CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

"I am pretty adorable."

***

"My mom's in surgery, and the team looking for Kane just left. We should too." 

 If the decision wasn't set from the second Abby had left us, it sure as hell was now. I was asked almost immediately by Clarke to steal us some extra guns, but Raven insisted that she didn't want me to get arrested... again, and managed to get them herself. 

 I squinted from the harsh sunlight, the light breeze making my hair fly up in all directions. Raven's huge back of weaponry on my lap, making me grunt at the sudden weight. Raven smirked at my discomfort, as I stood up and shoved the bag off of my lap. 

 "Did you find Octavia?" Bellamy asked, but his question answered itself when the girl herself appeared from nowhere, almost giving me a heart attack. 

 "No. But I found you." She jumped down, a determined look set in her eyes. "I'm not letting you leave here without me." 

 "Octavia-" Clarke began, but was cut off as Octavia turned her back to the blonde, and addressed her brother. I held in a laugh at the expression on Clarke's face. 

 "The Grounder, Finn, and Murphy are heading to Lincoln's village. I've been there... have you?" She cocked her head in Clarke and I's direction, while we were both watching the girl, slight amusement on both of our faces. "Have they?" 

 "You done yet?" Bellamy teased, grinning playfully at his little sister, who crossed her arms and rolled her eyes in response. I reached behind me, and grabbed one of the backpacks stuffed with supplies, throwing one to Octavia, who easily snatched it out of the air. She raised her eyebrows at me, and I grinned. 

 "What's this?" 

 "You're pack." I answered in my best , duh, voice. Octavia gave me a sheepish grin, reaching over to lightly smack my arm. "You're so annoying." 

 "I know... lead the way, Tavi." 

 "Whoa," Raven stood up, warning in her eyes as Octavia was about to step out of the fence. "Not so fast there, Pocahontas." She warned, reaching our her metal pole that she used as a walking stick to gently tap the wiring of the fence. It was met by a rather loud sizzling sound, followed by small sparks flying from the metal. 

 Clarke's eyes widened slightly, as she leaned over to Raven, "I thought you said it was taken care of." 

 "It is," was the blunt response, as she raised the walkie-talkie to her lips. "Shut her down, Wick." 

 Raven waited a few more seconds, before smiling and reaching out to tap her walking stick against the fence, this time, we were only met with silence. Raven turned to send Clarke a coy smile, "taken care of." 

 Octavia nodded her thanks, bending down to slip through the biggest hole in the wires she could find. Bellamy followed close behind, and then Clarke. I saluted Raven as I turned, and she returned the gesture. I bent down and crawled through the hole, ignoring how weird it felt when the metal caught on my clothes. 

 I scrambled free, and got the hell away from there. 

 ***

 "Rock, paper, scissors-" 

 My favorite way to pass the time, was playing the game that I am pretty sure was invented for stupid three year old's. I had been taking language lessons from Octavia, but then, when I felt a strong urge to kill myself, I roped Bellamy into playing this dumb game with me. 

 "You are such a cheater," he mumbled under his breath, once I beat him for the fifth time in a row. "Nobody wins that many times." 

 "Maybe you just suck at rock paper scissors," I suggested, shooting him a small grin, and earning a light slap in response. 

 "Sorry I don't practice children's games in my spare time." 

 "Sorry you're not the best at everything." 

 "Damn you," he shoved me again, making my trip over my own feet, and grab his arm to avoid falling. He stumbled slightly in surprise, and I burst into laughter at how my clumsiness almost took him down with me. 

 The girls were walking behind us, Clarke surveying this scene with a knowing look painted on her amused face, while Octavia muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "ugh, boys." 

   As the night fell, the plants lit up. They were literally glowing with radiation, and it was beautiful in a... creepy kind of way. We built a small fire, and sat on logs as our makeshift camp. I was exhausted, but I was still kind of afraid to close my eyes. 

 Afraid to close my eyes... God, out of all of the things to be afraid of on this planet. 

 "You need to sleep," Bellamy whispered, after I yawned for the fourth time in a minute. "You're gonna like, die or something." 

 "I'm not gonna die, you weirdo." I shot back, very aware of Clarke's intense gaze on my back. "I'm fine. I can just... sit here." 

 "When was the last time you actually slept, Nate?" Clarke asked, and by the tone of her voice, I had a feeling I was about to reprimanded. I lifted my gaze from the fire to Clarke's face, wincing at the stern expression on her face. "I don't know, uh-" 

 "I feel like that 'I don't know' should be a pretty good indication." Octavia called from behind the tree she was leaning against. I rolled my eyes, feeling insanely teamed-up against. 

 "Nathan, I swear-" Clarke began, and I held my hands up in defense. Clarke was slightly... extremely terrifying when she wants to be. 

 "I don't need a lecture, Clarke-" 

 Bellamy cleared his throat loudly, obviously sensing that if Clarke and I were to argue, someone would die. He's lucky he didn't know us when we were kids, and we would argue over the color of my shirt. "We don't need this," he said, raking his eyes over both Clarke and I. He stood up, and walked over to where I was seated, plopping down right next to me. "Come on." 

 I raised an eyebrow, "what?" 

 He reached his arm out again, and I rolled my eyes, but reluctantly rested my head on his shoulder, feeling his arm wrap around my arm. I felt kind of like a child, but I guess that wasn't entirely a bad thing. 

 "Close your eyes." 

 "I feel like those three year old's rock, paper, scissors was invented for." I mumbled, but obliged, relaxing my face and savoring the one safe feeling I've had in a while. 

 Spoiler alert: I did sleep that night. 

 ***

 The next day, I feel like the flurry of bullets should have been my first warning that something was wrong. 

"Ai laik Nataniel kom Skaikru," I repeated for the millionth time since we started walking, "wait, I don't understand why the H isn't in my name anymore." 

 Octavia sighed, like she couldn't believe I had the audacity to ask such a question, "because the th sound isn't needed. It's the same for your friend Phia's name... it would become Pia." 

 "That's stupid," I muttered, but I still wanted to learn the Grounders language, as I hated not understanding words that were being said right in front of my face. "Ai laik Nataniel kom Skaikru."  

 "Good. That's what you say if you ever do something stupid, and need to introduce yourself to some angry Grounders... they'll trust you more if you speak their language." 

 I love how she immediately assumes that someday I'm going to have to explain myself in front of a mob of angry Grounders. 

 Before we could continue, a loud bang, followed by another cut into the previous silence of the forest. My head flew up at the sound that was growing much to familiar for me. Gunshots... and lots of them. 

 None of us hesitated to being sprinting in the direction they came from. Ever nerve in my body was screaming at me that there was danger... to turn and run in the opposite direction. As usual, I ignored the ounce of good judgment in my body, accidentally running into a tree, and slipping on the dirt at least three times. When I found the source, I immediately wished I hadn't. 

 The exact moment the village came into view, was the moment that Finn fired one more gunshot, making another Grounder fall to the ground. Phia, who was previously encased in Murphy's arms, elbowed him harshly in the stomach, and ran forward, smashing her foot into the back of Finn's knees, making him crumple to the ground. She kicked him again, her expression furious and terrified. 

 Murphy ran forward again, his only advantage being his size, and grabbed Phia again, tossing her back by the waist, only a few steps, and standing right in front of her, not moving even after she pulled her knife out. 

 Her eyes flickered over to where our group had gathered, and so did Murphy's. Desperation laced his features, and cuts littered his face. Finn saw us last, and the expression on his face was enough to make me want to throw up. 

 His eyes shone with relief, and a small smile tugged at his face.  "I found you." 

 I shook my head slightly, my throat going dry. I pushed out of the grip Bellamy had on my wrist, and ran down the slope. The Grounders that were still alive were cowering behind a fence, and they stared at me with fear painted clearing on their faces. 

 I walked right past Finn, an electric shock of cold shooting up my spine when I did, and walked over to Murphy and Phia. The girl's fingers were clenched, and her entire arm was shaking, so I gently pushed her knife down, tugging it from her grasp. She didn't move to stop me, and I just didn't want her to murder someone. 

 I turned to Murphy, who didn't look anything like the asshole I once knew. But it was Phia's words that chilled me to the bone. 

 "He is going to pay." 

 And then one more phrase, in the language I was trying so hard to learn. 

 "Jus drien jus daun." 

A/N: Finn really needs to take a chill-pill, like damn. 

 Also, poor Phia am I right? Poor girl 's gonna be disowned from the Grounder now, baby just wanted to help out Nate after he got that knife out, give her a break. 

 Ha, like I'm gonna do that.

 Nathamy were pretty freaking cute in this chapter, and they need to become canon soon or I might kill myself!

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