The vast crowd of Capitol citizens chanted and cheered as the sturdy calloused hands of their newly elected President waved to them from the balcony of the gray Justice Center. After a few minutes of that, the President finally rested his proud hands on the cold stone railing in front of him.

It was finally his. All trials had been overcome, he had removed everyone that stood in his path, and the people loved him. His hands held the world and it felt right.

The President's age-old motto recited in his mind as it had time and time again throughout his life.

Snow lands on top.

And he had. He had reached the peak of the ultimate ladder and there was nothing left to climb.

Coriolanus held up his hand and the people went silent.

"My dear citizens of the Capitol, I am honored to stand before you today no longer as a fellow man, but as a benevolent leader. I pledge to do everything in my power to preserve our proud way of life, and if I can, enhance it. My fervor for the nation of Panem exceeds that of most, and I intend to show it.

"In a few months time, we will celebrate the 50th annual Hunger Games. A necessary symbolic tradition that we share with our loyal Districts to ensure that the wrongs of the past are never forgotten. The Hunger Games are a true spectacle that is enjoyed by all. But let us not forget their sacred purpose: To ensure that the Districts never rise against us again, and to raise us to always remember what they are capable of.

"I was but a child when the war ended, but the scars it left behind can still be found everywhere one can look. The Districts can never atone for their sins, and I will tell you why. Just as scars can never be truly healed, sins are not capable of mending.

"Sins never go away. Their sins will haunt them until the day they die. And we, the scared but righteous survivors will be the ones to haunt them. Long live the Hunger Games, and long live Panem!"

His hands squeezed the stone railing as he finished his speech. Coriolanus almost couldn't hear the roaring crowd below praising him. He delivered his speech with every ounce of passion he had within him. Every word he stood by.

Sins never went away.

Especially his.


Coriolanus sat at his desk a few hours later. His mother's silver compact was held in his palm as his thumb brushed over it. He opened it and stared back at himself. The hateful eyes glared at him from the reflective small circle.

It was almost as if he could still hear the crowds cheering. He had all he wanted, so why did he feel empty?

A knock on the door.

"Come in." He snapped the case shut and placed it back in his drawer.

A maid came in and bowed. "President Snow, your cousin has arrived."

The slightest wave of relief came over his heart but dried up just as fast. Tigris wasn't the woman she used to be.

As Coriolanus came down the majestic spiral staircase, he caught a glimpse of his only remaining relative. Sprawled out lazily on an expensive dining room chair with a bottle of some sort of alcohol in one hand and what looked like a handheld mirror in the other.

"You couldn't have waited until after dinner to get wasted?" He asked as he reached the bottom.

Tigris rolled her head over to look at Coriolanus. "It was just a little sip, Coryo." Her newly attained synthetic whiskers jiggled a bit as a hiccup and a burp tried to come out at the same time.

Coriolanus shook his head and took a seat at the table which signaled the avoxes to begin serving dinner.

"Rosie's not coming?" Tigris frowned as she saw that there were only two seats.

"Livia and Rosie are on vacation. It will only be us today." Snow forced a smile. He had made sure that his wife and daughter weren't there to see his cousin the last few years, which she seemed to forget every time.

Tigris' augmented face distorted strangely when she scrunched her nose in disappointment. "That's too bad, I was hoping to give Rosie a present."

"I'll be sure to pass it along," Coriolanus said.

His cousin placed the children's handheld mirror on the table and slid it over to him. Coriolanus looked down and saw that the glass had been cracked, distorting his image.

Tigris had also seemed to forget that his daughter was an adult and no longer had an interest in kid's toys.

The food was placed in front of them and they began to eat.

"Are there any ideas that have piqued your interest recently?" He asked.

"Hmm." She slouched further into her chair as she thought. "I was thinking of slitting the tribute's wrists and then my own." She giggled drunkenly. "It would represent how they're just gonna die anyway or some crap like that."

Coriolanus set down his fork. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm just a stylist, what isn't wrong with me? I get to play dress up with lambs before the slaughter." Tigris let out a burst of unhinged laughing. "And this time I get to do it with double the toys! Who wouldn't want to look into the eyes of twice as many warm corpses!"

"You're drunk, Tigris." Coriolanus wiped his hands on a cloth napkin and threw it down on the table. "Go home."

"Yeah, if anything doesn't go your way, you just sweep it under the rug." She sneered. "If only I could dress up my tributes as well as you hide your inky black soul."

"Tigris, if keep on like this-"

"You'll what? Make me disappear?" Her tone almost dared him. "Like you did Lucy Gray?"

"Is that a threat?" Cornelius' eyes zeroed in on his cousin.

She rolled her eyes. "You're the one with the smarts, Coryo. If I had enough brains to get evidence to blackmail you do you really think I would've stood by you all these years? If I had a grain of your IQ, I would've walked away the day you decided to keep the games going."

Cornelius sighed and tried to calm down. "If working with the tribute bothers you so much, then you don't have to work at the games anymore. Don't you have that store on the Square? Why not work on that?"

"It's not just the games, Coryo!" She swung her arms out and accidentally knocked her bottle off the table. It shattered on the marble flooring and the liquid began spreading looking for something to stain.

Tigris ignored the mess she made and continued lecturing her cousin.

"I'm not human anymore! I look in the mirror and I want to strangle the monster looking back at me! You knew what you were doing to me!" Tears streamed down her face as she stood up and jabbed a finger at him. "The only thing you care about is your power and control! I thought you cared about me! I thought you- you…"

Her lip quivered and she looked away from him as it was too painful for her.

"You used to be so small. I remember holding you…. We used to be so close…." She looked at him with pure sorrow in her eyes. "What happened to us, Coryo? What happened to the two kids scrounging for food?"

The emotions of anger melted, washed away with regret.

"They were so innocent." She sobbed. "What killed them?"

Coriolanus came over to her. It had been possibly decades since he'd shown her any physical affection. So long that it felt unnatural to hug her.

She returned the hug and cried into his shoulder.

"What killed them?" She asked sincerely.

"The games did. The games killed everyone," He answered.

Tigris retracted her hug and nodded. "I guess I didn't notice I was a ghost yet."

She wiped her face with her sleeve and sniffed away her tears. "I can't do it anymore. I can't pretend that I still love you." She turned away and walked to the door.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he followed her.

"I loved my cousin. I'll always cherish those memories. But my Coryo died a long time ago." She gathered herself enough to stand up straight. "It's over Coriolanus. I'm not coming back."

Coriolanus just nodded.

Tigris left the mansion and left her cousin alone with his realization. It hit him why he felt empty.

The crowds cheered and praised him.

He had all he wanted.

And lost everything.

But he couldn't let that slide. He was the ruler of the world and refused to let things be taken away from him. All the power he held would fix his problems, or else, what was the point?

He would take back what he lost. Starting with his first sin. Lucy Gray.


"You wished to see me, President Snow?"

Coriolanus waved his hand and the axoves left the room and locked the doors. "What do you know of Operation Closet, General Ford?"

"It was the mutual agreement between The Capitol and District 13 to end the war. A covered-up cease-fire." The general recited.

President Snow stood in front of a large window that overlooked his vast rose garden. "Please, sit." He said without looking back at the General.

Ford took the chair that sat in front of Snow's desk.

Coriolanus continued. "I trust then that you are familiar with the intricate lies and deception that went on behind the scenes to prop up the current story?"

"Dr. Gaul's work to keep the secret airtight is unmatched, sir."

"But could it be?" President Snow turned away from the window and looked at the other man.

"Matched?" The General thought for a few moments. "I suppose so."

Coriolanus took the seat behind his desk. "I want you to create another fabrication. The lie will be that we are conducting a geographical survey of the lands beyond Panem's borders to see if they are viable to settle more Districts."

"Seems easy enough." Ford nodded. "What would we be covering up?"

Snow leaned forward slightly, his face conveying his grim seriousness. "Something that never leaves this room."

"Understood."

"You will be conducting a manhunt of the entirety of the northlands. I want every inch searched thoroughly. No timeframe, no quotas, and no cut corners. I want it all searched and I don't care if it takes decades, I want it done."

The General's mind rushed with implications and roadblocks, but he knew better than to question his leader's demands.

"Who is this manhunt for?" Ford asked. "I don't recall anyone of this much importance going missing."

Coriolanus leaned back in his chair and sighed. "The Victor of the 10th Hunger Games, Lucy Gray Baird."

"I thought she was dead."

"And you are either to confirm that or prove that it's wrong."

The General nodded. "I see. I'll get this operation running as soon as possible." He stood up and bowed. "Is that all, sir?"

"The name Lucy Gray will never be uttered from your mouth unless it is to me in privacy. Is that understood, General Ford?"

"Clearly."

"You may go."

The General left the room to carry out his order and Coriolanus began his wait that would last him for the rest of his life.

He would find Lucy Gray even if he had to burn the whole nation down to do it.