To Elysia - The 100 season 5 - A bellarke story

Breeding Paideia - Part 6

"Murphy!" Bellamy bellowed through the caves, his gun poised forward as he lead Clarke toward the exit.
Clarke chuckled to herself slightly.
"What?" Bellamy hissed over his shoulder, the agitation and worry clear in his voice.

"They can't hear you. They won't be able to hear you until you leave this system and enter the entrance tunnels"
Bellamy grunted slightly, continuing to walk ahead.
He couldn't shake how he was feeling, he wanted to protect Clarke, he needed her home, but at the same time he couldn't help feeling agitated by her actions a week ago.

Suddenly Clarkes voice broke him from his thoughts.
"This is where I found her. She had hidden in these caves to escape Praimfaya." Clarke muttered, as if to herself.
Bellamy slowed as he focused on Clarkes voice behind him.

"She was so afraid, this tiny little thing, her clothes in tatters, cuts and bruises everywhere...."
Clarkes voice trailed off slightly with the memory.
Bellamy slowed to allow Clarke to walk beside him, tilting his head to meet her gaze.

"I won't let anything happen to her Clarke......." Bellamy said, as if sensing her thoughts.
Clarke smiled slightly, the concern apparent. Maddi obviously meant the world to her. She couldn't hide it. She was her weakness.

She nodded, before continuing to make her way along the damp rocky corridor.
Suddenly Murphy appeared ahead of them. His eyes trying to focus on the pair in the dim light.
"Thank god, I was dreading going back in there to find you two. Did I ever tell you I have a fear of dark cramped spaces?"
Bellamy chucked slightly as they made their way to the exit. He pushed the trailing sheet of ivy from his face, before holding it back to allow Clarke to walk through unscathed.

Octavia couldn't focus, her heart raced, her mind was a wash with thoughts that she control.
She had been thrust into the role as Heda, suddenly, almost out of the blue. And although she wasn't ungrateful for it, she found it beyond difficult at times.
Survival in the bunker had been hard, many had lost their lives, a number of which were executed to set an example. She had been Heda for 6 years, and although the learning curve had been difficult, her people followed her. The people believed in her strength, and her ability to protect the clans.
She couldn't shake this feeling, she felt sick, hot, feint......as if betrayed.
Octavia marched across the camp, shaking her head, forcing herself to think clearly.
She wasn't about to let Abby, Kane and Jaha possibly put her people in danger. She needed to get to the bottom of this.

The crack of the barn door as it slammed against the crumbling brick wall echoed across the room with ease. The few residents that were milling around the fire simultaneously turning their heads in shock, Abby and Kane amongst them.
"Octavia?" Abby called, her expression soft, as if concerned.
Octavia determinedly made her way across the room, her leather trousers gripping to the powerful muscles in her legs with each stride.

"You need to tell me what's going on, right now!"
The tone of Octavias voice sent Abby into an instant defence. She knew Octavias authority reigned supreme throughout the camp, that the years in the bunker had taught her to become ruthless. The girl that stood in front of her was an entirely different breed to the one who lived under the floor on the ark, still determined as she once was, now hardened by the horrors of survival and war.

"Not here, we need to speak in private" Abby replied, her eyes focusing onto the few remaining villagers at the bar.
Octavia turned her head, following Abby's line of sight.

"Leave us!" Octavia bellowed, instantly sparking the villagers imaginary tails to fall between their legs as they scurried to the exits.
Kane watched, taken aback slightly at how quickly 20 people could leave such a large hall in such a short space of time.

"Explain" Octavia continued sternly, as she folded her arms across her chest, her eye contact never leaving the pair.

Abby placed herself in a chair, gesturing for Octavia to sit. Her body language showed that sitting was the last thing on her mind, she adjusted her position slightly as she placed her hands on her belt, the anger clearly visible in her stance.
Kane sighed heavily as he ran his palm through his hair in thought, before going on to explain what information he had extracted from the prisoner only nights before.
Octavias stance remained rigid, her expression demanding further information without saying a word.
"We've run some calculations, at the rate that we are reproducing, we won't be able to continue with the survival of the human race and will be extinct within 100 years......" Abby said abruptly.
"That's based on the amount of people we have remaining, with deaths based on natural causes." Kane added, ensuring that Octavia understood the gravity of the situation.

Octavias expression had become blank, her rosy skin now turning to a gentle shade of grey. She no longer stood, but now sat opposite Abby.
"I'm not quite sure where you are going with this. What are you saying?" Octavia asked, adjusting her sleeve defensively.
Kane sighed, before standing and moving to the fire, he stared into it a moment, as if looking for inspiration.
The door behind him creaked open, the noise slicing through the tension in the room. Clarke and Bellamy made their way across the hall to stand alongside the group.
"Octavia, are you ok?" Bellamy asked in concern upon seeing Octavias expression. His eyes focused on her a moment, before looking up at the group.
"What's going on?"

Abby sighed, before picking up where she left off.
"With the current birth and death rates, we are in extreme danger of being unable to repopulate the earth"
Clarkes brow furrowed and she poured herself a cup of moonshine, and placed herself beside Bellamy.

"Essentially, we have no choice but to remove all birth control, and look at posing sanctions on anyone who hasn't had a child who is able" Abby continued.
Clarke and Octavias faces turned pale. Bellamy's jaw tensed as he clenched his fists, his eyes scanning over Octavia before looking at Clarke in concern.
He watched as she stood completely rigid, her eyes wide in a combination of fear and shock.

"We can't do that. You can't force people to reproduce...... they won't do it" Clarke replied, her voice shaking.
Abby gripped her fists, before putting her head into her hands in despair.
"I don't like this anymore than you do Clarke"

Octavia looked over her shoulder at Clarke and Bellamy, before glancing back at the pair in front of her. Her expression darkening.

"I won't force my people into anything, especially something like this" she replied sternly.
Abby's eyes creased in fear, the desperation in her face clear as day, her eyes made their way to Clarkes, as if silently pleading with her.

"You can do as you wish, but you need to understand that if you don't do this, everything that we have endured, everything that we have fought for.................it will all be for nothing."
A moment of silence fell over the group.

Kane turned from the fire, rubbing his temple in anguish.
"There is no other option, as it stands, this is the best we have. We have to ensure the survival of the human race"

"What about the prisoners?" Bellamy asked, his voice low. His expression unreadable.
Kane sighed heavily.

"We are left with no choice but to exterminate them. Or they will do the same to us, and not before taking all of our women for their own"

Octavia swallowed, before standing suddenly, throwing out her arm toward the pair.

"I will NOT have my people subjected to this!We didn't survive for 5 years underground, we didn't go through HELL......and back to........" Octavias eyes fluttered before beginning to roll into the back of her head.
"Octavia?" Bellamy said suddenly.

Octavia swayed slightly, her body becoming limp. Bellamy lunged forward, instinctively catching her just before she hit the ground.
"Octavia?!" Bellamy panted, his eyes darting back and forth, scanning her face in fear.

Abby and Clarke darted to the ground beside them, Abby checking her vitals, Clarke gripping her hand in concern.
Abby shot Kane a glance, before locking eyes with Bellamy's.
"Her heart is racing, she's burning up.........we need to get her to Beccas bunker.... NOW!"