Bellona didn't see anyone for a day after her release from the hospital, too busy being coddled by Sejanus and Ma. Of course, it felt odd for Bellona to be the one being comforted for once, but she knew it comforted them just as much after her stay in the hospital, so she continued to let them dote on her.

Father, however, did not seem to coddle Bellona. Instead, he seemed to treat her much more rigid, hoping that she'd be back to normal after her breakdown. And while Bellona didn't think she'd ever be the same again, she'd do her best to appear otherwise.

But one thing Father did do was shelter her from the news, worried that all those reminders of the bombing would cause her to freak out again. And of course, Bellona understood but she wasn't going to let him stop her from attending the Ring twin's funeral.

"Sejanus," Bellona called out, putting on her sweater as she followed Sejanus to the door, "wait up."

"Where do you think you're going?" Father asked, causing the siblings to halt. Bellona let out a huff as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Father they were my friends. I need to go. For them at least," Bellona practically begged, eyes pleading as her father stared at the siblings. Sejanus remained quiet, standing behind Bellona in support.

She needed to go to this funeral. Didi had been one of her closest friends at the academy, always sitting next to her in class or at lunch. And Pollo had never done anything wrong to her to Bellona to make her skip the funeral. 

But Father seemed to have other ideas.

"Go back to your room, Bellona. You're not going," Father insisted, clenching his jaw with an odd look of worry in his eyes.

"No," Bellona replied, standing up a little taller as she stared at her father.

"Bellona Plinth, I'm being serious. Go to your room. Now," Father warned, pointing toward her door. 

For a while, the two stared at one another, hoping the other would back down. But of course, neither of them did. Bellona let out a loud scoff at her father's insistence. He wasn't going to stop her.

"I'm going," Bellona shot back, turning around. From behind her, Bellona can hear Father scoff.

"Your stubbornness will be the death of you, Bellona," Father spat out, venom dripping in his tone, causing her to pause, "Don't come crying to me when you find out what's really happened."

-

Bellona tried her best to forget what Father had muttered as she approached the hall, squeezing tightly onto Sejanus's hand as she tried to strike up a conversation. But Sejanus had been awfully quiet for unknown reasons, leaving her talking to the wind.

"Bell! You're out!" Bellona heard from behind her, causing her to turn away from Sejanus. As she turned around, Bellona spotted a happy Lysistrata accompanied by Festus.

"Lyssie," Bellona called out as she ran over to her friend, pulling her into a tight hug before checking for any injuries.

"Are you okay?" Bellona asked as she eyed her friend, "I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you, I've been-"

"I get it, Bell. I'm just sorry I didn't get to see you. Your Ma said they were only allowing a few visitors and by the time I went to add my name to the list, it was already full," Lysistrata explained, holding on tightly to Bellona's arms.

Bellona's eyes flickered over to Festus for a moment, who awkwardly laughed when he noticed her looking. If there had been a limited amount of visitors, then how come Festus was first to see her? Surely, she was just an afterthought to him.

"But you're okay though?" Bellona asked again, shaking off any thoughts of Festus as she worried over her friend.

"I'm okay," Lyssie muttered with a smile, "Jessup took all the hits for me."

Bellona smiled gratefully at that. She never had any proper interactions with Jessup, but from what she could tell, he was a good guy. And protecting Lyssie only proved that.

"Quite the gentleman you got there, Lyssie. What with saving you and all," Bell teased, pinching Lyssie's arm lightly as a little tease.

Lysistrata knowingly looked at Festus before looking back at Bellona.

"Oh really? Saving someone makes him a proper gentleman? What does that make me then?" Festus cut in with a smirk. Bellona playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"An imbecile," Bellona shot back, but it was clear she was only joking. 

"Alright, you two. Enough," Lyyise teased, playfully rolling her eyes at them, "We're at a funeral after all."

The group went quiet after that, only quickly greeting Sejanus when he arrived to stand next to Bellona.

When the ceremony finally began, Bellona found herself situated between Festus and Sejanus, staring forward as the speeches went on. After a while, Bellona could no longer stand hearing the president talk, turning to look at the two next to her.

Sejanus had continued to be unusually quiet, staring forward as he watched the speech. But Festus seemed to be zoned out as well, fidgeting with his hands as he rocked back and forth. Bellona let out a quiet laugh before leaning toward him.

"They used a really good picture of Didi," Bellona muttered toward Festus, "Really captures her beautiful face."

Festus raised an eyebrow at that, cocking his head as he looked at the portraits.

"Gotta disagree," Festus muttered back, "Sure, Didi is stunning, but Pollo was much more pleasing to the eyes."

The two turned to one another after that, quietly laughing as they stared wide-eyed at their stupid conversation. The mood remained much friendlier for the rest of the speeches, with Bellona and Festus making comments here and there to get the other to laugh. 

It wasn't until the walk down Scholar's Road when things turned sour again. 

At first, everything seemed to be fine. But then, Bellona felt a tug on her hand, pulling her back. Sejanus.

"Let's go inside, Bells," Sejanus muttered, eyes wide as if he had seen something Bellona had not. Confused, Bellona turned around, trying to see what Sejanus might've tried to stop her from seeing.

And immediately, she regretted it.

On top of the horses laid the tributes from District 9 and 6, or what remained of them at least, bouncing up and down as the horses trotted with something dragging behind them. Bellona's eyebrows knitted together as she inched forward, squinting as she tried to get a closer look.

And then, she let out a loud cry. 

On the ground laid the bodies of the tributes from One and Sabyn, being dragged by the horses as the parade followed behind.

Quickly, Bellona felt arms go around her as her legs began to give out, looking at her old friend.

"It's okay," Lysistrata muttered as she held onto her best friend, holding her up as much as possible as Bellona cried.

"It's all my fault," Bellona muttered, letting the tears fall as she watched Sabyn's body fade away.

She hadn't even gotten Sabyn to forgive her yet. How could she be gone? This was her fault, wasn't it?

If she hadn't been so caught up in fighting with Festus, then maybe she could've found a way to save Sabyn. Maybe Sabyn would still be alive. 

From in front of her, Festus watched in shock as the girl broke down, clenching his jaw as she muttered something about it all being her fault over and over again. Sejanus, too, seemed to have a panicked look on his face, standing helplessly as the girls muttered to one another.

What happened to Bellona?

-

A while later, when everything seemed to calm down, Bellona found herself shaking on the front steps, pressing into Lysistrata's embrace as she let the tears fall.

By now, most people were either inside eating or on their way home. But Bellona couldn't find it in herself to do either. 

"Here," Festus muttered as he approached the two, holding out a water. Earlier, Lysistrata had ushered Festus and Sejanus away, not wanting to overwhelm Bellona. But now, it seemed like Festus was growing impatient.

"Not now, Festus," Lysistrata grunted, standing up to usher him away again, but Bellona only shook her head.

"It's fine. He can stay," Bellona muttered, quickly wiping her tears. 

"Why don't you go get some food. I'll look after her," Festus whispered to Lysistrata. Lyssie bit her cheek at that, wearily looking at Bellona instead.

"Don't look at me like that. I can hear your stomach from here," Bellona joked as best she could, "I'll be fine. Creed is here to watch over me now."

"Fine. Five minutes. Then I'm coming back," Lyssie replied, glancing at the two one more time before walking away.

As soon as Lyssie was out of sight, Bellona let out a sigh, taking out a cigarette as her fingers shook. Festus quietly watched the girl as he offered to hold the lighter for her.

The girl took a long inhale before letting it all out, ignoring the boy as he stared at her.

"What happened back there?" Festus muttered, eyes trained on Bellona.

Bellona took a minute to think before answering.

"The girl from Two, Sabyn. She was my friend from back home," Bellona muttered, eyes trained on the ground as she thought about Sabyn.

Festus bit his cheek at that, gulping loudly as she tried to come up with something to say. But Bellona beat him to it, feeling her sadness turn into anger now that she had time to process it.

"You saw the way they displayed her body. They think we're animals," Bellona breathed out. Festus furrowed his brows at that, confused about how after all these years, Bellona still saw herself as District.

"Nobody thinks that of you, Bellona," Festus replied, infuriating Bellona as he ignored the brutality of the Capitol in favor of talking about her.

"Really? I think everybody does. Bellona Plinth, the District girl who snuck her way into the Capitol. You think people don't see me as one of them? I'm forever a District girl. I'm forever an animal," Bellona spat back with a bitter chuckle. 

This only seemed to irritate Festus, shaking his head.

"Not everyone in the Capitol is like that," Festus shot back, once again defending his beloved Capitol. Bellona once again let out a bitter laugh at that.

"Like you? Come on, Festus. Be honest with yourself. After all, the tributes are like betting dogs to you," Bellona challenged, offending Festus as he let out a loud scoff.

"Be serious, Bellona. Stop acting like a martyr. You're not a tribute. You're Capitol," Festus spat back, making Bellona's blood boil. Bellona was many things but Capitol was not one of them.

"And what makes me different? That my daddy has money? We all know you hate me for it, Creed. Stop acting like you don't," Bellona replied, narrowing her eyes at him. Festus clenched his jaw at that, staring intensely at her as he spoke up.

"I don't hate you, Bellona. Don't be ridiculous," Festus shot back in all seriousness. Bellona let out a loud laugh at that, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Really, Festus? That's what we're going with?" Bellona taunted, "If you don't hate me, tell me. What do you think of me?"

Festus's jaw clenched tighter as he turned away, anger evident in his face. For a moment, it looked as if he might say something, but instead, he shook his head and stood up.

"I'm leaving. Have fun with your little pity party," Festus muttered, refusing to meet Bellona's gaze as he walked away seething. Bellona shook her head at that, gulping as she watched him walk away.

"What happened between you two?"

-

a/n:

hi guys !! hope you like this chapter <33 not the back and forth with festus and bell again... yall when I say they're literally ping pong... 

it's like whenever they have a good moment, their anger seems to ruin it </33 anyways yall,, at least the first half of the chapter with them was cute,,, they kinda ate that !! and lyssie <33 she's so sweet,,, i love her and bell sm 

anyways hope yall have a good day !! ilysm <33

love you guys,

hannah <3