if you must mourn, don't do it alone (Jactavia)

Part 2, Chapter 5

Octavia counted until two minutes until he'd gone, before coming down the stairs. Roan is waiting for her, and Octavia immediately raises her blade, ready to fight. It's now or never, she supposes.

"I'm not going to kill you...yet." He adds, tilting his head.

"All that stuff to Bellamy was bullshit, then?" She asks, and he doesn't even make an acknowledgement that she'd heard and seen everything up in that tower.

"I want to form an allegiance. Luna is too powerful for one person to beat on their own. Between us, we have a chance." He says point-blank.

"You must be terrified if you think you can't beat her," Octavia says, and it's just a flash, so momentary that one could easily miss it, but yes...he is scared.

"I'm practical."

"And after, when both of us remain?"

"Best warrior wins?" Roan shrugs, obviously thinking that it will be him.

Octavia pauses. If she denies him now, he'll kill her, or try to. And she does think that she couldn't beat Luna alone, and that having two against one would be beneficial, but...

"We don't have all night," Roan interrupts her thoughts.

"Fine," Octavia spits, "Truce." She spits in her palm, and offers it to him. Roan looks a mixture between disgusted and deeply concerned.

"You Sky People have strange traditions," He mutters.

"It's a super-swear. Breaking this is like someone cheating during the Final Conclave." She says sweetly, and once again Roan decidedly ignores her. He doesn't shake her hand, but Octavia thinks he's got the message.

They creep around the quiet arena, the screams of war and blood that began with the trial now gone. Only the starlight was their companions, and Octavia stayed more within the shadows that Roan did. Old habits die hard.

She let him lead, since he seemed to have a pretty good idea of where she might be. She was easier to find than Octavia would have thought, although Luna wasn't hiding by any means. As they approached, they saw her in combatant with the fourth tribute, but she didn't last long, felled by Luna as effortlessly as slicing through water.

Roan flinched; or maybe, it was just Octavia's imagination.

"LUNA!" Roan screams, "You ready to die?" He demands, "You going to run again, like you did the first conclave?"

"Stop baiting her!" Octavia hisses, "She's deadly enough as it is!"

"I see Octavia has come out to play," Luna says, spying her crouching behind Roan, "This will be fun," She says, taking out her knives, gripping them in both hands.

Roan doesn't give Octavia a chance to strategize with him at all, just runs at Luna like a bull, and she dodges him just as easily. Roan skids on the ground, sending a glance back to Octavia. Octavia takes this as her cue, and she holds her fear against her chest for a second, before letting it go and jumping into the fray.

She wishes her and Roan were not at odds. There is a natural flow to the way they work together, the movement of their motions against this enemy. Perhaps if there had been a different life, a different path here, they would have been battle partners. Not, romantically, of course, but as best friends. She can tell that even Roan is surprised at the way they know each other's signs and can play off of it.

And yet, still, Luna is unmoving in her skills. She does not tie, does not waver. They haven't landed more than a light scratch or a kick to her shins on her, while she's already cut Roan's shoulder and nearly sliced off a finger of Octavia's.