❛ empire now ❜
★ ₊˚.  ❪ finn ❫
˗ˏ⋆ ˎ˗⠀┊  2x8⠀┊ ⠀❝ xvi ❞
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( tw | graphic murder , please please please read with some caution ! )

" OSLO ... "

Oslos mother, Anna Blane, stepped towards her son and wrapped him in a hug. She had been so busy with helping rebuild the ark that she had such little time to be with her son, and now that everyone's lives were on the line, she was making sure to spend every second with him. "Hi baby."

"Hi mom." Oslo smiled into his mother's shoulders, the two the same height or very similar. "I have to talk to Lincoln, with Kane, will you come with?"

Anna shook her head, stepping away from her son. Her features changes, hair drifting over her shoulders with each movement. "Oh, no dear. You know I don't like to associate with those things."

She meant the grounders. She meant Lincoln, who was in the medbay. She was disappointed in her son for all the interactions he's had with the grounders, yet when she had heard that he had killed some in the war before they arrived, she beamed with pride. Oslo couldn't ever figure out his mom some days. She was very black and white with the way she thought, and he saw colours in between the black and white.

Forcing a smile, Oslo gave his mom a quick kiss on her cheek before he waved see you later — because they only said goodbye in death. "Of course, see you later, mom."

When Oslo entered the medbay, he realized that Marcus Kane, Abby Griffin, Octavia Blake and Lincoln had already started the conversation without him. He entered, trying to be silent, but the door creaked when he closed it behind himself. "Sorry." He muttered and stepped towards Octavia, he bumped her side on purpose, sending her a soft smile.

"If we put Finn on trial ourselves, is your commander going to accept the outcome, even if we decide he belongs in jail?" Abby asks, not bothering to send Oslo an acknowledgment in his arrival. Kane had asked him to be here, not her, although she is the chancellor it seemed like the second Kane was back he made the calls.

Lincolns eyes said everything Oslo needed to know. The answer would be no, and he could tell before Lincoln said anything. "Even if she wanted to accept this deal, she'd be dead by morning. She'd know that."

Octavia, with a tilt of her head, eyes the man she has grown to love. "Your people would kill their own leader for being merciful?"

"For being weak. Finn killed innocent people. If death has no cost, life has no worth. That's how we live." Lincoln corrected Octavia, reaching out with his free hand and grasping her hand as he talked.

"I spent time with your commander. She's a visionary."

"And that's why you're all still alive. If it were up to some at her table, you wouldn't be." Lincoln looks between each and everyone around him. "If you don't deliver the boy, they'll send him in here and unless you shoot him dead, he'll make sure no one survives."

Kane, having been told something similar by the commander seemed to be more curious than the others. "Has he done it before?"

Lincoln hesitated. Does he tell the truth? Say how Anakin had been sent in by the commander to force clans to join her coalition by force after they refused. Or does he simply just say yes, with a small attempt at keeping a straight face? "He has, yes."

Abby shared one look with Marcus before she made up her mind. She was not going to let hundreds of her people die in exchange for one life, whose life may end in a massacre at the end. "Thank you."

Oslo, holding his breath waits for Abby to say something other than thank you. When she doesn't, he looks to the girl beside him. "She's going to turn him in."

"Oslo Blane." Abby glares hard, having heard his whisper. "Say any word, and I'll have you locked up until this is over."

Man, how Oslo hated her some days.

"FINN..."

Anakin crouched by the boy, he wrapped rope around his wrists, tightly to keep him secure. Anakin had captured Finn, after his escape, with the help of a John Murphy who only stood by and watch — but little did Anakin know, Finn and Murphy had talked and Finn had told Murphy to let him go, that he wanted to be punished for what he did.

Anakin helped the boy to his feet and led him away from the dropship. He calculated that by time he reached the spaceship, or the ark as Skaikru called it, the sun would have set and the only thing lighting the earth would be fire.

Murphy followed behind them. He had convinced Marie, who had been with Anakin, to take him with them so he had safe passage back. Apart of him felt guilty for not doing anything, but he knew it was ruining Finn from the inside out having to live with all the guilt. Murphy wanted to live, he was scared to die just like his parents had, he wanted to experience the earth and the good and bad that came with it.

"What'll happen to me?" Finn asked quietly as he walked beside Anakin, who was leading him. Finn wouldn't try to run away, he had accepted what was going to happen now. "Can I say goodbye?"

Anakin gave a curt nod. They would allow Finn to say goodbye, before he died. Contrary to what skaikru believed, the grounders weren't that cruel. They valued family and the friendships they make along the way. They would allow Finn a goodbye, one where he could smile and tearfully await his punishment.

"What'll happen to him?" Murphy asked Marie, quickening his steps to match the girls. "Mar?"

" Fire." Marie breathes out, casting a quick look to her mentor. "Because Finn killed the innocent, it starts with fire. Anyone who grieves will have a turn with the knife. At sunrise, the commander or her chosen will end it with her sword."

Murphy was flabbergasted as he eyed the girl he had been sent to earth with, the girl he had been beside in earth skills, and the girl whose cell was beside his. "You act like you don't care about him, Mar. You could be fighting for his life."

"He killed 15, he will suffer the pain of 15 deaths." Marie stated, taking a few steps ahead. When she stood beside Anakin, along the tree line where they could see the grounders, she looked over her shoulder. "Then there will be peace."

As Marie walked along the field, she couldn't help but think about what Murphy had put into her head. She was still apart of the hundred delinquents that had been sent to the ground, Finn being one of the ones who had been sent down with her. So many had already died, but just like Murphy, she was afraid to die and this was her chance at living.

"Heda." Anakin spoke as he stepped before his sister the commander. "We have the boy."

The boy. Finn was still a child. He wasn't an adult, he still had so many years to live if this wasn't his fate. Marie starts to get a horrible feeling in her chest and gut as Finn is tied to a wooden post. Is she really going to just let him die?

The commander, Lexa Kom Trikru steps towards Finn. She sends him a look, one that almost looks like she's saying sorry. "If you'd like to say your goodbye, you may." She announces to him, waiting for him to answer. When Finn nods, and asks to speak to Raven Rayes, Anakin is the one who has to collect her from the gate.

He stands there, waiting for the guards to fetch the one and bring her to him. When she arrives, a limp in her step, she follows behind Anakin towards where Finn is tied up. He stands off to the side as the two talk, and he can hear Raven crying into his shoulder before she lets go and steps away. She exchanges a look with Anakin, one that says she's ready.

Marie and Murphy move towards Raven, Murphy linking his hand with hers. The two with interlocked hands, clutch on to each other like there isn't a tomorrow, in this moment, they're each others life lines.

( description of death / murder /
torture ahead ! i apologize )

Anakin lights the fire underneath Finn, the heat causing him pain. Finn grunts as the fire continues to warm his body. He's lucky enough in this moment that the fire isn't touching him, just inches away from the bottom of his feet. But he can still feel the heat. When his shoes are so hot they melt against the soles of his feet, Finn lets out a scream of pain.

A father slices the skin over Finn's stomach, the blood dripping off the knife and sizzling when it reaches the charred forest floor beneath him. Blood travels down his stomach as the cut grows pink.

A mother slices his cheek, watching as the blood drips and slides down his jawline and into the ground.

A sister drags her knife across his shoulder, where her brother had been shot and killed, having bled out by the wound where three bullets entered his body.

A grandson slices above his chest, near his collar bone, where he had seen his grandmothers wounds that she had died from.

By the time everyone had been given a chance to use the dagger, passed between grounders that grieve, Finn is nearly unconscious. He had suffered blood lost, the pain of 15 cuts that robbed him of his blood. And with every cut he received, each one more deep than the last, Finn was ready to accept his final moments.

"Marie." Lexa calls out, her sword handle pointed towards Marie. "You'll do the honours."

Marie's breathing hitched. She was to kill him? That wasn't apart of her plan. No, no no no no. No. But it wasn't a choice, she knew that when Lexa stepped forward and placed her sword in her hand.

This was her final step. The grounders would accept her now, and she'd become the weapon that Anakin wanted her to be.

Marie, taking a step forward, places the tip of the commanders sword above where Finn's heart lays. She holds it there, as she locks her eyes with his tired ones.

Finn lifts his head slightly. "I'm sorry, Mar."

"I know." Marie pushes the sword in and she watches as the air Finn pushes out from his lungs with one final breath.

"No!" Raven screams, falling to her knees beside Murphy, who cradles her as she cries for the one who's head now droops and who's chest lies still. "Finn!"

Anakin reaches out when Marie hands the sword to Lexa. He clasps her arm in his. "Well done, Marie." He congratulates her on the life she took, knowing that her father watched behind the gate.

Finn had taken fifteen lives, and he had paid the price for what he had taken. Each live lost, including his own, now had a meaning.

Lexa turned towards the gate, where members of Skaikru stood. "Justice had been answered."

authors note ▅▅▅ ▅▅▅ by rora
bye finn, see you in some dreams! please take care everyone! this chapter touched on some topics that may be triggering. all though it wasn't extremely detailed, some parts were triggering. take care, with love, rora!