Octavia was the first one to touch the ground. Luna was right behind her, as the second to touch the ground. As soon as she stepped onto the ground she felt freer than she'd ever felt on the ark. The ark had always felt claustrophobic to her, too little space she was actually allowed to be on, and too much space surrounding them.
The constant fear of the ark having an oxygen breach was gone. Luna smiled, and studied the sky. She wouldn't be contained anymore. Freedom did indeed taste amazing. She turned and looked at the people around her, her eyes drawn to a tall guy with brown tousled hair. He was standing next to an older looking guy wearing a guard's uniform. A guard's uniform?
She looked around some more, and when she spotted him she froze. How was that even possible? Just as she was about to run and hide or something, he turned around and saw her staring at him. Wells Jaha smirked and studied Luna up and down. She didn't know what to do, and the frustration made her angry. The thoughts of hiding vanished, desperation replacing it.
"What are you doing here?!" She shouted, nervous and unbelieving. He then had the nerve to laugh.
"Oo, feisty," he responded."I like that."
"I'll kill you. I'll fucking kill you!" She screamed, before slamming him into the ground.
While Luna wasn't particularly small, she wasn't big either. Wells on the other hand was huge, but Luna had the element of surprise. They both slammed into the ground, Luna landing on top of him.
She started to throw weak punches onto him, but even she could tell that they didn't do much. She had started to cry, her punches growing even weaker. Just as Wells was starting to fight back Luna was abruptly lifted off of him.
"Easy there tiger," a soft and low voice whispered into her ear. The feeling of being engulfed in a pair of soft arms made her break down entirely.
Luna stopped fighting the one who'd grabbed her and started sobbing, completely hysterical. There was some sort of commotion and Luna was picked up, bridal style. After that she tuned out, buried her face in the person's chest, and relived the moment Wells Jaha ruined her life.
"Awh, come back here pretty lady!" Wells yelled as she waddled away from him. Being slightly tipsy didn't exactly help her coordination.
"In your dreams Jaha," Luna responded and giggled. She was on cloud nine. Wells Jaha was one year older than her, making him extremely attractive. She was flattered by his and his friends attention, but had to get home.
"I told you to come back," Wells stated darkly.
He was blocking her way, and she was hazily trying to understand how he'd gotten there so fast.
"Just let me pass." She smiled, and tried to push him out of the way. Instead, he grabbed her arm and stopped me.
"What are you doing Wells? I need to get home," she slurred, frowning.
"You're not going anywhere."
She tried to calm herself down, but was fairly unsuccessful. They were now inside the dropship, and he gently put her down in a seat. Luna curled into a tiny ball of sadness and trauma, expecting the boy to leave.
Imagine her surprise when he didn't. Instead, he sighed and sank down in the seat next to hers, not saying a word. Surprised she glanced up at the boy and realized that it was the tall one she'd seen talking to the man in the guard's uniform. He glanced down at the girl, brows furrowed.
They stared at eachother for a while, before he finally spoke up.
"What's your name?"
"Luna," she murmured. "You?"
"Murphy."
They stayed silent for a few minutes before he once again spoke.
"See, what I don't understand is how a girl like you got locked up. You just don't seem like the rule breaking kind of girl." You could tell he wasn't expecting an answer, so when she did answer, his eyebrows raised, surprised.
"If telling the truth is considered against the rules, then I guess I broke them."
"Hm. What'd you say?"
"I said some things about chauncelor Jaha's son that he didn't agree with."
"Like what?"
Murphy had turned in his seat, his eyes focused on hers. Luna stared back, and noted that he had pretty eyes. They were nice to look at.
When she didn't answer, he just dropped it.
"Well. It seems you're done crying, yeah?" He smirked in her general direction. "I should be going. We have a camp to build."
She nodded, and he left her. Luna immediately missed his presence, but he was gone, and she didn't feel like going outside. Instead she gently placed her head into the kind-of hard cushions of the seat and fell asleep.
She awoke a few hours later by her growling stomach and stiff neck. She heard a few voices outside, but didn't put much thought into it. After all, they were 100 delinquents, and who knew what could happen. Luna stood and stretched her stiff joints before slowly making her way outside. While she'd been sleeping the delinquents had managed to start a fire, and Murphy was standing in the middle of the crowd. It looked like he was taking off the wristbands. She glanced down at her own, and thought about it. Were there anyone on the ark that she cared for? No, not really. All of them had turned their back on her. She had been abandoned when she needed them the most.
She leaned against the cold metal of the dropship when she felt the first drop fall. It was raining. Luna couldn't help but smile, and looking up into the sky. She wasn't the only one. The crowd had stopped chanting their mantra, whatever the hell we want, and they were now cheering, and laughing. While she was happy about the rain, she also realized that everyone would get sick if they stayed in the rain for too long.
Thinking one step ahead of the rest, she quickly ran back into the dropship and to the top floor, claiming a seat in the back, slightly hidden by some broken electronics. She waited, and just as she'd expected the rest of the delinquents were on their way back into the dropship. The first person she saw poking up their head from the ladder was the guard. Or guy in the guard's uniform. Whatever.
He looked around, and at first he didn't seem to spot her. He sighed, and climbed all the way up before slumping down into an empty seat. Murphy, and another guy were quick to follow, and Luna realized that none of them had spotted her.
"We've got to do something about Wells," Murphy growled. Her stomach dropped, and she saw how the other guy slowly closed the hatch. She was screwed. She should've just announced her presence from the beginning. Now, that wasn't an option.
"Why?" the guy in the guards uniform asked, scepticism written all over his face.
"Because, Bellamy, right now it doesn't look like we're dying. It looks like we're taking them off. If we get Well's wristband off they will think that we are dying."
"He'd never take it off voluntarily."
"That's the point."
The guard, Bellamy, looked Murphy over, and Luna followed his gaze. Murphy looked pissed.
"There's something else, isn't it?" Bellamy asked, and raised one eyebrow.
"He gives me the creeps, that's all," Murphy quickly answered and clenched his fists. Bellamy looked doubtful, but dropped the subject.
"Okay. We do it tonight."
They left soon after, and Luna could finally breathe normal. She had clearly heard a conversation she wasn't supposed to hear. She shakily stood up, before falling back into her seat. She sighed when she realized why she felt so dizzy. She still hadn't eaten anything. She muttered something incoherently and crawled over to another seat, one that wasn't hidden. She didn't want to be in that situation again.
Luna could hear the quiet tapping of the rain, and soon some other people walked up to the same floor as her. She ignored them, but she could feel some of them glancing curiously at her, probably because of her little outburst before. Sighing, she forced herself to go to sleep - even though she didn't feel sleepy at all.
She awoke once again from her stomach and stiff neck. This time however, she could also hear some other noises. People were snoring, breathing, and moving. The birds outside were chirping, and although it was crowded and smelling damp inside Luna was still excited. She was one of the first awake, and she slowly made her way back to the bottom floor, careful not to wake anyone up.
Once she reached the bottom she looked outside. There were a few people up and about, but one in particular stood out to her. Wells was standing by some big barrels, probably checking to make sure they weren't leaking. Luna ducked back into the dropship and pressed her back to the wall.
"Shit, shit, shit," she mumbled and looked back outside only to find that Wells was chatting with some girl. Looking at him made her cringe, but what made her both sad and annoyed was the fact that he was flirting, and so was she.
"Trouble in paradise?"
Luna nearly jumped out of her own skin, and quickly turned to face the voice, which, turns out, was Murphy.
"God, you scared me," she exclaimed and put her hands over her chest. She was breathing hard, and just stared up at him in surprise.
He had a funny look in his eyes, and she wasn't sure what to make out of it.
"You probably shouldn't have jumped Wells," he said quietly before taking out a knife. She recognized it as a piece of the dropship, sharpened to the point that it gleamed slightly in the dark. He started twirling it in his hand while moving closer.
"You see, now you're defenseless, and you've also painted a pretty big target on your back."
She started to feel scared. Yes, he had grabbed her yesterday, but he was a delinquent, and she wasn't sure why he had gotten locked up. It scared her even more. His face was just inches away from her face when he smiled and leaned back.
"You should've seen your face."
"Screw you Murphy," Luna sneered. "You're seriously freaking me out."
"Well, your eyes are freaking me out," he retorted.
"What are you, twelve?"
"I might be." He winked at that before glancing outside. He turned back to Luna and frowned. "You should have something to protect yourself."
He seemed to think for a while, before he gave her his knife. "Use it well."
At that he just turned and left Luna there, confused and desperately grasping a knife.
As the day proceeded Luna was happy she'd kind of listened in earth class. She had found a few edible berries and roots, and although it wasn't filling it wasn't that bad either. The knife she'd gotten from Murphy wasn't giving her much of a safe feeling, so she carelessly threw it at a tree, successfully making it stick. That gave her an idea.
The knife didn't make her feel safe since she'd have to get close to use it. If she could throw it, however, that would make her feel a lot better. And so, the training began.
After the first few throws she found that it was harder than it'd looked like, but she still continued to practice. As the sun hit zenit she had gotten good enough to kind-of hit what she was aiming at. Good enough for her. As she was walking up to the knife she saw a movement in her peripheral vision and quickly spun around, knife in hand.
Nothing. There was nothing there. The realization both made her feel silly, and uneasy. She'd been so sure that there had been some kind of movement. Luna decided that that was enough training for the day. She grabbed her knife, some edible berries she'd picked and walked back to camp.
It was eerily empty, and she could hear chants not far from where she was standing. Not thinking twice she ran in the direction, of the chants, finding Murphy and Wells, with kids around them making it into a circle.
Murphy scrambled up from the ground, lifted a knife and spat "You're dead."
The thought of Murphy and Wells fighting both terrified and surprised her. She had no idea as to why they were fighting, but she was hoping that Wells would get his ass kicked.
Just as it was about to get interesting a shrill voice yelled out. Turns out that the medics daughter, Clarke, had been on the ship too. She told them to stop, stepping between Murphy and Wells. It almost looked like she was protecting Wells, and the thought made her stomach lurch. How could anyone be friends with a person as vile as Wells? On the other hand, he was a good actor.
Luna had zoned out, but what Finn said next made her freeze.
"We weren't attacked by a what, but a who. Turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder."
"It's true. 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 piped in.
"The bad news is the Grounders will," Finn finished. Luna shuddered, and thought back to the movement she'd seen. What if that had been a grounder?
Clarke finally noticed Wells missing wristband, and Luna recalled the conversation she'd overheard. Seemed like they'd gone through with it. Clarke continued and explained that the ark was dying. Luna snorted, and Clarke's attention was fixed on her.
"What's your deal?" Clarke moved closer to Luna, the group parting for her. Perhaps they wanted a fight. "First you try to kill Wells, and now you're laughing at 2000 people dying. Children. Elders."
"Yeah, so what?!" She exclaimed, surprised by her own boldness. She was tired, angry and devastated. She could feel tears welling up, but she ignored them. "You wanna know why? Why I don't care? Because I got punished for something he did. I told the truth and no one believed me. You're privileged. What would you know about that?!"
By then the crowd was silent, and so was Clarke. Wells was just shrugging, and all eyes were fixed on Luna. Clarke just looked at her with this guilty expression, and Luna was done with it. She turned and darted out of the group, no one calling after her.
Even though Luna was terrified of being attacked by grounders, she decided to stay just outside of the camp grounds, close enough to feel safe, but far away enough to not be stared at. She didn't notice when the small rescue team consisting of Clarke, Bellamy, Wells and Murphy left, but she did notice when they returned. The boy's screams were hard to miss. The smell of food was even harder. She attempted to ignore it, she really did, but she was too hungry. All she'd eaten in the last two days were some berries and roots.
Luna swallowed her pride, and slowly moved closer to the fire, and the food. She saw Murphy taking off the wristbands, but there was a queue and she had a knife of her own. Instead of walking over to get it removed she moved back into the shadows, sat down on a rock, and grabbed her knife.
It took a few minutes for her to figure out how to get it off, but she did it. She couldn't help but hiss quietly when the bracelet opened, but she felt so much more free with it off. However, she felt a quite painful sensation where the bracelet had been, and she realized she'd accidentally cut herself fairly deep. Sighing, she ripped a small strap off of her shirt and tied it around her wrist. That would have to do for now.
Just as she was about to leave she saw movement. Without hesitation she threw the knife and was rewarded with a thump. Carefully she moved towards where the knife had landed, only to find a deer, squirming and panting. She couldn't believe it. The knife had hit the deer in the neck, and it was slowly but steadily bleeding out. Luna didn't like the blood, but she saw the necessity in it. Not wanting the deer to suffer, she slowly walked closer before jerking the knife out and finishing it.
Once the deer was dead she wiped the blood off of the knife before putting it back into her pants. Seeing as the deer had horns she grabbed them before slowly pulling it in the direction of the camp. It wasn't far, but she was painfully aware of the fact that she was ruining the animal's pelt. She had wanted it whole, but accepted the fact that a few pieces was enough.
People were still cheering, but when she walked into the circle of light the fire casted everyone quieted down. Except for that wounded boy, he was still screaming. Luna dropped the deer and swiped away some hair in her face before she realized that she had blood on her hands. Blood that was now in her forehead. Neat.
"Did you kill that?" Bellamy asked sounding surprised.
Luna didn't feel comfortable with all the attention fixed on her, but she pushed through it.
"Yes. I was out there removing my bracelet when I saw something move. So, then I killed it."
The camp was still quiet, so she took that as a sign to start. She skinned the deer and while she was working the rest of the group slowly started to talk in hushed tones. She did her best to ignore it.
"I didn't take you as a hunter."
"Jesus!" she exclaimed. Once again Murphy had sneaked up on her. Her smirked, and sat down next to her.
"Want any help with that?"
"Please." She smiled up at him, and he took the big animal from her, doing a much better job at skinning it that she had. He was throwing away the head, and was about to throw away the pelt when she interrupted.
"Wait! I want the skin."
"What?"
"The fur dumbass."
His mouth formed an O.
"What're you gonna do with it?"
"The nights are cold. Especially if you're gonna sleep on the ground."
"What?" Murphy looked genuinely confused, and Luna only shrugged.
"I don't feel comfortable in there, that's all."
Their conversation stopped as Murphy replaced the now black mystery meat over the fire with the deer, slowly turning it. Once it was finished she took a piece of it, much larger than the rest had taken from the original meat before grabbing the skin and walking back to the place she'd been practicing with the knives. With one kill under her belt, albeit only a deer, she felt a bit more safe.
She ate the meat while scraping off all the gross stuff from the skin. She knew how to prepare a skin, and after about an hour it was acceptable. It still needed some work but, she decided, that was tomorrows project. She put down the skin on the ground and curled up on it, slowly drifting off to sleep.
Luna woke up when a twig broke, and without thinking she flew to her feet and grabbed her knife.
"Woah, easy there tiger."
She quickly recognised the voice.
"What is it with you and sneaking up on me?" she asked while putting the knife back.
"I just didn't feel comfortable knowing you were out here all alone," he said with this weird look in his eyes. She returned his gaze, and found herself stuck in them. He was beautiful, but in an untraditional way.
"Fine."
Murphy smirked and threw down two sleeping bags and pillows on the ground. Luna grabbed one of them and quickly snuggled into it. Murphy snickered, but didn't say anything as he too slid into one. They both fell asleep without saying anything else.
Luna woke up a few times during the night, not yet used to the sounds of the forest. The third time she woke up, she realized that Murphy had put his arm around her. The forest had started to glow faintly, and Luna found herself staring at his face, memorizing every detail. She didn't know why, but she wanted to touch him, needed to touch him. She quietly raised her hand and stroked his cheek.
She didn't expect him to wake up, but he did. Without any warning Murphy's hand shot up to hers, grabbing it. Luna felt her stomach drop and her cheeks redden. Slowly his eyes opened and he squinted at her, seemingly disoriented. When he did realize the situation, he smirked.
"I'm sorry," Luna mumbled, trying to remove her hand. He didn't let her however and held it on his cheek.
"You don't have to say sorry."
She glanced up into his face, and he was completely serious. He slowly but steadily moved his face closer to hers until their noses were almost touching. She was breathing heavily, and so was he. Luna was about to go for it, when a faintly glowing butterfly landed on Murphy's nose.
Luna couldn't help it, she burst out laughing, making the butterfly fly away. Murphy snorted and rolled over to his back.
"Well that's awkward," he muttered to no one in particular. "Cock blocked by a butterfly."
Luna just giggled and turned to her side, once again studying him. He was all sharp edges, but she liked it.
"Why are you here with me?" she quietly asked, blushing slightly.
Murphy just sighed and rubbed his hand over his face.
"I don't know. There's something about you… I feel like I can trust you," he answered, only whispering the last part. She wasn't even sure she was meant to have heard that.
She didn't say anything, instead she reached her hand out, once again surprised with her own boldness. His chest was warm, and without saying a word she scooted closer to him before resting her head on his chest. He still had his arm around her, and she could feel him tensing before relaxing. It was safe to say that she didn't wake up again during the night.
She woke up before Murphy, stirred by a scream piercing the air. She groaned and sank back into her pillow which, you know, was actually Murphy's chest. Murphy huffed in return, Lunas groan having woken him up.
"Mornin' sunshine," Murphy mumbled in a dark and I-just-woke-up-what-do-you-want-voice.
"Morning to you too," Luna responded, lifting her head from his chest.
"Did you sleep well?"
She was about to answer when another blood-curdling scream pierced the air.
"Oh," Murphy muttered, his expression growing dark. Although she hadn't known him for very long, nor spent that long time with him, she could still read his expression. It screamed murder.
"No, Murphy, don't," she managed to get out before he abruptly stood. Sighing, she fell back down into her sleeping bag.
"Don't what?" he growled in her general direction.
"Anything stupid."
At that he merely smirked. "Come meet me for breakfast later."
"Okay."
Then he was gone, and she was all alone. Luna immediately missed his warm presence, which was odd considering she hadn't let anyone touch her in over a year. The thought made her frown. She had been in the skybox for about a year. Before she was thrown into solitary the only one to touch her had been Wells. The mere thought made her shudder.
Luna tried to shrug it off, and decided that she had been sleeping enough. She grabbed hers and Murphy's sleeping bags and managed to fold them neatly into small packets. She then stuffed the pillows inside before wrapping it in the deer skin. After that she frowned, not knowing what to do with the bundle. She looked around for a bit before she found it.
Not far from where she and Murphy had been sleeping was this tiny hole underneath some roots. She hid the packet before walking into the camp. The camp was filled with tired teenagers, and Luna realized that she'd been lucky to get a good night of sleep. The others must've woken up a lot during the night, because the closer she got to the dropship, the louder the wounded boy sounded. She could only imagine what it must've been like to try and sleep inside the dropship.
She didn't blame her, of course, but she did wish that his screaming would stop. Luna spotted Murphy by the fire and made her way over there. When Murphy turned to look at her he laughed. She could still see that he was tense, and that made her feel on edge.
"What?" she asked while smoothing down her hair.
"You've got a twig right…" he leaned forward and the close proximity to him made her heart speed up. "...there." Murphy gently pulled an impressively large branch out of Luna's hair, and she immediately blushed. She had expected him to move away, but he didn't. Instead he looked into her eyes, and she stared back into his. She was about to say something when she heard a wolf-whistle from behind.
Luna quickly spun around, only to find Wells standing there, slowly clapping his hands.
"Well you sure do move on quickly." Wells smirked and walked closer, and something about his walk reminded her of a predator. Scared, she instinctively hid behind Murphy who looked pissed.
"Oh, I see," he said when he saw Luna hide behind Murphy. "Well, since you're so close to him you must've told him all about me, haven't you?"
Her eyes widened, and she started to shake. Murphy definitely felt the vibrations, because his back muscles tensed. Wells must've noticed too, because he just smirked. Luna knew that he wouldn't stop. She knew that he'd tell the same lie he'd told his father, the same lie he'd told everyone.
"You see, Luna and I were dating. She was becoming obsessed with me, throwing herself at me." Luna could feel the stares from everyone in the camp, the silence only being broken by the boy's scream.
"I decided to break up with her." Wells shrugged before continuing. "Well, turns out she didn't really like that, did you sweetheart?"
Murphy's stance was becoming less protective, and she sensed that he was considering the possibility that Wells was telling the truth.
"One day she sneaked into my room, and tried to have sex with me." He grinned and spread his arms out wide. "Imagine my surprise when I find her, naked in my room, just trying to get me hard. Now, I'm not stupid, so I pushed her off and alerted the authorities. And guess what she said?" Luna could feel the camp holding its breath, waiting for the punch line.
"She said that I'd raped her. That's how she got thrown into the skybox."
The crowd was quiet, the only noise coming from behind Murphy's back. Luna was crying. She'd never felt so humiliated in her whole life. She had been telling the truth. She hadn't wanted him to push her into that closet. She didn't want her clothes ripped off, her head slammed to the floor. She hadn't been asking for it. She had fought back. She had, at the beginning.
"Fucking liar. You can just go float yourself." The words were coming from Murphy, and Luna hadn't expected them. Why did he want to protect her? She felt him embrace her before lifting her up, carrying her bridal style away from the crowd. As they left she could feel laughter, and at that moment she just wanted to die. She was done. Finished. She was nothing.
Murphy carried her back to where they'd been sleeping before sitting down, still holding her. She was still sobbing, desperately grabbing his t-shirt.
"Why are you helping me?" she blurted out between sobs. The thought of someone believing her was just too unreal.
"I believe you. You're very easy to read, and…" Murphy trailed off, not finishing the sentence.
"And..?"
"And I trust you."
She glanced up at him, teary eyes and all.
"I trust you too," she mumbled, and she swore that she could feel him relax.
They sat like that until the calm was broken by a pissed Bellamy.
"I need you back at camp Murphy," Bellamy said quickly as he barged into the clearing. Before Murphy had a chance to answer he turns to Luna. "You too." Confused, they both stand, Luna shakily, and follow Bellamy. He leads them over to a small group, many of them glancing at her, some with fear, and some with this look on their face… Exactly the same kind of look Wells had had.
Murphy almost growled besides her, and she was happy to have him there.
"So. We need to go hunting. Atom, Miller, you stay and keep an eye on the camp. Murphy, Luna, Connor and Drew, you're with me. We're going hunting."
And so they did. Luna wasn't entirely sure as to why she was brought along, but she suspected it had something to do with the fact she'd killed that one deer. Kill one thing, and suddenly you're a hunter. One thing she did notice was how much noise they were making. Despite her fear she said what was on her mind.
"Hey guys? No animal is going to get even remotely close with all this noise."
The guy closest to her and Murphy, she thought his name might be Connor, turned to her and sneered.
"Like you're some kind of expert."
"Right now she is," Bellamy responded, "so we do as she says and try to tone it down a bit."
They did walk quieter, and after a while she spotted it. Luna could only describe it as a board, although it looked deformed. Whatever. Food is food. She slowly sneaked away from the group, no one but Murphy noticing. He followed her, quiet as always, and just as she was about to throw the knife a twig behind her snapped. The boar ran, and Luna instinctively threw the knife towards the noise. As it turned out, a small girl stood only a few inches from where her knife had lodged itself into a tree.
She didn't want to say it out loud, but she was proud of the fact that her aim was kind of precise.
"Who are you?" Bellamy shouted and hurried up to Murphy and Luna.
"Charlotte," the girl said quietly.
Luna zoned out while Bellamy lectured her, but her ears picked something up. All the animals were running. Not only running, but running away from something. That's when she heard it. A loud horn rang, and it was then she was it. A fog was moving towards them, fast.
"Run!" she screamed and grabbed Murphy. Together they ran, desperately trying to find a place to hide. She could hear screams behind her, but when her foot hit something metal she was ready to cry with relief.
Luna stopped running, but Murphy didn't, meaning he almost ripped her arm right out of her socket.
"Help me open it!" she hissed out, short of breath from the sprint. Together they heaved the round hatch open before jumping inside and closing the hatch behind them.
It was pitch black down there, and Luna took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She heard stumbling from behind her, and then she heard a click before the entire bunker was lit. Murphy had turned on a flashlight, and since it was so dark, and frankly, a rather small bunker it lit up the place pretty good.
They stayed silent for a while, until Murphy broke the heavy silence.
"So. How're we supposed to know when the fog's gone? And how do we even know if it's dangerous?"
"We don't," Luna muttered and sat down on the floor. The room was bare, and she suspected that it'd been cleaned out by someone. Probably a grounder.
She hadn't forgotten about Wells outburst, but she felt too embarrassed to say anything to Murphy. He sighed and sat down on the floor right next to her.
"Did he rape you?"
The question was blunt, and caught Luna off guard. She avoided his gaze, and looked down at her hands. She could hear him breathing, but otherwise it was silent. Slowly, she nodded. Something about Murphy made her feel safe, and without thinking about it she started to speak.
"It was last year. I was tipsy, and he was not. He forced himself onto me." She paused and felt her eyes start to fill with tears. "It was so stupid. I shouldn't have told my parents. They went to the chauncelor, told him everything. Of course he didn't believe that his perfect son would do something like that. So he spoke to him. And then Wells lied."
She was crying now, but Murphy didn't say a word.
"They quieted it down. Threw me into solitary." She paused, sobbing by now. "And I started to think. It was my fault. I didn't fight hard enough, I didn't…"
Murphy hushed her at that, and put both of his arms around her, hugging her tightly.
"I didn't try hard enough," she whispered, barely audible. Murphy must've heard though.
"I'll fucking kill him."
At that Luna jerked her head up and stared into his beautiful eyes.
"Why do you care so much about me?"
He looked away, and sighed.
"I don't know." He turned back to her and smiled sadly. "I think it's because you're the only one who aren't afraid of me. There's just something about you." He lifted one of his hands and twirled a strand of her hard between her fingers.
"You know, I got thrown into the skybox for fighting. Almost killed a man."
Luna stiffened, and he no doubt noticed.
"Why?" she asked, not believing that he'd have it in him.
"He said some bad stuff about my dad."
"What about him?"
"He was floated for helping me."
She froze again, not knowing what to say. Murphy laughed darkly, and she did the only thing she could think of; she hugged him. She hugged him tightly and desperately.
"I'm sorry."
"You know, my mother knew I was a waste of space. She told me. Right before she died."
"It wasn't your fault. You're not a waste of space. You helped me." She took his face into her hands and forced him to look at her. "If you're a waste of space, then so am I."
They comforted each other for a few hours, not saying much. After a while Murphy sighed.
"I gotta take a piss."
Luna smiled, and punched him lightly on his arm. "Way to ruin a mood."
He just smirked, and tangled himself out of her grip. He seemed to consider something, and Luna was quick to ask about it.
"I'm gonna open the hatch."
Before she had the chance to stop him, the hatch was swung open. Luna closed her eyes and waited for the fog to hit her. It didn't. When she opened them she was met by Murphy's hand, helping her off of the floor.
"The fog cleared."
"You don't say?"
"Shut it knife girl."
Luna raised her eyebrows. "Knife girl?"
"Hi knife girl, I'm douchebag."
"You're such a five year old."