The sky was dark by the time we arrived back at camp. Everyone was standing by the front gates, watching as thousands of Grounders gathered in the field beyond the safety of our camp. They had tents set up with hundreds of torches lit. It was a celebration, they were excited for this.
My heart was in my throat as I stood amongst the rest of them, staring towards the field where they were planning on murdering my brother.
"What is that?" Raven asked, her eyes trained on a large wooden pole that the Grounders were hammering into the ground.
I lifted my eyes to look at what she was referring to. Even at the thought of my brother being out there made me feel like I was going to be sick.
Clarke let out a shaky breath, "It's for Finn. They want us to watch."
Another wave of nausea came over me. I closed my eyes for a moment as I attempted to steady myself, only opening my eyes again when Bellamy spoke, "We're going to get him."
I turned my head slightly, just as Bellamy directed his attention towards Kane, "We'll get in close and we'll hit them hard." he proposed.
Kane didn't take his gaze off of the scene in front of us as he spoke, "Son, there's thousands of them...even if we could kill hundreds, they'd still wipe out this camp, and your friend would still die."
"So we're just going to leave him?" I questioned. It was the first time I had spoken since we got back to camp. My voice was weak and wavered with my every word.
Everyone turned to look at me, looks of sympathy in their eyes. "We have to try." Bellamy argued, his eyes lingering on me longer than the others.
Raven turned towards Clarke's mother with hopeful eyes, "Abby." When Abby didn't turn to look at her, Raven repeated her name in a more urgent manner, "Abby, we have to do something."
Abby finally looked over at Raven with sad eyes, "No, Raven."
A surge of anger went through my body as I clenched my jaw, turning to the adults, "I'm not just going to stand here and let my brother die." I snapped, not giving anyone a chance before I turned and marched off towards the main gates.
"Avery!" I could hear Bellamy running after me. I hadn't made it very far when he grabbed onto my upper arm, causing me to stop.
Tears were filling my eyes as I turned to look at him. He was staring at me with a soft expression, "Avery-"
I pulled my arm from his grasp, "I'm not just going to sit back and let him die, Bellamy! I have to do something."
"We're not just going sit back and let him die." Clarke announced, joining Bellamy and I by the gates.
I shifted my teary eyes to her, "What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice cracking.
She shoved her gun into Bellamy's hand, "I'm going to talk to the Commander."
Bellamy eyes flickered to me for a moment before back to her, "What else do you have to say."
Clarke exhaled sharply, "I don't know."
I could feel myself getting worked up as Raven slipped something into Clarke's hand, telling her that if the Commander didn't let Finn go, to kill her. I kept my eyes down on the ground, focusing on calming my breathing before I tried to speak again.
"You have to let me come." I begged, my voice barely strong enough as I looked up towards Clarke.
She looked over at me, her face falling as her eyes met my pleading ones. "I can't." she answered sadly, "The Commander won't speak to me if I don't go alone."
"Clarke," I squeaked, "He's my brother."
She looked back to Bellamy, giving him a silent signal to take care of me, "I'm sorry, Avery." With that, she turned and left the safety of our gates. I tried to follow, but was instantly pulled into the grasp of Bellamy, "Just let her do this okay?" he whispered softly. His arms were wrapped around me from behind, holding me close to his body.
Tears were blurring my vision as I watched Clarke walk towards the Grounders, "He's my brother." I repeated quietly, to no one in particular.
Bellamy held me close as he, Raven and I walked back towards the fence, getting a better view of everything. I was partly convinced that the reason Bellamy was holding onto me so tight was because he was afraid I would try to run, which quite frankly he was right about. If his arms hadn't of been around me I might have tried to.
I seemed to zone in and out as I watched Clarke walk towards the Commanders tent. I wasn't sure how long they spent speaking, I wasn't really sure of much at this point. What caught my attention, however, was the sound of the Grounders yelling.
I focused my attention on whatever had them so fired up. It was my brother. Finn was being ushered out by close to half a dozen Grounders. His hands were tied in front of him, and he looked absolutely petrified, but other than that he looked okay, they hadn't hurt him.
Fresh tears pooled in my eyes as I felt myself begin to sway. I was afraid I was going to pass out, all the emotions and exhaustion hitting me like a brick wall. Bellamy allowed me to lean into his chest, whispering to me that it was all going to get sorted out, that Clarke was going to figure it out. But I had heard that before. They all told me that Finn wouldn't get taken in the first place, yet here we were.
My brother looked terrified as they tied him to the post. More tears fell down my cheeks as I turned to Bellamy, "I have to go out there."
He let out a sigh as he held me tighter, "Avery, you can't."
I tried to shove him off of me, but his hold was too strong, "I have to be with him!"
Bellamy just held me tighter as Raven spoke, "Come on Clarke, do it." she growled, begging Clarke to kill the Commander
A few moments later Clarke stepped away from the Commander. I could tell, even from far away that her plan hadn't worked, furthermore, she hadn't followed Raven's plan of killing their leader. A feeling of nausea overcame me as I watched her walked towards my brother. Stopping in font of him, her back to us.
I felt numb as I watched Clarke approach my twin, the one person in this world that I knew I could trust no matter what. I wanted to be out there with him, that should have been me. I was praying with everything in me that she would get him out of this, that she would save my brother, and now any hope I had was beginning to fade.
I could barely see due to the tears in my eyes as she pressed her lips to his. They said a few things to each other, and after less than a minute of conversation, she moved to hug him, I wished so badly that that was me hugging my brother, not her. I wanted to be there for him, like he had always been there for me. Anytime I was scared Finn was right by my side making sure I was okay, and I knew for a fact that he was terrified in this moment and it killed me that I couldn't be there for him.
After a few seconds Clarke pulled away, taking a step back as she dropped her hands to her sides. Her back was facing us but it was obvious she was crying by the way her shoulders shook. She was holding something in her hand, I couldn't tell from where I was at first, but when she slowly turned around I realized what had happened and in that moment my whole world came crashing down. I felt like I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't speak. The same numbness that I had felt only 3 times in my life returned once again, this time much worse than the others.
Clarke had driven the blade Raven had given her to kill the Commander, into Finn's torso, she had killed him. My brother was dead.
His body was slumped forward, a pool of blood beginning to stain his shirt.
I felt my breath catch in my throat as my legs gave out from under me. Bellamy was there to catch me, holding me close to his body.
Someone was screaming from beside me, I think it was Raven. I really didn't know. I think I might have been screaming too.
Chaos set in among the Grounders as they realized what Clarke had done, but I didn't care. I didn't care what they were about to do to her, I didn't care if they decided to wage immediate war on the rest of us, I didn't care about anything right now. The only thing I cared about was the fact that my brother was dead.
The one person I always turned to in life was gone and now, more than anything else, I wanted to be gone with him.
-an-
the chapter we have all been dreading is finally here.
I won't lie when I say I cried writing this. I truly loved Finn as a character and I loved his and Avery's relationship even more. I'm so sad that I will have to write Avery dealing without the most important person in her life, but this was something that needed to happen and a lot of changes will happen in Aves, some good, some bad.
anyway, I hope you guys liked this and didn't get too sad.
love you all
-maddy xxoxxo