Starved

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The crowds love them. Well, they love everyone, but Korral and Corey get what seems more than their fair share of noise. Korral blows kisses, and Corey waves, trying to be 'dazzling'. It seems to work, and their names are called, people's arms reaching to touch them, as if they could catch Korral's blown kisses as tangible things.

The cheering lasts until nearly the end, when the chariot is already waiting in the City Circle. When district twelve's chariot emerges. Corey can see that the two tributes standing in it are on fire. Flames trail from their backs, and climb from their hair, and for a moment, the entire Capital seems to go quiet in shock, before erupting in noise so loud, everyone must be screaming.

The tributes wave, and the female blows kisses, garnering a much more enthusiastic response than Korral had. Every other tribute has been forgotten about, as two names echo up from the mass of swarming people; Katniss and Peeta. Corey is silently impressed, both with the two tributes' bravery, and at the innovation of their stylists.

When the flaming chariot finally comes to a stop, the president emerges from his balcony to give the annual welcoming speech that Corey doesn't bother to listen to. The chariots make a final round of the Circle, before disappearing back into the Training Centre, where everyone's waiting.

Finnick helps Korral down as she struggles a little in her dress, smiling in a sort of tired way. "Good job, you too. You seem like a crowd favourite already." His eyes flicker over to the district twelve chariot, where their prep team is extinguishing the fire, babbling praise at the two grinning tributes as they climb down.

Without saying a word to Finnick, Corey grabs his sister's hand and makes his way over to the district twelve area, continuing to ignore Finnick as he calls after them. "What are you doing?" Korral hisses, hurrying after him in her stiletto heels.

"I'm getting us some allies," Corey replies, trying to sound as confident as he can muster while still reeling from the stress of the crowds. "The people loved them, Korral, this is what Finnick said about getting sponsors, right?"

Korral didn't have time to argue before they were within hearing distance of the other two tributes. They were both beautiful in different ways. Katniss had soft features and dark hair, a natural beauty that she seemed to be wholly unaware of. Peeta was all tanned skin and blonde spikes. He had a bulk that spoke of hidden strength, and a gentle face.

Corey meant to say something witty, maybe make a joke, but what came out of his mouth was neither of those things. "That was so cool!" He said, gaining their attention. He let go of Korral's arm and she slapped him lightly on the shoulder, reaching down to pull her shoes off, despite having only worn them for the chariot ride.

The boy, Peeta, blinked before laughing in surprise. "Yeah, it was," he agreed. "You weren't too bad either. The crown's a nice touch."

Corey made a face, reaching up to pull the thing off his head, grimacing as it caught in his hair. "Royalty is overrated," he muttered, and Peeta laughed again. "You guys must have some stylists! How were you not terrified?"

Peeta winced. "I was very terrified," he admitted. "But I'm glad it wasn't just coal dust this year." Beside them, Katniss and Korral were engaged in a conversation about the evils of high heels. Corey smiled as he saw his sister animatedly miming disembowelling someone with her shoe, Katniss covering her snorts with a hand but doing a terrible job of it.

Peeta's eyes flicked between Korral and Corey. "You guys are siblings, right?" He asked softly. 'From district four?"

Corey nodded, a little sadly. "We're twins. I'm Corey and she's Korral."

"She volunteered for you." Peeta said, his own voice tinged with sympathy.

Corey sighed. "Yeah, she's a lot like Katniss that way I guess. She just wants to protect me, but I never hoped to make it out of these Games alive. At least this way, I might be able to die helping her win." Peeta nodded like he understood Corey, his own eyes on Katniss's face as she talked with Korral.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, like he could somehow make up for everything the Capital had done, and was going to do to all of them, and Corey found it endearing. He offered his own soft smile. "It's okay." He said, and his words were genuine, even if he didn't know to follow them up. "We should go before Finnick decides I'm not worth the trouble and kills me himself, but it was nice talking to you, Peeta." Corey smiled as he slid his hand into his sister's.

"You and Katniss sure got along well," Corey whispered as they made their way back to Finnick.

"I could say the same about you and Peeta," Korral shot back, and they both smiled at each other. "I think I'd like them as allies." Corey nodded in agreement.

-

The Training Centre was unlike anything Corey had ever seen before. It was incredibly tall, and Finnick told them that it had a floor for each district, which would house the tributes and their teams. Corey didn't know if one floor would be enough, considering the amount of people that entailed, but that was before he stepped onto district four's floor.

It was huge, and even more lavish than the train. Corey's own room is bigger than his whole house back home, and there are way too many buttons on everything. The closet, the door, the shower. Food can be ordered at the press of a button, and the window isn't a window at all, but a screen display, which Corey can change using a remote. (He finds a panoramic view of a star-filled galaxy).

For a moment, he is so overwhelmed by the sheer excessiveness of the Capitol that he can forget about the swirl of emotions he's kept tamped down. How can these people be so wasteful when the districts are out there, struggling to feed their children? At the thought of Corey's own siblings, a wave of sadness so harsh comes flooding at him that he nearly staggers, and for a moment breathing seems impossible.

Corey cries. He cries for all the memories he'll never get to make with his baby siblings, he cries because he'll never get to bake sweet biscuits again, he cries because he never had time to figure out who he wanted to be. He cries because he is afraid. There is no option in his future where everything will turn out okay, not for him.

He cries because that feels like all he can do in the moment, until he finally forces himself into the shower. The shimmer he was coated with swirls slowly down the drain and Corey fiddles with the controls, only stepping out when he no longer feels like he might shatter.

-

Dinner is awkward, to say the least. Corey and Korral pitched their plan to ally with Katniss and Peeta to Finnick, and he seemed scandalised by the very idea. He wanted them to find allies they could survive with, and Corey argues the point that they wouldn't know if they could survive unless they had complete faith in their allies, and that Katniss and Peeta felt trustworthy. This, of course, led to Finnick picking apart all the reasons why they weren't trustworthy, and criticising Corey's 'feelings' on the matter.

Needless to say, not much strategy was actually planned. 

Corey: **has emotional breakdown over his inevidable death and everything he'll never get the chance to do in life and the crushing reality of what he must do moving forwards**

Me: **has emotional breakdown over the wrinkle in my sock**