Aurora
I was finishing braiding Maddie's hair. She was beyond exited to train.
"Okay. Wait your canteen." I said handing Maddie her water
"I'm pretty sure they're goanna have water there." Maddie chuckles
"Take it anyways." Clarke smiles
"Clarke, Aurora I'm not a baby anymore." Maddie playfully rolls her eyes
"I know which is why people are more likely to notice how special you are." I sigh
"And that's why you're goanna suck today. You're not goanna stand out in any way. No one can think that you'd make a good Commander. Even though Aurora is Heda, she's Skaikru and we had a history of being "bringers of death" so we can't take any risks." Clarke reminds
"Clarke, I understand."
"Once Echo gets that camera down, we all get to go back to Shadow Valley." Clarke reassured
"Great. Maybe when we fight the war there I won't have to suck." Maddie jokes
"Let's hope we don't have to go to war. Warriors try to avoid war." I raise my brows
Maddie nods before leaving to go to the bunker.
"We should give him the note." I frown
"Yeah."
I grab Jaspers note and Clarke and I go to find Monty.
___
We entered the hydro farm and Monty was there just like Harper told us.
"Harper told us you'd be down here." Clarke smiles
"I miss my algae farm. I thought being around all this would help." Monty sighs
"Does it?"
"Most of the crops are fallow. The equipment needs repair. I give it 3 weeks until this place is as dead as the waistland." Monty frowns
He looks down to see the note I had in hand.
"We've been meaning to give you this but never had the right time. We found it at Arkadia not too long after Praimfaya. We never read it but were tempted to." I inform, handing the note
"Jaspers handwriting." Monty gasps
The door suddenly opened and Cooper came in. She didn't see us though.
We hid behind some plants and saw Cooper with a body on a table, bringing it in a locked room, then leaving.
Monty was able to open the door with a magnet. Once we got into the room, we saw some disturbing things...
"Biocontainment lab? What the hell is that for?" Monty asked to no one in particular
Clarke unzipped the zipper and we walked in.
Inside, there was incubators covered. Clarke's took off the cover to see the same worms from the desert coming out of the dead woman's stomach.
"Oh my god."
"You said no one else was bitten." Monty points out
"No they weren't-"
"She's breeding them." I cut Clarke off.
We see another incubator with a man inside only this time his stomach didn't burst open yet.
"The cold must slow them down. If Octavia can deliver these worms in a defector..."
Suddenly the man woke up.
"He's alive! Clarke!" I gasp
It was out of our control at this point. Worms emerged from his mouth and his stomach tore open.
___
"My sister never approved of human testing. I don't care how crazy it's becoming down here." Bellamy says, refusing to believe Octavia is behind this
"Desperation has a way of making the unimaginable a necessity." Clarke points out
"Still, if she weaponizes those things and sends them to the valley, then Echo, Raven, Murphy, Emori, and your mom-"
"Not just them. All of us. Unleashing an invasive species on the last arable land on Earth is a monumentally bad idea." Monty states
"Look even if Octavia does know, she won't listen to me. We need help." Bellamy says then nods to Indra
"Clarke, he was there when Pike shot her. He killed 300 of her people." I remind
"I'll go with him." Clarke sighs
"Yeah I'll relieve Harper."
___
"Let's go over this again. As soon as Echo and Raven get the eye down, we take the rover and drive across the wasteland. We break out our people before Wonkru attacks with the worms." Bellamy says
"Octavia will expect us to do something like that." I point out
Monty bangs the table. He read the note and was upset?
"This was supposed to be Jasper's suicide note after we pulled him out of the City of Light. He was goanna put a gun in his mouth and pull the trigger." Monty frowns
"Monty, nows not the time." Clarke sighs
"Clarke!" I scold
"Nows the perfect time. 'Monty. I know you're an optimist. You think better days are ahead, but that's not true. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. There's just the tunnel. Another enemy to fight, another war. I've come to the conclusion that we're the problem. Human beings, all of us. The cycle can't be broken as long as we're here. That's why I won't be here...'" Monty sniffles, not being able to finish the rest
"Monty, it's okay." Harper comforts
"Yeah Jasper was smarter than all of us. It doesn't matter what we do. Coming back to the ground, opening the bunker, all we've done was made things worse. If a war is the only way to have the last survivable land on Earth, then maybe we don't deserve it." Monty frowns before walking away
___
"Bellamy something's happening." My eyes widen, looking at the monitor.
Bellamy and Clarke rush over and we now have access to the eye in the sky.
"We're in. Echo did it. Wait as soon as we tell Octavia, she's going to march us into war and unleashes the worms." Clarke frowns
"That's why we gotta get there first, take the worms, we take the rover, then we get our people out. Then we worry about stopping the war, okay?" Bellamy reassures
"Good. I'll get Monty and Harper you get Maddie. We leave tonight."
___
Clarke and I walk into the retonda and see the novitiates training. Maddie was sitting, waiting to fight.
"Maddie you're up." Octavia ordered once she saw us
"Blodreina, she's not ready yet." Gaia protested
Octavia just gave Gaia a death stare and Maddie stood up. She walked to the middle and took her stance.
"Be the last."
The boy fighting against her quickly lunged towards Maddie and easily pushed her to the ground only because Maddie purposely pretended to do poorly.
She stood up and glanced at us. We nodded 'no' discouraging her to fight good but it seemed she didn't get the message.
Once her opponent attacked again, she fought good this time and put him on his ass. He looked surprised.
"Enough!" Gaia yelled
Maddie gave the boy her hand and helped him up.
"Gaia, get her armor and get her a real sword. Maddie, we're about to fight a war on your land, for your land, and I could really use a second who knows the terrain when we get there. What do you say, Maddie kom Wonkru?" Octavia smiles, holding her hand out
Maddie smiles and takes her arm. What is this girl thinking?
"Alright then. We march as soon as the eye is down. I need to borrow her for a strategy session. You don't mind, right?" Octavia asks
We both shake our heads "no"
We walk back into the room with the computer and Bellamy, Harper, and Monty are waiting for us.
"Where's Maddie?"
"With your sister." Clarke scoffs
"Clarke, we don't have time for this. We have to leave now. As soon as Diyoza realizes what Echo did, she's dead. We have no choice." Bellamy frowns
"You're wrong. We do have one." Clarke says, picking up the radio
"Wait what're you doing?" Harper asks
"Stopping the cycle."
"This is Clarke Griffin. I have a question for Colonel Diyoza." Clarke radios
"Hello Clarke. It's been too long. What the hell do you want?"
"What would it take for you to share the valley?"
"Share it? Let me see. Short of an unconditional surrender, nothing."
"Octavia would never surrender." Monty sighs
"I would. But there's still people who are loyal to her and we can't have me being caught in a power struggle during a war." I groan
"That's why we're goanna take her out."