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vertanimeni · 4 years

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the ice will start to break, the day will fade away (2/18)

Summary:

“Have you heard? The Elephant of Caocin has committed high treason!”

From Trikru’s most reputable war hero to Trikru’s most wanted traitor, Kova found themselves stripped of their titles and trapped between a clan that wants them dead and a camp of invaders - the same ones who kidnapped and tortured their brother.

But Kova was willing to do anything to stay alive and keep their family together.

Pairing: Bellamy/Grounder OC

Word Count: 4,027

TW: None I believe~

A/N: Hi hi! After some convincing from my friends, I decided to post this series here :D I’ve already finished with season 1 and half of season 2, I’m just in the middle of re-writing and editing. If you’re reading through my blog, the read more does not show up due to Tumblr’s new formatting, so please click on the post itself. I’ll be updating every other day at 12pm EST. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!

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ii. invaders.

As it turned out, sending word to Chief on the scavenger group was the right call. The group had almost triggered Mount Weather’s fog territory when one of them, a young boy, had used a vine to leap across the river. With little time to think or make a plan, a scout had speared the boy in the chest from afar and dragged his body away.

Well. The entire situation could have ended up worse, especially since the hunters of surrounding villages were out at that time. If they had been caught in the fog, there was no chance of survival for them or the food they might have been hunting.

Unfortunately, this also meant the scout had accidentally alerted the sky people of Trikru’s presence. Kova and Lincoln had been surprised to find the once peaceful camp suddenly in disarray when the scavenger group returned with news that they weren’t the only ones on Earth.

As for TonDC’s training camp? Needless to say, word of the sky people spread across the grounds shamelessly.

“It seems like the Descendants didn’t know there were still living humans here!”

“Hah! The Betrayers were full of rich, wealthy, and influential pigs who stepped on others to survive! I wouldn’t be surprised if they taught their children, including these so-called Descendants that they were the last humans!”

“How self-centered!”

“Do you all have nothing else to do but gossip?” Kova’s sharp voice came from the table behind the gossiping warriors. “Go train like proper students. I’m tired of hearing your voices.”

The warriors turned their heads so viciously towards them that Kova felt second-hand whiplash. The group of warriors faced Kova, faces red in anger, affronted, ready to give Kova a piece of their mind, most likely something along the lines of “How dare you speak to your elders/higher ranks like that!”

That was, until, they realized who had admonished them with little care for respect. Embarrassed at being called out by the great Elephant of Caocin, they shamefully grabbed their things and left. Kova had no doubt that the group was cursing them out as they made their way to the training ground.

Kova took another sip of tea from the cup they made when they returned from scouting. After 12 hours of traveling by tree, running around thick and sturdy branches, noting down important aspects of the camp and the Descendants, they had finally been relieved and were ordered to report to the Chief about their findings.

The most important note of their scouting session was that, yes, one of the Descendants had a gun, just as the scout who had speared the sky boy mentioned in their report. Why? Nobody knew. Not even Chief Indra of the Unforgiving generation, the oldest living generation on Earth, had seen a gun in her lifetime.

Thankfully, as far as they were aware of, there was only one gun. But the idea of the Descendants owning a weapon like that, a weapon practically extinct yet still taboo throughout the twelve clans, didn’t sit well with the Chief. The Chief immediately sent word to Lieutenant Anya, General Tristan, and the Commander herself, just in case.

Two taps on the calf of their legs, resting comfortably on the chair opposite of theirs, brought them back to the present. Without thinking, they held their legs in the air for a moment to let Lincoln sit across from them before placing their legs back down on his lap, careful to not let the outsole of their shoes brush against his pants.

They gave him a questioning look. He wordlessly handed over an envelope, closed by a wax seal with a familiar intricate design. Kova couldn’t help but look away and shut their eyes, taking the envelope and dropping it carelessly, seal facing the table. “That seal,” they took in a deep breath, eyes tightening shut, “that damned seal haunts my dreams.” They muttered under their breath and opened their eyes. “What mission did you get?”

Lincoln shook his head. “Not sure yet. I wanted to open it with you. But Kova—” they raised their eyebrows slightly at the usage of their real name. “—the Commander and Lieutenant Anya gave you 3 years of medical leave.”

A bitter laugh tumbled out of Kova’s mouth. “Medical leave? Is that what they’re calling it now, Lincoln?”

“You don’t have to return to Trikru’s militia yet, not if you don’t feel ready.”

“I’m never going to be ready.” Their gaze finally met his, yet Lincoln couldn’t feel relief, not when he could see the dark circles under their eyes, and the even darker look on their face. “I had seven years left of training before I can finally opt out of of the militia in good graces. I’ve spent two of those years in seclusion, I cannot spend one more minute in that damn residence. Especially now.”

For the first time in all his life, Lincoln realized, he wanted to plead — no, beg — for Kova to return to the residence. At least then he would know that they weren’t wearing themselves thin for a clan who forced their hand all those years ago. But their words stunned him, and while he stared at them wordlessly, mouth slightly agape, they took their envelope and pulled out the letter.

After a moment, he raised an eyebrow, as if to ask what they had gotten. “Lead protector of Fort Nauk.” They answered his unasked question and folded the letter back up neatly into the envelope. “You?”

He opened his and sighed before handing them the letter. They couldn’t help but snort. “Lead facilitator of the scouting group, huh? Looks like we won’t be able to see one another for a while.”

“A-Ko—”

“It says here you’ll be leaving tonight.” They handed the letter back. “Congrats, you get the job closest to all the action.”

“Will you be okay without me?”

“Shit, I better be okay, I have an entire fort to protect, apparently.” They meant to joke around, but their words came out with a tang of bitterness.

“Kova.” Ah shit. They knew that tone of his. “Be serious. Will you be alright? I don’t mind taking another mission to be closer to you.”

“You do that and I’ll never forgive you.” They snapped as they stood up. “I don’t need a baby sitter, I’ll be just fine on my own. It’s not my first time leading, nor is it my first mission.”

“Kova—”

“I better report to the Chief to let her know.”

“Kova, wait—”

“I’ll see you tonight.” And with that, they left Lincoln alone at the table.

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They hadn’t meant for their conversation to end on such a bad note, but the idea of Lincoln sacrificing his own duties just to take care of them left a sour taste in their mouth. Truthfully, Kova had only taken a few steps away from Lincoln when they realized how childish they were acting, but whether it was out of pride or stubbornness, they refused to turn back. Instead, they found their feet taking them to the Chief, true to their previous words—

“Why do I feel like you would rather be anywhere else but this camp? The very same camp you begged to be part of all those years ago?”

—only to find themselves in the middle of another lecture.

Chief Indra stood behind her desk, facing the window of her tent, hands clasped behind her back. She tilted her head slightly towards Kova, who remained frozen in their spot, eyes glued to the floor.

“Why do I feel like you are still not happy?”

“Would you like for me to fake my happiness for your pleasure?” While their voice had softened considerably compared to their usual clear tone, their sharp words could not be dulled down.

“Kova!” The Chief whipped around, eyes flashing in anger, eyebrows furrowing together.

“My apologies, Chief, that was out of line.”

“That’s another thing. Since when did you start calling me Chief?” The Chief stepped towards them, and they ducked their head further, away from her gaze. She must have decided not to push on that topic, whether because she was afraid of the answer, or didn’t care as much as Kova thought. “A-Ko. You were once considered as Trikru’s pride and joy.” Her voice came out in a murmur, hinted with disbelief. “Yet here you are. What happened to you?”

Kova knew Chief Indra’s words delve far deeper than their conversation. Her words held two years of resentment of Kova’s voluntary seclusion, held the pain of not just losing her best warrior and student, but someone she had once considered family.

Despite knowing this, they couldn’t prevent their thoughts from growing bitter. ‘What happened to me? How could you possibly ask me that, knowing damn well what happened to me. Were you not there when the higher ups forced my hand at that mountain? Were you not there the second I became the feared mass murderer I am today? Were you not there when my family and I were praised and despised for my actions? What happened to me wasn’t my choice, I never asked for this, I never asked to be the Elephant of Caocin.’

The room had gone silent. It felt as if even the world outside the tent had fallen into hushed whispers. Confused, Kova looked up, only to find the Chief practically shaking in anger, fists trembling against her desk, her face adorning a scowl Kova hadn’t seen since their own breakdown two years ago. It was only then did Kova realize two things.

One, they had said their thoughts out loud.

And two, at some point, they had also started crying.

Fresh tears streaked down their cheeks, but they made no movement to wipe their face, terrified of catching the Chief’s attention.

“Elephant of Caocin,” the Chief started, her voice straining to contain her anger, preventing her from yelling, “is an honorary title, given by the Commander herself. How could you possibly—”

“While I didn’t mean to speak my mind, Chief,” They practically spat the word, their anger flaring, “I cannot believe that you chose to focus on that out of what I said.”

If this was a few years ago, when Kova still had respect for the militia and the clan, when their hands weren’t tainted by the bitter tang taste of chokeberries, blood and dirt, they would have respectfully asked for permission to leave Chief Indra’s presence. But this was no longer a few years ago. Kova no longer held any respect towards the Chief, towards the militia, or towards Trikru. Kova was no longer Kova. They were the Elephant of Caocin.

Thus, with a subtle bow of their head, one fist across their heart and the other behind their back, as customary, they left the tent, ignoring the calls of what had once been their name.

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Kova had secluded themselves once more in their private tent after their talk with Indra. They had fallen into a mental black hole, one that took a few hours to climb out of. By the time they had left their tent, stomach grumbling in contempt, the sun was beginning to fall past the mountains surrounding the camp, ready to leave the warriors to defend themselves against the growing cold. ‘Winter must be coming sooner than we thought.’ The thought briefly passed their mind in a panic. They mentally noted that they would have to prepare their residence back at TonDC against the cold.

They had been on their way to the main campfire, where everyone would group to see of the scouts, only to be told by Zoya they had missed the scouts departures. Including Lincoln’s.

Frustration coiled in their chest like a familiar snake, and while Zoya had once known Kova like the back of her hand, and would never be afraid of them, she also knew the Elephant of Caocin had a short temper when it came to Lincoln or those close to them.

“They left recently,” She pointed Northeast with her thumb, forcing her hand not to tremble. “Since they’ll be setting up camp eventually, I think you can catch up with them.”

Without another word, Kova made their way out of camp and through the woods. Usually, a scouting mission like this wouldn’t bother Kova (unless it involved Azgeda). After all, they and Lincoln had gone weeks, months on end without seeing or hearing from one another, but this time was different. Maybe it was because they had ended on a bad note earlier that day. Maybe it was because of their talk with the Chief. Regardless of what it was, they had to at least say good bye, even if it meant they had to run to him this time, instead of away.

‘By the Gods,’ Kova thought as they ran through the woods, hopping over uprooted trees and roots alike, ‘Radios would sure come in handy right now.’

The elders, who were now mostly ancestors, had salvaged radios a few decades ago, and they worked perfectly fine until suddenly every single one of them had a strange frequency interference. The radio workers at the time said it was just lingering radiation.

‘Lingering radiation. Just wait until I can get my hands on one, let’s see if lingering radiation will stop me from reaching A-Lin.’ Kova mentally scoffed, their eyes focused on the task of finding their brother.

Poor Lincoln. They couldn’t help but wince at how he would react when (not if, when) he found out about their conversation with the Chief. They knew he wasn’t necessarily fond towards the Chief, but regardless, she was still their superior, their elder, one that had taken care of them not too long ago.

Their train of thoughts were pushed to the side when their eyes found a source of light from a campfire, and eventually stumbled upon the scouts themselves.

Before any scout could pull their swords out, they raised their hands and announced, “It’s me.”

Soft murmurs of ‘oh’ came from the scouts before they all decided to sit back down into their relaxing positions, placing their weapons to the side. Most were eating or talking, but there were a few scattered around who were simply sleeping. The ones who were awake greeted them with a simple nod.

“We were wondering when you would pop up.” One scout greeted Kova with a firm grip to their forearm, which Kova reciprocated. “Looking for Lincoln?”

They gave a subtle nod of their head, a soft “Mn.” following.

“He said his seclusion hut is nearby and went to pick up something he forgot.” The scout jutted their head towards their left. “He went that way.”

Kova raised an eyebrow ever so slightly in confusion, but if the scout had noticed the change in expression, they didn’t mention it. “Thank you. Good luck on the mission.” They turned around to leave—

“Wait, Elephant of Caocin!”

The name felt as if the young scout had poured cold water down their spine. Kova turned back, slowly, hesitantly, as if ready for another lecture, but to the scouts, it looked like they had just stopped and waited to listen.

“It’s already dark out,” The scout spoke, and Kova realized their words were true — the sun was gone, replaced by a bright moon, as if mocking their predicament. “Why don’t you stay until Lincoln returns? We have extra food if you’d like to eat. He should be back soon.”

They clenched their jaw. All they wanted to do was find Lincoln. But they also knew the scout’s words were, once again, true. There would be no point running around the forest blind. They’ve visited Lincoln’s hut before, but not to the extent where they knew where to go based on their position in the forest.

Letting out a small huff of visible breath, they gave the scout a curt nod. After having a quiet dinner alone, they settled on what would have been Lincoln’s mat, knowing that when he returned, the two could have a serious talk, and, hopefully, Kova could apologize.

As they settled on their side underneath their fleeced-jacket-turned-blanket, Kova briefly wondered if they would even be able to sleep tonight. Their thoughts derailed to their time in seclusion, how they tried so desperately to sleep, even when their residence would become so dark at night, they couldn’t be sure they still had their eyes. But now, with the light of the stars above them, they could see their hand in front of them, fingers relaxed. They could see the tall grass surrounding the mat, some facing away under the crushing pressure of Lincoln’s bed. And they can see the tree line, where even more darkness, and maybe Lincoln, were.

During those two dark years in seclusion, there had been a few times where Kova would lie in bed for what felt like hours, and they would stare at what should have been the ceiling (if the hut wasn’t so damn dark at night) until their eyes burned and teared up from exhaustion, their muscles aching to relax for even one moment. Only then could they “sleep,” when in reality they would blink and find the ceiling streaked with sunlight and the roosters beginning to crow.

(The point of sleeping was to restore and energize their body, so why did they feel even more exhausted when they woke up?)

This is what happened on Lincoln’s mat, except when Kova blinked, instead of waking up to the sun rising as usual, they woke up in the midst of blue hour, just before the sun could shyly touch its rays upon the Earth.

They had hoped it was Lincoln who had woken them up, but when they sat up on their elbows, the entire camp was asleep, the campfire was merely ashes, and Lincoln was not there.

They shot upright. The scout that had been on watch startled, as if they had been falling asleep. If this was another time, Kova would have teased them with some light scolding, an amused look on their face.

But this was not another time, and Lincoln was not here.

They stood up, swinging their fleeced jacket over their shoulders smoothly.

“Elephant of Caocin, where are you going?” The scout stood up with them, but all it took was one strong, sleep deprived glare from Kova for the scout to slowly sit back down, a shocked look on their face. Kova softened their look, a hint of an apology behind their dark eyes before they turned back to the forest line.

“I’m going to find Lincoln. Don’t follow me.”

And with that, they walked out of the camp quietly.

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The moment Kova knew they weren’t being followed by the scouts, their walk became a light jog, then a run, then a full on sprint. If the sounds of leaves crunching under their shoes or their heavy footfalls didn’t alert the animals nearby, then surely the sound of their pounding heart would, each beat hitting their eardrums.

At night, Kova wouldn’t have been able to tell where Lincoln’s home was, but in the day, there were little signs of where it could be. There were a few areas where mushrooms that had been growing on trees were picked, where herbal plants had been cleanly cut off, and where opened seeds without their pits were lying around. Once they reached a familiar bush of little berries, one that Lincoln was fond of because it reminded him of the berry tarts his mother used to make for him when he was young, Kova knew they were almost there.

So one could only imagine their crestfallen shock when they finally reached the cave (that Lincoln turned into a home during his own seclusion), only to find it completely ravaged. The door of Lincoln’s home had been ripped off its hinges and thrown into the bushes nearby, and the once well cared for welcome mat inside the house had been stampeded over, with boot marks made of dirt trailing from the mat and down the stairs.

Kova stumbled forward once, twice, his name quietly tumbling out of their mouth until one of their knees gave out underneath them. The dirt and dust underneath their knee would surely stain their clothes, but they couldn’t bring themselves to care.

Before they could even think about what could have done this (or who, a small voice whispered in the back of their mind), they heard grunts and the sound of objects being thrown around in the house. At first instinct, Kova had thought he was in the midst of being ambushed and needed help, but it didn’t add up. He had been gone for the entire night, unless he chose to sleep there instead of the scout camp, but even then, if he was being ambushed, there would be the sounds of punches and kicks hitting their marks, not the sounds of paper shifting and metal mugs clattering across the floor. There was a heavy weight in their gut, as if to say wait it out. They knew better than to ignore their gut instinct, so they did.

Although they had been trained for situations such as this, Kova couldn’t push down the panic that rose in their throat when they heard not one, but two pairs of feet heading up the stairs, a thudding noise following with every step as if they were dragging something heavy. They ran and hid behind the bushes, peeking through them by spreading the leaves apart with one hand, while the other went straight down to the weapon holster on their thigh. Their fingers curled around the handle of their knife, but kept it sheathed.

They saw movement from deep within the house until two boys stepped out of the entrance, dragging a man between them. One boy carried the man by his legs and the other by his arms, but they must have been weak, seeing as the two dropped the body as soon as they passed the entrance, hunching over in exhaustion.

“Why is he so damn heavy?” One of them wiped the sweat off with the back of his hand.

It didn’t take much for Kova to recognize who the man was. Their eyes widened and they sucked in a sharp breath. ‘Lincoln, you damn fool.’ Kova had never seen the two boys before, but their clothing style was an obvious indicator they weren't part of the 12 clans, nor part of the mountain men. They must be the invaders from the dropship. Kova could only wonder how they found Lincoln, but didn’t have time to ponder over it, seeing as the two boys picked Lincoln up again.

The skin of their knuckles turned stark white as their fingers curled tightly around the hilt of their knife, ready to rip it out of its sheath. Yet they hesitated in killing the two boys.

They were reminded of the scouts’ reports when they first checked out the drop ship. When the invaders first landed, the scouts' reports contrasted with others, so it was unclear on their abilities. Kova never saw these kids fight, but one scout did and said they were out for blood and revenge. Another scout said they fought like how young children do over a toy. The invaders were unpredictable. The other reason they hesitated was the gun. Based on reports there was only one gun in that group, but who knew how many guns the invaders could have? As much as Kova would hate to admit it, they had no chance if the two boys had a gun on them. It would kill them quicker than they could even touch them. And they would rather die by Trikru’s hands than some invaders.

Kova knew better than anyone else when to choose their battles, despite wanting to choose them all. But for their safety, for Lincoln’s safety, the best plan they could think of was to request a rescue mission. Thus, they loosened their hold on their knife, hung their head, and let Lincoln go.

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#bellamy x oc #bellamy x reader #bellamy blake imagines #bellamy blake imagine #bellamy blake #the 100 #the 100 imagines #the night our stars aligned (and our breaths touched)#my writing #writeblr #wip fanfic

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