After the first hour Peeta was tired of his struggling and screaming, it only made his throat burn and his arms were tired. He felt thoroughly beaten by Cato and felt like giving up on a chance of escape, especially with Cato's iron grip securing him over his shoulder.
"Why are we stopping Clove?" Cato looked back over his shoulder, that he was currently not carrying Peeta on, realizing that everyone was a while behind them.
"Injuries" Clove called back "I think Marvel's ankle is broken and Glimmer's burns are flaring up and a couple others are complaining of hunger and feel faint."
"Well get Marvel and Glimmer some medical attention, and tell the others their problems will be solved as soon as we get there." Cato's voice hardened and his face went stony with the last part.
He had no idea about where they were headed but if Cato's reaction was any indicator, it was clear it was the last place he wanted to be. The thought of being taken somewhere, even Cato doesn't want to go he thought to himself, made his stomach churn anxiously.
"Yeah about that, Cato… some of us aren't so sure about how much help we'll receive from.." She paused unsure about whether to finish her statement.
"Normally they wouldn't, but since I've got him" Cato replied brusquely jostling Peeta on his shoulder "They'll be interested in us."
Peeta felt his breath increase and his stomach do a somersault at the mention of himself.
"Yeah about him . Some of us are... concerned about him." Clove nodded at Peeta as if he couldn't hear them talking about him.
"Peeta. His name is Peeta"
He felt his face going red at this, he told Cato about his name a while ago, since he didn't actually know it, and ever since he told him it felt odd to be referred to by name by him.
"Um. Yeah about Peeta. Well, some of us think that he might be dangerous.."
"Dangerous?" Cato scoffed, "If he was so dangerous how did I singlehandedly catch him?"
Even though this was a true statement Peeta felt his temperature rise at this, like he was some easy fish caught in a net!
"-And why hasn't he escaped?"
He deflated at this, escape was impossible.
"I don't know, don't ask me" Clove replied raising her hands in defeat. "They just think it's a little… suspicious is all. No tales of the Mer actually come from any living accounts.."
"So what is he going to escape and kill us all?"
"Yeees.."
"What?!" Was the shocked reply from both Peeta and Cato causing them both to look at each other before the former quickly looked away.
"I don't know Cato! They just, well they think that it's odd that he rescued you and got captures so easily and that it's part of a plan to get close to humans and kill as many of us as he can." The last half came out of her mouth quickly and nervously.
This statement earned Clove a pointed look from Cato.
"Hey-I'm not saying this, but these are the kind of rumors going around, and you haven't really talked much to the rest of us about your plan or what's going on beyond…"
"What nonsense! I mean look at him!" To punctuate this Cato shook Peeta on his shoulder as if to illustrate his helplessness.
"-He can't physically do anything! I've got hold of him! It's not like he can go anywhere with his tail. He's a beached whale."
Peeta couldn't help but agree with this. Even on the beach the most he could do was wriggle around. Barely.
"Go back there and tell them whatever it is you need to say to calm them all down." He replied waving his hand, dismissing her.
As Clove went back to the rest of the group Cato walked a bit ahead away from the rest of the group and started pacing.
"You heard all that right?! You wouldn't-you can't even… what a load of shit I mean…"
Peeta found himself agreeing with Cato in his head, he couldn't get near anyone else to harm them, if he was in the water that would be another story, but he wasn't a vicious creature, and on land he was truly helpless.
"-I mean look!" Cato threw Peeta forward onto the ground to display his inability to do anything-
-Suddenly as Peeta felt himself fall forward and he outstretched his arms to catch himself on the ground, time seemed to freeze around him. He felt a sort of tingling sensation in his tail. He was still falling through the air when he felt the sensation increase and feel quite painful and suddenly he was falling at normal speed again when-, his tail split and he caught himself-
-With legs.
~xXx~
He heard Peeta let out a yelp of pain and suddenly his breath was gone as he looked at the boy and.
He had legs.
And he was naked.
Cato was unsure which to be more in shock of.
At first having no sense of embarrassment being unclothed he just stood there shocked with his newfound limbs.
Fuck fuck fuck. Fuck. Fuck everything Cato thought. He isn't some regal statue or beautiful enigma. This mer- this boy was a hot piece of ass and Cato wanted to ravage him right then and there. He imagined picking Peeta up and biting at his neck and kissing him passionately- he found himself licking his lips as his eyes traveled up and down Peeta's frame memorising every line and angle on the surface of the boy's body to commit to memory.
Peeta's face burned red as he realized that Cato's shock had quickly turned into staring at him like a spectacle, not only because he now had legs, but because, he assumed, it was so odd to see humans without clothes! He moved his hands to cover up his front a bit and he swore he heard a moan from Cato-
"U-um. I-I have legs" Peeta quivered "And uh-shouldn't I have some clothes?" He tilted his head questioningly and then shivered as he felt the wind blow against him.
Without thinking he quickly pulled off his shirt and shoved it at Peeta. "Here."
"Oh. Um. Thank you." Peeta had to turn away from Cato so he wouldn't stand there and just ogle his now bare chest.
That. Ass.
He pulled Cato's shirt on over himself but due to their size differences it was quite large on him. The sleeves hung down over his hands and the hem of the shirt went down to his thighs, but at least he was covered…?
He turned around to face Cato, his legs wobbling in the process, even walking a couple of steps stung his feet and he could feel small rocks digging into the new skin of his feet.
Cato watched as Peeta stumbled around unsteadily on his new feet like a newborn, and he could tell from the grimace on his face that he was clearly in pain.
"How.." Cato breathed as he finally took a moment to process all of this information. Was Peeta no longer a Mer? Did he do this unconsciously with some kind of magic or what if-
"Ah!" Peeta tripped over his own two feet falling towards Cato.
Cato caught him and he found himself flush against his chest looking up into his eyes.
"W-wh-what happened to me?" He questioned.
Cato noticed that tears had started to well up in Peeta's eyes and he couldn't quite tell if they were from pain or fear.
He wanted nothing more than to kiss him and make all the pain go away.
"Cato! I think we're all ready to go-" Clove jogged up and stopped in her tracks as she took in the sight of a now human Peeta wearing Cato's shirt being held by a bare chested Cato.
"What. The. Fuck."
~xXx~
Peeta was back in his spot of being on Cato's shoulder since it was clear that he couldn't walk at all, especially without footwear. He now rested fitfully twitching every now and then and Cato could start to see a bit more skin as the shirt rode up his thighs ever so slight-
"-I mean this is the fucking shit that we've all been talking about Cato!" Clove interrupted his thoughts bringing him back to the matter at hand.
"I mean what the actual-"
"You've said that a million times already Clove." Cato interrupted her massaging his head with his free hand not holding Peeta in place.
"Well I can't stop Cato! Especially after seeing that! I mean this, this, thing obviously has some kind of shit going on no one knows about! It doesn't even seem like he does!" Clove nearly shouted, exasperatedly.
"Shh. Don't wake him up!" Cato whispered back as he realized from the steady rise and fall of the boy that he was asleep.
"Oh, right, don't wake him up, what was I thinking?! 'Oh yeah Clove make sure you're quiet so you don't wake the strange creature from the watery depths of the ocean!' She whispered this last part quite loudly back at Cato.
"He's not a monster."
"As far as we know. In fact we don't know! No one does! Not even himself!" Was her quick retort.
Clove was pointing out earlier that when they questioned Peeta he was as shocked as they were and had no idea about what might've caused his transformation.
"-He's dangerous Cato, a powder keg waiting to go off at any minute! We could do one wrong thing and we could all be dead for all we know!"
"Clove he's young, almost a kid even. He's not an evil monster or anything."
"But you don't know anything definitively. He's some random creature that saved you-for some reason-and he obviously has some sort of magic that we don't understand and you want to hand him over to-"
Cato coughed at this causing Clove to shut her mouth.
"Clove, I lost my ship and the entire investment from my family," Cato paused, he sighing as his shoulders fell
"I need something to bring back or else I'd be better off dead. Floating with the rest of the wreckage."
"Cato.."
"I'm serious."
"And so am I! And you could still end up that way-!"
"-Here we are." Clove stopped facing the gate for half a second before turning around running back to the rest of the group.
Cato sighed and reached forward to rest his hand on the gate of his family manor.
~xXx~
Sixteen years ago.
"Okay Cato,"
He stood on a balcony with his father overlooking their entire estate, the grounds were well kept and all the plants seemed to be flowering or in bloom.
"Eventually when you come of age, everything will fall to your shoulders. You will be in charge of all the financial decisions concerning the estate, along with everything else that comes with being a duke of these lands."
Cato tilted his head to the side looking up blankly at his father whose face smiled eagerly.
"I'm so glad to have a boy to pass all this down to," His father ran his hand in his gair ruffling it.
"And of course with the way things were with your mother, we never thought…"
Cato saw his dad frown looking off blankly into the distance, coming back only when Cato yanked on his hand hard enough.
"Of course you'll have years to learn everything you need to know, and the finest tutors from the Capital, and one day even a wife to sit beside you and take care of the lesser duties of the estate." With this he bent over to pick Cato up holding him, his legs wrapped around his stomach.
"Woah you're getting bigger every day you know kiddo-"
~xXx~
Fifteen years later.
"FUCK CATO," His father was screaming at him his face boiling in rage.
"GODDAMIT! YOU-YOU'VE FRITTERED ALL OUR MONEY AWAY ON YOUR IDIOTIC VENTURES," He seethed coming closer to Cato "DID YOU LEARN NOTHING FROM YOUR STUDIES? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THIS FAMILY?!"
Suddenly Cato found himself slammed against the stone wall and his head reeling from the pain, he could feel his father's hands around his throat.
"Brutus, stop it!" His mother stormed into the room beating her fists against his back "He's just a boy calm down!"
"He stopped being a boy the moment he took charge of this family and now he needs to deal with his consequences."
Cato felt his father's grip tighten and saw the edges of his vision darken.
"This is not the way to handle this!" She shouted.
He saw his mother push him off and started to sink down the wall regaining his breath.
"FUCK-"
After several minutes of listening to his parents argue he shook as he stood up propped up against the wall.
"Don't worry about the money," He choked out "I got a job working for the Capital as a privateer. Benefits are quite good from them and-"
Cato was interrupted by the sting of a sharp slap across the face leaving him stunned and speechless.
"HOW DARE YOU. SHAMING THIS FAMILY TO WORK AS A MILITARY PUPPET TO THAT-"
Cato was at a loss for words. He had screwed everything up severely and now he was paying for it.
"-SEE YOU EVER AGAIN. YOU'RE NO SON OF MINE." And with that his father marched away and left Cato to watch as his mother sobbed running out of the room also leaving him alone.
He wouldn't see either of his parents for a year.
A/N: Ah yes ending on a happy note. Anyways I've decided Cato's 22 in this story so he would be six in his earlier flashback. Also Peeta's 18. I hoped you liked this chapter, it's slightly longer and hopefully you like some parts of it. Well review as usual and tell me if you love or hate the chapter, what you want more of etc. Bye!