Meeting again
"How do you guys think they will treat us? We won't be in any danger, will we?" Wick asked them as they continued driving towards the camp under Clarke's directions.
"No, according to the truce, if we don't attack first, they won't either so we should be safe," Clarke explained to the guy who nodded. She understood his nervousness, after all it was his first interaction with the grounders.
"Yeah, focused on the should," Bellamy mumbled, and Clarke turned to look at him.
"Bell," She said warningly as he turned his head and looked at her.
"What?" He asked the blonde playing innocent and she shook her head at him.
"Don't make me regret bringing you with us. The reason I accepted doing this was to avoid someone from the council or my mom disrespecting the grounder and the Commander and ruining things for us so do not be that person." Clarke said to him and he sighed.
"Clarke, they betrayed us. Left us to die in that Mountain, you are going to tell me I have no reason to mistrust them to keep their end of the deal? Again?" He asked her, waiting for her answer and she shook her head.
"You have reasons to feel that way, yes." She said agreeing with him before she continued, "I just don't want you to express that opinion when we are there asking for safe passage for our people or else, things can get really ugly real soon and none of us want that, do we? Do you?" She said and he shook his head as did the other two boys.
"Exactly, now I know they screwed us over but in the end, both sides survived and secured the return of their people so we need to let that stay in the past if we want to have any hope of coexisting with them in the foreseeable future so relax," She said to him.
"I know. It's just, we have been fighting them since the beginning and the one time we try to trust them, they betray us. I mean, it's almost like a sign that maybe we shouldn't trust them at all. That we should stick to our people and ignore them." He said and Clarke sighed.
"Maybe but that is not a good way to deal with things. Yes, they did all of that, but we were no saints either. We took more than our share of lives on their side. More than they did on ours so we can't judge them based on that. There were deaths on both sides. We can't be hypocritical and forget our share of the blame," Raven was the one who answered him.
"I mean, Clarke and I burnt 300 warriors alive. Jasper and I made the bomb that exploded the bridge with grounders on it, killing God knows how many. They have reasons to be distrusting of us too so the only thing left to do is to meet each other halfway so we can live in peace, right Princess?" Raven said and looked at Clarke who smiled at her and nodded.
"Perfectly said, Mechanic," Clarke agreed and they chuckled.
"Maybe you guys are right, but I will still be on my guard if you don't mind me," Bellamy said begrudgingly, and they nodded.
"You're our escort. You should be on your guard," Raven said to him and he bumped the back on her seat and she chuckled before she called out, "We're here guys," Raven said and they could see the grounders on alert as they noticed the strange vehicle coming towards them. Raven stopped the car and they looked at Clarke.
"Look, they know me so I will get down first and then when I give a sign that is safe, the rest of you get out of the car. Got it?" She said to them and they nodded. Bellamy begrudgingly so.
Clarke opened the door and jumped out from the car, closing the door and raising her hands in the air, "It's me, Clarke of the Sky People. We mean you no harm," She called out as she appeared in front of the car and she saw the warriors whispering to themselves before they looked back at her and nodded. She turned to the car and motioned for them to come out and so they did, and her four companions joined her.
"Wanheda," One of the warriors said but none of them knew what that meant.
"I'm here to talk to your leader. It's urgent." Clarke called out and the guys nodded, motioning for them to follow him and Clarke was the first one to do so.
"They didn't ask for my gun," Bellamy commented out loud and Clarke nodded.
"This is a war camp. They expect people to have their weapons so giving it up will not be required." She said as they passed by the camp, not avoiding the stared and some cries of Wanheda directly at their blonde companion.
"What does that word mean?" Raven asked and Clarke shrugged her shoulders.
"I have no idea, whatsoever," She said as she mostly ignored the stares, much like she would do with her own people and just focused on the task ahead. They stopped in front of a tent and the guys turned to them.
"Wait here," He said before going inside.
"Wow, they are very scary up close," Monty said in a small voice and Clarke smiled at him.
"Some are, others not so much but their looks are impressive really," Clarke said looking around and noticing that some were still too skinny so it must have been one of the rescued.
He was working, smiling and she smiled in return seeing that happening here as well. It was a beautiful scene before her mind was brought back to the moment by the appearance of no other than Indra who came to stand in front of them.
"What are you all doing here, Sky Girl?" She said as politely as she could manage.
"Hello Indra. We would like to speak with the Commander, it's a matter of urgency for us," Clarke answered her question and waited.
Indra looked at her for a while before answering, "The Commander is not here right now."
That sparked Clarke's curiosity. Where would Lexa be at this time of the day if not with her people? She was about to ask if the Commander was okay when they heard a familiar voice.
"Bellamy," They turned in the direction of the voice and saw Octavia coming towards them with Lincoln behind her. She went straight to her brother and hugged him.
"O," Bellamy said against her shoulder and she held him tightly.
"I missed you, big brother," She said to him and he chuckled staying like that for a few more moments before pulling back from the hug to finally look at her. Her outfit was completely grounder now and he could see how she was proud of it.
"Are you okay? Have they been treating you nicely?" He bombarded her with those questions and Octavia answered all of them before they finally got to the reason why they were there.
"The Commander isn't here so we can't speak with her," Bellamy told her and Octavia looked at Indra and they seemed to talk with their eyes before there was a sigh from the older woman and a nod from her. Octavia turned to them.
"I know where the Commander is. I was going there with Lincoln just now. If you want to come with us, I could show you?" Octavia explained and offered to them.
"That would be amazing, Pocahontas. If you could lead the way." Raven said and Octavia smiled before turning to Indra.
"I will keep an eye on them and Lincoln will keep his eyes and ears on the others, don't worry," Octavia offered her and the woman nodded in agreement.
"Very well, now go. The Commander should not be kept waiting," Indra replied. Once she turned around and walked away from the small group, Octavia motioned for them to turn back towards the way they came from.
"So, you're full grounder now?" Monty asked her and Octavia nodded at him giving him a small smile.
"Yes, I am part of the Woods Clan now," She answered the boy who nodded.
"Have they hurt you in any way?" Bellamy asked her.
"Only in training but anything past that the answer is no," She said to him as they came to where their truck was and where there were now two horse waiting for them, "That is your ride?" Octavia whistled in awe and asked.
"Yeah, you like it? Pretty cool and most importantly, pretty fast," Raven answered, bragging about it and the younger girl nodded.
"I liked it, but I still prefer Helios so how about I make you eat some dust?" Octavia said in a challenging tone as Raven looked at her, determination burning in her eyes.
"It's on, Pocahontas," Raven said and moved towards the driver side.
"Follow me and I will take you where the Commander is. Raven, try to keep up," Octavia said mounting her horse as the others nodded and went back to the Rover, same arrangement. Raven turned on the engine and Octavia kicked her horse forward and soon enough they were in high speed racing through the fields.
"Show off," Raven whispered to her before she said it again out loud for them to hear and Octavia chuckled before she motioned them to follow her towards the right for a few more minutes before Octavia pulled the horse to a stop.
Raven did the same and turned the engine off as they saw Octavia and Lincoln to get down from their horse and passed the reigns to the warriors who were there. The Sky people decided to do the same, so everyone got out of the rover and walked towards them.
"Are you guys hearing this?" Bellamy asked as they could hear some type of sound coming and the others nodded while the two grounders just smiled before Clarke noticed something. A plate on the entrance as it read TonDC. She was surprised and turned towards Octavia.
"What is this?" Clarke asked her and Octavia shook her head.
"Any questions ask the Commander. Now, let's go inside," She said motioning towards the forest and Clarke rejoined her friends before she agreed, as they started walking through the path that had been made in between the trees. The sound was becoming louder.
"Is that music?" Raven asked as they looked at each other before they looked ahead and were shocked with what they were seeing specially Clarke. It was TonDC, or at least where it had been once, but it was looking completely different. She could see that they were rebuilding it as they were already some building being raised from the ground and there were people walking around with rock and what not.
"Welcome to the new TonDC," Octavia announced watching their faces.
"What is this, Octavia? What is going on?" Clarke asked her.
"TonDC. Hey. Isn't this the village that was hit by the missile?" Raven asked also shocked by what she was seeing as the new grounder girl nodded.
"Yes, but now that the Mountain is gone, Heda decided to rebuild it from the scratch so the builders from all over the Coalition has come to help," Octavia explained to them.
Clarke was feeling a lot of things at this sudden and shocking turn of events. She had felt so bad for letting the missile drop on all of those people, destroying the viallge and killing 250 of their occupants but at the time, she knew that they didn't have a better choice to make in that particular situation. It was either that or the Mountain would have found out about Bellamy sooner and everything they accomplished would never have happened and who knew how worse it would have been? But still, this was all a lot for her to take in.
"Where is the Commander?" Bellamy said bringing all of their attention back to the task they came here to do, including Clarke's.
"This way, come on," Octavia said knowing that this was not the only surprise they would have in this visit. As they walked further into the village, the music got louder.
"O, how is this music being played so loud?" Bellamy asked his sister.
"There is a speaker playing the songs," She explained as they arrived near the destination and she pointed towards the big speaker which was blasting the music.
"Wait, I recognize that," Wick said stopping on his track as they all looked at him.
"How?" Raven asked her friend who looked nervous.
"Jasper asked me to help him build it about four days ago," He answered her.
"Jasper? What does Jasper have to do with this?" Monty asked but before Wick could answer, they heard his familiar voice as they looked in front of them and saw Jasper come out of one of the buildings and sing very loudly to the song that was playing as the grounders around him were either chuckling, laughing or singing along with him.
"What is he doing here?" Bellamy asked and Clarke was beyond shocked. She had no idea Jasper was with the grounder, she was feeling very confused.
"O, what is going on?" Monty asked seeing his friend, singing and dancing.
"Remember when Jasper left your camp to go and find the Commander to…" She avoided saying the word, but they nodded understanding what she was hinting at.
"How do you know that? You were not in camp." Raven said and the girl nodded.
"He told me. Well, it turns out, he did find her and did try to you know but apparently, the Commander recognized who he was and started talking to him and was able to convince him to not do it. During their talk, she offered him a chance to come and help with rebuilding the village as some sort of healing therapy and he accepted. He has been coming here for the past week," She explained to them who were beyond shocked.
"So, he has been sneaking in and out of camp to come here to help the grounder at Lexa's own invitation?" Clarke asked, trying to make sense of everything she heard, and Octavia nodded.
"Yes, he has been using this as a way to heal and to let go of the pain. And as you can see, it has been helping him do that," She said as they looked back at him while he continued to sing and started playing with the other warriors. Octavia motioned for them to walk closer and they did just when the song ended and in time to hear the others talking to him.
"The Sky Crab thinks he knows how to sing," One warrior said jokingly.
"Hey, I know how to sing, ugly face. But I bet you don't." Jasper said indignantly to the warrior who chuckled at him.
"I'll have you know I am the best singer of my village in Trishanakru." He said and Jasper crossed his arms over his chest, puffing it.
"I doubt it." He said defiantly and the guy turned towards the building they had been working together.
"Heda, tell the Sky Crab. You have heard me singing before. Am I good or not?" The guys said and Clarke's heart started beating faster when she heard the guy call for Lexa.
"Jeremy speaks true, Jasper. He is the best singer of his village," Lexa's voice carried out and it did things to Clarke's body that it shouldn't, but the blonde couldn't ignore. Meanwhile, the guy, Jeremy seemed to be in the clouds with her compliments before she continued, "But that's because everyone else is just too bad to even count," She said and finally walked out of the building and all the air was knocked out of Clarke's lungs once she saw the girl. It was too much for her. This was a very bad idea.
Damn you, Kane.