A/N: Sorry this is later than usual, it's longer than past chapters so I hope that makes up for it a little. :D
Also for you guys that have watched the most recent ep of the 100, are you still crying like I am? And do y'all want Heda Lexa to cross paths with Amreen at some point?
The Prince will be coming up soon so keep an eye out!
Also I love grounder children, so expect to see them frequently in this fic :D
Hope you enjoy this chapter, I enjoyed writing it since it was a bit of a change to the previous ones, let me know what you think and keep reading, following, favouriting and reviewing, it's lovely hearing from you xxx
She was tired and hungry.
After managing to find shelter, a small crumbling stone building that was missing one wall, had empty windows and a straw roof, she had finally allowed herself to settle and rest. It wasn't the best place, if it started to rain again and the wind picked up then she'd have a ton of trouble, but she didn't dare go back and try find that cave she had saw, and she was so tired that it was her best option considering her circumstances.
She had a makeshift bed of straw and a blanket that was made up of more holes than fabric, and remains of a fire that her shelters previous inhabitant had left behind. It had took her over an hour to figure out how to relight it, and even then once she had Amreen knew she couldn't have kept the embers glowing for long incase it would attract a grounder.
She had managed to warm herself up for a little while, it had eased the chill that was shaking her bones and stopped her teeth from chattering.
The warmth hadn't lasted long but it had been some sort of improvement nonetheless.
She had tried to sleep, if she slept then she wouldn't be thinking of the pain she was in and she could allow her wounds to start to heal.
But no matter how hard she tried to find sleep it seemed to want to keep it's distance from her, always out of reach no matter how far she stretched out to grab it.
And now she was hungry.
Really Hungry.
At first she had been able to ignore the hollow feeling in her stomach; it hadn't been a priority, what with her having to worry about finding somewhere to rest and an imminent death by a grounder. She knew she could handle a day or two without food anyways, she had sometimes missed meals up on the ark due to factory station always seeming to draw the short straw when it came to resources and rations.
But now her mind had settled into a relatively safe state, she hadn't heard much noise for a while, there was no footsteps, no gruff voices and hands that were throwing her about; even the animals that she knew were out there seemed to be silent, and for a moment she could appreciate the stillness.
Until a loud growl echoed around her and if anyone were there to hear it she would have probably blushed in embarrassment; because the noise had come from her.
Whereas she was more concerned with trying to avoid her pain by getting some much needed shut eye, her stomach had decided to protest loudly against the idea, until she could think of nothing else but a need for food.
Her growling stomach though, was only a small part of the problem.
She couldn't do anything about it until it started to get lighter, and what was she even supposed to eat? She could barely remember her lessons on the ark on what was good to eat and what was poison, or how to create a snare. She slammed her hands down on the cold concrete ground in frustration, suddenly wishing she had paid more attention to her teachers, but then her teenage self had never expected to find the information useful; she never thought that the ark would have the chance to go back down to earth, at least not in her lifetime anyway.
Another reason why she had to find Cyrus.
Unlike her he absorbed everything from his lessons, they intrigued him, though his teachers he had no patience for, and his lack of patience had been what had sent him to the skybox.
Unfairly sent, in Amreen's opinion. He had a brilliant mind but people struggled to understand it, and the council and the teachers on the ark refused to let his mind excel further, instead holding him back and he ultimately had snapped.
Amreen shook her head with a pitiful sigh, realizing just how much she missed him, she'd do anything to see at least someone from the ark, she didn't even care if it was Kane, she just wanted to see a familiar face that wasn't a grounder trying to kill her.
She tossed and turned until daylight, trying to shake off the lonesome thoughts, trying to ignore her growling stomach and trying to think of a plan to find food the following morning. She had decided she would go foraging for nuts and berries, convincing herself that she would remember what they were and if they were safe to eat when she saw them.
Somehow, Amreen had managed to drift off for a short while, she had found herself startling awake and reaching for the climbing axe as a shrill shriek sounded through the trees.
Her bones ached as she moved, muscles sore and she winced, careful not to tear open the cuts that had started to scab over. With caution she exited the stone house, half crouching as she hid behind the wall, peeking around it ever so slightly as she tried to determine where the screams were coming from, though her plan to move stealthily wasn't exactly thought out well, her movements were clunky and loud due to heavy limbs, and her stomach was still growling, and she swore it was getting louder each minute, threatening to reveal her location to every horror on the ground.
The shrieking became more frequent and louder, and then Amreen stumbled backwards in shock at what had appeared through the trees.
A grounder girl.
A young girl, made up of long limbs and the longest, waviest, most unruly mess of tangled blonde hair Amreen had ever seen tore through the trees, hurdling over a bush and clutching a bow and quiver over her shoulder.
But that was only part of the shocking display, as what came next was a big black furry creature that was pursuing the blonde girl.
It was hungry.
It was going to attack.
Amreen knew immediately that the child would never be able to outrun the animal, at least not for long, all it needed to do was pounce and it would take down the wraith-like girl with ease.
Amreen abandoned her hiding place as the grounder girl stumbled, catching herself just barely and ducking for cover behind a tree and then climbing up it as the jaguar pounced and just missed her.
But the grounder had dropped her bow and arrow during her mad dash to reach the tree.
The beast shook off it's miss with irration, prowling through the foliage as it stalked the base of the tree, eyeing the young girl.
It hadn't noticed Amreen and either had the child.
Biting her lip she made her way over to where the girl had dropped her weapons, picking up the salvaged bow and arrows.
She bit down harder as she gripped it with shaking hands, she had never fired a bow before, and she doubted that her broken fingers would make the situation any better.
But she had to try, she had to stop the jaguar somehow and help this girl.
But why was she so eager to help? Grounders were the enemy weren't they?
Her eyes flickered towards the blonde, whose eyes were a brilliant blue, wide and childlike and panicked. The girl didn't seem so hostile, but fierce definitley- maybe that was it, she saw something of herself in the grounder and that was what it was that made her refuse to leave the young girl to the jaguar.
Drawing in a breath she raised the bow, staring down the trembling arrow.
Come on Amreen, do it. You can do it. You need to do it.
She urged herself silently and with a wince as her muscles stretched, she sent the arrow into the jaguars side and it yelped.
The grounder girl noticed her then, as well as the jaguar, which was still standing and aggravated from the assault. Spinning around it locked its eyes on Amreen and her heart dropped.
"Shit."
She cursed, raising the bow again and fumbling for another arrow, but she knew she wouldn't be quick enough, her aim wouldn't be solid enough, and the weapon was more suited to long range. She toppled backwards as the creature pounced, knocking the air from her lungs and digging it's claws into her shoulders as she screamed.
She had dropped the bow but scrambled for an arrow, lodging the sharp tip into the animals flesh but it only seemed to anger the creature more. It's hot breath was on her face, teeth snapping together as she tilted her head and craned her neck to avoid a bite. Saliva dripped onto her face and then with a howl the creature slumped, it's weight crushing her before it was removed.
Disorientated, and suffering from a loss of blood she blinked, barely registering the long haired grounder girl stood over her with a bloody blade. She stared blankly as the girl wiped the knife on her raggedy blue dress before sliding it into her boot.
Amreen tried to move herself, groaning as she did so, and suddenly stopped as the grounder girl rushed to her side muttering something in an unfamiliar language. The girl pushed her wild hair behind her shoulders, the heavy matted braids and loose frizzed curls piling up on the floor as she kneeled over Amreen, setting an assortment of flowers and vials on the floor.
The girl was still speaking, Amreen was still trying to make sense of the words, trying to tell the girl she didn't speak her language but her lips were cracked, throat dry and she was struggling with her breaths.
The girl loomed in front of her, a heart shaped face with freckles dusted over a button nose, golden hair that shone brightly under the sunlight reminding Amreen of a doll she once had that had belonged to her mother.
She smiled showing dimples and said something again that Amreen did not understand, then a cool liquid was poured down her throat, and then she let out a soundless scream, black spots tainting her vision as something was pressed against her bleeding wound.
Amreen woke to the smell of an appetising aroma, wafting through the air around her, doing good to remind her of her hunger.
Her stomach growled and the young girl turned slightly, smiling at Amreen to acknowledge her before turning back to the fire she was sat beside, adjusting the meat that was cooking over it.
Amreen managed to pull herself in a sitting position, noticing that she had been moved back inside the broken house, and had been bandaged up with scraps of fabric torn from the train on the grounder girls dress.
Hearing the movement the grounder spun around, her long legs that were curled around her like a spiders limbs, untangling as she stood and made her way over to Amreen. The girl must have been barely older than the age of 12 but still managed to tower over Amreen with long limbs she hadn't quite grown into.
"You're from the sky." She said.
Startling Amreen, with her use of a different language, her language.
Amreen nodded and the girl beamed, diving excitedly beside her, blonde hair rippling everywhere with the movement.
"I'm Zel, what's your name?"
The girls voice was soft, childlike and almost timid, different from her actions that were confident and self assured.
"Amreen." She answered, and the girl repeated it, cocking her head and finishing with a dimpled smile after testing it out on her tongue.
"Pretty. Why are you alone?"
She asked with innocent curiosity, and Amreen chewed on her lip, silent for a moment. Zel waited patiently for a reply, a bird chirped and the meat cooking over the fire sputtered as its fat drained.
"When I fell from the sky, no one else made it, they...they all died and my friends probably think i'm dead too..."
She trailed off shaking her head, not waiting to dump her problems on the kid, surprised when a slender hand patted her arm gently.
"Maybe you can find them. You helped me so I didn't die, i'll help you so you don't die then you can find your friends."
The blonde said with a smile, shuffling over to the fire and removing the meat to let it cool.
Amreen found herself smiling, grateful for the young girls help, though it was bugging her why the girl had been wandering about alone, was it a custom thing for grounders? Chewing on her lip she tried to think of how to bring it up without scaring her off.
"Where do you live?
Zel paid attention to the meat first, breaking it in half and dividing it as best she could before she answered.
"A cave not too far from here, I get bored by myself so I like to explore. I'll take you home after we eat and you can rest properly."
Amreen was appalled, this girl lived on her own, no friends, family or anything; who could allow that for a child? She could hardly judge the grounders lifestyle though since the arkers and their laws weren't too dissimilar, she was sure she heard something about an 8 year old being sent to the sky box for a petty crime.
Zel joined her side again, passing her a portion of juicy meat, as her stomach grumbled. The girl nibbled daintily at hers, but Amreen hadn't bothered to think of etiquette, tearing into the meat ravenously, juices dripping down her hands and mouth as she ripped it apart and chewed.
She was Hungry.
