WHITE DWARF • THE 100

30

HOPE 

Pain flared in Cassie's body. She wanted to groan aloud, but all of her breath had been stolen from her. She settled for staring at Astrid above her, who looked down at Cassie with a ghost of a smile on her lips. "And you say you're good enough to enter a fight now." 

"Oi," Cassie said, resting on her elbows. "At least I can get a punch in now. I used to fall straight on my ass."

"You look different today, it's normal for you to be on the floor but there's something else." 

Cassie rolled her eyes, biting back her snarky remark. She was tired of always spending more time on the floor than standing during their training sessions, and it seemed to just get worse each time. 

"Have you done something different with your face?"

Cassie frowned. She subconsciously raised her hand, brushing her skin, fingers sliding over the raised acne bumps dotted there. "No?" 

"Oh, earrings." Astrid tilted her head, admiring the simple studs for a beat longer. "Nice." 

Cassie felt the confusion clear, her hand falling from her face. "Ah yeah, I got them for my birthday." 

Astrid paused for a moment, looking at Cassie with her brow furrowed. Cassie felt her stomach turn at the look - she didn't have a good feeling about where this was going. "It was your birthday?" 

"A few days ago, why?" Cassie knew she shouldn't have said what she did. She was just asking for the argument to start, and after having been thrown on her ass once more for too long she wasn't in the mood to clash with Astrid once again.

"It would've been nice to know." 

Cassie couldn't help but let bitterness seep into her voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise we had that kind of relationship. I remember you being pretty clear about that." 

Astrid sighed, stepping away from Cassie. "I guess you're right." 

Silence fell between the pair. Cassie continued to stare up at Astrid's blank face, so lacking in emotion Cassie was convinced in that moment that Astrid wasn't even human but a mere machine. There was something about that blankness that stirred in the back of her mind. That mask so familiar to her - Cassie saw it in the mirror all of the time.

"What's wrong?" She couldn't help but let concern spill over her lips; as soon as she said it, she regretted it. 

"You've spent enough time on your ass today. Sessions over." Astrid turned her back towards Cassie, wordlessly unwrapping the tape from around her fists. Cassie's jaw dropped.

"We've only been training for twenty minutes!" 

"You're complaining?" Astrid scoffed, hurling the tape to the side. Cassie held back her flinch. "I thought you would've loved a break from me, considering we don't have any kind of relationship at all." 

"What the fuck Astrid? I didn't mean it like that at all, and you know it. I didn't mention it because it never came up, it's better if we don't talk about anything but the Pit. It's simpler this way." 

Astrid snickered. "What about any of that sounded simple?" 

"It makes sense in my mind... Look, I haven't really had any friends, well ever, so I'm not great at this thing." Cassie's gaze shifted downwards. Despite the sweat beading her back she felt cold, as if the conversation was slowly sucking the life out of her.

And then she saw it. Astrid halted in her tracks, twisting her head to look Cassie in the eyes. As soon as their eyes connected, Cassie felt flooded with warmth.