I COULDN'T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY JUST BEAT LUNA. I also couldn't believe Roan was really dead. As the ambassadors discussed how we would share the bunker equally while we waited for the black rain to pass, I stayed silent, trying to wrap my head around everything that had happened.
I sat at the edge of the stage with my legs dangling off, blocking out the arguing ambassadors behind me. My thoughts were going a million miles per hour. I still failed to wrap my head around the fact that I really was the Commander, and the fact that Bellamy actually considered me a daughter was just insane.
My real dad was floated right before I turned five. Of course I loved him, but the memories I had with him were few and far between since he was always working and I was always at school. I didn't remember him as much as I'd like to.
Bellamy, on the other hand... I guess I've sort of always seen him as a father figure. He was the closest thing I had to a parent after my dad died since my mom was never really around. When he was my next door neighbour on the Ark, he would make sure I had clothes and food, even though he didn't have to. He would take care of me when I was sick, and continue doing all of it when I got locked up.
He would tell me stories about Octavia and how much I reminded him of her, and he would promise me that one day he would find a way to get me out of the Sky Box so that I could do something with my 'big brain' one day.
Then when we got to the ground, he would always protect me. He'd always put me before himself, always do what he could to keep me away from danger and out of trouble (even though it didn't work most of the time), always make sure I had enough food and enough water, even if that meant he didn't get any.
Even when we fought, he always put me first and protected me. It's annoying how protective he is sometimes, but I guess that's just fatherly love or something?
I guess I do consider him a father after all.
The rain passed within minutes and Gaia announced that we were all to head to the tower to announce to the public the process moving forward in dealing with who gets the bunker.
I stood at the front of the room, in front of the throne, covered in dirt and blood, only some of which that was my own. The Commander's token still rested between my eyebrows, and my hair had fallen out of it's ponytail at some point, now resting down my back. My light armour was scuffed and dirty, and my jacket and pants underneath were ripped and soaked in mud and blood. I definitely looked like a mess, but I didn't care.
"Silence!" Gaia shouted over the chatters of the crowd, silencing the murmurs immediately. "Hail the warriors of the thirteen clans."
"Hail the Commander of the blood," The rest of the room recited.
"When I became Heda, I took an oath to protect, serve and lead you all. All thirteen clans. In the challenge today, I fought to ensure that as one, we survive Praimfaya. It is not 'every clan for themselves'. We are one people. And the Second Dawn Bunker will be shared equally. We will survive Praimfaya ogeda."
Cheers immediately erupted from the crowd, and I felt a proud and relieved smile grow on my face. I spotted Octavia at the front of the crowd with a wide grin. I immediately jumped down and hugged her.
"I'm so proud of you, T," She smiled, hugging me tight.
As we pulled away, I found Kane in the crowd, being the only one not cheering.
"There won't be enough room for all our people," He said, looking down at me with a worried look.
"We'll face those problems when we get to it. Together," I replied. "It's Unity Day, Kane. Smile. You're surviving another day." I looked around the room, realising my 'father' was nowhere to be found. "Where's Bellamy?"
A group of us rushed into the temple, only to see that the door to the bunker was shut. Kane tried to open it himself, but it was no use.
"Keep everyone out," I ordered the guards who had followed us in, who nodded without question and moved out.
"It's locked!" Kane exclaimed angrily. No way, really? Who would've guessed?
"Are they all dead?" Gaia asked fearfully, looking down at the unconscious bodies of the men who were supposed to be guarding the door to the bunker.
Octavia picked up one of the empty knockout grenades. "No, they used gas. Like the Mountain Men."
It was easy to tell what had happened. The only Sky People in sight had been Octavia and Kane. Not even Bellamy was in the tower waiting for me. Skaikru, or more so Abby and Jaha I was guessing, had taken the bunker for themselves. They mustn't have thought I could beat Roan or Luna, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.
"How could they do this?" Said Kane, his voice filled with frustration.
"Skaikru have betrayed us all," Indra spoke darkly.
I looked around, trying to think of what I could do about this. I spotted Kane's radio on his hip. "Kane. The radio," I said, prompting him to hand it to me. I held down the button as I spoke. "Can anyone hear me? This is Tahlia, over. Hello? I know you buttholes can hear me!"
I didn't care I was saying bad words. This was a life or death situation.
"Lia? Lia, it's me. Are you okay? Is Octavia there?" Bellamy's frantic voice sounded back.
I held the radio up to my lips again. "I'm okay, Bell. I won. Octavia's here, she's fine too. What the hell did you do?"
"It wasn't me, but I'll fix it."
"Bellamy, you know I chose to share the bunker with everyone. A hundred from each clan."
"I know. I'll figure out a way to fix this."
Octavia took the walkie from my hands and held it to her lips. "Bell, we have Kane out there buying us some time, helping them select their people, and Tahlia has the temple on lockdown, but if anyone finds out that Skaikru stole the bunker, we're all dead."
"Copy that, I'm on my way," Bellamy replied in a determined tone. He went radio silent for a moment before speaking again. "O? Lia? I'm gonna need some time."
I grabbed the radio back. "We don't have time, Bellamy!" I got no response. "Bellamy?"
More silence.
"Heda, they've made their choice. We have to find another way in," Said Indra, grabbing my arm to wrap up my bicep, which had a nasty gash, courtesy of Luna.
I sighed. "There is no other way, Indra. This one stayed hidden for a hundred years."
"Then we'll break this one open."
Octavia cut in. "Then it won't protect anyone. Bellamy will figure something out." I trusted that Bellamy was going to find away. When it comes to protecting Octavia (and me sometimes I guess), he always finds a way.
"I wondered why Kane was stalling," A new voice entered the room, drawing our attention to the doorway, where none other than Echo stood.
I rolled my eyes. Why does she always have to insert herself into everyone else's problems? It's not like theres gonna be a place for her in that bunker anyway, whether we opened it or not.
Without hesitation, Indra unsheathed her sword and pointed it toward Echo with a scowl on her face.
"Indra, wait," I stopped the woman. As much as I wouldn't have been opposed to Indra slitting the woman's throat, she deserved to die in a much worse way than by another warrior's hands. In my gory opinion, she deserved to die alone in Praimfaya. Alone, knowing that she caused not only the death of her king, but possibly the death of her people, too.
"Skaikru dishonors us all yet again," Echo seethed. "When the people find out, you'll pay for this in blood."
She turned on her heel to leave, but I spoke up, stopping her in her tracks. "Skaikru wasn't the only clan that showed dishonor in the challenge," I replied in a warning tone. "Was it?" Echo finally turned around. "I know you were hiding on the battlefield, trying to asassinate us. I know Roan caught you. I even know that he banished you for it."
"Is this true?" Indra turned to me.
"If the scouts search the battlefield, they'll find Azgeda arrows," I answered simply.
Indra put two and two together. "And Roan did not have a bow." Her expression darkened."Azgeda broke the rules. They should have no place in this bunker."
"We are one clan, Indra. Wonkru. I'm not gonna banish a whole clan because of one idiot's sins," I reminded the woman. Octavia held back a smirk at my words behind me, meanwhile Echo's face took on an expression of offense. I turned my attention back to the latter.
"What do you want, child?" She spat.
"Okay, first of all, you're calling me a child when you're the immature coward who can't fight for herself," I snapped back before pausing and speaking again. "And secondly, to answer your question, I only want for you to honor your king — you know, the one you got killed? — by joining me," I continued. "If you do, my decision will stand. Azgeda will survive Praimfaya."
Echo scoffed. "Your plan is to wait?" She asked as if it was a stupid idea. "To hope that Bellamy comes to your rescue."
I simply nodded. I trusted Bellamy with my life. Literally.
"Yep."
Echo put her sword away. "Knowing how he feels about you, I'd say that's a good plan."
And so that's what we did. We followed through with the plan, waiting for Bellamy.
After another few minutes of waiting, one of the Flamekeeper scouts entered the temple. "Commander. The rain has stopped. The clans are coming. Should we stop them?"
I looked at the bunker door, sighing, accepting my defeat. "Let them come."
The scout nodded and left. That was when Octavia let out a huff before saying, "Time to face the music."
But then a miracle fell upon us, just in time before the clans could arrive. The door finally opened, revealing none other than Bellamy Blake. I immediately tackled him in a hug with such force it almost knocked him over.
"I'm so proud of you, kiddo," He whispered as if he had been desperate to get the words out for years. "I love you. So, so much."
"I love you too, Bell."
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.
I finally let go of him so he could hug Octavia, turning my attention to Indra. "Heda, they're here."
I looked to the ambassadors who had gathered at the door. "It is time. From here forward, we are one people. One Clan. And this is our home."
Octavia looked to me, and I had a feeling I knew what she was about to do. In a swift motion, she grabbed Indra's sword and aimed it at Echo's throat. "Everyone except you."
I nodded in approval, whilst Echo stammered in shock. "But- but- we had a deal!"
"I said your people would live. I said nothing about you," I replied coldly.
Octavia didn't lower her sword. "You can tell them we stole the bunker if you want but the door's open now, so..." She trailed off.
"Be thankful knowing your banishment will be short," Indra added.
"Praimfaya awaits," Echo said smugly and walked away. She took it surprisingly well. At least she still had some dignity.
Now that that was over, I turned to the group of ambassadors and gestured to the open bunker door. "Welcome home."
Everyone soon made their way inside the bunker. A hundred from each clan. A group of us had gathered inside the main 'office' room at the top of the balcony above the rotunda. Raven had radioed that she was alive and she fixed her brain problem (which I didn't even know she had in the first place). It had been planned that a group was to leave to rescue her.
"You call this justice?" Jaha scoffed at the amount of people outside. Even though there were a hundred from each clan, almost all of Skaikru were still inside.
"I call this making things right," I responded sassily.
"Thanks to my brother," Octavia added. I suddenly remembered what Bellamy said to Roan in the conclave, making a mental note to speak with him about it at some point in the next five years we were stuck down here.
"You let this happen," Jaha said to Clarke. "How many of us have to die?"
"You're lucky it's not all of you," Indra cut in.
"Lucky?" Jaha asked.
"We have a hundred spots," Kane cut in. "The other clans have all chosen their survivors. We have to do the same."
"A hundred?" Jaha almost scoffed. "We have over four times that."
"Every clan had to make their cuts. It's the only fair way," I cut in.
Jaha had a look of betrayal and disbelief on his face. He looked to Clarke. "Is this what you wanted?"
"No one wanted this," Clarke replied maturely. I rolled my eyes.
"Want's got nothing to do with this!" I snapped. "Skaikru gets a hundred beds. Same as everybody else. Here's the list of the non-negotiables of who gets them," I slammed down a piece of parchment I had written names on whilst waiting for the black rain to pass after the challenge was over.
Bellamy, Octavia, Harper, Jess, Monty, Jasper, Raven, Murphy. I originally had Clarke on the list, too, but after she had helped in stealing the bunker, I had scribbled her name off. Of course I still wanted her to have a spot in the bunker, I love Clarke. But in the moment, I was mad at her and didn't add her to the list.
I know I shouldn't get to pick and choose who lives and who dies, but they kept me alive all this time, and if I wasn't alive, Luna likely would've had her way and humanity would've died in Praimfaya.
"The rest is up to you. The death wave comes in twenty-four hours. You have twelve to decide," I finished.
Octavia, Indra and the other Grounder ambassador who was in the room, left. It was only Jaha, Clarke, Bellamy, Kane, Abby and I left.
Skaikru was then called over the loudspeakers in the bunker to be gathered in the rotunda. After a few minutes, every member of Skaikru had gathered inside, confused, angry and scared.
A group of us stood at the top of the rotunda, looking down at the angered crowd. As the guards did their jobs to calm the crowds, Bellamy tapped me on the shoulder, nodding his head toward the door to the office and leading us inside where Abby and Kane already stood behind the desk.
"Our people are scared, Marcus," Jaha broke the silence as he shut the door behind himself. "We need to tell them something."
"We just spoke with Raven," Kane replied. "When she gets here, we'll have all our essential personnel."
I technically didn't have any say in who got to survive from Skaikru, since I wasn't a leader of just them, but all the clans.
"How many spots does that leave us with?" Clarke asked worriedly.
"Including essential personnel and the places that we're holding for the children under 16..." Abby replied. "That leaves us with 80."
I personally found it ridiculous that they were holding places for children under 16, but not under 18. That would mean that with the exception of me, none of the original 100 delinquents that were still alive had a guaranteed spot in the bunker. Do these people forget that we're the reason they're not suffocating in space right now?
Opting to keep my opinions to myself, I crossed my arms while I listened.
"80," Clarke repeated as if she were struggling to accept the fact.
Jaha cut in angrily. "I can't believe we are talking about sending 364 of our own people to their deaths."
I glared at the man. "Be lucky Skaikru gets any space in this bunker at all after what you did. And be grateful that I don't have anything to say about it, because if I did, you would be out there right now."
"I don't like it any more than you do," Kane reasoned with Jaha.
"Then let's fight this."
I turned to him again, gripping the handle of my knife on my hip. "You might wanna think about that again."
I was grateful to see that Kane had a brain when he shook his head in protest. "No. Any sort of resistance will cost us all our lives. Our best course of action is to hold a lottery for the remaining spots."
I listened as they continued to argue. Kane's reasoning made much more sense than Jaha's, who was being a selfish butthole.
"Someone still needs to get Raven," Bellamy cut in, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. "I'd like to volunteer."
"Don't go," I tugged on his sleeve, my inner clingy seven year old scared daughter coming out for some unknown reason.
"I'll be back before you know it, Lia. I promise."
"I'll join you," Said Clarke to Bellamy.
Abby immediately shook her head in protest. "No. Someone else can go with him."
After a short discussion, Clarke convinced her mother to let her go. I wanted to go with them to rescue Raven as well, but after a lot of discussion with everyone, we decided against it. I missed Raven so much. I hadn't seen her in weeks. I couldn't wait for her to come home.
I went to the airlock to say goodbye to Clarke and Bellamy. While Clarke was having a heart to heart with Abby upstairs, I made my way toward Bellamy, mustering up the courage to confront him about what he said to Roan.
"Hey, Lia," He said softly, pulling the gloves on of his hazmat suit. I looked to the floor, mentally preparing myself for the embarrassment I might be about to endure. "What's going on in that big brain of yours, kiddo?"
"Um... In the challenge..." I began hesitantly. "I heard what you said. To Roan."
He pursed his lips, taking a breath as he crouched down to my height. "You did?"
I nodded. "Did you mean it?"
He paused. Oh no. He was lying, wasn't he? Just saying anything he could so that Roan wouldn't kill him.
"I did."
Wait, what?
"I meant every word. I love you like my own flesh and blood, Lia. I always have. Ever since I met you, just that scared little girl next door, all alone. I knew that one day, you were going to do great things. And I was right.
"I am so, so incredibly proud of you, Tahlia. This amazing, strong, kind person you've become... I couldn't be prouder to call you my daughter. Look, I know how close you were with your dad and all, but..." I started to tear up, as was he. His expression dropped at the sight of my tears. "Oh, Lia- just- sorry- I... forget I said anything. I-"
I cut him off by throwing my arms around his neck, sobbing and laughing at the same time. "These are happy tears," I laughed through my tears as we cried in each others arms. "I love you too, Dad."
We finally pulled away, and Bellamy smiled to himself. "Dad..." He repeated. "I like the sound of that."
im not crying ur crying