chapter thirty two | poison & alliance

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Blood. It covered her hands. She stared at her trembling fingers, attempting in vain to scrub away the crimson stains that marred her skin. The more she tried, the more it seemed to be etched into her very soul. Tears streamed down her face, and her cries filled the air, echoing her inner turmoil. The weight of her actions bore down on her, pushing her towards the brink of a panic attack.

A gentle rustling of the tent's entrance caught her attention, and she turned to see Clarke's concerned face peering through. Without a word, Clarke approached Hunter, knelt beside her, and tenderly placed her hands over Hunter's, preventing her futile attempts to rid herself of the blood.

"They would have tortured him. I had to -" Hunter's voice quivered through stifled sobs. She struggled to explain, to make sense of the agonizing choice she had been forced to make.

"It's okay, it's okay," Clarke whispered soothingly, pulling Hunter into a comforting embrace. She cradled Hunter in her arms as the tears continued to flow.

Hunter's voice cracked as she tried to express her turmoil, her guilt, her despair. "What did I do?"

Clarke rocked her gently, providing a shoulder to lean on, as Abby and Kane watched from the shadows, understanding the pain that their friend was enduring. The Commander's guard soon arrived, signaling the need for Hunter to compose herself.

"The commander is ready to talk," the guard's tone was cold and unyielding. Hunter rose from her place, wiping her tears away as best as she could. Clarke stood beside her, offering her hand to hold.

Inside the Commander's tent, Lexa sat on her throne, her gaze unflinching. She spoke, her voice carrying the weight of the decisions made. "Blood has answered blood. Some of my side say that's not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands. But, they do not know that your suffering will be worse. What you did tonight will haunt you until the end of your days."

Hunter's heart sank, and her numb mind struggled to process the gravity of her actions. Her head hung low, a mixture of pain and grief etched across her face.

Lexa continued, acknowledging the tension between justice and revenge. "Still, there must be restitution. The body will be given to the people of Tondc. Murderer and murdered will join in fire. Only then we will have peace."

Kane stepped forward, advocating for compassion. "No. No, we've done enough. The boy should be returned to his people."

Indra, however, clung to her desire for vengeance, her anger unyielding. "Enough? We were owed the pain of 18 deaths. We were owed our righteous kill. My village deserves justice."

Abby interjected, cutting through the tension. "You don't want justice; you want vengeance."

Indra's voice dripped with icy resolve as she declared, "You have not seen my vengeance." Hunter turned to Clarke, her will broken, and gave a subtle nod.

"Do it," she muttered under her breath. Clarke stepped forward, solidifying their agreement.

"We'll do it," Clarke affirmed. "But once it's done, we discuss our plan to rescue our people from Mount Weather. All our people."

Lexa acknowledged their shared objectives, saying, "We want the same thing, Clarke. Rylee," Hunter reluctantly met Lexa's gaze for a moment before turning her eyes away.

"Good. When do we leave?" Clarke inquired.

"Now," Lexa rose from her throne. "Choose your attendants." As Lexa departed, Abby looked to Clarke and Hunter with concern. "Hunter, you don't have to go through with this."

Hunter, her resolve still firm, replied, "Yes, I do. If this truce doesn't hold, then I killed Finn for nothing."

Hunter turned and left the tent, unable to bear the weight of her actions any longer. She approached Finn's lifeless body, where Raven mourned over him, cradling his head in her lap.

"Go away," Raven's voice was laced with grief and anger as she pushed Hunter away.

"Raven, I -" Hunter's voice trembled as she attempted to speak, to apologize, to explain.

"I said go away!" Raven's cry echoed through the camp as she stormed twoards Hunter. The pain in her eyes cut deep, leaving Hunter at a loss for words.

"I'm leaving with the Grounders -" Hunter began to say, tears streaming down her face. "Come with me," She pleaded with Raven, her heart breaking for her friend. Raven heard commotion behind her.

"What are you doing? What are you doing!" Raven yelled at the Grounders who had begun to take Finn's body. She yanked her arm away from Hunter's touch as Hunter tried to explain that they need to take him. "Like hell they do. Get off!"

"Give us a minute. Please," Hunter implored the Grounders, who hesitated at her request but did it.

"You agreed to this?" Raven's voice wavered with anger and disbelief.

"We're taking him back to where the massacre happened," Hunter explained, tears still flowing down her face. "Believe me, if there was any other way, I would have taken it. Please, Raven, it's the only way to get our people out of that godforsaken mountain."

"You were right, Hunter," Raven snapped, her grief and anger intertwining. "It should have been you."

As Raven walked away, Hunter's heart shattered further, the weight of her guilt and the consequences of her actions pressing down upon her. She closed her eyes, tears still streaming down her face, and when she opened them, she saw Finn's lifeless gaze fixed upon her. Her heart jumped.

Lexa was right, he will haunt her for the rest of her days.

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After a grueling journey towords Tondc, Hunter remained silent, her face a mask of cold numbness. She listened to the ongoing debate between Clarke and Bellamy, centered on Bellamy's role as a potential insider for Mount Weather. Each step felt heavy as she trudged forward, clad in Finn's jacket, haunted by his memory. Every so often, she glimpsed him lurking in the bushes, a spectral presence that sent shivers down her spine. She averted her gaze, fear gnawing at her, fingers tightly gripping the handgun by her side.

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As night descended, Hunter sat by the campfire, placed as a marker between the Grounders and the Sky People. She stared into the dancing flames, her eyes weary from the earlier turmoil. Clarke approached, offering her company, and Hunter responded with a faint smile and a nod. Clarke settled beside her, unrolling her own bedroll.

"You'll find a way through this, Hunter. I believe in you," Clarke reassured her. Hunter shifted her gaze back to the fire before reclining in her bedroll, Clarke doing the same beside her.

Hunter closed her eyes, attempting to conjure memories of Finn's face from a time before the village, but all that emerged was his haunted visage. Startled, she felt a presence behind her but hesitated to look, shutting her eyes tightly.

It was Finn.

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Their arrival in Tondc was far from warm, as they were required to surrender their weapons upon entering the village. Hunter endured a more thorough search than most, her face a mask of unyielding numbness.

Inside the village, chaos reigned as the locals reacted to their arrival. The Commander's bodyguard nearly beat a defiant villager to death, prompting Clarke to intervene and halt the violence, reminding them that the Sky People would be held accountable.

Gathered around a soon-to-be-lit bonfire, they prepared to lay Finn to rest upon it, encircled by the villagers who had lost their lives. The Commander addressed them in Trigedasleng, with Lincoln providing translations. "People of Tondc, in fire, we cleanse the pain of the past." Holding a lit torch, she extended it to Clarke as a symbol of their truce. Hunter glanced up, her eyes falling on Finn who appeared in front of her, who seemed to guide Clarke's hand as she placed the torch to the funeral pyre. "Yu gon plei ste odon," Clarke spoke.

The flames roared to life, their intense heat washing over Hunter's face as she closed her eyes. "May we meet again," 

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Clarke, Hunter, and Lexa stood in solemn silence as the once-blazing bonfire reduced to a heap of charred logs and ashes. Hunter's heart felt frigid.

"I lost someone special to me too," Lexa finally broke the silence. "Her name was Costia." Hunter and Clarke turned their attention to her. "She was captured by the Ice Nation, whose Queen believed she knew my secrets. Because she was mine..." Lexa's voice quivered. "They tortured her. Killed her. Cut off her head."

Clarke offered a sympathetic word. "I'm sorry."

"I thought I would never get over the pain. But I did," Lexa confessed.

"How?" Hunter inquired, her voice filled with sorrow.

"By recognizing it for what it is," Lexa met Hunter's gaze. "Weakness."

Hunter furrowed her brows, her heart rejecting the notion. "What is? Love?" She shook her head, while Lexa turned her gaze back to the fire, nodding. Hunter couldn't agree with that perspective. "I guess we finally found something we don't have in common, Commander," she said coldly.

Clarke, intrigued by their exchange, questioned, "You just stopped caring... About everyone?"

Lexa nodded. "I could never do that," Clarke replied.

Lexa reinforced her position. "Then you put the people you care about in danger. The dead are gone, Clarke. The living are hungry."

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A table stretched out before them, laden with food, symbolizing the newfound alliance between the Grounders and the Sky People. Both groups stood, awaiting their turn to sit. Kane, as a token of gratitude, presented a bottle of alcohol.

"Thank you, Marcus of the Sky People," Lexa acknowledged with a nod.

"You're welcome, Lexa. Kom Trikru," Kane responded, offering a smile. "Just don't drink too much of it."

Lexa then turned her attention to Clarke. "Clarke, let us drink together."

"It would be my pleasure," Clarke replied, offering a small smile. A Grounder handed them goblets, into which Lexa poured the drink.

"Heda, Allow me," her bodyguard said, taking the drink and having a sip. Hunter, on the other hand, seemed disconnected from it all, struggling to focus despite her numb mind. After tasting the drink, Lexa's bodyguard returned the goblet, reassured that it wasn't poisoned.

"Tonight, we celebrate our newfound peace. Tomorrow, we plan our war," Lexa proclaimed, raising her glass. "To those we've lost. And to those we shall soon find." As they were about to take a sip, Lexa's bodyguard, Gustus, suddenly convulsed and began choking.

"It's poison!" a Grounder cried out. Bellamy swiftly took the drink from Clarke's hand and smashed it on the ground. Hunter, startled, stumbled backward, trying to process what had just happened.

"It was the Sky People!" Indra accused, drawing her blade. Grounders pushed the table aside and readied themselves to charge, while Bellamy and the others moved to defend Clarke.

"This wasn't us! You have to know it wasn't us!" Clarke insisted.

The Commander ordered for them to be searched, and Hunter, bewildered and unaware of what was happening, was quickly searched. "Get off me!" she snapped, trying to free herself.

"We didn't do this!" Clarke pleaded.

"Gustus warned me about you. I didn't listen!" Lexa snapped.

"Lexa, please!" Hunter cried out as a Grounder attempted to search her. Lexa's gaze fixed on Hunter.

"Tell me something, Rylee," Lexa said as she walked up to her. "When you plunged the knife into the heart of the boy you loved, did you not wish that it was mine?"

Hunter's heart sank, her eyes reflecting pain and guilt. She glanced past Lexa, spotting Finn standing there. Her lips trembled as a Grounder searched her jacket pocket and discovered a vial.

"Heda," he said, showing Lexa the vial.

"It's not mine," Hunter insisted, snapping back to reality. "I swear to you, it's not mine." Lexa seized the vial, her face a mixture of betrayal and anger.

"No Sky person leaves this room!" Lexa commanded. All the Grounders exited the room, leaving only Lincoln behind.

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Hunter stood alone in a cornert, her will shattered and her heart broken. Tears refused to form in her eyes as Clarke approached her.

"No. I didn't do it," Hunter snapped before Clarke could utter a word.

"Hunter -"

"Leave me alone, please," Hunter implored, refusing to look at her.

"If you did it, just tell me-"

"Leave me alone!" Hunter yelled. "I killed Finn so we could have this goddamn alliance, Clarke! Why the hell would I throw that all away?" She berated Clarke, who wore a crestfallen expression before departing.

Hunter kicked a goblet lying on the ground, yelling out her frustration, then attempted to sit down. However, she saw Finn in front of her.

"You should've let me go. Why did you turn yourself in?" She asked, making the others watch her with concern. Hunter, realizing they had heard her, wiped her tears and settled on the ground, burying her head in her hands.

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Kane approached a tearful Hunter, sitting beside her. "Tearing each other and yourself apart isn't the way to get through this," he advised her gently.

Hunter shook her head. "She thinks we tried to kill her."

"But we know we didn't," Kane replied softly. "So let's figure out who did. Who would want her dead?"

"Too many to count," Lincoln chimed in. "Forming an alliance with you was a risk, especially after what Finn did to this village."

"So it had to be someone trying to break the alliance," Octavia began, but the door abruptly opened. Nyko and Indra stood there, informing them that Gustus was okay. Indra's icy glare directed at Hunter signaled them to take her away. Bellamy and the others rushed to her defense, but Hunter, resigned to her fate, offered no resistance.

"They move, they bleed," Indra threatened, holding her blade. The Grounders hurriedly escorted Hunter away, leaving her people feeling helpless.

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Hunter was strung up to a pole, her hands bound above her head, wearing only her torn blue tank top. Tears streamed down her face, fear in her eyes. This was the fate intended for Finn, now thrust upon her.

Lexa stood before her, surrounded by villagers, while the Sky People looked on restlessly. "I take no joy in this, Rylee," Lexa said, walking up to her. "But this time, justice will be done."

"I didn't do it, Lexa. Please," Hunter cried, shaken. "How is that justice?"

Lexa disregarded her words and delivered the first cut to her arm, deep and agonizing. Hunter cried out.

Bellamy rushed forward, attempting to help her, but Kane stopped him. "We have to do something!"

"We can't," Kane said, holding Bellamy back.

Each villager took their turn, slicing her skin one by one, and Hunter screamed in pain, tears flowing freely.

Clarke rushed out of the room, a goblet in hand. "I need that bottle, now!" she demanded. Nyko rushed to fetch it. "Stop!" The villagers halted, turning their attention to her.

The Grounders attempted to obstruct her. "Let her pass," Lexa ordered.

"One of your people tried to kill you, Lexa, not one of mine," Clarke informed, approaching her. "I can prove it." Clarke took a big sip from the bottle, and nothing happened.

"Explain," the Commander demanded.

"The poison wasn't in the bottle. It was in the cup," Clarke explained.

Gustus tried to warn Lexa that it was a trick, but his actions raised suspicion from Bellamy. "It was you," Bellamy accused. Gustus straightened up. "He tested the cup. He searched Hunter."

"Gustus would never harm me," Lexa snapped.

"You weren't the target; the alliance was," Bellamy argued.

"We didn't do this, and you know it," Clarke insisted.

Lexa turned to Gustus, questioning him if it was true. "This alliance would cost you your life, Heda. I could not let that happen," he admitted.

Lexa took a deep breath. "This treachery will cost you yours." Hunter watched this unfold, her arms dripping with blood, breathless and weakened by pain. She was eventually cut down and handed over to her people for care.

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Hunter was tended to by Abby, wrapped in Finn's jacket and a blanket, watching as Gustus received the punishment intended for her and Finn.

"This would've been Finn," Raven observed, looking at Hunter. Hunter's expression was weak and saddened.

She watched as Lexa delivered the final blow to Gustus, who fell lifeless. "Yu gon plei ste odon," Lexa said, her eyes filled with sorrow.

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Hunter sat off to the side, still wrapped in her blanket, her head leaning against a tree. As night fell, most of the group gathered near the campfire, with Clarke by Lexa's side. Raven interrupted their thoughts, announcing that she had found a radio transmission from Jasper, revealing that they were alive but dwindling in number, trapped inside Mount Weather.

"This is Jasper Jordan. We need help. 47 of us are trapped inside Mount Weather. They've taken Harper; she may already be dead. We don't know how much time we have left. Please hurry," the transmission repeated. Clarke eventually agreed to let Bellamy infiltrate Mount Weather as their inside man to disable their defenses, with Lincoln accompanying him.

Hunter remained near the tree, trying to distance herself, but when she gazed into the distance, she saw Finn. His presence no longer frightened her. "I love you. And I need to let you go, now," she whispered quietly, watching him turn away and fade into the night, a tear trailing down her cheek.

"Rylee," Abby spoke softly from behind her. Hunter turned to see Abby holding a bottle. "This is for you," Abby said, kneeling in front of her. "They're ashes from the fire. I thought you could scatter them somewhere. It might help you say goodbye."

Hunter offered a soft smile, appreciating the gesture but knowing it wasn't meant for her. "Thank you, Abby. But give them to Raven; she never got her chance. I did." 

'Are you sure?" Abby asked.

Hunter nodded gently. "I already have my token," Referring to Finn's jacket. Abby nodded understandingly and walked away, heading for Raven

Hunter took a deep breath, sensing her shattered will slowly healing and her heart finding some peace. She closed her eyes, feeling the night air on her face. 

Tonight, she would rest, so she could be ready for the battles of tomorrow.

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- oml, another long chapterrrr. look at me gooooo tehe. i hope ya'll like this one, was a lil hard for me to write cause i didn't want my sweet lil hunter to go down clarke's og path, but to have her own, one of accpetance not avoidance. and lile after this episode clarke barely talks about finn and its almost like he's never with her again, and that shit broke my HEART when i watched it. so ya'll not need to fear, hunter will always have a token of finn with her. i promise <3