My knees ached in ferocious agony with each passing minute. The hard rock that I was currently knelt on providing no solace. A dull aching assaulted my abdomen, a result of not taking the antibiotics Clarke had prescribed that were due to be taken hours ago at this point.
Silence had enveloped the ravine, everyone on edge in anticipation.
Was a war going to break out? Or had Bellamy managed to stop Riley before he could kill Roan?
We all knew that the minute the first shot was fired, from either side, a bloody battle was sure to ensue.
Kane and I were perhaps in the worst possible positions. The two of us chained by the ankles and unable to move at all. If something did happen, we were both dead for sure.
My head was pounding as I squinted against the sun that was rapidly lowering in the sky. As it slowly dipped toward the tree line, I felt anxiety bubble in my chest. As soon as it was no longer visible behind the trees, Kane and I were to be executed.
"Come on, Bell." I muttered. Despite the words being more for me than anyone else, Kane seemed to hear and turned to me with a small nod.
"He'll get it done." he promised, wincing as an Azgeda soldier smacked him across the back of the head for speaking.
With a shaky sigh, I turned my head away from Kane, my eyes scanning the rock ledges up above. Everyone was still in position, guns pointed at the Azgeda army. I prayed no shots had to be fired.
But, despite all of us being in so much anticipation regarding the war that we were on the brim of, each and every one of us were in complete shock at what happened next.
We heard the noise before we saw it.
A loud explosion tore through the air, shaking the ground beneath us. Soon enough, smoke could be seen billowing from the distance.
"That came from Arkadia!" I gasped, looking to Kane with wild eyes. What the hell had just happened?
Pandemonium seemed to set in, the Azgeda army beginning to yell out over one another, none of them sure what to do.
Our gunners, although somewhat distracted remained at their posts.
"We stay here!" One of the men who had been holding a blade to me had yelled above the others. "We wait for the king and Echo! This could be a distraction!"
"Distraction?" I echoed in disbelief, "Do you really think we'd create that big of a distraction? Something is wrong!" I yelled, my tone begging for them to believe me.
The man who had previously spoken strode toward me, harshly yanking me to my feet. "Another word and you're dead." he snapped, the cool blade of his sword now pressed against my throat. Looking over his shoulder, he spoke to the rest of the army. "We wait for command!"
Kane anxiously looked up at the man. "Let her go, please!" he begged, his eyes travelling toward me. "We are not your enemy."
The Azgeda man ignored him, his grip on me not loosening. "Skaikru is always our enemy." he muttered, quiet enough that only I seemed to hear.
My eyes travelled upward, scanning the rock ledges to ensure all of our people were still in position. They were, so that provided me some comfort, but the cool metal pressed to my neck presented an everlasting worry. So did the sun that was looming closer and closer to the tree line. A few more minutes and the blade would slice across my throat.
"Hey!"
The voice came from over the small hill in front of us, and I recognized it instantly. I felt myself let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Bellamy rushing toward us, the others, including Roan, following behind him.
"Let her go!" he ordered, rage covering his face as he marched toward us. "We need to get to Arkadia, now!" he shouted, more to our gunners than anyone else.
The Azgeda man didn't remove the blade from my throat, and upon me looking through my peripheral, I could see he was looking toward Roan.
Roan looked toward me, a satisfied smirk coming to his face. "If it isn't little Miss Brown Eyes." he taunted, as if we didn't have a crisis on our hands currently.
I let out a scoff. "Now is not the time." I shot back, earning an aggressive yank from the soldier.
"Don't touch her again!" Bellamy growled, finally reaching us. Once close enough, he was stopped by another Azgeda man. Yelling ensued after that, everyone arguing over top of one another.
"Enough!" Roan yelled, him and Echo halting in front of their army. "Let the prisoners go." he ordered to his men. "All of you, head back to Polis!"
Slowly, and obviously reluctantly, the blade was removed from my throat, the chains around my ankles also released.
With one more withering glare at the Azgeda soldier, Bellamy shoved past him, arriving at my side. "You okay?" he questioned, eyes quickly scanning my body for any injuries.
I nodded, looking up at him. "Riley?"
Bellamy turned his head slightly, nodding to where Riley was joining the rest of our gunners who were preparing to head out. "He's okay."
I felt myself relax ever so slightly, but not fully. "The explosion-" I started, hoping Bellamy and Clarke knew what had happened.
"We don't know." Clarke answered, joining the two of us. "So we need to go, now."
---
The walk to Arkadia was silent. Actually, it had been more of a run than a walk, everyone in a rush to see what had happened.
Smoke still billowed into the air as we rushed toward our home, both us Arkadians along with Roan and Echo were on edge, weapons still raised slightly.
Anticipation had built in my chest the entire trek back to camp, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when we emerged from the tree line.
The air seemed to be knocked from my lungs as my wide eyes looked up at the scene in front of us.
Fire engulfed a majority of the ship, reaching far into the sky. Dozens of people flooded into the courtyard, gasping for air as they watched our home burn. Children ran in circles, searching for their parents as adults yelled out names, hoping to find their loved ones.
"Octavia!"
The words seemed to leave mine and Bellamy's mouthes simultaneously as the realization that she had been inside set in.
Everyone began to scramble at once, each of us rushing to help people from the ship. Vicious coughs ripped through the air as smoke assaulted everyone's lungs.
Bellamy and I stayed close, both of our eyes searching the crowd for Octavia. Under the haze of the fire, it was hard to identify figures.
I could feel the heat of the blaze on my skin as we got closer and closer when suddenly... "There!" I called, grabbing onto Bellamy upon seeing Octavia and Niylah stumbling from the Ark, a boy I did not recognized pulling the two of them out.
The two of us didn't waste anytime in rushing toward her. Bellamy scooped his little sister into his arms as Clarke joined us, allowing Niylah to lean on her.
I followed after Bellamy and Octavia, dropping to my knees as Bellamy slowly lowered her to the ground. "We've got you, Tavia." I soothed, quickly checking her for any new wounds. "Just breathe." I instructed, brushing the hair from her face.
Her eyes struggled to stay open as she reached up and grabbed onto my hand, giving it a tight squeeze.
I gave Bellamy a steady look and a small nod, letting him know that she would be okay, worry was still written across his face.
A ragged sob fell from Octavia's lips as she looked up at me, shaking her head. "It was Ilian." she confessed to Bellamy and I as Clarke joined us. "I tried to stop him."
"It's okay, Tave." I assured, giving both Bellamy and Clarke a quick glance before looking toward where the unnamed boy from before stood. I assumed this was the Ilian Octavia spoke of.
He met my eyes, giving me an unwavering look. I felt anger course though my bones as I stood up, Octavia still not letting go of my hand.
Clarke joined me, her eyes as angry as my own as we both stared at the person who had single handedly just diminished our chances at survival.
"Avery." Bellamy called, his voice warning. "Clarke-"
He was cut off as a loud boom shook the ground beneath us, another explosion lighting up the sky as a part of the Ark came tumbling down, sending pieces of the ship raining down around us.
I shrunk back, stumbling into the front of Clarke who was frozen in place. Silently, she gripped onto me, wordlessly letting me know she was with me. I looked down at Bellamy, my eyes glossing over as tears of frustration threatened to spill over.
Looks like our viable solution was no longer viable.
-an-
hey guys! I hope you all had a great christmas if you celebrate <3 and happy holidays to everyone who does not!
I hope you are all doing okay, I know this is a hard time for many right now. my province just went into lockdown again but I worked at an essential business so im powering through.
hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and it brought you some joy even though it is not very happy lol.
comment your thoughts.
love you all!
-maddy xoxo