𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 || coriolanus snow [✓]

III

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CHAPTER 3: THE SONGBIRD'S CAGE

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⇢ "Liam?" I say softly, not daring to touch him knowing what a fragile state he's in. "You're an idiot." He snaps in response. Tears threatening to spill from the slits in my closed eyes I nod. "I know.." My voice cracks into small pieces, so small they'd cut you if you touched them. "We're both gonna...no you have to live, for Jeremy. You have to go home, I have to protect you." Liam mutters with dedication. "But what about your sisters and your ma, they need you, my family can take care of Jeremy" He cuts me off. "Your family doesn't give a rats ass about your or Jeremy wake up (name)!" This is the first time he's yelled at me and it only makes me wanna cry more but I can't. Not with everyone watching.

"They do..." I deny the truth. "Your family is full of alcoholics who sold you and your talent to the world, I'd be shocked if they even knew you were gone right now." He sneered. I couldn't utter a word because he didn't lie. The covey cared about me. Not them. Regardless I shook it off upon seeing Coriolanus. As much as I hated to admit it I was happy to see him, he wasn't unbearable like the other Capitol pricks and seemed like a decent guy. On top of that it seemed he'd heard my plea and brought food. "Hey sugar, what's that you got?" I giggled, wiping my previous tears a bit. "Are you..." He dismissed his question and handed me the bread.

I quickly passed half to Liam. "I'm not hungry." He spat, seemingly uninterested. I narrowed my eyes. "Well I'll be damned. That wasn't your stomach growling two minutes ago Liam Evans? I'd eat up before the game unless you wanna be freckled Fran's first meal" my words seemed to reach him as he took the piece and scurried away before I could even roll my eyes at him. "You okay?" Coriolanus asked, his gaze Not on me. "Yeah, got into it with Liam about me volunteering, tried not to cry in front of those animals though" I shrugged as we both looked at a young lady teasing her tribute with food.

"Capitol folk are horrible. We're starving out in the districts and that's what they do. They rub it in our faces and mock our misery." I mumble, looking at him with a look that only says 'you're excluded from that group'. "Your friend over there reminds me why we hate it here so much" He quickly jumps. "She is not my friend (name). She's poison with perfect teeth." He laughs a bit and I share the laugh with him. "Are you planning to...share everything with that boy?" He whispers. "W-why? Should I be saving my strength to kill him?" I say in a mocking tone.

"Listen I can help you but I need you to sing again." Coriolanus says, bracing for me to tell him a note won't leave my pretty little mouth for him. "Sorry darling, this songbird only sings when she's got something to say and all I have to say right now is 'the Capitol can kiss my ass'" I smile innocently as I take a bite of the bread. "Besides I know you're only doing this because you can benefit from it, we all know it that's why none of us believe you when you say 'i wanna help!' I mock the Capitol accent again as I scoff. "Well for me it's both..." He turns away.

His eyes stay on me as I eat one of the cookies he brought for me. I offer him the other. "No thank you" He shakes his head and bites his lip. I smile a bit. "We're not so different you know, you're hungry, I can tell, take it, please" I kneel down to enjoy it with him. He seemed grateful. "I always thought there was lots and lots of food in the Capitol" I tilt my head in confusion. "You know one time I ate a whole jar of paste just to stop the pain in my stomach?" He laughs dryly. My eyes widen.

A laugh somehow leaves my lips equally as dry as his. "Been there done that, except I'm not so sure I was supposed to, ended in me throwing it all up." He looks interested in my story and I can't help but feel heard for once. Men listen to my songs but they don't hear my words. For once it was different. "How'd yours taste?" He asks. "Hmmm pasty" I reply with a mouthful. "Ditto." Coriolanus laughs, again but more genuinely. "See that kid over there?" I inquire, turning to face them. "Sweet girl, 12. She's a lot like my brother Jeremy. Real quiet kid with a heart of pure gold. I miss him a lot"

Coriolanus looks at me with pity. "Sorry" is all he can Mutter, not that I expected much else from him. It's hard to respond to a bomb like that. "You're a good guy Coriolanus," I touch his hand through the bars. "We would've been great friends in other circumstances." My tone is shaky as thoughts of dying in the arena flood my head. "I think we'd meet through one of your shows, I can't resist a good song." He adds. "Maybe we could've had a drink or a dance, I'm a good dancer. We could've been..."

My daydreams are cut off by screaming and clanking. The teased tribute holding the Capitol girl or as Coriolanus called her 'poison with perfect teeth' by the collar and bashing her head with a glass bottle. Coriolanus quickly ran to her to try and save her, to do something before the peacekeepers shot at the very clearly unstable woman and dragged Coriolanus away. I stepped back from the cage, praying the girl lived before we all paid the price for it. He had a plan to get up food and water and this incident could jeopardize it all.

A/N: sorry for short chapter :(