Before she knew it, Roseline ended up in a part of the forest she couldn't recognize. What didn't help was that she could also no longer see any of her friends in the corner of her eyes. Slowing down, she spun in circles with her mallet clutched in her hands. The girl almost called out for Bellamy, but she didn't want any Grounders attracted to her.
Turning once more, she was met with a large and angry Grounder with a spear in his hands. The Grounder threw it right as she turned, but due to sheer luck, she happened to trip on a root that stuck out of the ground. The spear whizzed past her head and hit a tree not too far behind her. She took his moment of surprise to scamper up off the ground and run off into the woods once more. Another Grounder came in on her left side, a knife in hand. She tried to zig-zag through the trees but unfortunately, the Grounder knew what she was doing. In an instant, the Grounder had Roseline tackled to the ground and a knife ready to stab her neck. Roseline tried to reach for her mallet that had fallen, but it was too far. This is it, she thought, I was too dumb and failed to stay with the group, so now I'm gonna die at the hands of a freaking Grounder.
A whistle broke the tension between the pair, and the Grounder looked up in confusion. A poor mistake on her part because that second of hesitation was all the mysterious person needed to let go of an arrow and let it sink into the victim's throat. The Grounder gurgled from the blood-forming in her throat and with a final heave, she fell over dead on Roseline. The scientist gagged and pushed the body off of her, wiping off the blood and dirt she got on herself. Remembering someone had to of killed the Grounder, she grabbed her mallet, struggled to her feet, and held a defensive stance as she scanned the area.
A few yards away from her stood a man dressed in what looked like an animal skin robe and beads hanging around his neck. She could make out tattoos on his dark skin and even a piercing in his septum. She wanted to thank the man but as she walked closer she watched as he notched his bow and aimed it right at her head. You've got to be kidding me, she thought bitterly. This guy wanted to kill me so bad that he killed his buddy just to do it himself.
When he let go of the arrow, Roseline expected it to go straight into her head. She even closed her eyes to make herself feel better. Instead, she listened as the arrow whooshed past her and into something behind her. She opened her eyes and whipped her head around to see an arrow sticking out of a Grounder's chest, blood spilling from the wound.
Roseline turned back to the man in shock, the memories clicking together. "I know you. You're the guy who saved me and Bell like a week ago, aren't you?"
The man said nothing which made Roseline take small steps closer.
"Can you understand me?" she asked, clearly being able to see the tattoos on his arms and face. He was silent as he surveyed their surroundings, his weapon at the ready. Roseline wanted to ask another question but a loud horn pierced through the forest. She stood still for a moment, wondering why the sound was so familiar. It didn't register until the mysterious man reached for her arm and began to drag her away.
"It's the acid fog! We have to go back and get my friends!" she cried out and pulled at her arm. The man kept his grip as they ran deeper through the trees. Roseline heard Bellamy's voice in the distance call out her name, but before she could answer Bow Man dragged her down into a tunnel underground. It was pitch black and she could hear drops of water hit the bottom with an echo. He led her down a hallway to the left and at the end was a steel door. With ease, the man opened the door and shoved the pair in.
Roseline panicked at the fact that she was now in a dark room with a Grounder whom she had barely met. She didn't even know his name. She had her mallet, but she didn't think it would do much compared to his bow that he was clearly trained with. The panic died down once the candles were lit and she found herself entranced by the things he had piled around the room. There were jars of random objects, a shelf full of books, and even a whole tea set displayed on a bookcase. Drawings were also tacked to the walls, some quickly drawn and some that looked as if he had spent a week perfecting them. She reached to pick up a small plastic dinosaur but before she could touch it, the man slapped her hand away.
He began to make himself at home by setting his bag down on the bed and taking off his robe. Underneath he had a simple ripped t-shirt and cargo pants that had stuff crammed into the pockets. Roseline looked around the room again with awe.
"Where did you get this much stuff?" she wondered, her hands gesturing around the room. The man said nothing. He picked up a knife from his bedside table and began to sharpen it with a rock.
"You don't know English, do you?" Roseline crossed her arms and waited for a response, yet still nothing. "Of course. This might as well happen. I'm stuck in a room with a Grounder, my friends are probably being burned alive by acid fog, Octavia is in danger, and I'm freezing because I couldn't be bothered to grab a coat before I left!"
The girl huffed and shuffled to the candles that lit up the room, her hands outstretched. It was quiet for a minute, the pair glancing at each other every so often to make sure neither were going to kill each other. Roseline almost wanted to sit on the bed next to the Grounder, but she was afraid that he would shiv her if she came any closer. So, she stood in the corner shivering and eyeing all the knick-knacks that lined the room.
After another fifteen minutes of the girl's shivering, the man got up abruptly and fished through a box at the end of the bed. Roseline stood still and waited for him to pull out a knife and declare that the fun was over and that he's bored of her now. Instead, he pulled out an army jacket with old worn-out patches on it. On the front left, there was an odd symbol of an oval and a three-pronged fork in the center. When he turned it around, an even larger version was painted on the back, covering almost the entire jacket. She noticed letters written on the back but before she could see what they read, he dusted it off and gave it to the girl with an expressionless face. Gingerly, she accepted the coat and shrugged it over herself, feeling better already.
Another minute went past and Roseline decided that she wanted to touch what seemed to be an old and faded chessboard. Her hand reached toward the castle, yet before she could touch it, Bow Man whacked her hand with a stick.
"Ouch! C'mon!" she cursed, pulling her hand away and giving the man a mean glare. "If I'm gonna be stuck in here, I might as well look at your stuff. I mean, it's not every day I get to see a collection of stuffed animals!"
He stared at the scientist with thought. Roseline thought that he was going to let her touch the board, but instead, he went back to sharpening knives. The girl huffed in annoyance and glanced around the room. She spotted the drawings on the wall and took a step to get a closer look at them. A lot of them seemed to be people, yet their faces seemed so distorted that she couldn't tell what they were supposed to look like. She didn't want to judge his abstract art so she turned to the more realistic drawings and one caught her eye. It was a picture of a rose and surrounding the rose were twelve different shapes. She couldn't really make out what the shapes exactly were, but she thought the drawing was beautiful nevertheless.
Reaching her hand out, she went to grab the drawing, but once again Bow Man slapped her hand away and this time she slapped him back.
"C'mon, dude! You're not giving me a whole lotta options! Let me snoop through your stuff!" Roseline groaned as the man didn't make eye contact with her. She stared up at the ceiling and scrunched her eyes closed. "Give me the strength not to chuck this chessboard at this man's head."
The man's lip twitched ever so slightly.
☆☆☆
A/N: thank u guys so much for being patient w me and reading my story it means so much!!
anyways happy reading!
-kate
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Esperança 》B. Blake
फैनफिक्शनes·pe·ran·ça (esperar + -ança) Portuguese for: 1. a feeling of trust in someone or something, even when the trust should not be given 2. hope ex; Roseline Taylor had esperança that Earth wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. [ the 100 s...
