Chapter Text
Sejanus was to be hanged today for his crimes.
He’s not entirely sure on how he had gained this punishment.. Well, he does. Aiding the district people to revolt against the capitol is a war crime, or treason technically? Doesn’t matter anymore anyways, why should he care when he’s actively waiting to be hanged in just a few hours?
He’s pacing, a habit Pa would have scolded him on if he caught him doing it. ‘You’re a plinth, plinths don’t pace we make.’ A pretty ridiculous saying if you’d ask him, ever since they had moved to the capitol the man had adopted the saying. Sejanus was supposed to take over his fathers place as the head of all the factories, not that he wanted to anyways, the idea of supplying the people who’ve killed generations of district folk weapons never sat right with him.
However, he still mourns this future.
Would he have enjoyed it? Spirits no, but at the same time he mourns for the idea he would’ve lived past 18. Maybe if he had lived that far he could’ve used his power to help others, he thinks of the people of 12 almost instantly, he’s now seen the firsthand experience these people have to live through while starving and dying.
Mothers and fathers have lost their boys, their girls, their children. He thinks back to 2 as well, he hadn’t been since he was around 7-8 years old, but his memory can still likely be held to today. Cold, angry, and tough.
No where for him to be. Despite this he still yearned for the cold and unlovable district, he yearned for his mothers warm voice and his friends, he’d do anything to not be alone.
His friends.
Sejanus does not have friends, acquaintances if anything. Peers. Sejanus was bullied from the moment he stepped foot in this golden city, this golden cage.
He remembers the day vividly, but not vividly enough to forget the mocking voices of the people he grew up with once here.
Hilarius Heavensbee was one of the more memorable ones, he had been eating gumdrops Ma made when he had promptly snagged them from his hands and threw them on the ground. What went on after that was him and others sneering, prodding, and pushing him around. Petty fights and arguments, even nitpicking his appearance for a multitude of reasons.
However, there was one person who did not tease him, if anything he had helped him overcome the bullying and teasing.
Coriolanus Snow was an interesting topic to say the least. He met him in the schoolyard, the day he was picked on it was Coryo who had stepped in. He had picked up his gumdrops and given them to him before walking off, referring to the teasing as petty. Later, he walked up to the boy and offered the candy as a token of friendship. Safe to say that they stopped teasing him as much, and he had gained someone to call a friend.
Is he a friend?
Sejanus thought about this once before… Possibly more than once. Who is he trying to kid? He's thought of it a lot actually.
The mystery of Coriolanus Snow only seems to get worse when thinking of him, Snow had never shown any affections besides friendliness.. but that's without paying mind to the few times he had wholeheartedly done something for sejanus.
The arena was quiet and cold, like the factories in 2 after lock up, in all fairness he hadn't really thought of it too hard, he was upset and whenever he's upset he's doing something irrational like trying to start some sort of uprising in 12.
Okay, he's not exactly the smartest person ever, but he isn't stupid. His irrational acts came from his heart and genuine feeling.
Was it an attempt at his own life? Yes, at that moment Sejanus had very much concluded that if his tribute were to die then so should he, he really didn't see why it was such a shock. They teamed him up with a tribute from his own district, not only that, but someone he knew personally! How else was he supposed to act?
besides that, yes, sejanus was to die in that arena and show the capitol what monsters they were for bidding on children's lives! It was to be a statement set by his blood seeping into the cold unforgiving arena stone.
Yet, he was spared.
Coriolanus Snow had been rushed over that night, of all the people chosen to help, he was. Not a Panem officer, not even his own blood, but the boy he gave his gumdrops to all those years ago.
He had come up to him quietly, rushing himself over as fast as he could without alerting the tributes.
“I thought they'd send my mom.”
He had muttered quietly, at peace in a way. Coriolanus was supposedly not in the mood for Sejanus's solemn act.
“I wish they had.”
He said back quickly, before stepping closer and trying to convince the boy to leave in a hurried tone.
It wasn't long till the tributes were well awake and ready to kill them both. Coriolanus had grabbed him by the collar.
“You need to decide right now. Do you want to fight these tributes or fight for them? Because if you want to make real change, you need to stay alive.”
Snow had muttered out in more annoyance than rush, seemingly annoyed with Sejanus's suicide attempt.
“How can I make any change from out there?”
Sejanus asked in retort, having felt the same rage as the one he had when coming into the arena.
“You're rich, smart, you care!”
He yelled back in a whisper, gripping the plinth's collar tightly now, mere inches apart from each other.
“You're the only one who stood up to the class.”
He continues on, glancing at a darkened entryway as the sounds of hurried footsteps approached
“We're dead if we don't leave right now, come with me. Spend your father's money, do some real good.”
Before Sejanus had known it, he was being practically dragged towards the exit before he gained his footing. He had never seen Coriolanus run so fast in his entire life knowing him.
In fact, he was so distracted seeing the boy clear over a turnstile by the arena's entrance, that he himself had promptly hit his knee on it and fell onto the ground.
He doesn't remember what the injury was exactly, as they had given him more than enough morphling for it, but after that he's had just a slightly harder time running longer distances.
He had even needed a cane for a period of time to help rehabilitate himself.
However, he was not worried by his own injury. Even with the pain of losing Marcus, knowing he had let a person from his own home die, he still was thinking of Coryo.
“Because we're friends” was Snow's response when he had questioned why he had bothered to rescue him from the arena at all.
It made him realize how childish he was at that moment. And it also gave him a nostalgic feeling when he first met Snow.
Bobbin, another tribute, had been the one to attack them and initiate their run. When he had fallen Coryo had willingly pulled him away and taken a machete slash to his shoulder and upper back! He had felt deeply guilty when seeing the wound once out, but he was also taken away by his parents too quickly to suggest helping.
He sighs, thinking back to it all. Coriolanus may have helped him, but Sejanus still knew he was no Saint either.
He killed Bobbin.
A bloody death, wounded and running off adrenaline, he watched as Coryo took a concrete block and repeatedly connected it to Bobbins skull.
Even once more after he had stopped moving.
Did it scare him? Of course! seeing someone so close to him brutally murder another so quickly and effectively was nothing short of a reality check. Snow was dangerous past his mental tricks, and he had demonstrated it.
But it was unwilling, no? He had warned Bobbin, saying he had no intention of hurting him. And he had still pursued them! Therefore it was just in defense. Coriolanus may be cruel but he wouldn't resort to such barbaric things unless needed. Just like the tributes.
Snow was a tribute for one night, and had seen firsthand Sejanus's anger, even prompting him to keep living to stop the games really. If anything, Snow was in the same boat as him, defying the capitol.
Doing that they had both ended up in trouble. Even if It wasn't directly because of that night.
That's when they went to 12.
He had been put on peacekeepers duty rather than death or any punishment worse then that. Originally set for 2 before he had heard of Coryo also becoming a peacekeeper. It was the first time he'd ask his father for anything this important, and thankfully he complied.
That's how he ended up on a train to 12 with the man who saved his life.
Snow had been very anxious when Sejanus had walked over to his seat on the train. It wasn't until later that Sejanus realized how relaxed he got when he was there. It also wasn't till later when Sejanus learned that Coriolanus was going to end his own life out of fear of losing status, then he had sat down and given Coryo a better chance at living.
In a weird coincidental way, they had saved each other from ending it all.
Sejanus smiles to himself quietly, he'd like to see Coriolanus once more if nothing else, he'd like to give his condolences for all the trouble he'd caused for Snow, but at the same time he'd like to share one last good moment with him.
He wonders what Coryo is doing right now, likely being bugged by.. well.. Bug. As well as the other peacekeepers, maybe he's reading notes from Tigris, it is Friday and that's when the mail arrives.
He wonders if Snow is also thinking of him? Surely he must know of Sejanus's impending execution.. he wonders if he's with Lucy Gray.
The thought stops him for a good few moments. The idea of him somewhere else relaxing is both nice and… not so nice.
He wouldn't call it jealousy at all, as the girl is quite pretty and even more so kind. She and Sejanus were no strangers to each other either, but perhaps he's feeling.. envious? It's a first, but in all fairness being in a cell thinking of others enjoying themselves with Coryo isn't exactly great.
He stops pacing finally, he's probably worn a hole in his shoes by now, he looks at the small cell window. It shines in the rosy tint of morning light. He ponders once more.
Perhaps.. Perhaps Coriolanus is more than a friend?..
This is a terribly, horrible time to come to terms with his feelings.
He grimaced as he sat on the cot in his cell, placing his head against his fists. Why did he not realize this before? Maybe he did, Maybe he was simply ignoring it.
Coryo is as perfect as it gets, as perfect as the capitol wants him to be. Yet he's also a mystery. What if Snow had thought about this once before as well?
Okay, perhaps he isn’t as smart as he had initially thought, yet does it matter? He will be dead in nothing short of a few hours. He raises his head and looks once more to the rosy rays of light, now shifted hues from a rose to a bright orange.
He can’t escape, he doesn’t have any way to escape even if he tries.
Sejanus Plinth was stuck in a cell, ready to be hanged that afternoon.
Sejanus thinks back to everything that had led him to be sitting in this cell, to be thinking about his inevitable death sentence. He had kept his cards close to his chest. He was careful. He only let certain people see those cards. He'd only let a selective amount of people know, one of those people being Lucy Gray herself.
Lucy Gray was someone he had met due to the simple fact she was Snow's tribute, and with that their interactions were brief and limited, but once they were in twelve they were free to talk all they wanted. They were quickly made aware that they had the same morals, and therefore it had been easier to later confide in her about his ideas of treason.
Which is why it wouldn't make sense for her to sell him out.
Lucy Gray had nothing to gain from this if she were to be the one to tell, as she was in the same boat as him when it came down to it. Besides, if Lucy Gray had sold him out, she would have also been in a cell simply by association in all likelihood.
Which.. leaves him only with one other person.
Coriolanus Snow.
No. No, no Coryo wouldn't do that to him, he wouldn't… would he? After all he had encouraged Sejanus to do something about it had he not?
Sejanus shakes his head, the idea of Coryo doing that to him doesn't sit right with him.
Yet.. at the same time, it makes too much sense to be wrong, even if he desperately wants otherwise. Even if every part of Sejanus's mind tells him it's the only option that makes sense.
Sejanus was shaken from his thoughts as he had heard a quiet clang of something hitting the floor of his cell, standing up to investigate, Sejanus was met with a pretty sizable stone hitting him on the temple.
Sejanus hisses in pain, a hand instinctively reaching for the spot the stone hit, as well as whipping around to see his unknown assailant. Instead of seeing some peacekeeper messing with him, Sejanus is met with the lovely face of Lucy Gray Baird, the rays of the sun surrounding her in a halo.
“Lucy Gray?”