CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
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"SO YOU TWO got separated?" Taylor questioned, Chandler nodding along in response. He was in the middle of explaining everything that had happened to him between there and Camp Jaha. Quite frankly all she cared about was the fact that he was safe, but she needed her mind off of things.

"Harper and I split off from the group and then we got separated. I did so much running I didn't even realize it. Is she okay?" he went on, looking at the floor guiltily for a moment before glancing back up at Taylor.

"Yeah, she's fine. At least, she was when I left," Taylor responded absently. Everything was horrifying now. It had been two days since the village and she had a hard time looking at Finn now.

They'd all killed people, that part she understood to some level. What she couldn't understand was why he had to open fire on an unarmed village of innocents. She shuddered at the thought.

And when she attempted to distract herself, the thought of Mount Weather was no better. The idea of her friends being in those cages, wasting away to be used as nothing but a medical treatment made her want to scream.

"Oh, crap! I told Bellamy and Clarke I'd meet them!" she remembered suddenly, jumping to her feet and scrambling to the door.

"Oh, well, see you later!" Chandler called out after her from inside the workshop. She had originally gone there to see if Raven was there so she could check up on her, but she was nowhere to be found.

She ran outside and spotted the table that Bellamy and Clarke were sitting at. A makeshift bar area had been constructed with tables and everything already. It was almost impossible to tell if anyone valued priorities anymore.

"...I swear to god if your mom doesn't sanction the mission soon I'm going by myself," Bellamy was saying in a frustrated tone. He sighed and took a sip of his drink.

"Hey, sorry," Taylor breathed heavily, taking a seat next to Bellamy. "And you can't go by yourself."

"You won't be by yourself," Clarke assured.

"They're powerful and they'd recognize you as an outsider. It's too dangerous. We don't even have a plan yet," Taylor dismissed, knowing exactly how eager they felt, but also not favoring how quickly and recklessly they wanted to go in.

Clarke ignored what she said, her eyes fixed on something in the near distance. Bellamy and Taylor both turned around, Clarke looking at the ground when they did. Finn wandered out of the broken Ark, appearing empty and hopeless.

"Guess the inquisition's over," Bellamy commented, referring to the Ark's own investigation of what happened at the village. "How's Finn doing, anyway?"

"I haven't talked to him since we got back. I don't know what to say," Clarke replied with a blank expression, looking at a complete loss. Taylor couldn't blame her, it felt like she was too though she knew it was quite different for Clarke. None of them knew what to do.

"He just kept shooting," she finished.

"We're at war, Clarke. We've all done things," Bellamy told her, a serious expression painted on his face. Taylor looked down at the table and couldn't get the face of the man she killed out of her head. All that time ago. How she had stabbed him and suffocated him to make sure the job was done...

Bellamy touched her hand softly and she looked up to find Finn standing in front of the table awkwardly. "We'll get the next round," he announced after sensing the palpable tension that hung in the air between Clarke and Finn. Taylor nodded, her thoughts still somewhere else.

They grabbed the cups on the table and headed over to the bar sort of area and set them down for a refill. "You okay?" Bellamy questioned, looking at her with his eyebrows creased in concern.

"I...don't know," she said, shrugging lightly and glancing away, not sure if she even wanted to talk about what she was thinking.

"What is it?" he continued. When she didn't respond, he put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it lightly. "You don't have to tell me, but I'll listen."

"It's just what you said about everyone having done things. I don't think it excuses us. And that scares me," Taylor explained, taking a deep, shaky breath, trying her best not to think of all the things she had done. All the things her friends had done. "It also scares me that Finn went too far. That he isn't who he used to be."

Bellamy watched her intently his eyes flickering sadly. "I don't think any of us are."

__________

"Clarke and Finn are going to be fine," Taylor dismissed, fiddling with the knife in her hand absently. She knew that they would find somewhere to take cover, just like Bellamy and Octavia would. Well, she hoped.

They had finally pushed hard enough to get a team out to Mount Weather, and she didn't want to miss it. Finn and Clarke had wandered off and Bellamy and Octavia had been secretly tasked with finding a way into the mountain. Raven cracked a radio encryption that led to the revelation that Mount Weather was jamming their frequencies.

"And how do you know that?" Abby asked quietly from the other end of the tent.

"Because we've all had to be," she responded somewhat sharply. It was mostly directed toward her mother, who was acting like she couldn't take care of herself. Elara only sat quietly beside Raven, who was fiddling with radio frequencies to try and tap through to any communications channel she could find.

"What is that?" Abby questioned in reference to the sounds, looking down at the radio she was messing with.

"I don't know. Sounds like they're jamming every frequency but this one," Raven answered. "You hear that? This one's clear."

It didn't sound very clear to Taylor and Abby voiced those thoughts as much. But she knew going in that she didn't understand Raven's tech and she wouldn't any time soon. Not unless she tried to get her to teach her. But she had more immediate pressing matters.

After a while, Abby inquired, "Why is it taking so long?"

"Don't rush genius," Taylor muttered, eyes still glued to the knife she fiddled with under the yellowish light of the tent. Raven smirked at her comment.

"I've almost got it. They're using a type of audio modulation here like a feedback label. I just need to pinpoint the origin and I can get the transmission. I just need to get the right..." she trailed off, turning the dials on the radio ever so slightly.

"Report back, over,"a voice over the radio commanded, Taylor perking up immediately and slipping her knife back into her boot.

"You did it," Elara pointed out with a smile, Raven nodding.

"Has the veil lifted yet? Over."

"No, sir. Still descended. Over."

"The fog...they did it...it was then weaponizing it the entire time," Taylor realized with a burning resentment building in her chest.

Abby wasted no time in turning to her own radio and telling a sergeant to blow the tower as soon as the fog was down.

Raven shook her head. "What's wrong?" Abby questioned.

"We're listening to the enemy. Blow the antenna, and we won't be able to do that," she said, looking at Abby pointedly and back at Taylor for some support.

"Don't blow it and we won't make contact with any Ark survivors. We need those reinforcements, Raven," Abby disagreed, Elara nodding next to her in total consensus.

"Raven's right. Reinforcements aren't going to change the fact that they have the upper hand right now," Taylor interjected, Raven looking smug next to her. "And they will continue to have the upper hand if we don't know what they're planning."

Raven shrugged nonchalantly.

"Tough call. I know what Clarke would do."

__________

The tower didn't get blown, and Taylor was grateful for Raven, who she was sure was the reason that didn't happen. After the fog had passed, they stood in a clearing closer to camp waiting for the others who had gotten separated.

Finn and Clarke soon arrived, but when they did, they both looked different. She wasn't sure how, but they did. Clarke exchanged a hug with her mother while Elara and Raven stood watching with smiles. Finn was off a few feet looking upset.

Taylor approached him, though she suspected it was with too much caution. He looked hurt. "Hey, Finn, you alright?" she questioned hesitantly, resenting herself at how distant she sounded.

They stepped away from the group a few feet at his gesture and he shook his head. His eyes wandered, distracted by Raven approaching.

"I'm sorry," he said, trying to look her directly in the eyes.

"We all have battle scars, Finn. Suck it up, and build a brace for yours," she told him with a light tap to the shoulder.

She walked away immediately after and there was a moment of silence between them. Taylor took in a deep breath and looked directly at him.

"Finn, I don't hate you for -"

Her words were interrupted by shouts in the nearby woods, cries for help. Finn and Taylor both took a step closer toward the group as the guards that had accompanied them made a formation at the front, weapons raised.

"Put your hands up!" they commanded at the still unseen person in the forest. Through a few more shuffles, their former chancellor emerged from the brush, hands bound in rope and blood smeared across his face.

His hands were up. Taking a few steps he shoved the gun that was pointed to him away and marched directly toward where the majority of their group was headed.

"Thelonious?" Abby questioned in disbelief, as he pushed past her and looked away from everyone, eyes in a daze. He dropped to his knees and stared at the landed Ark, not too far from where they were.

"I have a message...from the Commander. Leave...or die. We have two days."