fic: the insanity of others
title: the insanity of others
fandom: hunger games
prompt: insanity
medium: fic
rating: pg - 13
warnings: spoilers for all three books, mentions of death, cannibalism, insanity, cruelty and alcoholism.
summary: haymitch abernathy finds himself questioning the sanity of himself and others.
Haymitch Abernathy finds it strange that so few people appear to have gone mad during or after the Hunger Games. By no means does he count himself as perfectly sane. There are times when he does question his sanity.
When he cannot let go of a bottle, and when he cannot stop pouring the burning alcohol down his throat even as he can feel the guilt grow stronger and stronger. When he readily sacrificed the admittedly kinder soul Peeta and spent the money on someone he thought a vicious survivor. When Maysilee could not cry out in pain as the long beaks of the bird pierced her throat. When he felt the swing of his knife cut through the globe of an eye. When he learned that his mother and little brother had been killed. When he used to catch himself thinking this world could be more than an empty haze of horrid memories to be pushed behind crystal glasses filled with ice and fuel. When he cannot feel hope even though all is supposedly well.
Haymitch does count himself as the victim of madness at times.
Looking back, he wonders who else attracted the murder-game crazies. Some cases were more obvious than others. The morphling mentors from District Six, who would more often simply stare at a ceiling and marvel at nothing than pay attention to their tributes. Haymitch did like them, and he supposes the drug could not have maybe them separate from reality the way insanity would, as they were key in saving it before they passed.
Maybe that is not an example of insanity.
Titus - what was his name - now that was a prime example of someone who has been chewed up by the cruel game and spit out having lost all sanity and humanity. Haymitch can still remember watching in shock as he tore out the intestines of a fellow tribute and shoved them into his greedy mouth. Had he not been numbed so many years ago, it would still give him shivers.
He thinks of poor Annie Cresta, with her absent eyes and unnerving laughter at inappropriate times. A woman he always privately thought of as someone too fragile, too kind and too weak to survive the Hunger Games. Although, when he does think of her, it is with a certain kind of fondness. It speaks for her characters when she cannot come out of the arena with her mind intact. No one with a proper heart and soul should. Sometimes, he even wonders if Odair was madder than she for loving her through everything they had been through, but not often. One should not think ill of the dead.
Of course, as she always does, Katniss Everdeen crosses his mind when he ponders insanity. There was no question why they would have chosen to refer to her as the girl on fire. The fiercest of survival instincts would always burn in her eyes brighter than any flame. More often than not, he would believe there was something not quite right in the head of that one. He wonders why she tried so very hard to survive at times when it seemed she would just be happier to give up and die. When Peeta awoke and attacked her. When her sister Primrose died. When the last tribute of the last Hunger Games was killed anyway.
The crazies are funny, Haymitch muses and takes another drink of whiskey.
fandom: hunger games
prompt: insanity
medium: fic
rating: pg - 13
warnings: spoilers for all three books, mentions of death, cannibalism, insanity, cruelty and alcoholism.
summary: haymitch abernathy finds himself questioning the sanity of himself and others.
Haymitch Abernathy finds it strange that so few people appear to have gone mad during or after the Hunger Games. By no means does he count himself as perfectly sane. There are times when he does question his sanity.
When he cannot let go of a bottle, and when he cannot stop pouring the burning alcohol down his throat even as he can feel the guilt grow stronger and stronger. When he readily sacrificed the admittedly kinder soul Peeta and spent the money on someone he thought a vicious survivor. When Maysilee could not cry out in pain as the long beaks of the bird pierced her throat. When he felt the swing of his knife cut through the globe of an eye. When he learned that his mother and little brother had been killed. When he used to catch himself thinking this world could be more than an empty haze of horrid memories to be pushed behind crystal glasses filled with ice and fuel. When he cannot feel hope even though all is supposedly well.
Haymitch does count himself as the victim of madness at times.
Looking back, he wonders who else attracted the murder-game crazies. Some cases were more obvious than others. The morphling mentors from District Six, who would more often simply stare at a ceiling and marvel at nothing than pay attention to their tributes. Haymitch did like them, and he supposes the drug could not have maybe them separate from reality the way insanity would, as they were key in saving it before they passed.
Maybe that is not an example of insanity.
Titus - what was his name - now that was a prime example of someone who has been chewed up by the cruel game and spit out having lost all sanity and humanity. Haymitch can still remember watching in shock as he tore out the intestines of a fellow tribute and shoved them into his greedy mouth. Had he not been numbed so many years ago, it would still give him shivers.
He thinks of poor Annie Cresta, with her absent eyes and unnerving laughter at inappropriate times. A woman he always privately thought of as someone too fragile, too kind and too weak to survive the Hunger Games. Although, when he does think of her, it is with a certain kind of fondness. It speaks for her characters when she cannot come out of the arena with her mind intact. No one with a proper heart and soul should. Sometimes, he even wonders if Odair was madder than she for loving her through everything they had been through, but not often. One should not think ill of the dead.
Of course, as she always does, Katniss Everdeen crosses his mind when he ponders insanity. There was no question why they would have chosen to refer to her as the girl on fire. The fiercest of survival instincts would always burn in her eyes brighter than any flame. More often than not, he would believe there was something not quite right in the head of that one. He wonders why she tried so very hard to survive at times when it seemed she would just be happier to give up and die. When Peeta awoke and attacked her. When her sister Primrose died. When the last tribute of the last Hunger Games was killed anyway.
The crazies are funny, Haymitch muses and takes another drink of whiskey.