CHAPTER TWELVE
it's no cause for concern
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𝐄lliot trailed behind the group of delinquents, her hands wavering above the hilt of her swords. With one wrong move, the blade will definitely fly out of her hands and drive into someone's brain. It was instinct, and that doesn't need thinking. Right now, her body language might seem alert but her mind was a mess, and she didn't even know where to start.
Because sometimes, being a Grounder doesn't always mean you're strong, brave, and all of that bullshit.
A part of her envied those people that came from space. They didn't have to grow up in such an environment that only believes in killing and believing such powers you hold that only get you killed in the end. But the world has yet to unleash its deepest secrets. They'd only seen what was in front of them.
The sunlight had gone up hours ago, and Elliot was starting to recognize her surroundings. They were almost near the sky people's new camp, and it was now time for her to depart from them. She was right. Bellamy stopped and turned to her with a subtle gulp. Elliot looked at him expectantly but with no sign of loathing or anything.
"We'll see you later," Bellamy said with a small nod.
The girl they saved earlier from the cliff darted her eyes between the two of them. She actually felt scared at the presence of the female Grounder. She kept flinching at the slightest movement Elliot made. Bellamy noticed it. He was literally supporting the girl's weight because she was wounded. His jaw clenched at her actions.
Elliot only nodded in response and turned her back on them. But then he called out her name again.
"Be careful." Bellamy cleared his throat. Before she could say anything else, he quickly left with the girl beside him, following his sister back to their camp.
The female Grounder furrowed her brows at his retreating figure as he disappeared among the trees at a fast pace. Unknowingly, a curious expression washed over her face. A different kind of feeling bubbled inside her gut. She didn't know if she liked it or not. How could he make her blood boil and her cold heart melt at the same time?
The dark sky rumbled, and Elliot shivered from the cold wind that touched her bare skin. She sat on a sturdy branch up on a tree, just near where they left her, quietly munching on a strange edible fruit she picked from somewhere in the woods earlier. She never realized how hungry she was until she took a bite from it.
Other than that, she never felt this cold before. She missed the cave and the warmth of a fire. She missed being around Lincoln and bickering with him in their language at uncertain times. After all, she was just another human that needed another person to be there for her even though she didn't show it much.
Just because she was strong━at least to kill someone else━doesn't mean her mind was that strong to take it all in. The more she takes lives, the faster she loses her sanity. The only thing that actually kept her humanity intact was now gone. Yet a part of her still believed Lincoln was alive.
He has to be. Elliot wouldn't know what to do if he died.
Elliot sat up from the branch when she heard footsteps coming towards her area, the dead leaves crunching against the soles of their boots. Her judging expression flashed on her face. They seriously don't know how to keep themselves hidden. Then again, maybe they weren't trying to.
"Elliot." A familiar voice called out her name in a whisper from below. She recognized it immediately. Her muscles relaxed and she easily jumped down from the tree, surprising them. Bellamy's eyes stayed on her. "Didn't see you there."
Elliot shrugged. "You didn't look enough."
Clarke looked surprised at her presence. She sent a confused look at the siblings. Then she asked the Grounder: "You're Elliot, right?"
She merely stared at the blond girl.
"We're going to Lincoln's village," Octavia informed. "I figured you'd want to come."
Night had come so fast and the small group decided to camp out for a while and rest. Elliot argued that they should keep going so they could arrive there earlier but Clarke insisted. Besides, Finn and Murphy were only there because she had been gone. Apparently, Clarke found her way back.
The fire crackled in the darkness of the forest. Elliot sat on the ground opposite Bellamy while the two other girls slept soundlessly. Bellamy glanced at her and noticed how she kept shivering and clenching her fists from the cold. He contemplated for a minute. Yeah, a whole minute, before he shrugged his windbreaker off him and hesitantly held it out towards the Grounder.
Her head snapped towards him. She had this unreadable expression on her face that Bellamy almost wanted to take back what he did. Her mask was still on her lower face, but the fire was bright enough that he could guess her expression underneath it.
"Take it," Bellamy said gruffly, trying to sound nonchalant about it.
"Keep it," Elliot muttered, ignoring his obvious attempt to try to get on her good side.
His grip around the clothing tightened, and his jaw clenched ever so slightly. Then he retracted his arm and slid the jacket back on his body. They shared one last glance at each other before quickly looking away just as fast. Bellamy's eyes nervously flickered towards his sleeping sister and Clarke.
The moment Elliot closed her eye, Bellamy found himself staring at her again. Just quietly studying every inch of her face that wasn't covered by that annoying mask. Personally, he thinks her scar just made her more... beautiful. He couldn't believe he was even thinking of her. It was annoying.
Elliot felt it. She could feel his eyes on her, but the moment she opened hers━Bellamy instantly looked away and turned somewhere else. She decided to ignore him. He was a strange one. But the good kind of strange that made people want to know him better than he looked on the outside.
"First, we find Finn," Bellamy said to Clarke. "Then our people at Mount Weather."
"And Lincoln," Octavia added.
Elliot glanced at her brother's lover with a spaced-out look on her face. She looked back at her, a mutual understanding between the two of them. The Grounder pursed her lips and decided that she wouldn't give up just yet. Someone still had hope Lincoln was alive. She could at least add up to that.
"I think we slept long enough," Octavia muttered and started to pack up, urging her brother and Clarke to do the same thing since Elliot never took off her things in the first place.
Bellamy approached the female Grounder with an unrecognizable look on his face. Elliot wrinkled her nose. Bellamy still wasn't sure what it meant but he often took it as a taunt. They sent each other a small nod before they followed Clarke and Octavia in a tense silence.
The sun had come up when they neared the village. Octavia stopped near a statue━a statue where Lincoln got his name from, which made Elliot gulp uneasily as she looked up at it. They stared at the statue's back while Clarke and Bellamy stood behind them without having any clue what it meant to them.
"This is it." Bellamy approached them. "Which way to the village?"
Upon noticing how quiet his sister became, he stopped and looked at her with a worried expression on his face. He shared a look with Clarke. Elliot remained silent by Octavia's side. Her grip on her sword was getting tighter the longer they stood there.
"O?" Bellamy said carefully.
"The Reapers came from there." Octavia pointed at the large statue of Abraham Lincoln and started to sob. "I couldn't save him, Bell."
The man could only hug his little sister for comfort because he didn't know what to do or how to bring the Grounder back so she could feel better.
"I couldn't save him," Octavia sobbed through her brother's shoulder. Her teary eyes fell on the quiet Grounder. "I'm so sorry, Elliot."
Elliot looked away. "We should go."
She could almost see the sight of the village. But then something stopped her in her tracks━the sound of gunshots echoing throughout the forest. Her heart rate picked up, fearing that her brother's people might've been hurt. She didn't bother to wait for them as she bolted towards the noise.
The gunshots never ceased. Not until Elliot found herself facing the one who was holding the weapon. The blood on her face drained. This village was the only reminder she had of Lincoln and the people living in it. But what of it if the sight in front of her was a sign that the people she once bonded with were now dead on the ground?
Her body was frozen. She couldn't move. Or speak. Her eye were wide as she stared in horror at the massacre in front of her. These people had taken care of her once. When she was young, stupid, a child. They took her in as their own. Like she wasn't a stranger. Or a monster. They took care of her when nobody wanted to.
Then she snapped out of it. She found herself on her knees as she tried to feel the heartbeat of the Grounders who suffered. Finn, who was in the middle of the bloodbath, seemed frozen, too. Maybe he would've pointed his rifle at her if he wasn't so entranced at seeing Clarke Griffin just a few feet away from him.
But even his own friends were at a loss for words.
Something inside of her snapped. Like a chain keeping a door closed. Realization struck her and at that moment, all she saw was red.
Elliot wasn't even aware of what she was doing. But she stood up, dragging her feet towards the culprit. Bellamy was the one who noticed her. He hesitated at first, slowly inching towards her. But he was too late. Way too late.
When Elliot reached Finn, she abruptly grabbed his shoulder and forcefully made him turn to her before forcefully headbutting his face. That made the boy stumble back, but as she was about to beat him up to death━Bellamy came up behind her, wrapping his strong arms around her waist. He tried to hold her back from Finn who merely continued to stare at Clarke like the pain didn't matter.
Finn messed up big time.
"Let me go, Bellamy!" Elliot snarled, scratching her way out of his grip. "Let me go!"
Bellamy merely shushed her and tightened his arms around her although not too tight that it could hurt her. Elliot continued to kick and thrash around his arms, reaching for the long-haired boy, wanting to taste some revenge and kill him because it was the only thing she knew in her life.
Jus drein jus daun. Blood must have blood.
"Stop," Bellamy grunted, keeping her close. Elliot let out a strained scream. Her face cried but no tears came out of her eye. He gave her a pleading look. "Please, Elliot."
For once in her life, she felt exhausted. There was no doubt, deep inside she craved vengeance. That's what the clans stood for. The families of the fallen Grounders' cries echoed through her ears like a somber lullaby. She felt their pain like an arrow to the chest. Her hands gripped the soil as she fell to her knees once more.
A damned tragedy. That's what her life had become the moment she was born into this world of death and suffering. It was only a matter of time before Elliot of Ice Nation, the failure of a warrior, snapped.