Chapter Text
Clarke
‘6 months’ Abigail Griffin whispered, she was in the dark compartment of the rover, her hands moving frantically over Indra’s broken body, doing what she could to save the grounder. ‘How can we only have 6 months Clarke?’ Kane pleaded, he was confused about ALIE’s final warnings, but more than that, he was angry at her for what she used his body to do to Indra. ‘Hold on Indra.’ He whispered as he grabbed hold of the woman’s hand. Her face was covered in blood from the cuts where the shrapnel had ripped the left side of her body apart. ‘You shouldn’t have come back for me.’ The shallow breathing of Indra ceased for a few seconds to be replaced by the words, ‘You would have done the same.’ Indra breathes out through pained groans before her head falls back against the cold metal grate she lay on and her tight grip on Kane’s hand relaxes.
‘Indra!’ he called out as he cupped his friends face, searching for signs of life. ‘It’s alright Kane, she’s just unconscious.’ Abigail said, Kane sighed with immense relief. ‘Will she make it?’ Clarke called from the front seat where she’d been starring through the dusty windshield at the forest that flew past them, her finger and thumb gently twisting the Flame around in her hand. ‘We need to get her back to Arkadia.’ Was all Abigail said. Kane still held Indra’s hand, his eyes studying the wounds the explosion had caused, a single tear started to fall from his dark eyes. ‘Kane, I will do everything in my power.’ Abi cupped Kane’s tortured face with her bloodied hands, but he did not notice. He nodded and sniffled but of course the tear still fell. ‘I need you to be strong for her Kane, she will make it. You can’t break down yet Kane, for her sake.’
‘You didn’t answer me Clarke, how do we only have 6 months left?’ Bellamy turns his attention from the wheel, pulling himself from his plans to start a search party for his sister who’d run after taking her vengeance on Pike. ‘ALIE said that there were at least a dozen nuclear power stations from before the missiles hit that were going into meltdown. The water would turn to poison, she said.’ Clarke fell silent at the memory of pulling the killswitch. ‘So even after all we’ve been through. Everyone’s who’s died, it was for nothing. The ground isn’t survivable.’ Clarke didn’t say anything, she didn’t know what to say. ‘We really did send you down here to die.’ Abigail whispers quietly to herself, her hands stop working on Indra even.
Kane after wiping his face clean, notices and grabs her hands, ‘No, I won’t believe that. We have not come so far, we have not lost so much just to have our future stolen from us. That is not how this story ends.’ He says looking straight into her eyes, pleading with the doctor to keep working on Indra. Abigail can see the desperation Kane has for his friend but can’t bring herself to move. ‘Mom’ Clarke kneels next to her, careful to keep her balance as the rover travels over uneven terrain. ‘Listen to me.’ Clarke takes her hands after Kane nods. ‘Kane is right mum, we will find a way. We always do.’ She breathes out, yet it is loud enough to break the silence that had taken over the rover. ‘Please, save Indra. Too many are gone already.’ Abigail, smiles sadly at her daughter while her tears still run down her face. ‘How Clarke? We can’t fight time.’ ‘I don’t know. But we will come up with something.’ Abigail, nods and turns her attention back to Indra, in an instant her face is calm and focussed on her patient. ‘Kane, I need you to hold pressure here.’ She says to her assistant. Clarke leans back against the wall and pulls the clear grey chip out of her pocket. ‘Too many.’ She thinks to herself.
Just as Kane moves his hands to where Abigail had indicated, Bellamy shouts, ‘Ambush!’ an instant later an explosion goes off and the truck is blown off the path and down into a ditch. Bellamy’s head slams onto the wheel in front of him and he’s knocked out cold. Everyone in the back goes flying into the metal walls that surround them. Clarke manages to shield her head before her back impacts on the unyielding metal. Indra would have suffered the worst, she would have been thrown around the compartment with no hope to defend herself, but at the last second Kane throws himself upon Indra to keep her flat on the ground. The rover is barely maintaining its balance with only two of its wheels and a tree branch holding it in place, but it is futile as another explosion throws the rover further into the ravine. Bellamy’s unconscious arms fly around him, his seatbelt stopping him from flying through the windscreen. The rest of the passengers aren’t as lucky, Clarke groans as her back slams into the jagged edges of the metal window shutters, while Abi falls into the door. Kane with all his strength maintains his position as Indra’s brace, but it took its toll as the some of the cracks that could be heard weren’t coming from the trees outside. The rover finally comes to a rest on its roof.
Clarke groans out in pain as she tries to crawl towards her mother, just before she can reach their unmoving bodies, the door at the back of the truck swings open and standing there is a grounder, all wrapped in furs the colour white. Before Clarke can move to grab a weapon she here’s a gunshot ring out from within the rover. Her ears scream and she covers them with her hands trying to block out the deafening blast. Kane slumps back against the wall, the smoking gun in his hand. ‘He was Ice Nation.’ Clarke groaned, ‘He wouldn’t have been alone.’ Kane nods and gently leans Indra’s still unconscious body down on the ground before crawling out the door with his gun raised in front of him. ‘Mom! Mom wake up come on!’ Abigail groaned and started to sit up before hissing out in pain and her hand moves to her shoulder, Abigail moans in pain, ‘It’s dislocated Clarke, you’re going to have to…’ ‘I know, on three.’ Abigail nods as Clarke moves her hands to the positions to relocate the shoulder, like her mom had shown her back on the Ark. ‘One.’ Clarke said as she snapped her hands back and the bone fell back into place. Abigail lets out a shout of pain before rubbing it with her hand.
‘Bellamy?’ Clarke turns towards the driver’s compartment to see a motionless Bellamy hanging from his seat with his arms falling to the roof, now the floor. ‘Bellamy!’ She shuffles towards him to see if he’s alright, another gunshot rings out in the distance. The sounds of leaves being kicked out of the way as someone runs towards the rover before Clarke hears another shot. ‘We need to leave.’ Kane shouts out as he arrives back at the rover. Clarke quickly turns to Bellamy to see that he’s breathing, probably just a concussion she calculates, he’ll be fine. ‘Clarke, you shoot, I’ll carry Indra. I’m not leaving her.’ Clarke nods and takes the silver pistol from his hand. She climbs out of the overturned rover to hold the gun up, taking aim she fires once when she sees an Ice Nation warrior beginning her charge at the rover. ‘Kane stands next to her, he has Indra cradled in his arms. ‘We can’t wait for the others, they might not have even left Polis yet. We need to get to Arkadia.’ ‘What about Bellamy?’ Abigail questions as she climbs out. ‘We can’t just leave him.’
Clarke lowers her head as she knows the decision that must be made here. Bellamy or Indra. As she tossed the options in her mind, stay and defend Bellamy or run, and arrow flew at her, whistling through the air before it burrowed into the ground at her feet. ‘They’re not firing kill shots, they want us alive. I hope.’ Clarke decides as she turns to follow Kane into the woods in what she hoped was the direction of Arkadia with Abi close behind her, cradling her relocated shoulder. ‘I’m sorry Bellamy.’ She whispers as they start to run. Clarke stalled so she’d be the last of her group so that she had a clear line of sight on their pursuers. She shoots at the Ice Nation warriors that are chasing behind them, her shots miss from the movement of her body, running and shooting made it nearly impossible to aim. Clarke can clearly see from how they’re moving that the warriors are determined to catch them. They carried clubs and blunt weapons, not blades, confirming that Ice Nation wanted them alive. Why, Clarke did not know.
‘Keep running, we can’t be far.’ Clarke shouts as she struggles not to trip over anything sticking out of the ground. Branches snap and leaves crumple under the heavy boots of their predators. Clare fires the last of her rounds back at them, she hears a shout of pain, knowing she hit one of them. The gun’s clip is empty, ‘Kane do you have another mag?’ She calls out to the running man ahead of her. ‘No!’ is the reply Clarke receives. ‘Great.’ She tucks the gun into her belt tightly before she falls into a full-blown sprint to catch up with her mother.
Clarke looks back to see that their pursuers have broken their chase, but Clarke knows they’re not safe yet. ‘Why are they stopping?’ She calls ahead to the others. ‘They know we’re close to home!’ Abi shouts back. Clarke begins to recognise some of the landscape around her as they keep running. ‘They must think we have soldiers at Arkadia!’ Kane calls back. Kane’s chest is heaving and his shaggy hair is slick with sweat, it flails in the winds as he moves with all the speed that his body can muster. He shows no sign of slowing down either, not with Indra in his arms, not until she’s safe. Abigail is beginning to slow and stumble however, ‘Mom you need to keep going.’ Abigail is huffing and wheezing her breaths in and out but she manages to barely maintain her speed.
After a few more seconds of sprinting they can see the break in trees approaching them, Kane speeds up, Indra is shaking roughly in his arms. The rough treatment of her body has reopened a few of the wounds that Abigail had been working to stich up in the rover, but given the circumstances, it was the only way to make sure she survived. ‘Hold on Indra.’ Kane breathes as he breaches the tree line and enters the open clearing that surrounded Arkadia.
Clarke and Abigail burst through moments later. The sun beats down hardly on them with the cloudless sky all but amplifying the scorching rays. They stumble a little as their feet adjust to the flatter terrain of the clearing. Kane was already halfway to the gate. ‘Open the gate!’ he screams at the top of his lungs. Clarke watches past the main gate, as the large metal garage door leading to the rover maintenance area begins to split open. A second later Monty runs through the widening gap with a hand sitting below his ribcage, Harper following close behind him with a rifle in her arms ready to defend their home. Monty takes a second to recognise them, before he runs toward the gate and begins to operate the mechanism. A few seconds later when Kane reaches the gate it is open and he doesn’t even slow down as Monty jumps out of the man’s way as if he were avoiding a bull. Abigail soon follows, not stopping and enters the building after Kane.
Once Clarke is through she calls out, ‘Close it Monty, quickly!’ Clarke bends over and heaves fresh air into her burning lungs, couching up as her lungs burn with the new air. Clarke wipes the sweat off her brow only for more to fall from her hair a second later. ‘Are you ok?’ Monty asks as he offers his hands for Clarke to lean on. She takes them and Monty begins to lead them back towards the ark at a rushed pace, Harper bringing up the rear clearly expecting something to happen. After a few seconds when Clarke finally has her breath back she answers, ‘We were attacked, by Ice Nation. They wanted us alive, they took Bellamy’ She takes another deep breath. ‘I think they were targeting the Skaikru returning from Polis, they were too close to be planning anything else.’ Monty’s face dropped at the news that his friend was taken by the people who’d tried to kill them before. But he is still happy to see Clarke safe and sound. ‘We’ll get him back Clarke don’t worry. We beat ALIE, we can save Bellamy.’ Clarke nods her agreement, but she has no idea how she could hope to save her friend.
‘What happened to you?’ Clarke asks, pointing to his bloodstained shirt. ‘Jasper.’ Monty solemnly answers as if he didn’t want to blame his friend. ‘He betrayed us to ALIE.’ Clarke finished, anger beginning to bubble. ‘Yeah. How did you know?’ Monty asks. ‘I found him in the City of Light.’ Clarke answered before entering through the empty rover bay.
Once they’re inside the building Clarke sees Raven limping towards them, with her purple tank top and red jacket hanging off her body. Clarke wraps her arms around her friend, ‘Nicely done Clarke with the City of Light.’ Clarke thinks about what it cost to do it but instead doesn’t say anything. She wanted to enjoy some small bit of comfort before she dropped the news of impending doom on Raven ‘Where’s Kane and my mom?’ Raven points in the direction of the med bay and follows when Clarke begins to head in that direction.
Jasper walks out of the hallway and Clarke falls dead in her tracks. She glares at the man who she had called her friend, the man who had betrayed them when he took the pill. ‘Clarke I’m …’ He doesn’t get to finish as the blonde storms past him, paying him no recognition whatsoever, only shoving him out of the way. She knows that what he said in the City of Light was partly ALIE speaking, but Jasper had chosen to take the key and Clarke didn’t know how to deal with that. And right now she didn’t have the headspace to even try and figure it out. ‘Where’s Bellamy?’ Jasper asks causing Clarke to pause for a second, but she doesn’t answer. Monty comes up next to Jasper and Clarke hears him explain what had happened.
Clarke storms into the med-bay to see a frantic Kane following Abigail’s every order, doing everything possible to save Indra, Clarke could see that her vitals weren’t good at all. ‘Do we have radio?’ Clarke asked. Monty nodded but said. ‘It’s not working though we couldn’t reach you in Polis before.’ Clarke walked towards where Monty was leading her, ‘We need to try again, I need to reach Murphy, he was leading all of Skaikru back here. They need to know they’re walking into a trap.’ Clarke sped up until she was at a light jog until they reached the radio.
‘Murphy come in.’ Static. ‘Murphy please come in.’ Static again, Clarke groaned in frustration. ‘Bryan, Miller anyone pick up!’ She shouted down the line. ‘Clarke.’ Came the reply through the radio, Clarke released a heavy sigh of relief, ‘Miller, I need you to listen to me. You can’t come to Arkadia. Ice Nation is in the forest just past the perimeter, I think they have us surrounded.’ Static returned. ‘We hear you Clarke, we haven’t left Polis yet, do we stay here?’ ‘Yes, stay in Polis, Ice Nation doesn’t know that Ontari is dead yet. They think that Polis is under their control.’ There was a moment of silence before Miller returned, ‘Why would Ice Nation choose now to attack us?’ Clarke looked around the table at all the other faces, all just as confused as hers, her gaze stopped at the corridor to the med bay as she realised. ‘They must have watched Kane shoot their King, they want us for alive for execution.’ Clarke heard a different voice come through the radio. ‘Clarke’ It was Murphy’s, ‘That’s bad and all, but we can’t stay here very long, the people don’t exactly have much reason to be very hospitable to us seeing as it was a Skaikru that persuaded Ontari to butcher them in the street.’ Clarke leaned her forehead against the radio in her hand and sighed as she thought. ‘Can you guys make it to the dropship?’ Clarke asked.
‘We won’t all fit inside.’ Clarke can’t think of another option, ‘There’s nowhere else Murphy, you’ll just have to cram in. It’s not safe here. The Ice Nation already took Bellamy.’ There is silence on the other end of the radio. ‘Murphy?’ Clarke asks the silence, ‘We’re heading out Clarke. Out.’ The radio goes silent and Clarke clips it back into the holster. ‘We need to plan to move. They were scouting this place. I might have wounded a few of them but Ice Nation has endless warriors, if we stay here we die and wait they’ll bring reinforcements and storm us. We leave in 20 minutes, take what you can carry, weapons and food are priority.’ Clarke stated in a tone that she recognized from Kane or Lexa even. After nodding to Monty and Harper, Clarke turned back to the med bay with Raven following behind her. Monty, Jasper and Harper moved to start following the commands Clarke had given them.
‘Clarke wait.’ Raven said as she rested her hand on Clarke’s leather clad shoulder. ‘Clarke, I know you, there’s something else.’ Clarke sighed and thought about whether she should trouble Raven with what ALIE had told her, she decided that Raven deserved to know. ‘ALIE told me that we have six months before the last nuclear reactors on the planet burn, the radiation from it will kill everything alive across the planet. That’s why ALIE was trying to get everyone into the City of Light, to save them.’ Clarke explained, she hated that ALIE, who had the blood of so many, was doing it to save humanity in her own sick way. Raven looked devastated. ‘No Clarke, there has to be another way, we will survive this, like we survive everything else this world seems to throws at us.’ Raven hugged Clarke and the blonde allowed herself to feel the warmth and comfort of her friend close to her. She’d said similar words to her mother but that didn’t erase the doubts that had started to build in her mind since the second she’d pulled the killswitch. She’d spent every second after that debating whether she’d made the right decision, to destroy what might have been the only way to save humanity, or its consciousness at least.
Raven could see the conflict in Clarke’s eyes but she couldn’t think of anything else to say that would comfort Clarke, but she needed her friend and her leader back. ‘Clarke we can’t think about it now, you said we have six months, let’s survive them before we worry about radiation.’ Clarke nodded but the action was solemn, ‘Go help the others pack Raven. I’ll be fine.’ She wouldn’t be and Raven knew it, but Clarke was leading now, which is what everyone needed.
Clarke stayed against the wall and pulled the flame out of its container that she’d been keeping in her shirt. ‘I miss you.’ She whispered as she gently stroked the chip. Clarke knows that Lexa is in there. Lexa saved her in the City of Light, Lexa fought an army by herself for Clarke, and now Clarke will never get the chance to thank her. Clarke will never be able to hold Lexa again, never feel her lips, or her fingers, or her. Clarke slid down the wall until she was crouching. Clarke stayed like that for a moment in the dark hallway. Just staring at the chip that held her Heda. Tears began to fall down her face, and she did nothing to stop them. ‘Please come back to me.’ Just as she whispered the words to the AI, Clarke could swear she saw the tiniest of flickers of light inside the chip. It was probably a trick of the light but it was all Clarke needed. ‘I love you Lexa.’ She breathed out. Clarke stood and wiped her eyes, she sniffed and walked towards the med-bay, pushing the box back into her shirt.
Clarke walked into the med bay to see her mother sitting against the wall with her legs held close to her chest, however there was a look of relief that covered her face. Clarke walked around the corner to see that Indra’s vitals were just stable. Clarke breathed out a long sigh of happiness to see that Kane was sitting in the bedside chair. With a smile on his face. The first one she’d seen on anyone in a while. ‘How is she?’ Clarke asks resting a comforting hand on Kane’s shoulder. ‘She’s stable. When the grenade went off she pulling me behind a wall to block the blast. She nearly died because of me Clarke.’ ‘No, she didn’t Marcus. She nearly died because of ALIE. We can’t afford to accept blame we don’t deserve anymore.’ Clarke said as she walked over to the two of them, Abigail nodded her approval of the sentiment at Clarke.
‘Can we move her?’ Kane hung his head as if he’d been waiting for the question to come up. ‘We can’t stay here; Ice Nation will be back to finish the job once they’ve taken care of their dead and attended their wounded.’ Abigail sighed as her bloody hands fell to sit on her hips. ‘She’s strong.’ Is all she said. Clarke could hear the apprehension in her voice and knew that her mother didn’t completely believe her own words. ‘We need to leave soon.’ Clarke said as she walked out of the med-bay.
Clarke entered the open hanger to see that the others were nearly done packing. ‘All right, we’re heading out.’ She calls. Abigail and Marcus come out of the hallway after Clarke, Indra lays on a metal stretcher that the two of them are holding. ‘Monty, Jasper. You two take Indra.’ Kane calls out and carefully passes the handles to the two boys. Kane holds Jasper back for a second. ‘I saw you in the City of Light Jasper. Why?’ Jasper hangs his head in what must be shame Kane guesses. ‘I had nowhere else to go.’ Before Kane could question him further, the sombre boy had moved to take Abigail’s end. Kane didn’t like it but he didn’t have time to question it right now.
‘Lead the way Clarke.’ Harper says as she holds her gun up, checking the tree line to see if she can see any Ice Nation hiding. Clarke walks out into the blistering sun shining down on them. She makes her way towards the gate and she and Harper work to open it, while Kane keeps watch with his rifle, Abigail’s close to Indra to make sure that she stays in a stable condition. Raven walked behind Clarke, she held a gun in her hand that looked like it belonged anywhere else. ‘Hey Raven, you alright?’ Clarke asks as she looks down on the gun that was resting just above Raven’s brace. ‘I’m surviving.’ ‘Surviving’ Clarke hated that word, she had wanted to do more but now it was all she could see that was left.
The group headed towards the tree line, being slow and careful to not rock Indra and aggravate her injuries. They each carried a backpack full of the supplies that had been packed. Kane was first to pass through into the dense foliage that the blocked out most of the sun, closely followed by Harper. ‘Kane slow down, we need to stay close.’ Abi called out. Kane nodded, he’d managed to comb most of his hair out of his face but it was bouncing around every step he took. ‘We can’t afford to stay out in the open, cover to cover people, no chances.’ he ordered. ‘You two stay as low as you can.’ Kane commands the two carrying the stretcher. ‘I don’t like this.’ Abi whispered as her fingers readjusted themselves around the handle of the pistol Kane had given her for the fiftieth time.
Just as the words left her mouth an arrow flew right past her thigh to plant itself in the tree next to her. Clarke whirled around and opened fire on the archer before he could load another arrow. She shot him twice in the chest and he screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. ‘We need to run!’ Clarke shouted, Kane surged forward with his rifle aimed up. They made it another 100 meters before Clarke heard the rope sliding past something. She looked up at the last moment to see an Ice Nation falling onto her from a rope in the tree. Before his feet even hit the ground, Clarke fired a bullet through his shoulder and instead of bring his blades down on her, he smashed his head into a heavy log. ‘Keep moving!’ she heard Kane call out. Monty and Jasper ran past her with Abigail. Raven reached patted Clarke on the shoulder as she moved past the blonde, Clarke pulled up the rear making sure no one was left behind. Raven couldn’t maintain it and she began to drag her limp leg behind her. ‘Kane looked back to see that Raven had wrapped her arm around Clarke’s shoulder. ‘Harper look after them.’ The young girl nods and moves to the front of the group with her head constantly on the swivel as they moved swiftly through the woods.
She shoots another warrior that begins to fall from the trees and he lands with a thud on his back. ‘We’ll catch up. Get to the dropship.’ He calls out as he runs back to help Clarke and Raven. ‘Go!’ he shouts when he sees that they were moving slowly. The group turns to start running again. Kane, Clarke and Raven are hot on their heels. They are at least until two Ice Nation slam in to their backs, knocking them all to the floor, Clarke and Kane spin around to fire bullets before the Ice Nation can attack again. More warriors are chasing them, none are coming from where Abi and her group had run so Clarke told Raven. ‘Catch up to the others, we’ll hold them here.’ Raven doesn’t move. ‘Please Raven you have to run now.’ Raven hates it and Clarke can tell but she turns and runs just as Kane fires his first shot into the closest warrior. ‘We need to stay close to them!’ Clarke shouts above the gunfire. They begin to move back, the Ice Nation follows them, not giving an inch. The warriors ran between trees as they followed, Clarke and Kane were soon running out of bullets to waste, and they couldn’t tell how many of them were left. The beads of sweat dripped down there faces as their eyes darted from tree to tree. They were trying to calm themselves so that their shots would be straighter but it was no use. Slowly backwards they moved, the occasional crack of a branch made them flinch.
They heard the war like scream before they were quickly replaced by yells and shouts of pain, they saw the bodies begin to drop from behind the trees. ‘What’s happening?’ Clarke asked Kane but he looked as confused as she did. They kept their guns raised but they didn’t stop moving backwards. When the forest behind them had fallen silent they turned and silently agreed that it was time to keep moving. They turned to run in the direction of the dropship, taking the advantage while it presented itself. ‘Clarke!’ the scream came from behind them. The two whirled around with their guns raised but quickly dropped them when they saw who was standing there watching them.
Octavia stood before them with heavy bloodstained branches resting at her feet, blood also dotted her face as she walked towards them with a completely distant expression on her face. ‘Octavia!’ Clarke called out excitedly as she ran to embrace her friend. Octavia held up her hand however to stop Clarke from hugging her. ‘I’m only here for my stuff Clarke.’ She pats the bag that hangs from her shoulders. ‘I can’t stay with you anymore. I agreed to help destroy ALIE, that’s done now.’ Clarke’s eyebrows dropped as she looked saddened by Octavia. ‘Octavia, you have to come with us, we need you. Bellamy needs you.’ Octavia chuckled, ‘He has all of you.’ ‘No Octavia, he needs you. He was taken by Ice Nation.’
Octavia’s face instantly changed from one of small happiness at seeing her friend to one of anger and rage, ‘What do you mean Ice Nation has him. He was with you.’ She shouted at Clarke. ‘It was Bellamy or Indra, Indra would’ve died if we’d have left her.’ Kane said as he stepped forward, absolving Clarke of Octavia’s rage and instead accepting it onto himself. ‘Bellamy had a chance to survive on his own, Indra didn’t.’ Kane argued. Octavia’s anger begins to lessen, but now it is directed at Kane. ‘Fine.’ Is all Octavia says, before she puts her fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly, the hear the clop of the hooves on the ground and they see the onyx black mane of her horse as it gallops through the trees with grace. The horse pulls to a stop before them, huffing out air as Octavia gently pats the beast along its smooth neck. Octavia wraps the reigns around her hand and begins to stalk off into the woods in the direction of the dropship. Leaving Kane and Clarke to follow behind her, sharing uncertain looks.
Raven
Raven’s body was screaming at her, the destroyed nerves in her body were scorching hot, burning her from the inside. She didn’t know how she was meant to keep going. A quick glance behind her told her that she needed to, otherwise three heavily armed and bloodthirsty warriors would pounce on her and she would have no chance at defending herself. She fired the last of her bullets blindly, when no cry of pain came she knew she’d missed. Raven dropped the gun and began to almost hop forward as fast as she could with her good leg while letting her braced one drag behind her. Every tree that passed her became a rail as Raven almost pushed herself off each branch, anything that could move her quicker. The heavy snaps were getting louder and she could almost feel the sting of their blades. Desperately she screamed for her friends. ‘Harper! Monty! Where are you?’ Raven surged forward when she felt the sting of a blade clip her shoulder, barely deep enough to draw blood yet she knew that it was over for her. To her best effort, she crawled and dragged herself as far as she could, groaning in pain at the exertion of her leg in the awkward position. The occasional drip of blood on the ground was all she heard.
It took her a moment to realise, there was no sticks cracking under footsteps, or leaves crunching, only her heavy breath could be heard. Raven’s head shot around to look back the way she’d come. About 10 feet behind her were the Ice Nation warriors, standing perfectly still with their weapons raised and their teeth barred in anger. There were three of them covered in their white body paint, the woman at the front of them carried a short dagger that had a thin line of blood that dripped into the ground. Raven looked at them with fear but undeniable curiosity. She was completely at their mercy yet they did not take her. Only watched. ‘I’d come back this way if I were you.’ The apparent leader calls out. There is no deception in her voice, instead to Raven’s surprise there is caution. ‘I’ve seen grounder executions. Think I’ll take a hard pass.’ Raven wheezes out through chocked breathes. ‘It would be a mercy compared to what you’d face in the blood lands.’ The Warrior responds, looking past Raven into the forest behind her. ‘I’ll take my chances.’
Raven struggled to her feet and turned around away from the warriors, she didn’t know where she was going but if it was away from the blades of the Ice Nation warriors then it was good for her. After a few minutes though Raven realised there was not a single familiar thing that she could see. The last time Raven had travelled between the dropship and Arkadia had been months ago. Realising that she was completely lost, she slumped down against a smooth rock for a minute to catch her breath. ‘Monty!’ she screamed out at the top of her voice. ‘Clarke!’ she tried but there was nothing. She was alone now.
After an hour of walking Raven fell to the soft grass from exhaustion. The heat had become nearly unbearable in the cramped forest, the trees were getting closer and closer to each other, and the path had long since vanished, leaving her to have to stumble over large rocks and fallen trunks. Raven emptied the last few drops from the water bottle that hung from her pack. Resting her back against a tree as she struggled to breathe deeply. The constant ache of her leg was threatening to make her stop altogether. Raven knew that she needed to keep moving. Using a piece of fabric from her pack she wiped the heavy sheet of sweat that covered her face and neck before she found a large stick that felt firm in her hands. It wasn’t much but the difference for her was noticeable as it took some of the pressure off her nerves.
Another 20 minutes of walking and Raven still saw no signs of anything recognisable. ‘Hello!’ She shouted out into the empty woods, her voice nearly hoarse from all the shouting she’d done to no avail. Again Nothing returned her call, as if she’d expected anything else. ‘Great.’ She mumbled to herself.
Raven didn’t notice the pair of gold eyes that watched her from within the bush, it stalked forward out of the bush, keeping itself low and causing no sound whatsoever. The animal moved from bush to tree, always making sure that it gave Raven no indication of its presence. Its strong but lean legs softly fell to the ground, not making a single noise, not even disturbing the leaves. A swift leap and the creature had climbed up onto a boulder that allowed it a perfect view of this new intruder that commanded its attention and curiosity.
Though Raven could not see, she felt her skin tingle. She reached for her gun, empty as it was, if it was a person she could probably scare them with it. And if it wasn’t a person, her mind questioned. She sighed and shook the thought away. Raven hated being like this, alone and vulnerable. Her knuckles were white around the handle of the gun as she trudged through the grass and twigs. A few minutes and the presence she felt had not left her. Ahead of her Raven saw a breach of light breaking through the dense foliage, ‘Finally.’ She whispered, she charged forward, much to the disapproval of her leg.
When Raven squeezed through the perimeter her heart sank as it wasn’t the dropship that she saw. But rather Prison Station. ‘The Skybox?’ She whispered in surprise to herself as the massive metal structure loomed over her, reaching up towards the sky from where it had fell. ‘Better than nothing’ she muttered, honestly glad to have found anything at all in the maze of a forest. All around her she can see crushed metal, even entire cells that ripped of the main structure. The ground was littered with metal, old clothes and even personal effects of the prisoners that were once stored here. She tried her best, but Raven couldn’t stop herself from seeing the small remnants of bodies, she saw a foot sticking out from under one of the cells, and it nearly made her sick.
‘Hello! Is anyone there?’ She screams out, hoping that there were some survivors, that there was someone at all. She hadn’t heard the movement but she sure felt it when something slammed into her side. Her leg crashed into the floor and Raven cried out in pain. Raven tried to raise her gun but a hand had it pinned to her side. ‘Wait! Wait please!’ She heard a scared voice try to hush her. She still struggled trying to wrench her arm from his grip, but it was futile.
Raven managed to kick the man with her good leg and crawled away while bringing her gun up and aiming, she hoped he didn’t know it was empty. The appearance of the man Raven saw looking at her shocked her. The first thing she saw on the pale man was his guard’s uniform. The next thing she saw was the man himself, dirty and so covered in mud that she could hardly see his skin beneath. He had long black hair was just as dirty as the rest of him, un tamed and in dire need of cutting. The same could be said for his unruly beard, that hung from his face. ‘Please, listen, I was a guard please don’t shoot!’ he pleaded with her, tears forming in his eyes, ‘Why did you tackle me.’ Raven demanded, she trusted his story but he had attacked her for no reason. ‘Because you can’t let them see you.’ ‘Let who?’ Raven asked and the man sobbed and croaked out his answer, he barely spoke loud enough to hear, as if mentioning it would summon them. ‘The monsters.’
‘We need to get inside now, before they attack.’ The agile man scampered to his feet and began to run full force towards an entrance. ‘A little help would have been nice.’ Raven mutters as she pulls herself to her feet using her stick, and begins to follow him, careful to avoid the jagged bits of metal that had been torn of the station in re-entry. Once she’s inside the man jumps and grabs a metal grate fence and pulls it down over the entrance, and sealing it with a padlock. Raven can’t say she’s happy to be sealed in with this man, but if there are monsters out here like he says then this world has proven that he’s likely talking about some mutated animal. She’d rather deal with the man then a mutated animal. She follows him along the corridor, the man’s breath is shallow and he is covered in sweat, Raven wonders if he is really that scared of what’s behind the metal shutter.
‘Where is everyone else?’ Raven asks as she follows the man past rows of empty cells. ‘There were a couple hundred of us when we came down, most were prisoners, most of them didn’t make it.’ He finishes quietly. Raven could see the pain on his face. ‘Just me now.’ He says quietly. ‘I thought all the prisoners came down in the dropship.’ She continues, confused at the mention of more prisoners. ‘Not all of them, there were lots that had turned eighteen and were waiting retrials for their crimes.’
Raven follows him around a corner and is met with the sickly sight of red. The wall, if it could be called that anymore, was bathed in dried blood, from floor to ceiling there was no area not stained. ‘Oh my god.’ Raven feels a little sickened by the sight, but not because of the blood, she’d seen blood before. Raven was sickened by how much there was. It looks as if someone’s entire body was drained and then used to paint the wall. ‘What did this?’ Rave hushed out. ‘The first night, after we came down. Frank took watch while we slept.’ He paused. ‘We heard him scream, but, none of us came out to help him. We could hear the growls and the monster’s footsteps.’ The man couldn’t bring himself to look at the wall. ‘We all locked ourselves in a cell and didn’t come out until morning We were too scared. His body was gone, this is all that was left of him.’ Raven couldn’t imagine how the guy was feeling.
‘Do you have people?’ Raven barely hears his question. She turns to look at him, he is truly broken, there is no hope left in his eyes, they are bloodshot and red rings run around them. ‘Yes, I do.’ She says. ‘Take me with you, please, I can’t be alone anymore.’ Raven sniffles a little, everything she guesses this man has been through. Raven doubts shed loo any better if she’d been alone for so long. ‘Yes, of course. We’ve been trying to round up everyone on the ark for the past few months.’ Without warning the man throws his arms around Raven and chokes out a weak ‘Thank you.’ The hug lasts for a few seconds, in which time Raven can truly feel the hope that she’d given this new friend.
When he finally pulls himself away she asks him. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Jacob.’ He says, subtly trying to wipe away his tears and clean himself up. ‘I’m Raven.’ The man raises his head to look at her, ‘Raven? You mean you’re the youngest zero-g mechanic in history?’ Raven can’t help but grin a little bit at the recognition, ‘Yeah that’s me.’ She says. ‘It’s nice to meet you Jacob.’ She says.
‘We can leave tomorrow. Where are your people?’ He asks, apparently very eager to make plans. ‘That is a long story, short of it is, we were heading towards the dropship that sent the 100 down, but I got separated which is why I ended up here.’ He nods his understanding. ‘I know where the drop ship is, the computer on board monitored its decent.’ He offered, much to the delight of Raven who wasn’t very interested in hiking blindly through the woods, especially if there were to be monsters chasing them.
They continued their walk along the corridor until the came into a big open space, Raven looked up to see that the Skybox went up several stories with balconies indicating every floor. She could see the gaping holes in the walls where the cells outside had been ripped from the main structure. She followed Jacob as he started up a flight of stairs to their left. They went up five floors before they walked out into a corridor. A heavy barricade lay before them, made up of bed frames, mattresses, tables, anything she imagined wasn’t bolted to the floor. It reached from the ceiling to the floor and Raven was confused as to how they were meant to get past it. But what was more disturbing was the bite and claw marks that were visible a mile away on the closest parts of the barricade. The first mattress had a hole bigger the Raven’s body torn out of it. ‘I can go first and pull you along?’ he offers pointing at her brace to which Raven simply nods, happily taking the offered help. Jacob lowered himself to the floor and began crawl underneath the barricade. He occasionally huffed at the effort of shimmying himself underneath the barricade. Nearly a minute later and Raven heard him call out, ‘Ok, you ready?’
‘Here goes.’ Raven jokes before delicately lowering herself so that her braced leg stretched out to the side until she was flat on her stomach. The cool of the metal sent tingles across her body as she pushed her pack through with the stick. Jacob grabbed onto the stick and began to gently pull her through. Looking from side to side, Raven could see every manner of furniture, compressed in so that no space was left between, and very little left for someone to move through. She looks ahead to see that the last section of the barricade was hanging particularly low, a bookcase it seemed was sitting barely half a meter of the ground. She can see Jacob lying on his side, pulling her on the other side of the shelf.
Raven ducks her head and barely manages to fit through the space, the shelf comes flush against her back as she finally pushes herself up off the cold ground and takes a deep breath. She wasn’t used to being compressed in small spaces like that and could understand why most people avoided them.
Jacob helped her up and they walked through the door on to the balcony. Down below Raven could see where they’d come in. Looking up and down, all she could see was shelves of cells all stacked upon each other, with the occasional hole torn out.
‘Right well, pick a room and I’ll leave you to it.’ Raven walks along the rows considering the bare and empty rooms, most with the bunk beds torn out. She comes across one that is different from the others. ‘They’re beautiful.’ Raven says out loud as she studies all the drawings that plaster the wall, she sees drawings of the ground, there are pictures of flowers, Raven even sees a picture of a scorpion on the wall.
‘That was Clarke Griffin’s cell. She was a beautiful drawer.’ Jacob says from further down the hall. Raven spun her head around in surprise to look at him. ‘Clarke Griffin’s?’ He nods. ‘She got sent down with the 100, probably dead by now.’ He says to himself in a saddened voice. Raven smiles, ‘No she isn’t, I was with her just a few hours ago.’ It is Jacob’s turn to raise his head in surprise. ‘Really? She survived?’ Raven nodded, ‘You can’t keep her down, trust me. Do you mind if I have this one?’ Raven asks. ‘Yeah, sure. I sleep in this one, if you need anything just give us a shout.’ He says as he walks into his room.
Raven walks into the room being careful not to step on the drawing that occupies the floor. ‘I never knew she could do this.’ Raven whispers to herself. The hole in the ceiling where a window used to be allows Raven to see that there is still some sunlight out, but it is mixed with the vibrant purples and reds that burn across the sky during a sunset. Just then her stomach lets out a loud grumble. ‘Hey Jacob, don’t suppose you have anything to eat?’ She calls out. ‘I don’t usually eat for a few hours but if you want to now then sure.’ Comes the reply ‘Yeah can we, thanks?’ She calls back.
--
The warmth of the fire they sit around is nice and comforting to Raven. The last time she’d been around a fire it had been to burn the bodies of her mentor and one of her best friends. It was nice to be around a fire with hope instead of despair as the mood.
‘Jacob, you’ve been down here for months, how come you never left? The guards had weapons, didn’t they?’ Raven asks the man opposite her before she bites into a ration bar that he’d provided her, Raven had seen the cupboard full of them that he kept in a guard’s breakroom. ‘The monsters.’ He started but couldn’t finish, Raven could tell instantly that she’d hit a nerve and was about to try something different but he started talking again before she could stop him. ‘We did try to leave, a few times. It never worked and we always lost someone. I was the only one who made it back after the last try.’ Raven dropped her head, not able to look her new friend in the eye after what he’d said. ‘It’s ok Raven. That was over a month ago, so I manage to not think about it very often.’ Raven is shocked, ‘You’ve been here for a month, alone. With monsters surrounding you.’ Jacob nods his head, ‘I actually haven’t even left this section of the Skybox since it happened, when you called out, that was the first time I’d left.’
‘So do you have a plan for how we’re going to get out tomorrow?’ Raven asks. Remembering what Jacob had asked about Raven having people, and how desperate he was to escape this prison and its new guards. ‘A few days ago I managed to clear the rubble to the armoury, tomorrow, when we leave we’ll be armed to the teeth, nothing will be able to come at us.’ Raven asks the next question having remembered how vulnerable she’d been the entire way to the Skybox, ‘These monsters, why didn’t they attack me on my way here, I mean with my leg I must look an easy target, so why not attack?’ She questions, Jacob just shrugs his shoulders. ‘Maybe they didn’t think you were a threat.’ He suggests.
‘Then why would they attack you, when you first landed?’ ‘Crashing down in a giant metal ship into its territory, I doubt it took that as a friendly sign, and now that we’re in its territory, it doesn’t want us to leave.’ Raven can’t argue with the logic. ‘I know what you’re thinking Raven, why didn’t we try to leave without any weapons?’ Raven nods at the assumption. ‘A group did, they were massacred at 20 feet. So, the way I see it, we go gun’s blazing, or we stay until we run out of ration bars.’ He says, ‘Which admittedly would be a while. But I’m tired of being alone.’ The sentence that started as a joke turned real in a snap, Raven could see the weight on this man’s shoulders, ‘You’re tired of losing people.’ Raven said. ‘I’m tired of not having people that can watch my back.’ He corrects. ‘It may sound selfish but I want to be able to sleep at night without worrying that it’ll be my last night.’
‘No, that’s fair enough. I get it.’ Raven offered as understanding. ‘I’m going to go to sleep.’ She said looking at the star-filled night sky through a massive rupture in the metal above her head. ‘Goodnight Jacob.’ ‘Goodnight Raven, sleep well.’ Jacob had a sad smile on his face. He was ready to leave, and Raven was glad that she’d be able to help him find people again.
As Raven lay her head down on the pillow, her attention turned to the drawing of a large tree that covered the wall. Raven made a mental note to ask Clarke about her drawing when they met up again. A few minutes passed and Raven still found herself enthralled with the line work of the tree, it was minimalist in style, yet even so there was so much life and detail in the roots and bark. She jerked up when the loud howls came ringing out from the woods that surrounded the skybox. They were vicious and harrowing as they pierced her body and filled her with fear. She shivered as she pulled the blanket up over herself in a futile effort to block out the fear.
Murphy
‘Alright people let’s get this moving, we don’t have all day. Let’s go, let’s go.’ Murphy stands on top of a small building, directing all the Skaikru that were previously under ALIE’s influence. Miller and Bryan were standing at the front of the crowd, their guns up, ready to defend against any Ice Nation warriors that tried to come at them. ‘John.’ Emori calls out from below him. ‘We shouldn’t be leaving this late, we won’t get very far before nightfall.’ Murphy jumps down from the building to join Emori. ‘I know but we can’t stay here, not after what we’ve done. We’d all be dead by morning.’
‘John, they think it was their false Heda that did this, not Skaikru.’
‘They think that Jaha, influenced Ontari into enslaving Polis. And I doubt it’s something they’d be very willing to forgive. So we need to leave now.’ Jaha is walking past the two at this moment, his hands cuffed in front of him and his head bowed in remorse. ‘If they were being controlled then why do you chain him?’ Emori asks. ‘Because I was free and chose to be lead Emori by ALIE.’ Jaha answers without raising his head. ‘I’m sorry John, I never…’
‘Meant for this to happen, yeah, yeah I know Jaha. You didn’t know.’ Jaha keeps walking but he gets the last word in. ‘She would have saved us, all of us John. Now Clarke has doomed us to suffer purely out of spite.’
‘That’s why he’s in chains Emori. He thinks he was in the right to slaughter and torture in the name of unity.’ Emori nods. ‘Come on Emori, you’re free now.’ John says as he hugs her, and she returns it tightly. ‘I took the key John, I’m sorry.’ John quietened her with a kiss. ‘I don’t care Emori. You will never have to apologise to me Emori.’ John, with Emori’s hand in his starts to walk towards the front of the convoy where Miller and Bryan were, a few of the reformed Skaikru guards were at the front and back of the convoy.
‘What are we going to do with Pike?’ Bryan asked. Murphy sighed, wondering who put him in charge. ‘Look I know you looked up to him and all, but from what I hear, he got what was coming to him. We burn his body like we do with the rest of them.’ Bryan stayed quiet, keeping his eyes peeled on the forest around them. There were less than a hundred people in the convoy so they managed to move pretty quickly.
‘How long until we reach the dropship?’ Murphy asked. ‘If we walk for an hour before sunset, then start early in the morning, we should be there maybe mid-day tomorrow.’ Miller responded. ‘Alright, in an hour we stop. Believe me you do not want to be walking around after dark in these woods.’
‘I hope you Skaikru know how to start fires, otherwise we’ll freeze to death.’ Murphy chuckled and ran a hand back through his dirty hair but stopped when he realised that it was the hand that had held Ontari’s heart, her dried black blood still covered his fingers. ‘Don’t worry Emori, we ain’t going to freeze. Hey Miller! We’re going to have to build fires or something, and people are going to need to keep watch. Everyone stays close, no stragglers and no wanderers. If we lose you, we won’t come looking for you!’ He walks ahead so he is alone with Emori. ‘That’s a bit tough John.’
‘Whatever gets them to listen.’
After the hour had passed the convoy pulled to a stop and found a reasonably sized clearing, ‘Alright get a few fires going, we camp here tonight!’ Murphy called out to the guards. Murphy went towards the nearest tree and slumped back against it, he slid down until he sat on the dry mud at the base of the tree, his legs standing open in front of him. He brought the blood soaked hand up to his face and he began to stare at the blood. This was the blood of the woman who had cut off the heads of children, of the woman who’d clawed an innocent man’s eyes out because of advice he’d give her. It was the blood of the woman who had taken him and bent him to her will, simply for her own pleasure.
He charged towards the river, he heard the voices call out behind him but he didn’t care. Murphy ripped his shirt off and threw it behind him, then his pants and boots. Murphy waded into the freezing water until only his shoulders sat above the surface. He shivered but he was relaxed soon enough, he was safe. He lets his head fall beneath the chilling waves, he kept his eyes open as he stared up at the moon through the ripples of the water. Murphy let the waves wash over him, cleansing him, his body, letting the essence of Ontari wash away. Or at least he wished that was what was happening, instead all he could feel was the pressure in his chest, the weight pulling him down. Murphy closed his eyes, he didn’t realise someone else had joined him in the water until he felt someone gently lift his head back above the water.
‘Murphy.’ Emori whispers, Murphy doesn’t say anything, rather he just wraps his arms around Emori and pulls her closer, ‘I’m sorry.’ He whispers. Murphy feels the slender arms of Emori close around his ribcage, he can feel her mutated hand rest gently against the small of his back. ‘Never be sorry Murphy.’ Emori whispers, ‘Not to me and especially never for the actions of another.’ Murphy pulled back to look questioningly at Emori. ‘Ontari was in the City of Light with me Murphy, I know what she did to you, and what she made you do. You have nothing to be sorry for.’
Murphy ducked his head into the crease between Emori’s neck and her shoulder and Emori just held him close, not letting him float away from her again.
Bellamy
Bellamy jumped awake when he felt the freezing shock of cold water being splashed on his head and down the back of his neck. He couldn’t see, but he could feel the scratchy material of the bag that was covering his head. ‘Where am I?’ he shouts. He struggles with the metal chains that have his hands tied above his head. The rough bark scratching against his back tells him that he’s resting against a tree. ‘Answer me!’ he shouts again. Still nothing. He can hear voices behind him, behind the tree. ‘Hey!’ He shouts. The voices continue as if they hadn’t heard him. Bellamy stays quiet to try and listen to what they’re saying. ‘What do you mean she ran into the Bloodlands? Is she insane?’, ‘What do we do now?’ ‘We wait for the rest of them to come from Polis, then we take all of them.’ Bellamy knew they were talking about the rest of his people. ‘Hey, leave them alone!’ he screamed, he tried to kick himself away from the tree.
He stopped when he heard the crumple of leaves in front of him. ‘Who are you?’ Bellamy hears from behind him as well as the drawstring of a bow. ‘You’re king.’ Bellamy stops struggling when he hears the voice, the voice of the king of Azgeda. ‘Roan?’ Bellamy questions. The bag over his head is ripped away from his head, the blistering sun burns down. He squeezes his eyes shut, the headache he’d been ignoring till that point raged at the pressure.
‘My king!’ there is a shout of surprise from the voices that had been behind Bellamy. He hears multiple sets of heavy boots thud towards him and Roan. Then they fall silent, as out of the corner of his eye, Bellamy watches them fall to their knees with their heads bowed. ‘My king, we saw you slain at Skaikru’s hand.’
‘Apparently not. The threat is ended, recall our forces. We will return to Azgeda’ Roan commanded. ‘My king, I ordered that all Skaikru be rounded up and executed as ordered in the case the king is killed, his killers must be brought to justice.’ The voice is coming from just out of Bellamy’s eyesight but he knew the speaker without a doubt. ‘I am not dead. There is no blood to be demanded, call off the order.’
‘At once my king.’ The sound of receding footsteps can be heard as Roan watches his soldiers move away to follow his commands. He now turns his attention back to Bellamy whose eyes were still adjusting to the sudden light that invaded his vision.
Bellamy was still slowly cracking his eyes open to see the man standing in front of him. ‘Bellamy.’ The man is smirking and has his arms folded. ‘I saw you get shot.’ Bellamy accuses of the king. ‘Yes, you did.’
‘You took the chip, they saved your life.’ Roan steps closely into Bellamy’s personal space. ‘I did what I did so that I may have the chance to protect my kingdom. I can’t do that if I’m dead.’ Bellamy winces in pain from his headache before responding, ‘You can’t do it as a slave with no free will either.’
‘It seems than that I had more faith in Wanheda’s abilities then you did Bellamy.’ Bellamy can feel the anger rising inside of him. ‘Why would they save you? Kane shot to kill.’ Roan sat on a fallen log opposite of Bellamy. ‘Yes he did, a very good shot. ALIE wanted Clarke scared, to make her feel alone and without support. Clearly that didn’t work out very well for ALIE.’
‘That doesn’t answer my question Roan.’ Bellamy starts slowly trying wiggle his way out of the metal cuff, if he can keep Roan talking. ‘I am the king of Azgeda, my clan has the largest army of all. What better way to defeat an army then to control their King?’ Bellamy agreed that capturing the leader of an army that size would certainly have had benefits for ALIE. ‘13 clans.’ Bellamy grunted out. ‘What?’ Roan asked. ‘Skaikru is the 13th clan Roan.’ Roan’s face remains calm and collected. ‘I was under the impression that your leader had rejected the brand of the coalition, with your own support.’ He had no argument for that, Bellamy had been in the cell with Pike when he’d been elected chancellor, because of his own actions.
‘ALIE wanted to use you to get to your people, and you allowed her.’ Bellamy accuses trying to change the subject. Roan sighs, ‘You’re right, Bellamy. I did give into the fear of death, they refused to treat me and save my life unless I gave in and took their key. It is a shame I now have the chance to live with, but one I am thankful that I don’t have to suffer the consequences for.’
‘My king, the withdrawal order has been sent. We await your command.’
‘We leave at once then Echo.’
‘Echo!’ Bellamy shouts as new rage fills his blood, he thrashes against his restraints to try and look at the woman who was responsible for the deaths of over 30 of citizens of Farm Station. ‘Yes Bellamy.’ Echo steps into his field of vision with an expression of boredom mixed with sympathy. As if she knew this conversation were coming and now that it had, she wanted it over as soon as possible. ‘You betrayed me!’ Bellamy shouts in her face. ‘No. I never owed you loyalty Bellamy. I did my duty as ordered by my queen. No more, no less.’
‘People died because of you.’
‘And how many hundreds more have died because of you?’ Echo fires back, leaving Bellamy speechless. She leaves his sight, assuming the conversation over.
‘What about him?’ Echo asks of her king. Roan says, ‘What are his injuries?’ Roan asks.
‘Medium concussion and several broken ribs, as well as a few cuts and bruises.’ She adds cynically, clearly insensitive to the serious condition of her prisoner. ‘Bring him with us, we will treat him on the way.’
‘Why would I come with you?’ Bellamy snarls, his anger at Echo now being directed at Roan, because there was no one else. ‘Because, I want you to see that Azgeda is not your enemy, not anymore. You may not have ever met my mother Bellamy, but allow me to assure you that her and I have vastly different methods of diplomacy.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘All I ask is for a few days. Then you may return home to your own clan, with all hostilities laid to rest.’
‘Do I have a choice in this?’ Bellamy questions. The anger beginning to leave him now, the glimmer of hope that their two peoples might cease to be enemies was certainly enticing, and having the largest clan as an ally would certainly be beneficial to Skaikru. ‘I wouldn’t be a very good host if my guests were captives.’
‘Wait Roan there is something you need to know.’
‘What is it?’
‘ALIE. She controlled the City of Light.’
‘Yes, I remember her, very cold woman.’
‘She’s gone, thanks to Clarke. But she told us that in six months every form of life on this planet would be erased, just like what happened a hundred years ago. That’s why she was collecting everyone’s minds, to store and save them.’
‘That is troubling. Do we know if she was speaking the truth?’
‘Clarke believed her, and I trust Clarke’s judgement.’
‘As do I. Well then. I assume that Clarke has a plan if she chose to destroy this ALIE?’ Roan makes his assumption with confidence.
‘I hope.’ Is all Bellamy can answer.
‘Hope, Bellamy, is sometimes, all that we have. In the meantime, let’s assume that we find a way to survive. I would still like you to come to Azgeda.’
‘Can I let the others know?’ Bellamy asks.
‘We will send a messenger once we arrive at Azgeda. I fear Echo’s brash actions may make any of my messengers appear too hostile now.’
Roan cuts at Bellamy’s restraints and they fall to the ground behind his back. He rubs his wrists where they’d been digging into his skin. His eyes shoot up to Echo and Roan places a heavy hand on Bellamy’s shoulder, having guessed Bellamy’s first idea. ‘Can I tell you something about my mother Bellamy? She instilled loyalty, but she did not command respect as easily. She was followed because she was feared. Echo bears no ill will against your people. They are just not as important to her as her own life and the lives of those she cares about. Do not blame her. My mother is dead. And so is her desire for war with Skaikru.’
‘You don’t sound saddened by your mother’s passing.’
‘Because I am not. In her final moments, she chose to denounce me as her son rather than grieve for me. You don’t know how my mother died do you?’ Roan asks.
‘No.’
‘She died at Lexa’s hand. Instead of taking my life in our duel, she speared my mother through the heart and declared me the King of Azgeda.’ Bellamy hadn’t known that the Ice Queen’s death had been at the hands of Lexa, whose people he’d helped slaughter. ‘I helped murder 300 of her people’ Bellamy stumbles a little as he is distracted by the realisation that those people truly had been there because Lexa chose Skaikru over Azgeda. ‘If she saved you’re life and made you King, you sure have a funny way of thanking her. Trying to make Ontari Commander.’ Bellamy looked ahead as Echo and two other Ice Nation warriors trekked through the forest.
‘You misjudge me Bellamy. I would have gladly followed the rule of Lexa for the rest of my life. But she died, she died for because she tried to teach grounders a new way of life, the way of ‘Blood must not have Blood’. Lexa died because she chose to spare your people for slaughtering hers Bellamy. Many would see that as weakness, and many did.’ Bellamy can’t believe it, he’d hated Lexa for her betrayal at Mount Weather, and now he finds out that she died because not only had he murdered her people but she had died because she had chosen to let him get away with it. ‘I saw her decision as hope for a better way, Lexa was always a visionary, and she saw what we could be while trying to ignore what we were. Grounders have lived with Blood must have Blood for as long as we can remember. She asked us to abandon that lifestyle, that takes courage, and I respected her for that.’
‘Yet you when she died you still wanted Ontari to rule, instead of one of the others that Lexa had been training.’ Bellamy remembered Clarke telling him about the natblida children that Lexa had been teaching.
‘No, I wanted Azgeda to rule, the commander has always been from Trikru. The commander’s leadership only became available to other clans because of Lexa, and Azgeda deserved it more than any other, even if it had to be through Ontari.’ Bellamy snorts, ‘You really think that she would have obeyed you, Roan.’
‘She would have done what was best for Azgeda, just like Lexa did what was best for Skaikru, and the Coalition.’ Bellamy had nothing else to say, he’d only ever thought to see the grounders as one, yet
now he realises that the leader of the coalition had fought and died because she’d chosen to defend Skaikru, and now Bellamy realises that they hadn’t deserved her sacrifice. ‘I’m sorry Lexa.’