Disclaimer
The Bellarke hug is in the episode and I don't get to write about it smh
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President Wallace's office was a fairly large room filled with all different kinds of antiques. Grace had been in there once before, when she was asking about Clarke, but she never did get the proper chance to look around. The moment the door to his office opened, Grace realized this probably wasn't the best time to do so either.
Dante Wallace looks up as soon as he hears the door close. Grace crosses her arms over her chest, her eyes never leaving him. She woke up this morning to Jasper shaking her and saying something about the President needing to talk to them both. Grace was immediately on edge. Had he caught Maya or Isaac snooping around? Had they done something wrong? Was he finally going to admit that something was wrong with Clarke?
"Thank you for coming," he spoke calmly and without anger, which took maybe a feather off of the bricks on her shoulders. If he wasn't angry, then what did he want? "I've been told you visit medical three or four times a day, each. Both asking about Clarke."
"Yeah. No one will let us see her," Jasper responds, stuffing his hands into his pockets and keeping his eye contact on the ground. Grace narrows her eyes at Dante. He knows no one will let them in to see her, so what the hell was he going on about?
The President stands and makes his way around the desk. "That's because she's no longer here. Clarke ran away."
Both Grace and Jasper tense at this. Neither could believe that she would leave without them, but she must have had a good reason. She must've truly believed that Finn or Bellamy and the others were out there or she wouldn't have left them. She wouldn't have.
"I tried to convince her that she was safe here, but she couldn't stop looking for enemies when she was among friends," Dante explains. Grace calls bullshit on that. He probably killed her and came up with this story, just like how he made up that story about Harrison.
Instead of the feather that was previously lifted from her, she felt like a ton of bricks was just added.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be disrespectful but . . . Clarke wouldn't just abandon us," Jasper argues, his posture straightening slightly. Grace nods in agreement.
"I wish it wasn't the case," Dante spoke with a tinge of sadness in his voice.
"Why? Are you even looking for her?" Grace demands. If her friend was out there, she wanted to know people were looking for her. She needed to know whether or not she was okay, no matter how selfish it seemed.
"I can't risk the lives of my people to bring back someone who doesn't want to be here. I hope you can understand that," the President leant back against his desk, keeping his eyes on the two of them them. Grace can barely stop the scoff from coming out. Of course it was understandable that he would protect his people first, but something told her there was something bigger going on. Something he wasn't telling them.
"Yeah," Jasper whispers, his gaze dropping to the floor.
"What I can do is let you go after her yourself," the President adds on. Grace tenses, her gaze snapping up to Dante's just as Jasper did the same. Was he being serious?
"Could I come back?" Jasper whispers. Grace turns to look at him, noting how he looked genuinely terrified of leaving this place.
"Of course you can," Dante promises. "Jasper, Grace, this is your home now. You're welcome to stay here as long as you like," his hand reaches up to squeeze Jasper's and Grace tenses. He doesn't seem to notice though, he just makes his way to the door as the guard outside opened it up. "Let me know what you decide."
The two of them nod and leave the office.
✦
"And you both believe him?" Monty asks, watching as Jasper threw another one of Clarke's pastels into the box she had left behind. Jasper mutters a yes.
"I'm still skeptical," Grace admits, her eyes never leaving the pastels in front of them.
"Yes, I believe him. Clarke left us, Monty," Jasper sighs. "She faked being crazy to get into medical and she took off."
"We need to go after her," Monty buts in, moving closer to the two. Grace was sure Jasper was staying, but something told her she had to too. It wasn't the fear that filled her at the thought of leaving this place to find Clarke, no. She would go to hell and back to find Clarke, everyone knows that. But, if Grace's gut was right and the President had already killed Clarke and her friends were next, that meant she was leaving them in danger when she could stay and fight. Something bigger was going on and Grace wouldn't be able to do anything from the outside.
Maya and Isaac walk in, the only noise being his heavy boots. Monty sighs, moving back to his bunk. Jasper glances at him. "Where are you going?"
"The dropship, for starters," Monty says, his gaze moving to Grace. "Are you coming?"
Grace fiddles with her fingers before stepping close to Monty so he was the only one who could hear. "I have to stay. If something happens to our people while we're gone, I'll never forgive myself. Clarke would want me to stay and protect them."
Monty only nods and continues packing.
"We just heard. You're leaving?" Maya whispers to Jasper. Grace sighs, moving away from Monty and towards the trio that were off to the side.
"Yes. We are."
"No. We're not," Jasper says, firmly. Grace sighs, wrapping her arm around Isaac's wrist and tugging him away from the rest of the group. She stops about two bunks from the door.
"Are you leaving too?" Isaac asks in a hushed whisper, his brows furrowed in concern.
"No. I have to stay with my people," Grace says, glancing back at where the others were still arguing. Maya seemed to be trying to convince Jasper to stay while Monty tried to do the opposite. "I need to protect them."
"Protect them from what?" Isaac presses. "What the hell do you think we're going to do to your people?"
"Isaac," Grace sighs and runs a hand through her hair. "Something is going on. There has to be."
"Why? Why can't you just accept that you're safe here?"
Grace glares at him, ripping her hand away where it was still around his wrist. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."
"Grace— ah!" Isaac's yelp cut him off. Grace watches in horror as his cheeks began to turn red.
"Isaac? What. . .?" Grace watches as the sudden red patches begin to appear all over his visible skin. Grace's head snaps towards the others to see that the same thing was happening to Maya. "What the hell is going on?"
"Radiation," Maya informs them all. "There's a containment breach."
"H-how?" Jasper asks, watching as both Isaac and Maya rushed towards the doors. Isaac uses his keycard first, then Maya. They both flash red.
"No, no, no, no!" Maya cries, running to another door that also turned red. She turns to lean the wall beside the door.
"What do we do?" Grace shouts, rushing over to where Isaac slumped to the floor beside Maya. His cheeks were burning, turning a sickly pink and yellow combination. Grace immediately rushes to the door beside them, beginning to pound her fist against it. "Help! Help them!"
"Help!" Both Monty and Jasper are beside her now, pounding on the door and screaming for someone to come and help their friends. They were barely heard over Maya and Isaac's screaming.
"No!" Grace screams, her bruised fists beginning to bust open from her constant assault against the door. "Help them!"
✦
"Temperature's 104 and rising, Mr.Byrne's 106 and rising," a woman in a hazmat suit, Dr.Tsing as she previously introduced herself spoke, spoke calmly. She was an Indian woman with stern eyes and a pointy nose. Grace doesn't like her at all. "Blood pressure 180 over 120 for both."
Grace stared at Isaac's badly burned and unconscious body with tears in her eyes. She just wished she could have prevented this. Miller was right, Isaac is a good guy and he sure as hell didn't deserve this.
"Blister coverage now 75% for both as well," Dr.Tsing informs them. "Standard treatment isn't working."
Grace sucks in a breath. "Wait. What does that mean?"
"Is there a non-standard treatment?" Jasper asks, trying his best to keep his eyes off of Maya's body. Dr.Tsing looks up, nodding at the boy.
"There is one thing we could try," she admits.
"Then what are you waiting for?!" Jasper demands.
"It's," Dr.Tsing sighs as she makes her way over to the trio slowly. "Unorthodox."
The three share a look before nodding at her to continue. She was up to something, but right now Grace didn't care. She wanted her friends to get better.
"Because you were raises in space, your circulatory systems developed the ability to filter radiation out of your blood. Now it's just a theory, but if we were to circulate Maya's blood through your system and Isaac through one of your friends. . ."
"We could make them better?" Jasper whispers. Dr.Tsing nods her head.
"I'll do it," Grace buts in. There was no way in hell she was letting Monty do this, not for Isaac. It was Grace's fault he was even in the dorm when the containment breach happened. Monty glared at her. "There's no way in hell I'd let you do this, Monty. Don't even argue."
"What happens to them?" Monty asks, unsure.
"I'm not sure," Tsing admits. Grace sucks in a breath, her gaze moving back to Isaac's body.
"I know those looks," Monty states, glancing between them. "Don't even think about it. It's too dangerous."
Grace and Jasper share knowing looks. They would do anything to help Maya and Isaac, especially now. He turns back to Tsing. "We're in."
✦
Grace and Jasper both stare at the needles in their opposite doctors hands. Jasper had Dr.Tsing and Grace had a man named Dr.Haven. Monty leans forward and towards Jasper, though he keeps glancing between Jasper and Grace. "You guys sure about this?"
Grace gulps. She had to do this for him, she couldn't just let him die. If there was a way she could potentially save Isaac, she would do it. It was the needle that was making her think about quitting, but she merely squeezes her fists together tightly and nodded her head at Dr.Haven. She ignores the two bickering beside her as he leans forward and slowly inches the needle into her neck. She let's out a pained gasp at the pain that tremors through her body.
Maya starts spazzing not even seconds later, her whole body rocking back and forth as her body went into what Grace assumes is shock. The redhead tries her best to stay still with the needle in her neck, instead squeezing her eyes shut tightly and ignoring her friends pleads to know what was happening to her.
Maya stills as Dr.Haven and Dr.Tsing straighten up and look at Jasper. "We need to do this now."
"Jasper—"
"I can't just let her die!" Jasper snaps at his best friend, then turns to Dr.Tsing and nods. "Let's do this."
"This will sting a little," Dr.Tsing tells him, pressing the needle into his neck.
"Ow!" Jasper cries, his eyes wide. "A little?!"
"Don't be such a little bitch," Grace jokes, watching as both Jasper and Monty sent her their bitch faces. She smirks at them as Haven tightens a little tube to where the needle is stuck into her skin. She sighs, wiping her sweaty hands on her itchy yellow hospital gown. If she died right now, they better take this damn thing off and put something sensible on her.
Dr.Tsing nods at Dr.Haven, both pressing the buttons that would allow the transfusions to happen at the same time. They all watch in nervous silence as the blood went through the tubes and towards the two patients. Grace bit her lip nervously as it reached the tube in her arm, Isaac's blood entering her body.
Grace could feel her eyes droop shut slightly as he head became fuzzy. She could vaguely hear Monty and the others speaking but it was all muffled and she could barely make sense of it. A small giggle leaves her mouth when she watches Monty hold up two fingers and then sit down on a chair in the corner of the room.
They all turn to her as she let's out another bubble of laughter. "All for one and one for all! The three musketeers or some shit like that. . . Goodnight."
The last thing she remembered was her head hitting the pillow as her eyes drifted close.
✦
"Guys, think about everything they've done for us," Jasper says. Grace takes a seat beside Monty and Harper, leaning on the blondes shoulder. It's been three days since the treatments and Grace still felt incredibly weak from it, but Jasper didn't seem to care because now he was up there trying to convince the rest of their friends they should donate their blood, too. "I mean, they gave us shelter, clean clothes. They kept us safe from the grounders."
No one answers and Jasper scoffs in disbelief. He gestures to Miller, who was leaning against the back of the bed Grace was on. "Miller? They saved your life, right?"
"Dude, you both puked for three days," Miller points out. Grace groans at the memory and Miller sends her an apologetic look. She tiredly flips him off.
"That's different," Jasper points out. "The normal treatments wouldn't be as bad."
"So they say," Monty buts in. Grace sighs, almost relieved she wasn't she only one who didn't trust them. The only reason she did that treatment was for Isaac, not for anyone else and it sure as hell wasn't for these stupid mountain people who very well could have killed Clarke and lied to them about it.
"So, what then? Only puking for one day?" Miller comments, shaking his head. "Nah. I'm out."
Murmurs of agreement come from the others. Harper pats Grace's thigh and she shifts so she's laying her head on Monty's shoulder instead. The blonde shakes her head. "Sorry, Jasper. I'm out, too."
Harper leaves as Jasper stares at everyone in annoyance. "Come on. They gave us cake! I got a sign-up sheet."
"Dude," Monty helps Grace sit up straighter, then pats her cheeks to jolt her awake. He wasn't even sure why they had let her out of medical. She looked like shit. "What are you doing?"
"What?" Jasper asks, moving closer.
Monty stands, tugging Grace into a standing position beside him. She wobbles slightly but keeps her balance. Grace rolls her eyes and crosses her chest, watching as Jasper tried to keep his eyes from the dark bags on her already pale skin. "When did you start working for them?"
Jasper looks away, rolling his eyes. "You know what?" Monty continues. "Never mind. Now that you're better, we're going after Clarke."
Maya joins them and Monty scoffs. "Of course. Right on time."
Grace takes in the girls nervous expression. She hasn't seen her or Isaac since the transfusion and she couldn't help the relief that pooled in her stomach when she saw that Maya looked completely fine. That meant Isaac had to be okay, too.
"Hey, guys. Jasper," Maya holds up a piece of paper with the words 'act normal. They're listening!!!' written on it. Grace's brows furrow. "I'm so glad to see you're feeling better. You too, Grace."
"Thanks. We are," Jasper says, completely confused. She flips the page, this time the words 'the breach wasn't an accident! Follow me!' Are written on it. Grace sucks in a breath. "You look, uh, rested."
"Hey, it's pizza day," she lets out a nervous chuckle. "Who's hungry?"
Grace shares a curious look with the boys beside her, then nods at them. Grace steps forward and starts following closely after Maya, trying to ignore how her legs shook. If this didn't seem like such a serious time, Grace might have taken Maya up on that pizza day thing. She needed to get her energy back.
They enter a room down the hall, Maya first with Grace following. Monty comes in last and makes sure to shut the door behind them. When it's closed, Maya immediately speaks up. Grace can't help but notice the way her eyes filled with tears and her voice cracks. "We don't have much time, but we can talk freely here."
"What the hell is going on?" Jasper demands. Maya looks down as she tries to stop her tears from flowing. "Maya?"
"I'm sorry," she whispers. Grace feels her heart drop. What the hell was she sorry for?
"About what? What?" Jasper swallows thickly. "What do you mean, it wasn't an accident?"
"She means they exposed her and Isaac to radiation on purpose," Monty states, Maya nodding along. "I'm betting it was to get you both to agree to be their blood siblings."
"We knew it," Grace states, glancing back at Monty. "Clarke was right."
"Both of you be quiet," Jasper says. He turns to Maya who was still swallowing back tears. "Did you know about this?"
Maya shakes her head and firmly says, "no."
"Did Isaac know?" Grace demands, her voice cracking slightly. She could already feel the betrayal seeping into her bones, almost immediately disappearing when Maya shook her head.
"We've been friends since we were younger, Grace," Maya explains. "He wouldn't do this."
"And why would they do that to either of you?" Jasper asks, quietly.
"Because the standard treatment sucks compared to you."
"That's what Dante said," Jasper whispers. Grace runs a hand through her hair, sucking in a breath. They were so fucked.
"What's the standard treatment?" Monty asks, though he seemed scared of the response. All three of them were.
Maya points her thumb behind her, back behind a shelf and towards a window. There was no way to see out of it, though. Not without moving the metal shades. "Through there."
Maya turns around the shelf, beginning to move towards the window with the others following. She stops a few feet from it, pointing at the window again. Grace stops in front of it, waiting for both Jasper and Monty to arrive before she looked. Jasper tilts one of the shades up.
Grace sucks in a startled breath, her eyes widening in horror. It was a rather large space, bathed in some sort of turquoise light and filled completely up with cages. Almost every cage was filled with a person. Grace squints slightly, her eyes widening it surprise when she realized that they were all grounders. The standard treatment was grounder blood?
Grace felt sick.
"Oh my god," Monty mumbles.
"Are those. . . all grounders?" Jasper chokes out.
"Wait a second." Monty turns to face Maya. "Why are you showing us this?"
Maya fumbles with the notepad in her hands. "Because I'm afraid."
"Of what?" Grace whispers. If this was going where Grace thought it was going . . . there was no way in hell they'd ever get out of this mountain without a fight.
Maya lets out a small, choked sob. "That you're all next."
"Who else knows about this?" Jasper demands, pointing out to where the grounders were.
"Everyone," she answers in return. "Nobody talks about it. We learn not to ask questions," Maya glances down and then back at Jasper. "Look, without the treatments, we'd die. What are we supposed to do?"
"Die," Monty deadpans, not moving from his spot in front of the window. Grace's heart sinks. She didn't want the residents of Mount Weather to die, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let any of her people die to save them. Monty tilts the shade back down and turns to face them. "We have to get out of here. Dante said we could leave, right?"
"He was lying," Jasper scoffs. "He knew I'd be too scared to leave, just like he knew Grace and I would do what had to be done to save Maya and Isaac."
"So, we don't ask," Monty states. "If Clarke got out, we can, too."
Grace shakes her head with a sigh. "We'll never make it. Ever since Clarke escaped, there's more guards and security everywhere in the mountain. Dante must've increased it."
Maya nods in agreement.
"We have to try," Monty snaps.
"We're not leaving. I won't leave the others behind," Grace turns to gesture to the cages. "That means they end up in there."
"What choice do we have?" Monty questions.
Jasper pauses. "We volunteer."
Grace sucks in a breath. It would be their best bet. If Dante thought they were participating and doing everything they could for the residents in the mountain, they wouldn't know the forty seven were trying to escape. It was there only plan.
"Do you want me to come with you? They won't let me volunteer again so soon but I can wait with you," Grace says to Monty, though a tiny part of her knew she only wanted to find Isaac and make sure he was okay.
"No, it's fine. You need to find Isaac and make sure we can actually trust him before this gets any further than it already has," Monty sighs, sending the girl a knowing look.
"Right, okay," Grace nods her head, the turns on her heel in search of the brunette boy.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So, how are y'all doing? It's currently 12 in the morning and I'm doing this instead of math homework. Love you guys, haha.
QOTD: what's your do you guys want more chapters that are written purely by me from my imagination, or do you prefer me to just continue with the plot?
Vote, comment, and may we meet again.
Gif | Grace finding out about the grounder treatments