Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins, therefore the Hunger Games Trilogy does not belong to me.
Chapter 21
To say Dylan and Rue were shocked that Harry's plan worked would be a massive understatement. Both of them had trusted Harry prior to their 'deaths', but now they wondered if they could trust the little girl in a yellow dress.
The duo knew that the little girl was Posy, but Gale was much larger and more intimidating than he was on the TV during Harry and Katniss's interviews.
"C'mon, let's get you guys cleaned up," Gale said with a slight smile. The two looked like death even after only a few days.
Gale had all of the blinds in the house closed, and it was night time anyways. Rue and Dylan wouldn't have to hide on their way to the living room.
"Ladies first," Gale said leading Rue to the washroom. He gave her one of Prim's outfits to change into before going back to the kitchen to cook something up for Dylan.
"So, welcome to District Twelve," Gale said with a smirk. Dylan looked at what Gale was placing in the frying pan with curiosity.
"Tell me Dylan, how do you take your squirrel?" Gale asked, trying not to laugh at the look on Dylan's face.
"You eat squirrel here?" Dylan asked in disbelief. Harry had failed to mention that. Maybe it was considered normal among the miners.
"Only those who can catch 'em," Gale said, seasoning the meat. He had been careful with the money Harry had given him, and even with buying extra things like spices, he had only gone through $200 out of the $2000 Harry had trusted him with.
Dylan had never given squirrels much thought. He had seen them scurrying up and down the few trees that they had in District Three, but he had never thought of them as a food source. He had never really had to worry about food. He'd never been able to eat as much as he wanted, but he'd never gone hungry either.
Gale took the pieces of meat out of the pan and put them on a plate. He put some cheese bread from the bakery on the plate, and a glass of orange juice down in front of Dylan along with the plate.
Seconds after Gale put the plate down; they heard a small scream from Rue. It wasn't very loud, but Gale sprinted to the bathroom and opened the door. He found Rue sitting down on the floor, quietly sobbing, facing the mirror in shock. She must have seen her reflection.
Gale immediately sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.
"Shhh, everything's okay sweetie. We're going to get you cleaned up and back to the way you were before in no time." Gale whispered. He let Rue cry herself out on his shoulder while he rubbed her back and whispered soothing words in her ear.
Dylan sat down next to them, making sure not to look in the mirror. If Rue's reflection was enough to make her cry, he was positive that he didn't want to see his reflection.
The three of them sat on the floor for what felt like hours. Gale could hear the TV in the living room, playing a recap of the big fight. He hugged both kids close, the same way he did when his siblings had nightmares from watching the battles in the arena. This was different though. These kids had been in the arena, they had been in the fight. They hadn't just seen the blood on the screen. They had felt the blood, seen the life leave the victim's eyes, they had heard their final breath. They had smelt the metallic scent of the blood on the weapons.
When Rue stopped crying, one of the first things Gale did was remove the mirror from the wall so that she couldn't see what the arena had done to her. Then he took the wet cloth she had been using, rinsed it off, and began to wipe the dried blood, sweat, tears and dirt off of her face.
Once the little girl's face was clean, Gale gently grabbed her jacket and slowly pulled it off. Rue knew that he wasn't going to undress her further, but it had been so long since someone took their time to make sure she was okay that her eyes started to water. Gale continued to wipe the grime off of her hands and arms while Dylan scrubbed his own clean.
Gale pulled Dylan out of the bathroom so that Rue could take a bath once the both of them had cleaned up a bit.
"So, Gale, what do you usually do here in Twelve? When the Games aren't going on?" Dylan asked, getting back to his now cold squirrel meat.
"Well, the townspeople have their businesses to run, and their kids have school five days per week. The people from the Seam-สบ Gale began, putting Rue's squirrel in the pan.
"What's the Seam?" Dylan interrupted.
"The Seam is where you are now. It's where all the miners and their families live. It's the poorer part of the district." Gale admitted.
"Why is it separated by name?" Dylan asked. In District Three, there were buildings for people who had less money, but they had always been mixed in with the other buildings, to lighten moral.
"The people from the town and the people from the Seam don't really get along. The people from town have no danger where they work. Because of that, they don't understand what the miners and their families go through. Every day my dad left home for the mines, and we had no clue if he would return home again that night. It's rare that you get a family like Katniss's where one parent was from town and moved to the seam to be with the other."
"How do you tell everyone apart?" Dylan asked.
"People from town almost always have pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. People from the Seam almost always have dark hair, grey eyes and olive skin with coal dust stuck to their clothes and under their nails, whether they're a miner or not." Gale explained.
"You said almost." Dylan pointed out.
"Yeah. In town, you get the occasional red-head. In the seam, you get the occasional mover, like Apolline, Katniss's mom, or her sister Prim."
"Oh, so what did you do every day, before you got stuck caring for us?" Dylan asked.
"I'm not stuck caring for you, Dylan. I could have told Harry that I didn't want to commit treason, but I didn't, because I don't think anybody should be sent to the arena to die. The fact that Four people will make it out of the Games instead of the usual one was enough to make my decision." Gale said, looking the boy right in the eyes. Dylan seemed to get the message, so he answered the actual question.
"Now, before Harry came along, the whole of District Twelve had a lower standard of living. Katniss and I couldn't afford much food, so the two of us used to go out hunting in the forest, just beyond the boarder. We used to spend the day at school, get home, take care of our siblings, and head straight to the woods. That's where the squirrel you're eating came from. I went out this morning and got it, mostly for something to do."
"So that's why Katniss and Harry are so at home in the forest, and what do you mean before Harry came along?" Dylan asked, confused.
"Well, Katniss and I have never taken Harry out into the woods, but apparently he did a lot of camping. And after Harry came, most of our time was spent with him. We no longer needed to hunt; we just did it to kill time while Harry was in detention. Other times we we're planning pranks, playing with siblings or just spending time together as guys."
"So, he and Katniss were just friends here?"
"Oh God no, the two of them were like an old married couple. You should have seen the fights they used to get into when Harry would buy Katniss something pretty. She'd open the gift stare at the pretty thing in awe, pass it to whoever was closest, and chase him around screaming at him. I still think he does it to get a rise out of her."
"Katniss doesn't like it when he buys her pretty things?" Dylan asked in shock. The woman adored the rings around her neck, which had been a gift from Harry, and those were the most gorgeous things Dylan had ever seen.
"She loves it. She's been the head of her family for so long that she had forgotten what it was like to be taken care of. When Harry bought her something pretty, in her eyes, it meant he was trying to take care of her. What bothered her was the fact that he was spending so much." Gale explained.
"If Harry has so much money, why is he living in the Seam?" Dylan asked, wanting to know more about the man.
"Because Katniss lives next door. In the morning, Apolline is going to come over and check you kids over for injuries." Gale said, putting Rue's plate on the table just as she walked into the kitchen. Gale also put down a glass of orange juice for the little girl, before sending Dylan to the bathroom to take his bath.
"Hey sweetie. Are you feeling a bit better?" Gale asked, washing Dylan's plate, fork and cup.
"Yeah, it feels good to be clean again." Rue admitted. She was a little but ashamed of her reaction to her reflection, but Gale seemed to look right past it.
"Great, now eat up. We have to get something into that stomach of yours." Gale said, sitting down across from her.
"Now, is there anything you want to know?" Gale asked her as she began to eat her cheese bun.
"What kind of cheese is on this?" She asked, taking another bite. Not the kind of question he had been expecting, but he was glad she was talking.
"Goat cheese." Gale said.
"I've never eaten goat," Rue admitted.
"Good, because you won't be getting goat here. The goat here is for cheese and milk only." Gale said with a smile.
"Anything else you want to know?" Gale asked the little girl.
"Not much, I heard you talking to Dylan." Rue admitted.
"Anything we forgot?"
"Will Dylan and I have to watch the Games?" Rue blurted out.
"I'm going to have it playing on the TV, but you don't have to watch it. I think there's one part you should see though. I'll show you when Dylan is done."
"Oh, okay." Rue said. she was glad that she didn't have to watch Katniss and Harry in the arena, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know what Gale wanted them to watch.
"I promise, there is one death in the part I want you to watch, but it's short." Gale said, placing his large hand on the little girl's shoulder.
"Whose death?" Rue asked, swirling her juice around in the cup.
"Cato's." Gale answered. He saw no point in sugar coating the answer.
The two were silent for the rest of the meal. Rue had managed to eat most of her squirrel and just over half of the cheese bun. (Gale had forgotten that twelve-year-old girls ate less than fourteen-year-old boys)
Dylan came out shortly after Rue finished, wearing one of Vick's outfits.
"Come on, I have something you need to see." Gale said, leading the two over to the TV. He played with a few settings, before replaying that day's events, starting at Cato's death.
Harry removed his knife from Foxface and stomped over to where Cato was trying to crawl away.
"Your little buddies killed my allies," Harry snapped, stomping hard on Cato's back. The injured man flopped to the ground.
Harry flipped Cato onto his back, and stomped on his chest, cracking a rib.
Harry pretended to stare Cato in the eyes as he stabbed the man's neck. No matter how much Harry hated Cato; he couldn't bear to look the man who was fighting for his life in the eyes as he ended his life.
"That was for Rue. I will kill Marvel to avenge Dylan." Harry said to the corpse.
He walked back towards where Katniss was holding Rue's 'lifeless' form, and did the same to Dylan. The viewers in Panem, the families, needed to know that Harry and Katniss really did care about their allies.
"Come on Katniss. The hovercraft will take them to be given the proper burials."
"Hang on," Katniss said, walking off into the meadow. She picked some nice wildflowers and placed them all around the two 'dead' tributes. Harry saw what she was doing, and closed their eyes.
"There, now they're sleeping." He said, putting his arm around Katniss's shoulders.
"They need a lullaby." Katniss said, before she began to sing.
Deep in the meadow, under the willow
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes
And when you awake, the sun will rise.
Harry joined Katniss in singing, harmonizing beautifully.
Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.
Deep in the meadow, hidden far away
A cloak of leaves, A moonbeam ray, Forget your woes and let your troubles lay
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.
By now, Katniss' voice had broken from trying to hold in her tears, but they kept singing.
Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here is the place where I love you.
Both Katniss and Harry had tears running down their cheeks by the end of the song. Harry ushered Katniss away from the fake bodies.
"Let the hovercraft take the bodies. They will finally be able to rest." Harry said, grabbing what they needed from the pile of supplies. The duo disappeared into the forest, still crying over the loss of their allies.
"They did that for us?" Rue asked. She knew that Harry and Katniss cared about them, but this just cemented that belief.
"Yes and the whole of District Twelve stands behind them on their decision." Gale said, looking at his 'brother' and 'sister' on the screen.
"I didn't know they cared that much." Dylan said, his eyes not leaving the TV.
"Dylan, you're part of our makeshift family. You are too, Rue. They love the both of you, and they are doing everything they can to keep you safe."
Author's note: Oh my gosh! I am so sorry it's been so long. I've been working so hard on my other stories that I forgot to post this chapter. It's been done for about two weeks! I feel so bad! Oh well, it's up now, so please don't come after me with your pitchforks and torches. Also, I will be removing my poll soon. The option for no magical community is currently at 46%, so if you guys can bump it up to 50% by my next update (I swear, it won't take another month) I'll leave the magical community out.
Read and Review!
PS, just an afterthought, but Harry converted his money from galleons into dollars by selling it for it's gold value :)