Atlantis

Chapter Seventy-Nine

"I don't care how you make it happen, Faye. Kill Octavia if you have to. Bring her to me in chains, and I'll do it for you, or she can surrender herself, but your Red Queen doesn't seem like the type." Diyoza said.

Faye looked at Bellamy. He hadn't spoken and he hadn't looked at her. "Let us worry about that." Faye told the colonel.

"We have an understanding, then." 

"We do." Faye agreed.

"Good. Call me back when it's done, and we can work out the details of your crossing. Over and out." Diyoza said.

"No way."

"Bellamy--" Faye said. 

"We are not killing my sister, Faye." He said. "I don't care how crazy she is. Run the loop. The rover's charged." He gave the radio to Monty. "We're getting our friends. That was reckless. We had a plan. You agreed." Bellamy said as he began packing a bag. 

Clarke placed her hand on Faye's shoulder, telling her to step back. "That was before Octavia made Madi her second. That army marches to war as soon as they find out the eye is down. We can't let that happen." 

"So we don't tell anyone?" Harper suggested.

"They'll know as soon as we drive away." Monty said.

"Oh, who cares? We grab Madi, and we go." Bellamy said.

"Bellamy, she's by her side." Faye told him.

"She's my sister, Faye." 

"I know." Faye admitted. "Tell me what else to do." 

"We stop the war." Monty said. 

"How?" Harper asked.

"Algae." Monty pulled out a vial of green liquid.

Bellamy scoffed. "Monty."

"Cooper already gave me permission to show what it can do. She's meeting me before the afternoon meal so I can take her to the--" 

"That's enough." Bellamy grabbed the vial.

"Hey, give it back." Monty demanded.

"Monty, Bellamy's right. Cooper's worse than Octavia." Harper said. "No offense."

Bellamy tossed the vial back to Monty.

"Besides, the first batch put Murphy in a coma for almost a week. By the time it's ready to eat--" Harper said. 

"The first culture, and we're not gonna eat it this time. We're gonna feed it to the plants. If I can make the farm viable again, then we'll still have a chance." 

The door opened and Octavia walked in with Cooper and her guards. 

"The spy did her job?" Octavia questioned.

"Uh, we were just about to send for you." Bellamy said. "Told you Echo would get it done." 

"Can the enemy still see us?" Octavia asked.

"For now, yes. It's technical, but--" Monty said. 

"He has to run a loop to mask our troop movements." Cooper said, stepping forward. "When the time comes, we need to clear the surface to reduce the risk of anyone noticing the same people moving in the same direction again and again." She explained. 

"Well done, Monty." Octavia said in congratulations. "Load the worms into the rover and mobilize the army. War is here."

- - -

"Clarke." Madi ran from Faye's side when she saw the blonde. 

"Madi." Clarke opened her arms to hug her.

"She was ready to burn this place down if she couldn't see you." Bellamy said.

"Thank you for letting me say good-bye." Clarke said. 

"Clarke, this isn't good-bye." Faye told her.

"Octavia's sick." Madi told her. "They say she might not wake up."

"Okay, Madi. That's enough. We can't risk the child being seen here." Indra said. "She'll be safe now, and so will you." Indra knocked on the door and the three Grounders left, leaving Bellamy to talk to Clarke. "Be quick." Indra told him.

Indra let the guards lead Madi to Gaia so her and Faye could talk. 

"I will take over and accept the terms of surrender, but they will begin to look for succession. It falls to me as head of the army, but if Wonkru refuses to follow, I will turn them to you. Heda." She bowed her head and left.

They were all crowded just outside Octavia's chambers, all waiting for news. The doors opened and Indra and Miller walked out with the guards.

"The whispers are true. Our beloved Blodreina has fallen ill. These may be her final hours. Listen to me. I trained Octavia as my second, and I loved her as I love my own child. I advised her, and led her army with pride. It was her desire that if she should ever fall, I step forward to lead you. Blodreina wanted what we all want, to live a better life in Shallow Valley, and we will, but not through war, not when there's a better way. For the last six years, we have lost hundreds of our people." 

Faye shifted, standing next to Bellamy. "Are you sure the algae will work?" She whispered. 

"Hopefully as long as we need it to." He told her. 

"I'm sorry, Bellamy. Sometimes there is no perfect solution." She told him. 

"Who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different things. I'm sure the Commanders have told you all about that." Bellamy said, looking straight ahead at the crowd. 

"Are you saying this is my fault?" Faye asked through a scoff. 

"It was this or let you kill my sister. Clarke was trying to find a better way." 

"Now you're comparing me to Clarke." Faye folded her arms, leaning back on the wall and watching Indra speak. 

"...to lose any more. I will negotiate for Wonkru to enter the valley peacefully so that no more shall suffer." 

"You're not in command here..." Miller stepped up. "Not even over the first battalion. Blodreina gave that honor to me."

"I only mean that your way of stopping the killing, involved more killing." Bellamy finally looked at her. 

"So you expect us to follow you? He's Skaikru." A woman stepped forward, pointing to Miller.

"You helped Clarke kill Cooper. How is this so different?" Faye demanded, struggling to keep her voice down.

"There is no Skaikru. You know that." Miller shot back. 

"She's my sister." 

"We must look to the Commander. She holds the Flame, still." The woman pointed to Faye, making her and Bellamy look away from each other and focus on the crowd. 

"Blasphemy. The time of the Commanders is over. Miller's right. There are no more clans, only Wonkru and enemies of Wonkru." Another man stepped forward.

"That's funny coming from someone who only escaped death in this arena because our real enemies fell from the sky." The man shoved the woman and she pushed back.

A fight broke out in the crowd and Miller fired his gun until they stopped.

"Now, I'm not asking you to follow me. I'm asking you to follow Octavia. Yesterday she ordered us to march on the valley, so we march for Blodreina!" 

"Gon Blodreina!" The crowd chanted.

"When will you learn that we have all lost something and we have all had to make sacrifices." Faye stormed away as Indra made her way over. 

Bellamy didn't know what to do. After just poisoning his sister, Faye was no longer on his side. The two most important people in his life were floating away, and he could only save one.

"Indra..." 

"I can't stop this war, Bellamy, but there's someone who can." Indra led his eyes towards Madi. "We need a Commander. If Faye won't, then we must get a new one."