421 days since Praimfaya (361 days since Madi).
''D'you do all this alone?'' Carl said, his eyes twinkling with some form of life as he watched Madi shoot down a bird. Shook his head. ''I'm amazed.''
Madi smiled eagerly at his compliment but shook her head. Thought about her conversation before; and she mustered the will she had in her heart, and stated: ''No, I don't do it alone. I have friends.''
Carl furrowed an eyebrow at that. ''Friends? Really?''
A superficial grin crossed her face. ''Oh! Their names are Clarke'n Lexa. They gave me shelter and food. You should really come by sometime. I'm sure they won't mind meeting you!''
It was a while until Carl commented. ''That's nice.'' he muttered, but for some reason, it felt off. As if he was talking to himself than Madi. Then, clearing his throat: ''I think I'd hit you up on that offer, Madi. Have you got a map?''
Madi shook her head, but clenched at the map in her pocket. Uneasiness began to crawl up her throat. For some reason, Carl felt to... change after Madi talked about Clarke and Lexa. And it wasn't a good type of change, either.
Because, and suddenly she felt bile grow in her throat, Clarke and Lexa were her people—in Carl's words, the people that opposed his. The very ones that had his people killed. The Commander, the one who sounded the command. Wanheda, the one who pulled the lever.
And Madi felt sick to the stomach, and regretted thinking that they could put their pasts behind themselves and create a new Kru. One where histories didn't matter and all of them acted as one. Because oh Spirits, how could she think that when Lexa talked of the Maunon with vehemence in her eyes and Clarke didn't even want to talk about it at all and Carl saw nothing but hate, right here, right now?
''I'll bring you there sometime later,'' she said, voice almost hoarse. For what had she just done? Clarke... Lexa... Carl... oh Spirits, Madi, stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
''Can't you do that now?'' Carl snapped. His forcefulness surprised Madi, and though it wasn't unwarranted, she drew a few steps back. Carl seemed to tower over her, as if ready to force the answer out of her—until he shrunk back into himself.
Madi blinked, once, twice. What?
''Sorry, Madi,'' Carl apologised, as Madi blinked at him, unsure what to feel. ''I—I'm just excited that there were survivors, is all.''
Madi felt trepidatious, but let it pass. Perhaps, like Carl said, he was excited about there being people alive other than himself. But, how could he be, when those people he was excited about was the same people that killed his in the first place?
''I'll catch up on you soon,'' Madi said, crumpling the map further in her pocket with one hand, the other hand in a wave. Gnawing discomfort ate at her throat and stomach and heart, but she let it pass. Grasping her waving hand in a fist. ''Bye now. See you soon!''
She said it like she meant it, but she wishes she never meant anything at all. Because she did it, she'd gone and done it without using her head, and she would be stupid if she believed there wouldn't be strife, wouldn't be hate, wouldn't be war.
...
3 DAYS LATER...
They had been hunting. Just a moment ago Clarke was joking with Lexa, as Madi watched on— then they spotted a moose and they split up, with the intent of surrounding it and going for the kill— and the next, Lexa was gone, with no trace of where she might've went.
Worry passed Clarke for a moment, before it was gone. She might've been distracted, Clarke thought, though the occasion that Lexa Heda was ever distracted was close to zero. And then it intensified after Clarke made the shot, and the mutant moose was gone, and there was still no sign of Lexa.
