Listen to the sound of Mockingjays

It was raining in Pamen the day Rue died.

Gale was sitting in Ms. Everdeen's house as the rain poured down, sitting beside her and holding her as she cried her heart out. She never stopped crying, and each clap of thunder brought more tears upon her. The Games were on TV, of course, and he was curious where Prim was.

The thought stayed out of his mind as soon as she came back on screen.

He loved her. He loved her more than anything else in the world, even his own family. She was that important to him.

He would've volunteered when Peeta's name was called, but she needed him to look over her family. He was a hunter. He wouldn't let them starve. That was her final request to him before he was yanked out by force, just like he figured she'd want from him.

So he didn't let them starve.

He understood completely what she was talking about with Ms. Everdeen now. When she lost someone, she went completely crazy. Now it wasn't shutting out everything and any hope or speech.

Now it was just a lot of crying.

Her sobs grew tiresome. If it wasn't for his promise, he would've let her starve. He didn't love her like family.

He only loved Katniss Everdeen. He always had.

And he always would.

He cursed softly when Rue started to die. She was a lot like Prim, except for the fact that she could kill and the blonde couldn't. None the less, Katniss was slowly losing grip. She hadn't shown emotion throughout these entire games, just like a true huntress and player.

But now she was sobbing hysterically.

He had an image of Prim have being in that net, with the spear in her gut and Katniss sobbing the way she was. He knew there was more to that the Gamemakers showed Pamen, but he knew her better.

There was stillness in the room.

Ms. Everdeen seemed shocked that her oldest daughter had cried herself. So shocked, in fact, she was actually silencing her own sobs for a moment. He looked to her left, where Prim would sit, clinging to her mother as she watched, not minding the tears dripping onto her head.

She wasn't even in the house now.

XXXXXX

"Prim?" he found her behind the house, under a wheelbarrow. She was just sitting there, head resting against on the inside of it.

She was drenched, dripping wet in her jeans and white shirt. Her braids were clinging to her pale face, and she looked truly empty. He thought of how she looked exactly like how Katniss would describe her mother looking when she all but abandoned the two.

No….he groaned mentally. If she went depressed like her mom did, if Katniss came home to that….

"What's wrong, kid?" he rather awkwardly crawled in the barrel, head smashing against the top of the upturned thing and his shoulders instantly cramping as well as squishing her.

Before she could answer, it tipped, making it jerk upright, sending both of them crashing. His chest caught her more than she did, and he noted how she really seemed to weight nothing, even with all her weight on him. Wrapping one arm around her as gently as he could, he boosted them up, not caring about the mud all over their clothes and skin as he sat her back down on the sopping ground. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind very much, either.

"I'm alright, Gale," she looked up at him with those big, childlike blue eyes, "I'm just thinking."

"About your sister?" welcome to the club, Blondie, in the growing missing state he was in, he couldn't help but think about how much she resembled her mother: Flight, not fight, for anything…they were totally helpless.

"Yes…but also about Rue," she titled her head all the way back, looking at the now lightly gray sky as the rain turned into a drizzle, "that girl from District 11. Katniss loved her as much as she loves me."

So she's not an idiot, he thought as she laid on her back, spreading out her arms, as if she was in the sun.

"I liked Rue a lot…if Katniss wasn't there, I would want her to win," she continued as the rain finally ceased and the clouds started rolling slowly away, "she was a real victor."

He was impressed she even thought of anyone winning but her older sibling. He thought it was stupid….for Katniss to win was all Ms. Everdeen and he wanted, as well as the rest of their Districts. The other Districts didn't tend to wrote for a tribute for another District unless it was down to the final two, and that was only if their tribute died with justice from one of the remaining two.

And that, like, never happened.

And considering that never happened, he saw the little girl as a sort of traitor. How could she think of something like that when her sister's life was on the line? Her sister, who only wanted her safe and happy….

"But I'm glad Katniss is alive. I am forever grateful she's made it this far…and I know she's going to win now," she smiled brightly now, despite the circumstances. She really was impressive…

Okay, so the kid wasn't totally insane. But he had to add, "And what's makes you so sure if you liked Rue so much?"

"Peeta will protect her…." She held up her hand, as if that would silence him, "besides…listen to the mockingjays. They're singing."

Somehow, they were. The two of them just laid there, listening until they finished the beautiful, impossible song. He looked to her in marvel. Somehow she seemed to have a connection with that….

Of course. She was so much like Rue, and sang a lullaby for her when she'd had her death.

"Prim….sing for me," he found it appropriate for some reason…maybe it was because his heart was hurting as much as Katniss' was. True, it was too see somehow so close to Primrose die in such a cruel way….

Deep in the meadow,

Under a willow.

A bed of grass,

A soft green pillow….

He listened to the song, and he found his head pretty much in her lap by the time it was over. A wave of sleepiness kept him down, not caring and not really minding as she stroked his hair, finishing the lullaby. This was the song Katniss would've sang for either of the two small girls, and he knew it.

He'd heard Katniss whistle a couple of times, and once he caught her singing 'The Hanging Tree' while cleaning alone, before they were partners. Her voice was low and soothing, like her father's had been once. It made all the mockinjays fall silent.

And her little sister's voice was the same way, just high and clear, like Rue's whistle and voice had been.

It was hauntingly beautiful, that was for sure. He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't even realize that he was leading her back inside. Both of them were filthy, and what brought him back to reality was Ms. Everdeen gasping and telling them to go bathe.

When he returned later that evening, the sky was totally clear and the stars were shining. Ms. Everdeen was asleep in her room, but Prim wasn't. She was laying out on the couch, fingering the cloth as she watched her sister sleep restlessly but unnoticed.

"Why're you still awake?" he inquired, sitting as she brought her knees to her chest and sitting up to face him.

"I miss Katniss," she spoke quietly, and suddenly, she'd whistled the four note tune Rue had.

The mockingjays outside responded immdiatley, and he smiled to her gently, wrapping an arm around her. He did like Katniss' Little Duck…she was something extremely special.

She didn't seem to mind when he requested she sing outside again as Ms. Everdeen slept, not noticing as her youngest daughter sang lullabies and whistled tunes with the sound of mockingjays bringing her symphony to a beautiful end.