Disclaimer: The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, two of the best books I've ever read, are owned by Suzanne Collins and I don't have any rights to them except the right to read them and love them. This is a companion fic to Firestarter. Essentially, it is the same story told from two very different points of view.

Dedication: This story is dedicated to Medea Smyke, who incidentally, writes the best Gale/Madge stories I've read. If you haven't read her stories, check them out. Medea Smyke has been encouraging me to write a story for Gale/Madge so this story has come to being because of her encouragement. Thank you, MS.

Chapter One

"Katniss, there is no District Twelve." I watch helplessly as Katniss's eyes go wide in shock. She's been through so much and I lay yet another shock on her system. It hurts me to hurt her. I feel as if she is an extension of me, and yet, I feel oddly removed from her. She turns away from and I see her eyes focus on my burns.

"Your family?" she asks. Of course, she would ask. Our lives were so entwined before the 74th Hunger Games that she would know just how much my family means to me.

"Safe," I murmur. For, now, they are safe. It was a struggle to get them out. When the aircrafts came to bomb and destroy our district, it shocked everyone. It seemed as if it was almost immediate after the end of the Quarter Quell Games. After she ended the Quarter Quell Games, I think as an after thought. It was rough. Everyone was running and screaming as they ran towards the fence. I was afraid that maybe someone would run right into it and be electrified. But for some miraculous reason, I could tell that the electricity had not been turned on. One of the Peacekeepers that had remained after Thread had taken control of District Twelve must have given us a fighting chance. It's the only reason to explain why we were able to tear it down and run.

Not that it stopped the crafts from bombing the woods. I see Katniss's expression and I know that she knows that I haven't told the whole truth. "Mom and Posy are fine but Rory has a broken leg and Vick has some burns. Your mom and Prim helped fix them right up." I try to sound upbeat, but the memory of the tree coming down on Rory's leg as a bomb tore the earth in the area in which we were running will forever be engraved into my memory. It will always been under the surface. I was able to shield most of the burns from Vick, but not all. I failed in keeping all of them from harm.

Katniss's next question, however, brings me out of it. "And Madge? The Mayor and his wife? Peeta's family? Greasy Sae and Rippa?"

I lean back and regard her shrewdly. I can't help it. Of course she would have to bring up his family. I know that Peeta and I had come to a truce of sorts. But that was before the Games. I know that he's been taken by the Capitol and may never survive. But her feelings for him just rub me the wrong way. Because no matter how much I want to deny what I saw on that television, I have a feeling that what happened between Katniss and Peeta on the beach was not an act. So, my words may seem a little sharper than I originally had attended. "Madge and the mayor are fine. Her mother didn't make it. Greasy Sae is burned but okay. Rippa was lost, I'm not sure where. I don't know if the baker and his family made it or not," I fire at her. I just can't help it. I know it's not fair to have this resentment in me, but there's no stopping it from boiling over.

But I try to see things from her perspective. I feel guilt creeping in and I murmur, "Catnip." She shakes her head and I see tears leak from her eyes. Those tears are almost my undoing. Katniss never cries. I try to say something that will stop them as I wipe the tears from her cheeks. "We'll be in District 13 soon. They're all waiting to meet you."

It's then that she jerks away from me and starts ripping tubes out of her arms. She vomits and her discomfort hurts me. I reach out to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Don't touch me," she whispers as she wipes her mouth on the sheets. But I just squeeze her shoulder to let her know that I'm not going anywhere. She shrugs my hand off her shoulder and says louder, "Don't touch me." I feel rejection, and I know that I shouldn't, but it bubbles up inside me.

I sit back in my chair and watch as the attendants rush in. She tells them to leave her alone but I don't move. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to leave her alone. Why can't she see that? She tells me to get dressed but I shrug. I doubt that she sees it. Suddenly, I'm angry. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

She shakes her head as she looks through drawers, effectively ignoring me once again. It bothers me. No matter how much we've been through, we've always been there for one another and not once have we ignored the other's presence. I want to help her but she won't even talk to me.

Finally, she's dressed as she rips the gown of her head. She turns to look at me and I see something in her face that I haven't seen before. "Where's Haymitch and Plutarch?" she demands.

I look at her coolly. I just can't figure her out. I used to be able to read her emotions as they would fly across her face. Her mother often joked when Katniss wasn't around that I was the only one who could understand her. I sigh as I sit up and then stand up as I answer her. "They're with your mother and sister." Finally, here's something that I can read. Her eyes light up. I nod to her and say, "Come on." I walk towards the door and the bed that holds the older District 3 tribute. He's still asleep and the machines that he is hooked up to just beep as we walk by.

I walk down the hall and into a room where there are low voices. Plutarch is talking to Mrs. Everdeen and Prim. He breaks off abruptly as he sees Katniss behind me. Mrs. Everdeen sees Katniss and she runs to her. I know that Katniss is surprised, but what surprises me the most is how Katniss grips both her mother and her sister. They stand, united, for a moment. I see the emotion of it on Katniss's face and I look away as I feel as if I've peeked into something that I shouldn't have.

Her voice startles as she asks, "What do you want me to do?" I look over and see her staring at Haymitch with determination in her eyes. I have a horrible sense of foreboding in my stomach.

A/N: Please be kind and leave a review.