Who We Are [Bellamy Blake]

Chapter 16

She felt as though she had been ripped in two; one half of her wanted to be who she was, a ‘Grounder’ as Bellamy put it, a warrior, a steady, level headed woman. The other half of her was far more complicated. It craved to be noticed, to be understood, but she didn’t understand it. To have feelings for someone, someone she could not be with, and to have similar yet so different feelings for another; it didn’t make sense. This was never a thing she was taught to understand; romance and relationships were child’s play to her kind. But why was it so complicated?

She arrived back at the war camp where everyone was busy sharpening weapons, making arrows, fixing bows and armour. A few people nodded to her as a sign of respect, others did not recognize her as she was not one of their own. She took no offence to either response, as she took offence to very little. As she neared the fighters that she had brought down from the mountain and sat down with them. A dark skinned woman, Eire, smiled at her. “You’ve been gone for a while, Athena.”

“Trying to understand the enemy.” She said, holding off on adding ‘if they really are the enemy’.

“You went alone?” Salvatore asked, a little shocked, but remaining calm as he sharpened his curved dagger.

“Yes.” Athena said, not as if to boast her courage, but to remind them that she was their leader and she had authority to do what she thought would be best for her warriors. Although, having sex with Bellamy had not helped them in the slightest, and only made Athena’s own judgement blurrier than she wanted. She had been aware of that before it happened, and yet somehow she had not been able to stop it. His skin had felt like an emotion in itself when pressed against hers. She looked down, her eyes boring into the small fire by her feet.

“And?” Eire raised her glance to Athena’s.

“I do not believe they want war, no one does-“

“I do.” Mikah, the warrior who had a fight with a mountain lion. A malicious grin was on his lips. “Fighting animals is a thrill, but it is not the same as killing a man.”

Athena pursed her lips; she imagined Bellamy firing his gun at Mikah, bullets hitting the man as he raced towards Bellamy, a vicious grin on his lips, dagger in hand. The blade puncturing Bellamy’s flesh, both of them collapsing and bleeding out. She shook her head; it was not a sight she hoped to see. Pushing herself off of the log she strode over to the main tent where she would find Anya, but before she got there, Aslan caught her attention.

A hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach caused her to stop in her tracks. She cleared her throat and walked over to the man that had been there for her through thick and thin. It wasn’t as though he ever had comforting words for her, or nurtured her when she needed coddling, but it was his strong presence that truly made her feel okay when things looked upside down. Now, facing him made her stomach turn upside down, and her brain go fuzzy. She had nothing to say to him.

Instead, she darted into Anya’s tent before Aslan saw her. She couldn’t talk to him just yet, she feared that since he knew her so well, he would see right through her. How he would react, she was unsure. Anya’s guard rose, blocking Athena from pursuing further down the tent. She glanced up at him with fire in her eyes, “I’m here to speak with Anya.”

The guard looked behind at Anya, she nodded.

                Once he had stepped out of her way, Athena picked up her strong stride, nodding her head respectfully at Anya. “I have some important information about the Sky People.” Athena had a feeling that if she spoke as though they were the opposing team as Anya saw them, she might listen to her wise words.

                “They do not want war, some of them want to leave, others want to stay where they are. It does not harm us if they stay within their territory. I do believe that they have a plan of attack, only to be used IF they are attacked.” She started feeling nervous, another feeling she was not used to. “I know you turned down an alliance with Clarke, however, we do not need to slaughter them just because there is no alliance.”

                “Do you know why I turned down the alliance?”

                Athena shook her head, she had thought she had known.

                “She could not guarantee that her people, her reinforcements would not slaughter us the moment they made it here. She gave me false promises of engineers, doctors, farmers, with no promise of those people not coming to gun us down.” Anya leaned forward in her seat, “They will come for us, and I would rather have them slaughtered in small groups.”

                “Their reinforcements perished in the descent.” Athena recalled the large explosion only hours ago, though she didn’t know if that had been every other Sky Person. “You saw that just as we all did.”

                “The Mountain Men probably saw it too; they will be coming down, and I would rather fight one army than two.”

                “I will not fight them.” Athena rose, “Not unless they attack first.”

                “They already did.”

                “That was not their intent!” Athena yelled, referring to the missiles that had burned a village down.

                “So, because they lacked intent means we can brush off the death of villagers? Men, women and children?”

                “No.” She shook her head, “But we need to be more tactical than this. Rushing in blind when they are not as stupid as you make them out to be, is idiotic. It is suicide.”

                Anya pursed her lips, her face hardened. “How do you know this? What do they have planned for us, Athena?”

                Athena didn’t have answers that she could give Anya without being turned away, but she also did not know how to cover her tracks. She had led herself down a dead end path, and had to come up with something, and fast. “I’ve spoken with a few of them, they want peace, the want to be left alone if anything, but they will fight back. Their skills are different than ours; you’ve seen their weapons. I do believe that they are more like our ancestors who caused the cataclysm than us.”

                “More reason to wipe them out.” Anya said, “Those who use guns are a poison.”

                Before Athena could say anything to argue further, Anya stood up and walked right up to her. Athena was taller, but Anya would rip someone’s throat out with her teeth if she had to. “You’re as bad as Lincoln. The others may look up to you, but I see corruption. You’d best get back to your mountain. You were not built for the woods.”

                Athena felt the blow. “No, I was not.”

                “You’re either with us, or against us. So pick your side, Athena, because your warriors are at the front of the line tomorrow morning.”

                She swallowed, nodded, “I disagree with you… But I am with you.”

Vote, comment, message! I'm getting into the dedications for people who have voted on a chapter here and there, but remember, if you message me or comment you get bumped up on the dedication list! Also, I watched the season finale on Thursday! Crap, everyone who is not caught up better hurry!