#i know he's still serving just came in the mail today realness so i won't maintag him... yet. i want better pictures for that

[sir-reinhardt]

we are having fun already :)

[etfrin]

❝ꜱᴏᴜʟꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴜꜱʜ❞ — chapter seventeen | coriolanus snow

「ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ:」 SFW | canon typical death, violence, mentions of self harm, Coriolanus Snow, mentions of suicide | lmk if I forgot anything

「ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ:」 young! Coriolanus Snow x fem! Reader

「ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:」 coriolanus snow is now a peacekeeper.

「ᴀ/ɴ:」 i wrote this at four am, please forgive me if it's not good, give me your feedback!! And uhm.. i am gonna pull an all nighter, coz if i sleep now i won't be able to wake up in time tmr, wish me luck!!

Beta read by 🩶 @nowitsmissing 🩶

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Coriolanus was on the train. He had nothing but mere minutes to pack his belongings and say goodbye to his life in the Capitol. Tigris was in tears. And he knew the hug he gave grandma’am would be the last he ever received from her. Peacekeepers have to serve for twenty years after all.

He was on his way to district twelve. Not once had you come to visit him. He would lie to himself if he said he thought you would be at the train station. He expected an explanation. He was ready to accept lies. But no one was waiting for him. He was all alone.

Snow has lost his previous blonde curls as all officers had to have a buzzcut. He also had been sprayed with extremely cold water before he was given the blue uniform of peacekeepers. Coriolanus had gone over a small handbook and he realized hierarchy is everything. There are ways to raise rank but what's the point of it all?

What's the point?

He will never be president.

The Snow name will fall.

He will never have you.

He should just end it all.

That's when the door to his train cabin opens. The person who enters is completely unsuspected. Sejanus Plinth. His… friend.

Sejanus sits before him. Coriolanus doesn't even greet him. He's shocked. He blurts out, “Before you came, I was thinking about the merits of suicide.”

Sejanus replied with a chuckle, “Don't give them the satisfaction, Coryo.”

Coriolanus nods. He won't. He will make it out somehow.

“Why are you here?”

“I volunteered,” Sejanus said proudly, “as a medic. I will make a real difference like you said I can.”

Coriolanus wants to roll his eyes but doesn't. He likes the company he has right now, it's better than nothing. He smiles, all nice and fake. “Of course, Sejanus. You'll also meet your songbird.”

Sejanus Plinth blushed, “That too.”

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The First Week.

Ma Plinth sends letters regularly to Sejanus. She also sends him various goods including pastries that Sejanus shares with him. He hates it. Coriolanus still finishes his share of the sweet as it's so rare to find in the districts.

They don't have a day off yet. Sejanus hasn't found Lucy Gray. He's worried. Coriolanus speaks false words to put the poor boy at ease. It works more often than not.

The training is hard but Coryo excels. He's noticed by several of the recruits. They're friendly. He doesn't reveal that he's from the Capitol, nor does Sejanus Plinth. The gifts from his Ma are kept a secret.

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The First Month.

Coriolanus Snow trains more and more. He trains harder than everyone. Snow eats well. He has more muscles than he had in the academy. Coryo could beat several people in combat now. He had gained the respect of his peers.

He was angry.

That’s the only reason he trained so much. Because if he thinks too much, he won't be able to live. He checks his mail every day. He gets them weekly from Tigris. It doesn't say much except the fact they're doing well.

Coryo rarely writes her back.

He yelled at Sejanus today.

It's the first time he ever yelled at the boy. Sejanus looks like he is about to cry and Coriolanus doesn't know what to do.

Coriolanus Snow is mad at you. And you aren't here to take the burn.

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The Second Month.

Coriolanus caves in. He writes. He writes and writes dozens of letters addressed to you. It's about the smallest thing. How heavy the gun was for him to carry in the beginning and how it is now. How the air is fresh in some parts of the district and horrible near the factories. How bright the sun is. How pretty the flowers are. He speaks about the culture he thought district people could never have. He speaks about the people who are… kind. Different than he thought so.

Coriolanus doesn't send them to you.

However, Sejanus Plinth does.

Sej is sure you'll reply.

You don't.

He stops writing the letters.

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The Second Month; Second Week

He begs onto the paper. So much ink is wasted.

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please.

SAY SOMETHING BACK

He scrawls the words roughly onto the letter over and over again. Tears falling from his eyes and ruining the ink. It makes some of the words ineligible. He doesn't care. You'll get it.

You get him.

Out of all the people, why did you abandon him like this?

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✧

The Second Month; Fourth Week

Snow doesn't get a reply. It doesn't matter.

Whatever healing his soulmate scar had gone through had reversed. It was the same ugly scar now. It didn't matter. Nothing does.

Sejanus says he's colder now. Angrier. He has a temper. Coriolanus doesn't care.

Sejanus Plinth forces Coryo to enjoy his day off. He drags him to The Hob, the bar in District Twelve. He sees Lucy Gray dancing and singing around. He meets with the Covey. He laughs for the first time in a while.

The same night he kisses someone. He doesn't remember who. He hates it. It felt like spiders crawling on his skin. He vomits outside of the bar. Sejanus is concerned. Coriolanus Snow quietly cries himself to sleep that night.

He doesn't touch his soulmate's scar for comfort anymore. He wishes he could cut all the skin off from his wrist where the mark was.

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The Third Month; First Week

When he comes back to the Capitol, he will. He will kill you. He will ruin you like you ruined him. The next time you meet Coriolanus Snow you aren't coming out alive.

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The Third Month; Fourth Week

Coryo can imagine his life here. With Sejanus and the Covey. Lucy Gray quickly becomes his friend (somewhat). Maude Ivory, her younger cousin, is sweet and considers Coryo like a brother figure.

It means a lot to him.

The music they play. The cabin in the woods. The cool lake is hidden in the forest. It's nice. A life worth having (he's lying to himself).

He hates the heat.

He misses the Capitol.

He misses you. Though he will never admit it.

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The Fourth Month; First Week.

Coryo finds out what the hanging tree is named after. It's a tree used for hanging the rebels. And some rebels were caught recently. Their names were called out by the captain. And they were sentenced to death.

Coriolanus had to stand up straight and keep a poker face as they were punished. A girl calls out the unfairness of it all. Pleads that they were doing nothing wrong. Snow wants to scoff. The rebels tried to escape, flee to the north, away from the safety that Panem offered. That's betrayal in Coriolanus' book.

The girl is taken away as a rebel as well.

As it should be.

Dumb district girl.

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The Fourth Month; Third Week.

A few officials have come from the Capitol to district twelve on a mission nobody knows anything about. Coryo hears rumors about it being about district thirteen and he's reminded of you. He doesn't pay much attention to it as they were just baseless rumors. District thirteen ceased to exist and his family had to face the consequences because of it.

Commander Hoff gathers every peacekeeper in the Nauen radio station. Hoff begins with a speech, “Today I call you here to let you know about the prestigious guests staying in District twelve for the time being. It is suffice to say that they expect the best from you as one of you will be assigned to be each of their bodyguard for their safety. They're from the Capitol, remember their lives matter more than yours. Do not let me down.”

Commander Hoff calls out names one by one and the peacekeeper is assigned to the person. He calls out your name. Coriolanus freezes, perhaps he heard wrong. He looks around onto the stage where the officials are and sees you for the first time in months.

Fuck. You're so beautiful.

He fists his hands. He bites the inside of his cheeks. It takes him everything not to descend into madness.

“...is assigned to Coriolanus Snow.”

You're under him now.

Good luck.

Next Part

[7-wonders]

Letters to Jim

This is for all three of you that like my BatB!Duncan fic. I love you.

Other works in the Beauty and the Beast!Duncan Shepherd AU: Wilted Roses Smell Just as Sweet | This Place of Wrath and Tears | A Gentleman’s Guide to Wooing Your Prisoner | This Cruel Trick of Fate | Down the Rabbit Hole | Hints of Kindness | Days In the Sun | Here's Where She Meets Prince Charming (but she won't discover that it's him 'til Chapter 3) | Something There

If anybody in this godforsaken place were to ask, the notebook that you regularly write in is to collect evidence that you would give to the police the moment that your imprisonment ended. Of course, you know that this is a flimsy lie, and you're pretty sure that they know, too. It's not as if the police would believe someone who said that they were trapped by a mystical curse that made them unable to leave the grounds, along with the staff that were also cursed to be invisible and, though he hadn't said it directly, the owner of the house who had been turned into some half-beast. You'd rather not get involuntarily committed for that, so you know you'll remain silent once you do get out of here.

So no, you obviously aren't writing some sort of "live from captivity" tell-all. Instead, you've filled this notebook with letters to Jim. You're not sure why you've been writing him letters—after all, it's not as though you're able to mail them out. It could be that it's easier to write to a friend than it is to write to some faceless entity known as "diary". Or, it could just be that these letters give you hope that you'll get out of here and be able to give Jim the letters that you had been writing to him. You lean more towards the latter.

At first, the letters served as a tool to vent to somebody that wasn't under the employment of the beastly man that got you all trapped here. These letters were angry, filled with everything that you hated about the situation that you were in. If nobody was ever going to receive these letters, then it made no sense for you to hold back on anything you were writing about. You made your feelings very, very clear.

"Dear Jim, I hate it here."

"Jim, the fact that magic is real is surprisingly not making the whole imprisonment thing better."

"I'm literally counting the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until I can get out of here."

Somewhere along the line, the anger started to dissipate. You would still find yourself upset about certain aspects of your captivity, of course. But instead of a person to vent to about everything, Jim became a person to gossip with. You tell him about the funny things that your new friends do, or how you're still exploring the large manor and constantly finding new rooms. Lately, your letters increasingly talk about Duncan.

It wasn't something that you planned. In fact, you were determined at the beginning to not mention him at all. You wanted him to fade into obscurity the moment that you were able to leave. But as you've learned more about him and connected with him more, he's been a topic of conversation in your letters to Jim.

Today, you start your letter from the comfort of your bedroom, after you and Duncan realized that you were playing in the snow like a couple of children. Your cheeks were heated, though you tried to tell yourself that it was from the cold, and Duncan had awkwardly stood up and put distance between you. You both shuffled away from each other and went your separate ways, unsure of what to make of what had just happened. After drinking some tea to warm up and changing out of your wet clothes, you settled under a blanket to write.

Jim,

Life at the manor manages to get more and more odd, which didn't seem possible when I first decided to take your place. Although, I wouldn't necessarily say that it's a bad odd.

Today I wanted to go outside and leave some seed for the birds since it's the first snow of the year, and surprisingly enough, Duncan came outside to join me. He was actually pleasant to be around, and we had an impromptu snowball fight, if you can believe that. (I wouldn't blame you if you don't believe that, considering you saw him at his very worst)

There's something sweet about Duncan, and almost...kind, I suppose, though I don't know if he knows what that word means anymore. Sure, he's still mean and coarse and unrefined. But he also has flashes of something softer. He can be dear, and so heart-wrenchingly unsure. I wonder why I didn't see it there before?

I think he saw the way that I looked at him after I fell in the snow. How could I not, though? He was happy and laughing, and I thought I saw the man that he used to be, once upon a time. Our hands touched at one point when I tried to grab his wrist to keep him from throwing a snowball at me. He acted as though he were burned, like nobody's ever looked at him that way before or not shuddered when they touched his paw-like hands.

This feeling is new, and I can't deny that it's also a bit very alarming. Who'd have ever thought that this could be? True, that he's no Prince Charming. But there's something in him that I simply didn't see.

Part of me doesn't want to be having these feelings. Is it merely Stockholm Syndrome, the result of being trapped with my captor for almost two months now? But then, I've come to realize that he's trapped just as much as I am. Whatever it is that's happening between us, I can't deny that there's something there that wasn't there before.

I miss you, Jimmy. Stay strong for me, and I'll see you soon.

Sincerely,

Me