𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘—𝐓𝐖𝐎, torturous methods

      𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒, not knowing what to do until Clarke reaches the bottom of the ladder. She stands there not knowing if she should do anything, attempt anything, as Sam silently tells her that the radio's out. She stands there silent, hands frantically running through her hair while Raven paces around her, and Clarke rushes towards them.

      "They were fine, and — and then —".

      "Get my mother on the radio, now!" Clarke commands, but she's met with the disappointed look of Sam, who has guilt radiating off of him, even though she knows that there's nothing he should feel guilty over.

      "The radio's dead, interference from the storm".

      She looks over at Clarke, who pushes the tables as close as possible together, giving her the ability to easily watch over the two. She hopes that she can figure out what to do without the guidance of her mother, but with the look on Clarke's face, she's not sure that it's possible.

      "Please don't let him die".

      Those words create a pit in her stomach, reminding her that they're in uncharted territory — they don't know what to do, and they're stuck with two teenagers who are seizing, inching closer to death by the minute. She stands over Quinn, looking at her seizing form, trying to rack her brain for any sort of medical knowledge that might be buried deep down, but she's met with nothing. She has absolutely no idea what to do, what to say, or how to act in this situation to benefit anyone.

      She's become used to following the commands of others, helping them when needed. She's adapted to this, becoming an assistant rather than finding some sort of other job she could have. She's trying her best, but with no way to assist anyone, she feels hopeless — the most hopeless and helpless that she's felt on Earth.

      "Shit — the seizing is slowing down" She announces, watching as Quinn's rapid shaking slows down in speed, showing that her seizing will stop soon, and she silently prays that this is the last time she'll see the girl in this state — but the voice in the back of her head is reminding her that there truly is nothing but woods, as she said earlier. Quinn is stuck in the middle of the foods, and with every second, her way out seems to disappear.

      Clarke looks up at her. "Okay, uh, help me get them on their sides".

      She rolls Quinn over onto her side, watching as her seizing dies down and foam from the fluid in her lungs threatens to spill out of her mouth. She almost sighs in relief as the seizing stops, but forcing herself not to when she looks up to see a frozen Raven, standing still in place.

      "Raven! There's fluid in his lungs — you have to help me roll him over on his side" Clarke frantically explains, snapping Raven out of her previous thoughts. She watches from the side, hoping that Finn's seizing stops just like Quinn's did — and she finally lets out the short sigh of relief when she sees that both have stopped seizing.

      She watches Clarke feel his forehead. "He's burning up!".

      "Fluid in his lungs? Does that mean the knife hit something?".

      "No this isn't blood, it's something else. I — I did everything she told me" Clarke lets out, which only makes Makayla more nervous. The lack of knowledge that Clarke has of why this is happening, what is causing this, only forms a larger pit in her stomach, causing her to glance down at the unconscious Quinn, hoping that it's something that they can handle with their limited supplies.

      "Wait, I've seen this before — shortness of breath, fever, seizing" Clarke looks up at them all, causing the other blonde to look up as well. "It's poison".

      If she wasn't nervous and frantic before, she sure as hell is now. Poison isn't something they have the supplies for — and even if they had guidance from Abby, or any of the other doctors or nurses on the Ark, they'd still be clueless, still working against something they have no idea how to handle.

      Sam looks over at them. "I thought everything was sterilized — I mean, we watched you sterilize everything".

      She nods along, confirming what the boy said because she knows it's true. She was there when everything was sterilized, and her own hands were sterilized with Monty's moonshine. Nothing that they did is the root cause of this, which makes it even worse. They have no idea how the two were poisoned, left clueless and in the dark on what to do — or how to combat this.

      "Not everything" The blonde says, grabbing one of the knives. She looks at the others, making eye–contact with Makayla, silently trying to tell her that she can handle this. "Stay here".

      She watches as the blonde climbs up the ladder, leaving them to deal with whatever happens next alone, without any sort of medical knowledge. She understands why the girl decided to leave — the blade was poisoned, and they need to find out what was on it. And, the only person that knows what's on it, and how to combat it, is the Grounder.

      It dawns on her that maybe it's slightly good that they have the Grounder with them, if he'll even speak to them. She's almost certain that he won't, and he'll leave them in the dark, keeping them away from any and all knowledge of how to cure the two. But she has a little hope, that without torture, they'll be able to get an answer.

      "This is an absolute fucking shit–fest" Sam announces, sitting on the chair next to the radio and burying his head in his hands. "I doubt she'll get anything out of the Grounder — if whatever the hell Bellamy's doing up there with him is actually being effective, we probably would've known about the poison by now".

      Raven's crouched next to Finn, her head buried in her hands next to the boy. She can see the worry finding its way onto the girl's face, the girl looking almost close to tears. "I need it to work".

      "I just wish she didn't leave us here without any fucking idea on what to do".

      She walks over to Quinn, glancing over the girl's unconscious form. "What if something else goes wrong — the fact that I'm our next best bet at a fucking doctor isn't good" She begins, picking at the skin by her nails, creating small little open wounds next to them. "I'm completely fucking clueless, and before today, the most I knew how to do was put a band–aid on a cut".

      "You're not that bad at this, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out" Sam urges, trying to reassure her, but she only stands there, a sad look painting her face. She's worried that something else bad will happen, leaving them to rely on her shitty medical knowledge to save them.

      She does know how to check a pulse, though, and does so as Sam speaks. And she's sure all the color has drained from her face as she looks up, feeling absolutely nothing, not even a sliver of a heartbeat under the girl's skin.

      "She's not breathing" She announces, frantically looking at the others, watching Raven's hand fly over Finn's wrist, checking to see if the same is true for him.

      The brunette girl glances between her and Sam, color drained from her face. She already knows the answer without the girl needing to say anything. Neither of the two are breathing, and Clarke's stuck up at the top of the dropship, trying to get answers out of the Grounder.

      "What the hell are we supposed to do?" She questions, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. She's clueless, and she feels the hope leaving her body by the second.

      "We need to do CPR" Sam responds, rushing over to her side and begins compressions on the brunette. She had almost forgotten that with being a mechanic, Sam was required to learn the process of CPR. Why he didn't announce this sooner, she doesn't know, but she's thankful he's there to do something more than simply stand still.

      She watches him start chest compressions, silently counting the time difference between each compression he does, trying to figure out how to do it herself. It pains her, and she swears she can hear slight cracks in the girl's ribs, but she thinks she's caught on — somehow.

      Raven, however, is frozen in place from fear and panic, her brain not functioning how it normally would because of the state her boyfriend is in. All her body is allowing her to do is stand still, frozen in fear, watching and waiting — not being able to do anything to help. The blonde sees her panic, and figures that she won't be starting compressions anytime soon.

      "Hey — help Raven. I think I got it from here" She says, making Sam stop and let her take over. She tries her best to do the chest compressions, trying not to let tears spill out of her eyes as she checks Quinn's pulse every few seconds, only to feel nothing. It only worsens how she feels, creating a larger pit in her stomach with every check she does.

      Almost a minute passes when she hears Raven announce that he's breathing again, giving her slight reassurance — but she has yet to get Quinn to begin breathing again, which only causes the pit in her stomach to grow and makes her want to double over and throw up. Everything — the fact that it's not working, the fact that they don't have a real doctor with them is making her sick, twisting her nerves in ways she didn't know could be twisted before.

      "C'mon, Quinn, please" She urges, her voice low as she continues compressions. She tries to fight the sickness she feels, the dread that's telling her that it's hopeless. She's wishes she could snap her fingers and make this all stop, and this situation wouldn't be the one they're in. She wishes she could snap her fingers and turn this into the paradise she wanted, the paradise that they deserve to have.

      And then she finally hears Quinn take the quietest of breaths.

      "Holy fuck" She groans out, wiping a fallen tear from her cheek. The stress fades away, only slightly, leaving her to back away and rest her head on the wall, taking a few deep breaths. She sniffles, and silently curses herself for getting this emotional, even though she just stopped her friend from dying — something she never thought she would do.

      Clarke should've been the one doing this — the one with real, professional training from the doctors on the Ark. She's well aware that Sam has only learned how to do this through movies and shows, making his knowledge on how to do this procedure lackluster, leaving them almost helpless.

      She eyes the other knife — the one that she placed on the table, close to Quinn but not too close. The same knife that she somehow figured out how to safely extract from the girl's thigh. The same knife that has poisoned her friend, someone she cares so much about.

      She storms towards it, snatching it from the table, almost feeling like she's on a warpath as she rapidly walks towards the ladder. All she can think about is how the girl needs to be down there with the two unconscious teens, watching and overseeing them, using her actual medical knowledge to help them, instead of leaving it up to three teens who don't know shit about medical procedures.

      "Wait — Mick, what are you doing?" She hears Sam question as she places her foot on the bottom rung of the ladder, forcing her to turn her head back as she sniffles one more time.

      "Clarke should've been the one doing those compressions, not me or you. Do you really think it's right that the three people who don't know shit about anything medical are the ones overseeing the people who need medical attention?" She begins, her voice being more fierce and louder than she expected. "I don't care if she wants to pull some righteous leader bullshit, I'm not pulling any more medical knowledge out of my ass to save my friends".

      She turns her head, leaving the two with Quinn and Finn, quickly climbing the ladder. She sees the latch open, hearing the voice of Clarke quietly echo, not knowing fully what she's hearing. She doesn't bother to see who's on the second floor, possibly seeing if anyone else could help them, only making her way through the hatch.

—————————————————————————————

      "𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐃𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆?" She hears Bellamy question, forcing her to look over at him as she finds her footing on the top floor of the dropship.

      She shoots him a glare as he moves between her and the Grounder, blocking her view of the man. She scoffs, the anger and stress coursing through her veins causing her to lose her patience. "Getting answers — is that not the whole point of this?".

      "Is everything okay down there?" Clarke asks, walking over and noticing the blade in her hand. Nothing is okay on the first floor of the dropship — she's baffled that Clarke would even ask that. Nothing is okay about hopelessly trying to resuscitate a friend with shitty CPR, nor is there anything okay about leaving behind the few people with no medical knowledge.

      She tries not to glare at Clarke, but she's sure the glare came through anyway. "No — nothing's okay down there! You left me with them, and I don't know shit about saving people, or CPR, or any of the other bullshit that you know!" She begins, her tone and voice being louder than she expected, bouncing off of the walls that surround them.

      She sniffles, trying not to show that she's getting emotional once more about the CPR she had to perform. "They stopped breathing, Clarke. And I don't know shit about CPR, and neither does Sam or Raven, so I think you can imagine how it felt attempting to do chest compressions with no training" She stares her in the eyes, her emotions raging through her. "Quinn's life was in my hands, and her being my responsibility isn't the best option".

      "I — I didn't know".

      She rolls her eyes. "Bullshit. You knew what you were doing when you left me down there with them, leaving me to be responsible for things that I don't know how to control — o–or any of the shit you just expected me to know".

      She wipes her cheek. "You're the doctor, Clarke. Not me".

      Clarke nods, telling her that she'll go down there to help — if there's even anything else to help with. That leaves her on the top floor of the dropship, surrounded by teenage delinquents that are glaring daggers towards her, and Octavia — who has a desperate and emotional look on her face, trying to give the blonde the smallest of smiles.

      She looks at Bellamy. "Let me through".

      "No".

      She pushes past him anyway, barely escaping his attempt at keeping her away from the Grounder — which was a lame attempt at grabbing her arm — only to be met with a horrific sight. His face is bloodied and bruised, a frown painted on it. Tattoos peak through the sleeves of his shirt — she's surprised there's even one left, having assumed that the torture that she believed Bellamy was doing would've gotten that harsh.

      She turns her head back towards Bellamy. "This is inhumane!".

      "Oh yeah? And letting our friends die isn't?".

      She scoffs, turning back towards the Grounder. She cautiously steps forward, a concerned and pleading look on her face. "How do we reverse the poison?" She questions, her voice low and quiet. "Please. My friends are dying".

      "He doesn't understand you" She hears Octavia say from behind her, which only makes the pit in her stomach grow. It makes her sick to her stomach, knowing that there's almost nothing they can do about this. By the looks of it, there's no way to change things, no way to tell if he really does understand them, and is just hiding it. Leaving them with no answers, no way to save their friends, and a Grounder that refuses to say a word.

      The familiar feeling of hopelessness finds its way into her mind, telling her that they'll never find a way to heal them. She's not even sure that there's an antidote somewhere, but she thinks he'd be foolish to not carry one. But what if they didn't bring it back with them? What if it's somewhere else? What if he didn't have it on him at the time of them going back for him?

      The questions rage through her mind, telling her, screaming at her that all hope is lost — that there's nothing they can do about the situation that Finn and Quinn are stuck in. They have no way to reverse the poison, to get rid of the pain they feel because of it. Her mind can only imagine how they're be stuck going in and out of seizures, while Clarke tries her best to keep their hearts beating with CPR, until they can't do anything anymore.

      There's the clinking of small glasses beside her, and she turns to see Octavia with a small container of vials. From the looks of it, it looks like the vials contain some sort of antidote — but she can only assume that they're not all a cure–all, and probably only contain a cure for a specific poison.

      She grabs the container, giving a small smile to Octavia as a 'thank you'. She sniffles, looking over the vials, and then back up to the Grounder. "Please, which one is the antidote?"

      She doesn't get a response, which only causes her to bite back a few more tears. Her emotions are running high, nothing being able to calm her down. The hopeless feeling creeps back in, reminding her that if they don't get an answer, her friends won't survive. They'll succumb to the poison, and be another life that has been taken by the Grounders.

      "I'll get him to talk".

      His words are like poison, causing her to feel sick to the stomach. She's sure that she could run to a corner and vomit at any second, the thought of being a witness to the torture driving her insane. It was one thing when she thought the Grounder was being tortured — it was something that she wanted to deal with, but she had other matters to deal with. And her thoughts were proven wrong, no sign of actual torture in sight. But being a witness to this — this is not something she imagined would ever happen. And she can't let it happen — nothing in her telling her that she can just stand off to the side, letting the Grounder be tortured.

      She spins on her heels, blocking his pathway at easily getting to the Grounder as he grabs the nearest object — a seatbelt. She stands with her head high, her morals not letting her sit back and watch. Octavia seems to have the same mindset, arguing against her brother's actions, trying to pull him back, keeping him away from torturing the Grounder.

      "Bellamy, no!" Octavia shouts, pulling her brother back, arguing with his decisions. Nothing about what he's trying to do is right, and will only end up with more repercussions. His actions are inhumane — even keeping the Grounder stuck locked up in chains is wrong. Nothing about this is right, and there's no way he can make this right.

      "He wants them to die, why can't you see that?" Bellamy shouts back, arguing against his sister's behavior. Makayla doesn't move from her place, knowing that she can't let him go through with this — even if it seems like they're nearing desperate times. She watches him turn to face her, hints of anger showing on his face. "Do you want them to live or not?".

      "I do, but —".

      "But what? Your whole fucking wanting–to–keep–the–peace bullshit is keeping you from it?" He counters, staring her down. She bites her tongue, the harsh words he's throwing at her hitting her in her core. "This is reality, Makayla. If you can't accept it, then I don't know what else to tell you".

      She lets out a breath. "There has to be another way — torturing people? This isn't who we are!".

      "It is now" He spits out, looking over at Miller, who's sitting by the hatch, watching everything happen. She doesn't want to know his intentions, not wanting him to get anyone else involved — his inhumane actions should only be affecting him, not others. But it only seems like he will continue to rope people into what he's doing, causing other people's morals to be hurt.

      He glances back at Makayla, who's still blocking him from reaching the Grounder. "Miller, get her out of the way. Preferably out of here".

      Her face pales — it dawns on her that Bellamy is on a warpath, and won't let anyone get in his way. There are so many things that could go wrong with this, so many things that could happen because of his actions, the effect of what he's about to do having the power to change the course of everyone else's life, and not just his.

      She barely registers that Miller has arrived at her side, pulling her by the arm away from the Grounder, until she's a few feet away. Her back is turned to the Grounder, and she can almost feel Bellamy's looming presence over the chained man, who has no ability to defend himself. She bites her cheek, almost feeling her insides twist at the thought of what's going on behind her — but Miller and another member of the camp keep her back turned away from the Grounder, not allowing her to see what's actually happening.

      "Show us the antidote, or you'll wish you had" She hears Bellamy threaten, and she holds her breath to avoid throwing up. Her arms are hooked between the two other boys', giving her no room to even attempt to fight back against Bellamy's barbaric actions. She doesn't want to sit by and watch — she wants to make sure they save their friends without going against their morals, becoming people they don't want to be. She tries to fight back against the hold they have on her, but it's no use.

      There's a ripping noise, and she can only assume that Bellamy's ripping his shirt. The image of the Grounder being whipped over and over again, continuously without fail plays in her head, forcing her to close her eyes as she tries not to let tears spill over, knowing that their humanity is slowly being destroyed with every second that passes, with every slow movement towards physically torturing the Grounder.

      There's a pause — almost like Bellamy's hesitating to go through with it. She hopes there's real hesitation, that he doesn't want to do this, but feels like he must. The tension hangs in the air, weighing down on everyone's shoulders, showing that if they go through with this — they're all to blame. Everyone will have this on their conscious — not just Bellamy, but every person standing there.

      And then it happens. A loud crack comes from the seatbelt Bellamy is using as a whip, and she can feel her heart ache, her soul break into pieces with every mark that forms on the Grounder's skin. Every groan aches her heart, every plead she hears from Octavia feels like a punch to the face. Everything that she's argued against, everything she doesn't believe in, is happening on her watch.

      She doesn't know how many marks have formed on the Grounder's skin. She doesn't want to. She just knows that she can't sit on the sidelines anymore, watching, waiting for the Grounder to reveal the antidote — she's almost sure he won't. She tugs her arms away from the two boys, barely escaping Miller's attempt to keep her restrained, with her eyes looking anywhere but at the Grounder.

      She turns, and sees what she's sure will haunt her dreams forever. Bellamy continues to whip the Grounder, anger infused with every action he takes, his devotion to wanting to save their friends showing through. But this? This isn't how she wants them to go about it, and with every mark that appears on the Grounder's body, the more she can feel her morals fading away.

      She rushes towards them, pushing Bellamy out of the way before he can let another mark form on the Grounder's body. An act of defiance, one that she's sure will somehow get her punished. But she doesn't want to let the Grounder get hurt anymore. She's not sure that she can handle it.

      "This isn't who we are! You can't keep doing this, it's not right!" She argues towards him, countering every movement he attempts to make towards the Grounder with a step to block him.

      Bellamy rolls his eyes. "It's what we have to do — they're dying down there!".

      She scoffs, countering another one of his attempts to move towards the Grounder with a few steps to block him, swearing there's some sort of hypocrisy in his words. "Do you not understand the gravity of what you're doing? Can you not imagine the consequences to your actions?".

      His silence speaks louder than his words.

      "This isn't right, and I think you know it. There has to be another —".

      "Another way? Really? Please, Makayla, I'll wait for you to enlighten me with your so–called 'peaceful' method of getting answers, but every second I wait, the closer they are to dying. Do you want their blood on your hands?" He counters, his tone being laced with venom and impatience. 

      She stays silent, maintaining eye contact with him. To a certain extent, she knows he's right. Every second wasted makes it harder for them to save their friends, and she doesn't want their blood on her hands. Every second unused in attempting to find the antidote leaves more room for failure in attempting to save their friends. It pains her, making her feel like she is choosing between two wrongs, but she still doesn't want to go against her morals. Everything she stands for is being hung over the edge of a cliff, and she has to decide whether or not to let it die.

      She grabs the container of vials off the ground, and rushes in front of the Grounder. She begs, she pleads for him to tell them which one is the proper antidote — which one will save their friends — but he doesn't budge. She holds up one, and another, and another, hoping he'll say it, hoping he'll reveal the truth, but he doesn't say a word.

      A hand reaches her shoulder, motioning for her to get out of the way. Tears are welled up in her eyes, and she doesn't listen to what the voice behind her says, whatever words are used to attempt to make her feel better. She doesn't want to let this happen, to let a human life be tortured, but with every passing second — and every sad attempt she makes at getting answers from him — she realizes that parts of what Bellamy's saying is right.

      They are in desperate times. And sometimes, though she doesn't want to believe it, it calls for the worst kind of measures — the kinds that involve torture. She steps away, not wanting to know what Bellamy decides to do next, and sits off to the side. Her head is in her hands, her conflicting thoughts battling each other in her mind.

       He stalks towards the Grounder once again, not hesitating to bring the seatbelt into contact with his skin. And it happens again. And again. Over and over, again and again, driving Makayla crazy enough to the point where she thinks she's pulled out too much hair. The sound bouncing off the walls makes her feel sick, making her feel like she's the one being attacked — like a punch to the gut, leaving her battered and bruised because she knows she can't do anything to stop this.

      She chokes her sobs in, keeping the vials on her lap as she tries not to cry. No matter how hard she tries, no matter how hard she pleads, she won't be able to stop Bellamy's actions. She's stuck between her conflicted thoughts, and the morals she's had for years hanging over her head, being a burden on her shoulders as every whip reverberates off the walls of the dropship, telling her to fix this. To find another method of getting answers — but she knows there isn't one.

      "Makayla! They're getting worse!" She hears, figuring out that it's Raven calling to her from the bottom of the dropship. She doesn't want to imagine how worse their condition is getting, only knowing that they need to figure out something soon. She picks her head up out of her hands, cursing under her breath as she grabs the vials out of her lap and rushes towards the Grounder. 

      She pushes Bellamy out of the way, stopping him from whipping the Grounder once again. She can hear him curse at her once again, his voice filled with exasperation, but she doesn't care. "Tell us which one it is! Please" She begs, thrusting the container of vials in front of him. "They'll stop this — I'll make sure of it, but please, help us save our friends".

      There's silence once again. She can only imagine the condition her friends are in, lying hopeless on the bottom floor. She looks at the Grounder with tear–filled eyes, registering the fact that it's hopeless. They won't get an answer out of him, no matter how hard they try.

      A slamming noise comes from behind her, causing her to jump as she turns her head to see the seatbelt that was once in the hands of Bellamy, causing harm, thrown into a corner. He stomps towards a pile, looking through the area for something, anything, as he says, "If that doesn't work, maybe this will".

      His hand emerges from the pile with what looks like an elongated nail, but she settles on the idea of it being a shitty blade that was tossed away by someone because it wasn't effective. She looks at him, feeling sick to her stomach once again, only imagining the things he's planning on doing to torture the Grounder with the blade.

      He looks over at her, staring at her tear–filled eyes. She sniffles, knowing what he's going to do isn't something she wants to see. But she needs to be here when they find the antidote, not wanting to go back to the stress of trying to resuscitate her friends.

      "You don't have to be here for this" He says to her, and she barely registers what he's saying. She stands there, glancing between the Grounder and him, knowing that there's only so many things she can say, only so many things she can do in this situation.

      "I — I can't leave without the antidote".

      She steps away, finding a spot close to Octavia. She wonders if she feels as sick as she does — wondering if she thinks there's no other option for them to go with. No other method to getting the antidote, only being able to rely on the torture that's hurting all of their consciouses. 

      She holds her hands to her stomach, not sure what to do. Her head is telling her to watch, since she's allowing this to happen. But her heart — her heart begs for her to look away, or do something, though she knows it's impossible. Her heart aches for the Grounder, knowing he's in pain, knowing that he has multiple pairs of eyes on him, just watching him.

      And then Bellamy stabs him through the hand.

      She looks away, almost urgently, bunching up her dirty hair in her hands as she glances anywhere else, trying not to projectile vomit somewhere. Her insides itch to climb up her throat, the sound of the Grounder's groans hurting her in a way she didn't know she could hurt. They echo off of the walls, bouncing around her eardrums, finding it's way into her body, cursing her to feel pain for the Grounder.

      "What's taking so long?".

      The voice of Raven causes her to turn around, but she tries to avoid looking towards the Grounder. She's afraid of what Raven will say next — she's not sure if she can handle the brunette telling her that something worse has happened, telling her that all of this — all of the torture, all of the pain the Grounder is feeling is all for nothing. She doesn't think she can handle it, as much as she wants to push through.

      The brunette glances over at the blonde. "They stopped breathing again".

      She bites her cheek to stop herself from throwing up, to try and keep the sickness down. She knows she can't handle it, knowing that her friends have stopped breathing again. Knowing that they've just began inching closer to death once again, giving them less time — less time than they had before.

      "They started again — Clarke was able to get them to start breathing, but next time they might not" The brunette continues to explain, but she doesn't think it's calming her nerves whatsoever. The chance that they might not breath again is high, and if they don't get the antidote, both of their friends are as good as dead.

      She hesitates as Raven grabs her arms. "He hasn't told us anything".

      There's a look of rage in Raven's eyes, one that makes Makayla feel sick. Her insides churn as she watches the brunette's eyes dart around the room, anger fueling every glance. She's scared at what this means — what it means for the Grounder, for the camp. She's not sure if her anger will cause her to do something, something she can't redeem herself from. It terrifies her — more than she has been with every movement Bellamy has made to harm the Grounder.

      "Wanna bet?" The brunette questions, letting go of Makayla's arms and rushing over to the other side of the third floor of the dropship. Her steps are quick — not leaving a second of time to waste, immediately finding some loose wires and pulling them off the wall. Her face pales as she realizes what Raven is about to do, how she's about to harm the Grounder. Even Bellamy seems to question her actions, being unsure of what she's doing as she causes sparks to erupt from the wires.

      The brunette looks around the room, making eye contact with the blonde. It terrifies her. "I'm showing him something new".

      She can't help but look away, not wanting to see what the brunette is doing. She can hear the groans, the grunts of pain coming from the Grounder, who she's sure wants to be free of this pain. Her brain tells her to watch, to come to terms with the fact that she's allowing this to happen, even though she could make it to Raven within a few steps to stop her.

      But she's frozen. She feels like she's stuck like this a lot.

      "WHICH ONE IS IT? COME ON!" Raven shouts as she hits the Grounder with the live wires once again, briefly taking out the power in the dropship before it slowly comes back on again. She does this again, again, and again, shouting at the Grounder to tell them which one is the antidote. To give them the answer they've been searching for, the answer that will help their friends. "HE'S ALL I HAVE!".

      It's painful. Standing on the sidelines, even though she knows no sort of begging will change their knowledge. No matter how hard she tries, and begs, and pleads with the Grounder for him to give her the answer she wants, she won't get an answer. She turns, facing the Grounder from a far, seeing the pained look on his face. She wants to bash her head into a wall for not finding another way, for not being able to get an answer through peace. It hurts her, makes her heart ache. 

      "NO MORE!".

      She turns, seeing the tear–filled eyes of Octavia staring ahead, holding the knife she lost in the chaos of the torture in her hand. She holds it up, almost like it's a declaration, telling them that this cannot go on. She doesn't know what the girl is planning, but she wants it to work. She begs and pleads in her mind for it to work.

      "HE'S LETTING FINN DIE!" Raven shouts back at her, rage and exasperation filling her voice. 

      There's hesitation. Octavia stares back at her, tears in her eyes. "He won't let me die".

      She slices her arm with the poisoned blade, her brother shouting at her to stop. Makayla's frozen in place, not knowing what to do. She'd stop Octavia — she wants to, but there's gears turning in the brunette's head. She has an idea, and she won't stop her from stopping the torture and getting the answer they've wanted this entire time.

      She rushes forward, kneeling in front of the Grounder with a desperate look on her face. She points the blade in front of a vial, question the Grounder if it's the right one. He shakes his head weakly, and the blonde watches at the brunette repeats the process, over and over again.

      The brunette holds up a vial, blood running down her arm. Her act is desperate, one that Makayla respects — she knew there was a plan forming in the girl's mind when she sliced her arm. There's hesitation from the Grounder before he nods his head slightly, though it's a weak nod, it's something. 

      It's what they've needed this entire time.

      Before she can even register what's happening, the vial is thrust into her hands by Octavia, who's wiping her tear–stained cheeks. She rushes to the ladder, but not before looking back at the remaining members of the camp who still remain on the top floor. She hopes they feel guilt — because she knows that she does — for everything they've done to the poor Grounder. The torture, the emotional damage — things that no person should have to go through.

      She hopes their morals are tainted with this now. Because she knows that the morals and standards she's held so high are tainted, a shadow hanging over her head. Even being a bystander, watching and letting it happen has left her to be a part of what happened — she's let herself be part of the actions that may have just changed the course of everyone's lives at the camp forever.

      She doesn't enjoy that whatsoever.

      𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 —

mick crashed out and had a crisis. this was what i was talking about.

i have mixed feelings about the actions taken in this episode, specifically the torture, and i think that reflects in mick's feelings about this. she's been obsessed with keeping peace the entire time, and doesn't want conflict, but she also wants to do what benefits her friends, so being put into this situation has really fucked with her head.

logically both bellamy and mick are right, but morally, that's mick. and this is important for their relationship in the future!

i really don't like stealing clarke's thunder, especially in big scenes like this, but mick needed her moment with this. like i couldn't pass up this opportunity to have my girl crash out.

this is also probably my best chapter, and longest, so that's why this author's note is so long. it was just going to be one chapter with the last one, but it seriously would've been over ten thousand words and i don't like having my chapters that long.

anyways xoxo!

𝟔𝟕𝟒𝟔 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒