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⌈ 𝙶𝙾𝙳𝙳𝙴𝚂𝚂 𝙾𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙷𝚄𝙽𝚃 ⌋
NINE —— transaction
˚ .･*｡༄ "MOM, I NEED YOUR HELP. ONE OF OUR PEOPLE WAS STABBED BY A GROUNDER." Clarke spoke urgently, both Finn and Raven hovering around their friend, Noah's breath becoming shallow.
"Clarke. This is the Chancellor. Are you saying there are survivors on the ground?" The radio echoed, the voice scratchy and only slightly audible, but Clarke understood. And through the radio wasn't her mother, it was Jaha. And Jaha wasn't going to save Noah.
Clarke sputtered, her mind racing a million miles a minute. "Y - yes, Earth is survivable. We're not alone. Just - Mom, she's dying. The knife is still in her."
Her moms mumbled voice echoed in the back, before Jaha spoke up again. "Clarke, is my son with you?"
And finally Clarke takes a pause, sadly glancing at the radio as if she could sympathize through it. "I'm - I'm so sorry. Wells is - Wells is dead."
A moment of silence passes before Jaha speaks into the radio again, his voice heavier than before. "Well, Clarke needs you. Patch her into me when they're finished." The man sighs before he voice disappears from being able to be heard, and then Clarke's mother is back online.
"I'm going to talk you through it, step by step."
Whistling and creaks echo around the dropship, the wind picking up outside, something strong brewing above them. And Abby's voice is cutting in and out, "Clarke — find — just — "
Panicking, Clarke whips to the radio, hoping she could process what her mother attempted to say with the fragments she could hear. "Wha — Raven, what's wrong?"
Raven shakes her head. "It's not the radio, it's the storm." She urges, tinkering with whatever she could to try and make the signal any stronger.
"Clarke, we need to hurry."
The blonde turns as Octavia hustles back into the dropship, two canisters in her hands, something sloshing around inside. She drops them, huffing tiredly as she glances at the girl on the cot. She didn't know too much about Noah, but she'd saved her life a few times, and that seemed like enough to gain her trust for now.
Clarke nods, "Great." She huffs before leaning to smell on the canisters, before retching back at the burning stench. "Ugh. Monty's moonshine?"
Octavia shurgged. "Pretty sure no germ could survive it."
A crack of thunder rattles their bones and the echo of tree branches snapping, it's Earth telling clarke to hurry her ass up, and she knows it. "The storm is getting worse. Finn, round up everyone outside. Monroe, close the doors." She orders, Finn nodding and jogging out of the dropship, gladly stepping away from the sight of his friend dying.
Monroe doesn't comply so easily. "We still have people out there." He mentions, Octavia nodding in agreement.
"Monty and Jasper still aren't back yet. Neither is Bellamy."
A bit preoccupied, she gives them the best answer she can think of, "They'll be okay, they'll find somewhere to ride it out." She's sure of it, Bellamy wouldn't let a storm be the way he goes out, not with that ego of his anyway.
Raven's back, catching Clarke's divided attention, "One stitching needle." She huffed.
Clarke nodded, "I still need something to close the wound."
A lightbulb appeared above Octavia's head as she perked up, "There's wire on the second level. I used it for the tents." And Clarke's nod sends her hustling to the second level of the dropship before Raven briefly stops her.
"Stay away from the blue wires that run through the ceiling. I rigged it to the solar cells in the roof." She yells, "that means they're hot! You got that?"
Octavia nods as she hustles. "Yeah, I got that!"
Raven looks worriedly at the blonde. "Tell me you can do this."
Clarke can't answer. She can't say yes. She can't say she'll be the reason Noah doesn't make it through the night. And she can't say it out loud either.
A high pitches voice calling out, "They're back!" Catches both of the girl's attention for a second as a crew of soaking wet boys crowd into the dropship, Octavia dropping from the ladder with a coil of wire, catching a glimpse of her brother in the front of the pack. He's stoic, and he might as well of been growling under his breath from the look in his eyes.
"Bellamy!" She exclaims only for her excitement to be killed upon the sight of two boys pulling an unconscious grounder behind them. The one from the cave, the one who'd protected her. "The hell are you doing?"
"It's time to get some answers."
She furrows her brows. "You mean 'revenge'?" She accuses harshly at him.
He glares back angrily. "I mean 'intel'." He corrects before turning to the ones lugging the man around. "Get him upstairs."
"Bellamy, she's right." Clarke explains as she stares at the man being lifted up the ladder. Only to see the unrelenting expression on his face, before the radios crackles in.
"Clarke, okay we're ready. Can you hear me?" The radio voices, catching Bellamy's attention. He looks up, surprised at the radio noises. Clarke looks away too, with a bothered expression.
"This is not who we are."
"Clarke?" Abby's voice sounds from the radio, and from the look Bellamy was giving her, he knew she couldn't give him anymore time than she already had. She had other things to do now.
"It is now." He grumbles, turning away from Noah's paling skin and cold sweat as she took shallow breaths. He couldn't watch that anymore. Not when he was powerless, he need to feel helpful. And climbing this ladder to trade that grounders life for Noah's seemed like a hell of a way to be helpful.
She ties the final three of her stitches, her hands covered in what she hopes is just Monty's moonshine, before backing away. "Ok I'm done." She lets out a breath of relief, her muscles being in a state of fear ever since she saw Noah be carried in. The unnerving millisecond of pulling the knife out was most likely one of the worst things she'd done all week. Clarke didn't want to be the one who let 'their best chance of survival' die.
"Good. Do you have anything to cover the wound?" Abby speaks, her voice still a bit scratchy through the radio.
Clarke sighs. "We'll make do, like always."
Raven is sat off to the side, watching her friend like a hawk. "Should she be this pale?" She comments, seeing her friends once sun tanned skin now a shade or two dropped and covered in cold sweat. It was unnatural to see Noah so cold, she was a warm person who spent her four years of her life in the sun.
"She's lost a lot of blood Raven, but if these kids are anywhere near as tough as you, I'm sure she'll be fine." Abby explains.
Clarke furrows her brows and softly touches her hand to her forehead, "Wait... mom, she's right. She's feverish and her breathing is uneven."
"You need to give her some time to recover. Let me know if she gets any worse but I think she might just be out of the woods."
The Griffin daughter scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, "Well, down here there's nothing but woods. I need a break."
"Clarke. Clarke, wait. Raven could you give us a few minutes?"
Before Raven could answer, Clarke responded first. "No, no. Stay with Noah. I'll be back soon." She mumbled, grabbing her jacket and heading for the ramp.
"Wait, Noah? As in Noah Santiago?"
But Clarke is already out, not even a second glance back at her one outlet to the Ark. And without a care. "She's gone, but yeah. it's Noah." Raven spoke sadly.
Abby's breath comes out shaky. "Oh my god..." she whispers, "Jake, she did it."
Raven, unable to hear what the woman had really said. "Huh?"
"Nothing, just. Oh my god. Is she... okay? Other than this, is she okay?" Abby asks, her mind going a bit frazzled. She'd been thinking about Noah Santiago for years. She'd been in the room when the girl sent her check up signals. The little pulses of radio frequency the Solo sent once a year. No words, no message, just a little unique blip. It's been enough to convince the council to sent the 100 down in the first place, and calm Abby's mind when thinking about the little girl she'd voted to send down.
"I think so. She's got me and Finn, and I think she's finding something with Bellamy Blake. But, yeah, yeah she's okay. I totally forgot how badass she was. She totally saved Finn today." Raven bragged with a smile.
"Get the hell out of my way." Clarke grumbles as a scrawny kid attempts to close the hatch on her. She had bigger things to deal with than weasels and their obedience to King Bellamy.
Bellamy saw Clarke and thought of Noah. "It's ok. Let her through." He nodded, the ginger kid backing away and the blonde medic crawling up with a determined face set.
She took in the disastrous state of the grounder, the cuts and gashes they'd inflicted in so little time. "Well, if he didn't hate us before, he does now." She spat.
Bellamy rolled his eyes. "Who cares? How's Noah?"
She shoots him an angry stare. "Alive." She spits venomously before tracking back. "His people will care! How long until they found out where we're keeping him? And what happens when they do, I mean when they come looking for him. They will, Bellamy."
He obviously didn't like hearing the cold facts. "Relax, Princess. No one saw us take him. He was chained up in that cave the whole time and thanks to the storm you couldn't see a soul on the way back." He corrected, shoving the grounder's journals in her face, showing the predicting images. "In case you missed it, his people are already killing us. How many more of our people need to die before you realize we're fighting a war."
"We're not soldiers, Bellamy. Look at him, we can't win."
He glanced back for only a second, and only let a single fleeting thought of regret flash through his mind before he regained his stance. "You're right. We can't... if we don't fight."
Raven's head popped through the hatch "Clarke! She's seizing!"
He shoulders dropped and mind clear of everything considering grounders and war, now completely absorbed with the Solo he'd been fretting over. "What? Noah!"
He even made a move toward the hatch.
"On my way!" she called down the ladder, before whipping back around to face Bellamy, pointing a daring finger into his chest. "Not you, a you don't get to be concerned. This Bellamy doesn't get to care about her." She spits, before dropping down and out of view.
Leaving a fuming Bellamy behind, she hurried over to the bed Noah was situated on, both Finn and Raven hovering over her.
"She was fine and then - " Raven cries, before Clarke cuts her off with expectant eyes.
"Get my mom on the radio now!"
But Raven shakes her head. "The radio is dead, interference from the storm. Please — please don't let her die." She pleads, hoping Clarke knows enough to save her best friend.
But all they can do it wait until she stops seizing and keeping her from swallowing or breaking anything important as she did. And as soon as she does, Clarke kicks into gear. "It's stopped, quick help me get her on her side." She mumbles to Finn, or Raven, whichever could help her faster.
Neither does.
"Hey! There's is fluid in her lungs she could choke, quick!" She shouts, Finn shaking out of his trance and arms extending to push Noah over. Clarke presses her hand to Noah's forehead "She's burning up!"
Panic flooded Raven's expression. "Fluid in her lungs? Does that mean the knife — "
Clarke brain was fried. Images of everything she'd done to prevent this flashing through her head. "This isn't blood, it's something else." She whispered. "I — I did everything she told a me. Wait ... I've seen this before, shortness of breath, fever, seizing..."
" — it's poison." She mumbled quietly, eyes widening.
Raven's brows dug inward. "Clarke — you sterilized everything. I watched you do it!"
The blonde turned her head to the table off to the side. The slight glint of the blood caked grounder knife. "Not everything." She grabs it hastily and makes for the ladder up to the second floor. "Stay here."
Octavia, already knowing the attempt was fruitless. "Clarke, they locked the hatch."
But Clarke is determined, and Noah's blood under her fingernails she flattens her hand and bashes on the hatch, it peeking just barely open every time. "Hey! Open the door!" She shouts, banging and clanging until it finally pulls it open, revealing Miller.
Clarke huffs and pushes him out of the way, "Get out of my way, Miller! Now!" She crawls up and storms over to the strung up grounder. And as much as she doesn't like it, this is the only way Noah is gonna be saved. "What's on this?" She demanded, holding up the dirty blade.
Bellamy stepped forward, a bit confused. "What are you talking about?"
"He poisoned the blade! All this time he knew Noah was going to die no matter what we did! What is it?! Is there an antidote?" she bellowed, her anger boiling over.
"Clarke... he doesn't understand you." Octavia began,
Clarke continued yelling, Bellamy soon joining in the grilling with anger. The paranoia and anticipation of the dying Solo on the first floor getting to them. As of right now, no one was thinking clearly. "Answer the question!"
"Which one?! Our friend is dying down there and you can stop that!" She pleaded.
Bellamy's face burned a bright red, intel of Noah worsening just a floor below him setting him off the barely existent edge. "I'll get him to talk!" He bellowed in rage, grabbing a pointed thick nail, the head in his hand and the dangerous point aiming at the grounder.
"Bellamy no!" Octavia exasperated.
He whipped around, his face burning with anger, "He wants Noah to die, why can't you see that?"
And amidst their shouting, only Octavia's keen eye noticed the spark of recognition in the grounders eyes at the mention of the name. She tilted her head slightly. Did he know Noah?
"Do you want her to live or not?" Bellamy's mindless rant of anger finished dragged Octavia back into the problems at hand.
The younger Blake looked to the blonde. "Clarke, you even said it yourself, this is not who we are! He was protecting me, he saved my life!"
"We're talking about Noah's life!"
The grounder loosened his muscles again at the sound of the simple name, but the motion went unaccounted for. And only left Clarke to lift her head to meet the gaze of the silent prisoner. "Do it." She whispered dangerously.
Blood painted the floor, the grounder heaving in breaths has he felt the searing pain from every inch of his body. His eyelids like weights, he wondered when he'd finally die. When he'd finally be realesded from this pain.
Climbing through the hatch, the agitated and impatient Raven Reyes appears. "What's taking so long?" She demands. "She stopped breathing.
Two heads whipped to face her.
"What?!" Clarke exclaimed, eyes wide.
Raven was suspiciously calm before she spoke again, "And she started again but next time, she might not."
Visibly calming down, Clarke shook her head in defeat. Her efforts to beg for the antidote seemed completely fruitless. They were barely sure he even spoke english well enough to answer their questions. "He won't tell us anything."
Raven lifted her brows. "Wanna bet?" She growls before snatching a pair of hanging loose electrical wires, knowing how live they were. And she knew exactly how much they'd hurt.
"What are you doing?" Bellamy mumbled, even a little wary of the look on Raven's face.
She huffs. "Showing you something new." The live wire digs into the sides of the grounder, his teeth clench tightly and all of his muscles tighten. He's not screaming yet, but Raven can get more voltage if she needs it "Which one is it? Come on!" She bellows.
Octavia peels forward, screeching. "No!"
The mechanic whips around with an evil glint in her eye, "He's letting Noah die!" She yells.
All out of options, Octavia tears a knife from the belt of a near bystander, and tears it up her arm. Blood oozes from the gash, and the grounder takes notice, clenching his jaw at the sight.
"Octavia, no!" Bellamy shouts as she rushes towards the man, bearing her bleeding arm.
She shakes her head. "He won't let me die." She whispered, looking up at the man as she laid out the vials carefully.
"This one?"
Bellamy watches carefully as the man shakes his head.
Octavia ignored the eyes on her, taking in slow and steady breaths, "You know her. I see it. Please..." She whispered almost soundlessly, knowing he'd heard her. "Help her."
She points to the next vial, and the grounder nods.
Octavia swiftly hands Clarke the vial, who's wordless as she carefully dribbles the liquid through Noah's cracked lips, sweat lining her forehead as she does. And the vial is half gone before she pulls away, not wasting all of it quite yet, standing with a tired breath.
Raven watches quietly. "How do we know if it works?
"We'll know when she wakes up. She'll need water when she does, do you mind? You can, uh, grab Finn while your out there." Clarke ordered softly, knowing Raven didn't exactly like leaving her friend behind, but opted to be helpful in chaotic times.
"Sure." Raven nods, and with that, she's gone.
Clarke glanced at the sleeping brunette, watching her eyes remain still even under her eyelids. Noah looked peaceful. Clarke didn't see that in her eyes often. "What did i do to you? Huh? Because I sure as hell can't figure it out." She whispered sadly, only getting the Solo's soft breaths as a response.
"Hello? Clarke? Clarke, can you hear me?"
Clarke sighed and gave up the thought, "I'm here."
She heard her mother's breath of relief. "Oh thank god. The um... the storm is passing. How's she doing?"
Glancing up and Noah's slow breathing form, the cold sweat, and the abdomen wrapped in semi-clean cloth didn't make her all that proud. "I think she'll be ok."
"Well that's thanks to you." Her mother thought otherwise. "I'm so proud of you. Clarke, your father would be so proud of you."
Clarke's lips curled. "Don't talk about him." She growled.
"Clarke. Baby, I know something else is wrong. Please tell me what it is." Abby pleaded, her arms itching to wrap around her daughter.
And Clarke did exactly that. "Dad's dead because of you! You turned him in! I know it. Wells told me everything before he — he let me believe that he did it. So that'd I'd hate him instead of you." She exasperated, tears brimming her eyes dangerously.
And it was only silent for a moment. "Clarke, Clarke I want you to listen to me. This was never supposed to happen. Jaha was supposed to talk him out of it."
"I'm done talking to you." She deadpans, switching off the radio and contemplating completely breaking down before anyone saw her. But she chose against it.
"Jake is dead?" Noah whispers hoarsely.
Clarke turned her head, looking at Noah with a sad gaze. Noah opted to look at the ceiling after seeing the answer in Clarke's eyes. She didn't want to believe it, was the simplest answer.
She didn't want the list of people she loved to go down.
Noah didn't like when it did that.
And without consciousness, Noah's coping kicked into gear. The training she'd learning on how to move past death efficiently sorting out her scrambled thoughts. She wanted to scream and cry, curse whatever higher being that if anyone deserved to be happy, it was Jake Griffin. Anyone who would do so much for a bratty orphan — deserved the fullest riches in life.
But Jake didn't get that.
Clarke looked down at her hands. "He found a flaw in the system. He was floated for trying to inform the public." She whispered, holding back her own spent tears.
Noah nodded wordlessly. This was part of the process. Forcing to internalize what Jake had made her feel. All of the importance and self-worth, the sense of belonging.
She'd gotten her benefits from Jake. That was it. The transaction was over.
That's all anything was. A transaction. Jake for self worth. Charlotte for Wells' justice. Indigo for... for Noah's opportunity. Everything was nothing more then one for one. That's how you move past it, you kill it until it's not important anymore.
"I never liked getting stabbed. Cheap shot." Noah mumbled, Bellamy's heavy head lifting from his hand quickly, eyes flickering open with a bit of difficulty at first before he climbed to his feet and over to Noah's side swiftly, eager to close the space in between the two of them. "Morning sunshine. Sleep like a baby?"
He smiled. "Oh definitely. The soothing thoughts of you dying while I slept was really helpful too." He quipped, seeing her cracked lips form a thin smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh you know, little like death but I'll be fine."
He spent a moment marveling in the moment of her ignorant bliss. Noah had no idea what he'd done to get that antidote to save her. She had no clue that he'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping Santiago around a little bit longer. But he didn't like the eggshells he now felt all around him.
She was the one who didn't cower in fear when they saw him. She was the one who didn't scoff in disgust at his actions when he looked at her. And suddenly, he was willing to be painfully selfish. He wanted to be selfish with Noah. Just a few more minutes of whatever they were. They were an odd pair for sure, but he'd be anything for her if it meant she didn't see him as the monster everyone else saw.
He'd do anything to not be hated by Noah Santiago, for just a little longer.
AUTHOR SPEAKS!
—— wow a boring ass
timeline filler
but bellamy and noah
finally act like friends.
all it took was one near
death experience. who
could've guessed.
the next chapter should
come sooner than this one
spread love
- spidermandes