Silence was all that could be heard around the square, eyes turned to the young orphan girl of District Twelve who was the only child to evade the orphanage, they had all watched her dodge the peacekeepers and the mayor whenever they had to gather for the reaping, they all knew her by name and personally on some level.

Many of the adults grew sad at the thought that they had to watch the fourteen year old who did chores for them, die on screen as entertainment for the rich. They saw her every single day as she worked for food or for stuff that she could trade for food in the hob; they all respected the young girl when she would help them or even their children in school.

Onyx moved through the crowd as she tried to keep her cool and not start hyperventilating at the fact that she had just volunteered to get herself killed, but she had saved Prim and probably Katniss too, if the look the older Everdeen had on her face was anything to go by.

Prim ran to Onyx and clung to her waist as tears slowly soaked Onyx's shirt, she looked down at the young girl and squeezed her tight, and she knew the peacekeepers wouldn't have stopped the young girl because they were probably in shock too.

"Go to your mum or Katniss quickly" Onyx whispered to the young girl in her arms so that the peacekeepers couldn't go against her volunteering

Prim looked up at her with watery eyes and then ran to her sister throwing her arms around her as Katniss held her tight, the older girl looked to Darius who motioned for her to go and join her mom as she nodded thankful. Katniss sent a look to Onyx in gratitude as she half dragged her little sister over to their mother who clung to the both of her girls tightly.

"Well, yes" Effie stammered as she tried to get over her shock at a District Twelve child volunteering. No one in district twelve had ever volunteered, Onyx was the very first "Up you come dear"

Peacekeepers moved either side of her and boxed her in so that there would be no chance of her running away from her 'service' to Panem, Onyx jumped lightly when she felt a hand touch hers and spots Darius behind her on her right who scowled at her lightly.

Onyx took a deep breath and made her way up onto the stairs, she looked at the chairs and gave a small sigh of relief that Haymitch, the only victor from Twelve that was still alive, was currently not on the stage where he should be, although she figured the man was already drunk so she didn't want to hear what the drunk would have said at the volunteer.

Effie Trinket smiled at her and held out her hand to pull Onyx closer so that the young girl couldn't run off.

"Well then what is your name?" Effie asked curiously, the woman's voice grating at her ears but she kept a mask on her face so she didn't grimace at the sound of the Capitol accent.

"Onyx Rose" she answered, a small shake in her voice that she couldn't hold back.

"Lets hear it for our young volunteer"

Silence answered Effie, not a single child or adult clapped for the bravery of the fourteen year old, instead they saluted her with three fingers pressed to their lips and held above their heads, her friends being the first to start it from within the square, tears nearly welled up as she spotted Sae, Ripper among the few who started it.

Effie was taken back slightly at the salute, but before she could move to the bowl that held the boys names, she nearly let out a shriek when Haymitch came stumbling up behind her, almost knocking over the male tributes bowl as the smell of alcohol flooded Onyxs nose.

Haymitch looked over at Onyx and the both of them flinched as he caught her gaze, then he glared at her causing her to look away quickly so that she wouldn't react to the anger that he aimed at her.

Haymitch threw his arm around Onyx causing her to nearly stumble, his hand tightening almost painfully on her shoulder as he glared at the peacekeepers and the cameras that were aimed at the volunteer and now the drunken victor.

"See this, this is bravery, braver than all of you, all of you" he grumbled getting quieter as he spoke, he stumbled and fell into his chair and knocking his head on the pillar behind him, he groaned and fell into a drunken sleep fairly quickly. Onyx had to bite her lip from laughing at him, it always made her laugh with just how fast he could fall asleep but she was worried about the knock to his head.

Effie gave Haymitch a glare and then turned to the male tribute bowl, she took a deep breath to collect herself after Haymitch's entrance.

Onyx looked over to Gale who had his eyes closed, most likely dreading being reaped and having to leave Katniss, then she looked over at the Everdeens; Katniss locked eyes with her and sent her a look full of gratitued, love and despair. Onyx sent a soft smile her way with a nod of her head.

"Dustin Reed" Effie called out clearly as she read the name from the slip of paper in her hand

A fifteen year old town boy shakily exited the crowd of young men who all let out sighs and inaudiable laughs of relief. Dustin walked up onto the stage and stood next to Effie as his body shook with fear. Onyx knew him, not personally but at least knew him through school and through his parents.

"Do we have any volunteers for this young man?"

Silence came at the question, Dustin closed his eyes, he knew that his older brother would not volunteer for him, the older Reed was eighteen, this was his last year in the reaping, and neither would any of his friends.

"Lets have a round of applause for the District Twelve tributes for the 74th annual Hunger Games" Effie cheered, but she was once again only met with silence, it seemed District Twelve was going to have a lot of talk about them this year.

The peacekeepers boxed the two teens off again and escorted them to the Justice Building. Onyx had been there once before when she was nine, when she was presented with a medal, after her father had been blown up in a mine explosion. That was when she first met Katniss, they and Gale had all lost their fathers in that same mine accident.

Onyx stood in the room that they had put her in to meet her loved ones, she wasn't going to have any one come though, although maybe she would have Katniss and Prim. She jumped slightly when the door opened and something - someone - collided with her waist, holding onto her tightly. Looking down she could see the blonde hair of Prim as she cried into her. Onyx looked up and was pulled into a hug by all three Everdeen women.

"Thank you, thank you" Katniss cried, Onyx was shocked, she knew that the last time that Katniss cried was when she was eleven and her father had died.

"I couldn't let Prim go into the games" Onyx told the women as she hugged Katniss back gently and patted Prims head lightly in reassurance. "I wouldn't watch you suffer through that or let you volunteer, my ma and pa are gone, my only regret is Mitch, being put through this"

The door opened and Darius informed them with a frown that their time was up, as Katniss and her family leaves, Darius lingers in the doorway with a small sad scowl on his face as he looks over at Onyx "Guess you couldn't promise anything huh?" he asks lightly before quickly pulling the girl into his arms before releasing her and going back to his post.

Not long after Darius had left, Gale and Rory Hawthorne entered the room, Gale pulled her into a tight hug, once he let go of her, little Rory did the same. Onyx wasn't surprised that Rory came, she knew that the younger Hawthorne had a thing for Prim and spent a lot of time with Onyx when she would stay in their house.

"You shouldn't have done that" Gale told her as he kissed her forehead keeping his hands on her shoulder to remind himself she was there even for a little bit.

She smiled at Gale lightly "I know but Katniss would have probably volunteered if I hadn't and that would have most likely destroyed you and the rest of them take the leap and ask her out, help keep her sane"

Gale chuckled and gave her one last hug before pulling Rory out with him, she knew he wouldn't have stayed the whole time, Gale was able to be with Katniss now.

Onyx sighed and sat down on the chair waiting for the peacekeepers to come and take her to the train, she knew that no one else would come visit her because she truly had no one else, Sae and Ripper couldn't explain to the officials about how they knew her without getting in trouble with them.

The peacekeepers were ones she didn't know so they went to the train in silence, she had hoped that she could talk more with Darius but that was obviously not going to happen. She could see that Dustin was finding it hard to keep his tears at bay, so she took his hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze in reassurance before releasing his hand when the car pulled up.

Effie took them onto the train and pointed them into the direction of their bedrooms as she spoke about how lucky they were, Dustin went straight to his bedroom and Effie left to talk to the train driver for some unknown reason. Onyx moved one of the chairs to the window and watched the scenery pass her. She jumped when someone grabbed her arm, pulling her up from the chair rather roughly. She was spun around to face a very angry Haymitch causing her to shrink under his glare, she guessed they were lucky that Dustin and Effie were somewhere else.

"What the hell do you think you were playing at Onyx?" He growled angrily at her, there was a hint of hurt leaking into his voice, he was less drunk than he was on stage which was probably caused by the nap on stage.

"I couldn't sit there and watch Prim die, she is the only thing keeping Katniss and Ms. Everdeen alive and if I didn't volunteer then Katniss would have and that would have been just as hard" Onyx defended weakly, her defense against Haymitch would always be weak, she couldn't defend her actions to him.

"And you're the only thing keeping me alive dammit" Haymitch snarled and then backtracked as he groaned, the both of them knew that there was a familial relationship forming between them but neither had actually admitted to it.

Onyx watched the man she came to see as a father curiously, Haymitch was one of the main reasons that she was still alive, he let her into his house as a cleaner once a week when the Hunger Games weren't on. Although by the time she went back, it looked like she'd never done anything. He paid her a nice price every week so she would be able to eat enough to survive and often pay for a roof over her head, which was what she meant when talking to Ripper. But she always thought that she was the only one to see him as family she didn't expect it to happen in reverse.

"I'm sorry Haymitch, I didn't think before I volunteered, I just couldn't bare to let little Prim go into these games, you know I can shoot a bow and arrow, I'll try my hardest to win for you"

"I can see that you didn't think Onyx" Haymitch sighed as he sunck into a chair next to the bar. He grabbed a glass and poured himself a small glass of liqour and a glass of fruit juice for Onyx as she moved over to where he had sat down.

"You have to be careful in these games Onyx, I'll help you figure out how to get sponsors, but you have to behave and pay attention to what people are telling you okay, no ignoring them" Haymitch pinned her with a look causing her to blush with a nod, she had a habit of annoying him when it came to ignoring his orders, specifically when it came to his orders about his drinking debts.

"Behave and listen, got it" Onyx echoed with a small smile "I'm going to go have a lie down"

Haymitch nodded and watched his surrogate daughter leave the train cart towards her bedroom, he sighed and downed the rest if his glass then looked between the bottle of liqour behind the bar and the untouched fruit juice, but he grumbled and grabbed the fruit juice. He needed to stay sober enough to make sure he helped his daughter stay alive.