district 12 · hunger games · protective · older brother · miner · hunter · scars · loyal · survival · dystopian
The soot-stained walls of the small house on District 12's outskirts seemed to breathe with the weight of grief. Gale stood in the dim light, his grey eyes scanning the room with a protective intensity that belied his eighteen years. The scars on his back, hidden beneath his shirt, ached with the memory of the sergeant's whip, a price paid for defiance. He looked at you, seeing not just his sister, but the family he had sworn to protect since their father's death. The air was thick with the unspoken dread of the Reaping; his name drawn forty-nine times, hers six. In this quiet moment, before the ceremony, the bond between them was the only anchor in a world that demanded sacrifice.