𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍, coriolanus snow ¹

iii. mizzen and coral

"MADS?" Mizzen's voice rang out above the commotion of the train station as Reign turned to look at the two tributes will a bittersweet smile.

"Hey, Miz." As soon as the greeting left her mouth, the district four boy ran the distance between them and landed himself in a hug. A hug that was so overdue it felt like a lifetime of emotions had been poured into it.

After a long moment, Reign's eyes opened to look for the second half of the duo. Coral was stood still, staring at the hugging pair with what looked to be betrayal in her eyes.

Reign held Mizzen back at arm's length when she noticed water droplets landing on her shoulder, catching her attention back to the boy once again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry I just missed-" Mizzen rubbed at his eyes quickly, becoming hyper-aware of all of the tributes sizing him up around them.

"It's okay, Miz." Reign patted down some of his hair that had come out of place during the train ride over. The Klark girl thought that considering they were practically killing off twenty three of these children, they would at least let them ride to their death in comfort.

Mizzen looked around himself quickly as he saw Peacekeepers approaching, he was frantically looking for someone but stopped when his eyes landed on Coral. She was still stood frozen, unchanged and just as confused as ever. Her eyes were locked onto Reign, and as she held out her hand to her old best friend she could clearly see the disappointment she was feeling.

Coral was looking at her like she didn't even know her, and as she glanced down to the floor in shame, she caught sight of the red Academy uniform, and high heels, and painted nails, and expensive bracelets. Reign couldn't remember when the changes began to occur, she liked to think that she kept most of herself from district four, but she looked nothing like her old self. She acted nothing like her old self either.

"Wow, hand shakes?" Coral finally remarked as she glared at her outstretched hand. "How very professional of you, Miss Klark."

"Coral, now's not the time to make enemies." Mizzen tried to plead with her to drop her anger for now. It seemed that he understood just as well as Reign that their lives were on the line, and any friends they could make could make a difference - a life changing difference.

"Really? I think now is a better time than ever." Coral rolled her eyes as she glared at the passing tributes heading towards the door of the station.

"Look, Coral, I get why you're mad at me but can we not make this a harder time than it already has to be." Reign asked glancing back to where Coriolanus' tribute was walking away from him. It seemed like neither of them were having the happy meetings that they imagined when they first arrived. "You guys are going to get put through things I can't even imagine, but I want to help you. Please, let me help you."

Mizzen jumped in to help persuade the girl too. "Can't you just forget it for a while like I am? It's for the best, I promise." His hand landed on Coral's arm to comfort her but she shrugged him off.

"Oh, sure." Coral shook her head. "Yeah, Miz, let's just ignore that she ditched us. That she left us to suffer and didn't even have the decency to say a goodbye." She then turned her gaze to Reign once more as she said her last sentence. "That she left her own sister to starve while she was on her deathbed."

The trio stood in silence as Coral's glare drenched Reign in guilt. What she had said hadn't been entirely true that she knew of, but that was just the problem. Did her departure from district four really have that much of an impact? Was her sister starving because of her? Was her sister okay? Was her sister even alive?