Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 63

"What is that?" Kane is asking.

The two Chancellors stand in one of the many rooms of the Ark, a thin piece of plastic in Abby's hands, tightened until crinkling. Kane's brows are knitted when he points at it.

"A note." Abby unfurls it, passing the clear sheet over into his hands, "Thelonius is gone." 

Kane is quick to read the words scribbled down in white ink. "The City of Light," He recognises. "He's coming back to save us, again."

"He took fifteen people. Twelve guns." Abby glances from the note to Marcus, her face falling when she adds: "That includes two of the kids. John Murphy and Ethan Beckett. The first I understand, but Ethan. . ."

Kane searches her eyes, frowning slightly. "What about Lori?"

"She's still here. Gave me this," Abby steps closer, digging another note out of her pocket, this one paper. "I know Ethan can be too open-minded, even impulsive, but not with this. He never believed in the City of Light, could barely stand Jaha and then his mother says he wrote this? It doesn't sound anything like him."

Kane's eyes dart across the short letter she'd opened.

To anyone who's reading this, I'm sorry. 

I couldn't stand the way things were being done. I couldn't follow Clarke's leadership anymore, not after Finn, not after this so-called truce with the grounders. It's going to kill us all.

I'm following my mum's advice and heading to the City of Light to find peace for us all.

- Ethan

"No, no it doesn't." Even Kane can see that.

"Ethan's nothing but loyal to the kids he came down with. This isn't him." Kane brushes a hand over his chin, thinking. "Lori suffers from PTSD, probably more we don't know about, and she's one of your oxygen-deprived patients. How far would she go to prove her own faith to Thelonious?"

Abby looks down at the note. "I've noticed changes in her personality. Very minor memory loss but," She shakes her head, "Ethan told me she didn't want him leaving camp, enough that one of the guards cuffed him to the room."

"What?"

"I don't know the name, he didn't tell me. Just that Lorelai was angry."

Kane nods, shoes thudding against the metal floor when he shuffles from foot to foot, "We haven't seen her interact with her son until now. Until he comes back, we can't do anything."

"The more I think about it the more I worry. She's sent Ethan off because she has faith in Thelonius. He doesn't."

Then comes the question, "Have you shown Clarke?"

Abby shakes her head, folding the note back up. "I was afraid about how she'd take it."

"She deserves to know where he's gone, at least." Kane sighs, then, "We can't go after them. We can't spare the men."

"Don't worry. Clarke wouldn't let me even if I tried. " She pauses to add, "I'll keep an eye on Lori."

They stare at the note together, hoping for the best.

"God speed, Thelonius."

Ethan glances behind him, standing on the outskirts of a forest far from civilisation. He looks calm, but anyone that knew him personally would know he's reeling on the inside. The dark bags under his eyes are puffy and his jaw clenched.