Cato fought the burning in his eyes as tears attempted to burst through the surface. He felt a room full of harsh eyes boring into his trembling form on the ground. "Call yourself a Career?" the instructor yelled into his ear, his fingers twisting the membrane of his ear painfully. "You're pathetic," he spat onto the ground right in front of the boy's face. The boy's eyes darted around the room fearfully in shame; nearly everyone was laughing at his failure. Only the youngest and newest members of the academy looked back at him silently, some joining the roar with hesitant laughter.

He locked eyes with a particular one; a girl with dark hair and dark eyes, knives strapped to her chest glinting in the bright lights as her body shifted around uncomfortably - Clove. She was going to do something, he knew it, she was going to challenge the instructor and it was going to make everything worse. 'No' his lips attempted to mouth at her but she ignored him.

"Leave him alone!" her yell cut across the hall like one of her knives. The laughter stopped abruptly, leaving behind an eerie silence where Cato just bowed his head further in shame. "What's this Cato?" the instructor asked, grinning maliciously, "Have you got a little girl defending you now? Aren't you proud? You've obviously taught her well; speaking out like that for you. Aren't you going to say anything for yourself boy?" There was a gleam of malic in the instructor's eye; it matched well with his sadistic streak.

He shook his head silently, watching Clove's face flush red under all the pressure, yet she still stood fast. "Oh well I suppose I should just let this go hmm? I mean since our little Clove wants me to stop," the instructor asked patronisingly. Cato just clenched his jaw and said nothing; it'd only make everything worse. "Get up you pathetic fool," the instructor growled, clubbing him around the ears. "Since your pretty little girl thinks you're so precious you can just go home for the day hmm?" the sentence rang uncomfortably in the air as he stood. Everyone knew the consequences if he did that; once you walked out you could never return.

There was a defiant shake of the head. "THEN WORK FOOL!" he grit his teeth as spit flew into his face before moving to pick up his sword. "AND THE REST OF YOU, WHAT ARE YOU STANDING THERE FOR? UNLESS YOU WANT A WHIPPING!" there was a silent scuffle as everyone moved back to where they were and normal training noise resumed.

A quick look around the room confirmed that none of the instructors were looking his way and he jogged across to Clove. She spotted him and was about to say something but he cut her off, "Why did you do that?" he hissed. "You just made me look so weak being defending by you," the flash of hurt in her eyes was hard to miss. "I was just trying to-"I don't care what you were trying to do. Don't ever try anything like that again," he bit out.

Ignoring the wounded look on her face and the slight tug of his emotions he turned around and walked away.