I will go down with this ship! Hayffie. 3

Disclaimer (only one): The Hunger Games series, concept, characters, etc. belong to Suzanne Collins and any other respectable owners, myself not being one. I wrote this work of fanfiction for fun. I did not, nor will I, receive any form of proffit for it.

Haymitch was running through a forrest, knife at the ready. The long cut across his left cheek stung, but his swollen, broken ankle hurt worse. He reminded himself to ignore the pain. He needed to find shelter and quickly.

A loud, high-pitched scream of terror and pain pierced the air around him. Who ever it was was near by, and that meant whatever was causing her to scream was near too.

No. That scream didn't belong in the arena.

Effie... The scream belonged to Effie Trinkett.

Haymitch threw himself out of bed and was on his feet in an instant, bounding across the hall and throwing open the door without knocking.

The sight in front of him broke his heart, but he had to push past that. He had a duty to look after her, to wake her, to keep her safe. He promised himself to do that after she was taken captive by the Capitol nearly a year ago. He still blamed himself, positive that he could've gotten her to District 13 before they had got to her, when in reality this was wrong. At least if he wanted to revolt.

Sometimes logic doesn't matter though.

"Effie, Effie, Princess. Come on, wake up," he said firmly, shaking her shoulders.

She began sobbing.

"Please stop. I don't know where they are, I swear," she cried, still asleep.

She let out another scream.

"Effie!" He pleaded, shaking her harder. "Effie, please wake up," he said, pulling her up towards him.

"Ef-"

She opened her eyes, and attempted to push Haymitch off of her.

"Just me, just me," he said, pulling the sobbing, ex-escort towards him, something he'd had never have dreamt of doing when he met her 10 years ago.

She threw her arms around his neck and began to cry into his chest. He didn't say a word, just laid next to her, still hugging her, and stroking his now dearest friend's blonde waves.

Effie began to breathe slower and easier as she leaned on her best friend. She could hear his steady heart beat and feel his calloused hands, one playing with her hair, the other firmly on her small back.

"Don't leave..." she mumbled, feeling pathetic. She was positive that after months of being free from the Capitol's torture that she'd be fine.

"I won't," he replied, not skipping a beat in what he knew would put her into a deep slumber. Effie's hair was like her off switch.

They remained silent for awhile, Haymitch continuing with his routine without complaint.

" 'aymitch..."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?" He asked, genuinly baffled.

"For being my best friend," she answered weakly before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Haymitch smiled sadly.

"Thanks for bein' mine."

He laid there for a few more hours before he was postive that Effie wasn't waking again until the morning. He hated seeing her like that. She was supposed to be happy, obnoxious, optomistic, ignorant, and completely unbearable. She was broken now, and it was all his fault, he was sure of it. Now he had to fix her.

He dragged himself back across the hall, his feet sinking comfortably into the spotless carpet. Before Effie moved in, he begged Katniss and Peeta to help him scrub down his home. Well, he begged Katniss. Peeta agreed to help Haymitch before he was finished with his sentence.

He remembered the night that Effie came like it was yesterday. His face was clean shaven, he had on a clean shirt, and it was tucked into his trousers. His shoes were polished, and so was the floor under them. He hadn't had a drink in 48 hours, wanting to be perfectly sober when she arrived. He didn't understand why at the time, just that he owed it to her. Katniss dawdled on her way out the door, letting Peeta go ahead of her before turning around to talk to Haymitch.

"If you're going to do this, you've got to be sober for it. I know you're not going to want to, but that's what needs to be done. Do you've got that?" She said bluntly and earnestly, looking him dead in the eye.

He didn't reply. He didn't need to. She'd left as soon as she'd said it.

He knew it was true though, and he'd kept to his word for the most part.

As far as Effie knew anyway.

Two weeks after her arrival, he'd had to wake her from a similar situation as he'd found her in tonight. However, it was new to him and ten times worse as it was still new for her too.

After tucking her back in, he'd walked sullenly downstairs and into the kitchen, slightly in shock. Effie, his ignorant, strong-willed partner was broken. Broken beyond repair. She was wizened, fragile, and his Effie was gone.

He headed for the refridgerator, and grabbed the liquor bottle out of the back. Without hesitation, the bottle pressed against his lips, and he tilted his head back. Before long, he was beligerantly drunk. He couldn't get the broken woman out of his head.

And that was when Haymitch Abernathy did the unthinkable- he cried. He hadn't cried in 25 years.

Unbeknownst to him, Effie wasn't asleep. He hadn't realized that even though she had changed, one thing hadn't- her manners. She couldn't sleep without telling Haymitch thank you, heading across the hall to his empty bedroom. She walked curiously down the stairs and turned into the kitchen quietly, leaning against the door frame.

Haymitch's head was laid on the table, his shoulders shaking violently as ghastly sounds escaped his lips.

Effie rushed to him, pressing a delicate hand on his shoulder.

"Hey now," she said, knealing down next to the chair, keeping her hand on him, "tell me what's wrong," she ordered in sincere concern.

He stood up and she followed suit, barely reaching his shoulder.

"Nothin's wrong, woman," he said roughly, thoroughly embarassed. "Go back to bed," he ordered, pointing the bottle of liquor towards the stairs.

She looked at him, first in envy, then in angry determination. She was sick of his drinking, sick of his avoidance when it came to any humanity, sick of his broken promises, both to himself and to others. She knew all about his promise to Katniss, and she'd be damned if he was breaking it again.

She roughly grabbed the bottle out of his hands before hurling it into the sink, causing it to shatter into a thousand sparkly pieces as the poison poured down the drain.

"Enough," she said before turning her back on him and walking up the stairs.

It was one word, but he understood her perfectly.

No more drinking.

The present day Haymitch walked into his room, physically aching in helplessness. He sat down on the edge of the bed and roughly ran a hand through his hair, keeping his head in his hand. He stayed like that for a moment, deep in thought, before glancing over at his closet, an old hiding spot for his bad habit.

He looked down in shame before walking over to the closet door and rummaging through it before producing what he was searching for.

He cracked open the bottle and let himself sink.

Sunlight poured through Effie's window as she slowly rolled over and opened her eyes, causing her to smile. The smile soon disapated though as last night came rolling back to her, her eyes darkening. Haymitch had to come save her again. Save her from the shocks that were no longer wracked through her body. Save her from the knife that no longer slowly cut deep cuts across her body. Save her from the men that were no longer taking advantage of her fragile body.

Her small feet hit the cold, hard wood floor in her bedroom and immeadiatly shot back up. She took in the world around, still perched on her soft bed. By the set of the sun, it was a little after noon, causing her to wonder why Haymitch hadn't woken her. And on that note, where was he? He wasn't in her room, and she couldn't hear him rustling around anywhere else in the house either.

Ignoring the shock of the cold floor, she hopped down and walked across the hall, grateful for the carpeted hallway. She pressed her ear against the door and walked in when she didn't hear anyone.

The sight before her infuriated her. Haymitch was draped across his bed, drooling on the comforter. He had one half empty bottle of liquor in his hand, while two empty bottles were strewn haphazardly on the floor. She slammed the door shut and bounded down the stairs.

Haymitch shot up immediatly, grabbing his knife from under his pillow and throwing it at the door in one fluid movement before reality struck home. It was only Effie, he thought to himself begining to calm down before realizing why she slammed the door.

Effie's feet bounded down the stairs and she stormed into the kitchen, grabbing the coffee canister and begining to brew some. She couldn't believe he'd break his promise like that. Who was she kidding? Of course he broke his promise. He was Haymitch. Did she honestly expect anything different? Yes, part of her spoke up, deep from within her gut. She pushed the voice back. Stupid. So, so stupid.

Haymitch walked into the kitchen almost cautiously.

"'Morning, Princess," he said using her old nickname, sitting down gingerly at the kitchen table.

She ignored him.

"Sleep well?" He asked almost jokingly.

"I slept just fine, thank you," she said curtly, barely even managing to get her words out.

"Yeah... Me too. Like a baby," he smirked, knowing she was angry. He couldn't help it. If he handled it maturely he might give a damn.

"Yeah, so I saw. Tell me. How long have you been drinking again?"

"I still don't see how the alcohol that I concern is any of your business. Especially when you're the one that drove me to drink last night."

Tears sprang to her eyes and she slapped him hard across the face.

"Because we're supposed to be best friends, that's why," she said before storming out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

"I'm not your friend, Effie! Peeta Mellark's your friend!" He screamed after her, getting up gruffly and helping himself to some coffee.

A/N Hey! How'd you like the first chapter? I'll update often. I have ideas for this story. I know I started off oddly, I just wanted to introduce the story and what's going on, even it was a little tense. Well, hope it's liked. Next chapter should be up quite soon. (: