So, next chapter. These chapters will be slow in coming as I'm working on others stories more than this one. Bear with me and it will get finished - sometime. Samdagger.
Chapter 5
"So what does this seaweed look like?" Clarke asked as she stood by the river. The two boys stood near it as well, looking for any signs of the seaweed.
"Like that," Wells said, pointing to some red blurs under the water. "Hey that thing that bit Octavia, how big was it?" Wells asked, fearfully.
"Big," Finn replied, taking off his pack. "We could rig this into some kind of a net. Find something to lower it into the water," Finn said, opening the pack. He stared at the river as Clarke moved past him and waded into the water.
"Or we could just do that," Finn said as he watched Clarke. Clarke waded in waist deep and pulled out a large bundle of the seaweed. Clarke had just waded out of the water when they heard birds squawking. They looked around and saw a massive flock of assorted birds all flying away in a group. The birds headed towards the trio and they had to duck as the birds swooped down and then past them.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Abby gasped in shock as she watched it happen. Around the Ark, the work ground to a halt as they, too, watched another struggle on the ground.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"Let's get out of here," Wells said. They stuffed the seaweed into Finn's pack. They heard a horn bellowing in the distance.
"Grounders?" Clarke asked, scared.
"It could be a war cry," Wells said.
"Or a warning," Finn replied, hoisting the bag strap onto his shoulder. Another bellow was heard and they turned to see a large yellow fog heading their way.
"What the hell is that?" Finn asked in awe. Clarke knew it was dangerous.
"Run, RUN!" she said and they all began running away from the fog. They all ran as fast as they could. Finn was in the lead and led them towards the vehicle. The fog was gaining on them and he knew they'd never make it back to the camp in time.
"Clarke, run!" he yelled at her. Wells brought up the rear. Finn pulled up the door to the truck. Clarke dropped into it and then Wells and finally Finn did, pulling the door with him.
"It's getting inside," Clarke said.
"Seal any openings," Finn said, coughing. They took off their jackets and used bits of cloth found in the truck to stuff into the cracks where the fog was getting in.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"Come on, come on, seal those holes," Abby whispered. The rest of the Ark held its breath as Bellamy and the others ran through the woods, avoiding the fog.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"Come on, there are caves this way!" Bellamy said. He hauled Charlotte with him and Atom ran to catch up but he fell and the fog was on him. Bellamy ran back and pulled him clear of the fog and helped him into the cave Charlotte was already in. He dragged Atom to the back and he and Charlotte began removing Atom's burning clothes.
"Water!" Charlotte said. "If we douse him with water, it may help." Bellamy nodded and looked around. He heard dripping from further into the cave and ran to see if there was a water source.
He ran back and dragged a nearly naked Atom to the small pool of water and threw him into it. Atom yelled in agony, but Bellamy and Charlotte used their hands to scoop the water over him, covering as much as they could.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"It's the only thing they could do to try to save him," Abby said, giving the screen a cursory glance. She was more concerned with her daughter.
"Will it be enough?" Kane asked. Abby shrugged her shoulders and then nodded.
"I hope so."
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
The dropship was filling up with coughing kids. Octavia and Monty look on in confusion.
"What's going on?" Monty asked.
"The air got thick. Everybody's skin started burning!" the girl choked out.
"Monty, my brother's out there!" Octavia said, scared for her brother.
"He'll be fine. We'll all be fine," Monty said too quickly. He was trying to calm the others but he was terrified.
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
"It's still out there," Finn said, looking through the window of the door.
"Look, we should just make a run for it," Clarke said. "Jasper can't wait much longer."
"Us dying in a cloud of acid fog isn't going to help Jasper," Finn said. Finn went to the truck's glove compartment and forced it open. A bottle of booze fell into his hands.
"Is that…?" Clarke asked in amazement.
"Booze," Finn said, equally amazed. "Hooch, rotgut." Finn sat beside Clarke and unscrewed the bottle. He smelled its contents. He then took a swig.
"Well, be careful. Finn, it could be-"
"Whiskey, I think," Finn said with a husky voice from swallowing the unusual drink. "Better than moonshine on Agro Station." He offered the bottle to Wells who refused.
"Alcohol's toxic," he said.
"This is Earth," Finn replied. "Everything's toxic. Plus, it's a time-honoured rite of passage."
"We'll pass," Wells said, including Clarke in that statement. Clarke stared at Wells, unable to believe the audacity to think he had the right to speak for her. She took the bottle from Finn.
"Far be it for me to stand in the way of tradition." Clarke took a drink, swallowed and passed the bottle back to Finn with a little cough.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Up on the Ark, several people in Farm station ran around hiding the evidence of the still they had. It had been a long time since the last one had been found and they didn't want this one to be confiscated because people would die.
"They are as safe as they can be," Jaha said to Abby. She nodded but kept watching Clarke's monitor. Jaha turned to Kane.
"Find that still and destroy it!" Kane nodded and left.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Bellamy was watching over Atom. They'd dragged him out of the pool and got him redressed in wet clothing and he was sleeping. Bellamy went over to Charlotte who was restless in her sleep.
"No!" Charlotte cried out.
"Charlotte, wake up," Bellamy said, shaking her awake.
"I'm sorry," she said in a soft, scared voice.
"Does it happen often?" Bellamy asked, gently. Charlotte looked to the side and sighed. "What are you scared of?"
Charlotte didn't answer.
"You know what? It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you do about it."
"But…I'm asleep," said Charlotte, confused how she could do something when she was dreaming it.
"Fears are fears," Bellamy told her. "Slay your demons when you're awake and they won't be there to get you when you sleep."
"Yeah, but…how?" she asked, still confused.
"You can't afford to be weak. Down here, weakness is death, fear is death." Charlotte stared at him, not knowing what he was talking about. "Let me see that knife I gave you," Bellamy said. Charlotte handed it over.
"Now, when you feel afraid, you hold tight to that knife and you say 'screw you. I'm not afraid'." Charlotte reached out and took the knife back.
"Screw you, I'm not afraid," She said, trying to be brave. Bellamy smiled. Charlotte held the knife tighter. "Screw you, I'm not afraid," she said in a firmer voice. Bellamy patted her on her knee.
"Slay your demon, kid," he said. "Then you'll be able to sleep." Bellamy moved off back towards Atom. Charlotte watched him go, still trying to figure out how to slay her demons.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"That was so the wrong thing to say," Raven said as she turned back to her almost finished pod. She'd watched as Finn and the others found shelter in the truck and then she switched to the camp and saw them using the ship as shelter and then she turned to Bellamy's feed, just in time to see them enter the cave with the unconscious Atom.
"At least he saved a life and didn't leave him there to die," Raven said to herself. She felt that Bellamy was the last person to take advice from but the kid was scared and he seemed like an adult. Raven hoped that whatever she took from the talk, it wasn't to hunt people down. For a kid that small and probably still a preteen, slaying only had one meaning and slaying your demons probably meant killing someone. She just hoped that whoever her demons were, she didn't try to kill them to stop the dreams, it wouldn't do anything but make her a killer.
She only had a few more things to do before it was ready. She hoped she got down there before Finn and Clarke hooked up. The way he watched her and the way she was always in his company had Raven's senses in overdrive. She knew Finn would sleep with Clarke if he got the chance and she knew that Clarke was keeping company with him to irritate Wells. Raven didn't think Clarke knew what was happening between them and hoped she stayed away from him long enough for her to get down and give Finn the ear bashing he deserved.
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"It's been hours. Jasper-" Clarke began.
"Is in good hands," Finn said. "Octavia will take care of him."
"While we're on the subject, why is it that everyone thinks me wanting Jasper to not die is a bad thing? Like I'm such a downer. I can be fun." Finn looks at her, both a little buzzed from the alcohol. "Yeah, you think I'm fun, right?" she asked Finn.
"Oh, yeah, among other things." Finn said.
"You're fun." Wells said. "Remember that time-" Clarke cut him off.
"Remember that time you betrayed me and got my father executed? Yeah, I remember."
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Abby and Jaha winced. Abby didn't tell Clarke she'd done it, she let Wells take the blame. Jaha looked at Abby. They were at the back of the command centre away from the others. They conversed in quiet tones and whispers.
"She's never going to forgive him, is she?"
"Would you? If you thought your best friend betrayed you, what would you think? Would you forgive?"
"We're not talking about the kids are we?" Jaha asked.
"Not really. I came to you in confidence. I hoped you'd talk your best friend out of it, but instead, the Chancellor showed his true colours and panicked and floated my husband - YOUR BEST FRIEND - and my daughter was sent to prison. I trusted you because Jake said I could. Turns out we were both wrong. Seems that friendship is only one way - your way!"
"Abby, I did it for the Ark. I did it to stop the panic that announcement would have caused."
"If you'd spoken to him first and persuaded or even ordered him not to go public with it, there wouldn't have been panic and the best damn engineer this Ark has ever had, would still be around to help solve the problem!"
"Have I lost your friendship too?" Jaha asked softly.
"Damn right you have! I'm on the council, but every other interaction is business only," Abby told him before she left the command centre. Jaha watched her go and sighed. He only had himself to blame, even if he actually blamed Jake. He knew he did the wrong thing for the right reason. There sometimes was never a right choice, just less evil ones.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"Where were we? Fun." Clarke said.
"Yeah," said Finn quietly, subdued by the conversation. All three felt the awkwardness of it.
"Well since you brought it up and I didn't, because I don't want to talk about it. What were you thinking?" Clarke accused Wells. Wells took a few seconds to answer.
"I made a mistake, Clarke." Clarke is dumbfounded.
"'I made a mistake, Clarke,'" she parrots. She shakes her head, on the verge of tears. "Not good enough," she tells him. Clarke decided to dig the knife in deeper.
"You know, I bet you couldn't wait to run to daddy. Tell him everything, so he'd finally believe you were the perfect son he always wanted." Wells lost it.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?!" he shouted at her.
"I want an explanation," Clarke told him. There was silence between them until Wells broke it.
"I can't give you one," he said, turning away. "I thought I could trust him." Clarke sat back.
"Well, I thought I could trust my best friend. Guess we were both wrong."
"I'm still your friend," Wells said.
"No, you're not," Clarke said, almost crying. "If you were my friend you would walk out into that fog and never come back!"
"Okay, how about we just…take it easy," Finn said, trying to calm things down. He took the bottle of Whisky from Clarke's hand as she stared at him.
"I have no idea how to do that," she told him. Wells reached over and took the bottle from Finn, sniffed it and took a drink.
"So are we having fun yet?" Finn asked. All three lapsed into silence.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Abby sat in her quarters and wept. She wept for her daughter who was suffering, she wept for her dead husband and she wept for the betrayal she felt at Jaha's actions. She berated herself for trusting him so much. Maybe Clarke and the kids had it right, never trust an adult unless you know you can. Her generation was so much different to the current one, mainly because of how many of the kids got killed once they turned 18 in the Skybox. When Abby was a teenager, there wasn't a one-crime rule and only the most dangerous and heinous criminals were put in there. She thought that there were only about thirty prisoners in at any one time, maximum. Now that prison had been full to capacity. With them off the Ark, the prison was starting to fill up again. There were currently 11 kids in prison and they only sent them down a week previously.
She made a vow to herself that the next time she saw Clarke, she would come clean about her part in getting Jake floated. She knew Clarke would probably hate her, she was a daddy's girl, even though she followed her mother into medicine. She deserved that. She deserved whatever her daughter dished out because she trusted the wrong person and now, a 17 year old boy, Clarke's best friend, let Clarke think it was he who told Jaha. Abby had been a coward, but once on the ground, she was determined to face the consequences of her actions - no matter what it cost her.
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Command central was full of technicians and scientists trying to pinpoint where the fog came from and what it would do and how fast it would dissipate.
Kane was in one corner, watching the camp. Sergeant Miller was beside him, looking for his son,
"How's Nathan?" Kane asked.
"I'm not sure. He's still alive, but wherever he is, it's pitch black dark. I can't see anything through his eyes and I think he's on his own. I can't hear anyone moving around or talking to him, Sir."
"If he's still alive, it means he's found someplace to wait out the acid fog."
"He was on the hunting party, sir."
"They are resourceful kids. Concentrate on the fact that he's still alive, Miller, that's all you can do."
"Yes, sir," Sergeant Miller said, sighing. Kane and Miller turned back to the screems of the kids in the camp. They could hear Jasper's moans and groans every few seconds.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"That kid's driving me crazy!" one of the delinquents shouted.
"Can't take this much longer," another one said.
"Someone needs to shut that kid up!" said a third.
Murphy listened to the talk and knew he had to do something for his own sanity.
"That's it, I'm ending this!" Murphy turned towards the ladder.
"I heard Bellamy gave him until tomorrow," one of the nearby delinquents said.
"Yeah, well, Bellamy isn't here, is he? The kid's dying anyway. I'm just getting it over with." Monty was scared and he ran to the ladder first and climbed it fast.
"Murphy's going to kill Jasper!" he burst out as soon as his head cleared the hatch. He continued to climb as Octavia ran over. Monty closed the hatch and sat on it. The hatch lifted a few inches as Murphy tried to open it from below. Octavia kicked at Murphy whenever he found a handhold on the deck.
"The locks on the other side!" Monty said, still sitting on the hatch.
"Don't let him in!" Octavia said as she looked for something to lock it with.
"I'm gonna kill him, okay? Let me in. Let me in, Monty!" Murphy gave a grunt as he tried once more to open the hatch. Octavia tried to pull a pipe from the wall.
"No rush. I'm fine here." Monty said to her, facetiously. The pipe came loose.
"Got it! Move it!" she said to Monty as she used the pipe to block access from below.
"Both of you better open the hatch right now!" Murphy yelled but both sat on the hatch, determined that no-one killed Jasper.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Jasper's parents were in tears at the thought of their son being killed. They breathed a small sigh of relief when Monty and Octavia successfully blocked the way. At least Murphy would not be able to kill him. They hoped that Clarke and the others got back in time to save him.
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
The following morning, Clarke opened the door of the vehicle to find it fog free.
"The fog's cleared. Come on!" Clarke said urgently, hurrying out of the vehicle. "Let's go! Jasper's waiting," Clarke said to them when they weren't quick enough for her liking. They walked through the woods for a while with Clarke a little way in front of the two boys.
"Last night was pretty intense," Finn said to Wells. "You and Clarke ever-"
"No, not like that," Wells said, cutting him off.
"So help me out," Finn asked him. "Your best friend tells you something fairly explosive. You seem like the type of guy that'd keep it to yourself."
"You don't know me," Wells said quickly and a little defensively.
"Why'd you do it?" Finn asked him.
"I don't know. Why do you care?" Wells asked back.
"You knew what the rules were on the Ark. You had to know her dad would get floated," Finn said. Wells stopped and so did Finn.
"I made a choice," Wells said. "If she hates me for the rest of my life, I made the right choice, and that's all you have to know." Wells walked off leaving Finn to ponder his words.
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Bellamy and Charlotte made their way out of the cave. They couldn't move Atom yet, they needed help for that.
"It's all clear," Bellamy told Charlotte. Bellamy looked around.
"Anybody out here!" he called out loudly. "Jones!"
"We're here!" Jones replied in the distance. They met up with Jones and two others.
"Lost you in the stew. Where'd you go?" he asked them.
"Made it to a cave down there," Jones said.
"What the hell was that?" Bellamy asked.
"I don't know. Where's Atom?" Jones asked.
"He's in a cave back there, he's been burned by that acid fog. We need help getting him back to camp."
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Wells moved forward of Clarke who dropped back to walk beside Finn.
"Trapped in a 100 year old car by toxic fog. Whew. Last night was pretty…? What's the word? Fun."
"It wasn't fun, it was irresponsible. We should have left the second the fog cleared."
"Even if the fog cleared, we'd never make it back through these woods at night." Finn waited a beat before speaking again. "You were kinda rough on Wells."
"Hardly," Clarke replied.
"He's a pretty straight up guy," Finn said, defending him. "And he loves you. You know that, right? But. everytime your dad comes up, he won't give you a straight answer. Makes me think he's hiding something. So, I gotta ask you, how sure are you that Wells was the one who turned in your dad?" Clarke grimaced.
"100%. All right? He's the only one I told."
"Is he the only one who knew?" Before she could answer, a scream sounded in the forest.
"Who was that?" Clarke asked. The scream happened again.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"Who screamed?" Jaha asked urgently.
"The young one, Charlotte," one of the technicians said. Jaha swung to her screen and saw through her eyes.
"What is that?" Jaha asked as he looked at an animal that looked like it had burned to death by the fog.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Bellamy walked up to Charlotte and put his arm around her shoulders. He saw what she was screaming about.
"Son of a bitch!" he said. He went to the animal's side and saw it wasn't dead, but it was in agony. Charlotte came closer and Jones and the other two came running towards the clearing but stopped before entering. Charlotte handed Bellamy her knife and gave a quick glance towards the animal before returning the look to Bellamy.
"Don't be afraid," Charlotte told him. Bellamy looked at Jones's group.
"Go back to camp, get something to carry Atom on and return for him." Jones and his group moved off.
"Charlotte, you too." Charlotte moved back reluctantly. Clarke came upon the scene.
"I heard screams," she said after she'd knelt down by the injured animal.
"Charlotte found it. I sent her back to camp." Clarke looked over the injured deer and knew it was a lost cause.
"Okay, I'm going to help you," she said to it in a gentle, calming voice. She started to hum. Bellamy looked at her, wondering what she was doing, but soon realised it as Clarke took the knife from Bellamy. She stroked the deer before pushing the knife into the deer's neck. She kept humming and stroking it until it died. Bellamy looked at Clarke in wonder. She was not a pampered princess like he thought she was, she was willing to do something he couldn't bring himself to do. She'd put it out of its misery. Bellamy was all for hunting animals for food, but when they couldn't fight back, well, that was something he hadn't prepared himself for. She'd taken on the responsibility of making sure the animal didn't suffer any more.
What neither of them knew was that Charlotte hadn't gone back to camp, but snuck back to watch what they did. She had watched where Clarke had used the knife to kill the deer.
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
It was dark in the camp. They'd left the ship and were gathered around firepits, waiting for the others to return.
"Hey, they're back!" a watcher called out. Clarke, Finn, Wells, Bellamy, Jones and the other two walk back into camp carrying Atom.
"We've got to get to Jasper," Clarke said to Finn. "I'll need boiled water to make the medicine." Bellamy stopped one of the ex-prisoners.
"Get Clarke whatever she needs." The delinquent nodded before moving off.
"We'd better get Atom into the dropship," Wells said. Octavia came out of the dropship and went over to Clarke.
"About time," she said. "They're gonna kill Jasper. Did you get the medicine?"
"Yeah, I-I got it. Come on, let's go talk," Clarke said, trying to turn Octavia away from the sight of Atom's burned body. Octavia, though, pulled away and went over to Bellamy.
"Octavia, just stay there, please. Stay back."
"Why?" Octavia said, trying to move passed him. Bellamy kept pushing her back. "Stop!" she said, moving passed him. She went over to the stretcher and saw Atom on it covered in burns.
"There was nothing I could do for the burns other than throw him into a pool in a cave. Clarke needs to help Jasper and then see to Atom's burns."
"Don't!" Octavia said. "He's burned! You were supposed to look after them!" Octavia stood up, her emotions all over the place. She liked him a lot but he'd brushed her aside when Bellamy hauled him up a tree just for kissing her. Octavia left, not letting Bellamy say anything. Bellamy was upset and confused and he didn't know what to do either.
Murphy walked up to him.
"Lose anyone here?" Bellamy asked.
"None," Murphy replied sourly.
"Jasper?" Bellamy asked.
"Still breathing, barely. I tried to take him out, but your psycho little sister-" Murphy got no further as Bellamy grabbed him by his jacket front and pushed him up against the gate.
"My what! MY WHAT!?" Bellamy shouted in his face. Murphy knew he was on thin ground.
"Your little sister," he said. Bellamy let go of him with a little push.
"Yeah, that's right. My little sister. Got anything else you want to say about her?"
"Nothing," Murphy ground out. "Sorry." Bellamy stood back and looked around.
"Get him out of here," he said, pointing to Atom. Bellamy walked off and a couple of boys took his stretcher into the ship. Murphy stood there, frustrated with the whole situation. He took out his knife and hurled it at a tree. This time, it stuck.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Murphy is an angry young man," Kane said to Byrnes.
"Yes sir. He was willing to kill Jasper Jordan. Rumour has it that his parents want him locked up when they go to the ground. They don't want him anywhere near their son."
"May not have a choice, Byrnes. Wherever we go, there are bound to be Grounders. We'll all be living in the same place."
"So what do we do about Murphy then? Or the others who commit crimes on the ground?"
"You heard Bellamy. Down there, there are no rules. We've just watched Clarke mercy kill an animal. What if it had been Atom instead? What if Bellamy hadn't pulled him from the fog? Would we be arresting her for his murder when we plainly heard him ask them to kill him?"
"Rules are rules, sir," Byrnes said stubbornly.
"Not down there. Atom may have been punished by Bellamy for kissing his sister, but that's more in line is disciplining an errant soldier, not really a crime, more of a rule infringement. There's a fine line between crime and infringement. Up here, the Ark has made even an infringement a criminal act. Down there, they don't need to. The air is free and breathable."
"But they are struggling to get food, sir," Byrne pointed out.
"So would we, Major. We walk to the mess hall for our food. There are none down there. They are learning how to hunt, forage and do a myriad of things we don't and can't do up here. We need to learn from them. When we get there, it'll be them who are the more experienced, they will have life experience from living on the ground. They will be our guides."
"Are they going to be in charge of us?"
"No, Major, but we will struggle to let them guide us. We still think we know better because we are adults and we've experienced life up here. We will still impose laws on them and I'm afraid we will try to impose our wills on them as well. They have earned the right to self-determination, Major, but most of the people of the Ark still see children."
"But they are, sir?"
"In terms of age, but what they are experiencing right now, we're not. We have no idea how scary it is down there. We can only see what they see and hear what they hear. We cannot know their emotions nor what drives them to do certain things. Murphy is a prime example. He set another guard's quarters on fire because he was the one who arrested his father. He's angry that his father was taken from him."
"I remember the case, sir."
"So what would you do? Let your child die or steal the medicines that will save them? This isn't just a criminal case, this is an ethical dilemma. Alex Murphy knew that by stealing those meds, others may die because there isn't enough, but his son was going to die if he didn't. Where does his loyalties lie? Family or Ark?"
"The law says-" Kane cut her off.
"Forget the law, Major. What would you do in his shoes? Watch your child die, or try to save your child by stealing the medicines?" Byrne took a while to think about it.
"I'd save my child, even if it meant I died. They'd still live." Kane smiled as he nodded.
"That's what Alex Murphy did. He weighed the odds and decided his son was more important than anyone else, including himself. Just because we turned ethics into crimes, doesn't mean we still aren't plagued by them."
"So what do we do when we go to the ground?"
"We welcome them. The Exodus Charter says all crimes committed on the Ark are pardoned once on the ground. They've paid the price for their crimes and are now free. They don't have any rules right now and when they come into our camp, they'll have to abide by our rules, but we need to remember, they are no longer criminals."
"What about Bellamy Blake? He killed Commander Shumway."
"His crime was never sent to trial and he escaped the Ark's justice. Now he is on the ground, he, too, is pardoned."
"So no action is to be taken?"
"None. They are currently beyond our reach and beyond our laws."
"I think I envy them," Byrnes said quietly. "It must be nice not to be looking over your shoulder all the time, just in case." Kane smiled. He agreed with her, but as head of security, he couldn't express it out loud.
"We'll get to the ground soon, Major."
"I hope so, sir. I really do."
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
"Sorry about Atom," Clarke said to Octavia as they prepared the medicine for Jasper.
"Guess we're gonna have to get used to shit happening to people, right?" Octavia looked down at Jasper.
"Not you, you hear me? You're not allowed to die." Clarke smiled at the gentle way Octavia was with Jasper. Finn and Monty look on, saddened by events.
Xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Clarke went to look for Wells. He was by the graves of the two young boys who died on the way down.
"Wells? I know I probably don't deserve it, but I need to know the truth."
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Abby put her hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. She knew this was coming. Wells would tell Clarke the truth and then she'd know who really told Jaha about her father.
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"It was my mom, wasn't it?" Clarke asked, knowing it to be true but wishing it wasn't. "She's the one who told your dad." When Wells didn't refute it, Clarke carried on. "I didn't want to believe it. I- I couldn't. I blamed you because my father's dead and it's my mother's fault. Isn't it?" Wells was still silent. Clarke begged him. "Wells, please?"
"I knew how you'd feel. I wanted to-"
"Protect me," Clarke finished. "So you let me hate you?" Wells looked at her.
"What are friends for?" he asked her.
"How can you forgive me?" she asked, on the verge of tears.
"This is already done," he said with some relief. Wells hugged Clarke and she let him, tears finally falling. They stood there for a while, each wrapped up in the charade that ruled their lives for the last year.