The next morning, I wake up and immediately grin because Madge is curled up next to me. God, I've missed this.
"Hey sleepyhead." I murmur, twirling her hair around my finger.
"No." She murmurs, trying to bury her face from the world.
"We have to get up, Madge." I laugh, and she shakes her hand, and moves closer to me.
"No."
"Yes, Madge. I know you don't want to, but they're on a schedule in 13." She groans and sits up, rubbing her eyes. She looks so damn adorable when she's just woken up. Her hair's all ruffled and her clothes are wrinkled, but she's adorable. Her stomach rumbles. "Breakfast is in a little bit, if you're hungry." She nods, still half asleep, and goes to stand up, but she forgets she has crutches, and nearly goes toppling down because of her leg.
"Easy there," I mutter, grabbing her crutches and handing them to her. She takes them, rubbing her eyes again. Meanwhile, I rummage around for some clean clothes in my room. When I turn around, she's already changed.
"How the hell do you change so quickly?" She shrugs, laying back down now that she's dressed and burying her face in the sheets. If you haven't noticed, Madge is not a morning person. I pull on a clean shirt and then crawl over to where she is on the bed and lift her head up. "Madge, we have to go." She sits up groggily and her head falls to my shoulder.
"Okay," she murmurs groggily, opening her eyes before shutting them again due to the harsh light, "But can I go to bed earlier tonight? Please?"
"Of course you can. You can go to bed right after dinner, if you want." She nods slowly and then opens her eyes again.
"Is there a dimmer?"
I laugh a little. "I wish. C'mon, breakfast time." I stand and help her stand. She's so tired she doesn't even insist that she can do it herself. I open the door and she goes out first, with me following. My family just left, I can tell. I shove my forearm under the scanner thing and it plants my schedule on it. I have to punch in a different code for it to work on Madge's schedule because she doesn't actually live with us. I'm going to try to pull some strings so it registers her here. I glance at her schedule to find she returns to the hospital while I'm in Command after lunch, so at least she'll be busy.
On the way to breakfast, she finally starts to wake up. "I'm going to start training, when my leg heals."
This stops me short. "Oh. What?"
"I'm going to start training when my leg gets better."
Frankly, I don't really want her to train. Training means she has to go to the Capitol, which means fighting, which means possible death. I know that I have a bigger chance of dying, because I'll be with Katniss, but if Madge is there, she's the only thing I'm going to be worrying about.
"That's.. That's great. That's really great, Madge." I force out and she goes quiet.
"You don't want me to train, do you." It's not a question, it's a statement. She knows I don't want her too.
"I mean, I'm all for bringing the Capitol down and getting freedom, but I'll be worried about you the entire time." I tell her as I punch a button in the elevator.
"I'll be fine, Gale. I can handle myself, you know."
"I know you can, and I don't doubt it Madge. That's not going to stop me from worrying about you."
"You don't have to be worried, Gale." She notes, leading me out of the elevator.
"But I will be." I tell her, and then continue. "Even if you were here, I would worry."
She gives me a small smile and we continue to the cafeteria, but before we can get there, Katniss stops us. She pulls the two of us aside and stares at us for a moment, before she talks.
"Look. I'm not exactly happy right now because I would've rather have known about this a while ago instead of a few days ago."
"I told you, Katniss. We didn't want to tell you because you had so much on your plate." I grumble and Madge elbows my side and I grumble at her.
"I appreciate that, but it still doesn't soften the blow when I find out two of my best friends have been seeing each other behind my back."
Katniss has been through a lot. Two Hunger Games, losing Mellark, and the upcoming war. Surely, she could handle this.
"What I'm trying to say is that..." She's never been good with words. "I'm okay with it. It doesn't mean I trust either of you as much as I did before, but I'm okay with.. whatever you two have."
Madge and I are both quiet for a moment. Slowly, I nod and Madge tries to give Katniss a small smile. But, she leaves.
"Was that weird for you, or was it just me?" Madge asks as we continue into the cafeteria.
"It's Katniss. It was weird. A Katniss with feelings is not something I'm used to."
She laughs, "Yeah. It's not normal."
The day goes by slowly. In the morning, I train for District 2 and the war, then in the afternoon I make bombs. I don't tell Madge I'm making bombs to kill people in the war. I don't know how she'd take it; if she'd look at me differently. I don't know what she would think. My mom knows I'm designing bombs, and she doesn't say anything about it, I just wonder what she really thinks about it.
The one we were working on a while ago, dropping a bomb, and then another when medics went to move in to help, it worked and now they expect us to mass produce them for the war. I'm not the one mass producing them, but it still gives me a sense of strange pride to know that I'm helping the war effort, helping to bring the Capitol down.
Hell, I'm turning into one of them.
Beetee and I are still down here, long past dinnertime still trying to work out a glitch in one of our other projects. He thinks that there's something wrong with the wiring, and I think there's something wrong with the coding we put in it, so we just took it all apart and started over.
Making bombs is hard work. One false move and you're blown sky-high, or you blow up District 13. Either one would be pretty bad.
Turns out Beetee was right and the wiring was bad. The small wire that was supposed to be connected to the home wire wasn't and it wasn't detonating. This is a prototype and we can blow these up, as long as they're in some sort of box thing where the debris won't get scattered around the room.
When we try it again, it denotates instantly, and we call it a day. Good enough for me. Beetee's on the same level I am, so we go up together, showing our badges to the security guy and he lets us go. I think he's getting used to us by now.
On the way up, we talk about other ideas for bombs and I really think I'm going to turn out to be one of them. I push the thought to the back of my mind as I enter our compartment. My mom's the only one still up and I go to say something, but she raises her finger to her lips to quiet me. Posy's asleep on the floor.
"How in the world does she fall asleep on the floor?" I mutter and my mother gives a small chuckle.
"Who knows, Gale?" She scoops the small girl up and starts to carry her away.
"Hey, Ma? Is Madge here?"
She nods, and then whispers, "Went to bed right after dinner, poor girl was exhausted." I grin a little, remembering Madge asking me if she could go to bed earlier. I'm not going to be the one to deprive her of her sleep. Quietly, I tell my mother goodnight and slip into my room, where a passed out Madge lies. I smile at her sleeping form as I crawl up next to her and pull her closer to me.
She mutters something like 'finally', and then drops her head onto my chest. She's like a damn angel. With her golden hair and paler skin, she really does look like one. She's so beautiful, too. Inside and out. From her beautiful eyes to her beautiful, gentle heart. I mean, she's perfect, really.
Damn. Because of one girl, I'm turning into a sap.
I tighten my arms around her small waist and wonder what my dad would've thought of her. I'm sure he would've loved her, too. She's Madge, you have to love her.
At first, I really didn't know how our relationship was going to work. I mean, she's the Mayor's Daughter, I was an illegal hunter from the Seam.
"You know, I could take you to the woods." I murmur in her ear once I catch up to her in town. She must've not known I was following her because she jumps a little but then turns.
"Would you?" She asks, eyes glistening. I know she wants to go, I know she does.
I nod, "Yeah." So far, she will be the only girl I've taken to the woods. Most of them just stayed at the slag heap. "But are you gonna change your shoes? Not good for walking." I say, taking a dig at her status.
"Oh, shut up." She mutters, shoving me away a little.
I snicker at her and she gives me a glare. "I'll get you in a few?"
"Just come with me, I won't be long." She says, waving off my offer.
I nod slowly, and then follow her. She walks right up the steps and beckons for me to follow. I follow, amused that she's letting me in her house. She hurries upstairs to go change and I walk around the living room. Everything's much more neat and orderly here than at my house. The tables are dusted off and the floors don't creak when you walk around here.
I tap out a tune on the piano, before, "Who are you?"
Quickly, I whip my head around to find myself face to face with the mayor.
"Uh, Gale, sir, Gale Hawthorne." I force out and he stares at me another moment.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you in my house?"
"I, uh-" I pause as Madge comes back down the stairs. She's actually changed all the way, into some old jeans and a t-shirt.
"Daddy, he's just taking me out." She doesn't say 'out of the district' and I'm glad.
Her father gives her a look and she bites her lip, blushing. Then, he moves across the room and holds out his hand to me. I take it, and shake it firmly.
"So you're the one who's captured my daughter's heart."
"Dad!" Madge says quickly, face bright red, and rubs her eyes trying not to look at me.
"I guess, you could say that." I smirk at her and she sticks her tongue out at me.
"Don't keep her out too late." Her says, giving me a stern look, and I nod. As much as Madge didn't want it, I've met her father. I guess she didn't think it would go well, but it's going fine.
"Wouldn't dare too, sir." And with that, Madge shoves me out of her house and follows, burying her face in my back.
"That was mortifying."
"I thought it was pretty funny." I voice and she moves her face from my back and glares at me.
"You weren't the one being teased!" She protests, shoving me a long.
When we finally reach the fence, she just kind of stares at it for a moment, and then kicks it with her foot.
"What? Getting cold feet?"
"No." She hisses and then crawls under the fence and I follow, laughing. As soon as we're out of the District, she lightens up and is more of herself. She laughs more and smiles more. I guess she feels trapped in the District.
When we get to a certain point, she stops talking and just looks around. This is the first time I've actually taken her to the woods, the first time she was in them she followed me most of the way.
I link my hand with hers and keep leading her away as her mouth keeps dropping. When a bird swoops above us, she lets out a small shriek and I stop, turning around.
"What? Scared of birds?" I tease, and then she nods. "Really?"
"Yeah, really."
"Why?" She doesn't respond, just kicks the ground with her shoe, "C'mon, Madge. You can talk to me, I won't laugh."
"Ever since the Games when the birds swarmed one of the last people they've freaked me out." She admits honestly, still staring at the ground. Yeah, I remember that. Still feel disgusted whenever that Games is on tv, showing the dead corpse, bloody and disfigured.
"Well those birds," I point up to the treetops and her eyes follow, "aren't going to hurt you. Won't let them." I say, shaking the quiver on my back and she slowly nods. "C'mon, I want to show you something."
I lead her to a hill that my dad showed me when I was younger.
"What's so important about a hill?"
"Just wait a little and you'll see." She huffs sarcastically and sits down on the hill, playing with some of the grass. Right now, even in an old t-shirt and old jeans, in the setting sun, she really does look like an angel. She catches me staring at her and smirks.
"Enjoying the view?" I laugh and sit down next to her and she throws some grass at me. At this point, I really don't know how I feel about her. I know I like her, a lot, I just don't know to what extent. What happens when Katniss gets back, if she gets back? And what about Mellark?
"Gale," She snaps her fingers in front of my face and I listen to her, "I asked you something."
"What'd you ask?"
She rolls her eyes and repeats her question, "Do you think they're going to make it?" I know she's talking about the Games. Currently, Katniss and Mellark are holed up in a cave after the feast. A lot of kissing.
I sigh and flop backwards, putting my hands behind my head and she follows suit, resting her chin on my chest. "I dunno." I speak honestly, "Do you?" She sits up, staring at the horizon, then rubs her eyes.
"I think.. I don't know. Everything's just confusing. Why they suddenly changed the rules. They don't do that normally."
"Maybe they're feeling nice?"
She snorts and then spits out, "Nice, yeah, sure. These people have been coming to stay in my house every year for my entire life, and I learned pretty quickly that they're not." This is a side to Madge I don't see much. The fire in her is different than me, but it's there. "I just don't see why they're doing the whole two Victor's thing."
"Young love?" I offer, and bit distracted by her hair. It's like damn sunshine when the sun actually hits it.
"I don't think they're doing it for love. When have they ever felt sentimental about that? Yeah, never." I pull my eyes away from her hair and look at her face, damn, her eyes are there too.
"So you're saying..." I trail off, I don't know what she's saying.
"All I'm saying is that in the end when it comes down to the two of them and they change the rules again, I'm not going to be surprised."
"So you're saying that it's all for show?"
She nods, and then speaks in a dry voice, "Yeah. To make the most tragic love story there's ever been."
"Oh." I try to think about how Katniss could end up dying in this, but I can't. I really can't. I'm focused on Madge as she stares down at the grass. I focus on the sunlight hitting her hair and the deep blue that's in her eyes. I focus on the curve of her nose and on her lips. God, I want to kiss her.
"Gale?"
"Hm?"
"What would you do if we were in the Games?"
I grunt. "Stay alive."
"Would you kill anyone?"
"I'm sure I would, when I had too. I wouldn't be one of those crazed killers who just runs around killing aimlessly." Pause. "I wouldn't be able to kill one person, though."
"Who?"
"Honestly, I think you would know this. I wouldn't be able to kill you because I'd be bending over backwards trying to keep you alive."
A/N: I thought it was time for a flashback. Anyways, in the next few chapters, the war's going to be getting closer which means I have to get out Mockingjay and use that, but I don't want too, because Mockingjay sucked, in my opinion. I'll probably keep some aspects, but some I'm changing completely. Maybe less people will die. I dunno. Haven't gotten that far. Thoughts?