A/N: Okey-dokey. I'm not quite sure if this deserves to be published, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Feel free to quit reading if your eyes are dropping out of your ears. It's my first piece in Gale's POV, and you might have noticed that I used a line that Finnick said. Two different characters, but I think it works. A little. Or not. Please just take a peek!
Written for Starvation Forum's February prompt, "Envy."
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.
The screen is black, and I watch as a miniscule spark flicks in the middle, slowly spreading until the whole thing is flaming. It looks real, like I could actually burn myself from it, but of course I can't. This is just part of the game.
Then it's Katniss's pin glowing a hot gold against the fire and that idiot announcer begins to speak. "Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, burns on."
A lifetime of being trained to fear anything associated with the Games, including that voice, kicks on in my head. The next image, a girl with a bow and arrows and a look of pure fury on her face, sends me into complete panic mode. I'm careful not to let anyone see that I'm having difficulty, that I'm seriously considering killing this girl to get rid of the threat that she surely poses.
The next second a wave of pure relief washes over me. I'm not afraid, how could I be? This is Katniss! And yet it couldn't possibly be her, because she's never looked this dangerous, not even in that fight with Clove at the feast in her first Hunger Games. This is who she is now, though. I guess.
"I want to tell the rebels that I'm alive. That I'm right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors." We all watch the horrible destruction of said hospital and once again I feel the hollow shock of so much death. You'd think I'd be used to that by now, but no such luck. "I want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol will treat us fairly if there's a cease-fire, you're deluding yourself. Because you know who they are and you know what they do." Back on Katniss, shaking her fists at the camera in a clichéd but wonderful, terrifying way. "This is what they do! And we must fight back!" Then I see everything. Bombs raining, running, falling, climbing, shooting, and even more shooting. It's as though a light turns on and I've been in the dark without realizing it. I understand. "President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?" Another shot of destruction and gore. "Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!"
It's at this moment that I'm so grateful for Katniss and her power that I just want to kiss her. No joke. Just take her face in my hands and let her know how much she and her speech mean to me. I'm a miner, and I know about accidents and death – and this little "accident" has gone on for long enough. It's time to make a change and she's helping to do just that.
More flames blaze on the screen with words over them.
IF WE BURN
YOU BURN WITH US
All gratitude is wiped away. Well, no, it's just moved to the back of my mind. Everything comes into focus and I discover the impact of her words, and how what she's given us will resonate through our world.
More people will die. It means Prim, her mother, her deranged baker boyfriend, and likely me as well. It means that her whole life will be ripped away. It means that, when all is said and done, she'll be so broken that to take another breath will be a miracle.
I want to kill her. I want to kiss her. But I don't want to be her.
No, I don't envy her that.