New Elysium, Purim

January 2552

Kato glared at his opponent, his blood boiling in frustration and hate. He'd been duking it out with an arrogant upperclassman for the past two hours with no progress made whatsoever. No matter how hard he tried, the big bastard just got up again. His whole body ached from pushing his body to its limit trying to beat some respect into that fucking Sangheili.

Akol stared down at his smaller opponent. Despite his opponent being almost two feet shorter and seemingly lacking the proper weight to even hold his ground against him, this "Kato" had battered him relentlessly. He wiped some of his purple blood off of his face and looked at it for a moment. Up until this moment, he had been untouchable. "Akol the Invincible", his classmates dubbed him. And he believed it fully. Then this heretic came along and shattered that fantasy, almost shattering Akol's neck in the process. As much as he hated to admit it, the younger human had impressed him. But he couldn't let this child damage his pride any further.

Kato charged at the alien, trying to knock him off balance. Not killing him the first go around was a massive mistake that got them both sent to solitary in a disgusting prison somewhere far away from the academy. He hated the fact he was out of his Mjolnir armor. He hated Akol for picking on the human cadets. Most of all, he hated the Sangheili and their damned Covenant. They took everything from him. His family, his home, his identity. He made to pack all of that raw emotion into every punch and kick.

Akol bobbed and weaved, barely avoiding his opponent's attacks. They were still quite unpredictable and lightning quick, despite Kato visibly showing signs of exhaustion. This gravely concerned Akol. Experience taught him that even a well trained human fighter would last just over an hour, but Kato had lasted for well over two. Not to mention the fact the boy had been on the offensive the whole time. Akol knew he needed to end this quickly, but he couldn't do so without a good opening. And that's when Kato miscalculated.

He took too wide of a swing and left himself completely open to an attack to his torso. He cursed to himself as Akol wasted no time in grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and kneeing Kato in the mouth. The human jerked back as the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth and he jerked back, ripping his shirt in the vice grip that was Akol's right hand.

Akol froze mid-punch to look in awe at the human's exposed flesh. This was far from what he expected from a human of Kato's age. Kato's ghostly pale skin was covered in burn scars, cuts, and stitches, almost as if he had been on a battlefield all his life. Slowly, a thought dawned on Akol. 'It couldn't be..."

Kato spat blood as he realized Akol was looking him over, head to toe. He didn't like it one bit. The feeling of cold terror slowly crept up his spine as a gentle breeze caressed his sunlight-deprived body. He looked down to see his shirt, a skin-tight, long-sleeved athletic design, was barely hanging onto him by the remaining threads wrapping themselves around his body. He glared at Akol, suspecting his cover was blown.

Akol knocked Kato off his feet with a sudden shoulder charge, knocking the wind out of him. The human winced and rolled over onto his back, only to be pinned down to by Akol's heavy hoof pressing down upon him. He looked Kato over, noting several more scars running along the contours of the teen's body. The burn scars were certainly from plasma weapons, as were many of the cuts. For the past month and a half, there were rumors that Kato had been a child soldier of some sort before coming to New Elysium. Some claimed he was an Insurrectionist, some a desperate draft into the Human military.

"I win," Akol declared, lifting his foot from the small of his opponent's back.

"What, the great and mighty Akol 'Thysan can't finish off his opponent?" mocked Kato. "Guess you're more of a pussy than I thought."

Kato was far from done with Akol. He had already plotted over a hundred ways of killing the Sangheili by the time he had gotten himself off the ground. There was no way he was letting that bastard walk away from this alive.

"What would the point of killing you be?" Thysan sighed. "You have already lost one life, why take one where you could make something of yourself?"

"The hell are you talking about?" Kato hissed.

"We will discuss this further tomorrow," Akol huffed. "As for now, you will return to your barracks. It is almost curfew time, Minor Kato."

Kato was taken aback by Akol's sudden shift in tone with him. This was the first time Akol had acknowledged his rank (although still in the Sangheili structure), much less addressed him by name. Was he playing some sort of game? Or was he actually being serious? Confusion clouded Kato's thoughts, distracting him to the point of mear disconnect with the world around him. A gentle grab on the wrist brought Kato back to reality.

Akol stared deeply into the human's green eyes, looking for any sign of hostility. It was there, definitely, masked by confusion and fear. Something he'd never witnessed in the young soldier. Perhaps there was a personality lurking underneath the contemptuous silence that Kato usually protected.

"'Thysanee Keep. Two o'clock, Human time," he growled softly. "I'll be waiting for you at the gate."

"Sir, yes sir..." Kato muttered, barely forming words.

He watched as Akol disappeared into the tall grass of the plains behind the academy while rubbing his wrist. He hated being touched, no matter by who or what. Years of intense physical training, augmentation, and close combat had taught him physical contact was for inflicting pain. But something about the way Akol had grabbed him was different. He couldn't tell what it was.