As Coriolanus Snow sat in the atrium that was now his prison, he reflected on life before he was President Snow. Long before Katniss Everdeen pulled out those berries. He remembered Alma, a bright and beautiful young woman four years his junior. Shoved together initially by their friends, Coriolanus Snow and Alma Coin soon became inseparable.
They would walk, hand in hand, along the Capitol avenues. Alma, spontaneous girl that she was, often pulled him into alleys and kissed him until he saw stars. He would tangle his fingers in her long, gingery hair. Snow never wanted to let Alma go.
But they grew up. The political world around them interested both Alma and Coriolanus, but in different ways. Their ideas were so vastly different that arguments would sprout and form cracks in their relationship, until all that was left was rubble. By the time Snow had become president, Alma had disappeared without a trace. Coriolanus knew where she was, though. District Thirteen.
Alma Coin quickly ascended the ranks, all the way to president of Thirteen. When she first addressed Snow as President, he was surprised in her changed demeanor. No longer was she the bubbly, brilliant girl from the Capitol. She wasn't even beautiful anymore. She was snakelike, similar to someone Snow knew.
They corresponded civilly, never mentioning their brief teenage romance to anyone. That all changed once Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark both won the Games.
Just two short years ago, a spark lit in Panem that was impossible to suffocate. The Third Quarter Quell ended in disaster, and the rebellion began. It was a battle of wits between Snow and Coin that ended with the parachutes that blew Everdeen's young sister to bits. Snow knew the real Coin by this time, and shook his head at how he, as well as the citizens of Panem had been fooled.
When Katniss wandered into the atrium, he saw how she had suffered. Not only was her appearance similar to a beast or a mutt, but she didn't speak. That is, until he brought up the parachutes. How she had been had by Coin.
"I don't believe you." She croaked, the first words spoken by the Mockingjay in months. He chuckled, seeing right through her, seeing the squirming doubt in her eyes.
"Oh, my dear Miss Everdeen. I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other."
Once she pulled up her arrow, sending it into Alma's chest, Coriolanus grinned. Once her body, cast over the railing above him, came crumpling to the floor, he laughed. He continued laughing through the panic, until the mob overtook him.
He and Alma were even now.