✮ Her head wished she had went on thinking he was an infuriating, overly-confident, horribly handsome asshole, that hated her people and always put himself first. Her heart knew he wasn't any of those things. He was a celestial; a man plucked from t...
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"He fell silent. For several moments they all did, and the quiet had the feel of a deliberate thing. Then Eddie said, "All right, we're back together again. What the hell do we do next?"
—Stephen King
The air around them was so quiet it felt as though it was cutting off their ability to speak. They were the only two left standing in front of the door, and the night around them had somehow become much colder in only a few minutes. Everyone was gone; the grounders, the sky people, even the Mountain Men who were shooting at them. It was simply silent, and the longer they stood there the more angry Astoria grew.
She moved to Clarke quickly, and grabbed the girl by the sleeve of her jacket to force her to face her. The blonde was paler than she normally was, and her mouth opened and closed but no words left. She felt helpless, but Astoria wasn't going to let her dwell on their failure.
"I need you to pull it together," she spoke harshly, because she knew that is what Clarke would respond to best. She took a deep breath and found her friends eyes before she continued. "This isn't over, our friends aren't dead yet. So pull it together, and figure out a new plan."
Clarke thought for a moment, and Astoria let her. Finally, it was as though a light switched on in her mind. "The reaper tunnels," she suggested, and Astoria quickly nodded her head.
Then they were running, and—as much as her leg hurt—Astoria was leading Clarke through the tunnels beneath Mount Weather. She had never been through them before, but she was faster than the younger girl. They stopped when the reached the end, and Astoria released a breath of relief at the sight of Octavia standing alone.
"Octavia," she smiled, but the girl was too angry with Clarke to greet the grounder. She huffed and turned around, sword still in her hand.
"You stayed," Clarke observed, and Astoria watched her carefully. It was definitely not the right thing to say, because there wasn't a doubt in Astoria's mind that Octavia wouldn't have left without Bellamy.
Octavia still wasn't facing them when she responded. "Screw you," she spat, finally twisting around. "Of course I stayed, I know where my loyalties lie."
Clarke shook her head, because they didn't have time to rehash what happened at Tondc. "We have to get in there," she started towards the sealed door, but Octavia grabbed her quickly.
"If that was possible do you think I'd still be out here?" she asked, directing her towards the large container on their right. Astoria took steps forward to peer inside herself, and she went rigid. Fox's lifeless body was inside, and it only reminded her that it could be any of her friends next. "Why did Lexa sound the retreat?"
"She went behind our backs," Astoria started, because she didn't want Clarke to sugar coat it. "Made a deal with Mount Weather, and got her people back. Left ours in there to die." When Clarke started towards the door once more both Astoria and Octavia followed her.
