TWO | "some rules need to be broken"
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THREE days. That's how long Nova has managed to obey Indra's orders for. Staying in the village has just got so boring and monotonous after that. Nova constantly wants to be in the know, to at least have some sort of idea of what's going on out there.
Fortunately, Astoria and Harlo have been her eyes and ears. Although, some things they've told her she'd rather not know about, like the fact that a sky person got speared just the other day and her people had strung him up as live bait. She realised at that point that it was probably best she wasn't apart of it because maybe she'd feel too guilty to harm one of them. After all, she didn't expect to react the way she did when she first saw the sky people in person.
But one day, after dark, Nova notices Lincoln sneaking out of his tent, which is coincidentally next to hers. He's been distant recently, often choosing to hunt by himself, or exploring out of the village without any warning, which can be common for him because he's solitary like Nova, but he's never usually this quiet and secretive. She hasn't even spoke to him in days, even though he normally never fails to make the effort to at least check in on her.
Curiosity overcomes Nova's desire to follow the rules. In the dead of night, with her footsteps as light as possible, she tiptoes across the village and towards the forest, carefully trying to follow where Lincoln has stepped only a couple minutes before and being cautious enough to constantly check her surroundings for anyone else about. She doesn't want to give her village another reason to not trust her.
Nova quickly figures out the route Lincoln is taking, and her palms start to sweat slightly. He's heading towards the cave in which herself and her father were in when she was eight, only she hasn't been there since. Lincoln has never let her go back there and she's just always abided by his request.
Questioning whether she should turn back to the village or not, Nova pauses but rapidly shakes the thought from her head. She's too wrapped up in her inquisitiveness to stop now, so she carries on for another hour until she sees Lincoln in the distance dip into the caves entrance. Nova doesn't waste any more time and catches up to him. She hesitates at the entrance, but heads in nonetheless, mentally bracing herself for the flashbacks that are to come. Although, they don't come straight away, which surprises her. In their place, she hears a girl's voice coming from the depths of the cave, pleas not to hurt her.
Nova figures hiding probably isn't the best thing to do in this situation and follows his voice around a corner. Lincoln has his back to her and the girl, who appears to be rather battered with open wounds covering her face, widens her eyes at the sight of Nova, which, in turn, makes Lincoln turn around.
He's not surprised to see Nova there, he thought she'd follow him at some point. But he's slightly annoyed that she's in the cave when he's repeatedly told her not to enter for her own sake.
"Chit ste going gon hir?" (What is going on here?) Nova questions, rather concerned considering the girl is chained up to the wall. A scowl forms on Lincoln's face as he grabs Nova's arm and pulls her around the corner, away from the injured girl on the floor, most likely because he doesn't want her to hear them speaking in English.
The scowl almost disappears from Lincoln when they're away from the girl, his expressions relaxing a little. "Go home, Nova."
"No. Not until you tell me what you're doing here," she asserts and she crosses her arms, while Lincoln huffs at her response because he knows all too well that Nova's too stubborn to leave without answers.
"I found her at the bottom of a hill. She'd fallen, got concussion and badly injured her leg, so I'm helping her. That's all. I don't want to think about what our people would've done if they found her instead of me."
Nova believes him. She has no reason not to. He's the most caring person she's met whilst on the ground, but the girl he's captured may not see it that way. She's clearly from the dropship that came from the Ark, so she's not accustomed to how Grounders work, which explains the frightened look plastered across her face.
"Look, I know you're only trying to help, but she doesn't see it like that. Her people won't see it like that either, Lincoln. They don't understand our ways and they're just going to think that you've captured her. I don't know if this is a good idea, despite the fact that you have good intentions."
"I'll be fine, Nova. I know how to defend myself, okay?" Lincoln nods, reassuringly, but that still doesn't ease the nerves festering in Nova's stomach. "Now, go back home before Indra realises you're gone."
Raising her eyebrows, Nova's mouth drops a little in shock as she breathes a laugh. "Wait, how do you know about that?"
"Word gets around."
Nova rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it always does when it's about me."
Lincoln laughs, bringing light to the situation as he brings her in for a hug. He will always remain like a brother to Nova because he's helped her through so much and allowed her to feel like Trikru is her home, despite what other people may think. She's got immense gratitude and admiration towards him, and she can only hope to become half the person he is.
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By the time Nova wakes up the next morning, people are already outside her tent causing a scene about something new. She brushes her hair quickly and makes herself look more presentable before heading out. People are crowding around the tree that centres the village, looking down at something on the floor and shouting rather aggressively at it. Nova rushes over to the chaos, only to be shocked at what she finds. A boy from the dropship cowers at the bottom of the tree, evidently distressed and overwhelmed. His clothes are dirty and ripped, with spots of dried blood covering his face.
The people from Nova's village are becoming increasingly hostile with the boy, intimidating him by shouting in Trig, a language that he's never heard before. She knows she's not going to prove her loyalty to those that don't like her, but she feels compelled to help the boy, or at least try to.
Nova shoves past the crowd with her elbows and stands in front of the boy, almost trying to shield him from everyone else. "Hod op! Em does nou understand our sleng en yu ste scaring him!" (Stop! He doesn't understand our language and you are scaring him!)
"Yu ste nou monin hir either!" (You are not welcome here either!) It's comments like these that make Nova's blood boil, but she stays calm this time, which is unusual considering she's known for being hot-headed when defending herself or her friends, focusing on the situation at hand rather than someone else's personal problem with her.
Thankfully, Indra takes charge of the situation before anything gets out of hand, and she tells Nova to step aside. She does so, but she wants to step in once more when Indra takes the boy by his arm and drags him up, away from the crowd without a word of explanation. Everyone else stays put, observing what Indra is planning to do to him. But Nova can't just sit by and watch.
"Indra, beja dula op nou laksen," (Indra, please don't hurt him) Nova pleads as she breaks out into a light jog to keep up with her leader.
Indra abruptly stops in her tracks, forcing the boy to stop too, and looks Nova dead in the eye.
"Whose side ste yu gon?" (Whose side are you on?) Her words are forceful, intended to put Nova in her place and make her feel as if she's some sort of traitor to their village.
It works. Nova doesn't follow as Indra marches the boy out of their village, into somewhere unknown. Her heart is sinking into her chest as she stares at the patchy grass beneath her feet, a feeling of defeat rushing through her. Her loyalty is with Trikru, but she simply cannot help but feel a connection with the teenagers from the dropship, and that feeling comes with the need to care for the boy that has for some reason ended up in their village. She needs to find out where they're keeping him, even if that may cost Nova her trust with her whole village.
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This is the second night in a row that Nova is sneaking out of the village, completely disregarding Indra's rules. She really doesn't want to disobey her leader, but she's not all too good at staying in one place for a long time. However, Nova's still trying her hardest to not get caught, after all betraying Indra's trust is something that she has to avoid. Growing up, Indra was surprisingly accepting of Nova into her village, but when she started to grow up and occupy a mind of her own, Indra became a little wary of Nova as she became more aware of the world around her, constantly making small comments about her loyalty, which Nova let brush over her. She's used to people not trusting her.
The thought of actually disappointing Indra doesn't sit well with Nova, but she can't think about that tonight. The boy from the dropship should be the only thing on her mind at present, so she breathes in and out before breaking out into a light jog.
She has an idea of where Indra took the boy. There's a bunker only twenty minutes from the village, where they're known for keeping others prisoners. Of course, this only happens in exceptional circumstances, like when her people need to get information out of someone, or the person appears to be an imminent threat to their village, but they are all eventually released. Nova has only been there a couple of times, randomly stumbling upon it when exploring once and Lincoln took her there a few years ago, telling her a few stories about previous prisoners.
It's pitch black outside, the darkness acting as a cover in the most vulnerable of times. Nova finds the night peaceful, nobody is around and even if there is, they wouldn't see her. The moon is her only source of light, but that's all she needs. She knows where she's going, and she's certain the boy is there. All Nova wants is to check if he's okay. If he is a prisoner, she can't free him — it'll be too obvious it was her and she can't risk it.
As Nova approaches the edge of the campsite where the bunker is, she hides behind a tree and squints at the area in front of her. Nobody is in sight, which she was expecting because there wasn't anyone there the few times that she's visited. It's the dead of night, everyone will be asleep back at their villages.
Nova double-checks and once she's certain she's alone, she creeps out from behind the tree and heads for the bunker, which is situated in the centre of the campsite. It's covered in over-grown tree roots, with leaves scattering the whole bunker.
As expected, the cell door is locked shut with a strong padlock. She mentally curses, shaking her head because she should've been more prepared. Of course it's going to be locked, stupid.
If she breaks it with a rock, someone will notice tomorrow morning and the blame will instantly be upon Nova, so that's not an option. She wracks her brain for another solution and it isn't until her hand subconsciously reaches for her sword that she finds the answer. The tip of her sword is small enough to unlock the padlock without actually fully breaking it, therefore, making it the perfect key.
It's a struggle at first due to the lack of light, but Nova manages to pick the lock, a small sigh of relief escaping her lips. Before she enters, however, she notices a slab of wood used for light beside the entrance and bends down to pick it up, searching the ground for two sticks to light it. It takes her a few minutes to actually get the sticks to light, but once they do, the now-lit torch creates an abundance of light that wasn't there before. Nova can see that there are stairs leading down to the bunker, so she cautiously heads down them, holding the torch in front of her.
The air smells more stale the further Nova gets into the bunker, assuming it's from the lack of clean air entering as there aren't any windows. A hint of copper also mixes in the air, but she would rather not think about the fact that that comes from old, dried blood.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Nova doesn't want to turn the corner. She's almost too afraid of the boy's reaction, scared he'll act out towards her. Although, she can't hear any noise coming from the floor, so Nova's hopeful that he's at least somewhat calm about her sudden appearance.
But she gets the opposite reaction to the one she hoped.
With the flames of the torch her only source of light, she can see that the boy is sitting in the far corner of the bunker, his feet and hands shackled to the wall behind him with an expression of pure resentment. Even more blood covers his clothing and skin than before, an obvious sign that he's been beaten by her people.
"Stay the hell away from me," he spits, his words like venom but his voice slightly shaken as he recoils in the corner. Nova doesn't react in the slightest to his comment, only blinking at him as she tries to process in her mind what is happening. She wants to run, her mind telling her she's made a mistake, that she's got herself into a situation she didn't know the full extent of. But her heart is telling her to stay, to help the boy as much as she can, whilst also staying loyal to her people.
Nova awkwardly coughs, a sympathetic look on her face despite the hostility he's showing her. "I'm not here to hurt you, I promise. I—I just came to see if you were okay."
"You don't care if I'm okay or not. What do you want from me?" His tone of voice is harsh, evidently not believing Nova's apparent caring facade.
"I don't want anything from you, alright? I don't agree with what my people are doing to you, so forgive me for actually caring," she raises her voice as the fiery side of Nova's personality almost takes over, her patience starting to run very thin. She's trying to do something nice, for Christ sake, but he's resistant to see it.
"I don't want your sympathy. Just leave me the hell alone."
All Nova does is raise her eyebrows at the boy. If that's the way he wants it, fine. But she's not giving up on him, not that easily. She knows that if it was her in that situation, she would go insane without someone to talk to, or someone to just be in the company of. He may be very reluctant to admit it, but everyone needs company.
Silence fills the bunker, and that's Nova's cue to exit. She looks at the boy one more time, but he avoids her eye contact like his life depends on it. Nova leaves without another word, blowing out the flame from the torch and leaving it exactly where she found it before ensuring the lock is tightly secure. It's as if nobody has been there.
Nova doesn't trust that the boy won't say anything, but her experience with him tells her that he's too reluctant and untrusting to speak to her people, so she's pretty confident he won't speak. At least she hopes.