The Ballad of Snow and Roses

She would be perfect

Sooo... after watching TBOSAS I fell back into my Hunger Games fandom days 🥲 It's been years since I actually wrote fanfic in that universe and also, English is not my native language so I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes :')

Also - please note that everything in this story is obviously AU and the characters and the Hunger Games itself (gladly) don't exist. Also: The entire Hunger Games universe and everything that comes with it obviously belongs to Suzanne Collins.

I might go slightly OC at some point - sorry for that. But the idea was stuck in my mind as the epilogue hints clearly at Snow marrying Livia and I wanted to write that down as I think that, although Livia is hinted to not be much of a nice person, I could see her changing during her marriage to Snow. 

Enjoy xx

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"If he ever married, he'd choose someone incapable of swaying his heart. Someone he hated, even, so they could never manipulate him the way Lucy Gray had. Never make him feel jealous. Or weak. Livia Cardew would be perfect. He imagined the two of them, the president and his first lady, presiding over the Hunger Games a few years from now."

(- Epiloge in The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes)

He'd stayed true to his word. Shortly after the 10th Hunger Games had ended and he'd gone back to the capitol, he started dating Livia. She'd been surprised upon being asked out but immediately accepted.

He and Livia always had sort of a complicated friendship - if it was any friendship at all. They'd gotten along, occasionally sat at the same table or spoke during lunch but as they had their different groups of friends, their paths didn't cross much. Coriolanus had always been the one to prefer sitting alone and if anything he spent his time with Clemensia or sometimes Lysistrata. Livia however, more popular among the students, hung out with Arachne the most; maybe because they were similar in character. Coriolanus saw them as false, arrogant and a show-off.

But during the games and their work as mentors they started talking more, all the mentors would sit together at lunch to talk about their tributes. Livia, being a mentor to the District 1 tribute boy Facet, saw faily good chances in winning. District 1 and 2 had brought forward the most victors in the past years although District 4 had good chances of winning too - and the District 11 boy didn't seem like a lost case either. Coriolanus on the other hand saw little chances in winning seeing as he got the female tribute from 12. District 12 was known to be absolutely hopeless in the games. But his tribute was different. She drew attention on herself for how unique she was.

But whilst the other mentors didn't seem to actually care for their tributes, Coriolanus found himself getting closer to Lucy Gray. Not that he ever mentioned this towards his classmates; he knew all too well what kind of remarks he'd get. All of his classmates had grown up rich and wealthy - Livia's mother for example ran the largest bank in the capitol. But he was the odd one out. The one who wasn't rich or wealthy despite doing his best to make his classmates believe he was like them. 

One day, he knew, he'd be rich and wealthy too. As the future president of Panem. 

But before the games even started, tributes and mentors got a taste of what the Hunger Games could be like. A tour through the arena was planned, for mentors to give their tributes advice and get to know the arena together. Coriolanus had tried to give Lucy Gray advice that mostly involved hiding until the worst was over, something he'd learned during the war. But as he glanced over to Livia, dressed in the typical academy uniform and with a disgusted expression written on her face, he realised just how different Livia and Lucy Gray were. Livia was a true capitol lady, loving her wealth and the status she got to enjoy, whereas Lucy Gray, used to the life in the districts, seemed far more humble and gentle. Coriolanus didn't knew which side he could position himself at. He loved the wealth, despite it was almost non-existent for him, and he hated the facade he had to put on nonstop in front of his classmates. But he couldn't imagine living in the districts. The Captiol was his home and he knew that one day he'd rule over it all.