My Allegiance

Chapter Eleven

The Unity

The night air is filled with laughter, people talking, drinking, playing games, and celebrations for the Arks first Unity day on Earth. Alice sat on top of the Drop Ship, legs dangling over the edge. She didn't really know what to do in this atmosphere- she had never experienced a party like this before, so she sat out of the action and watched how others interacted. She was also in hiding. She and Bellamy hadn't spoke since the morning he left to find the bunker, and that wasn't about to change.

Alice was beyond angry with Bellamy, she was now repulsed by his presence. He was going to leave her here, he brought guns back to camp, she would almost be able to move on from those things if he hadn't done something even worse. He had tortured a grounder, a human being. She couldn't forget or forgive that.

"Come on sunshine, have a little fun!" Murphy smiled up at Alice. He was clearly drunk, even with his feet solidly on the ground he was swaying back and forth.

"It looks like your having enough fun for the both of us!" Alice called back a hit of a smile on her lips.

"You know what, I'm gonna get you a drink," Murphy stated, pointing a finger at Alice before he stumbled back off into the crowd. Alice smiled at the way moonshine had affected Murphy.

The noise coming from the party down on the ground was so loud Alice hadn't heard someone join her on the top of the ship. She almost fell off of her perched spot when a hand dropped onto her shoulder.

"Wow sorry, it's just me," Finn said jumping away from Alice, hands held up in defence when he saw the daggers in her eyes that were aimed at him.

"Make some noise next time, cough, something. Don't just sneak up on someone like that," Alice hissed. She looked back towards camp before asking, "What do you want?"

"Hear me out okay? I set up a meeting with the grounders." Alice's eyes snapped back to Finn's.

"What!" She said getting to her feet.

"Keep your voice down. I was just with the grounder we had in the drop ship-"

"The one that stabbed me?"

"Yeah him."

"How did you find him? He understands English? Did you go outside the walls alone again, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"That's not important. If we want to live in peace, we have to try and talk this out with them before the next Drop Ship gets to Earth."

"I don't think Bellamy will go for this idea." Alice shock her head at the bitter taste his name left in her mouth.

"Your as much as a leader as he is. No one needs to know until it's over. Look, I know it's a long shot but I for one don't want a war, and that's what will happen when the guards come down. I see the way you look at the guns around camp, you don't like them any more than I do. I trust him, all you have to do is trust me." Alice shock her head.

"If I die I'm blaming you, Finn."

"Go right ahead," Finn smiled.

"When do we leave?"

"If we leave now we should make it to the meeting place by sunrise."

"Okay, I'll get a jacket and meet you at the gate in five," Alice said, moving to the edge of the roof.

"Thank you." Alice hears Finn whisper as she climbs down from the Drop Ship. She hurries off to one of the near by tents.

"Finn set up a meeting with the grounders."

"What?" Wells asked sitting upright in bed. Alice stepped into the tent and let the door shut behind her.

"You heard me. He thinks we can make peace with them before the guards get down here."

"And you don't think that's possible?" Wells inquired.

"I hope it is, but if the meeting goes bad we'll be at war before the guards get here; in that case we're all dead."

"Why are you here then? Why aren't you trying to convince Finn this is a bad idea?"

"Because it's not. This is our chance for peace- our only chance. But if shit goes bad I need you to tell Bellamy and get everyone prepared for a fight."

"How will I know if things didn't work out at the meeting?"

"If Finn or I aren't back by mid day tomorrow prepare for the worst," Alice says pulling on a jacket from the foot of Wells's bed. "I'm also steeling you're jacket." Alice left the tent without a goodbye. She found Finn waiting for her by the front gate and as others partied on they left unnoticed.

The forest was almost too dark to see in. Finn lead the way as Alice had no idea where they were supposed to be going.

"I don't get it," Alice said randomly.

"What don't you get?" Finn asked.

"Why trust people so easily? Why trust the word of a man who stabbed me? Why trust any grounder after how much they have already hurt us? Why trust that we aren't walking into a trap."

"Since its Unity Day I decided to have hope. Why did you trust me? Why did you follow me out here? You could have said no, gone and told Bellamy about the meeting, stoped me before I got this far. Why didn't you?" Their voices were the only sound in the cool night air.

"In all honesty… I just wanted out of that place for a while. Away from him," Alice said the last part almost too quietly for Finn to hear.

"Bellamy? I know it's not my place to ask but what happened between you two?"

"He was gonna leave, the day he brought the guns back to camp, he was gonna leave- leave the camp and leave me. He was scared of what would happen when the Ark came down. And then I umm.. I told him… never mind."

"Did you love him?" The words hung in the air for a moment before she responded.

"I loved the idea of him, someone that would always be there to watch my back, someone that could make me laugh even in the worst of moments. But I don't think I loved him," she sighed and they continued to walk in silence for a few moments, until Alice tripped on an exposed root. Finn caught her before she could hit the ground but she still gasped in pain and griped at her midsection.

"You okay?" Finn asked helping Alice stand up straight again.

"Yeah I'll be fine, just pulled on my stitches." She pushed him away.

"Do you want to stop for a second?" He asked worriedly.

"No I'm fine, we need to keep moving." From then on they walked in silence. Once the sun rose they picked up their pace to make it to the meeting point on time. When they finally emerged from the tree line near an old bridge and rocky river, Octavia was there waiting for them.

"Octavia?" Alice questioned looking to Finn. "So that's how you set this meeting up."

"It's nice to see you two, thought you weren't gonna make it," Octavia responded.

"Looks like we're just in time," Finn said nodding towards the opposite tree line. A Grounder emerged from the trees, one being same grounder that stabbed Alice- the same one that Bellamy took vengeance on. He jogs towards the trio and when he was only feet away Octavia jumped into his awaiting arms.

"Bellamy would love to see this," Alice grinned. Finn laughed. A strange sound filled the air and they all turned to look back at the forest. Finn, Alice, and Octavia all stare in wonderment as three people rode out of the forest on horseback.

"We said no weapons," Finn hissed to Lincoln.

"It's fine Finn," Alice said walking towards the horses. "They won't have a reason to use them."

Finn moves to follow the girl but Lincoln put a hand out to stop him. "She goes alone."

The only female rider dismounts and meets Alice half way across the bridge.

"You're name is Alice," the grounder female states.

"Call me Allegiance," she said holding her head high. "And you are?"

"I'm Anya."

"Let me get straight to the point… When we came here no one knew your people were here, we thought there was no one left on Earth. I, along with all my people, are gratefully sorry for entering your land."

"You summoned me here for an apology?"

"I… I came here to make amends with you, so no one else has to die."

"I understand, you started a war that you don't know how to finish," Anya said in a slightly louder voice.

"We were sent here against our will, we didn't have a choice."

"You're invaders, your ship landed in our territory."

"We had no choice over that. We were sent down here as test subjects to see if the earth was survivable. It was just bad luck we landed here."

"You know we were here when you sent an armed reading party to Capture one of us and torture him."

"Actually I was having a knife removed from my chest at that time and had no idea that was going on," Alice defended.

"…You would not be standing here if you had a knife in your chest two days ago."

"Oh yeah?" Alice pulls up her shirt to show Anya the bright red line on her rib cage from where the knife had been removed and stitched over. There were no longer bandages covering the wound and some blood trickled from where stitches had been ripped out.

"You have a healer," Anya said under her breath.

"Healer? Yeah I guess you could call Bree that, her mother was a nurse on the Ark, so she knows a bit."

"Ark. Is that what you call your home?"

"That place was never my home. I just survived there. Truthfully being sent down here was the best thing to ever happen to me. And you could kill me right now, this still wouldn't be the worst day of my life, wouldn't even hit the top hundred."

"Lincoln said there are more of you coming down, warriors?" Anya questioned.

"Yes. The Ark is dying; they can't survive there much longer. But it's not just our worriers coming down here, it's our farmers, teachers, engineers, healers, children. We could help each other, instead of fight each other."

"Can you promise me these new arrivals won't attack us. They will respect the terms you and I agree on."

"I wish I could, but to them I am still just a child. Although, I do promise you that I will do everything in my power to make them honour the terms we decide on."

"Why would I agree to an alliance that your people could break the moment they get here?"

"Because if you don't no one is going to win. Your people will die as well as mine, and if you really care about your people like I do mine, I would think that you would not put their lives in harm's way- not when you have a chance to retain peace. At least wait until the leader of the Ark gets down here, we can set up another meeting and he can make an alliance with you that will hold strong." Anya was silent for several moments.

"Okay. We meet back here in two weeks to discuss the terms. Until then we won't kill any of you, as long as you don't cross the river."

"Sounds like a deal. I will see you back here in two weeks," Alice nodded and turned in the direction she had originated from, walking back to her people. "Come on, we need to get back before Bellamy sends a search party out." Finn followed Alice into the woods but Octavia lingered back for a few moments with Lincoln.

"Don't forget what I told you. If things go bad that's where you go, don't worry about anyone else, just get out alive and I will find you," Lincoln whispered to Octavia.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. See you soon."

...

Murphy stumbles through the entrance of Bellamy's tent. "Yo dude, where's your girlfriend at? I went to get her a drink but when I got back she was gone." Bellamy was laying in bed, trying his hardest not to think about Alice when Murphy so kindly reminded him of the girl.

"She's not my girlfriend Murphy, get out of my tent," Bellamy demanded. Murphy left the tent and went back to the party, forgetting about Alice and finding another drunk girl to flirt with.

Bellamy rolled back over in his lonely bed, his eyes clamped shut as he tried to tune out the voice in the back of his head telling him to go look for Alice.

...

As the sun rose a few people where mobile in camp, most were passed out from the night long celebrations. Bellamy was the first person awake. He couldn't sleep any more, he felt rotten inside and had tossed and turned all night. He needed to find Alice and talk to her, even though she clearly didn't want to talk to him. The only problem was Murphy had been right, Alice was missing.

Bellamy checked the drop ship, every tent and every passed out body trying to find Alice, but she was not inside of the walls. Reality hit him like a punch to the face. What if she had left? Packed up and just gotten out of camp like he had planned to do himself. Anything could happen to her outside of these walls and there was nothing he could do to protect her.

Bellamy was angry, and worried, and in need of answers. So he went to Wells tent to get answers.

"Where's Alice?" Bellamy asked Wells in a demanding voice. Wells was already awake, he also had a hard time sleeping the previous night.

"I don't know," Wells answered quickly.

"I've looked all around camp, she's not here. So if I find out your lying to me, and she gets hurt, you're dead."

"She's not your girlfriend anymore Bellamy, you don't have a say in what she does. She's probably just curled up with some guy somewhere."

"Thanks for reminding me. I fucked up. I know. That doesn't mean every single person is allowed to remind me without knowing any of the facts," Bellamy yelled.

"Don't worry, she told me the facts." Bellamy's fist smashed into Wells face with all the might he could muster, Wells fell back onto the bed.

"Where is she?!" Bellamy yelled, fists still clenched, ready to take another swing.

"Finn set up a meeting with the grounders, they wanted to talk to Alice, try and work something out," Wells glared at Bellamy reaching a hand up to cup the bruise already forming on his face. Bellamy's face dropped, and Wells was surprised to see how quickly Bellamy's anger turned to fear.

...

"What happens when we get back to camp?" Finn asked, following a few steps behind Alice.

"We pack our shit and get the hell out of here," Alice responded while flicking hair from her eyes.

"What?"

"I agree with her," Octavia said as she caught up with the pair. "The Ark won't be down here in two weeks and they sure as hell aren't sending Jaha first, better get out while we still can. Lincoln told me of a tribe near the coast that would take us in, I say we head there."

"Sounds good, I've always wanted to see the ocean," Alice laughed.

"What the hell are you two talking about, we can't just leave!" Finn yelled, stopping in place causing the two girls to stop as well and look at him.

"We can't win a war, Finn," Alice hisses.

"There's not going to be a war, we are going to talk to the Ark, work something out."

"You can if you want, but I'm out of here. I'm done with this place and people looking at me. One second I'm meant to be a leader, the next they look at me like I'm nothing- like I'm weak, and then they ask me to do their dirty work. I want to make my own choices."

"Alice-" Finn tried but he was cut off.

"No! I'm done with her too. I was scared to admit who I was, who I am. But I'm done being scared and caring what others think. Those that care don't matter and those that matter don't care. My name is Allegiance. My mother named me that because it was a strong one of a kind name for a strong one of a kind girl, and I'm not ashamed of that."

AN: I'm so upset with my self for how long this update took, really sorry everyone. I've just been so busy with finishing school then going straight into a full time job, as well as a part time job and running my own business, life has been really hectic. But I'm wanting to get back to monthly updates or at least every second month updates.

Please review, they really help me get back on track with writing and even somthing as simple as "great update, keep up the good work" gives me ideas.

Hope you have a good day/night.