— CHAPTER FOURTEEN,
the world under the water.

RUBY SITS IN THE PASSENGER SEAT OF THE ROVER. The group is following Lincoln's map to where they assume Luna is located. Raven, Monty, Harper, Miller, and Bryan stayed behind at Arkadia.

Ruby's memory book rests in her lap. She flicks through the pages, eyes grazing over her horrible handwriting and amazing sketches.

Bellamy Blake has terrible timing.

As he glances down at the book, his heart freezes in time. Just as Ruby flips the page, he sees the waterfall and the pool of water at the bottom. A man and a woman float in the middle of the water. Their lips are locked and they hold onto each other.

Ruby's book captures their first kiss beautifully.

Bellamy sucks in a breath through his nose. His eyes dart back to the windshield. At the sound of his breath, Ruby's speckled eyes turn to him. She studies him, a frown tugging at her lips. She then turns back to the book and closes it. She places her chin in her hand and looks out of the window. She sniffles and then wipes her face with her free hand. She's crying.

Ryland watches with a frown of his own. He knows what Bellamy did is horrible, he doesn't forgive the man for it. He's not sure if he can or will. But Ruby deserves better. Ryland wishes that Bellamy would have never walked out the gates with Pike or turned his back on Ruby the day they reunited. Ruby is the single most person in the world that deserves endless love.

Beside him, Luca and Amara keep silent. Neither of them have seen or spoken to Luna in years. Of course they know where she's located. But they will not tell the others. Luna was once their friend. Perhaps one of their closest. Luca had been the only person she trusted with telling when she fled her conclave.

As children, Luna and Luca would spar almost daily. She won every single time.

"It's been an hour since we passed the airplane wreckage," Jasper speaks up. "Seeing as we're using a map without any distances, it could be days before we reach Luna's village."

"At least we know we're going in the right direction," Bellamy quickly says in response.

"We're running out of daylight. We should stop in the sun and recharge the battery." Jasper suggests.

"What sun?" Clarke retorts. She motions to the gray and cloudy sky outside the windshield. "We keep going until it dies."

"We keep going until we get to Luna," Octavia mumbles.

Jasper flips around Lincoln's book so Amara and Luca can see the drawing of their old friend. "This her?" He asks.

"Yes," Amara nods, "that's Luna."

"What do you think she's gonna say when we show up asking to put an AI in her head?" Jasper questions the group. "Or if we mention that. . . you know, Ruby is one, too."

"Lincoln said she helps those that are in trouble. She'll help us too." Octavia tells him.

Bellamy puts on the brakes. Ruby groans as she stares at what's stopped them.

"And we don't mention Ruby being a Nightblood," Ryland says. "No one says a single word about it to anyone at the village."

"Fucking tree," Ruby grumbles, keeping her eyes on the fallen tree.

"You think she can help us find a better map?" Jasper questions Octavia.

"Backtrack," Bellamy says. But before he can back up, Octavia is jumping out of the rover. "Find somewhere where the trees aren't so bad."

"Guess not." Ruby says, glancing over at Bellamy, "looks like we're going on foot," she shrugs.

Ruby opens the door and jumps out of the rover. She places her book in one of the pockets that like the inside of her leather jacket that hands below her waist.

"Anyone hear the part where I said it could be days?" Jasper raises his eyebrows as the group starts to walk.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Octavia asks suddenly.

Everyone freezes. The noise hits Ruby's ears first. "It's water," she states. "There's water near here."

And they start to move forward.

"Eyes sharp. They could be hostile." Bellamy warns.

"They're not hostile. Put the guns down." Octavia orders.

When they come to the edge of a large body of water, they all stop. Ruby's brows furrow in confusion as she looks around for any village. She sees none.

All that she can see is the woods behind them and the large, expansive ocean in front of them.

"Where the hell is the village?" Ryland quizzes, looking around.

Octavia opens the book and looks at the map. "No. No, it can't be." She whispers to herself.

Octavia rushes towards a pile of stacked rocks. The others follow behind her.

"It isn't a village. It's just a bunch of rocks," Jasper says blankly.

"She's gone," Clarke mumbles in horror.

Behind the Commander of Death, Luca and Amara share a look. Neither like lying to their friends about something as important as this but they know it's for the best. Luna ran to avoid violence and the Flame and now the Sky People want to drag her back into the mix.

"What do we do now?" Ryland asks. He runs his hands through his dark hair.

Octavia walks away from them, crouching down by the rocks that separated land from sea.

They all freeze when she lets out an enraged scream. After a moment, Ruby turns her back.

─────────

Ruby sits on the rocks at the edge of the ocean, her back facing the others that work on getting a fire going. She stares out at the ocean in front of her.

She wonders if there is still life under the ocean's surface. She wants to know if it's still its own world under the rippling waves; with schools of fish, colorful reefs that span for miles, and dolphins that jump from the water.

As she sits there in her lonesome, her mind wonders to Lincoln. He would have loved to be here with them despite the horrific reasoning. He would have love to see the ocean once again. He would have loved to see his friend, Luna once more.

Behind her, Octavia shouts furiously, "don't touch that!"

She glances over her shoulder to see Bellamy and Octavia arguing. It instantly reminds her of when Octavia beat her brother bloody in the cave. So, Ruby turns back around.

When she turns back around, her eyes sweep down to look at the bandages around wrists. They still hurt terribly but the pain is slowly fading. Then her eyes shift to the heavy, silver rings that rest on her knuckles.

The one that rests on her left middle is the the most special to her. In the middle of circle ring are three intertwined initials. One R and two L's. She has several more rings. None of them have as much significance as the one that rests on her middle finger.

Ruby will never understand how Lincoln managed to create this beautifully crafted ring front scratch. She'll never understand how Lincoln did most of the things he did. He was incredible person. The best of the best.

As tears spring in her eyes, she drops her head into her hands. She silently cries to herself, mourning a man that she shouldn't have to be mourning.

Clarke stands, ready to walk over to the older girl but a hand quickly grabs her wrist. When Clarke looks down, she sees that it's Luca stopping her.

"Let her mourn," Luca says to her. "She's just lost her brother. It is going to be a long road of recovering for her."

"She's broken," Clarke whispers, keeping her blue eyes locking on Ruby's shaking form.

"Aren't we all?

─────────

As night settles, the group, excluding Clarke and Bellamy, all lounge around the fire. Ruby lays on the ground with her head resting on Ryland's chest. She stares at the fire that changes between orange and green. All is well.

That's when Jasper springs to his feet.

Ruby notices the panic in his eyes. And without hesitation, she shoot up. Ryland springs up next. He grabs Ruby's arm and pulls her closer to him, always protecting his sister.

Unfamiliar Grounders surround them.

But two Luca and Amara, one is familiar. He's a former Trikru warrior. His brows furrow when he notices them. Immediately, they both shake their head discreetly; silently telling him not to say a word about them knowing each other. Tree Clan.

Ruby watches as two Grounders shove Clarke and Bellamy to the group. The Grounders kick the back of their knees, forcing them to their knees in the rocks.

As he looks around, a Grounder questions who they are and why they signaled.

Why they signaled? They didn't signal anything.

Then it hits Ruby.

She looks over her shoulder at the fire. It glows orange now but the odd leaves Jasper had been throwing into the flames. . . son of a bitch.

"Ai laik Okteivia kom Skaikru en ai gaf gothru klir." Octavia says to the man. I am Octavia of the Sky People and I seek safe passage.

"Skaikru, bringers of death. Why should we give you safe passage?" The Grounder snarls. Sky People.

"Lincoln." Octavia explains, "he sent us."

The Grounder turns his friends, telling them to release Clarke and Bellamy. They obey.

As soon as Bellamy and Clarke are standing, Ruby reaches out and grabs both of them, tugging them closer to her and Ryland protectively.

She watched as the Grounder rolls out an arsenal of small vials. A liquid sloshes inside the glass. He hands them each a vial.

Ruby lifts her to her eyes. She examines it. To the side of her, Luca and Amara share a look.

Beside Amara, Octavia downs the liquid in her vial. Bellamy shouts, "Octavia, don't," despite being too late.

"I trust Lincoln." Octavia tells her brother.

"She takes it alone, she goes by herself." The Grounder says.

"See you on the other side," Jasper smirks just before he drinks whatever is in the vial.

"I trust Lincoln, too." Ryland says. He then lifts the vial to his lips and swallows the liquid inside.

"See you there." Ruby smiles at Jasper.

"Don't!" Bellamy goes to smack the vial from her grip but the liquid already travels down her throat. "Ruby!"

"What?" She looks at him.

Luca and Amara follow suit.

That's when Octavia's eyes roll to the back of her head. Her body hits the ground.

"Octavia!" Bellamy tries to get to his sister but a Grounder quickly presses his hand to Bellamy's chest, stopping him.

"Oh, crap." Jasper mumbles right before he crumbles to the ground.

Ryland hits the ground next.

"Bell." Ruby whispers suddenly without even realizing it. She slumps against him. Bellamy swiftly catches her, eyes wide with worry. He lowers them both to the ground.

"Last chance," the Grounder says to Bellamy and Clarke. Bellamy's eyes dart from the Grounder back to Ruby who lays unconscious in his arms.

"Together?" Clarke asks as she lowers herself to the ground beside him. Bellamy nods.

He and Clarke drink at the same time.

Clarke is the first to hit the ground, her eyes falling shut. And then Bellamy hits the ground next. His arm remains under Ruby's head as his eyes rolls to the back of his head.

─────────

Ruby's eyes flutter open. She lets out a grunt as she pushes herself onto her elbows.

With furrowed brows, she looks around her. The others start to wake as she does. She realizes that they're inside a metal storage container. Rays of sunlight peek through holes that have rusted into the old metal.

"Where the hell are we?" Bellamy asks as he pushes himself up. He looks over at Ruby, who is beside him. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She nods.

"My sword's gone." Octavia speaks up suddenly.

"Gun's too," Jasper pipes. Ruby immediately reaches for her pocket. When she feels the book is still there, relief floods her body.

Octavia stands and starts banging on the metal.

The doors snatch open with seconds. Sunlight spills into the once dark storage container, blinding them all for a second. Ruby instinctively shields her eyes.

"Luna," Octavia says.

The woman, Luna, walks into the storage container. Her eyes sweep over the group, studying them. Her brown eyes linger on Luca and Amara for a moment longer than the others.

She has a lion's mane of curly hair and she smells of sea water.

She's beautiful.

"Where's Lincoln?" Luna questions.

"Lincoln is dead," Luca says. Luna's eyes dart over to him quickly. "He was murdered."

"He said you would help us," Octavia butts in.

"Did he?" Luna interrogates, her voice quiet, calm. Perhaps, too calm.

"Luna, you're the last of your kind. The last Nightblood." Clarke informs her.

"So, Lexa is dead, as well," Luna says, eyes looking down to her feet.

This must be the first she's heard of the Commander's death.

"Her spirit has chose you to become the next Commander. Titus entrusted me with the Flame to give to you," Clarke tells her.

Luna looks up and to Clarke. She states, "then he should have told you that I left my Conclave, swearing to never kill again."

"You don't have to kill. To lead is your birthright, how you lead is your choice." Clarke steps up, holding the Flame in her hand, "here."

"I recognize the Sacred Symbol, but what is that?" Luna questions with furrowed brows, looking down at the Flame.

"This is the Flame. It holds the spirits of the Commanders, of Lexa. Will you take it and become the next Commander?" Clarke quizzes.

"No," Luna says quickly. She reaches up and closes Clarke's hand around the piece of technology. She then turns on her heel and leaves the group alone. But as she exits, no one shuts the door.

"Hey, wait!" Clarke calls after her.

She then chases after Luna. The others follow. As soon as they're outside the storage container, everyone stops. Gone is the thought about the Flame.

Ruby's eyes widen as she turns in a circle, eyes looking around her.

For miles all she can see is water.

It's all that surrounded them.

And her heart starts to beat a little faster.

She's trapped.

_______________________________

word count: 2,385
episode: join or die

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATE!!!!

so, very much just happened and we're about to talk allllll about it.

so, we've officially met luna and i cannot wait to five more into the rewritten version of her relationship with ruby. before it was just mutual respect but this time it might possibly be a bit more than just that!!

bellamy and ruby in this chapter 💔. ugh, i actually forgot how much writing their break up and their shit relationship was but rewriting it makes it so much worse. why? because originally, ruby forgave him too quickly (in my opinion). and i didn't want that in the book anymore so i made it so that she doesn't forgive him within the first act at all and they just are very emotional around each other because well, they went through hell and back together and then boom! bellamy moved on, ruby's was a reaper, bellamy helped kill three hundred sleeping grounders, and ruby threatened to kill bellamy multiple times!!! #couplegoals

ryland 🫶🏻. he's my baby. i love him so so so much. he's literally ruby's lifeline and that means so much to both of them and me. like, he genuinely keeps her grounded and going. without him, ruby would've gave up on living a long time ago.

also, guys, there is some SERIOUS foreshadowing in this chapter. if you caught or you think you know what it is, comment and tell me because i'd love to know.

three more chapters for me to rewrite of this act guys!!! only two!!! i'm so excited.