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Coriolanus got out of the car as carefully he could. His head continued to ache, and his skin felt rough and painful every time the jacket he had pulled on to cover the bandages and marks made contact with it. Standing in the cold air as the car drove away, staring at the ground, he tried to recall everything that had happened up until this point. It was hard to focus, hard to ignore the pounding pain I his shoulder and body in general. Still, he tried.
He hadn't wanted to go into the arena, but it was either that he went in willingly or was likely forced in there. If only Sejanus hadn't lost his mind and went to go see Marcus's lifeless, beat and bloodied body. No mentor was allowed in the arena whilst the games were going on, and it was extra dangerous knowing the attack that had happened only a few days earlier. What if there were still bombs? What if the tributes got to him? He was the only person who could successfully retrieve him, and so he did.
They had almost made it out without a scratch on their bodies, until the tributes ran at them. The two attempted to drag Marcus out of the arena because Sejanus refused to leave without him, likely drowning in self doubt and anger at the capital for allowing this to happen. For all of this to happen. Coriolanus didn't exactly agree with the boys thoughts, but he could understand why he was so upset. But now, having gone into the arena and aligned himself with this guy, he had to deal with all of the trouble he brought with him. Sejanus didn't have any friends, besides his ma, because he used to be district until his father bought their family out.
Sejanus hated being in the capital, which Coryo didn't understand at all. He had all the money in the world, went to school with no worries, and he could have almost anything he asked for...exept what he really wanted; the games to end. The war to truly come to a stop. Freedom for the districts.
He had likely only informed Coriolanus about these wants, seeming to be the only person he trusted or saw as a friend. Coryo didn't want anything to do with him, really, knowing it would only bring him more trouble for him and his family. He tries to distance himself more by the day, but keeps getting associated with him. Now he had yet another concussion, wounds all over his body, and had almost died tonight. All because of Sejanus and his ridiculous actions...
Coriolanus gently rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to get himself together. He knew it was late, remembering the clock he saw on his ride home; it was around two in the morning. He had gotten used to being up late these last couple of weeks, constantly busy with mentorship papers and assignments to turn into the academy by six in the morning. Even still, he was normally home by midnight, but the games had started and he had even more on his plate.
He walked into the newly fixed elevator and pressed the button to his floor, stepping out after it arrived with a few squeeks from the platform. Coryo stood ahead of his front door, preparing himself to walk inside. The best thing that could happen was that the Grandma'am and Tigris were asleep, and wouldn't hear him come inside. Taking a light breath, he opened the door and stepped inside.
Quietly closing the door, he checked his surroundings. It seemed that Mrs. Plinth hadn't returned after getting dropped off at the front of the arena, which was good. He didn't want any more questions than he knew he would already get. He peaked over to the kitchen table, and caught sight of his cousin Tirgis sitting there. She had on her comfort robe, which she often used as a comfort blanket. He had probably worried her to death, watching as the two made eye contact. She stood quickly and walked over to him.
"Coryo! You're alive, thank goodness!! Did you get Sejanus? Is he okay? Are you okay? You've been gone for nearly two hours, Grandma'am was so worried-" She rambled on nervously, her hands resting on his shoulders as if she was attempting to grasp the fact that he was back. Coriolanus interrupted her, placing a hand on her armbto try and calm his cousin.
"I'm alright, Tigris. Sejanus is...fine. I got him out, I'm sorry for being gone so long. It just-uh...took a while to get back." Coriolanus said, mixing the truth with lies so he wasn't being a complete liar, because at the same time, he was telling the truth. Sejanus was mostly alright, likely with his Ma or, more likely, getting ripped a new one by Dr. Gaul. Tigris let out a sigh of relief, pulling her cousin into a hug.
Tigris hugged him tighly, then a bit too tight. A sharp pain went through him, bringing quick tears to his eyes as his whole body tensed. He bit his tongue to keep a wail from escaping his mouth, but Tigris had noticed what had happened immediately. She paused and let him go, looking at him with a confused stare.
"...Coriolanus? What happened in that arena? Answer me. Tell me the truth." Tigris said with a serious tone in her normally calm and gentle voice, her eyes full of honest worry. Coryo froze. He didn't want her to worry about him, because he was fine. He didn't want to talk about what had happened in the arena, because he was still trying to get a grip on the memory itself. His head pounded against his skull as he tried to find something to respond with, but he was moments too late. Tigris reached for his arms and pulled off his jacket, too quickly for him to respond in time.
The jacket slid off his arms and to the floor with a quiet sound of fabric against itself. She had probably felt the thick bandages underneath the thin material, with the addition of his body making him look like a kicked puppy with it's wince of pain.
Tigris stood there silently for a moment. He jaw was dropped, eyes wide as she stared at the mess he was. She took one of his arms, very gently looking at the countless wounds covering that one area. There were likely over twently bandaids on his body alone, not counting gauze wraps or literal tape holding him together. He had stitches in places, too. By the look on her face he was a bit worried that he was still bleeding, but when she continued to speak, he saw that she was probably just horrified about the state he was in.
"Oh my god...The tributes found the two of you, yes? That's where this is all from..? Oh, Coryo..." Tigris muttered, running a hand through his hair as she sat him down in a seet at the kitchen table. Corionalus looked away from her, not protesting about the fact that she was mothering him because he knew it wouldn't do much but worry her more because he was objecting.
She looked him over, checking to be sure that there weren't any open wounds that may have been bleeding without his knowledge. She checked his opposite arm, lifting it up like she did the other, glancing over the under part of his upper arm. She caught sight of a mess of jagged lines across this part of him, ranging from light scratches to deep wounds from a while ago. There were bandaids there too, and she looked at him with a more serious than worried look on her face. He smiled awkwardly, gently pushing her hand off of him and letting his arm drop. He hoped she couldn't see the horrified fear in his eyes.
"Tigris, please-I promise you that I'm really alright. When I went into the arena, Sejanus was still by Marcus's body, so I had to go try and temp him away. After like ten minutes of trying to get him to come back, he said he would only leave if he could take Marcus." Coriolanus began to explain, hoping to distract her with the story. He didn't want her to worry anymore than she already was. He didn't want her to know about that part even more, really not wanting to get asked about how he possibly got hurt there in the arena. Because he hadn't. Those had been there for a while.
"But isn't Marcus, y'know...super dead?" Tigris responded, standing in front of him as she went to grab the discarded jacket and fold up to put away. The story distraction had worked, saving him for another day.
"Well, yes, but the guy still refused to leave without him. I didn't protest because the sooner we got out the better, but when we were just a ways away from the exit...the tributes emerged. There were maybe three or four of them? Don't remember exactly-But they started chasing us." Coriolanus continued. "I convinced Sejanus to leave Marcus there and we made a run for it, but he got stabbed in the calf and I, er..I hurt my arm pretty bad. Oh, also we both ran into a concreet slab, but I think we're both fine."
Tigris just shook her head, rubbing her eyes as she tried to breathe through everything that was going on. She looked faint.
"Coryo, this is crazy!...I don't even know what to say-I just wish this hadn't happened.....I'm sorry for freaking out, I'm just a little stunned that you've come home in this condition. Go get some rest, alright? I won't tell the Grandma'am, just please try and sleep for a few hours...Mrs. Plinth left us some breakfast for the morning as a thank you for our help today." Tigris said, finally calming down, or at least pretending to for his sake. Coryo nodded and stood, pushing in his chair and walking to his bedroom.
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Coriolanus shut his door behind him, rested his back against it, and sunk to the floor. He buried his face in his hands, wishing he still had his mother's makeup compact to help him through this. Everything hurt, and he still had that fuzzy, confusing feeling in his head; as if bees were dancing in his brain, distracting him with a both calming and obnoxious buzz. He stayed there for a while before slowly standing and walking to his bed. He sat on the soft mattress and stared into the mirror sitting on his nightstand.
He turned on a lamp and looked into his reflection for the first time in many hours, realizing how much of a mess he looked. He ran a hand through his hair to fix it a bit, then put the mirror down. He hesitantly checked the spot under his upper arm, his heart pounding in his chest as he thought about the fact that Tigris hadn't asked any questions.
He shook his head and laid down, pulling his blankets over him to get away from the chills running through him. He didn't want to think about today, or yesterday, or anything from the last month. He wanted to sleep for a week, uninterrupted, with no Sejanus causing trouble or Tigris worrying or Grandma'am singing or Lucy Gray possibly starving.
He just wanted to loose all of his worries in his sleep, so he did.