Kira saw the man long before he saw her. She saw only his silhouette, but knew from the way he moved that he was not a sky person. She moved closer, crawling along the forest floor until she was near enough to see. Kira recognized the strongly built man and pounced. She pulled him to the ground and he struck her, trying to get free. But Kira was nimble and able to pull herself on top of him. She pinned the man by holding a knife to his throat.
"Kira," he grinned up at her in relief as he removed the mask covering his mouth.
She smiled back. "Lincoln." She sheathed her blade before helping him off the ground. He was the only one she ever talked to anymore and even then she wouldn't see him for weeks, sometimes months.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Shouldn't I be asking you?" She laughed.
He glared at his twin sister. "I meant about the sky people."
"I know what you meant," Kira shrugged. "We haven't crossed paths," she lied. "They took some of my hunting grounds, but Fenrir and I will survive." She bent down and picked up her spear which she had dropped during her attack. When she looked back, Lincoln was still glaring at her, arms crossed. One would think he was the older brother, but she preceded him by five hours and was by far the better killer. Even six years after being banished, her kill marks still outnumbered his. "You're still here?" She sneered.
"You want me to go?" He asked.
"Well you're scouting them aren't you?"
Lincoln knit his eyebrows together. "What makes you say that?"
Kira only glared at him.
"Fine," he held up his hands in defeat. "I am. Take care, Kira." He kissed his sister's forehead before returned his mask to his face. She watched sadly as he walked away. Her love for her brother knew no bounds but that didn't erase her feelings of bitterness. She knew that he loved her too, but he didn't defend her when the clan chose to banish her for her crimes.
Lincoln headed in the direction of Trikru territory and Kira moved to go after him, but stopped when she heard shouting coming from the Skikru camp. The wall, now half finished, was only a nuisance to Kira. A mob had gathered around a boy and they were lifting him into a tree, tied to a rope. Upon closer inspection, Kira realized they boy's wrists had been bound and gagged and the others were trying to hang him. The kid was currently propped up on some sort of box, but his toes were barely touching it.
"Bellamy, you should do it!" one of the kids shouted and the group quieted down of a second. It no longer seemed like chaos as a chant of their leaders name arose.
Kira watched the man, wondering if he was too scared like before when his friend was dying.
"Don't do this!" Clarke begged him. "I know you're not a killer!"
The fuck did she know? He pushed away from her towards Murphy. Bellamy didn't want to kill Murphy, even if he was a shithead. But if he didn't do it, someone else probably would and he would have to deal with them. He couldn't risk it. Trying not to think about what he was doing, he kicked the box out from under Murphy. His neck didn't break and he dangled there, writhing in pain. "This is on you, Princess!" Bellamy shouted at the girl, blaming her for killing his friend. "You should have kept your mouth shut!"
Kira smirked from her spot in a tree. Maybe she had underestimated their leader. Sentencing his right-hand man to death was pretty ruthless. She saw him shouting at Clarke and recognized his expression of anger, it was one she wore herself many times.
They were interrupted by another kid, demanding the criminal to be cut down. It was chaos and Kira decided it was a good thing she had never made herself known. There was no way a group this disorganized could survive the fast approaching winter.
"Just stop okay?" shouted the same little girl Kira found screaming a couple days ago. "Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did!"
Silence fell over the crowd as Kira laughed. She bit her tongue so that no one would hear her and wished desperately that she hadn't sent Lincoln away. It was a story you couldn't make up.
Bellamy stood stunned, his heart in his throat. He couldn't move. Clarke took his axe to cut down Murphy and others pushed past him to help, but he just stood there. Not little Charlotte. When he finally understood what was going on, he moved her into his tent along with the group he had seen as his adversaries.
Murphy, the boy who had previously been hung, gathered a group of his own and stood outside of his leader's tent. Kira knew that she should leave, but couldn't take her eyes away. She needed every detail to tell Lincoln the next time she saw him. Bellamy had decided to protect the little one, a parental quality that Kira admired, but he should have killed those that were opposing his decision. A good leader would have enforced his policy to assert his power.
"Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" Murphy shouted.
Bellamy emerged from the tent, ready to address the other idiots.
"Look who decided to join us," Murphy sneered.
The man sighed. The princess caused this mess and now he had to clean it up. It was like they were still on the ark. "Dial it down and back off," he ordered.
"Or what? You gonna hang me?" the boy challenged.
Kira growled, not sure why she was worrying about a man that wasn't hers; a man that she was sure she didn't know she existed.
"So who here wants to see the real murderer hung up?" Murphy asked the crowd.
Bellamy looked around nervously, praying they wouldn't lynch a thirteen year old. Not sure if he could see the answer, his eyes flicked upwards to the forest canopy. The hairs on the back of his neck, warning him that they weren't alone. He knew he was imagining it, there was no one in the trees, but it still made him uneasy. He needed to end this, and quickly so that they could finish the wall.
Only four kids raised their hands; all of them Bellamy's cronies.
Kira scoffed. The girl was old enough to know what murder was; she knew what she had done. The Triku would have already arrested her with an execution set for sundown.
"I see, it's alright to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses, you all want to let her walk?!" Murphy shouted. "Cowards! You're all cowards!"
It took all of Bellamy's will power not to roll his eyes. They wanted him hanged because he was a jerk. He pissed on John #2 and didn't expect there to be consequences. These were the consequences. "Murphy! Murphy!" Bellamy shouted back, getting him to stop. "It's over."
"Whatever you say, boss," the boy sneered back with a sarcastic shrug.
Kira watched the dim-witted leader turn his back, believing the fight to be over. You never turn your back, she thought. As if to prove her point, Murphy picked up part of a branch and hit Bellamy from behind, knocking him out. Kira dropped out of the tree, landing on her feet like a cat. She looked up from her landing and saw three sky people merging from a hole in the incomplete wall. Clarke. Finn. Charlotte. She knew of them all. They stared back at her and Kira recognized the look of terror in their eyes. Normally she loved the look of fear on another's face, but knew this was not the time for a conflict. Kira held up her hands, showing that she meant no harm as she took several paces back, allowing them to pass. Without a word the three ran from her and the camp. She should have killed them; they'd out her as soon as their internal conflict blew over. She placed a hand on the hilt of a knife hanging on her hip, rubbing her thumb over the smooth wood, the same way she often pet Fenrir. She could still go after them.
"She let us go," Clarke breathed in disbelief. "Do you think the camp's in trouble?"
"I doubt it," Finn responded. "She was alone. If she wanted to kill us, why not start with us three?"
Clarke shrugged. "But she was a grounder. Should could have been the one who hurt Jasper."
"Once again; I doubt it. If she's been scouting the area with bad intentions, she could have killed me a dozen times. I'm always out here alone. Besides, what about her seemed threatening?" Finn asked.
The girl grimaced. He had a point. They knew now that it wasn't a grounder that killed Wells and Jasper had been speared twenty miles from camp. "I don't know, maybe the tattoos? The bear pelt? Grounders are dangerous, Finn."
"Fine, if it makes you feel better, we'll tell Bellamy there's a lonely, topless girl skulking around outside of camp when we get back. It's right up his alley," Finn smirked at his friend.
Clarke chuckled and hit his chest for making an inappropriate joke in front of Charlotte. Their moment was interrupted, though, by Murphy's voice. "We should run."
"We could do that or we could go with my plan." Finn brushed away some leaves and opened a small hatch; the entrance to the art supply store.
⃝⃝⃝
Kira stepped out from the shadows into the moonlight, stopping Charlotte in her tracks. "Please don't hurt me," the little girl squeaked. She wasn't sure what to think of the woman in front of her. She wasn't wearing a shirt; girls should always wear shirts, but instead of it being awkward, it made her scarier.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Kira said gently, kneeling down to be on her level. "You're running to protect you and your friends, right?"
The girl nodded.
She wasn't really a pup, old enough to be a Trikru warrior, but Kira wanted to take care of her anyway. "Well don't go this way, grounders will kill you."
"But that way, Murphy will kill me," Charlotte sniffed, pointing back towards camp. "What do I do?"
"Go back to your friends; they want to help you," Kira told her. "Shhh- someone's coming." She shoved Charlotte back against a tree before the girl could respond. Kira peered out from the trunk and recognized Bellamy. "It's your leader," Kira whispered. "Be brave. Stay strong." And with those words, she disappeared back into the darkness
"Charlotte!" Bellamy cried and grabbed her. "Com one we gotta go."
The girl shook her head, dragging her heals as Bellamy pulled her along. "Let me go!"
"What is wrong with you?" Bellamy hissed. "I'm trying to help."
"This isn't your fight. I have to be brave," she cried. "She said so."
Bellamy sighed, giving in. "Who said so?"
"The bear-lady," Charlotte explained. "Now let me go!"
"Bear-lady?" Bellamy's mind flashed back to the topless woman with a bear pelt. He hadn't thought of her in days, having convinced himself she was as stress-induced mirage. "A grounder told you to turn yourself in?"
Charlotte shook her head violently. "She said 'be brave, stay strong,'" she told him, omitting the fact the woman also told her to go back to Finn and Clarke.
"Charlotte you can't hide forever!" Murphy's voice echoed through the trees.
"That means don't turn yourself in." Bellamy renewed his efforts and began tugging on her arm again.
"I'm not your sister. Stop helping me," Charlotte hissed and began running towards Murphy. "I'm over here!"
Bellamy nearly tackled her. "What are you doing? Are you trying to get us both killed?" She was resigned to getting herself killed so Bellamy picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Save Charlotte. Kill Murphy. Find the bear-lady. He never thought he would have a to-do list. The lynch mob chased them to a cliff, cornering the two of them.
"Give her up, Bellamy, you can't fight all of us," Murphy said.
Bellamy looked at who the kid had brought with him. "Maybe not, but I guarantee I could take a few of you with me." It looked like he wouldn't get to solve the mystery of the bear-woman, but it didn't matter if it meant saving Charlotte. It was his fault Octavia was arrested and there was no way he was letting that happen twice.
"Stop!" Clarke appeared between Bellamy and Murphy. "This has gone too far, we'll talk about this."
Murphy wasn't having it and threatened Clarke's life. Bellamy had to admit it was a smart move; the princess for the kid.
"No!" Charlotte spoke up. "I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me. Not after what I did." She turned and took two steps, diving off the cliff.
Bellamy lunged after her, but he was too late. She was gone. It felt like the world was crashing down around him. He had failed. Murphy was so dead.
Kira watched the sky people move back to camp without Charlotte and without Murphy, somewhat disappointed. She didn't dwell on it long, though because something else was falling from the sky. This time, she didn't bother wishing. She turned her back on it as it crashed into the ground, sending a pillar of smoke back into the sky.
