Disclaimer: I don't own the 100 just my OC.
Forms of writing:
Third person POV
Thoughts
Memories
Enjoy!
People With Actual Feelings
Maybelline was always quick to adapt. So if Bellamy Blake had his own style of doing things and wasn't about to play fair, there was no reason why Maybelline should have either.
It was still dark in the early hours of the morning when she stealthily slipped into his tent. Actually, it wasn't as much not playing fair as it was treating the situation like she was dealing with a small child. If a child takes something and refuses to give it up, do you argue with said child? No, you just wait till he falls asleep and take that something back yourself. And at that moment, Maybelline was glad that Octavia insisted on some independence and didn't share a tent with her brother, things were much easier that way.
Blake lay in a tangle of cloths, half naked with his head buried in a rolled-up jacket. Maybelline didn't even have to bother with looking - he was clutching the gun in his hand beside his head.
Sure, nothing to worry about there. I just sleep with a gun under my pillow, no big deal.
The great leader lectured the young offenders daily about how they were much more powerful than they could imagine, trying to get into their heads that they mean much more than they themselves thought they did and even more, so some Grounders wouldn't dare attack them. All that pompous talk but he was too afraid to put the gun away for the night?
Maybelline was seriously interested in what went on in Bellamy's head. She wanted to know whether or not he truly believed in his own words, and in that case was delusional and the power really got into his head. Or did he know how things really were, that they weren't safe no matter how many pretty speeches he gave, and in that case was more manipulative than she originally thought. Or was it something in between? One thing was for certain - Maybelline had imagined a variety of possible complications before her departure to Earth, but Bellamy Blake surpassed all expectations. That ends today.
Silently, she moved to his makeshift bed, kneeling beside his head. His grip around the weapon didn't seem tight. Maybelline pressed the barrel of the gun with two fingers and started to slowly release it, constantly watching Bellamy's face. But he didn't stir or wake up, not even when the gun slipped from his fingers. Maybelline was almost sorry at the moment that she won't be there to see the expression on his face when he wakes up and realize that his prize gun was once again gone. Well, it was his fault that he lacked some basic instincts - Maybelline certainly wouldn't have been peacefully asleep if someone got so close to her.
She straightened up and tucked the gun into her belt, looking at the sleeping Blake once more. She was leaving the kids here with him. Of course, some of them were lost cases who just followed him blindly, but there were few exceptions. One of them was Jasper…
She shook her head, pushing those thoughts away. If everything would go as it should - the Ark was coming down here soon and they won't be in the hands of Bellamy Blake for much longer. His fate, however, was another matter entirely...
xXxXx
"How did it go?"
Andrew was waiting for her at the edge of the camp, backpack on his back and a big smile brightening his face. He was thrilled about the idea of robbing Blake from the very start - maybe even a little too much.
"Too easy," Maybelline replied airily with a nonchalant shrug. "I guess I expected more."
Andrew chuckled at her sass.
"Was he alone?" he asked curiously.
Maybelline gave him a puzzled look. "He was."
"That's surprising," Andrew sneered, aw. "The other morning I saw not one, but two girls coming out of his tent."
Maybelline shook her head, already over it, and headed directly into the dark forest.
"And I was wondering why he was enjoying this situation so much…"
They managed to walk a whole mile before day broke. Their surroundings were peaceful, no animals or Grounders, they had been lucky so far. Other than the sound of their own steps, all was quiet, yet Maybelline turned her head back to the camp from time to time, just in case… Well, maybe she was getting paranoid.
"No one's following us," Andrew responded to her movements with a smile. "Who'd be awake so soon? Moreover, who'd even go after us?"
Well, I don't know. Maybe furious Bellamy Blake, when he finds out that I stole his gun again?
That was pretty unlikely, given the fact that he was still completely out when Maybelline had left him. He seemed to have a few more hours of sleep left in him by the looks of it.
"So? What is the plan?" Andrew continued on, clearly in a very positive mood. "You know, your true purpose," he said in a low voice.
"My purpose?" Maybelline repeated with a lifted eyebrow.
"The reason Ark sent you down," Andrew specified patiently, his eyes knowing. "You made it clear that it wasn't to babysit us little delinquents, so… Why?"
Maybelline didn't even think about not telling him. She knew that she wasn't meant to, but that didn't change a thing. There was another reason, actually, why she had avoided Andrew from the very start. She wanted to manage everything on her own, just complete the mission with no delay and then figure it out with him before the Ark got to Earth. But things had changed drastically and her original plans burned to dust a long time ago.
"The navigation system on the Ark sucks," Maybelline spoke up calmly. "They were able to send us down here - but as you might notice, the landing was not very smooth and they dropped us few miles farther than intended. If the Exodus project is to be accomplished successfully, the Ark would need a signal, a strong signal from the Earth for them to land here safely."
Andrew nodded thoughtfully.
"So that's why Mount Weather."
Maybelline nodded affirmatively.
"That's why Mount Weather. It's not just about stocks. There should be functional telecommunication equipment at the military base."
Silence reigned as the red haired boy thought about everything he had just learned, taking it in step by step just as he always had. Maybelline knew he wasn't done asking questions, she knew him too well for that. Andrew was bright as a button, probably the smartest person she had even known. Which was often quite annoying, since he was rarely wrong.
"I hate to break it up to you, but how exactly do you plan to get into Mount Weather?" he asked cautiously. "After all, it is a military base and a bomb shelter in one. I doubt that the door would just be wide open."
Andrew, once again, didn't disappoint her expectations.
"There was an employee from Mount Weather who lived on the Ark. He left behind a few numerical combinations of access codes and I happen to know all of them."
The boy let out an amused chuckle.
"They could've just given you a piece of paper. But why do something the simple way, right? How many numbers did you have to remember?"
"A few," Maybelline replied indefinitely. "Paper can be lost. Or destroyed…"
"They could've given you two," Andrew shrugged, insisting on his truth. "Or ten. I'm surprised that they didn't tattoo those combinations on your-"
"Quit being such a smart aleck, Andrew," Maybelline rolled her eyes, but unwittingly smiled. You could always do something in a better way, according to Andrew Carlyle. Every single time.
He noticed her smile immediately.
"Oh, you must have missed me so bad, right?" he teased, winking at her in a funny way.
And Maybelline took a breath to answer, but something stopped her. Something overly cautious deep inside her was telling her that she shouldn't have been voicing her emotions out loud for any good reason.
Andrew noticed her hesitation. Of course he did.
"I've missed you a lot," he said, his voice smooth. "See? It didn't even hurt."
Maybelline didn't answer, looking straight ahead. Maybe he was right, and she was being stupid, maybe he wasn't. But either way, he certainly had no right to have his feelings hurt.
"I knew you'd be like this after twelve months alone with Mr. Iceberg," Andrew jeered and probably tried to sound even, but the subtext of his message was bitter.
And there it was. Maybelline waited to see how long it would take before he would brought him up, but this felt like too soon. The odd thing was that Andrew was a pretty easygoing person, who could endure almost anything without much trouble and nothing could fly him off the handle. But from the first moment they had met - Andrew couldn't stand Marcus Kane.
Maybelline turned to him and frowned.
"You were dying to mention him, weren't you?" she asked flatly.
"Yes," Andrew admitted without hesitation, the look in his pastel blue eyes was intense. "Because as soon as you got off the dropship, I could almost see him standing behind your back, whispering into your ear. I bet that you two planned this whole trip together, am I wrong?"
"You're not," Maybelline retorted indifferently. "You got a problem with that?"
Andrew obviously had a lot of problems with that.
"Tell me, did he tell you to not talk to me?" he smiled at her sourly.
"He wouldn't do such a thing."
"But he wouldn't encourage it either, huh?"
"Stop acting like a child, Andrew."
But the red haired boy was far from done.
"And he was certainly the one who suggested -no, commanded, you stay away from those kids, right? To not get involved? Because I was watching you, May, and you didn't even want to look at them. Any of them."
Maybelline halted, turning to face him, fire in her eyes.
"You got yourself into the Skybox. You were gone for over a year. So you have no right to behave like nothing had happened and preach from your high horse. You don't get to talk about him when you don't know anything."
Andrew regarded her for a moment, his eyes probing and then he closed them shut. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, smiling.
"Okay, I get it. It'll take a while... But everything's gonna be fine," he assured, more himself rather than her.
Maybelline's eyebrows cringed.
"What?"
"I can fix it, May, it'll be okay again," he told her cheerfully. Maybelline wasn't sure what was he planning to fix, but she didn't appreciate his current attitude. "You're here now, around people with actual feelings, so that's only gonna do you good from here on out."
Maybelline was glaring at him as he just stood there, dopey smile on his face.
"You're an idiot," she informed him bluntly.
"But you love me anyway," Andrew replied as he shrugged. An amused snort slipped through her lips - she couldn't help it, the confidence flushed all over him. How could be anyone so absolutely sure of having all the answers?
"See? You're already getting better," he chirped with a grin. "That's why I think we should stay with the others. Which is, by the way, another fascinating conversation you are about to happily have with me now."
Maybelline sighed at his enthusiastically energetic words.
"Am I really?" she asked sarcastically.
Andrew tried to nod with a serious expression on his face.
"That's right."
"Hell no. There's nothing to talk about. I'm not going back."
"Can we discuss this?"
"No."
"Fine."
From the corner of her eye, Maybelline saw him bending over for a piece of timber and in the next second, he tossed it at her without much power behind the trow. The black haired girl caught it without a problem thanks to her quick reflexes and his weak aim, and gave him a pointed look.
"What was that about?" she asked suspiciously.
"We don't have to talk, let's solve it a different way." Andrew picked up another branch, turning it in his fingers quickly. "We'll have a little exercise fight. If I win, we'll come back to camp after all this. If you win, we can spend God knows how long in the cold military base waiting for the Ark to start dictating our lives again. I personally can't wait."
Maybelline stared at him blankly, the piece of wood still surprisingly in her hand for some reason.
"You're kidding, right?"
He couldn't be serious. They were in the middle of a toxic forest, animals around here proved to be degenerate and dangerous, and people who survived the nuclear apocalypse had the ugly tendency to try and murder them all, for whatever reason. And he wanted to mess around with sticks?
"Come on," Andrew drawled, grinning from ear to ear. "It'll be fun."
"You have been in prison for a year," Maybelline reminded him casually. What exactly was he going to present her with that stick?
"I was," the boy said simply. "And you think that I was just sitting on my hands all day long?"
Well, he did have a lot of time on his hands in the Skybox… But that didn't matter. Maybe he was training every day, maybe he was sleeping, Maybelline wasn't in the mood to find out.
"No," she said resolutely. "We have to stay focused. If you haven't realized yet, there are other people around, not exactly friendly, a teeny bit territorial. We don't get to behave irresponsibly."
"For God's sake," Andrew sighed, rolling his eyes. "We're on Earth, May. Has that not sunk in yet? We're not locked in a metal tin anymore, we're not breathing the synthetic air, we're here! After almost a hundred years... Stop overthinking everything and just… enjoy the fact."
"I'll have plenty of time to enjoy it after we finish our business at Mount Weather," the black haired girl contended, still stubborn.
"So I take it you're afraid of losing?" Andrew smiled slyly. "Well, that makes sense... Considering how most of our past struggles ended…"
"Do you really take me for such an idiot?" Maybelline snorted, shaking her head at his poor effort. "You think that I can be provoked that easily?"
Andrew didn't answer. He merely took his backpack off with his free hand and started to spin the branch in his hand as he approached her.
"Stop it, Andrew," Maybelline warned with a frown. "I really-"
She didn't even finish her sentence because Andrew attacked her and she had to instantly block him out with her own branch.
"Come on, May," the boy drawled out again, shifting from foot to foot. "A whole year. I know that you wanted to hit me at least several times during that time… This could be a wonderful icebreaker!"
"We. Don't. Have. Time. For this," Maybelline growled, bouncing his branch aside and away again, sharper than was necessary.
"Oh, don't worry. I intend to finish it quickly," Andrew assured her confidently with a smug smile - the very one which she often saw on Bellamy Blake's face.
Screw it, he's going down.
Maybelline let her bag slip to the ground and surged forward. Andrew was taken aback by her abrupt reaction for a moment, but he quickly assimilated himself in response. After only a few strokes, the black haired girl knew he was telling the truth - he hadn't exactly relaxed in the Skybox. He was just as in form and full of energy as always. And once again he was right - it felt really nice to try to hammer him into the ground with a solid piece of wood.
Maybelline lost track of time during the fight. She was faster and he was stronger - nothing had changed, it was always like that. In the end, their battle was only about who devised a better strategy, a smarter trick, anything that would help them to victory swift enough.
Neither of them managed to directly hit the other one. The branches proved to be much tougher than they seemed, it was really surprising that neither of them snapped in half during the process. Maybelline bent back to avoid Andrew's lunge, the wood was merely millimeters from her face. In return she harshly lashed out with her own branch, aiming for his abdomen, and Andrew didn't block the attack.
The stick jabbed him hard in his stomach. Maybelline froze for a moment, just a second of hesitation, and it was all he needed to trip her legs from beneath. She realized too late that he let her hit him on purpose. Maybelline fell onto the soft grass, and before she could stop herself she was holding a gun pointed at the red haired boy, who immediately stilled, his arms outstretched and the branch falling from his fingers, his light blue eyes unreadable.
"It looks like I won," Maybelline stated as evenly as she could, trying to catch her breath.
"That's cheating," Andrew scowled at her. Well, it wasn't like any other of their previous fight had strict rules anyway.
"The result is the only thing that matters," she replied simply.
Andrew's eyes narrowed and he put his hands down.
"Did Marcus Kane teach you that?" he asked knowingly.
Maybelline didn't even have the time to resent the comment because, in the next second, she overheard the distinct sound of approaching steps. She grabbed Andrew's shirt, pulling him to the ground, and they both pressed their backs against the nearest tree trunk, hiding in its fold. The steps approached closer and Maybelline had her gun ready. It sounded like just one enemy. One very slow and loud Grounder, possibly untrained.
It only took a few seconds before the intruder entered their field of vision. He walked to the center of the clearing, which had just served them as a ring. His eyes lowered to the sight of her abandoned backpack lying on the ground and he scratched his head. Maybelline felt a mixture of disbelief and anger inside of her - she would recognize that thick mane of hair anywhere.
"Are you kidding me?!" she growled, pulling up to her feet as she tucked the gun back into her belt.
Finn Collins was startled by her exclamation and turned to her with a nervous smile on his face.
"Um... Hey, guys!" he greeted them uncertainly.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Maybelline was glaring at the younger boy with murder in her eyes. She nearly shot that freaking idiot! Not like it wouldn't solve some things…
While she tried to find it in her not strangle the newcomer, her red haired friend decided to on a different approach.
"Hi, I'm Andrew," he said cheerfully, walking to him with his hand held out. "You're the Spacewalker, right?"
Maybelline smacked his outstretched hand back to his side, looking at him in disbelief.
"For real?"
"Relax, May," Andrew tried to calm her down. "Maybe he just went out for a walk-"
"He was tracking us and you know it!" Maybelline indignantly pointed at Finn, who just stood there, looking from one to the other. "The worst part is that he probably just did it out of boredom!"
"Hey, I'm standing right here," the Spacewalker spoke up. "And just so you know, I had a reason. I was curious," he added as if that was enough to justify everything.
Maybelline folded her arms.
"That's your reason?" she asked cynically. "Seriously?"
"Well, I've never seen you voluntarily talk to anyone before, so-"
"Shut up, Collins."
Andrew started to laugh, amused, but stopped when he met Maybelline's glare.
"Don't look at me like that. The problem is that your "uncaring" behavior attracts more attention to you and your movements than if you were just trying to blend in with the crowd," he explained it to her, as if it was supposed to be perfectly clear. "You'd know that if you had just asked me," he added pointedly.
Oh, so Mr. KnowItAll is in check, what a relief.
"Yeah, exactly," Finn agreed with him immediately. "That and the fact that Wells told us that you wanted to leave."
Andrew turned to her, his eyebrows raised.
"You told Jaha? Why would you do that?" he didn't understand.
Because I'm an idiot.
"I didn't tell him anything, he figured it out," Maybelline muttered, frowning.
"Unlike his dad - he's got it right in that head of his," Collins nodded with a smile on his face.
Maybelline looked at him with narrowed eyes. How could he be so damn happy all the time?!
"Go back to camp, Finn," she told him uncompromisingly.
Spacewalker gave her a bold smile, folding his arms. "Are you gonna make me?" he asked defiantly.
Sure, wanna see?
Andrew probably noticed a dangerous glint in her eyes because she grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, out of earshot, before she could do anything.
"What's the actual matter here?" he asked, puzzled. "Why are you so angry? I'm pretty sure he's one of the good guys."
"His confidence really gets on my nerves," Maybelline said angrily, still watching Finn with her narrowed eyes. He, as if he wanted to confirm her words, lifted her bag and started to grope around for whatever was inside it. How the hell was possible that she didn't even notice him following them?
"You couldn't have known that he went after us," Andrew told her firmly, as if reading her mind. "We had a pretty good head start."
"Could you stop pretending that you know what I think?" Maybelline growled at him crossly.
Andrew chuckled and raised his eyebrows.
"Pretend? Please..." He shook his head. "Whatever. The thing is - you can't send him back now. We're far enough away from the camp, and it could be dangerous for him."
"I don't care," Maybelline stated indifferently.
"Maybelline..."
"We're not his bodyguards."
"Yeah, so if something happens, you're just gonna let him die?" Andrew asked, giving her a meaningful look.
"Yes," Maybelline replied as surely as she could.
They were staring at each other and their looks reflected more than a thousand words.
"He's coming with us," Andrew eventually decided, seemingly for both of them.
"He is not. We'll be vulnerable because of him, and I'm not going to endanger the lives of thousands of people on the Ark just because Collins had nothing to do," Maybelline frowned.
"I'll keep an eye on him," the red haired boy offered casually. It was almost like he was begging to keep a puppy and Maybelline was his no nonsense mother.
Maybelline examined Andrew carefully. Even though he was still smiling, his eyes were adamant. She couldn't win this argument, not if she wanted him to go to Mount Weather with her.
"If something, anything, happens, that's on you," Maybelline told him flatly.
"Okay," Andrew shrugged his shoulders. "But it'll be fine, trust me."
Trust him. Maybelline snorted, turning her back to him. As intelligent as Andrew was, he sometimes believed in things or behaved like an irresponsible idiot. Saying stuff like "everything will be fine, if we believe it"? Seriously, where were they?
Andrew rubbed his hands together.
"Welcome to our trip!" he told Finn gleefully.
"Seriously? Great." Collins's eyes widened with excitement, apparently not expecting this outcome. His smile faded a bit when Maybelline approached him, snatching her backpack from his hands sharply.
"Stay out of my way," she told him coldly and started to walk away.
"I've never seen her this angry," she heard Finn say quietly.
On the contrary, Andrew wasn't trying to be quiet at all.
"Yeah, well, she didn't see this coming. And things she can't predict make her really insecure."
Maybelline twisted around to her friend, her eyes wide. But Andrew just stood there, right next to a really shocked Finn, an innocent smile on his face.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, her voice prim and almost shrill.
"Having a conversation?" he asked in mock uncertainly. "Is there a problem?"
"Of course not, no, just go ahead," Maybelline encouraged him sarcastically. "How about you tell him what happened with the lamp."
"Yeah," Andrew chuckled merrily as the memory amused him and he turned to face the younger boy. "It was about three years ago, May and I-"
"Andrew!" Maybelline hissed at him in panic and Finn burst out laughing.
In that moment, she realized that the whole had trip just turned into a nightmare. Because Andrew Carlyle and Finn Collins were never supposed to meet. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all.
Maybelline watched as Andrew tried to stifle a laugh, solving the problem by turning around and walking to fetch his own backpack that still laid by the clearing. Finn, of course, didn't miss that, looking between the two of them. Maybelline could see how he was taking in how far apart their backpacks actually were, the cogs in his mind spinning.
"What were you doing here anyway?" he asked curiously.
"What's it to you?" Maybelline replied without hesitation.
"We were just in the process of deciding whether, after all this we return to camp or not," Andrew explained gladly. "And I won," he added wryly.
"Like hell you did."
"We'll talk about it later," Andrew just waved his hand carelessly.
"What exactly was the process of deciding?" Finn frowned, puzzled.
Andrew took a breath to explain it to him, but in that moment, Maybelline moved forward, grabbed the red haired boy's wrist and began to pull him ahead.
This ends now. I'm not going to let the Spacewalker turn this trip in a thousand and one question for Andrew Carlyle. Certainly not when he is in a so talkative mood.
"Slow down, he can't keep up," Andrew pressed after some time, looking back at Finn, who was following them as quickly as he could, and struggling.
"That's the point," Maybelline informed.
The boy chuckled but made her slow down a bit.
"Relax, May, I would have never told him about the lamp incident," he smiled at her. "I was just kidding."
"You shouldn't tell him anything about me."
"And why not? What's so wrong with that?"
"I'm not here to make friends, Andrew," Maybelline told him seriously. "I have a job to do."
"You always have something to do," Andrew retorted. "Ever since the age of nine, you've had something to do. You had to pass the test and you did. But then project Exodus came and you had another thing. And when the Ark lands, you'll have another job, I'm sure. Can't you see it? It never ends. You've never been anywhere to just make friends."
Maybelline stared into his intensive eyes.
"I don't need anyone."
"You know very well that's not true," Andrew said softly with a smile and put his hand on her shoulder when she tried to turn away. "And I know it as well. I saw your face when you saw me. Pure happiness!" He winked at her.
Maybelline scoffed but smiled.
"Don't be so full of yourself…"
"So," Finn has finally caught up with them, smirking mischievously. "Are you two like… a thing?" He asked, destroying what some might call a nice moment.
Maybelline looked at him coldly.
"We're not-" she started.
"I think we are quite a big thing, alright," Andrew interrupted her with much friendlier tone. "But not in that way."
"Wait, now I'm confused."
"So what," Maybelline obviously wasn't willing to spell it out for him. "You shouldn't be asking those questions anyway."
"Why not, Little One? Too personal for you? Are you uncomfortable?" Finn's smirk widened as he looked to her, evidently enjoying this whole situation.
Maybelline smiled at him sweetly.
"What about you and Clarke? Are you two like a thing?"
Finn froze on his spot, his expression stern.
"That's why," she added shrewdly.
Finn snorted, shaking his head.
"Whatever… But if you two are such great friends, how come I've never seen you together before? We've been here for four days, after all."
Maybelline and Andrew looked at each other, but the black haired girl quickly avoided his eyes. She wasn't going to talk about it now. Certainly not in front of the damned Spacewalker.
"Well," Andrew started evasively. "We had some weaker moments..."
"Andrew... What... are you doing?"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, May, I am. But this is the only way."
Maybelline shook her head, pushing unpleasant memories away. She wasn't going to think about it, she wasn't going to talk about it. If they both could just forget that it ever happened, it would be best for everyone.
She quickly turned to Finn before he could take a breath and demand further explanation.
"Are you done with your questions?" she asked him, trying to hide her irritation.
"Not even close," Spacewalker replied with a smile.
"You're done," the black haired girl told him firmly. "You forced yourself here with no care at all over whether we would mind and according to someone," she gave Andrew a meaningful look. "we're too far out to send you back by yourself. So you're with us now and you should know that we're not picking berries. We're heading to the Mount Weather, it could be dangerous. So it's time to set some rules, Spacewalker."
Andrew leaned against the tree trunk, smiling and basing his arms. "This should be interesting ..." he commented cheerfully.
Maybelline ignored him, giving Finn a piercing look.
"You won't be loud or careless. You're going to stay in the back, head down and ears open. You're gonna do everything I tell you. If you have a problem with that, you can turn around and go back to camp, is that clear?"
Finn blinked. He turned to Andrew as if he expected that the red headed boy would add something funny to lighten the mood, but Andrew, very wisely, didn't. The boy then looked back at Maybelline, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"So?"
"I just wonder who gets off on ordering around more," Finn said, tilting his head, regarding her with meaningful. "You? Or Blake?"
Maybelline bit her lip.
"Do not compare me to Bellamy Blake."
Spacewalker just shrugged and pursed his lips.
"Well, you're the one who saved Mr. Food-for-bracelet's life," he intoned, his voice self-righteous and belittling.
Andrew turned to her, a surprised expression on his face, his mouth gaping open almost comically.
"You saved Bellamy Blake?"
Evidently, he was now sorry for all the things he had previously missed.
Maybelline sighed theatrically.
"The second biggest mistake of my life."
"What was the first?" Finn immediately asked, nosy as ever.
"Saving yours," Maybelline replied without hesitation.
Spacewalker frowned, giving her a nasty look.
"That wasn't funny."
"Wasn't meant to be. Make a decision, Collins."
"I'll go with you, and I'll behave. But I have one other question," he stated the condition, as if he was in any place to.
Maybelline just rolled her eyes, hoping that if she appeased him maybe he'd give it all a rest.
"So let's get this over with," she sighed, rubbing her temple softly, willing away the headache he was creating.
"How did you two meet?"
She got kicked in the stomach and ended up on the floor. In that moment, it didn't matter to Maybelline that they were being trained to control their emotions and not to take anything personally - when someone hurts you, you're biologically inclined to resent them. She tried to catch her breath as the final hit blew all the oxygen out of her lungs, and she narrowed her eyes at the boy above her, who stared back blankly with his hands folded across his chest.
"Stand up, Emery," Shumway said, his voice hard. But Maybelline was done. She could hardly breathe, and was unable even feel her legs anymore, let alone continue the fight.
"Stand up!" The commander ordered once more - and he was never known to repeat it thrice time, but Maybelline didn't really care. Her opponent uncrossed his arms and stepped closer to her. Maybelline looked at him carefully, wary of what he was trying to achieve, but Shumway had better guess of his intentions.
"Don't!" he demanded sternly. "Don't help her up!"
But the boy didn't obey. He leaned down, and with the same hands that dealt hard blows to her just moments ago, he gently pulled her up to her feet. The others were watching them, puzzled by the display and Shumway seemed he was about to burst at any second. He really hated disobedience, but so did everyone else on the Ark.
"You're on ten minutes time-out! Report to me at the end of the day!" he shouted at them and signalized the rest of the group to continue training. Maybelline slowly followed the boy into a corridor out the side of the training pen. It was cold and there was nowhere to sit, so she leaned against the wall, dabbing sweat from her forehead.
"Why did you do that?" she asked suspiciously, as soon as the door closed behind them.
The boy looked at her with his blue eyes, eyeing her from the head to the toe.
"You're hopeless," he told her in a clear voice. "Your defense is a tragedy."
Maybelline was taken aback by his answer and also offended, but she wasn't going to let him know that.
"Thanks," she replied sarcastically.
"You were also looking at my feet the whole time. That's not the best strategy, if you ask me," the boy went on.
"Anything else?" Maybelline asked bitterly.
"Yeah," the boy replied, his lips twisting into a sly smile. "I'm Andrew."
Maybelline blinked, thoroughly confused.
"They told us that we shouldn't get involved. It might distract us from our mission," she repeated the exact words of Commander Shumway.
"They also told me to not to help you up," Andrew remarked significantly. "But weren't you glad that I did?"
Maybelline looked into his blue eyes, thinking over his words, still puzzled. Was this a trick? Another test?
"What, Emery? Can't you make a decision without someone telling you what to do?" he asked mockingly, a spark in his eyes.
"My name's Maybelline," the black haired girl said belligerently. If she expected his recognition, she had miscalculated because the boy with red hair just chuckled.
"That's an awfully long and overly complicated."
Maybelline raised an eyebrow. Was he serious?
"It' has only three syllables."
"If you say so," Andrew shrugged his shoulders carelessly, eyeing her over again. "Next time, don't look at my feet, May. Look into my eyes."
"Why?" the black haired girl asked with a frown. His intense gaze on her wasn't comfortable and she definitely didn't appreciate how casually he shortened her name, not caring if it bothered her or not.
"Isn't it obvious?" the boy chuckled again. "They're what give everyone away."
"How do people usually meet?" Maybelline replied to Collins' question evasively while turning her back on him to indicate that he won't get a better answer.
Andrew had a different opinion.
"You see, I was one of the fifty children who were selected for the Rorchack test."
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