Chapter 6 – Med Bay

The radio calls had been over for over a minute. Raven just sat there stunned at what she had just heard. In the mess hall, everyone else was as stunned. In about 45 minutes, they heard six years of trials and tribulation. For the remnants of Spacekru, they now knew what it had cost for them to survive, and what had been gained.

While the calls were playing, Madi had made her way back to med bay. She had taken her time getting back, opting to explore the ship, and get her bearings. By the time she got back to the med bay, she stopped short of going in, not wanting to interrupt the ongoing conversation. "Gun to head, would you have done it?" asked Jackson. "and it was literality gun to your head"

"I know… honestly, I don't know… probably" responded Clarke.

"Really?" asked Jackson.

"If I'd been I'd been in that bunker, I'd probably had been the one to come up with it, the 'eat or die' message would have been mine, so yes, my answer is yes I would have done it" rambled off Clarke.

"Maybe you would have kept it more humane, somehow… without the need for the fighting pits" mumbled Jackson.

"You know what I said to Bellamy, on that first march to Shadow Valley, I said that it was impressive what Octavia accomplished, I have no room to judge, nothing resembling a high horse for me, I can't judge on how they got their people through anything, terrifying but impressive"

As Clarke finished her sentence, she noticed that Madi was standing just outside the door. "You gonna come in anytime soon?" she called to her.

Madi came in, and gave them the rations she had gotten for them. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt" said Madi. Clarke saw the panicked look in Jackson's eyes. So she said, "Madi already knows what happened, she was there when mom told us about it" As she looked over Madi, she thought something was off. "What's wrong Madi? she asked.

"I really don't like some of your friends right now" she said as she sat down into one of the chairs. "So they are my friends now?" Clarke chuckled, "What happened?" She said as she started braiding a bit of the girl's hair.

"They were discussing why you were calling the shots, after you betrayed them, but you were just protecting me, and then you let me go, and saved the day, I don't get why they are still mad" Madi said. "I am not mad anymore"

Clarke sighed "thank you for that, but people tend to hold grudges, and it's ok, it's just human nature. They need time. It may have happened 125 years ago, but to us it was yesterday, it will take time. And I can take it, I have a thick skin ok?"

"But I should be the one that's the most upset, it was my people that died, and I forgave you, they should be able to forgive you to, and it's not ok, they act like they didn't have any say in what happened, like they didn't leave you behind in the first place" responded Madi.

"I have told you a hundred times, and will tell you a hundred more, I am glad I was left behind, if not, I would never have you in my life, and nothing is more important than you" said Clarke, as she finished braiding that section of hair.

"Especially now" said Jackson from the corner that he had moved away from the girls. Both Clarke and Madi looked to him. "Without a Commander, we'll have total anarchy, and I for one am sure that you count Clarke as one of your closest advisors" finished Jackson.

Clarke smiled at Jackson for his support, and said "I am trying to do better, and I'll promise you this, I will not fire the first shot in any war, and I will do my best to keep the peace. We've had enough war."

Back on the bridge, after a minute of silence, Raven got up and went in search of her blonde friend. As she turned the corner, she met up with Abbey and Bellamy. All three stopped, and Raven asked "Where's the fire?" as both of them were moving very fast. "We are looking for Clarke, we heard the radio calls" said Bellamy. Abbey didn't stop for long, and resumed walking towards med bay. "I forgot Zeke had put up the projector in the mess hall… so you heard them?" she asked as they rounded the hall.

"Were there really 2,199 files?" asked Bellamy "Yes, It took Monty almost 10 years to clean up what he did. I pulled the audio from one of the original files, it was so garbled, mostly static…"

By now Abbey had stopped walking. They were about 10 feet away from the entrance of med bay. "Are you ok Abbey?" asked Raven as they reached her. They could hear Clarke and Madi talking in the background.

"I don't know what I want to say to her" whispered Abbey. She looked as if someone had frozen her in place. "I am as responsible for some of her decisions as she is – I – we showed her the way on the Ark…" said Abbey.

"We all have blood on our hands, the point of this fourth, or fifth, or whatever chance we have now is to try to not get any more blood in our hands" said Bellamy. As he said this, they heard Clarke's promise to Madi to ensure that there is no more war.

At this, Clarke looked to the entrance, and Abbey, Bellamy and Raven came in.

"We thought you got lost coming back from the mess hall" quipped Jackson, trying to defuse the situation.

"No" said Abbey. "I got side tracked" she finished. At this, a timer went off. The two hours had passed. It was time to check if everyone was now a nightblood.

"Looks like you guys have things to talk about, I'll get started in the mess hall" Jackson said as he gathered supplies, and left the room.

Raven took a thumb drive, went to a computer, plugged it in, and played a file.

Day 2,199 - Bellamy, if you can hear me, you're alive. It's been 2,199 days since Praimfaya. I don't know why I still do this every day. Maybe it's my way of staying sane, not forgetting who I am, [STATIC] who I was. It's been safe for you to come down for over a year now. Why haven't you? The bunker's gone silent, too. We tried digging them out for a while, but there was too much rubble. I haven't made contact with them, either. Anyway, I still have hope. Tell Raven to aim for the one spot of green, and you'll find me. [STATIC] The rest of the planet, from what I've seen, basically sucks, so Never mind. I see you.

Clarke was stunned, it was the last time she was happy, elated thinking she'd see her friends soon. How quickly things changed after that. "Where did you get that?" asked Clarke.

"Monty, he cleaned up about 45 minutes of radio calls. I may have played them in the mess hall inadvertently" finished Raven.

"Everyone in the mess hall heard them" said Bellamy. At this Abbey just went to her daughter, and hugged her as if her life depended on it. "I love you so much" said Abbey. "I am glad that you won."

At this Clarke laughed, so did Madi. The other three looked confused. After Abbey let Clarke go, Raven said "I've had enough time, I'm sorry I didn't just forgive you. I should have known you'd be just like this one" she said as she nodded towards Abbey. "Doing whatever it takes to keep your kid safe"

"Like mother like daughter" said Bellamy. "Don't break the cycle kid" He said to Madi. Madi just looked on, confused by the turn of events.

"Thank you Raven" She said to Raven, and turned towards Madi "See, they just need time."

"I do have another bone to pick with you, most of these calls were addressed to Bellamy, what about the rest of us? What were we, chopped liver?" joked Raven. At this the whole group laughed. "I just figured for some reason if anyone was going to be listening, it would have been Bellamy" responded Clarke.

"We took in in turns, watching the radio, everyone except Murphy" remembered Bellamy.

"of course" said Clarke. "Mom, we need go help Jackson in the mess hall, I'll check these two here, catch up in a minute mom?"

"ok, wanna help me? she said to her granddaughter. "sure".