there's gore in this one. oops.
xv. rivalry / 94 a.d.d
He knows that if he wanted, he could wipe the floor with anybody he could possibly want, but Berengar Rhine has his eyes set on one person in particular: Raptor Voinov.
It's weird, but Berengar's been fascinated with his classmate for months. He pouts all the time, has no clear motivation to do well, yet every year on Atonement Day, he kills without hesitation, and gets to train another year.
What about Raptor makes him so special, huh?
Berengar's tried numerous times to get underneath the brooding boy's skin, but he's like an immovable object, a mystery that nobody can quite crack. Based on his lack of interest in basically everything, Berengar has to wonder if Raptor even wants to go into the Hunger Games.
For Berengar, that's all he could ever dream about. At night, when his dad is screaming at his brothers and his mother, he keeps himself calm with the simple reminder that if he trains hard, maybe his family will be proud of him, and then they won't be so mad at eachother.
Training is the only place where Berengar can be free of his family's noise, yet Raptor seems to take it for granted. That's why, when Commander Chimalli says Berengar can pick whoever he wants to be his opponent for today's combat demonstration, he picks Raptor without a fraction of a doubt.
Raptor rolls his eyes when his name is called. "Rhine, would it kill you to leave me alone?"
"This is just a simple class showcase." Berengar helplessly shrugs, chuckling at the way Raptor's expression contorts to anger. "You don't need to act like such a—"
"That's quite enough." Chimalli cuts Berengar off before he can think of an insult to sling at the other boy. "I'm going to allow you to fight, but I don't want to see any foolishness. Is that understood?"
"Of course it is," Raptor says. "I don't know why he keeps picking on me."
"I'm not picking on you."
"Yes you are! You always poke me in the cafeteria, or try to tickle me when we're sitting down." Raptor stands up and makes his way to the center of the teaching area. "I don't get what I did to deserve you taking every opportunity you can find to annoy me."
"I do that to everyone," Berengar lies, walking opposite to where Raptor is.
"Just leave me alone!"
"Boys." Chimalli's voice grows even more stern. "You're thirteen. Start acting like it."
"I'm sorry," Raptor pleads. Ugh, what a kissass. Two's sake, Berengar needs to know what's going on inside his little blonde head.
"On the count of three, you may begin your fight. It'll end once one of you is restrained to the floor without getting up for five seconds."
"Yes, sir." Berengar salutes the commander. "Gimme that sweet, sweet countdown."
He watches as Raptor lunges, his brows furrowing until he looks like some rabid dog. Something inside Berengar's stomach swirls, but he swears it's just his lunch from an hour ago, not whatever else it could be.
"1… 2… 3…"
Using the fact he's taller to his advantage, Berengar run to Raptor first and grabs onto his wrist. Unperturbed, Raptor charges back, his feet firmly planted in the ground. The other boy pushes forward, loosening Berengar's vice grip.
And so begins a dance of sorts.
Raptor swings his fists at Berengar's chest. Berengar pulls away. Berengar tries to grab ahold of Raptor. Raptor moves too fast.
"You know what you're doing, huh?" Berengar says during his forth attempt to drag Raptor to the floor, his hands intwined with the collar of his shirt. The other boy flashes a devilish grin, then opens his mouth and chomps down on Berengar's fingers, stunning him. "You freak!"
Raptor runs away, then kicks at Berengar's legs, that smile still not leaving his face. It just makes Berengar want to wipe it off even more.
Using the full force of his body, he flies toward Raptor, pushing him onto the ground. As he tries to wiggle away, Berengar sits on his legs, firmly planting him onto the ground. Still, the other boy smiles.
He doesn't stop when Chimalli counts down, "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… knockout!" nor does he when he finds Berengar after class.
"Now it's my turn to ask you what you want with me." He laughs, noticing Raptor's face is red hot.
"That was fun," is all the other boy says. "Did you enjoy yourself?"
Berengar nods. "Well yes, I would suppose I did."
"When is our rematch?"
"What do you mean?"
Raptor steps on his foot and smirks. "I mean, when are we fighting again and when am I winning?"
Ah, so he wants to turn this into a game. Why does Berengar find it cute. "How about next week?"
Five days later, the two of them fight once more, then make a vow.
They'll engage in combat at least twice a week until the ninety-ninth Games arrive, and it's the two of them in the finale.
Only then will they be able to settle their score once and for all.
—
99 a.d.d
Raptor grabs a large saw off the wall and grabs the handle with his spare hand. "I don't give a fuck about our final fight, Berengar."
His smile softens into an expression of hurt. Good – he deserves to be upset. He deserves to feel the wrath of every kill at the hands of somebody from Two in the past century, and then the agony of all of his deaths.
Because Berengar… he– he– He took the one thing in Raptor's life that could've been good, and he ruined it.
"You don't mean that!"
But Raptor means it a hundred thousand times. Berengar doesn't deserve to cross Raptor's path once more, nor does he deserve a proper fight. He threw that opportunity away when he demolished Eirian as if he was nothing.
Funny how five years and 536 fights can stop meaning a thing in less than five minutes. Funny how Raptor doesn't feel an ounce of remorse as he saws across Berengar's throat. If Berengar wanted him to feel guilty, he shouldn't have done the one thing that'd remove Raptor's capability of feeling guilt.
He shouldn't have. He shouldn't have. He shouldn't have.
"FUCK YOU FOR SAYING THAT TO HIM."
With an aggressive movement, the saw sinks into Berengar's flesh, a crunching noise drowning out his screams.
"FUCK YOU FOR SUGGESTING I DO THAT."
Raptor digs through Berengar's throat, strips of the boy's skin falling to his sides and the remains of his trachea and vocal cords flying in bloodied lumps.
"FUCK YOU FOR THINKINING I WOULD."
Crimson bile spills from Berengar's mouth and a sick part of Raptor relishes in it all. No, every part of Raptor is positively ecstatic to watch the spine of the boy who ruined him snap in half.
"FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU!"
He's not sure if he's heard the alarm mark Berengar's death by now but he doesn't give a fuck. Raptor giggles with glee as he tears the other boy's head off the rest of his body and throws it against the ground.
He laughs as he plants the saw into Berengar's stomach and begins to butcher him once more. The sides of Raptor's vision get more and more red with every movement, but it feels so right. As Berengar falls apart beneath him, completely helpless, Raptor knows with conviction that there was no way a final fight could be this satisfactory.
Raptor was born to flay Berengar for all that he's worth. From the moment the two of them met, this was always how it'd end. Fuck their promises and to hell with the idea of nobility, Berengar's taken Raptor off his leash once and for all. He doesn't need to be a valiant soldier or an honorable friend anymore.
He needs to be what he always was, a bloodhound.
second part was taken from raptor's fic - numquam satis - ooh you wanna read it so bad *brainwashes you*