TWISTED // Clato | ✓

Chapter 15: What We Were

CATO'S POV:

"CATO!" I can hear her screaming, crying, for me. But it doesn't sound like Clove at all. It sounds like a terrified little girl. With a tremor, I realize that's what she is.

"CLOVE!" I yell, dashing out of the forest. I have to get to her before someone else does.

Reaching the open, I stop short at the horror that reaches my eyes. Thresh, the brute beast from Eleven, holding my Clove against the Cornucopia and gazing at her freakishly while she screams. Anger has brought newfound energy into me I wasn't even aware of. Forget the feast. Forget the other tributes I'm supposed to catch. I drop everything and dash headlong toward Thresh, armed with only a spear.

CLOVE'S POV:

Where is he? He said he wouldn't let me out of his sight! It's over. This is the end.

Thresh grips a huge rock in his large hand. I take one look and start screaming again. "Leave me alone! It wasn't me! It wasn't me! CATO!" I yell again, even though it's futile. If I die now, and I know I'm going to, I want his name to be the last word on my lips.

Thresh raises the rock, and brings it down with so much force on my temple that everything suddenly goes blurry and I feel the restraint of his arms disappear as I hit the ground--or what must be the ground, although it feels like it's rolling around under me.

I can hear Thresh yell something to Katniss. The sound vibrates around me as my world fizzles in and out of reality.

So this is what dying feels like. Surprisingly, the pain is almost gone. I just feel so cut off. I can feel everything fading. My lips move slightly, forming Cato's name.

CATO'S POV:

Thresh and Katniss are still within range, but I don't care anymore about them. My eyes are only for the sprawled body of the little girl beside the Cornucopia. How small and vulnerable she looks now, with only fear and terror in her eyes, the sarcastic arrogance completely gone from her face.

"Clove!" I choke out, sinking down beside her, spear in hand. Behind me, I'm vaguely aware of Thresh seizing both his and our bags and vanishing.

Her eyes blink weakly and I see their beautiful dark brown flash.

"Clove. I'm here." I grab her hand. "Stay with me." 

Her face is nearly devoid of color. I can see the dent in her skull from where Thresh crushed her with that dreaded rock--

"Clove!" I sob, shaking her. She blinks and I see her eyes again.

"Cato." A hint of a smile flickers on her face. I cradle her head in my arms, stroking the dark brown hair from her face.

"Clove. Here, you'll be all right." I rock her gently, but I can see she's fading. No! She can't die! "Clove! Stay with me!" I plead, grabbing her hand like a lifeline. "This wasn't supposed to happen! We--we were going to win!"

CLOVE'S POV:

Cato's crying. I guess there's a side to him I never saw before. A side to the infamous and ruthless Career tribute, feared by everyone but the one who loved him. Even as the light dims and blurs and sifts back through reality and illusions, I still see Cato. He's still Cato, even in my fading light. A fading light that burns against the rising sun in the distance.

I can see the tears in his beautiful eyes as he holds me closer, begging me to stay with him. I would if I could. But maybe he's meant to win; not me.

I'm so weak now I can barely keep my eyes open. I feel my limp arm enclosed in Cato's warm hand. Absently, my fingers brush the inside of his palm.

I'm glad I can see his face now. It'll give me the strength I need to let go. To let go of him and life.

CATO'S POV:

"Clove!" I sob. "Clove, stay here! I need my girl with the knives! I won't be able to live without you!"

Her eyelids flutter and her lips move again, forming my name. "I need you too," she whispers hoarsely. "I need you to win. To win for me. Please, Cato." Her eyes open again, burning into mine with the last of her strength.

"You've held on this long! Hold on longer!" I cry out, even though I know it's useless. 

"I never should have volunteered," she croaks. "I think I realize what these Games really are now. They aren't Games. They're death. Death and murder. Cato, it was a mistake. A huge mistake. We shouldn't have killed these people; not now that I know what it feels like. I'll see you in heaven, Cato. Until then..." She's able to perk up the corners of her mouth into something that resembles a smile.

A cannon fires.

I hate that cannon.

I lose it completely, and I don't care that the rest of Panem is watching. I drop Clove's hand and drop onto the grass, crying like a child. I wrap both hands around my head and cry until the grass under me is soaking wet. I must have washed out my vision too, because when I look up again, all color is gone. I don't see the beauty in the sunrise. I don't see the beauty in the trees. All I see is a horrible arena, where we kill for no reason at all.

My eyes fall on Clove again, where she lies, hopeless and helpless. She could be asleep. But I know she isn't.

I catch sight of the glowing blue sapphire ring on her finger. The ring I gave her at the Black 'en White Cafe in District 2. The night before the reaping for the Games. The night before everything went wrong. 

I can't let them take it away. I see the Gamemakers now in my mind's eye, stripping Clove of her possessions and wrapping her body in something to send back to District 2. My eyes snap open. No! I can't let them!

Ever slowly, I remove the ring from her finger and slip it deep into my pocket where it will be safe. The sunlight glints off the word engraved on the side as I do so:

CLATO.

No! I drop onto the ground, burying my face in my hands. Please! I don't want to win anymore! Please, someone kill me now! Katniss, shoot me! Thresh, stab me!

Thresh!

I leap to my feet, a newfound determination in my eyes. Thresh. He killed my Clove. Now he will pay. My hand finds my sword. No matter what, I'll find the strength and energy somewhere to get rid of that heartless fiend. 

I'll avenge my lover tonight.