The clear liquid sloshed around the small vial as it was rolled through the nimble fingers of a nervous man. Though they carried the weight of life and death, the fingers stayed strong.

As soon as the sound of footsteps reached the man's ear, the vial discreetly vanished into his sleeve. He put on his stale business smile that was sure to appease almost anyone who came to meet him.

"Mr. Snow." The puzzling voice of Dr. Gaul cackled. "What a nice space you have here. I see that your new position is treating you quite well."

"Dr. Gaul, what a… pleasant surprise." The muscles tightened in Coriolanus' face.

The insane Doctor went straight to the displays on the sides of his office, groping all of his prized items.

Dr. Gaul clicked her tongue disappointedly as she opened a silver box and checked her reflection. "You should know that I can appear anywhere at any time. And I wouldn't miss an accomplishment like this for most of my pets."

She set the item down and looked at him with her mismatched eyes and wide smile. "After all, you only celebrate 25 years of the Hunger Games once. Your Quarter Quell concept was deliciously brilliant as per usual."

"Thank you, I'm quite proud of it myself," Coriolanus said.

Her eyes seemed to zoom into him as her tone became more serious. "So tell me, Soft Little Snow, why was I not invited?"

A genuine smile found its way onto Coriolanus' face. "So that we could talk one-on-one in my office, of course." He gestured for her to take a seat in the leather chair in front of his desk.

Dr. Gaul returned his smile with a wicked grin as things got interesting. "I take it that my pleasant surprise wasn't a surprise after all then?"

"Hardly," Coriolanus smirked.

After reclining in the offered seat, Dr. Gaul interlocked her fingers. "What is it you wanted to discuss, Mr. Snow?"

"I'm seeking information that seems to be… hidden from me. And I was hoping that you would be able to provide that for me." Coriolanus began. "You see I recently stumbled across a trail of military funding that seemingly goes nowhere. At first, I thought it was just another of a long list of ghost transactions made for a cover-up from an amateur slob trying to play the politics game. But following this thread, I soon came to the conclusion that this was much bigger than that."

"Whatever it was, it's buried deep. But I did manage to dig up one document that survived this purge of information." Coriolanus pulled a paper out of his drawer and placed it on the desk for the Doctor to see.

Gaul leaned forward to examine his finding. The paper was riddled with black lines, hiding the key information of the document, but at the bottom of the page was the unmistakable mark of a signature that condoned the order.

Dr. Volumnia Gaul

Dr. Gaul forced a smile and looked up at Snow again. "I wouldn't choose the word stumbled, Mr. Snow. You seemed very eager to find out this secret."

Coriolanus dropped his welcoming facade. "What is Operation Closet?"

The Doctor snorted a laugh. "Of course, they gave it a cute name."

"I asked you a question, Doctor," He said with a sharp edge to his voice.

Dr. Gaul leaned back and sighed. "I'm afraid that you won't be receiving any information from me, Little Snow. Some Secrets are buried for good reason."

Coriolanus clenched his teeth. "I can find this secret with or without your help. The only thing that I lose if you don't answer is my failing trust in you."

Another cackle filled the room. "Oh Soft Little Snow, you think that everything can be achieved through confidence and intimidation. It's adorable really." She sighed and shook her head. "But we both know that you wouldn't be coming to me if you could find it by yourself."

"Now play nice for a little while and I'll try to forget that this breach of trust ever occurred," She said patronizingly as she stood and turned to leave the room. "And don't bother trying to dig this up anymore. You won't find anything but the endless decoy trail I laid out for people like you to follow."

"Then perhaps your usefulness has finally run its course," Coriolanus said quietly.

"What was that?" Dr. Gaul froze in her tracks and whipped around. "If you truly think that I'm another rich Capitol chump that you can just poison out of your way, then I have made a foolish mistake thinking that you were anything more than a boy who simply wanted a higher seat!"

She strode over to his desk and leaned into his face where he could smell the remnants of the disgusting mutants on her lab coat.

"I made you, Snow! You would be nothing more than a grunt in the corps if it weren't for me, so I suggest that you get rid of the vial of poison in your sleeve before I feed it to you in front of the entire nation of Panem!" She spat in his face.

Coriolanus stared back at her, not backing down. He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief to wipe the saliva off his face.

Dr. Gaul flared her nostrils as she backed away. "I'll see you at the party, Mr. Snow."


Coriolanus' heart raced. This was it. It was all or nothing. This night would determine where he ended up. Whether it be a future President of Panem, or facing the barrel of a gun on a live execution broadcast to the whole world.

The empty vial of poison had been disposed of, the proper people had been manipulated, and the targets were chosen. All that needed to happen was for him to call a toast.

Everything was in place, but still, his pulse was deafening.

He'd poisoned plenty of people in his lifetime, but never had the target been more personal than this time.

He glanced over at Dr. Gaul who was creeping out a chef from the kitchen. She was the last roadblock for his path to the top.

Dr. Gaul was right when she said that he would be nothing without her. He respected that. She had taught him more about the inner workings of human beings than he could've learned by himself in ten lives.

But when push came to shove and shove came to stab, she needed to be taken out of the equation.

"Cling cling!" Coriolanus tapped a glass with a fork to get the room's attention.

The party quieted down and all eyes focused on Snow.

"First of all, I'd like to congratulate you all for the successful games that we all worked hard to accomplish," He said in his show voice.

A polite round of applause and cheering went around the room.

"Allow me to propose a toast," He said.

Everyone picked up their glasses in preparation, but Coriolanus held up his hand to stop them.

"I've prepared a round of champagne from my family's vintage collection for you all to enjoy tonight." He snapped his fingers and a half-a-dozen avoxes came out and dispersed glasses of champagne to the guests.

Coriolanus didn't look directly at Dr. Gaul, but he caught her glaring at him in his peripheral vision. Everything had to work out perfectly, or he was as good as dead. If he miscalculated Dr. Gaul even a bit, everything was ruined.

His internal panic didn't manifest outwardly as his showman's face still shone brightly to his guests.

"To… the power we hold and power we stand to gain!" He proclaimed as he raised his glass along with everyone else. "And to the Hunger Games that gave it to us."

He closed his eyes and drank the champagne.

The pounding of his heart felt like it wanted to break out of his ribs and run away. He was afraid to even open his eyes, but he forced himself to.

The guests all looked delighted with the taste of the exquisite drink, except for one. Dr. Gaul held her full glass as she stared daggers into him.

Coriolanus didn't have much time to give a reaction to her not drinking from her glass as the sound of another glass shattering on the ground stole his attention.

A woman gagged and held her throat as another man went to check on her.

A couple more glasses shattered, but Coriolanus didn't look. A stinging feeling slowly started creeping up his throat. He choked for a moment and then his lungs exploded with pain and he fell to the ground as he fought to breathe. His hands went to his throat, but they provided no relief.

The last sounds he heard before passing out were the collective screams of his guests panicking.

The outcome had been decided.


The evidence was overwhelmingly guilty.

A quick look at the guest list showed that she wasn't invited, interviewing the still breathing guests told that she'd been in and out of the kitchen, and the final nail in the coffin, one review of the footage of the party plainly showed that the only person to not drink out the poisoned glasses was one Dr. Gaul.

Her execution was in one hour.

The door opened to the cell block and the tap of nice shoes walked toward her cell.

"Come to say goodbye?" She asked, knowing who it was.

"That's part of it." A weak and hoarse Coriolanus strained.

Dr. Gaul looked up at the well-groomed man in front of her. In looks he was perfect, but the strong scent of blood reaked from his person.

"Sounds like you haven't quite recovered from your stunt." She laughed softly to herself. "I have to hand it to you, Mr. Snow. That was a masterful move on your part, poisoning yourself to move the heat off of you and onto me. Simultaneously solving all your problems at once."

The Doctor walked up to the bars and nested her face in between two of them, getting as close as possible to him. "All wrapped up in a tight little bow."

Coriolanus opened his mouth to speak, but what came out was a nasty cough that made him almost yell out in pain. Dr. Gaul watched him hunched over in agony, and wiping the blood away with an already stained handkerchief.

"I can't think of a better reminder of the price for power." She smiled, but after a few moments, the smirk disappeared. "How did you know? How did you know that I wouldn't drink the champagne?"

Snow pulled the empty vial of poison from his sleeve, the same one she had caught a glimpse of when she walked into his office. Coriolanus forced words out which made him strain with visible pain "I put the idea in your head. I used your own distrust against you."

"You showed me the vial on purpose." She nodded. "You had it all planned out from the start."

"I'll truly miss you, Dr. Gaul." He said genuinely. "You're the only one who could at least… partially understand me."

"So what's the rest?" She raised a brow. "You said saying goodbye was only part of your reasoning to see me before I get a few extra holes in me."

"What is Operation Closet?" He asked. "I know it has something to do with some sort of project in the north, what is it?"

She nodded with a smile. "I guess I have nothing to lose anymore."

"And nothing to gain," Coriolanus stated coldly. "You're never coming out of this cage alive."

"Don't worry, I don't have any bargains." She shook her head. "I understand why you care so much about this now." The Doctor began laughing. "All this time I thought it was only power you were after, but really it was…"

"Are you going to tell me or have I wasted my time here?" Coriolanus asked.

She licked her lips and looked down at the cold concrete floor below her feet. "I'll give you something else to chase. District 13."

"Hm." Snow nodded and turned to leave the prison.

"You won't find what you are looking for, Soft Little Snow." She cooed.

He paused. "You don't know what I'm looking for."

The wicked smile returned to Dr. Gaul's face for the last time. "I don't. But I do know who you're looking for."

Coriolanus balled his fists and briskly walked to the exit of the cell block.

"YOUR SONGBIRD WILL NEVER SING FOR YOU AGAIN, LITTLE SNOW!" Dr. Gaul screamed from her cage. "YOU KILLED ANY CHANCE OF THAT THE DAY YOU MET ME! YOU MAY RULE THE WORLD ONE DAY! BUT REMEMBER I CORRUPTED YOU! I AM THE REASON YOU WILL ALWAYS FEEL NOTHING!!! I KILLED CORIOLANUS SNOW!"