Chapter Three

Madge POV

Within minutes of Gale speaking, my eyes are filled with tears and I have to bite my lip to keep them from falling from my eyes. "The ceremonies were the, uh, the worst part," Gale continues with his story. "After the rest of the teams came back, President Coin called convocation of the entire District. The team members, they stood at attention in the front of the huge assembly hall and Coin called their names and they each received medals of valor…which are kind of different than the ones we had in Twelve, because you don't have to be dead to get it. And then, the horrible part was when they called the names of the people who didn't return. After each name, there was a moment of silence and a fellow crew member spoke a little about the person."

"Was I..." my voice gets caught in my throat, but before I can continue, he nods.

"You were on the list. Finnick Odair spoke about you. He told everyone about your first night in the Capitol. He said that you had to keep moving by foot through the night to get to the mansion by day break and that he kept coughing because of the Capitol pollution. Apparently, you got so fed up with it that you started yelling at him and got so distracted that you walked off the trail and got separated from the group?" he phrases the sentence as a question and looks at me questioningly.

I let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I was bringing up the rear of the line of people, so none of them followed me or looked back for a while. I had finally looked up when I realized I couldn't hear anyone around me anymore and I was in the middle of a wooded area about a mile outside of the city area. I didn't remember how I got there or how to get back to the right trail, so I sat down and hoped they would come and find me. After about three minutes of that, I got restless and I tried to find my way back onto the trail and catch up to them and I ran straight into Finnick and knocked him down," I say with a laugh, remembering it like it was yesterday.

"Yep, he told us all about that, it was good. He got everyone laughing through their tears, he was a great speaker," Gale smiles.

"Was?" I ask shakily, even though I know I don't want to hear the answer.

"Madge… Finnick, he died. I'm sorry." I knew I didn't want to hear it. I blink furiously, trying to keep the tears back.

"I…I just… I knew I couldn't count on anyone's life after everything happened, but out of everyone I went on the mission with, I was secretly hoping for Finnick's life out of everyone's. He was so nice to me, and he told me all these stories about Annie, the reason he volunteered for the mission. I just…I just really wanted him to be alive, I guess," I sniffle, blinking back another round of hot tears. Gale reaches across the table and takes my hand in his.

"I'm sorry, Madge. I really liked the guy too, he was a great guy and he constantly raved about you. I can tell he really had a soft spot for you, although who wouldn't?" he starts rubbing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. I can't help but smile at his words.

"How did he die?" I ask after a minute of silence.

"Hmm?" Gale asks, looking up at me.

"Finnick. How did he.."

Gale nods. "Oh, yeah. Well, I don't know if you know what was happening in Thirteen and in the Capitol after the mission returned to Thirteen?"

"I don't know anything except that Snow is dead and so is Coin, and that the Hunger Games are over. That was the ten second briefing I got from Jackie, other than that, I don't really talk about it, and she gets really weird when I ask, so I don't tend to bring it up," I explain, stifling a yawn.

"Okay. Well, first of all, follow me," he says, rising from his seat. I stay in mine, not sue what he has in mind.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Come on!"

"No!" I argue with a laugh.

"Okay, fine," he says. For a second, I think he's about to sit back down and quit being so weird, but in two steps he crosses the floor and he scoops me out of the chair. "Gale, put me down!" I squeal, locking my arms around his neck out of fear of falling. He leans down and places a quick kiss on my nose.

"No way, Undersee!" he laughs, a sound that sounds so much like home that I can't help but laugh with him. He carries me out of the room and into the sitting room, where he lowers himself carefully onto the couch, not letting me go. He leans back and slides me to his side so I fit perfectly in his lap. All of this affection is fairly unlike him, but I've missed him so much, there's no way I'm going to question it. Maybe he just changed in the past couple of months.

"Why'd you do that?" I ask through my laughter. Almost instantly, the smile falls off his face and he pulls me closer, wrapping his arm around me protectively.

"Cause it's not a good story."

"But I want to hear it. No, Gale, I need to hear what happened. Please," I turn to look him in the eye. He nods slowly before speaking.

"Alright, well the rest of the mission came back to Thirteen. It was then that the doctors realized that Peeta, Johanna, and Annie had been tortured in the Capitol. Peeta was the worst, he was hijacked. Do you know what that is?" he asks. I shake my head. "Well, basically, they took the venom from tracker jackers, like the ones in the nest Katniss cut down in the first Games. They injected it into him and while he was hallucinating, they showed him videos of Katniss and Haymitch and everyone who was crucial to his role in the revolution. Because of the effects of the venom, he was left with a negative connotation of the videos, and over time, he grew an immense hatred towards people, Katniss especially. It got pretty bad- when they first brought him to Thirteen from the Capitol, he tried to kill Katniss."

"Oh my god," I want to say more, but I can't.

"Johanna, they later figured out, was tortured with water. And Annie, they told her lies about Finnick. They told her they had captured him and would kill him. That was all it took for her to go even crazier. President Coin sent a bunch of people on different missions while Peeta and Johanna recuperated. Annie, well, once she saw Finnick again she was fine- or at least, as fine as she has been in a while. There were some small trips for propaganda, which I got to go on. I mainly stayed in Special Weapons and went on propo missions. Katniss and I were able to hunt, which was good. Really good. Eventually, there was only so much more we could do and Coin decided we had to end everything with the Capitol once and for all by taking down Snow. Katniss had to get clearance to go on this mission, which took some training. Johanna tried too, but she couldn't do it…she broke down and they brought her back to command. Katniss went on the mission, Finnick too. They lost a lot of their crew- including Finnick. There were these mutations…they took so many of them…Katniss killed Coin, and she was under investigation. There was a trial and everything, but Haymitch worked really hard to clear her name."

"And Snow?" I ask when he finishes.

"When Katniss killed Coin, which is a story for another day, he was killed in the madness that ensued shortly thereafter," he says with a small shrug. He absentmindedly picks up a piece of my hair and begins twirling it around his finger.

"Thank goodness," I say, and a hint of a smile plays on Gale's face. "And Peeta and Katniss? And their families?"

"What's that?" he asks, turning to face me.

"What about Katniss and Peeta? And their families? Did everyone make it?" I say, noticing how he suddenly drops the piece of hair and inhales sharply.

"Gale?" I ask cautiously, shifting as he removes his hands to run them over his face rapidly. His eyes fix themselves on the wall straight ahead.

"Peeta..he uh, he's better," Gale begins slowly. "Not perfect, but good enough that he and Katniss are living together in Twelve, which is in the process of being rebuilt. Mrs. Everdeen is in District Four. She, um, is working on starting up a hospital there," he says, slowly nodding his head, clearly deep in thought.

"And Prim?" I ask, beginning to rake my fingers through the hair on the back of his head. I look up at his questioningly when he makes no response, only to see his eyes haven't moved from the spot on the wall. His glassy stare worries me, but I know from experience not to push him. I shift my position so I'm actually in his lap. I swing one leg over his knees and sit practically on his knees so I'm right in his line of vision. "Gale?" his gaze drops at my voice, and he blinks a few times before looking me in the eye.

He starts shaking his head back and forth. "I'm sorry," his voice is just above a whisper. The look in his eyes says it all. I can feel hot tears pooling in my eyes at the thought of the sweet girl I had always adored. "I'm sorry," he repeats, a little louder this time. I've never seen him like this before, which is a little troubling. I force the tears back, determined to keep them from falling.

"Gale, listen to me," I say, taking his face in my hands so he stops shaking his head and he looks at me. "Another time, okay? I don't need to know now. It can wait, alright? Right now, I just need to know that you're going to be okay."

He grabs my waist and pulls me closer to him. "I love you," is all he says before kissing me slowly. When he pulls away, he says, "I'll be fine. It just…it all still feels too weird. Now that we're back together, I don't know. Things…they just seem to right…too normal, like I- like we never skipped a beat. It shouldn't feel like that. It should feel like Prim is dead and Katniss hates me and I haven't seen my family in months and it should feel like my world is falling apart," he says.

"Why does…" I begin.

"Katniss hate me?" he finishes my question with a short laugh. "Have you ever made a mistake? Like a really big mistake?" he asks. Without having to think for too long, I nod. "I made a mistake. One of the worst things I've ever done….and Katniss has every right to be mad at me."

"You don't have to tell me," I offer, but he shakes his head. "You deserve to know," he says.

"No, don't worry about it. Another time, okay?" I argue.

"Alright. I'm sorry," he says.

"Don't be," I respond with a smile, and he leans in and kisses me again.

A/N: Apologies for the lame ending :/ Also, I finished all of the stories I've been reading, so if you write any stories you would like me to check out (doesn't have to be HG fandom, hopefully I know the original story!) please leave the name in the review section. I'll check everything out. Going along with that, if you've read anything good you'd like to recommend, leave the title and author in the description! Thank you all!