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| chapter - two |

\ this is the time I watched the homemade fireworks go kaboom /

Nyota couldn't tell you how horrible it was to sleep all the while continuing to be tied up in that metal chair. But she still did it anyway, as she was exhausted like everybody else, and it was one of the quickest ways to gain her energy back.

Her head rose when she heard footsteps tapping against metal, only to be greeted by Finn and Clarke.

"Oh," Nyota's eyebrows rose. "Have you both come to watch the show? How lovely." She grinned. "Although," She looked around them. "I was hoping Shaggy was here, I'd love for him to watch." She giggled.

"This is going to sound strange." Clarke voiced. "But we're in need of a little help."

"Can you track by any chance?" Finn asked.

Nyota thought about it for a moment and gave a low hum, "I was the greatest hunter in my clan, tracking is my specialty. I know this forest inside and out; it's mine."

Clarke nodded, "Good to hear, will you help us?"

"What's in it for me?" Nyota squinted her eyes and tilting her head, her large dreads held by golden clasps at the ends falling from her shoulders. They resembled snakes.

"We aren't-" Finn was cut off.

Clarke was quick to speak over him, "You'll no longer be in restraints, and you'll get your own tent to do as you please. Bellamy can complain to me if he has a problem with it, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything he'll regret."

"Clarke, this is a Grounder." Finn turned to her. "That's a bit much."

"Yes." She fully agreed. "A Grounder that's going to help us, she's not going to do it for free. Do you want to find him or not?"

Finn was going to protest, only for her to get the best of him because she was right. He sighed and closed his mouth, turning back to the dark-skinned girl in one of the dropship seats.

"Do we have a deal?" Her voice was soft.

Nyota made eye contact with her for an extended amount of time, until finally, she nodded her head in agreement.

"Okay, good, let's get you out of there before we waste any more time." Clarke stepped forward.

"No need." Nyota grinned again, which caused the blonde girl to pause.

The runes upon Nyota's skin glowed a pearlescent white as she felt her own blood rush more to her biceps and shoulders rather than the rest of her body. And within seconds the ropes around her began to snap apart as she pulled.

She then stood up and rubbed at the sore parts of her limbs with a sigh, as the two older teens looked at her in shock, "You mean to tell us you could've done that this whole time?"

Nyota looked to them, "I mean, yeah?" Her eyes were calm.

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because just like the rest of you, I get tired." She shrugged. "My powers don't last forever, you know. I'm not a machine."

 They had no other words to say, "Well, let's get a move on since you're both in a hurry." She gave her hands a clap.

And off they went.

***

"Hey, hold on, not so fast!" Finn called out, causing Nyota to stop in her tracks. "How can we trust you to not run off and trick us?"

Nyota sighed, "Trust me, if I wanted to trick you, I would've done that the first day we met. Plus, I've been long since banished from my clan, I have nowhere else to go, other than my forest."

"She has a point." Clarke agreed.

Nyota made eye contact with Finn, "You're going to have to trust me, I can find him, you just need to allow me to do what I do best."

After a moment, Finn nodded, "Alright, fine. Go on, find Bellamy. Don't make us regret this."

"You won't," Nyota appreciated them trusting her. "I promise."

And so, Nyota's runes glowed once more, and she ran off in speeds faster than a normal human. As Finn and Clarke went through the forest at their own pace, hoping the Grounder Girl was telling the truth.

Her power sent signals to her brainwaves, and she saw many prints of footsteps, and could tell which one belonged to Bellamy.

It wasn't long until she found exactly where he was, at the edge of a lake, with a device in his hand. As he had tossed it into the water.

Nyota's runes stopped glowing as she crossed her arms, "Nice throw, Shaggy. I'm sure Clarke and Finn won't be angry about this."

Bellamy jolted and turned to her, "How the hell did you get out of the camp and why are you here?" He then scoffed. "And it's Bellamy, not Shaggy!"

She smirked at his frustration, it was satisfying, "I told you, nothing can really hold you when you've got power. It wasn't hard, I just needed some rest. Which I did."

Bellamy didn't seem so happy about this whole ordeal.

***

Nyota and Bellamy were traveling through the forest, she seemed to keep him company even though he didn't like it.

"So, what're you going to do when Clarke finds out what you did?" Nyota questioned.

It was like she willed it into existence, "Hey! Where is it?" The feminine voice came up from behind.

"Speak of the devil." Nyota hummed with a smirk tightly plastered upon her lips. "I heard the devil was very friendly, but also, quite angry."

Bellamy rolled his eyes at the Grounder as he turned to Clarke, "Hey, Princess, you taking a walk in the woods?"

"Told you I'd find him." Nyota added a little side note, as Clarke looked to her, but right back to the tall boy after.

"They're getting ready to kill three-hundred people up there to save oxygen, and I can guarantee you it won't be council members. It'll be working people." She taps his chest. "Your people!"

 "Bellamy!" Finn comes up and shoves him. "Where's the radio?!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Bellamy was calm.

Nyota laid eyes on a new girl she's never seen before, as the girl shared the contact. She looked up at down, not able to keep her eyes off the tattoos. Nyota just gave a small wave. The girl was still stunned and in a daze.

Nyota sighed at this as her runes glowed and she gave her hand a little flow to the side, taking brief control of the girl and she was forced to look away and to her friends.

"Woah..." She breathed. "I'll get back to how the hell you did that, later. But... Bellamy Blake?" They're looking everywhere for you."

"Shut up." Bellamy wasn't having it.

"Looking for him, why?" Clarke had a sudden spark of curiosity.

"He shot Chancellor Jaha." The girl answered. 

This caused Nyota to feel like she's intruding in information that she shouldn't be listening in on, but she was there, and it was happening.

Clarke turned to Bellamy, "That's why you took the wristbands," She scoffed. "Needed everyone to think we're dead."

"All that 'whatever the hell we want'? You just cared about saving your own skin." Finn wasn't impressed.

Bellamy began to walk away as the other girl tried to keep up, "Hey! Shooter! Where's my radio?" She moves in front of him.

"Get out of my way, Raven." Bellamy's voice was harsh, Nyota noted the new girl's name. "I should've killed you while I had the chance."

"Really?" Raven raised her brows. "Well, I'm right here."

Bellamy didn't even think twice to take her offer, as he grasped her with harsh velocity and thrusted her against a tree. Causing Raven to pull out a knife at his face in clear defense.

"Where's my radio?" She wasn't messing around.

"Okay, stop it." Clarke demanded, looking between the two older teens.

"And if I don't?" Bellamy was curious, never breaking eye contact with Raven.

Raven suddenly lost control of her own limbs, as she brought the knife closer to the boy's pupil, "What the hell..." She goes under her breath at that weird feeling, once again.

"Then she'll kill you." Nyota answered, as they all looked to the Grounder. Her runes glowing. "Simple."

Though it was clear Bellamy absolutely despised the fact that Nyota had such power over him and everyone else, as she had the advantage over everyone, due to the fact that he was hungry for dominance over everything. He did listen. He let Raven go and they thrusted each other away.

"Jaha deserved to die." He went to walk on. "You all know that." He paused, remembering the Grounder. "Well, most of you."

"Yeah, he's not my favorite person either," Bellamy turned around at Raven's voice. "But he isn't dead."

Bellamy's face screamed confusion, "What?"

"You're a lousy shot." Raven scoffed.

Clarke walked over, "Bellamy, don't you see what this means? You're not a murderer. You always did what you had to do to protect your sister. That's who you are." She explained, Nyota creased her brows at the word 'sister'. "And you can do it again, by protecting three-hundred of your people." With a small pause. "Where's the radio?"

Bellamy gave her a stern look, "It's too late."

***

They were all searching the river, exactly the same one Nyota had found Bellamy at earlier. This time with more Sky People.

She was at the riverbank rinsing her face off, the water was cold and refreshing. This was a routine for the Grounder Girl every other morning or sometimes just twice a week. Taking out the golden clasps from the ends of her snake-like dreads to clean them off, only to put them back in.

She then brought out both of her dual swords and checked the blades only to find some crimson splotches from her last use of them prior to everything that's happened so far, and thus, her runes glowed, and the blood seeped into the tar black blades, as though it were alive.

"What're they made of, anyway?" One of the Sky People she had yet to meet, wondered.

Her head tilted as she gazed up to him, looking down to her blades and then right back up to him tilting her swords to the side, with a sinister grin on her face, "The blood of my enemies."

He raised a brow and scoffed, "Sure, looks more like coal to me." And walked on to look more through the river.

He will never know that Nyota wasn't lying, she had forged them with her power, with a mixture of the blood of her enemies and her own, hence the tar black color.

Metal materials flows in human blood, and where her source of power flows, so does her abilities. They branch out onto more than just the crimson liquid. Way more. These people were clueless, they had no idea half of the stuff she can really do. They're in for a rude awakening.

Soon enough, she grew tired of all of their searching, they were taking too long. So, she decided to help, make things faster before nightfall.

her runes glowed once more as she searched the river, there's blood everywhere. It's always everywhere. Humans and animals alike. It's all the same to her. It all works.

Until finally, she grabbed a device, "Found it. You can all stop your boring game of hide and seek." Taking it out of the water.

"Why didn't you just do that from the start?" Another Sky Person asked.

Nyota shrugged, "It was fun watching you all struggle, until I got bored."

Raven came over and the Grounder handed the radio to her. As they all gathered around.

"Can you fix it?" Clarke asked.

"Maybe." Raven shrugged. "But it'll take half the day just to dry up the components to see what's broken."

"Like I said," Bellamy crossed his arms. "It's too late."

Clarke marched towards him, "Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?!"

"Play nice, guys." Nyota warned. Both older teens tried to keep a distance.

"You asked me to help. I helped." Bellamy had no emotion in his face.

"Three-hundred people are gonna die today because of you!" Clarke was flourishing with anger.

"Hold up." Raven cut in, causing the blonde to turn around. "We don't have to talk to the Ark." Nyota was curious of that new term. "We just have to let them know we're down here, right?"

"Yeah," Finn shook his head. "But how do we do that with no radio?"

With the smirk that shined over Raven's face, it was clear she had an idea.

***

Everyone was scattered around the camp, building up a storm as the sun slowly dips down over the mountains and tree-lining, it got darker and darker with each hour. Nyota could only assume it was for this place they had called 'Ark'.

She was curious to eventually learn more. These people fascinated her immensely.

She joined a small group of the teens, recognizing Jasper, Monty, Fox and Aristotle. They were weary, but they welcomed her anyway.

"Oh, hey!" Jasper exasperated with a smile; his bangs wavy on his forehead. "I don't think you properly met my other friends, Aristotle, Fox and Monty-"

"Actually, she has." Monty cut in.

"Right." Jasper chuckled, almost forgetting.

Nyota saw the covering over Aristotle's eyes, it was a sort of fabric with flowers attached, "I see you figured out your eye-situation."

Aristotle nodded, "Yes."

Jasper was quick to turn the girl, "Oh..." Aristotle stuttered. "Yes!" She repeated, causing Nyota to gin a chilled smile. "It was a gift from Fox."

"I would've given her my goggles to use," Jasper explained. "But they're kind of lost, at the moment."

"And so, I came up with the best idea." Fox crossed her arms and smiled proudly. "I took a sleeping mask I used to use and knitted some lovely flowers of the Earth into them."

"And it words wonderfully!" Aristotle seemed very pleased, no longer being in agonizing pain.

"Good." Nyota nodded. "I'm glad."

It wasn't long until they launched homemade rockets into the night sky.

Nyota wasn't entirely sure what it was for.

But she could only assume it was for 'Ark'.

-------

Here's chapter two! :)

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