Drake's POV

"I gave you your chance," Mira yelled as she slammed my head to the wall of the arena. I felt to people pinning my arms to the wall. I looked at Mira straight in the eyes and saw as her gaze dropped to my hands. She then stared at my left hand. The hand with my wedding ring on it. "Well, well, well... I now pronounce you husband and wife!" Mira screamed as she grabbed her dagger and put the blade right above my eyebrow and drew it slowly down my face. I cried out in pain.

"DRAKE!" I heard Cara scream. I felt blood trickle down my face and—

I groaned as Mira put her dagger on the burn marks of my neck. She then whispered, "And here's a little wedding gift." She then made what felt like thousands of markings on what felt like everywhere on the right side of my neck. "There," She said as she gripped my neck in her hand. I felt now that I was on the ground. Everything was dizzy... Is it loss of blood? Mira then slammed my head into the wall again and then finally she backed away. I then saw Cara slam Mira into the wall.

But then everything went dark.

The memory played in my mind over and over as I lied on my cot. I slowly opened my eyes. The eye that Mira basically stabbed, was squinting. My other eye was fine though. I looked slowly around the room with my eyes. My neck couldn't move. Then—

The tent curtain flew open.

It was Cara.

She saw me awake and smiled. "You're awake," She whispered as she sat down on the edge of my cot. I gave a weak smile and studied her... she looked different. Was her hair shorter?

Cara noticed me studying her hair and shifted a little bit. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I've been better," I whispered. She laughed quietly.

"Duh," She said as looked at the blood, soaked bandage around my neck then at the scar over my eye.

I now pronounce you husband and wife!

I blinked twice as I heard Mira's words from the memory. "You okay?" Cara asked concerned. I didn't say anything for a moment. I started to sit up—

You are not sitting up," Cara said as she looked directly into my eyes. I still tried sitting up. She sighed but helped me sit up. I then started unraveling the bandage around my neck. Cara said nothing as I removed the bandage. The air stung my wound, but other than that it didn't hurt that much. Cara stared wide eyed at it.

"What?" I asked as I slowly tried turning my neck. "Ow." Cara stood up and walked over to the curtain. She turned around and looked back at me, then walked out. "Cara, what is it—"

She appeared back with a handheld mirror and handed it to me. I grabbed the mirror and looked at my neck. There was now a pattern of the letter "M" scared on the side of my neck. The cuts had bruises around them making them bright red. The small cuts of that letter took up almost exactly half of my neck. I put the mirror down. "M" for Mira. Cara just sat with a hand over her mouth looking at the floor. I heard footsteps coming closer to the curtain. Cara jerked her head up and ran to the curtain.

"You are so lucky I'm not tearing you to pieces right now," I heard Cara say from outside.

"What, did you see the big scar reveal? A true work of art, If I do say so myself," I heard a voice say... but the sad part was I knew that voice also. It was Mira's. I stepped off the bed and took a second to get by balance after laying down. I then slowly opened the curtain to find Mira and Cara having a staring match. Mira looked at me and said, "Love the new look, Drakey-poo."

Cara then whispered, "Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm."

"Thank you, Mira. I think the look suites me well also." Mira's eyes widened as she looked at me. She then smiled and looked at Cara. She said, "See? No harm done. Only... um... what should I call it... A little make-up that's all."

"You're a sick girl, Mira. Calling a blood, soaked bandage an accessory. Calling blood make-up. Calling wounds art, what the heck is wrong with you?" Cara screamed at Mira. Mira looked like she thought about what Cara said and then shrugged. Cara then looked up at the sky.

"The next battle is about to start," Cara said as she closed one eye. She put her hand to the sky to see where the sun was positioned. She nodded.

"I guess I have to get my armor on," I said as I turned back to the tent.

"What? You're seriously up for the next battle?" Cara asked as she looked at me up and down. I nodded confidently and walked into the tent. I put on my armor and carried my helmet outside with me instead of putting it on. I stared at the helmet, then looked at my team with their Scaleneburg helmets. I then looked at Mira who was on the same team as me.

"I just realized my own teammate tried to kill me," I said as I stood in front of Cara.

"Twice," Cara said as she turned away and started walking towards the arena. I touched my neck and winced and blew out a breath. I then felt all around my neck. Wow, the scars really did cover about half my neck, I thought. I looked at Cara's short hair. It was very jagged and roughly cut.

"What did you do to your hair?" I asked. Cara stopped walking as if shocked by the question. She didn't turn around as she spoke.

"I cut it."

"Well, duh, I meant why?" I asked as I walked to her side. She glanced at me and then looked straight ahead.

"I was upset, that's all," She said.

"About what—"

"I really don't want to talk about it," Cara said immediately. We got closer to the arena. I then ran in front of Cara and blocked her from going any farther.

"Drake, wha—"

"What happened? I'm not going to stop worrying until you tell me what happened," I said firmly. Cara nodded slowly, then side stepped around me and ran toward the arena.

"What? Cara!" I yelled as I caught up to her side. "Look I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to... I just wanted to make sure you're okay and that no one did anything to you..." A tear rolled down Cara's face as she stopped running. I stopped also and looked at her.

"I don't want to play this game anymore... there are only three teams left. Drake if we win this, we are going to have to fight each other... I've had enough fighting and death and killing and... please make it stop," Cara said as she slumped to the ground and covered her ears. I sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "I don't deserve your love, Drake," she whispered.

"What are you talking about—"

"I didn't listen to you... I tried killing Mira when you were unconscious. I really did. She lived though, and I hated the feeling of wanting to kill someone... but I didn't want to watch you bleed to death. I couldn't do it, so I lost control. But apparently, I didn't actually try killing her because she's still alive and—"

"Stop talking," I said. Cara looked at me. I stared at the arena walls.

"Are you mad—" She whispered.

"No. I'm not mad," I said as I looked at her.

"I'm so sorry, Drake. I didn't mean to—"

I put my arms around her and pulled her into a hug. She hugged me back. I touched her short, jagged hair. She pulled away and stood up shakily. I stood up with her and walked over to the arena walls. Cara kissed me on the cheek and walked inside. I walked in the opposite direction to my team. Mira looked at me.

"Are you ready for this battle?" Mira asked. I nodded. "Good... Also, I have a question to ask..."

"What's that Mira?" I asked as I put my helmet on carefully.

"How brave is Cara?"

"Extremely... wait, why?"

"Because... I want our team to team up with the Thunderviles so we can win this."