Prim is practically catatonic. She eats when there is food in front of her and stares at the television screen but there's not much else Madge can get her to do at this point. Prim sleeps a lot. Madge can't coax a single word out of her. Mrs. Everdeen is up and moving, though, and Madge is hoping that the little girl seeing her mother awake and alert will trigger her to be, too.

Katniss is unconscious. Too many Tracker Jackers stung her on her way down the tree and is now sleeping off the poison in a small alcove. "Just think of how much better it will be when she wakes up," Madge tells Prim. "She has the bow and arrows now. She doesn't have to hide all the time."

Prim doesn't respond, she just stares at the screen with wet eyes. Maybe she's aware that Katniss has technically made her first kills, the two girls at the bottom of the tree that died from the poison in their veins. Or maybe Prim is just terrified her sister won't wake up.

Peeta has been injured too. The state of the District 12 tributes at this point is hardly something to be hopeful for. After he (surprisingly) ran to Katniss and told her to run, Cato cut him in the thigh. The boy from District 2 muttered something about a slow death and Madge felt ice in her veins, she was squeezing Prim's hands so hard she was terrified she hurt her. It was at that point, the point in which Peeta risked his life for Katniss' safety, Madge finally believed that Peeta wasn't playing a game. No one would put their own life on the line unless they truly felt something strong for the person they wanted to save.

He's by the river now, coating himself in mud and leaves and blending into the ground so no one can find him. It's an obvious struggle as he disguises himself but by the end he perfectly matches the ground. Madge stays by Prim's side all afternoon after coming home from the woods in the morning and puts her to bed early before deciding to slip out of the Everdeen house.

"I'll make her some tea tomorrow," Mrs. Everdeen says as Madge pulls her boots on. "It'll help her feel a little bit better."

Madge tips her head. "Good." She hesitates by the door. "Are you low on anything?" she asks. "Plants for medicine? I'm not as good at getting them but I know a few things, and if you explain how they look to me really well I can look while I'm out."

Mrs. Everdeen smiles. "No, I'm okay. But I'll let you know if I start to run low." Madge nods and tries her hardest to smile back. "Thank you for all your help, Madge. It means a lot."

Without a response Madge ducks outside. Her chest is infinitely tight. How long is Katniss going to be like this? The little girl Rue from District 11 has been lingering around Katniss, high up in the trees as if she's an angel watching over her. It should make her feel better, but it makes her feel worse.

And Peeta, oh Peeta. Madge will never comprehend how much that boy must love her best friend. He saved her life by risking his own and is slowly dying because of it.

And then it's not Peeta on her mind but Taftan, who much be home aching just as badly as Madge is but in a different way. It's Saturday, it almost feels too soon to go see him again considering they were together on Thursday, but her feet carry her all the way to the bakery anyway.

When she gets there she stands outside for a moment wondering if this is the right thing to do, and then in the alley beside the bakery she sees a figure emerging slowly. There's no pep to his step. When he looks up and finds Madge, she smiles lamely and he smiles too.

"I was just coming to see you," Taftan says.

Madge gets home late with new bruises on her neck and even less energy than she had before. She briefly checks the television before slumping onto the couch, curling into a ball with the fact that both Katniss and Peeta are still in their shitty positions, and tells herself not to cry. When the power goes out, she doesn't even care.

She feels worse than she did before she went to see Taftan, though while she was with him she was effectively distracted. Madge knows that this arrangement they have isn't helping and needs to stop. There're no boys in her life that would risk their life for her (not that she needs that, or even necessarily wants that, but it's the idea of it all that counts), there are no boys smitten or constantly thinking about her, murmuring her name in their sleep like Peeta does Katniss. Why does no one love her? Maybe it's because she flirts her way around serious situations. Anything with an anchor is threatening and terrifying.

Madge must fall asleep eventually because she wakes up in the morning. There's a quilt tucked around her and she has her head propped up on a pillow that her mother, who's in the kitchen, must've put there. She can tell without even looking at the clock that it's at least 7 and she's missed her early start to the day.

Reluctantly she climbs off of the couch and rubs at her eyes. "You should sleep in," she hears her mother say.

Madge jerks her head to the side. "I've got stuff to do," she tells her mother. "Things to sell."

Mrs. Undersee hobbles to the living room and picks up the blanket that's fallen on the floor, folding it with ease before placing it back on the couch. "Weekends are meant for rest, Madge."

"Sundays are meant for hunting," she corrects. Madge smiles slightly. "Thanks for the blanket last night."

"I heard you come in very late," Mrs. Undersee says, readjusting the pillow. "When I eventually came out to check on you, you were already asleep." Her mother hesitates. "I saw your neck, Madge." The younger blonde freezes immediately and feels her cheeks heat up unwillingly. "Are you seeing someone? You didn't tell me. Who is it? Do I know him?"

"No, no," Madge shakes her head and fumbles for her words. Crap. "I, um. It was a friend, we, um…" how is Madge supposed to explain the arrangement she has with Taftan to her mother? It was never supposed to come up. "No. It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Mrs. Undersee smiles mischievously and shrugs. "Alright honey. I'm here if you need to talk about anything, or want to talk about anything."

"It's not like that, Mom," Madge groans. She slips into the bedroom to change quickly.

As she starts to pull on her hunting gear she hears her mother shout, "I just want you to be happy, Madge!" But she is so far from that.

Again Gale finds himself staring at the piano and being unable to play. He hasn't played since before Katniss and Peeta were whisked away from District 12, and he's frustrated with himself. He can't find the inspiration he desperately needs. At least his father isn't forcing him to play for the Capitol citizens like previous year, that wouldn't go to well.

Speaking of which, they're currently crowded in the living room staring at the television screen and cheering as another nameless tribute struggles for his life. Thank God the piano is in the sitting room, far enough away that he doesn't have to look at the multicolored freaks.

There's a tapping on the backdoor and Gale quickly forces himself from the piano bench so he can answer it. Though he should know it's Madge, considering it's Sunday, he's shocked at the sight of her. She looks tired; it's the first thing he notices. Her hair is pinned up and out of her face and her eyes are the darkest shade of blue he's ever seen.

With her golden hair out of the way her neck is exposed and there are many more hickeys there than when he saw her at school on Friday. There's hesitation in his movements.

"I brought strawberries," Madge finally says. "If you're still buying."

"Always," he nods. Gale reaches for the jar of coins just inside and pulls out the necessary coinage. "I thought you were going to start coming on Wednesdays," he says playfully. "That's when you were here last week."

She shrugs, though she doesn't smile. "I'm trying to get back into my normal routine."

"Coming to my house on Sundays is part of your normal routine?" he asks. Again, she shrugs. He can't keep his eyes off her neck. It slips out of him before he can stop it, "Late night with the boyfriend?"

Madge scowls. "I don't have a boyfriend."

Instantly he feels stupid. "I just assumed," he blurts, "I mean your neck, and Thom, you two—" he's cut off by the sudden snort of the girl standing on his porch. Though her smile is very small her entire face seems to have transformed, the dark blue fading into a more pleasant shade of wonder. "What's so funny?"

"Me and Thom?" Madge laughs again. "Get your head out of the gutters, Hawthorne." For some reason he feels his stomach bubbling and can't figure out if he likes the feeling or not. If it wasn't Thom… "He's like my older brother."

"Hate to break it to you, Undersee," Gale has quickly regained his composure, "but you've got a trail of hickeys from your ear to your collarbone. If it's not Thom, and you don't have a boyfriend, you might want to get it checked out."

She snatches the coins from his hands and forces him to take the basket of strawberries, though her eyes still have that beautiful mischievous glint to them. He can't help but like when she tries to make herself angrier than she actually is.

"Don't be an ass," she finally says. "You don't know me."

It's true, he doesn't, but he can't stop his mind from dangerously wandering. Suddenly Gale is seeing Madge underneath a faceless boy from the Seam, his mouth gliding over her soft pale skin without any purpose other than to leave a mark. Gale sees her at the slagheap with her shirt pushed up and some creep with his hands fumbling for the button on her shorts and abruptly Gale is angry, so angry that he has to looks away from her to collect himself.

When he finally looks back she's watching him, just as he had been staring at her. There's a u of question between her eyebrows and her lips are parted slightly. What he wouldn't give to get inside her head.

Madge almost turns to leave but suddenly Gale asks, "Want to come in?" The offer startles her almost as much as it startles him. Dammit, he just… he would rather her not cope with Katniss being in the Games by making her way to the slagheap. It's dirty and distasteful and Madge is above that, and Gale can be a friend if she lets him. "To check the Games?" he adds quickly.

Almost as if it were scripted there's suddenly a loud cheering from the citizens in his living room. Another one bites the dust! Later, baby! One more down, you owe me! Madge flinches and drops her gaze, quickly shaking her head.

"No. Katniss is still asleep. Mrs. Everdeen said that she will be all day, maybe even tomorrow. It takes a while for the poison to get out." Slowly her eyes lift up and she peers into the house. She glances in the direction of the sick celebration. "And I'd rather not be… be around… them…" she murmurs. "No offense."

"I don't blame you," he mutters. "I wouldn't be if I had the choice." Madge tips her head slightly and inches away from the door. "The offer stands. For later. If you want."

"For later," she echoes.

"They're not here all the time," Gale says. "They go out. It's not so bad then. Quiet, even."

She blinks a few times before whispering, "Maybe." She drops his gaze and fumbles with the coins in her hands. "Thanks." Madge is gone before he can say anything else.

When Katniss wakes Prim is immediately out of her stupor. She smile and laughs and points toward the screen as though she hasn't been out of it for the past two days. Mrs. Everdeen looks concerned but says nothing, allowing the daughter she has with her to celebrate.

Katniss is alive. Katniss has weapons.

Katniss has… an alliance. With Rue, the tiny girl from District 11. They bond naturally, and Madge watches Katniss staring at Rue as she would stare at Prim. She doesn't miss the glint in her friend's eye when they speak, how Katniss is already so attached to little girl by her side.

Madge sits out in the meadow and stares at the sky. There are so many stars, if only she knew some of them. When she was younger her father would bring her out here to look at the stars, but he didn't know any constellations either. "You don't have to know constellations to love the stars, Madgey," he had said. His voice is still so clear in her mind. "Just as you don't have to know the wind to love the sound it makes through the trees, or know the springtime to love the flowers it creates."

Thinking of her father only makes her feel so much worse.

She digs at the ground with the heel of her boot and sighs before curling into a ball. She wishes Katniss were here. She wishes there wasn't a trail of hickeys down her neck. She wishes her father was still alive. She wishes her mother wasn't so sick. Mrs. Undersee came down with another wretched headache this morning; Madge had to cook dinner earlier today.

She wishes she could love the stars as fully as she used to.

"What's got you in the dumps?" Madge looks up and finds Thom with his hands in his back pockets and a crooked smile on his face. He eases himself to the ground next to her and Madge uncurls slightly, happy to see him.

"Where've you been?" she asks him.

"With Delly," he answers. Thom looks up at the stars as Madge had been. "She's real torn up over Peeta. They're good friends, you know. Grew up together." Madge shrugs noncommittally and looks back toward the sky as well. "I don't know what to say to comfort her."

"Sometimes there's nothing you can say." That's probably why she and Taftan always end up the way they do. Thom nods his head and Madge finds herself curling back into a ball. "I miss Katniss," she whispers.

"She'll be back soon enough," Thom says. Again Madge shrugs, her shoulders only slightly lifting. "What else is wrong?"

"What?"

"Something's wrong, Madge. I know how you get when you're upset." Still, she shrugs. Her heart is too heavy to form words. "Tell me."

"Nothing." He nudges her. "I don't know, Thom—"

"Hey," he cuts her off gently. "Just know I'm here if you want to talk, okay?" She smiles up at him to show her thanks but still feels her stomach hollow. It's just too much for one girl from the Seam.

Gale finds himself paying more attention to Madge Undersee during his lunch block than the Games. He watches, day by day, as the hickeys fade from her neck. It's Tuesday now and they're only a light purple, invisible if he hadn't spent so much time trying to find them. Another day, he thinks, and she'll have to find someone else to leave a mark.

He finds himself studying the different ways the light hits her hair, finds himself trying to decipher what smile of hers means what. Gale studies the bright blue of her eyes and the freckles that dance across her nose and commands himself to stop this.

There are so many more important things to be worrying about than Madge Undersee. She's just so… dammit, there aren't words for it. He knows that this is nothing but infatuation, he doesn't actually know a damn thing about her, but he wants to. The people in his house, the Capitol citizens, they don't have layers. They're one-sided creatures who are hell bent on destruction and cruelty. He wants dimension, he wants to watch someone unravel and tell their story and then tie them back together. He wants someone to understand his own thoughts that are so tightly woven into his brain that they would have to willingly unravel him to reach them.

Gale should be worrying about Katniss who has been observing the careers camp for the past twenty minutes, or maybe Peeta who's barely alive by the side of the river. Perhaps he should be focusing on the grand scale of things, the fact that the Hunger Games are in need of being dismantled as soon as humanly possible.

But then, of course, he's thinking about Madge again (because it's so easy to not want responsibility) and he wonders about that quiet fire she has burning within. He's seen it once, twice, is pretty sure every time she smirks it flares up behind her oceanic gaze. There's more to her, more to this, more to all of it, and he wants it all.

Suddenly everyone in the cafeteria jumps. Someone lets out a shriek and others join in. The explosion is so loud it makes one of the speakers blow out. His eyes dart frantically trying to figure out what's happened. A kitchen malfunction? An extremist attack? His eyes seek out Madge who's staring, wide eyed, at the screen.

Katniss has blown up the careers food and been thrown back in the process. He snaps around so quickly to watch and still only catches the tail end of it all. She's shot a few arrows, causing a burlap sack to rip and send arrows toppling onto the rigged explosives. There are a few more smaller explosions that he catches but Katniss is crawling away into a safe place, hiding from the mess she's just created.

He whips back around to see Madge's expression again but instead he finds her shoving herself away from her cafeteria table. Thom's face is filled with worry but he lets her go leaving Gale to think she's told him not to follow.

But Gale follows. He can't help himself.

He finds Madge pacing in the hallway with her back to him, her hands tangled in her hair and her entire body shaking. At the sound of footsteps she turns sharply and he finds her eyes rimmed with red and filled with unshed tears.

"Madge—"

"What are you doing here?" she croaks. Her eyes narrow and as they do, tears start to fall. "I… I don't—"

"Hey," he paces toward her but she shrinks away. Her face is ghastly pale and her chin is quivering. "It's okay," Gale says. "It—"

"No it's not!" she blurts. Her voice is sharp and makes him wince. "I—I can't do this, I—" instead of trying to calm her with words he can't even find he decides to risk it all. Gale steps forward and quickly pulls her into his arms, tightly wrapping them around her. At first he feels her resist but moments later she melts, shuddering as she caves into him. "I can't do this," she whimpers. "It's got to end. It's all got to end."

"Shhh," he whispers. He focuses on trying to get her to stop shaking. "It's okay."

"I just can't do it," she continues weakly. "I can't do it."

Neither of them mentions their encounter in the hallway, and Madge finds it fitting not to. Maybe it's just because they never talk as it is. She doesn't know what came over her, that wave of such intense emotion and fear she couldn't help but collapse. She's tried so hard, so damn hard, not to cry and then all of a sudden, when things are going right for Katniss nonetheless, she breaks down.

In front of Gale Hawthorne, of all people.

She supposes it could've been worse. That it would've been worse if someone else had followed her from the cafeteria. It felt… strange, being in his arms like that. For the first time in a very long time Madge felt safe, as though nothing could penetrate the shield he was providing. Gale supplied her with warmth and comfort, a distraction that didn't involve being pressed against the wall. It was different and strangely breathtaking and despite how dark it gets outside she can't stop thinking about it.

Gale didn't ask her questions and he didn't try to push her past her limits he just… held her. It had been so long since someone had just held her like that. Thom gives his comforting hugs when necessary but that's… it's not the same and she can't figure out why.

She doesn't even think about going to Taftan that night.

Katniss makes her first direct kill, taking down Marvel with one arrow. Rue dies. Katniss sings her to sleep.

Gale sits in the living room surrounded by the Capitol citizens and listens to them sniffling. They're sad, but it's not the same sort of sad he feels. They have to make a show of it while the death of the sweet, innocent little girl from District 11 aches inside his chest. It's a weight that drags him down, deep into the night. He stares at the screen as Katniss' song replays, beautifully haunting.

Only in the mayor's house do they show Rue's death to the full extent. Katniss covering her in fresh flowers before walking away and lifting her three fingers to the sky in respect. Gale knows this is treasonous, that the flowers, the way she cared for Rue in her final moments, won't be shown to everyone in the District. He gets this privilege though.

It's dark outside and he can't seem to move from the couch. His mother has put the kids to bed and many of the Capitol citizens have retired as well, hunkered out from all the death that's taken place today. Yes, even soulless monsters need a break from murder every once in a while.

While Gale is staring at the screen he hears a knock on the back door, a knock so quiet he's surprised he catches it. Who could be coming so late? He eases himself from the couch and quickly makes his way through the house before the butler or the maid can get it, and pulls the door open silently.

Out on the porch he finds Madge Undersee. Her eyes are like they were the other day after the careers lost all their food, on the verge of tears yet not letting them fall. Her hair is down, messy curls springing up in every direction. He stares at her for a moment, blinking, before he comes to his senses.

"What are you doing here?"

Madge hesitates before asking, "Do you want to go on a walk?"

A/N: Little bit of everything in this chapter! What do you think? Let me know your thoughts!