A/N: Warnings for violence and character death.
The farther they get into the maze, the harder it is to keep going.
The vegetation grows thicker, there are more wild animals, there are even some natural disasters. At some point there was so much rain and wind that they had to go back a few meters and choose another way to go.
When the sun goes down, they choose the thickest part of the small forest that they can find. It's easier to stay hidden, and there are so many trees that they don't have to worry about the smoke from the fire giving away their location.
Kaya starts cleaning the rabbits that Luffy killed earlier while he tries to teach Chopper how to use the sword he got from the Cornucopia. Luffy tries to attack with it, but ends up falling on his butt.
"Why did you even bother bringing that with you?" Kaya asks, trying not to laugh. It's obvious that neither of them know how to use the weapon.
"I thought this would be easier," Luffy admits, "Zoro makes it look so simple."
"Well, he's been training his whole life. You can't compare yourself to him."
"Who's Zoro?" Chopper asks, curious.
Luffy smiles wide at the question. "He's my best friend! He's super strong and he's super good with a sword! And he's never lost a fight." Luffy proceeds to tell a story about when Zoro and Sanji fought for two days and attracted the attention of every District 12 citizen. Chopper is so amazed that he doesn't even blink while he listens to Luffy.
Kaya sighs. Chopper has been so strong and reliable during the Games that sometimes she forgets he's just a fifteen year old boy. He knows so much about food and medicine, but he's completely innocent regarding the Capitol and what they can do, and he believes in everything Kaya and Luffy tell him. The worst part is his unconditional faith in Luffy; it's like he's a superhero in Chopper's eyes. It's cute, but Kaya also worries how Choppet will react when they eventually have to kill someone. She's not sure she can do it, much less Chopper.
"What about you? Who are your friends from 11?" Luffy asks.
Chopper becomes very, very red. "I, uh, don't have many friends. The other kids don't really like me." He's avoiding their eyes, looking at the ground.
Luffy seems surprised. "Why not? You're so cool, and you know so many things! You know about seeds and plants we can eat, and how to treat wounds, and how to make traps -"
"Everybody in 11 knows things about plants," Chopper says quietly, clearly not accepting the compliments. "And nobody cares about medical stuff. And they think I look weird."
"Well, that's stupid. You look fine to me." Luffy says matter-of-factly.
"How can you say that? Not even my parents wanted me," Chopper replies, upset. He looks like he's about to cry.
"Who cares about that? My dad disappeared when I was seven, but that's okay, because I found my brothers and my friends. And it's okay that you don't have parents, because you met us, and now we're friends, right?"
"Did you dad abandon you?" Chopper asks, surprised that such a thing happened to Luffy.
Luffy thinks for a while before answering "yes".
That's... not exactly a lie, but it's not the whole story either. Kaya knows what happened. Well, everybody in District 12 knows what happened. Luffy's father tried to start a revolution, tried to talk the coal miners into rebelling, and he suceed. He almost took over the district, but the Capitol sent hundreds of Peacekeepers and killed hundreds of people. Rumor is that Garp, Luffy's grandfather and also a Peacekeeper, killed Dragon himself. Nobody knows if he's actually dead, but the man was never seen again.
Of course, Kaya knows Luffy isn't going to say that when the whole country is watching them. He's never cared much about his dad, and his brothers probably told him not to talk about it.
"Thanks," Chopper says, almost inaudible, "for being my friends."
Apparently the Capitol liked their emotional conversation, because suddenly there's a silver parachute coming to them. Kaya is surprised they're getting anything at all; when they decided to go with the weak, fragile strategy Shanks warned them that they probably wouldn't get the sponsors' attention for a long time.
She hurries to get it and makes a happy sound when she sees what's inside. "It's medicine! For your arm, Luffy!"
Chopper excitedly checks the content. "That's good! The wound was starting to get worse, and I couldn't find the right plants to treat it."
They are interrupted by the Capitol's anthem playing. All of them immediately go silent, paying attention to the sky to know who died.
There's only one death. It's the girl they met and let go.
Kaya takes a deep breath as she looks at the girl's face. She's from District 7, and her name was Margareth. She seemed to be around Luffy's age. Kaya feels a mix of relief and sadness. She was afraid Margareth would come back to hurt them, but the idea that someone she met was killed is really upsetting. She'll never see or speak to Margareth again.
It makes life seem so fragile.
"There's eleven left," Chopper says, and Kaya notices her own emotions reflected in her voice. Hope. Fear.
"We're going to win," Luffy says confidently, and they don't talk much after that.
The next morning, the path they're following becomes wider and wider as they walk. Finally, they reach what looks like a huge courtyard, except that it isn't surrounded by a building, but by several other entrances. Probably several paths would end in this place.
It makes sense, Chopper thinks. A maze is a new and interesting idea for an arena, but the Gamemakers need a way for the tributes to find each other, otherwise the Games would get boring pretty soon. He feels anxious with this new discovery. Anybody could end up here at any minute. And wherever they choose to go, they could meet another tribute, or the Careers.
"So," Chopper starts, "where should we go?"
"This could be a trick," Kaya replies thoughtfully. "See the paths with glass walls? It seems like there are more trees there. So they're more dangerous because the other tributes can see you, but they also offer more food."
"I see," Chopper replies, analysing the other paths. "These ones don't have many plants, but the walls are made of rocks, so nobody would see us if we chose this one."
"We should choose the glass one," Luffy replies.
"Absolutely not!" Chopper and Kaya hiss.
"What?" Luffy asks, confused at their frustration. "The more food we have, the stronger we'll be!"
"The other tributes could see us and follow us! The Careers could follow us! I'm not risking that," Kaya replies, clearly not amused.
"I agree with Kaya," Chopper replies. Luffy looks at him like he was betrayed. "Sorry, Luffy, I'd rather eat less and stay hidden."
Luffy pouts, but doesn't say anything else. They hurry to leave the yard as soon as possible.
Before they can even take one step, there's a lot of noise. It sounds like people running and laughing.
Chopper turns around in time to see a knife fall next to his leg.
He looks up and sees three tributes walking towards them; two boys and one girl. They're huge and fit and have deadly weapons.
The Careers found them.
Luffy resists the urge to immediately attack them. There are three of them and three Careers, but Kaya still isn't good at fighting and Chopper doesn't even have a weapon. They're going to lose if they fight now.
"I'm surprised you're still alive," the girl says, "none of you looked interesting during training. And you don't even know how to hold a sword," she points at Luffy.
He notices she's holding a bow.
Luffy ignores her words. "Did you kill Margareth?"
One of the boys, one with a horn helmet, bursts out laughing. "Oh, were you the ones she met earlier?" he asks, interested. "She did mention she saw three weaklings, but she claimed she didn't know where they went. She didn't know anything useful, so we killed her," he finishes wih a smile.
"What about you? Can you be useful for us?" the other boy asks. He's taller than the other two.
Luffy is about to reply that yeah, he's useful, he's good at kicking bad guys' asses, when Kaya replies instead.
"We're good at getting food. And we're good with medical treatment."
"Oh, that's interesting. Can you prove it?"
"Sure," Kaya replies, and she gets some plants and oil from her bag. "Give me a minute."
Luffy has no idea of what's going on, but Kaya sends looks at him in a way that says let me handle this and he obeys. He can knock out these guys when they're busy with whatever Kaya is making.
After ten minutes of tension, she's finished.
And she throws the pot in the taller Career's face. He falls to the ground, frothing at the mouth and his whole body shaking.
"RUN!" Kaya screams, grabbing what she can and going for the closest path she can find.
Luffy immediately starts running, and he can hear the other two tributes shouting and cursing at them. He notices the boy follows Kaya while the girl goes after him and Chopper.
The Careers are fast. Luffy tries his best to avoid the arrows the girl is sending at them. He picks a different path from Kaya, because he doesn't want two Careers so close to her. He hopes she can handle herself against him.
When the girl is out of arrows, he doesn't waste time. He hits her head with the dull side of the sword, and she falls to the ground without a sound.
He looks around. Chopper is next to him, trembling. They're in a part of the maze with glass walls. He can see what's happening in the other side.
The Career has trapped Kaya in a corner.
He's forced to watch as she desperately tries to climb the wall, as she screams in fear, as she realizes she's going to die.
She looks at them, and whispers "you have to win", before turning to face the guy with nothing but her fists.
The boy walks slowly, mockingly, and when he finally reaches her, he grabs Kaya's head and smashes it against the glass that separates them from Luffy and Chopper.
He does it repeatedly until the glass is painted red, until pieces of her brain and skull are scattered on the floor.
The first thing Luffy does is scream.
He doesn't care if all tributes hear him. Let them come. He's so furious, so frustrated, that he would kill anyone that came near him.
He feels Choppet holding his wrist and forcing him to run, but all he can focus on right now is rage and the need to hurt these people who hurt Kaya.
After what feels like eternity, Chopper stops running, and soon Luffy starts hitting himself, throwing his own body against a tree. Everything inside his mind hurts so much, he needs to feel physical pain or else he'll go insane. The ache in his torso where he repeatedly hit the trunk makes him feel better somehow, makes him relieve the mess in his head.
He keeps screaming and hurting himself, pulling his own hair, throwing his body against the ground, scratching his skin with his nails until it bleeds.
After several minutes, he stops completely.
Then he starts crying.
The tears won't stop spilling from his eyes - everytime he tries to collect himself, he thinks about Kaya, Kaya with blood covering her entire face, and he loses himself again.
"I'm so sorry," he says between sobs, and he isn't sure who he is asking for forgiveness - Kaya? Her parents? Usopp? God? "I couldn't do anything, it's all my fault, what is wrong with me—"
It's like he's stuck in an endless cycle of hell and torture, so he keeps hiccupping, shaking, curled up on the ground. The audience probably thinks he went nuts, but he doesn't care in the slightest.
When he calms down enough to look around, he sees Chopper is standing next to him, shrunken, and Luffy notices his friend is terrified out of his mind.
"Hey," Luffy says, and his voice is so hoarse that it comes out as a whisper. Chopper tries to get away from him. "It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. I'll protect you."
Chopper looks at him, eyes wide and wet, and mumbles "you scared me." In that moment, it's so clear to Luffy that Chopper is too young, too pure to be involved in this, but he can't do anything about it. The only thing he can do is keep his word and not let him die too.
"It's okay," Luffy chokes, and he's afraid he'll start crying again, but he keeps going, "I won't do that again. It's just... I've known Kaya for a long time."
Choppee hums in agreement and, to Luffy's surprise, hugs him. Luffy feels his shirt get wet with both his and Chopper's tears. They stay like that for a few minutes, mourning Kaya.
"Let me treat your wounds," Chopper says after what seems like hours, and Luffy notices for the first time that he's bleeding from hurting himself. Oh.
He wonders how his family and friends are doing. If he scared them after his breakdown. He probably did. He needs to be stronger so they won't get scared. So Chopper won't look at him like he's insane.
"We're going to win, Chopper," Luffy says, and it's nothing like the happy attitude he had in the first few days; Luffy sounds maniac, obsessive.
Chopper doesn't reply.
Answering reviews:
ColorSpark - Thank you for the review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Hope you liked this chapter :)