✮ 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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"I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong."
—Daniel Handler
The moment Astoria opened her eyes she felt the pounding of her head, and the sensation was enough to force them closed once more (and much tighter than before). She tried to bring a hand up to sooth the area, only to find her wrists tied tightly around a loop of metal coming out of the wall. A surge of panic flew through her body as she started roughly tugging at the red fabric, the material acting as rope for the group of undersupplied teens. Her fuzzy memory cleared as she watched the skin around the restraints darken, though that didn't stop her from continuing to try and free herself.
When a noise sounded from across the room, Astoria froze immediately. Eventually she turned her head towards it, finding a boy leaning with his back against the opposite wall. He wore the same strange clothing as the other teenagers, with a dark hat pulled over his head to make him stand out from rest. Astoria watched as he grew visibly stiffer when her eyes met his, scooting closer to the wall absentmindedly. She noted that he had a friendly face and decided to focus on that instead of the thought that he was afraid of her. It confused her more than anything, having been the one that was being hunted for so long that it never dawned on her that anyone could find fear in her presence.
"You're awake," the boy began, his young age showing in his voice. Astoria knew he most likely was only a few years her junior, but if he was supposed to intimidate her it was easily a failed attempt. She suspected that it wasn't his purpose, however. She didn't think any of the teens were completely sure how to survive on their own. "I'll go get Bellamy."
With that he was standing and moving to the ladder in the middle of the space. Astoria watched him closely, keeping her lips tightly pressed together as he began his descent. When his hat clad head disappeared, she returned to tugging at her restraints without a second thought, wincing as the metal pole she was tied to dug into her wrists. It was the seat belt material that did the real damage, however, cutting into her skin just enough for a small amount of blood to be drawn. She gave up on the escape plan at the sight of the red liquid, huffing before bringing her mouth down to nip at the material. Her teeth ached when she pulled away, though she found it was worth it when she spotted the beginning of a rip appearing. Her chest felt light at the sight, her head turning up to scan the room quickly. The only way out was down the ladder, which immediately made planning an escape difficult—seeing as she had no clue what was below. She put together that she was inside of the metal box she watched fall the day before... or had it been longer? There were no windows to see where the sun was in the sky. The thought of having been a captive for longer than a night made a sick feeling erupt in her gut.
A noise coming from below pulled her from her thoughts, and Astoria blinked a few times to gather her bearings. Without any other ideas, she copied the boy from earlier and pushed herself back into the wall as much as she could. She suddenly became hyperaware that she was tied up, completely defenceless to whoever was making their way up to see her. She was exactly where she had been running from for twelve years, only with strangers instead of her own people. Somehow it was worse not having any clue who she was dealing with.
