Guess whos back, back again? After a brief (okay, very long) hiatus I'm starting to pick up this story again. I'm rewatching the show and getting myself reaquainted with all of our favorite characters.
Please review, message, comment, smoke signal me if you're still reading this. If ya'll have abandoned it as well, maybe I will move on to something else. But I am quite fond of the characters so far so we'll see...
"Call it Unity Juice, who's thirsty!" Jasper yelled as he emerged from a tent carrying a vat of … well, something. I sighed from my perch on low hanging branch with a sudden realization that I was surrounded by a group of kids. A group of kids armed with guns, filled with fear and now some sort of back-tent alcohol. I listened as Counselor Jaha gave what I was sure he thought, a magnanimous speech glorifying arc history and just wished for the day to pass faster.
"Go the back way," I called over to Octavia as she moved forward towards the group. She paused and glanced back at me before following my gaze to the exit further away from the excited crowd. Her secret meetings with Lincoln were becoming more and more frequent and less and less secret. But who was I to judge.
"And take this," I added, before tossing her an extra knife I had borrowed from one of the kids. Lincoln was no threat to her, but who was to say Lincoln would be the first one she would meet along the way.
"I already have one," she quipped, adding it to her belt nonetheless.
"Good, well now you have two," I replied, turning my attention back towards the celebration. Jaha was announcing the upcoming departure of more drop ships, with guards and supplies - the thought made me uneasy. The peace talks had to go well tomorrow there was no time for renegotiation if it didn't. Not that Anya or the others would give them a second chance anyways.
"Best Unity Day ever," Finn said sarcastically as he walked up to me a few minutes after Octavia disappeared. I shot him a clearly not amused look and he laughed.
"Yeah, I thought it was ridiculous too when I heard Bellamay say it earlier," he explained. "You know you could grab a cup if you want, you can let your guard down with us."
I turned to look at him, his eyes truthful and naive. I just shook my head. If I had learned anything so far, it was that you can't let your guard down ever, not on Earth.
"We're not your enemy Cole," he sighed as I continued to stare past him.
"No, you're not," I conceded. "Not yet."
"We don't have to be ever," he said moving to stand in front of me. "There doesn't have to be any fighting."
Wherever the arc had found Finn, I wish they would send more of him. With Bellamy itching for blood, Raven stockpiling ammo behind closed tent flaps, and the rest of the group's hostility the prospect for peace was looking dim.
"I hope so Finn, I hope so," I responded hopping down from the branch. I moved quietly through the drinking mass, with all this noise I just needed to be somewhere quiet.
I nudged a sleeping Clark with my foot. She groaned and looked up groggily, she squinted as she struggled to push herself up off the ground. It was still dark outside, I knew it would take a minute for her to get acclimated and to shake the effects of the alcohol off from the night before.
"How about we go for that walk?" I asked as recognition sparked in her eyes. She groaned and pushed herself up to stand. "I'll meet you outside."
I made my way to the front gate to find more than just Clark waiting for me. Finn, Octavia, Jasper, Raven, and Bellamy were all waiting as well, the latter bunch armed with weapons. Already starting off strong I see.
"Thought you had decided that you wanted to negotiate for peace?" I asked looking them over. "This looks more like a declaration of war."
"We need to prepared," Bellamy answered, with no attempt to hide his hostility. "We can't trust them."
"You're not exactly giving them a reason to trust you either," I quipped.
"So their leader is just going to walk in by herself, no weapons no backup?" Raven asked, her contempt equally as clear.
I sighed, seeing that I wasn't going to win this battle. Anya wouldn't be coming alone, or unarmed I knew. But I had hoped to ease the tension somehow.
"Fine," I conceded. "But once we get to the bridge you need to hang back. If they see you armed and waiting there will be no peace talks. Stay in the tree line, keep your weapons down and we can all go home when the sun goes down."
"So you've decided to stay then?" Finn asked, voice kind and hopeful. I didn't respond, but just moved forward towards the north where I knew the bridge crossed. He misunderstood my definition of 'home.' It wasn't here, and it certainly wasn't with these 100. Not anymore.
The trek through the forest wasn't long, and perhaps a little too close to the group's base if I thought about it. But I was trying not to. As the sun lit up the sky the bridge was suddenly upon us. I paused in the tree line, taking in everything before me. We would have to be the first to announce ourselves, and even though the place looked abandoned, I knew better. They forest people would have already been set up for hours, waiting and ready. I briefly wondered if Jaxon, Penn, or Indra would be among them but pushed the thought aside. I couldn't let my guard down yet.
"You stay," I said my voice leaving no room for argument this time, "you can come with me."
Octavia, Clarke and Finn moved forward towards me. I glanced once more at the others tasked with staying hidden - hoping for one last time that they wouldn't do anything stupid. Fingers crossed, I thought to myself.
We stopped a quarter of the way onto the bridge, Clarke would have to make the journey the rest of the way herself. But until then we waited, the sounds of the quiet forest echoing around us.
"Someone is coming," Finn whispered, gathering our attention on the figure running towards us.
That wouldn't be Anya, I thought to myself. Running into a meeting solo wasn't exactly intimidating or inspiring. I head Octavia mutter Lincoln's name as his shape took form, moving to embrace him. My chest tightened for a moment, they barely knew each other but were allowed such openness. I had spent months with the clan and had barely been able to say goodbye to Jaxon in public.
It's not the same I reminded myself. It was two different worlds clashing.
The sound of horse's hooves against the bridge brought me out of my reflection. Three riders, dressed in black, their bodies painted and armed. They had come prepared too - no surprise. As Anya stepped from her horse I noticed Clarke take a step back. I placed my hand on her shoulder just as Finn reached to grab her hand.
"Don't back up, don't back down," I whispered to her. No weakness could be allowed now, not if Anya was going to take Clarke seriously as a leader. She needed to be strong and unbreakable, or at least fake it. Sure enough I heard her take a deep breath and move forward towards the center of the bridge. Here goes everything.
Their talk looked hostile, though I never expected this to be easy. I could only pick up a few words here and there scattered on the wind, so I gave up trying to follow their conversation. It was out of my hands. Instead I scanned the woods, spotting warriors scattered in the trees alert but not poised to attack.
And then everything shifted. I could hear Jasper and Bellamy yelling from behind me, emerging from the trees with their guns drawn. I screamed for them to stop, but it made no difference. As quickly as the gunfire started, arrows buzzed through the sky. Shit.
I crouched towards the ground, seeing the others on the bridge do the same. We needed to move. I would be too easily confused with Clarkes group, I couldn't count on my safety yet. My eyes widened as I watched a bullet graze Anya's arm, double shit. There goes any hopes for peace ever. I watched as the leader got back onto her horse and rode back to the safety of the clan, her warriors following her retreat.
"Lincoln your hit!" Octavia's screech turned my attention. An arrow had lodged itself in his lower ribs, just an inch or so to low to be fatal.
"It's just a scratch," I heard him reply in the characteristic stubborn forest-clan manner. The group started to move back into the safety of the trees but I halted. Where did I go from here?
"Don't even think about it," Bellamy hissed as he grabbed my arm. "You're staying with us, this setup was your fault."
I rounded on him, no longer caring that we were still out in the open undoubtedly being watched by the lingering clan warriors.
"My fault?" I screamed, "I gave you every opportunity for peace. For survival. Told you exactly what you had to do to make it through this and you couldn't even just stand in the trees and behave yourselves! You have no one but yourselves to blame for what comes next."
"And what is that grounder?" he hissed back at me.
"War." I answered, finding myself not phased at all by his reference.
"She's right," Finn added, his voice seeping with anger as well. Though not with me, but with Bellamy.
"This isn't the time or the place," Clarke insisted, pulling Finn by his hand towards the trees. "Leave them, we need to get back to camp."
Octavia was the last to leave the bridge, being pulled away from Lincoln forcefully by her brother. With a knowing glance her way, I turned and moved to get a closer look at Lincoln's wound.
"Move your hand," I commanded, taking note of the amount of blood that had soaked his shirt.
"It's fine," he growled back, keeping his hand clasped tight around the arrow shaft.
"Yeah, it looks just fine with the blood gushing out," I replied, waiting for him to do as I had asked. When he didn't I just sighed loudly and turned from him. The quiet green forest I had been admiring not so long ago was now scattered with blood and death. That's all Earth is.
"We need to go back, try to explain and hope the council doesn't do something rash," Lincoln reasoned. I sighed louder.
"They aren't going to do anything rash," I answered. "They are going to methodically and systematically destroy and kill every single sky person in that camp and you know it. This was their best change…. This was their only chance."
"We still need to go back," he breathed, clutching the arrow a little tighter before snapping it apart. "We have to try."
I wanted to scream, and a part of me wanted to cry at how frustrated I felt. All that work and all that built up hope for nothing. I settled for clenching my hands and instead let my nails dig into my palms as I walked forward towards the clan.
"Best fucking Unity Day ever."
Short, but to the point. A nice reintroduction to the story, and getting Cole back where she belongs - amidst her 'grounders.'
I will be updating again soon this week. Again: Please review, message, comment, smoke signal me if you're still reading this.