**This is based toward the end-ish of Catching Fire, so please close this tab now if you haven't read up to there (and beyond, I guess) and you don't want it spoiled**
"Madge?"
His voice is usually enough to make my skin prickle with goosebumps, but the way he says my name - the way his tongue would curl to create the sound - makes my heart flutter. But I know it's not the time for that. Now, as the ceiling is already beginning to crumble, as the floor is already shaking, is definitely not the time.
I turn to face him, my lips pursed. I didn't want his face to be the last thing I saw, almost like Death jeering me. Taunting me with what I could never have anyways. I set my jaw.
"Madge, you need to get out of here! I'll get your parents - the servants are already out - come on!"
He says it desperately, staring at me with wide eyes. Debris scatters all around us, and I have to yell so he can hear me. "I'm - we're - not going, Gale. Go now and save yourself."
Gale shakes his head and steps forward, touching my elbow slightly. The warmth his hand shoots through my body makes me jump. "Madge, I'm not leaving you. Please, you have to come," he gives me another, desperate, look. "Please."
Why?, I think bitterly, so, in case it doesn't work out with you and Katniss, there's always me?
"You know what's coming with this attack," I say stiffly, "a war."
"Yes, and we'll win that war. And you'll see us win, too, because you're coming!"
I shake him off, avoiding his gaze by staring blankly at the ground. "No, Gale, I'm not. We - Mum, Dad, and I - have expected this for years now. We always planned to go before the actual fight began. In a way that wouldn't be so hard on anyone."
He pauses, as though delicately picking his words. "This way would be hard on me. On lots of people. You're a part of District 12 - we'd all be hurt to see you..."
"To see me die?"
Oh please, you've hated my guts since I was born.
"Madge, come on! The bomb's are going to go off any moment now - get out!"
"Gale!"
My voice cracks in my exasperation. "How much harder do you want this to be on me? If I go now, I'll have to live through the war. What are the chances of that happening? Slim to none! And even after the war, if we do - somehow - manage to win, the government will always be corrupt! We won't be living in some utopia like everyone expects. Everything will crash and burn about as quickly as it's created. Don't tell me you haven't realised that yet?"
He shakes his head, voice small. "No, I haven't. But it'll be better than all of this. I know it will. There'll be no more Games -"
"Yeah, until whoever's in charge gets bored and want something to laugh at," I snap.
I take a chance and meet his eye. He looks crestfallen, I think, but I can't give in now.
"You should leave now if you want to get back to Katniss," I say.
He knits his eyebrows, maybe drawing to a conclusion. "Katniss..."
"Yes - Katniss."
Gale steps forward, his feet stamping on small bits of broken roof. He stands dangerously close to me now, and I can feel warmth radiating from his very being. Feel my heart pounding hard against my chest, my mind screaming for him to leave me alone. He towers over me, his eyes - perhaps - prick with tears. I bite my cheek.
"How long?" he asks, voice unsteady.
I close my eyes, thinking. "Three years. Maybe four."
He nods. "Why?"
"Why Katniss? No-one has a choice, Gale."
He brushes back a few tendrils of my hair so that he can see my eyes. My whole body shakes from fear and anticipation. As he leans forward, I wonder what death will feel like. If it'll be painful, or if I won't feel anything at all. As I let my eyes close and feel his warmth truly wrap around me, I think: what if I didn't do this? As he cups my face in his hands and presses his lips so curtly against mine, I begin to feel a whole different kind of hunger. I crave something that I don't even know, that I didn't even know could be craved.
Gale pulls away, a new sadness in his eyes.
"Thank you," I whisper. "Now get going."