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justinewt · 2 years

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Many Happy Returns - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirteen

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

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Summary: Bellamy, Michelle and Murphy rebelled and successfully sneaked out of camp right under Kane’s nose but they couldn’t have done it on their own as they were just tied up in a room until rescue came, and unexpectedly at that. On their way to get their friends back, they got into quite the situation more than once, some a little deadlier than others.

Words: 5.7k

Warnings: The 100 season 2 spoilers (episode 3 “Reapercussions” & episode 4 “Many Happy Returns”), violence, blood, wounds, lots of yelling and arguments, swearing, life-or-death situation, angst, a hint of sarcasm

The group had been walking through the woods since nightfall and now, the sun was shining through the trees’ leaves. Bellamy had let go of Murphy but kept his hands tied and walked behind Finn, at the head of their makeshift research group and Michelle was alongside the handcuffed young man, with Monroe and another teenager behind them all, aiming around with their guns, on the lookout, covering their friends’ backs.

“All right, Murphy. Where to now?” Bellamy asked, peeking over at the latter. Murphy slowly came to a stop and drifted his peer’s attention at his tied hands.

“What do you say we lose these first, huh?”

“No. Again.” He instantly refused, glancing around and up in the trees.

“If we get attacked, I have nothing to defend myself with.” Murphy insisted, and he kind of had a point on that one but Bellamy had something to retort to that as well and it made Michelle stare at him.

“First, I don’t care. Second, you’ve got your girlfriend to help you not get your ass kicked by the Grounders.” Just as he finished his sentence, Finn turned around and walked up to them and just like that, he cut off his ties with his knife and walked away, not saying a word.

“Thank you.” He and Michelle watched the young man catch up with Spacewalker and addressing him, surely bothered by the initiative he just took. “After you, soldier.”

She chortled, shaking her hand and took a step past him and he then walked alongside her, behind Bellamy and Finn, now together at the lead of the small group. She sighed and glanced at the stiches closing the wound across the palm of her hand, holding her machine gun with her other hand. She put some tension in her fingers and frowned slightly and left her arm hanging by her side. She had no notion of how long it would take to heal but she knew it would take a while. She got her fucking hand slashed by a Grounder but at least it got her a cool war scar she could tell the story of if asked about it. Michelle raised her head and followed Murphy with her eyes as he walked faster to get beside Bellamy after the latter and Finn finished talking.

“So do I get a gun now?” The instanteous and sole response he got to this question was Bellamy unceremoniously pushing him ahead of him, not making any comment. Michelle chuckled and just kept walking.

“Everybody down, down. Get down.” Murphy suddenly whispered, forcing Bellamy and Michelle, who were walking in front of him, to the ground, his hands on their shoulders. After Bellamy got down, he let go off him but kept a hand on Michelle while the two others with them imitated. They got to a big metallic structure, covered in moss, almost frozen in place. Whatever it used to be, it was now stuck by the nature around it with bits of it falling apart as it was a hundred years old already, but the height of the whole thing was still an impressive sight. “This is it. Told you I’d find it.”

“I see nothing but Grounders.” Bellamy noted, looking through the spyglass on his gun. Michelle let out a scoff and whispered.

“Didn’t expect a Grounders’ camp to be filled with Grounders?” He pursed his lips and shot an annoyed look at her. She was right but he wasn’t pleased with her roasting him any change she gets. Murphy smirked at her comment.

“Our people aren’t here.” He exhaled.

“Wait a minute.” Finn spoke up, cutting off Bellamy as he looked through the scope of his gun. “They’ve got stuff from our dropship.”

“So maybe they know where our friends are.” Bellamy thought out loud.

“Yeah, or maybe they killed them already.” Murphy retorted.

“Son of a bitch.”

“What is it?” Bellamy asked Finn.

“The one with the one eye.” Bellamy and Michelle both looked through their guns’ scopes. “Around his neck.” Michelle looked down and her mouth opened in disbelief, her brows furrowed and eyes wide.

“What am I looking at?”

“That’s Clarke’s watch.” She told Bellamy, staring ahead of them.

“It was her father’s.” Finn added and she gave him a sidelong glance, almost as if she felt threatened by him acting like he knew her so well, when she was the one who had grown up with her and they saw each others as sisters now.

“She wouldn’t give that up without a fight.”

“Damn right about that, Bellamy.” Michelle affirmed in a low tone. She glanced over at Finn again when she heard him add something.

“Neither will we.” She observed him for a second and just as Bellamy did, she brought her eye to the scope of her gun, watching the Grounders’ every move.

“Okay. You’re with me.” Bellamy then declared, looking at Michelle and Finn. “You two stay here. If this thing goes south, take out the other Grounders. But don’t shoot the Grounder with the watch. Copy?”

“Copy.” Finn and Michelle nodded.

“Copy. What about Murphy?” Monroe wondered and the latter sketched a brief smirk.

“Yeah, do I get a gun now?”

“Something like that.” He was then pulled from the ground by Bellamy and he, Michelle and Finn walked around the camp by the other side, bending over and trying to be as discreet as possible. Murphy was given two round rocks and sent to hide behind a tree. The three others hid in the thick and tall bushes all around as he tapped the stones together to catch the attention of the Grounder wearing Clarke’s watch around his neck, and it worked. He was cautious so he followed the noise one step at a time, holding his bladed weapon tight in his hand, on the lookout. From where she hid with Finn, she followed Murphy slink away with her eyes and when the Grounder got there, there was no one and Bellamy stood up behind him and the second the man turned around he was hit vigorously in the face and fell to the ground heavily with a grunt. Murphy, Michelle and Finn walked out of the bushes and went near the Grounder. Michelle outpaced Finn and pulled the watch from the Grounder’s neck, breaking the thread it was hanging onto. “We need to take him somewhere quiet.”

“I know just the place.” Finn declared and Bellamy nodded before the two carried the man to a bunker in the forest that the Spacewalker knew of, and Michelle and Murphy came along.

“We’re gonna do this again… and this time, you’re gonna stop screwing with us.” Bellamy was not having it with the Grounders and started to get pissed off by the silence he buried himself in. Michelle observed the scene, leaning against a wall with Murphy seating on a chair by her side, and watched him show the watch to the Grounder. “Where did you find this?”

“I told you. I found it outside your camp.”

“He’s lying. She would never take it off voluntarily.” Finn wasn’t buying it. Michelle frowned and started thinking about it. She had already thought that it was odd and quite unlikely that Clarke took it off herself. She didn’t believe that, and none of the boys did either.

“I know.” Bellamy said softly while Finn took the watch and leaned towards the Grounder, his face tensed.

“Where is the girl who was wearing this watch?” He gritted and yelled through his teeth.

“I never saw a girl.” The Grounder wasn’t scared by any of them and anything they could do or say to him. He wasn’t fazed by any of it and didn’t even seem to care about the nasty injuries made to his face.

“Another lie.” Michelle glanced at Murphy from the corner of her eyes when he made a comment. “Maybe you should stop asking him nicely—”

“Shut up, Murphy.” Bellamy cut him off, still staring down on the Grounder. Michelle didn’t react and waited to see what was going to happen. She had no intention to intervene, at least not at the moment. She didn’t know what happened to Clarke and if the Grounder right there or any of his group had something to do with her disappearance, but she had little regard for the wounded man sitting in front of her. “Where are our friends? You took them. We know you did. Just tell us where.”

“Murphy’s right. We’re wasting time.” Finn pulled out his knife and threw a punch at the Grounder. “Answer the question! Where’s the girl who was wearing this watch?” Bellamy tried to push him away, but Finn was so aggravated, he struggled against him, ready to go at it again and beat the man to death if it came to it.

“Finn, stop. You don’t wanna do this. Trust me.” Even though he wasn’t taking his eyes off the Grounder, he eventually calmed down and stopped moving, while Bellamy tried to knock some sense into him. “There are some lines you can’t uncross.” There was a brief instant of calm and silence where Finn seemed to pull his shit back together but then he pivoted on his feet and started hitting the Grounder, again and again and again and just shouted before Bellamy grabbed him to try and pull him away again.

“Back off!” He cried out and pushed Bellamy away, aiming his gun at him. Michelle saw how carried away Finn got, and she thought that he would really pull the trigger at some point. She felt uneasy in this instant and despite her not being close to Bellamy, she didn’t really want him to get shot by the prick she considered Finn to be. She clenched her jaw, not moving and as her arms were crossed over her chest, she subconsciously squeezed with her hands in apprehension.

“Put the gun down, Finn.” The latter looked frantic with his wide eyes and gritted teeth, panting like a wild animal. He suddenly turned back to the Grounder, putting the gun to his head and Michelle kind of relaxed a little but still, he was maybe threatening an innocent man and they had no idea, and would he shoot and that was the case, he would have kille someone for no good reason except that he was enraged and maddened by Clarke’s disappearance.

“Three seconds.” He declared, looking hysterical now. “Two! One.”

“Okay.” The Grounder surprisingly gave in. “I’ll tell you. Your friends are east of here. The village where we take our prisoners of war.”

“East where? How do we get to them?”

“I can draw you a map… but you should hurry, soon they’ll outlive their usefulness." Finn finally put down the gun.

“Get him something to draw a map.” He stepped away and Monroe came forward and unceremoniously gave the Grounder a piece of paper. Murphy stood up and walked past Michelle and stopped next to Bellamy for a second.

“And you thought I was the crazy one.”

“Gather up your gear.” Bellamy got up after looking at the map drawn by the Grounder and he addressed his peers, standing around him. “We’re leaving.”

“What about him?” Sterling wondered, looking over at the tied up Grounder, kneeling on the floor.

“For now, we leave him. We’ll deal with him when we’re done.” Bellamy decided.

“What if he escapes? He knows exactly where we’re going.” Murphy had a point there and Michelle shifted her gaze on Bellamy, waiting for what he had to say to him.

“We’re not killing him.”

“I’m not really seeing another option here.” John insisted. “If we don’t take care of this now, this is gonna blow back on us and you know that.”

“He’s unarmed, Murphy.”

“He’s a Grounder.” Michelle and Murphy both retorted with a noticeable exasperation and they glanced at each other after they spoke at the same time, having had the same thought that went through their minds. Murphy looked at the others and they kept quiet, which seemed to baffle him in the moment.

“Really? Come on, tell him.”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?” Michelle spat at Monroe, stepping towards her. The girl just didn’t want to stand up to Bellamy and both Michelle and John could see that.

“He’s gonna tell his people everything. We’re as good as dead.” Murphy added, raising his voice in annoyance and discontent in the face of his peers’ blatant cowardice to say something. “Our friends too.”

“Look, we’re not doing this. End of discussion. You want him, you go through me.”

“What exactly happened to you, huh? You’re talking like you never killed a Grounder before.” Murphy shot back.

“That was in battle.” Bellamy replied on a serious tone. “This would be an execution—” They all jumped when they heard a loud shot and saw Finn holding the Grounder, whose now lifeless body lied on the ground, at gunpoint and Finn just stared down at it for a second and walked past them with a straight face, like he didn’t just kill someone and was completely cold and heartless. This is the part that gave chills to Michelle.

“Let’s get moving.” Everyone just stood there and watched him leave the bunker in silence. Murphy didn’t make any comment and just shot a glance at Michelle who swallowed harshly, and she followed him outside with a quiet sigh. It would have had to happen. She agreed about that, but how Finn just killed that man in cold blood, out of the blue, was alarming to say the least.

“Everyone, eyes peeled.” Bellamy ordered as they progressed through the forest, running. “We’re in Grounder territory.”

“Everything is Grounder territory, all right? I can’t keep running.” Murphy went to a halt, Michelle next to him and Monroe and Sterling stopping in their tracks behind the two. Finn and Bellamy turned around and the spacewalker stepped towards Murphy. “We don’t even know if the guy Finn killed is telling the truth.”

“Keep moving.” He suddenly pulled Murphy by his jacket and Michelle jumped on her feet, grabbed Finn’s arm and vigorously pushed him away so he would let go of Murphy.

“Now you back off.” She gave him a look of contempt, quoting his little crazy moment inn the bunker when he threatened Bellamy with his gun. John glanced at Michelle. She was frowning, infuriated by Finn, the muscles of her face tensed while Bellamy addressed the latter.

"Give them a minute."

“No, we can’t. You hear what that Grounder said: “they’ll outlive their usefulness.”

“I heard what he said when you had a gun to his head.” Bellamy retorted.

“Look, you think I wanted to do that?”

“Given the poker-faced you pulled back there, I'd say you certainly looked like it.” Michelle commented and Finn turned to her, but she just held his gaze, crossing her arms. She didn’t care much about the fact that he killed the Grounder in itself, it was more the way he did it that was so problematic to her, and Bellamy. Killing wasn’t supposed to be something easy to do, and that’s precisely what it looked like for Finn. She didn’t want him near Clarke again after all the tantrums he had thrown just today. Something was wrong with this guy suddenly.

“He would’ve told his people we’re coming and by the time we got there, our people would be dead.” How emotional he was being about it was understandable, but he acted as if he was completely innocent and pure hearted and had never done anything wrong in his life. He acted like he was the victim in this situation.

“What the fuck’s gotten into you, Finn?” She pursed her lips and groaned, shaking her head.

“Maybe that’s something you can live with, but I can’t.” He stepped towards her, raising the tone of his voice gradually and when he suddenly shouted the end of his sentence, he pushed her and Murphy caught her by the shoulders before she actually fell. She gritted her teeth and took a step forward.

“You think I could live with letting my sister die? Just fuc—”

“Enough.” Bellamy rose his voice, putting an end to this heated argument that would have escalated pretty quickly if no one had stopped it. Michelle was thoughtfull and smart but when it came to defending her loved ones, she could get carried away but unlike Finn, it wasn’t insanity, it was genuine anger and frustration and right now, he was the source of that anger. “Finn, I know you did what you think you had to do. But you are not yourself right now and I can’t be out here with another loose cannon…”

“Guys.” Monroe spoke up, holding up her gun a few feet ahead on the path. Bellamy turned around as they all looked at to what she was showing. There were bodies along the way with insects buzzing over them.

“Fall in.” They obeyed to Bellamy and walked behind him in silence. Michelle was quick to put the fight and the heat of the moment behind her as she looked at all the rotting corpses they walked by, frowning in horror.

“Where the hell did, they come from?” Murphy wondered.

“From the Ark.”

“Another station crashed.” Michelle added to Bellamy’s reply. They walked further down the path in heavy silence, looking at the bodies lying on the ground here and there until they reached a cliff, and right there below them was the destroyed station.

“That’s a rough landing.” Murphy observed and all six of them just stood there, looking down.

“There’s nothing we can do for this people.” Bellamy eventually stated when Finn stepped away. “We gotta go.” But as they started to walk away, they heard something nearby and just glanced at each other in confusion.

“Did you hear that?” Murphy inquired, quickly walking back to the edge of the cliff.

“Hey. Hey, someone’s down there.” Monroe pointed.

“Hey! Up here.” Bellamy called to the survivor.

“Please help me!”

“Mel?” Sterling recognized the woman down there.

“Help me!” She begged.

“You know her?”

“Shut up, Murphy. She’s my friend. We have to do something.”

“And what would you have us do, huh? Do we even have a rope or something?” Michelle asked. If they could help her, she would agree to try but if they had nothing, they could use to pull her up the cliff, there would be nothing they could do. Even helping her with a rope and all of their strength together, it would put them all at risk of falling down. Sterling clicked his tongue and walked away, kneeled and searched his backpack as his friend kept begging for help and Finn walked closer to Bellamy.

“We can’t stop.” He shook his head.

“This isn’t a Grounder, Finn. We have a rope.”

“You saw her. She’d never be able to hold on to it.” He argued through his gritted teeth. “We have to lower somebody down. It’ll take time that we don’t have. I hate this as much as you, but our friends—”

“I know. Okay? I know.” Bellamy cut him off. Sterling had taken the rope from the bag and walked back to the edge of the cliff.

“We’ll come back for her. Okay?” It took a second for Bellamy to think and he nodded, agreeing reluctantly.

“We’re moving out.” He turned to the others, and he saw Sterling already starting to climb down the cliff.

“Yeah, well, it looks like we’re taking that break after all, huh?” Murphy remarked, watching Sterling before glancing at Bellamy. Michelle hoped for their peer to manage to get his friend up there with them and rescue her, but it was quite unlikely that he would succeed so after a second, she followed Murphy as he took a few steps away and rested against a fallen tree trunk. She sat crossed-legs and brought her hair together in her hands into a low ponytail because she was getting sick of the rebellious locks that got in her face and bothered her and she slumped against the tree trunk, her neck resting on it, and looked up at the clear sky with a sigh. Now that they finally had a real moment of peace, the only thing she could think of was her brief exchange with Abby before they went out in the woods. She hated that Kane was so much on her mind, but discovering her father -someone she had always dreamed to meet as a child- was a man she despised was quite the news and it was something that upset her immensely and she frowned just thinking about it. She had very much mixed feeling about it and was confused and lost, having no idea what to do or think about it. She didn’t like to have her thoughts focused on this when this was the only break they would have for whatever how long it would take them to find Clarke and the rest of their missing friends.

“What are you thinking about?” She snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at John before straightening her head up, rubbing her neck for an instant, just shrugging. She didn’t know what to say because she still had to figure out if she wanted to tell anyone about what Abby told her. It still didn’t even feel real to her yet.

“Uhm, nothing.”

“Right.” He nodded, definitely not buying it. He could easily tell something was wrong right now. She sighed and leaned on her knees and started drawing random shapes in the dust with the tip of her finger.

“I, uh…” She bit her lips, frowning some more before relaxing her face with Murphy not taking his eyes off of her, genuinely wondering what was going on with her. “You know when Abby stitched my wound? She talked to me about, who… who my dad was. I don’t remember if I’ve ever told you that I never knew who my dad was growing up but whatever, kinda irrelevant uhm…”

She took a second to think how to say this when they heard the girl down the cliff scream and they jumped on their feet and rushed to the others lined up near the edge. Michelle looked down as she dusted the back of her pants. There was a part of her that was kind of relieved that she didn’t say it, as if she didn’t want to tell anyone else otherwise the fact that Kane was her father would get more real or something, she wasn’t sure but at the moment she pushed these thoughts away and focused on the life-or-death situation right under her eyes. Sterling stretched out his arms to his friend when suddenly, the rope came loose from the tree trunk around which he had tied it and he fell to his death. Michelle stumbled as the rope passed furiously through their legs and Murphy grabbed her arms when her feet brushed the far edge of the cliff. Eyes wide, she stepped away, in shock of what just happened, and what almost happened to her. She was panting and she shivered when she saw their friend hit the rock below with his back.

“I got you. I got you.” Murphy mumbled. He held her arms with one hand and took her hand with the other, holding onto her firmly. She brought her free hand to her mouth as they stared down the cliff. She was still shaking a little so she held Murphy’s hand like crazy, trying to calm down and she swallowed harshly, taking deep breath after deep breath.

“Mel! Mel, hold on.” Bellamy crouched down and talked to the girl, trying to reassure her as she sobbed below. “Focus on me. You can do this.”

“No!” She cried out.

“Yes, you can. You’re strong.”

“I’m not strong.” Her voice was shaken with tears and fear. “Stubborn, maybe.”

“So be stubborn a little longer. Yeah. I’m not gonna let you die. You hear me?” He stood up and Finn faced him.

“We’re out of rope.”

“So we make a new one.”

“If anything happens to our friends—”

“I don’t know if we can save our friends!” Bellamy just snapped and yelled at Finn, cutting him off. “For all we know, they may be dead already. We’ve all thought it. But what we do know is we can save this one girl.”

“Sterling was one of us.” Monroe spoke up. “She was his friend. I’m in.”

“Oh my god.” Michelle swallowed again, closing her eyes for a couple seconds and breathing out. She obviously didn’t want to die if this rescue mission failed, but there was something deeper to her fear than just that, and she hated that she was scared to die because of Kane. She turned her head when she heard Murphy’s voice.

“How do we do it?”

“We make a new rope from the wreckage. Go find wires, seat belts, anything.” Murphy nodded and as he dragged Michelle along with him, he motioned for Monroe to come too, and they jogged away. Michelle was definitely going to help because she had no desire to see another one of them fall and die, except maybe Finn that is but in any case, she was going to work even harder to help find materials for their makeshift rope since she would not be able to help hold it. The stitches of the wound across the palm of her hand were too fresh for her to apply such pressure onto it and if she did, it would definitely open again and this time, the blood loss that it would provoke would maybe be too much for them to have time to bring her back to camp to get taken care of. This also meant immense loss of time if something happened, so it was better for this whole thing if she participated in another way and then stood by and hoped for the best.

It took them some time to put it all together but here they were, Murphy, Finn and Monroe holding the rope with all their strength once they had tied it tightly around the tree trunk. Bellamy was ready to go down as he walked backwards towards the edge and therefore the void. Michelle was anxious, watching his every step. She started to get even more nervous and worried when she saw the three holding the rope slid closer to the edge as they brought Bellamy lower so he could reach the girl below. Murphy was first in line, right to the edge and she just couldn’t take any chances. She took off her jacket and wrapped it around her wounded hand and went behind Monroe and took her place in the line. She widened her mouth, containing a moan of pain as she felt tension in her hand and she just groaned and gritted her teeth, trying to concentrate on something else than the pain.

“Michelle—”

“I got her! Pull us up!” Murphy’s call out to Michelle was cut off by Bellamy. Slowly, they took one step back at a time, pulling the rope up to bring Bellamy and the girl there with them, safe and sound. All four of them put every ounce of strength they had into pulling them up.

“John!” Michelle cried out when suddenly, the seat belts they had fastened together gave way and Murphy found himself with his arms outstretched on either side, holding, almost on his own, onto the rope that kept Bellamy and Mel from falling over the edge, with the support of the three others behind him.

“Come on, a little help!” He grunted as Finn rushed to hold onto the rope to support Murphy and Michelle just fell down from the sudden release after she had been putting in so much effort. She didn’t even think of looking at her hands to see if she damaged anything again because she couldn’t take her eyes off the two boys, their arms strained holding the last rope holding the two down below as they struggled at the edge of the cliff. Monroe joined them up and Michelle was left just hoping; She wouldn’t be much help if she came anyway.

“What the hell is happening up there?” Bellamy inquired.

“Just hold on.” Finn retorted. Something whissed passed Michelle’s ear and she widened her eyes, panting when an arrow crashes into the ground right next to her leg.

“Grounders!” She yelled, warning the others as a dozen more arrows flew around them.

“Michelle, cover us.” Finn handed a gun to Monroe who held it out to Michelle and putting one knee down, she got rid of her jacket around her hand and aimed around, searching for any Grounder she could shoot at.

“How many are there?”

“We can’t see them.” Finn told Bellamy. “In the trees! In the trees! Aim for the trees!”

“That’s what I’m fuckin’ doing, all right!” Michelle shouted and she glanced behind her when a spear came right by her side and got stuck in the ground, not hitting anyone by chance. She got her shit together and managed to put down a few Grounders she saw through the bushes, but she collapsed to the side when an arrow went right into her thigh, letting out a sharp yelp. She sat on her side, puffing and blowing, trying to hold on and she shot again at the trees around them until Monroe kneeled next to her.

“Let me take over.” Michelle reluctantly gave her the gun and grabbing her jacket with one hand, she crawled to the backpack Sterling left to the side. She got closer to the bag but each time she moved, dragging her legs along with her while her thigh was literally bleeding out, she couldn’t help but verbalize the utter pain she was in as with every moves she made, she felt the arrow twitch in her flesh, her cries merging into exhausted groans. Her arms eventually gave in and she slumped to the ground in a whine, wincing in pain as a horn blew through the forest. Trying to catch her breath and put up with the pain, she leaned on her bare elbow and just looked at the forest in confusion. Then it hit her. It was the exact sound they heard before the acid fog came. She tried to straighten up, put her jacket on and frantically searched the bag for something to help with the bleeding, which was surely going to get worse as time went on.

“Monroe, back on the rope! Come on!” The girl let go of the gun and rushed back to Murphy and Finn and pulled as strongly as she could. As there was nothing in the bag, Michelle exhaled and took a deep breath, placing both her hands on the arrow shaft and forced on it to break it as close to the skin as she could. She didn’t know what good it would do but she figured that without a whole shaft sitcking out her leg, movements would be easier. She then pressed her palms around the entering wound and tried to focus as she was obviously in pain but overall, she figured she was fine and once again, lucky it didn’t hit anything vital, but it still hurt like hell. Michelle frowned and closed her eyes, panting and shaking her head as she started to feel a little dizzy and when she opened her eyes again, Murphy was crouched near her.

“Octavia.” Michelle glanced at Bellamy when she heard him pronounce the name of his younger sister and she thought it was weird until she saw the girl standing nearby. They approached each other and hugged tightly, happy to be reunited.

Michelle clenched her jaw, pursuing her lips as Octavia pressed the wound with a scrap of tissue to clean the blood around the wound and stop any more to come out. The head of the arrow was still in but there wasn’t much they could do without someone like Abby, or even Clarke. Octavia then tied the tissue around Michelle’s leg, tightly and the latter gave her a smile, quite grateful for her help.

“Thank you. With all these wounds I get, I’m gonna end up with quite a lot of scars.”

“Yeah.” Octavia gave her a friendly smile and chuckled, nodding.

“We’re lucky you came when you did. Honestly.”

“I was going back to camp when I heard shots.” She explained.

“Nice foghorn. What happened to your boyfriend?” Murphy who was walking around, watching Octavia tend to Michelle, bent over to take a look at the horn hanging from her bag and Bellamy’s sister clapped his hand so he would let go of her stuff.

“He’s gone.”

“Right.” Michelle looked at Murphy stepping away when Bellamy went to crouch behind Octavia. The young woman looked away, crossing Murphy’s gaze as she tried not to listen to Bellamy and Octavia’s exchange even though she couldn’t really help it since she was just right there.

“Hey. I’m sorry, O.” His sister simply nodded in silence before standing up.

“The Grounders will be back, so we need to go. Now.”

“Yes, we do.” Finn agreed, crouched near the map. Murphy walked to Michelle as she looked at Bellamy, Octavia and Finn.

“Octavia says the arrow might be poisoned. I have to take them home.”

“I know.” Finn sighed and handed a piece of paper to Bellamy.

“I’ll meet you as soon as I can.” Bellamy promised and the crazy spacewalker nodded. Murphy helped Michelle up and she took support on his shoulder until they reached Bellamy and Octavia.

“Parting. Such sweet sorrow, right?” Michelle took her arm off him and stood on her own as he walked away, following Finn.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Bellamy inquired. Murphy just stopped in his tracks and turned to the young man.

“Come on. Bellamy, you know if I go with you, they’ll just lock me up again.” Michelle was pleasantly surprised to see Bellamy throw a gun at Murphy instead of insisting on arguing about this, as they did a few times in the past.

“Really?” Octavia voiced her confusion. Michelle and Murphy exchanged a gaze as he loaded the gun.

“Watch his back.” Bellamy requested and John nodded in response before running after Finn to catch up with him before he went too far away. Blake then turned to his sister, under her scrutanizing look. “I can’t get them home without you.”

“Of course, you can’t.”

“Let’s go.” Michelle followed Octavia and Bellamy limping as they brought Monroe, who had been slightly injured in the attack and the girl they rescued.

[To be continued…]

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Published (08/05/2022) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405 @kika64

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justinewt · 4 months

Text

Keep the Peace - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Twenty-One

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: Michelle had to rest after the head trauma she suffered when she and Bellamy tried to rescue Clarke after risking both of their lives. She would be fine but there was something brewing ever since Pike joined the people of the Ark in Camp Jaha. And after an explotion occured at Mount Weather, to whom Bellamy’s loyalty belonged was put in question.

Words: 5.9k

Warnings: The 100 season 3 spoilers (mention of events from episode 3 “Ye Who Enter Here”; episode 4 “Watch the Thrones”), mention of wounds/concussion, dried blood, guns, pike is racist

The whole trip back to Arkadia had been a pain for Michelle. The swirls of the car on the forest roads made her even sicker and sicker than she already was due to the acute vertigo and migraine from the head trauma. At one point they had to stop the car because she was moaning so much. She had gotten so nauseous that the moment Kane opened the door, and she stuck her head out, she threw up but again, it was only bile and it felt like fire went through her throat. He gave her several sips of water from a canteen as they continued the road and she lay down, resting her head on Kane's leg. Driving in Arkadia, He carefully hoped out the rover and was met by Abby on his way to the infirmary of the camp where he went straight to put his daughter on the nearest bed available. The car ride really took a toll on her, and she was unable to respond to Abby as she examined her but the state in which she was in gave the doctor and Chancellor enough information on how bad the injury might be, though she later determined it was only a mild concussion, which was already enough to make her sick for days. She told Kane to stand aside as Jackson joined to assist her. They slowly sit her up and Jackson placed his hand on both side of her temples to stabilize her head and keep it aligned with her spine and prevent movement while Abby firmly pressed a clean cloth on the wound. It had stopped bleeding by now, meaning it had already started to coagulate, which was good news but it still required to be cleaned and bandaged and so she did. She then covered the wound with a piece of gauze and wrapped her head before resting her on the pillow. Without even flinching, Michelle swallowed the medicine which was put on her tongue and eventually fell asleep, the last image before she closed her eyes was of her father sitting beside the bed, running his hand worriedly over his beard.

The next 48 hours, Abby came in to check on her every hour or so, but Jackson stayed in the infirmary to always have an eye on her, cleaning her head injury about three times a day and changing the bandage. The pain killers she got every now and then helped her not to be in so much pain and really calmed down the migraine. She didn’t have to stay in bed all day but because every time she tried to stand up and take a few steps, she was seized with dizziness which forced her to sit down again so it really narrowed down the options of what she was able to do. Like Abby told her, after a whole week most of the symptoms should have resolved on their own and it did, except for the migraine which came back every now and then especially when triggered by loud noises or vertigo if she moved her head too suddenly but thanks to supplies taken from Mount Weather, she was able to get pain killers when it was too much to bear.

“It’s been a week. How are you feeling today?” Abby came into the infirmary and walked up to her, pulling a chair next to Michelle’s bed. She got up to sit in her bed, placing her pillow behind her back for support. She didn’t have her head bandaged anymore since the wound had scabbed for a few days already.

“Just a headache when I woke up, but Jackson gave me painkillers. Now it’s fine.” The Chancellor turned her head towards her and held a small flashlight to her eyes to check her reaction and sensitivity to bright light. Michelle barely squinted her eyes. She then had her lean her head forward to clean the scab that formed over her head wound. It was mostly healed by now, but she still had to be careful so that it didn’t start bleeding again if she scratched it off. Abby got her to stand up and walk around a bit. No vertigo to report. This was a good sign that things were going the right way. She sat back down on her bed and Kane arrived at the same moment that she started asking about the Summit they were supposed to attend at Polis City with the 12 other clans and the Commander.

“You’re not coming.” He straight up said, his arms crossed.

“Didn’t expect you would let me anyway.”

“I sent Bellamy to Mount Weather, so he’s not coming either. But you, will stay in Arkadia, and you will not leave campgrounds. What you did the other week was stupid and reckless. I had asked you to be careful and you left with him without telling anyone. You both could have been killed.”

“I am sorry, okay?” She apologized, frowning. Now that she was better, his worry was overpowered by his need to scold her and act like the parent he should have been in her life and no matter how much she deserved it, she didn’t like to be addressed like a child. It was her decision to go with Bellamy and it was to look for Clarke, so she wasn’t actually that sorry, though she understood the stupidity of it. That was that kind of interaction that harmed her relationship with her mother, prior to her getting sent to solitary confinement for an entire year. Michelle stood up after taking an antibiotic and painkiller and Abby stopped her before she walked out. She still wasn’t allowed to take part in any activity that required effort and be careful not to touch her injury so it wouldn't bleed again. Even though in the past few days, she had had to stay within the walls of the infirmary for obvious reasons, she felt like she had been grounded ever since her return to Arkadia, a camp she still couldn't call home.

Michelle had taken care of doing what she could, chores here and there to help out among little trips to the infirmary when she got dizzy but knowing on the one hand her dad and Abby in Polis and her friends in Mount Weather were enough to keep her mind busy for the day. In the evening, she wandered around the camp, taking deep breaths of the fresh air. The weather was good, and the mood was calm and relaxing until the sound of an explosion in the distance disrupted everything. Given where the sound came from, it didn't take her more than a couple seconds to realize that it had occurred in Mount Weather, where she knew her, friends were, which immediately worried her. She watched the smoke rise above the treetops with wide eyes. Unable to go to bed, she stood pacing near the station entrance, watching for the camp gate until she saw a car drive in in the middle of the night and she ran to the hangar. Her father, Abby, Bellamy, and the others came out. She tried going up to Bellamy, but he walked past her and left. He seemed out of it.

“Dad, what-- what happened? What was the explosion earlier? Where are the others? Is Bellamy okay? What—" She was so confused and worried she couldn’t stop asking questions. He grabbed her shoulders.

“The Ice Nation blew up Mount Weather. Gina died in the attack.” It was the only piece of information she needed. She rushed to catch up with Bellamy who was walking down a hallway towards his bedroom. It was late and a lot had happened, so she understood he probably needed to be alone right now, but she had to check on him. He didn't even turn when he heard hurried footsteps coming from behind him, until she called his name. Then he stopped and looked at her before avoiding her gaze. She could see the neon light above them reflect the tears that made his eyes glisten.

“Bellamy, I’m sorry.” He knew what she was apologizing for and just looked down. She had never been close friends with Gina, because she was the girlfriend he got after they had gotten close and she pushed him away, but she would never have wished something like this to happen to her. She was a nice person who didn’t deserve to die. For some reason, Michelle drew Bellamy into a hug, and he wrapped his arms around her after a second. Acting tough wasn’t everything, he needed to be comforted too. They spent the night sitting on the floor next to each other in his room, not really talking or saying anything, just keeping each other company so neither of them would be alone. She saw him let his guards down and be vulnerable in front of her. The events at Mount Weather had really taken a toll on him and she had never seen him so bummed about something before, only when Clarke had left them. After a while, they fell asleep, their heads resting on the bed behind them, their foreheads pressing against each other. This was the kind of intimate moment that they hadn’t shared in forever and Michelle realized how much she had missed it. She was quite unsettled by the resurgence of her feelings for Bellamy, not knowing what to do about it since the death of his girlfriend had just happened and she would hate herself if she tried getting with him just yet. She would deal with all this later, right now she just wanted to be there.

Shortly after the sun finally rose outside, the rays entered the room and illuminated Michelle's face. She placed her hand over her eyes and rolled onto her back, when she realized that she was lying on the bed. At first without straightening up she raised her head and looked around in confusion and finally sat up seeing Bellamy standing near the table. He looked away, looking preoccupied. She was already over the fact that he woke up first and carried her on the bed, which somehow warmed her heart and wasn’t surprised by the expression on his face as he observed his Ark guard’s jacket hanging from the coat rack on the wall, near the door. He was as silent as last night, and it took her a minute to understand what was going on in his head. Because of what happened, he wanted to resign.

“Whatever happened… it wasn’t your fault, Bellamy.” She finally broke the silence. Hearing his name spoken outloud, he turned his head to her, looking back at her. It was clear that he disagreed with what she said, but it was true, what happened to Gina was beyond his control. She was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

“I could’ve done something. I should’ve stayed.”

“Stayed where? At Mount Weather? But weren’t you there when it blew up?” She tried to ask a couple questions, to get him to tell her what actually happened because all she knew was that Mount Weather blew up and Gina died, but she didn’t know the details. Her questions remained unanswered as he grabbed his jacket and walked out of the room. Michelle jumped out of bed and followed suit. He wasn’t any more talkative in the corridors. She kept asking him where he was going and suddenly step in front of him to stop him in his tracks, grabbing his arms. Quickly, he finally loosened his tongue and told her the whole story. How a Grounder he was locked up with came back and told them about a trap at the Summit and that he then decided to leave with the others, leaving Gina behind at Mount Weather, where she was murdered before the whole facility exploded. There was a second of silence and she let her hands slide off his arms, nodding. Repeating that he didn’t need to blame himself for this was pointless, as he truly believed it was his fault.

A man guarded the entrance. Inside, Kane and Abby were in a private meeting, probably assessing their next move regarding what happened. The door eventually opened, and the two young adults found themselves facing Pike who looked at them before leaving. They stepped in the room, watching Abby walk to the opposite side while Kane was leaning on the table, thinking.

“Sir?” Bellamy quietly called out to Kane. The latter straightened up on his stool and glanced at them, joining his hands in front of him. It took him a couple glances to notice his daughter standing next to him. She could tell he was wondering what they were doing together.

“Why aren’t you at your post?” He asked in a low voice, with a sigh. Bellamy put his jacket on the table and pushed it further away. “Don’t do this.”

“Forty-nine of the people I swore to protect died yesterday because I left them.”

“That’s not your fault, Bellamy.” Kane turned to face him. “Place the blame where it belongs. On the Ice Nation.”

“The Ice Nation didn’t tell Gina to stay there.” He paused, taking a shaky breath. “That was me.”

“Given the information you had at the time, you made a reasonable choice.” Kane stood up, placing a hand that was meant to be comforting on his shoulder. From the side, Michelle could see the pain and guilt that made his eyes shine in the faint glow of the light. “You were trying to save lives.”

“But I didn’t.” He looked away with a heavy sigh, his eyes getting watery as he tried to fight tears. He didn’t say anything else, maybe if he knew that if he did, he would have started crying, and instead just turned around and left. Michelle went to grab his arm as he walked past her, but she stopped herself and crossed her arms. She sighed, closing her eyes.

“All that’s certain is that we die. How we die is up to us.” Pike declared, standing before them as they all sat on chairs set in rows in the hangar. On Pike’s left side, Abby and Kane were sat together. They were all gathered here, attending a memorial for the ones that died in the explosition at Mount Weather. Michelle was next to Bellamy in the back row, sat straight back in her chair, fiddling with her fingers, eyes glued to her hands, her loose black hair falling in front of her face. She wasn’t good with feelings like sadness and grief and hated the heavy atmosphere that hung over them. It kept reminding her of the loss of her mother and she wanted to run away from it but there she was, stuck in this room and it would be disrespectful of her to just leave out of the blue. She wanted to be present, out of respect for the victims, but especially to show up for Bellamy, but she didn't feel able to look at the people around her. She didn't want to see the pain in their eyes. The former Earth skills teacher asked who wanted to speak for one of the girls that died in the attack and a man walked up to him after a moment of silence.

“Iris was strong. Good with a knife. She saved my life. I’m just sorry I couldn’t do the same for her.” He gave a sudden jerk with the knife in his hand to pull out the blade and put it down on a small piece of furniture nearby, before returning to his seat.

“We will miss Iris.” Pike resumed. “May we meet again.”

“May we meet again.” Everyone spoke in unison, with Michelle barely letting a whisper leave her lips. She hated that her grief made it all about her mother for her, and anything to do with loss and grief reminded her that she never had the chance to say goodbye to her mother and she never would. Neither would she ever see her again in this life. But it wasn’t what this memorial was about, and she refused to let herself cry over it while being surrounded by all those people. She never even told Bellamy about her feelings on this subject, despite pushing him to talk about what happened to his girlfriend.

“Who will speak for Gina Martin?” Michelle raised her head for the first time in the whole service and looked at Bellamy. He glanced at her and She risked giving him a small comforting smile and although he didn't return it before getting up, she knew he appreciated her support. Their relationship had been on and off those past few months, but they had never stopped being friends. He walked up to Pike, holding the book The Iliad in his hands. This time around, Michelle looked at him as he spoke, and he often met and held her gaze. Maybe he really felt her support, she didn’t know.

“Gina was real. She always saw the light, even here. She deserved better.” He went to put down the book when doors opened, and a bunch of Ark guards entered. Everyone straightened up in their chairs, looking at the soldiers and whispering to each other. Michelle noticed Pike talking to one of them, and she saw Lincoln alone. She followed Pike with her eyes as he walked to Kane and Abby. Seeing his lips moving as he leaned towards them slightly, she frowned. His voice began to rose.

“You gave a Grounder one of our radios?” Everyone in the audience stood up and the whispers became much louder.

“Sir, are we under attack?” Hannah enquired.

“No, we are not under attack.” Kane declared. “Their commander sent a peacekeeping force. To ensure that we can defend against any further attacks from the Ice Nation.”

“Peacekeeping force?” Pike was clearly not having it. “Even you can’t be that naïve, Marcus.”

“Watch your tone. You’re talking to the next Chancellor.” Abby chimed in, before addressing the crowd. “We’re all grieving. This has been hard on all of us. But we can’t let anger drive our policy.”

“Anger is our policy.” Michelle frowned even more at his aggressive response. His hatred for Grounders made him so biased and he really thought he was in the right. He rose his voice louder and talked to the people of the Ark present here. “If they’re here to defend us, as you say, then tell them to go home. We can defend ourselves!”

“Yeah!” Some of them began agreeing with Pike. Michelle looked around and exited the crowd through the left side to go to his father and Abby when a man dressed in the clothes of an Ark guard pointed at Lincoln in the back.

“You. You don’t belong here.”

“He’s one of them.” Said another man.

“My boy is dead!” A dude yelled and a stone was thrown at Lincoln, hitting him in the head with a thud. He groaned at the blow, and it quickly turned to chaos with some people trying to come at the grounder and others pushing them off. Bellamy ran through the mob to keep people from getting close to Lincoln. Kane ordered to arrest them and separated one of the many fights happenings when Pike let out a shrill whistle and things finally went to a halt.

“We do not attack our own!” He pressed each one of his words. “Fighting each other only makes us weak. The enemy is not in this camp. The enemy is out there.”

Michelle hated how everyone started listening to Pike suddenly, just because he was loud and strong with his words. She could tell he was going to cause troubles for all of them, especially those who weren’t pitting themselves up against the Grounders, like herself or her father. She looked at the people in the room and her eyes set on Bellamy and she wondered if that man would manage to get in his head, one way or another. It made her grind her teeth to think of Bellamy siding with Pike but when later that day, she saw the two men having a drink. She was sitting at a table in the corner of the room, having a drink on her own since without Clarke or even Murphy, well if she wasn’t hanging out with Bellamy, she really had no other friends. And Monty was nowhere to be seen anyway so she didn’t bother to look for him much. She couldn’t hear their conversation from where she was, but she watched them from the corner of her eyes. She noticed Monty’s mother at a table next to Pike and Bellamy’s and the woman was discreetly looking at them too, but Michelle wasn’t too sure if the latter wanted Pike to get the young man on their side. She didn’t know her too well, so she had no idea what was going on in her head. But to be safe, she preferred to assume the worst and to think that all the people from the Farm station were with Pike, and against her dad, and by association, against her.

When she saw Bellamy look around and the people from Farm Station that were there all gave him a glance, a glance full of the hatred for Grounders that they witnessed earlier, she understood that her assumption was in fact right. Sometimes being safe is being right and in that case she was. She didn’t like what was brewing. For some reason, and she wasn’t even a Grounder, so she wasn’t the group’s main target, but she started feeling unsafe and quite uncomfortable at that. She wished she could hear what they were saying so she could report it to Kane and Abby, but she at least knew that they were preparing something and trying to get Bellamy in on it with them, so that was already something, but she chose to wait a bit longer and see what more she could learn by just watching them from afar. The second she saw Bellamy give a nod to Pike, she knew whatever game they were all playing, it was over. For the Grounders at the very least, but also for anyone siding with them. She bitterly gulped down a last shot of alcohol and, grabbing her jacket lying on the seat next to her, she walked away as she put it back on. Not knowing where her dather would be as of now, her best guess was either the meeting room that she visited earlier with Bellamy or his own room, but she didn’t even remember where the latter was so she had to hope he and Abby would both be there. She had no idea where else they could be anyway.

After a dozen minutes just wandering around, she ran into Harper, and she grasped the chance. She wasn’t surprised at all to hear Michelle’s thoughts on the situation they had with Pike. It was already late, the sky was dark, and the two girls went to Lincoln and along with Zoe, they stood in the dark of the main gate, and it didn’t take very long for the group of wannabe vigilantes to come to them. When they noticed the four individuals, they stopped, and Bellamy walked up to them with a stern look on his face. He looked at all of them without moving his head, his eyes lingering for a little longer on Michelle. He was frowning.

“You need to step aside, right now.” He warned.

“What are the guns for?” Michelle asked after exchanging a glance with Harper. They knew very well what the guns were for, and Bellamy wasn’t so stupid either.

“There’s an army out there. And we need to hit them before they hit us.” As they spoke, Pike and the others slowly advanced towards them.

“That army was sent to protect us.” Lincoln said.

“Do we have a problem?” Pike asked this in such a way it sounded way more like a threat than a question.

“No.”

“I have always done what is best for us. I need you to trust that I am doing that now.” He glanced at Zoe in the back, and she subtly nodded before stepping away. Michelle frowned, taking a step towards him. Bellamy then looked at Harper and as if she understood his motivation, she nodded and apologized to Lincoln before leaving in turn. There was only Michelle left by his side, and she wasn’t about to walk away as well. She chewed nervously on the inside of her cheek, and she looked at Bellamy, trying to knock some sense into him before it was too late, even though she knew damn well that it was in fact too late. He would stand his grounds and side with Pike still, and he would realize only too late how far he went because he believed in the wrong person. Pike was loud and aggressive but that didn’t make him any less of a snake. Now she knew why she disliked him so much as a teacher on the Ark. He was never a good or a nice man.

“Bellamy.” Her tone of voice was soft. She was trying to do something pointless, but she still tried. And if she wasn’t on Pike’s bad side already, she would be now. “You’re not thinking this through. You can’t let Pike get in your head like this with all his Grounder hatred bullshit, come on. They’re not out there to kill us.”

“I am thinking this through, Michelle.” He came closer to her, and his brows relaxed but not hers. He spoke with determination to convince her this was the right thing to do. “I’m doing this for all of us. We have to hit before they hit us. Trust me on this.”

She looked away for a second. She wanted to believe him but with Pike in the mix, she just couldn’t, and it was tearing her heart apart to have to doubt Bellamy’s intentions but on this one, she couldn’t risk being on the wrong side. And she couldn’t be on the same side as Pike because it would always be the wrong one. She hated that Bellamy let himself be manipulated like this. She still believed there was a way to get him back on the right track, but she just couldn’t support him this time. She shook her head and looked back at him.

“You can’t just go out there to kill 300 people. They’re here to protect us.”

“They’re Grounders.”

“So were your fucking ancestors, Pike.” She spat vehemently, giving him a death stare.

“Watch your tone. You wouldn’t talk to your mother like this.”

“Don’t you talk about my mother.” She angrily rose her voice at Pike, suddenly walking towards him but she was stopped mid-way by Bellamy who grabbed her arms and moved her back in front of him. Pike obviously kept his composure and just looked at them. She hated how vicious he was, mentioning her mother like this, to try and get to her emotionally and he almost did get something out of her, but Bellamy prevented that. If she was alone, she would have bursted out in tears but her voice barely broke when she talked back to him.

“Let us pass.” Bellamy asked her, almost whispering. For a second, she got lost in his eyes, but this was nothing like the intimate and priviledged moments they had once shared. They were surrounded by Pike’s minions. She made a pout, shaking her head again as she pushed his hands away and stepped back next to Lincoln, staring at Bellamy. He seemed disappointed by her reaction, probably hoping she wouldn’t fight him, but he wasn’t Clarke, and the latter was the only one she would blindly follow.

“I can’t.” Bellamy let his arms hang at his sides and they held each other's gaze.

“Lincoln, you wanna prove you’re one of us, let us pass.” Pike spoke to the Grounder.

“I’m not moving.” One of Pike’s men suddenly aimed at him, urging him to get out of the way and Lincoln subtly pushed Michelle behind him as he grabbed the gun and made the man lose his balance, holding his knife up to the latter’s throat, backing away. Being behind him, Michelle was kind of stuck there, having to step back as well. The rest of Pike’s men brandished their guns. Bellamy told them to put the guns down and Pike encouraged them to listen to him.

“So much for the good Grounder.” Monty’s mother noted.

“Quiet, Hannah.” Michelle now stood aside, still not about to leave. “Whose people are you defending here, Lincoln?”

“Lincoln, put down the knife. No one has to get hurt here.” Bellamy added.

“I can’t let you start a war.”

“We’re already at war.”

“Not with the Grounders out there.” Michelle argued.

“They’re all Grounders.”

“This is so stupid… They’re not all Ice Nation. We’re not at war with them.”

“Neither of you can stop this.” She stared back at Bellamy, letting out a quiet but heavy sigh. Shaking her head in disbelief, not taking her eyes off him, she mouthed his name but not a sound came out of her lips, and she hated that she could see in his eyes that he wasn’t sorry for any of this. He truly thought he was doing the right thing here. The PA system in the camp went off and screeched for a second before a voice came on.

“All unstationed security personnel report at the main gate.” He repeated the message a couple of times as a buzzing sound sounded in the background. Octavia appeared in their sight and ran towards Lincoln.

“What’s wrong with you?” Bellamy closed his eyes and looked at his sister. A second later a bunch of Arkadia guards arrived with their guns. Michelle saw her father walking in their direction among the soldiers. She could’ve searched for him longer but when earlier she came across Harper, she didn’t waste any more time. They had gone straight to Lincoln. As Kane came closer, Pike asked his people to put their guns on the ground.

“Lincoln, it’s all right. Let him go.” At Kane’s words, he released the man who threatened him. The future chancellor and his daughter exchanged a quiet glance.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Abby enquired.

“What you didn’t have the guts to do.”

“Did you arm these people?” Kane headed towards Bellamy. He didn’t even answer but his silence alone was enough for him to understand.

“Guards take them to lock up now.” They were quickly all arrested as she told everyone else to go back to their quarters. It was late and there was nothing else to see here. “It’s over.”

“Nothing is over.” Pike exclaimed. “We are surrounded by warriors who want us dead.

“That’s enough!” Kane spoke up.

“No, it isn’t. Not even close. Why don’t you show us all what you let the Grounders do to you yesterday? Come on, Kane. I think that the people who are about to vote for you have a right to know.” Michelle frowned, having no idea what he was talking about. She got closer to Abby and her dad. He looked around him as people asked him to show them whatever it was. He lifted his sleeve and showed the crowd a red mark on his arm.

“It’s the mark of the Commander’s coalition. It means we are the 13th clan. It means we are in this fight together.”

“No. It’s what farmers used to do to their livestock.”

“Right before the slaughterhouse.” Hannah shouted, trying to entice the crowd into siding with them. And people started to be for Pike going as far as to tell him to be on the ballot for tomorrow’s election. Michelle turned around when she heard Bellamy chanting Pike’s name, followed by every single one of those who had been arrested, and a lot of people in the crowd. This felt like a nightmare. She stepped next to her father, and he put a hand on her shoulder out of habit. He, Abby, and Michelle looked at each other, worried and dumbfounded by the situation.

“I tried to talk him out of it.” She said quietly, looking at them walk away.

“You did what you could.” He gently squeezed her shoulder, unable to take his eyes off the people still chanting Pike’s name like a bunch of brainwashed people. Things were only about to get worse now that Pike convinced others to be with him. There was a risk he could be elected the next day and with him at the head of the whole group, it would be war against any Grounder in sight.

The next day, with barely a few hours of sleep as she was unable to get any rest, Michelle attended the election held outside in the camp and and Pike quickly received a majority of the votes. They couldn’t believe it. Once it was over, her father and two guards headed towards the prison wing of the ring. She followed them and hid behind the walls to let them pass without being seen and, to keep a certain distance. She followed them until they got to the portion of the corridor that went straight to the cell door. She stopped behind a corner and even though she wished she could be closer, it should be enough for her to hear them talk. If she tried to approach, it wouldn’t be the guards or Kane who would notice her, it would be the prisoners and she would be spotted by everyone anyway because if Pike saw her lurking around the corner, he would never keep his mouth shut. He knew she was out of reach for his manipulation tricks. She would never talk with him. He was only going there to tell Pike of his win at the election, but she still wasn’t supposed to be following him when he had asked her not to, though he knew she wasn’t always listening to him. She went ahead with following him because she was fully aware he wouldn’t get mad at her for something like this. He had other things to be uspet about anyway.

Kane pressed on the panel next to the door, unlocking the door before walking in. Everyone inside stood up. He walked up to Pike.

“Congratulations, Mr. Chancellor.”

“Where’s Abby?”

“Wishes she could be here.” He handed him the Chancellor pin. “The vote wasn’t close. Our people are now your responsibility, Charles. I hope you take that seriously.”

“Thank you, Marcus. I certainly intend to. For my first official action as Chancellor, I pardon myself and the others. For my second official action, I reject the brand that made us the 13th clan. For my third, let’s finish what we started.” Michelle felt a knot in her stomach just hearing this and she rested her head against the corner with a sigh, not caring if she was seen anymore. She crossed her arms and watched the people walk out of the cell, keeping her eyes on her father as he stopped Bellamy before he left. He spoke to him in a whisper so she couldn’t hear but the expression on Bellamy’s face as he walked past him. He noticed Michelle standing there and gave her a brief look but there was nothing there, no compassion, nothing. It was just the dark brown of his eyes looking at her like they were enemies.

[To be continued…]

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Published (12/29/2023) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405 @kika64 @mirellef2001

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