Chapter Thirty —
Power

Rosa was tense as she stood beside Harry, Lexie and Campbell, all of them watching silently as a large crowd began to gather in the freezing cold outdoors, awaiting their former leader's appearance.

The air was rife with whispers of anticipation, soon growing quiet the moment the car holding Allie and Will pulled up alongside them, the breaks whining as the vehicle came to a stop.

Rosa had easily picked out Sasha in the midst of the crowd, her friend turning her head firmly in the other direction the second their eyes threatened to meet. It was hard for both of them to put on such a strong act.

Rosa found herself wondering whether the remaining few people on Allie's side would rebel against Harry and Lexie, or whether they'd quietly accept defeat and rise up against them at a later time. Either way, she was certain that it would happen, one day or another. If Rosa didn't have that belief, that eventually the balance would be restored, then she wouldn't have risked everything to help make it happen.

She straightened her stance as the car doors were pushed open, the Guard forcefully dragging both teenagers to the front of the crowd, where they were immediately met with loud shouts and hollers from, what felt like, almost all the teenagers of New Ham.

"Traitors!"

"We trusted you!

"Liars!"

The jeers of the crowd quickly became overwhelming, people surging forwards to get closer to them. Rosa swallowed heavily as Harry took a step forwards, whistling loudly to silence everybody.

"These are people who we trusted," Harry began, raising his voice to be heard. "Who betrayed us. We wanted you to see them for who they really are!"

A rock was suddenly thrust in their direction, hitting Will hard in the stomach. He doubled over, grunting as he clutched his abdomen in pain. Rosa shifted her eyes elsewhere, keeping her head lifted, chin held high. She couldn't lose focus now, no matter what happened. Rosa had to see this plan through, she owed that to Allie.

"Hey!" Allie cried out, her voice cutting through the shouts surrounding them. "None of what they're saying is true! None of it!"

Another stone was launched through the air, hitting Allie hard above her eyebrow. Rosa involuntarily winced at the sight, watching with a heaviness in her chest as blood began to trickle from the open wound.

She released a breath, closing her eyes shut momentarily, desperately trying not to think too much of what was happening, or how she'd had a hand in causing this. Rosa couldn't let her emotions get the better of her, not now.

"No, no! No, stop!" Lexie shouted, stepping further in front of them. "Stop, okay? Listen to me. You cannot do it this way. We'll figure it all out, but not like that, because we are not a mob. All right? We still have rules here. We'll figure out what their punishment should be, eventually."

"What the fuck's going on, Luke?"

Rosa's heart plummeted to the pits of her stomach.

Grizz.

She should have been absolutely relieved that he was back home safe, she should have been running over and flinging her arms around his neck, but his presence made her feel unbelievably sick, her entire body wracked with an overwhelming amount of guilt.

"Stay quiet, Grizz," Luke warned him.

"What are you doing, Clark?" Gwen questioned from beside Grizz, a deep frown settling on her face.

It was understandable that the group returning from the expedition were left completely and utterly confused as to what was happening, and it was also evidently clear that not a single one of them liked what they were seeing.

"Rosa?" Grizz asked, unable to hide the surprise from his voice as his eyes landed on his best friend stood beside Harry Bingham. "What the fuck?"

Rosa swallowed the thick lump in her throat, dread filling her as she desperately tried not to meet her best friend's disappointed stare. But she couldn't help herself, feeling her own eyes welling up with tears when he watched her, betrayal written over his face.

"Did you find land, Grizz?" Allie called out to him, one last hope in a time of descending darkness.

"Yeah, Allie, we found land to farm," Grizz responded, his concerned eyes still drifting over the sight in front of him, trying to comprehend how they'd managed to get in such a situation, and what the hell Rosa was doing front and centre of it. "And animals and fish," he informed, moving to the front of the crowd. "Why is she bleeding?" He asked Luke with a frown, motioning towards Allie. His disturbed eyes then flickered up to Rosa, but she couldn't meet his gaze, or give him an answer to his questions.

"A lot happened while you were gone," Luke replied vaguely. "You'll find out later."

Grizz let out a breath of exasperation, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked between Luke and Rosa.

The noise in the crowd began to rise once more, mixing with protests from those who now had the confidence to come out in support of Allie.

"Hey," Rosa stepped forwards, her voice wobbling for a moment as she realised she had absolutely no idea what the fuck she was going to say. "Hey! Listen up!" She raised her voice, the firm assertiveness in her tone seeming to finally capture the entire attention of the crowd. "Look, I...I know so many of you are confused, especially those of you who have just come back." Her eyes drifted over the faces of Grizz, Gwen and Bean, the hard stares she received in response, along with noise of rebellious response from some of the crowd, making her shift uncomfortably on her feet.

She wondered what the hell she was thinking standing up there, knowing she should have stayed in the background, the exact same way that Campbell was hiding unnoticed. But Rosa had inadvertently made herself a face of the hate campaign against Allie the moment she publicly lied about her, to gain the trust of the town, and now she had no other choice but to ride it out.

It may have meant she would never be forgiven, or trusted, ever again, but if she could take even the smallest control of the town back from Campbell, if she could help restore Allie as the rightful mayor, if they could continue living, then it was going to be worth everything.

"I know you feel lied to, disgusted, we all do," Rosa continued, making a pointed effort to shift her firm stare towards Allie. The blonde stared blankly back at her, emotion hidden from her face, and Rosa struggled to keep her eyes stern, gaze almost softening the moment she locked eyes with the girl. She hadn't realised how much she'd grown to care about Allie the past few months, and being on the complete opposite side to her was proving to become increasingly more difficult than she'd ever anticipated. "But we are all in good hands with Harry and Lexie, I promise you that. They are going to take this town forward, and they're going to do it the way it should have been done from the start. This is how we survive, and I assure you that we will survive together. But life– life has to be– no, life needs to be more than just survival. I promise you, together, we will make New Ham the best place it can possibly be. Our way of life. Our home."

The crowd seemed almost stunned into silence by Rosa's strong words, a quietness and stillness in the air present for the first time in a long while, startling not only Rosa, but many of the others.

She almost felt unnerved as she watched the power of her words wash over everybody, round eyes and intrigued faces staring up at her in response. And, despite the situation, she almost wanted to smile, realising the great task she'd managed to pull off. Finally, she had gotten everybody to stop and listen for one minute, and it was all her.

It was her that they had listened to.

"Listen," Lexie stepped forwards again, taking up the attention of the crowd once more.

Rosa tightened her jacket closer around her body, moving back beside Harry. He glanced over at her, his eyebrows arching slightly in surprise at her speech, just about catching the small smile that accidentally crossed her lips.

"Everything stays the same, okay?" Lexie continued. "When things change, they'll change slowly. We'll learn how to farm. We'll be okay. Just for now, go back to your houses. Dinner at 6:00 in the cafeteria, as usual. Just go home," she instructed, nodding her head along with her words. "Go home."

Upon Lexie's orders, the tightly gathered together crowd began to disperse, though some reluctantly, splintering off into different directions.

Rosa's eyes followed Grizz, not expecting him to completely walk away from everything. And she was right, he remained rooted to the spot, staring ahead of him with narrowed eyes.

Rosa quickly shifted her stare towards Allie, who was being held back by Jason.

She slowly began to pull herself towards Lexie, her lips drawn together in a firm line. "I know what you're thinking," Allie spoke darkly, briefly sparing a glance at Rosa and Harry. "What am I doing? This isn't me. But it is you." Her expression hardened. "That's how fast it happens."

"Hey, guys, come on, let's go," Harry urged, ignoring Allie as he waved his hands over at Clark and Jason.

The two members of the Guard tightened their holds on Allie and Will, forcefully yanking them back towards the car.

Allie's firm stare remained solely on Rosa as she was tugged backwards, and Rosa desperately took that moment to try and convey to her how truly sorry she was, and that she was still completely on her side, but all she could do was hope to God that, no matter how far things had gone, Allie believed that, and still believed in her.

"Rosa."

At the sound of Grizz's voice, she turned around, taking a deep breath in preparation for what was to come.

"Go home, Grizz." Was all she simply replied, barely managing to make eye contact with him.

His entire expression faltered, realising his best friend truly wasn't on his side.

A deep ache settled in Rosa's chest, her heart feeling as if it was practically shredding to pieces as she watched his entire expression fall, once hopeful eyes full of the harsh sting of betrayal.

"Rosa–"

She closed her eyes shut, desperately willing herself to hold herself together for one more minute.

"Grizz, go home," she repeated, finally turning away from him, unable to bare the look on his face for another moment longer. Grizz was staring at Rosa as if he didn't recognise her anymore, and it absolutely broke her heart.

"Come on Grizz," Sasha said, lightly touching his arm as she moved beside him, her eyes narrowed harshly at Rosa. "She made her choice."

Rosa's shoulders sank at the venomous words of her friend, having to remind herself that they weren't true.

She watched as Sasha began to guide a defeated Grizz away, the two people she loved more than anything leaving her behind. She bit down on her bottom lip as it began to quiver, exhaling shakily as she directed her eyes and her mind elsewhere.

Gently, Harry brushed his arm against hers as he inched closer towards her, but he didn't say a word, only an uneasy look, a flicker of doubt that neither of them could hide quick enough, being shared between them as they met each other's tortured eyes.

Rosa began to wonder if Harry finally started to realise the extent to what they had done.

Rosa knew that she was on the wrong side, but it was clear that they now had complete control of the town – for however long that would last.

The fate of New Ham was solely in their hands; and it was obvious that the important decisions rested on Rosa's shoulders just as much as Harry and Lexie's. Even if the final word would always be Campbell's, Rosa was now far too important in this plan. And, fortunately, that meant she wasn't expendable. No matter what Campbell believed, what he thought of her, she was key to this.

The thought of her significance prompted a dangerous smile to toy on her lips.

And as much as she hated the lies and deceit, as much as she hated the wrongdoings to Allie and Will, as much as she hated to lose her closest friends and the people she loved, Rosa could not deny the feeling sneaking up on her – the feeling that she was slowly becoming drawn to the desirable taste of power.

END OF PART ONE

A/N

And that's it for part one!!! Hope you all enjoyed reading it, and thank you so much for 80k reads, that's honestly crazy. Big thank you to those of you who vote and comment too, it means the world.

Please read the note after this to find out how I'm going to continue this story, with season 2 being cancelled by Netflix.

Again, thank you all so much for your support on this story, and I hope you'll all be back for part two 💓

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