a choice," Coriolanus defended himself, the words carrying the weight of justification.

Yet, in the recesses of his thoughts, Seraphina's image loomed large. He found himself involuntarily comparing Lucy Gray's perceived weakness to Seraphina's unyielding strength.