After the decision to return to the Ark had been made, what was left of the group being led by Raven and Finn had not delayed on trekking back to the Ark. They packed up their belongings and what not and left ground zero. They'd been making good time as no one in the group had wanted to stop and lose any more time than they already had.
Raven in particular had been distracted not paying any great attention on the path back to the Ark just trusting that her feet would lead her there. She'd been going over all the information that she had at her disposal, coming up with a plan of attack, what she'd say to Abby in order to convince her that her plan would work.
She figured that once she found out that her daughter had been taken that Abby would get on board with her plan and give her anything she needed in order to make it happen. As the group stepped through the trees they got their first sight of the Ark since they'd originally left to continue the investigation. The sight in front of them was certainly not what they were expecting to see.
The main gate was wide open and portions of the fence line were down, broken, twisted and of not much further use. Raven had come to a stop and her sudden stop had Finn & Keenan run into her. Raven didn't think she only reacted instinctively,
"Everyone stick close together and stay frosty. Something's not right here," she said as she lifted her guns from their holsters and made her way slowly down to the Ark and through the gate.
Bodies both Ark citizens and Grounders were strewn haphazardly across the Earth. They lay where they had fallen via the fatal wounds delivered to them by a variety of weapons. Used shells and cartridges from guns littered the ground and patches of dirt were stained crimson. The sound of retching broke the silence as Keenan who hadn't seen anything quite like this before lost the contents of her stomach as Finn held her hair and rubbed her back.
"Raven, have a look at this," came Bellamy's voice from over beside the Ark. It was his tone that drew Raven's attention his way. Scrawled across the metal hull of the Ark was the message,
THINK ON YOUR SINS.
Even more disturbingly the message was written in blood and the letters themselves must have been painted on sloppily as the blood had run down the side of the Ark beneath each of the letters. Given that the Grounders had bothered to leave a message at all meant that they knew that they hadn't gotten everyone who had lived on the Ark and the message itself served as a chilling warning.
"Let's see if we can find anything of value still here and if there are any survivors," Raven said proving that she was nothing if not practical. The truth was however that she was freaking out inside.
She'd been counting on coming back to the Ark and talking it over albeit quickly with Abby, in an attempt to get more manpower as well as explaining who was responsible so the Grounders would not attack. But from the scene in front of her, they were too late.
The group moved into the Ark itself now as they searched not sure exactly what they'd find. They all worked separately clearing each of the rooms but there was not much to find. The rooms had been ransacked to different degrees. Raven was afraid to see what the room her and Clarke shared would look like.
Despite not having many possessions, what they did have had been tossed around as if a tornado had struck the centre of the room. As Raven turned to go unable to look at the destruction of a space that held many significant and loving memories for her she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
As she turned her gaze fully onto it now her heart leapt out of her chest as she realised what it was. Clarke's sketchbook. Without a second thought, she picked it up and flipped through it seeing all of the sketches Clarke had drawn. She knew that she had to take it with her regardless of whether it was practical or not.
She had to take probably the one thing left that was a strong reminder of her girlfriend and the one thing that would mean the world to her when she got it back. 'Wherever the hell you exactly are, I'm going to find you and reunite you with this book. I'll reunite us Clarke. I can't do this without you,' Raven thought.
She had been putting on a brave face throughout the time this ordeal had carried on not only because she didn't want to succumb to the depressing thoughts but because the group needed her to be strong. Quickly closing the sketchbook, she made her way out to the front of the Ark to wait for the others to reassemble.
Minutes later the rest of the group had come out to show the others their findings. It was slim pickings to say the least. They hadn't found any further survivors but they had found some items which would prove useful. There had still been some food squirreled away along with ammo and a couple of radios.
It was Monty, who spoke the question that had been on everyone's lips once they'd finished distributing the supplies,
"So now that this proved to be a bust, what the hell do we do now?" All eyes swivelled towards Raven, more than one set hoping that she'd have the all important answer.
Given that it was late in the day and everyone was tired both mentally and physically from the trek here and what they found when they arrived, she knew that they needed to settle somewhere for the night. The problem was, the Ark wasn't likely to be the safest option right now.
"First of all we need to make camp and I think everyone will agree that here," she indicated to the ground around them, "is not the safest place we can be right now."
"So what happens tomorrow now that we know that there's no one else here who can help us?" Asked Jasper who was trying to cover up his feelings of helplessness with a defiant attitude. Raven was addressing the whole group but looked specifically at him,
"It's simple. We go get our friends back."
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Clarke's stay in the underwater colony had stretched from hours to days as she begun to wonder what may be in store for her next. She was lying down on the cot in her cell looking up at the ceiling. Her mind flashed back to the seemingly endless hours of torture that she'd endured and it didn't matter whether she was awake or asleep, she couldn't get any respite from what she'd been through.
When she did manage to fall asleep, day or night she couldn't tell any more, she always felt the pain. Her dreams which involved Raven previously were about love, happiness and all the things she'd want to do with her girlfriend.
Now whenever she saw her face she was terrified. It was usually around that time that she'd wake up in a cold sweat. It left her feeling more than confused as she knew that it wasn't quite right because of all the good, loving memories that she'd shared with Raven.
That wasn't all that she experienced in unconsciousness however. Whenever she woke up, she found herself consumed with this desire that stemmed from the very top of her head to the tips of her toes. A desire that was filled with hate, pain, rage and blood when she thought about a certain group of people.
Her inner thoughts were interrupted as the door to her cell swung open and in stepped two guards. She sat up quickly, pressing her back against the wall watching them.
"Stand up!" Barked one of the guards. She made no move to comply so the other guard after a gesture from the one giving orders grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her along with him.
This time they continued down the corridor but went past the interrogation room and into another much larger room. This room was about as unfurnished as a newly built house with the walls bare and plain. The floor looked like it had been cleaned fairly recently and it had a large rectangle outline painted onto the floor.
There was only one other entrance into the room opposite the one Clarke was brought in by. Outside of the rectangular outline at each of the corners as well as stationed on either side of the doors were guards. At the moment in the centre of the room stood Clarke's interrogator and seeing him there was not a good thing.
"How wonderful that you could join us Clarke!" He exclaimed as if his day had been made. The delight in his voice was that apparent that Clarke really couldn't tell whether it was genuine or not.
It appeared that he had a very distinct style of apparel as she hadn't seen him in anything that would look out of place at a formal gathering. She supposed that it was probably one of the perks of being high up on the hierarchy in this colony.
He beckoned to her to join him but she made no move in any direction. He sighed loudly and with a small gesture of his head had the guards behind Clarke shove her forward into the outlined rectangle. Pushing herself up from the floor she asked,
"Why am I here?" His gaze locked onto hers and still managed to be serious even with the smile he wore.
"To see if our little sessions together have worked of course!" He replied as if it were obvious and the most exciting outcome ever.
The door on the opposite side of the room opened and through it entered another girl, who Clarke hadn't seen before and who was being manhandled by another couple of guards. She however wasted no time in stepping into the rectangle when she was invited to do so.
"What's the point of this and what's she doing here?" Clarke asked her interrogator.
At the sound of her voice the other girl's attention snapped to Clarke and the expression on her face was nothing short of vicious. This girl also wore the orange garbs that were standard prisoner issue.
Her skin wasn't fair like Clarke's indicative of someone who spent a lot of time under the harsh rays of the sun. She also had a crescent tattoo that adorned her face and short cropped black hair. Her height was similar to that of Clarke's and she was thin and on the leggy side.
The interrogator stepped back so that he was no longer between the two girls as he spoke,
"Remember the story I told you Clarke? The one about the rats?" He indicated to both her and the other girl. "You two are the rats from that story. You are from the sky and she is from the ground."
Clarke instantly had a really bad feeling about this. She remembered the story to which he referred to and to say it wasn't a happy ending for the rats was a huge understatement.
"So are you saying…" she began but was interrupted.
"Correct Miss Griffin. I want the two of you to the fight until there is only one of you left."
Those ominous words had Clarke looking at him in horror which is how she was caught off guard by the other girl who had charged across the room and tackled her. Both girls hitting the floor with a thud, Clarke the worse for wear having bore the brunt of the tackle and the hard floor.
The other girl had Clarke pinned and was raising her fist to land another strike on Clarke when her survival instincts took over. Shoving the girl off of her, she scrambled onto her feet just as the other girl did as well. They both begun to circle each other, hands raised to make and fend off attacks. The girl struck Clarke on the arm and she felt it and knew she'd be sore if she survived this.
"Come on Clarke, she wants you and your people dead." She was distracted momentarily by the voice of her interrogator on the sidelines. "She wants to kill your Raven."
It was at this last sentence and hearing the name of her girlfriend being mentioned that Clarke begun to see red. Her rage boiled over and she attacked her opponent with swift and brutal strikes. She could feel her fists hitting flesh and before she knew it she was being pulled away and left on the floor.
"Well done Clarke! You exceeded even my wildest expectations!" Her interrogator said unable to contain the delight in his voice.
Clarke looked down at her hands and noticed that they were starting to bruise and were a little swollen. She recoiled however at the blood that was smeared all over her hands. 'What the hell happened?' She thought to herself.
Looking up at the scene in front of her she noticed the girl who she had been fighting was slumped awkwardly on the floor with bloody wounds across her body. Clarke gasped in horror and begun to back up across the room unable to lift herself to her feet. Her back collided with the wall and she stopped as the rest of the room was further revealed to her.
It wasn't just that girl who was lifeless on the floor but another three Grounders were bloody and lifeless too.
"Wh…What did I do?" Clarke struggled to get out in horror as she covered her mouth with her hand to stop the scream that threatened to burst from her lips.
As she frantically searched through her mind she realised that she had no recollection of anything between when she was filled with this all consuming rage and now after she realised what she had done.
"You did exactly what I wanted you to do. What I conditioned you to do." He strode across the room and clapped Clarke on the shoulder.
"You'll be reunited with friends in no time after this exhibition you put on for us," he added.
Clarke felt the sharp prick of a needle as he injected a drug in her neck to knock her out for away. Eventually her eyelids couldn't fight any longer and such succumbed to unconsciousness.
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The last few days had been tougher than any of them would care to admit out loud. For those who had retreated with Raven when they were ambushed and their friends taken that is. On top of having their friends captured, they returned to the Ark to find it deserted thus scuppering the idea of gathering additional personnel for support and explaining what they'd found to prevent the Grounder attack.
They had been too late in the end to prevent the aforementioned attack and fearing that the Ark was now a compromised location, they fled to a place that was about as safe as anywhere aside from the Ark that is and was familiar to them. The Dropship.
It was here that they regrouped to check the state of their supplies, get some rest, both physical and mental as well as plan what their next move may be. For Raven, it also meant a chance to further fulfil the promise she made to herself to look after Keenan.
The girl was scared and utterly defenceless from not having any combative experience or training. It was from this that Raven decided to use some of the time they had before setting out again to teach Keenan some self defence as well as how to handle any weapons she may need to use.
"Okay, so I want you to watch what I do and then copy my movements, alright?" She asked Keenan as she stood facing opposite her.
Raven was showing her some basic hand-to-hand moves which often came in handy when you were weapon-less or your weapon had been taken or knocked out of reach. She was demonstrating at that moment how to correctly throw a punch and then was going to follow it up with how to block certain strikes.
Keenan attempted to throw a punch of her own but her technique was still a little off,
"Don't wrap your fingers around your thumb when you throw one because you'll break your thumb when you hit someone." Raven grabbed a hold of her fist and formed it properly for her. She turned to the side her arm hung at her side, "Go on, and hit me on the arm."
Keenan shook her head not keen on the idea. Back in Mt Weather instances of violence were rare and she'd never had to do anything like this before and she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea. Raven sighed,
"There may be a time when you actually have to defend yourself and I can't be there to protect you." She tapped her arm with her hand and said, "You may as well get a feel for what it's like to hit someone, so hit me."
Raven watched as Keenan composed herself before striking her on the arm. Raven nodded before adding,
"Good. Again, but harder this time." Spurred on by the praise Keenan hit her a few times and Raven playfully rubbed her shoulder with a smile. "Good work slugger!" She motioned to Finn who came over, "Take over for me I'm taking a break for a bit."
She walked over to the Dropship and sat on the ramp grabbing a canteen full of water and taking a few sips from it. The heat and humidity made it so that keeping hydrated was an even greater priority than it was before. The others were going about their business as they prepared for what lay ahead of them in their own way.
Bellamy was on the upper level of the Dropship taking a nap and Jasper & Monty were playing some sort of game. She watched as Finn continued the instruction and as was the case a lot lately her mind strayed to Clarke.
She missed her so much already. Each night that she spent alone was slightly more agonising than the last. It got her thinking about when it was agony for her to be around Clarke before they had gotten together and how she wished life was as carefree as it was in that brief period when all that was on her mind was her mechanical work, recovering from injury and her feelings for Clarke. Her mind begun to drift to moment when her feelings had begun to make themselves known…
Despite her early misgivings and distrust of Clarke, Raven was beginning to find that she respected Clarke not only because of her knowledge in the area as well as her ability to help her recover, but for putting up with her as well.
Raven had made her dislike pretty clear from the outset but Clarke had been completely unperturbed by her abrasive attitude and it was then that Raven got to see more of the person that Clarke was. She was a person who genuinely put others before herself even those who made it no secret that they didn't like her.
She carried on with her work in a professional manner which Raven got see up close and personal proving she was good at it. It reminded Raven a lot of herself in that she prided herself on doing excellent work and being good at what she did. It was then that she begun to falter in her dislike of Clarke.
Eventually she begun to open up and chat freely with Clarke who had not given up in engaging Raven despite her often monosyllabic answers and prickly demeanour. She learnt that Clarke loved to draw and that she had wondered about the Earth a lot when still up in space which was why many of her sketches were of nature.
The second that Raven knew that her friendship with Clarke was about to change was when she went to sleep one night. She'd made some real progress with the recovery of her leg and was secretly thrilled when she saw how happy Clarke was for her. Her dreams often involved Finn in some capacity as she thought about him, her ex-boyfriend a lot.
The dreams usually involved her and Finn making out or more usually in one of the many spots on the Ark when they spent time together just the two of them. The dream had started out typically as she was being kissed her hands at his waist as she lay there. Her eyes closed savouring the moment when she felt his lips leave hers.
Her eyes opened as at this point she usually pulled him down to continue the kiss but she was met by a different scene when she opened her eyes this time.
"Did you enjoy that?" came the distinctly feminine voice as she looked up into Clarke's eyes, a lazy but pleased with herself smile on her face.
Raven was shocked awake as she sat up and pressed a couple of fingers to her lips which she swore were tingly from that kiss. She flushed as she realised that her dream had her kissing Clarke this time and not Finn.
The next day when she had to meet Clarke to continue her rehabilitation was awkward for Raven to say the least. The first time she saw Clarke she had a fluttery feeling in her stomach which only intensified when Clarke looked at her and smiled.
She often found herself turning her head away to hide her blush when Clarke was up close and touching her leg to inspect it. 'God what is the matter with me today?' Raven thought to herself.
This continued for several days past a week and it became too much for her. She was constantly dreaming about Clarke every time she closed her eyes. She felt as if she was on fire every time she was around Clarke especially when she touched her as her feelings threatened to burst forth.
She came to a couple of realisations as a result of all this. The first was that she had more than a major crush on Clarke. The second being that she needed to tell Clarke how she felt about her. Each day around her was its own torment as she wanted to bring her dreams into reality and lean in those final few inches and kiss her.
It was from both of these realisations that found her outside of Clarke's room after a long day of rehab and her beginning to work as a mechanic again. Over the course of her last few nights off she'd snuck out of the Ark and had picked a bunch of flowers that glowed in the dark.
They were a variety of colours and were pretty which she figured Clarke would appreciate and perhaps even draw. 'Plus when I tell her how I feel and give her these it should help right?' She thought to herself.
She was a nervous mess and got even more so when the door opened and Clarke stepped through it completely surprising and terrifying Raven simultaneously.
"What are you doing here Raven? Is something up with your leg?" She asked concerned as her gaze drifted downwards.
Raven had quickly hidden the flowers behind her back and scrambled to say something coherent,
"Oh…umm. No everything's okay. I actually just came to see you." Clarke's gaze returned to Raven's face, her smile as pretty and radiant as always. Raven gave herself a mental kick before continuing,
"I brought you these!" She said as she revealed the glow flowers which had begun to show some of their vibrant colours and glowing properties in the waning sunlight. Clarke looked surprised with a dash of puzzled as she took them from Raven who added nervously,
"You know, because you like to draw and you were telling me about the stuff you drew of the Earth and these flowers are pretty you know like you."
'Oh God! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!' Raven thought to herself as she babbled on.
She wasn't thinking clearly because of her feelings which were leaving her more than confused as she'd never encountered these problems with Finn before. The two of them had grown up with each other and had eventually taken it beyond just being friends without much thought.
This was a whole different ball game as she was having to process these feelings she had for someone she was beginning to get to know. Someone she hadn't known for all that long.
"Thanks Raven," she replied not noticing Raven's inner struggle, "Was that all you came to see me about?"
'Tell her how you feel!' Said Raven's heart.
'What if she rejects you then what?' Countered Raven's head.
'Imagine how great it'll be to be with her,' said her heart.
'This is stupid. She's not going to feel the same way. I mean why would she? She probably is just nice to you because her mom is telling her to be because that's how doctors are. She probably hates you and can't wait to get back to rubbing it in your face with Finn,' retorted her head ended the struggle she was having.
"No that was it," Raven replied lamely.
"I'll see you tomorrow then!"
Raven watched as Clarke walked down the corridor and out of sight and she let out a sigh of exasperation kicking the wall in the process with her good leg.
"I'm crazy about you Clarke. I think you're an amazing person who I want to get to know more. An amazing person who is pretty, smart and the most genuine person I've ever met. You make me feel things with such an intensity I haven't felt before Clarke and it scares and excites me both at the same time. I really, really like you." She verbalised her thoughts out loud when no one was around before adding,
"That wasn't so hard. Why couldn't I say it to her?"
Raven was brought back to the present from her memory by the sound of rocks being dislodged. She looked over to where they begun to roll down the hill and saw a figure frozen like a deer caught in headlights once they realised they'd been spotted spying.
She threw herself to her feet and took off in pursuit desperately chasing after a person who might have the answers that could help her get her girlfriend back.
A/N:
Music that inspired the chapter
As part of the writing process, I've found that music often helps spark the creativity that leads to how certain scenes/scenarios will play out. In some cases, it helps generate an idea or a different way of approaching a scene. In other cases, I imagine the music in the background setting the tone for what is to come or the emotion/s felt by those characters or even just to lend some insight into what they would be feeling (e.g. fear with a darker macabre piece of music).
I decided to share the music that allowed me to bring to life my fanfiction and I hope you'll see what I mean if you listen to the songs. If you'd like to hear exactly in greater detail as to why these songs were chosen feel free to inbox me!
Songs:
Echoes of the Roman Ruins - Jesper Kyd (When Raven and the rest of the group return to find the Ark deserted)
Boiling - Disclosure (When Clarke feels conflicted and confused about her feelings about Raven because of what she's been through)
Budapest Bath Hotel - Jesper Kyd (When Clarke looks at her bruised and bloodied hands and realises what she has done)
Change your mind - The Killers (The flashback when Raven is nervous around Clarke and wants to tell her how she feels)
You belong with me - Taylor Swift (The flashback pre-relationship when Raven can't take being around Clarke and not telling her the feelings she has for her)
Congratulations you've reached the end of the chapter! Liked what you read? Didn't like it? Leave me a review as feedback is encouraged! I have lots of ideas swirling around in my head for this story but if you have a suggestion I'd love to hear it!
It's always nice reading reviews and each time I see that I have a new person follow or favourite the story or both it never fails to bring a smile to my dial so it's much appreciated because it makes it worthwhile knowing that there are people out there in the big wide world who are reading and enjoying what I've written.
Now for a bit of shameless self promotion. I have another story which I work on every now and then usually when an idea pops into my head. The story is called 'Octavia Blake: Girl on a mission.'
It's a story with a slow burn and may take awhile to get into especially seeing as there is only a couple of chapters in so far, but it was largely born out of a combination of seeing how distraught Octavia was when her and Lincoln got separated on an episode of 'The 100', watching a lot of the TV show 'Arrow' and the movie 'John Wick'. So if you've got a moment or two and have made it this far why not give it a look and tell me what you think.
Thanks for reading!
