014 had left to his tent as soon as Wells had parted with the group and had subsequently set up a rain collecting device fashioned out of metal and twine. He laid in his bed, exhausted both mentally and physically from the long day. However, his mind wouldn't calm down enough for him to sleep. With a grunt he hefted himself off the comforts of his bed and put his shoes on, taking his time to arrange his knives on him.
He then opened his tent flap, taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to the brighter night sky before heading into the forest. With a deep breath, 014 inhaled the smell of the wet Earth, his ears relishing in the sounds of the nocturnal. His feet instinctively took him to the river, the other place he had claimed as his own. 014 had planned on training a bit more to clear his mind since action was always the best course for him to numb his brain. At last, he arrived at his safe haven, but a sight made him stop dead in his tracks.
A pantheress and her cub were drinking at the river. Well this is ironic. Accidentally stepping on a branch, the pantheress turned her yellow eyes to 014. A low growl filled the air that had gone quiet. 014 slowly brought out his hands from the pockets in his jacket to show her that he was unarmed. He wasn't stupid, he could see the intelligence in her eyes and he knew she would do anything to protect her baby. He met her stare dead on, gold clashing against gold as she rose to her full height. 014 let out a slow breath as he took in the sight of the majestic beast in front of him. The pantheress stood tall, her head well above 014's own, effects from the radiation, he assumed. Her fur rippled as she shifted in front of her cub. 014 took a deep breath before he decided to do something that would hurt a lot if he survived.
He spoke.
"I do not intend to harm you or your cub." His voice came out raspy and soft, though he had no doubt that she had heard him if the twitching of her ears was anything to go by.
014 had almost ten years of healing, eventually he had learned that he could still talk, though it hurt like hell afterwards. He preferred to keep quiet, it was safer that way.
"You have my word, Pantheress." The radiation affected panther gave him one last measuring look before turning around to go back to drinking water, a hulking scar on her flank revealed to him.
Feeling daring, or stupid, 014 took a step forwards. Seeing that he hadn't been mauled yet, he continued until he reached the river bank, only a mere five feet away from the family. Cautiously, he sat down to splash his face with the cool water. He then flopped backwards, his hair fanning out around him like a halo. The stars are much better down here, he decided. His shut his eyes, no longer worried about the behemoth at the river. Feeling something rub against his legs, 014 bolted up immediately. It took everything in his power to not have a knife in his hand.
Threading between his legs was the cub.
014's body tensed as he glanced at the mother. Seeing that she was laying down while watching him with a lazy grace, 014 hesitantly brought his hand to the cub. Blue eyes peered up at him as the cub slowly approached the appendage and sniffed it. Seemingly deciding that 014 was safe, the cub placed its head under 014's hand causing the man to chuckle. Even beasts of the wild could act like children once in awhile. With gentle hands, 014 began to stroke its head, eliciting a purr from the young panther. A soft smile found itself on 014's face as he found his heart melting for the little ball of fur in front of him. Glancing at the patheress, 014 decided to make yet another stupid decision.
He plucked up the cub and put it in his lap.
Muscles visibly tensed on the mother's body but she quickly relaxed seeing that the human only intended to better pet her kit. 014 smiled down at the cub as he began to more thoroughly pet the youngster. He breathed out a small laugh when the cub began to lick and nip at his fingertips. His actions stopped once he heard foreign noise causing both he and the patheress to turn to the source. 014 could make out the sounds of panting as an orange flame grew closer and closer. Quickly, he set the cub next to its mother and got up.
Facing the pantheress he spoke again, "It would be best that you left, the others aren't as forgiving as me."
The pantheress gave him one last measuring look before picking up her cub's neck with her teeth and darting off to cross the river. Taking another breath, he went to the direction of the light. With his quick pace, he was in front of a group of five kids. Honey eyes surveyed the lids, taking in their beaten and bloody forms.
Their leader stood ahead of them, a burning branch in her hands as her eyes continued to survey him, her blonde hair almost orange under the light of the fire.
Behind her was an Asian kid who looked shaken and didn't seem like he would be able to stand for much longer. His body was visibly shaking.
Behind them both was a brown haired boy holding another girl up. He surveyed the male first, taking in his shallow breathing and his floppy hair.
His eyes finally landed on the quivering girl who was almost naked in a wet tank top and underwear. Immediately, he noticed she looked like Bellamy, Octavia. Concern washed over him as he saw her lips were a shade of purple and her thigh was bleeding profusely. Did these idiots not think to carry her? Or at least provide a jacket?
"Who are you? You don't look like a Grounder…" The blonde girl started, cautious of the shadowed man in front of her. 014's eyebrows furrowed, what's a Grounder? Not wanting to talk more than he needed to, he used his right hand hand to form the figure of "one" and his left formed "zero."
"I think he's trying to tell us he's a part of the 100." The floppy haired one spoke, his voice clearly tired.
The blonde's' blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why don't you talk?" To this, 014 lifted down his sweater's neck causing the leader to flinch with the others.
"How can we trust you?" 014 rolled his eyes and sighed, even he wasn't this cautious.
He stepped forwards to get under the light, making the blonde flinch. He then met Octavia's eyes and mouthed the words "Octavia Blake" to her.
Warm brown eyes widened in realization, "He knows my name!" She glared at the others when they still remained cautious. "Can you take us to the dropship?" 014 nodded to this.
"Then let's get going." She graced him with a small tired smile, causing 014's eyes to wash over with concern.
Seeing that she was freezing, 014 began to immediately unzip his jacket and take it off, stepping towards Octavia.
"What do you think you're doing?" Blonde cried in alarm. 014 let a breath of frustration escape him, she was starting to get on his nerves.
"I intend to keep her warm as it's obvious she's freezing." The Blonde gave him one last wary glance before letting him to continue on his path towards Octavia, causing the boy holding her up to let her go.
014 scowled at the boy for having left her alone so suddenly which caused her to stumble. He quickly steadied her and began to thread her arms into the jacket.
"That's a lot of scars." She said softly, tracing the illuminated tissue on his arms. He mouthed nothing in return as he zipped up his jacket.
He stepped back slightly to look her over once again. He frowned when he saw her body was still shaking, most likely from blood loss and the lack of heat. Sighing to himself he approached her again and quickly scooped her up into his arms, earning a surprised yelp from her.
"What are you doing?" Both the Blonde and Octavia asked, though the Blonde's question had a more dangerous tone.
"This will be faster, my heat will also keep her warm." Seeing that he was no longer being opposed, he took a step forward. "Shall we leave or would you like to keep arguing?"
With a smirk, 014 began to lead the way, holding Octavia tightly to his chest. The journey back to the camp was silent, only interrupted by the panting of the kids behind him. Within several minutes of walking they had arrived at the camp only to see that the 100 was crowded around the bonfire, watching Wells have Murphy in a headlock with a crude knife at his throat. Black eyebrows rose in surprise, I didn't think Wells had it in him. The Blonde walked past 014 and Octavia, heading towards Wells.
"Wells! Let him go!" She exclaimed, clearly shocked that Wells would use violence against someone.
"Whoa! Hey!" Murphy exclaimed once Wells shoved him down to the floor. In retaliation, he sprung back up, his fist ready to punch Wells.
"Enough Murphy." Bellamy said, his eyes going to the gaggle that had just arrived. Brown eyes landed on Octavia curled up into 014's chest.
"Octavia, are you alright?" He asked, the worry evident in his voice. As he sped towards them, he saw that Octavia was wearing 014's jacket and had dried blood on her thigh. In the back of his mind, he noticed the majority of her clothes were missing, he'd have to scold her for that later. Seeing that Bellamy wanted to further inspect his sister, 014 set Octavia down gently, earning a grateful smile from the female Blake.
"Fine." She stated, not wanting to worry her brother more than necessary. Turning to the blonde, she sent a glare the blonde's way. "See, Clark? Told you he wasn't bad." Octavia said in reference to 014 to which the newly dubbed Clark rolled her eyes.
Bellamy ignored her comment and continued to survey Octavia. Once he was satisfied that the cut on Octavia's thigh didn't seem to be bleeding anymore, he turned to the rest of the group, taking in their haggard look and lack of supplies. "Where's the food?" He asked absentmindedly.
"We didn't make it to Mount Weather." The brown haired boy stated plainly.
"Finn." Octavia whispered to 014. 014's ears perked up, he recognized the name Mount Weather, it was the dropship's destination. Clearly, they were not on the said mountain.
"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy said, clearly annoyed at their cryptic answers. He glanced at 014 who only shrugged in response.
"We were attacked." Clarke said stiffly, not liking Bellamy's tone.
"Attacked? By what?" Wells asked in concern, his eyes scanning over Clarke's body for any wounds. 014's eyebrows rose up in surprise again, Wells has a thing for Princess.
"Not what. Who. It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder." Finn said, still clearly shaken up to whatever happened to them on their trek.
"It's true." Clarke said once she saw disbelief on the faces surrounding her. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors. The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us." Clarke finished, her voice strong as she took a step towards the 100.
"Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will." Finn stated, wanting to let the 100 know that not all was positive. Clarke sent a fierce glare at his way, she wanted to reassure the kids, not frighten them.
Seeing that tensions were rising, Wells decided to step in. ""Where's the kid with the goggles?" Ah, so this was the group of five I saw leaving earlier.
"Jasper was hit. They took him." Clarke replied, her eyes trailing her feet in sadness. She locked back up and noticed that Wells's arm was bare. "Where is your wristband?" The blonde asked in an acidic tone.
"Ask him." Wells replied, his angry eyes going over to the smirking Murphy.
"How many?" Clarke asked, her voice carefully blank.
"Twenty-four and counting." Murphy replied proudly, the smirk elongating on his lips.
"You idiots." Clarke hissed. "Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!" Ah, so the Princess can become a Queen.
Seeing that the kids were getting distressed, the King stepped up. "We're stronger than you think. Don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same? We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors! The Grounders should worry about us!" With Bellamy's speech, the 100 began to cheer, causing the man to send a smirk towards Clarke. Clarke scowled at him and turned away.
"What do we do now?" 014 barely heard Finn ask Clarke.
"Now we go after Jasper." Came the faint response.
|⦽|
A faint calling of his name brought 014 to a semi-conscious state. His nightmares had been particularly severe causing him to still be drowsy. He grunted and pulled his covers to his shoulders., the soreness in his throat just making him more tired.
"Oi you lazy cat, wake up." A hand landed on 014's shoulder in hopes of waking up the sleeping man.
014 jolted awake, a dagger in his hand. Acting on instinct, 014 tackled his assailant and pinned him down with the dagger at the stranger's throat.
"Fuck man! Chill!" The voice came out from under him. Feral eyes returned to normal as honey eyes looked down to see who had became his victim.
Confused brown eyes looked back at 014 as he realized that he had pinned Bellamy. Feeling guilt surge within him, 014 quickly got off the man and tucked his dagger back.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! It was just out of instinct." 014 mouthed rapidly, the guilt feeling overwhelming once he saw a spot of blood on Bellamy's neck.
Bellamy just sighed and looked up to 014, seeing the genuine culpability and worry on the elder's face. "It's fine. In hindsight it probably was stupid to try to wake up the guy whose nickname is Panther." He let out a chuckle as he extended his arm. "Help me up and I'll forget all about it."
Seeing that Bellamy didn't think much of his assault, 014 sent him a smile and pulled the taller man up. "I'm assuming that you didn't come here to get pinned by me, so what do you need?"
"Princess wants me to help her find Jasper." Bellamy said in disdain.
"The one who got impaled. She thinks he is still alive?" A black eyebrow rose up.
"She believes that he is alive." Bellamy stated plainly.
"But why would she ask you to help? You don't exactly see eye-to-eye." No one sees eye-to-eye with Clarke, really.
Bellamy gave him a smirk and lifted his shirt to reveal the gun tucked to the waistband of his pants. "I have a gun."
014 felt mildly successful with himself when he didn't stare at the hard lines of Bellamy's torso. "How'd you get a gun?"
"Equivalent exchange? How'd you get that knife?" Bellamy suggested, remembering 014's previous words.
014 inclined his head. "My… Employer provided me with these."
Discerning that 014 kept his answer vague, Bellamy did the same. "As did mine." Noticing the confusion in 014's eyes, Bellamy quickly changed the subject. "Back on topic, I need you to come with me on our little adventure."
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