Can We Be Mountain Men? - Book 2 (The 100 Season 2)

Survival of the Fittest - Part 1

"I need to stay here with Clarke," Alia argued with Kane as he packed his things.

"She can handle the war preparations. You need to come with me."

"Why?"

He stopped and walked up to her. "You, Bellamy, and Clarke became the leaders when you landed on the ground. There's three fronts to the war and three of you. Bellamy's in Mount Weather, Clarke is here, and you need to be at Camp Jaha. Please. We need someone who knows their ways and that the Grounders trust."

"And you think that's me?"

"I've heard that you and Finn tried to make peace with the Grounders." She stayed silent and cast her eyes to the ground. "I need the girl I remember from the Ark. Without her, all of this could fall apart."

"What if that girl doesn't exist anymore?" she asked, looking back up at him.

"She does. She's just grown."

***

"Open the gate," Kane ordered as Indra and some of Trikru walked inside, guards and citizens watching on either side.

"Heads up. Eyes sharp. Remember we're the ones with a thousand warriors in the woods," Indra told them as they walked to meet Kane and Alia at the entrance to the Ark.

"Welcome," he told her. "I thought we'd start with a reception. Then move on to training. We have a lot to learn from each other." She said nothing. "Weapons here please," he pointed to the bin beside her. "Only our guards are armed here." She drew her sword, dropping it in along with her other weapons, her warriors doing the same before following them in. "Thank you for agreeing to this, Indra."

"We're here on the commander's orders. I agreed to nothing."

"Please," he motioned for her to enter a room. "We'll begin in a moment." She walked inside as Kane and Alia walked over to Jaha who was watching. "Well, it's a start," he mumbled as the rest of the Grounders walked past.

"It's a mistake."

"I convinced Abby to release you. Don't make me regret that."

"Let me tell you how this ends, Marcus. Either we lose and Mount Weather kills us all or we win and our new friends do."

"No," Alia spoke up. "It'll be different this time. We have to learn from the past to not repeat our mistakes. That's the only reason we're here."

"Mistakes? You call the war you started, the war that killed almost a third of your people, a mistake?"

"With all due respect, sir," she gritted out, "you weren't here. You can't talk about things that you don't know the whole story to."

"I know enough."

"Then know that we all plan to do better. Otherwise their deaths, along with Finn's, were all in vain. And I won't let that happen."

"You picked quite the girl to work with you," Jaha said as they watched her walk inside the room with the others.

"She is. Strong willed, smart, mostly level headed. Besides, I thought you had faith."

"This is their land and believing that they will let us live here happily ever after isn't faith. It's stupidity."

"You're wrong. It's common sense. There's enough here for everyone. We just need to make them see that it's in their interest to share. And that starts today." He walked inside, standing next to Alia. "Alright. Quiet down. Indra, please." The three stepped to the center of the room. "I know we don't have a lot in common, but we do have a common enemy and a common goal. And for us to reach it, to get our people out of Mount Weather, we need to work together. Together. Skaikru and Trikru. Our survival depends on our sharing of knowledge," he continued while Alia's eyes wandered over to a Grounder moving towards Murphy. They talked quietly for a minute before the Grounder knocked the cup of water out of Murphy's hands and he stood, pushing the Grounder back as the room went silent. "Mr. Murphy, apologize to that man," Kane ordered as Murphy and the Grounder didn't break eye contact.

"For what? He was the one who came at me."

"Two days work detail."

"Work detail?" he asked, looking at Kane. "I just told you I didn't do a-"

"Care to make it three?" He was silent, turning back to the Grounder before walking past.

"You're gonna burn just like your friend," the Grounder told him and Alia saw the look on his face.

"John, do-" He swung around and punched the Grounder in the face, a fight quickly breaking out.

"Murphy!" Kane yelled as the different sides rushed at each other, everyone getting involved. Indra, Kane, Octavia, and Alia tried to pull the sides apart, but it wasn't doing much good. "Murphy! Murphy, back off!"

"John, cut it out!"

"Knock it off!" Octavia yelled.

"Stop, stop!"

"John!"

Sorry it took so long to get this up. Wattpad hasn't been working for me and wouldn't let me post anything. Hope you enjoyed though!