The smoke signals - ya'll are the best.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for returning - i'll leave a longer note at the bottom - but without further ado here is our Cole returning home as well.
I groaned as a I stretched my legs out in front of me, rustling the chains around my wrists as I did so. I hadn't been expecting a warm homecoming, but I certainly hadn't been expecting being thrown - literally- into a shed of a building and shackled to the wall. I wasn't even sure what had happened to Lincoln. As soon as we were in sight of the camp we were separated by Anya's men. Any questions I tried to ask just increased their rough handling.
I touched the tender spot on my cheek that I could feel throbbing already. A bit of deja vu I thought, bringing my hands back down to my lap. I hadn't even tried to struggle once the chains had been locked, they would come for me soon enough. I just hoped it would be someone with a friendlier face.
Time passed slowly, it seemed like hours had past before I caught the echo of boots coming towards my door. I moved to stand quickly, my muscles screaming from the sudden change. There were two of Anya's clansmen at the door, their clothes and markings distinguishing them.
"Just let me kill her," the smaller one quipped from the door, staring at me with sick grin. This was already starting out strong I thought ironically.
"I'd like to see you try," I replied, pulling against my chains as I made a sudden step forward. I had a short leash, but I wasn't going to be an easy target for them. I couldn't be. The shock of my response in their own language was quickly gone, replaced again with their leering looks.
"Not yet, the council wants her," the other one replied with an amused grin. I tried to hide my relief at his statement, the council meant Indra, Nyko and Jaxon. It meant I would be back with my people.
The smaller one huffed but moved towards me with a key in hand anyways. Sparing no kindness he shoved me against the wall to hold me still as he released the chains. Once he was done I was shoved forward towards the exit. Always with the shoving, I thought to myself glaring back at the man from over my shoulder.
We were outside a ways from the main camp I realized as I trailed behind the man leading. Close enough to catch the echo of activity, but not close enough to be within sight. It was a sudden sharp scream that broke me out of my observation. My eyes jumped towards the sound, another large cement building stood up ahead. Of course we were going towards the screams, it would be too much to ask to go an entire day that wasn't paired with blood or screeching it seemed.
We were intercepted by a looming figure. Tall, lean, and every bit psychotic looking as I remembered: Tristan. He was from the same northern tribe as Jaxon, and even though he lacked the visible red tattoos to prove it he was just as vicious and lethal of a warrior as their tribe demanded. Before travelling, I had mostly just stayed out of his way. His distrust and contempt for us when we arrived was always evident, and never diminished even as we began to work together but he had never purposely intervened with anyone as far as I was aware. It seemed that was about to change.
"I'll take her from here," he told the other two, leaving no room for argument. He grabbed my arm roughly and tugged me closer to the building where the screams were coming from intermittently.
"Tristan, what is going on?" I asked, keeping my voice low.
"Blood will answer for blood," was his only response as he shoved me through the doorway of the building cutting me off.
Once through a small hallway, the building opened up into one large room and it made me freeze in my spot. It reeked of blood and rot. Dark blood spatters had dried into the walls behind the rows of giant rusted iron cages that lined both sides room. The back wall was lined with knives and tools that I didn't recognize. But I didn't need to, it was clear with their rusted blood covered handles what they were used for.
My heart dropped once I focused on the center of the room. He was hanging in a cross formation between two chains dangling from the ceiling. And the blood, there was so much I could hardly tell where it was coming from - his face, hands, chest, and arms were all mangled and slick with red.
"John," my voice hardly coming out louder than a whisper. What were they doing to him? Why was he here? A million questions raced through my head as I took a hesitant step towards him. My thoughts went silent though as his torturer turned to face me.
Stoic, controlled, and covered in the blood of the boy I had been willing to die to save, I wasn't even sure I was still breathing at this point my chest felt so tight. His cold grey eyes met mine, and for a moment I thought I saw a glimpse of surprise, but it was replaced just as quickly with a cool glare. I would recognize those stormy eyes anywhere.
"Continue Jaxon, we need all the information he has," Tristan spoke from beside me, sounding sickly happier than when had greeted me out front. Of course shit like this would get him off.
"What other weapons do you have there?" Jaxon questioned, slipping his knife under John's fingernails. He was barely keeping conscious, his head dropping and swaying slightly only to jerk back up in pain when the knife dug a little deeper.
"They have maybe 40 guns at most, very limited ammo rounds, and some snare traps set around the fence," I answered automatically, wanting this torture to end. Why were they torturing him for answers I could give them willingly. I had kept mental notes on everything I had observed since I was there, they didn't need to do this.
"Hush girl, it's not your turn," Tristan cooed into my ear, motioning for Jaxon to continue when he paused to look back at me. His knife slipped underneath the next nail and John screamed again, begging for him to stop.
"If you have questions then ask me!" I all but shouted. "This isn't necessary! The whole point of me going in the first place was to get information and set up the peace talk!"
"And look how well that turned out," Tristan sneered. "Now keep quiet before I give you a real reason to scream."
I could have sworn I saw Jaxon tense, but I didn't stop to think about it as I turned my full attention to Tristan, sending him the angriest glare I could muster. I had never been scared of Tristan before, and I wasn't going to start now.
"Enough," Indra's cool voice called from the doorway, clearly not impressed with our bickering or the growing tension. She was followed in with the two other clansmen, both high ranking warriors from Anya's tribe.
"You know this boy?" she asked, motioning towards John who looked up with his one good eye - the other coated in blood and swollen shut. I took him in once more before turning back to her.
"Yes," I responded truthfully. "From the arc."
"Is he one of their leaders?" Indra followed up. I only shook my head as a response. He was no leader, he was barely even a part of their group. In a different world, if there had been peace, maybe he could have came back to the clan with me. He would have fit in better here, they would have understood his anger and passion.
"Did he know about the attack on the bridge?" she continued, pulling me out of my thoughts. I shook my head again, as I thought back I couldn't even remember him being in the camp except for the one time I spoke to him.
"Did you know?" her voice icy and to the point. There it was, I thought, the burning question.
My eyes met hers leaving no room for mixed signals, "no."
"I knew there was dissent among their leaders about what to do, but Clarke was for trying to negotiate peace," I explained.
"You knew that there were others there with their weapons hiding and waiting to strike though," Tristan interrupted. I sighed, despite the months I had spent with them, they still thought I would betray them.
"I knew she had back-up yes," I replied honestly. "Just like I knew Anya had warriors in the trees as well."
"What else are you keeping from us?" Tristan asked coldly.
"I've kept nothing from you," I responded firmly. "I was supposed to negotiate a peace talk, and have Clarke show up unarmed - which she did. I was supposed to gather information from them, and I have. If I was going to betray you, I would have set a much better trap and I definitely wouldn't have come willingly strolling into camp after!"
"So you're still on our side?" Indra asked, though without any hint of malice.
"Yes," I told her, nodding. "I have been from the start, and nothings changed."
Indra looked satisfied enough with the answer, and the room remained quiet with the exception of John's labored breathing.
"Tonight you'll eat with the council and explain everything that happened while you were there," she told rather than asked me. "Until then change and clean yourself up."
"You're just going to give her free roam of the camp now?" Tristan spoke up, clearly unhappy. "She's a liability."
Indra glanced over at me, her face unreadable. If it was anyone else, Tristan would be right to be wary. But this was me we were discussing and I hoped Indra's judgement wouldn't fail me now.
"You're right," she conceded. "Jaxon, she's in your charge until further notice."
I fought the urge to smirk, that was a stipulation I could work with. Tristan glared harder at me before storming out, followed by Indra after shooting me a short but meaningful look.
A mix of 'be careful' and 'don't mess anything up before dinner.' Both of which seemed doable, but on Earth was never a guarantee.
As Jaxon told the other remaining guards to lock John back into one of the cages, it wasn't until he turned to me that I realized we hadn't said a word to each other yet. I went to greet him but he shook his head hard at me, once. Alright, not here then.
Without a word I followed him back out into the woods. We were walking away from the direction of the camp, the forest getting darker and quieter the further we went. The further we went on without talking, the more frustrated I was starting to get. I had been gone for days, away from my friends, I was covered in dirt and Lincoln's blood, and hungry to boot. And so far all I had to show for my trouble were my sore wrists, some new bruises, and a cold shoulder from everyone in camp. And now my stomach was audibly growling, even better.
"Stupid stomach," I mumbled to myself, laying my hand across my belly in hope to quell its anger. "Stupid Earth. Stupid Jaha, stupid drop ship, stupid..."
"Quiet," Jaxon called from ahead, sparing only a quick backwards glance. His short tone only served to frustrate me further. I'll curse anyone I want, if I want to. Stupid grounders.
"You're thinking out loud again," he said, slightly irritated as he finally turned to fully face me. He looked every bit the ranking warrior he was, with his tattoos displayed, weapons strapped tightly to his body, and with bones decorating his armor, and adorning the small braids with feathers in his hair. Stupid Jaxon for looking so infallible.
"Why were you gone for so long?" he asked suddenly, curiosity now laced with underlying anger. I huffed in response, he knew where I had been it wasn't like I was taking a vacation.
"Didn't Penn tell you I was delayed?" I shot back, my irritated tone matching his own.
"I'm not asking Penn, I am asking you," he replied coldly, eyes narrowing.
"I was sitting around the campfire with the kids singing 'Kumbaya' for a week," I spat at him. "What the hell do you think I was doing!"
I briefly wondered if he even got my reference, I had tried explaining different folk songs we had learned on the Arc as part of our history classes on evening around a bonfire. That's not the point I reminded myself, I am angry, not trying to think of happy memories.
"Watch your tone Cole," he warned, not amused.
"Or what?" I pushed. "You'll tie me and torture me too?"
"Cole," he growled, snarling slightly at me.
"Don't get shy now," I taunted, disregarding all thoughts of my actual safety. Let him be angry, let him feel how I have since I returned. "If you get queasy, Tristan seemed eager enough to peel off a few layers of my skin."
I barely got the sentence out before I was being shoved back into a tree. He closed all distance between us, leaving just inches between us as he glared down at me his hand splayed against my collarbone to keep me pinned.
"If you are going to act like a child Cole, you will be treated like one," he warned.
Not phased by my sudden lack of control I sneered back at him. "I'm sorry, am I being difficult? Everyone has been treating me like an enemy since I've returned, I figured I could at the very least give you a reason to be angry instead of fabricating reasons!"
"If anyone thought you had seriously turned against us, you would already be dead," he replied, losing the anger in his voice. Cold, cool and collected as always.
"Oh, so the looming threat of being tortured was just for kicks?" I jeered, starting to struggle against him. I didn't want to be this close to him right now.
"Tristan isn't going to touch you," he growled, dipping his head into the crook of my neck. "No one is going to touch you."
My breath caught in my throat as he ran his nose up my neck. I wanted to push him away, wanted to yell and scream until my voice went raw. But instead I froze with his touch, my anger dripping away.
"You were gone too long," he spoke softly into my ear. His hot breath giving me chill bumps that only multiplied as he placed a soft kiss to my temple. The softness in his tone was rare, but not foreign. Reserved for only the quietest moments between us, and realization rushed over me.
"You have a shitty way of showing that you missed me," I mumbled, nuzzling my head against his. His hand trailed up from my collarbone to rest around my neck gently pulling me into his solid form.
"I've never missed someone before," he admitted. "How is this?"
I looked up to question him, but his lips met mine before I even got a chance to think about saying anything. Hot and hungry, his lips warred against mine and I pulled myself closer. This wasn't like before, this wasn't soft and gentle. He was sure and dominate, nipping at my bottom lip when I didn't give him entrance quickly enough. It was raw and rough and so perfectly Jaxon.
I moaned slightly and he pulled away with a satisfied smirk, "better?"
I just nodded, catching my breath and not hesitating to give him the satisfaction he wanted. I wrapped my arms tighter and buried my head into his chest, feeling his grip around the back of neck tighten slightly as his other hand rested on my hip, his head resting on top of mine. We stayed wrapped in each other for a few moments longer, and I soaked in the sensation. Who knew when we would have such privacy again.
Eventually he pulled away, leaving only his hand resting on my hip as he urged me to move forward.
"Let's go," he urged. "You need to clean and change before the council meeting, you reek of them."
"Yeah, you're definitely going to need to practice on those 'welcome backs' of yours," I teased. Though silently agreed that my own clothes that weren't ruined with blood or sprayed with Arc cologne would be a nice change.
"Won't be necessary," he replied, his hand guiding me through the forest in the direction we had started out in. "I don't plan on letting you go again."
"Possessive much?" I quipped, with a smile. I thoroughly enjoyed his protective nature, even when it didn't work in my favor. I had never had someone care that much about me. However, that wouldn't ever stop me from teasing him about it if given the chance.
"Possessive always," he responded seriously, sending me a meaningful glance. I smiled softly and continued our trek.
It was good to be home.
I was going to wait and make it longer. But guys, the amount of messages you sent, I just wanted to get something else out and published. All the heart emojis.
So, quick reminder that I am going to use the italics as the 'grounder' language, cause translating is hard. And even though we still have two seasons of chaos to get the clan through I am largely going to do this story at my own pace and change what I feel necessary. It feels much more natural to have Cole with the clan rather than with the other 100. So, that's where she is going to stay for the time being.
Please continue to send messages, reviews, and additional smoke signals. They literally mean the world to me and I love hearing your thoughts/ideas/reactions.
- Sova