"You're telling time that you were frozen in time in 2038, and woke up at the start of this year?"
Raven had asked me that question at least one hundred times since coming back to camp. After having my flashback, I suddenly remembered who I was and where I came from. Though, not fully. Only my life before waking up in this new world. This flashback was different because it helped me to remember other things, like who my family and friends were, where I went to school, what the world looked like before this – everything.
I remembered the cars, the houses, the technology. I remembered my bunker, and I remembered why I had been frozen in time for so long. The only thing that I didn't remember was where I went after I woke up. But I was grateful for even remembering this much, so I wasn't complaining.
What I was the most curious to figure out was why the Mountain Men decided to target me as a person to experiment upon. They mustn't have known about my cryopreservation... right?
I explained everything to Raven, who helped me to explain it to Finn. He was amazed, as I was. He wanted to visit my bunker, and I didn't mind him doing so, but not now. It wasn't the right time at all. Not when we were being threatened.
I managed to charge my phone and I also managed to go through it, but it didn't help with much anymore. I knew who I was now. The only thing that was worth questioning were the photos I had with, and of, the mystery green-eyed girl. They were obviously taken in this time era, but who was she? I had no memories of her, but something was telling me that it was personal, so I avoided showing Raven the photos. It felt too intimate to share with her.
"Yes, I'm from the past, Raven," I clarified for the millionth time. "When there were cars and buildings and the internet – the whole lot."
Raven and Finn had questioned me about everything from my past and I had told them it all, to their amazement. I understood that both of them (along with their ancestors) only knew what Earth was like in my time era from artefacts and such, so this was a big deal to them and probably all of the Sky People.
"So cool," she muttered under her breath.
I refrained from laughing and looked around. We were sat outside, awaiting the others return. Clarke and the others weren't back yet, but I was praying that Lincoln was alright and Clarke could help. She had returned not long ago, to get Abby's help. They had figured out a way to help 'fix' Lincoln, but they needed Abby to help out. Clarke had managed to convince her mother to let her go to visit this 'mystery' Commander and bargain with her that the Sky People could help fix the reapers (which is what Lincoln currently was, thanks to a chemical that he had been injected with from the Mountain Men). If they could cure Lincoln, then the Commander would have to help the Sky People. Or at least, that's what we were all hoping.
"She's back," I spoke aloud, spotting the familiar blonde head of hair that was coming through the gates. "And she's not looking happy..."
Raven, Finn and I headed towards the group (Octavia, Abby, Bellamy, and Clarke) and they seemed on edge. Octavia wasn't in full-blown sobs which could only mean that Lincoln must have made it. And well, the fact that Lincoln was following behind them also made me realise that he was doing okay. Another guard helped him inside after Abby momentarily spoke to him and I watched the grounder get taken in. His eyes met mine for a second and he was staring at me with a wide-eyed gaze. Strange.
Clarke's eyes were darting around frantically as she searched for something in particular, and you can imagine my surprise when she settled upon me as she saw Raven, Finn and I walking towards her.
"From the looks of it, you all made it back in one piece, so what's with the sullen faces?" Raven commented, quirking both eyebrows at her friends.
Finn glanced at Raven with a raised eyebrow, before looking back to the others. Obviously more sensitive about the issue, he asked, "What happened? Did the Commander agree to have a truce?"
Bellamy and Octavia kept their eyes glued to the ground and their mouths zipped shut which was odd and very unlike the Blake siblings. That was the first indicator that something was wrong. Abby placed a supportive hand on her daughter's shoulder and the latter was staring at me, sympathy written all over her face.
"Clarke, what is it?" I asked, curiously. "What's wrong?"
Her eyes held an unspoken apology as she said, "The Commander is interested in a truce-"
"That's great!" Raven interrupted, a grin on her face. Though, from the look on everyone's faces, I knew it wasn't as good as we thought.
"Raven, honey, let Clarke finish," Abby said softly.
Raven's smile disappeared as she looked to me, searching for an answer, but I shrugged, feeling just as clueless as her in this situation.
"As I said," Clarke began again, nervously. "The Commander is interested in a truce because she knows that we can help fix all the grounders that have been taken hostage and forced into a reaper. She's stopping by camp later to discuss the details and rules of our truce."
I nodded to show I was listening. "And the problem here is...?"
Inhaling deeply, Clarke looked at the ground. "She will only commit to this truce on one condition... She wants you."
My eyes widened slightly as she said this, and I could feel both Raven and Finn's shock from beside me. This revelation explained why the others were staying silent.
"Why does she want me? She doesn't even know who I am," I argued calmly, thinking about all of the ways this could end up. The Sky People would do anything for peace, and I wasn't one of their people technically, so of course they would give me up.
I wasn't safe anywhere.
"That's the thing," Clarke spoke, looking back up to me, and I could see the genuine sympathy in her eyes, "Nyko told her that you were here. And I don't know how, but she knows you. She seemed really serious about this. Like, she desperately needs to meet you. And I think that, maybe, you were a grounder, Y/N. If they know who you are, that's the only explanation."
I chewed on the inside of my mouth as I allowed this information to digest. This Commander of the grounders and their healer knew who I was. The grounders I killed yesterday knew I was. The grounders locked up in Mount Weather knew I was. How the heck was that possible?
"No, that's not right," Raven was quick to defend me, earning everybody's attention. "Y/N wasn't a grounder. That's the news we have! On our way back to camp, we stumbled across a bunker that had her surname on it. She remembered some things, and well, long story short, she's from the past!"
Bellamy and Octavia finally chimed into our conversation by joining the Griffin's in eyeballing Raven like she was a mad woman. To be fair, it did sound pretty crazy.
"She's telling the truth, guys," Finn backed her up. "Y/N was born in 2120 and frozen in time in 2138 for an experiment with her parents. She woke up earlier than expected and that's all we know. The whole bunker has her things in. Computers, electricity, everything! I mean- Y/N! Show them your phone!" He looked to me, motioning for me to show them the device.
I pulled out my phone from my pocket and switched it on, showing them the lock screen. Eyes wide with amazement, Clarke took it from my hands and followed whatever instructions were on the screen.
"You were alive when the world was, well, the world?" Octavia asked, her eyes wide as she looked at the glowing screen in Clarke's hands.
I nodded, though none of them were looking because they were too busy looking at my phone. "Yes. I remember who I am now. I just don't know why the Mountain Men wanted me, or where I was before they took me. It couldn't have been with the grounders because I would never stay with such evil people."
"Are we allowed to visit this bunker of yours, Y/N?" Abby asked, handing me back my phone.
"Of course," I responded, "but first, I think we need to sort out what's happening right now."
As if coming back to reality, Abby nodded her head. "Yeah, right..."
"We're not just giving Y/N up like this," Raven stated confidently, crossing her arms over her chest.
I looked at her and smiled appreciatively, to which she returned with a nod of her head.
Glancing at me quickly, Clarke licked her lips then looked to Raven, lowering her voice as if that would make me suddenly not hear her. "Raven, I think we should talk about-"
"We are," Raven fired back, narrowing her eyes at Clarke. "Y/N is one of us now. Are we really going to betray one of our own like that? Who knows what that Commander will do to her? What the grounders will do to her?"
"Raven," Bellamy spoke for the first time. "We understand what you're saying, but plenty more of our people are trapped in that mountain. Our friends. The only way we can help them is if we, ourselves, are safe down here. Our people here need to be safe. The only way these things can happen is if we have a truce with the grounders, and unfortunately, this means we have to do what they want."
"Giving up Y/N," Raven finished with a sarky tone.
Bellamy sighed deeply, his eyes meeting mine momentarily. Just as Clarke, he was staring at me with apologetic eyes. I felt terrible knowing that I was putting them in this situation. But they were right. Their actual people needed their help, and if that meant giving me up, then they would do so. It only made sense.
"Raven, they're right," I said reluctantly. I wasn't too keen on being given over to the grounders, but I knew that it was the only way to keep everybody safe. These people deserved to live more than I. They knew what they wanted, where they belonged, and I didn't. As scary as it was to imagine, if I had to lose my life to keep them alive, then I would.
"You will die, Y/N," she said harshly, though her anger was directed at the situation, not me. "Don't you care?"
Momentarily ignoring her question, I looked to the others, saying, "You guys should inform everybody of our change of plans. I'll be ready to leave with the Commander when she arrives."
Raven glared at me and I tried my best to ignore it. Clarke gave me a sad smile and nodded.
"Okay, thank you," she said briefly, but I could tell she meant it more than she was letting on. Looking to her friends next, she said, "We'll be accompanying the Commander to one of her villages, so be ready to leave, too. It's to celebrate the truce we will have."
Once everyone was satisfied with the plan, aside from Raven, they all departed ways, and I felt a supportive squeeze on the shoulder from Bellamy as he walked past me. I knew that none of them were evil or unfair. They were doing what was right for their people. I couldn't hate them for that.
"What the fuck, Y/N?" Raven shouted incredulously.
I sighed, unable to meet her broken eyes. Raven was somebody I had instantly clicked with in my short time of staying with the Sky People, and I knew how much she had been through. How much she had lost. I almost felt selfish for being another reason for her pain, but that selfishness would be nothing compared to what I would feel if I didn't give myself up for these people.
"Raven, you need to know that I'm not doing this out of spite," I told her, finally looking up to her eyes. "It's the only way to keep you and your people alive. Don't you want that?"
She clenched her jaw, obviously frustrated with everything. "Of course I do. But there has to be another way."
I smiled sadly. "I'm afraid there isn't, but listen. I don't want you to be angry at everyone. They didn't want to ask this of me, they're just doing what they have to do to survive."
"But you're important! You've seen things nobody out here has!" she tried to reason. "You're probably the key to mankind returning to how it once was."
My face pulled into a grimace. "Now, we both know that isn't true, Reyes. Besides. Everything you need is in my bunker, and I trust you will do what is right with it all."
She frowned, knowing I was right. Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around my neck. "...but I'm going to miss you."
I wrapped my arms around her waist and melted into her hug. "I'm going to miss you, too, Raven. I'm glad that I could make it to the future and meet you. You're pretty darn awesome."
She chuckled sadly and pulled away, smiling slightly. "We haven't known each other as long as I would like, but I know that you would've been a great addition to our people."
I didn't know why, but hearing her say this made me grin. To know that somebody was accepting of me and liked me like that made me feel amazing. Even though I didn't belong, this was close enough, and I loved it.
"Thank you, Raven. So much."
***
"Everybody say hello to Commander Lexa," Clarke spoke, feigning enthusiasm as she entered the Ark.
We were meeting the Commander inside, away from curious eyes, and Clarke was walking in now, three grounders following behind her. Since we we were waiting for the Commander to arrive, all of us had managed to pack for our escapade with her. I still did't understand what was so special about me, but I guess I was about to find out now.
In walked three grounders, two of them standing to the side, and the third stepping forward in the middle. There was a large, bulky man dressed in what appeared to be some sort of uniform and his body was covered in tattoos. The woman on the other side was smaller, but still looked deadly, with her harsh glare fixated upon the Sky People. However, when her eyes drifted to me, they widened with surprise.
The third grounder, the girl, was the youngest of the three, yet still held the most authoritative aura. Presumably the Commander, she stood there wearing a long cloak and a small red cape hanging off one of her shoulders. Her hair was braided back out of her face, and her face itself was covered with black warpaint slashed across her eyes. A stoic expression on her face and her posture stood tall, she looked at all of us, her eyes roaming each and every one of us. That was, until they saw me.
"Y/N," she breathed out, her eyes widening, too, and her mouth slightly agape with shock.
That once stern expression she held was now gone and she looked like a deer caught in headlights. The way she was staring at me wasn't like how her two 'henchmen' were staring at me. This was different and everybody else knew it, seeing as they were looking between the two of us with absolute confusion. The Commander's eyes... they were a beautiful forest green colour, I noted, and they seemed so so familiar. They were filled with every possible emotion one could think of, all for reasons I didn't know of. The familiarity however, soon clicked, and I gasped to myself when I realised that she was the girl from the pictures on my phone. I did know her.
But what was she to me? Was I a bad guy once, too?
Seeing her right here before me, the enemy... I shouldn't have felt a tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach, and I shouldn't have enjoyed the way her eyes were peering right through me. She was a bad person.
"You're here, alive," she spoke again, her voice soft and airy, completely different to what I was expecting.
Clarke, having met the Commander earlier today, seemed the most shocked, and I could imagine why. The girl before me, the leader before me, seemed to be, almost, compassionate. Nothing like she was supposed to be.
Feeling uncomfortable under her gaze, along with everyone else's in the room, I cleared my throat and fixed a glare onto the Commander. "If you're going to kill me, do it already. These people deserve their truce and I don't wish for it to be prolonged."
Drawing her eyebrows together with confusion, Lexa cocked her head to the side. "W-what?" She looked to her two grounders and they all seemed as confused as she was. Looking back to me and taking a step forward, she said, "Y/N, it's me! I've been looking for you everywhere and-"
"She doesn't know who you are," Raven spoke up, earning the Commander's attention. The mechanic had her arms crossed over her chest angrily as she stared down the green-eyed girl. "Her memory was wiped clean."
The Commander seemed unable to accept this information, along with the two other grounders, and she took a moment to let that sink in. Meanwhile, I couldn't look away from her. How was she the leader of such evil people?
"Is this true?" she asked, looking up to me. I almost wanted to say no, just to stop her eyes from filling with sadness, but I soon stopped thinking like that because even if I did know her before, I didn't need to know her now.
"Yes," I replied simply.
I watched as she looked back down again, her eyebrows creasing together. She shook her head, confusing me, and I watched as her hand slowly curled into fists. Before anyone could see it coming, she charged at Clarke, grabbing the blonde's shirt and pinning her to the wall.
"You lied to me!" she screamed with anger, frightening us all with the volume and hatred of her voice. "You said she would be unharmed! But you stole her! You stole her memories and you stole her from me!"
Being the first to come to my senses, I moved forward and pried the Commander off my friend. It was hard, but when she looked to me, her grip loosened, making it easier for me to separate the two. Clarke bent down to catch her breath, and I watched as Raven was instantly by her side, patting her back and making sure that she was okay. Bellamy was about to step forward and initiate a fight with the Commander, but Abby pulled him back, then joined Raven in seeing if her daughter was okay.
"Don't you dare touch my friends," I growled to the brunette, which was probably a dumb move because one flick of the hand and her grounder buddies would flatten me to the ground. "The Sky People weren't the ones who did this to me. It was the Mountain Men. They experimented on me and it's their fault I can't remember you. So, if you're going to hurt anyone? Hurt them."
The Commander pursed her lips, but I could see her eyes turning glossy. "I need a moment alone with Y/N," she announced, tearing her eyes from the ground and to mine.
"No, after what you just did to Clarke, we're not letting you stay here alone with her," Raven responded straight away, and before I could tell her not to worry, the Commander spoke instead.
"The deal was that I get Y/N if you want your truce, so I can do what I want, Sky Girl," she hissed, breaking eye contact with me and looking to Raven. "Now leave."
Despite having prepared to watch me get taken by the Commander, as the deal ensured, the others were still reluctant to leave me be, especially after the Commander's mini outrage. However, knowing her words were correct, they left the room, along with the two other grounders.
At first, the air was tense. Or maybe it just felt like that for me. It was certainly silent. The Commander was staring right at me, her expression soft but her jaw tense. Her eyes were glowing in contrast to the dull grey walls surrounding us, and despite the unexplainable yet comfortable feeling I was getting, I didn't want to let it go on any longer.
"What do you want from me?" I asked, not tearing my eyes from hers. Whether that was to show my confidence and lack of fear of her presence, or because I genuinely couldn't look away from those familiar eyes, I didn't know, but I kept my gaze locked on hers.
Like she was in a disrupted daydream, she flinched when I spoke, and zoned back into reality as she blinked several times. "Y/N, don't you recognise me at all? Remember anything?"
The look of desperation that she tried to hide only made me pity her, and it actually hurt me to see her look like that. I kind of wished I could remember just to stop her from feeling like that.
Deciding to take a lighter approach, I sighed quietly. "No. I mean, I have photos of you and us in my phone, but that doesn't mean anything."
She pursed her lips as her glossy eyes searched my eyes for any hint of recognition, but we both knew she wouldn't find any. Instead, she looked down as she reached into her pocket, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from there. Flattening it out as best as she could, she held it out with a surprisingly shaky hand. Nodding her head as encouragement for me to take it, her eyes met mine again.
For some unknown reason, my heart was racing, only adding to my nervousness. I hesitantly took the paper from her hand, being careful to avoid touching her fingers, and she seemed to notice my extra effort made to avoid her touch because she frowned visibly. I shook my head, knowing not to fall for her expressions - she was the enemy and that was that.
I looked at the paper and my eyes widened a bit. They were photographs of her and I, the same ones that were in my phone. There was no way she had a printer, so I must have printed this off for her. But why? It was starting to frustrate me now, so I asked the thing I had been thinking for a while now.
"Who are you?" I asked, looking up and shaking the picture in my hand. "What does this mean? Who am I?"
She took a hesitant step forward, instantly sending me one step back, which made her close her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, she said, "You are my girlfriend. We live in Polis and I love you so much. You saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life. You were taken from me and I have been looking for you ever since. That picture was the only thing I had to keep me going. That and my feelings for you."
Hearing her say the impossible literally caused my head to hurt again. It was a different pain to the one I felt whenever I had or was about to have a flashback. This one was too painful. Aching. What she was saying couldn't be true. But then again, it was the only thing that made sense, wasn't it? Ugh, this was too frustrating. And it wasn't helping that she was staring at me with a loving look in her eyes.
No. She was the enemy and whatever we had shouldn't have happened. I would never love someone as cruel as her.
Feeling aggravated with all of these discoveries and emotions, I clenched my jaw and dropped the photo onto the floor, stomping on it afterwards. She seemed shocked with my sudden movement, and to be honest, I was, too.
"I was your love. Not anymore."
I took a deep breath and stormed out, leaving her alone in the Ark whilst I tried to clear my head. I wasn't worried about her killing or hurting me when she would take me with her. Rather, what would happen between us in the process.
//
Here's the update that I was going to post tomorrow! I updated today bc I legit feel over the moon that my english exam is over and done with lol. Just a few more weeks then it's summer time and I can write on here till my hearts content!!
Haha, anyway, hope you liked this chapter! :)