Author's Notes~

And as some might have noticed, this was posted again from yesterday. I wanted to go back and tweak things up a little better before I continued. ^^

Yes, this is yet another rewrite of Mockingjay. I know there are others out there, and I'm giving my own shot at it. Why? Well I absolutely hated Mockingjay. There was very little I was pleased with about it. I'll tell you as we go along. :) So from this point onward, unless in author's notes, Mockingjay doesn't exist. It never did. Erase all the character deaths, erase the ending, and enjoy this story.

Disclaimer: I don't usually do one of these, but I will make this clear: You guys know what characters belong to Collins, so if you see characters you don't recognize from the books, they are mine. You'll meet a couple of them in this chapter. :)

Rise From Ashes

Chapter One

A fire flickered on a pile of wood, the only light and heat source that can be provided. There were many of them throughout the clearing to provide warmth and cooked food. There were small makeshift tents which some people tried to make as cozy as they could. It was all they had.

District 12 was gone; blown away by the Capitol by the mere word of President Snow. The thought of one man holding that much power was disturbing to Katniss along with the rest of the survivors of District 12. Now it was a struggle to get by, but thankfully hunting for food and being out in the wilderness wasn't completely foreign to Katniss or Gale. They and a few others have been able to provide for the district survivors.

Katniss toyed with the fire, poking a stick absently at the wood with her mind elsewhere.

"Katniss…?"

Katniss didn't respond for a moment, but finally turned her head to find Madge crouching beside her with some cooked rabbit meat on a wooden tray, "You need to eat sometime, Katniss."

Katniss bit her lip, eying the food. She was hungry, her stomach growled for it, but she simply couldn't bring herself to eat anything, "I can't, Madge…" she replied, "There's just…"

"Too much to worry about?" frowned Madge, setting the food aside and hugging her knees with one arm, "I know. You're not alone."

Madge had survived the bombing, the only one among her family to have done so to Madge's sorrow. But that wasn't the only cost Madge had to pay.

Madge had now only one arm. One of her arms had been severely injured after a piece of burning wood had lodged into her upper arm during the attack, or so Katniss had heard, and it had to be amputated. Now one of her sleeves hung limp on one side, hiding her bandaged curve where her arm used to be connected.

After a long moment, Katniss responded in a near-cracked voice, "He has them Madge…He has them…Peeta, Johanna….Cinna if they hadn't killed him already..." her eyes now were brimming with tears, though she allowed none to fall, "Or what of Portia? Or my prep team…? Or…or anybody that has been associated with me?"

"Stop that," Madge said with her eyes firmly locked on Katniss, "Stop saying things like that. You think speaking those things are going to lead us to victory?"

"Victory…" Katniss growled the word, "Look at where we are Madge, look at where the Capitol is. Do you think this," she gestured to the camp where the wounded groaned in pain and others slowly died, "Will win against the Capitol?"

"Are you giving up?" Madge tested in a serious tone.

"Why shouldn't we?"

"What about Prim?"

At the mention of her sister, Katniss paused, opening her mouth to speak though she failed to do so.

Madge continued, "You joined the Hunger Games for her sake. You were the spark of this rebellion from that point onward. And it was because you loved your sister, you wanted to protect her. Are you going to give up on her now? Are you going to give up on all of us?"

Katniss took in what Madge was saying, looking away from her friend and back at the flames. "You're right…of course you're right…." She murmured.

"Remember that mockingjay pin I gave you? Don't forget it," Madge smiled, rising to her feet, "You're our Mockingjay, you defied the Capitol and now other districts are looking to you. They have hope. Does their Mockingjay still have hope?"

She offered her hand.

Katniss stared at Madge's hand, slowly bringing her gaze up to Madge's face. A faint smile slowly spread across her face, "No," she took Madge's hand, "I'm only just getting started."

"That's the spirit." Madge spoke as she pulled Katniss to her feet. She then handed her the rabbit, "Now eat, and be quick. Winslet wants to speak with us."

Amber Winslet is one of the rebel leaders undercover in the Capitol. It had been her and a team who were able to hijack one of the Capitol's hovercrafts just after the start of the Quarter Quell. It wasn't the first time they had done this, meaning they had other crafts in their possession.

Katniss quickly ate up the rabbit. It was only after she took the first bite did she realize how hungry she truly was. After her meal, she followed Madge to one of the larger tents. Inside was Winslet. She wasn't a very tall woman, but rather short with pale blonde hair that was tied back in a tight bun save a couple of wavy strands that hung down the side of her face. Her eyes were a striking green that could be both cold and welcoming as Katniss had discovered.

She smiled in greeting to Katniss as she entered, "Evening Katniss, looks like you finally gave into your stomach, did you?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Madge indicating to the corner of her mouth. Katniss wiped the stray scrap of meet away, embarrassed by her messy eating though Winslet seemed not to mind.

There were only two other people on the room. One of them was Luke Hughes, a much taller man who acted as Winslet's right hand man. He was lean and had slick black hair and pale blue eyes. There was a scar running down the side of his face which Katniss assumed he had received earlier in the rebellion. The other man, to Katniss's disappointment, was Haymitch. She had yet to forgive him for keeping these important secrets from her, and he had yet to forgive her for scratching him across the face. But Katniss refused to have regret for that.

He deserved it…. She thought. I have as much right to know these things as he does. I'm just as involved!

Her mentor made no eye contact with her, but Katniss preferred it that way.

"So…" Katniss began to divert the attention from her clumsy eating, "You needed something?" she said to Winslet.

"I needed to confirm our plan of action. I apologize for this late notice, but we'll be heading for the Capitol tomorrow; the day after at the latest." Winslet announced, meeting the eyes of the other four people in the room.

"Well why such late notice?" questioned Madge with a frown.

"The bombing was only mere days ago. Katniss just arrived the other day; I'd rather give time to recover and not have to worry about anything else." Winslet explained, "Though, we won't bring everybody. We may have safe house in the Capitol, but 'safe' only goes so far. For now people will be safe here so long as the Capitol believes that District Twelve is gone."

"And when they find out?" Katniss challenged her worry for her mother and Prim rising from the pits of her stomach.

"Then they're no safer than being at the Capitol are they?"

Winslet's words stung, but they were truth.

"But I wouldn't worry too much," Hughes then assured, "There are other uprisings in the other districts President Snow will be worrying about. Why bother with possible survivors? Wounded and unable ones nonetheless who aren't a threat?"

"Because he knows that Katniss is alive," Haymitch pitched in with a gruff voice, "And he knows she'll be near District Twelve. That's why he'll bother with us."

"You're suggesting a bombing then, Abernathy?" Winslet looked over to Haymitch with an arched eyebrow.

"I wouldn't rule out the possibility." Haymitch responded.

"So as long as people are near District Twelve, they're in danger…" Hughes realized with a frown, "Then we should move them away from here."

"But how can that are done when so many are wounded or dying?" Madge cut in, her eyes widening slightly.

"Enough already hush!" Winslet commanded, raising her hands just slightly to regain everybody's attention, "We're worrying about too many things at once. We will have everybody moved away from the site I assure you. It'll take time with the wounded, but it will be done. President Snow won't act right away," her eyes strayed to Katniss, "He's going to want to catch your death on camera and show it off to the districts. And he'll likely try to get it on a futile attempt battling against the Capitol."

"So he'll wait for us to make the first move…" Katniss said, thinking this over, "But…that's not going to last long. He'll still take us all out sooner or later because he knows he has to."

"But we have time at least. We'll get a move on transporting everybody. It won't be easy, but it'll be made easier with one of the hijacked hovercrafts. We'll get one here as soon as we can." She promised.

Getting the crafts to one place from another was no easy task. They couldn't just leave a straight trail to be followed. Nobody knows who could be watching or who can be trailing. Therefore a series of complicated routes of unnecessary detours were mapped out for precaution. It was a trade off of time for safety.

"Get some sleep," ordered Winslet with a tired sigh, rubbing the back of her neck, "We'll need energy for tomorrow; I plan on leaving tomorrow evening."

Everyone dispersed from the tent after that. Madge walked with Katniss back to the tent. Madge was staying with Katniss and her family since she now had none of her own. Katniss's mother had been insistent and Prim had been eager which made Madge's refusal impossible.

Back at the tent, Gale was there to greet them with a recently killed deer he had skinned and ready to be cooked. Even though Katniss recently ate the rabbit given to her by Madge, her stomach gladly accepted it regardless. They ate the deer together, the five of them, sharing occasional laughs and minor words of exchange. It was one of the few, possibly first, peaceful nights Katniss had in a long while. They needed it, they needed a relaxed night. Because from here on out it was only going to get worse.

"Winslet said only a few were coming," Katniss said rather suddenly towards the end of the meal, looking up at everybody else. "Tomorrow…who is coming?"

"They're not leaving me out," Gale grinned, casually sticking a small piece of bone in his teeth. Katniss was sure it would choke him one of these days, but yet he lives.

Katniss smiled at her long-time friend, relieved to know he'll be making this journey with her. She looked to Madge, "What about you, Madge?"

Madge shook her head, "Nah, I'll be staying here. I'll be of much more use, Winslet says." She smiled, "And she's probably right. I mean, I can't be going to the Capitol." She said, nodding to her missing arm.

"Well not with a recent wound like that." Katniss said, hoping Madge wouldn't start getting doubts about herself with her new permanent injury.

Madge smiled at Katniss, "I think it'll just be you, Gale and Haymitch,"

Katniss mentally groaned at the mention of Haymitch, but she nodded, "Alright…she certainly meant a few."

Silence filled the space after that. Soon after that Gale took his leave, bidding goodbye before leaving to rejoin his own family. Katniss set up her sleeping bag next to Madge's after the table had been removed to make room for them. On her others side was Prim.

The fire was put out, and all the light then came from the moon which shone through the thin material of the tent. Katniss remained awake, staring upwards into space with Madge and Prim on each side of her, sleeping soundly. To be in between two familiar people whom she was close to brought comfort to Katniss. It managed to put her at ease, at least a little.

Finally she began to drift off, her eyes slowly coming to a close. All worries then and there drained from her and she fell into what would be her last peaceful sleep for a long, treacherous time.

Author's Notes~

Yes, no District 13 here. As interesting as it was in the book, I wasn't sure I was fond of them suddenly being in this whole society that's been there this whole time. To me, it felt flat and not very exciting that they were in a secured place capable of defending themselves and having easy access to all those weapons and technologies. For this revision, I'm going for more of an inside job because I feel it puts the characters more into the action and raises excitment.

And yes, Madge is alive. I'm not one who likes to take characters and simply toss them into graves with little attention. I understand that her dying is more logical, but I wanted to trade in logic for storytelling and the use of Madge's character.

I did write this in third person instead of first. Third person is my personal preference to write in, and in my opinion it's better when it comes to storytelling. Besides, I drabble too often when I write in first. :P

And a question: Are they called hovercrafts in the book? I thought they were, but I couldn't recall...(Not mentioning my laziness to bother looking it up...-twiddles fingers-) Also, Capitol is spelled with an 'o' correct? I think that is how it is in the books...-is again too lazy to check- Aren't I just a lovely author? Making my readers tell me these things instead of looking them up? ;)

Reviews are loved~ :) Though, I know people are absolutely too lazy to review -is guilty- but they really help when it comes to getting updates. ;) And getting feedback on what I'm doing good on or what I need improving on is really helpful~ Thanks!