Tiredly, Onyx glared at the small group of boys in front of them, beside her was Rue and Rissa who both looked like they were ready to collapse in tiredness, and just in front of her were Glimmer and Coral, muttering to each other, and then Clove who was faltering as she walked and nearly lost her footing more than once as she tried to keep pace with the idiot boys in front of her; Link had somehow ended up falling behind the boys and ended up next to Rissa.

The small group of tributes had been walking for nine hours non stop since they had decided to leave the arena and it was slowly beginning to get darker as the day began to end, the older boys showed no sign of tiring in their journey while the girls and Link were slowly losing their stamina. Glimmer glanced back for a moment and caught sight of Rue beside Onyx, dragging her feet and rubbing her eyes with a yawn; the older girl she quickly took her backpack from the twelve year old as well as from Coral as Coral picked the girl up and placed her on her hip.

"I'm pretty sure we've left the arena by now" Onyx called out to the boys tiredly as she rubbed her own eyes, her free hand going down the her side that, while healed, was still twinging slightly as the now scarred wound protested the movements "Can we settle down for the night?"

Looking back at the girls, Cato couldn't see that they were lagging, he was too focused on the prospect of getting as far away from the arena as possible; helooked over at Marvel who just shrugged, not bothering to look behind them at the girls.

"We keep going" Cato decided without turning to anyone else for their opinion before he turned his back to the girls and continued walking ahead of them, his pace getting a little faster as if to spite the girl for asking for a break.

Glaring at the back of the older boys head, Onyx clenched her fist and took a deep breath before she lost her temper with the blonde, she looked over at Clove who was surprisingly also glaring at the two boys at the head of the group; it seems that the older girl needed a break as well but wanted to remain stoic rather than speak out. The two of them both looked at each other before looking down at the stones and twigs on the floor and nodded with small smiles before the both of them ducked down and grabbed their ammunition; Onyx took aim with a small rock in her hand and threw it, harder than normal but not as hard as she could, she hit her target when the small rock bounced off of Marvels head, and Clove did the same to Cato.

Yelping in surprise and pain as the small projectile hit the back of his head, Marvel and Cato turned to glare angrily at the two girls who both stood their ground against the boys that they had angered; Thresh looked behind him and watched worried for the two girls before he noticed why they had caught the others attention, he moved gracefully and took Rue from Coral who smiled gratefully at him as Rue yawned and buried her head into Thresh's neck sleepily.

Both boys looked at each other before Marvel took a step towards Onyx, he wasn't going to hurt her but she backed up quickly, the defiance on her face faltering slightly as she took in the sight of the upset boy in front of her.

"We need to stop" She told the older boy as forceful as she could to get her point across before he hit her for throwing something at him.

The older boy looked her over carefully as his anger faltered, his eyes drifting over to Cato who was watching the both of them closely and then around to the other girls and Link who all looked like they were about to collapse from exhaustion; Marvel shrugged at Cato who rolled his eyes but agreed that they needed to stop and dropped his pack onto the floor.

"Fine we stop but we need to find somewhere more sheltered" Cato sighed as he looked around them at the open area that would mean they would be easy pickings to hovercrafts if they fell asleep.

Every one of the tired group, except the three oldest boys, let out a collective sigh of relief before they began searching for a more covered spot where they could sleep in peace of not being found from above.

Ten minutes of searching found a space that was covered by leaves as the branches seemed to intertwine to make a roof above them which allowed them to relax enough that some of them could sleep; after half hour, the surviving tributes of the 74th annual Hunger Games were all either fast asleep or awake enough to sit and listen to conversations around them, Onyx had sat herself outside of the circle with her back against a tree as she stared up at the stars that she could make out.

Cato, Clove, Glimmer and Marvel were all curled up in a small group talking about home and sometimes whispering so quietly that no one else could pick up the words while Coral and Link were curled up with each other, both of them fast asleep and using each other as pillows and sources of heat while Rissa and Thresh sat speaking to each other about random things as Rue slept peacefully in Thresh's lap; her face hidden in the boys neck as she clung to his shirt.

Marvel glanced around the area that they had set up camp in while the other three were talking and frowns lightly when he spots Onyx sitting away from the group, staring up at the stars; as he looks at the other three in his group, he could see that he wasn't the only one worried about the young girl. Cato was watching her too.

Ever since the training sessions, Marvel knew that Cato saw something in the District Twelve girl and when they both saw her in her interview dress, he could see the interest in the blonde had gone from a curiousity to possibly more than just a need to solve a puzzle; Marvel had seen it as a weakness he could exploit towards the end.

But then he had also taken note of the girl, she was young and while she was far from holding the innocence that Rue still held, she still had that childlike air around her. Hearing that she was an orphan and that the drunken mentor was the only family she had made Marvels heart ache for just a moment, he was reminded of his little brother when he looked at her and knew that his brother would never have survived what she did. But then she showed up in the arena, and showed the defiance in face of her own death and Marvel was ready to end her life because he didn't know if Cato would make it painless or draw it out even though none of them had actually enjoyed killing the kids they had killed.

Catching Cato's eye, Marvel nodded lightly before climbing up from his makeshift seat and heading towards where the young girl was hidden away. Getting closer to the girl, he spotted the moment that he startled her as she sensed his presence appear beside her, when she looked over and spotted him, she looked down at her lap; biting her lip.

"What are you doing over here on your own?" Marvel asked her carefully as he looks up at the stars abover him before looking over at her, he frowns slightly as she keeps her gaze away from him.

"I'm sorry I hit you with a rock" Onyx apologized quietly, not bothering answering his question and refusing to look up from where she was staring at the colours of her trousers, not making eye contact with the boy.

Pausing for a moment, Marvel couldn't help but snort in amusement at the apology that she was giving him and picked up a stick before drawing shapes in the mud, a small smile appearing on his face at the reason she was hiding.

"Cato and I should have realized that we were going too long without a break, I'm surprised that you, Rue and Link lasted the amount of time that you did" Marvel waves off the apology, the three of them were the youngsters in the group and even with the training, it would have only been a matter of time before one of them collapsed from exhaustion, especially since Link wouldn't have slept that much the night before; he chuckles lightly as a thought occured to him "You have a good aim"

Onyx frowns lightly at the dismissive tone and the explanation and gets even more confused as he chuckles, most people would have hit her before now for doing something as bold as throwing a rock at them; the only nice peacekeeper she had ever met was Darius but when he wasn't around, the others held no hesitiation in trying to force her to behave or force her into the community home.

"You're not mad" Onyx whispers confused, he could barely hear her words but he understood them; the confusion in her voice made his heart break just a bit more and made him want to hurt whoever had hurt her before now.

Looking to the side of him, he catalogues just how small the young girl was trying to make herself; the young girl who had inadvertedly saved his life and the life of his friends looked her age at this moment as she shivered from the cold. Marvel watched her for a moment longer before he stripped off his own jacket and draped it around her shoulders and pulled her into his side, ignoring the flinch at the unexpected turn of events.

"I'm not mad at you Onyx" He promised her firmly, as he held her close to him. "I was when you first hit me, but now, although, please don't throw a rock at my head again, and don't do it to Cato either, I can't promise that I'll let it go next time"

At his promise, he could feel the young girl stiffen a little before relaxing and nodding into his side with a small unsure smile aimed up at him, which brought a smile of his own.

After nearly five minutes of sitting in silence, Marvel had thought that the young girl had fallen asleep with how quiet she was but when he looked down, he could see her wide awake and deep in thought; looking around he noticed that Thresh had finally fallen asleep with Rissa curled into his side while his friends were still talking with each other but had moved closer to each other to keep warm.

"What's District One like?"

Marvel was pulled from his observations of the group by the quiet question from the young girl, he wasn't sure why she was asking about his home district but he didn't mind answering her questions; maybe she would be able to fall asleep as he talked.

"It's not what most of the other districts think it is, it's a strict place to live" he starts quietly, he knew people thought that because District One was booming with money, that they lived well, but most of the money went to the Capitol and being so close to the key city of Panem meant that they were under much more scrutiny than other Districts were. "Because we're so close to the Capitol, we need to be perfect for the politicians who travel the high up districts and if there are people that aren't perfect then they are punished severely"

There's a moment of silence as Onyx takes in the new information, while District One had better living conditions and food than District Twelve, they seemed to have worse rules and even harsher peacekeepers than Twelve did.

"What's your family like?"

Marvel sighed at the new question and looked up into the sky as he began to run his hand through the young girls messy hair, "My pa was always quite strict with me as I was growing up but he's rather lenient on my little brother, although, it will probably change as soon as my brother hits seven because of training for the games. My ma though, she tries to spend as much time with me and my brother as possible, just in case we never made it back from the Games"

Looking up when he felt eyes on him, Marvel caught both Glimmer and Cato watching the both of them, he grinned mischeviously as he catches Glimmers eyes and winked at her, feeling slightly smug as she blushed lightly and turned back to her conversation with Clove.

"Come on Flower, let's get you closer to the group so you can get some more warmth, you need to get some sleep too, and I'm not leaving you here alone" Marvel ordered in the tone he often used on his little brother as he pushed himself off the floor and took her hand, pulling her from the floor and leading her to his small group

"You need sleep too" She whines lightly in protest against the order which only served to remind Marvel of her age, rather than let her stay up as long as he did.

Snorting at the tone she used as she pouted, Marvel shook his head and guided her to sit between him and Cato, the bigger boy being able to offer more body heat to the still shivering young girl; he nods to the others before wrapping an arm around Onyx.

"What about District Twelve? What's home like for you?" He asked her quietly as the questions she asked him played on his mind; Glimmer and Clove both stopped their conversation to listen to the answers the young girl gave while Cato tried to look uninterested but Marvel could tell that the young girl had their full attention.

Onyx froze a little at the question and chewed her bottom lip, deliberating on how to answer the question before she tired started to play with the fabric of the extra jacket around her shoulders.

"It's never really been home" she admits to the small group as she plays with the sleeve of Marvel's jacket, not looking up at any of them, she didn't need to see the pity that she often saw when people looked at her. "It was always just me, my ma and my pa; until my pa died when I was nine. He was a miner, we don't have that many job oppurtunities in Twelve so he went to work in the mines, but one day in school the floors underneath us shook more violently than they had in years, there was an explosion in the mine that he was in, he and a number of others were buried alive; as was the father of the little girl that I volunteered for. A year later ma died of pneumonia, she had no reason to fight the illness and we didn't have a proper income anymore.

A couple of months later I met Haymitch, but he had to leave every year for the games so was never a constant but when he was home, he looked after me. There were two families that tried to help keep me alive because they had lost their fathers/husbands in the mine accident too, they were like a kind of family but they had their blood relatives to look after, they had little ones that needed them; the only home I have is with Haymitch"

Onyx yawned as the exhasution from the past twenty four hours started to overwhelm her, she rubbed her eyes lightly and took a leap of faith as she rested her head in Marvels lap; she nearly flinched in surprise as Cato picked her legs up and placed them on his lap so that she was in a more comfortable position.

For the first time since leaving her father on the rooftop of the apatments, she felt at home with those she hadn't long considered as her enemies; Onyx knew that she shouldn't feel so at home with the group that almost killed her earlier that day, but she could see beyond the masks they wore.

Ther were pawns in the Games, just like she was and she could see their masks falling as they got further away from the arena that should have become their graves.

Marvel had opened up to her and told her about his family and his district, he could have easily told her to keep her nose out of his life but he told her about his mother and father and even mentioned his little brother.

"Marvel?" she murmurs half asleep as a thought catches her attention

"Hmm?" he hums lightly in question as he continued his conversation with Glimmer, his friend lowering her voice a little so that they could catch whatever she was going to ask the older boy.

"Is this what it's like to have a real brother?" she inquired with a yawn and she blinks up at him, only half aware of who still surrounded her, she was fighting against the sleep that wanted to claim her so that she could talk to the boy who held her close.

Marvel froze at the question and looked up at his friends like a deer caught in the sights of a hunter, Glimmer looked down at the young girl in her friends lap and smiled lightly at him while Cato seemed to relax at the question, Clove just rolled her eyes at her district partner before she started getting ready to join the girl in sleep; Marvel smiles gently as he ran his fingers through her hair again, he needed to ask Glimmer to tame it for her tomorrow.

He wasn't very close to his little brother, when his brother was born, Marvel was a year into training for the games so all his attention was on training, he would rarely speak to Tywin unless he was looking after him for a night while his parents went out to dinner parties; leaving him for the Games should have been harder than it was but the thought of leaving Onyx made him ready to fight whoever thought they could seperate them.

"I guess so" he answered her in a whisper as her breathing finally evened out, now that she had finally given up on the fight against sleep.

He looked up at the other three around him in shock and surprise at the turn of events, when they had started the Games, Marvel had tried pushing everyone away from, he had pushed Glimmer towards Cato to remove his feelings rom the equation but as she leans her head on his shoulder, he realises that it didn't work out how he expected; he had a best friend in both Cato and Clove who just smirked at him.

"Looks like you have a new little sister" Cato chuckled in amusement, his grin getting wider as the young girl curled further into his friends lap, he was glad that Onyx was able to find a protector in their little group; it meant that she wouldn't get hurt.

Cato knew what he felt for the young girl was no longer just curiosity about the mystery that she posed, but because she was unique and definitely beautiful; she was strong and defiant in the face of those who could hurt her and yet she was kind and giving too, her age didn't matter to him, his parents had more than two years between them but he knew nothing would ever happen between them until she hit sixteen.

Marvel glared at his laughing friend, but then he smirked as he caught the look in the blondes' eyes as he gazed down at the young woman in his lap. "Looks like you'll have to pass me before you try anything with my baby sister"

Cato's smirk fell from his face as he blinked at Marvel in slightly shock and disbelief, he didn't know he was being so obvious with his affections towards Onyx, but he would accept whatever tests Marvel threw his was if he wanted him to prove himself; the look on Cato's face caused Glimmer to start giggling and Thresh to chuckle from where he was half asleep as the conversations around them began to taper of to a silence.

Marvel took the first watch as he kept an eye on the people around him, he wouldn't let anything happen to any of the people he had grown to care for; if anyone tried then they would be meeting their end before they even saw who killed them.