It had been two days since Jasper blew up the bridge and prevented the grounders from invading. Two days since Reigna and Murphy started making out at night. A lot. Not that she let anyone else know. Not even Octavia, she didn't need her rubbing it in her face. And besides, they weren't together. So why did it matter. That morning Murphy woke Reigna up to let her know he was going to help Octavia and Del in the smokehouse. Reigna responded with a muffled groan of acknowledgement before promptly falling back asleep for two more hours. When she was awoken again, it was by Clarke barging into her tent to wake her up.
"Come on, leader's meeting." Clarke said, throwing off Reigna's blankets and making her groan loudly.
"Leader's meeting? Since when have we ever done those?" Reigna asked, stretching her arms above her head but making no move to get up.
"Since now, so get up." Clarke commanded, standing with her arms crossed. Reigna finally opened her eyes to stare angrily up at Clarke.
"You aren't going anywhere until i do, huh." Regina asked, to which Clarke responded with a simple shake of her head. Reigna sighed in annoyance before sitting up and quickly stuffing her feet in her boots and throwing Murphy's jacket on before standing.
"Lets go, then." Reigna motioned for Clarke to lead as they both exited the tent. Their walk was short, finding Bellamy at the entrance to camp.
"Anything?" He asked as they approached.
"It's been two days. Maybe the bomb at the bridge scared them off for good." Clarke replied with a shrug.
"That's wishful thinking if i've ever heard it." Reigna mumbled, deciding to shake her hair out of the haphazard ponytail she threw it into the previous night.
"They'll be back." Clarke clarified at Bellamy's skeptical look.
"Jasper thinks he can cook up some more gunpowder if he gets some sulfur, and Raven says she can turn that into landmines." Bellamy grinned gesturing out to the dirt path that led to the front gate of camp, "So watch where you step."
"Ha! Funny." Clarke rolled her eyes, looking out to where Bellamy pointed.
"Fun. Piss landmines." Reigna's lip twitched as she spoke, making both Bellamy and Clarke look at her, "How else do you think he's gonna get sulfur." She countered.
"What i really need is a thousand more of her tin bombs so i can roll into their village and blow those Grounders to hell. That's what they wanna do to us." Bellamy said and Reigna rolled her eyes at the thought.
"Can't believe we survived a hundred years just so we could slaughter each other. There has to be another way." Clarke mumbled the end, making Reigna scoff. She had another way, but Bellamy, Raven and Jasper ruined it.
"Any word from the ark?" Clarke asked.
"Radio silent." Bellamy replied.
"Finally ran out of air." Reigna said, looking up into the clear sky, "Took them long enough."
"Maybe our parents were lucky being on the exodus ship," Clarke directed the statement to Reigna.
"I wish he would have suffered." Reigna replied coldly, "But it doesn't matter, now we know that no one's going to come save us."
-0-
Reigna didn't know what boredom was until now. Even in lockup she wasn't bored, mostly because she would never see another person while she was there. But here she had friends but, of course, they were both working. She had half a mind to go intrude on the smokehouse herself just to see Octavia and Murphy, but Clarke snitched on her to Bellamy who promptly put her on lookout duty. Reigna could almost fall asleep here, chin resting on the muzzle of her gun. Everything was quiet, not silent but, just quiet enough to sway Reigna into a nap until,
"Woah! Guys! Fire!" Regina heard someone yell behind her, shocking her into consciousness. Flying to her feed, Reigna quickly climbed off the perch for the lookouts and raced towards the smoke. Finn and Raven were right in front of her as they all raced toward the smokehouse, which was quickly going up in flames. Octavia, Murphy and Del were being rushed out. Reigna pushed past Finn and Raven, rushing to Octavia's side as she coughed.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Reigna asked hurriedly as some other delinquents rushed to put out the fire. Bellamy quickly nealed on Octavia's other side as she coughed and pointed to Del.
"This is all your fault! She told you it was too much wood!" Reigna heard Murphy yell before she swung and hit Del in the chin. Del tried to block Murphy's punches, before managing to shove him away.
"Man, get the hell away from me!" Del struggled before Reigna finally got to Murphy, grabbing his arm and dragging him away, Bellamy getting Del away from Murphy.
"Save it for the grounders! Reigna get him the hell out of here." Bellamy yelled and Reigna nodded once before taking an angry Murphy away to a log bench to sit.
"Christ, Murph. Calm down." Reigna sighed, sitting down next to Murphy after forcing him to sit.
"Octavia fucking told him it was too much, and he didn't listen. Now we have no food, fucking idiot." Murphy clenched his fists in his lap as he spoke.
"Hey," Reigna grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her, "We'll figure it out. I'm sure Bellamy's already trying to sort out a hunting party or something. Starving isn't gonna be what kills us. You got me?" Reigna said sternly and Murphy nodded once. Reigna nodded back with a cheeky smile.
"Good! Now unclench your fists and put down your shoulders, you don't scare me." She said, significantly softer than before, grabbing both of Murphy's hands and carefully winding their hands together.
"Reigna! Get your ass over here, you need to hunt." Bellamy called out, making Reigna roll her eyes.
"Just go! I don't need anyone's help to kill an animal." Reigna replied, not even bothering to look over at him when she spoke.
"Reigna, i'm not-"
"Bellamy, hate to break it to you but i don't give a shit. Go." She interrupted him, not even giving him a second glance. She heard him huff angrily before finally turning and leaving her alone.
"You sure you'll be okay by yourself out there?" Murphy asked, walking with her hand in his back to their tent.
"Of course. And don't suggest coming with me, the last thing I need is some grounders possibly catching a whiff of you and stealing you away from me again." Reigna clarified, ducking into their tent.
"I just don't want you to get hurt, Reign." Murphy grumbled.
"I get hurt all the time. Nothing's killed me yet." Reigna shrugged, gathering together her growing collection of knives. After shoving a few knives into both of her boots, Reigna stood back up and smiled.
"I'll be back before you know it." Reigna confirmed, stepping up onto the tips of her toes to peck Murphy's lips once before swiftly leaving the tent.
"You can't just kiss me then walk away." Murphy called out to her as he exited the tent.
"I just did." Reigna waved over her shoulder as she walked off, "If i come back late don't wait up for me."
"No promises…" Murphy mumbled before sighing and making himself busy.
-0-
Reigna had no issues being out in the woods alone. In fact, she preferred it to being with a group. If anything, she would have invited Octavia to come with her but let her sister rest from the fire earlier. Reigna had gone out of her way to go in the opposite direction of the rest of the groups, knowing if too many people flooded the woods, all the animals would just flee anyway. She didn't think she would be finding any big game while she was out, but it wouldn't hurt to bring back as many squirrels or rabbits as she could.
'The more food, the better' Reigna thought as she expertly impaled a squirrel to a tree trunk. Sighing, she pulled her knife from the animal's head and wiped the remaining blood onto the sleeve of Murphy's jacket. In her peripheral vision, Reigna saw a flash of white and heard a slight rustle in the trees. Turning her head to face the sound, Reigna saw nothing but a smirk rose to her face.
"Well… Down the rabbit hole we go, I guess." Reigna shrugged before grabbing a small rope from her pocket and tying the dead squirrel to her belt loop and wandering off deeper into the woods.
-0-
As the sun began to set, Reigna continued to wander off deeper into the woods, following any sound or sight that was similar to the flash of white she saw. Knowing very well she could be walking herself into a trap, she kept her knife steady in her hand and took nearly silent steps through the woods. Every minute Reigna would hear a slight crunch in the leaves or a snap of a twig, making her pause. Eventually she sighed and stood up straight, turning in a circle. Feeling eyes on her she finally shrugged.
"So, do you want something? Or did you just want to look at me?" Reigna asked, a sour look plastered on her face. Before she could open her mouth to say something else, an arrow flew directly in front of her face, imbedding itself in the tree behind her head. Reigna tensed, waiting for more arrows to fly, but they never came. Instead, she heard the sound of swiftly retreating footsteps before silence. Turning to the tree, Reigna inspected the arrow. Planting her foot on the tree, she roughly pulled it from the bark. Around the shaft, a sheet of yellowed paper was tied off.
"The hell?" Reigna mumbled, glancing over her shoulder as the untied the knot holding the paper in place. As she looked over the paper, her brows furrowed.
"What the hell?"
-0-
"Is Lincoln still near us?" Reigna suddenly asked Octavia as she reentered camp, throwing her single squirrel into a pile of fresh kills.
"Uh, yeah i think so… Why?" Octavia asked. Reigna glanced around them before grabbing Octavia's elbow and hauling her to the edge of camp.
"So i was out alone in the woods today, right?" Reigna asked rhetorically, "So a week or so back when Clarke, Bellamy and me went to that bunker I saw something white in the woods when I was trying to get back to camp. Today while I was out I saw it again." Reigna explained as Octavia nodded along slowly, taking in her words.
"So, of course, i followed it and after a while i just kinda stopped? And i felt it watching me so i, obviously, called out to it and," Reigna paused, showing Octaiva the arrow, "It shot this at me."
"Reigna, what the hell, you could have died!" Octavia exclaimed, but Reigna didn't react.
"Yeah, but, here's the thing. I don't think it was trying to kill me because it had this tied around it." Reigna dug out the paper from her jacket pocket.
"What is it?" Octavia asked, taking the paper and beginning to unfold it.
"A picture of me when i was looking for the bunker." Reigna said as Octavia looked it over.
"Yeah this is kinda weird. I do know for a fact that that arrow isn't from Lincoln's people." Octavia said, handing the paper back to Reigna.
"It's not?"
"No, he showed me how they make their arrows and… this isn't even remotely similar to how they look. I can take it to him, see if he knows from where?" Octavia suggested with a shrug.
"Please do." Reigna said and passed Octavia the arrow.
"I'll be quick, hang tight." Octavia said before slipping out of the gate and off into the woods.
-0-
In order to bide her time without going crazy, Reigna sought out her only other friend.
"Murphy!" Reigna's face broke into a smile as soon as she saw him.
"You're back already?" He asked, standing and meeting her halfway.
"I kinda got distracted, didn't really get much hunting done but it's whatever." Reigna shrugged, walking with Murphy to a log to sit. Stripping off his jacket, Reigna stretched her arms above her head, grateful for the gentle breeze on her arms.
"So what were you talking to Octavia about a bit ago." Murphy asked.
"I found an arrow in the woods. I wanted Octavia to go ask Lincoln how it was made. I love my knives but i might want to upgrade someday, you know." Regina half lied with an easygoing smile.
"I think you're too ambitious." Murphy chuckled, taking her bait.
"I mean honestly, how hard could it be. And I'm sure arrows are a lot easier to make than knives. Just saying." She pointed out, turning to sit sideways and lean her back against Murphy's side, feeling his arm wrap around her shoulders immediately after.
"Also, I think ranged combat is a little safer than swinging a knife at someone from a foot away, so you should welcome the hobby. It might keep me a bit safer." Reigna mentioned, inspecting Murphy's hand that was in front of her chest. His nails had almost completely grown back, the sight made Reigna happy.
"As long as you're safe, I don't give a shit what you do." Murphy said. A sentence that would have come off cold if he had said it to anyone else. Out of the corner of her eye, Reigna saw Raven storm into Bellamy's tent. Brushing the sight aside, Reigna tilted her head back to look up at Murphy.
"Me being myself keeps me safe, you do realize this right?" Reigna joked.
"You aren't that bad. I mean a little intimidating but that's easy to look past." Murphy smirked at her mock hurt expression. Murphy laughed once before Reigna felt his lips against her temple.
"Don't worry about it too much, I still love you." He mumbled before Reigna heard her name being called. Pulling away from Murphy faster than light, Reigna saw Octavia's shit eating grin from across the camp.
"Fuck, i don't get to enjoy anything," Reigna mumbled, "I'll be back." Reigna said to Murphy before standing and rushing over to Octavia.
"So you wanna tell me what all that was about or…" Octavia said teasingly as they walked to a more secluded part of camp.
"Speak of that to anyone and I will break your kneecaps." Reigna hissed, feeling her face burn, but continued on anyway, "So what did Lincoln say?"
"So, a bit concerning, but the arrow is from Azgeda. The Ice Nation. They're like way far north. He doesn't really know why Ice Nation would be this far south, even a spy or scout or something. But he said if he wasn't trying to kill you don't let it bother you." Octavia shrugged.
"So I guess that means no more random trysts out into the woods for me." Reigna sighed.
"Probably for your safety." Octavia agreed, "If anything, we could just go together?" She suggested.
"Sounds like a plan, sister." Reigna smiled.
"Awesome." Octavia grinned as the two turned and walked back into camp, Reigna ignoring the feeling of eyes on her back as she did.
-0-
After her talk with Octavia, Reigna went back to Murphy. He asked her about everything that happened while he was gone and Reigna eagerly recounted everything to him. She hadn't realized how long they had been speaking until Octavia bounded up to them.
"Reign, I need you to come with me. Finn, Clarke and Myles still aren't back. We're going to look for them." Octavia spewed out.
"Gotcha," Reigna responded, hopping to her feet and pulling her jacket back on, "Once again, i'll be back." Reigna said as Murphy stood.
"Don't get hurt." He said, his hand ghosting over her arm.
"Don't wait up." Reigna winked before turning away and following Octavia. At the entrance, Raven was with Bellamy and Monty waiting for them.
"Octavia and Reigna, you two stay with me." Raven said before passing a walkie-talkie to Bellamy and Monty.
"If you find anything let us know." She said to the boys before they all set out into the woods.
-0-
After some time in silence, Reigna heard Raven sigh dejectedly behind her.
"Where are they?" She wondered aloud.
"We'll find them." Octavia reassured her. Reigna didn't respond but kept her eyes peeled for anything that might lead them to figure out where their friends were. Over the radio, she could hear Monty's voice come through.
"I thought you said you were heading west. Where are you?" He asked.
"Just keep the moon to your left, you'll find us." Bellamy's voice came in shortly after. Regina glanced up at the sky, grateful that she could no longer see the Ark glaring down at her.
"This morning, all i could think about is how much easier this would all be if Finn was just gone." Raven said, sounding mindly angry at herself.
"This isn't your fault, you know that right?" Reigna said, "Just because you were mad at him doesn't magically make something bad happen."
"She's right, Raven, stop torturing yourself."
"Does anyone else hear that signal?" Monty called through the talkie.
"Just keep your eyes open." Raven responded.
"I think it's the same thing we heard in the black box." Monty responded, sounding mildly excited. Reigna rolled her eyes at him, keeping her eyes to the ground before pausing as she spotted some deep footprints in the soil.
"This way." Reigna motioned for them to follow as Bellamy shouted at Monty over the talkie.
"Damn it, Monty, do you see anything? Report." He was met with silence over the talkie as the girls rushed through the woods.
"Oh my god, there's someone in the bushes," Raven pointed and they all three sprinted to his side.
"Myles?" Octavia exclaimed.
"Myles, what happened. Where are Clarke and Finn?" Raven asked rapid fire at the wounded boy.
"Gounders took them." He responded gravely as Bellamy finally reached the scene.
"Take it easy, we have to get him back to camp." Bellamy set his hand on Raven's shoulder before stooping to help Myles stand.
"Bell, what about Clarke and Finn." Rave asked exasperatedly.
"Some other time, Raven. Octavia we need to make him a stretcher." Reigna rushed before grabbing the talkie out of Raven's hands.
"Monty, we're heading home, you copy?" Reigna asked, only to be met with silence. "Monty, where the hell are you?" Reigna asked into the talkie, with no response.
"We don't have time for this. Lets get him back to camp." Reigna sighed, shoving the talkie into her pocket and sprinting back to camp with the others following closely behind.