They had been looking for quite some time when both of them heard someone coming through the woods towards them. Instantly on guard they both took cover behind some trees, hoping that they wouldn't be seen by whoever was there. As if they had some higher being on their side Charlotte appeared out of nowhere. Before Rhea could react Bellamy was already sprinting towards her and managed to get a hold of her. He startled her into almost screaming when he grabbed her, but Bellamy was quick and wouldn't allow her to yell.
Rhea could hear the hunting party yelling in the distance, but for some reason Charlotte was not giving up her fight with Bellamy, it was like she wanted to be caught. While Bellamy went to pull her away from the incoming hunters, Charlotte was yelling and attempting to pull her arm out of his grip so she could go in the opposite direction.
"I'm trying to help you." Bellamy insisted, completely flabbergasted by how Charlotte was acting.
"I'm not your sister, just stop helping me. Both of you." She yelled. Clearly not caring that the boys coming for them wanted her blood. This seemed to startle Bellamy to the point where Charlotte was able to run away from him.
"I'm over here!" Rhea could not comprehend the stupidity that Charlotte was showing. Did she want Murphy to kill them?
"Are you trying to get us all killed?" He questioned, stunned by her actions.
"Just go, okay? I'm the one they want." Charlotte demanded, she seemed determined to get herself killed. Shaking her head Rhea went to speak but Bellamy beat her too it.
"Okay, Charlotte, listen to me. We won't leave you." He promised, but Charlotte was having none of it. She had made up her mind, she wanted to give herself up.
"Please Bellamy," She looked towards Rhea, "Make him see, I need to do this." With one quick movement she was out of Bellamy's arms but she wasn't out of them for long before Bellamy hoisted her over his shoulder. Adding to their confusion, Charlotte began to scream for Murphy.
"Charlotte stop!" Rhea begged, why wasn't Charlotte understanding that this was not how she should be acting, but she just kept yelling, making it so Murphy could follow their every move.
"Charlotte, please, you need to stop." Rhea continued as she followed after the two of them, Murphy hot on their tail. When she realized Charlotte had no intention on stopping, she made a judgement call.
"Bell, keep going I'll try and stall them." Rhea offered.
"No!" He shouted, "You are staying with me" His face turning to one of panic.
"I need to do this, it will give you more time." With that she turned and walked towards where the voices were coming from. He would have convinced her to follow him anywhere if she let him, but she needed to protect them. Within a minute Murphy came into her line of sight.
"You can't stop this." He snarled, "I deserve justice." She shook her head in disappointment.
"You call this justice? Attempting to murder a little girl?" Rhea asked, looking at the other boys behind him, not one of them showing any kind of remorse for how they were behaving.
"Yes, that is exactly what I call justice." Murphy informed her, motioning for the boys behind him to get rid of her so they could continue their hunt, but Rhea was ready.
One of the boys came at her from the right, attempting to use his size against her, something she had learned to dodge during her sparing matches with the other guards, she twisted her body so he just missed her and then kicked him in the ass making him fall down onto his face. They didn't give her much time to celebrate because another one was coming at her with a stick. He went to swing at her but she easily grabbed the stick, this act startled him which gave her an advantage and the time to shove it into his gut and then smacked him over the head with it. With stick in hand she was ready for the remaining members of Murphy's hunting party. What she didn't expect was one of them to come up behind her and put a knife to her spinal chord. She knew she was done for, if he put any pressure where the knife was located she would be paralyzed for the rest of her life.
"Drop the stick, bitch." The kid behind her snarled, instantly recognizing the voice as the boy that threw her to the wolves back at camp, with a growl Rhea obliged letting the stick fall to the ground. Murphy's smug face staring back at her.
"Now, where were we?" Murphy walked past her, motioning for the boy that had her at knife point to bring her with.
"Charlotte!" Murphy hollared, rushing off into the trees towards where Charlotte was still yelling.
Rhea could feel the knife cutting her skin slightly as the boy behind her made her follow the rest of them. She noticed the group had stopped, which meant that they had Bellamy and Charlotte cornered.
"You can't fight all of us, Bellamy. Your guard dog learned that pretty quickly." Murphy motioned to where she was coming out of the trees, her arms up. Bellamy looked at her for a brief moment, grief passing over his features. Rhea knew he was stuck between a rock and a hard place but he knew she wouldn't want him to give Charlotte up just to save her.
"Maybe not, but I guarantee I'll take a few of you with me." Bellamy stated clearly determined to protect Charlotte at all costs.
"Bellamy stop!" Clarke shouted as she came through the trees, "This has gone too far, just calm down. We'll talk about this." She tried to reason with Murphy, but Rhea knew there was nothing she could do. She winced softly has the knife against her cut a little deeper, growling at the boy behind her.
"When I get free, I will kill you." In response he dragged the knife down her back, making her snarl at the pain, infuriated by how weak she was starting to feel.
Before she could blink, Murphy had a knife to Clarke's throat. Finn tried to protest but it only resulted in Murphy putting the knife against Clarke's throat harder.
"I am sick of listening to you talk" Murphy spat in Clarke's ear.
"Let her go" Finn ordered, hoping Murphy might listen to him, but it only made it worse.
"Back up," Murphy ordered, "I will slit her throat open." snarling he sent Finn a look daring him to test it. Rhea could only stand there and watch as Charlotte begged for Murphy to stop.
"Please don't hurt her." Charlotte pleaded, looking between Clarke and Rhea, making it clear that she meant the both of them.
"Don't hurt her? Okay I'll make you a deal." Murphy offered, "You come with me right now, I will let her go." It wasn't the fact that Murphy was intending on killing Clarke and herself that made fear shoot through her body, it was the look on Charlotte's face, she was actually considering his offer.
"Charlotte no, I'm fine." Rhea tried to reassure her, which earned her another cut across her back, this time much deeper which caused her to shout out in pain. This didn't help reassure Charlotte at all, so Clarke tried.
"Don't do it Charlotte," This didn't work either because Charlotte tried to go towards Murphy, "No I have to!" she shouted while she fought with Bellamy, Clarke tried again,
"Don't do it Charlotte!" She shouted, the need to save this little girl all over her features.
"Murphy, this is not happening." Bellamy stated, regardless of the fact that Murphy was threatening the lives of two people just so he could end one, he was still fighting to save this little girl.
That's when Charlotte spoke up, Rhea's heart breaking with each word.
"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore, not because of me, " She braved a glance at Rhea, but settled on Clarke, "Not after what I did." Before any of them could blink she jumped. Rhea crashed to her knees as the reality of what the little girl she had grown so fond of had just done. She had killed herself, to protect them, to make sure that no one else got hurt and to make up for killing Wells. Sorrow seemed to swollow her up, everything around her disappearing for a brief moment, until she heard Bellamy yelling, rage filling his voice.
She came to her senses when she realized that Clarke was standing up to a raging Bellamy.
"No! We don't decide who lives or dies, not down here!" She hollered, as Murphy recovered from Bellamy's attack.
"So help me god, if you say that the people have the right to decide.." Before he could finish what he was saying Clarke interrupted him.
"No, I was wrong before, okay? You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules." Clarke decided, trying to calm down the man before her. Rhea agreed with her completely, but Bellamy wasn't convinced.
"And who makes those rules, huh? You?" He questioned still angry.
"For now, we make the rules, okay?" Clarke offered.
"So, what, then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened? Look at what he did to Rhea!" Bellamy shouted, throwing his arm in her direction.
"No!" Clarke hesitated as if she didn't know what to do. This gave Rhea the chance to speak up, ignoring the shooting pain in her back she spoke.
"Banish him." Her eyes solely on Murphy, she wanted him to suffer and isolation was the best way to do that. The idea seemed to sit well with the new leaders of the camp because a looked passed between them and Bellamy was at Murphy again.
"Get up!" He ordered, yanking a bloody Murphy to his feet, he dragged him towards the edge. Rhea couldn't care less about what Bellamy was about to do, her body growing weaker and weaker with every bit of blood she lost.
"Bellamy, stop!" Clarke shouted, hoping to prevent another death. Rhea's head started to spin, she could no longer focus on what the older boy was growling at the one that had caused this mess. The last thing she heard was Bellamy giving the rest of Murphy's followers a choice before she felt the world disappear around her.
She could feel someone carrying her in their arms, but there was nothing else, it was as if the world had disappeared. She no longer felt the pain from her wounds or the ever current pain from the damage done to her heart and she liked it, she didn't want to hurt anymore. Before her mind was made up a voice broke through,
"Rhea, please, I was wrong. I need you to wake up. Okay?" Though the voice was foggy, she would have recognized it anywhere, it was Bellamy, he was the one carrying her. Before she could think about it she felt everything slipping away, the darkness taking hold.