Gladiators -- Clato

-Buck Up-

y'all this was a hard chapter to write 😭 btw i'm sort of only going off the book for these next few parts, in case y'all were wondering why Marvel is still alive...enjoy!
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"You, take this spear and guard camp." Cato thrusts a spear into the small, shaky hands of Noah and he nods nervously.

Marvel arms himself with his javelin and Cato grasps his broadsword. I'm already armed with my knives, so I restlessly await Cato's instructions. It seems those will come later, though, because he motions for us to start running toward the first plume of smoke.

"Clove, with me," He shouts. "Marvel, go left."

Marvel veers off from the group towards the left fire, while Cato and I continue to surge forwards to the one in front of us. It must be a large fire to produce so much smoke, I think.

I reach the trees before Cato and follow the growing scent of smoke, more intense every second. Finally I break through the shrubbery into a small clearing, where a huge pyre stands burning in the middle

"Trap!" I scream, and immediately sprint the other way. I crash into Cato, who starts to run again but I catch him by the arm. "Cato, they've set a trap!"

He takes one look at the fire burning through the trees and lets out a roar of anger, slashing at the air with his sword.

But then we hear it. A sound that rocks the very earth we stand on. One glance at Cato and we're sprinting back through the woods to the clearing.

"Fuck!" bellows Cato as we see the destruction left of our camp. We're knocked off our feet again as another stray mine goes off, and then another.

"No, fuck!" Cato cries, not bothering to check before sprinting back to our camp.

I call after him, but I'm forced to follow him there as I know he's dangerous left on his own.

And god, is he dangerous. I watch as he
screams, pulls out chunks of his own hair, falls to his knees in front of the smoldering pile of supplies and punches the ground until his fists start bleeding.

"Cato," I go over to him, try to touch his shoulder, but he shoves me to the ground. Marvel, there he is, running back into the clearing with his spear in hand.

Instead, I turn  my attention back to Noah. The despair on his face tells me everything that he's thinking. He knows he's fucked up. His plan worked too well.

He's tossing rocks into the wreckage, testing to see if every mine has been activated. I look through the remains of the burlap sacks, plastic crates, metal boxes, trying to find something salvageable. There's nothing left, absolutely nothing. The dread that I feel is unimaginable.

Cato gets up, and his normally blue eyes look almost black with rage. His lip curled in hatred, he advances on Noah, and I see the boy's heel turn, I see his eyes flit to the trees, looking for any route of escape. He's just begun to take the first steps when Cato catches him in a headlock and snaps his neck. The cannon goes off in an instant.

I look to Marvel, and he shakes his head helplessly. We both know there's nothing we can do to quell his fury.

I remember when he'd get like this back in two. Maybe he'd lose a match, he'd get a shitty throw in, someone would insult his ego. The sheer rage and power this boy possessed could move mountains.

"Cato!" I shout, and this time I don't allow him to shove me off. He's still seething over the dead body of Noah when I wrap my arms around his midsection from behind him, locking my hands tight around the bulk of his body. I have to stand on my toes to even reach that far.

I can feel his heavy breaths against my chest, but he stops moving around and I hope this means I've slightly quelled his rage.

"We have to kill her," he grunts, still panting. "We have to go back!"

"Cato, no-"

"We have to kill her, Clove!" He whirls around, breaking free of my arms and grabbing me by the wrist. I suddenly feel terror, wondering if he'll turn on me next. I banish the thought.

"Cato, she's probably dead," Marvel tries to reason. "No way she survived that explosion. It probably blew her sky-high." He points up into the clouds. "We'll see her during the fallen."

"Fuck this, I'll go look myself," He hisses. I grasp his bicep, and he looks down at me with shallowly concealed fury.

"Cato," I say tersely. "Don't."

His eyes search mine for a reason not to. I can tell he's trying, because his irises are darting around the whites of his eyes.

"Clove, let go," He mutters. I'm taken aback by the gentleness of his voice, but I only grip him harder.

"I won't."

"Let. Go."

"I. Won't."

"God, damnit." He drops his sword and runs a hand through his hair. "Shit."

I lead him towards Marvel and the edge of the clearing, away from Noah's body, so the hovercraft can take him. He doesn't protest anymore, because the gravity of the situation seems to be setting in, with the way his body droops in defeat.

The sun is setting in the sky, and Marvel wordlessly makes a small fire which the three of us huddle around. Cato doesn't speak a word, although I steal glances at him in the firelight. For some reason I'm trying to see him in that golden light again. Watching him look defeated, fallen from grace, sends my heart into a nervous whirlwind. Cato is a warrior, a gladiator, not some...some...

"Cato, buck up," I say. The words leave my mouth without me even thinking about them, and for a moment I worry that I've crossed a line.

But Cato gives a dog-like shake of his head and stands up, grabbing his broadsword and the scraps of out sleeping bags and tents. Within a matter of minutes he has a makeshift campsite set up with places to sleep for all of us. I blink, watching the flames dance again on his face, illuminating him in the dark.

And there he is born again, and I grin as he sharpens his sword with a beautiful bloodlust in his eye.