Finn had been so focused on seeing Clarke alive that he didn’t have a second to respond to Athena. She knocked him to the ground, her fresh clothing stained with mud and dirt in seconds, and she brought her fist down to his chin. She could hear people shouting all around her, and Finn seemed to take the blows without too much struggle. He used his hands to try to push Athena off of himself, an instinctual response when being beaten to death. She would have ended his life if she hadn’t been yanked off of him. Two strong arms tucked under her, wrapping around just below her bust, throwing her off of Finn.

                She kicked, fighting the restraint, but whoever had her was stronger than her. They put her down and she turned, ready to fight. It was Bellamy, but all Athena could see was red. “Get out of my way.”

                “Athena, slow down, think about what you are doing!” Bellamy cautioned, raising his hands up as if to surrender, but she knew that it was him preparing to catch her if she darted towards Finn.

                “Look at this!” She shouted, her accent stronger when she yelled. She had learned the language quickly, as her own was derived from English, but her accent would never leave. “Look what he has done!”

                “He wasn’t thinking straight, he thought they had our people…” Bellamy sounded unsure of what he was saying.

                Clarke looked at Athena, saddened, “He was looking for me…”

                Athena didn’t care who he was looking for, she cared about what he had done. However, she could not attack him again; he was not hers to kill. She ran through it in her head over and over again, how much she wanted to strangle him, to crush his skull, but she knew that she was no different. Because of her three hundred men and women had been burned to death. But this was a village, this was the elderly, the healers, the children. So many of them were scattered on the ground, dead and dying. She knew now that her treason would be shrouded by Finn’s; if an alliance was made between the Sky People and the Commander, they would demand his head if not her own.

                In a way, this pardoned Athena of her crimes, or at least made them look petty compared to this. She had done what she had done as an act of war, people were expected to die. She didn’t put her treason aside, she knew what she had done was vile and evil, but what Finn had done would not be taken lightly. She kept her mouth shut, however, as she knew nothing good would come from talking when she was this wound up.

                “I can’t be near him.” She hissed.

                Bellamy walked up to her, his arms still out in case she darted around him. When she remained standing and frigid as a cat near water, Bellamy lowered his arms slightly and wrapped them around her shoulders. She shrugged them off quickly, scowling at Finn.

                “We need to get back to the Ark.” Clarke said, her tone was dull, wounded.

                “Go on ahead,” Bellamy said, “I don’t think these two should be within a mile of each other.”

                Clarke nodded, and Athena realized how smart of an idea it was. She watched as Finn, Clarke and Murphy, a unique trio, disappeared from sight. Athena herself couldn’t be in the village any longer, looking at the carnage caused by Finn. It would haunt her when she tried to sleep, it was her fault Finn left to find Clarke in the woods, and not the mountain. She had not cared enough to share that information. A lump formed in her throat as she and Bellamy trailed through the trees, taking her away from the slaughter.

                Crickets and cicadas began chirping and a hum filled the forest; it was peaceful, but it was still foreign to Athena. She was used to the sound of wind and nearly silent footsteps in the soft powder. Occasional rumbles from distant landslides often soothed her when she slept. Here in the forest it was different, and she was liking it less and less, but she could not drop everything she had done and disappear now. She had so much to do before she could stop, before she could breathe, before she could relax.

                “I’m sorry about the village.” Bellamy said as he began making a fire, Athena stood, staring at him, staring through him. “We tried to get him to stop… it’s hard when someone has a gun in their hand, he just lost it.”

                “Just like that?” Athena said, her tone nothing more than placid.

                “Well…” Bellamy looked down at the fire he created, it was burning lightly now. “There were some warning signs.”

                “I do not want to talk about it.” She decided.

                “Me neither.” Bellamy replied quickly, then he walked up to her. “I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but I have to thank you.”

                “Why?”

                “For saving me time and time again, I just wish I could return the favour.”

                “Favour?” Athena raised her lip. “Is this what this is? Favours?”

                “No… that’s not what I meant. I just wanted to thank you, can’t you accept that?”

                “No.” She shook her head. The way she said it meant that it was final, she didn’t want to be thanked for the things she had done. She didn’t need to be congratulated for allowing more death than she had ever wanted. She glanced up at the sky and realized how much she had changed since the Sky People came down, how things had completely changed and were out of their natural balance. Adaptation was something she was good at, but she would always be who she was.

                “You’re a very complex person, Athena.”

                “Is that so?” She didn’t believe him.

                “I just can’t wrap my head around you.” He continued, warming his hands over the fire.

                Athena looked up, seeing that he was cold, though it was warmer night than usual. Half her mind told her to shift over and press up against him, warm them both. It was a warm feeling just thinking about it, but it was followed by a cold chill. If she had never met Bellamy, none of these things would have happened, she would have ended the Sky People. She would have gone back to the mountain with Aslan. A smile formed on her lips, though, without her consciously doing so. She felt Bellamy sit next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, whether it was for her benefit or his, she didn’t care. It felt right. It felt as though she could not have avoided the events of the last few weeks, and that regardless of what had happened, things had turned out for the best.

                They would make it through whatever came next. 

First day off with my boyfriend in over a month and I have to grocery shop, do laundry, and then I get a headache that may escalade into a migraine. Woohoo. I will try to write lots tomorrow, but I work all Sunday and probably won't get a chance to, so if my chapters are more than a day apart, it's cause I'm finally really busy with work.