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TBOSAS ⋆ 🏹🐍🕊️. ♯
❝ IS SHE OKAY? ❞
CHAPTER FOUR ✧･ﾟ

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       ALL THE TRIBUTES WERE LEAD TO THE MASSIVE ARENA IN A STRAIGHT LINE, having been let out of the cage by the peacekeepers who kept them under supervision as they walked through the Capitol grounds, and waited outside the arena to walk through the gates.

       (Y/N) was in the middle of Lucy Gray and Jessup in the line, one in front of her and the other behind, both having their mentors, whereas hers wasn't there just yet. She fiddled with the messy end of her braid, wanting to ask Coryo where Cass was, but she also knew that where one was, the other wasn't far behind.

       She kept her gaze straight ahead, face being blank despite the slight tremble in her bottom lip from nerves, but other than that she didn't waver at all. The hushed whispers of the other tributes filled her ears, but she blocked that out.

        That was still quick footsteps were heard approaching from behind, and felt someone's fingers brush against hers, ending up standing on her free side, their red sleeve covered arm touching hers.

         She turned briefly spotting it was Cassian, who was already staring down at her with a soft look, causing her to swallow and nod in greeting, gaining a small one back, before their attention turned back around to in front of them.

        "Alright, let's go." A peacekeeper demanded once he saw the older Snow brother arrived, holding a gun as he walks forward to lead the group waiting to enter.

        They all began to follow along the one in front of them, stepping into the dark arena, only lit up by the dull red lights from the gates stationed to stop people. It was hard to see anything, and it caused (Y/N) to freak out a little bit, no longer having eyes on her sister in front.

       Out of instinct her hand shot sideways to grasp onto Cassian's larger one, feeling the coolness of his ring on his second finger, and needed something to keep herself calm. And she knew from how she started feeling about him, this surely would help her fast beating heart.

       Cassian didn't flinch nor shy away from her small hand grabbing onto his, he welcomed to touch more greedy then he intended to, slipping their fingers together and squeezed tightly in reassurance feeling her hand shaking a bit.

      Screw the cameras, she comes first. He thought to himself spotting the said things out of the corner of his blue eyes, turning his gaze down to their hands, and rubbed his calloused thumb over her knuckles, just as they past a turnstile.

       "Enjoy the show!" An automated voice spoke from somewhere in the dark hallway, causing her heart to pound faster, hearing the beat inside her ears, and squeezed his hand like it was her lifeline. Which it was right now.

        Everyone past all the turnstiles to arrive inside the arena, where it was still dark and barley lit up. A camera was directly pointed at (Y/N) causing her body to stiffen up, but didn't let her confident facade trip nor felt Cassian's hold on her fade, as it only got tighter.

      "Hey, you. Get that camera on her. On Coral." One of the mentors hissed in a demand, pushing away the object away from (Y/N) to on his tribute, causing the bright flash to be on Coral now instead of the other girl who was thankful.

       The metal doors slamming shut startled (Y/N) a bit, causing her side to curl into Cassian, who accepted it and rubbed his thumb more over her skin, his blue eyes meeting his brothers in front of the, who nodded at him and gently pulled over Lucy Gray back over to the other two.

       All of a sudden the windows in the arena began to open up, unraveling from their once position on the walls. It bought light into the darkness, making everything more visible now from the outside sun shining down on them all.

        Her (E/C) eyes connected with Lucy Gray's ones, who gave her a wonky but reassuring smile seeing how distressed she was, and mouthed 'It's alright' to her, not moving from her spot beside Coriolanus, as they needed to stay with their mentors right now.

        (Y/N) moved her attention away from her adopted sister to glance around the massive arena, eyes adjusting to the brightness, as her heart pounded faster now. She expected Cass to let her hand go since they would be visible now, but if anything he just pulled her closer to his side, in a protective manner.

        "Welcome to the arena of the tenth annual Hunger Games." A males voice was heard over the speakers this time, announcing his words to them, "Tributes. Mentors. You have fifteen minutes to survey the space and discuss strategy."

        It seemed the majority of the tributes were bunching up together in different groups to plan, which had her skin crawling feeling their intense stares on the back of her head, and shuffled more into Cassian's side, not enjoying all the attention on her.

       She knew why though. It wasn't everyday someone sees a girl having a mocking jay as a pet, sitting on her shoulder, nor seeing how amazing she was at handling a bow and arrow. It made her look strong, and more of a target on her back.

       "Hey, Lumberjack!" Coral called out to Treech, being stood near the back of the arena with two more tribute, who were both giving the district 12 girls the evil eye.

       He looked up from his shoes hearing the sudden call, wondering why he was wanted as he turned back around to his partner, "Lamina." He called to her, seeing the girl a little bit behind him.

       "No, no. Just you." Coral was quick to state, voice laced with distaste, and she nodded her head firmly at Treech, making sure she got her hinted point across, "Just you."

        (Y/N)'s heart broke in sympathy for the girl left in the middle of the arena without her partner with her, watching as Treech walks away to Coral and the others. A small scowl takes it over her features already not liking Coral, but sighed knowing there was no use getting mad, and nervously fiddled with her braid again.

      Cassian looked from his brother and Lucy Gray engaged in conversation a few feet away from them, and glanced down at the by his side, frowning spotting how anxious she looked.

     "Love, what's wrong?" His accented voice dropped into a comforting whisper, pulling his ringed hand from hers to grasp her forearm instead gently, bending his head to meet her eyes.

       She swallowed the lump in her throat hoping to ease the dryness, which it didn't, her pleading gaze meeting his corned blue one, "Please, Cass. Please don't let Lucy Gray die in here tomorrow." Sh begged in a tremble, "At least try and help me make her win this."

       She's doing it again. Why can't she see she's just as important? He thought to himself with a conflicted expression, lips turning upside down opening his mouth to say something, but was cut off by something else occurring.

      Suddenly there was a huge explosion inside the arena from every side, causing them both, and everyone else to fly back off balance. The back of (Y/N)'s head slammed straight into Cassian's chest on the floor, both of them falling on top of one another, as the bombs continued to go off around them.

       She yelped in pain at the harsh smack to her head, already knowing she'd have a headache later on, and felt his arms drag her down, shielding her from the explosions with his body. Her eyes scrunched shut tight for a few seconds, trying to block out the loud noises, and focused on the hold around her figure.

      Dust flew up everywhere from the bombs breaking a lot of the arena, which made the inside difficult to see the outsides of it, causing the two to cough a bit trying not to inhale anymore then they already had.

       Her wide, (E/C) eyes glanced around rapidly through the small gab in Cassian's arms around hers, trying to find Lucy Gray in the chaos, "Lucy Gray- Coriolanus-" She exclaimed over the bombs, trying to break free from Cassian's hold wanting to know they were safe.

      The blonde male grabbed both sides of her waist to stop her from moving, coughing a bit as he pushed them both up to stand on the ground, "They're alright, (Y/N)!" He assured just as loud, pointing over to the figures in the dust running over to them.

       Her worries eased a bit watching Lucy Gray and Coryo indeed coming over to them, both looking just as dusty and messed up as they were. She moved her eyes back to Cassian, cupping under his elbow knowing he took the heat of the fall once more for her, "Are you okay?!"

       He nodded his head brushing back the bangs off his forehead, hands slipping up to grab her shoulders, "I'm fine! I'm more concerned about you-" He answered noticing the side of her forehead bleeding a bit, and cursed himself out in his head, gently using his thumb to wipe the liquid away a bit.

       She winced a hit feeling his thumb touching the fresh wound that wasn't that deep, causing him to hush a sorry, and grabbed a hold of her forearms hearing the arena's structure coming down now.

       "C'mon! We need to get out of here-" Coriolanus appeared on his brothers side breathing heavily, looking between the four rapidly as Lucy Gray grabbed her sisters hand reassuringly, causing Cassian to let her go and nodded at all them in agreement.

       However they all looked up to see the roof was collapsing from the bombs, creating more dust and rubble that was falling. Chucks of stone and concrete fell towards the four, making their fight or flight instincts kick in, needing to get out of the way.

        Cassian straight away pushed the two girls to safety along with his brother, not thinking about his own life in that moment. Lucy Gray didn't think twice, tugging along (Y/N)'s hand in hers tightly, and ran away with her from the falling rubble, both of them thinking the brothers were behind them in the dust.

     Though when the sisters arrived at the open exit of the arena, and turned back around hoping to see their mentors, but were met with nothing but dust, and chaos, none of them in sight which had them panicking badly.

     "Oh, no-" (Y/N) whispered in horror, accent sounding thicker moving forward to let Lucy Gray's hand go, "Cass! Coryo!" She yelled out frantically, eyes trying their hardest to see through the thick dust around the, "Cassian, where are you?!"

      Lucy Gray picked up her shirt for a second feeling it caught on her boot, and rushed to her sisters side, "Quick, c'mon! We can go look for them!" She urged pulling on her arm, leading her through the chaos once more like usual for them.

       It also worried them that they couldn't find Jessup, both the girls had a strong feeling he was alright and safe out of the arena, hopefully not badly hurt from what just happened. They heard the yelling voices of people in the dust, not knowing whether it was a mentor, tribute or peacekeeper, but didn't pay mind to it right now.

       Stuck underneath a massive piece of rubble, Cassian groaned trying to push off the brick on his lower half wanting to help his twin across from him, who was also in the same situation, just not as trapped as the cook. Cassian grown more worried when he saw his brothers head touch the ground, struggling to get free.

      His teary gaze moved away from Coriolanus to in front of him, breath getting caught in his throat seeing the figure of (Y/N) emerge from the dust in almost slow motion, Lucy Gray being on her other side, running directly towards his fallen brother.

      She called out his name but all Cass could hear was muffled, and only watched her lips move, nothing else. She dropped to her knees beside him on the ground, trying to ignore the sound of guns firing now over her head, as she kept her own teary eyes on Cassian.

      Flicking her braid back over her shoulder so it wouldn't get in her way, she grabbed a hold of the metal sticks on top of the rubble, and began trying to lift it off. She knew her palms would hate her later, but all that matter right now was saving Cassian.

     She gritted her teeth feeling the strain on her muscles, despite being fit from the many days and nights she praticed with a bow and arrow. She finally had gotten it off him with a yell, just as Lucy Gray managed to help Coryo also.

     The rubble was tossed aside away from the duo, Cassian rolling onto his side feeling his entire body hurting, and screaming at him for rest. His breathing was unsteady, causing her hands to come up and cup both sides of his face, trying to make his blurry gaze focus on her.

     Her mouth was once more moving tell him something, but he still couldn't hear it, and tried his hardest to keep his eyes open, not wanting to close them otherwise he wouldn't be able to look at her face inches from his on the ground.

      Before anything more could be done between them, a peacekeeper came up behind (Y/N) to roughly take her by the arm, and started dragging her away from Cassian. Her braid and loose hairs flew around trying to break free, wanting to stay with him more, her wide eyes never leaving his lidded ones.

      He tried to lift a weak hand up to grab her figure departing from him, but fell short when it dropped back down onto the ground, the last thing being seen for him was her deeply worried expression, before it all went dark.

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       BLUE EYES FLY OPEN FAST WITH A GASP ESACPING HIS MOUTH, Cassian's body laying on a bed inside the Academy, face feeling sweaty and tried from what happened before. His shirt was half open with a white bandage wrapped across his chest, hair sticking to his damp forehead.

      "Cass." Tigris' soft voice cooed to him, the girl sat down beside him in a chair, Coriolanus on his other side having woken up first in bad shape too, and Sejanus was beside him also, all looking at the male worriedly who just woke up.

       Instead of worrying about himself, his thoughts were straight away on his tribute, (Y/N), wondering if she was safe and alright. He groans shifting on his side alerting the three, as he blinks sluggishly croaking out, "(Y/N)- Is she.. Is she okay?"

     Tigris smiled softly brushing back his curly locks off his forehead, rubbing his arm up and down comforting, "She's alive. They both are safe." She assured, the other two nodding in agreement

      The relief was very much visible on Cassian's face hearing the words, a shaky sigh escaping his parted lips, "What happened though?" He rasped out in confusion, brows furrowed together glancing between them all around him.

       "It was a Rebel bombing." Sejanus was the one to answer in a low tone, holding one of Cass' hands in his for comforting also, "They must have been planning it for months. Four tributes were killed."

      "Everyone's terrified, Cass. People are locking themselves inside their houses." Tigris tells the anxious male laying in the bed, grabbing his free hand in hers also to squeeze it, her other one holding Coryo's across the bed.

        Sejanus sighed heavily through his nose, adjusting himself in the chair he sat on, a small bandage on his face also, "The Rebels released a message. They said they wanted to tear down the symbol of the Hunger Games on live Tv." He explains in a hushed whisper, "Marcus got out. He's the only one who the peacekeepers are out hunting him in the streets, but at least he has a better chance out there than he would tomorrow."

      A incredulous look passed over Cassian's features, "Tomorrow? They're still going ahead with the games-" He spluttered out in disbelief, only gaining sad reactions back making his heart drop to his stomach, "Oh, no. (Y/N)..."

      His softened eyes just thinking about her made contact with his twins, who pursed his lips in thought not saying anything, "They could have run." Cassian hinted at the sisters, shaking his head against the pillow relived, "But they saved us."

       None of them said anything including Coryo who looked more conflicted then anything, only giving his brother's arm a small squeeze. That was until the sound of voices coming from the Tv drew Cassian's attention, hearing Flickerman's voice calling a very familiar girl out from behind the curtains.

     He sat up almost immediately hearing it was (Y/N) being called out to the stage, making his twin and cousin help him up gently from the bed, as he carefully walk up right in front of the Tv, watching Flickerman introduce the girl, and the crowd's clapping was loud even over the screen.

     His ringed hand reached forward to turn the volume up on the Tv to the highest one, making sure he didn't miss a thing and could hear her perfectly. He stood in between his family members, Sejanus right beside Coryo also watching the screen.

      "Good evening, Capitol. Districts." (Y/N) spoke into the microphone smiling fake at the crowd below her on the stage, a familiar set of red drums behind her also that Cassian had actually gifted her, "This song is about a boy back in 12, and I hope he hears it."

      Cassian watched the girl he adored a lot take the microphone off the stand, walking around to the drums and sat down on the chair, placing the microphone on the stand placed beside her. She looked to be taking a deep breath to calm herself, fingers finding the pale sticks placed on the one of the drums surface.

       The crowd waited in suspense as she gently hit the first note with a stick, it echoing around the hall, and even in the hospital room they were all in watching. The single one tap beat began to pick up, as her mouth opened up to sing into the mic near her,

"Today is gonna be the day that they're
gonna throw it back to you. 
And by now, you should've somehow
realised what you gotta do I don't believe
that anybody feels the way I do about you now."

       As she began to play the beats of  the song, the room came alive with the pulsating rhythm, and her voice soared through the space, carrying the lyrics like a serenade.

      The drums responded to her touch, each beat a testament to her skill and passion. The music enveloped the room, creating an atmosphere that resonated with the emotions embedded in the song.

"And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding.
There are many things that I would
like to say to you, but I don't know how."

       The donations on the side of the screen were already way past Cassian's expectations, his blue eyes softening greatly on her figure singing and playing the drums carefree, this being the only time he's seen her so relaxed and happy. The visual and auditory elements merged, transporting him into the heart of the music.

"Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me.
And after all you're my wonderwall."

      He knew the crowd was eating this up like it was their last meal, by all the their faces looking in awe, and their hands placed over their hearts, tears in their eyes also watching and hearing his fireheart's performance.

      The live recording broadcast her talent to countless viewers, the airwaves pulsating with the raw energy of her drumming. Each strike of the drum became a visual crescendo, a dynamic display that echoed through the airwaves and left an indelible mark on the hearts of those witnessing the spectacle from afar.

"I said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
You're gonna be the one that saves me."

      As her song came to an end, there was a moment when she looked directly into the camera, her eyes locking onto his through the pixelated veil of the screen. (E/C) meeting blue.

     In that instance, his heart fluttered, as if a current of connection surged across the digital divide. It felt almost as though she was singing directly to him, reaching through the screen to bridge the physical gap that separated them. The male couldn't help but feel a rush of emotions.

"And after all
You're my wonderwall."

      The crow erupted in loud cheers, and applauding for the girl, the loudest being Lucy Gray watching her sister off near the stage behind the curtains. However, (Y/N)'s gaze was stuck on the camera, having a feeling Cassian was watching her from somewhere.

     "Ding, ding, ding, ding!" Lucky Flickerman exclaimed approaching her side, nudging her side with a charming smile at the camera, "Look at that! When I though district 12 couldn't beat the record anymore! This is a record high for this evening. The Capitol is definitely watching. People are sending in donations."

      She smiled a bit out of breath standing up from the chair she was in, digging the crash cymbal gently for a second with the sticks before placing them down, and stood up beside Flickerman, wiping the sweat off of her.

    "See what happens when you do stuff. It looks like you're everyone's favorite." Flickerman mused nudging her side playfully again, mustache lifting up as he smiled, "Now I don't like your odds, but personally I'll be routing for you. Girl with a fire in her heart."

       She chuckled a bit behind her hand causing Cassian's heart to melt hearing the sweet sound through the Tv, eyes widening watching as she bows a little to the crowd, arms outstretched sideways like she first did getting picked on reaping day.

      "How wonderful is this night that we all get to be here? For someone's final performance." Flickerman's words made the girls face drop, but still remined confident staring into the camera, and he turned to her a final time grabbing her hand, "Miss (Y/N), thank you. Go home. Go to bed. Get a good night's sleep. You got a big day tomorrow."

❪ ✏️ ❫ 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂 : 3827
─►☆ AUTHOR'S NOTE :
im such a sucker for this chapter i swear i love it so much and the fact i included one of my fav songs and drumming >>> probably one of the main reasons why i like writing fics so i can portray my love for things in them LMAOOA i mean, who doesn't though? 😭😭😭

cass is such a sweetheart (as of now) i wanna marry him so bad and i just know everyone would be obsessed with him if he was an actual character in the movie/book, he is the better brother in every way fr !!! i hope you guys reading this enjoyed the chapter mwha <33🫶

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