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note: This takes place between the events of Hunger Games and Catching Fire, as a precursor of sorts to Gale's entrance into Milliways. Spoilers from the first book are inevitable.
Gale would never admit it to anyone, but he's afraid to go to work every morning.
It doesn't keep him from dragging his feet out of bed (being careful not to wake Rory and Vick) and putting on his uniform, joining the ranks of men - young and old - as they follow each other, single file, down into the mines before the sun is barely up.
But his heart beats quicker, and he always feels cold.
This was where his father was killed, after all - blown to nothing, barely any remains left to bury when the smoke had cleared and the soot had settled.
It was shortly before Katniss had come home from the Games that Gale was signed up to work. He is nineteen now, past the age of the reaping, and with very few other options to help keep his family afloat while he was no longer qualified for tesserae, he had no other choice.
Everything was hard to come by; always had been - and if no one did anything, always would be. But it's all Gale can do right now because, if he's going to honest, he's waiting. For a sign, for that little click that tells him District 12 is ready for a rebellion.
Gale knows he'll be in the front lines then, when the Capitol would finally answer for all the poverty, the suffering, the avoidable deaths, the torture that every single citizen in Twelve has had to endure for years.
But some days, it feels like that time would never come. Katniss' actions in the 74th Games sparked the fire, but Twelve was too small, too scared into submission to do anything. And when he looks into the faces of his siblings, he knows (in frustration) that he can't really blame them.
The Capitol still has its power, but that can't last forever.
In the meantime, Gale waits, fighting off Twelve's fear so it does not become his own.
The mines scare him, but a rebellion does not.
Gale would never admit it to anyone, but he's afraid to go to work every morning.
It doesn't keep him from dragging his feet out of bed (being careful not to wake Rory and Vick) and putting on his uniform, joining the ranks of men - young and old - as they follow each other, single file, down into the mines before the sun is barely up.
But his heart beats quicker, and he always feels cold.
This was where his father was killed, after all - blown to nothing, barely any remains left to bury when the smoke had cleared and the soot had settled.
It was shortly before Katniss had come home from the Games that Gale was signed up to work. He is nineteen now, past the age of the reaping, and with very few other options to help keep his family afloat while he was no longer qualified for tesserae, he had no other choice.
Everything was hard to come by; always had been - and if no one did anything, always would be. But it's all Gale can do right now because, if he's going to honest, he's waiting. For a sign, for that little click that tells him District 12 is ready for a rebellion.
Gale knows he'll be in the front lines then, when the Capitol would finally answer for all the poverty, the suffering, the avoidable deaths, the torture that every single citizen in Twelve has had to endure for years.
But some days, it feels like that time would never come. Katniss' actions in the 74th Games sparked the fire, but Twelve was too small, too scared into submission to do anything. And when he looks into the faces of his siblings, he knows (in frustration) that he can't really blame them.
The Capitol still has its power, but that can't last forever.
In the meantime, Gale waits, fighting off Twelve's fear so it does not become his own.
The mines scare him, but a rebellion does not.
