Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 16

"Okay, so I'll get the clothes." Ethan passes his eyes over the people.

Strangely, he doesn't see this as a bad situation. They needed to let loose at some point, and that time was now. No Bellamy, no Clarke. Just the people and their smiles. His shoulders droop, a grin lifting his cheeks and he feels himself slipping into the haze, stepping into the clearing to watch the dances happen.

Alas, there were more important matters to get to. He shakes his head and blinks to bring himself back.

"And you get Miller-" When he looks over to Octavia- she's already gone. He rolls his eyes and jumps down into the swamp of people. Swiping clothes from the tallest of the men he can see, Ethan slyly moves through the camp.

He snorts when Miller stumbles around him, having an avid conversation with the air, talking in giggles and hand gestures. He watches for a few seconds longer, satisfying that smugness, and heads back towards the dropship.

"I got the shit," Ethan announces, ducking under the curtain to see Octavia pacing in front of the ladder.

She jumps, eyes widening with a short smile. They're quick to make their way back up top, absolutely free to do - as Bellamy used to say - whatever the hell they wanted. 

The grounder struggles to lift his head towards the noise and squints at the clothes piling up on the floor. Ethan and Octavia separate to either side of his restraints, knives in hand.

"We're getting you out of here, big guy." Ethan grimaces, cutting the rope to his right hand. "Please don't seek vengeance."

When the grounder almost keels over at the loss of restraint, Ethan reflexively lifts one large arm over his shoulder. He tenses, expecting backlash, but get's nothing and nods at Octavia.

"We need to go. Now." Octavia finishes cutting the rope to his feet, gathering one of the jackets and unzipping it.

The grounder groans in pain. Then, "Why are you doing this? They'll know you helped me."

"Holy shit. You talk." Ethan breathes out.

Octavia sends him a sharp look. "Sorry," He winces.

The brunette quickly pulls the muscled arms through a red jumper, "Like you said, if you stay, you die." She glances at Ethan, "We're not gonna let that happen."

Ethan widens his stance, struggling to keep the larger man on his feet.

"I can't let you do that."

"It's too late now," Ethan says, helping to tug on the last jumper. "Whatever those nuts were, they're making our people see some funny shit. It's the perfect time to do this." He heaves the grounder up higher, and Octavia ducks under his other arm.

"Jobi nuts." The guy says, looking directly at Octavia. There's a tiny quirk on his lips. "The food you gave my guard. They go bad, give you visions. But it wears off."

Octavia nods, taking in the information. But she's more focused on getting him out.

"Just try to get as far away as you can." She adjusts his hood, "And try not to get yourself killed."

Ethan slowly removes the arm from his shoulder and heaves a breath, "Okay, I'm gonna make sure the path is clear." He nods at Octavia and jumps down the ladder, checking the lower levels, and then the exit. No guards were on duty, they'd all had a fair share of nuts and were wandering blissfully around the campfire.

"All clear." He yells, then stands by the exit. He notices Raven and Finn by the fire as well, burning the food, packet by packet. It looks like they hadn't eaten any.

He hears the creaking on the floorboard and tries not to show his sudden cautiousness, "You didn't die climbing down the ladder. That would've been embarrassing." He whispers.

Ethan looks over his shoulder and damn, the guy looks scary under the shadow of his hood.

"Come on." He sneaks out the exit and heads the long way around camp, hidden mostly behind tents and only a few trees. "The gate is here but we have to be careful passing through. I see two others that aren't under the influence of the - uh," he glances quickly at the guy. "Jobi nuts?"

The sky is dark, and their only source of light is the fires nearby, but Ethan can see the grounder nod once.

He can feel his heart thudding hard in his chest when he sees the back of Finn, shuffling some sobbing girl away from the exit. He takes a deep breath and stumbles down the incline, waving the grounder to follow but when he looks forward again, he can see Finn's eyes. Ethan throws a hand out behind him but it's too late.

Finn's eyes are definitely seeing them. Both of them.

The grounder freezes, clutching at his ribs.

Ethan holds his breath, hands held out either way. His shoulders ache from how high they've hitched and his eyes are drying the longer he stares, unblinking and terrified of what Finn will -

Finn steps away. Nudges his head to the exit.

Ethan breathes out, nodding his gratitude. He hopes the thankfulness in his eyes was seen.

The grounder glares, and they do this weird circle-around-each-other thing as to not show their backs. He turns and they're running out the gate, into the trees far enough away to not be seen.

"Okay," Ethan pants. "This is as far as I go." He leans on his knees, glancing back towards the camp.

"Thank you."

Ethan jolts his head back around. Wide-eyed, he nods. "No problem. . . dude."

"Lincoln."

Ethan stands up straight and clutches at his jumper, mouth hanging open. "Okay. Okay, Lincoln." He nods, "I'm Ethan and - Listen, I'm really sorry, you know, about -" He gestures at him vaguely.

Lincoln nods and steps backwards. He blinks, breaking eye contact and heads deep into the forest, far from what Ethan could see.

He breathes out a long, stressful sigh.

When Ethan slips back through the gates, everyone seems to be coming down from their highs. There's a small burst of jealousy that he missed out on the remains of the chaos, but he brushes his jacket off and avoids Finn like the plague. At the same time as he sees Octavia talking casually with Monty, there's a yell from the dropship.

"The grounder's gone!" Miller shouts into the night.

There's an uproar.

Ethan meets eyes with Octavia across the fire, digging his hands into his pockets. He looks to the right and drops his eyes, having seen Finn glancing his way too.

"Let the grounders come!"

Ethan flinches. 

When the hell did they get back?

It's Bellamy and Clarke, carrying satchels over their shoulders. "We've been afraid of them for far too long." His face is messed up, caked in dry blood. "Why? Because of their knives and spears. I don't know about you . . . But I'm tired of being afraid."

He looks at Clarke, they nod simultaneously and drop two satchels, falling open to reveal guns upon guns stacked into each other, tumbling onto the wet dirt.

Ethan slowly closes his eyes.