Disclaimer: The usual. I don't own anything.
Situation had changed at TonDc between the delinquents and the grounders. The grounders have started to ease up on their distrust, especially after Clarke's findings on what was happening in the mountain. They were even more determined to win their war against the mountain. And they were willing to accept the help from the sky people if they had to win in their war.
As a result, the grounders offered to train with the sky people and learn from them as well. Lexa ordered both groups to learn from each other. She wanted to strengthen the relationship between the old clans and the new clan. And knowing the tactics and the way the sky people will fight, will be useful for them when they break into the mountain.
Everyday, the grounders invite the delinquents who have healed from their battle wounds to practice with them. They did not take it easy on the sky people. And seeing how the sky people fight also earned their respect. Miller and Murphy were especially taking the lead in showing off their fighting skills to the grounders.
'Bellamy would have fitted in well here, at the village' Clarke thought to herself. She turned to look at Octavia speaking with a few grounders in their language. She has become fluent in their vocabulary. Lincoln has been teaching her every day.
'He would be proud of her, if he saw her now.' Clarke once again thought to herself, when looking at the younger Blake.
Octavia has been the go between both groups to show the different ways each group fight in the situations. Indra had taken her under her wing to train her personally and she is a quick learner.
Clarke remembered the conversation she had with Indra when she saw her teaching Octavia.
Yesterday…
"Indra. Wait." Clarke called out to the figure she was following. Indra stopped and turned around to look at Clarke.
"I wanted to thank you for asking us to train with you. I know it wouldn't have been easy." She said, opening up a conversation.
"It is a strategic decision. We should learn from you and if you are to be the thirteenth clan, you should know about our tactics as well. We won't be around to protect you, if another clan decides to attack against Heda's wishes." Indra told her.
"I appreciate it. I know we can't be a match to your fighting skills." Clarke conceded. The grounders are strong and fierce in their hand-to-hand combats.
"Your people may be rough around the edges. You fight with your anger and emotions. But I see potential for more. Miller and Murphy have shown capable skills with your weapons and how you fight. Octavia has a fighting spirit that needs to be released." Indra pointed out.
That brought Clarke to the matter she wanted to talk about.
"I was wondering about you taking Octavia under your personal training. You didn't do it for anyone else." Clarke said, hoping she wasn't offending Indra in anyway.
Indra's face remained impassive. She was a good intimidator, if she wanted to be.
"I am honouring the memory of one Bellamy Blake." Indra said, firm. Clarke breath hitched at that.
"He was a proud warrior and he would have wanted his sister to be able to take care of herself. That was what motivated me to start training her. But once I did, I realized the spirit within her. It was yearning for release. Left caged, it would end up becoming hostile and violent. It will destroy her soul. She needs the release and a way to let it out. I am hoping that being her Seda will help her realize her potential." She explained to Clarke.
Clarke nodded in understanding. She has seen Octavia thrive since arriving at TonDc. She finally belonged in a place that she felt comfortable. And Indra's tutelage was helping her shine. She was commanding in the training pits, even if she was the youngest amongst both groups. Even the grounders showed respect to her.
"Thank you for that. I'm sure she is in good hands." Clarke replied politely. Indra nodded her head in understanding.
Both women separated, understanding one another better.
Now…
Clarke snapped back to reality, when she heard people yelling around. It was a common occurrence around the village. Clarke still snapped every time she heard the yelling, but she wasn't worried about it.
There was a bit of unrest around the village that kept people on edge. Lexa has been asking for a plan to attack the mountain. Since her finding, they were in a hurry to get to the door. But Clarke had no answers for her. They have been listening to the radio all day and night. Correction, one person has been listening since they received the message.
Jasper knew he was obsessing. Monty has been teasing him and others have been laughing at him whenever he stepped out of the radio tent to have his lunch or dinner with them. But he couldn't shake the feeling he got from the voice over the radio. There was something to it that called out to him.
So, he has been listening to the static to hear the voice again. He volunteered himself to listen on other people's shifts. They were willing to let him do it, because it was a boring task. Now that there's more to do around the village, the delinquents didn't want to spend the day sitting inside the tent, listening to the static noise. That suited well for Jasper. He wasn't a trained fighter. He was a brawler. He doesn't have any technique to demonstrate. Therefore, he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of everyone. He had gained a reputation after the attack when he saved Harper from the grounders. He didn't think about it and just acted on instinct. If he had thought, he may not have done it. He wasn't sure he was the brave type. That was the others. He was the prankster. And right now, grounders are not in the mood for pranks.
The change in static brought him out of his personal reflection. He focused on the radio, trying to listen closely. Last time the signal was garbled until Raven fixed it. He hoped he would be able to do it this time, if it was another transmission.
"Hello?" The line breaks. Jasper waited to see if the voice comes back again. He didn't have to wait too long. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?" The voice was clearer now. Unlike the last time, this was not a message. It was someone talking.
Jasper scrambled for the microphone in his end. He spoke "Hello! Hello!" into it. The voice on the other end didn't hear it. They kept repeating the question.
Jasper took off, almost tripping in the chair legs he was sitting as he ran out of the tent. He didn't try yelling this time. Instead, he went and found Raven immediately. He started pulling her by her hand towards the tent.
"Jasper! Hold on. What's going on?" Raven asked, trying to free her hand from his grip. She was tripping on her feet as he pulled her along.
"We have transmission. They're talking." Jasper said, in-between breaths. Raven's eyes widened at the implication. This was what they were waiting for. She hurried along Jasper.
When they reached the tent, the radio was still transmitting the voice over. Raven took the seat as Jasper hovered over her.
"Give me some room to work man." Raven bit back at him, annoyed at the way he was crowding her.
"Sorry. It's the same girl. It's her." He said, excited at hearing her voice again.
Raven smiled to herself as she worked on the problem with the mic. It must have got damaged during the attack. She rewired it and tapped it for good measure before speaking into it.
"Can you hear us?" She said into the mic.
Jasper and Raven waited silently for the girl to respond.
"Yes. Finally." The voice said, sounding relieved at hearing someone in the other end. Raven smiled at Jasper, who gave her a goofy grin.
Before Raven could say anything, Jasper snatched the mic from her hand.
"Hi. This is Jasper. Who's this?" He asked in a hurry. Raven pulled back, letting the eager kid take the seat in the chair. She left the tent to go find Clarke.
"I'm Maya. I live in the complex underground the mountain." Maya introduced herself.
"Maya." Jasper whispered in awe. He had a name now to connect with the voice.
"Are you the one who sent the message before?" He asked, even though he was sure it was her. The voice is unmistakable.
"Yes. Thank God. I wasn't sure if it was received or not." She said, sounding elated at finding out the message was received.
"We did. We have been waiting for another." Jasper told her. He wanted her to keep talking. Forever if it was possible. He knew Monty was right. He was obsessed with her voice.
"It's hard to transmit through the security protocols here. I had to find a way to remain undetected." She told Jasper. Jasper grinned at that. She was brave to do what she did.
"You're very brave to do this. But we don't want you to get caught. Be careful." He said, concern evident in his voice.
"Thank you." Maya said, sounding flattered. "I will be careful." She assured him.
Jasper couldn't say anything more because Clarke entered the tent with Raven and Monty on tow.
"Her name is Maya." He told Clarke as he handed over the mic.
"Hi Maya, this is Clarke Griffin. Thank you for your message. We really appreciate it." Clarke said politely.
"Clarke?" A male voice came over the radio. Clarke looked at Jasper, who looked confused as she was.
"Yes. Who's this?" Clarke asked, her voice sounding harsh at the intruder.
"This is Markus Kane. We are here at the mountain complex with other Ark survivors." The voice introduced itself.
Clarke's breath hitched. So now she knew it was true. She hoped that there must be some kind of mistake and the Ark survivors were not there.
"Is my mother with you?" She asked in a hurry.
"Yes. Your mother and everyone else from the council. Chancellor Jaha is in charge of our people down here. We're being taken care of." Kane told her. Any hope that they were prisoners vanished when she heard that.
"I thought you were being held prisoners by the grounders? Last transmission said that you were going to be attacked by the grounders? Your mother came looking for you and found the dropship empty with bodies around." Kane asked her. He wanted to know the situation.
"We're not prisoners. We're under their protection. They came to help us after we were attacked." Clarke told him.
"I don't understand…" Before Kane got any further with his questions, Clarke interrupted him.
"I need to know some things first." She stated, looking for no arguments.
Kane went silent for a moment. Then he replied, "Sure. Go ahead."
"Did you attack the grounder village and massacred everyone there?" Clarke asked, getting straight to the point. She didn't want to waste time with trivial questions.
Kane paused before answering. "The short answer is yes. But there were reasons for it. They were attacked." He tried to justify what happened, even when his voice betrayed his conviction.
Clarke's heart fell at that. There was no denying about it anymore. Lexa will declare war on the Ark survivors.
"A bunch of women and children attacked your soldiers?" Clarke asked him, pointing out the ridiculousness at that.
"I wasn't there myself. I was told that we were given information that all of you were being held prisoner at the village. When our people got there, they were attacked. They had to return fire." He explained what he was told.
"We were never in that village. All the warriors are here, where we are now. They have amassed to attack the mountain. What your people did, is to go and kill the people who were left behind because they couldn't fight." Clarke replied back harshly.
"Our people." Kane said.
"What?" Clarke asked, confused at what he was saying.
"You said your people. It's our people. You're one of us." Kane stated.
Clarke realized what she had said. She had mentally separated herself from the Ark survivors. She couldn't relate herself with them after what they have done. Even if it was not the actions of everyone from the Ark. She felt like she didn't belong with them. Her family were the people who came to the ground with her. The delinquents.
"Did Finn send the message earlier to us?" Clarke said, looking for confirmation, ignoring what Kane said.
"What message?" Kane asked, confused. Before Clarke could say anything more, she heard the female voice from the message come over the radio.
"It wasn't Finn." The girl Jasper said is called Maya told her. Clarke didn't expect that. She was almost sure it was Finn who sent the message. The Princess at the end confirmed that.
"What?" Clarke exclaimed in surprise.
"It wasn't Finn who sent you the message." Maya repeated back what she told before.
"But who else could it be? The message warned about the grounders being used for experiments. I thought he was being kept a prisoner there and he sent a message to us in secret." Clarke asked confused. She looked at Raven who had confusion written on her face as well.
"Finn is not a prisoner here." Kane spoke over the radio now. "He and Pike were among the group who went to the village, looking for you. He's with Pike, working on the security details in the complex now." Kane told her.
"What?" Clarke couldn't understand. 'The peace-loving pacifist Finn Collins was part of the massacre at the village?' She couldn't picture it. From the gasp behind her, she knew Raven didn't believe it either.
"Yeah. He seems to be hell bent on getting all of you back from the grounders. He wanted to attack now, but Pike has been talking him down. They are mobilizing force to fight back if the grounders get near." Kane explained.
Clarke looked at Raven, who had tears in her eyes. She didn't know what to say to that.
"Then who sent us the message? Warning us about the grounder experiments?" Clarke asked, not willing to hear what her heart was telling her. She didn't want to bring up that hope at this moment.
But she didn't get a choice in the matter.
"It was Bellamy. Bellamy Blake." Maya said over the radio. Silence was on both sides at that declaration. Everyone was frozen at that moment, upon hearing the words.
Then all of a sudden, everyone started speaking at once. "Holy shit!" Raven exclaimed. "Oh my god!" was Jasper. "Bellamy Blake? As in the one who shot the chancellor?" Kane was asking in the radio, probably at Maya and not at Clarke. Only person who remained quiet, still in shock was Clarke.
"Yes. He's a prisoner here." Maya told Kane, but she had her mic on for Clarke and others to hear.
"How? Where?" Kane's questions were interrupted by Clarke.
"Is he ok?" Clarke managed to find her voice again, even if it sounded weak.
"He's recovering." Maya said cryptically. Clarke frowned at that. Recovering meant he was injured.
"Was he injured in the battle?" Clarke asked her, concern visible in her voice now that she sounded normal again.
"No. They did something to him. He was experimented and they used whatever they got from him to heal me. They cured me from radiation sickness." Maya told her.
Silence fell on both sides once again. Clarke absorbing what she heard from the girl.
"Oh my god." Kane's exclamation snapped her out of her head.
"He's the one who came up with the idea for the radio. He was sure that the outsiders wouldn't have harmed his friends. He wanted Kane to talk to his people and sort things out. That's why he told me to ask you for the radio." She explained to both parties.
"He wanted you to know that we are not prisoners here. That grounders are not the enemy." Clarke clarified. Bellamy, once again putting others before him. She loved the way he cared. He had a big heart. And she was determined to make sure it will still be beating when she gets to him.
"It's not the Bellamy Blake I read about or heard about." Kane said, puzzled at the revelation.
"You don't know him." Clarke declared. They didn't. None of them in the Ark knew the real Bellamy Blake.
"We should save him." Jasper stated the obvious.
"We can't do anything until the acid fog is there." Clarke replied, frustrated. She was itching to run, but she knew she couldn't risk it.
"Can you disable the acid fog in your end?" Raven asked over the mic.
"It's restricted access. Only those in command centre have access to the defence protocols." Maya told them.
"There must be a way in." Clarke asked, hoping for a solution from Maya or Kane.
"I don't know what I can do about the defensive systems. But I will do what I can to help Bellamy." Kane assured her.
"Can't my mother help? She could stop the experiments." Clarke asked, desperately. She didn't want Bellamy to suffer anymore.
"Uh…" Kane's hesitation made her worry. "Your mother is the one running the experiments. She came up with the bone marrow idea. But I'm sure she didn't know about Bellamy. She may change her mind if she knew it was one of ours." Kane was positive that Abby will see reason.
"Is that wise?" Raven asked, wondering. Clarke turned to her and Raven explained.
"What if it backfires? She will ask Kane how he found out about Bellamy and then Kane will have to tell her about the radio. And our only way of communicating with the base is gone. Not to mention, it may not work." She reasoned.
Before Clarke could object, Kane interrupted. "She's right. Abby is not herself lately. She is working close with the President and the doctor. If she reveals to them about this, both Maya and Bellamy may be in danger." He told Clarke.
"We don't want that. We need you to keep talking to us. We need to coordinate our plans so we can do what we can from the outside." Clarke stated.
"Agreed. Let me see what I can do to help Bellamy. Once he is safe, we can decide the next steps." Kane suggested.
"That sounds like a plan. Kane, be careful." Clarke told him. She knew Kane from her childhood back in the Ark. He was an honourable man, even if he was a stickler for the rules. Seems he has changed if he was working against the rules now.
"I will." With that, Kane handed over the mic to Maya.
"Bellamy asked me to find out how Clarke and Octavia are doing. What should I tell him?" She asked Clarke over the radio.
Clarke paused, unable to find the words. 'What could I tell about how I'm doing', she thought to herself.
"Tell him that we are both fine. Octavia is doing well with the grounders. Lincoln is taking care of her and Indra is looking after her." Clarke said, voice breaking with emotions as she spoke. Raven placed a hand on her shoulder to offer comfort.
"Tell him to take care of himself. And we will get him out of there soon." Clarke promised. She didn't know how, but she will get him out.
"I will." Maya assured her.
"Take care of yourself Maya." Jasper piped from behind. He wanted to wish her before she hung up.
A giggle came over the radio. "I will. You too Jasper." She wished him.
Clarke could see the smitten Jasper with a goofy smile filling up his face. She was happy to see him react that way. He looked like he was himself, before the attack dimmed his brightness.
"Should we tell Lexa about Jaha and Abby?" Raven asked, knowing it will create a problem again.
Clarke thought about it. Telling her now had no use, because there's nothing they can do with that information. Not telling them would give the delinquents the chance to change her mind.
"Not for now. We keep that between us only." She looked pointedly at Jasper who tends to let out the secrets. He gave her a guilty smile. "I won't tell. Maybe except Monty." He added as an afterthought. He didn't think he could keep that a secret. "But he won't tell anyone." He assured.
Clarke sighed. It was the most she can hope for. "Ok, fine. Just us and Monty. I will let Octavia know about Bellamy. And maybe Lexa and Indra too. They will be glad to hear about it. We can tell them that we have a plan in progress to take down the acid fog."
Raven nodded in agreement. Telling that Bellamy was inside would let Lexa know they had an inside man.
"Ok. That's all for now. Jasper, continue listening for anymore transmission from Maya. Call me when she comes back again." She ordered.
She left the tent with Raven following her behind. She made a straight line to the training pit where she knew Octavia will be at.
She found the younger Blake in the middle of a tussle with a grounder. She was using her size to its full advantage, taking down the bigger grounder in one smooth sweep. By the time the grounder tried to get up, Octavia had the practice sword at his neck. She grinned triumphantly at Indra, who nodded her approval. She dropped the sword and wiped the dirt off her hands in her pants. She looked up and saw Clarke looking at her. She smiled brightly at her, proud of herself as she neared Clarke.
"Did you see that?" She asked Clarke excited. Clarke couldn't help but smile back.
"Yeah. You're great. Best fighter we have." Clarke congratulated her.
"Damn right I am." Octavia stated.
Clarke felt the need to blurt out the truth to the girl. She couldn't hold it anymore.
"We had a communication with the mountain just now." Clarke told her. Octavia's mood shifted, dimming instantly.
"What did it say?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.
"It was actually a conversation. We were able to talk to the girl on the other end." She clarified.
Octavia's eyes shifted at that. "Really? What did she say?" She asked, curious to know what was said.
"She said a few things. I'll get to it later. But there's one main information that you need to know." Clarke told her, knowing how she sounded.
Octavia's eyes narrowed. "What did she say?" Her voice got dangerously low.
Clarke decided to break it open quickly before Octavia explodes. "Bellamy's alive." She declared.
Whatever Octavia was expecting, that was not it. Her eyes went into slits expecting bad news, and then her brain recognized what was said and her eyes went wide almost to the point of them coming out of their sockets. Her mouth went O as she realized what she heard.
"I fucking knew it." She yelled at the top of her lungs.
Clarke's ears started ringing from the loud sound of joy. But she couldn't care less. She felt the same joy in her, and sharing it with Octavia made it real for her. She grinned from ear to ear at Octavia who was grinning back the same way.
"I had hope. A tiny hope that he's alive. When you said you didn't find his body, I felt that hope grow. Now it's a reality." Clarke told Octavia who decided to hug Clarke in happiness. Clarke hugged back, feeling the need for human contact.
Octavia's antics gained the attention of the people around them. Lincoln approached the couple carefully with Indra by her side.
Octavia noticing Lincoln, let go of Clarke and jumped to him, hugging him by his neck.
"Bell's alive." She shouted, close to Lincoln's ear. Lincoln winced at the shout but he smiled at Octavia, happy to see her in a better mood than before.
Indra was smiling too. Clarke knew that Bellamy and Indra had bonded before and she cared about Bellamy's wellbeing.
"How is he?" Indra asked Clarke. Octavia frowned, realizing she didn't ask anything about Bellamy after finding out he was alive.
Clarke's face fell at the question. Now she had to share the bad news.
"Not good. Apparently, the mountain men captured him and experimented on him. Their bone marrow cure was based on what they found from Bellamy." She told them.
"I'll kill them." Octavia vowed in anger. "I'll kill every last one of them." She was seething now, her earlier joy in finding out Bellamy alive all but gone. Lincoln hugged her to keep her from running off trying to do what she vowed.
"They're monsters." Indra stated, having already heard about the bodies underground in the reaper tunnels before.
"Maybe I can go in as a prisoner. Try to fight my way and rescue him." Lincoln offered.
"Linc, No." Octavia objected. "As much as I want my brother out, going inside is suicide." Octavia said. Lincoln looked like he wanted to argue, but Clarke intervened.
"Octavia's right Lincoln. Besides, we have a plan. Markus Kane, one of the Ark survivors and member of the council is willing to help Bellamy. He is going to do what he can to get Bellamy out." Clarke informed him.
She was surprised when Lincoln offered to go in, risking his own life. Lincoln has helped Bellamy more than enough times, based on what Bellamy told before. And here he was, offering to do it again. Clarke was amazed at the idea. Either he loved Octavia too much to put his life on the line for her brother or he was a caring person who didn't want another to suffer. Either way, it was inspiring.
"Clarke's right. Someone from inside the mountain can be more effective than a prisoner. Do you think our people wouldn't have tried if they had the chance?" Indra asked Lincoln, who knew the truth. If there's a chance to escape the prison, those who were captured would have tried it by now.
"I'm going to go update Lexa about the communication. After that, I'll come meet everyone at our place and inform all on what was discussed." Clarke told Octavia who nodded. Clarke followed Indra to Lexa's tent.
Indra said something to the guard who let her in. Clarke followed her behind.
"What's happening Indra?" Lexa asked from her throne when she saw Indra walk in with Clarke behind her.
"We have news Heda." Indra said, bowing her head slightly in respect.
"Oh?" Lexa looked at Clarke, curiously.
"We had a communication with the mountain. We were able to speak with the girl who sent the message before." Clarke said. That got Lexa's attention.
"What did she say?" Lexa asked quickly.
"Ark station survivors are at the mountain already. I spoke to one of the council members. He's going to help getting rid of the acid fog." She said, omitting some information.
"And you trust this person?" Lexa asked, unsure if she should.
"Not really. But he promised to help Bellamy escape his prison. If he comes through, then we can trust him." Clarke stated.
Lexa's eyes went wide in surprise. "Bellamy's alive?" She asked, unable to mask the surprise.
"Yes." Clarke beamed with happiness to say that.
Lexa noticed how Clarke glowed now compared to before. It made her beautiful. Her face flushed and she was smiling brighter than before. Finding out her lover is alive had a positive impact on her.
"I'm happy for you." She said genuinely.
Clarke nodded in appreciation.
"The mountain men have a cure now Heda." Indra informed Lexa.
Lexa's eyes narrowed at Clarke, the earlier conversation forgotten. Clarke felt the need to explain.
"The mountain men had experimented on Bellamy and used his bone marrow to cure themselves. From what we found out; it has been tested on one person so far. They are waiting before they do more." She explained.
Lexa let out a frustrated sigh. "Your Bellamy has undergone what my people went through. We are all together now. We will get our revenge." She vowed.
"We can't do anything until the acid fog is down. Hopefully getting Bellamy to escape will put a damper on their plans. Once we have the fog down, we will march to the mountain and stop it from going any further." Clarke assured her.
Lexa didn't look convinced. But she didn't have any other plans anyway. They had to wait for the fog to stop.
"Fine. Let's wait for your Kane to get back to you." Lexa said, not happy to be waiting in sidelines.
Clarke left the tent quickly and went to her people. They had nothing to do but wait.