the gold and the glory / coach / jb oneshot

"Cold steel calls out my name,"

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Coach wasn't the type to be afraid very often, which is likely why, despite the reaping throwing a curveball at him and having him get picked rather than giving him the chance to volunteer, he still exuded excessive amounts of confidence. He stood in the middle of the posh room he was brought to in the Justice Building as he waited to see if he'd get any visitors. His father had already said he wasn't coming, so he didn't know if his mother or sister would show up, but he'd said goodbye to them this morning, so he supposed it didn't matter too much.

The young man paced back and forth in the room for several minutes before the door creaked open and his little sister made her way in to join him.

"Coach?" her voice was practically a whisper. He waved her toward him.

"You can come in, 'Phora." he said to her. After he said this, Sephora immediately rushed over to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Coach smiled a little bit. In a way, he felt bad leaving his sister. She was the one that really didn't want him to go. She wasn't like the friends he hung out with who cheered him on, or like their father who was just completely disappointed in his decision. She wasn't quite like their mother, either. Their mother told him that it was 'his decision' and that he was old enough to decide what he wanted to do on his own.

Sephora was broken apart by all of this, though. She was an absolute mess when Coach told her his intentions. Now, even if he had wanted to back out (which he didn't) he wouldn't have even had a choice, since he was picked instead of deciding whether or not to volunteer for someone else.

"You're tough, Coach. You train all the time, and you're smart, too. You'll win, right?" She said to him. He wanted to promise her. He wanted to say yes and be absolutely sure he could keep that promise, but there was no certainty when it came to the Hunger Games.

"I'll try my best for you, Sephora." He said this with a weak smile. His sister was one of the few people he felt that he couldn't lie to- he couldn't give her false hope. He cared too much about her. He was truthful in saying that he'd try his best, though. She still had her arms wrapped around him quite tightly, but he wasn't going to make her stop. Coach knew how much she needed this, just in case it was their final meeting.

To be completely honest, he needed it, too.

He wanted to win for himself, sure, but now he knew he needed to try to do it for her, too. He didn't just want to do this for the fame and glory. Sure, those things are nice, but he wanted to do it to make her proud.

When Sephora finally released him from the hug, she reached into her pocket and pulled something out just as their time was almost up. It was something of his that he'd given his to hold onto years ago. Honestly, Coach had forgotten about it. It was a chunky yet simple gold necklace chain. He'd given it to Sephora when she was four years old and first went off to school because she was nervous about going into a classroom without her older brother. Coach gave it to her so that she had something of his with her to make her feel as if he were there, too. This was ten years ago, and he didn't even remember until now that she had it.

In all honesty, he wouldn't have been surprised if she had lost it, but apparently she hadn't.

"I want you to take this with you," she told him. "It made me feel safe all these years… maybe it can for you too."

He took it gently in his hand and then placed it around his neck. He gave Sephora another smile.

"Thanks, sis. I love you." He hugged her one last time, just for a brief moment before their time was up.

"I love you too, Coach! You can do this!" she shouted behind her in his direction as she was escorted from the room by a Peacekeeper.

Then, the door slammed shut and he was in silence again, running his fingers over the gold chain again and again.

For glory. For fame. For fortune. For her.

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"Tempted to give in to the rage."

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