Chapter 1: The letter
A/N: Hey guys, if any of you have been reading my previous story, I'm sorry to inform you that I've taken it down. I hit severe writer's block. But if I ever get over it, I'll be sure to post it again. Anyway…here is my new story. I have recently become a HUGE Gadge fan, literally the second best Hunger Games pairing (Everlark is #1). I was watching Mulan a few days ago and got this idea. It has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. If you're also a fan then you get bonus points in life. I hope you enjoy.
-M
A loud resonating knock echoed through the halls of the Undersee manor. This particular circumstance was not uncommon in their lives. Madge's father was the mayor of District 12, one of the 13 districts that made up the country of Panem. Their family was usually visited by congressmen or citizens with complaints. What made this particular situation alien however, was the reason for which the visitor at the door had arrived.
Madge's father rose from the couch, where he had currently been listening to her play the piano for him and her mother. He made his way to the door and opened it, only to be greeted by a capitol official. He was dressed too formally for it to be a casual visit and had a large satchel hanging from his right shoulder.
"Can I help you?" Madge's father inquired.
"Good afternoon sir, I don't mean to be a disturbance, but I've been sent by the capitol to deliver an important message to every household." He took a breath, then pulled an envelope from his satchel. "Every household with a man 18 years old or older is required to send him off to a special military training in District 13. Problems with our surrounding countries are arising and we need to be prepared for a possible attack. Forming a military is the first order of business. This envelope is a formal written order for the Undersee family. The chosen man is requested at the Justice building for dismissal in one week."
Madge sat frozen at the seat of her piano. She was trying process the information that was currently racing through her head. A man of the household, but there wasn't anyone- oh, her father.
No.
He was too old.
He was too weak and worn down.
He wasn't strong enough to face a possible battle. Her frantic eyes met with her mother on the couch, who was equally shaken, before reaching her standing father's face. He was pale as he stared at the white envelope that the capitol man was handing to him. Despite her father's obvious fear, he didn't seem surprised, like he almost expected this. The man then nodded his head once, and turned to walk swiftly out the open gate of their front yard, and down the street, out of sight.
Her father closed the front door before he spoke. His words completely unrelated to what had just occurred.
"I'm going to go to bed early this evening, Maryanne? You coming?" he asked, his eyes still staring down the white paper, his tone dull of emotion.
Her mother stood up from the couch, and walked slowly towards her father. They headed up the stairs together, her mother wrapped around her father. Both of them neglected Madge as they made their way to their room.
Madge remained at the piano, her heart racing. Her body was cold with fear. Her legs shook as she got up to make her way to her own bed.
Madge laid in deep thought the next morning. She thought about Panem, she knew that it was having trouble maintaining the treaties with the nine other remaining countries. She just didn't think that the capitol would pull such a drastic act. She wondered if capitol citizens were required to follow the same rules. If their sons would be sent off to training, and then into battle, just like her father.
After the third world war, the country of Panem was formed. Madge didn't know the major details, due to the fact that it had been over 300 years, and little documentation of the events were kept. Panem was a large country, but not highly populated. It was split into 13 districts. It was very separate from the rest of the world. After the Great War, many countries had been destroyed, and the remaining few dispersed themselves throughout the globe.
She got out of bed and made her way downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. She saw her father sitting at the table. His routine had already begun with him reading the daily newspaper. The only differences were the darker than usual circles under his eyes, signs of a sleepless night.
His purposeful avoidance and silence irked her.
"It's not fair daddy." She admitted as she sat down across from him.
Her words drew a reaction out of him as he sighed, pulled his glasses from his face and looked back at her. "I know, Madgie, I know." He glanced down and wiped his watery eyes before glancing back at his anxious daughter's eyes. "I don't want to leave you and your mother, but the capitol's rules are law, I don't have a choice. And maybe it won't be so bad, it's only military training, perhaps another war won't occur, if that's the case, I'll be safe." He rubbed his forehead, a clear sign that he was stressed.
Madge looked down in frustration. "We both know that's bull, I follow the news dad, I know what's happening, I just didn't expect this to be the solution."
"Watch your language," he disciplined. He chuckled quietly as he got up to head to his office, "You're too smart sometimes Madgie, too smart," he mumbled.
Madge was left alone in silence, her ears ringing.
The next few weeks passed devastatingly fast. It was the night before his father had to leave for training. Her family sat together in their living room, reading separately.
It was then that a brilliant plan struck Madge. She criticized herself for not thinking of it earlier. It was a dangerous thought, one that could possibly get her killed for her defiance. Madge could take her father's place. She was eighteen, the required age. She had relatively plain features and was not as curvaceous as other women. With the proper concealment, she could easily pass as a young man, or at least a boy who hadn't quite hit puberty yet.
"Mom, dad, I'm heading up to bed, I'll see you in the morning." She closed her book and made her way over to her parents on the other couch. "I love you." She said to both of them as she leaned down to give them both quick hugs.
"We love you too, so much," Her father replied. Her mother kissed her cheek then gave her a watery smile before Madge headed up to her room.
As soon as she reached the confines of her room, she ran over to her desk and searched though the drawers before finding what she was searching for. Scissors. She then walked to her bathroom and stood in front of the mirror.
"You're doing this for you father. Because you love him." She whispered with determination. Then she closed her eyes and cut her long and silky blond ponytail from her head. She sucked back her tears and fingered her short hair. "It will grow back." But she already missed her golden locks, which were now laying on the floor surrounding her feet.
One last look told her that it needed to be shorter, so she trimmed back the uneven strands and clipped and cropped until all that was left was a messy pixy cut.
Close enough.
As soon as she woke, she snuck into her parent's room, careful not to wake them. When she reached her father's closet, she searched for his smallest plaid button down shirt as well as small pants. She grabbed them off their hangers and then rushed from the room, taking one last glance at her parent's sleeping forms over her shoulder.
After changing into her men's attire, she crept downstairs and into her father's office. She located the letter faster then she had expected and pocketed it. She would need it as proof for her deployment this morning. She left one of her hair ribbons in its place, so that they would know why she had left, and to not send out a search party.
She quickly slipped on her sneakers and ran out the front door. She didn't look back. She couldn't be tempted to change her mind. She was doing this for her parents. Her mother needed her father, and her father wasn't strong enough.
All the way to the justice building she reminded herself of this. Repeating her duty in her mind, telling herself that this was what she needed to do. As she reached the front doors, she stopped to muster all of her courage, then marched right in to meet the other new soldiers from district 12.
