Persphyni : I am Death

18

"You gave a grounder one of our radios?" Pike's voice broke from a whisper drawing everyone's attention as they stood from their chairs.

"Sir, are we under attack?" I rolled my eyes at Monty's mom.

"No we are not under attack. The commander sent a peacekeeping force. To ensure we could defend against any further attacks from the Ice Nation." My father said, his hands out as he tried to calm the anxious crowd.

"Peacekeeping force? Even you can't be that naive Marcus!" Pike argued, his voice raising as Lincoln and I took a few steps forward.

"Watch your tone. You're talking to the next chancellor." Abby interjected, scolding Pike calmly. "We're all grieving. This has been hard on all of us. But we can't let anger drive our policy." Her gaze shot daggers at Pike, and I felt myself smirk.

"Anger is our policy." Pike got up and stood on a table. "If they're here to defend us, as you say, then tell them to go home." The crowd of Farm Station survivors shouted in agreement. "We can defend ourselves."

"You." Lincoln and I looked at the man who was pointing a finger. "You don't belong here." Others chimed in, agreeing with the man's statement. Neither of us moved as we stared at the crowd.

"My boy is dead!" The man who had pointed at Lincoln threw something in his direction. My hand reaching up to stop the object from causing serious damage. I managed to catch it, but the impact of the blow forced my hand back and into Lincoln's eye. He staggered back as I dropped the rock, blood dripping from the small cuts in my hand, and pulled my daggers out to defend Lincoln as he regained his surroundings.

Three guardsmen and Bellamy, who had sprinted to us, built a wall as I turned to make sure Lincoln was okay. The fighting continued, so I did what I did just like all those months ago. Only Murphy wasn't hanging from a tree.

The gunshot silenced the room, fighting had stopped as I motioned for Bellamy to check on Lincoln while I walked up to the front of the room.

"You all are behaving like a pack of animals. Attacking each other because you think you see a flaw." I made it to where Pike was. "Not realizing that who you are attacking, shares the same flesh, bones, and heart as you." I looked away from Pike and made eye contact with Farm Station. "You who do not know me, need to learn fast. Because I will not watch as my people crumble apart because they hold no respect for anyone other than them themselves. Look at yourselves, it's pathetic. Your fighting in here makes us weak. It's cowardly, stupid, as adults I'd expect better. As a killer, I see easy targets. So control yourselves. Or the Ice Nation has already won." I sent one lingering gaze at the Farm Station and the rest of the funeral attendees, before turning and walking out. My hair swishing behind me as I left.

_______•*•*•*•_______

I found myself face to face with the punching bag. Blood already dripping from my bare knuckles. I released all my fury on the bag of sand. Each hit of the bag, each drop of blood, each sting of the wounds, was all to keep me from sparking out.

Every breath, I pushed harder. Every desire to yell, I pushed harder. Every time I felt that my hands were going to break, I pushed harder.

I still had life in me. I still had energy, anger, determination, strength. I still had fight, blood, sweat. I had everything, so I kept pushing.

"You keep that up and you're going to knock the bag off it's hook." I didn't listen. Bouncing on the balls of my feet, sending blow after blow into the bag. "Persphyni."

Hit

"Persphyni, listen to me."

Rattling of chains as I hit the bag again.

"Persphyni. Hey." His hand went on my bare shoulder and I spun around, my hand grasping his wrist as I stared up into his eyes. My face masking all but my anger, my eyes held flames that I knew he could see. Blood dripped from my fists onto the floor, as I breathed harshly trying to catch my breath.

His brown eyes scanned my face, then the looked down to my hands and back up. My hand dropped from his wrist allowing his hand to return to his side. A bloody handprint lingered in his wrists as I had reopened my wounds from the rock. I saw in his eyes that he was trying to read me, but I didn't let him.

"If you need to take your anger out on something, the least you could do is give it a fair chance." He finally said after a moment of silence.

"And what would you suggest." I bit back. My fight wasn't with him, but I wasn't in the mood for his jokes.

"Well, Abby did clear my leg this morning."

"Bellamy, you have five seconds to either spit out what you're suggesting or I'll kick your ass out of here." I hadn't moved from my position as he stepped back and onto a sparring mat.

"With how hotheaded you're being right now, I think I could take you." This time I narrowed my eyes at him, the first sign of emotion I've shown him today.

"You know that when I'm angry I fight with more aggression. So why, are you wanting to spar right now?" I watched him sigh and pull his shirt off and toss it onto a bench.

"Cause I need a distraction from the real world." I already had my shirt off resting on a bench over by the bag as I stepped onto the mat. Our shoes already off, his socks still on as I felt the recently cleaned mat under my barefeet.

"Don't we all." I mumbled getting set as Bellamy stretched out his neck.

"Let's make this interesting." I rose a brow at his comment. "Every pin, I get to ask a personal question, and when I win at the end I get to ask whatever I want."

"I'm assuming this works both ways?"

"Sure." I rolled my eyes as he plastered a small smile on his face.

"Ready?"

"I should be asking you that."