Chapter Text
The Beginning
Katniss Everdeen, the odd, shy girl from the Seam. A girl without friends, a girl who focused on her schoolwork and spent her free time in the woods with her father.
She sat in a classroom learning about The Dark Days- how they started, how they ended, why they had The Hunger Games, and why the Dark Days must never be repeated.
“We will be doing a partnered project. You and your partner will read chapter fourteen, then write two reasons why The Hunger Games began," the teacher said.
Katniss had no one to pair up with, and she knew she’d be everyone's last choice, so she stayed in her seat.
After her classmates moved to sit with their appointed project partners, Katniss looked around to see who was left.
Madge Undersee, the mayor's daughter, sat across the room, and to Katniss’s surprise, she was the only other student without a partner.
Madge, the quiet, kind girl who lived in town where the wealthier District 12 citizens resided. She was a girl who struggled to make friends cause people only seemed to care about who her father was.
She smiled warmly at Katniss- a gesture that was rare for her to receive from kids her age. Soon enough, they were sitting side by side and reading through their old, battered textbook, writing their answers on a slip of paper to be turned in when the bell rang.
After that day, they partnered up for every project and eventually spent their lunches together. The girls were magnetic- both very different in status, appearance, and interests, but somehow they were still drawn to each other.
They’d sit comfortably, shoulder to shoulder. They were usually quiet with neither of them wanting to talk much, but the silence was pleasant. It was as if they’d known each other for years.
Opposites attract.
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The Girl Who Couldn’t Breathe
Katniss Everdeen, a girl who was smothered in the aftermath of her father’s death. Torn by the explosion that killed him and took her mother’s spirit. The starving girl, the girl with no one but herself to feed her family, a girl who grew up too fast.
She was suffocating in grief and loneliness. It was as if the soot from that mine had somehow seeped into her lungs. She felt like she couldn't breathe.
Madge Undersee, the girl who’s heart ached for Katniss.
She sat beside her at lunch when she returned to school, in a despondent silence, unsure how to help.
Until a brief moment outside the chain link-fence in the courtyard, Madge finally said the words she'd wanted to.
"I'm sorry, Katniss."
They stood hand in hand against the old, rusty fence. Katniss, who’d felt nothing recently but an aching numbness, felt a sense of camaraderie for the first time in ages.
She felt cared for; a feeling she’d lack in years to come.
Eventually they parted ways.
Katniss got little Prim from the elementary school down the path and they walked to their quiet, empty house. One without her fathers boots on the doorstep- A house that would forever have an empty seat at the dining table.
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An Azalea in Bloom
Madge Undersee, the girl whose family could afford food from merchants in town. She never signed up for tesserae, and she ate three meals a day.
Katniss Everdeen, the girl who had to hunt for food because she couldn't afford to buy it. She traded in The Hob and spent most of her days in the woods with her hunting partner, Gale. She frequently went to bed hungry.
During a particularly cold autumn, Katniss and Prim were in need of new winter clothes. Katniss’s winter shirts had holes from years of wear and fit to snug. Prim, who was now ten, had outgrown her jacket and long-sleeved shirts. Katniss traded turkeys for a bigger jacket for Prim, some textiles, and warm clothes.
She and her family went to bed hungry for the next few nights, and woke up with only katniss tubers and bland, dry tessera bread for breakfast.
At school, Madge and Katniss always partnered up for outdoor activities, and on this day their class was going for a walk. Katniss, who had a steady supply of food the last few months from hunting with Gale, was suddenly light headed.
It was funny how quickly someone could forget how to be hungry.
While walking on the muddy path, she wobbled a little, and her vision went dark for a moment, and she leaned on Madge for support.
“Katniss! Are you alright?” Madge asked.
“I’m fine, don’t worry," she replied.
Madge furrowed her eyebrows, “You look like you’re about to pass out. Are you sick?”
“I swear, I'm fine. I had to trade game for clothes the other day, so I am just a little dizzy,” Katniss said nonchalantly.
Madge sympathized with Katniss. She felt it was unfair that some people in District 12 had to choose between food and warmth.
When Madge needed new clothes, she could get them, and when she was hungry, there was always food.
She was warm and fed, and decided Katniss should be too.
~*~
Knock, knock, knock. A pair of knuckles rapped on the door. Mrs. Everdeen, who was in the kitchen filling the tea kettle, moved to answer it. Behind the door was a blonde, brown-eyed girl with a basket in her hands.
“Hello Mrs. Everdeen, is Katniss here?” she asked with a kind smile.
Katniss, who was in the living room drawing with Prim, turned her head at the familiar voice.
Mrs. Everdeen gave her a dazed look, “Oh! Yes she is…”
Katniss rushed to the door. “Madge… What are you doing here?” She looked down at the basket.
“I brought this for you,” Madge said as she lifted its lid, revealing cheese, apples, a loaf of bread, and some rolled up cloth. “You mentioned that you were low on food, so I wanted to help you out.”
Katniss stared at the goods before her. Madge Undersee walked this far through the icy cold to bring her this? It was kind, but Katniss couldn’t accept such favors.
She hated owing people - it was something that burdened you greatly when you traded in places like The Hob - so she was to never owe anyone.
Katniss shook her head, “Madge, I can’t accept this. I don’t have anything to trade-”
Madge cut her off.
“Katniss, it's a gift. You don’t need to give me anything in return. My family has plenty of food right now, and those are some clothes I don’t need anymore. They should fit you and your mom, and maybe even Prim. Please let me help you, it’s what friends do,” Madge smiled with the same warmth she always did, and Katniss couldn’t help but smile back.
She figured she and Madge were friends, though they’d never said it until now.
“Thank you, Madge.”
She passed her the basket, and placed her hand on her shoulder,
“Of course, Katniss."
That night, the Everdeens ate a real dinner for the first time in a few days.
Katniss fell asleep, fed and bundled warmly in her blankets with Prim, smiling to herself.
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Magnets
Madge Undersee, the girl who was lonely. Whose father was overwhelmed with Capitol demands and politics, and whose mother was bed bound with debilitating headaches and veins full of morphling.
She enjoyed every moment she spent with her friend Katniss Everdeen- though she didn’t get to be with her as much as she liked to.
Katniss had to provide for her family and care for her sister. After finishing her schoolwork, she usually didn’t have much time to spend with anyone who wasn’t Gale. But the moments Madge did spend with Katniss were lovely, and much less quiet than before.
Madge loved every lunch, paired project, courtyard conversation, and after school chat.
Katniss and Madge clicked despite their differences. Their differences were what made them interesting to one another. Katniss told Madge stories about her time in the woods, and she told Katniss all the interesting things she heard her dad say about the Capitol.
Madge had never seen the woods, but she always wanted to. She wasn’t allowed to go past the meadow. “It’s too risky,” her parents would tell her. So she asked Katniss for every detail,
What are the deer like? How does it feel to climb a tree? It must be freeing to be so far away from Twelve. Do the mockingjays really sing back? What do they sound like?
Katniss liked hearing Madge talk about Capitol news. She’d tell stories about the awkward dinners her family had with odd and pretentious people from the Capitol. They’d quietly make fun of Capitol citizens and their silly accents, and how they'd always grimace when they arrived in Twelve.
Madge told Katniss about the songs she played on piano, they’d exchange stories about their cats, and eventually, Madge talked about her mother.
The girls bonded over the loss of their parents. Katniss’s father died, and Madge’s mother, though still alive, was dead in a peculiar way, similar to the way Katniss’s own mother was- her spirit was dead.
Mrs. Undersee’s twin sister, Maysilee, was a Hunger Games tribute who died in the previous Quarter Quell. Following her death, Mrs. Undersee developed chronic migraines and depression that worsened each year. She slowly became more and more ill and distant as Madge grew up.
Mrs. Undersee’s sister died, Mrs. Everdeen’s husband died, and in turn pieces of them died too. Leaving Katniss and Madge orphans in a peculiar way. The way where your mother is right in front of you, but she's not really there at all. And half-dead mothers make wounded daughters.
Oh, how good it felt to be understood, Madge thought.
Katniss had Gale to understand her- Gale’s own father died in the same blast that claimed hers, but this was the first time Madge felt like someone truly understood her sorrows.
How odd that in a couple of years, Madge would understand just how her mother felt while watching Maysilee on that television screen.
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