Chapter 16

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Addison watched Murphy's and the four other boy's figures disappear in the forest to find and kill Charlotte. She squeezes her eyes shut, hissing in pain. "Ah-mmm .  .  . Octavia .  .  ." she groans in pain, getting her head forcefully raised.

"Keep your head up. Your nose is blooding," Octavia snaps, sliding her index and middle under Addison's chin to lift it up again when it falls slightly.

Bellamy groans and grunts, slowly standing up. "Are you okay?" Addison glances down at him. Octavia lifts her chin up again, this time keeping her fingers under her chin so she doesn't drop it, again.

He nods with a heavy sigh, standing fully on his feet. "I'm fine." Addison squeezes her eyes shut with another groan, scrunching her nose up in pain when Octavia's fingers accidentally hit her bruised neck. "I'm going after him," Bellamy determinedly says in a hard voice.

"I'm going with you." Addison tries standing up but gets shoved back down by her shoulders.

"You almost got hung and your nose is bleeding with a busted lip." Octavia tells her in a stern voice with a shake of her head, "You're not going anywhere."

"Octavia's right, Addie." Liam quickly comes to her side, with Dawson on his trail. "I heard what happened," he says softly.

Addison nods ever so slightly, averting her eyes to Bellamy. "Murphy and those four boys that went with him out number you. You're not going alone," she attempts again.

"I'll go with Bellamy." Dawson intervenes, "You're running out of lives very fast, kitty." He teases her.

She smile's at his nicknames, careful not to move her head. Addison shifts her eyes to Octavia, who stares at Dawson with a look she can't quite decipher. Her jaw's clenched, moving her eyes elsewhere and avoiding Addison's eyes.

Addison merely scrunches her brows in confusion before averting them Jasper, who quietly stands to the side. "Maybe Bellamy's right..." he trails off, meeting her eyes. "You should stay. Almost dying seems to be a common thing around here now."

"She's not going anywhere." Octavia says in a more stern voice, eyes scanning Addison's bruised neck, busted lip, and bloody nose. Their eyes meet and Addison begins to give in—she can't simply say no to Octavia. "She shouldn't even be talking," her green eyes snap to her brother's and the other three boys. "Her vocal chords need rest, after what happened," she says in a less snippy voice, sighing as she inspects Addison's bruised neck again while keeping her head tilted up still.

"Yes, Dr. Blake." Addison teases, earning a look of disproval from Octavia.

"I'll be back soon. Everyone stay here, and make sure nothing else happens." Bellamy states, his eyes drifting to everyone in the small group of five gathered before him. Addison reluctantly nods with everyone else, and he soon quickly disappears in the woods.

Liam sighs, "You made the right choice."

Addison scoffs softly. "As if I had choice," she deadpans, meaning Octavia.

"I said no talking." The raven-haired girl snaps, tilting her head back up when she feels the pressure of the brunette's head fall into her hand more.

"Where's Monty when all the exciting stuff is happening?"

"Addison." Octavia smacks her thigh.

"He's still working in the wristbands," Jasper replies. "I'll go check on him."

Addison nods and he walks off to the dropship, leaving her with Octavia, Liam, and Dawson. Octavia finally removes her fingers from under her chin, to Addison's dismay. "It's stopped bleeding," she says softly, inspecting her nose more.

Addison nods, not wanting to get scolded by the girl she's come to care for. Liam hits Dawson's shoulder, "Hey, I need to talk to you."

Dawson confusingly glances at him, then Addison, who just shrugs. He slowly nods and follows Liam, leaving the two girls alone. Octavia stops inspecting her nose and looks at her busted lip, and least that's what Addison thinks she's looking at.

Octavia stands up first and helps Addison up, grabbing her hand and dragging her through the woods. Addison recognizes the path they're taking and where it leads too—the butterfly field. Silence fills the air the whole way as they sit on a nearby log next to one another.

"Can I talk now, or am going to get scolded?" Addison teases, but Octavia doesn't find it funny. "Octavia, what's wrong?"

She sighs, shaking her head, "Nothing."

"Come on, Tavia... I know you better than that now, considering we've snuck out multiple times behind your brothers back to hang out after everyone's asleep," a small smirk plays across her face.

Octavia keeps her eyes forward, her lips curling in a small smile at Addison's words, but it quickly falters. "Today, just..." she sighs heavily, trailing off.

"Today's been crazy? Yeah, I agree..." Addison herself trails off, her mind going to Charlotte. A flash of nervous hit her, worried for her safety. Wondering if she made it out of camp alive with Clarke and Finn, or if Bellamy found her and has hidden her, away from Murphy's new murderous tendencies.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Octavia questions softly. Addison moves her eyes to those green eyes she can stare into all day.

She nods, averting her eyes to her hands that clasp together in her lap. "I know she killed Wells, but she's just a child. She misunderstood your brother, apparently, so it's not her fault. It's not even Bellamy's either...just a misunderstanding that shouldn't end in death," she says slowly.

Octavia sighs softly, drawing it out in thought, and speaks just as soft. "If Murphy finds you, there's no way he'll let you walk away again, Addison."

"I know, but choice do I have?" the brunette moves her eyes to Octavia's, connecting them. "Clarke isn't going to exactly comfort her after she killed her best friend, and Finn just goes along with whatever Clarke's doing. And your brother..." she sighs, trailing off "A 12 year old girl won't listen to a male, trust me."

"But she'll listen to you." Octavia pieces it together. They remain quiet, staring at one another until Addison hangs her head in her hands.

The raven-haired girl places her hand on the other girl's back, rubbing it comfortingly. "If you're going to go out there and find her, here. To protect you." Addison glances at her in shock as Octavia holds a knife out to the girl, "I made it for you a couple days ago," she hands the knife over to Addison.

Addison takes it with a smile, examining Octavia's knife work. She turns it over to the other side and reads her name that's carved into the handle. Her smile widens, brushing her thumb over the writing. "Thank you, Tavia."

She lifts her gaze up to Octavia's piercing green eyes before she leans in, placing a sweet kiss to the girl's cheek. The other girl brings her hands to her face, resting them gently on her face. "Be careful...please," the youngest Blake whispers almost inaudibly.

Addison nods, dropping the knife to her lap and clasps her hands around Octavia's wrists. "I will. I promise," she swears, their eyes staying locked together.

Her breath hitches, feeling Octavia's warm breath on her face, gently hitting her face in steady bursts. Her once calm and steady heartbeat had rapidly increased, beating out of control against her ribcage so hard she fears Octavia can hear.

Addison squeezes her wrists gently before she removes her hand, "I should go..." she whispers, averting her eyes down to the minds that resides in her lap.

Octavia sighs softly, slipping her hands down to Addison's shoulders as she runs her fingers through her hair in process with a nod. "I'll see you tonight?"

The younger girl nods with pressed lips, meeting Octavia's piercing green eyes that speak a thousand words. "Ye-Yeah, tonight."

Octavia smiles sadly as Addison stands up, tucking the knife in her left boot. Her body feels incredibly colder from the loss of the other girl's touch, but ignores it and starts walking off in the direction she saw Murphy disappear in at camp.

"Addie, wait!"

She stops and before she had time to answer or move, Octavia's body is collided with her own, her arms wrapping around Addison's neck. The brunette smiles sadly into her shoulder and wraps her own arms around Octavia's waist equally as tight.

"Don't do anything rash or-or—"

"Idiotic and stupidly Addison like?" Addison answers for her with a small laugh.

Octavia does the same and nods, holding the girl tighter. "I'm serious."

"I know, I know... I won't this time," she answers softly, breathing in Octavia's familiar sweet, woodsy smell she's come to love as much as her bright eyes.

She quickly pulls away with a breath and glances up at Octavia before spinning on her heels, not sparing her another glance, afraid she'd crumble from everything that's happened instead of doing something to stop it.

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She breaks into a swift jog, hearing Murphy yelling at Charlotte shortly after Addison hears her scream. Her knifes out of her boot, clasped tightly in her hand as she dodges and ducks around branches.

Addison breaks through the trees and reaches the ledge they're on, her eyes wide at the scene. "Murphy, stop!"

He glances at her with his crazy, dastardly eyes, pressing his knife deeper into Clarke's throat. "Well, well...look who did show up," Murphy draws out with a smirk forming on his smug face.

Addison holds her hand out that's not clenched around her knife in front of herself, standing in front of him and Clarke. "Murphy, please...just-just let her go," she pleads, clasping the knife in her jacket pocket tighter. "You don't have to do this, please. She's—"

"Just a kid," he mocks with a roll of his eye and leans on a leg, pointing at her with the knife in his hand. "I've heard that excuse a thousand times already. She's a murderer—"

"She's not the only one here that is!" she cuts him off, "There are plenty of others that ended up on the ground because they murdered someone on the Ark."

"Yeah, well, they didn't kill one of their own like that little bitch did," he moves his pointed knife to Charlotte. "She killed one of us."

"It was a misunderstanding," she defends with a shake of her head.

"My minds already been made up. Now..." he takes a step closer. "Back off." Addison remains standing her ground, her eyes flickering to Clarke's. "Back. Off. Anderson, or I'll slit her throat."

"No, stop, please." Charlotte rushes out, tears beginning fall down her pale cheeks. Murphy shifts his eyes to her as she moves around Addison, but she sticks her arm, not letting her pass. "Please don't hurt her," she pleads, her voice cracking slightly.

Murphy re-situates Clarke in his hold, Addison keeping her tight grip around her knife as she watches Murphy's body language and the other four boys behind him. "Don't hurt her? Okay, I'll make you a deal... You come with me right now and I'll let her go," he pats Clarke's shoulder, glancing to Clarke quickly before moving his eyes back to Charlotte.

Addison glances down at the child, shaking her head. "Charlotte, don't."

She stands there in thought, considering Murphy's deal. "Don't do it, Charlotte!" Clarke yells, wiggling in Murphy's hold.

Charlotte starts forward but Bellamy grabs her arm, "No! No, I have to!"

He stands protectively in front of her, staring past Addison at Murphy with hard eyes. "Murphy, this is not happening."

Addison agrees with Bellamy, "It won't. You can't have her," she shakes her head at the angry boy.

"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore." Charlotte says quietly, her voice cracking, "Not because of me. Not after what I did," she averts her eyes to the cliff.

"Charlotte!" Clarke yells as she steps towards it.

Addison quickly moves towards her and grabs the sleeve of her jacket, but Charlotte slides out of it, perishing into the dark abyss. Forever.