This Black Blood is Without End

Chapter 10 – Wounds and Welds

- Present Day -

"Finn, wait… We can't go into camp like this."

Finn slowed and then stopped, turning to look at Aden and Lexa with a questioning glance. He was utterly exhausted, his brain fuzzy from the combined effects of a harrowing night without sleep and no food for over two days. His muscles trembled in protest from the strain of his capture, from being chased through the forest by creatures that seemed more beasts than men, and from fighting for his very life. The three had made their way back towards the dropship in the dark with as much speed as they could manage. However, as tired as they all were, and now burdened with the weapons and items they had scavenged from the bodies of those they had defeated, it had taken them more than an hour to reach the mountain stream near the encampment. The sun was now just beginning to rise, and the warm pink hues it cast through the forest did more to raise his spirits than anything else could have.

On the Ark, the concepts of day and night had been largely meaningless. They had been nothing but a social construct, the familiar terms used as a way to measure time and order people's lives, but now that had been forever changed for him. This second night on the ground had been terrifying, and Finn had never been so happy to see the sun before in his life. He was just now beginning to understand why all the horror stories and frightening tales he had ever read growing up had always taken place during the night.

"What do you mean? Why are we stopping?" he asked her, brows furrowed. After continuously pushing and prodding him to go faster, it didn't make sense that Lexa now wanted to stop when they were finally almost there.

"The sun is rising, Finn. Some people will already be awake at camp… The last thing we need is to start a panic," she explained, walking past him to cross over to the flowing stream, Aden following her close behind. He watched as they both dropped the items they were carrying and stepped down the bank so that they could reach the water. A shaft of sunlight pierced sideways through the trees, illuminating them there, and it was then that he suddenly understood what she had meant by "like this", finally seeing them clearly for the first time that night.

The sight was startling, and he sucked in an involuntary breath. Both of the Black siblings were covered in blood… It was splashed on their faces and stained their bare hands a bright red. Aden's blond hair was painted a dark black on one side of his head, and Finn frowned at the sight, not sure if the thick, congealing substance was blood or mud, or both. They each had several cuts and tears in their clothing, and he could see dark stains outlined on the fabric that had to be blood as well.

"You guys look terrible!" he exclaimed, walking over to join them at the stream.

As gruesome as the earlier killing had been to watch at the time, he realized now that it had in fact been greatly sterilized by the moonlit night. Everything had been cast in colorless tones of black, white and gray. He wondered just how terrible the bodies of the dead men must look lying in the small clearing where they had fought, and he was now oddly grateful that the fight hadn't taken place during the daytime when he could see it better. His empty stomach rebelled at the thought, a small amount of bile climbing up the back of his throat. Finn suspected that even if he had managed to eat something the day before, he would have long since puked it into the bushes somewhere during the night's slaughter.

As she often did, Lexa ignored his comment and said nothing. Instead, she stiffly lowered herself down to her knees in the grass beside the stream, her face betraying a small, painful wince as she did so. Aden did the same, and together they proceeded to wash their hands and faces clean of blood in the cold water. Once that was done, Lexa reached out and grabbed her brother's chin lightly with the fingers of one hand, turning his head to the left so that she could better examine the mess that matted his hair.

"How does it feel?" she asked him, and Finn could clearly hear the concern in her voice.

It's a bit late for her to be worried about the kid's safety, isn't it?

He remembered her ordering her younger brother to stand at her side and fight just a short time ago… What kind of person asked a kid his age to do something like that? The savages had been almost twice his size and were clearly experienced killers, and yet she hadn't seemed to hesitate giving Aden a weapon and asking him to go into battle with her. Watching her tenderness with him now, Finn almost couldn't believe it had really happened. He knew that their backs had been literally up against a wall, and it was kill or be killed, but surely only the most cold-blooded person could have done what she had? Her obvious worry over her brother now seemed out of character for the merciless killer he had just discovered her to be.

My god… I mean, he can't be more than twelve or thirteen years old! Fourteen at the most… What was she thinking bringing him with her to come after me?!

"It doesn't hurt too badly," Aden told her softly, his earnest voice sounding very young as he continued to explain. "They were so strong, Lexa! I wasn't able to block their attacks, so I just tried to keep moving and deflect all their strikes to the side like you taught me… The one with the axe was just too fast, though… I shouldn't have let him get so close."

Is he worried because he thinks she will judge his injury to be a sign of failure? The crazy kid seems more upset about possibly disappointing her than he is over the injury itself!

"You did very well, Aden. Better than many grown men could have... Better than I could have at your age, in fact. You fought like a true warrior tonight," Lexa told him with fierce pride, and the boy grinned at her compliments, his expression equally fierce.

… They're both crazy.

Lexa shrugged off her guard jacket and unceremoniously ripped a small length of cloth from the bottom of her black t-shirt, then dunked it in the stream and used it to gently clean the dark smears out of his hair. It wasn't until she had done so that Finn could see the wound beneath on her brother's scalp, and Lexa carefully cleaned around it. The boy winced in pain a few times, but otherwise made no complaints and held mostly still throughout her ministrations.

"Is he alright?" Finn asked, moving to stand next to them so that he could better see. "What is that, blood?... Why is it such a dark color?

Lexa glanced up at him sharply for a second, then returned her gaze to her hands.

"My family has a… genetic disorder. It makes our blood look darker than normal," she replied, seeming to hesitate a bit over her words. Finn frowned at this, sensing that there was something more she wasn't saying. He'd never heard of such a thing, and he thought it was extremely strange, but his growing concern for Aden quickly distracted him from the oddity of their black blood.

The realization that the boy had been hurt coming to his rescue made his stomach twist again, but this time with guilt instead of disgust. Lexa had been hurt as well, he saw. There was a long, shallow cut on her left thigh that was still slowly seeping dark blood. It looked mostly superficial, however, and didn't seem to be slowing her down. He thought hard for a moment, but he couldn't remember seeing either of them getting their wounds in the chaos of the fight, though he knew it must have happened sometime during the battle. It was amazing none of them had been hurt worse. He suspected that he himself was covered in bruises from the beating he had taken during his capture.

"Head wounds always bleed a lot," Lexa reassured them both, not taking her eyes away from examining the injury, her slender fingers carefully combing through the boy's blond hair.

"It's not very wide or deep… It should heal just fine, I think, but you'll probably have a headache today and it will likely bruise and swell some. Make sure you keep it clean," she ordered, finally releasing her possessive hold on his head.

"I will be fine, Heda," Aden swiftly agreed with a smile, obviously hoping to ease some of her worry. The effect was somewhat ruined, however, by the exhaustion and pain that were clear in his eyes.

"Hay-da?" Finn echoed questioningly, interested at the unusual nickname. Aden didn't seem to talk much in general, but he thought he remembered hearing the boy use the term to refer to his sister once before.

Lexa glanced sideways at him again, the small answering smile she had been giving her brother dying instantly on her face at his words. Despite the decidedly conflicted feelings he now felt towards this intimidating and violent young woman, Finn couldn't help but wish that the smile had stayed. Though it had not been directed at him, he had still noticed how the expression had briefly transformed her face, making her look much younger and more open than he had ever seen before. He also couldn't help but reflect on the fact that it had made her look even more beautiful as well.

"You should clean yourself up, Finn… You don't look so great either," she said, walking away from both of them, effectively ignoring his intrusive inquiry. Finn suspected that she was uncomfortable with his witnessing the tenderness she had just displayed towards her brother, as well as his personal questions about their blood and the name Aden used for her. From the moment he had found her hidden in the walls on the dropship, he had felt that she was not an average person… There was a daunting strength there, an iron will and determination that he had immediately noticed and appreciated. After everything he had just witnessed this night, and after watching her brutally kill men right before his eyes, Finn knew that this was not a person who easily trusted others, or one who often allowed herself to be vulnerable in any way.

He did as she suggested, washing clean as much of the dirt and blood from his own skin as he could. At first, he was shocked by how much blood he found on himself, but then he remembered the first man Lexa had killed, pierced in the throat by a spear while almost on top of him. Finn took off what remained of his torn short and used it to wipe himself clean. The shirt was so ripped and stained that it was really more of a rag than anything else, and when he was done he didn't even bother to put it back on. His chest and torso were covered in bruises that were swiftly turning a mottled purple. He wished he had his jacket to put on over himself, but in the end he was actually glad he had left it back at the dropship the day before, otherwise it would have faced the same harsh treatment as his shirt, no doubt.

"What are we going to tell everyone?" he asked Lexa once he had finished and rejoined the two of them. She looked thoughtful, and he knew she had been thinking about the same thing.

"I mean, obviously we need to tell people what happened… That we aren't alone down here. I don't know how those men have survived, but they can't be the only ones. Who knows how many people are living here on the surface! This changes everything," Finn said, thinking aloud. "I wonder where they were taking me… I wish I could have understood what they were saying. Maybe they were taking me to other survivors?"

"Wherever they were taking you, I doubt their intentions were friendly," Lexa interjected, her tone even.

"Probably not," he had to agree, remembering the terrifying certainty he had felt that they were going to kill him. "But what about the one who helped us? He seemed different from them… He wasn't just a mindless savage. We'd be dead if it wasn't for him."

"Perhaps… It's true he helped us, and he was very different from the men we killed. It's hard to say from just one man, but it certainly appears as though there is more than one group of people down here besides us, and they don't seem to mind killing each other… There's no telling what we've landed in the middle of here."

She appraised him with her calculating, fierce green eyes as she spoke, and Finn felt a chill run through him at her words. Could she be right? Were there entire groups of people living down here on the surface, not just a few random survivors? The prospect was both thrilling and alarming. Despite the dangers he had just faced, he couldn't help the feelings of excitement and anticipation this possibility filled him with. Humanity was now more than just the people of the Ark… It was also the people of the Ground. If some of these Grounders were friendly, then he could only imagine just how much help they could be to the Arkers already on the surface, as well as those soon to come down.

"We have to tell everybody," he reiterated, aware of the fact that she had yet to answer his earlier question.

"Yes, we do, but we also need to be careful."

"What do you mean, careful?"

"Careful not to make matters worse," she explained, "You may have been attacked, Finn, but we don't know why… We don't even know who the enemy is, or how many of them are out there. People need to know, it's true, but we also can't have people panicking and seeing an enemy in every shadow. If the wrong person does something stupid out of fear, we could end up starting a war that we can't possibly win."

"War?" he repeated, shocked by the magnitude of that word and all that it implied. Here he was still just trying to wrap his head around the idea that there were people living on the ground already, and Lexa had already leapt forward by many strides and was apparently strategizing over how to avoid a possible war with them. He was amazed at how quickly her mind worked. Finn had thought she was smart from the get go, of course, but if anything maybe he had underestimated her intelligence.

"That's kind of funny coming from you, you know… You just killed those men, Lexa. You didn't even hesitate! If anyone has started a war already, it's you."

"Would you prefer that we had left you to die?" she asked coldly, her spine stiffening at his judgmental tone. "Because that's what would have happened eventually. Your recklessness got you into that situation on your own… I only did what was necessary to save you from your own poor choices."

Her accusation struck home, and he felt a flash of guilt at this, but then he remembered the absolute horror he had felt watching her spear rip out the first man's throat, and the speed and absolutely single-minded decisiveness with which she had taken so many lives. It was almost as though she had killed people before, but how could that be? Getting away with murder on the Ark was pretty much impossible, but Finn couldn't shake the feeling that this person, Lexa Black, was someone unusually accustomed to bloodshed. Then there was also the fighting skill her younger brother had displayed. Taken altogether, it seemed the Blacks were a family that was disturbingly comfortable with extreme violence.

"There had to have been some other way to free me besides just killing them… There's always a more peaceful way if you are just willing to look for it," he insisted, though he himself couldn't think of one right then. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you saved me and I'm glad to be alive, but like you just said, what if what we did tonight has started a war we can't win? What if it would have been better for everyone to just let them take me?"

"Are you so altruistic, then, that you are willing to sacrifice your own life? Is your commitment to peace really so great?" Lexa asked, genuine surprise and perhaps a note of disbelief in her voice, though her neutral expression did not change.

"I was raised to believe that it's wrong to kill people, Lexa. I don't know what you were raised to believe in, but being on the ground doesn't change that for me."

"I was raised to believe that life is about survival… and that survival often requires sacrifice," she told him, glancing at her brother as she did so. Aden hadn't said a word as they argued, his young face watching hers with a serious expression. Her voice softened, eyes lingering on her brother.

"But, recently I've come to see it's also about more than just surviving… That it matters how we survive, what we sacrifice, and with who we choose spend what little time we have in this life."

Finn held his breath, surprised by the sudden vulnerability, passion and openness he sensed in her, as though Lexa were very briefly letting her formidable walls down, allowing him to see just a glimpse of the real person inside. She turned back to him, her eyes finding his, a deep sadness in them that made her seem much older than her twenty-two years.

Just who in the hell is this person?

"I don't want war, Finn, nor do I want there to be any more senseless killing. Whatever you may think of me, I don't relish bloodshed. I did not enjoy killing those men tonight… Just like you, I want peace, but I also know that sometimes we need to be willing to fight to get it. Whatever we tell everyone at camp about what we have discovered, I just want to make sure that we don't end up fighting the wrong people for the wrong reasons because of it."

They studied each other, and Finn thought over everything she had said, deciding after a few moments to trust that she was speaking the truth about her peaceful intentions. It appeared that they had more in common than he had initially thought. At first he had judged her to be too rigid, too serious. He'd wanted to see her lighten up some, but she had warned him not to be reckless and not to leave camp on his own, and they had almost died tonight because he hadn't listened.

She'd come after him, though. Lexa and Aden Black had just saved his life. How she had done it alarmed and scared him, but he was still moved by the fact that she had apparently been willing to risk so much to save his life. He doubted she would be trusting him anytime soon, however, and it was pretty clear she didn't like him very much… Somehow knowing this only made him want to ruffle her feathers even more.

Finn put on his cockiest, most self-assured smile. He also made sure to put an extra edge of flirtation in his voice, though it was mostly just to prove that he still wasn't intimated by her – terrifying killing machine though she might have turned out to be.

"Well, alright then, gorgeous… What's the plan?"

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"Ms. Petrova! I didn't expect to see you down here this early in the morning."

"There hasn't been much time for any of us to rest these past five days, Sinclair… Now, please tell me that you and your little pet grease monkey have better news for me than the last time I was here."

Raven heard the smooth voice of the Councilwoman in the room beyond and scowled up at the bottom of the Polaris escape pod in response to the annoying nickname, though she knew the infuriating woman only called her that to get a rise out of her. She was on her back working beneath the ancient machine, the comforting and familiar smells of oil and metal surrounding her. This was where she was most at home, besides when out on a spacewalk, and she took a moment to gather herself before sliding out from underneath the pod, breathing deeply as though she was preparing to go into battle. In the three days since Anya Petrova had ambushed her in her room and enlisted her help, Raven had yet to feel like she had come out completely on top in any conversation she had had with the formidable woman so far. The damn politician might not be a mechanical genius like she was, but she was extraordinarily smart in her own way. She possessed an unusually strong will and cunning, and her mind was as hard and sharp as a sword blade… and could cut just as deeply.

"If you don't like bad news, then don't ask bad questions," Raven grumbled loudly, emerging from beneath the pod and climbing to her feet. Both of them turned to look at her when she spoke, Sinclair with an amused smile on his face, and Anya with one perfect eyebrow raised in an artfully unimpressed expression that immediately made Raven's blood pressure rise in response.

"This pod is a piece of crap!" she declared hotly, slamming down the flashlight she had been using into the nearby toolkit and stomping over to them, angrily wiping her hands free of grease with a rag as she did so. "I just replaced all the corroded and damaged wiring in the avionics compartment and installed the new battery, but the navigation computers are still jacked, and I just found another bad exterior panel that's going to need sheet metal repair or else the whole pod could lose pressure as soon as it hits space… The more I fix the more broken stuff I find!"

Anya glanced at Sinclair once she finished speaking, and the Chief Engineer shrugged, a resigned expression on his face.

"She's right, unfortunately… We keep running into more issues. It will be days yet before this pod even has a chance of flying safely. Really, even if this were a sanctioned mission and I had a full team working on it around the clock, I still probably wouldn't sign this thing off as space worthy for at least a month yet, maybe longer."

"We don't have a month, Sinclair, and we don't have a team," Anya replied, nearly growling with frustration. She stood tall and lean in a dark, navy blue suit jacket that was perfectly fitted to her slim form, a pencil thin skirt and low heels making her seem even taller than normal. As ever, the woman's makeup was slight and tastefully done, and her hair pulled back into a sophisticated, professional bun that made her neck look long and graceful. She was clearly on her way to conduct Ark government business, and her impatience to get the pod ready and down to the surface was obvious. Raven found that she couldn't fault her for it, however, as she felt her own, equal impatience to get on with helping Finn.

"This isn't just about the kids on the surface anymore," the politician continued, her voice urgent. "Symptoms from the failing life support on the Ark are starting to appear… The Council is already discussing conducting population reduction measures in just a matter of days if things don't improve, and they're still struggling to understand how and why we've lost over a dozen of the prisoners on the ground. Jaha will not be able to secure a majority vote in the Council in favor of beginning the exodus until they are all absolutely sure the ground is survivable. If we don't get a radio down there and get some answers soon, a whole lot of people are going to die up here."

"What do you mean, over a dozen of the prisoners have died?" Raven asked, a stab of worry going through her at Anya's words. "When was this? What happened? Is Finn…?"

"Yes, your boyfriend is just fine, at least as far as those useless doctors can tell… I wouldn't put much stock in them, however. There haven't been any more deaths for three days, but the idiots still can't seem to figure out what killed the ones who died on the second day after they landed."

Anya explained the unusual circumstances of the deaths, as well as the medical team's confusion over the data and what it could mean. Before she had even finished talking, however, Raven was already laughing, partly in humor at their inability to see the obvious, and partly in relief to find that Finn was in fact okay.

"They're not dead, they're just stupid," she told them. "They took off their wrist bands."

"What?" Sinclair asked, a puzzled look on his face. "Why would they do that?"

"Because the Chancellor told them not to, obviously!"

There was a long, stunned silence at her words, and then Anya began to laugh, a soft chuckle that slowly rose in volume. Raven looked at her in surprise. The politician's eyes were twinkling with mirth, and the sight threw her off for a moment, so different was it from the woman's normal stoic and hard-ass demeanor.

"What's up with you? You take happy pills today or something?"

"I'm sorry, it's just… It's just I can't believe that the fate of humanity currently rests on the poor decision making skills of a bunch of pissed off, delinquent teenagers! I can't fathom what chain of decision making led Jaha to decide that this was the best way to save the Ark."

"Oh, and like your crazy plan to send a radio down to the planet in a hundred year old escape pod is any better?" Raven scoffed, pleased when her barb struck home and made Anya scowl.

"This 'crazy plan', such as it is, was only created because we quite literally have no other options… It's hardly an equivalent situation. And besides," she added, "our plan isn't crazy, because I have the best engineer and the best mechanic still alive in the solar system working on it."

"Damn right, best mechanic in the solar system… I happen to specialize in crazy," Raven told her smugly, slightly flattered by the compliment despite herself. For as much as Anya insulted her on a daily basis, she shouldn't be so eager to receive praise from her… And yet, she couldn't deny that she secretly wanted the older woman's recognition and praise.

Oh no… here come my mother issues again. Thanks a lot alcoholic, negligent, abusive mom that barely raised me! I sure do appreciate all that free baggage you left me!

"I'll talk to the medical team and bring up Raven's hypothesis about the kids taking off the medical bracelets… Maybe that will give you the leverage you need to stall the Council on the population reduction for a little longer. If you can buy us a week or two, we might be able to get this pod fit for launch before they can go forward," Sinclair said.

"It's worth a try," Anya agreed, "Though I sincerely doubt it will make a huge difference. Kane has been secretly working against the Chancellor, talking to all of the Council members on the side, and he's got them riled up and scared half to death. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that I know we can get this radio down there and get some real answers soon, I would probably be voting in favor of an immediate population reduction myself."

"Well, let's stop wasting time and get back to work, then," Raven said, a renewed sense of urgency filling her. She had been so focused on Finn these past few days, that she had almost started to forget that the entire fate of the Ark might rest on this as well.

"The sooner I get this piece of crap fixed, the sooner I get to see Finn… I think we can have this thing flying by next week if we don't find any other major problems."

"Yes, and the sooner we talk to Lexa, the better," Sinclair added absentmindedly, sharing a glance with Anya, "It's already been almost five days."

"Lexa? Who is that?"

Raven didn't miss the annoyed glare Anya cast in Sinclair's direction, or the look of chagrin that fell across the man's face. She looked back and forth between the two of them, intrigued by the nonverbal signals passing between them.

"She was my assistant. She's on the surface as well," Anya explained finally, "Or, at least, we think she is… It appears as though she stowed away on the ship."

Ah, so this isn't just about saving the Ark after all… If Lexa was her assistant, she must have been someone she trusted. Anya has just as much of a personal stake in this mission as I do.

"Why would she stow away on the dropship? Did she find out it was going to the surface somehow?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Anya growled, a dangerous glint in her eye. "That damn radio better work when it gets to the surface."

"Oh, don't worry about that… I could assemble that radio in my sleep."

Both Anya and Sinclair frowned at this, turning to look at her in unison.

"How does that matter? You're not going down with the pod, Raven," Sinclair said. "Monty will be able to assemble the radio just fine on his own. You're needed here on the Ark."

"Like hell I'm not going!" Raven retorted, taking an angry step towards them.

Seriously? They honestly think I would go through all this, put myself at risk like this for Finn, and then not go down to the surface to be with him? Just let them try to stop me!

"Raven…" Anya started, but she didn't let her finish whatever argument she was about to make.

"Look, I'm fixing your stupid escape pod, and I'll put together your damn radio too, but if you think I'm going to just do whatever you want me to, and risk my life doing it, and then not go down to the surface to join Finn, then you're out of your damn mind! You don't want me to go down in the pod? Fine. Then you can just fix it without me!... Oh, wait, I forgot, you can't!"

Raven was shouting by the time she finished, her hands clenched into angry fists at her sides. Sinclair looked stunned by her outburst, but Anya had a small smile on her lips, an almost respectful look in her eyes. There was a long pause as the Ark's Chief Engineer and the Polaris Station Representative regarded the young woman in silence, then Anya nodded once in acquiescence, just the slightest dip of her head.

"Very well, Raven, if that's what is required for you to continue to help us… Your skills will be missed on the Ark, but perhaps it is best that you be there to help the kids on the ground."

The young mechanic felt a wash of relief run through her, swiftly carrying her anger away with it. She reached up with one hand to clutch the bird pendant hanging from her neck, the one that Finn had made for her. Anya paused, seeming to consider something, then continued.

"I can't promise you that you will survive the trip, or even survive for long on the surface. I hope you know what you are volunteering for, Raven… And for your sake, I hope this boyfriend of yours is worth it."

The Councilwoman left shortly after, and Raven and Sinclair got back to work, now even more determined than before to accomplish the nearly impossible.

Just stay alive down there, Finn… I'll be there soon.

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Author's Note:

Aden… Why you making me so sad suddenly? I just want Lexa and Aden together forever. I'm soooo glad I wrote him into this fic as a main character. As the author, can I officially adopt him, or is that weird?

Raven and Anya… Anya and Raven… Anya and Kane? Why do I always write Anya as kind of intimidating, but at the same time low-key flirting with everyone she talks to? Is anyone picking up on this, or is it just in my head? Why does a sexually aggressive Anya with a so-far unknown preference seem kinda hot? Like, do we think she is into girls, or guys, or both? Hmmm…

I've got questions, damnit!

-FlyUpInSky