CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
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     THE GROUNDERS APPEARED HAUNTED when they arrived at the dropship. Their eyes lingered painfully long on the charred ground and burnt skeletons of their people. Taylor felt utterly disgusted, but wasn't sure why. They were sent to kill them, but when she saw their expressions all she saw were people who had lost something. No different than them.

     "I'm going to go tell them that we're here. Tell them no weapons so there are no surprises waiting up there," Taylor suggested, looking between Clarke and the Commander. Clarke nodded in agreement, almost looking relieved that just a few seconds would be bought. The Commander glanced at her skeptically for a few excruciatingly long seconds.

     "If you must," she said, nodding to Taylor and the door to the ship, looking around at all of her tense guards and advisors. It didn't seem to make any of them very happy.

     She turned around and shuffled into the ship hastily, climbing the ladder and shuddering at what she heard. A few grunts and then silence. It was horribly difficult to tell if that was good or bad.

     When she reached the top, it was a jarring scene. Abby was doing CPR compressions on Lincoln and Octavia was crying. Bellamy, Finn, and Nyko looked unsure of what to do.

     "Abby," Taylor breathed out, her eyes finally landing on Lincoln's body, still strapped down by an array of chains. "He can't be — the Commander is downstairs. She wants to see him for herself."

     Abby's eyes went distant and almost glassy as she slowed the compressions, focusing on a spot on the wall. "You're stopping. What's wrong?" Octavia pushed, looking between her and Lincoln in a panic.

     "I'm sorry," Abby replied solemnly. "He's gone."

     "No, that's not possible. You're wrong!" Octavia cried out loudly, shouldering past Abby and leaning over to continue the CPR herself.

     "Abby, no. No! We have to do something, you heard me, didn't you?" Taylor rushed out over Octavia's strangled cries and Bellamy's attempts at comforting her. Finn looked over at Abby, almost shocked and Nyko looked utterly confused at the fact that it didn't work.

     "Taylor, we're coming up," Clarke's voice declared from the bottom of the ladder, immediately followed by the sounds of people climbing the metal rungs of the ladder. Abby never responded and Taylor only looked back hollowly. Her face went pale. This was it.

     When Clarke made it to the top, she had about the same reaction Taylor did to the scene before her. She made direct eye contact with her and Taylor shook her head, confirming the worst with that small gesture. Abby looked at her daughter deeply apologetically.

     Not far behind her was Lexa. And she did not like what she saw. A dead Lincoln was the first thing she laid eyes on. Octavia's sobs continued to echo through the small space. Indra, Dria, and a few guards arrived on the scene, getting exactly what they wanted.

     Lexa looked at Clarke and then nodded at her people. "I'll kill them all!" Indra seethed, unsheathing her sword and pointing it directly at Abby. From the minute they arrived, Bellamy inched closer to his gun.

     Every guard behind them pulled some sort of weapon, and Abby pulled out a shock baton. The Commander herself was ready to slaughter them. Dria yanked the back of Taylor's jacket, and pulled a knife to her throat with swift precision.

     For a few moments, they all stood there, weapons pointed at each other, all ready to die within seconds. "Please, you don't have to do this," Clarke begged, her eyes betraying the calm and confident demeanor she had portrayed thus far.

     "You lied," Lexa retorted, still collected despite the situation. Taylor suspected it was because she knew it was more likely that she would walk away from this alive than them. She was terrifyingly aware of the sharp metal against her throat, and swallowed anxiously. Dria's grip on her arm and the knife tightened painfully. "And you're out of time."

     Suddenly, Abby lunged over and raised the shock baton, hitting it directly on Lincoln's chest. The buzzing sound echoed throughout the room, now that all speaking and Octavia's sobs had ceased. Lexa looked puzzled, but Clarke's eyes widened in realization.

     "Hit him again," she told her mother. Abby gave him another shock and he gasped, gulping in the air around him. Octavia leaned over, eyes tired and disbelieving.

     "Lincoln?" she asked hesitantly.

     "Octavia," he rasped, looking worse than Taylor had ever seen him, but he was finally himself. Octavia was now crying tears of joy, leaning down to embrace what she could despite the chains in the way.

     Dria let go of Taylor in surprise, and she stumbled away from her, considering herself very lucky to still have her throat intact. Lexa sheathed her own sword in a sort of defeat while the other Grounders looked on in utter shock.

__________

     Taylor stood at the gates of camp quietly, watching the hundreds of glowing torch lights serenely. She was incredibly exhausted and quite frankly couldn't remember the last time she slept.

     But Clarke had gone down to finalize the conditions of their truce, and she knew she wouldn't be able to get a minute of sleep until she heard what was happening.

     "You should probably get some sleep, you know," Bellamy told her, reading her exact thoughts and she smiled weakly, looking down at her boots distractedly.

     "This is more important," she replied with a shrug, Bellamy shooting her a glance that told her he didn't agree with her statement in the slightest.

     Approaching footsteps alerted them to another presence, and her mother didn't look exactly pleased.

     "Taylor, I need to speak with you in private," she started off, not even waiting a moment to say a hello. Things had been more strained with her mother since they had reunited, and she wasn't exactly sure why.

     "Whatever you need to say to me, you can say it in front of Bell," Taylor responded lightly, gesturing over at Bellamy. Elara nearly flinched at the nickname and closed her eyes for a short moment before she looked her daughter in the eyes.

     "No, I really can't," she demurred.

     "Why not?" Taylor demanded, glancing back and forth between the two in question. Bellamy looked almost nervous and started to shake his head.

     "It's okay, Taylor," he tried assuring, getting ready to take a step back.

     "No. It's not. What is it, Mom?" she pushed further, her mother's expression shifting into something more stern than she'd seen in years.

     Elara took a deep breath and scowled at Bellamy. "Fine. That boy manipulated you into running off with him," she stated simply, as if it was as simple of a fact as they were breathing air.

     Taylor was shocked and felt completely and utterly confused by her mother's accusations. "Excuse me?" she questioned, now feeling little need to be civil in her discussion.

     "He put you in danger, and I'm not okay with that," Elara repeated herself. Bellamy looked like he very much wanted to drop off of the face of the earth.

     "It's almost like I'm adult who can my make own decisions. You don't make them for me, neither does Bellamy. Be mad at me all you like, but he has nothing to do with this," Taylor snapped, pushing herself off of the fence and striding away defiantly. Her face felt hot and she knew that she looked like she was fuming.

     The footsteps behind her indicated that Bellamy had decided that staying with Elara wouldn't be the wisest choice.

     "Hey," he said calmly, catching up with her in ease. "I'm sorry."

     "You have nothing to be sorry for," Taylor told him quietly, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down.

     Bellamy looked away for a second a shook his head slightly. "She's right. And I think about that all the time," he began, not sure where to go next with his explanation. She looked at him intently, all the anger melted off her face replaced with concern.

     "No, Bellamy, she's not," she disagreed, putting a hand on his arm slowly. "You didn't manipulate me. I wanted to be here. I told you that. It's the truth."

     He nodded, still guilty, but not argumentative anymore. Past his shoulder, she noticed Clarke approaching with an unreadable expression. "Clarke? What did Lexa say?" she questioned, Bellamy stepping aside so Clarke could tell them both.

     "She's willing to go along with a truce," she informed quietly, looking utterly distant with her eyes completely unfocused on them.

     "It looks like the opposite," Bellamy pointed out, crossing his arms and glancing back and forth between Taylor and Clarke somewhat nervously. Clarke made full eye contact with both of them, swallowing hard before she answered.

     "On one condition — we give her Finn."