A/N: So I was rereading Mockingjay for, like, the third time, and I realized that Suzanne used Gale and Leeg 1 as a collective unit twice. I don't know if I was just really tired or what, but that struck me as really odd and strangely purposeful, so I decided to write a little story about them. At first I thought it was a really weird pairing, but the more I thought about it, the better they seemed together. :)
So here's my little attempt at Gale/Leeg 1. Enjoy!
Hit the Target:
Gale can't seem to believe his eyes when he walks into Training. This is an advanced program, isn't it? Why would this girl (tall, willowy, and rather anonymous looking) along with her complete doppelganger be in an advanced Training unit? She looks a bit like she could be knocked over in a stiff wind, and that's saying something in Gale's mind because he's seen some pretty emaciated humans in his lifetime.
Yet, the two sisters are here. That is a fact Gale cannot ignore. If they were assigned to this Training, then they must belong here.
Gale walks to the center of the room to join the small circle of people that's begun to gather there. He takes a position opposite the circle of the new girl's. From a closer vantage point, he can tell their about his age, maybe a bit older. They look no more stable than they did from the doorway.
He tunes out whatever the Training leader has to say to them until she says, "Go on, five miles." Then, he joins the pack and starts the long, tedious series of laps around the Training area. Again, Gale is not surprised to see that the yellow-haired sisters are nothing special in the speed category. They stick to the middle of the runners, never in front, never in back.
Considering he's in an advanced training program with older people that are slightly less physically able than him, it's not hard to get in the lead.
After that dull process, they're told to head off to the shooting range. Gale's informed that Beetee sent a militarized bow for him to try out, so he heads off to the far end of the targets- the ones with the longest ranges. Ironically, and surprisingly, Gale finds himself standing next to one of the sisters.
Gale grabs the bow Beetee sent, one with scopes and all sorts of strange enhancements that he can only begin to understand. He approaches the line in front of his target, taking the spot next to the girl. From close up, Gale discovers she's almost the exact same height as him, which is an accomplishment by any means. He closes his hand around the bow, wondering what on God's green earth this one blue button on the bow does, and he sees that the girl next to him is eyeing his weapon of choice.
When he looks towards her, she immediately looks away as though not wanting to get caught staring at the bow. But, for the second their gazes meet, he finds himself very distracted by her eyes. They're fascinatingly unusual. With strange yellow flecks amongst the green. Eyes a person could get lost in.
Realizing that he's been staring a bit too long at the side of her face, Gale shifts his gaze to the tag on the front of her shirt. Leeg. Assuming that her look-alike really is her sister, Gale decides to call this one Leeg 1, and the other Leeg 2. Because really, what's the point of learning their names?
Leeg 1 heads off to grab a gun. Gale watches her as she moves away. She walks like a soldier, perhaps acts like one, but how good is she really?
As soon as she gets back, Gale takes an arrow- a normal one, not an explosive- and picks the bow up. A scope directly level with his eye brings the distant target into clear focus. In his periphery, Gale sees that Leeg 1 isn't shooting but instead watching him. Feeling, in that moment, a strong need to show off a little, he makes certain his aim before releasing the arrow. Sure enough, the arrow lodges itself on the edge of the center bull's-eye.
Satisfied, Gale lowers the bow and turns to Leeg 1. This time, she's already looking away from him, though he can tell she's still watching him in the corner of her vision. He finds it within himself to smirk at her and raise an eyebrow. Your move.
The smallest of smiles appears on her lips. The smallest. It's barely visible, but Gale can see it. She's accepting the challenge.
She readjusts her grip on the hand gun she grabbed and aims it out in front of her. A hand gun? Gale wonders. She chose a hand gun? Of all the weapons she could have chosen, she—
The percussive shot of the bullet rips through Gale's ears, and he turns towards the target. The sight that meets his eyes almost shocks him more than seeing her when he first walked in.
There's a clean, even bullet hole straight through the center of the target. The smile on her face grows the tiniest degree, and she retrieves a bigger, more powerful gun. Gale stands for probably a minute, staring disbelievingly at the target Leeg 1 shot at. The only other person he's ever seen do something that impressive was Katniss.
Gale looks back at this Leeg 1 character as she sets her gun down on its end. The shot must have given her confidence because she turns to face Gale and nods her head once, face almost impassive like she means nothing by it. But the meaning is clear. Back to you.
Gale, thinking quickly, wonders what sort of cool things this bow can do. Deciding it's not worth risking doing something dangerous, Gale just takes another arrow and shoots with almost no aim. It's a seriously lucky shot, and it connects with the bull's-eye with a solid, audible thump.
He doesn't even make any move towards her before she shoulders the massive gun with ease and aims at the target. Within a second or two of silence, another shot rings through the air. Gale turns back to the target to another shock.
There's not another hole in the target like he suspected. No, there's only one in the direct center.
It's just been widened a little.
Gale tries to mask his shock and probably does a very bad job of it. His jaw may even be hanging open like a dead fish. He's not quite sure, though. In his state of numb shock, he turns to face Leeg 1 directly. She gives a small laugh, looking at the target in the distance. Surely, she must see how amazed he is.
All the judgmental disbelief melts away into something different. First, shock. Then, fascination. Interest. Curiosity. Respect.
He's too invested in staring at her to realize that she's put her gun back down. She leans forward on it slightly, smiling that little smile. Gale looks at her eyes, and they're full of this amusement that makes him want to smile himself.
She nods towards the targets, silently cueing him again. Shoot. Hit the target. That's what her eyes tell him.
So he does. He shoots again under her watchful eyes. The arrow rips through the air and skewers the first arrow he shot, effectively splitting it straight in half. Gale's only seen Katniss do that once or twice. He sure as heck has never done it himself.
Leeg 1 smiles- really smiles. Gale lowers his bow, looks at the target, and then back at her. She doesn't look away this time. Instead, she holds his gaze, and the yellow flecks in her eyes dance. Something passes between them- a feeling of equality and camaraderie.
Gale Hawthorne can only stare. There's something about her… something so… interesting. And her eyes. He's lost in them, entranced by them. He swallows slowly. He knows one thing for sure. He's intrigued by this mysterious Leeg 1. He's captivated by this girl like he's never been before… Except for maybe Katniss, but, though he's loathe to admit it, Leeg 1 might give Katniss a run for her money.
"Ever shot an arrow before?" he asks, looking away from her after the long, drawn out silence. He grabs another arrow immediately and pulls it back. The arrow whistles through the air, hitting the bull's-eye's outer edge.
She follows his lead and shoulders the gun again. "No, never," she replies evenly. This is the first time they've talked this entire conversation. Her voice is as he expected it. Slightly deeper than most females. Before finishing, she shoots another bullet at the target, further widening the hole in the bull's-eye. She lowers the gun and turns back to him. "Guns are more my thing."
Gale lets himself smile. "No kidding."
She smiles a little more, appearing to weaken under his grin. She tucks a hair behind her ear self-consciously and looks at the targets to avoid his gaze.
Without thinking, Gale sticks out his hand. "Hawthorne," he says. But suddenly, that doesn't seem right. He wants her to know him as more than just another soldier. "Gale Hawthorne."
She turns back to him, looking into his eyes with her amazing ones and shakes his hand once. A good, solid shake. "Leeg," she says, and she makes no indication that she wants to be called anything different.
Leeg 1 it is, then.
She sits down next to him, pulling her stool closer to the heater and, in doing so, Gale. Her form sits hunched, crumpled, broken. Gale pretends to ignore the tear tracks that obviously streak down her face. He tries to ignore the fact that her magnificent eyes are so bloodshot they appear red. But when she puts her head down in her hands, it's too hard to shrug off.
He has so much he could tell her. That he understands. That he knows what it's like to have someone you love ripped away from you. He knows what it's like to have to pick yourself up and move on even when you know they'll never be with you again.
Leeg 1 rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands. She stays hunched over on the stool, staring vaguely into the distance. Gale looks at her out of the corner of his eye and sees the detached look in her eyes. It stings to look at her, and it makes Gale feel like he's intruding on a moment that she needs to work out alone. Gale considers telling Jackson to take her off the watch list, but his body decides to do another thing entirely.
He holds out his hand towards her, offering it to her. She doesn't see it at first since her eyes are locked on a random spot on the horizon, so Gale moves his hand. He nudges her knee with his fingertips, and she jerks out of whatever stupor she was in. She looks down at his palm, and he nods.
Her eyes instantly fill with fresh tears. But before she lets them fall, Leeg 1 takes his offered hand and clings to it like a lifeline. Instantly, she buries her face in the hand that isn't clasping Gale's. Her whole body's shaking with sobs within seconds.
Without really thinking much of it, Gale reaches out and takes hold of one of her stool's legs and drags it closer. Close enough that he can wrap one of his arms around her shoulders. Pull her closer.
And maybe, perhaps because of his lack of hesitation, she immediately falls onto him, burying her face in his shoulder. She starts to cling to his one hand with both of hers in a vice-like grip. Gale can feel her tears soaking hot and heavy through his shirt, but he doesn't really mind.
"It'll be okay," Gale says quietly. He checks to make sure Peeta's asleep before moving his lips closer to her ear. "I promise. Everything will be alright."
She makes noises of protest, but they're muffled by his shirt. He remembers the feeling.
"It will, I promise," Gale says quietly, shifting his arm to pull her closer. "I understand, you know. I know what you're going through. I know what it's like to lose someone to the Capitol."
At the mention of the Capitol, her sobbing momentarily grows harder.
"But here's what I figure now," Gale says quietly, speaking so quietly that she's the only person that could hear him. "It just makes me want to fight harder. Fight for them. Make it so that their lives weren't lost in vain."
Leeg 1 takes in a shuddering breath, but it's more like a gasp. Her tears are still coming, it appears, but her racking sobs have stopped.
"Her name was Felly, wasn't it?" Gale asks his lips barely an inch from her ear. That's what she said her sister's name was in Training that once, when they were running together. She gave her own name as well. Evana. "Well, we fight in her name now, don't we? That's what she would have wanted, right?"
Leeg 1 takes in another choked breath, burying her face into his chest, clutching his hand so hard that he's lost feeling in his fingertips. But Gale's mind is elsewhere. He thinks about the day he lost his father, and how that started his complete hate of the Capitol. It wasn't hard, after that, to start blaming everything on the government. It wasn't hard to want to bring it down.
"We'll bring the Capitol down, hard and quick," Gale says quietly. "It won't be too long now. We'll create the world that your sister died fighting for."
Leeg 1 makes a whimpering noise in the back of her throat and presses her face harder into Gale's chest. He shifts, moving closer to her and moves his arm from her shoulders to her hair. He finds himself running his fingers through her hair, stroking it until she calms down.
Eventually- Gale's not sure how long it takes- Leeg 1's tears stop. Her breathing becomes calm and steady once again. She doesn't move from his shoulder, though. They stay in that position, "watching" Peeta's sleeping form.
Absentmindedly, Gale says, "It'll be okay," again. But this time she nods. Barely, but she still does it.
"She'll never truly leave you," Gale says quietly. "Her body might leave you, and you might never be able to see her face again, but she'll always be with you in spirit. She'll live on through you."
Leeg 1's voice is so dry and cracked that it makes Gale wince. "I know," she says quietly. Gently, she lifts her head to the top of his shoulder and looks up at him, her eyes dry but sparkling. "Thank you," she whispers.
"Any time," Gale replies in an equally quiet voice.
They just look at each other for a few seconds, her green eyes holding his gray ones, and then their faces start to get closer. Gale closes the distant between them and kisses her lips if only for a second. Without hesitation, Leeg 1 kisses him again.
Somehow, Gale's not sure if they would have stopped if it hadn't been for Peeta.
"There's another layer to my confusion," Peeta announces loudly.
Leeg 1 rolls straight off Gale and her stool and lands on the ground with a thump. Gale forces himself into a more natural position and addresses Peeta as though nothing was happening. "What was that?"
"Katniss is going to be really confused when she sees that," Peeta says, looking at Gale and Leeg 1 with complete honesty and no embarrassment. "Here she was thinking you were in love with her. Even I thought that. God, I'm so confused." Peeta presses his hands into his eyes and rolls over so that he's face-down. "You people are so hard to understand."
Gale can't help but smile a little. "Sorry."
"You're not even trying to make it easier," Peeta moans.
"Sorry," Gale repeats, helping Leeg 1 back onto her stool.
"I won't ever understand the human race ever again," Peeta moans dramatically.
"Sorry."
"I'm just so confused."
"You know what, Peeta? You should just go back to sleep."
Peeta dissolves into incoherent groaning.
Gale slides down the smooth wall into a sitting position, fatigue taking over. Leeg 1 sits down in a heap next to him, looking as tired as he feels. Gale takes her hand for a quick second and gives it a squeeze.
Katniss turns around, and Gale and Leeg 1 quickly separate their hands. The last thing they need is a confused leader. She suggests they all rest, and no one protests. Pollux takes first watch, and everyone else starts to move around to find a place to sleep
Gale moves casually closer to Leeg 1, appearing to be making more room for Jackson who's on his other side, but Katniss, ever the oblivious one, wedges herself in the tiny space between Gale and Leeg 1 and falls asleep instantly with her head on Gale's chest.
Gale sighs, but he's sure Katniss can't hear him since she's practically unconscious. Leeg 1 scoots a bit farther away from Katniss, a small, sad smile on her face. Gale shifts slightly, careful not to wake Katniss, and holds out his hand to Leeg 1 again. His thumb brushes her cheek, pushing hair behind her ear, and then she captures it between her own hands. She brings his knuckles to her lips before sinking down the wall to curl up in a ball.
Gale leans his head back against the wall and looks across the room at Peeta. He expects him to have his eyes shut, but instead he appears to be watching the scene play out with interest. As soon as Gale's eyes lock in his, Peeta draws a circle around the Leeg 1, Katniss, and Gale with his finger and mouths, "So confused."
Gale considers the scene. Leeg 1 is curled up with his hand in hers, so, therefore, his arm is stretched out over Katniss's shoulders. Katniss is practically dead on his chest, wedged in five-inch space between Gale and Leeg 1.
Gale's moves to look back up at Peeta and make some retort when his movement causes Katniss's limp body to slide very slowly down his front and collapse in his lap, still asleep.
Gale sighs audibly and looks back at Peeta. "Me too."
Peeta rolls his eyes.
As soon as they've escaped to relative safety, Katniss does a quick, frantic head check. She comes up two short. Gale instantly searches the squad for the only face he cares to see (well, besides Katniss). She's not there.
The answer comes quickly. "Jackson and Leeg stayed back at the Meat Grinder. To hold off the mutts."
That's a kind way of saying they're dead.
Several emotions run through Gale in that moment. He feels, first, that his knees are going to buckle from instant depression, but that's quickly replaced by something that can only be described as infinite rage.
Before he knows what he's doing, the bridge is ripped from its foundation and he's down an explosive-tipped arrow.
The squad runs on, completely disregarding the emotions behind his rash movement. They don't understand. They don't understand that Gale just lost something- something possibly more precious to him than his own life.
He loses control of his movements. He starts to move on autopilot, not entirely sure what's going on. That's probably why one of the mutts gets a nice slash across his neck before he can kill it.
Gale prays for death, but of course Fate isn't that kind.
Instead, he's forced to move on. Without several arrows. Without a chunk of the flesh of his neck. Without her.
A/N: So, what did you think? ;)