THE MAN IN THE HANGING TREE | Gale Hawthorne

TWELVE - My Greatest Weakness

YOUR POINT OF VIEW

"What do you mean I started everything?" I ask Haymitch, brows furrowed. "And why would Snow care about going after me?" I'm nearly shouting now, but I suspected his involvement with the interview as soon as I stepped into my fancy outfit.

Haymitch holds up a hand. "Listen (y/n). That pin meant a lot more than just a little hope, it struck a spark." He tells me, eyes flashing with a sort of pride.

"I spark?" I ask, confused. It's just a pin, though I suppose it always did stand for more to me.

"Yes, it created the spark, and who knows how far the spark will take it." Haymitch says, nodding.

"Well then, if I struck this 'spark' who or what is the spark?" I ask, using air quotes around spark. "And how is this going to affect anything? We're already doomed as a nation."

"Katniss." Gale puts it together after a moment. "Katniss is this spark. That's why we had to be extra careful with the interviews. We can't jeopardize Katniss any further, since she's already unknowingly setting the entirety of Panem on fire."

Haymitch nods to him, he's right. "She's already in enough trouble as it is. Snow wants her dead, he'll stop at nothing. And in order to make the star-crossed lovers of district twelve work as a plan to get both of them out, we can't have any interference from others." The victor then then glances between both of us again. "If they somehow both get out of there, they will talk to their family and friends again. You two will have to keep up this whole 'in love' act for a while."

"If they both get out of there? The Capital will never allow two victors!" I state, sighing. It infuriates me that I may never see my friends again, that they too might be taken by the Capitol. 

I'm going to lose one or both of my friends in there.

Haymitch continues, a little solemnly this time, his eyes dropping to his flask in his hands. "Well you two were doing your interview, the little girl Katniss was allied with was killed." 

"Rue!?" I ask in a shout, the sweet twelve year old girl from Eleven. "That's so unfair, she was just a child!" I exclaim, tears for the young girl fill my eyes. It's jut as unfair as my aunt's death, just as unfair as everyone's death in those cruel games.

Haymitch nods, his own eyes misty, but continues anyway. "After she was killed, Katniss killed the boy who killed her. Marvel I think his name was."

Marvel, the boy from One. One of the tributes I thought was going to be a challenge for my friends. Killed immediately by Katniss. She was turning into a different person in there entirely.

"Katniss made a statement by surrounding Rue's body with flowers, and doing the funeral salute like you did." Haymitch tells Gale and I. "A lovely gesture, but it might cost Katniss everything. Snow sees it as act of defiance, and those who defy the Capitol are sure to be snuffed out." He looks at us darkly. "But there's been a rule change now."

"A rule change?" Gale raises an eyebrow, again glancing at me.

"For now, they are promising the possibility of two victors as long as they are from the same district." Haymitch tells us. "I was the one who talked Seneca Crane, the head game maker, into it." 

My mood instantly shifts. "They could be coming home!?" I ask happily.

Haymitch nods, a little smile on his face once more. "For now, at least, it seems so. Peeta has been badly injured and he was hiding by the river, but Katniss found him and is attempting to nurse him back to health as we speak."

My worry rises back up. "Will he be alright?" 

Haymitch shrugs, unknowing of all the answers in the universe. "It's uncertain. But the game makers are promising a feast tonight, they'll be leaving a bag with something in it each of them needs. If Peeta will allow Katniss to go, she can get it. It's probably some healing serum."