Gladiators -- Clato

-Because You Are-

AHHH omg it's happening 

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The panic that grips me sends my entire body into a state of shock. I'm scrambling for leverage, trying desperately to find some way out of Thresh's vicelike grip. His eyes are hard, strange and golden, and I shriek as he flips me around in his hands and slams me to the ground. I cough and sputter as all the air in my lungs is knocked out. 

Attempting to regain my bearings, I scramble back onto my knees and back away as fast as I can from Thresh, who is coming toward me with a horrifying look on his face. He stands a towering distance above me, and when he speaks, his voice is like a dry rumble of lightning. 

"What'd you do to that little girl?" He mutters. "You kill her?" 

"N-no! It wasn't me! No!" I scream, hoping that the glowering boy can see I'm telling the truth. 

"You said her name. I heard you. You kill her?" His dark features are scrunched up in fury, and I swallow hard as the fear threatens to make my throw up. "You cut her up, like you were going to cut up this girl here?" He motions to Katniss, crouched a few feet away from us, cowering and bloody. 

"No! No! I-" It's then that my eyes flit to Thresh's left hand, where I see a large stone. Immediately, the previous shock that had consumed me dissipates and I let out a shrill scream. "Cato!" I screech. I say his name again. "Cato!" 

I hear him answer back. He's too far. Much too far. "Clove!" he cries, but I know he won't get here in time. I'm about to die. It is then that I realize I have never felt fear like this. 

But then something happens, too fast for me to comprehend. There's a sound of air whizzing, and then there's a spearhead sticking out of Thresh's midsection. He coughs blood, spins around, only to be tackled violently to the ground by Cato. 

Cato. He's here. 

Stunned, I scramble to my feet just in time to catch Katniss making a break for the woods. I grasp one of the knives lying on the grassy ground and fling it her way. 

She screams, and I see her rip the knife out of her shoulder as she disappears with the bag. But she's the least of my worries right now. My ankle has been badly wounded from being thrown down, but I stumble towards Cato, who is still locked in a battle with Thresh. With the spear sticking through his abdomen, It's a shock that he's still fighting. But when my knife makes it's way in between his shoulder blades, he stops struggling, and Cato pushes his massive body away forcefully. 

He wipes the blood and sweat from his forehead, and then his eyes meet mine. They fill with an emotion unlike any I have ever seen before from anyone. 

And then he's running to me, wrapping me in his arms. stroking my hair tenderly. Kissing me like he's never kissed me before. And I'm crying. I'm crying. I hide my face in Cato's chest, letting the tears stream down my face while he holds me. No one can see me like this. No one. 

"God, I thought you were gone," He whispers into my hair. "I thought I was too late." 

"You weren't," I murmur. "I'm ok." I wipe the tears from my eyes and look up at his face. "But- Cato-" I pull my hand back from his midsection and it's streaked in blood. "Cato, you're-" 

"I'm fine," He says gruffly. "I'm fine because you are." He runs his hands over my bubble ponytail. It's hardly still put together, with strands sticking out and my baby hairs going every which way.  I feel self conscious, looking down at my boots. 

In our distraction, we must not have heard Thresh's cannon. The sound of the Hovercraft approaching is poignant, and we look at each other, both thinking the same thing. 

"Cato, put your arm over my shoulder," I say. "You're bleeding pretty heavily." 

"I'll be fine," He protests, ignoring me. "Let's go back to camp." 

And so we make our way back. I'm limping heavily, and Caton winces with every step, but after about thirty minutes, we've reached our camp. Cato collapses on the ground, and I rush to him, touching his arm. "Hey. lift up your shirt." 

"I said I'm fine," he says again, his eyes meeting mine. "He just grazed me with a knife. It's a shallow cut." 

"So let me see it," I say firmly. "I won't stop asking till you show me." 

"Fucking stubborn," He curses, but shrugs off his jacket and lifts his blood-soaked shirt slightly above his belly button. 

The wound is on his left hip, and still bleeding. I can immediately tell that it is, however, not fatal and no organs were hit. A bit of relief rushes over me, as well as an urgency to help him. 

It's just when I realize we don't have medical supplies that a small parachute descends on us, containing two rolls of gauze and a small tube of antibacterial cream. I look at Cato, and he manages the first smile I've seen from him in days. 

I manage to stop the bleeding using half of the first roll, and then remove the dirtied gauze. I gently spread the ointment over the outer part of the wound, holding Cato's gaze. His eyes follow me as I dab the last bit of the cream on the lowermost part of the wound. 

"Who taught you to be a healer?" He asks. 

"Miss Stoneside," I reply. "At the apothecary." 

"Oh," he replies. "Why?" 

"She used to..." I bite my tongue. "Well, I used, um, to bring things to her. In return, she'd teach me about medicine." 

"Good thing she did," He says, and then smiles at me. I feel the glow come to my cheeks, and It makes me smile back. 

"Cato, I'm sorry about what happened. "Really. I-"

"No need," he says. "Because, Clove, what happened made me realize something. When I saw Thresh standing over you like that, you were... the only thing I could think of. I thought you would die before I got to tell you..."

"Tell me what?" I breathe. 

He blinks once, and my heart skips a beat. "That I love you."