THREE | "something's off"
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"NOVA, me and Harlo have been waiting for you for—" Astoria is forced to stop mid-sentence as she walks into Nova's tent to find her still asleep, which is unlike her as she never misses breakfast. Suddenly, Nova's mind seems to wake up at the appearance of Astoria and she jolts up into a sitting position. Her hair is all over the place, and she blinks harshly a few times to try and wake herself up.
"Astoria, what are you doing?" Her voice is a little croaky and her words come out rather slurred — she's still processing the fact that she's only woken up, whilst figuring out why her best friend is practically standing over her with a concerned look.
Astoria laughs. "What am I doing? What are you doing? Breakfast is over and you never miss breakfast. In fact, you're always up way before the fruit is even out."
The realisation soon hits that maybe staying out for most of the night on two consecutive days is going to take a toll on Nova. And the fact that she hasn't told anyone, not even her two best friends, about visiting the boy in the bunker makes her feel an immense amount of guilt. But she can't tell them. If word ever gets out, Nova doesn't want to think about the consequences. She'll most likely tell Harlo soon, but telling Astoria is a different story. Ever since Nova has known her, she's been very loyal to her people. And, since one incident a couple years back, Astoria has never been more devoted to abiding by the rules of Trikru.
"I'm fine, Ast, okay? I just needed a little extra rest." Nova shrugs. Telling a little white lie won't hurt anyone.
Her friend unconvincingly raises her eyebrows, a clear indication that she doesn't believe Nova in the slightest. But, nonetheless, Astoria tosses an apple onto her bed, a small gesture that goes a long way. Nova kindly smiles at her, a sincere 'thank you' coming out of her mouth before Astoria leaves her peace.
However, Nova doesn't eat the apple, but rather sets it aside and saves it for someone else. Maybe food might get the boy to trust her more, albeit, it's not much, but it's something at least.
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The apple lands just before the boy's feet. At first, he appears surprised, but his brows soon knit together and Nova can tell by looking at his facial expressions that he's skeptical of her kind action. She doesn't blame him, it does seem too good to be true. But she's not leaving until he eats something.
He stares at it for a minute, questioning whether or not to pick it up or leave it. Nova's people have done nothing but harm him and cause him grief, why should he trust her?
"It's not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking," Nova comments with a harsh tone, her patience wearing thin and she's only been in the bunker a total of two minutes. She understands why he doesn't trust her, but she's had to prove herself since the day she landed on the ground, and she's rather tired of it now.
While she waits to see what the boy does, Nova puts the torch in a hand-made hook on one of the walls, creating a little more light around the room. She waited until dark had fallen once more to visit the bunker again, sacrificing her beloved sleep to do so. Thankfully, she was left to her own devices during the day, with Astoria and Harlo both out on a hunting trip, which she couldn't partake in, so any further questioning from Astoria was avoided for the time being.
A huff comes out of Nova's mouth as soon as she realises the boy is still staring at the piece of fruit as if it's going to kill him. Obviously, her tactic of convincing him into eating it isn't working, so she plonks herself against the wall opposite him, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"I'm not leaving here until you eat the damn thing, so not eating it will just keep me here for longer and you clearly don't want that." She shrugs, nonchalantly, as her stubborn side begins to show.
"How do I know I can trust you?" He strains his voice slightly, his voice softer than usual. The fact that he's been locked in this bunker for a couple of days now is starting to take a toll on him. His face is even more battered and bruised that Nova can remember and his eyes are beginning to look tired.
Nova's face falls. This is the first time he's shown an emotion that isn't hostile.
"You can't. You just have to believe me when I say I'm different to my people. I don't want to hurt you."
Silence subdues the bunker for a moment, the only sound that can be heard is the distant crackling of the fire from the torch. Nova feels almost uneasy at the sudden lack of noise, but she doesn't want to push the boy even further, so she waits for him to speak.
"Why are you here, then? Why are you helping me? I'm a lost cause, if you haven't noticed. You've got nothing to gain from being here, so you may as well just leave!" Before Nova can even process his words, the boy hurls the apple across the bunker, the chains of his shackles rattling as he does so. The piece of fruit narrowly misses her and it lands right beside Nova's side. Her heart rate increases at his sudden outburst, yet she's not all that shocked.
A rush of confidence runs through Nova. She doesn't say a word, just picks the apple up and takes a bite out of it, proving him that she hasn't in fact poisoned it. Her actions don't answer his first question as to why she's here, but it does prove that she is trustworthy.
Nova tosses the apple back to him and his quick reaction means he manages to catch it. "I haven't poisoned it. So, please, eat."
Once again, the boy presents a look of confusion, he doesn't know why someone is actually being nice to him. But he doesn't question it, and finally eats the apple. He would never admit it, but his stomach was severely craving some sort of food, so he's grateful for this gesture, even if it is only a bit of fruit.
The boy is acting as if he's been completely deprived of food for much longer than the time he's been in the bunker. Nova becomes concerned by the way he's eating the apple like his life depends on it, and it makes her wonder what on earth he's been through.
"Why do my people have you locked up in here?" She asks, inquisitively. The boy finishes the fruit before replying, finally meeting her eye contact.
He huffs, almost mocking her. "Shouldn't you know? They're your people and you're telling me you don't know what they're doing?"
Oh, if only he knew her circumstances. They may be her people, but that doesn't mean Nova is treated the same as one of their own. They wouldn't tell her anything, not anymore — especially not after the incident at the dropship site, where her loyalty to Trikru now is in question more than ever before. But she can't tell him that, not yet at least. He probably wouldn't believe her even if she did.
"Hit a nerve, did I?" The way those words so casually roll off his tongue make Nova purse her lips, her blood boiling. He's so confident and cocky, and all she wants to do is smack that smirk off his face, but that wouldn't help her cause.
"Trust me, you don't understand half the shit I've been through, so spare me with that crap," Nova snaps, but she calms herself down. "You know, why do you have to be such a dick when all I'm being is nice to you? Would it kill you to at least be a little more understanding?"
"Understanding?" He scoffs, shaking his head. "Your people have me trapped in here and are torturing me just to get information, and you're asking me to be understanding?" His tone of voice is forceful as he rolls his eyes out of disbelief.
"Fine. Just don't forget that when everyone else was against you, I was the only one who actually wanted to look out for you. But it seems you don't want my help, so I'll be leaving."
Nova feels somewhat defeated as she stands up, grabs the torch out of its hook and heads for the exit. Maybe he wasn't worth sneaking out for, or risking her loyalty for. She had expected some hostility from him when she first entered the bunker the night before, but she never expected him to be so ungrateful. She doesn't even know his name, so why is she risking it all for him?
"Wait," the boy's voice breaks out from the silence, stopping Nova in her tracks. She's hesitant to turn around, but she does so. "Stay."
Her eyes widen. He wants her to stay? Not even a minute ago, he seemed quite content with the thought of Nova leaving him alone, but that's changed all of a sudden.
"Why?"
"Being alone sucks." And it's in that moment that Nova sympathises with him. Being alone does suck. And, as much as she has Astoria and Harlo by her side, they don't understand her struggles because they've never had to endure what she has.
She hesitates for a moment, but soon sets the torch back on its hook and resumes her previous position on the floor. Nova needs the company as much as him, after all.
"What's your name?" Nova asks, softly spoken. She's tired of always calling him 'the boy' in her head. He appears reluctant to answer her at first, but soon decides it's not going to harm him if she knows his name.
"John Murphy. But people call me Murphy." He nods in Nova's direction, a signal that it's her turn to reveal her name to him in return, but she's incredibly wary. She doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him, and if he knows her name, he can easily turn her in to Indra or Anya the next morning.
Murphy sighs, this time more so out of pity than frustration. "You can't get me to tell you my name and then not—"
"Nova. My name's Nova," she rushes, cutting his sentence short. But as soon as her name slips from her mouth, she frowns, disappointed in herself. She's unsure whether she's made a mistake or not. She could've just made up a fake name, but he won't learn to trust her if he found out she was lying.
Nova gives him a sheepish look, and he knows that there's so much more to her story than he can imagine.
So, in true John Murphy style, he thinks of something rather selfish on his behalf in order to coax the truth out of her. "Here's the deal. I won't tell Anya about your little visits if you tell me why you're here in the first place."
Clearly, he's better at being a selfish dick than a decent human being. There's no way Nova's telling him the actual reason why she's here, not when she's only known him for twenty-four hours. He has to earn her trust before she goes into any detail about her story, and even if she did eventually tell him, that wouldn't be until much later on.
"You know why I'm here, Murphy. I just want to help," Nova bluffs, telling another white lie.
"Bullshit. Not many people would willingly choose my company. There has to be more to it than that," Murphy spits, calling her bluff. Nova has come to hate the fact that a stranger can so easily read her even when she is telling the faintest of lies.
She huffs. "Not many people would willingly choose my company either, so we're even."
Before he even has the chance to ask, Nova returns to his suspicions over why she's really there and continues, "You're delusional, you know that? Why can't you just believe that there are good people in the world."
Breathing a laugh in response, Murphy shrugs his shoulders as if to show that he doesn't care what she thinks of him, but that's only his defence mechanisms kicking in. He secretly only wants to be liked.
"Delusional? Have you met your people?" He has a fair point. Every encounter he's ever had with the Grounders since he's been here has been a negative one, so she doesn't blame him. "No offence taken, though. I've been called worse things, doll."
He better not be calling Nova that stupid nickname from now on. She's hated anyone calling her nicknames from being a child and John Murphy isn't going to change that.
"Don't ever call me 'doll' again. It's Nova," she attempts to inform him once again, gritting her teeth and clenching her jaw at his cockiness.
"Whatever you say, doll."
This is going to be a long night.