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Red Sky At Morning - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Twenty-Six

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (07/03/2024)

Summary: The group followed the map drawn in Lincoln's book to the sea but found no one there. Or so they thought. It wazsn't until night that the grounders they were looking for came for them and brought them to the one and only, Luna. But she wouldn't easily be convinced to help them, if she would be at all.

Words: 5.4k

Warnings: The 100 season 3 spoilers (episode 13 "Join or Die"; episode 14 "Red sky at morning"), same title as episode 14/ancient rhyme used by Sailors "Red sky at night, sailor's delight/Red sky at morning, sailor take warning"; fluff/romance, angst, a little blood, some violence

“It’s been an hour since we passed the airplane wreckage.” Jasper noted, following the map drawn on a double page in Lincoln’s notebook. The drawing was especially faithful, and Michelle was impressed by the Grounder’s skills. They wouldn’t have as much trouble driving around through the forest if he were still alive, but they didn’t have time to think in what if. “Seeing as we are using a map without any distances, it could be days before we reach Luna’s village.”

“At least we know we’re going in the right direction.” Bellamy retorted, focused on the road as he drove the Rover, Clarke in the passenger seat next to him. The confrontation with Emerson could have been messier, they were all there sitting at the back of the vehicle, except for Raven, Harper and Miller who stayed back. Michelle was slumped, staring into space while listening to the conversation quietly.

“We’re running out of daylight. We should stop in the sun, recharge the battery.”

“What sun? We keep going until it dies.” Clarke wasn’t wrong. One look through the window was enough to see the dark grey sky. It rained cats and dogs the whole time and stopped not that long ago. The trees were wet, their foliage and branches drooping under the weight of the water that fallen on them and gathered in the creases of the leaves, weighing down the wood.

“We keep going until we get to Luna.” Octavia chimed in. Both Clarke and Michelle gave the girl a look out of the corner of their eyes while thunder sounded in the distance and rain started falling heavily again. Octavia was understandably bitter at the whole situation, and no one really said anything. Jasper then flipped the notebook’s pages and showed another drawing to Octavia; a portrait of a woman with a thick head of hair. Her gaze, even as a drawing, was striking and severe. Octavia confirmed that it was the Luna in question.

“What do you think she’s gonna say when we show up to put an A.I. in her head?” Jasper asked sarcastically.

“Lincoln said she helps those that are in trouble. She’ll help us too.” Octavia declared. The three at the back were shaken when Bellamy suddenly pulled the car to a full stop, tires screeching in the muddy path. As she was slouched, Michelle slid off her seat and leaned on it to stand up, bending forward to peek out of the windshield while Jasper and Octavia kept talking about Luna and whether or not she would help.

“Backtrack.” Bellamy said in a low voice. Trees had fallen because of the thunder and were lying right across the road, blocking the way. “We’ll find somewhere where the trees aren’t so bad. Hey!” Octavia opened the backdoor and jumped out of the Rover. She wasn’t going to wait around and decided without a word that the whole ground would continue on foot. They all got out of the vehicle, following her in the rain. Michelle took off her father’s jacket, still wearing hers underneath, and put it over her head too keep dry. Jasper glanced at her after noticing she had two.

She shrugged, “What? I got mine and my dad’s, gotta make use of it.” He shrugged as well, nodding. While the others started running off, he rose his voice.

“Anyone hear the part where I said it could be days?”

“Stop.” Octavia stopped in her tracks, raising her hand. Water was rushing loudly nearby, and she looked around. She turned to Clarke. “you hear that?”

“Water.” The two girls took off and Bellamy still tried to warn them about whoever they could run into. Whoever might be there, they could indeed be hostile for all they knew. Michelle’s jacket fell down her head and onto her shoulders and she found herself too lazy to put it back up, and it was useless anyway, the rain had stopped already. One minute it was pouring, the other barely a few drops crashing on their scalps.

“They’re not hostile. Put the guns down.” Octavia then claimed, looking at her brothers before continuing to walk away. Michelle was standing next to him as Jasper joined the girls, her dad’s jacket resting on her shoulders as if it were a cloak when Bellamy put a hand on her backa dn they started running after their friends, going down the river cutting through the forest. They reached the sea a minute later, fog hanging over the body of water, but no village. It was silent, no more thunder either. Looking around, they saw a piece of land with piles of rock set up in a circle. Octavia checked the notebook. The stone circle was drawn on it, but there wasn’t any Grounder village. Maybe their village was further into the sea and not visible from shore. She ran to the stones, followed by the rest of the group.

“Isn’t a village. It’s just a bunch of rocks.”

“No shit.” Michelle said under her breath, slipping her arms back into her dad’s jacket’s sleeves now that they stopped running around.

“She’s gone.” Clarke said, desperate. Michelle then voiced her assumption, that the village was out in the sea, but it still didn’t help them figure out what to do now. Clarke turned around, following their gaze as they watched Octavia walk to the edge and kneel, leaning on the rocks as she let out a scream. The rest of them just looked at each other in a heavy silence. Eventually, they decided on making a fire. Bellamy was walking back and forth, bringing wood. Clarke stood up.

“It’ll be dark soon. We need to talk about what we’re gonna do.”

“We waitr until first light, and then we split up and search the shore in both directions.” Octavia declared without taking her eyes off of what she was doing, rubbing two long sticks together trying to start the fire, panting with the effort. When she saw a sparkle, she leaned forward and blew on it. A white smoke grew from it. She careful moved it to the pieces of wood set up at the center of the stone circle and kept blowing on it with Jasper. The fire then spread and grew over the wood. It was at least one good thing done.

“I agree. Lincoln wouldn’t have put this spot on the map unless it was important.”

“Yeah, if their village is out in the sea, maybe they come to check this spot to see if there’s anyone, and with the fire, hopefully they’ll see we’re here trying to make contact.” Michelle added, looking at Bellamy. He bent forward, picking up the notebook as she spoke and Octavia smacked his hand, urgning him to not touch it. He kept quiet for a second before crouching down. Clarke then agreed with her friend and the two moved closer to Jasper, on the other side of the fire while Bellamy attempted to talk to his sister, who was just ignoring him.

“Come on, O. How long?”

“I don’t know. I can’t even look at you…” She indeed avoided looking at him while she cracked some sticks, adding them to fuel the fire znd keep it going. She spoke through gritted teeth, staring at the flames, “because every time I do, I see Pike putting that gun to Lincoln’s head. I hear the gunshot. I see him fall.”

“I didn’t kill Lincoln.”

“No, but he is dead because of you.” She stood up, her tone rising with anger. Michelle, Clarke and Jasper were crouched by the fire, trying not to stare at the two siblings but it was obviously a little akward to be there in silence, in front of such a conversation.

“I came to you. You didn’t take my help. If you had just trusted me, I…” She threw her wood on the ground, and it fell, the pieces clattering against each other as she seemingly gave up talking to him, crouching down again. Clarke and Michelle stood up, looking at Bellamy walking away along the shore, alone. Jasper sighed and threw something in the fire, which turned the flame a weird shade of green.

“What did you just do?” Octavia enquired.

“Nothing. I just threw these in the fire.” He held a branch in his hand. Octavia stared at it as if she had just thought of something and picked up Lincoln’s book at her feet. She found a piece of a branch of the same tree in between some of the pages.

“Ugh. Signal fire. He was trying to tell us. Michelle, you were right. They must be watching this place, waiting for that signal. This is how we contact Luna.”

“I’ll get more.” He threw one more bit into the flames and ran around to get others. The three girls smiled at the discovery but Clarke and Michelle both looked over their shoulders at Bellamy, still walking away in the distance.

“Should we leave him alone or should I…?” Michelle wondered quietly. Clarke motioned for her to go after him, adding that she would join them later. Michelle didn’t plan on trying to talk to him about his situation with his sister, he wouldn’t like that. She wouldn’t like it if he tried to come up to her to if she was in such a situation with her father, which she used to, back when she was with Murphy and he knew it wasn’t his place to really say anything, and right now it was basically the same. It wasn’t exactly her place to try to tell him what he should or shouldn’t do. He gave her a glance when he noticed her approach as he just stood there, facing the open sea, his arms crossed. She just tried to give him a smile as she sat down on a rock and his face relaxed a little. Michelle closed her eyes, the strands of hair falling along her face and stuck under her jacket, blown by the breeze, the sea wind caressing her skin. Her arms wrapped around her knees, she let her mind wander and lose itself in her memories. her mind quickly spiralled out of control, and she couldn't think about anything but how much she was worried about her father in Polis. She had a bad feeling. Her face reflected her trouble and her brows furrowed, her lips tightening. She rested the side of her face on her knees, looking at Bellamy and the forest sideways.

“Are you okay?” She asked quietly.

“I’m fine.” He, at first, responded quite harshly, though she obviously didn’t take offense. His eyes wandered back to the fire where his sister still was. She straightened up, looking up at him. It was easy to tell he was saddened by how downhill his relationship with Octavia went, and there was no one but himself to blame. He did choose to side with Pike and let the latter get to his head. He almost lost any chance of Michelle and him ever being a thing as well. He looked at her, his eyes glossy, widened in fear that the damage he did to their relationship was undoable. “Michelle, I think I’ve lost her.”

“Give her time, Bellamy.” She stood up, facing him, her hand softly holding his arm as she gave him a compassionate look. “She’s gonna need lots of it. And there may be blood on your hands, but it’s not Lincoln’s. That was Pike.”

“He did it because of me. I let him.” He slightly shook his head, glancing at the fire, his eyes getting glossier as he struggled to keep the tears at bay.

“Pike wouldn’t do something just because of you. You didn’t want that to happen. You tried to stop it. Octavia will forgive you eventually…” He looked away from her as a tear rolled along his cheek and randomly glanced at the forest behind him to try to hide it. Michelle frowned in concern, taking a heavy breath and turning his face back to her with her hand, wiping away the tear with her hand holding his cheek. “Question is, will you forgive yourself?”

“Forgiveness is hard for us.” His eyes were wet, and his bottom lip quivered as he looked at the fire again. She followed his gaze and saw Octavia stare at them before turning around and walk away, a plank of wood under her arm.

“I’m not Octavia but, I get it.” Her hand slid off his face and rested on his shoulder. He watched her attentively as she spoke. “It took me weeks to forgive my dad – for something he wasn’t even responsible for but anyway… took me some time to forgive you for choosing the wrong side too. But what did it for me was that both my dad and you showed that you were sorry for whatever happened, whatever you did... And I grew to love my dad, I didn’t wanna be mad anymore, and I—” Michelle cut herself off, looking into the distance, towards the sea. She pursed her lips, pressing them against each other. She knew what she wanted to say outloud and maybe it was the right time. With a sigh, briefly closing her eyes before looking back at him, she added; “I love you.” But she quickly went on to say something else, a little embarrassed by her confession which was ironic since they did already kiss and sleep together a few times, “Your sister loves you too, Bellamy. She will forgive you, give it time. She’s angry but one day, she won’t want to feel this way anymore.”

“Michelle.” His brows furrowed sadly as a couple more tears fell from his eyes, and he turned his head to wipe them off with his fist. She gently held his face and drew him into a kiss. He then wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly and buried her face in her hair and she in his neck as he whispered to her ear, “I love you too.”

“Could you have imagined, when we landed on the ground, that we would say stuff like this?” He chuckled, a sob breaking through his laugh as he held her tighter. She didn’t exactly remember how she felt about him in the beginning, but she remembered she didn’t really like him. He was somewhat cocky and acted so sure of himself, but she smiled, remembering it was him who showed her how to use a gun, though she did have beforehand knowledge on those weapons. She had no knowledge of what it was like to love someone like this, but now she did, and she only had him to thank for it. Her lips quivered, thinking of her father out of the blue but she was way more worried than she would ever admit out loud. It wasn’t just a bad feeling. She was terrified to find out whether he took the chip, and whether she would have to kill him which she wouldn’t be able to do so, if no one killed him, he would kill her, because of Alie’s grasp over him and the fact she would never take the chip. She held Bellamy tighter as well, feeling like she had already lost her father. She was getting ahead of herself too much and she knew it, but she couldn’t help but let her mind spiral. She would keep it to herself for now, it didn’t feel the right time to draw attention to her own troubles.

They were staring off into the distance, standing in the dark of night, still on the shore, when Clarke finally joined them. The trio began to talk about Octavia again and Clarke thought the same as Michelle, she would forgive him if he gave her enough time. They talked about when Clarke left them, how angry he felt but that he didn’t want to feel this way anymore and what Michelle said earlier seemed to clock in. As they were comforting each other, saying they were there for each other, Bellamy turned his head towards the sea and alerted them when he saw figures stick out the water. They were taken by surprise, tackled to the ground forcefully, grunting. Michelle felt warmth around her eyebrow and felt the blood drip on her eylid. She had been slammed on the sand so hard, her face hit a rock, but it was better than the concussion she got the last time she hit her head. The strangers put something on their mouth before tying and gagging them and bringing them back to the fire, where a few other of them were holding at gunpoint, but with crossbows. Octavia and Jasper held their hands up while the three others were forced on their knees. The Grounder addressed Octavia in trigedasleng. From what Michelle made out of it, it sounded like questions.

“Why should we give you safe passage?” The man then asked in English.

“Lincoln.” He glanced at his companions upon hearing the Grounder’s name. “He sent us.” He then spoke again in their language and the people standing behind Bellamy, Michelle and Clarke removed their gags and frees them.

“What’s going on?” Bellamy questioned in a whisper. Octavia had no idea either. The Grounder took a few steps towards her and handed her something.

“What is that?” Clarke asked.

“Safe passage.” He said as he gave one to each of them.

“Octavia, wait.” Bellamy rose his voice when his sister drank whatever it was in the little vial. Her only response was that she trusted Lincoln, and the Grounder that gave them those specified that if she was the only one to agree to drink this, she would be the only one to go. Michelle was the first to follow her lead and drink the content in one go. Bellamy repeated himself, grabbing her arm too late, she had already drunk. The two girls looked at each other, Michelle knew she was feeling this same weird way as she did. She felt all her strength gradually leave her body. Her vision got blurry as she fought to stay up but when she took a step to balance her weight on her feet, her knee bent and her leg way under her and she collapsed to the sand, her head turned towards Bellamy as he caught her in her fall. His face was the last thing she saw before it went dark.

She frowned, awakened by a ray of sunlight, and leaned on her hand to sit up. The others had woken up too, and everyone was looking around in complete confusion, having no idea where they had ended up. They were locked in a large, rusted container, and sunrays penetrated through holes in the metal here and there. Their guns were gone, and Octavia realized she didn’t have her sword anymore. She banged on the wall and soon after, whether or not it was related, the doors at the end of the container opened, blinding the group for a moment as a woman entered, her face hidden at first as she stood against the light but it quickly became clear that it was Luna that was in front of them.

“Where’s Lincoln?”

“Lincoln is dead.” Octavia told her.

“Lincoln said that you would help us.” Clarke stepped in.

“Did he?”

“Luna, you’re the last of your kind, the last nightblood.”

“So Lexa’s dead as well.”

“Her spirit has chosen you to become the next commander. Titus entrusted me with the flame to give to you.”

“Then he should have told you that I left my conclave swearing to never kill again.”

“You don’t have to kill. To lead is your birthright. How you lead is your choice. Here.” She stepped towards Luna, holding the small box in which she kept the flame and handed it over to her. She carefully brought her hands to her to observe the small object.

“I recognize the sacred symbol, but what is that?”

“This is the flame that holds the spirits of the commanders, of Lexa. Will you take it and become the next commander?” They all hung on Luna’s lips, waiting for her answer, hoping she would take it. The suspenseful silence was broken by her negative answer as she rolled Clarke’s fingers over the flame and pushed her fist away upon her refusal. They couldn’t believe they had come all this way for it to be over so quickly. Clarke glanced at her friends before running after Luna, calling out to her. She didn’t stop or turn back to them and just walked away. It was the group who stopped in their tracks, looking around in bewilderment. They were on a huge platform, an oil rig like the one Michelle saw on pictures, in the middle of the ocean.

“Everywhere I looked, there were fins. And teeth. And blood. I knew if they saw me, I’d be next, so I just floated there, waiting, praying they’d swim on.” Michelle stared into space listening with one ear the girl reading poetry in the hall of the Oil Rig. None of them was really paying attention. They were waiting, hoping for Luna to agree to help them and take the flame. A door opened and she entered.

“She’s here. Maybe she changed her mind.” Bellamy told the group, Clarke, Michelle and him standing up to go meet with her.

“The boats return at nightfall. Then you leave. Forever.”

“Luna, let us explain—” Clarke was cut off by the Grounder.

“I said no.”

“No, you need to hear this.” Bellamy stepped in front of her. She eventually looked at him. “There’s something out ther that is going to destroy us all.”

“Whatever it is, it can’t reach us here.” She walked pasted the trio and went to Octavia, telling her they needed to talk. Jasper took it as his cue to leave and got up, leaving the two women. Once Luna left, they returned to sit beside Octavia, having to wait it out since she was so against taking the flame and coming with them. In the distance, Jasper was chatting with the girl who recited poetry a moment ago.

“Jasper’s actually smiling.” Bellamy noted. He followed Clarke’s gaze as she looked at Luna, cuddling with her lover against the wall.

“Clarke. Let it go.” The latter glanced over at her best friend and shook her head.

“We can’t just leave.”

“It’s not like we have much of a choice.” Octavia added, fidgeting with a tiny piece of wood.

“Maybe we do.”

“What are you talking about?” Bellamy enquired.

“I’m talking about putting this into her head without asking.”

“Clarke, we can’t do this.” Michelle leaned towards her.

“We can fight and go back to Arkadia. We arm up.” He added, agreeing with his girlfriend.

“Fight who?” She questioned. “It’s an army of our own people. I don’t like this any more than you do. But if Raven’s right, and the code on this thing can stop Alie…” Two Grounders came in shouting in their native language; She paused, glancing over her shoulder before turning her head back to her friends, looking a little hopeless. “Give me a better idea.”

“We’ll stay here. It’s the only way they’ll leave you alone with her.” Bellamy concluded. As Clarke was about to stand up, she was briefly stopped by Octavia addressing her.

“Even Alie gives people a choice.”

“We gave Luna a choice. She said no.” He shrugged, exchanging a glance with Michelle and Clarke, nodding at one another before the blonde finally got up and walked away. They met up again once it was dark, and dark it was out in the open sea. Aside from the light of the moon shining on the waves, and a few spotlights on the rig, it was pitch black out there and the whole oil rig was dead silent, as everyone was asleep. They were being led back to the container in which they awakened this morning as they were going to be brought back to shore. Luna was waiting for them by the container. Jasper wasn’t with the group and according to Clarke, he was saying goobye to his new friend, not that Michelle cared much what he was doing right now. They opened the doors and a group of Grounders stepped out.

“Sorry, Cap. You gotta take them back.” She turned to them. “You get your weapons once you land.”

“Inside.” While Clarke tried to ask Luna about the flame since the later took it from her after she tried to forcibly put it in her neck, the others were pushed inside the container. They didn’t try to fight, it was pointless. They failed at convincing Luna and now they could only leave this place. Michelle’s thoughts were already, and as always, on going to Polis to check on her dad. She was anxious to find out whether he took the chip or not and what would be left of him. This was her main concern at the moment. Then suddenly, the Grounders that walked out of the container started attacking everyone outside, stabbing and grunting and slammed the doors shut, trapping the group in the dark. Michelle was quick to understand they had somehow been infected by Alie as she came to realize they attacked shortly after Luna pulled out the flame to show Clarke.

“They’re locking us in.” Octavia exclaimed, alarmed. Clarke started banging on the wall and shouting, eager to find out what was going on.

“They took the flame. Soemhow, while they were on land, they took the chip. Luna’s safe haven is compromised now.” Michelle said with a sigh.

“Yeah. Alie’s here.” Bellamy added, agreeing with her. Clarke looked at them, speechless, not knowing what to do, or how to get out of there. They had no weapon, nothing to free themselves while Alie’s minions tried to take over the oil rig. They only had a flashlight. Holding it in front of her, Octavia walked around the container while Bellamy tried to nudge the doors open.

“How did Alie even find this place?” Octavia wondered, kicking in the wall with anger.

“There was a drone at Niylah’s. She must’ve followed us looking for the Flame and now she has it.” Sat on the floor, Michelle looked at him while Clarke was frowning, her gaze staring into space. “She’s gonna put the AI in Luna.”

“She’d have to chip her first. If Luna’s chipped before she gets the AI, Alie’s gonna know everything. We’ll never be able to stop her. We can’t let that happen.” She sprung up on her feet and walked with a determined step towards the door, banging on it and shouting. Everyone ended up just sitting down in silence, trying to wait it out, or wait for someone to come open the door. There was nothing they could do from the inside. They were locked up, end of story.

“This place was safe until we got here.” Octavia spoke, flashing her light at the wall, up and down, aimlessly. They had no idea how long it had been, but they all turned their heads instantly and got on their feet when they heard the lock clancked against the door, meaning someone was messing with it. The door opened and they jogged outside, thinking it was Jasper who freed them, only for them to find the girl he was chatting with, gasping on the ground with an arrow in her shoulder. Clarke kneeled by her side and the girl tried to speak.

“Machine room… B level…” then she gave her final breath and they left her there, unable to do anything else. She was dead. Michelle gave her a horrifief glance out of the corner of her eyes, looking at the blood covering hre mouth and chin. It reminded her of when she had been infected with that weird blood fever back at the dropship, months ago. Or when she had her hands slashed, and her leg pierced through with a drill. She had had her share of her own bloodshed, but it was still not something she liked to see. They ran through the rig and got to their destination. Octavia ignored her brother’s warning, telling her to be careful and ran inside the machine room. They found Luna, on the ground, holding her lover, her other hand around the handle of a knife plunged into the man’s chest. Jasper was hanged by his wrist on the other side of the room. Two other grounders, those that came on the rig chipped were dead. A young girl was curled up near one of the bodies, she’d probably been used to pressure Luna into accepting the chip or something like that. Bellamy went to check on her while Michelle and Octavia cut Jasper down, and Clarke went to Luna, who let out a bloodcurling cry when her partner let out his final breath. Michelle felt her pain and looked at her, her mouth frowned slightly, her lips twitching. She was wailing, holding his body close to her, her face distorted by the heartbreak and grief, caressing his face and apologizing for what she had to do while sobbing.

Once she somewhat calmed down, the whole lot of the Oil Rig’s inhabitant gathered for the funeral ceremony. Michelle, Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper were standing there in a corner. They had to wait for Luna to come to them when she was done.

“Any of them could be chipped, and we’d never know.” Bellamy whispered, her eyes glazing over the room.

“If they are, they’ll make their move before we put the Flame in Luna. Stay sharp.” Clarke watched as Luna came towards them, accompanied with another girl.

“The ceremony is about to begin.”

“I’m so sorry. But now you see what we’re facing. An enemy who will do anything to win. She won’t stop until she had everyone.”

“People I love died today. Needlessly, by my hand. I can’t let that happen.” Luna looked down at the Flame, held in between her fingers. She turned her back to them, facing everyong in the room. They all stood up, cups in their hands. The group had been giving cups too. “As we prepare to give our brothers and sisters to the sea, we honor their lives.” They spoke in their native language in unison, and everyone drank from their cups quietly. Luna turned back to them.

“I we’re gonna do this, we have to hurry. Alie will send reinforcements. We have to find some place private to perform the Ascencion.” Luna stared at her with an impassible face.

“You believe that to defeat an enemy who will stop at nothing, you must stop at nothing. How is that different than blood must have blood?” As she spoke, Michelle slightly frowned and squinted her eyes. For some reason, her mind felt clouded, and she began to have trouble on what was being said, looking into space, trying to focus her eyes. She took a step to the side as her sight began to sway, or maybe it was her body. She raised her hand, trying to reach for Bellamy’s shoulder and he grabbed her arm, catching her as she fell, but ended up collapsing in turn, his arm stretched out under her head. Their cups had broken to pieces on the ground. She opened her eyes and sat up with a start, a little disorientated still. Bellamy was already awake, walking around with his weapon in hand, watching over the others, still passed out. She put a hand to her eyebrow, the little cut that she had gotten after hitting her head on a rock before being transported to the Rig, had been stitched. Well, she was at least thankful for that. Her eyes went on the hand held out in front of her and looked up to Bellamy as she grabbed his hand and he pulled her on her feet. Movements caught their eye, and they glanced over at Clarke who woke up, checking the box put in her hand, to see if the Flame was inside. They exchanged a nod and kept on walking to the shore while Octavia and Jasper came back to their senses as well. They failed to convince Luna. And they were now back to square one.

“Now what?” He asked, turning his head to Clarke as all five of them stood in line, in front of the sea, clueless as to what to do. Michelle had her sight set on Polis, and getting news from her father, after being separated from him for three days. She had to chase away her bad feeling and keep hopeful that he was still alive and well.

[To be continued…]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (07/03/2024)

Published (06/19/2023) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405 @kika64 @mirellef2001

7 notes · View notes

topazy · 2 years

Text

The fierce and broken

Pairing: Raven Reyes x reader

Warnings: Mentions of death, blood and violence

Chapter: 2.12

You stare down at the ground, trying to contemplate what to do next. Things had drastically gone from bad to worse. You started with Maya as she sobs over her father’s dead body. He’d been shot and killed by another Mount Weather guard.

A lump formed in the back of your throat as you thought about your own parents, and how your mom was killed for helping someone. You knew the pain she was in, but you also knew that nothing anyone said or did would help.

Hearing a clattering noise, you lift your head up and start to walk in the direction it’s coming from. You stop when Bellamy grabs hold of your shoulder and gives you a puzzled look.

“You hear that?” You whisper.

He nods, stepping in front of you and leading the way until you reach a door that requires a keycard to get on the other side. You share a look with the older boy, “What do we do?”

“See what's on the other side,” he says as he hands you the keycard and points his gun at the door. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to check in with Monty and Jasper. “Ready?”

When they all nod, you swipe the keycard, unlocking the door. You expect to see Bellamy firing his gun at an enemy, but instead you see Octavia leaping through the door and hugging him.

When she pulls back from her brother, she hugs you next. “I’m so glad you're okay.”

Your eyes land on Clarke and you notice how displeased she looks. “What the hell happened? Where’s Lexa? Where’s her army?”

“Gone.”

Before you can ask anything else, Maya enters the room, and you notice Octavia’s happy facial expression twisting into one of anger. “It’s alright, she’s with us.”

Maya gives you a small nod. She was truly good; you just hoped there would be some way to keep her safe as well.

“Okay,” Bellamy says, getting everyone’s attention. “We need to talk to Dante. Maya says he's in quarantine.”

As Clarke and Bellamy try to come up with a plan to save your people, Maya’s oxygen tank begins to beep. You look at how much is left in it and say, “I thought this was a new one. It says there's only half an hour left.”

“We did just change it,” Jasper confirms.

You gulp down. You’re running out of time to save your people and Maya didn’t have much left. “I think we should split up,” you say, and everyone looks at you. “That we can find Dante and get Maya another oxygen tank.”

“She’s right,” Clarke says, pausing for a moment. “Octavia, you should go with Jasper and Maya to get another oxygen tank, while me, Bellamy, and Monty go look for Dante.”

“What about you?” Bellamy asks.

“I’ll go with you guys.”

—

You tense up on the spot when you hear fast approaching footsteps. You, Bellamy, Clarke, and Monty were heading towards Dante’s office, but the mount weather guards were starting to close in on you.

Bellamy’s fingers reach for his gun, but you stop him before he pulls it out of his holster. “Don’t, it will only waste time. You guys go ahead, I’ll hold them back.”

Monty looks at you as if you’ve grown a second head, “How?”

“Uh…”, I look into one of the other hallways and notice a mop and bucket lying in the hallway. “I might not be able to stop them, but I can definitely distract them.”

Getting the guards to follow you instead of them was a suicidal move, but you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if innocent lives were lost and you didn’t do everything you could to help.

Clarke grips your arm, “You don’t need to do this.”

“Yes I do. Just make sure you save our people.”

Two guards turned the corner and began running towards you with their guns drawn.You held your hands up in the air, showing you were unarmed, because you had nowhere else to run and hide.

A muffled voice came through the radios on the guards' uniforms. You couldn’t make out what the voice said, but both guards put their guns down. The one closest to you pulled his electric baton out and hit you on the legs with it twice. You screamed as the pain shot through your body, as you fell to the ground.

—

You are dragged into a room that reminds you of your cell on the Ark, except with more people. Your eyes lock with Wick’s. He mouths something to you, but you don’t make it out. Everyone in the room was chained to the wall, including Abby, Jasper, Harper, and Kane.

You feel your heart break as you look down at the table in the middle of the room and see Raven strapped to the table in the middle of the room looking lifeless. “Raven?” You try to get out of the grip of the guard that’s holding you back, “Raven!”

The guard throws you roughly against the wall and chains you to it. You yell at the doctor who’s hovering over Raven, “What are you doing to her?” When he doesn’t answer you, the guard chaining you up sniggers. You collide your forehead with the guard's nose, “Let her go asshole.”

The guard stumbles back and grips his nose in pain, before grunting and punching you in the face with his free hand.

Tears burn your eyes as your vision becomes blurry in your left eye. No doubt you’d have a large bruise, but you didn’t care. Out of your good eye, you can see the blood dripping from Raven’s leg, and you let out a sob as an anger you’ve never felt before travels through your body. Raven was already in so much pain from being shot that the doctor was taking bone marrow from her that it would kill her. “You’re killing her! Stop! Let her go! Take me instead. I won’t fight you; just let her go!”

Dante’s son Cage, the man who was behind all of it, ignores you and points to Abby, “put her on it.”

Both Abby and Kane begin to protest, but it does no good, as Raven was tossed aside and Abby was strapped to the table. You lift your head and look at the camera looking over the room. This was personal. Cage was hurting Abby to get at Clarke, which meant he knew she was watching at that moment.

The room is filled with Abby’s screams as the doctor begins to drill into her leg.

—

You are not sure how many agonising moments have passed when an alarm captures the attention of Cage, the doctor and all the guards in the room. When the guards start to cough heavily, Cage takes off running out of the room.

Radiation.

Clarke, Bellamy, and Monty must have found a way to save your people by letting the outside air in.

“Alba!” Octavia rushes into the room and unchains you from the wall. The moment she does, you rush by her and kneel beside Raven, who is groaning in pain.

You brush a strand of long brown hair out of her face, “hey Reyes. Long time no see.”

“Hi,” she says weakly.

Once he’s unchained, Wick helps you get Raven to her feet. When she’s up, you help her stand as you make your way through the mass hall of Mount Weather and are horrified to see all the dead bodies laying on the ground. men, women, and children. Including Maya

—

You feel a wave of relief wash over you when you finally reach Camp Jaha. You never thought you’d be glad to see it again.

“Wait, Jasper,” Raven says as she reaches into her backpack and pulls out his son's old goggles, which she hands to him. “I almost forgot.”

“My goggles, thank you.”

He looked so broken. You step forward and hug him. “I’m so sorry about Maya. She was good, and deserved so much better.”

Jasper said nothing but embraced your hug, which Raven joined.

—

“Hey.”

You remove your head from your hands and look up to see Raven limping towards you. Since you’d returned to camp, you’d been assisting Jackson in medical to the best of your ability, but you simply didn’t have enough supplies to take everyone who was tortured in mount weathers pain away.

You sigh, knowing Raven was ignoring your medical advice in order to keep you company; “You should be resting.”

Raven rolls her eyes playfully and sits down beside you. “I didn’t want you to be on your own.”

Your mind immediately goes to all the dead people in mount weather, and you wonder how many of them died alone. When you blink away the tears that were threatening to spill from your eyes, Raven links her fingers with yours.

You continue to sit in a comfortable silence as you both come to terms with everything that has just happened. The knowledge that keeps you from falling apart is that no matter how bad it gets, you still have each other.

#the 100 #raven reyes x reader #Raven Reyes x you #the 100 fanfiction #the 100 fandom #the 100 rewrite #Raven Reyes #raven reyes/reader #Raven Reyes/you #Bellamy Blake #Octavia Blake #Clarke Griffin #the 100 x reader #the fierce and broken

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theredpharaoah · 1 year

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While it’s stated Luna would beat Lexa - that was when they were like 12. Luna then stepped away from fighting while Lexa went on to conquer and unite the 12 clans. Furthermore, that’s just what Luna believed. Titus knew her skillset and he didn’t mention anything about that. If she’d been such a good warrior, I’m sure Titus would’ve said more. Furthermore, Lexa’s truth strength was how clever she was. That’s how she beat Roan, and that’s probably how she would’ve beat Luna - that’s how Octavia beat her. Lexa did struggle with Roan, but so did Luna. Roan would’ve had her if not for the acid rain I fear. Then i saw someone say it’s Lexa, Luna, and Roan at first with Blodreina coming in second….lmao no. By the time we get to season 4, Octavia is the best fighter in the show. That’s why the final conclave made no sense - they were making it seem like Octavia hadn’t been killing great warriors, and wasn’t feared all over. She did not need to hide, she could’ve easily faced those people. Octavia is literally a prodigy. She was killing bitches before she was trained in arms. And when she started getting trained by Indra, she mastered that shit in a couple of weeks. Like let’s be serious. I just don’t think it’s realistic that Clarke never thought to just do a bone marrow transplant with Luna. That way she could take the flame - to kill Alie if not become commander. It would’ve been so easy too:

Luna: “Is that what you think? Wanheda - Mountain Slayer. How do you sleep at night knowing you killed all of those people?”

Clarke: “Don’t try this with me Luna. It won’t work. I did what I had to do to save my people. And judging how you just flipped me over, I’m assuming you’d do the same if people came and started drilling into your friends for their bone marrow. You may want us to think you’re some great pacifist, but if you truly believed in non-violence you wouldn’t have kept up your training all these years. You wouldn’t have guards on this ship either. Titus was right. You’re not a pacifist, you’re just a coward who’s using that as an excuse. *Clarke breathing heavily*

Luna: *stares*

Clarke:”…wait.” *Clarke stops to think before turning to look at Luna* “Mount Weather….Luna. You don’t want to take the flame right? You don’t want to be commander? Well what if you could give your blood to someone else? Give someone else the ability to take the flame?”

Luna: “And who would I be giving my blood too? You, Wanheda?”

Clarke: “ Whoever. I don’t care. Just one of us.”

Clarke would prep Octavia for the job and argue with Bellamy about the danger she’d be in becoming commander. Octavia is hesitant but she’s down. However in a shocking twist, Luna chooses Clarke to bear her blood. Why? Because she can see how much she loved Lexa, and how much her people believe in her. End of episode.

Like c’mon. You can’t tell me that couldn’t be a scene right out of the show.😭

#the 100 rewatch #the 100 rewrite #the 100 season 3 #the 100

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fandomrewrites · 1 year

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Hi everyone!

I know it’s been quite awhile since I’ve updated my stories but I just wanted to let you know that I have not stopped writing them; I’m just on a hiatus.

I’m currently rewriting/editing my Teen Wolf story on Wattpad so it is in third person rather than first. Once I finish rewriting that I will start posting again on here.

Unfortunately I’m not sure how long that will be but hopefully sooner rather than later.

As of now, I’m planning on keeping the story on here the same but if you’d prefer me to post the edited version please let me know!

Tag list: @crazy-fan-101 @rogershoe @judayyyw @renjunniex @malfoystilinskii05 @where-thesundoesntshine

#update #series rewrite #teen wolf rewrite #the 100 rewrite

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hajihiko · 2 years

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look on the bright side!

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kstarsarts · 6 months

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My Wish reimagined, redesigns and a sword-stabby Asha 👹

I finally drew the boomer :D

and now…

My contribution to the Wish Rewrite Fandom

A Stabby Asha 👹

—okay that’s all for the doodles today

some notes on my reimagined Asha below the cut ⬇️

In my reimagined/rewrite Wish universe, Asha is a bit athletic because:

1.) She just easily grabbed that heavy cabinet (idk if that’s a cabinet) on a grown ass man in one go without struggling.

2.) Our girl here treaded on water for miles ON A FREAKING DRESS. LIKE GURL WHAT. I THINK THATS A TALENT—

and 3.) Did she just usain bolt her way down from the castle?—

no fr, it’s what i’ve noticed in the movie. Remember, she was on top of the castle so high up then 20 seconds later she’s already down on the ground. Maybe Star just used their magic on her to help her get down from the castle? however i dont see Star doing that besides from using the books or anything else to use to descend Asha down to the ground or maybe just bad writing—

but it’s funny to think that Asha just sprinted her way down to the ground using the hundreds of stairs inside the castle lol.

That’s all for now, imma start drawing concepts of my Wish reimagined.

Thanks for listening to my TedTalk (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ

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wings-of-sapphire · 10 months

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HELLO THERE LOVES I MADE A WISH REWRITE

I watched Wish twice (once on early screening day and once on the offices release date) and I fuckin loved it. But I feel like while this was a great movie, it was Disney’s 100th anniversary one and it needed like twenty minutes more or so to develop the characters and make it a truly spectacular celebration of 100 years of Disney.

I recently read about the concept pictures for Wish— Asha being the daughter of Magnifico, Star taking a human form and having a relationship with Asha— and I liked the idea of changing up the “quirky main character” idea as well. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with girls like Rapunzel or Mirabel. They’re fun, they’re optimistic, they’re hardworking and determined. Buuuuut as more of a pessimist myself I found my favorite character to be Gabo. The short pink sarcastic side friend based off of Grumpy. Yes, the friends are based off of the seven dwarfs. But ANYHOW— I thought maybe a return to the Classic Disney Princess attitude would be nice. So I chose Kusco. Because he’s the best Disney Princess out there.

I’ve been rambling long enough. Full rewrite under the cut! Will explain more in future posts! Ask any and all questions you’d like! Now, presenting my Wish rewrite~

💫 Asha is the princess of the kingdom of Rosas. Her parents, Magnifico and Amaya, built Rosas after Magnifico’s old kingdom was burned by greedy Wishers who used magic to give them whatever they wanted, which led to their own destruction.

Asha grew up in her kingdom learning that because her father kept the magic in check and only he granted wishes, Rosas could stay safe and happy. Asha gives tours of the city to people who sail in, and as they give their wishes to Magnifico, Rosas grows stronger and safer.

Welcome to Rosas

(Though she’s on carpets and stuff and there’s servants swarming her and she’s comfortable while giving the tour— we see Asha being kind to the child of the tour group)

Asha puts on a happy face for the tourists. But the people of Rosas say they know the “real” her. They hate their princess, truthfully. But they love her parents.

Asha doesn’t really have friends. She’s above that. She’s a princess and her parents founded this kingdom that literally granted people’s wishes. Sure, she sometimes lingers in the kitchen to hang out with Dahlia, the head chef. And sure, sometimes she wished wanted to hang out with them. Dahlia and her six friends whom Asha could never remember the names of. She calls them nicknames based on their characteristics. Easy and efficient. Dahlia is Doc, since she always patches her friends up. She said Asha couldn’t call her friend Stoner, so his name is Dopey (Dario). There’s Happy (Hal), Sleepy (Simon), Sneezy (Safi), Bashful (Bazeema), and Grumpy (Gabo). They’re all close-knit and trust each other with everything.

Asha doesn’t have that.

But she’s their princess. And she remains that way. Untouchable. Unbreakable.

Until one day, Grumpy Gabo says she’s not above them for any reason other than her title. That if ranks were stripped away, she’d be talentless and left behind.

Of course Asha can’t have that.

Soooooo she sneaks into her father’s study to get some of his magic.

What? He has a ton of it.

But then stuff goes awry. Asha tampers with Magnifico’s forbidden books and… nothing happens.

Grumpy laughs at her and Asha threatens to have him imprisoned if he doesn’t treat his princess with respect. Dahlia and the gang stand up for Grumpy and Asha storms off.

Amaya tries to comfort Asha when she runs to her room and throws herself on her bed and cries, princess-style, and Amaya and Asha talk about how Asha dreams of a group of friends she can have fun with and trust, and Asha says her brain knows what her wish was, and it was to become the most powerful sorceress princess in the lands just like her papa. Amaya says that a dream is a wish your heart makes, and Asha’s heart didn’t want to be the untouchable princess of Rosas. Her head may tell her that, but everyone needs connections.

It’s Magnifico that ends up cheering Asha up by bringing her to see the wishes of Rosas again.

At All Costs

Asha calls Magnifico “Papa” and Amaya “Mama” by the way

That night, Asha tosses and turns, and we see the magic swirls from the book start to gather around her, then shoots into the sky as she shoots up, panting.

Turns out she accidentally ripped a star out of the sky. Asha runs after the giant comet fall, where a young man is floating in a crater in the forest.

The star had taken the shape of a young man. Who can fly. And bring objects to life for a bit.

He’s glowing yellow and wears a dark teal-blue velvet cape and his glow turns pink when he spots Asha.

When Asha freaks out and grabs the boy— she’s calling him Star— and hides his glow with her pajama cloak, and asks how the heck did this happen?

Star shrugs and says he was just chilling in space when the force of someone’s dream pulled him down to land.

Asha quietly excitedly stims, saying she can’t wait to rub Star in Grumpy’s face, and Star is like please don’t rub me in someone’s face, sweetheart.

Sweetheart?

Asha glares at Star, who smirks.

Asha exclaims that anyways— she knew she was a powerful sorceress, and Star says he senses no magic on Asha.

Asha says she must’ve had magic in her, or else how could she have ripped a star from the sky?

Star says people can learn magic but right now, Asha was inexperienced. It was probably because of her connection to the stars.

That means—

No, it’s not just you. All people are connected to the stars.

You’re a Star

Asha takes Star back to her room and says they can’t let her dad know she used his books to summon Star— but maybe Grumpy would need more proof. Maybe she could sneak a peek at his book again, and summon more stars to prove to Doc and the gang that she has talent and she was sooooo qualified to be their fr— sorcerer princess.

She tells Star to stay put in her room, and she’d sneak out and take a quick look.

Star asks if he can come with.

He just got ripped from the sky and needs some more exposition than “I don’t know.” And he’s too impatient to wait for Asha to come back.

Asha says he’ll have to learn and Star magically locks the doors until Asha explains something about how he was brought here.

“You made trees dance the hula and we rode here on a singing deer.”

Star gives Asha a look.

Asha pinches the bridge of her nose and explains that her papa’s whole family was killed because of the greedy wishmakers. With him in charge, he gets to choose, and people are safe.

Star says that the people deserve more, and Asha snaps that get family decides what everyone deserves because they’re the rulers of Rosas.

Star smirks at her and says she’s adorable when she’s mad. But, she’s wrong. The people deserve a chance to get their wishes returned so they can become dreams that can be achieved by pure hard work.

Asha says they’re the same thing, and Star shakes his head. “A wish you give away. A dream you keep with you to work hard and achieve your heart’s goal.”

“Wow, you have a great personality.”

Asha rolls her eyes and says Star can come, but he has to be quiet.

In Magnifico’s study, Asha sees Star heading to the wish room, and before she can grab him, he opens the doors and sees the wishes of Rosas.

Star is amazed and Asha sighs and walks up next to them. She looks up and closes her eyes and bathes in the feeling.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Yeah… they are.”

Star quickly turns to look at the wishes above them, his glow pink.

They end up arguing again because Star wants to return the wishes to the people so they can become dreams once again and Asha says her father worked hard on protecting them

Out in the hallways, Asha ends up shoving Star into a nearby room when she hears Doc and her friends come by

Asha smooths down her skirt and holds her head high as she walks by and calls to Grumpy. She smirks and says unfortunately, they were incorrect about her being talentless. In fact, she was so powerful, she ripped a star from the sky.

Behold.

She opens the door (which turns out led to the chicken coops) where Star was chilling in the sunlight where his glow looked normal.

“You brought us all here to check out your boyfriend?”

“Hal!”

Asha rushes to explain that no, Happy, he was the star. She orders Star to step out of the sun.

Star crosses his arms.

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

Dahlia and her friends all gasp and start planning Star’s funeral.

“Sorry, sweetheart, I’m a star. If you ever want your dream to come to fruition you have to be nice to people you want to befriend. Go on. Apologize and then ask me nicely.”

Dahlia and friends are now forgoing that funeral, there will be no remains left to bury.

But then Asha flares her nostrils, taps her foot, then glances at Doc. She averts her eyes and mutters, “sorry for being mean to Grumpy. Star, can you… can you please show them?”

Jaws: dropped. Wigs: snatched. Princess Asha of Rosas, apologizing and saying “please”? Sure, she cared for her people. But she never apologized if she accidentally ran into someone for walking in their way! It was her way! She was the only one who’s way mattered!

Star smiled and thanked Asha, then steps out of the sun to reveal his glow.

Jaws: even dropped-er. Wigs: even snatched-er.

After the initial “ooh”s, [something something]

Asha tells everyone that because she’s a star, she was able to be this powerful. They should all be impressed.

Star then corrects her by saying everyone was made of stardust and therefore had a connection to the stars and magic.

When Gabo laughs, Asha throws a fork at him and tells him to do that to himself.

Magnifico is calling Asha for a family meeting, and she says it’s probably about tonight’s wish ceremony. Dario’s Sabi who’s turning 100 today wants to get his wish picked. He doesn’t remember what it is as all wish-givers forget, but he knows it has something to do with his sickness. Asha tells everyone else to keep quiet about Star, or else. And with that, she leaves the room.

Star opens his arms and asks which of the group wants to help him commit a crime.

“What?”

He wants to break into Magnifico’s study and return the wishes to the people of Rosas.

Gabo snaps at him that they can’t just steal from the king and queen, and everyone else agrees. But Dahlia purses her lips. “Why?”

Dario asks if he wants to betray his girlfriend like that, to which Star turns pink and rolled his eyes saying they were not dating, in fact, they were enemies! She was uptight and didn’t care about anything but her title, scoff!

“Uh huh. Sure, buddy.”

“Gabo, stop talking.”

“Yes Bazeema.”

Star explains that losing people’s wishes made them lose a part of themselves. The most beautiful part, their heart’s dream. He tells Simon that his heart is sad.

He asks that if he returns Simon’s wish back to him, and it does make him whole again, then would they believe him?

Dahlia shakes her head and says they wouldn’t be part of this. But… they wouldn’t mention anything to Magnifico or Amaya. For the time being.

Star thanks Dahlia, and she says this was for Simon. And if Asha also changes her mind, then that’s a bonus. Then she smiles. “Good luck, kid.”

Magnifico called Asha to talk with her and Amaya about a threat that’s happened to the kingdom. Last night, someone harnessed the magic of a star and ripped it from the sky, which disturbed the wishes and his magic. Someone has threatened him, and this was a warning that something was to come. He couldn’t let that fire happen again.

Amaya and Asha calm his worries, and Magnifico says he doesn’t want the people to lose faith in him. Amaya says she will explain to the people about the giant light last night since they were asking questions, but they shouldn’t let it worry them.

“Thank you, darling.”

“You’ve got this, papa. I’m sure whoever bashed that light meant you no harm.”

“Thank you, Asha.”

Star asks Asha to spend the day with him, to which she agrees until the wish ceremony that night. The two have a day in Rosas, Tangled-style. Romantic montage, beautiful moments, Star sneaking glances at Asha when she isn’t looking and Asha doing the same for him.

Star shows Asha how to be messy and see the beauties of life while Asha shows Star how she actually does have good in her and cares for her people, truly. Star gives Asha a small wand to practice some small magic as a gift. While she shows him the study, he sneaks into Magnifico’s office and steals Simon’s wish.

Star returns to the seven and gives Simon back his wish. His dream was to become the kingdom’s best knight— and now he could achieve that! They show Asha how much happier Simon is with his whole self again, and while Asha is happy for Simon and that the seven are being kind to her (after she’s been kind to them), she asks Star to promise not to steal stuff from her papa without running it by her first.

“I promise, sweetheart.”

Safi asks Asha if she can get her papa to grant his Sabi’s wish, or at least return it so he could have a chance at fulfilling his dream like Simon now can. Maybe it would reveal a way Sabino could live longer.

Asha hesitates.

In her room, Asha paces. Her papa said that if people kept their wishes, they’d be dangerous and bring another fire to burn down their kingdom. But Simon seemed so happy. She didn’t know what to do.

Later, in the wish ceremony, all her friends are happy and excited for Safi’s Sabi. Sabino only has a few weeks left to live, and if this month his wish is granted, Safi can keep his Sabi with him.

Asha did talk to Magnifico but Amaya reminded her of the dangers of people chasing wishes in the wind. They showed Asha that Sabi Sabino’s wish was too dangerous, his heart’s dream was live forever. Sure, he was sick now, but once he gets better from that, who knows what immortality will do? Magnifico revealed the true story of their home using magical glass shards—

Backstory details that’s tragic and sad

Basically a king wanted to be immortal and it led to him going insane which led to the destruction of his kingdom

He sent his son away before the whole place burned to ashes

Magnifico was that son

A Wish Worth Making (?)

Asha agrees with him that that can never happen, and Sabino’s wish must never be granted and only the royal family can keep Rosas safe.

At the ceremony

Magnifico doesn’t grant Sabino’s wish and Amaya makes a public statement about how wishes were kept with him to stay safe and anyone who tried to oppose that rule was a danger to everyone in Rosas and a traitor to the crown.

Star calls them out for this and while Simon hides his glow with his huge body, the seven create a ripple effect through the crowd with questions that question the king and queen’s authority. They bring up how Amaya reassured them but this contradicted her words. Magnifico ends the ceremony and storms up to the royal master room with Amaya.

Asha and Star have an argument, with her saying her parents were good people and him saying that Safi’s Sabi will die because her parents were scared, and with that Asha flares her nostrils and says that she is the princess, and as their superior, they should watch their tone before something bad happens.

Safi is heartbroken. Without that wish, his Sabi will die.

Dahlia comforts him, and Star steels himself.

Star tells the group that they’re going to steal all the wishes. And return the dreams of the people back to them. Especially Safi’s Sabi.

“But Asha—“

“I’ll tell her when she comes back. We need to do this now.”

Back at the castle, Magnifico is pacing angrily in his room with Amaya. How dare these people question them? They’re doing everything in their power to prevent that (points to a burned tapestry of young Magnifico and his family) from happening again!

This is the Thanks I Get?!

Amaya also joins in

Cutscenes of the seven + Star breaking into the wish room again

Meanwhile, Asha goes back to talk to her parents. Maybe talk to them about Sabino again, maybe tell them everything, who knows—

Wait. There’s a noise in the wish room.

Asha uses her magic wand to open it and sees Star using his magic to lift the roof open to free the wishes. But it isn’t enough. They need more people; the roof is too heavy.

There’s a small magic scuffle with Asha and her wand against Star and his magic, and Asha ends up beating Star (much to his surprise and he’s totally not turned on by this which is why he’s bright red he’s not at all attracted to powerful women). Her heart breaks and she yells at him and all the seven and says if they ever show their faces around her again she’d banish them from Rosas.

“Sweet—“

“Don’t call me that name! Just— just go!”

“Asha, please. Safi’s Sabi—

“Go!”

Star stays and says he’ll be back to free the wishes and return them to the people. Sabino’s sickness has gotten worse, and he can’t wait another month for Magnifico to turn him down once again.

Asha snaps and yells at him a lot and blames him for everything that’s happened lately, the chickens, and the chalk drawing, and the dancing in the city square, and especially that sticky feeling in her chest when Star’s giving her those sad looks. So she doesn’t want to see him again.

She goes to snitch then sees the Epic Celestial Villains her parents had shifted into. Both of them used forbidden magic in the other section of the book Asha used. She asked if she had forbidden magic in her too, but they tell her she wasn’t powerful enough to handle this magic.

Their magic swirling fog is telling them via shapes that Asha was the one that ripped a star from the sky.

They’re acting different— they barely acknowledge Asha and demand that she tells them where Star is.

They crushed wishes to give them power, and Asha is of course horrified.

She saw how happy Simon was, and now those people…

Her parents weren’t survivors.

They were just power-hungry.

And now this forbidden magic was changing them.

They demand Asha tells them where Star was so they could siphon his galaxy magic and become the supreme rulers of Rosas— no one would never question them again.

Asha tells them she doesn’t know, and Magnifico uses his magic fog on Asha to make her tell them that Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Dopey, Sneezy, and Doc probably did know.

Amaya tells Asha she was grounded. She says Asha should sit down in her room and wait for the new era to rise.

Asha runs back to her room and cries, princess-style, and speaks out to the sky, to Star, that he was right. He was telling the truth, her parents weren’t good. And now she didn’t know what to do.

This Wish

Yeah she says she’s the first to stand in line but she’s been told that all her life okay

Magnifico makes an announcement to the people of Rosas that the entity that came from the sky was named Star, and he, along with Simon, Gabo, Hal, Dario, Safi, and Bazeema were conspiring to commit treason. He says to find them all and get him Star’s powers do he can grant all of their wishes!

Asha runs after the seven and sees them arrested by other citizens, with Gabo cursing everyone out. Magnifico waves his hand and mutes Gabo. Asha commands the soldiers to give her the satisfaction of imprisoning these traitors and interrogates them in the carriage driving them to the prison with guards posted by.

She asks all of them where Star was, and they refuse to listen to her. They’re cold because she sort of beat them up with her magic. She says as their princess, they have to tell her.

“You all are underneath me. I am your future queen. Tell me where Star is. This is important.” She turns to the shortest in the carriage. “My parents are looking for him. Gabo, if you know where he is, you have to tell me.”

Gabo’s eyes flicker up at her saying his actual name. He glances at Dahlia, who sighs. She says that even if they wanted to, they couldn’t hand Star over, because he was already gone. He was at the place Asha first starting falling in love with him.

The guards raise an eyebrow at Asha, and she says the fools were so simple-minded that they believed her lie. Then she tells Sabi to shut up and stop sneezing.

She says the forest was where she first found Star, and Magnifico creates a dark fog horse to ride out and find Star.

Once she’s sure he’s gone, Asha whips out her magic wand and blasts the doors open. She apologizes to the seven and says nothing could make up for imprisoning them and lording her title over them, but she needed their help to help Star.

Asha and the seven run back to the Rosas town square where Star is rallying the people and telling them the truth about Magnifico and Amaya. The crowd gathers to help pull open the roofs to free the wishes.

Knowing What I Know Now

Asha joins in and leads the people

Asha apologizes to Star for yelling at him and he apologizes to her for going behind her back. He says she deserved to know. Before they go, Asha tells Star to wait.

“That… feeling. That I mentioned before? I think… I think they’re feelings. For you.”

Star’s glow slightly turns pink. “Like, do you mean…”

“Yes. Feelings of affection. I just… wanted to let you know.”

“Sweetheart, you should know I feel the same. Have since I first laid eyes on you.”

“I am pretty beautiful.”

“The beautiful-est.”

Asha laughs. “That’s not a word.”

“She’s right, it’s not,” Dahlia quips.

The two pull back and laugh awkwardly.

The seven lead the people of Rosas to help lift the roofs, but Amaya catches them and there’s a magic battle where Amaya turns into a dragon a la Malifacent. Star helps Asha suck out the evil magic, and Amaya falls to the floor. The roof is opened, and the wishes began to flow out.

Then Star is grabbed from the back by a fog hand and Magnifico tuts, telling Asha he’s disappointed in her. But now that he has the power of a Star, no one will ever question him again.

He ties down every single person and closes the roof, draining Star’s essence into his magical staff.

Asha yells and uses her magic wand against him, and the two have a giant blast of magic against each other, but the energy is draining Asha while Star’s is giving Magnifico more strength.

Star weakly whispers to Asha to remember where she came from.

Magnifico snarls do Asha that she is nothing, and Asha remembers.

“We… are… stars.”

Asha’s blast of magic is battling Magnifico’s but he’s still stronger.

Asha cries out a plea to the people, these stars just like her, and Dahlia responds.

This Wish (Reprise)

The strengths of these stars give Star enough energy to break free from Magnifico’s staff and fly over to Asha’s side, and the magic blast shines bright and blasts Magnifico back, burning away the evil magic.

When the dark clouds clear and the night sky is sparkling once again, Magnifico isn’t moving. Amaya and Asha run to him, and Amaya cries over his body. She apologizes to Star for what they did, and asks if she can help her husband.

Star sadly tells her that his powers weren’t strong enough for that.

Amaya cries, and kisses Magnifico’s lips. Then, her star soul orb thing in her chest glows bright, and Magnifico’s does too. His body glows that shimmering yellow and he’s lifted into the air and the last bit of evil magic is burned away.

Asha asks Star what he’s doing and Star says he’s not doing anything!

Suddenly, Magnifico’s eyes open and he gasps, then falls.

Amaya and Asha rush to catch him, and Magnifico asks what happened.

Star shrugs and says some sort of True Love’s Kiss.

Magnifico and Amaya walk up behind Asha and address the people of Rosas. They apologize for what they did and they know nothing could ever make up for it. But… they promise to keep working to be the best king and queen they can be. If the people will still accept them. Also, they should have what’s rightfully theirs.

Magnifico uses his magic to lift the roof and release the wishes of Rosas back to their people. Amaya tells them that now they have a chance to fulfill their dreams, and she and Magnifico will be behind them every step of the way.

Dahlia steps foreword and thanks them for apologizing.

Basically they can still remain king and queen but they start a council of representatives where people can address them directly about problems and stuff

Then, Asha turns to the seven and says she has to apologize to them. For treating them all so poorly in the past.

They forgive her, and when she asks how they can do something like that so easily, Dahlia smiles. “It’s what friends do.”

“…friends?”

“Do you have a hearing problem, or something?”

“Gabo!”

“Sorry, Bazeema!”

Asha laughs and turns to Star who spins her around.

“I have friends!”

“You have friends!”

Meanwhile, Gabo whispers to Simon how they ever feared the princess. She was just a sad, lonely, friendless girl.

Asha turns to her wand and discovers it broken in half when she was blasted backwards.

Star restores her wand, and she says she’s going to be the most powerful sorceress in the history of ever and Gabo says she looks like a stupid fairy.

Asha glares.

“A fairy godmother,” Gabo smirks.

Star laughs and says that sounds amazing and Asha groans and bites back a smile.

Star smiles at the family, but he looks sad still. Asha holds his hands and he rubs her thumb.

“You have to return to the sky, don’t you?”

“If I had a choice, I’d choose to stay by your side.”

“I’ll keep on wishing on stars. I’ll find a way to bring you back.”

He tells Asha that they’ve learned that sending your greatest desires into the universe in hopes that they’ll be answered doesn’t do anything. It didn’t work for Magnifico, and it didn’t work for Asha. Instead, the people of Rosas should work to achieve their dreams.

Asha says she’ll work to achieve a way to find him again, then. Since she was going to be the most powerful sorceress—

“Fairy godmother~”

“Shut up Gabo.”

—she’d find a way.

Star smiles and says she’s his dream girl, and Asha jokes that’s he’s got to work to achieve her.

Star flips his cape and says it’ll be easy since he’s so absurdly handsome, and Asha snorts as she pulls him down and raises an eyebrow at him. Star turns a bright pink, then rolls his eyes as he smiles and pulls Asha up in the air with him by her waist, and the two kiss.

When they finally separate, Star is vibrating happily and he accidentally shoots out a magic blast at a nearby chicken, which makes it grow big and lay a giant egg on Gabo.

Star winks at her and returns to the sky.

EDIT BC I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO ADD THIS BUT

ASHA DOES END UP USING HER FAIRY GODMOTHER POWERS TO HEAL SAFI’S SABI

MAYBE SHE MAKES A MAGIC FLOWER FROM A SUNDROP AND DAHLIA COOKS A PETAL INTO A COOKIE THAT HEALS SABINO

THEN BEFORE STAR LEAVES HE PROMISES TO HIDE THE GLOWER IN A FAR AWAY KINGDOM EHERE NO ONE WOULD BE ABLE TO EXPLOIT IT FOR IMMORTALITY (*side eyes Gothel*)

HE DOES END UP GETTING HEALED OK THE PEEPAW DOESN’T DIE

#disney wish #princess asha #wish asha #wish movie #asha wish #wish disney #wish 2023 #king magnifico #queen amaya #wish #disney #disney 100 #disney anniversary #walt disney animation studios #rewrite #au #rewriting #writing by sapphire

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rawliverandgoronspice · 1 year

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The Dondon Post (or: the bizarre TotK's side content counterpoints to its main quest's immuable binary morality)

Speaking of strange TotK Choices, I think I have one singe post left in me about this game; and it's about the Dondon quest, "The Beast and the Princess".

(and about other stuff too, you'll see, we'll get to them)

More specifically: about how... strange of a thematic point it feebly attemps to make in the larger context of the storyline, and how it seems to be yet another mark of a world that, perhaps, once tried to be more morally complex that it ended up becoming.

Buckle up: it's a long one, and it gets pretty conceptual.

(good gem boys notwhistanding)

The Princess and the Beast

So, a couple of things about the setup. We are investigating potential Princess sightings; but at this point, either because we have already completed a bunch and know the general gib, because we have met a couple of wild Fake Zelda shenanigans, or through the simple fact that we are completing a side quest, we know there's a good chance it won't lead to an actual Zelda information. So when we ask Penn about what is going on and he replies with the ominous "we saw the Princess riding some kind of beast --a frightening one with huge, brutal tusks-- that the princess seemed to control", we get Ideas. Then the sidequest is registered: "The Princess and the Beast".

So. You know me. And if you don't know me, here's what you should know: my brain immediately flared up with the thought there was no way in hell this wasn't some kind of wink towards Ganondorf's renowned boarish beast form, especially given tusks were given so much focus.

My first assumption was: that's a miniboss right? I will get to fight some small boar-like thing that Fake Zelda rides sometimes. Cool! I didn't hold too hard onto my hope that the relationship of Zelda and/or Ganondorf to the natural world, or to each other would be expanded upon, since I had already been burned before, but my interest was piqued.

You have to understand how starved I was for any hint of complexity or mystery or ambiguity at this point. I was extremely eager for the game to throw anything at me that would surprise me, enlighten something pre-established, make the exploration lead to a meaningful discovery or deepening of characters, world or themes (and not just slightly cooler loot, or a bossfight, or a puzzle devoid of emotional context --cohesion and depth is what motivates my play sessions, especially in an open world game that I want to believe is worth losing oneself into). This was about the most intriguing task on my to do list at the moment, and so I plunged in immediately.

After really REALLY misunderstanding what I was supposed to do (I stalked every corner of every forest surrounding the tropical area at night or during blood moons in hope to see something --which was very much the wrong call), I arrived to the other stable, then was guided to the other side of the river where Cima awaits and explains that these creatures are actually a new species discovered by Zelda; that they are gentle and kind and not at all scary ("Dondons aren't beastly, they're adorable!"), and even somehow digest luminous stones into gemstones. They like the company of people and liked Zelda in particular.

I was... I felt two different ways about this conclusion, and I think it's worth to explore both: disappointment and some sort of... "huh!" Hard to describe this emotion otherwise.

I'll get the disappointment out of the way first, because it's the least interesting of the two. While I think the little emotional arc I was taken on was not devoid of interest --I was indeed taken on by the rumor and intrigued by its implications-- I wanted, well. A little bit more. And if the creatures were to be Zelda's pet project, I would have loved for them to be actually terrifying and feisty, and for her to develop an interest for these creatures in particular regardless. It could have been very interesting characterization that veered out of the perfect princess loving the perfect world floundering around her, always bringing her clear, practical benefits from the interaction.

(I have made another post that speaks of my discomfort that Zelda does everything everywhere and everyone loves her for it --I get what they were trying to go for, but it either lacks conflict for me to buy into that dynamic at the scale of several regions, or they went on too hard for my taste, as she is, at once and in the span of a couple of years at most: a schoolteacher, a gardener, an animal researcher, a scholar, a traveler, a military expert, a knower of landscape, a painter, a horse rider, an infrastructure planner, a [...] princess --at some point it begins to sound made up, "Little Father of the people"-esque to rattle the hornet's nest a little bit, especially if it's not shown as either a clearly godly characteristic or, even more necessary imo, a negative trait; another expression of her killing herself at work to compensate for a perceived flaw she's trying to earn forgiveness for, like she did in BotW. But that's another topic, and the clumsiness of her character arc has been well threaded by basically everybody disappointed in the story already.)

But, if I decide to be a little graceful, I'd like to explore my "huh!" emotion, and take it apart a little bit.

I think there's something interesting to have such strong parallels to setting up a story about the relationship between Zelda and Ganondorf ("The Princess and the Beast", like come on guys that's the conflict of over half the series), or at least Zelda and the concept of Evil since Ganondorf pretty much represents it in this game, and then have it go: actually, there was a horrible monster that everyone was afraid of, but Zelda was wise and patient enough to approach it and realize its potential beyond the tusks, what beauty can be brought upon the world if one makes the effort to look for what exists underneath. It says something a bit deeper about the world and about Zelda in particular. It intrigues, at the very least.

Is it a reach? Probably! Is my first interpretation that the quest is actually about "eww you thought Zelda would be interested in *disgusting vile monsters* and not sweet and gentle and human-loving animals that literally shit jewlery when cared for? jokes on you, she never would feel any ounce of sympathy for anything that isn't Good and Deserving" uhhh definitively truer? Probably! But I also don't want to dismiss that the quest made me think about it. If I had completed it earlier, I might have even felt like it was (very clumsy, not gonna lie) setup about the main conflict.

But that's also a good segway into my next section: the arbitrary limitations between the animal and the creature, the monstrous and the human.

And the fact that TotK points directly at it.

A Monstrous Collection

(these two guys are just. doing So Much and being So Valid despite being massive weirdos the game wants us to be slightly repelled by. I, for one, respect the Monster kinning grind and their general Twilight Princess energy.)

So. These two guys. There is so much to say about these two guys. I don't think I have seen the Trans Perspective on Kolton on tumblr, and I would love to get it because. I feel like it's a worthwhile discussion (just, how gender and identity is handled in TotK overall, I feel like it's a very complicated conversation and I have not seen super deep dives and I'd be very interested in hearing more).

Beyond the throughline of voluntary consumption of magical objects to turn into less human creatures being a weirdly prevalent plot point in TotK (Zelda, Kolton and Ganondorf casually transing their entire species for funsies --Ganondorf being particularly relentless with Fake Zelda, mummy/phantom shenanigans, Demon King and then literal dragon), I want to focus on Kilton a little bit.

Kilton is genuinely the only NPC in the game willing to acknowledge the inherent personhood that monsters have (the game does showcase them picking up fruits, mourning their boss if you kill them, being cutesy and happy to identify you as one of their own if you wear the appropriate mask --and that's not even getting into creatures like the Lynels, who seem to really edge on the limit of being a conscious creature with a system of honor and property and many other things). He does encourage us to think of monsters as more than a species whose only worth lie in how fun it is to eradicate them; even more, gameplay-wise, he does give us a reason to interact with them in other ways than just our sword with his museum. He does encourage us to see that beauty for ourselves and then select what we think is coolest/most intimidating/cutest/eight billion ganondorfs in every pose imaginable

The fact that Ganondorf is considered a monster was a great win for this feature in particular, and is very funny, but it's also... A lot, if we dig at it a little more than warranted. Beyond all of the Implications and all of the things of representation and political conflict and values already discussed ad nauseum: when did he stop being considered a human? What does that mean about the flimsiness of what is a monster and what is a creature and what is an animal and what is a person and what is even a hylian, as sheikahs got absorbed into the definition in this game? Especially with the stones taken into account, how profound changes in nature are a huge part of the plot (even when reversed and ultimately pretty meaningless): how easy it is, to make that slip? Who decides when that slip has been made? What is acceptable to hurt without remorse? What is beautiful and worth preserving? What is both at once? What is neither?

And again, in a classic Zelda conundrum (appreciative(?)): who the fuck gets to decide that, when, and why?

The Bargainers and the Horned God

(major shoutout to these big guys for being the sole and only providers of actual depth to the Depths, and for looking cool as heck)

So. Let's move the conversation to the Depths.

Conceptually: what an interesting idea!! And so well executed (initially)!! A mirror world to the surface, dark and hushed and full of unknown creatures; haunted by gloom and sickness and the unknown. Not a first in the series, far from it: from ALTTP to ALBW, and even taking the Twilight world of TP into account, this idea of a Dark World acting as a deforming mirror to Hyrule and revealing many interesting aspects as we get to explore both is always a very interesting take on corruption and envy and fear/weakness and/or some sense of darkness looming under the perfect exterior. I'd argue even the Lens of Truth of both OoT and MM's serve a similar function, both gameplay-wise, but also in terms of theme: not everything is as it seems. In the world of Light, darkness must hide itself; but darkness also possess its own beauty, its own hardships, and will stare back at you without blinking if you go seek for it. It's, in my opinion, one of the series' most compelling conversation about the cyclical nature of fate, the coldness of godhood, and how small one feels in the face of a universe that is more complicated than it initially appears --which is why Courage must be invoked to push forward regardless.

The Depth's otherworldly ambiance is truy wonderful, whether in the plays of light and shadows, the creatures native to the environment we meet there (wish we met more!), the soundtrack, the strange aquatic/primordial plants, the fact that the dragons visit this place and connect them to the outside --invoking ideas of balance and interconnectivity, that the tree branches look like veins. The coliseums, the mines, the zonai facilities and the prisons do seem to poke at many things about what the relationship to the past was to this place; was it ever truly a place? Did it look like this back then? Why was it buried? Why did it come back? But in spite of it all, I think the Depths struggle overall to question or reveal anything about the surface that we couldn't already assume going in (that the only thing congealing there is Ganondorf's gloom, his lonely domain of Wrongness, only shared by Kohga and the yiga --the only naysayers of Goodness and Light, contemptful and blinded by self-importance and rage). The zonite is mined by gloomy monsters --why, what for?-- so any notion of greed and over-expansion that could have been associated to the zonai is now reabsorbed into Ganondorf's general evilness, since it needs to be reminded he is everything and anything bad with the world: darkness and conquest and greed and capitalism and pollution and bad weather and sickness and darkness and violence and war and death and betrayal and fakeness and lies and patriarchy and exploitation. No matter that he never does a single thing with zonite in the game; rather set up elements of conflict that never go anywhere than, for a second, let the foundations of absolute goodness and absolute evil risk becoming shaky --and you coming to this unwelcoming dark place that hates you, killing the miners and taking their resources for yourself is, on the other holy, royal fur-covered hand, utterly legitimate. The resources were once Rauru's after all, were they not?

And this is what I would say, except... except for the dead. The fallen warriors, the poes, and, most important of all: the Bargainer statues.

The Bargainers are, in-universe, godly creatures guiding the fallen to a place of final respite, regardless of moral alignment. The poes are all, fundamentally, cleansed of judgement: they are lost souls whose past reality does not matter anymore, and all deserve that peace regardless. In spite of the heavy paradise/hell parallels drawn in that game, with Rauru/Zelda/Sonia as the guardians of Light where Ganondorf gets to become a Devil-like figure, it is confirmed here that no such thing exists when you actually die in this universe.

It almost feels as if the fabric of Hyrule itself, in a brief moment that refuses to elaborate on its own point, goes: "yeah, whatever is happening here between Light and Darkness, it doesn't actually matter. This conflict is futile and doesn't understand the real nature of being alive, dead, a god, a person, a monster, an animal. The truth lies elsewhere --but you will never be told what it is."

It's: wild.

One of the game's most striking traits of narrative brilliance in my opinion --to the point where I'm wondering whether it's there on purpose or was effectively an oversight since every other aspect of reality breaks its own back trying to reassure us that everything is at its correct place, receiving the appropriate treatment by the universe in a way that is never to be questioned.

Another case of that ambiguity being allowed to exist without being immediately crushed and repressed is the case of the Horned God (interesting parallel to Ganon's actual horns that he develops in this game in case the hellish parallels weren't clear enough already): a demon Hylia sealed into stone and pushed far from humans in a clear case of questionable behavior since, while the Horned God isn't exactly nice, does propose a different philosophy you are not punished for exploring; and yet, a proposal that has seen itself persecuted in a very real sense by the goddess of absolute goodness, patron of hylians, Zelda, and many more. Pushed away from view.

Interesting.

And Yet, Light Must Prevail

Okay, so, after all of this, we're left to ask... What the fuck is up with morality in Tears of the Kingdom?!

What do we trust? These half-breaths in the occasional sidequests that Light and Darkness is just the wrong frame of reference, that nature cannot be this simple, is ever-shifting and can be recalled or reaffirmed by arbitrary forces, and might even not matter at all in the universe's fabric, despite having so much of its lore soaking in the dychotomy? Or... everything else about the game, this insistence that Good must not only be assumed as whatever tradition the kingdom has passed down for thousands upon thousands of years, but remain utterly unquestioned the entire time? That Bad is without cause, graceless and unworthy of investment?

Are the Bargainer's statues the only thing worth listening to, that morality is a fable the living tells themselves --or should we be moved when Darkness destroys Light, when Light suffers to preserve itself and the world --but not when the Other is rightfully slain?

Was Kilton correct to see beauty in the monstrous? Was Kolton onto something when he let go of his previous form because there is no clear distinction between what should receive an arrow to the face and what shouldn't? Or should we rather focus on Zelda losing her human form as a beautiful and tragic sacrifice --but something that never actually altered her nature as a hylian, the descendant of a lineage of Good Kings meant to rule forever?

Is the Dondon good because it always was, or was it worth Zelda's love in spite of the fear it initially provoked?

Either way, at the end of the game, evil is slain. Ganondorf is, not killed, but --like his angry BotW boar counterpart-- destroyed, as monsters tend to be. He explodes over the lands of Hyrule, freed from Darkness; freed from everything wrong, since the foreign menace that embodied it all was wiped out in one fateful sweep of a holy blade cradled in sacrificial love. Nothing wrong remains. The Sages reaffirm their vows to protect the kingdom forward, and a very human --hylian-- Zelda smiles: Hyrule now forever and ever basked in eternal Light.

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hd-junglebook · 8 months

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Edge of Exile

part 1

Following episode 9 Unity Day of the 100

You were escorted from your cell. The guard fixing you with a stern look as you both walk the all-too-familiar route away from maximum security.

"Don't cause any more trouble," he warns. you simply nod, too overwhelmed with anticipation to respond.

You were led through the halls to Mecha Station. The guard ushering you toward a small but cozy room. "Home sweet home," he says gruffly before departing.

You step inside the new room, making faces at his back as he walks away. This room was so different from your drafty, sterile cell in Prison Station. This space feels lived in. The desk was the same, your photos and colorful blankets placed neatly inside the room already.

The medium sized window that adorned one of the walls adding some natural scenery, just missing your drawings and paintings, each one a reflection of your innermost thoughts and emotions.

…

Your first week of freedom went better than you would have imagined.

At first, you were skeptical of his offer. Everyone knew how Jaha led - with an iron fist. You had witnessed his disregard for human life firsthand when he floated most of your friends. But his deal was your only chance to get out of that cell.

The work itself felt good. Kept your hands and mind busy, and finally able to use the skills that had been useless in your cell. The engineers even valued your input, unlike the guards who had tossed you in confinement.

These full, simple days of freedom were all anyone could wish for after surviving isolation. Every morning you reminded yourself to be thankful for this second chance, even if you didn't fully trust the man who had granted it.

Kane had only visited twice your release. Your stubbornness kept you from speaking, a trait you most definitely adopted from being around him so long. But no matter how much you tried pretending he didn’t exist anymore, he had always tried to be by your side.

You found it so hard to hate him. Even now when you think about it. They had placed you in indefinite lockup instead of death, if it were anyone else you would have been floated with the rest.

….

A soft knock sounded from your door, vibrating through the thin walls, waking you from your deep sleep. Bleary-eyed, you approached the door to find your grandmother standing there in the dimly lit corridor.

"Vera? What are you doing here so late?” you state, head lolling to the side.

She stepped inside, a small smile appearing on her lips. "I'm sorry to wake you, y/n. I couldn’t sleep but there’s something I wanted to ask you."

A look of confusion spreads across your face as you extend your hand, gesturing for her to sit at the small table as you shook off sleep. "What is it?"

"It's about your uncle, Kane."

You sighed, "What about him?" your voice came out harsher than intended as you crossed your arms, unwilling to yield. "You don't know what he put me through."

"You're right, I don't," she conceded softly. "But I know you. And I know holding onto bitterness will destroy the bright, brave girl I love."

“I won’t be alive for long. He's still family. His burden is heavy too. Will you at least try, for your old Grandma's sake?”

You let out a long breath, feeling your heart crack open despite yourself. You nodded reluctantly. Where Kane and you would end up, only time would tell.

Sadness filled her eyes. "Resentment will only poison your spirit, child. What's done is done. But you still have a choice - let go of the anger, or let it define you."

…

It was Unity Day, and the entire Ark was celebrating, minus you and the few engineers working to get the last three stations fixed up.

You had gotten to work the moment you woke up, Vera’s words still circling your mind. Sinclair had been first to join you, meeting in the remnants of flint station, helping you figure out the repairs for the damage.

Together, you both had spent hours poring over the manual, checking, and rechecking each step to make sure everything was done correctly.

Both of you taking turns going on breaks and grabbing snacks you had stolen from the eating hall, but for the most part, you were both fully focused on the task at hand.

The temperature in the room rose as well, making your work even more challenging. The air conditioning had been broken for weeks in flint station as if the mounting pressure of work wasn't enough.

You and Sinclair had pushed through it, determined to see this done.

The heat was stifling as you both crawled through the tight utility space, searching for the wiring short that was causing power fluctuations in Mecha Station. Rivulets of sweat dripped down your back.

"Phew, it's boiling in here," you complained, pushing past another bundle of wires. "Couldn't they have put in some AC?"

Sinclair chuckled. "Unfortunately for you y/n, the Ark wasn't built with comfort in mind. But don't worry, we're almost there."

You grumbled good-naturedly as he shuffled forward. your toolkit banging against the metal walls, the sound echoing in the tight space.

"Watch out for that junction box," Sinclair warned over his shoulder. You looked to the side and saw the hazard just in time and pivoted awkwardly around it.

"Thanks for the heads up. Wouldn't want to get zapped in here."

You reached the problem spot - a bundle of fraying wires with melted insulation. Sinclair gave a satisfied nod. "Just needs some fresh wraps and it'll be good as new."

As you both worked, Sinclair made quiet small talk, telling stories about past repairs and close calls he had with a coworker of his, Raven Reyes.

His calm expertise putting you at ease.

After another 30 minutes, all your hard, sweaty work paid off as you finally heard the hum of the machines coming back to life.

Packing up the tools, Sinclair nervously smiled at you. "You did great work today. With some more training, you'll make an excellent mechanic."

Pride swelled in your chest at the praise as you fanned yourself off from the heat. "Does this mean I get to do the fun zero-G jobs next?" you said jokingly.

He laughed heartily. "Maybe not just yet. But you've got a bright future ahead. Now let's get out of this sauna."

Grinning, you followed him out, grateful for his patience. Both of you let out a sigh of relief as you collapsed into a chair, exhausted, still drenched in sweat, sharing a fist bump before you stood and headed to the hallway to catch your breath, the sound of music and chatter filled the air.

The hallways decorated in banners and streamers recycled from the previous Unity Day adorned the walls.

Your thoughts were interrupted as you remembered that you needed to find Kane and your grandma before getting back to work.

"fuck," you whispered to yourself, speed walking down the hall.

you turned a corner, eyes on the floor glancing at the confetti when you were jolted out of your thoughts as a blonde lady bumped into you, causing you to stumble backwards.

"Oof!" you gasped.

Quickly regaining your balance as you looked up to see who had collided with you. It was Diana Sydney.

Diana looked at you with a mix of surprise and annoyance, her mouth pinched into a thin line before quickly brushing past you and disappearing down the hall.

"Excuse me!" You called after her, irritation flaring. "You just ran right into me!"

She paused and half-turned, eyes scanning right through you with her dark eyes. "Did I?" she murmured dreamily before whisking away again.

You stood there rubbing your left shoulder where she had hit you, stunned by her complete lack of courtesy. "Unbelievable," you muttered under your breath.

You couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about her reaction.

You had never met her before, but you had heard all the stories from your uncle about their shared time on the council.

You quickly made your way through the rest of the halls, passing by Jaha speaking to the citizens on the Ark and the delinquents on the ground through a broadcast.

His voice was firm as he spoke, pausing every so often to look at the faces in the crowd, stating that the ark would be sending down reinforcements within the next 3 days.

Just when you were about to give up your search, you spotted both Kane and your grandma off to the side of the room in the middle of a conversation.

Kane brushing off his mother’s request, about to walk away leaving Vera to stand alone to watch the unity speech.

Your heart ached at the sight, you couldn't understand why Kane would leave her like that.

You walked faster, almost in front of them when all of a sudden your thoughts were drowned out by a deafening boom as an enormous explosion rocked the station.

Your body lifted off the ground, a flying piece of metal stabbing your leg as you crashed to the floor. You felt a jolt of pain as your head smacked onto the surface, and everything went black.

...

When you came to, a groan escaped your lips, your whole body aching in pain from the fall. You look around to find yourself lying on the cold, hard surface of the floor. The footsteps vibrating on your face and muffled voices nearby.

You tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through your head and you fell back down. Adrenaline coursed through your veins as you struggled to move, your ears ringing and your vision blurry.

The feeling of wetness pooled on your thigh, a gasp escaping your lips when you looked down to examine your leg.

A gash stretched across the area above your knee. Your nose wrinkling in disgust at the sight of your thigh jaggedly cut open.

With trembling hands you ripped off your sleeves to tie around your leg. Pain shot through your body in ripples the tighter you made the knot.

Shouts and screams all around you, the smell of smoke and burning filling your nostrils, panic set in as you frantically looked around, trying to make sense of your surroundings.

It took a second for you to even understand how you ended up in this situation, how did this happen.

The chaos around you seemed to intensify as you looked around, noticing the number of people panicking, some of them injured and bleeding. The ground was littered with debris and shattered glass, and the walls were crumbling from the force of the explosion.

You spotted your grandmother lying on the floor impaled by a jagged piece of metal, your heart began to race, eyes widening at the sight of her blood pooling beneath her. The sight of Kane leaning over her, his voice trembling as he recited the Travelers Blessing.

"In peace, may you leave the shore. In love, may you find the next,” he whispered, his eyes filled with tears. “Safe passage on your travels until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again," Kane said, spending his mother’s last moment comforting her.

Pushing down the swirling panic in your stomach, you focused only on putting one foot in front of the other. You couldn’t look at her anymore. The adrenaline dulling the pain coming from your gash slightly.

You limped forward slowly, the bodies of council members greeting you as they lay motionless on the ground. There were four of them, all of them unconscious.

Jaha approached from your side, concern etched on his face.

"Y/n! Are you alright?" he asked urgently.

"I - I think so," you stammered back, disoriented.

Kane stood from his place on the ground, closing vera’s eyes and coming over to where you stood with Jaha.

“You need to get out of here, they tried to kill you,” Kane said to him, voice shaking with fear and adrenaline.

“Do you realize it was Diana who tried to kill you, she’s the only one not here.” Jaha looked at you with a grave expression.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, looking to both you and Kane with urgency, “First priority is getting survivors to safety. Then we stop them before they cause any more harm” he said. “We have to lock down the ark.”

“Kane find Diana.”

….

The adrenaline was pumping through your veins as you and Kane walked down the dimly lit hallways, the sound of your footsteps echoing off the metal walls. The air was thick with smoke, making it difficult to see and breathe.

Four skilled ark guards following in the rear behind Jaha, their weapons at the ready. Diana’s followers were not to be underestimated, they were fighting for their cause and would do anything to escape.

After what felt like an eternity, you reached the end of the hallway where the exodus ship was docked.

The doors were sealed shut, the guards and Kane charged towards the door, using all their strength to break it down. To no avail, the door didn’t budge. Jaha begged Diana not to do this.

You spotted a long metal pry bar lying nearby and snatched it up.

"Use this!" You called, passing the bar to the nearest guard. He wedged it into the seam between the doors, the muscles in his arms bulging as he heaved with all his strength. They worked together, pushing with everything they had but it wasn’t enough.

Jaha persisted attempting to talk Diana down, “Diana, please! You don't want to be remembered like this!” The desperation clear in his voice.

“I won't be because you brought this on yourself, Jaha. You promised the people truth, and all you gave them were lies!”

Jaha paled in response, “You had me shot! You detonated a bomb in a public meeting, killing six innocent people, and now you want to kill everyone on this space station to satisfy your ego?”

Diana smirked, looking back to her followers “He is still lying to your face. There aren't enough dropships to get everyone to the ground.”

The men shared a look, Red deciding to break the ranks and save himself and sprinted forward, before anyone could react. Just out of your grasp, he had slipped through the open doors and seized the controls.

With a grinding screech, the massive doors began sliding closed, causing the dropship to begin its launch.

Sinclair began pleading with Jaha, his breathing heavy. “ Sir, we have to go right now! Everybody out! Get back behind the containment doors. Go, go, go! Please, sir.”

….

The ship was pitch black and the air was thick and heavy, causing sweat to bead on your skin despite the cool air lightly blowing around the halls. In the distance, a shuffling noise came from behind you.

Your heart rate quickened as you turned around, but there was no one there. But then, you heard it again, this time, it was closer. You strained your eyes, trying to make out any movement in the shadows.

The sound of footsteps bounced off the walls, slow and deliberate, as if whoever was making them was trying to be quiet. You tried to tell yourself that it was just your imagination, but the footsteps grew louder and closer.

Just as you were about to scream, a hand landed on your shoulder. You jumped and let out a gasp, as a familiar voice started to speak. “It's just me, Kane,” he said, his voice low and calm.

You let out a sigh of relief and turned to face him, thankful to see he was okay. In the faint light, you could see his tall figure looming over you on the floor.

“Can you stand up?' Kane asked, concern written on his face, the blood from your soaking the white fabric of your sleeves. You nodded yes and grabbed Kane's hand to stand up.

“We should look for everyone else,” he said, breaking the eerie silence. “We have to find Jaha.”

You nodded in agreement, relieved to have a goal in this unknown darkness.

…

Kane kept a steady hand under your arm while you slowly made your way down the hallway, leg throbbing with every step you took.

You both rounded a corner, stopping in the middle of the hallway as you stifled a groan when a spike of pain shot through your leg. Kane paused, his brow creased in concern. "Just a little farther," he encouraged.

You nodded, biting your lip as he continued walking you forward. The hall was eerily silent, a sudden clanging rang out, followed by a loud curse. You jumped abruptly, exchanging startled glances with Kane, heading forward to investigate the noise.

There on the floor was Wick, his arm caught in a doorway, tools scattered at his feet. He looked up at you in dismay. He was in a state of panic, his eyes wild with fear as he struggled to free himself.

"A little help here?" Wick pleaded, still trying in vain to free himself.

Kane sighed and moved to examine Wick's predicament. "What happened?"

"I was trying to override the door panel when it decided to eat my arm!" Wick explained in exasperation.

"What the hell happened, anyway?" wick said distracting himself while you and Kane use an axe to try and open the door.

Kane had a somber look on his face when he replied, "We were betrayed. Councilor Sydney... she took the Exodus ship by force. The damage to the Ark was catastrophic."

Wicks face turned in disgust, "What a bitch! You know, my mom voted for her."

You bit back an amused smile at the absurd situation despite the pain you were in. Only Wick could get into such a mess.

Once freed, Wick shook our hands gratefully. "I owe you both. Let’s look for everyone else."

With your leg burning in pain, you decided to separate and venture back to the med bay, you knew that they would be able to handle themselves and you were useless until you patched up your leg.

You could feel the warmth of the dark blood soaking through your pants, and you knew that you needed to find a safe place to tend to your wounds.

You hobbled through the wreckage of the ship, pushing the doors to the infirmary open.

….

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sethdomain · 3 months

Text

give him a fren

anyway i will kms if theres no clingyduo, not really. It's for me so i can trigger the apocalypse very more smoothly.

So why not give scu!tom a little friend that is very close to him 🤔

both tub and tom instantly latch on together because well.. they are almost the same age and a lab tube baby. I think they'll get along.

Tub is older than tom. The scientist(Condi) made him because he wants to make a super human with the strength of an animal. So he mix in a ram with a human.

part 1 of my ramble

#my art #scu!tommy #slimecicle cinematic universe #100 days #rewrite #c!tommy #tw experimentation

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moonylantsovs · 11 months

Text

RULES | 1.12: WE ARE GROUNDERS (1)

summary: the daughter of marcus kane gets sent down to the ground with ninety-nine other teenage criminals and a fake guard on her eighteenth birthday, deciding to take charge of the camp along with the two people she never thought she'd get along with after her previous experience with authority and the privileged

pairings: john murphy x fem!oc, bellamy blake x fem!oc ( slowburn )

taglist: @lotr-got

warnings: best friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, swearing, choking (not the kinky kind), heartbreak, ANGST, bellamy x gabi development, inappropriate jokes, mentions of self-harm in the beggining

series masterlist

Gabriella Kane was emotionally exhausted, which was a big difference to how she felt when she was stuck in the sky-box. Up there, when she was locked up and getting ready to get executed, she did not need emotions, but she wanted to feel something so badly that she even ended up stealing a guard's knife and carving her initials into the back of her leg, just under her knee. The feeling stung but she was the type of person who thrived off of anger and passion, not pain.

That was not a period in her life she was proud of and looking at the faint scar still made her obnoxiously angry. She felt weak for going to those lengths just to feel something and to feel human. But now, when she was on Earth in the middle of a war, leading a group of teenagers into war against actual warriors, she had to do that without the constant need to scream because two of her best friends were missing and there was nothing she could do about it.

Of course, the first thing Gabriella did when she woke up from the few minutes of sleep she got, was going to grab her gun. Only to realize Bellamy was one step ahead of her and already given orders that only specific delinquents were allowed to carry guns and no one was allowed to go out of camp with them.

"Bellamy, what the fuck?" Gabriella hissed, barging into Bellamy's tent.

He was laying on his back, shirtless, staring at the ceiling of the tent with a thoughtful expression on his face which instantly turned into one of amusement at Gabriella's pissed-off tone.

"Yes, Bambi?"

"Why the fuck did you give out the order that no one is allowed to go out of camp with a gun while I was asleep?" She asked, glaring down at him.

Bellamy shrugged, getting up and purposely flexing his muscles (only irritating Gabriella more) before picking up a shirt and twirling it around, his only intention to provoke her.

Gabriella clenched her jaw before she sighed. "You said we're gonna go looking for them after the sun goes up! It's been up for more than an hour. If we wanna find Clarke and Monty we need to go now."

"You're not going anywhere while I'm here." Bellamy said, suddenly turning serious.

"What are you, my father?" The blonde scoffed.

Noticing the corner of Bellamy's mouth slowly started tugging into a smug smirk, she instantly prepared for his next words by fixing him a warning glare. Which he obviously ignored.

"If you want I could ── "

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." The engineer warned with a scowl.

"No one's going outside." Bellamy said sternly. "You aren't in the right state of mind to be running around the woods with a gun in your hand. We can't risk losing anyone else." Gabriella opened her mouth to say something, only for him to cut her off again, "Wells and Raven agreed."

"Since when do you listen to Wells and Raven?" Gabriella asked, squinting her eyes up at him in confusion.

"I don't." Bellamy shrugged, "But you listen to Raven. So if she's okay with not going looking for her boyfriend if it means keeping everyone safe then so should you."

"I don't care if we find Finn or not. I want to find Clarke and Monty. Monty's an engineer and we need Clarke to get through this. You know that."

"Yeah." The man nodded solemnly. "But I also know I'm not willing to lose another one of our leaders."

"So what? We just sit back and do nothing?" Gabriella asked in disbelief.

"No." Bellamy said and shook his head, "We get ready for war. You can start by helping Jasper and Raven with the gunpowder for the minefield. Go."

"You're dismissing me?" The blonde gaped up at him, not believing he would start treating her like one of her lap dogs around camp.

Bellamy huffed, gripping the shirt in his hands tighter. "If that's what you'd call keeping you alive, then yes. You're dismissed."

Gabriella held her empty blue eyes glued to his dark brown ones before sighing and marching out of his tent. When she was standing outside she ran her fingers through her dirty blonde hair in frustration, feelings unexplainable anger bubbling up in the bottom of her stomach.

She looked around camp and her eyes connected with Murphy's, softening almost instantly. He looked like he was gonna walk up to her but something over her shoulder caught his attention and made him scoff under his breath and then turn around with a permanent scowl on his face. Gabriella furrowed her eyes in confusion and was about to follow him into the supply tent, only for Bellamy's voice to stop her.

"Trouble in paradise?"

The Kane girl turned around to see a shirtless Bellamy giving her a coy smirk, obviously catching her and Murphy's exchange and finding it amusing.

Gabriella quickly caught on to what Murphy probably thinks he saw and shook her head in annoyance. "You're an ass."

Gabriella quickly stopped what she was doing when a loud gunshot was heard through camp. Her eyes widened in alarm and she rushed towards the source of the sound, with Bellamy right next to her and a few other delinquents behind them.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Bellamy snapped at a panicked Philip, who was supposedly the one who accidentally pulled the trigger of his gun.

"I'm sorry." Philip quickly defended himself, "I fell asleep. I've been on watch all day."

Bellamy clenched his jaw and gripped the top of Philip's jacket, pushing him against a three. "We've all been on watch all day! The bullet was one less dead grounder."

Gabriella stared at her co-leader with wide eyes, surprised by his outburst. Sure, she had seen him angry before but never like this.

"Bell," Octavia quickly chimed in, noticing Gabriella's hesitance to jump in, "you're scaring people."

"They should be scared!" Her older brother was quick to snap. He let Philip go and turned to the crowd surrounding him. "The bomb on the bridge bought us some time to prepare, but that time is up! The grounders are out there right now, waiting for us to leave and picking us off one by one when we do! Clarke, Finn, and Monty are gone, probably dead..."

Gabriella swallowed thickly at his words, gripping her fists tight enough to draw blood as she listened to his speech.

"...and if you want to be next, I can't stop you, but no guns are leaving this camp! This camp is the only thing keeping us alive!" Bellamy's eyes connected with Gabriella's teary ones as he spoke his next words, dismissing the crowd, "Get back to work!"

As she watched Bellamy storm away and back to his tent, Gabriella felt a presence behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Wells looking down at her expectantly. "You gonna go calm him down or not?"

"Now why would I do that?" Gabriella drawled out, giving Wells an emotionless look.

"Because he trusts you." Wells shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Why do you even care?" Gabriella quickly changed the subject, turning around so she and Wells were standing face-to-face. She gave him a judgmental look. "Aren't you the one that left Monty alone?"

"You really think I wanted that?" Wells scoffs, shaking his head in frustration, "Don't you think I want to go after them too? I love Clarke and Finn and Monty are my friends."

"Really? Because it doesn't really look like you're doing anything that's gonna get the three of them back." Gabriella spat. She brushed past him without sparing him a second look.

"You know what will happen to me if you tell Bellamy."

Gabriella furrowed her eyebrows at the sound of Murphy's taunting voice coming from the walkie that was sitting on the table in the camp she, Raven, Monty, and Jasper reserved for building walking and radios.

She was about to ask what was going on when someone else with the third walkie beat her to it.

"Tell Bellamy what?"

Bellamy.

"Murphy has a gun. He killed Myles── "

Gabriella's eyes widened at Jasper's words and she was quick to grab her walkie and rush towards the dropship while speaking into the walkie.

"John, what the hell are you doing?"

Bellamy and Gabriella caught sight of each other at the same moment the dropship door closed. Bellamy instantly threw the cup of water from his hands and rushed towards the door, alongside Gabriella, in hopes of going inside and seeing what was happening before it closed. But they were too slow.

Gabriella banged on the dropship door in anger and frustration, both her and Bellamy calling John's name in the hope of figuring out what he was planning to do.

"Open the damn door!" Bellamy yelled, Murphy's little revenge fantasy only adding to his long list of problems.

"You try to be the hero, Jasper dies."

Gabriella's eyes opened in horror as she tried her hardest to fight back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. That was not the John Murphy she fell for. That was someone who only cared about revenge. Someone that was willing to kill one of his closest friends to get what he wanted. Someone she did not recognize anymore.

The two remaining leaders of the hundred spent the entire night sitting outside of the dropship. Gabriella tried to make Murphy talk to her multiple times, but he did not budge. Bellamy tried to threaten him, but he still ignored them.

Gabriella has not been this terrified in a very long time. She did not know what Murphy was capable of at that moment. She did not know if he would actually have the guts to kill Jasper who was one of his only friends from The Ark.

Octavia emerged from one of the foxholes and made a B-line towards the two leaders. She panted as she caught her breath before speaking, panic obviously in her voice, "I just heard Murphy has Jasper."

"Yeah." Bellamy nodded, before asking. "South foxhole done?"

(Seriously? Gabriella thought bitterly. John has Jasper locked up and that's what he thinks about?)

"What?" Octavia asked exactly what Gabriella was thinking. "Bellamy, our friend is in there with a killer." She cast the blonde an apologetic glance. "No offense."

"None taken." Gabriella huffed, rubbing her palm over her face, too tired to be delusional about Murphy's murder attempts.

"O, look around." Bellamy started, looking around camp momentarily before looking back at his younger sister. "No one's working. If the grounders attack us right now, we're all dead."

Octavia ignored her brother's words and brushed past the two leaders to stand in front of the door, "Murphy! Murphy, if you even touch Jasper──"

"Octavia." Bellamy tried only for her to ignore him again.

"── I swear to god, you're dead."

"Octavia." Bellamy spoke, louder this time, "We got this."

"Really?" The brunette scoffed, "Because it doesn't look like you're doing anything about it."

Raven cut the argument off by approaching the trio. "Ella, you were right. There's a loose panel on the back. If one of us can pop it, we can get through the floor."

"Good." Gabriela sighed in relief, glad that they finally had a good plan. "You do that. I'm going to stay here, maybe try to keep him from doing anything stupid again."

Realization crossed Octavia's dirt-covered face and she looked down sheepishly, "Sorry."

Gabriella and Bellamy gave them a nod, before the latter picked up the walkie, trying to reach Murphy again. "Murphy, I know you can hear me. All our ammo and food is in the middle level. You know that. You're leaving us vulnerable to an attack. I can't let that happen."

"Yeah, well, in case you haven't noticed, you're not exactly in control right now."

Bellamy looked at Gabriella and let his shoulders slump in defeat. He hesitantly put the walkie to his mouth, "Come on, Murphy. You don't want to hurt Jasper, you want to hurt me."

Gabriella quickly realized what he was going to do and shook her head rapidly."No way ── "

Bellamy kept his gaze locked with the blonde's as he spoke his next words, which could possibly sign his life sentence, "So what do you say? How about you trade him for me?"

"No." Both Octavia and Gabriella said, the moment Bellamy put the walkie in his hand down, but he ignored both of them and spoke again.

"All you have to do is let him go and I'll take his place."

"How?" Murphy asked after a few moments of silence during which he was obviously debating what he was going to do.

"Bellamy." Octavia started, staring up at her brother pleadingly. "If you do this, he'll kill you."

"If I don't he'll kill Jasper."

"Bellamy, you can't seriously be considering this." Gabriella said, looking at her co-leader with a mix of disbelief and fear.

As much as the Kane hated to admit it, she needed him as much as she needed Clarke which meant that losing him was not an option.

"I am." Bellamy said simply, not giving her any room to fight as he spoke into the walkie again. "Simple. You open the door, I walk in, he walks out."

The dropship door started slowly opening as a sign Murphy accepted the offer. Bellamy passed his sister his walkie and started to make his way towards the dropship, only for Gabriella to grip his wrist tightly, almost afraid to let go. And she was, she had no idea what Murphy's plan was and she was scared of what could happen inside.

"You really don't want me to go in with you?" She asked, looking up at him, silently pleading for him to tell her he wanted her to go in. But it was possible it would end up worse if she did and they both knew it.

"We can't have all three leaders gone, Gabi." Bellamy said, his features softening slightly at the fear on the blonde's pale face.

"He won't hurt me."

"I'm not risking that." Bellamy quickly shook his head, surprising both of them with the speed of his response.

"Just..." Gabriella started, sighing softly. "be careful."

Bellamy chuckled, trying to ease the tension. "Don't worry, I won't hurt your little boyfriend too much."

"I'm talking about you." Gabriella corrected, making Bellamy's movements half. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I appreciate the concern, Bambi." Bellamy said genuinely, smiling slightly, "But I got this."

Just as the last word came out of Bellamy's mouth, the dropship doors opened completely and Murphy's voice echoed through the camp, "Just you, Bellamy, unarmed. Ten seconds, or I'll put one in Jasper's leg."

"Take this." Bellamy said, quickly tugging his gun off his shoulder and passing it to Gabriella.

"We'll find a way to get you out of there. I promise." She told him, gripping his gun in her hand.

"You stay here. If I can't handle him, you're the only one who can. Now, get everyone back to work. The grounders are still coming." Those were Bellamy's last words before he turned around and walked into the dropship.

Not five seconds after Bellamy walked in, Jasper was being pushed out and the door was closing again. It took every cell in Gabriella's body not to run into the dropship. Instead of doing that, she helped Octavia untie Jasper and waited outside, hoping for the best.

"Do what I said." Murphy instructed after the first warning shot rang through the dropship, pointing to the red rope next to Bellamy's feet with the gun in his hands.

"Bellamy?" Came Gabriella's hesitant voice through the walkie, "Bellamy! Talk to me. Are you alright?"

"You want Queenie to know you're alive?" Murphy said, trying his best to keep his burning jealousy at bay. The man in front of him took everything from him. His freedom, his pride and his girl. "Start tying."

"Bellamy, do you copy?" That time it was Octavia's voice and it made Bellamy even more anxious.

"I'm fine." He said after he started tying. "Just a misfire. Now stop worrying about me and get back to work, all of you. And tell Raven to hurry her ass up."

"All right, that's long enough. Tie those two ends together." Murphy instructed, making Bellamy drop the walkie from his jades and do as he was told.

Once he was done, Murphy spoke up again, "All right. Now get up and toss it over."

At that moment it finally dawned on Bellamy what Murphy was planning. He wanted to hang him, just like he did with him. He swallowed thickly before tossing the tied rope up and facing Murphy again, "What do you want me to say? You want me to apologize? I'm─ I'm sorry."

"You got it all wrong, Bellamy. I don't want you to say anything. I want you to feel what I felt, and then...then I want you to die." Murphy said, glaring daggers at Bellamy.

"Is this about, Gabi?" Bellamy asked, noticing how Murphy's jaw tightened at just the mention of the girl he obviously has feelings for. "Nothing happened, okay? She doesn't feel anything for me. But she does for you. Are you really gonna do this to ── "

"Shut up." Murphy barked, tightening his grip on the gun in his hands. "We're not here to talk about girls. Now pull the stool under the rope and stand on it."

Once Bellamy did what he told him to, the red rope was right in front of his face. It was at this moment that he started to lose hope until Gabriella's voice was heard from the walkie on the floor.

"John?"

Her voice was soft and pleading, making him stiffen instantly.

"I know you can hear me. You don't have to do this, okay? Don't hurt him and everything will be fine. Everything will go back to the way it was. Just don't hurt him."

His stomach was heavy with envy at how quick Gabriella was to defend Bellamy and plead for him not to kill him. But a part of him also melted at her words, sensing the sadness and desperation in her tone. She did not want to be the only one left standing. She did not want to lead the delinquents through the war alone.

He held eye contact with Bellamy, to make sure he didn't move. Then, he picked up the walking and spoke into it with an apologetic tone. "I don't have a choice, Ellie."

"Yes you do." She responded stubbornly. "Just care about me more than you hate him. We'll figure it out, together. As long as you let him go."

"I'm sorry, Ellie." Murphy sighed. "But that's not gonna happen."

And just like that, the walkie was smashed into pieces when Murphy dropped it on the floor as hard as he could. He aimed his gun back at Bellamy, who was looking at him in disgust.

"This is insane." Bellamy started. "The grounders could ── "

Murphy cut off his pleading by shooting a gun at the fall nonchalantly, successfully shutting the older boy up.

"Put it over your head." He instructed, twirling the red rope in his hand.

Bellamy huffed and followed his instructions. "Happy now?"

Murphy tugged the rope, making Bellamy stumble a bit. He chuckled at the sight, "You're so brave aren't you? I mean, you came in here thinking you were just gonna turn this whole thing around, that you were stronger than me, and maybe one of your friends would come and help you. Well, what do you think now, Bellamy? Hm?"

Bellamy desperately gripped the rope around his neck and tried to keep his feet on the stool when the boy in front of him started tugging it faster.

"You know. I gotta hand it to you, Bellamy." Murphy taunted, "You got 'em all fooled. They actually look up to you, almost as much as they look up to Ellie and Clarke. Yeah, well, we know the truth, don't we? You're a coward. I learned that the day you kicked out the crate from beneath me. What did you say, again? That you were just giving the people what they wanted, right?"

"I should have stopped them." Bellamy admitted. I should have listened to her.

"Yeah, it's a little too late for that now."

"You think they're just gonna let you walk out of here?" Bellamy asked, trying to stall and give Raven a chance to get the door opened.

"Well, I think the princess is dead...but I know the king's about to die, so who's really gonna those people, huh?"

"You're forgetting about Gabi." Bellamy was quick to say, knowing that he would hit a nerve but also saying the truth. "You know, the only person that somehow saw through your psychopath facade when everyone else gave up on you. But you know you're gonna lose her as soon as you walk out if you kill me."

Murphy tried to look unfazed by his words but gripped the rope tighter and spoke as if Bellamy did not say anything, "Maybe I'd have to kill your grounder-pounding little sister ── "

Bellamy anger flared at the bare mention of his sister's life being in danger and he tried to kick Murphy with his feet but it only made him lose balance and almost fall. Murphy relaxed his hold on the rope when there was a yelp heard from under the floor. He smirked coyly. "I'm guessing that's her right now."

Much to Bellamy's dismay, Murphy started shooting blindly at the floor until he ran out of bullets. He panicked when he saw he ran out and kicked the stool from under Bellamy.

Noticing Bellamy was trying to breathe by holding his hands between the rope and his throat, Murphy tugged on the rope again. "Using your hands is a cheat. Mine were bound, remember?"

Bellamy was just starting to turn blue when the dropship door let out a loud creak and started to open.

"Raven, you did it!" Jasper's voice was heard outside.

Murphy started panicking and rushed to the upper level of the dropship when Gabriella, Octavia, and Jasper barged into the dropship.

Gabriella's eyes widened at the sight of Bellamy hanging from the dropship ceiling by a red rope and did not hesitate even a second before she took her axe out of the waistband of her jeans and cut him down.

Bellamy grunted in pain as soon as his body hit the floor and Octavia was quick to get on the floor, right above his head, and take the rope off his neck. "Bell, breathe. Breathe."

"Can you breathe?" Jasper asked, looking at his leader in concern.

When Bellamy took a deep breath of air, all three of them sighed in relief.

"Good. You're okay. You're okay." Octavia cooed.

"Wells, Raven, he's fine." Jasper yelled to the duo, who were still under the dropship.

As soon as Bellamy caught his breath, he got to his feet, ignoring Gabriella's attempts to stop him, and rushed to the hatch that led to the second floor.

"Murphy!" He yelled, "Murphy! It's over."

He grunted and started climbing up on the ladder, still yelling Murphy's name in anger. Gabriella watched as he failed to open the hatch and pleaded, "John! Open the door!"

"There's only one way out of this for you now!" Bellamy threatened, banging on the hatch.

All four of them on the first floor are startled when a loud explosion is heard from the second floor. The explosion must have gotten the hatch open since the next time Gabriella looked at Bellamy, he was opening it and climbing up to the second floor.

Gabriella quickly followed him up and almost choked on the amount of smoke that filled her lungs. The smoke makes her vision blurry but she's still able to see that all the gunpowder is gone and there's a huge hole in the wall, with Murphy nowhere in sight.

Jasper came in between Gabriella and Bellamy, who were staring at Murphy's blurry figure running away through the woods.

"The guy knows how to make an exit." Jasper comments, making both present leaders give him a deadpan look. "Should we go after him?" Jasper asked them after a moment of silence.

"No. Grounders will take care of Murphy." Bellamy was quick to shake his head, trying his hardest to ignore Gabriella's crestfallen expression.

"We're going after Clarke, Finn, and Monty." Bellamy started, surprising both Gabriella and Jasper. He held eye contact with Gabriella and added, "You were right. We don't abandon our own." Then he turned to Jasper and said "Two guns...you and me. That's it."

"Like hell." Gabriella scoffed. "I'm going with you."

"Now you're pushing it." Bellamy rolled his eyes. "You'll stay here with Raven to build up defenses. We lost a day because of this, and our gunpowder."

Gabriella's shoulder slumped in defeat, knowing he was right but still not feeling comfortable with him and Jasper going out there alone.

Bellamy turned around to make his way down when Jasper stopped him. "Bellamy, wait." The curly-headed man looked at him expectantly and Jasper let out a nervous breath. "Look, I just..."

Jasper could not find the right words to say 'thank you' so he wrapped his arms around Bellamy's shoulder and pulled him into a hug instead. Bellamy froze while Jasper whispered "thank you" and looked at Gabriella with a mix of panic and confusion.

Despite the situation they were in, Gabriella smiled faintly at the scene and bit back a chuckle, amused by the panic on Bellamy's face. The eldest Blake patted Jasper's back awkwardly.

Jasper pulled away and grinned. "Long way from 'whatever the hell you want'."

Bellamy let out a breathy chuckle but Miller's voice from the walkie broke up the moment. "All gunners! We got movement outside the south wall!"

The trio on the second floor shared a look before they sprinted outside of the dropship.

"Wait!" Miller yelled at the gunners ready to shoot. "Hold your fire! It's Clarke and Finn! Open the gate!"

Gabriella waited for the teenagers to open the door and let out a sigh of relief when Clarke came into camp with Finn behind her. The Kane did not waste a second to pull her best friend into a bone-crushing hug. Clarke stumbled backward a bit but wrapped her arms around the older girl's waist, letting out a sigh of relief herself.

Once they pulled away Clarke looked at the girl in front of her in confusion. "Hey, we heard an explosion. What happened?"

"Murphy happened." Bellamy answered for Gabriella, knowing she definitely did not want to talk about what happened a couple of moments earlier.

Jasper jogged towards Clarke and pulled her into a hug. "Thank god! Where have you been? Where's Monty?"

"Monty's gone?" Clarke asked, gaping in surprise.

Gabriella did not get a chance to panic because Finn spoke up from behind Clarke. "Clarke, we need to leave, now. All of us do. There's an army of grounders, unlike anything we've ever seen, coming for us right now. We need to pack what we can and run."

"You want us to run?" Gabriella scoffed, "We knew this was coming and we're not gonna run like a bunch of cowards to save our own ass."

"Ella," Octavia called out, "we're not prepared."

"And they're not here yet. We still have time to get ready. Besides, where would we go? Where would we be safer than behind these walls?" Bellamy exclaimed, backing Gabriella up.

"There's an ocean to the east. People there will help us." Finn said, making Octavia snap her attention to him.

"You saw Lincoln."

"Yeah." Finn nodded and Bellamy could not help but scoff at his words.

"You expect us to trust a grounder?"

"Especially after our people locked him up and tortured him." Gabriella agreed, "He led us into a trap last time. What makes you think this isn't another one?"

Bellamy nodded at her words before turning to the crowd of teenagers around them. "This is our home now. We built this from nothing with our bare hands! Our dead are buried behind that wall in this ground! Our ground! The grounders think they can take that away. They think that because we came from the sky, we don't belong here. But they're yet to realize one very important fact; We are on the ground now, and that means we are grounders!"

While Gabriella grinned in agreement, the other delinquents let out a bunch of 'yeah's' and Miller added, "Grounders with guns!"

"Damn right!" Bellamy exclaimed, "I say let 'em come!"

"Bellamy's right." Clarke cut in, making all attention turn to her. "If we leave, we may never find a place as safe as this. And god knows, in this world, we could be faced with something even worse tomorrow. But that doesn't change the simple fact that if we stay here, we will die tonight. So pack your things. Just take what you can carry, now."

When she was done with her speech, Clarke turned towards her two co-leaders with an apologetic look.

"You can't be serious." Gabriella said, shaking her head.

"I am." Clarke said, biting her lip. "If we stay here we die."

"But at least we die fighting." Gabriella was quick to shoot back and she was ready to keep arguing when Wells' weak voice caught her attention.

She turned around to see him trying to carry a half-conscious Raven in his hands. She rushed towards the pair, Clarke, Finn, Bellamy, and Jasper following right behind her.

"What happened?" Clarke asked, her eyes wide in horror.

"Murphy shot them." Jasper told her, noticing blood on Wells' shoulder.

Finn swiftly took Raven into his arms and Clarke grabbed Wells' shoulder to stop the bleeding. The Griffin hurriedly ordered Finn, "Get her onto the dropship."

Everyone except the three leaders headed inside and Bellamy looked down at Clarke with a stoic expression. "Clarke, leaving here is a mistake."

"The decision has been made." Clarke stated simply.

"God, you're acting like such a hypocrite right now." Gabriella scoffed and glared at her friend. "If all three of us are leading this camp and the two of us want us to stay then we're supposed to stay. This isn't absolutism. You can't decide everything by yourself."

Clarke looked taken aback by the attitude in Gabriella's voice but quickly recovered and met her with an emotionless expression. "The people made the decision. I'm just making this easier for all of us."

"Crowds make bad decisions." Bellamy chimed in. "Just ask Murphy. Leaders do what they think is right."

"I am."

Gabriella and Bellamy watched Clarke walk into the dropship with defeated looks on their faces. Bellamy let out a sigh, "This is why you're my favorite."

#bellamy blake #the 100 #clarke griffin #john murphy #bellamy blake imagine #bellamy blake x reader #the hundred #the 100 rewrite #john murphy x reader #john murphy x oc #bellamy blake x oc #raven reyes #octavia blake #original character

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justinewt · 2 months

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Heavy Lies the Crown - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

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Summary: After spending days trying to find a solution to make the ship habitable for all 500 people in Arkadia, they found a lead, something that could ensure they would all survive what was coming their way, but to actually get it would be harder than they initially thought, having to make another impossible choice that would impact all of them.

Words: 4.2k

Warnings: The 100 season 4 spoilers (episode 2 "Heavy Lies the Crown"), some light angst, mob beating/violence

“We’ve been at this for two days.” Bellamy complained. “There must be something we’re not thinking of. What if we could reach the nearest nuclear reactor?”

“I told you, the meltdown started months ago.” Raven then stated, leaning against a desk. Michelle was dragging her feet on the floor, walking back and forth, her arms crossed as she looked at them. They were all trying to find a way to survive the radiation coming their way. “There’s no magic button to turn them off. Today this isn’t black rain, but it will be soon. That’s why we have to focus on riding out the radiation, finding some place safe and big enough to hold all 500 of us.”

“This isn’t just about saving us.” Clarke was leaning forward on a table, thinking, and she turned towards them. Michelle stopped moving around when she felt something fell on her head. She brought her fingers to her scalp, and she felt it was wet. She looked up without moving her head and felt another drop of water fall on her head, so she stepped away, crossing Monty’s gaze. It was raining outside and there were leaks in the ring. Thankfully, as Raven said, it wasn’t black rain yet. “I made a promise to Roan. It’s about saving everyone.”

“And that’s why we need to tell everyone.” Raven started the whole debate again, whether the masses should be told about the situation. “Crowdsource it. If there’s another mount weather out there, the grounders will know about it.”

“And you think they’re just gonna tell us, just like that?” Bellamy asked. “If we tell everybody they’re gonna die, the coalition is over, Roan falls, and the grounders will be at our gate.” Monty pinched the bridge of his nose before letting his hands fall and he straightened up, walking towards the window, rain pouring outside.

“Then just tell our people. We need more minds on this problem. On the Ark, people volunteered for the culling because they were told the truth and given a choice. A choice your dad died for.” She turned to Clarke.

“You think I’ve forgotten that?”

“Ok. We’ll tell everybody the truth as soon as we have a viable solution. Without one, it’ll start a panic.” Raven stepped towards Bellamy and continued to argue with him over this. They all turned their heads when they heard Monty suddenly exclaim, having no idea what he was talking about.

“Think. Alpha Station survived for 97 years in space through elevated radiation levels and extreme temperature fluctuations. Sound familiar? All we have to do is patch up the ship. We’re standing in our viable solution.” He smiled, looking up as they all glanced at each other, kind of looking around them. Sure, if they could stop all those leaks everywhere, they would survive the black rain to come, but Michelle wondered how many of them could survive in there, because there wasn’t enough room for everyone to be comfortable. But it was the plan they’d go with. They all went to sleep and met up again the next day, to discuss things further. Raven had concluded that they could get the ship sealed up in a month and Bellamy left to go explain the whole Miller and Bryan while Michelle went to find Clarke. The biggest problem with using the Ark was that feeding 500 people would be very difficult. They had to go to farm station to get stuff they needed to make things work and they needed to get Miller and Bryan to be in on it. Bryan knew where Farm station was, though they all knew it had landed in Ice nation territory.

An hour later, they were ready to go, the car’s battery was full, and Monty and Harper were joining Bryan, Nate and Bellamy on their expedition. When after talking with the two boyfriends, Bellamy found her and to his surprise, she didn’t try to get him to let her come along and wanted her to sit this one out and stay with Clarke at Arkadia. He didn’t insist then but wanted her to come with him. She understood he wanted to keep her safe with him, maybe this had to do with the unspoken exchange between him and her dad back at Polis before they left, with this little, solemn nod they gave each other as if sealing a deal. Of course, this was about her, and it made her smile in an amused way to think of it as though they were handing Michelle’s protection to one another, because it’s how it looked like, but she didn’t care or mind. Then she just kissed him and asked him to be cautious while on Ice nation territory. Now back in the hangar, with everyone getting ready, Clarke and Michelle walked towards Bellamy as he told them the battery was full.

“If we’re lucky, we won’t have to stop to recharge.”

“Even luckier if Roan’s seal will work the way it’s supposed to. If you get in trouble, show this.” Clarke took a peek at the seal, wrapped in leather and gave it to him. A

“You can still come with us.”

“No. I can’t. Arkadia is just plan B. It doesn’t help the grounders. I’m not stopping until we have a solution that saves everyone.”

“We save who we can save today.” His eyes then shifted to Michelle, standing by Clarke and looking at her as she nodded, somewhat worried about not finding a solution for the grounders. She was about to look at him and say no as well but Clarke put her hand on her shoulder and told her she could go with them if she wanted. She finally accepted and gave her a nod before following Bellamy as she went to sit at the front of the truck with him. She saw he had a small smirk, content that she was coming with them after failing at convincing her earlier this morning. They drove for a while until finally reaching the border of Ice nation. Bellamy stopped the vehicle, and they got out, looking at the snowy mountains in the distance and the crashed ship of Farm station sitting further down in the valley. “This is as close as we can get. From here, we go on foot. We get the machine and get out of here.”

“Guys, we got a problem.” Nate took a closer look at the ship with his binoculars and seemingly noticed something. The rest of them got down on one knee, looking at where he pointed through the scops of their machine guns. “The barn isn’t empty.”

“They moved in.” Bryan said, clenching his jaw. “If it’s the same guys who attacked us, with our guns, we could take them.”

“I’m sure we could, but we didn’t come here to fight.” Bellamy disagreed.

“They butchered us, killed kids, our friends, our families.”

“I don’t like it any more than you do, but Bellamy’s right. We need that machine.” Monty glanced over at him through the corner of his eye. Michelle turned her head to look towards him and instead met the gaze of a masked, and armed, ice nation grounder who was creeping up on them and when Michelle spoke up, jumping on her feet and aiming at the grounder, alerting the three young men in turn, the grounder put the tip of an arrow against Harper’s neck. Almost a dozen other grounders came out from the woods and surrounded them. At Bellamy’s word, Michelle let go of her gun first, followed by the others, but Bryan was still reluctant at surrendering to those people. Bellamy tried to reach for the seal inside his jacket but was first stopped. He was eventually able to get it and showed it to them. The woman in front of him took a good look at it, turned around and kind of nodded to her peers but suddenly turned back around and violently hit Bellamy in the face with the seal, knocking him to the ground. Michelle bent her knees, wanting to check on him but a masked Azgedan tightened his grip on his bow, aiming at her so she stood to her full height. The grounders took all their weapons and tied their hands before forcing them to march towards the station. When they met their chief, Bellamy was abruptly pushed down on his knees and interrogated. The rest of them were made to kneel as well on the sides.

“Where did you get this?”

“King Roan. Skaikru and Azgeda are allies. He sent us to get a part of the ship, a machine.” The woman who punched Bellamy spoke to her chief in her native language and Michelle couldn’t quite catch what she was saying but she knew it was about Roan, and given her tone and the face she pulled, she wasn’t fond of him. She recalled he had previously been banished from his homeland and his legitimacy to be king had already been questioned by some so that must have been the problem she had with this. Her chief put the seal away and pulled out a blade. Bellamy was understandably alarmed and tried to talk to him again.

“Look, if we’d come to take this place back, there’d be a lot more of us, and you know that.” Michelle swallowed harshly and her eyes grew restless, going from Bellamy to the chief when the latter pulled him up on his feet, his knife still in his hand. She parted her lips, about to try and stop him from hurting him but she was taken aback when he actually just freed him from the rope tying his wrists together. Bellamy was seemingly as surprised as her and exchanged such a look with her as the chief rose his voice and his men started freeing the whole group.

“Where is this ‘machine’ for the king?” They followed the chief through the corridors, with Bellamy at the front of the line, right behing him. Monty tried to speak to Harper as they walked but was scolded by one of the grounders and made to be silent again. They stopped in front of a large door. There was silence. The chief glanced over at the woman who brought them in and then motioned for someone else to open the door for them. The group was beyond shocked to find out some of their people from Farm station had been enslaved, working with their heads down and dressed in rags and yelled at. Michelle never really knew the people from Farm Station, but they were still her people, and she couldn’t believe her own eyes. She looked to the side and crossed gazes with a little girl looking back at her. She took a step in her direction without even thinking but Bellamy, who she was standing next to, grabbed her arm to stop her. His hand slid down her wrist and wrapped hers as Monty showed them the generator, on the platform right above their heads. The chief made a gesture inviting them to follow him to go get it and Bellamy slightly squeezed Michelle’s hand before letting go and they followed the grounder to the stairs. Michelle glanced back at the little girl from the corner of her eyes, her eyebrows pulled together in worry but there was nothing she could do about it right now. She knew Bellamy didn’t feel indifferent, but he kept his composure.

As they were climbing the stairs, they turned around upon hearing Bryan call someone’s name after he recognized one of the slaves and straight up walked towards him and grabbed his shoulder. It was probably one of his old friends. Michelle stepped aside, standing against the railing and watched Bellamy rush to Bryan as he was pushed away from the enslaved young man.

“Only the machine. The rest is ours.” The chief warned.

Bellamy grabbed Bryan’s shoulder and led him back to the stairs though the latter was reluctant to leave his friend, but they couldn’t afford to start a fight with those people. If they wanted the machine, they couldn’t and this sens of powerlessness was the worst part of all this. It was beyond infuriating for everyone in the group. To have to watch this without saying or doing anything. Maybe there was a way to get their friends, but Michelle doubted that this scenario involved a peaceful ending.

“I don’t care that we’re unarmed. We can’t just leave them.” Bryan mumbled as they busied themselves around the generator.

“We’re in the coalition now, so we ask the king to free them. That’s our best bet.” Harper said.

“Not if it means leaving Riley.” He was dead set on saving his friend and it reminded Michelle how she and Bellamy were so determined to find Clarke a few months ago. She wasn’t blaming him, and if they agreed on a plan to get their people out of there, she would follow without question, but it seemed not everyone would be in on it. She peeked at Bellamy.

“No. We won’t, okay? But Harper’s right. We try diplomacy first.” Michelle silently nodded to his proposition, but she knew, deep down, that those grounders wouldn’t be so adamant to give up their working hands. “If that doesn’t work, we come back with reinforcements for the slaves after we take home the machine, right?”

“Yeah.” Bryan spoke under his breath, not too convinced by this approach. The little girl they saw downstairs walked past them holding a large bucket and discreetly let a wrapped cloth fall to the floor. Michelle noticed it too but Bellamy was quicker and put his shoe over it to bring it towards them without looking suspicious to the grounder watching them from the other end of the platform. She watched him from the corner of her eyes as he kneeled to look at it. Inside was a message alerting them that the slaves were to be moved tomorrow and asking them for help. Now they didn’t really have many options but to either leave or try and get them out of here.

“They’re moving them.” Bellamy told the others, quietly.

“It’s now or never.”

“Are there any other exits in here?” He asked Bryan.

“No. This is completely sealed. Came down from space in here because it’s the most secure room in the ship.”

“It’s designed that way in case the hydrazine blew.” Monty added.

“What?” Michelle wasn’t too science oriented, so she stared at Bellamy’s eyes, wide in realization. He turned his head towards her after glancing at Bryan.

“We have a bomb.”

“Wait a second.” Miller interrupted. “The end of the world is coming, and you want to destroy the one thing that’ll keep our people alive?”

“Yeah, not all of our people.” Bryan argued. “What about Riley?”

“I vote that we take it home.” He didn’t seem moved by this.

“No. Blow it up.”

“I’m with Bryan.” Harper chimed in. “I know what it’s like to be locked up and afraid. You didn’t leave us in Mount Weather. We shouldn’t leave them here.” Seeing as Michelle was the only one who remained silent, she brought her into this conversation, addind that she must agree as she and Clarke literally spent a year in solitary confinement and there was truth to what she said and though Michelle wanted to help take their friends out of there, she wanted to hear what Bellamy thought of this. Harper and Bryan wanted to blow it. Nate wanted to leave with the machine and Monty, after telling Bellamy that they would never be able to build another machine because of how advanced the technology was. If they went ahead with blowing it up, there was no turning back.

“We have 6 months. We have Raven. Are you telling me there’s no way she can figure out another way to make water?”

“Yes. Look… I know you want to make up for the things you’ve done – believe me, we all do – but we need to think of the big picture – 25 people, instead of 500. We’re talking about the human race, Bellamy. We need to get this machine back to Arkadia. It’s the only way.” So Monty was with Miller on this. Two to two. Michelle hadn’t voted, and neither did Bellamy. Everyone in the group knew that whatever one would pick, the other would follow so it was up to them to choose, and Harper let them know how urgent and grave this decision was. Bellamy looked down to their people working below and sighed heavily, his eyes meeting Michelle’s who and they knew instantly what the other was thinking. Michelle knew he didn’t want to let their peers behind, and she didn’t want that either. And there was only way to save them, blowing up the machine.

When they were done with the getting the machine ready to go, they all grabbed a corner and walked it across the room, looking down, and stopped midway in the corridor afte the door was closed behind them. They couldn’t blow it up in the room with the people they wanted to save. The machine bipped and Monty urged them to set it down, to the confusion of the grounders accompanying them to the exit. He squatted down, touched a few buttons and yelled to his friends. They knocked out the grounders and ran back to the door, opening and closing it just a second before it exploded. The chief walked with an angry step in their direction, wielding a long and heavy axe and swang it around, almost hitting Michelle in the head but she dodged it swiftly, stepping to the side, allowing Bellamy to shove him, making him lose his balance and fall over a piece of furniture. He and Miller grabbed him by the arms and pinned him to the floor, each throwing a punch at his face, but Bryan pulled his boyfriend off of him, telling him how this wasn’t his kill. Michelle thought she understood what he meant, that their people who had been enslaved had a right to getting their revenge but when he said Monty’s name, she was as surprised as the rest of them.

“What are you talking about?”

“This is the man that murdered your father.” He dropped another bomb there. Monty bit his lips, walking behind Bellamy, still holding the grounder down. Monty picked up his axe and looked down at the man.

“You don’t have to do this.” Bellamy spoke.

“Yeah. I do.” Instead of bashing his face in with the axe, he smashed the chains tied to the wall and freed their peers. The rattling of chains echoed throughout the rooms as they slid it out of their handcuffs eagerly and the whole two dozen of them rushed to the man who enslaved them, piling over him as they beat him up, ignoring him as he yelled at them to get off him. This was brutal to see and not in any case enjoyable but well deserved. He had it coming.

Instead of returning with a machine able to ensure the survival of the hundreds of people in Arkadia, the group returned with 25 more mouths to feed. This wasn’t exactly the result expected, but they couldn’t have left that place if they had left them there. Bellamy stopped the truck and Michelle followed him to the back to help the survivors off. Harper was busy handing them some water. They were in pretty bad shape after those months of slavery at the hands of those Ice nation grounders. Michelle saw Clarke in her peripheral vision and turned her head towards her. She obviously didn't understand why they came back with all these people.

“Riley?” Maybe Michelle wasn’t as observant as she thought. She didn’t remember any of those people from before. She might be smart and all, but it was true that she had her friends, her mom and she didn’t really look at other people outside of her close circle. Going to the ground definitely broadened her horizons and made her be more interested in other people. Clarke gave a hug to Riley while Michelle and Bellamy helped the rest of the Farm Station survivors. She looked at him as he picked up a little girl and carried her on the ground, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly as she clinged on his jacket. Michelle gave a hand to a man as he hoped off the truck and gave him a friendly smile as she tenderly watched Bellamy. It was a really sweet sight. She wondered if one day they would be able to settle and live peacefully, and maybe make a family of their own together but that certainly wouldn't happen in the near future given what they were going to face. And they were young. Maybe she dreamed of a family, but she wasn't even 19 yet. Hopefully, in 10 years they wouldn’t be dead and would actually be able to do all this.

“Get Riley and the others to Medbay and tell them we’ll take them to their villages in the morning.” He gently moved the little girl forward and she took Riley’s hand as they walked away.

“Where is it?” Michelle stepped aside as Raven came from behind her, looking at the back of the truck, now empty. No machine to be seen.

“We didn’t get the machine.” She then said in a sigh, sharing a look with Bellamy.

“It didn’t survive landing?” Clarke wondered.

“No. It did, but I had a choice – we, had a choice –, bring the machine home or use it to save them.” His explanation only made Raven curse under her breath. He looked at her. “We have time, but I am not sacrificing any more innocent lives.”

“You just did.” Michelle crossed Clarke’s gaze as she disapproved of their decision and Bellamy spoke again. She looked away. She understood that she disagreed with this, but she didn’t regret it. She would’ve wanted to be saved too.

“I made the call, and I’ll live with that.”

“Yeah. You’re not the only one who has to live with your call, as usual.” Raven blamed him.

“Well, go tell them. Go tell Riley I should’ve left them to die.”

“Okay.” Clarke felt th tensiong build up between the two and subtly stepped in before it escalated. “How many of us will the ship sustain without a hydro-generator?”

“No more than a hundred.” Raven said, shaking her head. They all let out a heavy sigh, and there was nothing to be done about it now. Without this machine, there was nothing else to do.

“What am I supposed to tell the people now?”

“The truth.” Raven and Michelle glanced at each other as they thought of the same thing at the same time. They weren’t close and if asked would probably say they were neither foes nor friends, but it seemed they agreed on certain things still, such as what to do now. There was no point in keeping the situation a secret.

“Crowdsource it like we talked about.” Raven added before walking away. Clarke would call for a general meeting, to tell everyone about the dire situation they found themselves in.

“What are you gonna do?” Bellamy then asked. Clarke’s brows were pulled together in worry as she turned her head towards him and Michelle.

“Hope that there’s a forgiving God.” They followed her towards the center of the camp, where they had a small stage set up. She walked on there as the crowd gathered before her and she spoke, loud and clear, explaining them the whole thing before closing her speech. There were a few reactions of shock and concern during it but no one interrupted her yet. “So now you know the truth. I know you’re afraid. I know you’re angry, but when I shut down Alie, I knew there was a way for us to get through this, together.” She looked to her side, at Bellamy, Michelle and Raven. But her next words made their face drop slightly. “Alpha Station is that way. Every single one of us will survive on this ship. It won’t be easy. Raven needs volunteers if we’re gonna get this ready in time. It’ll be a lot of work, but now you understand why we need to do it. If we stick together, I give you my word, we won’t just survive. We’ll thrive.”

“Nice speech.” Raven said dryly, her arms crossed over her chest, when Clarke approached them.

“Sometimes hope is more important than truth.”

“Your dad would be so proud.” She shook her head, squinting her eyes as she glared at her. Michelle agreed with Raven on the fact Clarke shouldn’t have lied, she herself would have rather preferred to be told right away about her mother’s death, than hope she would be there when the ships landed on the ground. But in her case, it was no one’s fault – except it was. She realized if she hadn’t refused to talk to her mother beforehand, when they had this little coms set up in the tent, she wouldn’t make her think so much. The coms had gone out by the time the bombing on the Ark occurred anyway. She shook away that thought and looked at Clarke.

“You wanted workers. You got them.” Raven stepped towards the group that was waiting nearby and led them to the hangar on the other side of the camp, leaving Michelle, Bellamy and Clarke together.

“We save who we can save today.” It was a fitting conclusion to this whole shit show.

[To be continued…]

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Published (07/25/2024) by Andrea

Taglist: @mirellef2001

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