A full day has passed since the bombs hit District 13 but Madge still winces at loud sounds.
She's constantly on edge, caught between worry about Katniss, worry about Peeta, and worry about Gale. Her heart feels so heavy. She wishes she could reach out her arms and protect everyone. But she's just a girl from District 12 and she has no power here. She never has, and she never will. She sit with Katniss through the meetings and waits to hear about the rescue plan for Peeta. She does what District 13 wants of her.
Madge twirls her mom's ring on her finger and tries to listen to something that Coin is saying in another one of their meetings, but her focus just won't stop running away. "That's what we need you for, Katniss," Coin says. "We need you to tell everyone that we survived an attack from the Capitol. That we're all okay."
"When?" Katniss asks.
"Today. We've cleared the grounds. We're safe to go up."
Madge exchanges a glance with Haymitch who's standing in the corner, and he nods his head simply. This Propo will not only be a rallying cry for the districts that their Mockingjay is alive and well, but it will be the distraction for the rescue team. She knows it. She can see it in his eyes. "Whenever you're ready," Katniss says.
"Tonight then?" Madge asks. She and Gale have lingered back a few paces, letting Katniss and Haymitch and the camera crew take a few steps ahead of them as they climb through the hole that will take them aboveground. "You're all going tonight? To get Peeta?" Gale says nothing but reaches forward, cupping her cheek. His thumb brushes her skin carefully, and finally he tips his head forward. "Gale—"
"They need you here," he cuts her off, a little more sternly than she'd been expecting. It was barely a full day ago that they even found out about the rescue mission and he's already acting as though it's the most important thing in the world. But then again, maybe it is. Maybe getting Peeta home is the best thing they can do for the war at this moment. "You need to be with Katniss. To distract her. Keep her mind busy." Madge nods, but she isn't the biggest fan of this idea. She looks toward the hole they're supposed to climbing out of with a deep breath before tipping her head out of Gale's hand. "Hey," he says softly. "I love you."
Madge looks back at him and smiles slightly. "I love you," she echoes. But love isn't enough. If it were then Peeta wouldn't need to be rescued, he'd already be in District 13 safe and sound. If love was enough then the war would be over. If love was enough her mother, her father, would both still be alive. Love just isn't enough.
Gale knows this. He's not stupid. He's not overly hopeful. He knows that they're fighting a war, that wars can't be won with love. But still he says it, making sure it's known to her. That despite the war, the fear, the death, he loves her. And she says it back because she loves him too.
"There's something else, isn't there?" he asks. Gale isn't going to beg Madge to open up and talk to him, though he wants to. He's spent so much of his time trying to get her to talk to him, pleading that she open her heart and share what's on her mind. Ever since that first walk in the meadow all that time ago he's only ever wanted her to open up. "I can tell."
"Of course there is," Madge says. "I'm worried about you." He shuffles a little, sighing slightly. "I'm allowed to be worried about you, Gale. You're hardly a trained soldier, I can't believe they're letting you—"
"I'm trained enough," he cuts her off. "It's a volunteer mission, hardly anyone else volunteered. So it doesn't matter how capable I am, what matters is that I want to help."
Madge frowns. "You're not a solider," she tells him. Not to make him angry, just to try and get him to understand. "You're the mayor's son, you're a voice."
Gale steps toward her again, ignoring the way her words hurt him. "You don't think I can do this."
"That's not what I'm trying to say," she responds. Her hands reach out for his. "I know you're strong. And I know you're brave. But I've been hunting since I was twelve years old, I know how to fight. Do you?"
Gale pulls his hands from hers and looks away. "This isn't about me," Gale says. "This is about Peeta and Katniss. This is about a promise I made to Peeta months ago." He shakes his head, desperate for her to understand this. "This is about the future of Panem, Madge. It isn't about me or how good of a fighter I am." Frustrated, Madge runs her hands through her hair and turns away slightly. "I can fire a gun. I have pretty good aim. This isn't a firefight, it's a rescue mission."
"What if something goes wrong?" she asks. Gale hesitates as she turns back to him. Her voice drops dangerous as she asks, "What if I lose you?" Gale steps forward again. He reaches toward her to tip her chin back, to tell her that isn't possible, when a sudden shriek from outside startles both of them.
Without words Madge sprints to the ladder and speeds up the hole, peering out into the bright light of aboveground District 13. She blinks a few time as her eyes adjust, and the smell is the first thing that hits her. It smells like roses. Her stomach rolls.
"I can't—I can't do it, Haymitch." Katniss is shaking her head with her hands by her side. The ground is covered with white roses, covering the rubble and destruction of the bombs that Snow had just sent. They were placed here for a reason. They're a message. "I can't—they'll kill—he's going to kill Peeta. He's going to kill Peeta!"
"Katniss," Madge says quickly, rushing across to her friend. "He's not going to kill Peeta."
"He is," Katniss responds just as quickly with much more fire in her voice. "Because he warned us—because I agreed to be the Mockingjay!"
"Katniss," Madge says again, "breathe." She doesn't know if this is true or not, if this is the next move that President Snow is making, but she needs Katniss to stop screaming, she needs Katniss to breathe.
While Katniss calms her best friend Gale and Haymitch exchange a look. Without words Gale slinks back inside and starts off toward headquarters to alert the team. They're leaving now. They have to leave now.
Hours later Madge finds Katniss in the bowels of District 13, hidden in the pipes away from the world. Without saying anything Madge sinks onto the ground beside her friend, fighting off the aching in her heart and the worry she feels for Gale.
She didn't even get to say goodbye. The last thing Madge got to say to him was: What if I lose you? And now he's gone, on a District 13 hovercraft on his way to the Capitol.
Madge lets out a short breath. "You do love him," Madge says. "Don't you?" Katniss looks over at her friend before looking away. "Anyone can see it." Still, Katniss says nothing. "I know when you first got back from the Games, the first Games, you were confused and you needed space, but now…" she trails off.
"They're going to kill him," Katniss rasps. "And it's my fault."
"They're not going to kill him," Madge responds, "and none of this is your fault." She turns where she's sitting completely to face her friend head on. "You want to know why they're not going to kill Peeta?" Madge asks. "Because he's a figurehead. Just like you are." Madge shakes her head. "They know if they kill Peeta that you'll rise up even more than you already have. They know if they kill Peeta that you will become unstoppable with rage and fury and revenge. Not only will they have taken our District, but Peeta? Katniss, they would never do that."
Katniss thinks on this for a moment. "You really think so?" she asks.
"I know so," Madge answers.
Still, Katniss isn't sure. She fiddles with the sleeves of her shirt for a little bit. "He's going to be so upset with me," Katniss finally says after a while. "That I left him. We swore we wouldn't get split up, but I left him, and…" she trails off, taking a shuddering breath. "Maybe they won't kill him, but they're clearly already hurting him."
Madge adjusts how she's sitting, stretching backwards on her hands. "They Capitol's hurt everyone. He'll understand." Katniss looks up again, and Madge shrugs. "The Capitol has humiliated me, put me in the stocks and given me a scar that will remind me daily about how I was just trying to survive." Katniss's eyes flicker to the scar on Madge's neck. It's a bright pink compared to her pale skin. Madge can't look in the mirror without seeing it. "And they killed both of my parents. They killed everyone in our district. They've killed children. They bomb hospitals." Madge shrugs again. "They hurt everyone. Of course they'll hurt Peeta. But he'll understand that it's not because of you."
Katniss sniffs. "I miss him."
"I know." She reaches out to her friend. "But not for long." Katniss startles at this, looking up at Madge. The blonde squeezes Katniss's hand tightly. "I'm not supposed tell you, but…" she takes a deep breath. "They sent a team to get Peeta. Tonight."
Haymitch looks more than angry when Katniss and Madge make their way to Command. Katniss's eyes flicker across the screens of the seven men who've volunteered to rescue Peeta and are on the hovercraft now. "The power in the Capitol went out when District 5 bombed a dam," President Coin says, materializing from a hallway. "This was our opening."
"Gale," Katniss says, looking at her friend. Her fingers stretch up to him. "He volunteered for this?"
"He was the first," President Coin says. Katniss looks over her shoulder at Madge who is staring at Gale as well. He looks nervous, she notices. His eyebrows are pulled together as he constantly scans around the hovercraft. But he looks strong and steady too, and that gives Madge relief.
Suddenly Madge feels a tug backwards and gasps, finding Haymitch glaring at her. "You were instructed not to tell Katniss," he says sharply. "What the hell is this?" Madge opens and closes her mouth but her eyes flicker back to the screen. "Neither of you should be here," he snaps. "You told her so you could check on him. Didn't you?"
Madge's chin quivers. "He could die," she whispers, her eyes flickering between Gale on the screen and Haymitch before her. "And I—I didn't get to say goodbye."
"That's why you shouldn't be here, Sweetheart," he says, the sharpness of his voice having faded. He reaches forward and swipes under her eye to catch tears she didn't know were falling. "If something goes wrong you shouldn't be here."
"I—I have to," she croaks.
With a deep breath Haymitch tips his head forward. He must know he's not going to be able to do anything to get them to leave. Katniss is too invested now, and Madge was too invested beforehand. If he didn't want them here he shouldn't have told Madge either. He should've known she'd worry.
"If things start to go wrong, you're out," Haymitch says. "You two are gone. Instantly. Is that clear?" Madge nods, but she's determined that things aren't going to go wrong. Beside the screen of Gale and the other men, another screen flickers to life, this one with Finnick's face. "What's happening?" Madge asks Haymitch.
"Finnick's doing his own Propo," he says. "We couldn't use Katniss. But Finnick can distract them."
Madge's eyebrows furrow together. "What's he going to say?"
Haymitch sighs. "He's going to talk about Snow. What Snow made him do."
Finnick's story is so heartbreaking that Madge can barely focus on Gale. He tells a tale so intense, so awful that Madge can barely stomach it. "President Snow used to… sell me… my body, that is." She finds her hand against her mouth as she tries to stop her chin from quivering. "I wasn't the only one. Madge feels sick. Finnick, she doesn't know him very well, but he's always been so kind and optimistic. To hear that he's been prostituted, used for his body… "If you refuse, he kills someone you love."
The gasp that escapes Madge causes Haymitch to look at her, and that's when she realizes it. Haymitch is alone. She turns to him. "You…" she starts, and Haymitch tips his head forward. "They wanted to sell your body?" Madge asks, and Haymitch nods again.
"The force field," he murmurs, "that was the first straw. But after I refused…" he trails off. "I was the example."
Finnick continues his tale, about how most people asked for money but how he asked for secrets, and how with those secrets he learned so much more than anyone had ever anticipated. He explains President Snow's rise to power, a story with poison and failed antidotes that brought about the importance of his signature rose.
"Poison," Finnick says. "The perfect weapon for a snake."
Finally Madge looks back at Gale's screen where the rescue team had once been shown but they're gone. The screen's gone black.
"Haymitch," Madge says. "Where's—"
Beetee suddenly curses loudly. "The connection's broken!" he shouts. Some of the people working with him are fiddling with the buttons on the monitors and typing frantically, and the screen flickers with Finnick's face again. "Got it…"
"What's happening?" Madge asks.
Haymitch places a heavy hand on Madge's shoulder and then grabs Katniss's as well. "Out," he says.
"Haymitch—"
"OUT!" Suddenly the sound of gunfire fills the room and a cry crawls up Madge's throat. Her body feels weak, she can't move, and soon she's in the hallway.
Before she knows it she's banging on the metal door, screaming Haymitch's name. "Madge," Katniss says softly. "Madge." Finally her friend looks over. "They won't let us in," Katniss tells her with tears in her eyes.
Somehow they end up in the hospital wing. One moment Madge is staring at the heavy door that separates her from finding out Gale's fate and the next she's having her hands bandaged. Katniss sits beside her, and Finnick is in the room too.
Her eyes are studying him, the redhead who's making knots. He does it effortlessly, twisting and tying the ropes into knot after knot after knot. "Are your hands okay, Madge?" he asks, not even looking up. "You must've been banging on that door pretty hard."
Madge's eyes drift to her bloodied hands. Katniss shifts uncomfortably. "They're fine," she murmurs. "Do we know anything about them yet?" she asks.
"Not yet," Katniss says gently.
Madge shifts her eyes back to Finnick, still effortlessly tying his knots. "You love Gale a lot, don't you?" Finnick asks. Madge startles as he looks up, his green eyes finding hers. "And I love Annie." He looks to Katniss. "And you love Peeta. And we're all here. Stuck in limbo. Waiting to find out about them."
"Did you love Annie right away, Finnick?" Katniss asks.
He smiles, shaking his head. "She crept up on me." Katniss nods, looking away as though trying to process this for herself.
"Gale did, too," Madge says. Her chin quivers. "His family's here…" Katniss reaches out and grabs her hand and a cry escapes her. "I'm so sorry," she gushes instantly. "I know—I know you're worried about Peeta I know and—"
"It's okay," Katniss whispers. "You love him. I know. It's okay."
"And you love Peeta," Madge sobs, desperately trying to wipe her eyes. "And we're all just playthings for these people! We—we—we—" Madge gasps, feeling a needle in her thigh. She hiccups for air as it all goes black.
Katniss stays by Madge's side. They thought it would be best to sedate her. Really, Katniss had no say in the matter. No one did. They just came in with a needle and shot her.
It's helpful for Katniss, to be able to worry about Madge instead of Peeta and Gale. So she holds Madge's hand and hopes that things will be okay.
Soon there's a shadow in the doorway and Katniss looks over, finding Gale. His shoulder is bandaged and his eyes are dark. Katniss leaps to her feet.
"You volunteered?" she rasps. Gale nods. "You didn't have t—"
"Yes I did," Gale says back. "He's my friend, and so are you." Katniss throws herself at Gale. They've been friends for a long time, but they're not the hugging type. But still he holds her in his arms. "He's here," Gale says. "He's in the—"
"FINNICK!" They both turn to find Annie sprinting into the room. "FINNICK!" They collide together like a force of nature.
"Peeta's here?" Katniss asks, cutting off her attention from the two reuniting. "You got him?"
"We got him," Gale says with a nod. His eyes flicker past her to Madge and he sidesteps, allowing her to cross.
"She should be waking up soon," Katniss says quickly. "They sedated her, she was—"
Finally a smile graces his face. "Go," he says. Katniss nods, sprinting from the room, and Gale redirects his attention to Madge. She looks so peaceful, her eyes closed as she sleeps and her chest rising and falling slowly. With a deep breath he crosses the room to her side, sitting down and grabbing her hand gently. "Hey," he whispers, though she's still asleep. "I'm home."
When Madge wakes Gale is still at her side. She watches him for a moment before he realizes she's awoken, he's deep in thought and staring at a spot on the wall. His face is slightly bruised, down his cheek and his neck as though he took a pretty hard punch. And his shoulder is wrapped up but the bandage is starting to turn a little pink.
"Gale?"
His eyes find hers immediately and a smile bursts on his face. "Hey," he says. At once he leans down, tilting her chin up to kiss her gently. "How was your nap?"
Madge clambers to sit up, reaching for him and pulling him closer. She's shaking, he notices it at once, and she wraps her arms around him tightly. "I love you," she rasps. "I love you, I love you."
"Hey, hey," he whispers. "It's okay," he says as she buries herself into his neck. "I'm here, I'm okay."
"You c-could've…"
"I'm okay," Gale says again. She peels back. "What's wrong? Why're you crying? I'm okay." He wipes below her eyes gently, stressing silently because she doesn't look relieved. "I'm right here," he says.
Madge sniffles a few times, nodding ever so slightly. "Remember…" she starts quietly. "Remember all that time ago, when we were in the meadow, and you told me you wanted to know everything about me?" Gale blinks a few times, confused, but nods. "I told you that I was scared of s-so many things. Do you remember any?"
Gale blinks again. "Madge, what—"
"I was scared to be taken to the square," she says before he can add anything. "To be whipped or humiliated." Gale brushes his thumb over the scar on her throat, from her very own time in the stocks. "And it happened. And I—I said I was scared that my mom was going to die, and that h-happened."
"Shhh," Gale whispers, guiding her back into his arms. "It's—hey."
"And now I'm scared to lose you," she murmurs into his chest. "And because I'm scared of it, I'm scared it'll happen."
"You won't ever lose me," Gale tells her gently, stroking her back. "You won't ever lose me. Do you understand?" She nods against him and he pulls her closer. "You won't ever lose me," he whispers again.
A/N: In the book Haymitch wasn't used as a prostitute, but in this story chapters ago it's mentioned that he was so I wanted to stick with that. Also the reason Gale was zoned out when Madge woke up is because he learned about Peeta + the hijacking, something he didn't find fit to mention the moment Madge had woken up. She'll find out next chapter!
Anyway, as promised, I'm going to finish this fic! I'm absolutely awful for not updating regularly, but I promise I will. It will take time, but I have the structure for the rest of it out and I'm going to get it down. Eventually.
I love you all! Even if you've given up on this fic. You rock. Happy premiere weekend!
