Bellamy
Stopping his horse at the top of a ridge, Bellamy stared out across the darkened valley. He heard Octavia's sharp intake of breath behind to him.
"Is that-"
"-electricity," he finished for her, hardly believing it himself.
Below them, following the channel of a river that looked manmade, it was so straight, were the glittering lights of a small city or large town. It was obvious that it wasn't the light of a hundred fires they were seeing, but actual electric lights, a hazy glow across the whole expanse of buildings.
"Come," Lia said, starting her horse on the descent down toward the valley. "We will reach it by sunrise."
"It looks no different now than it did when I was a girl," Echo said softly as she edged her horse up beside the Blakes. He looked over at her, and she smiled a little. "We are nearly done- finally. We will be to Tawa by tomorrow. I will be home, and Clarke will be with you again. "
Her words gave him such a swell of hope that a grin spread over his face. "Then what are we waiting for?"
"Hey, O," Bellamy said, reaching for her hand and giving it a squeeze, feeling much lighter than he had in days. "Are you excited about the train?"
"Yeah," she said, and he was glad to hear a smile in her voice. She sighed and added, "I just wish Lincoln could see it too."
"He will," Echo spoke up gently. Bellamy watched as Echo touched her fingertips to her own chest, and he knew she was signaling to Octavia, reminding her of the cord hanging around her neck, and the pouch that held Lincoln's ashes. He saw Echo smiling at his sister, and Bellamy was glad that Octavia had another friend.
He supposed Echo was, by now, his friend too, but he had so few of those, and had lost so many of the ones he had made, that it seemed strange to even think it. Ironically, though he'd always had run of the Ark and interacted with many people every day, it was his sheltered little sister, practically alone for the first sixteen years of her life, who made friends most easily between the two of them. He was glad of it.
It was strange to imagine that Echo would soon be gone. She had become so integral to this journey, he'd forgotten that although she was acting as their guide, her true reasons for being with them was so that she could go home.
He let out a sigh and urged his and Octavia's horse forward, Echo following after. Lexa was bound and gagged on the fourth horse, which was tied by a length of rope to Echo's, and the commander had been sedated again for good measure. They had to go single file because the ridge was rocky, but they picked their way down carefully. There were only a few more hours until sunrise, and then they would leave their horses behind to travel the final leg of their long journey north.
At the bottom of the hill, the ground leveled out and they could see the light from the city in the distance. It had been strange enough getting used to the electric lights of Camp Jaha after so long with only firelight at the dropship, but now to see a Grounder city alight with real electricity, it was almost unbelievable.
As they neared the town they could make out more detail. Bellamy saw the source of their power, a plant that sat quietly at one end of town, spewing white smoke into the sky, and he wondered how old it was, and what other vestiges of industry might survive across the world. Even the houses and other buildings were different than those in tonDC; instead of being made out of what materials people could salvage from the forest, the people of Polis had repaired existing infrastructure. It gave a sense that the bombs had dropped far enough away from here that most of the existing structures, at least, had been left intact.
"Where's the train?" Octavia asked, and Bellamy could hear in her voice that she was, indeed, eager to see it.
"On the west side of town," Lia answered over her shoulder as she turned her horse around to face them. "Many travellers pass through Polis, so we should not draw undue attention, but still you must be careful and heed any warnings that I give you. Is that understood?"
They all nodded, and Lia seemed satisfied with their agreement. "She will be our biggest problem," she said, sliding off her horse to the ground and nodding her head toward Lexa. "No one can recognise her."
"Even if they don't recognise her, they might think it's weird that she's passed out and tied to her horse," Octavia said dryly. Lia gave her a sharp look as she passed their horse, and Bellamy applied light pressure to his sister's hand to remind her to behave. He knew she hated it, but he also knew that it was what was going to keep her alive.
Everyone dismounted from their horses, and Bellamy saw an expression of apprehension on Echo's face that he knew must match his own. The three of them watched as Lia started to untie the ropes that bound Lexa.
"Help me," Lia said over her shoulder to Bellamy. He stepped forward and did as she asked, loosening the bindings around Lexa's arms, legs, thighs, and stomach, separating her from the irritated horse. He eased her into his arms, surprised again at just how little she was as he eased her onto the ground. A gentle breeze fluttered the tuft of the blue feather in between two fingers on her left hand.
Lia went back to her saddlebags and she returned with an armful of cloths. "Sit her up and help me," she said to Bellamy. Again, he obeyed her. He held Lexa's unconscious body against his chest and shifted her around to make it easier for Lia to dress her up like a strange, comatose doll. He could feel Lexa's cheek pressed against him, but he couldn't feel any life in her. He wondered just how long someone could survive in that state. Lia dressed Lexa in a long, shapeless dress that covered her from chin to toe, and then she reached over and plucked the dart from her neck.
A moment later, Lexa came to with a jolt and she brought her hands up, pounding them against Bellamy's chest.
"Hey, hey, it's just me, I'm not going to hurt you," he assured her, but she continued to struggle so he let her go. She backed away from him on her hands, glaring.
Her eyes darted around as she took in everything- Lia, Bellamy, Octavia, Echo, and the city. "We have reached Polis," she said, her voice a growl. Turning her gaze on Octavia she said, "This is your last chance to do the right thing. Return me to my people, and I will make you Trikru again."
Bellamy glanced at his sister and saw her swallow, saw the uncertainty and hesitation flash through her eyes, and he felt it mirrored in his own, but- very subtly- he shook his head at her. Lia would kill them all if they went against her now, he was sure of that.
"No one here will help you," Lia said, setting down bowls of food and water. "Eat and drink."
Lexa shot out with her hand and toppled the bowl of water, spilling its contents into the earth. "Get. Away," she bit out, her blue eyes full of fury.
"Do not make me force-feed you," Lia snapped back. She brought out the clay cistern and refilled the bowl of water but Lexa looked like she was ready to topple it again.
"Wait," Bellamy said, holding out a hand to Lexa. He looked at Lia and added, "Look, just- let me do this, okay? It'll go smoother."
"Very well," the child said, still annoyed. "But hurry- I am eager for this to be finished." She walked back to her horse, rummaging around in her saddlebags.
"You need to eat," Bellamy told Lexa. "And drink water. Those darts take a lot out of you."
"What you are doing is wrong," the commander snapped. Bellamy wondered if he was imagining it, but he was sure he heard the tiniest hint of fear now, under her anger. "Do you know you are bringing me to my death?" she asked, looking at Octavia again. "The queen will kill me."
"O… just give us a minute, will you?" he asked. He could see the uncertainty growing in his sister's eyes and he didn't want Lia to pick up on it. "Echo?" He raised his eyebrows at her, silently asking her to go with Octavia.
The two women moved away, Octavia looking nervously over her shoulder at him as she walked with Echo to get some food and water for themselves. Bellamy turned his attention back to Lexa. He watched her for a moment, not saying anything, not sure what to say.
"Please eat," he said finally. "And drink. You need your strength for whatever's coming next."
"I know what's coming next," she said, though to his relief she took a drink and started picking at the food. "There is no love lost between myself and Elody of the Ice Nation. If you carry me to her, then you carry me to my death."
"For what it's worth, I didn't know it was you," Bellamy said softly. "Lia made us promise to collect a bounty for the queen, in exchange for letting us go after Octavia. She'd been taken by another mountain."
"Another mountain?" Lexa repeated, sounding as shocked and doubtful as Bellamy had been when Lincoln first mentioned it.
"I know it sounds crazy, but believe me- it's true."
"There is no larger crime than the one you are committing," Lexa warned him. "You are killing the Commander of the Coalition, and when it is discovered that you have done this, you will feel the pain of a thousand deaths. You, Echo, and your sister."
Bellamy's jaw tightened as she threatened them. He wanted to say so many things- that she was wrong, that the queen just wanted to talk, that she wasn't going to be killed, and that even if she was, no one would ever know they'd had a hand in it. But he didn't know if any of that was true or not.
"I had no choice," he said finally. "I don't want you to die… but I couldn't let Octavia die either. This was the price."
"So you would start a war over one girl?" Lexa demanded.
Bellamy's eyes flickered to Octavia and he nodded. "Over that girl? Yeah. And over Clarke too."
"You are a fool," she growled. "And now you follow that thing into Polis for what- Clarke? And what if Clarke is already dead? What if all that waits for you in that place is a trap?"
"Then I guess I'll die too," he answered, softly. He shook his head. "She has to be alive. All this… it has to be for something."
"You Sky People," Lexa spat. "Always concerned with fairness and justice, believing that if you are good, you will be rewarded, and that the worth of one person you love is higher than that of a thousand strangers. Where did this absurd notion come from? What is wrong with you?"
"What about that woman you told me about- the one you loved?" he snapped, losing his temper a bit in the face of all her insults. "The one the Ice Nation took- wouldn't you have saved her, if you had a chance?"
"No," Lexa seethed. "Not if the price was war and death for countless others. I have lost family and lovers. I have lost more than you, and yet I would still make the same decisions that I have, even knowing all that I know now. The lives of the many are worth more than the lives of the few. It may pain you to leave someone you love behind to die, but if it means saving a hundred others, a thousand others, generations of others, does it not make sense to walk away?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked her, frowning. "Are you talking about Clarke?" Lexa dropped her eyes to the ground and she just sat there, glaring at the earth. "You are, aren't you?" Bellamy asked.
He thought back to when she'd come to Camp Jaha, weeks ago, to tell him that Clarke had been taken. She had implied, then, that the queen had wanted Clarke because she believed that she was important to Lexa, that Lexa loved her.
"What is it between you and Clarke?" he asked, as suddenly it dawned on him that he might already know the answer.
Lexa met his eyes. He could see that she was afraid, and it reminded him how young she really was, how harsh this world had to be. He couldn't imagine the life she'd led- not really. Could he really blame her for her ruthlessness?
"Nothing," she spat, but he could hear the pain in her voice as she said it. "There is nothing between the living and the dead."
"Look," he said gently, keeping her eyes. "If you love her, then you should understand why I'm doing these things. If there was another way- believe me- I'd take it."
"You're a liar," she hissed. "When you refused to give Finn over to die, even knowing that it would save your entire camp, I had thought you naïve. But now I see that you are something far worse- you would bring war down on twelve clans of people just to save the lives of a handful, and you see that as a virtue."
"Not everyone can be the noble leader, Lexa," he said softly. "Not everyone is a hero. Some of us just want to keep our families alive." When he said that he didn't just mean Octavia, he meant Clarke too, and even the rest of the hundred, or what was left of them- they had all become his family here on the ground.
"If I die, my successor will learn of your treachery," she warned him. "You will not be able to run fast enough to escape the consequences of the things you are doing here tonight."
Lia appeared at Bellamy's elbow and she looked up at him, holding out a wad of cloth. He took it, unrolled the gag and a headscarf that would cover everything but Lexa's eyes. He nodded to Lia, and then he advanced on the commander.
"Don't struggle," he warned her softly. "You know what she can do."
"Yours is the most selfish culture I have ever known," she growled at him, but she stayed still as he approached her. "You should be wiped from the Earth."
Bellamy shook his head as he looked at her sadly. "Somebody already tried," he told her, slipping the gag gently between her teeth and tying it tight. "That's the only reason you exist."