Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 89

Monty tugs his hand from the back of Ethan's neck after a carefully aborted flinch, quickly moving on as though nothing had happened. "When'd you get back?" He laughs softly, caught in the moment.

"Yester-" Ethan chokes on another inhale, flushing red at the ears when Monty smoothes a hand down his back like it was such a common thing to do, "-day

"You have no idea how much we missed you." Needed.

Not only was Ethan taken prisoner by Jaha for those months, unable to re-visit Arkadia, but Monty and the others had been in Mount Weather before he was even forced to leave. Meaning the time between their last communication had been god knows how long.

Since the dropship?

Fuck. He'd been missing them.

Clutching at Monty's clothes, Ethan wheezes through a laugh, "Trust me, I think I had an idea." He squeezes his eyes shut, guided through an impromptu breathing exercise that doesn't get caught in his chest. "I thought you were dead for a long, long time."

Monty glances at Abby with a questioning raise of the brow. She shakes her head. He's noticed the lack of length to Ethan's hair but he's also the only one who doesn't outright say anything.

Ethan's grateful.

With the fingers drawing circles against his upper back, probably the only area not tagged with burns, he gains enough security to catch his breath.

There's a knock on the door.

"Monty, you in there? Pike's waiting for- Ethan?"

Ethan pulls away, following the voice towards the exit, but he doesn't even get to see her face before Monroe is bowling into him. "I fucking knew you would be back! I almost couldn't recognize you without. . ." she strays off after a quick glance from Abby.

Ethan forces down a wince when her elbows take an accidental jab at his ribs, and chuckles lightly, "Hey, Monroe." His other hand remains attached to Monty's shirt.

Unfortunately, the comfort is short-lived.

"You've got the rest of the day to catch up with each other" prompted from Abby, and a forlorn "sorry Ethan, we've got a meeting" from Monty.

He gets it, though, when he finds out Bellamy isn't the only delinquent working under Pike. Monty because of his mother, and Monroe because of her faith in Bellamy.

Through the audio chips hidden in the Chancellor's headquarters, they know exactly what Pike is planning next.

To annihilate yet another village of innocent grounds so he can steal their land and build farms of his own. Octavia, still on the loose outside Arkadia, is the only one free enough to warn them.

So everything was a bit messed up, yeah, but they were going to fix it, right?

Ethan didn't want to see Lorelai any time soon and Abby wanted - needed - him to eat, drink, rest. Her hovering would've been suphocating if he was used to a parental figure trying to take care of him so often. Instead, it was just a tad confusing.

So he hides in the corner of the medbay, carefully constructed in a way that he sees whoever comes through the door first before they even get a glimpse of him.

No one needs to know he stole a hat from one of the bedside tables on the way in. He uses it to shade his eyes and cover his face.

It's surprisingly useful when Kane waltzes in later that day to talk to Abby, not even sparing Ethan a second glance.

Considering he was almost asleep, Ethan wouldn't notice himself either.

"Octavia should be at the village by now, but if she can't convince them to evacuate. . ."

Abby reassures, "You have done everything you can."

"No." Exhaling sharply, Kane shakes his head, "No, I haven't. I let this happen. I demanded an election. . . and now we have Chancellor Pike. We're on the brink of a war we can't win, and all I can do to stop it is send kids into harm's way."

That's what's been happening since the start, Ethan grumbles to himself, arms crossed and legs tossed up on top of the cupboards beside his makeshift bed.

"Hey, in case you haven't noticed, they're not kids anymore."

Ethan smiles smugly at Abby's retort.

"With Clarke gone, Bellamy's the key. I've been trying to reach him, but Pike's influence is strong, and he really believes he's doing the right thing."

"Everybody always does." Abby looks down at Kane, a soft look on her face. She leans forward, reaches out and presses a slow kiss against his cheek.

Ethan turns his head away awkwardly, eyes wide.

"What was that?" Kane whispers, just as confused.

Abby smiles, "Let's call it hope."

"Cute." Ethan swings his legs down from the cupboard, "Anyway!" He has the wonderful pleasure of watching Kane jump a foot in the air at his interruption.

"Jesus, Ethan." Kane spins around, brows furrowed.

Abby chuckles behind her fist.

"Hello to you, too, Marcus." Ethan pauses, twisting his lips up like he'd tasted something bad. "Nope, not calling you that again."

Kane exhales slowly through his nose, looking really disappointed.

Ethan claps his hands together and ignores him to point at Abby instead. "We about ready to steal Jaha's keys?"

"One, we're not stealing. Two, you're not coming." She lifts a finger before he can interrupt, "Because we can't let ALIE know I know, and if Jaha sees you with me, he will catch on."

Ethan drops back onto the bed with a bounce, sighing heavily through his nose.

She has a point.

More so because if he sees Jaha again, he might make due on his promise, and that'd definitely get him thrown in lock-up again.

The only other person to even remotely understand his hatred and his pain, was in TondC with an oblivious Clarke, tied down and beaten.

If only Ethan knew.