"Ah." She gives him a small, understanding nod. "They told me when they were taking me to be scored and some of the others told me about how this all works in the week leading up to the Arena." It's the strangest thing, how all of that feels like it had happened a lifetime ago instead of a matter of months beforehand.

"Of course," she says resolutely. "If he wins...I won't have to go through losing him again." And there it is. She knows it's selfish and that, if Alex knew about her plan he would try to stop her, but she doesn't care about that. What she does care about is putting an end to this cycle of losing him and getting him back. "And maybe they'll let him be...him instead of the way he's been lately."

"Yeah." Clara stiffly gets onto her feet. While the worst of the damage from the fight had been the loss of her eye, that doesn't change the fact that otherwise she feels like a giant, walking bruise between Venus strangling her and being dragged around like a ragdoll. Hell, she wouldn't be that surprised if she had cracked a rib or few.