Chapter 13 - Mocking The Mockingjay

Finnick stared towards as the gifts as they flooded into the cave. He was hoping all of this was worth Cecelia's life. He was hoping there would be a gift that would save Katniss, a gift that would redeem him for his mistakes.

Peeta scrambled through the gifts expecting to find Katniss' much needed medicine. Peeta found various food items ranging from apples, canned soup, bread loafs, and various canned goods. After the gifts stopped coming in Finnick began to assist Peeta with his frantic search. Finnick noticed he had received a trident, like in his last game, but he had no time to be nostalgic. Katniss was the mocking jay and her survival was in jeopardy. After tearing through gifts they finally found Katniss' medicine.

In the medicine contained a note.
"Please save my sister. Katniss please forgive Finnick it was an accident."
-With love, Prim

Peeta began applying the medicine over Katniss wounded, and feed her the liquid portion of the medicine.

For now there was little much Peeta and Finnick could do except wait for the medicine to take effect. In the meantime they began to munch on the food supplies they received. Specifically, Peeta noticed the bread loafs and began to reflect on how he first met Katniss outside his parent's shop starving alone in the rain. Then suddenly Katniss awakened...

Katniss awakened from her slumber and immediately tackled Finnick to the ground, just as Finnick was just about to bite into his fourth apple. Finnick feel to the ground, and Katniss mounted him. She began punching Finnick and then strangled him as she yelled, "You fucking bastard, you traitor, I trusted you. My intuition knew you were trobule. But once we learned about Scorpion, Haymitch told me right before the games that I needed to trust you and I did. How fucking naive was I to ignore my intuition. I better finish you before you kill me."

"Katniss calm down." Peeta said was he watched Katniss enraged.

Finnick then broke free of Katniss choke, performed a hip escape and reversed the full mount on Katniss. Finnick then reached for the trident and pointed the tip at Katniss' face.

Katniss reacted by grabbing on to it expecting Finnick to stab her, but felt no resistance from the trident.

Finnick responded, "If I wanted you dead, I'll would have killed you and Peeta while you were injured. Cecelia gave her life to save you, have some god damn respect!"

Finnick then dismounted Katniss, threw the trident on the floor, and said, "Sorry for the threatening gesture, it's a habit from being a career."

Katniss then calmed down and asked, "Where's Mags and Cecelia? What happened to them?"

Peeta moved towards Katniss and answered, "It's a long story..."

"Mags was dying from shock when I found her, and Cecelia went back to presumably confront Scorpion. Her death is the reason why we got so many sponsorship gifts and why your still alive." Finnick interrupted.

"There's a note from Prim, it came with your medicine." Peeta said as he handed over the note.

Katniss snagged it from Peeta's hand and read it. "Well if Prim says I should forgive you, then I will," Katniss responded.

The tension between Katniss and Finnick settled. Katniss began feasting on the food supplies, while Finnick and Peeta began organizing the mess of sponsorship gifts.

"Here are some bandages." Peeta said towards Katniss as he found them.

Katniss began applying the bandages around the wound, and as she was unrolling the bandages a note slipped out. She picked up the note and it read:

"May you enjoy your gifts while they lasted. And thanks for bankrupting the districts. With the amount of money they poured in to save you, they no longer have any money left to fund their rebellion."
- Cornelius Snow

"Shit!" Katniss reacted in frustration. Katniss shared the note with Finnick and Peeta, and they knew the gifts didn't come without a high price. The districts spent so much money on the gifts, so much that it jeopardized the funding efforts for the rebellion. Like always, Snow once again had the upperhand.

Peeta broken the silence and said, "Everyone gave up so much just to save us. We can't let their efforts go in vain. We need to escape and get out of here before Scorpion finishes us."

Katniss began contemplating what Peeta said, something didn't make sense. She expressed her confusion, "It doesn't make sense. By now Snow knows we are planning to escape, knows about the brewing rebellion. Why isn't he sending in the peacekeepers right now to stop the games. Second, I swore I saw Scorpion back there in the fog. If he wanted us dead we would already been dead. What the heck does Snow have planned for us?"

Finnick gave in his opinion on the matter, "Well my guess is the heart of the rebellion lies with us, by giving us the illusion of hope we can escape only to have Scorpion slaughter us would completely demoralized the rebellion. Now that the districts has invested so much into our survival what better message would it send that no matter how hard you fight, the Capitol cannot be defeated."

Katniss and Peeta took a moment to contemplate Finnick's reasoning.

Finnick continued speaking, "I don't mean to interrupt but we've been hiding in this cave for four days already. With Cecelia's death and these gifts, we have more of a purpose to escape alive. Finish up and let's get moving.

After taking time to sort through the gifts Katniss found she received a new bow and a quiver of arrows. She took a few practice shots at Snow's note she pinned to the wall of the cave to readjust to her injury. After making a couple of practice shots, she was ready to fight on.

Peeta finished up packing the supplies into the backpacks, and the party was ready to continue their journey. To transverse through the hills the trio equipped climbing gear, they received as a sponsorship gift, to assist them through the hills and into the abandoned city ruins.

Meanwhile the story of Quan Chi's gift

The trauma of witnessing Cashmere's severed head and spine being used as a shield then as a weapon to hit Enobaria made Brutus afraid, afraid to be a career, and afraid to confront Scorpion.

When Brutus saw the sky flooded with gifts he saw to check what he was going to get. Like the others he got the typical food supplies. He even got a sharp sword with a note that read:

"Show the Panem the might of District 2. Honor us by slaying Scorpion"
- District 2

Brutus reflected on the note wondering if he still had the warrior spirit to confront Scorpion. He did but his subconscious kept warning him fighting Scorpion would be suicide. Deep down Brutus wanted to demonstrate to the world that he was the best tribute to ever set foot in the games, and slaying the Capitol's tribute definitely would solidify his legacy. He considered if such a recognition was worth dying for, and it was. For Brutus the games was the bane of his existence, but Brutus is smart enough to know Scorpion's fighting skills is way above his own.

However, Brutus noticed one more gift headed towards his way. It landed and he opened it up eager to see what it was. It was a blue ninja mask much like Scorpion's, and it was felt very cold.

It also contained a note:

"If your willing to offer your soul for the power to defeat Scorpion,
then wear the mask."
- Quan Chi

For Brutus the eternal glory off Scorpion's slayer was worth more than life itself. It was worth his soul. Brutus put on the mask and felt sorcery flow through his body. He saw visions of the Lin kuei. His visions then focused in on one particular warrior with the power to freeze. Brutus' visions revealed to him he too was a distant descendent of the cryomancers, and lost within his blood contained the power to freeze. Through the sorcery bestowed by the mask, Brutus had acquired the power of Sub-zero.