In the Shadow of the Mockingjay - Haymitch Abernathy x Niece Reader

Chapter 1

(f/n)'s PoV

'All men are born equal.' That was a quote of a person that had died long ago. Way before Panem had been established. I wondered how anyone could have said something as naive as that. Yet I could read it perfectly fine, though the book in my hands was almost crumbling between my fingers. This book had been passed on from generation to generation in my family. No one knew about it because. Otherwise I would not be able to read it now. Instead it would have been either burned or taken away to the Capitol. Such a unique book could not belong to a simple peasant of district 12, although it did not have any precious knowledge hidden inside or anything. Just an antique, meaningless book. At least for everyone else. To me it was the only thing I had left from my parents, if I could believe Haymitch's words. After all I had been too young to remember them, before they had been murdered.

Sometimes I caught myself wishing my uncle had died during his Hunger Games. 48 children and out of all of them he had been the one surviving. Why? For me the answer was obvious. He was a selfish and merciless killer. As long as everything worked out for him, it was fine.

Thanks to him every Abernathy besides him had had to die. My bloody birthday. I had just been born and my mom's friend, Cassie, had lost her child. Katniss' mum and Cassie had pretended that I was Cassie's child and therefore I was the only survivor of the assassination.

Honestly I wished that I had died on that day as well. I wished that I was not Haymitch's niece he did not care about. I wished I did not have to watch how he treated Katniss like he should treat me. I wished I was a true Hawthorne and not the burden I had been forced to become as they had taken me in after Cassie had starved to death to provide me with food. But instead here I was again cleaning the wound on my arm my uncle had left on me.

"Here I got some antiseptic", Gale proclaimed and gingerly cleaned my wound.

It burned, but I did not mind. Actually it was a great distraction from my inner turmoil. 

My eyes wandered to Gale's face. I knew his expression well. After all he was my favorite person.

"You know I thought after the announcement of the Quarter Quell I had to see how he was doing. But obviously I was wrong", I stated upset.

I did not even know what to feel anymore. All those years Haymitch had either ignored my existence or treated me like shit.

Gale's gray eyes met my (e/c) ones. He wanted me to continue.

"He didn't intend to hit me. I opened the door and was greeted by a flying whiskey glass. But instead of apologizing he yelled at me."

Haymitch's eyes always appeared to be filled with hate and anger when they were pointed at me. Whatever I had done to deserve it. I had spent my whole life trying to get close to him, while he had resisted with all his power.

Gale listened silently as he finished bandaging my arm. Instead of answering anything, he pulled me into a tight embrace. Gale's arms were the only place I felt safe and precious at. There was no one I loved more than him, even if it was not in a romantic way. Hence it hurt me that he was in love with Katniss. It seemed like every person that was important to me in some way preferred the girl on fire. How could I not despise her when she took everyone from me?

"Can we go hunting?", I requested while loosening the hug.

Despite Haymitch, a victor, being my uncle I had always had to fight for survival. Actually it was like I was invisible.

I quickly noticed my mistake as Katniss had probably run off into the forest after the announcement of the Quarter Quell.

"Oh no. I forgot that I have to take care of something", I corrected myself and stormed off. "See you later!"