Hi all! New chapter is up! Lucy and Snow FINALLY talk. How does it go? Find out now!

Lucy feels a presence behind her. It feels familiar, but forgotten…almost like muscle memory. She takes a death breath in when the presence comes closer to her and…sits down next to her? She turns and recognizes the white hair, the piercing blue eyes, and the all too familiar face. But she doesn't panic this time, in fact she makes no reaction at all. She merely turns away and continues to strum at her guitar, almost as if he wasn't there at all. The silence grows louder between them. The strumming of the guitar seems to be fading in the background. The only thing present is them…who are sitting about two feet apart and not saying a word. What would you even say to the boy you loved? The boy who ripped your heart out? The boy who tried to kill you? Nothing. At least Lucy Gray thinks so. She feels a breeze blowing softly through her curls. She can feel it blowing through his hair as well. But she refuses to look up at him. She refuses to acknowledge the boy who would stoop so low. After all, she only saved him because she refuses to be like him.

Out of nowhere, her fingers start to strum a different tune. Coriolanus seems to notice as his head perks up from awkwardly staring away from her. The silence turns from an awkward one to a peaceful one. She looks down at her guitar and listens. She knows what song she is playing. It is her forbidden song, the song she swore she would never play again. "Pure as the Driven Snow," the song she wrote for him . No wonder he perked up at the song, he remembers it too. She finds her fingers have a mind of their own as they continue to play, even when she tries to make them stop. She gives up and accepts that this is the song she is playing. This is a song about them. And here they are now, saying nothing to each other, just listening. Maybe that is what went wrong the first time. There was so much noise that they wouldn't listen to each other. Her fingers stop strumming. There is going to be no noise. Not this time. They are going to listen.

"I didn't know you had a guitar," Coriolanus tells her.

Lucy's heart jumps. She did not expect him to start talking. She quickly regains her composure. "What are you talking about? You have seen me play the guitar."

"No um–I mean. When we ran off. I don't remember you carrying a guitar with you."

"I wasn't. I got this from one of the camp members."

"Oh." Coriolanus sighs and sweeps his fingers through his hair. "That's nice."

The silence took over again. It seems to Lucy that they both have so much they want to say, but neither of them knows where to start. In fact, she isn't sure if they even know what they want to say in the first place. She sighs. Maybe it is time to start listening to the silence. Lucy closes her eyes and breathes. The silence is lovely. She can hear nothing but the sounds of the wind and the mockingjays singing in the distance. She looks over to see Coriolanus. Maybe he enjoys the silences too. She continues to focus on the silence when:

"You know…" Lucy jumps again at Coriolanus' words.

"Yes?" She hesitantly responds, putting her guitar down in her lap.

"I–I um…" He takes a deep breath, Lucy can feel him looking at her for the first time. She turns her body and faces him. She scans him until they lock eyes with one another. Lucy finds that she cannot look away. His eyes, though piercing, portray a warmth to them, no longer seeming to be filled with the cold they once were.

"I…"

"Go on." Lucy tells him. "I'm listening."

"Lucy, I never really wanted you to die…" He looks away again.

Lucy's eyes widen. "Well..um..it sure didn't seem that way." She looks down at her skirt, patting down the extra tool.

"I'm being serious," Coriolanus responds right back. I didn't want you to die."

Silence overtook. Then Lucy speaks again. "Well, what did you want then?"

"I–I don't know. I don't know what I wanted. I thought I wanted to run away with you, but then I saw the guns and–"

"And you decided to kill me." Lucy says in a harsh tone. She doesn't know where this anger is coming from but she likes it. The day all comes flooding back to her. She remembers Snow in the woods holding a gun, looking for her, planning to shoot her on site. She could never trust Snow. Coriolanus was dead. This was Snow. How could she even listen to him for a second?

"You decided to get rid of me and go back to your own life!" Lucy starts shouting now. "You never cared about me! You would kill me in a second if it gets you what you want!"

Snow looks at her dumbfounded. "That's not true!" He starts shouting now.

"Oh yeah, then why did you bring out the gun?"

"I–"

"Why did you try to scare me like that?"

"I–"

"Why? Did. You. Shoot?"

Silence overtook again. Lucy is getting sick of the silence. It was clear Snow was getting sick of it too.

"Well, why did you try to kill me with the snake?" He snaps back.

"What snake? I didn't try to kill you with anything I wanted to be with you! I loved you!"

The mockingjays fly away from the sounds of Lucy's shouts. Silence overtook again.

"Look," Snow says, calming down his voice. "It is true. I did want my old life back. But that doesn't mean I wanted you dead. I loved you too…"

Lucy cannot handle any of this anymore. So, she does the only thing she knows how to do. She did it in the games. She did it when faced with Snow in the woods. And she does it now.

She runs.

She runs far from the cold, harsh, Snow.

Cliffhangers seems to be a theme at the end of my chapters don't they? Sorry about that. Find out what happens next soon!

-23LucyGrace