Unlikely Heroes

Chapter 24

After a few hours of talking to the man with the two kids, whose name was Haakon, Rufioh walked back to the tent with Karkat. He noticed Karkat was angry at Gamzee again. Rufioh thought nothing of it, until Karkat raised a fist about to attack Gamzee. He rushed over and stood over Karkat. "Don't hit him." Rufioh said sternly and quietly.

"Why not?!" Karkat yelled in English, trying to snatch his wrist back. Rufioh held it in place.

"He's your friend and you need to stop yelling." Rufioh looked around the room.

"Let me go!! Damn it, Rufioh!!" Karkat stood up, pulling against the soldier.

"Why are you so upset??" Rufioh kept  his hold. "Why are you letting this get to you?!"

"He say you are not safe!!" Karkat desperately tried to free himself.

"You shouldn't believe him! You know what's going on! Just drop it, okay?" Rufioh wanted Karkat to regain his common sense. He let go of his wrist and looked at Karkat. "Go show Gamzee around before it gets dark... Try to feel better, I know you're upset." He hugged the small child and let him go. He watched Karkat and Gamzee walked out of the tent. He sighed and sat down on the small cot. He had been taking care of Karkat for three years and now that people he knew were here, he became more and more violent and hard to handle. Rufioh held his head and sighed. "I can't keep this up..."

After what seemed like an eternity of bringing himself down by saying terrible things in his head, Rufioh got up. He wanted to check on Karkat, let always. It didn't take long for Rufioh to hear Karkat screaming something in German. Rufioh rushed over and saw Kurloz walking away with Karkat on his shoulder as he screamed and thrashed around. "HEY!!" Rufioh yelled upon seeing Kurloz and Karkat. "What the hell are you doing?!" He marched over.

'Are you Rufioh?' Kurloz asked, Rufioh had no clue what he said.

"I don't know what your fancy fucking hands said, but put him down!" Rufioh glared, Kurloz understood but didn't drop Karkat. "Put. Him. Down! Now!!"

Kurloz kept a hold of Karkat, who started hitting him again. Kurloz shook his head.

"Now I know you understand me." Rufioh crossed his arms. "Don't mess with a soldier." He yanked Karkat off, putting him aside. He grabbed Kurloz, pulling his arms behind. "Don't touch him again!"

Kurloz flipped Rufioh in front of him, punching him.

Rufioh grabbed kurloz's arm and twisted it, but Kurloz grabbed Rufioh and shoved him off. Kurloz watched Rufioh for a second, before Rufioh ran at him. He tried to land a punch, but Kurloz grabbed his hand and pushed it down. Rufioh finally just grabbed him and tackled him to the ground. He pulled kurloz's arm up behind, keeping him down.

"NITRAM!!" Another soldier yelled, running up to the two of them. "What are you doing, soldier?!"

Rufioh quickly got off of Kurloz. "He was- he-"

The other soldier grabbed Rufioh's collar and pulled him up, closer to his face. "It seemed like you attacked him!"

"He had picked up Karkat, uh, sir." Rufioh stuttered out.

The soldier shoved Rufioh down, placing a foot on his chest. "Why did you attack him, still?!" He looked to Kurloz.

"I thought he was-"

"Quiet!!" The soldier yelled. "What happened?" He asked Kurloz, who signed.

"He can not talk." Karkat explained. He watched Kurloz for a second. He had to understand the German signing, then translate it to English. "...'I want to take Karkat to there. He and I know for while. I got mad at him for something.'..."

"For what?" The soldier asked.

Kurloz signed, but Karkat didn't translate. Kurloz nudged him. "You will not understand..." Kurloz glared at Karkat for that answer.

"Fine." The soldier turned to Rufioh, who was still on the ground under his foot. "You. Come with me." He yanked Rufioh up. "You're in so much fucking trouble!" He pulled Rufioh along by his shirt collar.

"...shit..." Rufioh muttered under his breath.

"All you've been is a little know it all shit! You don't break easy and you think you can do whatever you want! Well you can't!" The soldier tossed Rufioh into a tent and kicked him down. "Stay down for once!!" Rufioh obeyed, staying on the ground with a busted lip. "Good!! Someone else will take care of you..." The soldier grumbled and left Rufioh.

Within minutes of the soldier leaving, Rufioh stood up and sighed. "I'm such a fucking screw up..."

Unluckily for Rufioh the soldier that was going to "take care of him" was Smith. The same soldier that beat up Karkat. "Oh-ho ho! Nitram!" Smith smirked wickedly. "I've been waiting to teach you some fucking respect!"

"Whatever you do to me can't be worse than the gestapo. I'm missing a finger, less you forget." Rufioh wouldn't be fazed by Smith's words.

"Fight back, I hit you harder." Was what Smith responded with. He rolled up his sleeves and punched Rufioh as hard as he could. Rufioh didn't fight back, letting Smith beat the living shit out of him. After twenty minutes, Smith had finished and left the tent.

Rufioh sat on the ground, his mouth and nose was bleeding. He had a black eye and bruises all over his torso. He stayed there for another twenty minutes, just staring at the tent walls. The first soldier walked back into the tent and saw Rufioh just sitting there. "Go clean yourself up then go and run laps till you can't." The soldier crossed his arms and watched Rufioh get up and walk outside. Rufioh wiped the blood from his mouth and nose. The soldier lead him just outside the base and told him to start running.