AN: so, this is hopefully a not-so-depressing chapter to read, although in THG universe that's something hard to get. Let me know what you think of their interactions! I aim for a Gale that is not angry 100% of the time, also because Madge won't put up with his shit. Also, I'm terrible with chapter names hahaha 😊
4. The interrogatory
Gale and Madge exchange a worried look.
"Darling, can I come in?" the tired voice of the mayor asks from outside the bedroom, barely audible from where they are. He doesn't sound infuriated though, so he can't know Gale is in the room.
Gale starts calculating how much it will take for him to run to the balcony, but before he can even move, Madge turns off the bathroom light and leaves, closing the door behind her.
"Yes, Dad, I was just freshening up" says Madge. A beam of light suddenly sneaks under the bathroom door. Gale hears the door open and close and the footsteps of the mayor into the room. He guesses they are sitting in the bed by the door, since he can make out the words from his spot, still sitting on the edge of the bathtub.
"Are you okay? You were asleep when I came to check on you earlier."
"It's been a long day." Gale frowns when he hears Madge, that seems to be her answer for everything today.
"You don't look any more rested." Gale pictures Madge under the bathroom light as she was just a few moments ago, knowing that the mayor is also not used to see her with dark circles under her eyes and such a pale face.
"How could I?"
There is a silence so long Gale starts to think they must be continuing the conversation in whispers when the mayor speaks again.
"I'm so sorry, darling. I know you and Katniss were friends" Gale clenches his fists at the use of the past. Katniss is still alive, Katniss will come home, he thinks to himself.
"We are" says Madge, clearly in his same line of thought. The quaver in her voice ruins the point she was trying to make. The attempt, however, soothes some of the annoyance of Gale at the idea of Madge as a friend of Katniss.
"Oh, darling." Gale cannot really hear it, but he is certain that the mayor must be trying to calm Madge with a hug. A strangled sob confirms his thoughts. "I-I don't have a handkerchief with me" the mayor states in clear discomfort. As far as Gale is concerned, the mayor might be as good with emotional displays as himself.
He hears some movement and then steps towards the bathroom. For a second, Gale fears Madge is about to reveal his hiding place, but she comes into the bathroom, grabs a handkerchief from one of the drawers and comes back into the bedroom without as much as a glance in his direction. He is both relieved and unsettled by the easiness Madge has in lying to her father's face. Also, he knows at this point, the stakes are not only high for him. She can't possibly turn him in without ending in a compromised situation herself.
"Madge", the mayor begins to speak again, in such a low voice than Gale can barely hear it. He moves a little closer to the wall, since there is not much more he can do. "What happened at the square…"
"Was a spontaneous manifestation of grief from the District, which population respect Katniss" Madge completes. Gale feels he is losing something in the conversation. Were they talking about the greeting when Katniss volunteered? He knew that standing there in silence was not precisely what the Capitol would expect, in fact, now that he recalled the moment, without the shock of seeing Katniss volunteer, there was definitely a charged atmosphere. This idea made him grow a little spark of excitement. But, how was all of that related with the mayor and his daughter?
"You know we are always being observed" says the mayor with a serious tone, furthering the confusion in Gale.
"I know, I'm sorry I upset you. It's just… all the pretending is getting difficult" Madge's tone is conciliatory but not regretful.
"It's okay, darling. Just try not to draw unnecessary attention, please." Suddenly, Gale understands. The mayor must not like seeing his daughter joining any kind of gesture that could hurt the Capitol.
Madge takes a big breath before she speaks again.
"I gave her the mockingjay pin of Aunt Maysilee to use as a token. Is not like I am going to need it." Gale frowns. So that's why she was in the Justice Building.
"Why?" the mayor voices the question in Gale's head.
"She needed a token", Madge points out the obvious, not too convinced.
"And nothing else?" the mayor presses.
"If… if she doesn't…" the end of the sentence lingers in the air, and a shudder shakes Gale when he understands what she means. "It will be good for her family. The gold."
The visceral half of Gale wanted to be angry at her for thinking that could compensate even a minimum part of what Katniss loss would mean, but the other half, the most practical, knew that she was right. The gold would be better than nothing.
"Madge…" the mayor begins, wary.
"It's just a songbird, right? Not a weapon," says Madge, in the same conciliatory way as before. Gale finds it difficult to understand what else could be behind the gift. Why would a stupid pin be a weapon? He adds that to the list of questions for later.
"Sometimes I worry how fast you learn my ways."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"I'll admit I'm not sure myself. Darling, all I want is to keep you safe. You know that."
"As long as the Games exist, I'm not safe." Gale stiffens at the declaration of the mayor's daughter. He wonders if she realizes the danger such a statement could represent. Maybe she is so wrapped up in her bubble that she underestimates the Capitol power, but certainly the mayor had to know. However, the mayor didn't seem extremely worried.
"When I saw her volunteer, I feared how it would affect you, because- "
"Because of Mom" Madge interrupts. Gale doesn't understand what that means but he is not too interested in finding out. Staring into the shadows of the bathroom in the dark, he knows it's not long before the curfew begins. He doubts he can sneak out of the small window by the bathtub, but if he's desperate enough he can try.
"I certainly didn't think it would bring out some rebellious streak." Gale would swear that the mayor sounds at least a bit amused.
"Katniss doesn't deserve this, Dad. No one does," says Madge, again pushing her luck by speaking against the Games.
"If all of this wouldn't put you in danger, I would be glad of seeing you acting as a real teenager for once."
"Don't worry, I know my place."
"Darling, I am worried since the day you were born."
Madge doesn't reply to this. Gale, yet again, envies her. He wished his father was here to comfort him now, as the mayor is trying to do with Madge. His father would have to deal with his ranting about the Capitol too. But then, Gale thinks if his father were here, maybe he wouldn't have befriended Katniss. Maybe he wouldn't hate the Capitol that much. No, he decides, both hating the Capitol and Katniss are too much of a part of his life as to be able to imagine who he would be without them. There was no point anyway. His father was dead and gone. Maybe Katniss will too, a voice in his head says.
"She can win. I feel bad saying it, because Mellark is a good kid" the mayor speaks again, as if he had read Gale's mind from the other side of the door.
"I think he is also rooting for her" Gale contains a snort. How naïve could Madge be to believe that town kid could be thinking about anything other than his own survival? And why would he?
"In that case, she has the whole District on her corner."
After a few more seconds which Gale believes the mayor is using on hugging Madge, his footsteps indicate he is leaving her bedroom. They say goodnight to each other and, after what feels like an eternity, Madge opens the bathroom door and returns to her previous spot by his side without turning on the lights this time, the light coming under the closed door enough to make out her silhouette in the growing darkness. He can even make out her puffy eyes, and he imagines that's the reason why she wouldn't turn on the lights. Or maybe she didn't want anyone to find suspicious the amount of time she was spending in the bathroom.
"It is scary, how a good liar you are," says Gale.
"That was exhausting. My dad is one of the few people I can be honest with usually."
"Guess your dad would not be happy if he found a guy hiding in your bathroom," the hint of a smirk plays at his lips.
"It's not the worst thing I've hidden in there anyway. As a matter of fact, you are not even the first guy I've hid in there" says Madge with a half-smile.
"Yeah, right," Gale scoffs.
For a second, there is a lightness between them that feels foreign to Gale, as all the tension of the situation surrounding them disappears. The sensation fades quickly and all the heaviness of the reaping and impending Games falls on them at once.
"What was all that about the goodbye to Katniss in the square?" Gale starts, curious. Madge is startled as the realization that Gale heard all her conversation with her father dawns on her, but she recovers fast.
"Now you are changing your questions?"
"Oh, come on, Undersee. You said you would cut me some slack. You also said you were going to tune down the bad attitude. I'm doing my part here."
"Fine," she concedes. She hesitates before she speaks again. "I, um, I started it. My father saw me; he was probably the only person staring at me instead of Katniss. He is not thrilled by it."
Gale raises a brow, questioningly. There was no reason for her to lie and, still, it was so out of character for her to do that…
"I don't know why I did it. I just… I felt so powerless. It all sucks. I knew I couldn't bring myself to clap as if this were some sort of celebration and not complete bullshit about the Capitol's control over us."
"Shit, Undersee. Are you allowed to say that kind of stuff?"
"Only inside this room, in a very low voice. My father arranged there would be no mics or cameras here. It was an expensive deal, but it was one of the very few ways he could protect me."
Gale takes in that information. It makes sense now, the easiness of the mayor at his daughter "rebellious streak" as he put it. He doubts there are any of those devices on Seam houses. However, on the school, the mines, the town… there were countless eyes in the district. He had the forest to run to, but Madge probably only had this room to be herself. Although, according to the mayor's words, this defiant girl wasn't her true self. Or maybe the mayor didn't know her that well.
"Do you really dislike the Capitol?" he asks, without thinking.
"Do you really think I am stupid?" Gale shrugs as an answer, prompting Madge to roll her eyes at him. "I know the cards I've been dealt in life are way better than yours, but that doesn't make them good cards, Hawthorne. Especially when we are not playing against each other."
Gale nodded, remembering what she had said to the mayor as an apology about being difficult to pretend. Their common enemy was the Capitol. He had been telling the same thing to Katniss for years, but she never seemed interested.
"Is that why you did it? The salute, the pin…"
"Katniss is my friend too" Gale immediately scowls and opens his mouth to protest, but Madge continues. "I know, I know, it's not the same as what you have. But still, when I heard Prim's name, I just couldn't believe it. What were the odds? Even me, who you pointedly expressed had inexistent probability of going to the Capitol, had five more slips in there than her." Gale looks away at her veiled accusation. "I can only imagine what Katniss felt- "
"No, you can't".
"Okay, I can't" she agrees to Gale's surprise. "But it was still hurtful watching her volunteer, dreading the moment she goes into that arena and… I wanted her to know that she is not going completely alone. So, I went there and gave her my mockingjay pin and made her promise she would use it as a district token."
"Which is just a songbird, not a weapon" Gale repeats the words she said before, knowing he is missing something about them.
"Mockingjays are interesting creatures. The Capitol is not very fond of them since they weren't meant to exist. Every couple of years they send some scientist to try to get rid of them, but they haven't succeeded" Madge explains.
Gale is beginning to understand why the mayor is concerned about the pin, why it could be much more than a district token. That is, if Katniss survives the bloodbath. Or the Games, or the aftermath of the Games.
"What is it exactly you are trying to achieve with this?" He is still unsure about her motives, her true motives. She and Katniss were not as close as for Madge to change her whole personality overnight, where they?
"I'm not sure. All I know is I want to fight back somehow. I don't want to be another pig waiting for the slaughterhouse."
"Fight back? How?"
"I'm not sure about that either. Maybe I'll start by being a bit more who I want to be instead of what the Capitol has made of me. If I can have that… Well, I see where that takes me." It sounded as an empty target to Gale's ears, but since he had promised to cut off the snarky comments, he decides to just nod to her answer. Most of his curiosity has been satisfied and the dread is coming back to him.
"Why are you asking all these questions?" Madge asks suddenly, startling him. Gale shrugs. She is smart, he knows that now, she can probably figure it out quite easily.
"Why are you answering them?" he says. Madge looks at him thoughtfully. She didn't have to; she didn't owe him anything and he has been barely civil towards her for the years they've known each other. Yet, after the truce they had worked out, she had been more than polite by answering his invasive questions with nothing but honesty.
"Guess we are not that different after all," she looks at him with a sad smile. That checks out. They both needed to escape pitiful looks (although Madge wasn't that lucky with avoiding the mayor) and distract themselves, even if it was just because of the strangeness of the situation.
Gale stands up, knowing the curfew is close to begin. He doesn't feel fully ready to face his family, but he is a bit less desperate now and out of choices anyway.
"Goodbye, Undersee."
"Good luck, Hawthorne." He turns to stare at her. She seemed to know exactly what was waiting for him back home, sincerely wishing it wasn't too bad for him. Madge returns his stare defiantly though, as if she is expecting one of his trademark sneers or bickering. His opinion of her has changed during this visit and, for a moment, he would like to change her opinion of him. Not that he really knows what she thinks of him. She also looks like she will cry the second he is gone.
"Pretty robe," says Gale with a wink. He did like to have the final word.
And with that he leaves the small bathroom, finally prepared to climb off the tree outside of the balcony and go back home.