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❝ SAVING THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE ISN'T STUPID. IT ISN'T EVEN A CHOICE. ❞
"HOW IS HE?" Nova asked, as she saw Jasper laying on a table, Clarke and Monty by his side. Clarke just looked at Nova, a glare in her eyes, then turned her head to Jasper. "Seriously, Clarke?"
Clarke stood up, then walked over to her. "How could you say that?" Clarke asked. "You know damn well what those wristbands meant."
Nova nodded. "Yeah, I do. But the Ark doesn't give a damn-" Before Nova could finish her sentence, she felt a slap land on her cheek, causing her head to turn with the force. Nova let out a sigh. "Alright, I deserved that one."
"Yeah, you did." Clarke said, going back to Jasper's side, and looking at her watch.
Yelling came from the drop ship below them, as they listened in on Jasper's yells and groans. "Hey! Shut that kid up! Can't he just die already?" A kid yelled.
Clarke turned to Japser. "Don't listen to them. You're going to make it through this, I promise." Clarke muttered, stroking his hair from his face. "I'm gonna get clean water. Keep an eye on him."
Nova went and sat down beside Jasper, Monty joining her, sitting in front of her on the other side of Jasper. They both looked down at Jasper's body and could see the pain he was in.
"Why'd you do it?" Monty asked, glancing at the bruise on Nova's face from where Clarke had slapped her. "Why'd you take the wristband off?"
Nova shrugged. "Because the people on the Ark don't know what it feels like to be locked up in a cage, waiting for death." Nova said, still looking at Jasper. "Now, they do."
⌀
"The Grounder cauterized the wound. Saved his life." Clarke spoke. It was the next day, and Nova had left Monty and Clarke as soon as Clarke came back with the water. She didn't necessarily feel guilt over the whole thing. Sure, she could understand where Clarke was coming from, but she didn't understand why she still cared about the Ark. The Ark had floated her father, killed him in front of her, and yet she still couldnt understand why Nova would take off her wristband.
"Saved his life so they could string him up as live bait. Garden of Eden this ain't." Finn said, leaning against the wall.
"This is infected. He could be septic." Clarke dabbed the rag over the wound, trying to clean it as best she could without proper medical equipment. "Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark?"
"That would be a firm no." Monty said, eyes never leaving Jasper's body.
Nova let out an annoyed sigh, already hating where the conversation was leading. Clarke sent a glare towards Nova, but Nova ignored it. She knew Clarke, she wouldn't stay pissed at her for too long. But then again, she had never pissed her off this badly. Nova instead turned her head to look at Wells, who just entered the room.
"My mother would know what to do." Clarke mumbled, looking back towards Jasper.
"How's he doing?" Wells asked, bending down next to Clarke, glancing at Jasper.
"How does it look like he's doing?"
"Hey, I'm just trying to help."
Jasper let out a groan underneath Clarke's hands. "Alright, you want to help?" Clarke asked. "Hold him down." She instructed Wells to hold Jasper down, to keep the boy from squirming.
Wells held him down, Finn helping him as well, while Nova stayed behind them, watching closely with Monty. Clarke grabbed a knife, and put the blade into the fire which they had burning in order to keep Jasper warm.
"I'm not gonna like this, am I?" Monty spoke up, softly. Jasper's groans filled the room as Clarke cut into the boy with a knife, trying to stop the infection from spreading throughout his whole body.
⌀
"Hold him still!" Clarke yelled, as Jasper yelled due to the knife cutting his flesh. "I need to cut away the infected flesh." Nova sat beside Monty, watching Wells and Finn hold him still so Clarke could work properly on him.
Jasper suddenly passed out from the pain, his head falling to the side. Clarke's fingers went to neck to check his pulse, and Nova could see the relief that flooded on her face when she felt one.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" A voice called out behind all of them. Octavia came and sat beside Jasper, unsure of what Clarke was trying to do, but she knew it wasn't good.
"No," Finn said. "She's trying to save his life."
"She can't." Bellamy said, coming up the ladder and joining them.
Nova stood up. "Back the hell off, Bellamy." She spoke. She didn't know how she felt towards the older Blake. Sometimes he was a dick to everyone, other times he wasn't, but she knew in this situation he was in the wrong. Wells stood up as well, facing Bellamy, a glare in his eye.
"We didn't drag him through miles of woods just to let him die."
"Kid's a goner. If you can't see that, you're deluded. He's making people crazy."
"Sorry if Jasper's an inconvenience to you, but this is not the Ark." Clarke said. "Down here, every life matters."
"Take a look at him." Nova looked down at Jasper, and the hole in his chest. He looked horrible, and looked he was going to die at any second, but she also knew what Clarke could do. She knew Clarke spent most of her life watching her mother save people's lives, and she knew that after all Clarke and seen and watched, she could save definitely his life. "He's a lost cause." The room fell silent as everyone watched Jasper, and watched as Clarke wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Octavia," Clarke whispered. "I've spent my whole life watching my mother heal people. If I say there's hope, there's hope."
"This isn't about hope, it's about guts. You don't have the guts to make the hard decisions. I do. He's been like this for three days. If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself." Bellamy said, then turned around and walked towards the ladder. "Octavia, let's go."
"I'm staying here." Octavia said, looking up and away from Jasper. Nova looked at her and she could she was tired of people controlling her life. Bellamy walked out of the dropship, not willing himself to fight with her today.
"Power-hungry, self-serving jackass." Monty said. "He doesn't care about anyone but himself." He looked over to Octavia. "No offense." Octavia shook her head, showing she didn't take any offense to the statement.
"Yeah, Bellamy is all that. But he also happens to be right."
