The next morning nearly sent Effie in a panic when she couldn't wake Onyx up from her room and when she entered the young girls room there was no sign that the girl had even slept in the bed that had been provided for her; the chaperone nearly ran to the roof to check if the girl was there until she came upon a sight she wished she never had to ruin.

Seeing Haymitch fast asleep with his daughter curled up on his chest made her heart break, knowng that she needed to wake the both of them so that Onyx would be sent away; a prospect that had Effie wishing he was never a part of these games for the first time since she took the position as the chaperone of District Twelve.

When Effie had met Haymitch, she despised the former winner of the games, he was nothing but a drunkard and a pig; but the moment the young girl in front of her entered the train she could see a difference in the man and knew that the moment they watched her demise on the screen would be the moment District Twelve would lose their only mentor.

Effie sighed lightly as she moved forward and tapped the young girl on the shoulder, she knew that if she woke Haymitch first then he would most likely jostle Onyx enough that she would fall to the floor and possibly hurt herself. "Onyx sweetie"

The young girls eyes fluttered open carefully as she felt a small tapping on her shoulder, her gaze landed on Effie confused as to where she was but then her 'bed' let out a snore which brought her back to her surroundings with a little giggle escaping her lips; she carefully detangled herself from her father and motioned to Effie that she was going to have a shower so that she didn't have to deal with her father waking up.

"Haymitch!"

Effie knew that she was going to need to back away instantly so she gently shook the man awake and jumped back as he startled and jumped up, grabbing widely at air, his head shot back and forth looking for something.

"She's gone for a shower Haymitch" Effie explained lightly as she realised what the man was looking for and was ready to fight for "You need to go have one too"

Haymitch took a while before he understood her and just nodded his head tiredly before he left the lounge to go and wash away the sleep that still clung to him; which left Effie alone with her own emotions. The chaperone dropped down onto the sofa and released a small sob for the two that she had gotten to know over the past month, she had seen a good change in Haymitch since he had been able to acknowledge Onyx as his daughter and now she was off to fight to the death.

All she could do is hope that the young girl who had weaved her way into her heart will survive the task ahead of her.

Time went faster than any of the adults that were part of the District Twelve team would have liked; Effie pulled both of the tributes into hugs before letting them go, she didn't want to say goodbye to the two of them but knew she had to, without a word she left the room sending an apologetic look at Haymitch who nodded his head in understanding, he could see the tears welling up in the chaperones eyes which was new but he also knew that Onyx and Dustin had gotten past her walls.

He escorted the both of them up to the area where he was to leave the two of them go forward into a hovercraft that was waiting to take them to the arena where Portia and Cinna were waiting for them. Dustin left him with a nod of his head and a hand shake not wanting to take any amount of time away from the duo which left the father and daughter alone.

Haymitch immediately pulled Onyx close to him and hugged her tightly as he kissed her head, he didn't want to let her go, but seeing the peace keepers coming towards them, he knew his time with his daughter was about to be cut short.

"Now listen to me Onyx Luna Rose," he told her sternly as he held her at arm's length, tears beginning to well up in his eyes as he catalogued every feature of hers so that he could never and would never forget her if the worst were to happen "You run, as soon as that bell tolls, you run to cover, do not go to the pile of weapons, they'll put a bow there for you but don't go for it. Make one if you have to okay, just come back to me"

Onyx could hear the desperation in his voice and just nods as her eyes fill with tears, she hugs him quickly and tightly as she tries her hardest to remember how his arms around her felt and what he smelt like.

"I love you daddy" she whispers to him softly as she was pulled away from her father and onto the hovercraft by a peace keeper who hadn't wanted to break the two apart; although one peacekeeper had enough sense to hold Haymitch back before he chased after her.

Onyx was pulled up the ramp of the hovercraft and sat down in one of the chairs before they strapped her into it, as if they expected the tributes to run away; but Onyx wasn't going to run, she had had weeks to come to terms that she wasn't going to make it back to Haymitch and District Twelve. She looked down at her lap as soon as the peace keeper left her, trying to keep her tears at bay as Capitol workers wandered around the hovercraft, placing the trackers into the tributes arms.

A shadow stopped next to her not long after she had been strapped in, Onyx looked up and lifted her arm up at the same time, without fuss, allowing the tracker to be placed inside her arm; the sharp jab into her arm caused her to flinch slightly but she showed no other reaction.

All twenty four tributes stayed silent through the journey to the arena, Onyx was able to wipe away the dried tears as she looked around her and could see RRue shaking slightly in her seat as Thresh tried to calm her somewhat, Cato and the other careers all seemed to be tense, maybe they were eager for the games to begin but they also seemed nervous as well.

All Onyx could do was close her eyes and try and block out everything, she needed to gather her own thoughts as they more or less flew to their deaths that would be televised live in front of the entire nation.

Seeing Cinna for the last time almost made her start crying again, especially when she noticed that he too had tears in his eyes, but they made sure that the last moments they had weren't sad ones; instead she made him promise to look after her father if anything were to happen, she made him promise to go and watch the games with him so that neither of them did anything stupid.

And he did promise, it was amazing what a month could do with the relationships in a persons life, before the games Onyx didn't truly have anyone, but now she had a father in Haymitch who reciprocated her feelings, she had a mother figure in Effie and she had an aunt and uncle in Portia and Cinna as well as a possible best friend in Dustin.

Onyx stood silent on the plate that was readying to take the young girl up in a tube towards the arena of this year, Cinna placed his hand on the tube silently as she copied the motion and blew a kiss to him as she was slowly raised to what could possibly be her grave.

Placing her hand around the small necklace that she had been given a few minutes ago, Onyx took a deep breath as a clearing in a forest become clear to her, she couldn't help the small breath of relief that escaped her; she could survive well enough in a forest, she had for years already.

Looking around, Onyx could see the other tributes on their own plates dotted in what looked like a circle so they were all an equal distance from a massive pile of weapons in the centre; each of the tributes were either ready to run into the bloodshed for weapons or ready to run into the forest, she could see Dustin eyeing a small sword and wanted to shake her head at him but he couldn't see her. She took notice of the bow that shined enticingly in the closest pile of weapons but shook her head at the thought of running into the bloodbath for a weapon that she may be able to build herself if she had a knife.

All the Careers were doing the same as Dustin and many of the other tributes, they were eyeing the weapons like they were knives and forks and their eyes flitted to the other tributes like they were pieces of meat; she could see that Rue was being smart and staring straight at the forest, her eyes flitting from the forest to a small bag on the outer edge of the cornucopia that would be easy enough to grab, just like some of the other small bags that Onyx could easily grab and escape with.

The countdown finally got to ten which made the nerves in her stomach to grow even more uncomfortable but she focused on her task as she shifted her weight slightly and then waited for the bell that signalled the beginning of the end. As soon as the countdown ended she raced off of the plate and towards two of the bags on the outer rim, grabbing them by the handles without even faltering considering the practice she's had over the years and then ran straight into the forest without looking back to the blood bath that was behind her.

Onyx finally reached a distance that she felt safe at, after what felt like hours of running but was most likely only half an hour but quite a few miles; she searches her surrounding area, looking for little spots that she could possibly use to hide away from the Careers. she knew that there was no chance that they would be curtious enough leave the rest of the tributes that had survived, feel safe that night, they had gotten the taste of blood and they wouldn't want to give up that feeling.

Using her past experiences as her guides, she starts to scan the surrounding area around her for a tree that was easy enough for her to climb but would possible be difficult for the Careers to climb, and that was covered enough by leaves so that she could stay hidden but could see around her for protection.

Finding a tree that had her specifications was surprisingly easy, but she had a feeling that the gamemakers needed to give the little people a decent enough chance to survive the nights, so it shouldn't have been too surprising.

As soon as she was safe in the branches and steady enough to sit down without the threat of falling and breaking her neck, she eyed the two bags that she was able to grab and began the process of opening them to see what she had been lucky enough to grab.

BOOM!

The cannon toll almost made her lose her balance and she had to catch one of the bags with her foot before she lost her winnings, it looked like seeing what she had grabbed would have to wait while the cannons began to toll, which also signalled the end of the bloodbath, she sighed to herself and leant back with her eyes closed as she started counting the cannons; she had escaped the bloodbath but now her father had more hope of her surviving these games which made guilt eat away at the young girl.

Eleven tributes were down, killed in the annual bloodbath that signified the beginning of every game, eleven families already mourning the passing of their children but would be forced to watch as other children would soon meet their childs fate; part of them hoping that their childs killer/s would meet the same fate. Onyx looked up at the dome wearily and wondered if the game makers felt any remorse after she had pointed out that they were killing children for entertainment.

'Probably not' Onyx grimaced as she sighed and began the task of compartmentalising what she had in the backpacks and hopefully condesing them enough so that she could move easier and quieter through the forest as the games moved on.

Luck seemed to be on her side for the moment, she had gained a sleeping bag that insulated her body heat during the night so that she was less likely to freeze to death, an empty bottle with iodine tablets to purify the water so that it would be safe for her to drink; there were some little bits of food like crackers and dried fruit and nuts, and finally some rope which she could put to good use with her snares. But the first thing she needed to do was find water because the food would definitely dry out her mouth and make her dehydrated if she wasn't careful.

The sound of the Capitols music drew Onyx's attention to above her as she put all the useless stuff into the unwanted backpack, she could see the Capitols seal and watched as the names of those that had been slaughtered appeared in the sky abover of her.

As usual the tributes from one and two survived, they most likely were the ones who did the most killing since every year it was those Districts that made up the Careers as well as District Four; the boy from three survived, but surprisingly the boy from four didn't live through the blood bath which was definitely curious expect for the fact that he was quite young as it was so maybe the Careers didn't see him as much of a threat or an aid for their fight. The young girl who strongly reminded Onyx of a fox due to the cunning that she showed in training, survived the bloodbath, but the boy from her district didn't. Neither tributes from six, seven and nine survived while the girl from eight did, the boy from ten survived.

And then Dustin's face appeared in the sky causing Onyx to let out a small whimper as her heart broke slightly, she knew it would only be a matter of time for her to see his face looking down at her, but she didn't expect it to be this soon or this heartbreaking.

Onyx shakily placed her three middle fingers on her left hand to her mouth and then saluted Dustin's picture, it was a gesture of her district that meant saying goodbye to a loved one and she had a feeling that she would not be the only one making this gesture at this point.

Tears flowed down her face as she wrapped herself up in her sleeping bag, trying to keep the sobs at bay, she made sure that she was in a junction of the tree so that she was stable where she was but right now she didn't care. She knew she needed to find water the next morning so she tried to get a hold of her emotions and closed her eyes, hoping that she would sleep enough to run on the next day so that she would not meet the same fate as her friend.

Halfway through a fitful night a cannon woke Onyx up signifying that another tribute did not make the night, considering the cold they probably tried to light a fire to keep themselves warm which would have easily brought the careers down upon them; a snap of a branch close to her made Onyx freeze as she heard laughter coming closer to where she was hidden. Staying as still as she could, Onyx hoped with her whole heart that she wouldn't rustle any of the branches or leaves around her and alert the careers to her location.

"Stupid fool" Marvel snorted as they kept walking through the forest, looking for any sign of more tributes, he could see Glimmer practically drooling over Cato when he had slit the throat of the girl from eight and was following the District Two boy like a love struck puppy.

"Oh well" Cato shrugged, he could see the glances the blonde girl was sending his way and was fighting back the sneer he wanted to send her way; he hated when tributes thought that these games were good for hook ups. "One more tribute out of our way"

Clove smirked at her friend at the unconcerned shrug and wanted desperately to knock some sense into the blonde girl that was trailing after her district partner but instead began to scan the area looking for any other signs of life around them.

"Who's left?" Coral, the young girl from District Four asked as she trailed after the others with the weapons on her back, she knew she wasn't as good as these four but also knew they were her best bet until the end.

Glimmer thought to herself as she skipped around the group, going away from the lovestruck fool act and instead becoming hyper on the killing that they had taken part in.

"Well there's the boy from three but he's useful right now," Glimmer started as she began to list off the competition on her fingers "Then the girl from five, she seems rather shifty so she might be difficult to grab, I think the boy from ten, then there's the two from eleven which is really surprising and finally there's the 'burning rose', was hoping to get the pleasure of killing her district partner but the girl from ten actually got a good hit in"

Glimmer snorted in disgust at the name that Panem had began to use in reference to the rat from twelve, she spat on the floor after speaking the name; Glimmer didn't understand why the girl was seen as something special, she was just another young girl who had something unique about her to catch the attentions of the Capitol, she wasn't going to make any difference to these games.

"There's nothing special about her, I bet that she actually was warming the bed off that drunken mentor" Glimmer gagged as she shivered at the very idea of it "I mean, come on, there's no way that story was true, even if a District Two kid lost their parents, they would be fostered into another home so it would have happened with her too"

"What I would like to know is how she got a ten" Clove stated, ignoring Glimmer, as she twirled one of her knives in her hand, she would never admit it to her fellow careers but she held a small amount of respect for the girl; and had a feeling that she already knew how she had gotten the ten, the precision of her knife throws weren't just luck.

"Me too" Cato muttered to himself as he looked up above them into the tops of the trees, not noticing the small bundle hidden amoungst the leaves not too far from them; he turned to the rest of the group and noticed that they were lagging slightly "Let's get back to camp, I'm hungry now"

The group of five all shrugged and turned back so that they could circle around the way they came and see if they could find any more kills before they ate and before the night was over.

Onyx let out a small breath of relief as they left the area that she was in, they had turned around just as they came under her and would have been spotted if Cato had paid more attention to his surroundings; if they had stayed the night, they would have easily spotted her the next morning and she would have been a goner.