Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 54

"I'm going with Clarke to TondC."

"Yeah?"

Ethan tosses back his third cup of moonshine, stolen by Murphy as a way to escape from the night's event and prying eyes.

It wasn't helping. But it was worth a try.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this." Ethan mutters, "You can't come with me."

Laying down on the grass, staring blankly up at the metal sheet bending over Raven's gate, Murphy chews on the inside of his cheek, ". . . be careful."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Ethan cracks an attempted smile, tilting his cup towards Murphy for more. 

In the next hour, he's already on his way to TondC, dragging his feet behind Clarke and Bellamy. He only butts in during times he processes what they're saying, his mind clogged like the desk of a hoarder.

"You did the right thing," Bellamy tells Clarke. Letting Finn die peacefully. Ethan remembers making a noise of agreement.

Clarke was too guilt-ridden to agree.

Then it was about Mount Weather. Bellamy argues that they should send an inside man to get their people out. The grounders had fought with the mountain for years and have yet to win, so what help were they really going to be?

Clarke disagrees. So does Ethan.

When asked why, there was a simple, yet expressive answer. 

"Because I can't lose you too, okay?"

They'd remained pretty silent after that.

Ethan's been trying to decipher the language being barked back and forth by grounders, too. 

"Skaikru." Is uttered by the Commander, many times.

He knows that one. 

She's talking about them.

The scouts ahead of the group start to slow, bringing them to a steady halt outside the camp they find all too familiar.

"We need to take off our weapons before we enter." Lincoln says. He drops his knife into the basket being passed around.

Ethan pats down his pockets. 

But the only weapon on him sits heavy at his ankle. Having it torn away makes him anxious. He dumps it in the basket anyway.

The grounder stops by Raven next. Out comes one knife, then the next, then a gun and then a knuckle buster. Then one more knife.

"Heda, em kler."

The Commander stops in front of the villagers yelling threats, aimed at the delinquents recognized from the attack, and lifts her hand to shut them up. "The Sky people march with us now. Anyone who tries to stop that. . . Will pay with their life." She turns in a slow circle, catching eyes.

They don't argue.

"Warm welcome," Bellamy says as he passes.

Ethan scoffs, "What were you expecting? Cupcakes?"

Collecting Finn's fabric swaddled body, the grounders place him atop a wooden structure, awaiting his trial by fire. Clarke can barely look at it.

The Commander takes the stage, her voice quietening the rest.

"Kru kom Tondc."

Kru means people. Ethan studies every word. People of TondC is obvious enough, but the rest he doesn't catch.