cold nights // coriolanus snow

thirteen

Days turned into weeks, weeks into a month, and Coriolanus still had not heard from you. He wrote letters, but didn't know your address. So he tracked down the address for the mayor's home in District Twelve, sending them there and hoping they would get passed on to you. One by one, they would all be returned unopened to his mailbox, large red stamps with 'return to sender' plastered across the envelopes. Every day he reread the note you did write to him, that he had shoved into the snake tank to save you, pretending that somehow you had written back. He held onto the fact that you wanted it to make it back to him, you had put it inside the compact to be returned to him. Hopefully, that meant you stood by what you wrote, but not knowing was killing him. He was tired of this game, but he was beginning to give up hope. Perhaps the letters had made it to you, but you didn't want them, and it was you who was having them sent back. Or you were dead. He didn't even want to consider that, but at some point, he should.

He graduated. He walked across the stage and shook Dean Highbottom's cold hand as he was handed his diploma, but the only one there to cheer him on was Tigris. He couldn't even enjoy it, he had sent you an invitation in the mail saying he would come get you himself with funds he was given from receiving the Plinth Prize, (much to High-as-a-kite-bottom's dismay- it turns out saving Strabo Plinth's only son's life was a good way to win over the board), but that was returned too on the very morning he was set to walk the stage. Tigris was proud of him, but she could see his heart was broken.

He takes a deep breath, banging on the front door of the Plinth's home. This time, Sejanus was the one who opened the door. As much as he didn't love chatting with his previous classmate, he was just the person Coryo needed right now.

"Coryo." He smiles, opening the door wider to let him in. "It's been a while. What can I do for you?" Even Sejanus could tell he wasn't just stopping in for fun- that was not something his friend ever did.

"Do you have a phone?" Coryo asks, stepping past him into the house.

"I do." Sejanus nods, closing the door behind him. "Do you not?"

"Not one that works well enough." Coryo mumbles. "But I also need your help."

Coryo's leg is bouncing in the chair at Sejanus's father's desk, phone pressed to his ear as he listens to yet another dial tone. It turns out that finding District phone numbers from the safety of the Capitol was not as easy as he expected. They were on the third phone book, and Sejanus had just read him the District Twelve operator number, hoping it was updated. This was the most recent book they had, but it was still several years old. "Anything yet?" Sejanus whispers, sitting on the other side of the desk and waiting hopefully.

Coryo shakes his head in response. He wasn't fond of the idea of Sejanus listening in on him talking on the phone, especially if he was somehow able to reach you, but he would take what he could get at this point.

"District Twelve, how can I connect your call?" He practically jumps when he finally hears a voice on the other end, and Sejanus perks up too.

"Hello, I'm hoping to speak with the Y/L/N family, please." He answers, and Sejanus gives him an excited thumbs up. He can't help but smile, though he's fighting it.

"Okay..." The operator hums, and he can hear pages turning on the other end of the line. "Oh, I'm sorry. We have no line under that name. Is there another name it could be under, or an address I can look up for you?"

"Oh, well... Do they have any neighbours you could connect me to? I just really need to reach their daughter." Coryo knew they likely wouldn't care, but without another name to give them he wasn't sure what his options were. He was desperate by now.

"No... Unfortunately, if you don't know the address there's nothing much I can do."

"Oh, okay, then." He frowns, chewing on the side of his thumbnail.