A/N: This is the begginning of the AU (Alternate Universe) Well I suppose the proper name would be an alternate ending (AE, hehe) The first few paragraphs are from Chapter 21, because it doesn't really change up until a certain point so I'll put those in italics if you guys want to skip over it. Here we go!
Clove's POV
The cold morning air cuts through the holes in my clothes and causes my teeth to chatter. Cato wraps his warm arms around me as we camp out in the dense brush on the outskirts of the field where Claudius Templesmith instructed us to be at for the Feast. My teeth continue to chatter and he rubs my arms as quietly as he can, trying to heat my skin through my sleeves.
"You're going to give away our position," he whispers in my ear playfully. I can't help but smile, but this is no time to get soft. This could mean the difference between victory and death. No distractions.
It's very early and I still have my night vision glasses on, but as the morning progresses I find my vision starting to become fuzzy and I remove them. Cato does the same. I open my jacket a little bit to double check that my knives are all where I want them, the ones I plan to use on the left side of my jacket, easy to reach; my less important ones are on the right side of my jacket. But I never know when I might need to use them.
"So it's settled," I whisper, trying to keep my teeth still. "I go for Katniss and you can have Thresh. Whoever see's the ginger first gets to kill her. "
Cato nods and smiles. I give him a brief kiss and then scan the field once more. It's so quite. All the wild life creatures are just now starting to wake up and yawn in their own way, in chirps, chatters, and snapping twigs that continue to make me more and more paranoid of other possible tributes, mainly Thresh. I'm so thankful that Cato will take care of him for me, though I don't doubt we might miss the chance to kill him or the ginger.
But today, Katniss dies, no mistaking it. No flaws, no mess ups. It has to be a kill. The sun is just barely peaking over the horizon and through the trees when the ground begins to rumble. Cato and I exchange glances and take our positions to leap up and run when we need to.
In front of the Cornuciopia's golden horn, the ground separates and a circular table rises up from beneath the arena. There are four backpacks set neatly on a pure white table cloth, as if this were a true feast with food laughing and dancing. Far from it. I see ours. It's one of the largest ones and all black with the number 2 on it. It sits next to another large one with an 11 on it. Then a mediums-sized green one with 5, and then the smallest orange one- so small I can barely see it- with a 12. It has to be medicine.
As soon as the ground closes underneath the table, a sweep of red hair appears from the Cornucopia and sprints to the table, snatches the green back pack and darts off to our far left.
"The hell!" Cato says through his teeth. "Where did she come from?"
"It doesn't matter!" I hiss, pushing him off. "Go get her!"
Cato nods, stands up and is about to take off, but then he shoots me a long glance, his face contorting with conflict. Then he shakes his head and kneels back down next to me.
"What are you doing?" I snap at him. "Go after her!"
"No," he says flatly, not even bothering to address me to my face. "I'm not leaving you alone when Thresh could be anywhere."
I think for a moment.
Maybe he's right. Maybe it would be best if-
"Wait, what's that?" he whispers, crouching down. I look to see the whip of a black braid in the wind as Katniss sprints towards the table, clutching Glimmer's bow. Cato's knuckles tighten around his spear, but I step in front of him, reminding him of his promise to leave Katniss to me. I burst from the cover of the trees and dash towards Lover Girl as fast as I can, readying a knife to send into her skull.
Unfortunately, Katniss uses the nifty little bow she has to deflect my first knife. Why the hell did she bring that along anyway? It's not like she can shoot-
The twang of the bow string rings in my ears and I see the arrow shooting towards me just in time to side step out of the way. A red stripe crosses my face as a blinding pain strikes my arm.
"Ah!" I cry, falling to my knees. The arrow has lodged deep into my left arm. I can hear Cato leap from the bushes behind me and he is instantly at my side.
"Clove!" he cries, gingerly taking my arm. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine!" I spit. "Go after Katniss!"
Cato gives me another conflicted look but then grips his spear again and stands up. Just as Katniss has reached the table and snagged the small orange bag, Cato's spear lodges into her lower back. Her blood curdling cry of pain pierces my ear drums. I relish the fact that my ears are ringing from Katniss' painful screams.
Katniss falls to her knees and scrambles underneath the table, away from Cato's reach. She's not dead, but the spear has definitely left a fatal wound.
"Come out, come out, Lover Girl!" I yell tauntingly, rising to my feet despite the screaming pain in my arm. "What's in the bag? Is that medicine for Lover Boy? Guess he'll never get it!"
Katniss' pained whimpers come from behind the white tablecloth. A pool of blood starts to flow from underneath the table.
"You're dead, District 12," I say, pursing my lips. "Just like your pathetic little ally. What was it? Rue?" I stop just behind Cato and laugh. "Looks like you've left two people to die by us careers now!"
Before I can continue any further, all of my air is suddenly cut off and I am lifted off the ground before I can scream. Huge brown arms lock my throat shut and I know it can only be Thresh. I claw at his arms and desperately try to call out to Cato who is just a few feet away. Suddenly, hot breath fills my ears in a low husky whisper.
"You kill Rue?" Thresh snarls, walking backwards. "You cut her up, just like you were going to do to that girl under the table?"
My vision starts to go fuzzy and I am feeling dizzy. I suddenly remember my knives. At one last attempt, I pull one of my more jagged knives from my jacket and stab Thresh's arm as hard as I can. His loud cry of pain finally catches Cato's attention, but that is the last thing I hear before I black out.
Cato's POV
I whirl around just in time to see Thresh release Clove.
"Clove!" I cry, drawing my sword and running towards her. Thresh makes a wide bank around me and as I am busy with Clove, grabs his bag and runs away, disappearing in a field of tall grass in the distance. The field is now filled with silence, other than Katniss' pained whimper underneath the table, but even that dies down as I tend to Clove. She isn't moving, and she doesn't seem to be breathing.
"Clove?" I whisper, putting my sword aside and pulling her limp body up into my arms. "Clove, wake up."
She's like a rag doll in my arms. I urgently press two fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse and suddenly a canon fires, causing me to jump. My heart drops to my stomach. I pull Clove's limp body to my chest and hold her tightly, resisting the urge to cry.
"No, Clove, please," I whisper. "We were so close! So close to going home!"
Tears fight behind my shut eyes, when they suddenly snap open as a weak murmur escapes Clove's lips. Liquid spills over my cheeks as I watch with fuzzy vision. Clove slowly opens her eyes, breathing raggedly.
"C-Cato," she says hoarsely. Her violet eyes weakly look around and blink lazily, as if she has just woken up from a pleasant dream. I pull her into my arms tightly, kissing the top of her hair and burying my face in it, taking in her sweet scent.
"But," I stutter. "You…I thought you were dead. The canon. It fired and-"
Slowly, Clove's arm weakly rises from where it lay limply at her side and she points past me. I slowly turn around to see Katniss halfway from under the table, face down in a pool of blood. The spear lies by her limp, bloody hand from where she had pulled it out.
"It was for hers," Clove whispers, coughing twice. "Guess I didn't get to finish her off myself afterall."
Another A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update guys. I've been really busy with school and other projects. Videography requires a little more attention than literature. I'll try to update asap.