Clove's breath came in short, sharp gasps, and she wanted so badly to close her eyes. She was cold, so cold, and she watched the boy from Eleven as he fled, leaving her alone in the wet grass. Clove's eyelids flickered, and she fought to keep them open – she had never felt more tired in her life. Just wait Clove, she told herself sternly, just wait till Cato gets here.
She could hear him now, his heavy footsteps pounding on the dewy grass. "Clove," he said, dropping to his knees behind her. "Clove, it'll be okay. Enobaria will send something, Brutus will send something, just hold on, just hold on, Clove, please just hold on."
Clove smiled at him, the pain in her head almost blinding. She fought it with all her might. "Cato," she said.
"Clove," he replied, and kissed her forehead gently. She smiled at him again, her eyes searching, searching, searching his face, counting the freckles and the scars, the pimples and the perfections.
"You… go home," she told him. Don't be sappy, she could almost hear Enobaria saying. Don't let them know there's anything else but the ability to kill. Clove decided that she didn't care. She had spent too long, far too long, learning how to kill. She had never learnt how to love, until she met Cato.
Cato's breath hitched, and she could see in his eyes that he knew – he knew. "I will."
"Get him for me," she told him, and she knew he would. The pain in her head was fading now… there was a nice hum to things, similar to when she had been stung by the Tracker-Jackers but without any of the fear… or pain… Clove didn't remember what pain felt like.
Cato's eyes narrowed. "I'll make him pay for it," he said in a low growl. "I'll get him."
Clove ran her fingers through the wet grass, wondering why on earth she hadn't spent more time staring at the sky. It was so blue she could imagine herself falling, falling, falling into it, through the clouds and past the moon and into the universe and whatever laid beyond it.
"I… love…" Clove said, and then she was falling, flying, falling into the blue. She dimly registered the sound of a Cannon, far, far, far, away, but she didn't have the time to worry about it. She had the universe to explore.