𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 (𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏)

Chapter 4

Coriolanus Snow

Today was the day. Today would be the first part of the 26th Hunger Games. The harvests. Like last year, women and men from the Capitol were allowed to "buy" tributes. They fulfilled the role of mentors. It was far easier than letting students fulfil the role of mentors. The games had changed, especially after the rather successful Jubilee. The tributes had been given uniforms since the 11th Hunger Games. He himself was probably not entirely innocent of this, after his rat poison campaign, which didn't go down particularly well. In addition, the tributes no longer had to spend the night in the zoo, but in small rooms. There were now also scores between one and twelve after a training session so that the citizens could visualise the tributes more clearly. The interviews would remain. Hopefully there wouldn't be as many 12-year-old tributes this year as in the 22nd Games. Otherwise the games would be unsuccessful. Nobody liked watching young tributes die.

 
Coriolanus put on his claret-coloured shirt. As he fastened the last button, the doorbell rang. Was that Tigris? They were supposed to meet tonight. He quickly ran out of his room and into the corridor. He opened the door, but it wasn't Tigris. "Shane, what are you doing here?" "Picking you up, isn't that obvious?" Were they serious right now? "Listen, I don't know what you think our relationship is, but there won't be anything here without an agreement!" "What are you overreacting to? Why don't you just be a bit more spontaneous?" "Me? Overreacting? I like things to be planned, not rash."1Shane looked at him reproachfully. "Can we go slowly then?" "Now that you're here, we actually can."

 
Coriolanus put on his black shoes. When he was finished, he took the key from his chest of drawers. "Haven't you forgotten something?" She looked at him expectantly. What could he have forgotten? "I think I've got everything I need." Shane snorted angrily. "She gets a white rose, you barely knew her then, and me? I get nothing?" "You didn't have to fight for your life in the arena and kill people in the process!" "So you favour murderesses?" "That has absolutely nothing to do with the topic! I decide when I give roses to whom!" Their argument had become louder, hopefully his neighbours downstairs hadn't overheard. Coriolanus pulled the door shut and locked it. What was Shane imagining about their one-day relationship? He pushed her aside and began to walk quickly down the stairs. "Coriolanus, wait!" He sighed. Coriolanus stopped to wait for Shane. "I'm sorry. Maybe we'll wait with the roses." He nodded. "Good." How he hated her. But he had to do it. For his reputation. You didn't get far in the Capitol without a good reputation.

 
"What are you doing here?" he hissed. Shane dragged him to one of the large windows. "Coriolanus, we're together, get over it." "You know I hate you for this?" "Yes, but you can't risk breaking up with me unless you want Panem to know about your betrayal of the Plinth boys.""You know what, why don't you tell everyone?" "Are you sure? Does Gaul actually know about your murder of Highbottom?" Coriolanus stared at her. "I don't know how you found out about it." Shane smiled. Coriolanus gave her an angry look. Wordlessly, he took her hand. Together they walked to her hall.How he hated holding hands. They weren't teenagers anymore. It was just stupid and childish. How he hated Shane.

Isadora Coral Baird

Isa woke up when she fell out of the tree. It wasn't particularly pleasant, as the ground wasn't particularly soft.She needed a moment to get her bearings. Her circulation was also feeling better. No wonder, she hadn't eaten, let alone drunk, since yesterday lunchtime. She carefully pulled herself to her feet. A few black dots began to dance in front of her eyes. Isa decided to ignore them.After what felt like an hour, she saw a fence. She knew fences. She quickly ran towards the fence. A soft buzzing sound emanated from it. Isa didn't know what it meant, but her mind told her that she shouldn't get too close to the fence.So she ran back. After a short time, she came to the end of the fence, apparently it had just been erected.

And a fence meant people. Curious, Isa walked along the earthy path. It led past a few houses. Isa ran full of adrenaline. It was so huge, so much! Above all, the path became firmer and firmer, which must have been because the number of huts also increased. If there were people living everywhere, this was a huge city. Hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult to find her pa. She just had to ask a few people or run into the centre of the huge town.When Isa saw a little boy disappearing behind a tent, she got another adrenaline rush. "Hey, who are you?" she asked the little boy. She had no idea how old he was, but he was definitely younger. It was funny talking to someone who wasn't her mum. The scrawny little boy looked at her, startled. "What do you want from me? I can't pull you yet," he whispered. Pulled? Isa was completely at a loss. But before she could ask the boy what he meant, someone shouted behind her.

"Get away from there! Get away from my boy!" Isa spun round, startled. A woman with dark, dirty skin and coal-black hair was coming towards her angrily. Isa jumped up. There was only one option: run. So she did. Behind the tent, between huts. Simply away. Her heart was racing. What was wrong with this woman? Why had she screamed like that? Isa ran on.

At some point, she came to a square. There were so many people. Isa gasped and winced. There were so many of them. And they all looked the same. They were all dirty, stood in blocks and had dark hair."Welcome, I'm Janine Restelo, this year's escort for District 12. Happy Hunger Games!"District 12? Hunger Games? Suddenly two tall men pointed at her. They looked different, with their white and blue uniforms and helmets.

Why were they coming towards her? Isa decided to run away again. She wasn't comfortable with the whole thing. She ran off into one of the alleyways. "Stop the girl!" a male voice shouted behind her. And the next moment, someone threw themselves at her from behind. Isa fell to the ground with a scream. Her knees and stomach burned from the hard impact."There, you stay right here." The man stood up and dragged her upstairs."Let go of me!" "Are we on first name terms already?" Isadora Coral was roughly pushed towards the large square. They weren't particularly gentle. Everyone stared at her. Somehow, things weren't going the way she wanted.

"Scan her." All of a sudden, Isa was stung in the arm. "Ouch, what's that?" "No data." The men conferred briefly. Then they dragged her upstairs to the stand. The woman from the beginning looked at them in confusion. "She has no data. She's definitely going." The woman nodded. Suddenly she held a black object in front of Isa's face. "Introduce yourself! Name, age." Hello? Oops, I'm suddenly so loud. Uh, I'm Isadora Coral Ba-" Something inside Isa warned her not to say her real name. "Beffery. I'm fifteen years old." "Our female tribute from District 12: Isadora Coral Beffery! And the male tribute is: Lecan Kethu!" A boy from a block stepped forward, trembling. Isa scrutinised him. He was perhaps a little older than her.

Coriolanus Snow

The girl from 12. Kind of strange. Blonde hair? He didn't really know. The boy looked strong, while the girl looked like she was about to collapse. Her name also triggered something in him. What, he didn't know yet.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

Hey everyone, how are you all doing? If you find some grammar and words mistakes in the fan-fiction, please let me know. 

Also I was interested in how you like the story. I would be happy about some feedback.

Have a nice evening!