Persphyni: I am Determined

77

I watch from the ruined building as Diyoza's ship began to land. Several people running towards it. The defectors.

I stood waiting, watching as men and women loaded their weapons and aimed at those running. The steel of my throwing knives shine in the torch light from below as I steadied myself, waiting for the first one to shoot.

As Diyoza's ship grew closer to the ground, the first gunshot rang out. Followed by another. Then another.

Each perfectly timed as I threw my knives and jumped down from the ruins, taking off towards the unsuspecting gunners on the ridge.

I slid, picking up a dead warrior's gun and began to fire at the rest along the ridge. Timing it with the other shots to make it seem planned.

When the six warriors on the ridge were dead, I tossed down the gun and marched to my first two targets. The furthest two from the other four, specifically chosen to avoid suspicion. I knelt down and pulled my knives from their necks and backs. Gently wiping the blood off on my black pants. The knives going back inside their sheaths on my thigh holder.

I made quick work of tossing the guns inside a building before dragging the bodies to the edge of the ridge and pushing them off, knowing something would get to them and decompose them by morning.

When all six bodies were tossed over, I pulled the hood of my cloak up and began to slink back into the shadows.

My success fading when the sound of a gun going off echoed in the air. I froze, turning around as the sound came again. The echoing roar of the weapon filling the night air.

I let my ears guide me as I moved within the shadows until I saw the weapon piece poking out of a window. The flames below guiding me to the danger.

I examined the building and the window in which a sniper scope was popping out of. It was the same damn building Echo had been in for the Conclave. I could run inside and take the stairs, or I could climb the outside of the building. The stairs would be less exhausting and potentially faster, but climbing the building left no chance of discovery since the shooter was staring out into the distance where defects still ran toward the ship. And if I were to make a noise from behind the shooter, they would turn and I would have to be faster then the bullet that would be fired my way.

Using the shadows, I darted across the road and found footholds to begin my ascent. Eyes on the window as the gun continued to shoot. I had to move quick or else more people would die.

I pushed off from the second floor window and climbed high until I was over the shooter's window. My body now moving horizontally across to hover right above the windowsill. My fingers began to bleed as my grip tightened, I took a deep inhale before swinging down into the opening. My feet colliding with the shooter's face. Their grip loosens and the gun goes sliding across the floor. A single gun shot fired off, the bullet bouncing off the stone wall leaving a chip.

I pulled my cloak hood back as I kicked the sniper further away and stared at Cooper's form sprawled out on the ground.

"You idiot." I hissed as I watched Cooper frantically look for something. Anything that could protect her.

Her hand grasps around a small pistol as she lifted it up to face me. I quickly kicked the firearm from her hand before she could get a shot off. My hands grabbing and throwing my small wicked blades from my thighs. Each sinking into the wooden floor, some pining only Cooper's clothes to the floor, two bit into her skin.

"Blodreina will have your head." She hissed as I stepped towards her, bending down to rest on one knee. A devilish smile on my lips.

"Not before I have yours."

The door burst open, my hand flying to my daggers as I whirled around. Expecting Blodreina's army only to be surprised by Bellamy and Clarke, their pistols drawn.

"Cooper." Bellamy bellowed as he saw who was laying flat on the ground.

I held back my huff as I spun and ripped out the six throwing knives I had used. The one in her forearm and hand taking longer than the other four. Blood poured and clotted the wounds. I stood wiping the blood from the two knives on my sleeve before sliding all six back. My eyes drifting towards the window where I watched Diyoza's ship rise.

"What the hell. Octavia said to let them go." Bellamy spoke as he approached the woman who slowly rose from the ground.

"Who do you think gave the order."

But she wasn't asking.

I kicked her sniper back towards her. Watching as she shakily picked it up and left the room. Bellamy and Clarke behind her following her trail of blood.

I didn't follow.

I moved to the window where the light from the torches did not reach.

I sigh, my forehead leaning on the stone frame.

"Damnit." I whispered. My clenched fist rising. "Damnit. Damnit. Damnit!" I roar out, pounding my fist into the wall.

Where there should have been pain, there was only numbness and blood. My head raging as war broke out in my heart and in my mind.

I needed to be free. Free from the constraints that tugged on me. Be civil or be vengeful. Be salvation or be destruction. Be this or be that.

Watch and wait or make the first move. Duck or swing. Stab or shoot. Be that or be this.

And yet all I wanted was to be happy.

I didn't know what that looked like. At least not now. There were a few moments in the past. But they were fleeting.

I may not know what my happiness looks like, nor may I know what it looks like for others. But I do know one thing.

I will create a safe haven for people to find that happiness, whatever it may look like.

I just didn't know when to take those steps. I had to walk the line and hope I don't cross it before everyone was ready.

"Lincoln, if you're up there, hell, Gideon, if you're up there, one of you-any of you, what do I do now. I used to be able to do whatever the hell I want, but now it feels I'm walking on a wire. But I don't want to have to tiptoe anymore."

I pulled my forehead from the wall and looked up to the moonless sky.

"I fight and I kill. But if I fight, if I kill, I'll start a war within Polis. And I don't need a war here. I need it there."

I paused, waiting for something. Part of me hoped the answers would fall from the sky. With the amount of crazy shit I've experienced, an answer falling from the sky wouldn't be so surprising.

But it never came.

I turned from the window, moving towards the door where the other three had left from roughly fifteen minutes ago. A gentle breeze filtered into the window and wiggled my braids around. The cool air moved against my cheek and ear as though giving a comforting touch. A whisper blowing past as I listened.

I froze at the door and turned, a new determined gleam in my eye as I realized exactly what I needed to do.

With a grin, I started towards the window. Climbing back down the way I had come. The words I heard in the back of my mind ringing in my head as I ran towards the bunker.

"Then don't kill."