Disclaimer: The Hunger Games Trilogy is property of Suzanne Collins. This is a parody fanwork by fans for fans. No money was made off of the creation of this fanwork.

To the Sky
by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre

oOo

I am getting sick and tired of this blasted cold. If I never see another snowbank it will be too soon. I don't know what's possessed me to leave the comforts of civilization in the middle of winter. Why did I think this was a good idea?

Oh yes. Freedom. The freedom to be who I want to be how I want to be when I want to be. That's why we left. We were inspired by the stories coming out of District Twelve about a boy who fled to freedom and we ran with it. Literally.

I lift my mug to my lips and blow on it slightly, letting the warmth seep into my hands. Winter was the best time to leave, the only time. I glance at what's left of my traveling group and smile at Messalla, Castor, and Pollux. We couldn't leave from District Twelve as much as we wanted to. There were too many obstacles and too many Peacekeepers to make our escape possible. So we settled on the next best place: District Eight, home of this year's Hunger Games Victor.

We were lucky to be assigned to cover her Victory Tour and I'm grateful to the Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee for making it possible.

I'm also grateful to Messalla for filching one of the few detailed maps of Panem before we left. The government keeps all maps on a need-to-know basis and maps detailing where the districts are, and more importantly, where the former District Thirteen is, are rarer still. I didn't ask him where he got it from. I don't want to know. In case we're caught, it's safer that way.

I look over at the rest of our group with a critical eye. I don't think Steenie is going to make it. After the loss of her daughter, Bonnie, and her husband, Roddy, she just hasn't been the same. The two fell through the ice over a frozen river a few days ago and were swept away before anyone could do anything. I wish Twill and her husband Corduroy were here to comfort her. They'd been such good travel companions and I'd even started to like them quite a bit, but losing them to a series of Capitol traps around District Twelve was a hard blow.

I smile at two of the three former Peacekeepers in our group. Thorn and her lover Nicola are quite adorable together. Back in the districts, their relationship would have been taboo, not only because they're actively serving Peacekeepers, but because homosexual relationships are forbidden out in the districts. The Capitol, in its typical hypocritical way, doesn't force conformity in its citizens' sex lives like they do out in the districts.

Or should I say most of its citizens. There's still one group in the Capitol who have even fewer rights: the avoxes. It is forbidden for avoxes to have relationships with non-avoxes. In fact, all avoxes are forbidden to have relationships or even family ties with anyone, so seeing Castor and his red-haired love Lavinia together is most heartening. We were lucky she was stationed aboard the Victory Train. She's been quite invaluable along this trip, having previously escaped the Capitol once before.

Only our third former Peacekeeper, Nicola and Thorn's former commanding officer Valant, seems as discontent as I. Unlike the rest of our group, he hadn't intended to run away. Instead, he'd been given no other choice. He stumbled upon our escape and while we planned to leave him behind, he begged us to take him with us, knowing that he'd be blamed for our deception.

Gulping my now tepid tea down, I set my cup down to glance at Messalla's map, trying to pinpoint our location. If I'm right, we need to pick up our pace. We have to get to the crossing point between those large lakes while the rivers are still frozen. It's just hard, with Steenie so out of it and our dwindling supplies, to keep up a steady pace. Even our Peacekeepers' weapons are out of ammunition, so we can't shoot something and eat it.

We're going to need a miracle to make it.

"Who in the hell are you? Identify yourselves."

That is not a miracle.

I whirl and see a tall black-haired heavily-bearded man with a younger version standing next to him. Both of them are dressed in leather clothing and both of them are pointing arrows at our group.

Oh fuck.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Pollux motioning frantically at Castor, but I'm unable to make out what they're saying.

None of us dare speak. Who are these people? What are they doing out here? Are they going to kill us?

"I said, who in the hell are you?" the bearded man demands again. "What in the fuck are you Peacekeepers doing out here?"

"I'm not a Peacekeeper," I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.

The man's eyes narrow. "Then why are you dressed like one?"

"It's warm, and we were escaping from Eight. It was the best option we had."

"You're from Eight?" he asks in a suspicious tone. "You don't sound like you're from Eight."

"Well, no," I admit. "I'm from the Capitol originally. Um, she's from Eight." I point at Steenie, who is still staring blankly at our fire.

The man's eyes flick to Steenie and then back to me. "She doesn't look in very good shape."

"No, she's not. But that's not our fault!" I explain quickly before the man can blame Steenie's condition on the rest of us. "She lost her daughter and husband recently when they fell into a river, and her other friends were taken out by a mutt trap at one of the rivers we crossed."

"Mutts? What kind of mutts? A bear? Tracker jackers?" the miniature version of the man pipes up. I can see now that he's barely Reaping age. Not that his age matters; like many of the tributes in the Hunger Games, he still is lethal.

"Actually, no," I answer the boy's question, keeping my eyes locked on their weapons. "It was some kind of giant land bird that had a stinger tail. There was a whole flock of them and Twill got stung and her husband wouldn't leave her."

"Hm," the older one grunts. "So you say."

"You can ask any of us!" I spread my arms toward the rest of my group.

Beside me I see Lavinia get to her feet. Her eyes are narrowed and she makes a 'who are you?' motion towards the man. She points to her eyes and points to him. "I've seen you before," she signals.

She's seen him before? But how? Where? He's definitely not from the Capitol, his voice gives that away. In fact, if I had to guess I'd say he was from District Twelve.

District Twelve!

My eyes widen and I look back at the taller man, trying to picture him without his beard. He looks somewhat familiar, but it's the boy standing next to him that helps me make the connection.

"You're Sw-"

"Don't you dare," the man growls before I can finish.

The boy sniggers.

The man glares at him. "You tell anyone my full name and I'll tell Prim yours."

The boy shakes his head. "Fine, fine. They won't hear it from me." He pauses before adding, "Asshole."

"Um, you're… that boy… Hawthorne, from District Twelve. The one who was Reaped first this year." I'm unsure what to call him since I can't say his first name.

The older Hawthorne freezes, then lets out a loud breath. "It looks like we were right to run."

Lavinia still keeps signing and Castor translates for her. "I recognize you, I recognize you. You were there, that day in the woods."

The man takes a closer look and nods his head. "I recognize you too." He sighs. "Sorry about that. Katniss and me, we couldn't risk getting caught. We weren't supposed to be out there."

She shakes her head and signs, "It's okay, you would've just gotten caught too. I'm glad you weren't."

"Why isn't she saying anything?" the boy pipes up. "Why is she moving her hands like that?"

"She's an avox. They can't talk," I reply.

He tilts his head like a confused puppy. "What's an avox?"

Pollux stands up, moving closer to the young boy, and opens his mouth, showing his lack of tongue.

Castor comes up to stand next to Lavinia. He puts his arm around her. "It's torture. The Capitol cuts out the tongues and removes other things," he says, glancing at Pollux, "from those people who they say have done something wrong, turning them into slaves. It's monstrous and they've done it to two people I love."

"That's horrible!" the boy says. "Gale, we gotta help them!"

"Yes please, Mr. Hawthorne. You're an inspiration to all of us." He frowns so I change my tack. "I mean, any help you could give us would be most appreciated." I turn on my charm. I'm not too proud to beg for help. Steenie is in a bad way and all of us are hungry. And despite looking very unkempt, both males appear to be in good health.

"Give us your weapons," Gale Hawthorne demands.

Castor, Messalla, Pollux, Lavinia, and myself all quickly hand over our knives. We don't bother with Steenie, since she doesn't have anything. We took her knife away from her after her family died so she couldn't kill herself in her grief. The three former Peacekeepers exchange a glance. Yes, their guns are empty, but that doesn't mean they're willing to let go of the comfort of a weapon.

Unsurprisingly, Nicola is the first to surrender her gun and knife, followed by Thorn. It takes the rest of us glaring at Valant to make him surrender his to the boy.

"Rory, you run ahead with those," the man orders. "Tell everyone what we've found and what we're bringing back to the cave.

The boy, Rory, nods his head and dashes off.

Gale turns back to us. "Come on, pack up your shit." He narrows his eyes. "And you better be on your best behavior."

"Or what, you'll kill us?" I snark back before I can stop myself.

"Not me." He smirks. "I'm the least of your worries."

oOo

The man, Gale Hawthorne, leads us out of the clearing through the woods a couple miles to a cave. I watch him move aside a well-camouflaged makeshift door and motion for us to enter. We have to shuffle in single-file, which I'm guessing is deliberate, because as soon as I enter the space, I see a small, visibly pregnant, young woman pointing a bow and arrow at me. Beside her is a young bearded blond man holding a spear like he knows how to use it.

There are three other people in the cave. One is the boy, Rory, who brought back our weapons, which I don't see anywhere, although I suspect they might be in one of the side rooms to this main chamber. There's a young girl about the same age as Rory with blond hair braided into two plaits, and an older woman, probably the two blonds' mother, who is the only one who isn't holding some kind of weapon in her hands.

Instead, she smiles at us and says, "So Rory mentioned that you all escaped from Eight recently. Welcome. I'm sure that we'd be happy to help other refugees."

The pregnant girl grunts, refusing to remove her eyes or her arrow from our group.

I can see what Gale Hawthorne meant when he said that he was the least of our worries. This girl is positively frightening despite her diminutive size and pregnant status.

The man himself comes in behind all of us and slides the makeshift door shut, sealing us in. It feels ominously like the closing of a jail cell. We have no place to run and no place to hide.

"Why'd you bring them back here, Gale?" the pregnant woman asks, her voice hard. "They're Peacekeepers."

The blond man shakes his head. "Actually, Katniss, I don't think they all are. Those two definitely are," he says, pointing at Thorn and Valant, "and I wouldn't be surprised if a couple others are, but I don't think the whole group is."

"We're not," I say. I'm getting weary of having to explain myself. "We're escapees. We're going to Thirteen."

"Thirteen doesn't exist," the woman, Katniss, growls. "It was destroyed, remember? The Capitol did that. There is no Thirteen."

I shake my head. "Thirteen was bombed, yes. But it survived, went into hiding. It's got nukes, it's been underground, in a standoff with the Capitol for over seventy five years."

"You mean they've been just sitting there waiting, watching the rest of the districts suffer, letting the Games happen?" She doesn't sound impressed or pleased that Thirteen's managed to throw off the Capitol's noose.

"They didn't have a choice! The Capitol outnumbers them. The only thing keeping them alive is the threat of reprisal if the Capitol were to attack."

The girl, Katniss, snorts.

This conversation isn't going anywhere and it'd be foolish to continue. I need to find a new topic, a safer one. "I should probably introduce myself," I say, realizing that I've been horribly rude. "My name's Cressida Powers and these are my compatriots, Pollux and Castor Allison and Castor's girlfriend, Lavinia Schrader." I notice that both Katniss and Lavinia seem to recognize each other. I'm guessing she's who Gale was referring to being with him when Lavinia was captured a couple of years ago. "This is Messalla Locke and Steenie Lowell." I motion to the three Peacekeepers. "And these are Thorn Montague, Nicola Capulet, and Valant Khan." I attempt to curtsey in my Peacekeeper uniform. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," the older woman says, nodding her head. "I'm Violet Everdeen and these are my daughters, Katniss and Prim. You've already met one of my daughter's husbands, Gale Hawthorne, and his brother Rory. And this is my daughter's other husband, Peeta Mellark."

My eyes widen at the group's names. I've heard of all of them. They're all famous in the rebellion circles. "Oh my goodness! You're the Mockingjays! You're the Mockingjays Flying Free!"

"...What?"

oOo

A few minutes later, after we've been stripped of our outerwear and given clean dry clothing, we're seated around the main fire with steaming bowls of some kind of fish and bean stew in our hands. It's the best food I can remember having. Even Steenie has roused herself enough to eat.

Each of us also has cups of soothing herbal tea beside us. A few feet away, Violet Everdeen is examining one of Nicola's deeper cuts.

The weapons have been put away, although I still sense that we're not entirely welcome here, specifically by the pregnant woman Katniss.

"So what was this about mockingjays?" she demands.

I motion to the golden pin on her shirt. "After Sw-"

"It's Gale," the man himself interrupts me.

I nod my head in acquiescence. "Gale. After Gale was Reaped, they searched Twelve for him. There'd been a series of vandalism seen all throughout Twelve prior, too, but when they searched your house, Miss Everdeen, they found your stencils and other contraband supplies." I pause, a bit dramatically, I admit. "And can I say that your symbols were an inspiration to us all?"

She looks at me blankly. "What symbols?"

"Why the mockingjay symbol, of course! Why it lit a fire within me, if you don't mind me being poetic, and the only reason why we're here is because of you." I open my hands to encompass the whole group. "Because of all of you! Peeta Mellark was the first, you know. The first Mockingjay to fly free. And then, at the Reaping, the discovery that Gale had taken his family and escaped before being called, why it was so inspiring! And to top it off, all the bravery it took to paint those mockingjays all over Twelve, it's just an inspiration to all of us rebels!"

"What?"

Peeta breaks down into peal upon peal of laughter. "Well that's one way to tell it. I like her version better. The truth's just so much more boring."

I feel my forehead wrinkle in confusion. "You mean that isn't what happened?"

"No, of course not!" Katniss exclaims. "What idiot paints rebellion symbols when they're about to run away? The last thing we wanted was anybody to notice we were missing!" She takes a breath, calming herself down. She strokes absently at her rounded belly as she thinks back. "We all left at the same time. We didn't plan on taking Peeta with us, it just kind of… happened."

Peeta wraps an arm around her. "It's okay. It all worked out."

Gale slips his arm around the other side of his wife. "Yeah. Everything's good now." He places his hand on her stomach. "We're good."

"Oh, that's just so beautiful. You're all together! It's like a movie!"

I hear Gale mutter something under his breath but I'm not able to catch what. Peeta's mouth flickers upward in a grin while Katniss sighs. "I don't want to be in a movie. I just want to live my life."

"Of course you do! We all want to live our lives. I mean, Castor and Lavinia here wouldn't be able to be together if they were back in the Capitol. Neither would Thorn and Nicola. And even I have a reason to seek freedom. Just because I'm not born to one of the elite means I've reached the top of where I can go. I can be an assistant but I can never be a director, and it's my dream to direct." Back in the Capitol only the moneyed elite are allowed to reach that status and the only way to break through the glass ceiling is to buy your way into a marriage of convenience. There's a whole underground market of the younger sons and daughters of the elite marrying people for money and then quietly divorcing a few years later. I'd started saving up for that, but I hadn't actually started the search for a status spouse.

"What made you set off in winter?" Mrs. Everdeen asks, breaking into my reverie.

"It's impossible to get to Thirteen otherwise," Messalla answers. "No matter how you go, you have to cross some major rivers to get there or you have to go around some huge bodies of water through some pretty inhospitable wilderness if you're coming in from the west. We don't have boats and we can't swim that far, so the safest time to cross is when the rivers and lakes are covered in ice."

"You're lucky that the winter's been pretty cold. It should stay frozen for another month," she tells him. "But you're going to want to cross soon, the rivers will probably start to break up in March."

"Oh you're right!" I say. "It's just been such slow going and it's so very hard to keep up the energy to travel very quickly when we don't have much in the way of food. We didn't plan on it taking quite so long."

The three teens share a glance before looking over at the girl's mother. "We can probably restock your provisions, if you want," the blond man says slowly.

I beam at them. "Oh! That would be so lovely!" I pause as a thought strikes me. "Oh, I have an even better idea!"

"What?" he asks.

"Why don't you come with us?"

He blinks. "Um, what?"

"Oh, it's be perfect!" I exclaim, warming to the idea. "You guys are the symbol of the rebellion! The Mockingjays! Why, you must come with us!"

"Hell no." Gale's voice is flat.

I blink at his tone. "But you must! You're the symbols of the rebellion!"

Katniss shakes her head. "No way."

"But we need you! District Twelve needs you!"

"We left for a reason," she says, her voice hard. "And we were proven right. Gale was Reaped. He would've died if we'd stayed in Twelve. That just proves we made the right choice."

"Oh, I'm not saying you didn't!" I try to soothe her. "But you could come with us now!"

Peeta shakes his head. "No. Not with Katniss pregnant, and not with a new baby. You're welcome to stay here and recuperate here for a long as you need, and we'd like to know if you make it to District Thirteen, but right now we have to decline." He places his hand on Katniss's belly. "For our child's sake."

"I suppose I understand that's true for you three, but what about the rest of you?" I turn hopefully to the rest of their group.

"We stay," Prim says, speaking up for the first time.

"Well, I guess I understand. When we get to Thirteen, we'll send somebody back for you."

Katniss makes a face. "You don't need to."

"Oh but we will! I'm sure, once they find out the symbols of the rebellion are living out in the wild, here, free, that they'll want and need you!"

"I hope you're wrong."

"Oh but I won't be. Freedom is catching, you know. And you three are the sparks."

oOo

AN:
Written: 3/27/15
Revised: 5/7/15
Revised 2: 5/31/15

The title of this fic comes from Owl City's song of the same name. It was used in the movie "The Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole" which is a cumbersome title if we've ever heard one.

This would have been the epilogue if we decided NOT to continue on with what happens later. But we did… so you get more… aren't we nice?

Cressida and her crew had to leave at some point in canon and it had to be after the 74th Games but before the Quarter Quell, so them defecting during the Victory Tour makes sense. As does the reason why Bonnie and Twill ran into Katniss in the winter. The Great Lakes and the Niagara River don't freeze easily and you'll want to hit them in the late winter so that they have the thickest ice that hasn't started to melt yet. The cave is pretty much in the area that you'd hit if you defected from Eight and skirted Twelve along its east side, then headed north toward Niagara Falls.

You might have noticed that Bonnie and Twill were already dead. We didn't plan that. It was random. Pretty much everyone other than Cressida got a random roll to see if they made it to Thirteen and some got rolled twice while others were spared for plot reasons. Cressida is also a lot more Capitol-like here than she is in Mockingjay. That's deliberate, because she hasn't yet been exposed to the hardships and personality of Thirteen.

So that's it! We hope you enjoyed!

Up next! Mad World - AKA: Previously in District Twelve...

After that, we'll return to our main story with Arc Three: We Didn't Start the Fire - He's married now to two wonderful people; even better, he's about to become a father. His life couldn't be better. Of course that means that everything's about to go all to hell.