Chapter Text
The next morning she awakes only because some sunlight breaks through the divisions of the door that protects her and hits her right on the face, so she sits down in her small space, rubs her eyes carefully, and pulls out some food from her bag, grateful that it didn’t suffer from being underneath her head all night. The water, she had placed next to her when they left the station, fearful that it would spill if it was still in her bag, and with that, she had her breakfast, looking around and humming to herself to keep entertained.
There’s really not a thing to do during the day as the train travels around the track on its way to the Capitol, and Lucy figures that the best thing she can do while she can is to sleep since she doesn’t want to risk it by actually singing something and alerting the peacekeepers of her presence.
So she goes back to her little space and settles there, with her stuff always close by, and eventually, sleep calls her back and she succumbs to it.
“Are you ready my love?”
Lucy opens her eyes and immediately finds Coryo standing in front of her, looking just as handsome as he was the last day she saw him and she can’t help the smile that forms on her lips when she realizes that it’s truly him.
She extends a hand his way and he leans over to kiss it before he pulls her closer.
He’s wearing a white suit with a white rose in his lapel and when she looks down to examine him more carefully, she realizes that she’s wearing a long white dress also. Her hair feels pulled back in an elegant updo and when she stops admiring herself, she looks around, she realizes that she’s standing on a beautifully decorated patio with people dressed in colorful, extravagant clothing around them.
They seem to be enjoying themselves as they talk, dance, and giggle, but she only has eyes for him.
Coryo pulls her closer to him until eventually, she pushes her arms over his shoulders and he puts his around her waist. Then, music is heard from somewhere behind and they start to dance.
“Coryo?” She asks.
“Hmmm?” He’s looking at her like she’s the most beautiful woman in the whole world.
“What are we doing here?” She’s confused.
A smile appears on his face. “We’re dancing of course!”
Lucy tilts her head, still confused and not really understanding why was she there.
“I know that, but why? Why are we dancing?”
This time, Coriolanus does laugh, but Lucy doesn’t feel like it’s a mocking laugh, no, it feels like a joyful laugh, one that they could share whenever they would make inside jokes with each other.
“My love, this is our first dance, don’t you remember? We just got married…”
The words sink into Lucy’s mind and a part of her starts to remember as Coryo pulls her even closer to him and looks down at her lips before he kisses her.
She falls into his lips and arms the moment they collide and she isn’t ashamed to admit that she enjoys it.
She enjoys it more than she should.
Her eyes close for what feels like a few glorious seconds, savoring the taste of his lips, the swirl of his tongue against hers, and his hands moving now against her cheeks until they need to be apart again and she slowly opens them again.
He’s looking at her like she’s the most beautiful creature in the whole of Panem and in return, the smile that she gives him is a little lazy and satisfied as he pulls back and grabs her waist again.
She’s about to say something when his smile grows and his teeth show now, and when she realizes that they are stained red, her stare changes to one of horrified perplexion.
“What?” He asks.
A few drops of blood fall from his mouth into the rose in his lapel and Lucy pulls back, grabbing her skirts and making herself run away from him.
She looks back one last time and starts to run away.
“Lucy Gray, come back!” He yells.
She shakes herself, now knowing that this is a nightmare.
“Lucy Gray!!!”
She continues to run as the scenery disappears and suddenly changes to the woods around Twelve.
“LUCY GRAY!”
“LUCY GRAY!
“LUCY GRAY!!!”
“AH!!”
Lucy sits down in the car, sweating with an extended hand in front of her, and opens her eyes the moment she realizes where she is, making sure immediately that nobody listens to her as she tries to gather her composure again. She’s relieved to feel that the train is still running, though fear overtakes her for a moment when she realizes that night has fallen and that the speed has slowed down, so she gathers her stuff and pushes herself against the wall, figuring that the nightmare must’ve happened throughout the day and that she had slept throughout the whole ordeal.
“Nothing to fear Lucy Gray…” She whispers to herself as she wraps her arms around her chest. Her stomach grumbles and she shakes her head, realizing that she had only eaten that morning.
The food thankfully is still fine and she eats it quietly, drinking the water not much later, still paying attention to the train and its ever-slowing speed until she feels it finally starting to stop and pulling into what seems like a station by the sounds that fill her ears. The air that enters through the cracks of the walls also feels cooler and when it finally hits her, she knows that she has made it to the Capitol.
But she still waits, unwilling to risk it, until the train has fully stopped and she can make her way from her hiding spot. She listens around as the men work to remove and move the coal that her district provides the Capitol and when she finds an opening, she opens the large door a little bit and jumps down onto the platform.
The bright light hits her the second she’s on the ground and she has to run behind a couple of crates to hide from the workers that she sees around.
She didn’t remember those lights the last time she was there, but hey, that had been almost eighteen years before, and things had probably changed in the Capitol if the treatment of the tributes before the games were anything to go by.
Lucy looks around, trying very hard to make sure that nobody realizes that she’s there while she searches for Tigris but when her first efforts don’t bring anything, she’s forced to run through crates and kneel until she makes it closer to the exit.
“Tigris?” She whispers, finally standing against a dark corner of the exit of the train station.
Nothing.
She looks around one more time, and then, almost like a perfect angel, her friend stands in the middle of the platform wearing a beautiful pink cape as she speaks with a worker who comes from the train that brings the luxury items from District One.
The stylist looks up momentarily from her conversation with the man and as if she was pulled together by a siren’s call, she finds Lucy in the darkened spot immediately. The man next to her doesn’t even notice the change in her demeanor, too focused on the chart in his hand, and she nods before turning back to him and saying something.
Lucy hides in the shadows as Tigris makes her way to where she is. A smile appears on each of their faces when they are finally closer together and they hug when they are finally in front of each other.
“Lucy! You made it!” Tigris’s soft voice welcomes her and Lucy finds herself relaxing for the first time since she decided to make the journey. “I’m so glad you decided to come.”
They pull apart a moment later and then, Tigris is pushing her away from the trains and into the station’s exit.
“Come, come, let’s go. You’re probably tired, I should get you into my apartment before anybody notices you too.” She says as they walk.
Lucy nods, holding onto her bag and moving along in the direction Tigris is leading them. They quickly reach what looks like a parking lot where she is pulled towards a small red car as Tigris pulls out a set of keys from a bag she didn’t know the stylist was carrying and goes to open a door for her. Lucy looks back at her friend with confusion and Tigris chuckles.
“Go on. It’s ok, I’ll drive us to my place, you’ll stay with me.” She says.
“Ok,” Lucy agrees quickly and looks around the almost empty parking lot before going inside and watching Tigris close the door behind her.
She looks at the insides of the car with interest, a long time has passed since she had sat in one and she finds herself smiling at the memories it brings her.
The steering wheel and its leathery cover make her think of her father and how they used to drive all over Panem in their beat-up truck with their band. The passenger seat she’s in at the moment, usually was her mother’s place while she sat in the back with the rest of their family, singing and laughing as the beautiful backgrounds passed them by.
Tigris joins her in the driver’s spot and the sound of the door closing again pulls her out of her memories and makes her watch her friend start the car and start driving them out of the train station.
“So? Please tell me how has everything been going for you, Lucy? I want to know everything!” Tigris asks excitedly. Ahead the traffic is light, probably because it’s late at night and there’s nothing open.
Lucy smiles at her and shakes her head. “Uh, well, I don’t know that there’s much to tell. I continued to sing and entertain until my performances were no longer possible, and then, I retired, helped around with the families of the girls from my band, watched my cousin Maude Ivory get married and now here I am…”
Tigris listens attentively, the smile faltering a little when Lucy mentions stopping to perform, but otherwise doesn’t give a lot.
“Yeah, about the singing, I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do to prevent him from passing the law that forbade you from entertaining into action.” Tigris apologizes, putting her hand over Lucy’s once they make it to a stop and wait for the lights to change. Around them, the Capitol looks deserted.
Lucy holds onto Tigris’s hand and shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not like he can force an entire district to just stop enjoying themselves. People at Twelve are not easily intimidated, for as much as he wants to believe that.”
A defiant smile appears on Tigris’s face and Lucy feels the other woman squeeze her thigh in solidarity right before her stomach grumbles and they giggle.
“That’s my girl. I wish I could be there with you all and be a rebel too.” Tigris says as she continues to drive, her hand now back against the wheel. “We’ll be home soon. You’ll stay there with me until tomorrow night.” She changes the subject after a moment.
“Is tomorrow night…?” Lucy turns around to face her.
Tigris nods, the mood in the small space turning sour and Lucy looks down at her skirt.
“Yes, it’s his pre-wedding ball. At the Plinth estate.”
“I see.”
Tigris looks back at her for a moment once they reach another stop.
“But don’t worry, I’ll smuggle you in. I have a plan.”
“Okay” Lucy’s voice sounds small, even to herself and she doesn’t trust herself to say anything else anymore, so she keeps quiet after the conversation cuts there.
“We’re here. Come on.” Tigris says when they enter and park in another parking lot. This one is underneath a tall, elegant building near the center of the city.
Lucy follows, exiting the car and closing the door behind her. They walk quickly, with some tension in their bodies and it isn’t until they reach the elevator that their shoulders drop and their stances relax.
The journey inside the elevator is quiet and quick, Lucy looking at everything with a marveled expression while Tigris holds her hand on her side.
Tigris guides her through a brightly lit hallway once they reach the middle of the building they step down from the elevator and open a white door that leads her to the inside of a very fancy apartment.
The place is elegantly decorated in soft pastel colors with large windows at the very end of the living room in front of her. A beautiful white kitchen can be seen to her right and next to it, there’s an arc that she figures leads to the room.
She goes to sit on a beautiful pink couch that is probably worth more than her small hut back at Twelve and she’s careful not to put much weight into her steps in an effort not to stain the carpets and the fabric of the couch with her coal-stained clothes.
“Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat if you want.” Tigris offers when she closes the door behind her and Lucy nods eagerly.
Tigris smiles kindly at her and quickly moves to search through the kitchen to start working on something.
“Where do you want me to sleep?” Lucy asks timidly from her spot after a comfortable silence.
Tigris turns around to face her for a second before returning to search through her fridge. “You’ll stay with me in my room of course!” She says it like it’s a regular thing that they do, a sleepover between friends, and her tone of voice is so cheerful that Lucy cannot help but feel nice about it.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”
Tigris gestures with her hand and Lucy shakes her head with a small smile.
“You think I was going to let you sleep on that couch? I mean, it’s beautiful and it can be comfortable for a nap, but it’s not good for sleeping throughout the night.” She looks back again at Lucy. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”
Lucy chuckles and nods, standing again. “If you say so…” She looks around. “Hey, can I change?” She points to her bag.
“Oh yeah, go right ahead, the bathroom’s that way, you can take a shower, change, all that you need!” The cheerfulness’s still there and Lucy continues to smile.
She goes where she’s pointed at and finds the door quickly, turning on the light, entering, and closing the door behind her. The bag goes to the floor immediately and her jaw falls open at the beautiful bathroom she’s standing in.
It was probably the prettiest and cleanest bathroom she had been in her whole life. She marvels at the pressure of the water, the appliances all around her, the colorful bath bombs Tigris keeps around and when she sees the tub, she bites back a giggle as she opens the faucet and lets water fill it.
She feels guilty, of course, as she undresses and waits for the water to rise to a decent level. The thought of wasting that much water drives her a little crazy and makes her sad, thinking about those back home who can’t afford even to heat their water because they are too poor, but she figures that this is an opportunity that she will probably not have again and when it’s ready she goes in trying very hard to keep her guilt at bay.
The soaps all smell differently and she picks out one that smells like lavender, a purple bottle that gets her attention and she uses it, not really knowing why, but making her think of Coryo as she lathers her body with it.
A knock on the door a while later makes her turn around and she greets Tigris again who is looking at her with kind eyes and a soft smile.
“Dinner’s ready, and here, I pulled some pajamas for you to use. I know they are probably too long for you, but it’s preferable to whatever you brought, which is dirty by now.” She explains, extending a hand to put the clothes down on top of the toilet cover and then moving to pick up her bag on her way out.
“Thank you,” Lucy says in return while she’s still soaking in the water.
“No problem. You’re my guest.” Tigris waves a little and then, she’s out of the room again, leaving Lucy alone with her thoughts and an almost cool tub again.
When she realizes that her fingers are starting to wrinkle, that’s when Lucy knows that her bath is done and she stands, grabs a towel, and dries herself before moving out and pulling her clean underwear and the clothes Tigris left her on her naked body.
She walks outside and sits on the couch again where Tigris waits for her, already changed into her pajamas and they sit together in silence as the older woman watches her eat.
They talk about how life is in the Capitol compared to the districts and Lucy is surprised when Tigris expresses a genuine desire to stop living in the Capitol altogether and move to Twelve with her one day. She had thought that her previous comment about being a rebel was just a joke.
“There’s not a lot for you there Tigris, why would you want to do that?” She asks.
“I don’t know. The way Coriolanus spoke about it made it seem so beautiful and peaceful, and I’ve always liked the idea of growing old in a place like that…With kind people who aren’t willing to surrender too quickly.”
“Huh.” Lucy looks puzzled and takes a sip of her water before she turns to her friend again. “Maybe you can do that in the future, who knows…”
“Yeah, maybe I will…”
The silence extends again after that until Lucy yawns, completely exhausted from the journey and the nightmares that plague her and Tigris pulls her up and leads her to the room where the two of them lay on the bed once the lights are off, and the last thing Lucy feels before sleep overtakes her is the soft hands of Coryo’s cousin tucking her in the bed.