GRIM REAPER¹, bellamy blake

014 ━━ a favor

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"IONA!" A voice calls distantly. It's sweet, filled with innocence and wonder- and the hint of an underlying little giggle. "Come find me; I bet you can't!"

"And how much money would you be willing to put on that?" Iona yells back, cupping her hands around her mouth. Her eyes scan the treetops, searching for her little sister among the branches.

Eyvana hums to herself before announcing in a sing-song voice, "All the money in the world, big sister."

"Who's going to pay for that?" Iona sighs, staring up at the tree before her. She caught a slither of Eyvana's familiar black locks- not to mention, she saw the familiar warpaint written across her pretty face.

Eyvana stares down the tree, her eyes meeting Iona's, and despite everything, she smiles:

"You. You'd do anything for me, remember?"

Watching with eyes filled with caution, Iona smiles slightly as her sister slides down the tree. She digs a knife into the side, using it to hang down long enough to rest her foot on a branch, and proceeds to climb downwards using that method.

"I'd give you the-"

"-shirt off your back," Eyvana finishes her sentence, smiling broadly. "How could I forget?"

Iona grins, "You aren't supposed to forget."

Eyvana puckers her lips, leaning in and giving her sister a gentle kiss on the cheek, before grabbing her hand and tugging her through the forest, back towards the town.

When Iona's eyes open, it's as if she never fell asleep in the first place. No fluttering, no drowsy look on her face, no inspection of the area around her, and no surprise once she spots a Sky Person out of the opening of her tent.

She merely stares at the ceiling, lost in contemplation, when she feels a presence joining her.

"Lincoln," Iona mutters distastefully, "What a pleasant surprise."

"Remember when you were little and you'd get lost in the forest," Lincoln doesn't hesitate to join Iona on her bed, staring over at the wall, "and I'd have to come get you and rescue you. It took months for you to finally make it back on your own."

"I learned," Iona shrugged, resting her head against the wall behind her bed.

Lincoln nodded, finally looking at the girl that was once his childhood friend, "I need a favor."

Iona instantly shook her head, "You chose your side, Lincoln. In my eyes, you're just like Gustus- a traitor."

"There are no sides anymore, Iona!" He said, quiet but aggressive, "Trikru has become one with the Sky People. The more you deny it, the more you hurt yourself. I don't know what it is about your mentality, but no one is betraying you; all they want is peace."

"What is this favor?" Iona sighs, ignoring his previous words. For the moment, she's too caught up to even consider that he might be right. "And why me?"

"We need an inside man for Mt. Weather. Bellamy's volunteered and Clarke isn't fighting him anymore."

"And that's my problem how?" Iona snarled, "Let the damn boy get himself killed."

Lincoln shook his head in disapproval, "There are grounders in there, Iona. Your people. And I bet we both know they won't be first on Bellamy's mind when he tries to rescue those trapped inside."

Iona narrows her eyes.

"But- but you..." Lincoln trails off, letting the rest of his sentence- of which they both know what the ending will be- float in the air for a few moments.

"You can say it," Iona shrugs, "call me a murderer; I know you want to."

Lincoln just stares at the woman.

A moment of silence falls between them, and Iona's reminded why she cut ties with the man to begin with. They could never see eye-to-eye and somehow always ended up stuck in the middle on everything.

As commander, Iona has to be sure of every decision she makes and have all the confidence in the world.

However, Lincoln has always made that hard to do.

He had opinions on everything- albeit he usually always made a good point- that Iona found it hard to agree with (though it was mostly because she was one of those people that had their mind set once they formed an opinion of something) and was practically haunted by that disappointed look he wore when she made her choice.

Eventually, she became tired of second guessing every decision she made, and decided to stop confiding in him, and slowly drifted from him as a whole.

This time was no different.

Lincoln made nothing but agreeable points that Iona had to make a visible effort to deny.

"I will not betray my people-"

"-so you'll do it?" Lincoln concluded. "Because you are betraying those captured inside with every passing second."

Lincoln took Iona's silence as a good sign- perhaps she had finally accepted his words.

"You have the blade that Bellamy lacks. All I ask is that you protect him. Octavia might not show it... but I know his death would leave her heartbroken."

Iona huffed quietly, sighing out a heavy exhale, before closing her eyes and grumbling, "When do I leave?"

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