The next morning a small group of the delinquents found the pod just past the river heading away from Mount Weather. Their body's tense as their eyes paced back and forth watching the trees that the grounder's attacks frequently came from.
"What do you think is in there?" Finn asked before answering his own question. "Nutrition packs, hopefully."
"Well, why don't you open it and find out?" Clarke waved him forward.
Pushing his long hair out of his face, Finn pulled open the door and climbed partially inside. "Hey there is a person in here!"
"What do you mean?" Disquiet colored Murphy's voice as he turned to watch the surrounding area. "Why would they send us one person and nothing else?"
"Here take a look, Clarke. I think they are still alive!" Finn backed away from the door, ignoring Murphy. Stepping closer to the pod Clarke allowed her hand to briefly trail across Finn's lower back as she passed him. A quick glance at him from under her eyelashes showed a shiver run down his body in response.
A quiet moan alerted her to the person in the pod waking up. Clarke picked up her pace toward the interior of the pod. Pulling the helmet off the suit on a pretty brunette, Clarke leaned closer to inspect the wound on her forehead. "Hey," Clarke murmured, brushing back the stray hairs that had fallen into the brunette's face, sticking to the blood still draining out of the wound.
"Hey, did I make it?" The weak reply came as the brunette looked around slowly in a daze.
"Yeah, you made it. Now let's get you out of here for your first look of the ground." Clarke helped her unbuckle the rigging. "What's your name?" Clarke asked as she hooked her arm around the brunette helping her to maneuver out of the broken-down pod. Watching her new patient closely, Clarke didn't see the shock flicker across the young woman's eyes as she took in the lushness of the forest.
"Raven?" Finn's surprised voice came from the other side of the pod as he walked back around. His eyes widened; darting to lock with Clarke's as his body tensed.
"Finn!" Raven launched herself at Finn. Tightly fitting her lips against his; wrapping her long, slender legs around his waist. "I missed you." She whispered as she pulled slightly away before pressing herself against him again.
Clarke's eyes dropped away from the sight in front of her. Shuffling her feet through the dirt, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Her lips parted slightly as she softly inhaled trying to prepare herself to deal with the repercussions of Finn's decision to not tell her something so important before he pursued her.
"Looks like you were just someone to pass the time with." Murphy commented as he stepped up beside Clarke. His snide voice, unwelcome even at the best of times, grated against her shame. Not prepared to deal with whatever banal comment his brain decided not to filter out.
"Can it, Murphy. Nothing happened between us." Clarke lifted her face to look at Murphy after making sure her face and voice were blank of any emotion that he could use against her.
"You can lie all you want, but that sad look on your face tells the truth. You can't even look at them." His eyebrows shot up as he watched her struggle to compose herself against the two lovers intimate embrace continued. He'd never seen someone who seemed so unflappable, flounder in the face of someone else's mistake.
He didn't want to feel bad for her. She was the Ark's princess and he knew that as soon as the others were down, she wouldn't have to worry about another thing in her life, unlike him. But watching the misery and shock flicker behind her stormy blue eyes had caught him off guard and his heart went out to her without his permission.
"Well you're not looking either. We need to see what's in the pod." The snark in her voice was strong, keeping her voice level. How'd someone like her ever learn to hide herself so well, he wondered, reaching out towards her unconsciously.
"Clarke -"
"Wait, you're Clarke? Like Clarke Griffin?" Raven moved back towards the awkward pair, separated by a few short meters.
"Yeah?" Pulling herself further away from the others, Clarke's hands fidgeted at her side. The fear about what Raven knew about her, dragged Clarke's shoulders up towards her ears. The excitement on Raven's face did little to calm her fear of the other girl.
"I'm down here because of your mom! She organized all of this, but I had to come down here because…" She looked around admiring the forest around us, distracted.
"Raven?" Finn's hand came to rest on Raven's shoulder, rubbing gentle circles over her red bomber jacket. "Why did you have to come down here today?"
"Yeah, focus little bird" The aggression in Murphy's voice was stronger than usual.
Clarke's eyes cut towards him in confusion and reprimand. "Murphy, she probably has a concussion. This can happen with head injuries." Murphy wouldn't drop the glare that narrowed his eyes.
"I'm fine. I had to come down here because they are going to sacrifice 300 people if we can't get in touch with them soon. I just need to radio -" She cut herself off moving towards the downed pod. "No, No, No! My radio, damn it, I knew I should have tied it down. It's broken and this hunk of junk doesn't have what I need to fix it."
Finn met Clarke's eyes briefly. "Art supply store?" He asked as Clarke's eyes danced away from him, unable to keep the contact no matter how brief.
"You take her there. Do you need us to prepare anything back at the drop ship for you? I can get Monty to start working on it." Clarke started to move back toward the tense blockage that was Murphy.
"Not until I see what there is to work with at this… Art supply store." Her head whipping back and forth between Finn and Clarke, not understanding the blonde's reticent. Finn's eyes desperately trying to find and hold Clarke's. The apology heavy in his gaze. Raven's eyebrows drew together in as she tried to understand what she was seeing in her boyfriend's face.
Shaking her head, Clarke moved to latch on to Murphy's sleeve, pulling him back towards the dropship. "Okay, then let's head back Murphy."
After a few miles, Murphy started to fidget next to her. Opening and closing his mouth like he wanted to say something but not quite knowing how to get the feelings put into words. Finally, he heaved a big sigh then blew a tense breath through his nose and he pinched the bridge of it.
"Even you didn't deserve what he did to you, Princess." Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Murphy avoided meeting Clarke's gaze.
"Gee, thanks for that ringing endorsement." Clarke tilted her head back and tried to keep her sniffles quiet enough that Murphy wouldn't hear them. Her palms clenching at her sides as she tried to calm herself down.
She couldn't believe she'd been put in this situation, she never wanted to hurt someone this way. She knew Raven would find out sooner than later and it would be all over for Clarke. Raven would hate her, and people would think she did this on purpose. Anything to discredit Clarke or Wells, quickly became the topic of gossip among the kids of dropship.
"Look, he's an ass. He should have told you. He knew we were trying to contact the ark to get them to come down. We kept as many cuffs on as we could to keep them from thinking we were dying." His arms waved wildly as his irritation suffused through his voice. "He knew. And… and he should have told you is what I'm saying. Let you make the choice with all the information available."
Clarke's surprise at Murphy's outrage blindsided her for a moment. Not sure what to make of his rant and how long his pity for her would hold before he used this information to his advantage. She decided to let someone see her for a quick moment.
"Thanks, Murphy." Clarke punched his shoulder as she tried to wipe away the wayward tears, closing her eyes and putting her walls back up. The smile on Clarke's lips only faltered for a moment before she pulled her unruly face back into line with a quick clench of the muscles and a slow breath out of her nose.
Murphy watched the blonde out of the corner of his eye. Hating that he was starting to resent her less and less. She just seemed so human in that moment before she had fixed her walls back up.
XXXXXXXXXX
The shadow that stalked the pair, watched as their leaders wandered away from the second ship in as many weeks. Not entirely understanding what they had been talking about with the new girl that had fallen from the sky.
His heart went out to the young blonde who reminded him so much of his chosen. Strong, determined and ultimately caring too much for those around her. He knew that any action that they took against her would result in equal response. Even if she was an untrained, untested warrior. They would not want war with this girl.
However, no matter what he knew, Anya was making it very difficult for him to keep them from an all-out war. She refused to listen to him. Saying just because he had the Heda's ear, did not mean she was about to take his soft-hearted words to heart.
He knows he should wait for Octavia to come back with Heda's decision or with him, but Anya was not backing down.
Watching them make their way behind the walls of their camp he knows it's only a matter of time before they start fighting back. If she can take the betrayal of one of her people with such stoicism, then their people are in for a surprise when she decides she will take their abuse no longer.
Because a predator, while slow to anger, should not be taunted. Because when a wolf takes her leave to hunt, the creatures of the forest should know better than to get in her way, lest they want to become dinner.
He did not want to become dinner.
XXXXXXXXXX
Though Raven did not send instructions for Monty to do anything, when they delivered the news of what we found and what was happening now, Monty quickly moved into the dropship muttering under his breath. Jasper trailed behind Monty, still recovering from the spear to his abdomen. The fear of what was outside of the camp still drawing heavy lines on his face. The others of the remaining 100 rushed around camp doing their chores with an excited buzz and the news passed through them.
Clarke motioned to Wells to join her and Murphy as she made her way to her tent. "Hopefully by this evening, we will be able to reach the ark. Be able to let them know we are alive down here and they can send the guard down."
"Are we sure that sending the guard down here is the best idea Clarke?" Wells heavy eyebrows lifted on his face. "They aren't known for their forgiving nature and we can't afford a war with these people."
"Wells," Clarke sighed heavily. "We are already at war. They have taken out 8 of us and two are still missing. Probably dead."
"As much as I hate to agree with mini chancellor here, the guard might make it worse." Murphy slumped against the wooden beam making up the entrance, arms crossed tightly over his chest. His eyes locked on to the sad princess.
"Well, after tonight we won't have an opinion that matters anymore." She flopped her arms against her sides as she shook her head. "That will be the council's choice. So, it doesn't really matter what you or I think."
"What if we tried a peace talk with them?"
"You have lost your mind, Wells. They don't want peace. They only want to kill us, or have you forgotten the ones we lost?"
"Not all of them were lost to the grounders, Clarke. Atom was taken by the fog. And we don't know where Pascal and Trina are… for all we know they could be -"
"Could be dead, Wells!" she cut him off turning away to lean against the makeshift table full of notes on inventory, observation of wildlife and grounders, and other important information that Clarke had fallen asleep reviewing just the night prior. "And Atom died because I killed him."
"I vote they are down in pound town." Came Murphy's unconcerned voice before Wells could disagree with her last statement.
"Murphy, that's not helpful. And Clarke, he is right, as much as that pains me to say." Murphy's answering grin was slightly predatory in nature. "They could be just fine."
"If they were fine, they would be here in camp, safe." She mumbled just loud enough that they could hear it before she pulled a deep breath in, turning to face the two boys behind her. "But there is no use in this conversation. We need to start preparing for more people to be here on earth. Wells can you please make sure we are starting to increase the hunting and gathering to ensure we have enough to feed ourselves when they arrive. It might also be a good idea to find more storage for water, so we have enough in camp for a few days. Can you do that for me, Wells?"
"Sure, Clarke." His eyes had softened when her tired face had turned towards them.
"Well if you have nothing further for me then boss. I'm going to go see how they are coming along on making more weapons." Clarke paused for a moment, tense and bracing for his usual verbal attack.
"That'd be great Murphy. Thank you." She said softly when he didn't press his advantage. He didn't respond as he pushed off the post and headed out the door with a final pass over her tired but stoic face.
Wells moved closer to her, resting his hands on her shoulders. His thumbs running comforting circles on her shoulders "You don't sound as excited as I would have expected. What happened, Clarke. You know you can tell me anything."
Her head bowed forward to rest against Wells' chest and Wells arms wrapped around her slim frame. "He made me the other woman."
"What?"
"The mechanic that was in the pod, Raven, she was his girlfriend on the Ark. They were dating minimally before he went into lock up." She mumbled against his chest. Tears started to leak, and she brought her hands up to cover her face that stayed pressed against Wells. "She's going to find out and so will everyone else and they are going to hate me. I finally thought I was making friends, but I guess that is over."
"Oh, Clarke. That's not your fault. They can't blame that on you. You didn't know." His arms tightened on her back.
"But they won't know that." She let the tears fall a moment longer before pulling away from Wells and wiping away the tears. Sniffling back the tears that threatened to turn to sobs, she withdrew from Wells' embrace. With every step she took away from him she tightened her walls up. Reinforcing every crack with every spare ounce of pain that she felt from the last couple weeks.
She scrubbed at her face to try and erase the evidence of tears and Wells watched her with sad eyes. He watched her pull away from him physically but also felt the loss of her emotionally. He knew what she was trying to do. He only hoped that she would be able to open back up before long. He hated to see her hurting.
"Time to go face the music I guess." Clarke adjusted the black threadbare jacket around her shoulders, brushed her wild curls back and lifted her head higher. Her lip trembled around her words. "Do I look like I've just been crying?"
Wells eyes ran over her again. His heart broke for her. Promising himself to keep an eye on her for the rest of the day.
"No, you look just as strong as you always have. But, Clarke, you don't always have to be strong for us. Sometimes you can just be human. You can be hurt by something that someone did to you, by something like this."
"No, No I can't Wells." She shook her head to emphasize her words. She turned to head out of her tent without looking back at him.
She looked towards the commotion of Finn and Raven entering the camp. The tension radiating off the two of them told her that somehow Raven at least suspected that something had happened between Finn and Clarke. Taking a deep breath, she moved to meet them closer the drop ship. Aware that the eyes of the kids around her were already zeroed in on them.
"Get everything you need?" Clarke asked as they neared the door of the drop ship.
"Did you?" Raven's acid laced tone mumbled.
Choosing to ignore it, Clarke pressed forward. "I know you said that you didn't need me to have Monty do anything before you got here, but he took off in here mumbling something about boosting signal. So, you should probably meet him. He's been trying to reverse engineer the wrist bands we have to contact the ark with no luck so far, but he might have a set up that will help with the radio."
Turning to Jasper who was sitting silently against the bottom rung of the ladder. "Hey Jasper, do you know where Monty got off to?"
Looking up to meet Clarke's eyes, Jasper fidgeted. "Yeah I think he's in the wiring up on level three."
"Okay, Raven, do you need anything else from us?" Raven shook her head. "Okay, then, Jasper why don't you come with me. I could use some help getting things ready for our people to join us."
Jasper looked lost in thought, like he hadn't heard a thing she said. Finn used that as a sign to move closer to Clarke. Putting his hand lightly on Clarke's elbow. "Clarke, we need to talk."
Tearing her arm out from under his hand. "No, you should have talked before anything happened. That's when we should have talked. Not after your secret is exposed by dropping out of the sky."
"I didn't think I would see her again." Finn dropped his head to try and meet Clarke's eyes.
"Look, Finn, I can't do this with you now." She moved closer to Jasper, placing her hand on his shoulder, startling him. "Jasper, buddy, can you come help me with getting camp ready for more people?
Realizing Finn wasn't going to get anything further from Clarke now he stalked out of the drop ship. Jasper nodded and stood up exiting the drop ship ahead of Clarke. Watching him move forward, she took the opportunity to check her mask.
Raven, who had been listening from the open hatch, stepped back on to the ladder and climbed down just enough to talk to Clarke.
"Do you love him?" Raven asked, not meeting Clarke's startled eyes.
"I hardly know him." She moved towards Raven. "I'm so sorry. I would never have… If I had known… I'm just so sorry, Raven."
Nodding Raven climbed back up the ladder without a word or glance back at Clarke. Sighing Clarke turned back towards the exit. Nodding to herself, that there was nothing else she could do to help this situation.
She grabbed her backpack before stepping outside, she noticed Jasper looking around just a nervous as the first time he exited the drop ship after recovering. She moved in closer to Jasper, settling a hand on his back she moved him towards the side of camp.
"Jasper, I need to go down to the river to get some more of that seaweed for you. Why don't you come with me? It's just a short walk and we have the rest of the day. We can take all the time you need to get comfortable."
"Clarke, I don't think I can do that." He shook his head backing away from her a couple steps.
"Jasper, I know you can do this." She tracked his movements. "You are so strong and brave Jasper. You can do this. You can hold my hand the whole way if you need to, but this will be good for you. It's good to have a healthy respect for the dangers of this world but you can't let it define every decision every day."
Pulling him gently by the hands as she moved him towards the exit gate. Making sure to keep her eyes on him, she monitored his anxiety levels all while moving them slowly further away from the safety of camp. She kept idly chatting to him about anything and everything.
She noticed a shadow tracking them the whole time but unwilling to look any closer and bring any sort of disquiet to Jasper who was gaining more and more confidence as he moved further into the woods. Reaching the river, she asked Jasper if he would like to be the one who grabbed the seaweed or if she should.
When he took the opportunity to venture away from Clarke's calming presence, she darted her eyes up towards the tree line, looking for the shadow. Sighting a tall dark man with strange clothes that she knew were supposed to him blend in against the forest around him. What she couldn't decide is if he was trying to intimidate her by being so visible or if he just wanted her to know that they were watching them.
Either way she knew she could not say anything without sending Jasper on a tailspin. Nodding in his direction so he knew that she saw him she watched him disappear back into the forest until she could no longer see him.
"I got it, Clarke!" Jasper waded back out of the river with a handful of seaweed which he shoved into her backpack when he reached her.
"You are doing so good Jasper! I knew you could do it." she gently laid her hand on his bicep. "Now let's head back to camp and see if we can contact the ark now."
He turned towards the camp and headed out before she even made a move to follow him. With a smile on her face she followed him keeping her eye out for the man that had been tailing them thus far; he was nowhere to be seen but she felt confident he was still out there watching her.
XXXXXXXXXX
A tall, young man with tan skin and unruly curly brown hair watched as his sister made her way up the streets of Polis. Ignoring the meandering voices of the ambassadors behind him, talking of nothing more interesting as trade agreements.
She looked good, and healthy which prompted a slight sigh to leave his lips. His eyes danced around her form before she disappeared from his sight. He knew he'd see her again in moments, but he always hated to be separated from her. The haste in her walk and the lack of her chosen gave him pause though.
"Heda?"
"Hmm? What is it?" He responds to whomever has felt so inclined to call him out on his distraction.
"It's just we could use your input on this." Turning toward the nervous man. He looks him up and down before dismissing the whole group.
Pausing for only a moment he moved to exit the room in search of his sister, only to be plowed over by the arms of said sister enveloping him. Squeezing her tightly to him for a moment before pulling away to look her over more critically, hands still clenching her shoulders.
"I'm fine big brother." She laid her hands over the arms that held her away from her brother.
"O, what are you doing here?" Her amused smile quirked up before falling just as quickly. "Not that I'm not happy to see you of course, but I wasn't expecting you for a few more months and I would also have expected Lincoln to be here with you."
"Big brother, has no one told you of the people who fell from the sky?" She looked at him confused. "I would have thought the news would have reached you before I did. I spent a week with Trikru trying to talk Anya down from starting an all-out war with them."
"O, slow down. No one has mentioned anything to me. Start from the beginning. Nothing you're saying makes sense."
"Bell, people have fallen from the sky in a big metal box. Maybe people is too vague. Kids, Bell, not a warrior among them. Lincoln and I overheard their leader talking and she says they were sent to find out if they could survive on earth and that if they could show them, they could that others would follow."
"Tell me of their leader." He paced away from his sister towards the large window. Hands clasped behind his back.
"She is young and golden headed. Her eyes are like glass." She smirks as he lets out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, Bell, she is young though. Maybe my age but with no experience, she does not appear to have been a second to any person ever. She was smart though. Sent people to scout for water and food sources. She said she was not their leader, but she centered them.
"She had one person who fought against her rule and even though she said she was not the leader, he bowed down to her words. There was another who followed her as Roma does you. He shadows her, following her with a quiet intensity. The rest are just kids who know nothing."
"Why does Anya try to start war with them?" He peeked over at his sister quickly before looking back out the window.
"They landed in her territory. But, Bell, it sounded like they didn't know that people were alive on the ground."
"Lincoln has softened you. What does Indra have to say about that?" He shoots her a playful grin.
Her answering smile is quick before she drops it, though the playfulness remains in her eyes. "A warrior does not believe an enemy is not an enemy unless they prove it to be true."
He laughs at her, shaking his head. "Okay, O, let's send an official rider to her and find out why she pursues this, and, in the meantime, I believe I have an ambassador to talk to. I should have known of this before it was brought to me by my sister who was supposed to be out on assignment."
