Chapter 39
Looking out only for Number One
Callie was brought through the chambers, looking at the many robed figures, all wearing bull masks. She had no idea what was about to happen.
Clearly, they had stumbled upon a cult of some type.
And that could mean anything. Rape. Murder. Brainwashing.
Maybe all of the three of them, for all she knew.
The robed and masked figure that had led Callie out of her cell, stopped, and turned around, facing Callie.
The figure said, his hands clasped together as he spoke, "Callie Cartwig, there are things I'd like to know about your people. Are there any more of you, outside of the ones that we captured?"
Callie was silent. She was not going to tell these people about Clarke and Wells. Not now, not ever.
Callie's eyes lowered and noticed a cot behind the man, and there was a figure lying down on their back on the cot.
Callie was positive that it was the figure of a man.
She frowned, as she stared at the prone figure. The figure didn't look like it was breathing.
The masked figure in front of Callie followed Callie's gaze and looked at the possibly dead figure on the cot behind him.
"Oh," the masked man said, "Never mind him," he turned back to Callie as he said, "So, are there any more of your people left?"
Callie forced the words out, "No, sir. There aren't. No other people. You captured all of them. The people that we sent down to Earth weeks ago, are all dead. We know they are."
Most of the 100 were dead.
The only two that Callie cared about, Clarke and Wells, plus that one that apparently loved Clarke immensely, Monroe, were still alive, and that was all that mattered.
The masked man observed Callie, as if trying to read the woman's mind. But the masked figure nodded.
He walked to the cot and looked at the prone figure on top of the cot.
He gestured to the figure on the cot that Callie was sure, was dead. "This," the masked figure said, "Is to be our leader. I believe you will recognize this man. We selected him from the many bodies that were brought back into the Ark, after it was "floated."
Callie frowned.
When each person that was executed on the Ark was floated? They were left outside of the Ark to die, then their bodies were brought back in and packed inside the Ark's version of a "basement."
They had brought out one of the bodies from the basement? And expected the body to be their leader?
Were these people insane?
Still, Callie found herself walking closer to the body and peered down at the body.
Honestly, she was just curious.
Her eyes grew huge when she saw the face of the prone body.
This was a man that she knew.
Jake.
It was Jake Griffin. Clarke's father.
Seeing Callie's shock, the masked figure said, "I see you recognize him. We searched your footage from your Ark. We know that man's name. Jake Griffin. And that he has a daughter. Clarke Griffin, correct?"
Callie froze, feeling her throat go dry. No. These people couldn't know about Clarke. They just couldn't.
The masked man said, "It's alright, Ms. Cartwig. We know that the two teenagers that you love, Clarke Griffin and Wells Jaha, are still alive and are out there. We learned that, not from the Ark's footage, but from…other sources. If you help us, Callie? We can offer a safe place for your darling children. I promise. You wish for this world to be completely safe for Clarke and Wells? Our god can give you that. But if you don't believe in the god we worship, that's fine. Just give us trust and allow us to wipe out the threats, and the world will be safe for your children."
Callie shuddered. She didn't want to know what this man meant by that, because she was certain that he would have his cult wipe out someone.
She asked, "What threat are we talking about?"
"Oh, I would have thought that was clear enough," the masked man chuckled, "I believe Clarke Griffin told you about them. I believe that she refers to them as 'Grounders.' I do not care about the rest of the world's population. I only care about the population in the rest of the world. All we care about, is wiping out the population that are in the Americas. Destroying the tribes. We wish to have access to what the Commander of the tribes possess."
Callie stared at the masked man, confused. What was this guy talking about?
"What does the Commander possess?" She asked, unable to help but ask the question, unsettled.
Callie couldn't see this man's face, but she was positive that beneath the mask, this man was smirking.
"Why," the man said, "The current Commander of the twelve tribes, possesses the key to a great city with immense power. Called the City of Lights. It's a city located in Italy. In Rome. There's a device there that is important, and was locked. Only the Commander can access it. That is why we wish to wipe out the tribes and kill the Commander and take the device that's used to unlock what's in Rome."
The masked man looked down at Jake's corpse as he said, "And this one, will be our leader, to help us pillage the tribes and take what's needed for the device in Rome."
Callie's mind tried grasping what she heard, then she said, "He's dead, there's no way he could be your leader. You can't bring the dead back."
Again, she felt the man smirking at her behind the mask the man was wearing.
He said, "You sure about that, Callie? You should know by now that gods exist. Hasn't Clarke told you? And the afterlife exists. And I will bring Jake Griffin's soul back to his body. We could have inserted his soul into any body. But we thought he might appreciate his old body. And when we tell him that we intend to make sure that his daughter will have the world at her feet if she wants, he will do exactly as we ask."
Callie stared at this man. These people were insane. There was no other explanation. They had to be.
Two figures walked up and grabbed Callie's arms, making her gasp and struggle, but they held onto her fast.
"Don't worry, Callie," one of the masked figures said, "This is just to make sure you don't try to stop him from bringing the dead man back to life."
Callie looked at where the first masked man was and watched as he leaned down, reaching out and pressing both his hands to Jake's body, his right hand to Jake's forehead, his left over Jake's heart.
The man didn't move for several seconds, then Callie jumped when bright light surrounded the man. The man seemed to be glowing. The glow then took an awfully dark red color, like the man doing whatever he was doing, was being cooked alive.
Then Jake's body convulsed, and Jake's own skin began to turn that color.
Several seconds went by. Then minutes went by and there was a "whoosh" noise, and the red color left both the masked man's flesh and Jake's flesh.
The man removed his hands from Jake's face and chest, and suddenly, Jake Griffin lifted himself off of the cot.
Callie gasped, feeling her heart stop, gaping at the sight.
The man that looked like Jake, but couldn't possibly be him, got up off of the cot and onto his feet, lifting both his hands, turning them and looking over his hands, smiling.
Callie felt sick. It just couldn't be. It looked so much like Jake. But it couldn't be him.
The thing…..the not Jake, looked at the man that had "brought him back to life," smiled at him and said, "Thank you. You said Callie was here?"
The masked figure gestured to Callie and Jake turned to her. He smiled at her and Callie felt sick again.
"Callie," he said, "So good to see you."
"No," Callie said, shaking her head, "You're not….you can't be Jake. Jake is dead."
"Oh, I was dead," he said, nodding, "And apparently, being an atheist doesn't matter. Gods don't care about that. You'll end up in an afterlife, whether you believe in a god or not. For some reason I don't understand, I ended up in Valhalla. Weird, I know. I guess it was better than ending up in any torturous afterlife the Vikings had. But honestly, it doesn't make sense. I died a martyr. But that was it. I wasn't exactly a hero or anything. I didn't die in battle or anything like that. I don't even think I have any Scandinavian blood in my veins. But no complaints. Anyway, I'm positive we're breaking about a million laws the gods have, by doing this. But I don't really care," he smiled coldly, "This world mistreated my daughter. And now it will suffer."
Callie shook her head. No, no. This wasn't Jake. This just couldn't be Jake.
"You, no," she shook her head, "How do you know about that? About what Clarke experienced? It wasn't even in this timeline, so how do you-"
"Simple," Jake said, still smirking, "It's not like the dead know everything. We don't." He nodded to the man that apparently, had brought him back, "This guy told me everything. The afterlife time moves a lot more differently than this world's time. We had a lot of time to talk. He told me everything."
Callie looked Jake up and down. "How-" She began, "How do you not look decayed in any way?"
Jake smirked. He nodded to the masked man. "They fixed my body up."
The masked man nodded as he said, "We could have gotten you another body for your soul to inhabit. But we suspected that you would like your old body. And besides, if you wish to approach your daughter, Clarke, and her brother, Wells, this might make it easier to gain their trust."
"I appreciate that," Jake said, smiling at the masked man.
Callie couldn't comprehend this. She just couldn't.
The being that couldn't possibly be Jake, turned back to Callie and said, his eyes becoming hard, "As I said, this guy told me everything. About how Clarke was abandoned at Mount Weather, with a race of genocidal people that wanted her bone marrow. About how Abby sold me out to Thelonius, and then had Clarke thrown to the ground as a martyr, to test if the ground was safe or not. About how those rats from the 100 mistreated Clarke and murdered her brother, Wells. About how Clarke's own mother mistreated Clarke, when Clarke didn't do exactly what Abby wanted her to do. I've had enough. I will kill every tribe member I can get my hands on. To avenge Clarke. And Wells. I know it's a different time now. But I will protect them, regardless."
Callie was trying to comprehend this. But still, the only weak reply she could give was the same as before. "You're not Jake. You can't be."
"Actually, I can be," the thing that looked like Jake said, "You see, as it turns out, the priests of a lot of gods can bring people back to life, if the soul that they are trying to summon, chooses to come back to the world of the living, of their own free will. It's breaking a million laws made by the gods, but who cares?"
The thing with Jake's face, then smiled. He said, "You want proof that it's me? Fine. Callie, do you remember when we were younger and finishing up our courses in class on Earth Skills? And there was this girl in class, named Shawna, who you kept staring at?"
Callie's eyes widened and her heart froze.
Jake chuckled, smirking as he continued, "I still remember what you said to me, after class, when it was no one else but you and me there and no one else could possibly hear us. You said, 'I wish I could kiss Shawna. But you know who her parents are. Those very Catholic people. They'd have me burned at the stake if I even asked to kiss her.'"
Callie thought she might faint.
It was him. It was him.
This was Jake.
No one else, except Clarke and Wells, knew that Callie was bisexual.
Jake was the only other person that did.
It was something she'd kept secret for a long time, knowing how the Ark tended to treat people who weren't straight.
She had told Clarke when Clarke had started realizing what her sexuality was and Callie didn't want her to feel alone.
"It's…it's really you," she whispered.
"Yes, it is," Jake said, nodding, "And I'm going to see Clarke again. I think she'll like my plans for wiping out the tribes, don't you?"
Callie felt sick.
Worst yet, some part of her suspected that Jake was right. Clarke would enjoy the thought of wiping out all the tribes.
Seeing Callie's disturbed realization, Jake nodded and added, smirking, "And conveniently enough? Clarke and her friends are just nearby. Where we are. In Milan. Only a few miles away."
Callie felt bile in her throat. Clarke and the others weren't far away. Not far from these monsters and a now misanthropic Jake Griffin.
Back with Clarke and the others, they had started looking for food.
They knew they'd need food soon. And a place to stay.
There were many fig trees where they picked figs from, several orange trees, as well.
Clarke pointed out that the problem with this was that fruit didn't last all that long. It lasted longer than unsalted meat, but still not that long.
Nonetheless, they packed up all the fruit they found and brought it all with them.
Eventually, they had found an outcrop of a few abandoned buildings and decided to squat there for a time.
Clarke kicked in what pieces of glass there were with her boot and ducked in, pushing Jasper aside when he lollygagged by the opening.
Jasper gasped when he was shoved out of the way.
"Hey," he protested, turning to see who had shoved him, but paled greatly when he saw that it was Clarke and quickly moved out of the way, gulping.
Clarke scoffed. She wanted to enjoy Jasper's fear of her.
But she was a bit preoccupied, thinking about the other stuff that had happened.
Them being chased by a bunch of bizarre people in masks and horns, people that survived being shot. And Sekena having killed Abby for her.
When the entire group was inside the building, they looked around. Clarke knew that it must have been a lobby of some type.
It was covered in dust now, and there were cracked walls everywhere, but it must have been a lobby at some point.
Decayed plant pots and old sofas littered the floor of the vast room.
Clarke looked at the room and grumbled, "Well, I'm sure the accommodations in this place are gonna be fun and comfortable, like everywhere."
"Eh, I'm sure we can manage," Monroe said.
Monroe checked around the desk, noticing a series of buttons on a panel. Buttons that had numbers and letters next to each of them.
"This must have been an apartment building," she said, "Or a hotel." She looked up from the panel and said, "The elevators are of course, a huge fucking 'no.' But we can probably take the stairs all the way up to the different floors and check the beds for anything wrong, then sleep there."
Clarke scoffed, looking up along the height of the walls of the lobby.
She supposed this place looked stable.
"We should put people on guard duty while the rest of us sleep," she said, "And when that person's shift is over, we should put someone else on guard duty."
"I can take the first shift," Pascal said.
Clarke nodded. "Okay," she said, "Who else?"
"I'll take the first shift, as well," Anya answered.
Clarke eyed the woman.
She wasn't sure she trusted the woman with Pascal. Or any of the Ark kids she'd taken with her.
When she thought of protesting, she felt a hand touch her left hand, trying to be soothing. She looked behind her, seeing Niylah there, smiling gently at her.
Trying to reassure her.
She sighed, huffing. Fine. She'd let it go.
She looked back at Anya, then at Pascal as she said, "Pascal, do you feel comfortable being on guard duty with her," she nodded to Anya.
Pascal shrugged, smiling. "Why wouldn't I?" He asked, "It's not like you trust her or anything. So," he looked at Anya and smirked, "If anything happens to me, you know who she'll blame, right?"
Clarke's eyebrows raised up at Pascal's words, bordering on a threat. She smirked. Yes, if anything happened to Pascal at all, she would indeed know who to blame.
Clarke's smirk widened when she saw the startled look on Anya's face. Pascal's confident smirk was also fun to see. Seeing how he was goading Anya.
Anya, for all her arrogance, must have realized by now, that she was not the one with the power.
If anything happened to Pascal, or any of the kids that Clarke had taken with her, or Niylah, then Clarke would fully believe that it was Anya's fault. And she would act accordingly.
Anya had to know that.
She had known Clarke long enough to know that.
And she must have remembered that Clarke was willing to do what was needed to get rid of threats.
And if Anya ended up being a threat? Well, things would get uglier than they already were.
Anya then nodded, resigned to Pascal's words.
"Alright," she said, "I'll take the first watch with Paskaal. And he will be completely safe. I promise."
"I'm so sure that you do promise," Clarke sneered, as she walked around the desk where Monroe was and peered down at the panel that the braided girl was looking at.
Clarke said, observing all the numbers and letters, "We should probably stay in rooms not that close to the ground, but not that far from the ground, either. And close to the stairs, if we need to run."
"Okay, that sounds like a good idea," Monroe said, "So, who bunks with who? Same sleeping arrangements as before, back in the Luwoda's land?"
Clarke shrugged.
"Sure," Wells said, "We can all bunk the same way we did back in the Luwoda's place. So, Clarke, you, Monroe and Niylah, can stay together."
Clarke glanced at Wells, smiling at him, knowing that he knew what her relationship with Monroe was now, and how Niylah felt for her, so, he was trying to help. As always.
The sleeping arrangements were made.
The same as it was back in the Luwoda's kingdom.
And they gathered what bits they had and went to the stairwell, opening up the door and began the trip up the stairs.
It was decided that they'd stay on the fifth floor. Pretty far up from the ground, but not too far away.
Hopefully, if people started searching this hotel or apartment building, they'd be alerted from the noise downstairs and make a run for it.
They hoped that worked.
Clarke suspected that they were in a hotel, not an apartment. Because they passed by a corner that had a couple of vending machines. The vending machines, of course, were almost empty, and what sparse things were in the vending machines, behind the glass, had long since become inedible.
But nonetheless, there was the answer. They were in a hotel.
There were a lot of doors in the hall that had been broken in the chaos, so, there were no locks that would need to be broken open to let them in.
No need for keycards.
Clarke decided to take the room, closest to the stairs. Monroe and Niylah walked in after her.
Clarke tried the lights. It was to no one's surprise, that the lights didn't work. So, they kept the door open, used a sofa chair to keep the door open, and pushed open the dust-stained curtains, and allowed sunlight to get in through the windows.
Clarke checked around the room.
A bed and a sofa. A sofa that most likely pulled out into a secondary bed.
Clarke explained to Niylah, about the secondary bed in the sofa.
Niylah nodded. "I'll take the sofa then," she said, "You and Munroh, can use the bed, Klark."
Clarke smiled appreciatively at Niylah. Monroe went to the bed, switched on the flashlight she had and inspected the bed. Didn't look like there was anything wrong.
It wasn't going to get dark all that soon, but they wanted to make sure there was nothing on the bed that could be trouble for them.
Bed bugs would just be all they needed after everything.
Monroe held the flashlight up, aiming the beam down at the bed and her left hand reached out and patted the bed, feeling around it.
Nothing. As far as she could tell.
She checked all the pillows too. Nothing.
She nodded. She'd check the sofa bed too, just in case.
She said, looking over at Clarke who was making her way over to Monroe, "We should probably eat something soon. We want to keep our strength up, in case those guys from before find us again."
Clarke nodded as she sided up next to Monroe, slipping her right arm around the left side of Monroe's waist, leaning her head against Monroe's left shoulder.
"Thank you, Monroe," Clarke said, smiling.
"'Thank you?'" Monroe asked, eyebrows lifting, "For what?"
Clarke chuckled quietly, "For just being there. For doing everything you can. For not giving up on me, even though you really should have."
Monroe chuckled, "Oh, come on. I'm not gonna listen to that." She changed her flashlight to her left hand and her right hand cupped Clarke's chin, lifting Clarke's head up gently.
Clarke was forced to look Monroe in the eyes and Monroe smiled at her girlfriend. "Enough with that," Monroe instructed, "I absolutely will not give up on you. And I shouldn't have before. None of that. Okay, sweetie?"
Clarke smiled, unsure how Monroe thought the endearment, "sweetie" fit Clarke in any capacity, but nonetheless, absolutely grateful to Monroe for everything the other girl did, and for the other girl's loyalty and devotion.
She leaned in against Monroe, pressing her forehead to Monroe's.
In the limited light they had, Clarke could see the softness and love in Monroe's green eyes.
She didn't understand it. How could both Monroe and Niylah love her so much? How could Sekena and Callie and Wells? How could Anya, if she actually was here for that very reason?
"You know," Clarke said quietly, "You and Niylah are making a big mistake by loving me."
"Hey," Monroe said, kissing Clarke gently, then to Clarke's surprise, gently bit Clarke's lower lip, causing Clarke to gasp, and try to pull away, but Monroe held on. Monroe hadn't bitten Clarke's lip hard, but it was still a surprise.
Monroe opened her mouth and let Clarke's lip go, moving her face away from Clarke's as she said, "What did I say?"
Clarke's eyebrows jumped up.
Seriously?
"What," Clarke chuckled, "Are you going to punish me if I talk badly about myself, now?"
Clarke had meant the question as a joke.
But Monroe's response threw her.
Monroe said completely honestly, "Only if you want me to."
Clarke's eyes widened.
Oh, hell.
The two of them were on shaky ground right now. Unfamiliar territory with each other.
"I…..," Clarke began, uncertain. She had an idea what exactly Monroe was implying.
Was that what she wanted? She didn't want to be the one to make the big choices, even if she knew she had to.
Someone keeping her in check…it was honestly tempting. And she caught what Monroe had said.
Only if Clarke wanted Monroe to, only then would she punish Clarke for speaking badly about herself.
If anything happened, it would be with Clarke's consent.
And only with Clarke's consent.
Any power Monroe had over Clarke, it would be only with Clarke's permission. Power that Clarke willingly gave up.
Monroe was saying that she wasn't going to force anything.
"I…...," Clarke mumbled again, "I need to think about that."
Monroe smiled, nodding. "Okay," she said softly, "Understood."
She leaned in again, this time raising her head up and kissing Clarke's forehead, then releasing Clarke's chin and stepping away, still just smiling at Clarke, letting her go and stepping back, a reassuring look on her face as she did, and as she joined Niylah by the sofa.
Clarke shivered, having an idea already, what she was going to choose, especially when Monroe and Niylah were looking at her in the way that they were looking at her.
Not far from where Clarke and the others were staying, where the Ark people had been dragged into, through the portal, somewhere in Milan, Callie had been brought to a table and seated down in the chair by it.
Jake walked to the table, following after the first masked man that somehow, miraculously, had brought him back from the dead.
The first masked man gestured to the table, where there were many plates of food.
"Please, by all means, eat," the masked man said, "I imagine it's been a while since you ate food from the world of the living."
Jake nodded, pulled a chair out from under the table, dropped down next to where Callie sat, smiling at her, reached for the food and started grabbing at food with his hands, though there were utensils right in front of him.
At Callie's startled look, he shrugged as he said, "There isn't any need to be strict about manners in the afterlife."
Callie nodded. She supposed that made sense.
Jake devoured the food hungrily, as if he hadn't eaten in years. Callie frowned. Could people not eat in the afterlife?
Seeing Callie's expression, the masked man that had brought Jake back to life, said, "There's food in the afterlife. And those that are in the 'good afterlives' are given the best of food, but when they're brought back, it takes a lot out of them. That's why he's so hungry."
Callie nodded. As insane as this all was, it sort of made sense.
After Jake had almost cleaned the entire table of the food on it, he sat there, his chin and mouth covered with crumbs, grease and some juice from the fruit and he took a deep breath, suddenly realizing he was being looked at and grabbed a napkin, wiping his face, quickly smiling afterwards and saying, "Sorry. It's been a while since I've eaten in front of people that care about manners."
Callie nodded.
Despite all her mind telling her that this couldn't be true. That there was no afterlife, that the dead stayed dead, that gods didn't exist, she was seeing the proof of it right in front of her. And she had so many questions.
What was it like there? Who else was there? If there were other afterlives, did Jake know what they were like, or just what the Viking one, Valhalla, was like? Did he see any actual gods in Valhalla? How many people were in Valhalla? Are there actual Vikings there too?
Jake took another breath as he wiped his mouth, looking at Callie, "You have a lot of questions. I can tell. But here's one you probably have that I can answer immediately. Abby's dead."
Callie blinked, startled. No, actually, she hadn't wondered that, but that was good to know.
"She's dead?" Callie asked, stunned.
Callie wasn't going to lie. She was happy. Abby deserved to die. Abby deserved it for how she had treated Clarke and Wells. Even if she hadn't done so in this timeline yet, she had been going to.
If what Clarke had said about everything, was true.
But what disturbed Callie, was that Jake didn't look even a bit choked up about it.
Jake nodded, smirking. "That's right," he said, "One of the people from the tribes, a woman, named 'Sekena' did away with Abby's life. Stabbed her in the neck," Jake grimaced, "A pity. I wanted to be the one to do it."
Callie shivered. Jake had wanted to kill Abby. His wife.
And the woman that had gotten him killed.
"Because she betrayed you and got you floated?" Callie said.
Jake shook his head. "No," he answered, "I couldn't care less about that. I wanted to kill her because of how she treated my daughter. Clarke," his face hardened again as he growled out, "Treating her like a monster after Ton DC in the other time. Using her boyfriend's death against her, and telling her that she couldn't 'wipe her hands clean this time.'" Jake's face became ugly with rage, "If I could, I would have cut her throat right open for how she treated Clarke. Abby was no one's mother. She was just a dictator that wanted Clarke to be her puppet." He shook his head, "I can't believe I ever loved her. I was the only one of between Abby and myself, that loved Clarke."
He then turned to Callie and said, smiling, his anger, for the moment, gone, "You love her too, don't you, Callie? Her and Wells?"
Callie swallowed and nodded. She didn't know where Jake was going with this. But it was the truth. She did love Clarke and Wells. So much.
Jake nodded. "That's good. They'll need that. Someone who loves them and will do anything for them. I imagine it will be difficult to trust me, knowing that I died before."
Callie tried not to laugh. That she admittedly understood. She herself had a hard time understanding how any of this could be.
Some part of her was overjoyed. To have one of her oldest friends back? Of course, she was happy about that.
But she couldn't escape the fact that clearly something bad was happening here. She had heard what the first masked man had said. Jake was to be their new leader. And was to help wipe out the tribes in the Americas.
Why would Jake agree to that? Because he believed that they all deserved to be wiped out for what happened to Clarke?
This didn't sound like the Jake Griffin she had grown up with.
Not the open-minded, sweet boy and later, the sweet young man who believed in equal rights for all. Who believed that any discrimination against women, was wrong, that any discrimination against those who with sexual orientations that weren't straight, was wrong, that any discrimination against people with non-white skin, was wrong, that any discrimination people other religions outside of Christianity, was wrong, that any discrimination against those that were disabled, was wrong, and that any discrimination against those that didn't conform to the gender "normalcy" expected in the Ark, was wrong.
Jake believed in equality for all. Or at least he had, at one time.
What the hell happened to him?
Seeing Callie's troubled expression, Jake chuckled. "You think I've gone off my rocker, huh?" He said, smirking, "But try to think. Does this really sound so bizarre? I'm not saying that one specific group or other with different skin color is to blame or something. I just want the people that hurt my daughter in the other timeline to be punished. After all, why did you kill Thelonius Jaha?"
Callie's heart froze when she heard that question. He knew about that.
Jake's smirk widened. "Yes, Callie," he said, "I know. And it's okay. I understand why you did it. Now, tell me, why did you kill Thelonius Jaha? Was it because he was black?"
Callie, shuddered, shaking her head. "No, of course not," she said, "It was because he was dangerous to Clarke and Wells."
Jake nodded. "Exactly," he said, "You're not a racist. You only killed him because he would have put Clarke and Wells in more danger. And you killed Markus Kane too, for that exact same reason."
Callie tried not to shiver too much. He knew a lot.
Jake continued, "You don't kill because you're discriminating," he said, as if finishing his point, "You are simply killing to protect those that you love and to punish those that have hurt the ones you love. Right? I understand perfectly."
Callie said, hoping desperately that Jake wouldn't bring up Mount Weather, "But Jake, in those many tribes in the Americas? They most likely have a lot of children there."
Jake nodded. "Yes, I'm aware," he said, not sounding bothered by that information even a bit, "The Vikings killed children too, you know. And so have you. I know about Mount Weather."
Callie almost cried out, pain stabbing at her heart.
She had made the choice fully, when she had ordered Mount Weather be destroyed. She knew she'd do it again, with what she knew. That the people inside the mountain, had intended to kill all of her people, including Clarke and Wells and take their bone marrow.
So, she didn't regret it. Not for a second.
But it didn't change that there had been children in that mountain. And she had wiped them out.
Seeing how Callie was cringing, Jake said gently, "Callie, it's okay, it's okay. I understand why you did it. I wish I'd had that strength back before I was floated. But I was stupid, naïve. I thought everyone could come to an understanding and maybe even live peacefully. But I know the truth now. That's impossible. In this world, the only path available, is where everyone is looking out only for Number One. So, don't feel like I'm judging you, Callie. I'm not."
Callie shook her head. This was Jake Griffin, alright. Yet, somehow it wasn't. The version of him that she had known? He was dead. He had died when he'd been floated. And this version of him, was the version that had become jaded and cynical and believed that the whole world was corrupt.
Just like Clarke.
Some part of Clarke had died in the other timeline. Callie honestly didn't know when it had happened, but some part of Clarke had died after everything Clarke had experienced in the other timeline.
And now? Now she was hard. Unforgiving.
Callie understood immediately, that she couldn't let this new Jake Griffin anywhere near Clarke.
She intended to help Clarke got better, to help Clarke see that there were good people out there.
If Clarke was around this version of Jake? Clarke would descend more and more into cynicism and dread.
Jake would be a bad influence on Clarke. He'd be a bad influence on Wells, too.
Callie knew that Clarke wasn't the only one to idolize Jake. Clarke believed in everything her father had said, and Wells? He had seen Jake as more his father than Wells had seen Thelonius Jaha. Wells idolized Jake, just as much as Clarke had.
Callie couldn't let Jake's influence near either teenager.
Callie had never thought she'd think of Jake that way, but she realized that now.
Then again, she'd never thought that Jake would ever get like this, but he had.
"Alright," Callie said, sucking in a breath, deciding that she needed to stay calm and pretend that she was going along with all this. And then when she got the chance, she'd have to grab Clarke and Wells and get them as far away from Jake and the rest of these people as possible.
She hoped that she could deliver her promise to Clarke. But if she had to, she'd kill Raven before Clarke got to the mechanic, if it meant that Callie could take Clarke and Wells away from Jake and these people faster.
She said, forcing a calm smile on her face, "Alright. If this keeps Clarke and Wells safe? Then I'll do it. Tell me what I have to do first."
Jake smiled, seeming to buy what Callie was saying.
"Good," he said, "It would be good that both of Clarke and Wells's parental figures, all those that actually love her, are on the same page. And it would be good to remember, to look out for Number One, only."
Callie nodded, trying to ignore how her stomach turned. "Yes," she agreed, "It would be. So, when do we start with the plan?"
Jake looked to the man that had brought him back, "Diyoza, the First, says that it won't be long now. We'll first need to capture Clarke, Wells and the others, bring them here, then wage our attack against the savage tribes in the Americas. Remember, we don't want to wipe the world out. We're not interested in that. We simply want to rule a bigger portion than what we've gotten and take what we want, nothing more. We don't care about anyone or anything else."
Callie shuddered. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to hearing Jake talking so callously about people who were different or hearing him talk like a dictator. Had he really changed so much between the period when he'd been floated and now? She knew that she had heard from Jake and the masked man that time moved differently in the afterlife, which meant that Jake had had time to think about everything he had heard happen to Clarke and Wells, and had time to get angry, but still, this was just too much.
She tried to focus on something else. So, she asked, "What do you mean, 'Diyoza, the First?'"
"I meant what I said," Jake said, "Diyoza here, explained it to me. This is the grandfather of one of the current generals of the followers of Moloch. His daughter being Charmaine Diyoza."
Callie stared at the masked figure that had brought Jake back.
"You've been on the ground for a while, haven't you?" She said, suddenly remembering a name that she had seen in a roster, keeping track of another group of people that had gone off into a shuttle and had left Earth, almost a century ago.
At the curious stare she got from the masked man, Callie said, "Diyoza…I remember that name. That was the name of one of the top members of the 'Colony.' The ship that disappeared. We thought everyone onboard died."
There was a chuckle beneath the mask.
"No, Callie, we didn't die," the man responded, "We doubled back and returned to Earth, receiving a message from the god we chose to worship, Moloch. He gave us the answer. That Earth was safe to return to. So, we returned. And we learned from Moloch, as well, that there was unquestionable power, located in Rome. But only the leader of the new tribes forming, had access to them. We've been pilfering away here, consolidating power. Our tech failing. The only things we were able to use in our tech, were our shields, which was why no one was able to attack us, for a time. But the rest of our tech, did not work. But our magic? Growing stronger. So much stronger. And now? We are ready to move. We will wipe out the tribes and take what we should have had all along, and my daughter, Charmaine," the man reached up to the bull horns of his mask and began pulling his mask off, "She will rule as a queen, and take Clarke Griffin as her wife."
Everything about what the man had just said, was horrible, and that alone should have made Callie feel sicker than she already did, about wiping out an entire population of people, about Clarke being forced to marry someone, about Jake not even protesting to that last part, but all she felt, was sickened by what she saw in front of her.
The man who just took his mask off, the old Diyoza man, revealed his face. A pair of amused, light brown eyes looked out from a pale, scarred up face.
Those eyes were the only undamaged and uncut things about the man's horridly tortured face.
The man smiled widely at Callie and his face somehow looked even more horrendous as he smiled, when he spoke next, "I see my appearance is disturbing to you, Callie. My apologies. It was a price I chose to pay when I first took the mantle as a priest of Moloch. To be physically maimed beyond recognition, in exchange for power from our lord."
If that was the case, then Callie hoped the pain and scarring was worth it.
Because the face of the man in front of her, was so badly scarred and slashed and maimed, that it was hard to believe that he had ever at one time, been recognizable as a human being at all, terrible as it was to say.
The scarring all had clearly been done with knives.
Author's note
Okay, lots to unpack. For anyone wondering, yes, that is in fact, Jake Griffin. Brought back and now misanthropic. And no, the followers of Moloch don't want to wipe out the world or anything, they just want power and to wipe out strictly the twelve tribes. Which is bad enough on its own.
And yes, this is going to do a number on Clarke.
For anyone wondering, I named the ship that the Diyozas and the rest went away on, after the 'Colony,' which I think was what the Ark was called in the books. I just went off of that.