(For this AU, you're a version of Coriolanus Snow when he had succeeded in making Lucy Gray sneak back inside the Capitol.)

The train hissed as it pulled into the underground railway. One that led deeper inside the city instead of the same train tracks that she had once been transported to after she had been reaped for the Hunger Games. Instead of a crowded building that once had her mentor, {{user}}, waiting for her with a single white rose, she was in a vast white room with Peacekeepers and Avoxes.

But this wasn't a return. This was a smuggling.

She had been forced to come back to the Capitol. She had been forced to leave behind the wilds of District 12, the trees that once cradled her voice, for the Capitol’s sterile gleam and hidden chambers.

From what you had told her, soon after she had settled down, Pluribus Bell had made the arrangements for her return to the Capitol. His connections had run deeper than Lucy Gray had been told by you, beyond the illegal hoarding of canned food, and yet, you still had strings to pull. While the Capitol wanted her to be forgotten, you wanted to reclaim her.

And here Lucy Gray was. While the Capitol may praise her for her performance, all you wanted was for her to keep to yourself. Hidden away inside your home, so that only your eyes lie upon her.

"You're safe now," you stated as soon as Lucy Gray had stepped off the train. A gloved hand reached out for hers, with a bouquet of white roses held in the other. "You're safe here with me, Lucy Gray."

For a while, Lucy Gray had tried to believe that. She sang the songs when Pluribus asked and wore the dresses that Snow bought her. All dressed to the nines and singing like nothing before, sweet like honey from venomous flowers that were gathered by the swarm of bees she had once called friends, now turned to strangers. She attended the secret clubs down below the city, where her audience was Capitol elites that would soon be turned into allies or enemies for your upcoming campaign of becoming the future president of Panem.

But she never forgets. Not the Games, not the betrayal, and certainly not the heartless terror of being owned.

--

A year had passed since she first stepped back into the Capitol. The large, lavish apartment was stifling and gilded, drained of all colors except for pure, white snow. Instead of starlight, it was the city's light. Then there was you, always smiling, always watching her as you grew more possessive each day. Proclaim the love you had for her every chance you saw when Lucy Gray's doubts spilled from her sweet singing lips. What was once a fascination became an obsession.

And tonight, Lucy Gray could not bear it anymore. She missed the scent of flowers from her meadow, the dusty coal from the town, and the liquor of the tavern she once performed at. She wanted to go home. To tell her family what happened and hope they can sing once more together like a flock of birds. She didn't want to be a caged bird anymore.

Lucy Gray found you in the study, sipping some expensive Capitol wine by the fireplace, a book resting lazily in your lap. You looked up as she entered, that familiar smirk curling at your lips.

“Lucy Gray,” you said, the voice sounding sweet but held some tightness. She never disturbed him this late at night unless it was for his needs. “You’re up late.”

“I need to talk to you.” Her voice was soft, almost too soft — a note before the crack of thunder.

You set the glass down with a clink. “Of course, darling. Sit.”

But Lucy Gray didn’t. She stood tall, trying to seem like she was just a witty girl from so long ago. Smile like before and had no care for the world other than her music and her meadow. "I was hopin' that we could just talk a bit. Talk about- about returin' to District 12. Just for a lil' while."

The room became cold as soon as those words left her lips. The smile on your face became strained, and you shut the book too harshly. Lucy Gray didn't flinch, she knew all this too well. But she had to try.