We are Grounders

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕨𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕪 𝔼𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 - 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙

Lincoln crouches down next to an animal he had speared just moments before. Braeya and Bellamy stand behind him, watching as he slices it's stomach open. He then drenches his fingers in the animal's blood and smears it across is jaw, disguising himself as one of the Reapers.

"Okay. So we make it into the intake door without any of the real Reapers seeing us. What happens then?" Bellamy asks.

"I kill everyone, and you two slip inside." Lincoln answers as he continues to smear blood across his body. "Limestone."

Bellamy digs through the pocket of his jacket searching for the mineral. He's dressed like Braeya and Lincoln, blending in to look like a grounder. Once he finds it, he hands it over to Lincoln who streaks it diagonally across his face, crossing over his eye.

"Let's go. We've got a lot of ground to cover before dark." The two stand up and Braeya takes the lead, walking just ahead of them. 

"I need to know what happened after the intake door." She listens silently from the front as they talk.

"They remove your clothes. Blast you with boiling water, then douse you with something that burns even worse. And then we were sorted, the others were tagged 'harvest.' I was tagged 'Cerberus,' and turned into a Reaper." Lincoln explains.

"Cerberus. Three-headed dog that guards the underworld. My mom read mythology to us all the time. Octavia loved it..." Bellamy briefly pauses, "You're good for her. You made her strong."

"She was already strong."

"Hey, I need to ask you something." Bellamy stops and Lincoln stops with him, causing Braeya to as she notices the sound of their footsteps disappear. "You protected my sister before you even knew her. Why?"

"When I was a boy... I saw a ship fall from the sky. Like Raven's. The man inside was hurt, his body broken. I couldn't get him out." Braeya listens to Lincoln curiously, wanting to know his reasons just as much as Bellamy.

Bellamy squints thoughtfully for a moment, "Suicide by Earth. I heard the stories in the guard. I just didn't know they were true."

Lincoln continues with his story, "I brought him food, water. I didn't speak the enemy's language yet. So I couldn't understand him, but I wanted to. So on the third day, I told my father... He made me kill him. The world's been trying to turn me into a monster for as long as I can remember. Now let's keep moving." He brushes past Braeya, heading south through the forest.

"Wait." Bellamy tries to call him back, "The parking garage where we found you... it's north, that way." He motions with his hand as she talks.

"There's a mine entrance closer to where the Reapers hand us over. We go into the underworld when we have to. Not before." Lincoln then takes off running, leaving Bellamy and Braeya to follow after him.

***

"What did you mean earlier?" Bellamy says to Braeya as the two trail behind Lincoln.

"Hm?" She hums in response.

"When you were trying to convince the Commander. You said 'don't stop me from helping my brother again.'"

"Oh..." Braeya sighs, "When he first got taken, I gathered up a group of my people to try and rescue him. As we got closer to Mount Weather, acid fog came and stopped us, it was a close call too. Everyone kept telling me we should turn back but I didn't want to give up. We camped out in one of the caves nearby for the night and in the morning, saw the Mountain Men roaming the forest, looking for us.

They knew we were there and we hadn't even made it to their gates. Finally, Aidric managed to convince me that we wouldn't be able to make it in, that we would come back again... When we got back, Indra was furious, but she understood why... she also banned me from going back for him until Lexa had come up with a proper plan to get all of our people out.