CHAPTER FOUR.
don't look down.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

    Finger's grazed an old drawing sitting idly upon an ancient looking desk. Sage quickly brushed the dust off of it before studying the image. Three stick figures were drawn in a line, the middle one appearing much shorter than the rest. Blonde pigtails were drawn on in a slightly too bright yellow crayon and a large smile adorned her face. The taller figures either side each wore similar grins as one appeared to be a father, and the other a mother.

    The sketch erupted a dreadful feeling in the pit of Sage's stomach. The messy yet innocent drawing sent a wave of nostalgia over the teen as she longed for her parents. Malia Noon had lived to see her daughter's thirteenth birthday before she passed, her husband had passed only months prior via floating from none other than Thelonious Jaha. This left their two daughters, biological and surrogate, to fend for themselves. Sage and Raven held onto one another for a while, Raven suddenly feeling the duty to protect her somewhat younger sister until she was locked up in the skybox. Sage had never regretted her crime, in fact she always, till this day saw it as a necessary act.

    Raven used to visit every afternoon during Sage's first year, before she starting showing up less and less, until it reached the point that Sage was lucky to receive a visit from the older girl once every few months. In the early stages, Sage tried to convince herself that Raven was simply busy with school work and training to be an mechanic but as she got older her belief slowly slipped away. She knew Raven spent her time with Finn and barely thought of her. And while it set a horrid feeling in her already worn out heart, part of her wanted Raven to forget about her and live a happy life with her boyfriend. Perhaps if she forgot Sage, she could forget the memories she came with.

    "We're gonna do this again." Bellamy announced, snapping Sage out of her trance. She glanced at the imprisoned Grounder before placing the paper in its original position. As the boys continued to interrogate the Grounder, Sage trudged over to the lounge where she flopped upon it.

Sage began to tune out the boys until Finn's tone hardened yet again causing her to tense up and sit slightly straighter.

    "Where is the girl who was wearing this watch?" Finn spat.

    "I never saw a girl." The Grounder responded weakly. His bloodied face almost matched Bellamy and Murphy's at this point.

    "Guys, he clearly doesn't know. This is useless. The Grounders don't have them." Sage piped in only to be ignored, yet again.

    "I don't know what girl you're talking about." The Grounder repeated.

    "Another lie. Maybe you should stop asking him nicely-" Murphy began.

    "Shut up, Murphy." Bellamy interrupted. Sage glanced at Murphy who threw his hands up in a sarcastic question.

"Where are our friends? You took them. We know you did. Just tell us where." Bellamy stated.

    "Murphy's right. We're wasting time." Finn spoke, retrieving his handgun from his pocket and thrusting it against his temple.

    "Answer the question!" He screamed violently.

    Sage stood up from the couch just as Bellamy intercepted and pulled Finn away.

"Where's the girl who was wearing this watch?"

    "Hey. Finn, stop!" Bellamy yelled just as loudly.

    "You don't wanna do this. Trust me." Bellamy spoke.

    "There are some lines you can't uncross."

Bellamy carefully let go of the out of control boy who sighed deeply. Everyone's movement ceased for a moment before Finn swung back at the Grounder yet again, screaming his head off.

    "Where's Clarke?" "Where is she? Where is? Back off" Finn grunted as Bellamy began tugging on him again.

    He swiftly aimed his gun toward Bellamy causing the room to turn silent. Sage's eyes widened as Bellamy somehow remained calm.

    "Put the gun down, Finn."

    "Finn look at me." Sage started.

    The boy quickly looked up at her only to meet a worried gaze.

    "The Grounders didn't take them. Someone did but it wasn't them. Okay? I know what I saw and it wasn't Grounders." Sage elaborated.

    "I don't care! They have her I know it!" Finn spat as his voiced boomed through the bunker.

    He then manoeuvred his gun so it was positioned beside the Grounder's temple.

    "Three seconds!"

    "Two."

    Sage began to telepathically beg the Grounder to answer so she wouldn't have to witness another shooting, especially in such a close proximity.

    "One!"

    As if the telepathy had worked the man whimpered a small "Okay".

    "I'll tell you." The man obliged, however no emotion had crossed over Finn's hardened facade.

    "Your friends are east of here. The village where we take our prisoners of war." The man revealed.

    Sage couldn't help but glance at Murphy whose ears perked up at this.

    "East where? How do we get to them?" Finn demanded.

    "I can draw you a map. You should hurry, soon they'll outlive their usefulness." The Grounder advised.

    "Get him something to draw a map." Finn instructed turning to Sage who figured he was addressing her. He lowered his gun and relaxed slightly.

    She rushed over to the desk before locating a scrap piece of paper, thankful that Finn was thinking slightly more logically. Sage shuffled over to the Grounder before placing the paper and a pencil before him. She smiled sympathetically before pushing past Bellamy and standing behind him as a source of protection from Finn who was scaring her a little too much.

    "And you thought I was the crazy one huh?" Murphy reminded as he strolled past Bellamy and Sage.

↯

    The group huddled around Sage and the Grounder as the studied the map she had drawn. Since Finn refused to let his hands free, she acted as his hands and drew the map according to his instructions. And while it was messy, Sage was fairly impressed with the trees and water flows she had drawn.

    "Gather up your gear. We're leaving." Bellamy commanded.

    Sage stood to her feet before collecting the map and shuffling between Sterling and Finn.

    "What about him?" Sterling questioned referring to the still kneeling Grounder.

    "For now, we leave him. We'll deal with him when we're done." Bellamy responded.

    "What if he escapes? He knows where we're going." Murphy reminded.

    "We're not killing him." Bellamy directed firmly.

    "I'm not really seeing another option here." Murphy began. "If we don't take care of this now, this is gonna blow back on us and you know that."

    "He's unarmed, Murphy." Bellamy disagreed.

    "He's a Grounder." Murphy stated firmly.

    Sage's face fell into her hands as she began to rub her temples and question her decision to join the team of delinquent boys. The group remained silent and Sage soon felt eyes on her causing her to look up. Murphy gazed at her with expectant eyes as if he was waiting for her to agree with murdering the Grounder.

    "Really? Come on, tell him."

    "I don't know." Monroe shook her head.

    "You don't know what? He's gonna tell his people everything. We're as good as dead. Our friends too." Murphy expressed.

    Sage understood where he was coming from. The fact that if they left him they were running the risk of potentially unleashing a Grounder army on themselves was haunting the back of her mind.

    "Look, we're not doing this. End of discussion. You want him, you go through me." Bellamy interjected.

    "What happened to you, huh? You're talking like you never killed a Grounder before." Murphy critiqued.

    "That was in battle. This would be an execution-" Bellamy started.

    His words were cut off by a gunshot sounding through the room causing all of the teens to flinch. Sage instinctively held her hands above her head and inched closer to Monroe who was stood beside her. The two girls glanced at each other before over at Finn who held the pistol over the Grounder's corpse. Sage noticed he had also since attached Clarke's watch to his wrist. His gaze hovered over the Grounder for a long moment before he snapped out of whatever trance he was in and stalked toward the group.

    He snatched the map from Sage's grasp causing her to flinch back in fright. Finn stalked past her and toward the exit leaving the rest to stand around for a moment before collecting their belongings and following behind the boy they no longer knew.

Courtesy of Sage's well drawn map, Bellamy and the group had a well structured route to follow. However Sage would have preferred if they could follow said map at a slower pace rather than rushing through the thick foliage.

    They had been walking for a while which provided the dark skinned girl with a sufficient amount of time to re evaluate her outlook on the once peacemaking Finn. Since the interaction in the bunker, Sage had attempted to stray away from the boy and often found herself walking closer to any of the others. After miles of walking Finn had suggested they begin to pick up their pace due to the fact that they had entered a Grounder based region.

    As the boys had advised, Sage began to speed up her pace as the others did also.The group rummaged through the forest as their boots made a whole lot more sound than they would have liked. Sage watched her surroundings warily as Bellamy began to speak,

    "Everyone, eyes peeled. We're in Grounder territory."

    "Everything is Grounder territory, alright?" Murphy drawled sarcastically. His footsteps behind her ceased alerting the girl her follower had stopped running. Sage stopped also, turning around where Murphy stood heaving dry breaths.

    Sage had to agree with him, her injury was causing her a great deal of strain and while her wound was healing it still sent waves of pain shuddering through her torso.

    "I can't keep running. We don't even know if the guy Finn killed was telling the truth." Murphy pointed out.

    "Keep moving." Finn snarled before harshly grabbing Murphy's collar and pulling him towards him. His eyes turning to Sage's and he glared at her stationary predicament.

    "Give them a minute." Bellamy but in as he persuaded Finn to let Murphy go.

    "No, we can't. You heard what the Grounder said: "They'll outlive their usefulness." Finn recited.

    Sage glanced through her peripheral vision to where Murphy's eyes glared through the back of Finn's skull as angry thoughts flashed through his mind.

    "I heard what he said when you had a gun to his head." Bellamy muttered reminding the long haired boy of his mistakes.

    "Look, you think I wanted to do that?" Finn questioned rhetorically.

    "It appeared that way." Sage murmured to herself although Murphy nodded in agreement upon hearing her statement.

    "He would have told his people we're coming, and by the time we got there, our people would be dead. Maybe that's something you can live with, but I can't!" Finn defended himself.

    "Hey, you did what you thought you had to do, but you are not yourself right now, and I can't be out here with another loose cannon." Bellamy stated, looking past Finn and over at Murphy who threw his hands up in disbelief however he knew he deserved the comment.

    "You guys." Monroe spoke up.

    Sage quickly pivoted her line of vision towards Monroe who watched the area of land behind Bellamy and Finn. Sage did so also and was soon confronted with several collapsed bodies. The flies hovering above said bodies suggested that they were deceased or at leat on their way out.

    "Fall in." Bellamy commanded.

    The teenagers followed their older leader as he stalked through the land clearing. The group's heavy breathing sounded audibly as the tired group of six continued their journey.

    "Where the hell did they come from?" Finn asked softly.

    "From the Ark." Bellamy muttered.

    Sage, whose eyes had landed upon a familiar face frowned at the ground. She soon discovered it was a girl from her old Biology class whom she had spoken to once or twice. Sage racked her brain to remember which station her former classmate originated from and soon realised she was a resident of Factory station.

    "Factory Station." Sage confirmed, pausing before leaving the body of her former acquaintance.

    The group continued to venture through the path, gazing sorrowfully down at the deceased Ark inhabitants. Sage began to truly value her own survival as she and the others concluded their journey upon reaching a grand debris. The large desolate land sent goosebumps across Sage's arms and neck despite her tattered jacket. As she gazed out from her placement on the top of the cliff she narrowed her eyes at the sight of the land between them and the next far off mountains. Looking down, Sage gulped at the sight of the length distance between her position and the ground below. Therefore she took a step back only to result in a collision between her back and Murphy's front. He swiftly pushed her behind himself as the girl murmured a small thank you.

    "It's a rough landing." Murphy stated.

    The group remained for a few additional moments before Sage eventually had enough of standing so close to the edge. As she scooted away from the brim of the cliff Finn began to speak

    "There's nothing we can do for these people. We got to go." He elaborated.

    Sage spun on her heel and followed the boys only to freeze upon hearing a woman's whimpering. Sage stopped abruptly as her eyes met Bellamy's. They were both certain the other had heard the whining and they were both surely determined to figure out what or who it was.

    "Did you hear that?" The older boy asked.

    She nodded quickly before they both rushed to the edge of the cliff. Sage, who was still hesitant to stand too close to the edge of the cliff, peered over Murphy's shoulder to the abyss below.

    "Hey, hey. Someone's down there." Monroe pinpointed. Sage leaned further onto the boy so her head was beside his and her chest pressed against his upper back.

    "Hey!" Bellamy called.

    "Please." The woman down below pleaded.

    "Up here!" Bellamy announced.

    "Please help me!" She cried.

    Sage's heart soon ached for the poor girl as she glanced between the boys surrounding her.

    "Mel?" Sterling questioned.

    "Help me!" She called, her voice was so heart wrenching, Sage's own heart ached at the sound.

    "You know her?" Murphy questioned.

    "Shut up, Murphy. She's my friend. We have to do something." Sterling spoke.

    "Help me! Sterling, please!" Mel called out.

    Sage and the others began to shuffle away from the cliff's edge as Finn turned to Bellamy and began discussing in a hushed tone. Sage and Murphy stood side by side with their arms crossed as they observed Sterling gathering a rope and beginning to tie it around himself.

    "He's gonna get himself killed." Sage muttered to Murphy.

    "Yeah I know." He responded.

    "Are we gonna do anything to stop him?" She asked as their eyes remained glued to him.

    "Nope."

    "I know. Okay? I know." Bellamy exclaimed, attracting unwanted attention from the teens excluded from the conversation. Murphy and Sage finally glanced over at the pair just as Bellamy nodded guiltily.

    "We're moving out." Bellamy ordered.

    "I don't think we are." Sage inputed as she and Murphy watched Sterling beginning to lower himself down with the rope he had attached to a nearby tree trunk.

    "Wait, Sterling!"

    "Hey!"

    Bellamy and Finn called as they caught sight of the descending boy.

    "I can't hang on!" Mel shouted desperately.

    Sage sighed at the situation before glancing over at Murphy whose braided hair was falling into his face.

    "Well, it looks like we're taking that break after all, huh?" He chuckled.

    Bellamy gazed carefully down at Sterling and Mel as Finn pivoted on his heel and walked away. Murphy and Monroe remained still as Sage moved to go and sit upon a nearby rock.

↯

    Sage sat crossed legged a few feet away from the rim of the cliff as she watched Sterling anxiously as he descended further and further down the rocky cliff. Unknowingly, Sage's nails wedged between her teeth as she chewed on them anxiously, a habit which had evidently led to her nails often breaking and her cuticles remaining horrendous looking.

    "I'm almost there! Once I have her, pull us up!" Sterling shouted. Sage chewed on her nail for a moment before nodding at Sterling who glanced up and met her eyes.

    "Well, I'd say he's heard one too many of your motivational speeches." Murphy smirked.

    "Shut up, Murphy." Bellamy muttered. Sage obtained a similar reaction and turned to hit Murphy's leg as she scolded him.

    "Hey!" He exclaimed.

    Ignoring this, Sage turned back around and carefully watched as Sterling manoeuvred himself to stand on the rock protruding from the face of the cliff which Mel was perched on. Mel's hand quickly grasped the blond boy's just as the boulder crumbled under the new weight. Sage instinctively shuffled backwards before rising to her feet and watching over the edge like the others. Sterling swung in midair as the rope he was attached to held onto him. Sage was unsure of how exactly however she wasn't complaining and was not fond on the idea of the boy slipping from the rope's grasp.

    Sage's wishes were denied when the thin rope retracted from the tree trunk and flew past the delinquents who began shouting for the boy. Mel's hand quickly retracted from Sterling's gasp as the boy fell to his death. Sage stepped forward, her eyes widening at the sight of Sterling's body laying protracted upon the bottom of the cliff. Sage's hand flew to her mouth as she stepped yet another foot closer to the edge. Sage watched with wide eyes as Mel stabilised herself by wrapping both her arms around a tree branch protruding from the side of the cliff wall.

    Sage jumped at the feeling of an arm snaking around the front of her waist and pulling her backwards. She turned to find Murphy who guided her further away from the edge. He soon released his grip when she was deemed far enough from the cliff's edge. Murphy's grip then switched to Monroe who was sobbing at the death of her close friend. Sage aided the girl and stood by her right side before the girl turned and con-caved within the other female's arms. Murphy sighed at Sterling's body before meeting Sage's eyes who stared at the ground despite her encasement of Monroe's shaking figure. Monroe soon escaped Sage's grasp and trailed off to the side alone as Bellamy yelled down to Mel.

    "Mel! Mel, hold on." The girl whimpered below as Bellamy leaned down further to get a full view of the girl.

    "Focus on me. You can do this." He encouraged.

    "No!" She called through her sobs.

    "Yes, you can. You're strong." Bellamy motivated.

    "I'm not strong." Mel objected loudly. "Stubborn, maybe."

    "So be stubborn a little longer." Bellamy called, his voice echoing as he leaned over the edge of the cliff. "Yeah. I'm not gonna let you die. You hear me?"

    "Okay." Mel nodded as tears continued to spill from her saddened eyes.

    "We're out of rope." Finn stated.

    "So we make a new one."

    "If anything happens to our friends we could-" Finn started only to be cut off by Bellamy who was clearly not in the mood to bargain with Finn.

    "We don't know if we could save our friends." Bellamy sighed exasperatedly. "For all we know, they may be dead already. We've all thought it." He continued, glancing over at Sage, Murphy and Monroe who gazed sorrowfully in different directions. "But what we do know is we could save this one girl." Bellamy concluded as Finn shook his head in disagreement.

    "Sterling was one of us." Monroe stated firmly, her eyes gluing harshly onto the pair closest to her. "She was his friend. I'm in." She spoke sternly.

    Murphy glanced at Sage who remained silent. After a moment she nodded causing Murphy to turn to Bellamy. "How do we do it?" He asked, confirming he was on board with the plan.

    "We make new rope from the wreckage. Go find wires, seat-belts, anything." Bellamy ordered. Murphy nodded before grasping Sage's hand and dragging her along with him.

    Sage followed the boy before guiding Monroe also. The girl followed suite as they began to search for anything they could utilise to save Mel.

— kind of a filler chapter but it's okayyy. sage n murphy are getting closer which is making me happier wowowow hehe.

please let me know what you think and i hope you enjoyed !!