𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 · 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 ²

𝟐.𝟗

──「JUS DREIN JUS DAUN」──

     Once I found Raven and explained to her that Lexa had turned down my offer, her face showed relief and concern at the same time. I wondered how much easier it'd be for her to lose me instead of Finn because I knew what he meant to her. A horn blew in the distance, interrupting our conversation, both of us going out into the open to check what was going on. I caught a glimpse of Bellamy and Clarke entering the ship so Raven and I followed them.

- "Hey!" –Raven spoke first- "What happened now?"

- "It's Kane." -Bellamy turned to face us- "He's back."

- "Oh great, another wannabe chancellor to make things run smoothly." -I rolled my eyes- "I love Earth." 

- "He said he bought us some time and is going to talk with my mom now."

- "Chancellor Kane saves the day." -I highly doubted Kane had done anything actually beneficial; I had gone directly to Lexa and she had been crystal clear so I wondered exactly what Kane thought he had done- "I can't wait to have him bossing around again."

- "At least he's doing something."

Clarke's tone didn't go over my head so I paused my walk, trying my hardest to keep it together because the last thing we needed was blood in the hallway. I took a deep breath and ignored her venomous words, asking if we'd get to hear what Kane had to say but Clarke ignored me, simply addressing Raven and Bellamy, telling them to figure out what was happening while she went to look for Finn. Convenient. Bellamy and Raven moved in one direction and Clarke in another while I remained just at the entrance of the ship, looking at the door.

- "Sam? You coming?"

- "Are you sure you want me to? Because apparently I'm useless and want Finn to die." –I retorted sarcastically.

- "I'd feel better if you came with me." –Raven squeezed my shoulder.

- "To keep an eye on me?" –I moved after her- "Alright, sure." 

- "Come on, Sam." –Bellamy placed an arm around my shoulders, pulling me with him- "You know she doesn't mean it."

- "Sure. I just can feel this bitterness against me growing steady the more time passes and we don't find a way out for Finn."

I squeezed his hand and walked to where the chancellors were, standing outside, hoping they wouldn't take three years. Sometimes I wondered if time moved differently for them because they always seemed like they have all the time in the world to do things when we were, in fact, in a rush. We had been waiting outside for around 30 minutes when Abby came out.

- "What's happening?"

- "You've been there a long time." –Bellamy added to Raven's words as we all followed Abby.

- "It must have been a big idea he came up with."

- "Well, there was a lot to talk about."

- "What's going on?" –Raven demanded- "Abby!"

- "There was a lot to talk about." –Abbie repeated herself so we stopped her.

- "Hey, we are not turning him over to the Grounders."

- "Step aside, now." -after a few moments of hesitation, Bellamy was the first to move from her way, pulling us both with him- "We're all trying to find a way out of this."

We watched her leave. The fact that she hadn't given us a straight answer could only mean one thing: they were giving him up. Bellamy had reached the same conclusion but Raven refused to believe it. But, whatever it was, we had to move. We had to get Finn out of their reach. Raven agreed she'd get us a way out, parting ways with Bellamy and me as we moved to find Finn and, by extension, Clarke. We found them with ease, Finn leaning back on a wall a couple of hallways away from us with Clarke next to him.

- "Finn." –Bellamy called,  gaining their attention- "You need to get out of here."

- "Where would he go?" –Clarke questioned almost annoyed- "You know this is the safest place..."

- "No, it isn't. They are turning him in. We can protect him at the dropship until we figure this out." –Bellamy explained as we moved through the hallways of the ship- "Grab your gear and meet us at Raven's gate in five."

- "Okay, but nobody's coming with me."

- "That's not up for discussion, Finn." -I glanced at him- "We are together in this."

- "We're surrounded by Grounders."

- "We split up, take the low ground, we'll make it through." –Bellamy reassured Clarke- "Meet us at the dropship."

Before we could exit the ship, a crowd of people got in our way, pointing at Finn, determined to get him and hand him over to the Grounders. One of them was bolder, taking a couple of steps towards us, Clarke pushing Finn back. I had anger built inside me so I didn't think it twice, stepping in front of Bellamy and Clarke; I felt him trying to catch my hand but I avoided him.

- "Get out of my way little girl. We want him, not you."

Little girl? Excuse you?

- "If you want him, you'll have to get through me."

- "That should be easy."

- "Alright, it's not like I didn't warn you."

The man moved his fists up ready to knock me out, but I put in practice Lincoln's lessons and moved faster than him, punching him on the stomach, making him double in pain. Taking advantage of his position I raised my knee and shoved it into his chin, making him fall backward. That had felt good. The rest of the crowd looked at the man on the floor and then at me.

- "So," –I straightened up and rose my eyebrows, making eye contact with all of them- "who's next?"

The crowd remained silent and still, hearing Clarke murmuring that Bellamy was right, pulling Finn and starting to run away. I hated that about her, how she never listened. The crowd started to disperse and I wondered why, considering I was on and they were many; that is, until I turned around, seeing Bellamy standing right beside me like he was ready to put his guard training into practice, only relaxing when he moved his eyes to meet mine.

- "Look at that, turns out you are right, how surprising is that?"

- "I'm impressed."

- "Have a little faith in yourself."

- "I meant you."

- "I have some tricks up my sleeve."

- "I can see that." -he smiled before pulling me with him- "We need to gear up, come on."

- "Whatever you want, boss."

We rushed toward the armory, getting quickly inside and grabbing a couple of weapons for the rest before we geared up ourselves. I wished I had my bow but I settled for a rifle just like Bellamy did; then, he took an extra gun and handed me another.

- "I'd rather get my knives back if you don't mind."

- "You need the gun. If the Grounders attack you, your knives won't be enough."

- "Bellamy." –I sighed, facing him- "I don't need protection from them. There's something I have to tell you but we don't have much time so I'll sum it up and once we are done with this I'll tell you all about it, as promised." -he nodded, standing in front of me- "Lexa, I mean, the Commander made me an offer."

- "What type of offer."

- "That's not the point right now." -I brushed it off as he crossed his arms over his chest- "The thing is, because of that, the Grounders won't hurt me."

- "You are trying to tell me you trust the word of the Commander who's trying to kill Finn?"

- "I like this situation as much as you do, Bellamy."

- "Tell me you are not giving them Finn."

- "Wao, alright, Blake." –I scoffed pushing past him and walking out of the room- "Just because I know there's no way out of this doesn't mean I'm handing him in without a fight."

- "Sam, wait."

- "No. Thanks for the leap of faith."

- "I didn't mean that."

- "It's fine." –I stepped out of the ship and towards Raven's gate- "It's nice to know where everyone stands."

- "I just wanted to know if that was her offer, I didn't mean you were taking it."

- "My life for his? Are you serious? I wouldn't have even considered that an offer. Do you even know me?"

- "I know you, that why that offer worries me."

- "It's a long story; all you need to know now is they won't hurt me."

- "But..."

- "Finally, guys!" –Raven thankfully interrupted him as she saw us approaching- "Everything's ready."

- "Good." -I approached her- "You got my knives?"

- "Yeah." –she handed them to me- "I should have given them back earlier."

- "Don't worry about it." –I put them in their places and handed her the rifle- "This one's for you."

- "But Sam, what about you."

- "I'll be fine. You need this more than I do."

Clarke and Finn didn't take much longer to get to us, handing my gun to Finn, not missing the look on Bellamy's face but I rushed out of the camp before he could say anything, running away from the camp, hiding from the guards back there to make sure no one knew we were leaving. I didn't see any Grounders on my way so I imagined everything was going just fine. Once I was almost at the dropship, I heard footsteps behind me so I turned around fast with a knife in my hand.

- "Hey, it's me!"

- "For fuck's shake Murphy!" –I yelled putting my knife down- "What are you doing here? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

- "Are you?"

- "What do you mean 'are you'?" –I resumed my walk with him- "I'm not the one who almost got a knife through my chest."

- "You came out here with only two knives." -I eyed him- "What's going on?"

- "Nothing. I gave my rifle to Raven, that's it."

- "Don't lie to me, Sam." -he shoved me gently to the side with a smile on his lips- "Come on, you know you can trust me."

- "I know." -I smiled, shoving him back and chuckling as he ran against a tree but recovering quickly- "The Commander doesn't want us, M. She wants Finn."

- "That doesn't mean her dogs won't kill us."

- "They won't kill me nor you if you stay with me."

- "Why do you look so sure?"

- "Let's say I got a job offer from the Commander and, because of it, no Grounder will harm me."

- "A job offer?" –he laughed amused- "That's not something I expected to hear today."

- "Well, me neither. I was as surprised as you when the Commander told me about it."

- "Does anyone know?"

- "I told Bellamy the Commander wouldn't harm me because she made me an offer but... well, he asked if she wanted me to bring Finn in and I honestly felt offended. Besides him, only you know."

- "I don't think you'd even consider that an offer." –he glanced at me as we approached the entrance to our past camp- "What was it then?"

- "To put it simply? She wants me to train with them."

- "What? Why?"

- "I don't know. I was going to talk with Lincoln about it but I never got the chance."

- "Whatever you chose to do," –he placed an arm around my shoulders- "I'm with you."

- "Thanks, M. You're truly the best." –I took his hand in mine and squeezed it- "Sometimes, at least."

Murphy laughed with me as we entered the dropship, only to be met with Bellamy's rifle, Murphy letting go of me and raising his hands as I took a step back.

- "Hey! Hey! It's us, calm down. You truly don't wanna kill your best bud and your girl."

- "Murphy?" –Bellamy spoke surprised- "What are you doing here?"

- "I believe I was invited." -he pointed at Raven with his head as she came to meet us- "Right?"

- "I thought we could use an extra gun."

- "That's some smart thinking." –I looked at Raven and then around the dropship- "Where's the couple?"

- "Finn should have been right behind him."

- "Don't worry, the spacewalker's gonna be fine."

We remained silent for a couple of minutes, waiting around the dropship until footsteps were heard just outside. I stood up from beside Murphy as everyone got their guns ready. I knew it'd be them, Gounders didn't make that much noise walking around the forest. Soon enough, Finn stepped inside with Clarke in his arms.

- "What happened?"

- "A Grounder hit her on the head."

- "Put her here." –Bellamy pointed beside him- "We need a bandage, a wrap... anything."

I lowered down and took Clarke's head on my lap and turned her head to see the wound. She was bleeding but it didn't seem too bad. Or, at least, not as bad as we all knew it could have been. Murphy handed Bellamy a bandage and he pressed it against her wound.

- "Clarke, can you hear me?" -Finn spoke with a deeply worried tone, Clarke moving a bit and groaning in pain- "Hey, don't move."

- "You're gonna be fine, Clarke. You just need to rest."

- "Yeah, but please don't fall asleep because we all lack any medical experience and although I'm guessing it's just a concussion, I'm not about to see you die on my lap, so please stay with us." -Clarke nodded almost imperceptibly. I moved my hand over Bellamy's, taking the bandage to check the bleeding- "The blood seems to be stopping from flowing, so that's good."

Finn didn't even acknowledge what I had said, pacing around the room with a mix of anger and nerves. He had to know it wasn't his fault. Well, not completely at least. Plus Clarke had been the one to choose to come even if that was the last thing Finn wanted; he couldn't blame himself for other people's decisions. Raven had a worried aura about her, moving toward Finn and trying to speak with him but he didn't answer, not until he snapped and stormed out of the dropship. But that didn't mean Raven would leave him alone, her eyes found mine and I nodded. I had this covered.

- "These people have a lot of unspoken issues." –Murphy sat beside me.

- "You sure know how to lighten up the mood, don't you?" –Bellamy was quick to remark from my other side, having to move my head from side to side to follow their conversation.

- "As if you both weren't thinking the same." –Murphy grinned at him- "I just said it out loud for you."

- "Oh, what would I do without you?" -I shoved him to the side- "My little ray of sunshine in this storm of feelings."

- "So poetic," -Murphy gently nudged my side as we both chuckled- "I like it."

- "You both think this is the time for flirting?"

- "First of all, why do you care?" -I glanced up at Bellamy for he had been quick to stand as he attempted to lecture us- "Second of all, have a little faith; you passed out too when my friend over here hit you in the head. Give Clarke a moment, I'm sure she'll be fine."

- "And I'm sure he's just jealous."

- "Of whom?" –Bellamy almost chuckled- "Of you?"

- "Are you both interacting without being at each other's throats? I'm impressed."

They both landed eyes on me and I was certain the conversation would have been going for much longer if it weren't because Raven walked back inside the dropship, all our eyes on her but she didn't say much, simply lowering beside me where Bellamy had been a couple of moments before, looking down at Clarke and asking me if I thought she'd be alright.

- "Yeah. But are you?"

- "I'm okay." -I moved my eyes to find hers- "I know, Sam. I'm just worried."

- "You know you can talk to me, right?" –I looked at her as she nodded but I sensed she wanted to be left alone or, at least, not surrounded by conversation- "Here, hold her head. I'll go outside to take a watch."

Raven nodded and gave me a small smile. Once Clarke's head was on Raven's legs and I had stood up, I gave Murphy and Bellamy a look and pointed with my head outside; they understood and followed me outside, leaving Raven to her thoughts. Finn was sat outside the dropship, playing with a branch.

- "Hey." –I kneeled in front of him- "She's gonna be fine, alright? She's strong, you know a little bump won't stop her; she just needs to rest for a moment, I'm sure she's exhausted too."

- "Thank you, Sam, for everything you've done."

- "My pleasure."

- "Seriously, Sam. No one else would have gone to the Commander with such an offer."

- "My job is to keep you all alive and in line, I'll do what needs to be done. No need to thank me, Finn."

- "You know many people would have been mad at me if you had died, right?" –he looked beside me and I turned to see Murphy and Bellamy looking down at us.

- "They'll have gotten over it." –I smiled as we both stood up- "There's a bunch of other annoying girls like me down here. Don't be so hard on yourself."

He gave me a small smile, patting my shoulder and walking past me into the dropship. I wasn't sure how this would turn out but I hoped, for the sake of everyone's mental health, that we'd find a solution. Although the more time passed, the easier it was to realize Finn was doomed. One way or another.

- "You know that's not true, right?" –Murphy asked me as I walked back to him and Bellamy, giving him a confused look- "There's not many people like you, Sam."

- "Flattery will get you nowhere. You should know that by now, M."

- "I mean it."

- "Me too."

- "Sam..."

- "Not you too."

- "Murphy and I may not get along, but we both agree on one thing."

- "Do enlighten me, please."

- "There's no one like you, Sam."

- "There's no one like you two either so I guess we all got lucky to be sent down here together." –I smiled placing an arm around each of them- "I'm lucky to have you both."

- "Flattery will get you nowhere, Sam." –Murphy mocked me so I let go of him and placed both my arms around Bellamy who wasted not a second to wrap his own around me.

- "Who said I was trying to get anywhere with you, M?"

I looked at him up and down as he mocked me with his hand before we busted out laughing. It made me happy that both he and Bellamy could now be in a room together without jumping at each other's throats. They had come a long way. I thought I saw something behind us so I moved my head to rest it over Bellamy's shoulder and, sure enough, I saw them.

- "They're here." –I whispered letting go of Bellamy- "I don't know how many."

- "Here."

He handed me his gun as he and Murphy took his rifles in their hands. We covered ourselves with the remains of a couple of burnt trees as Raven got out of the dropship and lowered beside me, nodding as I asked her if Clarke was back from the land of Morpheus. It was easy to tell we were surrounded so we decided our best chance was to get back inside the dropship, Bellamy pushing me in front of him as I pulled Raven with me.

- "They're not moving any closer."

- "They're staying out of range," -Bellamy lowered his rifle- "they'll be waiting until it's dark."

- "If we hit them now, we take them by surprise."

- "We don't know how many of them there are." –I argued shaking my head at Murphy- "Could be five or fifty for all we know."

- "I'm not hearing any better ideas."

- "We'll give them something."

- "Raven, you know they only want Finn. They wouldn't take me, what makes you think they'll take anything else?"

- "Well, you're a girl and they know Finn is a guy." –Raven eyed me- "He wasn't the only guy at the village."

- "You can't be serious." –I spoke knowing where she was going, moving closer to Murphy- "Tell me you aren't."

- "What is she talking about?"

- "Raven," –Murphy spoke ignoring Clarke's question- "I came here to protect him. You were the one who wanted me to come. You..." –he stopped as the realization hit him- "That's why you asked me to come along?"

- "Enough Grounders saw him at the village. They'd believe he was the shooter."

- "Raven, listen to me." –I stepped in between her and Murphy- "They don't want just any murderer or they would have taken any of us, they want the murderer of their people."

- "Sam, allow me." –Murphy asked, moving me softly aside- "Go to hell Raven."

- "Put it down, Raven." –Clarke pleased with her as Murphy stood in front of Raven's rifle- "Like it or not, he's one of us."

- "Stop, stop." –Finn pulled down Raven's rifle- "We're not doing this. They've got us surrounded, the only thing we can do is stay and defend this place." -Raven sighed and nodded, Finn glancing at all of us -"Murphy, go upstairs. Watch the rear. Sam, go with him. I'll take the lower level. You three take the front gate. That's the plan, alright?"

We all silently agreed, Murphy being the first to move. Bellamy moved to the front door followed by Clarke. I walked to the table to pick the gun Bellamy gave me earlier and that I had left there as I sat down, hearing Raven reassuring Finn that it would all be alright.

- "May we meet again." –Finn answered hugging her.

That seems off.

- "We will."

As I moved towards the stairs, Raven getting out of the dropship with Bellamy, Finn moved to the hatch that opened to the lower level and spoke with Clarke asking her to be careful as I started climbing the stairs, hearing Clarke moving away.

- "Sam?"

- "Yeah?" -I moved my eyes until I found Finn- "You okay?"

- "Yeah. Take care of them."

- "You know they're gonna be fine, Finn. They are both strong."

- "Yeah." –he said, starting to go down his stairs- "Thank you, for everything."

- "Thank me when we're out of this one."

I smiled at him as he disappeared down the stairs. Once I got to the upper level, Murphy was sat on one side looking through the massive hold he had left last time. I moved to sit opposite to him, having both sides of the forest our way covered.

- "Are you okay?"

- "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

- "M..."

- "I am. I just thought they were all starting to get used to me, but apparently, they still see me as an outsider."

- "Some people need more time to heal, you just have to keep doing what you've been doing, you'll eventually grow on them. Hell, you're even starting to get along with Bellamy and that sure is something I never thought I'd see again."

- "We only get along when it comes to you."

- "I mean, there's got to be a starting point." -I chuckled- "I'm flattered it's me."

Our conversation was cut short as the screams of both Clarke and Raven took over our voices. I sprung to my feet, going over every possible scenario as to why they were screaming. As to why Bellamy was not. I was not liking any of my predictions, rushing down the stairs with Murphy and running out of the dropship, finding the three of them there. Unharmed and with their guns down. I couldn't understand but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was relieved.

- "What happened?" –Murphy asked for both of us as Bellamy faced us- "Why are they leaving?"

- "Finn turned himself in."

     It was nighttime when we got back to camp. The Grounder's torches could be seen from every part of our camp as they shouted in their language something none of us could understand. We were just left there to watch, seeing as they rose a post, my mind going over all Lincoln had told me they'd do to Finn. Raven questioned what it was but I didn't have the heart to tell her all that post implied so I kept it simple,  saying it was for us to watch Finn die.

- "We're gonna get him." -Bellamy started- "We'll get in close, and we'll hit them hard and..."

- "Son, there are thousands of them." -Kane patted his shoulder- "Even if we could kill hundreds they'd still wipe out this camp and your friend would still die."

- "We have to try."

- "Abby..." –Raven pleaded, turning to my mom with a broken voice- "Abby, we have to do something."

- "No, Raven."

Raven's eyes started to water as she turned to look at the Grounders. I had hoped it wouldn't come to this. I had faith we could have solved this. But Finn had to choose that very moment to be the bigger person.

- "We should have killed him ourselves."

- "What are you saying?" –Bellamy followed Sam and I went after them- "Hey."

- "Mercy killing is what I'm saying, like we... like what I did with Atom." –Sam confronted him, not fighting his grip on her wrist- "You don't know what he's up for and I seriously hope he'll die soon."

- "How can you say that?" –Raven pushed her back, Sam becoming the target of her anger as she didn't resist, she didn't fight back, she let Raven hit her- "How can you give up!"

- "Here." –I handed all my weapons to Bellamy- "I'm going to talk to the Commander."

- "What else do you have to say, Clarke?"

- "I don't know."

- "Clarke, she won't take you instead of him."

- "Maybe she should have taken you since you're so ready to give up!" –Raven yelled at Sam, but I knew Sam was right.

- "Raven..."

- "No, she's right." -Sam placed her hand over Bellamy's chest for he had been the one to try to deal with Raven- "I too wish she would have taken me, I'm sure that'd been easier on you. I'm sorry I failed you, Raven." –Sam faced me before leaving- "You know there's not much you can do. Just be careful. And quick."

I watched her leave, not allowing any of us to say anything else. Bellamy followed her with his eyes as Raven patted herself until she found what she was looking for, taking my hand and putting a blade up my sleeve. I looked at her, wondering exactly what she expected me to do with one tiny blade.

- "If she won't let him go, kill her." –she was desperate and I knew she would do and say whatever came to her mind like I knew she didn't mean anything she had said to Sam- "Things will go crazy and then we'll grab you and Finn. Clarke, you have to help him. I owe him my life."

I looked at her unsure of what to say. Raven was desperate to get Finn back, to the point she would say all those hurtful things to Sam. I had acted the same way towards Sam when she came back, blinded by my own feelings and unable to see that she had tried all she could think of to help Finn. Maybe Sam was right all this time. There is not much I can do for Finn now, but that won't stop me from trying. I nodded to Raven and walked to the door, getting out of the camp as fast as I could and entering Grounder territory.

I had to walk through a line of Grounders who looked at me up and down until I got to the Commander's tent. The woman from last time stood in front of me with a spear pointed at me, not allowing me to pass through her, not even when I walked against her speak, feeling the point cutting my skin.

- "Let her pass." –Lexa ordered coming out of her tent, the woman lowering the spear so I moved toward her- "You bleed for nothing. You cannot stop this."

- "No. Only you can." -Grounders started shouting as they brought Finn to the post, tying him up to it- "Show my people how powerful you are. Show them you can be merciful. Show them you're not a savage."

- "We are what we are."

- "Then I'm a killer."

- "Samantha already tried that. I won't take anyone else."

- "It's not the same." -I tried again- "I burned 300 of your people. I slit a man's throat and watched him die. I'm soaked in Grounder's blood. Take me."

- "Finn is guilty."

- "No." -I pleaded, feeling the tears on my eyes- "He did it for me."

- "Then he dies for you."

That's when I understood Finn was going to die that night, one way or another. Sam's words resonated on the back of my mind and I felt Raven's knife on my skin. Mercy killing. Be careful. And quick.

- "Can I say goodbye?"

Lexa answered my question with a nod, allowing me to move to Finn. He rose his head as he heard me, my heart breaking slowly inside my chest as he smiled up at me, so I took his face in my hands and kissed him, feeling the tears in my eyes.

- "I love you too." –I confessed remembering the time he told me and I didn't say it back.

- "I'm scared."

- "You're gonna be okay." –I assured him, hugging him as the tears started running down my face and my voice began to break- "You're okay."

- "Thanks, princess."

Those were Finn's last words before his head fell forward. He was dead. I moved away from him, covered in blood, with the knife still on my hand. I turned to face the Grounders who, upon seeing what I had done, took their swords.

- "It is done."

Lexa rose her hand, stopping her people from getting to me. I heard Raven's screams from the camp in the quiet of the night as what I had just done hit me completely. I had killed the one person who risked everything for me. I had murdered Finn.