CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
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     TAYLOR STUMBLED out of the hole that had been created to get them out, her legs wobbling and her arm burning in pain. She leaned against Octavia for support, who was waiting there to receive all of the survivors.

     "Thank you," she breathed and Octavia nodded, tightening her grip in reassurance. "Everyone else is out?"

     Octavia nodded in response and Taylor was able to rest a little easier knowing that Kane, Abby, and her mother would be okay.

     Standing on her own, she hobbled out of the hole that had been created and looked at the wreckage around her.

     Where a village had proudly stood, it was nothing but ash and suffering. Mount Weather had done this. And Clarke knew. The screams of people rang out and many were helping tend to the injured.

     Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a collapsed building where a stream of loud bickering could be heard. When she limped closer, she found that Myers was trapped against a wall, Dria cursing in her language at him, unable to move as a result of the rubble.

     Taylor shifted the rock as best she could with her injured arm and called their attention to her. "Oh thank god," Myers exasperated, accepting the help with little hesitation. He exited the building and disappeared just as fast, and Taylor held out her hand for Dria to grab.

      She accepted it, and once she was out of the building, immediately spat at Taylor's feet. Pushing past her aggressively, she met the Commander at the peak of the hole where Taylor had climbed out of. Lexa. The Commander.

     Clarke stood beside her, both relatively unscathed. It made Taylor stop in her tracks. She hobbled over to the other side, where she could see the both of them clearly.

     She made eye contact with Clarke across the ditch, genuinely hurt when she saw her. Clarke stared back blankly as the crowd began to chant their word for Commander. Heda.

     All of that blind faith, when they had all the power in the world to prevent this.

     "What happened here will not stand," Lexa announced, voice steady and head held high. "The Mountain Men will fall. The dead will be avenged!"

     The crowd cheered along violently.

     "Enough! That's enough!" Abby yelled over the chants. "There are still others in the wreckage. We heard them. Go to work!"

     Everyone scrambled, the reality of the situation setting in with her words. Taylor made her way over to where Clarke stood, walking away from a conversation with Octavia and Abby not to far away, tending to Myers and her mother.

     Taylor didn't say anything when she approached her, only shoved her in the shoulders roughly. Her own arm protested painfully, but she ignored it.

     "I know what you did," Taylor hissed, stepping in front of her violently. "Seriously, Clarke, I don't know who you are. You were about to let me die. Let Octavia die. Let my mom die. Let Kane die. All of these innocent people. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

     Clarke looked shell shocked. She did a lot these days, but Taylor was finding her capacity for sympathy less and less when it came to her.

     "I had to. We couldn't give Bellamy's position away," Clarke explained earnestly, tears in her eyes as she did so. If guilt was eating her alive, Taylor was going to let it for that moment. She was crushed by a building, it felt fair to her that Clarke was crushed by a bit of guilt.

      "Whatever, Clarke," Taylor snapped, clenching her fists and feeling tears streaming down her own cheeks, making pathways through the dust that coated her face. "At least I know you weren't lying about our expendability. If the weakness is dead, there is no weakness right?"

     Before she could even process what Taylor had just spat at her, Abby approached hesitantly.

      "How's Kane?" Clarke asked, looking unbearably guilty at this point.

     "He'll live," Abby responded, obviously detached as she looked at her daughter.

     "That's good," Taylor stated, relieved at the news. Abby smiled at her weakly.

     "Thank you for all of your help," she said, putting a hand on shoulder thankfully while looking at Clarke. "We could really use your help."

     "I can't," Clarke responded. "We're leaving. I've arranged for a caravan to take you and the wounded back to Camp Jaha."

     "Clarke—" Abby began as she removed her hand from Taylor's shoulder, but the girl cut her off quickly. Taylor winced.

     "The sniper wasn't wearing a hazmat suit," she informed quickly, speaking of the man that was sent to pick off the survivors after the missile.

     "It's getting worse," Taylor mumbled, Clarke nodding along soberly.

     "The marrow treatment works," Abby realized, horrified at the very thought.

     "They're gonna kill all my friends," Clarke said in a light tone, matter-of-fact about it all.

     Taylor shook her head determinedly. "We're not going to let that happen. I'm coming with you," she decided, her voice not wavering for a moment.

     "Then you better hurry," Abby agreed gravely, a quiet sadness in her voice. "I'm going to have a look at you before you leave, Taylor."

     She nodded and walked over to where everyone who was being treated for injuries was taken to. After what looked like a devastating exchange with Clarke, Abby made her way over and gestured for Taylor to sit down.

     Taylor looked at Abby's tired expression, her eyes sad and nearly tearful — hardened so she could do her job.

     Gently she took her arm and told her, "Tell me when it hurts."

     When he arm moved back, she felt a searing discomfort in her bicep and nodded with gritted teeth.

     Abby stepped away and grabbed a few bandages before getting to work. Taylor broke the silence, assuring her, "I'll look out for her."

     The woman looked shocked that she would even say it despite everything that had happened. Abby was overcome with emotion and nodded silently as she created a sling for her arm.

     "Your mom is going to be okay," she whispered, Taylor nodding appreciatively. When the sling was complete, the two stood up and she was informed, "Keep that on a few days and don't aggravate the muscle. It's just been pulled, but we don't want it getting any worse."

     Taylor pulled Abby into a short one-armed hug and gave her a meaningful look. "Thank you, Abby."

     Clarke and Lexa waited expectantly with their group and what used to be the gates to the village. Dria stood proudly next to Lexa and Taylor wondered if she could ever do that if she'd known what Lexa just did. Indra stood next to them, wounded, but ready to fight. Octavia and Lincoln were not far behind.

     Taylor approached Clarke and nodded when she met her eyes. She wiped her mind as she joined the march into the rainy forest beside Clarke, Octavia, and Lincoln.

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     The fire reflected in her eyes as she sat beside it, something inside of her needing to take down Mount Weather more than anything else. She had never felt such a hatred, a contempt for something. Not even when they were fighting the Grounders.

     As the camp buzzed with activity while they waited for the signal that the acid fog was down, the stars looked clearer than ever.

     When her eyes drifted up, it felt quieter and she sighed. Constantly reassuring herself that everyone would be okay was the only thing that was getting her through it all.

     It was clear she was an outsider among all the Grounders around her, but he goal distracted her from that displaced feeling.

     Clarke approached her quickly, worriedly. She knew it was likely another crisis that she believed she might need help on.

     "Has Octavia been around?" she asked immediately, her tone conveying little tolerance for beating around the bush.

     "No, why?" Taylor responded, suddenly concerned. She had just assumed that Octavia was somewhere with Lincoln or Indra.

      Clarke lowered her voice, confessing, "I think Lexa might be trying to kill her. She figured it out. About Tondc."

     Taylor's eyes widened and she stood immediately, careful not to agitate her sling. "I need you to find Dria, I think she's one of the people ordered to do it. I'm going to look around, but the chances of helping her are higher if we have more eyes."

      "You meet me back here if you don't find anything and if you do, it better be because Octavia is alive," Taylor snapped shortly, Clarke nodding earnestly.

     When Taylor stepped away from the fire, her eyes scanned the encampment furiously. She looked around every tent desperately, remembering doing the same when she had disappeared from the dropship camp.

     Finally, she spotted Dria melting into the trees, her hand drawing her sword soundlessly. She followed her, attempting to match her quiet pace. But her heavy feet betrayed her, the dirt and sticks shuffling beneath her feet.

     Dria whipped around immediately, a venomous look on her face. "Go away," she hissed immediately and Taylor stepped forward with the shake of her head.

      "If you dare try and do anything to Octavia, I will kill you," Taylor responded, her eyes burning with anger. The metal of the gun in her waistband was now strikingly apparent to her.

     Dria laughed, pointing her sword at her injured arm. "That is a big threat from someone who can't even use one arm," she drawled, satisfied with herself. "You would never get that far, skaigada. Know better than to threaten me."

     Taylor took a step even closer until the tip of the sword was almost directly at her chest. She drew the gun from her waistband, lucky that her right arm was untouched.

     "And I think you should know better than to threaten my people. My sister. I'm not screwing around and I don't trust you," she said, putting in every effort to make her voice unwavering.

     Dria simply continued to smile wickedly and pressed the end of her sword into Taylor's chest. Taylor removed the safety off of her gun.

     "Maybe you are a threat that needs to be removed. Have you ever considered that?" Dria pushed, her eyes flickering toward her blade dangerously. "I will not even have to speak to Lexa before I kill you."

     Taylor smirked and let her finger hover over the trigger. "Except I know that you're smarter than that. People would notice that I'm gone and it would be apparent that it was your fault. Clarke wouldn't be so quiet about this and you need us to get your people out."

     There was a heavy silence. The truth of it all was that Taylor wasn't sure if Clarke really wanted her alive or not, judging by Tondc. But if it made her appear confident and dangerous, she had to make Dria believe that was the case.

     Dria slowly lowered her sword, backing a few steps toward the light of camp. "Tread carefully, skaigada. You're lucky Lexa is merciful. I am not."

     And she was gone. Taylor lowered her gun and put the safety back on with a trembling hand. Did that really just happen?

     She replaced the gun in her waistband hurriedly before pacing back to the camp.

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     Clarke assured her that she had spoken to Lexa about Octavia and that she would come around. Taylor didn't bother asking what Clarke bad threatened in order to make that happen. But she knew that it was true when she said it.

     It had been about three days they had been camped in that spot, just far enough away from Mount Weather.

     But in those three days of going insane from the waiting, nothing gave her more hope than the red streak across the sky. It was the signal from Camp Jaha.

     "He did it," Taylor breathed quietly, looking up at the sky from just outside Lexa's tent, smiling slightly.

     Suddenly, a loud horn sounded and thousands of Grounders cheered through the valley below their main camp. Taylor joined the bustle of preparations, first removing her sling. The arm was sore, but if it came down to it, she couldn't be vulnerable.

     She made eye contact with Clarke in the crowd and they nodded at each other in sync. They were going to war.

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     Thousands of Grounders were at her back as she marched with Clarke and Lexa, heading up the front of the massive army. Dria was on Lexa's other side, skillful at making it seem like their previous encounter didn't happen. So Taylor followed her lead, holding her head high beside Clarke.

     "Taylor, I just—" Clarke started quietly, making sure that no one beside them could hear very clearly. Taylor shook her head.

     "No, Clarke. I'm trying to understand what you did. I blame the Mountain Men more than you, is what I know," she interrupted, looking ahead at the vast expanse of trees that were laid out before them. She finally looked at Clarke, remembering vividly when they escaped the mountain together. "Let's finish this once and for all. Let's go to war and finish it together."

     Thousands of Grounders screamed a war cry behind them and Clarke looked hopeful. Taylor felt it too.

     They were going getting their friends back at any cost. War was going to come knocking at Mount Weather's front door, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

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TRANSLATIONS:

Skaigada — Sky girl