As Octavia sat in her room, Artemis knocked on the open door, O looked up at her, then looked away again, "Here to give me a pep talk?" Artemis walked over and sat down next to her, "No. I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry that i said that stuff, i just.. couldn't let you live with that hanging over you."
"I understand."
Artemis gave her a small smile, "Everything will be okay. You're smart. We hid under the floor for 16 god damn years, Octavia, use your head."
Clarke walked in, "It's time." Octavia nodded, heading for the door. Artemis and Clarke made eye contact as she stood up, "Well, let's go graze this madness." Artemis walked out of the room, and immediately bumped into Jasper, "Oh hey, baby."
"Come on," She led him outside, and they stood in the back, Bellamy and Clarke walking up next to them. "Octavia Kom Skaikru, please step forward." The flame keeper spoke, and Octavia came walking through the crowd of people up to the front.
The conclave ritual began and everyone accepted the sigil of their clan, and stood side by side with each other. The four of them; Jasper, Artemis, Bellamy, and Clarke made their way to the front.
Thirteen warriors fighting to the death, what could go wrong? The flame keeper spoke in Trig, and a woman in the crowd spoke back to her, then pushed her way through the crowd.
Luna came walking through, she walked up to the make shift stage, "I'm Luna kom Flokru, and i'm the last of my clan."
"We all know who you are." Gaia spoke with distaste, even for a flame keeper. "The Natblida who ran from her conclave."
"I'm not running from this one."
The flame keeper grabbed the sigil from a guard, "Accept this sigil, Luna kom Flokru, but with your clan gone who will you fight for?"
"I fight for no one." She turned to the crowd, "i fight for death." Everyone looked at each other, questions and complaints rising.
Luna held up the sigil, "When i win, no one will be saved."
---
The inner circle of skaikru; Jasper, Bellamy, Artemis, Clarke, Kane, and Jaha stood around each other, mainly speaking about Luna's outburst, and Jaha's terrible idea that no one agreed with. "Skaikru." Gaia walked up to them, "Two advisors to the worgeda. The rest of you report to your designated safe zone. Now."
Kane looked at Bellamy, "Come on. We have to get her ready."
"This conversation isn't over, Marcus." Jaha grabbed him as he began to walk away, "The death wave will be here within three days, and here we are, risking the fate of our people on a blood sport."
"The fate of all people." Clarke quipped, "You heard Luna."
"She's just one of thirteen." Kane looked at her. "You're wrong. She's a night blood novitiate. Which means she was trained in combat just like this."
"You want us to cheat?" Bellamy lowered his voice as he asked her that, and she went quiet. "You know the rules, if we break them, we lose, if we lose, we die."
Jaha spoke up once again, "The rules are not the problem, Marcus. The game is. Even if we stop Luna, even if Octavia finds a way to win, does anyone truly believe that the grounders will accept Skaikru as the lone survivors?"
"Yes." Kane didn't hesitate, "The conclave is sacred. They'll honor the winner. Like it or not, we're all grounders now. You get our people to the safe zone. We'll have Octavia ready for the fight. The rest is-- the rest is up to her." Kane walked away, going to the worgeda.
Artemis turned to Clarke, "You should go with him. I wouldn't know what to say to her."
"You're her twin sister, not being there is worse than saying the wrong thing. Besides, i have to help my mom get the bunker ready for whoever wins."
Artemis nodded, and turned to head for the worgeda. She walked in, following Kane through the pit and making her way to her sister. "all right, listen to me." Kane said as they approached Octavia. "The Blue Cliff warrior, she has two corvo blades, i just saw her practicing. She's left-handed, you go for her weak hand."
Octavia nodded, "Okay."
"Plains Rider and the warrior from Shallow Valley, they're strong, but their slow." Kane continued talking, and Artemis looked away, avoiding eye contact because she wanted to speak, but she knew she shouldn't, "Not to mention the black rain that could fall at any moment, so you stay close to cover." Octavia had noticed Artemis' little quirk a long time ago, and knew she had something to say, "What, Artemis? If you've got something to say, just say it."
Artemis finally looked at her, "Its just.. You don't need all this O. When the starting horn blows, just stay out of sight, let the others thin out the competition."
"You want me to hide?"
"I'm just saying you don't need to go up against the strongest warrior from each clan."
"I came here to fight."
Artemis stayed quiet for a moment, "We were the girls under the floor. Use that, just like mom taught us."
"Artemis' right." Kane agreed, looking at Octavia. "You don't have to kill all 12 warriors."
Octavia pieced it together, "I just have to kill the last one." She looked at Artemis, and she nodded.
The guard came into the worgeda, "Ambassadors and advisors to the tower. Champions, to your flags."
Kane and Octavia hugged, and he began to walk away. Octavia turned to Art, "May we meet again."
"We will." Artemis pulled her sister into a quick hug, "And you'll be okay." She pulled away, and her sister walked off. Artemis caught up to Kane and they walked to the tower together.
The drums began to thud, and Artemis and Kane walked up to the elevator and went all the way to the throne room, where Jasper stood outside the doors, waiting for his beloved, "Art." He walked up to her.
"Hey." She kissed him, and they walked into the room, sitting down on a bench next to each other. The drums outside were beaten loudly, and the ache in Artemis' stomach grew. "Jasper, i'm nervous."
"It'll be okay, sweet girl." Jasper pulled her close and kissed her forehead, Artemis melted at his touch. The horn sounded, and Artemis knew it was time.
They waited in the throne room with anticipation, everyone's mind racing with many different thoughts. Gaia walked out from the balcony, "The first two champions have fallen." Artemis got a knot in her stomach and her heart raced.
"Gael kom Ingranronakru..." They used a metal candle extinguisher, putting out Ingranronakru's candle, "Yu gonplei este oden. (Your fight is over)" Gaia had tears in her eyes as she spoke her next words, "Fio kom Trikru.. Yu gonplei este oden." They repeated the action, putting out Trikru's candle.
---
They stood on the balcony, Artemis had a gun scope to her eye, watching the conclave. Artemis watched as a man was hit by a bow, and she followed it to the blue cliff warrior. "Sangedakru is no more." Gaia spoke to one of the men, and he nodded, walking in and putting out the candle.
Bellamy walked up to them, and Artemis spoke in a low voice, almost a whisper, "Blue cliff warrior just killed him with a bow. I just saw it."
Kane shrugged, "So?"
"So, we saw her before the conclave began, she didn't have a bow, she had two swords." Artemis explained.
"Yeah, the corvo blades. Well, she could have picked up a bow off the battlefield."
Bellamy uncrossed his arms and walked into the room connected to the balcony, looking around the throne room, Kane and Artemis followed him out, "What is it?" Art questioned, "Echo's gone."
Bellamy headed for the door, reaching and pulling it open, "Bellamy." Artemis called to him, following him through the door, and Kane followed them. "Bellamy, wait." Artemis said, but he didn't stop, "Bellamy, wait!" She grabbed his shoulder, and he turned around,
"Our sister is down there, Echo is cheating and i'm gonna stop her."
Artemis felt like literally smacking him in the head, but she kept her cool, "We don't even know that it's her. It could be--"
"Oh, we all know who it is." Bellamy tried to walk away again, but Kane grabbed his arm, "One of Gaia's scouts will find her and Ice Nation will be punished."
"They'll never catch her, Echo's a spy. This is what she does." He once again tried to rip from his grip, but Kane was quick to grab him, "You listen to me, you get caught on that battlefield and we're all dead. We all pay the price. They will execute Octavia and all of our people will be left to die."
"If i dont, then Azgeda has two people in this fight, and we die anyway. And you think i should just stay here and do nothing?"
Kane stopped speaking for a moment, so Artemis let out her idea, "No. No, you wait till dark so you won't be seen."
Bellamy nodded, and continued on his way, hopefully going to do something that isn't gonna kill us. Artemis turned to Kane once Bellamy had turned the corner, "Ever notice that we're usually the ones stopping people from making stupid decisions?"
Kane chuckled, "Yeah, you get your diplomacy from your mother. Aurora Blake solved every problem in ten minutes." They turned to walk back to the throne room, Artemis saying, "Yeah she was quite the catch." as they walked in. Kane stood at the back of the room next to Indra, and Jasper was sat on a bench near by. Artemis sat next to him, pulling out his ear bud,
"Jas,"
"Hm?" He looked up at her, "Oh, hey. What happened?" They spoke in low tones, "I'll tell you later." Artemis sighed, sinking into the wooden bench.
As dark fell, Artemis knew Bellamy was somewhere on that battlefield, testing his limits, knowing the consequences. But that's who Bellamy was. He would do anything for his sisters, they are his entire world, even when they're assholes.
Artemis may have been the one to point out the entire thing, but of course, Bellamy had to be the hero. It runs in the family for the Blake's. All three siblings always have the urge to do something reckless and unnecessary, they search for the adrenaline rush. For Artemis, it was being under pressure that gave her the adrenaline high, Bellamy had to be the hero, and Octavia just needed a good fight.
"Mezi kom Louwoda Klion Kru.. yu gonplei este oden." The candle was put out, and Gaia spoke once again, "There's only four warriors left. Roan kom Azgeda, Luna kom Flokru, Guara kom Pokakru, and Octavia kom Skaikru."
Artemis stood up, taking off the leg that hung over Jasper's, and walked over to Indra, slight caution in her feet. She stood there for a moment, Indra noticing her presence. "I'm sorry about Trikru, Indra."
Indra looked up at her, "Octavia's doing well."
"Thanks to you. You taught her everything she knows." Artemis felt better about this conversation, mainly because it was easy to talk about her sister to Indra.
"A warrior has many teachers." Indra looked at Kane, "A war chief among them." She looked back at Artemis, "If she wins, we'll see what she truly learned." Indra turned and walked away, leaving Artemis confused and a bit strung out.
She turned on her heel, "Okay, then." And walked back to the bench where Jasper sat. She sat down and laid her lap in Jasper's chest as he continued to read the comic novel in his hand.
"Baby.." Artemis looked up at him, "Hm." He looked down at her, "Come to the bathroom with me?"
He put the comic novel down, "Yeah, come on."
Artemis pulled herself up from his lap, planting her feet on the ground and standing up. She walked over to the door, and Jasper followed, carrying both of their book bags.
Leading him down the hall, Artemis walked to the bathroom, opening the door and walking in, "I'll be right out." She shut the door, and walked in to do her business.
After a few minutes, Artemis walked out, "There's no way to wash--" And with that, two people gripped Artemis and Jasper by the mouth with cloths. She screamed, kicking and fighting it, until eventually, everything went black.
---
When Artemis awoke, she was laying on top of Jasper in a room that was unfamiliar to her. Bellamy stood up from the chair beside them, which led Artemis' eyes to Clarke and Jaha, "What the hell did you do?"
Artemis became aware, and she began to stand up, "If only one clan can survive, it might as well be ours." Jaha said, turning back to the blue prints. Artemis got closer to them, "Wait--"
"Clarke, you agreed to this?" Bellamy raised his voice, which woke up Jasper.
"It was her idea." Jaha confessed.
Artemis looked between the both of them with disgust, "What the hell is wrong with you? There were only three warriors remaining, Roan, Luna, and Octavia."
"We did what we had to do." Clarke spoke, sadness in her voice.