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NO RETURN
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JINNY ALREADY KNEW what they were expecting to find when they arrived on level five, but it still stole the breath from her lungs at the sight of all the people that they had killed—that she had murdered. Their bodies were still warm, eyes closed and no longer suffering from the devastation that had been inflicted upon them. There were faces of the elderly, the children, the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters that had lived together in peace before their advent. Plates of half-eaten food laid neatly on the dining tables, forgotten and wasted.
It was a genocide of an entire population.
Clarke walked forwards and they followed after her, coming to a halt when they found Jasper still kneeling on the floor with Maya in his arms. The radiation burns looked worse up close and Jinny felt guilt forming a tight knot in her stomach as she tried to look everywhere else but at her. The boy turned his grief stricken eyes towards them, red and rimmed with tears that continued to roll down his cheeks.
"What did you do?" he asked.
Jinny's voice sounded weak when she said, "I'm sorry, Jasper."
"We had no choice," Clarke told him with equal emotion.
"I was going to kill Cage!" he cried. "If you'd just given me one more minute, it would've been over."
"It was too late," Jinny whispered. The despair in his voice sent tears pricking at her own eyes and she knew, that it would haunt her for the rest of her days. Maya had been innocent, all the people in that room were. They killed them without mercy.
"Jasper," Bellamy said gently. "They never would have stopped."
"We have to go to the dorm," Clarke told them with a hardened edge in her voice. She hesitated briefly before moving past him with Jinny and Bellamy following after her. Monty lingered to speak with his friend but Jasper was completely inconsolable. Who would be when their loved one just suffered a cruel demise? She'd been in so much pain.
Jinny had a fleeting thought as she placed herself in the boy's shoes, with Bellamy lying in her arms instead and his heart no longer beating within his chest. She would have screamed relentlessly, cursing the people responsible and ignoring everything else around her. To be unable to feel the warmth of his hands again or hear his voice murmur in her ear, and his lips against hers. It was the worst punishment that she could ever imagine enduring. And without meaning to, her chest shuddered as she felt hot wet tears spill over her cheeks. She halted by the opening to the corridor and turned towards the opposite side so that the others wouldn't be able to see her face.
"Jin?" Bellamy questioned when he noticed her stopping.
"I'll catch up in a bit," she said, carefully mustering her voice to remain steady.
She heard two pairs of footsteps continue down the corridor but of course, Bellamy stayed behind to make sure that she was okay. He stepped up to her slowly, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder as he leaned forwards. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.
Jinny sniffed and quickly wiped away the tears that stained her skin. Bellamy instantly enveloped her in a hug, his larger stature completely eclipsing hers and she grabbed hold of his shirt. Her fingers twisted the white fabric as she clenched her fist, pressing her face into his chest as he leaned against her.
"It's not your fault," he whispered in her ear.
"I know," she breathed out.
He pulled back to look down at her, brushing away the droplets that clung to her eyelashes. "What is it?" he asked.
"Because I can understand his pain," she told him. "And it hurts me too."
Bellamy frowned before leaning in to hug her again. "I feel sorry for Jasper too... but Jinny, I won't ever leave you. I promise."
She nodded and took another deep trembling breath before they leaned away from each other. He held her hand as he led her across the corridor and into the dormitory. When they arrived, Octavia had already unlocked the handcuffs of most of the prisoners. Clarke was reunited with her mother and the delinquents had gathered in tight group hugs. Jinny looked around the room and found David embracing his long lost son. She ran up to the Millers and threw her arms around the junior's neck.
"Thank god!" she exclaimed softly.
"Missed me that much?" the boy asked, grinning roguishly from ear to ear.
She stepped away and punched him lightly on the shoulder, glancing to David briefly who looked over the moon. "You know, since your dad's here now, I can't call you Miller anymore cause that'll be weird."
His face fell at the mention. "Oh, no."
"Little Natey is finally back home!" she gushed as she pinched his cheeks while he let out a prolonged groan of indignation.
Jinny turned away when she noticed Raven being carried towards the door by Wick, and she stopped him to inspect the girl's wounds. She was incredibly pale, sweat slicking her greyed skin. The engineer looked at her with unspoken worry in his eyes and Jinny took a blanket to cover Raven with it. They'd drilled into the side of her bad leg. Kane approached them then with Bellamy beside him.
"You did good here," he said, looking to the both of them. "Now let's get these people home."
"Yes, sir," Bellamy responded automatically with a nod but Jinny merely stared back at him.
"But why do I feel like crap?" she questioned.
"Same reason we all do," Nathan replied.
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Camp Jaha was a welcome sight, despite the connotation of its name that still sent Jinny groaning into oblivion. The man was alive and continuing to wreak his own brand of havoc upon the world; could they not change the name already?
A crowd started to form around their group as they filtered in through the gates and Commander Shumway walked over with his arm tied in a sling. His eyes met with Jinny's briefly as she stood by the gate and they both nodded towards each other. He then turned to converse with Kane and Abby, ordering a few guards to assist the wounded towards the medical bay. Numerous parents came forwards to embrace the children that had returned to them and the field was filled with shouts of joy. Octavia entered the camp gripping Lincoln's hand tightly in hers, hoping that nobody would create a fuss over him being an outsider. Though from what Jinny could see unfolding before them, that was the farthest thing on anybody's mind. Today was a day of celebrations.
Jasper shuffled past her with his eyes downcast, then stopped to lift them and take in the camp with astonishment. Wick paused by his side with Raven still in his arms; he'd been carrying her the entire way back though she had gained consciousness a few hours ago. "Jasper," the girl called softly. "I almost forgot." She handed his goggles back to him and he stared blankly as if it were an unfamiliar item.
"Thank you," he finally said before walking away.
Jinny watched him leave until his lone figure was swallowed by the crowd, then she turned around to check for stragglers. Monty was hugging Clarke, as if saying goodbye to her, then turned to walk into camp as he huddled against the chilly breeze. They exchanged uneasy glances as he passed and Bellamy walked forwards to the blonde with Jinny.
"I think we deserve a drink," Bellamy announced.
Jinny smiled in agreement. "On the house."
"Have one for me," Clarke told them as they continued to gaze out over the camp.
"Hey," Bellamy started lowly. "We'll get through this."
Clarke licked her pale lips and shook her head, averting her eyes to the flaxen ground. "I'm not going in," she said softly.
Jinny swallowed the painful lump in her throat and exhaled. "Don't leave," she said, repeating the words that the blonde had told her so long ago. "You have to come back with us. You have to fix it."
"Clarke." Bellamy turned to her. "If you need forgiveness, we'll give that to you. You're forgiven." She looked back at them with her blue eyes that shone with the brilliance of guilt and grief. Bellamy spoke almost pleadingly, "Please come in."
"Take care of them," she finally said.
"Clarke."
"Seeing their faces everyday is just gonna remind me of what we did to get them here," she confided in them. "I can't just act that everything is fine because it's not anymore."
"You're not alone," he told her earnestly.
"I thought we were in this together," Jinny interjected as tears pricked her eyes again but she inhaled sharply to keep them at bay. Clarke looked directly to her, the sapphires of her irises glazed with sentiment.
"I bear it, so that you don't have to," she told her.
Jinny gazed downwards with a shake of her head, the words sending her heart plummeting to the earth's core. She looked back to Clarke. "I pulled the handle."
"And I owe you too much," the girl said.
"Where are you even gonna go?" Bellamy asked.
"I don't know," she replied, then leaned forwards to hug him briefly. She turned to Jinny uncertainly and the woman reached her arms out for her. They embraced tightly, like old comrades, the lingering animosity between them melting away as if it had never existed. In that moment, all Jinny could think about was how she understood what Clarke had done and she forgave her. Even friends could make bad mistakes. There was only a lonely girl in her arms who did everything she could do with what little she was given. The tears rolled unbidden down her cheeks, dripping onto the girl's shoulder.
"May we meet again," Clarke choked out.
Jinny sniffed before reciting with a thick voice, "In peace, may you leave the shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels until our final journey on the ground... may we meet again."
They drew apart from each other, then Jinny pressed her lips against the girl's forehead. And just like that, Clarke slipped away from the both of them.
Bellamy took Jinny's hand as they walked through the open gates, making their way into the station and bypassing the joyous reunions surrounding them. They continued with heavy gazes that were fastened to the rhythmic movement of their feet as they passed through the winding hallways of the Ark. Finally, they entered their room and started to shed their gear with mechanical movements. They took turns to have a shower and Bellamy helped her change the dressing for her wounds, grimacing when he laid eyes on the extent of damage that she went through. Then they laid down on the bed with soft sighs.
He played idly with her damp hair, the both of them lost in weary thought as silence permeated the room around them. The only sound was the rustling of the sheets underneath their leaden bodies and their gentle breaths. Then, waking from her daze, Jinny blinked and sat up. She turned towards the side of the room, sliding off the bed to cross the empty space between her and the locker. Bellamy watched as she opened the door, pulling out a black metal box with an infinity symbol inlaid on its cover. She went back to him and turned the box around in her hands.
"My dad said he gave you the key to open this," she told him.
Bellamy cocked his head to the side. "I think he did," he murmured before pulling out his necklace. He handed it to her and she examined the attached key next to her external drive, which was nothing more than a small bar of metal with laser etched designs running across its surface. She inserted it into the small groove in the middle of the box's side and heard an audible beep.
Jinny placed the box down on the bed before slowly opening the lid, feeling as if she was opening Pandora's Box. Bellamy pushed himself up onto an elbow and leaned forwards so he could get a better look at its contents. The first thing that Jinny noticed was a note lying on top of the items beneath it. She unfolded the piece of paper and saw that the script was her mother's handwriting before reading it out loud, "I am always with you in the light."
Her parting words.
Bellamy reached out with a hand and plucked a plastic container that held two syringes with a black liquid inside it. There was space enough for three, but the last syringe was now gone. He frowned in confusion before looking back to Jinny who wore an equally bewildered expression. There was another smaller box with a warning label on it. "Do not touch before injecting serum." Inside, there was a strange blue chip with an infinity symbol the likes of which she had never seen before.
She touched it lightly with her fingertip and breathed out in wonderment, "We are infinite."
"What are these?" Bellamy asked curiously. "It was your mother's, right?"
"Yeah... and I wish I knew," Jinny replied, examining the artefacts in awe. "But we'll find out."
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T H E E N D O F A C T II
Are you shook yet?
Because I am.
We have made it to the end, I can't believe it! I'm really glad I could get jike back cause I love them honestly I just want them to get along. Move over bellarke, jike is the real deal here. But Mount Weather really fucked Jinny up too so.
Btw no one noticed or asked, but the binary code in the chapter 'Act 1' spells out BETRAYAL which is the theme of this book along with discord.
Season 3 is gonna be hell and honestly, my favourite season so far even though it destroyed 99% of my soul. (Though Season 4 looks like it's gonna top it)