"Let's hear it for Lydia!"
Cups pounded against metal, supplemented by the hearty roar of dozens of voices. A strong hand clamped down on a slim shoulder, accompanied by a chorus of laughter. Boots clinked and liquid sloshed as its containers were hastily raised to the ceiling. Dark brown irises found dark brown, and smiles echoed each other, despite the throng of slightly intoxicated teens.
"She worked hard to get where she is. The old Ark told her she wasn't good enough to be a doctor." A chorus of boos accompanied this statement. "So she ended up down here with us. The Ark thought she, along with all of the rest of us, would die on the ground, but we survived!" The cheers were nearly deafening. "Lydia has showed us what persistence means. She's shown hard work. She continued fighting despite the odds. Now, she's going to be turning seventeen, and she's finally going to get what she's earned!"
The roar shook the brunette to her boots. "One more time, let's hear it for Lydia!"
The remains of the hundred delinquents sent on a death mission to the ground, rose to their collective, unsteady feet in thunderous applause. A deep blush flushed through Lydia's cheeks as hands rained down on her back, and the group drank to her success. Her eyes, however, were trained on the man dismounting from the table to stride over to her. A mop of unruly hair fell into his eyes, only to be carelessly pushed away as he reached her, grinning.
"I didn't even think you knew my name." Her laugh was awkward, and one hand went to nervously tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I know the names of all my people." Bellamy too clapped a hand on her shoulder. "You're one of us, Lydia. I know my own." Despite the increasing intoxication in the people around them, Bellamy seemed quite steady on his feet, and intent as he looked at her. "Congratulations, Lydia."
The party went on for most of the night, until the Chancellor decided that the party was getting too rowdy. She only tolerated the comradery of the former delinquents to a point. They were all members of Arkadia now. So Lydia was not alone when she stumbled out of the mess hall in the middle of the night. The songs of her stumbling companions rang out into the crisp night air, broken only by giggles. Lydia laughed as one of the boys stumbled and went down, yet continued his merry song.
She waved them off as she stumbled in the general direction of her sleeping quarters. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to get hammered the night before you started practicing medicine, but when you wait for a moment your entire life, you can't help but want to celebrate it. The cheery tunes of the piano rang in her ears; the moonlight reflected in dark eyes. She sucked in a deep breath, finally at peace.
That peace shattered half a minute later. A hand slapped over her mouth, yanking her backwards. A noise of surprise escaped her as she clawed at the powerful arms tugging on her. "Don't make me snap your neck," a low voice growled in her ear. Even after what she had seen in her time on the ground, Lydia couldn't help the whimper of terror that slipped through the fingers pressing against her face.
Her surroundings seemed to blur as she was pulled around, though only a couple of seconds later she was pushed up against a wall. Wait… how did she get to the other side of the camp…?
"I gotta say, Elena, hiding with the most conspicuous group of humans on the entire continent was kind of a stupid move." Eyes bright blue with the illumination of the moon bored into Lydia's dark brown. She wiggled in his grip, but he had her pinned fast. "You cut your hair." Curious fingers touched the chin length strands, and she tried to wrench her head away as much as she could with a hand still over her mouth, and alcohol still bubbling inside of her.
"You knew that if I didn't find you that Caroline would. She's downright obsessive, only she doesn't think it's such a good idea to leave those two in charge of what little remains of our species." Lydia's eyes widened in confusion, but he only continued on in soft tones, running his fingers down her neck now. "Even with Elijah gone, Klaus is still dangerous, and it's not like Enzo is exactly a good influence."
Anger was beginning to overwhelm fear the more his skin brushed hers, and aggression took over rationality. Her jaw creaked open beneath his hand before biting down on it. His swear cracked loud against the otherwise quiet of the night. His arm moved to pin her by her shoulders, dark blood dripping onto the crushed earth beneath them.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Fear, anger, and adrenaline all fueled her words, and she wiggled again in the strange man's grip.
"Ha ha, Elena. Very funny. I'm getting you back to Caroline. She's better equipped to deal with this than me…"
"Deal with what? Who's Caroline?" Her words were getting shriller, and the man's eyes rolled around, checking that no one could hear them.
"Shut up, Elena. There's no getting out of this one. We're going back to Caroline, let's go."
"Who's Elena?" Her voice rose even louder against the night as he wrenched her towards the camp's doors.
"What the hell do you mean, who's Elena?" Despite his question, he didn't seem too interested in the answer as he continued tugging her.
"Get off of me!" Fear and anger surfaced in her voice as she tried to wrench her arm away from an impossibly strong grip.
The man froze; his fingers tightened their bone crushing grip against her arm. Blue eyes found hers once again, and Lydia couldn't stop herself from swallowing. She was back against the wall again in seconds, his face uncomfortably close to her own.
"Who are you? Tell the truth." Lydia's mouth opened of its own volition as she helplessly watched his pupils dilate.
"Lydia Grayson."
"Tell me, Lydia Grayson, the worst thing you've ever done."
Her heart slammed into her throat, memories rising unbidden in her mind. Though she wanted nothing more than to clamp her mouth closed, the words tumbled from her mouth. "The grounders were attacking our camp. I couldn't let them kill us. I couldn't let them kill me. One attacked me and my knife…" Tears welled up in her eyes, but they didn't stop the narrative. "It ended up in her neck. I watched her bleed out in front of me, and I didn't even try to help her. I just watched her die."
The man was silent, searching her face. With the slightest breath of wind, he vanished. Lydia found herself stumbling forward, still slightly unsteady from the alcohol in her blood. The earth was cool and welcome beneath her palms, and frightened eyes darted in every direction. There was no sign of the man. He had simply vanished.
Should she tell someone? Lydia backtracked on that thought at once. What would she tell them? That somehow, a single man who didn't look like any grounder she had ever met, had breached all of Arkadia's defenses and come specifically after her in the dead of night? They would brush her off, considering that she had just been drinking at a particularly rambunctious party. To add the part where he made her talk about her greatest shame, that she had told no one in her life, simply by looking at her, would add to the ludicrous nature of the entire story.
She would keep it to herself for now. Despite the anger beating in her throat, she thought through what he had said very carefully. Something about her had resembled someone, Elena, but she had also convinced the man that she was not, in fact, Elena. So, who was he? And why was he so sure that she was Elena? Rubbing at the meat of her arm where his fingers had dug into her skin, she made her way back to her room.
How had he disappeared so fast?
"O!" Octavia didn't turn at her brother's call. Stone faced, she watched the grim procession marching to the gates. Indra was recognizable at the front, her stoic expression matching Octavia's. The rest were hooded, their faces thrown into shadow. Still, the younger Blake got the unnatural feeling that their eyes had trained on her. A warm presence at her back signaled the arrival of her brother. "Who are they?"
"I don't know." It irritated her to admit it, considering her own wealth of knowledge about the grounders and their culture. She would have called them an escort if she had seen a glitter of weapons at their sides. However, all but Indra seemed unarmed. A couple had crudely fashioned bags slung over their shoulders, or sacks tied to their belts, but nothing resembling swords or arrows. It seemed unusual for the leader of Trikru to come without sufficient protection into the territory of those she once considered enemies, despite their current truce.
Another crunch of boots caught Octavia's attention. Sharp eyes picked out the confident stride of Abby Griffin, followed by her constant shadow, Marcus Kane. "Indra!" Even her voice now commanded attention, as the guards at the gate snapped to attention. Octavia could feel Bellamy stiffen beside her. "We weren't expecting you tonight." Abby came to a halt, and the two leaders watched each other through the gate. Blue green eyes measured the serious looks on either woman's face, trying to measure the situation.
"Why is she here?" Bellamy's unspoken words rang clearly in Octavia's ears. This means trouble. Indra did not like being in the camp unless necessary.
"Chancellor, there is an important matter we must discuss." Abby maintained a diplomatic tone, though her skepticism was clear as she responded.
"Who are your friends?"
"They are advisors to the Commander. They have come to advise you of a problem." The warrior's eyes trailed first to the guards, and then to the gathering onlookers, Octavia and Bellamy among them. Octavia didn't try to hide her frown as she and Indra locked eyes. The elder woman looked away with seeming disinterest, eyes focusing once again on the Chancellor, whose curiosity was palpable.
"Come in." As though waiting for her command, the gates squealed open to admit the curious assembly. One of the hooded figures on the perimeter of the group looked up, and grey irises found Octavia. Immediately, the girl's stance shifted into one of readiness.
"What's wrong?" Normally, Bellamy's voice would have been cause for reassurance, but it did little to lessen the unease the hooded woman's stare instilled in her.
"I don't know. Something about them is wrong." Dangerously wrong, as though all the power in the camp had shifted to them. As soon as the woman's gaze had lighted on her, it was gone again, and the group began moving with the Chancellor towards a more secure meeting place. Octavia didn't relax until they were out of sight, and even then, unease shifted in the back of her mind.
"Why would they come here? Indra's barely spoken to the Chancellor in the past month. There's no reason for her to just show up unannounced at our door." Bellamy's murmurs were low as he thought aloud.
"Something's wrong." That much Octavia could be sure of.
"What would it be that Indra would tell us? Or ask for our help?" Octavia shook her head to tell him she didn't know. She finally looked up at his face, only to find him staring at her with a worried expression. She couldn't tell if he was worrying about her, or the peculiar arrivals. "Whatever it is, it's big, or she wouldn't bother coming to warn us. Not in person, anyway. She must need our help with something."
"Maybe it's one of the other clans." The thought worried the younger Blake considerably. There were clans larger and more fearsome than Indra's, and they bore no sense of loyalty to Skaikru. The Commander was the glue that held them all together, and even with her incredible strength, she couldn't easily change their hearts into accepting the strange group who had fallen from the sky.
"Let's hope it's not another war." Bellamy's eyes turned from his sister, out towards the distant trees. Clarke's still out there. Again, his unspoken words were clear to Octavia. Despite the long month wearing by with no sign of or word from Clarke, he hadn't given up the idea that she would come back to them. They had been partners in leading the hundred delinquents, and though Bellamy could certainly pick up the slack himself, it was clear he missed her presence.
"Come on, big brother." She put a hand on his arm, nodding in the direction Indra and her escort had gone. "Let's go do some snooping."
Author's Notes: Comment and tell me what you think!