XX

[PREVIOUSLY: Octavia lashes out at Murphy when she discovers that he's committed an atrocious crime against Charlotte. The one hundred's food supply is depleting and on top of that, a panic erupts throughout the camp when another drop-ship is spotted].

"T-that's another drop-ship."

Once the words left my mouth, I immediately regretted it.

"WHAT? Another drop-ship?" "They're sending more prisoners down?" "They're going to kill us all!" "They're trying to scare us!" "We don't have enough supplies to share with them!" "We're all gonna die!"

Chaos reigned as people dashed here and there, trying to scrounge up as much necessities as they could for themselves. Some were screaming, others were crying, and still others were shaking with fear.

"Good job, Octavia," Bellamy glared at me. "You just made things worse." He whirled around and started back for the drop-ship.

"Wait! What are you going to do?" I called out after him.

He glanced over his shoulder and smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I sighed. "Please, tell you're gonna do something about Murphy first?"

Bellamy hesitated and then shrugged. "Charlotte tried to kill the chancellor, Octavia, and she nearly succeeded. I'm sure that if she really didn't want Murphy to do what he did that she would've stopped him; but she didn't. So what's that saying about the situation?"

"It's saying you're an ignorant jackass!" I yelled, starting after him.

Finn grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to a stop. "Octavia, don't. He - he's not worth it."

I stared angrily up at Bellamy, my eyes narrowed dangerously. "You know what? Finn's right. Your not worth it. You and your dumbass sidekick can go to hell!" Then, I stepped back, my hands implanted firmly on my hips. "But, I swear to God, if Murphy comes near Charlotte or any other girl again, I'll kill him! Got it?"

Bellamy didn't move. He remained frozen in place. His expression was one of surprise and amusement. He didn't take my threat seriously, I could see it in his eyes.

A low growl rose up in the back of my throat as I spun around and stomped away. He would. He would take me seriously. He would just have to wait and see.

"The damn thing's on fire!" shouted someone who was standing nearby.

I stopped in my tracks and turned my gaze up towards the sky, inhaling sharply.

The metallic drop-ship type contraption was now zooming through the air, making a beeline straight towards the ground! The back end of it was on fire and the parachute that had flung up was being destroyed by the flames. The drop-ship spun around and around and around before plummeting with a loud, resounding THUMP into the earth beyond a series of knolls in the distance.

Now was the time to prove my self worth.

I stormed into my tent and snatched up my pack. I began throwing things into it as Finn trailed in after me.

"Uh ... w-what are you doing?"

"I'm packing, Captain Obvious," I snapped.

"B-but why, Princess?"

"I'm going to go find that drop-ship. They had a rough landing, sure, but what if they have a radio or some other form of communication that could get a message to the Ark?"

"I - I thought you didn't care about the others up on the Ark."

"I - I ..." I hesitated.

"Princess?"

"Look, I'm not completely heartless, regardless of what everyone else thinks. The families up there who are mourning the deaths of their own damn children should at least know that they're alive and well, okay?"

"Okay, but you can't go alone."

"Then, come with me," I stated, raising my eyebrows and cocking my head to the side as I slung my pack over one shoulder. "Or is Spacewalker too afraid of an adventure?"

"It's not an adventure, Octavia, it's a suicide mission," Finn stepped forward and enclosed my hands in his own. "We'll be alone, isolated, defenceless; the perfect target for a troupe of grounders."

"Trust me, Finn, if they'd wanted to kill us, they would've done it by now," I reminded him.

"What about Jasper? They were going to let him die!"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, we won't be defenceless," I smirked.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm taking Bellamy's gun."

A moment of silence issued.

Finn shook his head and his mouth curved into a wide smile. "You badass," he chuckled. "Alright. I'm in."

"Good. Then, let's go," I reached up on my tip-toes and pressed a light kiss on his cheek before pulling away from him. I nodded towards the tent opening and brushed shoulders with him as I walked out into the cool morning air.

It was time to prove my brother wrong.

"Okay, so when I said I was in, I kinda meant that I was in up to a certain point but, geez, Princess, we've been walking for ages, there's not a single sign of anything anywhere."

I started laughing as I clapped Finn on the shoulder. "Spacewalker, we've been walking for less than an hour."

"Oh."

"Are you like allergic to walking or something cos you're the one that's always complaining when we have to take a long hike."

"No. I'm not."

"Really, baby?"

"Shut-up."

"Aw, it's okay, petal, you can go back to the others ... that is, if you want?"

Finn gave me a playful shove in the shoulder. "Seriously, Octavia, how do we know that we're even going the right way?"

"If it landed right beyond the knolls, there's only one place that drop-ship could be," I told him gently.

"Where?"

"It landed near the river."

"Oh god, we have to go back there?"

I just smirked and arched my eyebrows as I pushed my legs to go faster. "C'mon, keep up!" I sung out.

The hours seemed to travel by fast. Finn and I, although constantly aware of our surroundings, continued to laugh and talk along the way. By this point, I was convinced that Finn was the cutest thing I'd ever laid eyes on. He was strong, determined, and cocky but he was also sweet and loving. He'd do little things that would just melt your heart like give you flowers, hold your hand, smooth your hair, call you nicknames you absolutely hated.

Even though everything else in my life was falling down right around my ears, Finn was the one stable anchor I could hold onto during this storm and I was so happy that I could.

Sooner than I'd expected, we were back at the river, the treacherous, dangerous river; the one that nearly took my life, the one that bore witness to Jasper being speared, the one that stopped us from reaching Mount Weather, the one that we had to cross to go rescue our friend.

If Finn was allergic to running then I was allergic to this river.

"Alright, let's split up, we'll cover more ground," Finn's confident, brassy voice broke into my thoughts. "You go that way towards the west and I'll go over this way."

"O-okay," I shrugged reluctantly. "Let's not spread out too far though, I'm the only one with a gun."

Finn rolled his eyes. "Well, look what I have," he pulled out a knife from his belt. "This will take on all of those damn grounders."

"You wish," I shook my head and smiled as I started off along the rocky river bank. I kept an eye out for any clues as to where the other drop-ship could be. I tried to remember what Finn did while he was tracking: look out for broken twigs and branches, keep an eye out for any signs of human activity in the area like footprints, material, blood or something similar. I was so absorbed in what I was doing it took me a moment to realise that someone was calling my name.

I jerked my head up and listened intently. "F-Finn? Is that you?" I yelled.

"Yes, Octavia! Come quick! I've found it!"

Oh my god.

I jumped into action. I began sprinting in the direction of Finn's voice, parting bushes and overhanging vines that were in my way. My shod feet leapt nimbly over stones, sticks, and logs and went gracefully splattering through piles of mud and leaves. My breath, coming out in heaves and pants, froze in the cool air; puffs of white escaping my mouth and nostrils.

"I - I'm coming Finn!" I shouted, hoping that he wasn't too far off.

A bunch of fallen logs that were smack bang in the middle of my path suddenly loomed into view.

Great. This is just what I need.

Reaching up, I took a firm hand-hold in the crook of one of the logs and heaved myself up and over the pile. I missed my footing, however, and ended up on the ground, flat on my back.

I gasped, the wind completely knocked out of me. I definitely hadn't expected that. With a muffled moan of pain, I rolled over onto my hands and knees and then froze.

Directly in front of me was the hammered, banged-up drop-ship ... but that wasn't what I was looking at.

I was looking at Finn.

He was standing, right in front of the metallic contraption, with some dark-haired girl hanging onto him. His arms were around her waist, her arms were around his neck. His fingers were brushing against her back, her fingers were tangled up in his hair.

But what hit me the most was the fact that their lips were locked together ... in a passionate kiss.

My heart dropped straight into my feet.

I had been betrayed.

Gif: Octavia's face of shock when she sees Finn.

XX