005.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❃ ◦ ━━━━━━ 

     Swiftly out of the passenger's seat of the rover after a scenic drive, Magnolia inhaled the fresh air as the sun beat down on her already-burnt cheeks. 

     "I knew I should've taken my horse," Octavia sourly let out, slinging a bag over her shoulder. 

     It had been a week since Maggie's full-blown freak out over Abby's decisions regarding the mountain, and although she hadn't changed her mind regarding the situation, her feelings had simmered down a reasonable amount. According to those around her, only Farm Station survivors had been placed into the establishment. Maggie hadn't paid them a visit yet, due to the combination of teaching classes, guarding Arkadia, and scolding Bellamy at every waking moment because of his stubbornness while healing from his wound.

      Turning the corner, she eyed Bellamy as he was caught in a gaze, more than likely dreaming about the Summit Delegation being held in Polis. Despite being a wonderful celebration, Magnolia did not see much use in attending. Kane was a trusted representative in the Gray girl's eyes— she had come to believe in him more than most people in a rather short period of time. 

     On the other hand, Bellamy felt an obligation to be there and was oddly surprised when his headstrong girlfriend did not maintain the same stance. "I should be there," his hand wafted in the general direction of Polis.

     "Take your own advice for once, would ya?" Maggie countered with a mocking grin slyly poking through the corner of her mouth, "You don't need to worry about everything in the book— besides, what sounds better than going back into Mount Weather with yours truly?" she carried a mischievous glimmer in her eyes as she talked. Both of them had made their trips there separately, but had not faced it together until that day, "Your leg isn't even healed yet, Bell Pepper."

     Flicking the brim of Maggie's beige hat, he silently expressed his distaste for the nickname given, "My leg is fine," he attempted to convince her, but she was not having it. 

     "Then why's your girlfriend carrying all your shit?" Gina chimed in on the teasing-Bellamy-train, making Gray raise her hands up in success. 

     "Hey, you guys," Raven interjected with an evident flicker of amusement, "Did I ever tell you about how I saved Sinclair's ass on the ark?"

     That was debatably the last thing Octavia wanted to hear by the dramatic roll of her eyes as she huffed, "Please don't."

     "Yes you did. Probably a hundred times," Magnolia thought back, recounting on the first time she had heard the detailed story with the Raven Reyes passion during her visitation period in the Sky Box. Perhaps it was entertaining to her at the time (being in solitary was boring as hell, after all), but after Maggie herself could recite the complete build-up of events, it wasn't as thrilling. Gina showed interested though, which was more than enough to get the zero-g mechanic reciting the story all over again.

     Walking alongside the Blakes, she twisted open the knob of the rickety door, feeling the warm welcome of the gray brick walls and dimly lit corridors. 

     Irony, of course.

     Naturally, Magnolia lead the pack, remembering the facility the best having spent the most time in those halls. As she knowingly got closer and closer to the mess hall, the sounds of music playing and people conversing became more apparent. Noticing the emanating light coming from their right hand side and the 'Level 5' sign attached to the wall, her breath hitched at seeing everyone eating in the mess hall like it was some sort of party, or gathering. 

     The similarity to how it was when she there with Maya and the other people residing in the mountain was unbelievably uncanny, but that was not the only sight she remembered. 

     It was almost like Maya was there, in her blush pink blouse with a grieving Jasper hunched over her for just a brief second. Maggie could've swore she saw the Vie girl's rosy lips and cheeks replaced with claret radiation burns through her tear-struck eyes on that calamitous day once again. 

      But then she blinked. 

      And none of that was there at all, except for a concerned-looking Octavia blocking her field of vision from the sight displayed out in front of her. "She shouldn't be here, Bell," she advised her brother lowly, snapping the Gray girl of her trance at the same time. 

     Clearing her throat and wiping the tears away from her lower lash line, her head shook. All these emotions— what was she? A child? "I'm fine, Tavia," she clarified, regaining her composure. 

     "Maggie Gray— well I'll be damned," another figure approached the three with an authoritative voice. Glancing towards her left, none other than Charles Pike stood there with a surprised look. "You were obstinate... but one of my best students," he held out his arms to embrace her, and she went along with the gesture. 

      "You had a strange way of teaching, that's for sure," she let out a light laugh, remembering all of the screaming and yelling, "But you did what you could to prepare us, even if we didn't realize it at the time." 

     Genuinely smiling at the compliment, he gestured towards the crowd behind him. "Come. Join us."

     "Someone's made themselves at home," Raven muttered from behind them, and Magnolia nodded in accordance. 

      Scanning the room, Octavia nearly cringed. "There must be thirty of them in here."

     "Thirty-six, but the more the merrier."

     Pretending to find enjoyment in that statement but miserably failing, Octavia adjusted the equipment on her shoulder. "Thirty-six? Wow! The Grounders are gonna think we moved in."

     "Well, there was no room at the inn."

     Persistently, she pressed on the matter, "And this is your option?"

     Magnolia was relieved that others had seen through such a shitshow; Octavia especially.

     "O—" Bellamy scolded. 

     "I'm outta' here," she spun on her heels in annoyance, passing the duffle bag to Reyes and passing a sympathetic look towards Maggie. 

      "Reyes!" another person called out in a deep tone, and it didn't take the Gray girl long to decipher that it was Sinclair, "You're three hours late! We've got no power to medical, fluctuations on levels two and three, and blown fuses all over the place. Get on it."

     "You can do no wrong, huh?" Gina jokingly scoffed as Raven's face seemed to have brightened at all of the mechanic terms being spoken. She loved showcasing her talents, and the fact that something like that made her happy made Maggie just as happy. Her and Gina went off, and after a short-lived conversation with Pike, Bellamy went to go search for his sister. 

     "Maggie Gray. How about you have some food and catch me up on what I need to know," Charles Pike bizarrely welcomed her to sit, and quickly observing her surroundings, she complied. 

— — —

     Over the course of time, it took a lot for Maggie to truly be caught off guard. But when Echo emerged through the doorway with Bellamy and Octavia on either side, it didn't even take a second for her to rush over to the table they were seating her at. 

     "I was with the queen's army, heading towards Polis. The war chief talks too loud," Echo began to explain her side of the story, while they listened intently. 

     Unlike Bellamy and Maggie, Pike appeared to be having absolutely none of it. 

     Mentally, Magnolia couldn't help but think about how much she hated the grudge he held towards every grounder mentioned, even when she had been telling him some of the instances from when they first landed on the ground.

     "You're one of them. So why are you telling us this?"

     Her answer came simple, "We abandoned Skaikru in the battle for the mountain," her eyes then shifted sincerely towards the couple, "It was wrong."

     "And won't they miss you?" Pike inquired sternly. 

     "Maybe. That's why we need to hurry."

     "Pike," Bellamy beckoned, "She saved my life. We can trust her. Listen up," he commanded, just as Sinclair, Gina, and Raven made their return to the mess hall, "Okay, if we want to get to Polis before the attack, we have to move."

     "Attack," Sinclair repeated, the singular word rolling off his tongue with a vulgar punch, "Do we have confirmation of that?"

     "We radioed, but no answer."

     "They may already be dead for all we know," the once-teacher pointed out, and just the idea of Kane, Abby, and all the others possibly being dead was enough to make Maggie sigh. "And if they are, we need to be ready to respond."

     "Don't make this about the missiles."

     "This is about survival. We don't have the numbers, but the missiles in this mountain even the playing field, and you know I'm right," Pike rebutted gravely. 

     "Even if I did agree with you— we still don't have the launch codes."

     "No," Raven piped up, a bold demeanor resting on her face, "But we have me."

     That alone was to get their plan into motion— it was a solid one, truth be told. Slinging a weapon over her shoulder, barely two seconds went by before Bellamy took it right off of her. "I don't think so."

     "You don't think so?" Maggie repeated his words incredulously, trying to get herself to believe what he was insinuating, "The fuck is that about, Bell? And don't try to use me helping get the missiles ready as an excuse. As far as that goes, I don't know shit about shit."

     "You know the mountain better than any of us— one extra rifle won't mean anything; those missiles are our top priority," he interpreted, and deep-down, she knew he was right. "As ironic as it is to say, it's safer here. And that's my top priority, even above the missiles."

     That lead her to smile just a tad as he pulled her in for a hug endearingly, "I love you," her muffled voice spoke into his guard jacket, feeling a bit strange for giving in with so much ease. 

     "I love you too."

— — —

     Maggie's purpose for staying back had dwindled down to being pointless rather quickly, being as she was only making an errand to medical for some medicine to help with the pain in Raven's leg that was clearly bothering the shit out of her. Sinclair believed that it was hindering her ability to think straight, which was partially why they had yet to determine the code for the missiles. Raven tried to fight the feeling, but the pain was so striking that it was hard for even her to hide, especially while being discouraged at the same time. 

     Her knowledge on Dante and the particulars of the establishment didn't prove to be useful; if the code wasn't a whopping twelve digits, then maybe her expertise would've been a better aid. Gina came up with the possibility of the code being hidden in the president's office, so she had already gone there to investigate. 

     That being said, nobody else really knew their way around the place, so maybe her field trip to medical wasn't so shitty, after all. Perhaps she could help some others with the necessities there while she was at it. 

     Maggie was there just a few days prior, but being in the room alone was an entirely different atmosphere. An eeriness lingered over like a thick fog, and the dead silence left the eighteen-year-old alone with nothing but the racing thoughts clouding her brain. Everywhere she went inside those walls, the memories followed, taunting her to no end. 

     Maybe that was what lead her into the room with all the cages; it was like a bright red 'DO NOT TOUCH' button right in front of her nose, and her curiosity got the best of her when there was really no reason for it to. 

     She couldn't decide what was worse— seeing all the starved bodies curled up in cages, or seeing absolutely nothing at all. Realistically, neither option was that appealing, but there she went on, remembering the fight she got into with Bellamy and Lovejoy. Below her combat boots, a faded crimson shade was stained onto the cement flooring brought back yet another distant but not-so-distant memory of discovering Vincent when their journey was almost complete. 

     Nothing about that place was welcoming or comfortable, but yet there people were, enjoying a warm meal as if it was some grand palace that they had stumbled across. They didn't understand—Maggie was well aware— but she couldn't find it in herself to see past the utter shit that so many had went through over the course of all those years. 

     She was only there for a few weeks. 

     Her eyes narrowed as she peered at the shackles she had once been strapped to for decontamination— seriously, what the hell was wrong with these people? There was a small sense of solace felt in knowing that those sickly experiments had been put to an end, but the metal apparatuses being in the same spot still held the history. Every room she ventured off into had some sort of story from her time there attached to it. 

     The intake door stared at Magnolia straight forward, and she instantly shuffled over towards it casually. Pulling it open, nobody waited on the other side, as expected. Completely forgetting about the entire point of going to medical in the first place, her mind had fixated on everything that she held against that place. 

     Practically in the darkness, she stood in the coldness of the tunnel, thinking back to the time where everyone had reunited with one another, and the mood had been elevated, if even just for a few moments. Even during a time period where everything around them seemed to be turning to shit, Maggie and all of her friends seemed unified. But now, everyone was so divided, and they didn't have everyone they were supposed to. It wasn't the same.

     Sure, things were calmer now, but at what cost?

     Only a small yellow light had been connected to the wall to barely illuminate the space. Other than that, a quietness lulled over the space. Nonetheless, Gray couldn't help but feel on-edge. 

     But that's when everything shifted. It only took a split second, but that second meant more than ever imaginable. 

     One second, she was reminiscing, but the next, Maggie faced a blow from an ungodly force that sent her back nearly twenty feet in a cloud of dust. A loud ringing sound pounded in her ears acutely and nonstop, making it impossible to distinguish anything else around her. Coughing at the smoke and fire that she could see from the door she had just went through, her eyes burned, almost like they had been tinged with the acid fog that scared all of the teenagers a mere few months ago. 

     Coughs sputtering out of her mouth, she grimaced at a blossoming pain on the back of her head. Small pieces of rubble from above her rained on her, but her limbs were still battered in shock and a unanimous dull ache, making it impossible to get up. 

     Using every last bit of energy that Maggie could muster, her hands clung onto the ground, trying to inch herself away from the flames as much as possible. 

     Unfortunate for her, she was only able to pull herself about three feet away before her vision went black, and she lost consciousness. 

★━━━━━━━━━━━━★

i hate this chapter so much, but here starts the downward spiral that is season 3. words cannot express my excitement to get into writing more of maggie's shit that is about to occur. 

- ALLY