chapter 3 - curiosity

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Dakota hid in the shadows as she continued following the girl. It was dark as they treaded through the woods, the only light visible was coming from the full moon above them. Its brightness flickered through the trees giving off enough light for the grounder girl to see the brunette finally slow down, as the curly-headed boy came into view.

"Bellamy!" The sky girl shouted, grabbing his attention.

His head snapped in her direction when he suddenly heard the sound of her voice. He scoffed, then directed his attention back to the path he was walking on.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she caught up with him. He stopped in his tracks and turned around, now facing the brunette.

"Go back to camp. It isn't safe." He ordered her.

Like he has room to talk! Dakota thought as she stood hidden behind a tree.

"You lied to everyone. You lied to me." The girl stated. Or more like panted, as she stood out of breath from her previous sprint through the woods.
"You just want whatever's in that pod—"

"Just go home!" He yelled, cutting her off and shoving her shoulder in the process.

Dakota flinched slightly when she heard him raise his voice. She frowned when she noticed that he had pushed the girl. She took a deep breath, calming herself. She wasn't fond of the idea of people fighting but she especially hated it when men put their hands on women.

Once she finally got herself together and she turned her attention back to the two, she saw that they were still talking, but unfortunately, she had missed part of the conversation.

"You shot the chancellor?" The brunette asked with wide eyes.

"He floated our mother. He locked you up. He deserved it." The boy replied, attempting to justify his actions.

Our mother, huh? They must be siblings...

"I didn't ask you to do that." She said.

"You're right. I made the choice. This is on me. Whatever they sent down, I'll take care of it."

The girl shook her head.

"I didn't ask for any of this." She stated, before turning and hurrying in the other direction, leaving the boy who just continued walking in the way he was originally going.

As they departed, Dakota finally came out from her hiding spot. She was about to continue following the boy (who she found out was named, Bellamy) towards the "pod", but she stopped in her tracks, glancing in the opposite direction where the brunette ran.

As she stood there, hesitant, she couldn't help but remember how distressed the girl had sounded. And what Bellamy said was right, it isn't safe out here.

"Come on, Kota." She muttered to herself. "For once in your life, follow your head and not your heart."

She shook her head and started walking to follow Bellamy again, but immediately stopped once more when the flashbacks of her younger self almost being killed in the forest came to mind. She took a deep breath as she raised her hand to her shirt, feeling the long scar on her abdomen.

She sighed, knowing that it wouldn't feel right if she had let the sky girl wander off by herself while not knowing the many dangers within the forest.

"I hope I don't regret this." She stated, before turning on her heels and running in the direction that the brunette ran instead.

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Moments later, the Sky girl finally came into view, making Kota slow down. She still couldn't show herself, but she just wanted to make sure that she got back to camp safely.

With her mind too focused on the brunette, Dakota didn't seem to notice the small branch in front of her until she stepped on it. It made a loud *SNAP* noise that echoed throughout the perimeter of the forest, and even caused frightened birds to suddenly emerge, flying from bushes around her. She ducked down when the brunette's head turned toward her direction. She looked around a few times before turning back and quickening her pace.

Dakota silently cursed herself for, momentarily, disregarding her stealth skills, and immediately ran to follow her again.

No matter how fast she went, the girl just kept running and running while pushing various tree branches and bushes out of her way.

I'm not gonna hurt you! Dakota thought.

She then came to a halt when she saw the Sky girl standing at the edge of a cliff, looking trapped.
Before she knew it, the girl had started rushing down the hill only to trip and fall, tumbling down to the ground. Dakota dashed to the edge. When she got there, she looked down and saw the girl lying unconscious below, as blood slowly trickled down from her forehead.

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Dakota was currently crouching over the girl. She had made her way carefully, down to the bottom of the ravine and had been waiting a few hours for the girl to wake up.

All of a sudden, loud sparks started bursting into the air coming from the direction of the camp. The sparks lit up the sky with fiery red hues in the process, making Dakota look up in awe at how pretty the view was. She'd never seen anything like it before.

These Sky People are no doubt intriguing...

Just then, the brunette started grunting, pulling Dakota away from her thoughts. She looked down at her, as the girl began moving. It took her by surprise when the girl eventually shifted her head to look up at her with both fear and confusion laced in her beautifully green eyes.

Kota slowly rose to her feet, getting ready just in case the girl tried anything. But the girl only dropped her head, falling unconscious once more.

The grounder girl continued staring down at the brunette in her unconscious state, watching as the red lights from the sky danced across her face. Even though she was currently covered in blood and dirt, Dakota could still see a mixture of both soft and strong features on the girl, and she was suddenly mesmerized by her.

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Later on that night, Dakota somehow managed to carry the girl back to her cave. Using the skills she learned as a healer, she thoroughly examined the girl. She took note of all her injuries and decided to work on her leg first since it was the most affected.

It seemed as if one of the rocks she hit when falling down the hill, managed to split open the flesh around her knee. She had a large bloody gash there and even a small part of the bone was showing. It was going to cause her extreme pain when she woke up so Kota thought it was best to take care of it now, while she was out and couldn't feel anything.

Due to how deep the cut was, it was gonna take more than a few simple stitches to fix it and stop the bleeding. She knew that she needed to close the wound quickly before an infection spread.

Knowing what needed to be done, she walked back to the fire pit in the back of the cave, and slowly unsheathed her sword. She gazed down, uneasily, at it before placing it into the burning flames.

Minutes later, as the tip of her sword began glowing bright orange from the heat, she heard the brunette begin to groan behind her. She had to act fast before the girl was fully awake or else this was going to be a lot worse for her to endure.

Dakota removed her sword from the fire and hurried back to where the girl was, but it was too late. The girl was already awake. She started shuffling to get up but failed and yelped in pain when she felt the pain shoot from her leg. Dakota then rushed to her side and raised the heated sword in her hand.

"Please, please don't hurt me!" The girl cried as Dakota came closer with her weapon.

"No, no please!" She shouted. But before she could say much else, the tip of Dakota's glowing sword met the girl's open flesh.

The next thing to come out of the brunette's mouth was nothing but loud, piercing screams as they echoed and bounced off of the cave's walls.

Eventually, the pain was too much to bear, and she went limp in Dakota's arms.

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