"You're going to regret this," Loxy snapped at Bellamy, snatching the axe out of his waistband. She aimed, which was difficult amongst the sea of people. Then, with clear precision, she threw the axe.
The blade pierced the bark of tree as well as the material that was hanging Murphy. He dropped onto the ground instantly, and everyone froze in shock. They had gone from a raging audience to statues in seconds.
"Murphy didn't kill Wells," Loxy spoke in a clear voice. "I know who did it. And if they don't—"
She was cut off as two hands wrapped around her neck, closing off any air from getting through. The boy leading the uproar shoved her against the tree. "Do you even know what Murphy is like? He killed him! He's a murderer!"
Loxy felt as if her windpipe was on fire, desperately trying to pry the guy's hands off her for air. Her face was heating up quickly and her vision began to blur.
"Let her go!" Bellamy shouted, and began mercilessly punching him.
"Just stop it!" Charlotte finally screamed, her face hardened into a scowl. "Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did!"
Shock rippled through the crowd, mostly on Bellamy's face as it was a mixture of surprise and hurt. Loxy felt sympathy wave over her, but she ignored as she grabbed Charlotte and gestured for Clarke and Bellamy to follow. Finn trailed along as well.
"Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" Murphy's angry voice called out, sounding furious.
"Why, Charlotte?" Bellamy pleaded to her, ignoring Murphy's screams. His brown eyes were filled with confusion and pain.
"Because I was trying to slay my demons like you told me!" Charlotte answered, sounding annoyed.
Anger swelled up in Loxy's chest. "He wasn't telling you to actually kill someone! You killed someone today. Ended his life! To slay your demons doesn't mean to make someone stop breathing so you can feel better." Loxy could feel her voice rising, but no one was stopping her.
"Wells wasn't even the one who locked up your parents. He wasn't your demon. And honestly, neither is the Chancellor," Loxy breathed, staring into Charlotte's crying eyes.
"Your only demon is yourself. And to slay your demons you have to fight them. You have to show them that you can overcome what they throw at you. And by God that doesn't mean killing someone!"
Two arms wrapped around her back and Loxy allowed herself to be taken away by whoever they were. She couldn't stop looking at Charlotte, however. The young girl who killed her best friend was right in front of her and the pain was unbearable.
Bellamy squeezed her tightly before letting go and walking back to Charlotte, his eyes full of alarm.
"Bring the girl out, now!"
"Please don't let them hurt me!" Charlotte begged, her eyes falling on Bellamy.
"If you have any bright ideas please speak up now," Bellamy turned to the group, looking desperate.
Loxy took in a deep breath, still trying to calm down from her outburst. Slowly, however, she began forming a plan in her head.
"Now you stay quiet," Bellamy grumbled.
"Those are your boys out there," Finn said defensively, giving him a sideways glance.
"This is not my fault!" Bellamy's voice rose. "If she had kept her mouth shut," he pointed at Clarke, "they would still be building that wall."
"If you wanna build a society Princess, let's build a society. C'mon bring her out!" Murphy yelled as Finn checked on the crowd outside.
"No!" Charlotte implored. "Please Bellamy!"
"Okay since no one else is capable of making a stable plan," Loxy finally cut in. "Bellamy and I will stay here and talk with Murphy. Hopefully it'll buy you two enough time to go find refuge with Charlotte. Think you can handle that?" She turned to everyone, raising her eyebrows.
Bellamy nodded and followed behind her as she left the tent.
Murphy instantly slithered toward them, anger sharpening around his eyes. "Well well well, look who decided to show up," he snarled. "Bellamy and his Little Red Riding Hood."
Loxy bit back a sharp comment about the nickname, deciding to let Bellamy do the talking.
"Tone it down and back off," he warned him.
"Or what?" Murphy snickered. "What are you gonna do to me? Hang me?"
"I was just giving the people what they wanted," he growled.
Loxy let out a quiet gasp as she felt Bellamy's hand rest on her stomach. Gently, he pushed her behind him, blocking her from any harm. He drew himself to his full height, folding his arms protectively.
"Yeah. Yeah, how bout we do that right now," Murphy glowered at the two before turning back to the crowd. "So who wants to see the real murderer hung up? Huh?"
Only a total of about five people raised their hands, all in which were Murphy's most loyal followers.
"Oh I see," Murphy spat. "So it's okay to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses you wanna let her walk?" He was screaming by now, his face growing beet red. "Cowards, all of you—"
"Hey, Murphy," Bellamy stormed over to stop him. "It's over."
Murphy stood back, slowly nodding in what seemed like defeat. "Yeah, whatever you say boss," he uttered.
Bellamy spun around and began walking back towards her. However, Murphy grabbed a piece of firewood and knocked him in the back of the head, making him unconscious.
"You bitch!" Loxy screamed, running towards him. She raised her hand as he threw a punch, catching his fists. Using her leg, she kicked him right where the sun doesn't shine, before being grabbed by two bulky delinquents.
Using her elbow, she hit one of them in the face and used her knee to get the other one. But when she turned back around Murphy's fist immediately came into contact with her own face. She stumbled to the ground, trying to fight against her dizzy vision.
As Loxy slowly lost consciousness, she could feel arms grabbing her and lifting her up. Her hands were being tied together tightly but it didn't matter.
She couldn't take her eyes off of Bellamy's sleeping body as she fell into darkness.
~
Once Loxy woke up she immediately felt a strange absence. It was nightfall now, and she had been propped up against a tree. Two of Murphy's henchmen were guarding her, eyeing her careful.
One of them sent her an evil smile when they realized she was awake. "Your little boyfriend isn't here to help you," he taunted, holding a torch in his hands.
Loxy said nothing, and only focused on the flames as she tried to think. Hopefully Bellamy had gotten away, and was somewhere in the woods with Charlotte.
As much as she felt indignation towards her for what she did, Loxy knew what Wells would want. He wouldn't want Charlotte to be killed. He'd understand that she was just lost and trying to make the pain go away.
Guilt spread through her chest like fire as she pondered on this. Charlotte only killed one person, while Loxy had killed five guards on the Ark as well as Atom and even the two kids who didn't even get to see Earth.
If she had tried harder to persuade them, they would've gotten back in their seats. If she denied Bellamy's help she could've ran back to save Atom, and wouldn't have had to face him like she did when she killed him.
And in some way, she even killed Wells. Charlotte wasn't the problem. It was her. With her abilities, she should be able to protect at least one person. But she had failed to do so. It was her fault.
Her thoughts were broken as Murphy strutted up, his eyes trailing past his boys to her. He chuckled lightly, shaking his head. "You're coming with us. We're gonna go find your little Amy and the girl who killed your friend," he snarled.
"Murphy, I think it's best we—" one of his followers tried to speak, but was cut off.
"She's a useful hostage to us. As long as we have her I know Bellamy won't do anything stupid, like not give up Charlotte." Murphy said, looking back at forth between them as he lit his own torch.
Loxy began struggling against the restraints around her, which kept her hugging the tree. She couldn't be the reason why Charlotte died either. That would make her the tenth person she's killed.
"Bring her," Murphy ordered, turning around and walking away.
The first delinquent pulled out his knife, cutting the ropes off her body but not her hands. She grunted as they heaved her up, forcing her to walk forward with them.
"Let's go for a little walk," Murphy teased her as he rounded up all his people, which wasn't that many.
"This'll be fun," she groaned as she felt herself be dragged into the woods.
Minutes passed as the small group trekked through the forest, Murphy calling out for Charlotte every other second. "I'm not gonna hurt you," he lied at one point, "I'll hurt Little Red Riding Hood instead."
Screams erupted ahead of them. It was Charlotte, calling out to Murphy. She was trying to give herself up. "No!" Loxy struggled against her two captives' hold, tempted to use her powers. But she knew better than that.
Finally, they reached a cliffside. "Bellamy!" Murphy shouted as they pushed through tall ferns.
Bellamy had his arm out across Charlotte, preventing her from walking forward. His eyes settled on Loxy, remorse deep in them.
"You can't fight all of us. Give her up," Murphy demanded, his demands filled with such raw anger. Loxy was shocked when she felt Murphy's hand tighten around her red leather coat, pulling her next to him.
"Maybe not, but I guarantee I can take a few of you with me," he growled, his brown eyes glued to Loxy.
She began wriggling under Murphy's hold, eventually kicking him in the ribs, which loosened his hold. Spinning around, she landed a blow on his jaw with her two bound together hands. "This has gone too far!"
"Brave Little Red Riding Hood," Murphy said with a mocking smile as two of men grabbed her once again.
"Calm down, Murphy. We need to just talk about this," Loxy attempted to reason, prying herself free from both of the boys' grasp to go stand in front of Murphy.
Murphy's eyes locked with hers, before he suddenly reached out and grabbed, holding a knife to her neck. "I'm sick of listening to you talk," he spat.
"Let her go—" Bellamy rushed forward.
"I will slit her throat if you come any closer," Murphy threatened, pointing a bony finger at him. Then his face lit up, like he suddenly got an idea.
He let go of Loxy slightly, placing most of his force on her arm. "For someone who's had rumors about experiments going around," he paused, lifting her sleeve up. "She should be able to handle this."
Loxy shuddered as the cold touch of the blade was pressed against her paled skin. She sent Bellamy a wary glance, telling him to stay back.
"Give me Charlotte," Murphy spoke in a low voice, slowly pressing the blade into her skin. "Or I will make Red's nickname suit her just perfectly."
"No!" Charlotte cried, her small head shaking vigorously. "P-Please don't hurt her," her brown eyes filled with regret and despair.
"Too late," Murphy snapped, digging the blade another inch into her skin before dragging it painstakingly slow up her arm.
Blood erupted from the fresh cuts, and Loxy wasn't prepared for the immense amount of pain following it. A small whimper escaped her lips, and she had to clench her teeth to hold back an agonized cry.
"Murphy, stop this!" Bellamy demanded, torn between chasing after the girl he'd develop feelings for and protecting a little girl he'd taken under his wing.
At this point Murphy had already started on her other arm, blood soaking the first. Her vision was beginning to blur at the edges, telling her she was losing too much blood. Searing white-hot pain flooded her mind as she began to sway, tears spilling down her porcelain cheeks. "H-Help."
Exactly thirty-nine days before she was sent to the ground was Abby's last experiment on her. Supposedly the time gap between now and then was enough for Loxy to forget the feeling of a sharp point being driven into her skin. But unlike the needles, which only hit one tiny spot on her skin, Murphy's knife was dragging along her entire arm.
Murphy knew she wouldn't last much longer, letting go of the girl and allowing her to collapse on the soil.
Voices echoed all around Loxy, each one speaking with the same desperate emotion. She used the last of her energy to keep her eyes and watch as Charlotte flung herself off the cliffside, her body landing in the water with a distant splash.
Bellamy peered over the edge next to Clarke as they both mourned over the little girl. Loxy would've ran up to them as well, but she couldn't move a limb. The pain was blinding her and it was only a matter of time before she succumbed to the flood.
~
The first voice Loxy heard when she woke up was Bellamy's, one filled with wariness but a strong amount of concern. It was scratchy and hoarse, meaning he had shed a few tears not too long ago.
"She's lost a lot of blood," he grumbled, most likely to Clarke.
Her eyes fluttered open, being greeted by the metallic ceiling of the dropship. Sitting up, Loxy came face to face with the stitched up wounds on her two arms. They both ran all the way from her wrist to halfway of her upper arm. "Shit," she whispered, studying the two cuts. "Murphy had some fun. Where is that asshole?"
Bellamy looked at her, his eyes softening when he realized she had woken up. His head snapped to Clarke, a silent message being portrayed by his eyes. The doctor nodded, throwing one last sympathetic glance at her friend before leaving.
He slid onto the edge of the table she was lying on, resting his hand just inches away from her thigh. The space between them was louder than the emotions flooding through the both of them. "How are you feeling?"
"Like Abby just put a thousand needles into me. Which has most definitely happened before," she answered. Her fingers ran along one of the cuts, feeling the stitches with caution.
"We banished Murphy. And we decided that whatever the hell we want couldn't keep us alive. You were right," Bellamy mumbled with sadness, mostly because he knew he had failed being a leader. Loxy sensed this.
"You've always done what you thought was right. Even with the wristbands. Sometimes we make mistakes and that's okay," Loxy comforted him, surprised at the words rolling off her tongue.
Bellamy gave her a sad nod. "Let me help you bandage these cuts up. I'm sure you don't want to see stitches every time you look down at your arms." He got to his feet again, strolling across the deck and grabbing a roll of bandage.
Loxy swallowed the bile rising in her throat. "I told myself tonight that I wouldn't let Charlotte die. And I failed again," she muttered with a tinge of remorse in her tone.
"No, that wasn't your fault. None of this is your fault," Bellamy stressed, his hand grabbing her forearm. The warmth from him radiated through her, making her shiver. If Bellamy noticed the movement, he didn't say anything.
Gradually, he wrapped bandage around both her wounds, pain twisted in his face as he was forced to look at what Murphy had done. "Why didn't you stop him? With your mind control shit?"
Loxy let out a dry laugh at his choice of words. "I can't let anyone know the truth. Not another soul. They'll want to kill me. Someone who can do things like save a drop ship of prisoners or fling back a two hundred pound panther can't be trusted." She explained slowly, hoping he would understand.
"You need to at least tell Clarke," Bellamy advised her. "She was telling me about how confused she was when Murphy mentioned the experiments."
Loxy looked up at him, locking eyes with him for the first time since she awoke.
"She's going to ask you sooner or later. That's when you should tell her," Bellamy uttered before standing up to leave.
But Loxy weakly reached out for him, her fingers just barely brushing against the sleeve of his coat. He looked back at her, confusion rippling through his freckled face. "If you leave she'll come ask. And I'm not ready just yet."
Bellamy knew exactly what she meant by this, and returned to his position of sitting next to her laying body.
Together, in silence, they were telling each other a million words that were too frightening to say aloud.