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Coriolanus knew who she was from the moment the camera zoomed in on Katniss Everdeen's face. Truthfully, he should have known since Primrose was called. Her blonde hair and small stature had reminded him instantly of Maude Ivory, but this girl paled and shrunk into herself, while Maude Ivory had been open and bright. This alone could have remained mere coincidence, but as soon as Katniss stepped out of the throng of sixteen year olds, he knew.
It was something about the way she carried herself, the set of her shoulders and tilt of her jaw, but it was also something about her face, the dark hair and almond eyes and sharp brow. But more than that, it was the memory of tiny white flowers held up in front of his face and a voice saying "it's a little early for Katniss."
She had to be related to Lucy Gray.
Coriolanus admitted that initially, the thought had given him some pleasure. He could relish her death onscreen and know that it was a private victory for him too. Taking another Victor's family member even if no one else knew it. He even had Seneca Crane check census records, just to be sure, and he was dead on. Maude Ivory Baird had married Cyrus Everdeen, a mine worker, and they had given birth to a son, who in turn had two daughters, Katniss and Primrose.
Peeta Mellark, on the other hand, had barely been worthy of note to him. Yet another doomed District 12 tribute, this one softer than usual. It wasn't until he went onstage with Ceasar and started talking about Katniss that alarm bells started going off in his head.
"Well, there's this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the Reaping," His eyes went soft as he said it, his expression suddenly far off, and all of the sudden, it was a different pair of eyes, a different soft smile, given to him over a sandwich in the zoo 64 years ago.
Coriolanus had put together, logically, that Sejanus had been in love with him long ago, but seeing this proof reflected back at him like this, and worse for a girl who looked like Lucy Gray, was enough to make up his mind. The District Twelve Tributes would have to die, if only to assuage the panic that clawed at his throat when he looked at them.
---
The Games went well, at first. Peeta was a Career, and Katniss was on her own, barely surviving. To be fair, the struggle also reminded him of Lucy Gray, but it was fine because Katniss had no secret cheat to help her win the game.
The moment the spear embedded itself into the little girl's stomach was bloody and visceral, and Coriolanus knew the crowds in the Capitol would eat it up. Katniss's face, the horror in her eyes, was so sweet. It reminded him of the way Lucy Gray had looked at him when he pulled the gun.
Then there was that flash of steel. The way the bow came up, and the District 1 boy fell and she didn't bat an eye. For a fraction of a second, this girl was no longer a living reminder of his lost love, she was him slamming the piece of wood into Bobbin's head, fueled not just by desperate fear but by a need to kill. This had used to scare him to see in Tributes, because he didn't want to be like them, but now it made him smile. As different as they in the Capitol were from the Districts, Dr. Gaul had always said that a killer instinct was human nature, and whenever one of the tributes had it, a good games was sure to follow.
The smile was wiped from his face when Katniss started collecting flowers. Her hands delicately laying the last rites around a friend sent him back in an instant to that arena, to Sejanus kneeling over Marcus, the bread crumbs dropping from his hand. The tears dripped down their cheeks the same way, they had the same look in their eyes, that hopeless grief.
Then she started to sing.
The melody was sweet and ancient, and her voice carried it perfectly. He knew in his bones that Maude Ivory had sung this to her as a child. Coriolanus could almost see Lucy Gray in that moment, consoling Katniss in a swirl of flowers, and he was sure that somewhere, she was laughing. He could barely breathe as the mockingjays picked up the melody, the bitter memories popping up unbidden to the surface and threatening to crush him with their potency.
There was fear in Seneca Crane's eyes when Coriolanus burst into the gamemaker's room. "She has to die!" He ordered, pointing a quivering finger at the screen. "I don't care what it takes. She has to die."
---
But Katniss Everdeen didn't die. She lived, and she found Peeta, and she fought through every trap that had been so carefully laid for her, crafting a perfect love story in the process.
Watching her spoon berries into Peeta's mouth and his eyes flutter closed, Coriolanus once again had to admit, she was like him. There was the same desperation, the same ruthlessness, the same calculation and awareness of the eyes on her at all times, all priming her to survive and rise to the top, no matter the cost. In another world, he would have been happy to take her under his wing.
Identifying with Katniss didn't make him want her dead any less. On the contrary, it made him want her dead more for what she made him feel. Peeta was already Sejanus in his head, that hopeless devotion and practical incompetence reminded him painfully of the District 2 boy. They had both picked the wrong person and would follow them to the ends of the earth, no matter how many times they were used.
The only problem was that every time Katniss and Peeta kissed so tenderly, went to sleep wrapped in each other's arms, screamed out each other's names in broken tones, Coriolanus broke a little more.
If the boy with the bread could love the girl on fire, and she could return that love in her own way, where did that leave him. He had discarded Sejanus because that prospect was impossible. Besides being Capitol and District, they were just too different. Sejanus wore his heart on his sleeve, fought to protect others, while Coriolanus kept his locked up tight and only protected a precious few. He didn't know how to return those melting looks or breathy compliments (gorgeous, Sejanus had called him gorgeous, and that kept him up at night). Watching the District 12 pair though, all the could-have-beens danced before his eyes in lurid colors.
The jabberjay erased. The rebel's plan failing. Sejanus and Coriolanus reporting for officer's training together. Blood and gun smoke in their first hesitant kiss (what would Sejanus have tasted like? Would Coriolanus have been his first?), the joy in Tigris's eyes, playing with each other's curls. A future with the one person he could trust to never leave him, never stop believing in him.
For the first time, he realized that a world without Sejanus Plinth in it might be safer, but it was not kinder, it was not happier. He didn't have anyone to hug him tightly at the end of a long day or stop him from drowning in his own poison. Anyone to say "Coryo" in that tone that made his heart stop.
Watching the raw look in Katniss's eyes as she held out the berries to Peeta, Coriolanus realized he might have been in love with Sejanus. Might have signed the death warrant of one of the best things in his life.
Coriolanus didn't cry about it, he hadn't cried about anything in years, but he did almost choke on it, nearly hyperventilating as he tried in vain to push the memories down. To put Sejanus and all he represented back in the little box in his mind and lock it away forever.
When that didn't work, he did the only thing he knew how to do.
---
Seneca Crane was hung quietly the next day. It was rather poetic that Plutarch Heavensbee, another relative of one of his Academy classmates was the pick to fill his place.
He sealed the envelope for the next quarter quell the day after that, unable to contain a twisted smile when he saw Dr. Gaul's spidery handwriting on the card. She truly had planned for everything, and her gifts to him never ceased to amaze.
He couldn't meet Peeta's eyes when he placed the victory crown on his head, but smiled at him anyway. Peeta couldn't help his nature, and his end would come soon enough. It always did. But with Katniss, Coriolanus looked into her eyes. With her hair down she was a vision of Lucy Gray, but when his blue eyes meet her grey ones, he saw the same flash of steel. This was no songbird, Katniss Everdeen was something else entirely (a rare bird, he thought first, then squashed it) and Coriolanus Snow decided to take her down if it was the last thing he ever did. Not just for the Capitol, but for himself.