The television set sputtered and groaned on just as the Capitol's symbol fluttered onto the screen and the gleaming smile of Caesar Flickerman followed in suit. It was day five of the 74th annual Hunger Games and Gale couldn't have been more frustrated with the games than he was this year as he glared at the light that illuminated from the picture box as his sister climbed up onto his lap.

"Gale?"

Looking down at a worried face, Gale muttered, "Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

Gale wanted so badly to say that he was too but he had to be strong for her. For all of them. As he looked around the cramped little room that he called home, Gale couldn't help but feel his insides freeze up. The thought that anyone of his siblings could have gotten chosen at the reaping brought hot stinging tears to his eyes. He covered it with a yawn.

"Yeah..." he finally answered Posy, "I know, kiddo."

The televised kiss was all it took to send Gale over the edge. He didn't- couldn't! - stick around to watched the rest, feeling bile creep up at the back of his throat. She didn't even kiss him on the lips. It was passionless. It was chaste. It barely meant anything.

And yet...

Gale felt his legs fly over the dirt road and before he knew it, he was on the outskirts of town. Slipping under the broken part of the fence, Gale didn't even watch where he was going, just that he wanted to be as far away as possible from the offensive image. It burned its way into his mind and took root in the front most part of his thoughts to the point where he found himself hoarse from screaming into the night sky. To the point where, as he collapsed onto the earth, he cried out her name and no one was around to hear the anguish.

When she went over to his house, Hazel said that he left about an hour ago and that she was worried about him. Madge knew where to find him though. He would most likely be just over the ridge where you couldn't see him if you were standing next to the fence. She took a deep breath, a look of determination etched into her vibrant blue eyes, before slipping under the fence and onto the bed of soft yellow grass.

She will always remember that first time she followed Katniss and Gale across the fence, making absolutely sure that they didn't see her, but they wouldn't have noticed anyway. They were in their own world; a world no one could penetrate even if they tried.

Madge finds him sprawled underneath the moon and couldn't mask her gasp as it escapes her lips. He was so tragically beautiful, sleeping with tears streaking his bronze cheeks. A sad smile graced Madge's porcelain face as she could see the lines on his forehead scrunch up, as if a scowl was a permanent feature of his that didn't fade even in sleep.

She knelt down next to him and was happy that the summer night was warm enough that she wouldn't need a blanket if she ended up staying here for more than an hour or so. She only wanted to check up on him anyway. After what she saw on TV, she was sure he would be upset.

Reaching over to try smoothing out the worry lines, Madge attempted to not wake him but Gale was a light sleeper. He grunted and moaned before slowly opening one sleepy eye.

"Katniss...?"

Madge didn't know what to say at first. She looked nothing like Katniss but Gale's voice felt so broken that she could help but nod.

He smiled back at her, as he never did before, murmuring, "Katniss... I'm so glad you're home."

Madge stifled a sob that was rising in the back of her throat and calmed her voice before saying, "Me too."

"Katniss?"

"Yes, Gale?"

"I love you..."

Madge's heart wrenched against her chest and she could hardly breathe. How many times had she dreamed of those words coming from his lips? How many days did she watch him disappear beyond the trees with the one he loved longing to be her but not ever daring to take his happiness from him? How many night did she wake up from a nightmare drenched in cold sweat and reached out for him only to grasp cold sheets?

Now, those words, spoken to her but not meant for her, hung in the air.

"I know... I love you, too."

But her confession fell on deaf ears as he was long gone; off in dream land where he was free with the one he truly longed for: a girl with dark hair and olive skin who was so far away from home.