Helloooooo! It's been a while since I've written anything here but here it is! My first Gale/Madge fic, ugh I've been immensely displease the lack of Madge in the movie and therefore to it upon myself to write a fic. I don't know if you guys will enjoy this but it took me a week to write this and I was too excited to actually spell check and proofread and everything. I hope you all enjoy despite the f l a w s!

Love always,

Andie

Nothing but time and a face that you'll lose
I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose

There's one thing I have to say so I'll be brave
You were what I wanted
I gave what I gave
I'm not sorry I met you
I'm not sorry it's over
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save

Madge;

She follows him into the woods the day Katniss kisses Peeta in the arena. The sun beams down, her golden hair shines under the sunlight. In her white dress and gold flats, Madge makes her way through the forest's undergrowth and green shrubbery painted of colorful berries. By the river, she finds him sitting on a rock with his hands on his face. "Hawthorne." She utters in a barely audible tone, unsure what to call him. His name feels unfamiliar on her lips, like it doesn't belong. The letters, the syllables. Even when she's gone off with someone else, his name still feels like it's only for Katniss' to say.

He turns back, his black hair falls over his bloodshot eyes. "Undersee." He manages to retort as he raises his eyebrows. "What are you doing here, princess?" She winces at his words. She's frozen. Unable to move under his icy stare. What was she doing there, really? Was she trying to prove a point? Never has she looked at this boy, thought of him in any way besides Katniss'. But something had stirred in her as soon as it happened. Surely, whatever that was had to count for something, right?

"I saw-Dad was watching the Games and I saw." She whispers. "I wanted to see if you were okay." Gale looks back at her, tears awaiting to fall from his eyes. Madge doesn't breathe. He's so broken, she can see it. He no longer came by to give them strawberries and she barely saw him now. His skin had gone paler, his hair a mess and his eyes. His eyes were hollow, lifeless.

"It's none of your fucking business." Hadn't they planned this? Hadn't they counted the odds? Anyone could've been picked. The chances were few. The odds never seemed to actually feel like they were on anyone's side. That's how it's supposed to be. Katniss could've been picked for the Games when she was thirteen, Gale could've been picked this year. The should've known.

"You should've known." Madge tells him meekly in a small voice as she looks down on the patch of grass she now stands on. She keeps her hands behind her back. Why was she here? "That... That something like this... The odds..."

"The odds are bullshit." He swears, glaring at her. "The odds were that Prim wasn't going to get picked, the odds were that I was going to be a tribute. Not Katniss, not Prim, not Posy, not anyone but me." Gale mutters gruffly as he tosses stones into ther river. Madge wants to wrap her arms around him, whisper things to make him feel better but she can't. Not when he's Katniss' to love and his love is for Katniss. She can't come in between that. She's just Madge. She's just the princess, the golden girl. She can't do anything but stare.

She doesn't falter at his tone though. She came here to see if he was okay, she came here to make sure he was okay. "Katniss... She's strong. She'll make it out alive-she's a smart girl." Madge urges, still not moving from her spot. She digs her heel into the ground slowly and feels the quiet breeze caress her face. Katniss will make it out alive and it'll all be the same again. The strawberries, the giggles.

"You don't understand." He says. Madge walks closer slowly. Would it matter? "The odds were that she and I were going to run away. The odds were that she wasn't going to fall in love with someone else."

And she can't and she won't because she's not Katniss, she's no one. Just a stupid girl who thought she could change things. "I don't. I probably won't ever understand but I came here because I wanted to see if you were okay and you aren't and I really don't know what to do because you know what? The odds are she isn't going to win. The odds are one of the careers will, probably. Do you want those odds?" She stands closer to him now, her eyes gazing into his grey one's. Confidence. That's what her father told her. You have to buy them with confidence.

"I just wish I could've gone with her but when the moment came-I couldn't. I didn't know what to do. I should've raised my hand as soon as she volunteered. I should've been with her in the Games." He shakes his head but she presses her dainty hands on his cheeks and makes him face her.

"You couldn't have done anything. She would've hated you because if you volunteered with her, you two would've been left to kill each other. Your families would've died while you were away. Do you understand me?" His eyes sparkle and before she could say anything else, his lips are on her's. Her heart stops beating. He tastes like berries and smoke. His kiss is hard, forceful. She pulls away because this isn't right. This isn't love.

He stares at her for a minute, his gaze is searching for something. "N-no." she whispers shakily, her voice is lost. Still lost in his lips, his kiss. "No." Because it's a mistake; not when he's upset over Katniss and not when she's just princess. She's not his, he's not her's and it isn't love. "You don't love me."

He laughs, it's a hollow laugh that sends a chill down her spine. "You may think you're a princess but this isn't a fairytale. Love doesn't exist in times like these." He says mockingly as her looks up at the sky. Her hand comes quick, she doesn't even realize what she's doing until it happens.

She leaves a red angry mark on his cheek as tears are about to fall. He's right, isn't he? She's just a princess, a stupid worthless princess. "You're an asshole!" she screams just before she runs off, her dress gets caught in a branch and it tears.

She goes home with tear stained cheeks and not only her dress torn. She hates him, she decides.

She doesn't come out of her room for the next few days. Typical. If she were to fully delude herself in her princess fantasy the way Gale had wanted her to, she could at least play the part of the damsel in distress.

She doesn't watch the Games because every time Katniss' grey eyes come into focus, she finds herself seeing Gale.

He comes after three days with a handful of strawberries and red tainted lips. She resists the urge to slam the door in his face. "Dad didn't leave money for strawberries today." she says as coldly as she could possibly manage but then he smiles at her, it's the type of smile that would make anyone melt even if his teeth were strawberry red. She looks down at her bare feet and studies her toes meticulously.

"I'm not here for him." he mutters, pressing his index finger under her chin. Madge looks up, her face inches from his. She can almost smell the sickly sweet scent from his breath. "I'm here for you, princess."

"Leave me alone." And she should've slammed the door in his face, she should've turned away but strangely, Madge doesn't move. She is frozen under his gaze.

"I'm sorry." Gale whispers, holding out the handful of strawberries towards her. "I was upset." He looks so sincere, his eyes have lost the hollowness, now there is a faint sparkle to it.

"You were right." She tells him dismissively with a wave of her hand. "Love doesn't exist in times likes these. I'm just a stupid girl who believes it does." You can't love me is what she's trying to say.

"Undersee." His tone is soft, his palm finds her cheek. The strawberries have fallen to their feet. Would she be so stupid to believe that he cared? Just a few days ago he was heartbroken over Katniss and now, he can't possibly think that Madge was willing to let someone like him in. Not when he was obviously in love with someone else. "You didn't really believe me, did you? I was an idiot. I was just upset."

"I did and you were." But she's so tired and she's still upset. "Just leave me alone." Madge sighs and then slams the door. Strawberries roll alone the floor as she inches down and starts to cry. Could she be more stupid?

He comes back everyday, sometimes with berries and sometimes without and sometimes he takes her to the meadow. The most they do is talk about their own lives. What they have is a forbidden topic, like nightlock on the lips. On the day that Katniss and Peeta are pronounced Victors, they find themselves sitting in the meadow. Madge feels as if she doesn't belong, as if she were only filling an empty space. Gale doesn't say anything, doesn't mention Katniss and that's worse because sometimes Madge thinks he imagines she actually is Katniss.

"They won." She says, almost a whisper.

"They did." He nods.

"What will happen?" Madge asks, seriously curious. "To them-to us?" She can only be his damsel in distress for so long.

"I don't know." And that's what scares her the most.

He never comes over after Katniss returns and she goes back to locking herself in her tower. Love really doesn't exist. She decides once and for all.

Gale;

He doesn't know what he wants anymore. Clearly, he loses it all after the kiss. No matter how many times Katniss had stated she never wanted kids, never wanted to runaway, it was only because she knew it wasn't right with Gale. He thinks about this while in the mines, sometimes wishing he'd get eaten up by the caving dark walls. It never happens, ofcourse but Gale suffucates anyway.

The only time he feels alive now is when he's with Madge but somehow he can never find the guts to face her. "What's going to happen? To them-to us?" "I don't know." he really didn't but he wish he did.

He comes back to her after he gets whipped, the fresh wounds still stinging his back but doesn't mind. Somehow, Gale believes he deserves them. He tosses rocks onto her window like the Romeo he is. He almost sneers at the thought. "Princess!" he half shouts and whispers into the star spangled darkness. Peacekeepers are probably patrolling the streets but he doesn't care anymore. He wants to talk to Madge.

Her window flies open, her golden hair is in tangles and her drowsy eyes flash him a cruel glare. "What do you want?" It's cold and he deserves it. It almost stings as much as the wounds.

"Come down." He tells her, looking around suspiciously.

"I don't want to talk to you." Her hollow eyes gaze at him with such hate. "Go home before you get whipped again." Her words are laced with such venom. He deserves it, he deserves it.

"I'm not leaving until you come down."

She rolls her eyes at him before shutting her window, it's only after a few seconds she appears at the back door in a white nightgown. "Get inside, you idiot." She gestures, pointing inside the building. Inside is a clean kitchen, stacked with shining pots and pans here in there. Gale spots a pantry door and sighs. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" She asks mockingly.

"I'm sorry."

"Aren't you always, Hawthorne?" She sighs theatrically before opening a fridge. She grabs a bowl of berries and pushes it towards him with a sly smile.

"I'm sorry I haven't visited. I-the mines." It's a lame excuse but he has nothing else. "And Katniss." Something falters in her expression, her lips form a thin frown. She looks so sad.

"Look, you don't have to apologize okay? I know I was just there to keep you company while she was away. No hard feelings. I just don't understand why you're here now." All things golden from her have faded, she looks so empty and sad as she says the words. He reaches for her hand but she pulls away. This is his fault. All his fault. "I was okay without you."

It hits him harder than any blow imaginable. Even if Madge couldn't shoot an arrow with Katniss' precision, her words could find a way to hit the highest mark. "I was okay without you too. So why am I here, Madge?"

"Why are you here?"

"I'm only happy with you. You know Katniss... She kissed me when she thought I was asleep after the whipping." He winces, remembering the pain. "And I know I should've been thinking about how I've waited so long for her to do that but I wasn't. I was thinking of you in the woods."

Tears stream from her eyes. "Are you here to taunt me? Are you here to prove that you have love? Because you're Katniss', Gale." Gale. She's never called him that. He's never called her Madge either. He steps closer and wipes a tear off her cheek. "You're not mine."

"I'm not anyone's." He whispers. "You're not either."

"I think you should leave." She says, turning away. The sad thing is, he knows he should but he can't seem to move.

"You know I can't do that." He shakes his head, looking down at the bowl on the counter.

"Then why are you here?"

"Won't you answer that for me? God, I can't stop thinking about you, Madge." He whispers, flashing her a sad smile. "I hate it. It's stupid because all my life, I've dreamt of running away from this place and I could do it anytime."

"Then why don't you?" Shes asks, more tears shimmer from her hollow eyes. Her tone is shaky as she wrings her wrists repeatedly with her fingers. "Why don't you runaway?"

"Because it was Katniss pulling me back but then when they kissed-I could've. I was so upset that I was about to." He pauses for a moment, moving closer to her. "But you were there in the woods with me and you reminded me of my family and then I didn't want to run away anymore."

"Is that why you kissed me?" She asks him, her nods and smiles.

"And I would do it again if you let me."

"I can't." She frowns, pulling away. "You better get home." She leaves, her white night gown pulled up by her tiny fingers as she walks up the stairs. Gale has never felt so much pain in his life.

She's the first to come to him when the bombs come. Her screams echoe along District Twelve's narrow streets as he herds away the townspeople. "Hawthorne!" she cries from the crowd, she wears the same dress as the day in the woods.

"Princess!" he calls out, running towards her. The flames errupt closer as more bombs are dropped. When they meet, she flings herself into his arms, he winces as her fingers press against the back of his shirt. "Get to the woods. You know how, hurry. Get there now."

"I know but my Dad. I need to get him. He's back at home." She says frantically, tears pouring from her eyes. He wipes them away and the she kisses him, it's a hard one that pours all his feelings into her in one swift motion. When she pulls back, she lets out a huff. "I should've let you-That night." She tells him with a panicked note as she looks around them.

"Sh. Don't. I'll get you-"

"No. I have to. Go get your family, go get the Everdeens." She says before kissing him again quickly. She runs off, into the crowds and towards the Mayor's office.

Gale feels the heat of the fire burning into him and his heart and for once, he feels he has hope.

When they're all in the woods, she's the one he searches for. Her name inked on his lips like strawberries, he calls for her but no one answers. It isn't until an old man laughs at him and says "Captain goes down with his ship, boy. I guess the family does as well." The words don't make sense until he's scoured every inch and face. She's not there and she never intended to be there. Love doesn't exist in time like these. His words echoe along his empty heart and he breaks down. Maybe he was right all along.