𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨: lucy grey

                               ╰┈➤ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: character death, 

                        illusions to an ed,  corio and donna being toxic

𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐎 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍'𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑,

Of course they had time apart, they were both very busy people. So it's not that his absence was confusing because they were conjoined by the hip. But because Corio always made a point to meet her in the morning.

The tributes arrived early this morning, a thought that made Donna's heart drop to her stomach, she would soon have to meet Sabyn. Mentor her, care for her, and it hurt her deep down that this was a competition. Her life was a competition for them.

Corio's presence would have comforted her but he was no where to be found.

"I've always said you don't need a man. You have me and I'm more than enough." Godiva fixed her lipstick in her compact mirror as the group stood outside the classroom, preparing for another lecture.

"I know you are Diva, I'm just confused is all. He would have told me if he didn't plan to show up this morning." Belladonna pouted, anxiously bouncing on the balls of her feet, swaying her basket full of food, smacking it against her knees. Her grip on the handle tightened in annoyance.

Arachne scoffed, "Like Snow would miss the chance to win anything. He's going to show up."

"You don't know that Arachne, nobody knows his whereabouts," Festus snatched Godiva's mirror, fixing his hair in its reflection, "Not even his lady."

"Well I hear he's with his little songbird." Felix sang, leaning close to Belladonna. She scowled, "Where ever did you hear that from?" "Lucky's newest interview. He was in the zoo with the tributes. Absolutely vile. The most astounding part is when they held hands." Belladonna paused, tilting her head. "Who's they?" Feliz grinned leaning in closer. "Why Snow and his tribute of course. What is her name again?"

"Lucy Grey." Godiva chimed in, she snatched her mirror back from Festus, adjusting her lashes, he rested his head on her shoulder, a desperate attempt to gaze at himself once again.

Lucy Grey.

"Was that an attempt to make her jealous Felix?" Arachne scoffed. "You really think Snow would ever leave the Belladonna for some district bastard." "Of course not, but me personally, I wouldn't want my boyfriend to even look at another girl let alone hold hands with one."

Someone above was on her side as the large wood door swung open. Belladonna stormed into the room, her classmates flooded in closely behind her.

"Touchy." Festus whispered to the brown haired girl, Godiva nodded in agreement as they took their seats.

Belladonna placed her basket by her desk, taking her seat next to her friend. Everyone had taken their seats but once seat remained empty.

His.

Belladonna pouted. "Maybe he's just running really late." Godiva whispered, Donna didn't respond.

The minutes seemed to trudge by slowly until finally Corio entered the room, a sheepish expression in his face. He was ashamed.

Good.

"Your little excursion is in violation of about five academy rules Mr. Snow." The Dean spoke. "Amongst them, endangering a Capitol student."

"Who?" He asked, halting, a confused expression on his face. "You. Im moving for the Gamemakers to disqualify you as a mentor immediately." Casca answered. Belladonna frowned, knowing if he were to truly be disqualified, it would crush him. She may be petty but she wasn't petty enough to wish for his flame of burning desire to be smothered.

Corio took his seat next to Donna. "You said that we had to get out tributes to perform, not that we had to stay away." He grabbed her hand, brushing his thumb over the smooth skin of the back.

"Holding her hand, introducing her to people. You make it look as if we are the same as those animals." Arachne added. Belladonna rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Coriolanus didn't show those people anything they didn't already know. That the tributes are human beings. Just like us. That's why nobody wants to watch the Games, because people know deep down, that winning a war ten years ago doesn't justify starving peoples children." Sejanus chimed in. Corio nodded though Donna knew he didn't truly agree. Rather he wanted to receive a pardon for his crimes.

"Snow fell. Down in the cage," Dr. Gaul's voice chimed in, the students jumped. Her aura threatening and bold.

"It fell down in the cage but it landed-" "On stage." Corio finished her riddle. "What the hell is going on?" Godiva whispered, Donna shushed her.

"You're good at games. Maybe one day you'll be a game maker like me." She grinned sinisterly, her smile may have sent shivers down the other student's spine but Corio's smile in return shook Donna to her core.

"Only if the games continue at all." Casca replied. "Oh they'll continue, with performances like young Snow in that zoo. In fact, I came to ask your star mentor a question." Dr. Gaul countered.

"What are the Hunger Games for?" She asked. "They're to punish the districts for their uprising. To commemorate the end of the war." Corio answered robotically. That answer had been tattooed into their memories since they had gotten here.

Sejanus began to discredit the games. A notion Dr. Gaul did not appreciate.

"Perhaps the Capitol students are ill suited to be mentoring tributes, perhaps the Games time has passed." Casca said. He and Sejanus seemed to be on the same page, a page Donna had been reading for years. A page she would never read aloud.

"Dean Highbottom is wrong. My classmates too. Maybe Sejanus is onto something, maybe we should be viewing those tributes as human beings." Corio spoke, letting go of her hand. Belladonna attempted to grab it again, tugging him to sit down but he slapped her hand away.

"I mean you saw those kids in the zoo, they just wanted to get to know Lucy Grey. If we need people to watch we should be letting them get closer to the tributes before the games. Make the stakes personal."

His obsession with Lucy Grey was insulting to her. His defense for the games were insulting to her. Every word that he spoke was an insult, each syllable stabbing her in the heart.

"Who will watch the games if they care what happens to the tributes?" Dr. Gaul asked. The answer was obvious.

"Everyone."

"If they thought the tribute they cared about had a chance of winning, people need someone to root for and against. We need them to invest. If we bend a few Capitol laws, we could even have them place bets." He proposed. Belladonna was lucky she had to skip breakfast for her diet otherwise she would have thrown up right then and there.

"Look I know Lucy Grey may not win in the arena but if you give her a chance, I would bet the Plinth Prize that she can win peoples attention." Once again rambling on about Lucy Grey. Godiva took Donna's hand in hers, squeezing it for reassurance.

She had given him her heart, the only thing she truly owned. And he had driven a knife through if, slowly cutting it up into pieces. Perhaps this was a dramatic reaction but she was a seventeen year old, lovesick girl. The universe owed it to her to allow her to be as dramatic as she pleased.

"I would like you to write up a proposal of these thoughts tonight Mr Snow." Doctor Gaul stated. "Perhaps your classmate can help you?" She smiled at the dark haired girl. Belladonna flashed her a small smile, shaking her head.

She refused to be a pawn in another tragedy.

𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐘.

Her name rang through her ears. "Belladonna dear, you should eat, you're thin enough as it is. Any thinner you'll make the whole capitol jealous." Arachne pleaded between bites of her salad.

"I've lost my appetite." She muttered, shoving her bowl of soup away from her. Festus dipped a brush back into the baby pink mail polish bottle. He took Godiva's hand in his, brushing the bristle across her nail bed. "I would as well if my boyfriend kept rambling on about some district girl." He chimed in, blowing on the wet paint.

"Donna, take a look in the mirror." Felix placed his drink down, snatching Godiva's compact mirror off the table. He shoved the small device in her face. "If any man leaves you, they're mad."

"Looks aren't everyone Felix. Besides, I'm not jealous, just confused." "As you have every right to be." Festus agreed, smacking Godiva's left hand away and grabbing the right one.

"Okay well stop frowning. You're going to get wrinkles and you have that president dinner tomorrow." Arachne fussed, smacking the girl's arm. "I'm not saying smile I'm just saying frowning like that over Snow of all people is going to age you ten years."

"Donna can I speak with you?" Her head shot up, her boyfriend stood in front of the table, tray in hand. "Maybe you should sit with somewhere else today Coriolanus." Godiva suggested. Festus nodded. "Better yet, maybe you should back to zoo to eat with your tribute." Felix snapped.

"Oh, fiesty. Calm down everyone. Corio, take a seat." Donna motioned for the chair across from her.

"Well, I have a feeling the rest of this lunch is going to be awkward." Festus twisted the lid back in the bottle, shoving all the products on the table back into Godiva's pink book bag. "Come on Diva." "Toodles." Godiva blew the group a kiss as the duo walked away.

"I'm going to go as well. Seems like a private conversation." Arachne stood, grabbing her salad bowl and going to go join a group of her friends

"Well I don't mind staying-" "Felix!" Godiva yelled from the doorway of the cafeteria. He groaned, reluctantly standing up.

Belladonna brought her bowl of soup back to her, stirring the spoon slowly, her eyes trained on the broth.

"Want to tell me what that was back there?" Corio asked, ignoring his food. His eyes were staring straight through her skull. "What ever do you mean?" She gazed at him through her thick lashes. A taunting expression on her face.

"You're supposed to support me." "And you're supposed to look at only me but I suppose we're both failing at our roles hm?" She retorted, glancing back down at her soup.

Corio rolled his eyes. "Belladonna." "Coriolanus?" "You know how much this competition means to me. Maybe you don't understand because your family can buy your way in." "I get in for free" She muttered under her breath. Corio shot her a look. "Right, not the time."

"I don't feel any thing for Lucy Grey, she's a district. I just need her to trust me for me to even have the opportunity to win that prize. To go to the university, become president. You know this has been my dream." Donna sighed. "I'm not upset about Lucy Grey." "You're not?" She shook her head. "How could you support this? These games Corio, they slaughter 23 innocent children every year. 207 kids have already died, it could finally be put to an end but you have ideas on how to keep it going." "It's a punishment Donna, to scare them into staying their place so the Dark Days don't occur again." "But they're human." "They're district. Nothing more."

"I don't know know who you are Corio. And I don't know what you're becoming. But this isn't the man I fell in love." "Then maybe you don't know the man you fell in love with."

𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃. 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃.

In fact for that little comment alone she should have left him right then and there. But every time he looked at her with that smile. And those eyes. She just...

Corio took her hand, placing a kiss on the back, smiling as he lead her to the zoo, her basket of food in his other hand. Belladonna giggled.

He was just so charming, she couldn't stay mad for long. She would support him, she would stay by his side. Even if it pained her.

And at first she did stay, even when he was speaking to Lucy Grey but looking at her made her heart drop. She truly was gorgeous.

"That for us?" She asked as he offered her food, "That whole basket." She took the food in his hand, handing some to her fellow district 12 tribute, Jessup. "That's for her tribute." Snow informed.

"And who might this be?" She asked, eyeing the taller girl up and down.

"Sabyn's mentor." He could practically sense Donna's smile drop. "And my girlfriend, the lovely Belladonna Inferno."

"And lovely she is. Miss Inferno you are stunning." Belladonna smiled, brushing her off. "You're too kind." "You truly have the best of the best, Mr. Snow is such a lovely young man." Perhaps Belladonna could pin it on her delusions but Lucy Grey did not actually seem happy for her.

"Aren't I lucky?" She smiled, "I'm going to go see Sabyn now." Corio nodded, handing her the brown wicker basket and placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Lovely meeting you Miss Grey." "It's actually Miss Baird." "Miss Baird my apologies. May the odds be ever in your favor." She smiled walking waving goodbye as she walked away from the two.

"Someone doesn't look too happy." Godiva frowned walking up to girl, "Hey I forgot it bring food for Treech, can i borrow some of that." Belladonna nodded, not paying the girl much mind.

Diva grabbed a bottle of water and a load of bread. "Is this fresh?" Belladonna nodded. "I had the chefs collect fresh food and water for the tributes. Lord knows it'll be their last meal." "You're truly a treasure Donna. You're too kind, not that they deserve it."

"Sabyn?" The girl in question turned around, glaring at her through the bars. "I'm Belladonna, I'm your mentor. I brought you some food." She showed the girl the basket with a smile. Sabyn was hesitant, slowly approaching the bars.

"It's all mine?" Belladonna nodded, "Unless you want to share with the others. Which I do encourage. You're all in this together." Belladonna frowned realizing she couldn't hand her the entire basket through the bars.

"Here I'll hand them one by one. Which one do you want firs-" A ear shattering scream cut the conversation short as you looked over to the source of the sound. Arachne's tribute had stabbed her in the neck with the shard of a broken glass bottle. Belladonna quickly shoved each item through the bars. Once the basket was empty she ran over to her dying friend.

Belladonna took the girl's head on her lap, whispering reassurances as she stroked her hair, placing pressure on her neck. Peacekeepers grabbed the dark haired girl, dragging her away from her friend, desperately calling out for her, watching as her breathing ceased.

"No please save her please!" "Go get her, save her please!" She cried, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

And with that the 10th annual Hunger Games had officially begun.

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒!

I love reading y'alls comments it really helps. Make sure to vote and comment! Thank you for 2k reads!  I'm aware Grey is spelt Gray but I'm European and Gray urks me. I name all my books after songs so I prefer the song I picked for this book as the lyrics apply very well compared to the books but I don't like the title Arcade. So if you have a new name I could use that still pertains to the song please let me know and I'll credit you. Thank you for your support.

Not proofread. Never will be proofread.