The first thing Lexa realised as she was pushed out of the tent was that the sun had only just begun taking residence in the sky, what little of the sky above she could see was just barely a deep blue rather than pitch black. The second thing she realised was just how quiet it was. There was still birdsong that filtered in past the mighty moss covered trees, and even the rustling of the grand branches overhead could still be heard. And yet, somehow, someway, she felt the silence settling over her with an intensity that she found unfamiliar.

Lexa glanced over her shoulder to find much of her vision was taken up by the man called Gustus who stood beside her, one of his mighty hands still clamped onto her upper arm. But past him Lexa saw the reaper ducking out of the tent, her eyes ferocious and what could only be described as warpaint making her expression even more terrifying than before.

But as Lexa looked around for Bellamy she realised she couldn't see him, she realised she couldn't see the other two women who had captured her. What she did see were other less deformed reapers, not many, perhaps less than twenty. But each one was laden with weapons, some with swords, some with bows and arrows, some with spears or axes or something she had no name for yet she could understand was capable of taking life.

She tried looking for the further gone reapers, she tried finding a clue as to what would await her in the near future, but she saw none and she wondered if those grotesque beasts were more animal, more slave to the most primal of instincts that drove them forward.

"Where's my friend?" Lexa asked, and though she didn't exactly know why she spoke so quietly, she did.

"Not here," the reaper said before she began walking away.

As the the reaper moved past she began rolling up her red sash into a small bundle before she pulled it free from where it had been attached to her armoured clothing. Another warrior stepped forward and took the sash in his arms before bowing his head and moving away.

The hand around her upper arm squeezed more tightly as she was pulled to a stop and Lexa fought the wince that almost escaped past her lips as she found herself pulled close to Gustus.

The reaper stopped a few paces away and seemed to take in the other warriors who now all stood and looked at her and as Lexa continued to watch she found a certain devotion that seemed to linger in their gazes, she seemed to see a deference in the way some stepped a little further away as if to give her space.

But what she saw seemed not to be a devotion due to fear of punishment, of death, but rather a devotion fuelled by something much more, something embraced, something cherished and willingly submitted to.

Movement caught her attention and Lexa turned to find the second of the women who had captured her, who she believed to be Costia, stepping out from the forests as she slung a bow across her shoulders and bowed her head to the reaper as she approached.

"The Mountain Men have rendezvoused with these Skaikru," Costia said with something between a sneer and disgust.

"And Ontari?" the reaper asked.

"Taking the man to Ton DC, Heda," Costia replied as she jerked her head somewhere outwards. "The man leaves a trail even a newborn could follow. I hid their tracks and returned. "

"Good."

There it was again, that same word, title, perhaps even name, that Lexa heard the reaper be called. Part of her didn't quite like the fact that it seemed that Bellamy had been taken somewhere she knew not where. Part of her also didn't like the fact that her people seemed to have been under watch since the very start. She also didn't quite like the fact that these warriors or reapers, or whatever they were, seemed more than capable to attacking and killing and maiming at a moment's notice. Even the name skaikru made Lexa think, made her consider everything she had learnt, if only because she now considered the fact that the reapers must have a society, must have some kind of system in place.

But that revelation merely soured her opinion, if only because she now knew, if only through assumption, that the first reapers she had seen must have been their lapdogs, mindless beasts sent out as some form of shock troops, some form of first wave designed to terrify, to destroy and to kill.

"Should we attack their camp, Heda?" the warrior who had taken the red sash asked as he turned from the pack set on the ground he had stuffed the red sash into.

"No, Lincoln," Heda said as she took a moment to think. "Join Costia and track their movements. Do not be seen by them."

And with that Lincoln and Costia both bowed their heads before beginning to move off into the depths of the forest.

"We return to Ton DC," Heda said, and it wasn't lost on Lexa that her voice was quiet and carried just barely far enough for those around her to hear. "Ryder," and she turned to another brute of a man with a tattoo across his face. "Take three and hide our tracks then destroy the reaper pack we saw earlier."

"Yes Heda," the man Lexa assumed to be called Ryder said as he unslung a bow from his shoulder and gestured for three other warriors who joined him as they stood aside from the main group.

But Lexa's mind began to turn, Lexa's thoughts became even more confused, frazzled and unsure of whatever it was that was happening for she couldn't understand why they would want to attack the reapers. Perhaps the more beastly of reapers were prone to becoming rabid, perhaps they were hard to control, perhaps they were merely mercy killing them before their disease took too much of a toll on them. Or perhaps this Heda simply used them as tools whose purpose was singular before she destroyed them.

And with that Lexa felt the gag forced past her lips before she was pushed forward as the group of warriors led by Heda began to move.

The speed that they moved through the forests contrasted so starkly with how silent every single warrior was. Hardly a sound could be heard and hardly a rustle of a bush or a twig snapping underfoot broke the deadened forest.

Except for Lexa.

She grimaced and winced as she stepped on an unseen dry leaf that crunched and yet again led to a warrior, this one a red haired woman, glaring at her with such contempt that she was under no misconceptions that she'd rather kill her than deal with the noise Lexa made.

Lexa didn't even know why she felt guilty about breaking the sound around them. Probably making enough sound for Carl and his men, or even her own people to hear, would give her at least some chance to escape. But still, she found herself at least unconsciously trying not to make a sou—

Lexa saw a twig underfoot just barely in time, she tried to sidestep, she tried to rebalance, and she tried to avoid. But she slipped, she grunted past the gag in her mouth and she face planted into the ground with a muffled yelp and curse.

It wouldn't be so bad if Lexa's hands weren't tied together, and it wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't so tired. But both of those things afflicted her and so she knew, as her face hit a particularly wet piece of mud, that she would have to endure falling for more times than she would lik—

A shadow fell across her that she felt more than saw, and as she struggled up onto her knees she found Heda standing over her, the woman's face somewhere between pity and disgust as she quite literally, and Lexa assumed also metaphorically, looked down upon her.

Lexa shrugged her shoulders as apologetically as she could given the circumstance, her eyes never wavering from Heda's own piercing blue, and not for the first time she found herself shivering at the way the woman's skin seemed to grow even more grey as she knelt down before her and into a shadow of a grand tree.

Heda reached out then, her hand grey, and for the first time, Lexa noticed covered in intricately small scars. Lexa grimaced and tried to move her face away as Heda's cold left hand cupped the side of her face before scooping the mud off her skin before flinging it onto the ground with a hint of sarcasm-tinged pity, and then she wiped her hand on Lexa's shoulder.

It took Lexa a second to register what the realisation that dawned upon her was, but as her mind returned to the way Heda had brushed a finger against her lips earlier, and from this now awkward cleaning of her face, Lexa found a realisation flooding her thoughts. And it was a realisation that this Heda seemed fascinated with her, seemed intrigued, seemed to be touching her as if she was a pet, a new found animal that was seen as no threat, but as something vulnerable, something to play with, something to keep as a toy.

Lexa didn't know what was worse. She didn't know if it was better or worse that for some sick reason she was now a prisoner and a play thing and so very far out of her depth. And she didn't know if it was better or worse that she wished she might not actually die within the next 24 hours.

"Gustus," Heda said, her voice so very quiet as she continued to stay kneeling before her, grey hand still resting upon Lexa's shoulder as her gaze never left hers. "Carry her."

Lexa's eyes widened, her mouth would have gaped if the gag didn't make her jaw feel so very stiff, and she knew Heda saw the emotions flash across her face for her lips quirked up ever so slightly at the corners.

And with that Lexa found herself lifted up onto Gustus' shoulders, she found the other warriors beginning to move once again, and she found a sharp piece of armour digging painfully into her hip as Gustus carried her as if she was nothing more than a disobeying child.

And, despite the severity of whatever situation Lexa was in, as embarrassment flooded her mind, Lexa knew that this was in fact worse than anything she had experienced so far.

Being carried over Gustus' shoulder was very much uncomfortable. Being held so that her face was pressed against his lower back and her tied hands awkwardly squished between them was frustratingly restrictive. Lexa couldn't move to make herself comfortable. Well, she had tried at first to wriggle, to give her bruising hip relief from whatever metal armour she had decided adorned the man's shoulder. But Gustus must have assumed she had been trying to escape, trying to get away for he had squeezed her ankle hard, the grip as much warning as it was humiliating.

It even frustrated her that that same red haired warrior now walked behind her, the woman's face smug as she looked at what must have been comical.

But what could Lexa do?

Not much, she found.

Before too long though, she found that the sun had taken its place in the sky and the dark of the night had slowly been replaced by an early morning. Splotches of the sky she could see appeared to shift from red to clearer blue as the sun continued to rise, and she couldn't help but wonder how her people were doing, she couldn't help but to worry for those she had left at the the mercy of the reapers. She hoped Carl and his people had managed to get them to safety, or to at least bring reinforcements.

They came to a stop suddenly though, and Lexa grimaced as Gustus unslung her from his shoulder and dropped her onto a surprisingly soft clump of moss that deadened her fall. Lexa glared up at the man who merely looked down at her before turning outwards, his attention directed the way they came, and Lexa realised he searched the forest lest they were followed.

Lexa struggled to her knees, hands awkwardly pushing her into a half sitting, half kneeling position as she tried to take measure of whatever situation she had now been put into.

They still remained in the depths of the forest, though it was now light enough that she could see further through the trees. But as Lexa looked from warrior to warrior that surrounded her, before her gaze landed on Heda, she realised they all looked outwards, hands on weapons and bodies tensed for something.

Lexa didn't know what it was, she didn't even hear, see, or feel anything nearby. But whatever it was that had given all these warriors pause, made her skin crawl. Part of Lexa wanted to ask what was happening, part of her wanted to at least have some idea of where and when she should run, but she wouldn't ask. In part because she had a gag in her mouth, and in part because she was sure any one of these warriors would sooner slip a knife between her ribs than have her give way their position to whatever they thought was near.

But still the silence and the stillness lingered. Lexa looked as hard as she could at every little movement in the trees, every little flittering shadow and every little shaking bush. No matter how hard she searched, she couldn't see, she couldn't understand what it was that they waited for.

But as if on cue the barest thump of something in the distance broke the quiet around them. One of the warriors rose ever so slowly, his motions purposeful and elegant as he began to slink forward in the underbrush. Lexa watched as he flitted from shadow to shadow until he came to a moss covered rocky formation that jutted out from the ground.

The warrior seemed to look out around him once more before he pressed his ear to a point somewhere in the centre of the moss before he tapped ever so quietly.

To Lexa's surprise the tap seemed to sound just barely hollow to her ears. But then her eyes widened as the warrior took a cautious step back as the rock began to move, as it began to shift. What had at first seemed like a rocky outcrop soon revealed itself to be a door hiding away a hole in the ground. Lexa continued to stare in wonder as someone appeared at the now revealed entrance, but her eyes simply narrowed as she recognised Ontari by the scars that glinted off her face, and by the white muddied furs she wore.

And then they moved.

As if as one, as if spurred forward by some unseen hand, almost every warrior began moving forward, their motions fast, their steps ever silent. Gustus half picked her up as he moved, her body almost tucked under his arm as he began to bound over the short distance to the entrance to the depths of whatever lay in wait.

Lexa didn't protest, she didn't try to make an effort to escape, if only because she knew it to be futile. But still, her heart began to race faster and faster as they approached the opening.

Fear spiked at the same time that Heda made it to the entrance before dipping inside. Other warriors followed, each one swallowed by the opening as they descended into the depths of the Earth. And then it was Lexa's turn. Gustus all but threw her into the hole before he jumped inside. Lexa had just enough time as she soared through the air to look back and see the few warriors that didn't rush forward already beginning sweep the ground and it took Lexa just enough time to realise that they hid the tracks before she hit something soft, something firm, something tensed and not so unwelcome.

As the last of the warriors swept inside the hidden door sealed shut. Darkness swallowed them whole and Lexa felt herself shivering at the sudden drop in temperature, she found herself trying to gather the heat of whoever it was that had caught her in strong arms, if only because she didn't quite like the foreboding that had taken hold of her heart as she realised there was truly no escape now.

The scraping of metal against stone filled the air, and as it echoed out around them Lexa realised they must be inside a cave system, something of stone, of rock. And just as she began to wonder what that sound was light exploded around them. A fire cast its glow far, the colour a vibrant orange as it bounced off surface after surface. Light curved upwards, it seemed to crash down upon them and send their shadows so deep into the earth that they bled into the depths that were void of light.

Tiles of off white, cracked and chipped, could be seen, and as Lexa's eyes adjusted to the new light she realised that what she now found herself in was a tunnel that had once been a network of transportation that had taken people from destination to destination before the collapse of civilisation. Even the remnants of metal tracks could be seen on the ground, their form twisted, beaten and rusted to the years of neglect.

But as her gaze carried from thing to thing, she found herself looking at the hand that had held her steady, whose grasp on her wrist was awkwardly tender despite the strength she could feel. To her horror she realised the hand was grey, was almost a deep blue in the firelight, and that at times seemed to be translucent as the firelight hit it at the right angle to exposed the black veins that ran under the skin.

Lexa shivered, she gasped through the gag in her mouth and she straightened herself and took as confident a step back as she could as she realised Heda had been the one to break her fall, that the reaper had embraced her and kept her steady. But Lexa stumbled as she crashed into Gustus who stood behind her, the man's body an immovable wall that did little to support her weight as she tripped. A barely audible chuckle was the only thing to ring out as Gustus reached down and lifted Lexa by the upper arm and set her on her feet.

"Remove her gag," Heda said quietly as she reached out and snared a torch Ontari had been holding.

And so Gustus hooked a finger into her mouth and pulled the gag free. Lexa groaned as her jaw clicked and she tried to rid her mouth of the bitter tasting gag that had made it far too hard to keep herself from drooling. But no matter the awkwardness of the drool now smearing her chin she was thankful for the gag's removal.

"Where's Bellamy?" Lexa said, but she didn't exactly expect an answer.

"Near," Heda answered with something close to curiosity in her tone.

"What are you going to do with us?" and Lexa didn't know why all of a sudden she found herself feeling confident, she didn't know why all of a sudden she felt like she could get away with asking questions. But she thought, or at least hoped, that if they had brought her this far, if they had let her live this long, that asking a simple question or two would be acceptable.

"You are the enemy," Heda said simply. "You came from the sky. And now I must study you," each word came out with a drip of some emotion Lexa couldn't pinpoint, but whatever it was made her shiver even more, the firelight from the multiple torches burning doing little to keep her warm.

Lexa found herself taking half step after half step back as Heda approached her. And not for the first time Lexa felt like a trapped animal, a hunted prey that had been cornered, driven into a trap with no escape. And before she really knew what was happening Lexa felt her back press against the hard and cold tile of the tunnel's wall, warriors boxing her in and Heda standing mere breaths in front of her.

An agonisingly slow drip echoed out. The sound was wet, it was moist, deep and it seemed to wriggle into the very core of Lexa's mind. The darkness that had once been consumed by the flame now seemed to swallow the light as it enveloped her and as Lexa's breath began to shallow, as her pulse began to quicken, she felt the empty darkness of the tunnel consuming her mind, her body and her breath.

The face that looked at her terrified her, it made her recoil in disgust, in fear, in apprehension. The grey flesh was mottled in the dark. It seemed to bruise, to purple, deepen in colour and Lexa couldn't shake the image of death, she couldn't shake the image of lifelessness and she couldn't ignore the subtle smirk of cold eyes that held her gaze with such intensity that it made her want to lash out, to do something to defend, to put space and distance between her and the creature that looked at her like she was a plaything ready to be used.

Heda's face neared hers until Lexa's vision couldn't focus on it anymore, it grew so close that the coldness of Heda's flesh could almost be felt, and as Lexa's breath stilled and as her mind screamed out for her to do something, she stiffened, she stilled and her mind froze.

She had to be mistaken, she had to have sensed wrong. And she knew her mind was playing tricks on her for she was sure Heda took in a shallow sniff, her head tilted ever so slightly as she seemed to take access to Lexa's bare throat and she inhaled a deep breath that sent a quivering cold into Lexa's body.

But before Lexa could examine, before her mind could comprehend, Heda stepped back and let the light engulf her once more.

"She smells," Heda said simply. "Provide a bath for her, Ontari."

And with that Heda turned on her heels and let the light of the torch held in her hands guide her forward as she descended into the depths of the tunnels.