This chapter is dedicated in memory of Robin Williams.
Chapter Fourteen: Definition of Death
The forest darkened during the walk to the pond. Peeta hadn't completely thought through his using the bedsheets as a form of cover until passerbys started to stare and a few wolf whistled. He began to wish he had thought to ask Cato where he had put his clothes to dry off. But the way Cato's arm tightened around Peeta and the "keep testing me, see how that works out for you," glares he threw at every bypassing perv made Peeta forget to even worry about it. Meh, he'd get his clothes later.
The sun disappeared beyond the horizon and the moon began to peak out from behind the clouds. Peeta shivered. Goosepimples rose along his arms and down his back, prickling his skin like a thousand needles. Alarms bells faintly ran in the back of his head, trying to alert him of the danger to come, but they were so vague Peeta barely noticed them. When they reached the pond, the moon had completely risen in the sky, hovering in its usual position in the gap of the leaves. The reflection in the water was blinding, shining so white it lit up the entire area. As blissful as the walk through the woods had been, the sight of the full moon was a cause for great alarm.
Cato cursed under his breath. "Damn it, I didn't know the moon was supposed to be full tonight." He held an arm out in front of Peeta as if expecting him to lurch towards the water just by laying eyes on the reflection.
Apart from the goosebumps on his skin that were growing painful, Peeta didn't feel any different. A little spooked by the full moon and it's potential danger, that was it. "We should go back," he said none-the-less. "We can figure out some other way to wash up. I'm sure there's a creek or river or . . . something . . . somewhere else. Somewhere far, far from here." Marvel had been right. Once you're Undead, you begin to fear the moon and the terrifying grip it has over you.
Cato nodded, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to recall another water source. "Yeah, there's a creek somewhere over in that direction," he finally said, pointing to the left. "It's about an hour walk so we'd better-"
"What are you two doing here?!"
Both looked up, surprised to see that Marvel had appeared, standing on a ledge of earth that overlooked the pond. It freaked Peeta out how Undead could be no where in sight one minute then standing there bold as brass the next. Although, he could be that freaky now, if he wanted to.
"Are you crazy?" Marvel exclaimed. "Coming out here when there's a full moon? And . . . " he narrowed his eyes, "wearing a bedsheet? What? Did you come out here for an orgy? Do you get off on Peeta potentially losing his mind, Cato? Huh? Do you?"
"You're one to talk!" Cato fired back. It seemed that whenever Marvel picked a fight or acted like he was of a higher pecking order to everyone else, Cato couldn't stand down. He had to fight back. "You're the one who turned him in the first place!"
"Don't even start that you liar!" Marvel shouted. "How long have you been telling Peeta that you have to turn wolf before Undead?"
"I did it for his own good and you know it! Because you're unsafe and impulsive! You better count your fucking blessings that I'm not tearing your ass apart for turning Peeta without asking him!" This time it was Peeta's turn to hold Cato back. Thankfully the Undead traits in him gave him the strength to keep the older man back.
Marvel held his arms outstretched, the perfect 'come-at-me' stance. "It takes two to tango, Cato. Peeta wanted it. He practically asked for it!" Peeta wondered if Marvel was re-considering his current state of health. What hurt the most was that what Marvel was saying was true. It wasn't like he had been forced into what they did. Peeta had been a willing second party to what lead up to his being bitten. It didn't help that Marvel was beaming like he'd won the lifetime achievement award. Maybe, to Marvel, pissing Cato off was his lifetime goal and therefore by doing it he had achieved.
Cato pushed against Peeta, trying to get his chance to swing at Marvel for his big mouth. His Undead strength, however, was still able to keep him back. It was odd, being able to do something he had no hope in hell doing before. It was also kind of invigorating. "Cato, don't," Peeta murmured under his breath to sedate the anger he could feel broiling inside of Cato. "We should just go."
"Yeah, Cato, just go!" Marvel said. "Listen to your little bitch and do as he says!"
"What did you call him?!" Cato shouted. "Is the moonlight going to your head or do you actually have a death wish?!"
Peeta, somehow, knew that the full moon was getting to Marvel. He could somehow feel the madness the other man was feeling, weighing down on his brain like a thousand bricks. Was it the Undead telepathy? Could they feel what others were feeling?
"The moon makes them crazy?" Peeta whispered to Cato in confusion. He didn't understand. Marvel had been perfectly sane when they had chatted together during the last full moon. Why was he only going nuts now?
"Sometimes," Cato whispered back. "If the shine touched his skin . . . but that doesn't make sense, Marvel knows well enough not to go out during the full moon."
"He went out the last time and he was fine," Peeta replied.
Cato shook his head. "Bitterness has aged him," he said quietly.
"I am not bitter," Marvel called, his superhuman hearing even the quietest of murmers.
"He said bitterly with a bitter expression," Peeta muttered.
Cato gently prised Peeta's arm away from him, giving him a reassuring smile when he flashed a concerned look at him. He directed a surprisingly calm gaze towards Marvel and said, "Okay, Marvel, I'm going to chalk . . . whatever this is . . . down to the full moon tonight. If you go back to camp we won't say any more about it." Peeta was impressed by Cato's ability to smother his anger. It was obviously taking a great deal of his strength.
Marvel ignored Cato and fixed Peeta with an annoyed look. "You went back to him. Again. Even after I turn you first, my first ever chance at maybe not being second best, and you still go back to him! What do I have to do?"
"Why do you even care so much?!" Peeta exclaimed. "You don't want love! You said so yourself, Undead aren't capable of love! All you care about is . . . is . . . fucking! I'm sorry Marvel but I'm not looking for a fuck buddy! Not in this life, anyway!"
"But that's the thing, even when you are looking for a fuck buddy, you still go back to him! In my hundreds of years of life I have never been a second fucking choice!" Marvel shouted. "Except every fucking time you come back to the camp!"
"You can have anyone in your camp, Marvel," Cato said in a measured voice. "Anyone at all. You lead Glimmer on like a doggie on a leash and she gladly allows you to do so. She's a pretty girl, Marvel, and she'd do anything for you. Why can't you want her? Or someone else from your camp? Even chase another wolf if you have to! Why Peeta? Why him when you know I love him more than you can comprehend?"
Marvel stepped a little closer to the edge of the ledge. Peeta flinched, the image of what would happen if he slipped and fell into the water vividly playing out in his mind. The ledge overlooked the piece of water the moon was reflected in. One slip and Marvel would be toast. "Because I want to know what it is I have to do for him to want me more than you. Everyone else would gladly accept my company, put me first, but not him," Marvel explained. His expression darkened. "He always chooses you!"
"So everytime I went to bed with you I was choosing Cato?" Peeta demanded incredulously.
Marvel shrugged. "Cato always came up one way or another. You even screamed his name once when I was fingering you."
Peeta shrank back a little, imaginging how horrifying that must have been for Marvel. Why did all of this have to be so complicated? Why did he have to live so many lives, so many differing personas, so many personalities? Why couldn't he just be who he was now and not have to bear the burden of the actions of lives he couldn't even remember living?
"It's not a competition over who's better than who," said Cato. "Peeta isn't an experiment to me. I don't want to know what it takes to have him, as long as I have him close, I don't need much else."
Despite the serious situation, Peeta couldn't help smiling at that. He clutched the bedsheet tighter to his chest and moved some of it away from his feet so he didn't trip up on it. The annoying thing was that to keep the most private parts of himself decently covered, he had to hold the sheet in a way that left his left leg nearly completely uncovered. Even though it was better than having to stand there butt naked in front of Marvel, he still felt a little vulnerable to the lustful eyes of the Undead man incapable of love.
"I thought I was getting somewhere last night when I told him you were lying," Marvel said to Cato. "There was not a flicker of desire to go to you about anything and that's how I made my move. I kissed him and he kissed me back." He smirked. "Something else I got to do first."
"As I said before, this isn't a competition," Cato answered.
"And I'm not some prize," Peeta added.
Marvel shook his head in denial. He fixed his eyes on a point in the distance and took a deep breath. His hands were still shaking in anger but he didn't push the point any further. Peeta was thankful. This really wasn't the time for a full blown fight, especially with the moon out. "Why are you out here anyway? Didn't I say it was dangerous? And you're newly turned, that means you run the risk of being affected even more."
"We were about to leave before you went off on one," Cato said pointedly.
"We get out of here then, before he goes crazy and we have to kill him," Marvel replied, using the same snide tone as Cato. They were like brothers, constantly at each other's throats and always arguing.
"You'd have to kill me?" Peeta asked, surprised. He knew that full moons turned Undead nuts but he thought it was only for a particular expanse of time. He thought it would be like drugs, there's a high but there's also a come down.
"It's how you've died before," Marvel muttered. He smirked and laughed dryly. "By Cato's hand, might I add."
"Shut up, Marvel," Cato snapped.
"Fuck off Cato, you got to stop this saint act. No one buys it. You're not God's fucking gift, you've got just as much blood on your hands as me!" Noticing Peeta's confused expression, Marvel said, "That's what comes with being old, you do things you will later regret. But because you don't die you're forever in regret. Living it over and over and over again until you can't take it anymore. Except when you can't take it anymore there isn't much else you can do but keep moving."
Peeta glanced at Cato. He was obviously affected by what Marvel was saying. Peeta didn't really get why. It wasn't like he believed that Cato was ultimately good anyway. No one's ultimately good. "You do realize it's not about what people have done in their past, it's how they deal with it now, right?" Peeta asked Marvel.
This made Marvel laugh. Peeta scowled, annoyed by his arrogance. "So it doesn't bother you at all that I just indicated that Cato may have killed you in the past?"
"By the sounds of it he had to," Peeta said. "If I was crazy because of the moonlight and there was no other choice." He reached out and took Cato's hand, giving a reassuring squeeze. "But the lies will have to stop, if this relationship is to go any further."
"Relationship? Seriously? Already?" Marvel laughed. "You barely know each other! You know him just as much as you know me. Which isn't much at all!"
"Didn't stop you from trying to have sex with me," Peeta muttered.
"Oh shut up, you wanted it," Marvel replied.
"Yeah, okay, you're right. But then you bit me!" Peeta snapped back.
"You should have asked!" Cato said. He was getting angry again, Peeta could sense it. Gathering the sheet in one hand, Peeta held his arm in front of Cato to hold him back. "As I said before, you're fucking lucky I'm not beating the shit out of you right now! You didn't think about Peeta or his safety when you bit him, you were just thinking about yourself and stitching me up!"
"Yeah, because everything's about you," Marvel sneered. "Everything's always about Cato and how damaged and hurt he is . . ."
Marvel's voice faded out as Peeta stopped listening. In the shadows behind the angry Undead man, Peeta saw Finnick come out of the shadows. His pale skin reflected in the moonlight but a dark shadow poisoned his features. His bronze hair glowed, shining like a copper coin. He didn't look happy, nor did he look annoyed. His face was completely placid and indifferent. Peeta didn't have good feel, his stomach sinking as soon as he saw Finnick there. Nothing good could come of his sudden appearance.
Peeta stepped backwards in fear, taking a hold of Cato-who had been scowling through the entirety of Marvel's rant-'s arm to pull him back as well.
Finnick leaned forward, his lips in the shape of an 'o' as he blew what would look like a gentle breath. As if a strong wind had knocked him off balanced, Marvel stumbled. Not just a small unbalance. He stumbled badly. So badly his foot slipped off the edge of the ledge and he fell off.
It happened all too quickly. Marvel's body hit the water, right on the circle of moon reflection. Cato shielded Peeta from the water that splashed from it, just in case it would affect him. A second later, Marvel burst out from the surface of the water, sending even more droplets soaring through the air around him. He roared-a loud, ravonous, animalistic-scream and whirled around to stare up at whoever pushed him.
Finnick, unbothered by what he had done, pointed his trident at Marvel and shouted, "Marvel Winters, you have lived all you have to live! It's your time to die!"
"What?!" Marvel screamed. Veins stood out on his arms and neck, thick veins travelling under his skin. "You can't kill me! I've lived thousands of years, you can't just kill me now!" He jumped out of the water and soared through the air with impeccable strength and speed. His fingers dug into the soil of the ledge and he scrambled back on top to where Finnick still stood. "I've seen you kill Peeta time and time again but you can't just waltz on up here randomly without warning and try to take me too!"
"There's a time for everyone Mr Winters and death comes without warning," Finnick shruggged in his usual nonchalant way. "Just because you're immortal doesn't mean you can't die, surely you knew that."
Peeta noticed, from his place across the way beside Cato, that Marvel's fingers had extended out into sharp claws and when he spoke, it was a feral growl. "You aren't going to kill me," he hissed."You can't."
"Anyone who's name appears on my list, I can kill. I don't question it. Your rotten attitude isn't really helping your case anyway," Finnick replied. "Goodbye Mr Winters."
Marvel screamed and lurched at Finnick, claws brandished. Peeta's heart stopped in fear. Could Marvel actually attack Death? Did the moonlight really make him that insane? It didn't matter anyway. Finnick was too fast. Fingers clutched tight around the shaft of the trident, the Bringer of Death stabbed the weapon forward so the points dug so deep into Marvel's torso that they pierced through the other side of him.
Even Cato tensed up at the sight, his face falling into an expression of pure horror. As fast as a life can begin, Marvel's flickered out. Finnick's trident glowed bright yellow before he yanked it out again and Marvel's body fell like a stone, back off the ledge and into the water.
"Did that just happen?" Peeta whispered.
"I think it did," Cato murmured. He was holding Peeta's hand so tight it felt like every vein was being cut off. Peeta hardly cared, Cato was as much of an anchor to him as he was to Cato. Besides, despite everything Marvel had been Cato's friend. Even if they hated each other, it would never be easy to see your friend murdered before your eyes.
Peeta looked up at Finnick. "Why?" he asked. "Why did Marvel have to die now?"
Finnick shrugged, closing his hand so his trident vanished with a sparkly pop. "People die, Peeta. Cato and Marvel aren't immortal in the terms that if they are stabbed or shot they'll come back to life. As long as they're careful, they live forever. It was Marvel's time to go."
"But he wasn't going to be stabbed or shot!" Cato replied. "He was fine!"
"Look, I do what I'm supposed to," Finnick said. "Marvel was due to die tonight. He died of insanity due to exposure to the shine of a full moon."
"Exposure you caused!" shouted Cato.
"It's in the job description," Finnick answered calmly.
A horrible thought suddenly came to mind. Peeta's fingers tightened fearfully around Cato's bicep and he met Finnick's eyes again. "If Marvel can die, does that mean Cato can too? Will you have to kill him sometime in the future?" Cato himself rose his eyebrows at Finnick as well, interested in the answer to Peeta's question as much as he was himself.
Finnick smirked. "I'm sure you'll both be glad to know that I've been given your death dates," he said.
Peeta's blood turned to ice. Cato pulled him closer, fearful to hear what the Bringer of Death had to say next. "And?" Peeta managed to ask.
"It's more than fifty years from now," Finnick said. "Congratulations, the cycle has been broken. You can live the rest of your lives together."
Relief flooded Peeta's system. He felt Cato relax underneath his hand as well. "What broke the cycle?" asked Cato.
"I don't think we'll ever know," Finnick shrugged. "Just be thankful for it." He winked and turned on his heel, disappearing into the forest again. The ledge was then left empty, as if he had never been there at all.
Peeta wanted to whoop with joy, glad that he and Cato had a proper chance at being together, but he knew that Marvel's sudden death had hit Cato hard and that celebrating right now wasn't appropriate. There would be plenty of time later for that. Eyes falling on the body floating in the water, half lit up by the moon and half shrouded in darkness, Peeta rubbed Cato's back and asked, "You okay?"
"I don't know," Cato answered honestly. Peeta knew he was probably happy about Finnick's news as much as he had but there was time to express that later. Peeta didn't know how many years Cato and Marvel had spent together, he could only guess how close they were to each other. Even though they drove each other up the wall, he could tell there had always been an unspoken connection between them.
"It's okay to be upset," Peeta told Cato.
"It happened so fast . . ." Cato trailed off, the moonlight making the tears that were edging their way towards the edge of his eyelid sparkle. Just as the first one fell, Peeta pulled Cato into his arms, hugging him as tight as he could.
Sometimes death was fast. You can control when or how it happens, it just does. No matter how old you are, what you've done in the past, how much history you have, death finds everyone. Even the oldest of people have to meet their ends someday.
It was just Marvel's time to go.
A/N: Please R&R with your thoughts!