Chapter Five 

because we are

3rd person pov 

they got back to the school and they walked into the room together as everyone watched them walk in. when they sat down together, she made eye contact with sejanus and he nodded at her as he knew why she did what she did. 

"your little excursion was in violation of five different Academy rules, mr.snow and miss.castiel. Chief amongst them, endangering two capital students " dean highbottom told them and dorothea looked at coriolanus 

"what? who?" coriolanus asked 

"you two. I'm moving for the game makers to disqualify you two as mentors immediately" he told them and dorothea froze making corio speak up 

"you said we had to get our tributes to perform not that we had to stay away" coriolanus offered 

"I'll add insubordination as well" he stated 

"holding their hands, introducing them to people, you make it look as if we're one in the same as those animals" arachna said 

"because we are" dorothea spoke up 

"and they didn't show those people anything they didn't already know" sejanus said 

"we don't need your help , sejanus" coriolanus exclaimed 

"but you were saying" dorothea told him and coriolanus looked at her in shock. she wasn't taking his side and that was a shock to him and everyone else around. 

"that the tributes are human beings , just like us. That's why nobody wants to watch the games it's because people know deep down that winning award 10 years ago doesn't justify starving peoples children, taking away their freedoms, their rights. " sejanus fought 

"Snow and Castiel fell down in the cage. it fell down in the cage, but it landed on stage. You're good at games, maybe one day you'll be a game maker like me" headmaster told them 

"if the games continue at all" dean highbottom offered 

"oh, they'll continue. With performances like these young ones in that zoo. And I came here to ask your Star mentor question. What are the hunger games for?" she asked coriolanus 

"there, to punish the districts for their uprising, commemorate the end of the war" he said and dorothea swallowed the throw up that rose in her mouth making sejanus put a hand on her arm and rub his thumb on her wrist. he felt the same way she did and since she had wovey and he had Marcus, they were one of the same. 

"dull,dull,dull. Punishment can take myriad forms. Why not drop bombs, cancel food shipments, stage executions, why games?" she exclaimed 

"shouldn't we be asking ourselves whether or not they're right in the first place?" sejanus said 

"you have a problem with my games?" 

"some of those kids were two years old when the war ended the oldest of them were only eight the capital is supposed to be everyone's government. Now it's supposed to protect all of us. I don't see how making children fight each other to the death is protecting anyone." sejanus said 

"that sort of sympathy might interfere with your mentoring assignment" she told sejanus 

"perhaps the students are ill suited to be mentoring tributes. Perhaps the games times has passed" dean exclaimed 

"dean highbottom is wrong. my classmates, too. Maybe sejanus is on something here. Maybe we should be viewing those tributes as human beings. i mean, you saw those kids in the zoo, they just they just wanted to get to know Lucy Gray. If we need people to watch, we should let them get closer to the tributes before the games. To make the stakes personal" corio explained 

"Who will watch the games if they care about what happens to the tributes?" she asked 

"everyone will. I mean think about it if the tribute they care about has a chance of winning they're gonna want to watch to make sure that that tribute can and will win it's more viewing and more attention. People need someone to root for and if they can do that in the games and be able to root against someone else they're gonna stay entertained. We need people to invest, and if we benefit, we can even have them play bet" dorothea said 

"look, i know lucy Gray 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" corio exclaimed 

"I'd like you to write up a proposal of these thoughts tonight you too" she told them 

"wait. You mean you might actually use his ideas?" clemensia asked 

"if it'll help the ratings why not?" dr.gaul said 

"coriolanus and I are partners we do all of our assignments together" clemensia said 

"you can work with us then"dorothea told her and clemensia turned to the girl in shock but after all it was dorothea and coriolanuss idea. she wanted to prove that she could handle this even if she had a girlfriend and someone who was like a little sister to her apart of it. 

"this'll be an interesting test" dr.gaul said and she walked out leaving them all alone. them it was time for lunch where dorothea went with sejanus and coriolanus. she sat down and coriolanus sat with her before he put food in his napkin 

"you trying to fatten that poor girl up, so you can finally start taking bets?" sejanus asked 

"those kids won't get a scrap while they're in there. They need food." dorothea said and sejanus sat with them 

"he was my classmate. Back in 2" he told them talking about his tribute and dorothea sighed 

"it's not your fault it's him" coriolanus exclaimed 

"see. i know. I'm so blameless I'm choking on it my father bought him for me. You know at the reaping just so we could show me that I could never go back to two. But being capital is going to kill me" sejanus said 

"yeah, me too. Back when I was in 7 , I knew wovey . I don't know how she's my tribute but I don't think it's a draw. I think it's on purpose." dorothea stated 

"so do something about it" coriolanus exclaimed

"quite the rebel" sejanus said 

"oh, yeah. I'm bad news." he said and with that, they began to put food in their pockets and decided that they were going to see their tributes. 

walking in together, they saw everyone watching them and dorothea sighed as they walked up to the cage together and looked at their tributes. dorothea found wovey quickly as coriolanus found lucy gray and sejanus found Marcus. they separated and walked over to their tributes

"here, i got this for you" dorothea told wovey and wovey smiled at the girl as she took it from the girl and ate it. they sat down on the ground together as lucy gray looked at dorothea and smiled.

"thank you" wovey smiled and dorothea laughed. they stared at each other and wovey saw the girl she used to know. the two of them stuck together and everyone knew that.

"you know her?" wovey asked and dorothea nodded her head as woevy looked at her and then around at everyone else.

"shes my girlfriend but shhh don't tell anyone that. they can't know these things" she told her and wovey nodded as she leaned her head on the bar and dorothea reached through to grab her hand. everyone was watching the two of them interact like they had never seen anything like that before.

"am i gonna survive? can i go home?" wovey asked and dorothea felt a tear in her eye drip and fall but she wiped it away and looked at wovey with a reassuring smile and a shake of her head.

" I'm gonna try to help you. I want you to go home and I'm sure you will. That's why I'm here to make sure you survive." dorothea told the girl and wovey started to feel her eyes shutter but she continued to eat the sandwich as if it was nothing

"do you want more? i brought a lot for you. you need strength and i know that they aren't feeding you the best" dorothea told her and she nodded as dorothea reached her hand through and handed her the other half of the sandwich. she would save the cookie from when she finished the sandwich.

she wished she knew what lucy gray and coriolanus were talking about but she didn't seem to care right now. she had wovey and she hadn't had her in a while. they smiled at each other and next thing they knew there was a yell and arachne was attacked. coriolanus and dorothea ran over to the girl as she had a broken beer bottle in her throat and they watched her take her last breathe. the tribute got shot and they stared at her

"lets go" they told them and they were led off by the others. 

-ABBYS NOTES- 

the games are going to be insane