LANE COULD FEEL THE boiling tension radiating from everyone all the way back to Arkadia. The solemn faces of the people around her made Lane feel their pain. Azgeda had just blown up Mount Weather leaving only two survivors: Raven and Sinclair. Everyone else was dead; murdered. The anger of the people of Arkadia wouldn't be satisfied easily. Lane knew that. maybe the fact of their eventual lust for vengeance was why she chose to go back to their camp. In the back of her mind, she knew some of them wouldn't be able to separate Azgeda from all the other grounders. She knew war was brewing in the background.
Her predictions were confirmed when she hopped out of the Rover outside Arkadia. Above the gate, she spotted way more guards than usual, and all of them had their rifles pointed towards the woods with an intense grip on the handles.
Bellamy hadn't said a word the entire trip back to Arkadia. Lane's heart hurt for him. Gina had been in Mount Weather. She was gone too.
But the slaughter of the innocent people at the hand of Azgeda wasn't Lane's only concern. Every night, she had violent flashbacks of her time with ALIE. Lane had a terrible gut feeling that at any given moment, the A.I. would return, and then Azgeda would be the least of people's worries. ALIE wouldn't care if someone was a grounder or a sky person. She would kill everyone to get what she wanted.
Lane did her best to keep her terrifying memories at bay, but they haunted her dreams, and she knew they wouldn't go away anytime soon.
"Well, look who finally came back."
Lane turned her head to see Miller strolling up to her. She gave him a warm smile, "I missed you too, Miller."
"How's your grounder boyfriend?" She heard another voice ask. Lane rolled her eyes when she saw Monty joining them.
"Shut up, Monty. He's not my boyfriend."
"Whatever you say," Monty teased before walking passed her towards Kane and Abby.
Lane's eyes fell on Bellamy as he walked away from everyone without a single word. She felt a tugging feeling in her chest. Go talk to him. Her brain was yelling at her to comfort him.
She gave into her thoughts, telling Miller she would be right back. Lane went in the direction she saw Bellamy leave and searched for him for a few minutes. She found him at the bar, already downing a shot of who knew what. Jasper poured him another, drunk as always.
"Lane! Holy shit, my drinking buddy is back!"
Lane sat down beside Bellamy, giving Jasper an annoyed look, "Can you give us a minute, Jasper?"
Jasper looked between Lane and Bellamy with a smug look, "Sure thing."
A moment of silence hung in the air between the two as Lane thought over what to say to Bellamy. What would she have wanted to hear when her parents died? She wouldn't want people's pity or hollow words they only said to be polite.
She finally pulled her eyes away from her hands, which were clasped together on the bar, and looked at his sad eyes.
"Bellamy..." she could physically feel his pain from the immense guilt in his deep brown eyes. "What happened... It wasn't your fault.
He clenched his jaw, "I trusted Echo; I told Gina to stay there. It is my fault."
"No. You couldn't have known what was going to happen," Bellamy shook his head. "Look, I've lost so many people, and I always think there's something I could have done to stop it, or to change it, but the truth is, thinking those kinds of things only cause you more pain. You can't do anything to change the past, and once you accept that," he glanced at her, "it gets easier."
She finally had his gaze locked onto hers. Lane saw him fighting back tears; fighting back his vulnerability. There was nothing more Lane could say, so she did the only thing she could think of at that moment.
Lane stood up and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, keeping her eyes on his. Bellamy let out a heavy breath, shutting his eyes tightly before finally letting himself fall into her chest. She wrapped her arms around him, letting him silently let out the tears he had been trying to keep away as she hugged him.
And then, she heard him let out a sigh of relief.
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The dreams were getting worse.
Lane woke up frequently through the night sweating and shaking. ALIE's lifeless machine-like eyes were imprinted in her memories. She wondered if the dreams were growing relentlessly because ALIE was coming back. Maybe the universe was trying to warn her.
Regardless of the meaning of her dreams, the reality was that there were other issues to deal with. Jasper's constant spiraling being one of them.
It was a sunny and hot day. Lane was filling up her water bottle with Octavia towards the center of camp when they heard Jasper yelling at Monty as he walked away from him with a backpack.
Lane and Octavia exchanged a worry glance as they jogged up to the two.
"Hey!" Octavia yelled. "Jasper, what's wrong?"
Monty looked at him, "He's not going to the memorial."
Jasper scoffed, "It's a little late for a Mount Weather memorial, don't you think?"
Lane opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off by a loud beeping from the gate.
"All unstationed security personnel report to the main gate,"
Lane let out a sigh, "What now?"
Indistinct chatter filled the camp as Lane and Octavia walked towards the opened gate. Lane spotted some grounders she hadn't seen before standing among several armed guards. By the marking on their face, she knew they were Trikru.
"Nyko," Octavia said quietly.
Lane looked at her, "Who's that?"
"He's Lincoln's friend."
Lane and Octavia went up to the group. Lane saw the grounders searching the grounders roughly and one guard even threw a sickly-looking girl to the side.
Lane wasn't one to avoid confrontation.
"Hey, back off!" She yelled as she gave the guard and equally forceful shove.
The guard gave Lane a hateful look as Nyko stepped in, "Leave them alone. They are sick!"
Then, Octavia stepped in, stopping a different guard, "Hey, hey, hey! That's enough! Stop it!" She looked at the guard Lane had shoved. "The Chancellor told Nyko that we would help."
The guard stepped towards her, "You're one of 'em. You take them in."
Lane shook my head at the guard as she let the sick girl that was shoved lean against her. Octavia and Nyko helped the others as they walked towards medical.
"Your name is Lane, isn't it?" Nyko asked as they walked. Lane nodded, "You're very popular in Polis."
Lane laughed, "Yeah, they think I'm immortal or something."
"Well, Lane, thank you for your help," Nyko said with an appreciative smile that Lane returned.
Getting all the sick people into beds in medical took a while. Lane looked at the clock on the wall as Octavia bandaged a few wounds and passed out cups of water. The Mount Weather memorial was just about to start.
Lane glanced at Octavia, "Are you going to the memorial?"
"No, I'll stay here until Abby gets back. You go."
Lane gave her a grateful nod. She exited medical and briskly walked to the main hall. She heard Charles Pike's voice as she entered the room and stayed in the back since she was a little late.
"All that's certain is that we die. How we die is up to us," Lane glanced around the room at everyone seated in front of Pike as he spoke. "Who will speak for Iris Jones?"
Lane watched as Miller's boyfriend, Bryan slowly stood. He walked to the front of the room with solemn steps. All eyes were on him as he began.
"Iris was strong. Good with a knife. She saved my life. I'm just sorry I couldn't do the same for her."
Bryan pulled out a pocket knife and placed it on a table where several lonely objects that used to belong to the people killed in Mount Weather already sat. As Bryan walked back to his seat, Pike took his place in the front of the room again.
"We will miss Iris. May we meet again."
"May we meet again," echoed in a chorus throughout the halls from the sad voices of everyone in the room.
Lane let the phrase leave her own lips; understanding in her heart for everyone experiencing loss.
"Who will speak for Gina Martin?"
Lane's eyes clung to Bellamy as he stood from his seat. He walked with uncertain steps as he tried to be strong. He stood in front of the crowd with a single book in his hands.
"Gina was real. She always saw the light, even here," Bellamy glanced down at the book. "She deserved better."
He placed the book on the table, but the quiet moment of grief was quickly interrupted. Lane tensed when several guards entered the room without even flinching; not even recognizing that people were trying to have a memorial service.
However, the guards didn't go to Kane and Abby. They went to Pike.
Lane noticed Lincoln. He was walking towards the front of the room with unease obvious in his eyes. Lane finally left the back of the room, anxious to know what was going on.
As Pike went up to Kane and Abby, Lane joined them.
"What's going on?"
Pike spoke lowly, "The grounders are here; an army. Three hundred strong camped less than a mile from here."
"We know," Abby said.
"What?"
"Indra radioed," Kane answered.
Lane nodded, "It makes sense. Azgeda could come for Arkadia any day."
Pike shook his head, turning his tone into a loud one, "You gave a grounder one of our radios?"
His words caught the attention of the majority of the people in the room. Great. That caused everyone to start murmuring.
"Sir, are we under attack?" Lane heard Monty's mom, Hannah, ask.
People were rising from their seats, some speaking in panicked tones.
"No, we are not under attack," Kane spoke out. "Their commander sent a peacekeeping force to ensure that we can defend against any further attacks from the Ice Nation."
It made sense, but it seemed like the people of Arkadia liked to be irrational. Lane noticed that Bellamy had joined them, but his expression was unreadable.
"Peacekeeping force?" Pike questioned. "Even you can't be that naive, Marcus!"
"Watch your tone," Abby threatened. "You're talking to the next Chancellor," she turned her attention to the entire room. "We're all grieving. This has been hard on all of us, but we can't let anger drive our policy."
"Anger is our policy!" Pike defended as Lane could feel the tension in the room rising as several murmured in agreement.
She glanced around, worried that some kind of riot would break out at any moment.
Pike took his stance in the center of the room, "If they're here to defend us, as you say, then tell them to go home!" He shouted. "We can defend ourselves!"
"Yeah!" Several cried.
"You," Lane turned her head to see a man pointing at Lincoln. She saw the thick rock in his hand too late. "You don't belong here!"
"He's one of them!" Someone yelled.
"My boy is dead!" The man yelled before throwing the rock at Lincoln. The rock hit him right in the head.
Guards that were still loyal to Kane held back several people from jumping at Lincoln. Lane was right in the action, stepping in to help, but she felt someone grab her.
"You're with them too!"
"Get off me, you psycho!" Lane elbowed the man in the jaw and ripped her arm away from him.
As everything started to descend into chaos, Pike whistled so loudly that it hurt Lane's ears, "Hey!" He yelled, grabbing everyone's attention. "We do not attack our own! Fighting each other only makes us weak! The enemy is not in this camp. The enemy is out there!"
Lane began to realize that the majority of people in the room seemed to listen to Pike more than anyone else, and that realization worried her.
She turned around to see Lincoln leaning against the Rover. The right side of his head was bleeding. She walked up to him with Abby.
Abby examined his wound, "Lincoln, are you okay?"
He backed away, "I'm fine."
"Lincoln, you need to go to medical," Abby insisted, but he walked away.
Lane shook her head, running her hands through her dark brown hair, "This is getting out of control. Pike's influence is bad for Arkadia."
"I know," Abby looked at Lane. "We can't trust him."
Lane moved her eyes to the front of the room where Pike talked lowly with the other people from Farm Station. She knew if they continued down his path, all the hopes for peace were ruined. Everything Arkadia had been working towards with the grounders would have been for nothing. Lane couldn't sit back and watch that happen.
So, Lane waited.
She waited until the main hall was almost cleared out, and everyone went back to their routines. Then, when Pike was alone, sitting at a table about to leave, she walked up to him with determination in her stance.
His dark eyes fell on her as she sat across him with challenge written on her face. He instantly knew this wasn't going to be a friendly conversation.
"It's Lane, right?" He asked. "I don't think we've officially gotten to meet-"
Lane cut him off, "I'm not here to beat around the bush with you, Pike."
Pike nodded, "You're blunt. I like people who are blunt. They save a lot of wasted time."
"You're right," Lane answered, a small smile coming to her lips, "so let me just save you some time here," her eyes were locked with his. "You have no idea what you're doing."
He laughed lightly, "And what do you mean by that?"
"I mean, you're stupid; blind... Idiotic," Lane laced her fingers together on the table. "I see through all your bullshit. You want the power here because you want to start a war that you'll never be able to win; a war that will get far too many people killed. There's already been enough bloodshed, and with people like you in charge, it will never end."
Pike leaned back, slightly impressed with her courage, "I like you, Lane," he said, "but you have to realize that the grounders are the ones who will never stop killing us until they wipe us all out. It's what they want."
"No, it's not!" Lane exclaimed. "The Ice Nation are the bad guys here. They're the ones who need to be stopped. All of the other clans listen to the Commander, and the Commander wants peace just as much as Arakdia does."
"That's where you're wrong," Pike stood. "That Commander has you fooled," Pike put a hand on her shoulder. "I just hope you pick the right side."
Lane pushed his hand off her shoulder, standing up to meet his challenge with equal force, "You don't want to make an enemy out of me, Pike," she said in a threatening tone.
"And why's that?"
Lane took a step closer to him, keeping her eyes on his, "Because all my enemies are dead."
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sorry this took literally MONTHS, but i finally updated. i hope you all enjoyed :) remember to vote and comment!!!