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Sacrifice || Thirteen

I missed training. By the time I opened my eyes, my room glowed dimly and there was an incessant rapping at my door. Sluggishly, I got up and answered.

'Tonight is the interview!' Zeus chimed as he bustled into my room. 'We need to make you look fierce, darling.' I only smiled because it was him. I would have ripped his head off if he were anyone else. Without even asking, I sat down on my bed and Zeus started with my measurements as usual.

'My, you've gotten skinny. You need to eat more if you want to fight off the brutes in the Games,' he scolded. I scoffed mentally. Of course, I looked sickly after throwing up on a daily basis in the Capitol. My prep team joined in soon afterwards, fussing over me. As they did, I wondered what the Games would be like. Even though there was a plan to get as many allies out as possible, I had a feeling Plutarch wouldn't mind if we died off before the end. All he cared about was Katniss' survival.

Zeus swathed a shimmery green cloth around me, muttering something under his breath. I stared at him for a moment.

'Hey,' I whispered. With pins in his mouth, he only managed to hum in answer, sparing a glance at me. 'Make my last one something everyone will remember.' Zeus paused. Setting everything down everything, he wrapped his arms around me.

'No,' he whispered softly yet firmly, 'I'll make sure you live to see all this fixed.' Tears pricked my eyes. With my head still spinning from the previous night, I felt tired and helpless and so very little. I choked out sobs in the safety of Zeus' arms. He held me for as long I needed, waving the prep team away. They all filed out as I pulled away wiping my face.

'Please make sure my family has enough after I'm gone. And I hope you find someone better to style,' I said. I suddenly noticed that Zeus had a wetness on his face. He was crying. Zeus never cried. Just the sight of his tears brought more from me. We both sat there, crying for a while.

'Of course, I'll make sure your family is safe. That's the least I owe to the soldiers like you who are doing every they can to make the world a better place,' he replied. 'And I'd never find anyone better than you even if I tried.' He doesn't bother telling me that I wouldn't die or that I had a chance of making it out alive. We both knew that only death awaited me in the arena.

Then he grabbed the bundles of cloth that had been discarded on the floor.

'You're right,' he said, 'this one has to be the one no one will ever forget.' I giggled a little through the tears. He called everyone back in and they got straight to work.


'Just be yourself,' Zeus told me as I nervously fiddled behind the curtains.

'That's horrible advice,' I mumbled. 'Right now, being myself would mean saying things the Capitol would likely never forgive. I still want sponsors, Zeus.' He rolled his eyes and offered a smile.

'I mean, you don't have to lose sponsors over what you say. Coral, darling, you have an empowering aura about you that attracts others. For all these years, Snow has been trying to get you to shy away from the aura, so you never got to know yourself and use it against him. This time, I want you to go out there and show the whole world that you are not just another one of their shiny toys.' I nodded. The way he described me gave me hope. Zeus definitely helped with my confidence with the outfit I was wearing. I wasn't wearing a dress in official Capitol airings like I always did.

Zeus had put together an exquisite outfit for me that I never knew I would love. I was in a plain sailor's blouse, the lace was undone at the front to reveal a shimmering green-blue cloth underneath. I couldn't quite tell which colour it was because it shifted every time the light hit it. My leather jeans looked ordinary until you noticed the grooving on it. It looked like scales climbing up my legs. Ever since I had earned the title "The Siren" I was ashamed of every time I heard it. It only reminded of everything I had done to receive such a name.

But now, the Capitol couldn't use it against me because I could finally embrace it. I wasn't the alluringly beautiful Siren the Capitol had tried to mould me into; I was a dark, beguiling one that would destroy the whole damned place for everything they had done. My hair was let loose, hanging around my chin in waves. For the first time since stepping into the Capitol, I looked like someone from home.

Finnick walked up beside me and I noticed his outfit was paired with mine. His clothes didn't have the intricate details mine did and were instead a little looser and more… open. Of course, always appealing to his charm.

'Thank you for helping me out when I was… a little out of it,' I said without looking in his direction.

'No problem,' he replied, and that was that. I watched as everyone went up one stage, one by one. Soon, it was my turn. Before I went up, Finnick gave me a reassuring nod and I returned it with a silent "thank you". I hated going up on stage. I hated seeing all the horrid faces applaud for me because of what I had done in that arena eight years ago. It was sickening.

At least Caesar helped. He always kept the conversation going long enough to give me the chance to breathe. This time, like always, he never failed to deliver.

'Oh my,' Caesar exclaimed as I stepped up on stage, 'I see a change of wardrobe!' I giggled shyly by instinct, immediately reprimanding myself mentally. I wasn't a giggling schoolgirl anymore. I despised my natural reflex of reverting back to the fake persona I had made up for the Capitol whenever I was in front of them. I steeled myself as I took a seat, consciously reminding myself to be Coral Reeves and no one else.

'I feel like I want to show a new side of myself before I went into the Games,' I replied. Caesar gave me an appraising look and a thumbs up.

'I absolutely love it!' he exclaimed, earning a round of applause from the audience. 'But why this side of you, Coral?' I took a deep breath. This was it.

'Because the shy and sweet side of me wasn't… me. Ever since the Games, I've changed but I've never gotten to express myself as I am. So, before I go in this time, I want the whole world to know that I am Coral Reeves, a fighter and a survivor.'


HI guysss!

Sorry for going MIA on everyone, but it's exam time again and school kinda hit like a brick.

The updates are gonna be hella irregular now, but I'll try my best to keep It going.

SORRY.

LUV YALL,

- Lea Valdez