The war with ALIE was over, but there was still conflict to be resolved. Lots and lots of broiling conflict.
Bellamy watched as Roan, patched up and breathing, raised his arm to silence the Coalition. The twelve clans' representatives quieted, begrudgingly, and they eyed the members of Skaikru with a range of emotions. Mostly hatred, though.
Roan cleared his throat. He would speak for all the Grounders, until the issue of finding the next true Nightblood was resolved. Bellamy wasn't sure if it ever would be, but he wasn't about to bring that to the table. "If we are to welcome the thirteenth clan back into the Coalition, you must be willing to adhere to our laws."
Kane nodded. "Of course. We seek only peace."
"Then you realize that our core principle stands," Roan said, and his cold eyes flickered to Clarke.
Clarke paled beside him, her hand tugging on his sleeve. "Blood must have blood," she breathed, heartache pulsing in her gaze.
Bellamy frowned. He thought they were done with Lexa's old reign. He thought they'd progressed. In fact, he really didn't like the idea of this meeting in the first place. Most of his people and the Grounders had found a common enemy in ALIE, had united. He didn't think as soon as everyone woke up there would be so much blame and confusion.
Then again, they were dealing with people who thought a computer chip held a human spirit. It was only logical they would argue for three whole days about whether or not Skaikru had possessed their villagers.
Kane looked at Clarke, then at Roan. "What is it you want, Azgeda? We are willing to do anything to mend what has been lost."
Roan exhaled, glancing at his fellow leaders once more, as if giving them one last chance to change their minds. "We demand the death of those responsible for the massacre of Heda's army."
Bellamy heard Clarke gasp, saw Kane flinch in his peripheral.
"We don't seek the assassination of 300 of your own. Only the leader who painted our hills red. Then, and only then, shall we have peace."
Bellamy felt the bile rise in his throat.
They deserved justice, he realized that now. Finn killed 18 innocent villagers for Clarke. Pike killed hundreds for…for nothing. But this was war. And war was an endless cycle. Someone had to end the violence.
Clarke opened her mouth. "But Pike is—"
"Not the only one responsible," Bellamy cut in. Pike had died the day ALIE was defeated. But Bellamy hadn't.
Clarke whipped her head towards him, blue eyes wide and horrified. She looked at him like he'd stolen the sun away, ripped out her beating heart. She was warning him, desperately. He turned away.
"If the murderer steps forward, you agree to reinstate Skaikru as the thirteenth clan? You agree to an alliance? You will allow each of us to leave this place unharmed?" he listed.
The room held their breath, and as one, they nodded.
So Bellamy stepped forward.
Just a short little story I'm writing after the somewhat anticlimactic finale.