Redemption {B.B}

II- sixteen

**Flashback**

"Again!!" Ivar shouted as he lunged for Natalia once more. She deflected his punch, spinning as she kicked his feet out from under him. Straddling his waist, a blade pressed to his throat. "Good." He tapped out. "But not good enough to kill someone. You hesitated before slicing my throat. You need to be ruthless." She nodded, looking down. He lifted her head with his index finger, "This is no longer space. And you are no longer safe behind the camp walls. You need to learn how to fight, Red."

"I know, Ivar. But your people are terrifying." She paused, sheathing her dagger into her holster. "What if I'm not good enough?"

"You are more than good enough. You have to find that part in yourself that knows you are." Pausing, he readied his weapon, "Now you need to be ready to find your people. That means killing anyone who gets in your way." She nodded, flipping the wooden spear in her hands.

"Again!!"

━━━End Of Flashback

"So after Ivar found me, he healed my wounds." Natalia sighed, "He trained me. Saying I had to wait until I went looking for any of you." The group nodded, watching as Miller stood up. "We need to go back out there and look for more of our people." He demanded.

"Mills, I know. But at night-" She took a deep breath, "We're waiting until morning." Natalia ordered, slamming her drink on the table as she marched away, down a dark tunnel. Miller scoffed, walking towards the exit of the cave. "Hey, where are you going?" Finn asked, grasping the boy's hand.

"Look, whoever that is." He pointed in Nat's direction. "That is not the Natalia we knew. the one who would go looking for any and everyone in the dead of night." He chuckled breathlessly, "I'm going. Follow her if you want." And like that, Miller walked out into the dark forest, sterling following behind. "Bellamy?" Irina questioned, seeing his hesitance to stay.

"Miller's right. That is not the Nat we knew." He took a deep breath, gathering his weapon. "Let's go!" he ordered, walking out. Finn followed, rubbing his face in annoyance. "Irina? You coming?" Soren asked, squeezing her hand. "No." She ripped away from him, sitting back down on the ground. "I'm staying with Nat." Soren sighed, plopping down next to the woman he had come to care for. "Then I'm staying too." Then, grasping her hand as he placed it in his lap, "I'm not leaving you, Rina. Promise." She smiled, leaning up as their lips smashed together, moving in sync.

Natalia listened to their conversation from behind her bedroom wall. She looked back to the place she had been living. A wooden bed, blankets, candles, paintings. It was hers; it was home. But nothing meant anything if she wasn't with her people..with Bellamy. She grunted, throwing her blue cloak over her arms as she snatched her bow. Irina and Soren jumped in surprise, pulling away from each other as they saw a very determined Natalia rush out with her horse.

"Uhm, did she just leave?" Soren asked. "Yeah, she did." Irina shrugged. She smirked, pulling his face closer to hers, "And that means we have the whole cave to ourselves." He pushed her softly to the ground, intertwining their fingers as he held her hands with his, "Then we'll just have to take advantage of that." She giggled, leaning up to kiss him.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Natalia's fire-red hair flipped and turned through the wind as she rode Calida through the dim trees. She followed the muddy foot tracks her friends had left behind. "Idiots," She mumbled under her breath, coming to a stop when she heard voices. People she recognized as Kane, Abby, Sinclair, and a few guards surrounded the teenagers, four grounders circling them. Pulling back her bow, she aimed her arrow at one of the grounders standing behind another one. With a release of her fingers, the arrow lodged itself into the grounder's neck, flying back out and into the other one's head. The third grounder attempted to run as she pulled her dagger, flipping it into his skull as he dropped, dead. Instantly regretting, she steered her horse through the trees and into the clearing. Guards immediately readied their weapons, aiming them at the unknown woman on the horse.