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Story [Hunger Games] A Whole Lot of Medication - Gale angst, watching Katniss pick Peeta hurts

Discussion in 'Non Star Wars Fan Fiction' started by karebear214, Dec 3, 2011.

  1. karebear214

    karebear214 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 7, 2002
    Title: A Whole Lot of Medication
    Author: karebear
    Rating: T (language toned down for this site, just in case)
    Characters: Gale
    Standard Disclaimer (Hunger Games): The Hunger Games trilogy was written by and belongs to the brilliant Suzanne Collins. I?m just borrowing the characters and world for a short while.
    Summary/Notes: Quick one-shot that nagged at me and wouldn?t listen to me telling it to shut up and go away. As usual. Basically, proof yet again that letting me get stuck in traffic with the radio on is just dangerous.




    [i]?If you ever leave me, baby,
    Leave some morphine at my door
    ?Cuz it would take a whole lot of medication to realize
    What we used to have,
    We don?t have it anymore?[/i]
    - Bruno Mars, ?It Will Rain?


    ?I almost died, Prim. I [i]should have[/i] died.?

    The thought of Katniss taking that lash for him [i]hurts[/i], a different and deeper kind of pain than the physical agony the morphling only dulls. It still hurts plenty, even under the drugs. He can?t imagine how much worse it would be without them.

    But the medication makes him sleepy. Even when he?s awake his thoughts are slow and slippery.

    For someone who relies on hyper-alert senses and quick wits as a matter of daily survival, this is a new kind of torture. And he [i]can?t move[/i] either, both because Prim won?t let him and because when he tries, he realizes that she?s [i]right[/i]. The simplest things, like sitting up, cause the wounds to rip open again, pouring sticky blood over his skin, sending sharp pain like licking tongues of fire through his nerves, even with the painkillers pumping through his system. [i]Going anywhere[/i] is out of the question.

    Gale had liked to think he was a pretty tough guy, certainly able to handle risk and pain far better than a Town kid whose biggest talent is making fancy cakes nobody could actually afford to eat. His opinion of his own toughness has been drastically revised. Because right now he pretty much feels like weeping like a little girl. He [i]doesn?t[/i], he still has [i]some[/i] dignity. Or maybe he?s just spending so much energy on [i]hurting[/i] that there?s nothing left over for crying.

    If anybody asks, he?ll stick with the ?dignity? answer.

    It?s been a couple of days, enough that he?s conscious more often than not, able to do nothing but reflect on his own helplessness. He thinks this is the real point of the punishment. Not pain, but powerlessness.

    The effects of the morphling are starting to fade. They never had that much anyway, and Prim told him they didn?t want to risk getting him addicted or anything stupid like that.

    The pain isn?t fading.

    He tries to ride it out and thinks that if powerlessness is the real point of the punishment it really isn?t fair for it to [i]also[/i] hurt this much. They could pick one or the other. Jerks. Lock him up for a little while or shoot him with a taser or something else that would hurt a hell of a lot for a brief time but then [i]stop[/i]. This slow healing process that makes it feel almost like he?s taking a few more lashes every time he tries to do something more substantial than [i]breathing[/i] seems pretty excessive.

    Now he?s thinking about pain again. Damn.

    His mind runs in agonizing cycles, too awake because he?s slept too much in the past hours (if a drug-induced coma can really be called sleep). Helplessness. Pain. Guilt. Repeat.

    A spiral that won?t [i]ever[/i] end because even when he?s able to move again, where can he go? Back to the mines, trapped underground, a slave to the Capitol because it?s the only way to feed his family now. There?s no going back over the fence for him, not unless he wants to die. [i]Does he?[/i]

    This torture is his one warning.

    As he spins through the cycle, he begins to seriously wish he [i]didn?t get[/i] a warning. They should have killed him. Shot him, preferably, but if they did just keep going with the lashes until he bled out at least he wouldn?t have had to wake up and deal with... [i]this.[/i]

    Katniss stepped in to save
     
  2. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    That's so sad! Poor Gale :( For both the physical and emotional agony :(
     
  3. Miana Kenobi

    Miana Kenobi Admin Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2000
    GALE!!! :( :(


    Great job!!