A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has read, followed, and reviewed so far! I have so many ideas for this story and much excitement to come! I've been thinking about maybe splitting this story into 2 parts if it gets long enough, but you guys let me know! I also love hearing about what you'd like to read, (ideas!) so please comment them! Now onto our songbird and snake... ;)

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CHAPTER SIX:

A CONVENIENT REVENGE

With blistered fingers, Coriolanus tenderly picked up his mother's charred scarf and pressed it to his nose. It still smelled like her, along with a hint of Lucy Gray's perfume and smoke. It was hardly dawn, and he and Lucy Gray sat together inside the apothecary shop in town. They were crammed beside a wooden table in the back room with stacks of supplies. The entire shop and the street outside had been set up to tend to the wounded from the fire. One of the best healers, Ada, tended to Lucy Gray's injuries. Coriolanus was fortunate to have convinced her with some cash to examine them first.

"Okay, honey, you have to lift up your left arm so I can take a look," Ada told Lucy Gray, gently prying away her hands from her face. She obeyed, allowing Ada to unbutton the remains of her scorched dress. She had suffered a large burn that wrapped around her torso to her back along with a serious concussion. Often, she hid her face because any source of light was extremely sensitive. Coriolanus held her hand, stroking it absentmindedly. He had found himself in shock after everything that had occurred. The fire, the deaths, the siege on base. He hadn't been able to return to the barracks yet to hear how serious it had all been. All he knew was that some convicts had escaped and weapons were stolen.

"Could be worse. I'm going to give you some cream that you need to put on the burn everyday, and then, be sure to bandage it to protect it from infection. You understand?" Ada asked Lucy Gray, who stared at the floor. She nodded.

"Alright, I need to get the next patient over here. You two are good to go," she told Coriolanus, handing him the burn cream in exchange for another wad of cash. With locked hands, Coriolanus led Lucy Gray out of the crowded shop and out into the street. Many who were injured laid out in the burning sun with the few precious hands of healers rushing about to tend to them. Peacekeepers stood at every corner of the street and several paraded down the main road. Coriolanus was certain that soon they would begin raiding people's homes for those guns. He would be assigned to help them once he returned to base. First, he would get Lucy Gray home to the remainder of her family.

Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber didn't escape the fire. Barb Azure had led Maude Ivory out of the Hob through the back stage door, and she had been determined to rush back in to get the boys and Lucy Gray, but she passed out after inhaling too much smoke. Somehow amidst the chaos, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray were able to reunite with her cousins. She had burst into tears upon hearing the unfortunate news and clutched the two girls tightly. Then, she seemed to shut down. It was as if a light was blown out behind her once bright eyes. When she began to collapse due to her injuries, Coriolanus took her quickly to the apothecary shop.

They approached her home, and Lucy Gray stood there a moment gazing at it. She was a sorry sight. Her beautiful dress was nothing but burnt rags now. Her hair was disheveled from the fire, wild about her shoulders. Tear stains streaked her cheeks smudged with ash. Her face was worn and passive, devoid of the life Coriolanus once saw when she sang that love song to him only yesterday. It seemed so unlike her, to submit to the horrors of life like this without going down with a fight. After everything that she had endured in the games, was this the final blow to break his girl? Would she survive the deepest sorrow she had faced yet?

"I'll come back later. I have to return to the base," he reluctantly informed her, trying to catch her eye. He was tempted to add that she should be ready tomorrow so they could sign the papers at the Justice Building and leave on the train in the afternoon. But how could he? After everything that she had been through, would she still come with him? The circumstances had ruined any hope of a joyous send off. No, this wouldn't be a happy honeymoon anymore. Who knows how long Lucy Gray would mourn over her family? He could rescue her from her poverty, but he couldn't rescue her from her grief.

"Alright," she murmured. He took a step towards her and kissed the top of her head. He felt her hand grip his arm tight, like an anchor keeping her from drifting off entirely. He placed the burn cream into her hands, hoping that she would not neglect using it. Then, he left her as dawn approached. A crack of light split open the horizon, stretching over the woods and eventually town. The smoke from the fire still hung in the air, a great billow rising up from the skeleton of the Hob. Coriolanus soon approached the road leading back to the base when a figure emerged from the shadows of the trees. It was Sejanus. His eyes were wild and his uniform was covered in soot. Coriolanus halted, an electric current running down his spine. Before he opened his mouth, he somehow sensed what he would say.

"Coryo, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Sejanus immediately whispered, his voice haggard.

"You made it out. What the hell happened?" Coriolanus demanded.

"It wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to happen! I never thought that they would do this, Coryo. I swear, I only-"

"That they would do what?"

"That they'd burn down the Hob!" Sejanus exclaimed, his hands beginning to shake frantically. "I-I only knew that they had planned to rescue Lil from base, that's it. I was only meant to distract, to keep you away-"

"So, this whole time you've only been pretending to be my friend to keep me from knowing about Billy Taupe's plan? Is that why you got me drunk that one evening, huh? You thought I wouldn't see whatever you wrote on that slip of paper?" Coriolanus exploded, spooking a flock of mockingjays above them. Several let out piercing whistles, escaping up into the purple sky.

"No, I am your friend, Coryo. I swear. It wasn't like that, I only knew that you've always been the observant one and that you'd never approve, but I just had to-"

"People were killed, Sejanus! Lucy Gray, her cousins, they're dead because of you! And she nearly died, too!" Coriolanus hurtled at him. At this, Sejanus broke down.

"I never pushed for violence-you've got to believe me!" He pleaded through suppressed sobs, clenching a hand around Coriolanus's arm. "I never thought it would end up like this. I just wanted to help-"

"You don't help savages!" He returned, yanking away from him. "That is what they are, Sejanus. That is why we are supposed to do our job and keep things in order, so-so fucked up stuff like this doesn't happen! And you screwed it all up," Coriolanus spewed, shoving past him. This was it. Last night's events had solidified it for him. He had always been right about these people. About District Twelve. They were destructive barbarians. Sejanus had lowered himself to their abominable level, destroying any integrity that he might have had before.

"Turn me in," Sejanus' dejected voice spoke behind him. "What option do I have now unless I run?" Coriolanus looked over his shoulder and saw his old classmate's harrowing face, filled with a kind of haunted fear that Coriolanus had witnessed before. In the face of his dear Lucy Gray. It was the fear of imminent death. Sejanus knew what his fate would be now. The hanging tree. Unlike Lucy Gray, Sejanus carried a guilt fit for his suffering.

"Turn yourself in. Maybe I can vouch for your insanity so you'll be sparred from the gallows. I need to go now." Coriolanus left him there in the shadows, enflamed with a fury that propelled him quickly towards the base. Whatever happened to Sejanus now, he couldn't help him. It was now his duty to help Commander Hoff deal with this whole mess. Beneath all of his anger, Coriolanus knew that Sejanus' mess was also his own. He never turned in Billy Taupe when he should have. Weeks ago, it was Lucy Gray who had convinced him otherwise. She had weakened him with her soft heart. It made him want to slam his head into a wall. Mistake after mistake. He needed to assert more control over himself and her. If she was going to return to the Capitol with him, she needed to adhere to some new rules. He knew what was best for them and would do things his own way.

Into the gray morning, Coriolanus marched along with the remainder of his squad in search of the fugitives and lost weapons. With a hand clutching his gun, he surveyed every inch of Twelve. By midday, he was exhausted and his upper body ached from getting thrown back into the cement wall during the fire. He reluctantly dragged himself back toward the barracks, cursing himself for his fruitless search. He hungered for justice, to correct his misdeeds, but most of all, for the satisfaction of revenge. He wanted to make Billy Taupe pay dearly. Commander Hoff informed him that his services, although honorable, were really of no use now. His time as a private was coming to an end, and he needed to escort his bride onto the train to Two.

Set in his thorough ways, Coriolanus resolved to make one last round near the Seam. While in the area, he could also check in on Lucy Gray. He patrolled a rather deserted part of the neighborhood with hardly any of the usual indigent people about, except for a few young kids chasing a stray dog. Most men were working in the mines, and perhaps the women were still in town tending to those who had suffered from the fire. Coriolanus went down the familiar scraggly road to the house closest to the meadow.

As he approached the front step, he unclasped his helmet, tucking it under his arm. He peered through the kitchen window, but hardly saw anything through the holes of the moth eaten white curtains. It seemed so silent. He was about to knock when he heard a branch crack behind him. He whipped around, positioning the gun strapped at his side to fire. He found himself about ten feet away from Billy Taupe, who pointed his own stolen gun at Coriolanus' chest. The two stared down each other over their barrels. So, he had found him.

"Tough luck, eh Capitol boy?" Billy Taupe remarked, attempting to sound cool despite a slight quiver in his voice. He looked awful, with bags under his dark eyes and his ripped clothes covered in dirt. Coriolanus suspected that he had been hiding out somewhere.

"Oh, it's just my luck, actually. I'd been meaning to find you," he returned. His finger pulsed against the trigger, aching to pull it.

"So, you thought I'd be hangin' around Lucy Gray's place? Didn't think you scared me away from her the first time-"

"She doesn't care about you anymore. You've done nothing but hurt her," Coriolanus cut in. This man truly was a monster. He had cheated on her, murdered her family. His own brother... And yet, he had the audacity to hang around their home. Or perhaps, he was on the way to making his escape across the meadow and into the woods? Then, where were the other rebels?

"And you think you're so much better for her? You don't know nothin' about that girl," Billy Taupe hissed. "I know about her. Her past, her darkness. You think she's so prim and pure? That's how she draws all the men in, with that charmin' voice, those eyes... but secretly she's using you. Just wait 'til she sucks everythin' she wants outta you, and then she'll release her little birds to peck out your-"

BAM! The bullet from Coriolanus' gun struck Billy Taupe straight between the eyes. Hardly before, the sound of his own gun ripped through the air. Coriolanus shifted quickly, and the bullet grazed his arm. A stream of blood flowed down into the palm of his hand. He watched as Billy Taupe crumbled to the ground, his gun landing beside him with a thud. He heard the door creak open behind him, and he turned to find Lucy Gray standing there with a white face. Barb Azure gathered close behind her with Maude Ivory folded in her arms.

"Don't let her see. Get her back inside," Lucy Gray told Barb Azure, and she pushed the sobbing little girl into the kitchen. Lucy Gray quickly shut the door behind her. Her gaze followed Coriolanus' arm, watching the blood drip onto the porch. He pressed his hand over the wound, trying to lessen the flow.

"You killed him," she said.

"You know I had to," he murmured.

"I'm glad," she replied with surprising ferocity. "Maybe you should've let me pull the trigger." Her words were dark and bitter. A coldness unlike anything Coriolanus had seen in her. "I know now that he killed them... He killed Clerk Carmine."

"He was behind the fire. It was a distraction so he could release the convicts from base and steal weapons," Coriolanus added.

"A distraction fueled by anger..." She whispered. She pressed a hand to her forehead, her brown eyes watering. Today, she was supposed to begin a new life with Coriolanus, and despite her past hesitations, now she wanted nothing more than that. She desired to get away from this recent horror and all of the pain it had caused. She also now wanted to escape the sight of her ex-lover lying dead in the dirt. Her gaze avoided his crumpled body, instead focusing on the dog tags hanging around Coriolanus' neck. There was only one thing now. How could she reconcile leaving Barb Azure and Maude Ivory alone in Twelve? Could they manage without her?

"Are you okay?" Coriolanus asked her, reaching out to stroke her face.

"I can't-I'm-I'm afraid for them, Coriolanus. How will they survive without me? Without the Hob, where will they perform? Will they even be safe here? Without the boys?" She rambled, her breaths quickening. Coriolanus couldn't provide an answer for her because, truthfully, he didn't know either. Their fate seemed bleak. Perhaps he could assure her of his old promise to eventually try and get them to the Capitol? Before he could summon some words of comfort for her, the door swung open and Barb Azure stepped out. She seemed to turn green at the sight of Billy Taupe's body, clutching the door frame to get her bearings. Lucy Gray turned and took her hand.

"Look, I-uh-couldn't help but overhear. Lu, you know I've said this a dozen times, but I want you to go. You can get us a better life soon, sooner then you would if you stayed here. And I've already said that I've been talkin' to the butcher's boy lately..." Barb Azure asserted, although trailing off at her last thought. Lucy Gray immediately shook her head.

"Barb, no. Don't go and get married to some townie. You'd be sellin' yourself, your whole identity. That's not you," she pleaded. Barb Azure gave her a sad look, yet filled with the maturity of a certain resignation.

"I know what's reality, Lu. I'll do what I can to keep Maude Ivory and me from starvin.' Anyhow, he's a nice boy and has always liked our music. He'd take care of us. That's all that matters now," she attested, running a hand through Lucy Gray's mangled hair. "You need to go."

Lucy Gray was caught speechless for a moment, in shock at Barb Azure's words as tears spilled down her face. She hardly understood how her dear older cousin, practically a sister to her, could hold up so strongly to all of the suffering they had endured. She had somehow prepared herself to let another member of her family go when she had lost two already. Then again, Barb Azure had prepared herself to loose Lucy Gray before. Her resilience brought a sense of peace and resolution for Lucy Gray. She was leaving to be with Coriolanus for herself, but she was going to the Capitol for them. Soon, she wiped her face furiously, clearing her throat.

"Well, don't do anything stupid 'till I write to you. Hopefully, it won't be long before we come through for you both," Lucy Gray promised, glancing over at Coriolanus.