Chapter 18

Marie smiled brightly at Lexa and Anya once both women ended their fight. The girl had actually no idea who of the two had won at all, but the fight had been extremely impressive.

A few of the younger warriors were cheering for their commander though, so, Marie guessed that Lexa had in fact won.

Lexa nodded to them in acknowledgment before she made a dismissive gesture and the crowd around them began to slowly diffuse.

"Have you both learned something?" Anya addressed both girls likewise, wiping at the sweat on her face, which only resulted in her smearing some dirt across her face.

Marie nodded quickly, but her smile faltered visibly once she noticed Lexa bleeding and her expression turned even horrified at noticing that the woman's blood was not red like her own, but it appeared to be pitch black instead. She had never seen blood with this colour. Was the woman sick? Would she stop to breathe soon too?

"Are you sick?" she questioned in a low tone, expression still horrified and grey eyes glued to a small gash bleeding above Lexa's left eyebrow.

Lexa frowned slightly at the child in confusion and shook her head in the negative, unsure if the fight might have just frightened the little girl. It was likely that the girl had never seen such a brutal fight before, but it had not been her intention to shock the little girl. "I am fine" she reassured her in a soft tone and crouched down directly in front of Marie, refraining from reaching out and touching the girl for now, not wanting to startle the obviously upset child "You do not need to be afraid" she tried to sooth the blonde girl in a gentle tone.

Marie reached out a chubby little hand, cautiously wiping at the black substance which had begun to run down the left side of the commander's face. "But it black" she said in worry and confusion likewise, inspecting her fingertips with the black blood on them closely, scrunching up her nose as she did so.

Lexa's expression lost her confusion and she gave the girl a reassuring smile, taking her little hand into her and cleaning her blood from her fingers "That is the blood of the commanders, little one, nothing to worry about".

"How it tu'ned that way?" Marie retorted questioningly; grey eyes focused still on the slightly bleeding wound on the commander's face. She could not understand how blood could somehow turn black like this.

"It has not turned that way magically" Lexa answered with a chuckle under her breath, as she wiped her sleeve over the left side of her face, removing most of the blood that way "I was born with it. Children born with this blood, nightbloods we call them, are all considered the next potential commander and are educated for their role in the capitol" she explained slowly to the young girl.

Marie seemed to soak up the information like a sponge, grey eyes wide and expression one of utter concentration and fascination "So, you not sick?" she checked once again, head titled slightly to the side in question.

"No, little one, I am not" Lexa assured the little girl once again in a patient tone.

"'kay" Marie acknowledged with a nod and the residual worry left her expression.

"Tris, go and gather what we will need for a trip to the river" Anya addressed her second in a commanding tone and the older blonde girl immediately nodded her head in acknowledgement, turned on her feet and hurried away from the training pits, weaving her way through the crowd effortlessly.

"Can I go with them, mother?" Marie looked at Lexa with a hopeful expression, tone shy and soft.

Lexa shortly bandied a look with Anya, before she nodded in confirmation to the little girl.

Marie smiled brightly in reaction, looking up at Anya with excitement glimmering within her large grey eyes.

"Let us go then" Anya said in a kind tone, offering a hand to the child. Their trip would certainly take longer when she took Marie with them, but there was nothing pressing planned for the rest of the day, so that should not cause any problems. The child was small enough, that she could easily carry her on their way back as she highly doubted that the girl would truly have enough physical strength to complete the track without help.

Marie took hold of the general's hand without hesitant and she actually waved goodbye at Lexa as she followed Anya in the direction of the edge of TonDC and towards the forest.

Anya slowed her steps accordingly to how quickly Marie was able to walk at all, she did not wish the girl to fall and harm herself after all.

It took Tris only a few moments to catch up with them, slightly out of breath and loaded with a large bag.

On the way to the stream, Anya took the time to point out all the different plants they encountered, asking Tris to name them and to enumerate their usage.

Marie tried to listen to all the new information being poured inside her brain. She continued to sometimes tug at Anya's hand when a plant seemed especially pretty and she wanted to touch it.

Anya finally let go of the girl's hand with the sharp order not to move out of sight. She knew how easily she could lose the girl in the dense forest around them.

Marie began to move around Anya and Tris with slightly jumping motions, humming a joyous tone to herself from a song she remembered from her father. She plucked a few flowers, arranging them into a colourful nosegay.

Anya watched the girl with a sight frown, wondering what the child had planned to do with the flowers. She had at first though that Marie was picking them up to get some ingredients for some kind of tea, but the child seemed to only select colourful flowers.

When she asked the girl after it, Marie softly answered "Gift fo' Lexa" flashing a smile at the general, before she turned around again, plucking up another flower.

Anya slightly shook her head at the child's antics, but let her be, not finding any harm in it although she failed to see the sense of it.

They continued their way like that, until Anya suddenly heard something. She sharply called Marie to her side.

The little girl looked up, clearly startled by the shouted order and her grey eyes were noticeably wide when she stepped up to the woman.

One of Anya's hands rested on her sword, while her eyes were scanning the forest ahead of them. Tris stood beside them and just when a figure suddenly appeared in front of them, the older girl immediately let her bag drop to the ground, making a grab for her own weapon.

"Reaper!" Anya hissed in disgust as she took up her own sword. She crouched down in front of Marie, locking gazes with the girl as she pointed to a high bush to their left "I want you to hide there. You do not come out before I tell you" she ordered the girl with a tone which rung with finality.

Marie nodded her head quickly and she stumbled slightly as the general gave her a rather unexpected push in the direction of the bush. She obediently crawled right into the bush, ignoring the twigs pulling at her hair and slightly scratching over her cheeks.

Marie watched with wide eyes how the sole figure ahead of Anya and Tris suddenly was joined by two others and she held her breath when the fight began. She did not know against what exactly the two were fighting. The sounds which they made did not sound exactly human or they were definitely not using any kind of real spoken language at least and Marie felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing up in rising fear.

What neither of them must have expected was for a fourth reaper to suddenly appear directly in front of the bush in which Marie was hiding and the little girl elicited a high-pitched shrill scream, when the creature bent closer to her and grabbed into the bush. What she had been able to see of the reaper had been a horribly distorted face and she absentmindedly wondered just what must have happened to this human, as she was fairly certain that this thing must have been a human in the past.

"Marie, run!" Anya suddenly shouted the order, appearing behind the child and trying to get the reaper's attention away from the little girl.

Marie scrambled to her feet as fast as she could and she began to move away from the ongoing fight on instinct. She felt her injured ankle smart slightly, but she paid it no further mind, moving through the forest as fast as she could, hoping that she was actually moving in the direction of TonDC and not away from the village.

She only slowed when she heard noises coming from the direction in which she was moving. Marie remained rooted to the spot, indecisive on what to do. Should she hide? Could that be a patrol from the village? They could bring her back then. But it could also be a dangerous animal or another of those reaper things.

Her grey eyes widened though when she finally recognized Bellamy and Clarke appearing in front of her.

The older blonde girl appeared completely dumb struck for a moment as her blue eyes scanned over the young girl. All of them thought that Marie must have been fallen prey to a predator or that the girl could have been killed by the other survivors living on earth.

"Marie" Clarke exclaimed, letting the bundle of guns she had been carrying drop to the ground of the forest carelessly "you are alive" she spoke out the obvious, kneeling down in front of the little girl. She reached out encasing the child's roundish cheeks with her hands and caressing over the soft skin.

Marie nodded mutely, still too shocked at what had been happening to speak.

Bellamy stepped up directly behind Clarke and gave the young child a warm smile "Are you injured?" he asked in a caring tone, eyes scanning over the blonde girl quickly. The child seemed unharmed apart from a few obvious superficial scratches on her face. It did not fail his notice though that the girl was not wearing Ark's clothing any longer and she had also not worn her hair in this fashion with them either, which only allowed the conclusion that Marie must have been with the people from earth. It puzzled him though that these people must have allowed Marie to live and apparently also given her shelter and care instead of killing her, after what they had done to Jasper, he would have expected a harsher response.

"No, 'm fine" Marie responded a little breathless now herself. Although she had run away just moments ago, she had still held onto her bouquet of flowers. She frowned down at it though with a disappointed expression, most of the pretty flowers had been destroyed in her haste. Her grey eyes fell onto the bundle of guns at Clarke's feet and she noticed Bellamy carrying another one as well. She wondered just where they had gotten the weapons from, she knew that the Ark had not given them those.

"You picked them for someone?" Clarke asked in a curious tone, immediately wondering what had happened to the girl during the past days. She had continued to search for the little girl for some time, but even she had to acknowledge that there was no hope any longer for Marie to survive on her own after the third day had passed.

Marie nodded her head "Gift fo' Lexa" she repeated her previous answer to Anya in a sad tone. She could not give her those now though. She turned her gaze over her shoulder, wondering just how far away Anya and Tris were now.

"We need to get back to camp" Bellamy spoke up, tightening his grasp on his bundle of guns. He wanted to get back to the others and tell them about their newfound security measures.

Marie's pout only deepened, she wanted to return to TonDC and not get back to the dropship. They had barely had any food there and no real places to sleep either. She wanted to get back to Lexa, she liked the woman and had felt safe with her.

Clarke got back to her feet, nodding to Bellamy in agreement. They still needed to cover a long walk back to camp and neither of them knew exactly when the sun would be setting, neither of them could navigate well through the forest in darkness.