Barricade- John Murphy

Chapter 28

Season 2

Episode 9:
Remember Me

The sun had since came up. Finns body had been moved from the post it was tied to. Marcus, Clarke, Raven, and Abby had came to join us. I turn as the tent flap shifts seeing them all walk in. I hadn't been able to clean myself up yet. Blood was dried on my face, and I was wondering how they felt about what they saw.

"You okay?" Marcus asks me. "Yeah. I'm good." I nod my head at him. He opens his arms to me, and my lip twitches as I move to hug him. He squeezes me gently and I bury my head in his chest. In all honesty, I felt a bit more free than I had in days. The men who hurt me and Murphy were dead. My eyes sting but I push it down sniffling a bit.

"I'm proud of you." Marcus whispers to me. "Why?" I ask back. "Lincoln translated for us. You got your justice, sweetheart." He tells me softly. "We both did." I hum as I step back, Murphy joining my side. Lexa comes in moving to her seat and sits down silently. "Some of my people are upset at what you've done. Others are not." She tells me. "I understand. They wanted to handle things your way." I say and see Raven looks confused.

"Yes they did. I assume one of my people, who are your friends, told you?" She asks me. "Yes, Lincoln did." I tell her. "Be that as it may, they would like retribution for not getting their killing." She tells me. "How?" I ask her. "There is a ritual. We burn his body with those we lost. As a way to join murderer and murdered by fire. Then we will have peace." She explains.

"No. We've done enough. He should be buried with his own people." Abby argues. "Abby can you for once, just shut up? Now is not the time for you to try and make yourself the boss." I snap at her. "We were owed the pain of 18 deaths. We were owed our righteous kill. My village deserves justice." Indra snaps at her as well. "You don't want justice. You want vengeance." Abby states. "Marky. Take her outside, before she fucks anything up." I say quickly and he nods at me.

He pulls Abby outside and we can hear them quietly arguing. "Alright. Girls, any arguments?" I ask the two and they're both quiet, shaking their heads. "Okay. But once we do this, we talk about how to get our people out of Mount Weather. ALL of our people." I tell her and she nods. "We will leave in 10 minutes. Choose your attendings." She tells me and I nod my head.

I leave the tent with the girls and Murphy and move to the side. "You have questions. Ask them now." I tell them both. "What did she mean? Handle it their way?" Raven asks, already looking like she didn't want the answer. "They would have tortured him to death. Lincoln told me about it. They start with fire. Then take his hands, eyes, and anyone with a grievance has a turn to cut him. Then their commander would end it with her sword. He said he's never seen anyone last until the sword." I explain to her.

Clarke steps away as Raven seems to struggle with her emotions. "You can be mad at me as long as you need to. But after the first show you had to watch. I didn't want any of you to go through watching him die like that." I tell her and she nods. "I'm not... mad. Not completely. I understand now." She says blinking away her tears. "I need to thank you. If you didn't do what you did. He would have died suffering. Thank you for doing what you did Arty." She tells me and I nod.

"I assume you'll be joining us?" I ask her and she nods. "It may not be a burial. But I need to be there." She tells me and I nod. "I can bring the radio too. Try and work around the channel again." She tells me. "Take a minute to go get it. Tell Octavia and Nate they're coming too. And Tavi's boyfriend." I smirk and she nods heading back towards camp.

"Artemis. You can't tell me you're okay with this." Abby walks over to me. "Let me make one thing clear. If you EVER talk like that in front of her again, I'll put you in your place so fast your head will spin. She gave us an alliance in return for last night. Not just a fucking truce Abby. That's because of me. Not you. You need to keep yourself in check." I say glaring at her.

"Artemis." I hear and turn seeing Lexa standing by her tent. "We'll be ready to leave in a few minutes. If you can keep your mouth shut long enough, you can join us." I tell Abby. Marcus already knew he was coming with us. I walk over to her with Murphy and she leads us into the tent. "You should clean your face. We can redo your war paint." She tells me holding out a rag. I nod taking it and rub my face with it.

"Give me that. You're missing so much." Murphy chuckles taking the rag from me. I stare up at him as he cleans my face and I see his cheeks tint pink. I grin when I notice this and he chuckles. "Not a word." He mutters to me. "There. All clean." He hums after a minute. He puts the rag down and I sit in the chair I used the day before. Lexa walks over with the paint in hand. "Do you remember how the design was?" She asks me.

"Yeah. It's hard to forget. Especially knowing what it means now." I tell her. "Would you like to try doing it?" She asks me. "Not this time. I don't think we have that long of time." I chuckle and her lip twitches in amusement. "Alright. After today you will try it on your own." She tells me. "Of course. Thank you again." I tell her. "You seem more, at ease, than yesterday." She tells me.

"I feel free. The men who hurt us are gone. It's... liberating." I say and see Murphy grin. She does my paint easily. "Do you know how to do multiple braids?" She asks me. "Like you did? No, but I'm sure Mira or Keran can show me." I tell her and she nods. "Keran is the one who offered to train you?" She asks me. "Yes. As his second." I tell her and she turns, clearly shocked.

"Lincoln reacted the same way." I tell her. "He has not trained a second in years. You are more special than you realize. More strong, than you give yourself credit for. You are Wanheda now." She tells me. "What exactly does that entail?" I ask with a small grin. "There's no special jobs or rules." She says amused. "We should go. The others should be ready." She tells me as Octavia pokes her head into the tent. "Sorry to interrupt. Arty, brought you some clothes. You also look like a badass." She says tossing me a bag before disappearing.

I chuckle shaking my head. "That was my sister, Octavia." I tell Lexa as she points to where I can change. I walk over and change into the pants, red shirt and black jacket. I slide my boots back on quickly and walk out. "That feels better. Cleaner." I say and Murphy chuckles. "You look badass, just like your sister said." He tells me kissing the side of my head. "Let's go." I hum and follow Lexa out of the tent.

She moves to join her people as I walk over to Nate and the others. "Alright Miss Badass. I am loving this war paint." Nate grins at me. "If my paint was dry I'd hug you." I chuckle and he chuckles. "We have time." He tells me and I nod. I look seeing Raven sitting on the cart with Finns body and sigh. "Artemis." I hear as we walk and look over my shoulder at Lincoln, Mira, and Keran. "Yeah?" I ask slowing to talk to them.

"Mira told us of your paint. And when they chanted last night, I cant say I'm surprised. You have earned it." Lincoln told me. "Thank you. Last night was... a blur." I say and they nod. "You were awesome." Mira tells me and I chuckle. "I am honored to be training Wanheda as my second." Keran chimes at me. Mira looks shocked as Lincoln just smiles. "Thank you again. For everything you two have done." I tell them and they both nod.

I join Murphy side again as we walk along, my hand latched to his. After hours of walking, we stop when it gets dark. I find a spot to sleep in the middle and Murphy raises a brow at me. "It's a start. We're on the same side now. I may not cuddle up to anyone but you. But I need to be able to trust them." I tell him and he smiles nodding as he lays down with me.