The title should be "Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better" but FF doesn't allow so many words.
It is a quote by Albert Camus, a French novelist, essayist, playwright, and Nobel Prize winner.
Octavia, Clarke, and Wells were resting next to their tents when they heard people shouting. At first the blonde become alarmed, did the grounders decided to show themselves? But when clapping and whistles reverberated through the almost empty fields she let herself relax, whatever it was couldn't be dangerous.
"Should we check on the others?"
Clarke smiled at the black boy, even since they were children Wells tended to put others before himself, even people who would spat on him if they had the opportunity to do so.
"It's probably a party". Octavia didn't really want to move from her spot, she was comfortable and wanted to take a nap before going to explore the woods later. She was about to protest when she caught Clarke's concerned expression.
"Fine, fine, let's check on those idiots"
Clarke heard her mumbled something like "been responsible sucks" and couldn't help but let out a belly laugh that made the other two turn to look at her.
"It sucks but someone gotta make sure they don't do anything stupid". After catching Octavia's and Well's mirroring smirks she hastily added "Well… too stupid anyway".
The first thing they saw was people around a bonfire, cheering and clapping enthusiastically. As they all came closer to it, they were able to see many bracelets melting and the crowd becoming wilder any time another one was added to the fire.
"Who's next?" Bellamy yelled to the other kids and they cheered him like he was a God, Clarke shook her head in displeasure; Bellamy was not a bad man per se but the power-trip of commandeering the delinquents definitely went over his head and made him even more arrogant than usual. He had a lot of potential and could be a formidable ally but she needed him to grow-up and start thinking about the future.
She had to stop the spectacle of wristband removal; their lives literally depended on it.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Clarke yelled, effectively silencing the euphoric teenagers.
Mbege moved towards the blonde and Octavia was ready to step in but Bellamy stopped him with a harsh glare. The warning in his eyes was clear, touch my sister and it will be the last thing you do.
"We're liberating ourselves. What does it look like, princess?" he asked with a sneer on his face.
"Honestly it looks like you're trying to get ourselves killed. Our communication system is dead and these wristbands are all we've got. If you take them off the Ark is going to think the earth is still poisonous and that is not safe to come down"
"Why would we want them to come down?. We can take care of ourselves, can't we?" Bellamy said to the crowd and everyone agreed and cheered with what he said.
"Are you really that stupid?!". Clarke inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself; teenagers, fucking idiotic teenagers. She had forgotten how stupid, rebellious, and careless they all had been back at the start, ready to embrace any act of defiance towards the Ark, without measuring the consequences of doing so.
"Those aren't just our friends and our parents up there. They're our engineers, farmers, and doctors. We won't survive here on our own and besides, how could you not want the rest of our people to join us?"
"I have no one up there, my people are already down here with me. The Ark locked us up; they killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Why would I want them here?".
Clarke decided to ignore him for the time been and instead spoke to the crowd "How many of you here have parents or someone you care about up there? Raise your hand." She said firmly and almost all of the delinquents raised their hands.
"Well to all you, congratulations!. Every time you take off a wristband you are signing their death sentence".
The cheering stopped abruptly; confusion, shock, and fear-filled the faces of all the people present.
"Don't listen to her!. She is just trying to scare you all in compliance!. Of course, she wants the Ark to come down; she is one of the privileged. If they come down, she will have it good. How many of you can say the same?" Bellamy made a dramatic pause and let his words linger. No one could ever accuse him of not knowing how to keep his audience enraptured with his words.
"We can take care of ourselves!. Those bracelets mean they still control us so take them off!. We are not their prisoners anymore!"
"Haven't any of you wondered why they send us down after 97 years? What changed for the council to make such an extreme decision?"
Finally, Monroe took the bait and tried to answer Clarke's question "Who cares? I am just glad they did. We were rotting in a cell, counting the days to see if they would pardon us or not, and now we are free to roam in the forest or to swim on a lake while they are trapped in a metal box"
"They were never going to pardon you Zoe or anyone else for that matter"
Clarke's conviction made everyone do a double-take; her words had such a harsh finality to them that sent shivers down everyone's spines.
"Why would you say that? We are all under 18, we still had a chance!" It was Harper this time; her disbelieving face was mirrored in all the other delinquents. They might have embraced Bellamy's rebellion to spite the Ark but deep-down they wanted to believe that had they stayed they would have been pardoned. Been in the earth had been an amazing adventure so far, full of wonder and awe, but even if they didn't voice it out loud they missed the Ark; the security, the structure, their friends and family, it's all they had known their whole life.
"The never planned to pardon any of us because the Ark is dying. The Council is desperate, the air filtering system is failing and resources are almost nonexistent".
Now the crowd was whispering, wary of the ominous truth her revelation held. Clarke pressed on, knowing that they needed to know exactly what was happening, she needed to get their support and she needed it fast. They had to be a cohesive team if they wanted any chance to survive when grounders made themselves known.
She hadn't seen any grounders yet but the blonde knew Lexa had to be already aware of their presence in her lands and was just bidding her time to ascertain if they were enemies she needed to wipe out or if they could be useful allies.
"With the current population level, there are roughly 3 months left of life support, maybe four if they are lucky"
"How do you know that princess?" Just like the last time, it was Finn who asked the question, suspiciousness and disbelief tainted his words.
"My father is the engineer who discovered the flaw. The council floated him because he wanted to announce it publicly. He believed everyone had the right to know".
She let the words sink in before continuing "I accidentally overheard a conversation between my parents and wanted to help my father spread the message. My mother asked me to keep quiet and thought that her warning would be enough but the council deemed my presence as undesirable and high-risk so they imprisoned me in solitary". The bitterness in her voice was not missed by her captive audience.
"The council considered us expendable and abandoned us to our luck because even if we all perished; at least they brought themselves time".
She was on a roll and wouldn't stop until she got her point across. "So you see, every time you take that wristband, you're killing one of them. If the council believes the earth is poisonous they won't try to come down and if you stop them from doing that, you are the ones signing everyone's death sentence". A brief flick of hurt appeared in her eyes but she vanishes it instantly, this was not the time to deal with her memories of Abby and all the pain and sorrow attached to it.
"Sending us down here bought them time to find a solution but when that time is up, who do you think will be the first ones to be considered expendable? The council and high-ranking members or the working people? Your people?.
"If adults come they will try to impose their rules and we will be under their thumbs again." Bellamy realized Clarke's speech had convinced almost everyone and while he believed what she said he simply couldn't allow the Ark to come down. Reminding them of the council's cruelty seemed like a cheap shot but after what he had done to Jaha they would definitely execute him, no questions asked.
"We can be better than the adults. They think you as useless delinquents, show them you can be more than what they think you are or can be. We all have a story of loss and pain but together we can have a better future; a future where a father doesn't have to be killed for stealing an extra ration for his daughter, where a mother can get medicine for her sick son without fearing for her life while doing so. We can have a brighter future with families full of children's laughter and joy. Their future, our future, is on our hands and we need to rise to the challenge"
Everyone cheered for her and instantly agreed with what she was saying. When the deafening clapping finally subdue Clarke kept on speaking.
"If they don't pardon us like they promised, all of us regardless of our crime, then we will simply leave. I know you fear been subjugated by the Ark council if they came down but we don't have to live by their rules, the earth is certainly big enough for everyone but first, we need to save them, we need to give them a chance."
The blonde could see she was swaying them but she added a parting shot that all but guaranteed their favor.
"If you take your wristbands off, can you live knowing you are the reason your parents and your friends suffocated when you could have done something?".
After saying her piece she turned around and escorted her friends back to their tents as everyone watched them walk away.
- xxx -
Behind some tall bushes Tris attentively watched the camp; she had barely slept since the metal box fall from the sky but a quick sniff of the leather pouch hanging from her neck left her invigorated enough to resume her surveillance. She reminded herself to thank Teok, her tribe healer, for giving it to her before her assignment.
Her mentor had given her the task of keeping an eye on the intruders and the young woman was committed to doing it to the best of her abilities, if that meant surviving a few days with little sleep and meager rations of food and water, so be it. Tris was determined to not disappoint Anya, having been personally chosen as a second by the impressive General had been a great honor and she would do everything in her power to ensure Anya never regretted her decision.
Many other young warriors in her platoon had taunted her for getting such a dull and useless assignment, why not just attack and kill the intruders? They didn't have weapons and seemed more preoccupied with fighting among each other than keeping an eye on possible threats but their derisive sneers and mocking had not deterred the young woman in the slightest, as a matter of fact, it seemed to fuel her, even more, to be as diligent as possible.
Tris had always been able to see the bigger picture, something her mentor had always praised her for, while for the others it might seem a way of time to devote time watching such a reduced group of people, she knew it was essential to familiarize oneself with a possible enemy before striking; they might have hidden abilities or technology that could prove fatal if ignored. The Maunon were irrefutable proof of that statement, the people in the mountains would have easily perished if engaged in one-on-one battles but their advanced technology allows them to create havoc and easily spread fear among the tribes without ever leaving the safe confinement of their bunker.
The first days she had been really careful to not alert them of her presence but quickly realized there was no real need to cover her tracks, no matter how close she got to them they never sensed her presence or even notice she had been there. At first, she had been wary of their carelessness, thinking it was a façade to make her falsely believe she was safe but as the days progressed she realized that they weren't pretending, they simply behaved like goufa instead of the young adults they seemed to be. They focused very little on their survival; instead, they spent all their time dancing around the fire, fighting among each other, and having sex without other care in the world.