"Alright, now put your hand here." I gestured over to the back of my neck, he hesitantly put his hand there, "Now-" I began but was interrupted by having the wind knocked out of me. I flipped over onto my back, and Cole was sitting on top of me with a smirk on his face.

I looked up with wide eyes, but was replaced with a satisfied smile, "You're ready for gun training." I strained out, my hand going to the small of my back. Suddenly without warning, I swept my boot out in front of me, standing up and grabbing the back of his head. "Element of surprise. Never stop fighting until your opponent is dead." I whispered into his ear as he maneuvered my move.

"How's that for an element of surprise?" Cole asked, amusement in his voice.

I fell backwards again, but this time the back of my head hit the ground harshly which made stars dance in my vision. I groaned out and stuck a thumbs up. I heard the boy chuckle and offered me a hand which I took.

"You seem like you know hand to hand combat pretty well? Did you get taught?" I asked him as I dusted the dirt off my pants.

Cole nodded, "Yeah, my father was in the guard, like yours."

My eyes shot up, and I nodded, "Was?" I asked curiously.

He nodded at me, but his eyes were filled with something else. "He, uh.. He was murdered."

I frowned, "I'm sorry, that's horrible." I walked over to him and set a hand on his shoulder, "Your father is watching over you, and he's proud." I gave him a warm smile.

I grabbed a gun that was perched beside the log and walked over to Cole with a smile on my face, "Ready to be a badass?"

Cole looked over at me and his eyes narrowed down at the machine gun in my hands. He looked unsure about shooting a gun, and I knew that it was his first time. "Cole, it's not that hard." I stared at the young teenager and handed it over to him. "Just point and shoot, okay?"

I watched him position himself with the gun in his hands, and lined it with his shoulder. I pursed my lips and came over to help him reposition it.

"Here, if you hold it that way, your shoulder will pay for it." I said, and walked away from him as he lined up the gun to the tin cans that were set up a few feet away from us.

I watched as Cole readjusted himself, and then lean his head to the side to get a better look at the can in the distance. He slowly pulled the trigger back, bracing for the backfire. The bullet spun in the air and hit the tin can dead on, knocking it off the log. I smiled over at him proudly.

Cole spun over to me, the gun pointing directly at me. "I did it! I did it, I hit the can!"

"Yeah. you did." I cautiously grabbed the barrel of the machine gun and grabbed it from Cole's hands, watching as he rejoiced. I pointed the barrel to the ground, "Now all you've got to worry about is making sure you can hit the Grounders."

Cole paused. "Well... what's so different about it? You point and shoot, right?"

"Yeah, but they aren't tin cans, Cole, they move. Fast." I watched as Cole's face fall into a hard line. I grinned at him and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Relax, you just kicked my ass back there."

Cole's face lit up as he took in my words, "Anyways, I think that's enough practice for today." I handed the gun over to Cole cautiously, "Just be careful, and don't point it at anyone, understand?" My eyes glanced over to Bellamy who was watching us from a distance. He hasn't talked to me since we got back from the trip. When I caught him staring, he looked away and started walking the opposite way.

"Yeah. Got it, thanks."

"It's my job." I smiled at him.

I watched Cole leave and walked over to the log that my jacket was laying upon, I slipped it over my shoulders, letting out a sigh as I tugged on the ponytail, loosening it from my hair.

I turned around and found Jasper coming up to me with a huge smile on his face. "Happy Unity Day!"

My head turned around to see a goofy grin on Jasper's face as he pranced around me, "Yeah, yeah. Unity day, yay!" I replied while getting cut off in mid-yawn, stretching my arms up above my head.

 Jasper rolled his eyes at me and nudged my arm with his elbow. "Oh come on, Unity day is a time of peace when the Ark came together." he told me while throwing his arm over my shoulder, starting to walk over towards where the breakfast was being served.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on Jasp, a time of peace? Arkadia has been known to throw the party to stop people from worrying about what's really going on behind the scenes." I begun, but stopped my direction of my conversation when a disappointed look started brewing in his eyes. "But hey, if it makes you happy - Happy Unity Day."

 Monty butted in from behind the two of us, "Well there might or might not be a party tonight with alcohol involved - if that changes your mind?"

 I raised my eyebrow while turning my head to glance in his direction, a wicked smile coming onto my lips. "See, this is how you celebrate, I knew I've always had a liking to you, Monty."

***

"Happy Unity Day." I grinned and slung my arm over Octavia's shoulder. It took awhile to find her, but when I did, she was up against one of the walls.

"Happy Unity Day." Octavia smiled back after throwing a blueberry into her mouth. "I saw you get your ass kicked by Cole earlier. Do you think you can teach me how to fight?"

"I could, yeah." I glanced over at me as he nodded. "I wanted to ask you something." She looked over at me.

"Okay, shoot." I say as I grab one of her blueberries from her hand, and throw one into the air, catching it.

"You never told me about you and Murphy."

I glanced over at her, pursing my lips. "I don't think there's much to tell. We were in love a long time ago."

"There's more than that, how did you two meet?" She asked me.

"My Mom and his mom were best friends back in the day," I informed her but my voice started to waver due to the imagine of my mother coming to the surface. "He was my only friend on the Ark, and I would always sneak out after Curfew to meet him, and watch the stars from the big window" I smiled slightly as the scene re-played in my head.

"Do you think he's still out there somewhere?"

 My lips pursed as my eyes grew sad, looking towards the ground. "Murphy's a survivor, I know that much. But the Grounders are ruthless, sometimes I think it would've been kinder if Bellamy had of killed him that night."

"You wouldn't have let him." Octavia denied. "You would have fought Bellamy until you were blue in the face."

I let out a chuckle, because she was right. "Do you think I'm a horrible person for not staying mad at him for what he did to Charlotte?"

Octavia shrugged, "No, everyone makes mistakes. Charlotte jumped off herself, it's not like he pushed her."

I nodded, "Yeah. I suppose you're right."

"Have you thought of going to find him?"

"Of course I have. But if I try to go find him, there's no way Bellamy would just let me leave the camp, and part of me is scared that I'll find him but he wont be-" I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I just don't think i'll be able to handle that."

"Tell you what, I'll ask Lincoln to keep a look out for the psychopath."

I turned my head sharply to look at her, and I frowned. "Who's Lincoln?"

Octavia flushed, "Uh.."

"Octavia, I just told you my love story, and you can't even tell me who Lincoln is?"

Octavia sighed, "The grounder, his name is Lincoln."

My jaw dropped at the realization of what she had just told me, the gears were running in my head as I put two and two together. "So you're the one who helped him escape."

"He's not like the others, Kota."

"He might not be. I just.. want you to be careful okay?" I looked over at her as her lips tugged into a warm smile.

"Maybe you can meet him." Octavia looked over, meeting my unsure gaze.

I let out a snort, "I don't think we would get along, I mean he did almost kill me." I pointed out, remembering how he dislocated my shoulder from it's socket back in the cave where we were rescuing Octavia. Bellamy pushed it back in, and I won't forget how I passed out because of the pain.

"He was just being cautious. He won't kill you, I promise."

I gave her a nod of approval. I didn't particularly like that she was sneaking around with a potential threat, and he could hurt her but if Octavia trusted him, I guess it wouldn't hurt to put my trust into her.