✮ Her head wished she had went on thinking he was an infuriating, overly-confident, horribly handsome asshole, that hated her people and always put himself first. Her heart knew he wasn't any of those things. He was a celestial; a man plucked from t...
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"But men often mistake killing and revenge for justice. They seldom have the stomach for justice."
—Robert Jordan
As the night turned calm, and the flames died down, Astoria quickly yanked Thomas to his feet and began to silently drag him through the forest. She knew exactly where she was taking them, because one of the bags of supplies she had hidden through Trikru's territory months before she even met the hundred was nearby. She just needed to get them to it; before Thomas could process what had happened, and before they were spotted by any grounders. It was too dark to start the walk back to Arkadia. They needed to wait for sun.
When Thomas stopped quickly, and in doing so tugging harshly on Astoria's arm, she twisted to look at him. His face was white, and his eyes were red with tears. She knew why, and her heart began to ache with his grief when he shook his head slightly.
"My parents," he whispered into the darkness, and Astoria titled her head with a sigh. "They're dead."
Raven was dead. She pushed her own hollowness aside to be strong for the child in front of her, and quickly took steps forward to put her hands on his shoulders. She crouched and frowned, trying to find the words. She wasn't good at comforting adults, let alone a twelve year old.
He started to cry in an instant and when he leaned forward to shove his face into her shoulder she let him. He grabbed onto her jacket and she forced herself to wrap him in a hug, remembering the grief she experience when her mother died. Thomas needed someone to hold him—to tell him he would get through the pain—and she was the only one present. She brought a hand up to his hair and brushed through it with her fingers softy, soothingly hushing his cries.
When he calmed slightly she pulled pack and trailed her hands down his arms. She stopped when she grabbed hold of his hands, and then she took a deep breath and nodded her head. "I need you to stay close to me, alright?" she started. After a moment he nodded his head. "There could be grounders all over these woods, so we need to keep safe until morning."
He nodded again, not able to find any words. Astoria stood to her feet but kept holding one of his hands, pushing past the discomfort it brought her. If only Bellamy was with them; he was always much better with children than she was.
She led him through the woods and stopped when she found the tree with a small line carved into it. After dragging her fingers over the bark, she took her hand out of Thomas's and looked down to him. "Have you climbed any trees since being on the ground?" she asked, and after he nodded she exhaled. Thank God. "Alright, I'll be right behind you to make sure you don't fall."
Thomas wasn't half bad at climbing, and he was much better than Bellamy was. She had to grab his ankle once when he nearly slipped, but other than that she was able to direct him to a thick branch for them to sit on. He watched her as she stood on a separate one so she was eye level with him, and when she reached around to grab at a bag that was tied down he scrunched up his face.
