I sat atop one of the many cots lining the room known as Medical. Abby and Jackson brought me back to the Ark station and I couldn't say I was overjoyed to be here. I had told Abby to just pop my shoulder back in place and I'd be on my merry way, but of course she had immediately denied my request. And now, I was like a test puppet. Upon seeing my blood, Abby looked at me in astonishment and immediately taken samples as soon as we arrived. My wound was now closed but the gauze was stained with dark red, and black.

Waiting in the weirdly sterile room was slowly starting to drive me mad. Not to mention I couldn't move my right arm due to the previous dislocation, my time in the room completely sucked.

Clarke had insisted she brought more clothes for me and I denied the request and instead I had gotten Nyko to choose my.. grounder attire. Nyko was brought back to the Ark to help with the hurt since they were all relocated at the Ark.

Finally the airlock slides open revealing Nyko on the other side. He strides up to the room tossing a few articles of clothing in my lap. "As you requested, Sky Child."

I smile at him as I stand onto my feet and grab the black leather pants and slip them over my thighs. "Thanks Nyko." I say flatly slipping on a black t-shirt.

Nyko nodded while Wick came through the airlock. "You're dressed, good. We're going to help Raven figure out the situation." I turned my head to look at Wick as Nyko clicked the sling into place to keep my arm from moving.

"I'll see you later, okay?" I turned to Nyko which he nodded. I left with Wick and traveled through the Ark station and into Engineering. Inside the room, Raven was sitting at her work station with her head in her hand rubbing her temple.

"I've brought some help." Wick stated as he resumed himself in front of a board with a bunch of words written on it. Raven looked up from her work and smiled immediately.

"God, when I heard about the explosion, I feared the worst." Raven got up from her work and pulled me into a soft hug, aware of my injured shoulder.

"I'm okay. Just a dislocated shoulder and some cuts." I smiled back at her and followed her to her table. "So what are we working on here?"

"Wick isn't being useful and I'm working on cracking this stupid code." She explained and I took a look of the various data recorded about Mount Weather's acid fog system.

"Why don't we just disable the machine?" I suggested.

"Any machine like that has to have safe guards." Wick explains. "They can't keep a boatload of acid around without any way to neutralize it. It's safety protocol. Let's use that."

Raven shakes her head. "Neutralization is too complicated."

The man scoffs. "Please. It's a bag of limestone in the corner."

Raven exhales in annoyance. "Here we go again.. big ideas with no follow-through."

"I'll have you know I have great follow-through."

I watched as Raven's expression change as she glanced up from the device she is working on to the man. Before I could comment, the radio crackles.

"Come in, Raven. I made it. I hope you have a plan." Bellamy's voice comes through the speaker.

I snatch the receiver before Raven could and lift it to my mouth. "It's actually Dakota this time. And we're getting there, so tell us what you see."

"A huge steel vat. Looks like a submarine. Some other tanks with chemical formula and warning labels. Bunch of pipes running into the wall. Monitor."

Wick perks up behind me and leaned over my shoulder. "Ooh, go to the monitor."

"Hello to you, too." Bellamy mutters.

I roll my eyes. "Ignore him."

"Hey, Bellamy. How's my boy Monty doing?" The engineer questions curiously.

"Fine. But I don't know for how long."

Wick nods sitting next to me at the work table. "Great. Pleasantries over. Listen, if that monitor is a control panel, we can use it to kill this thing. Look for a pH scale."

Bellamy exhales. "Right. It has a scale, but the rest.. uh. S-3, V-2-0-5, H-2-S-0-7." He exhales in frustration. "Look, can I just blow this thing?"

"No." Raven answers.

"They'll known their defences are down. They'll send a tech to fix it, or reroute it, or pull out some other weapon we don't even know about."

"Plus, you'd probably melt your face off." Raven adds. Bellamy sighs at the statement. "Look, you know I like a good explosion, but we gotta think our way through this one. We can do this." She takes a deep breath. "Here we go."

I leaned against the metal surface resting my chin in my left palm. Raven and Wick kept asking Bellamy about all the labels and systems on the monitor in Mount Weather.

"Okay, uh..level indicator." Bellamy continues to list.

Wick shakes his head. "Nope."

"Dakota." Abby's voice comes up from behind me and I turn my head as does Raven. I turn to Raven and give her a nod while I walk out of the room with Abby.

"Come to stick something else into my arm?" I ask her as the airlock closes behind me and Abby turns her body to face me.

Abby shakes her head. "We need to ask the Commander, we don't know what we are dealing with here." Abby explains and by her face she didn't come up with anything in the tests.

I shake my head. "No we can't. I don't know what this makes me and I might now prove a threat to them."

"They might know what is happening with you, Dakota. I haven't seen anything like this and the more we sit and wait, the more your blood is turning."

"What do you mean, turning?"

"I looked at your blood under a microscope, your blood is turning black as we speak." Abby shakes her head. "As far as we know, it's not killing you but we have no knowledge and the Commander may know."

I shake my head for the final time. "No, we are not broadcasting this for the world to see. This is including my well-being and I will not allow it." I say and turn to go back into engineering. Raven and Wick and embracing and I raise an eyebrow as they separate awkwardly.

"Alright, send a flare." Bellamy speaks up through the celebration.

I walk in and snatch the deceiver. "Roger that. And Bell, be careful. It's about to get even crazier in there." I say as I look down at Raven with a smirk on my face.

"Same goes for you. I'll see you soon."

***

The next day, their plan for war is set into action. The Grounders have set up a base camp at the entrance of Mount Weather placed in front of their massive external door. A group of people from the Ark make the journey to meet up with the Commander and Clarke to finish what the Mountain Men started.

Although I was still somewhat injured, I braved the journey and decided to fight with them. There was no way I was going to miss this. Shoulder or not, It only took one hand to swing my sword and that one hand was going to count today. Our group marches into the Grounder base camp entering the Commander's war tent.

Lexa nods her head in greeting decked out in her battle garb and paint. "Welcome, Skaikru. Join us."

"Commander, a word?" I approach her and she looks at her guards and gesture them to come with. I instantly stop her by grabbing her hand, to which her guards unsheathe their swords. "Alone, please."

Lexa notices my discomfort about this whole situation and narrows her eyes at me as she speaks. "Chil yo daun." Her guards hesitantly put their swords back into place and she gestures with her head to follow her into her tent.

She turns to me with her head raised, "What can I do for you, Dakota?" She asks as her hand places itself on her sword. I smile slightly.

"I know you don't trust me but I didn't come here to hurt you." I tell her as I step forward and Lexa lifts her head up.  "Something has happened and I don't know how to explain." I continue and my eyes fix on her dagger that is securely placed on her hip. "May I?" I ask her and she looks down at my extended hand.

She narrows her eyes and passes me the dagger as she looks at me. I take the small knife and place it against my palm slicing into my flesh. Lexa's eyes glance down and her eyebrows furrow as the black blood begins to ooze out of the cut.

I look up at her and with a shaky breath, "What is this?" I ask.

Lexa grabs my hand almost immediately and her finger grazes the liquid. Her mouth gapes slightly as she holds up her hand to get a better look at her stained finger. Her eyes glance back at me and again, they fix onto the blood that is oozing out of the cut from my hand. "Sheidjus." Her lips turn up into a small smile.

"What does that mean?"

"You bleed the blood of the Commanders." Lexa says.

"Is this going to kill me?" I ask her and Lexa smiles again.

"You are a Nightblood." Lexa explains, "Nightbloods are a special, selective group of potential Commanders. You are special, and I find myself wondering how you carry the blood."

I shake my head at her. "I don't know.. It wasn't always like this. My Chancellor says that my blood is changing, to this." I try to explain to her but my head is jumbled with different thoughts and I find myself running out of oxygen as my head explodes.

Lexa nods understandingly and when she notices my panic, her hand comes to rest onto my other shoulder in comfort. "It's nothing to be afraid of, Dakota. You should be proud." I turn my head to face her as a weak smile places on my lips. "We will speak about this again, but right now we have a war to win."

A/N: This is just a small filler chapter for the next chapter since the next two episodes may be just 2 chapters? Maybe 3 and then we can start up with Season 3. I always do a Q&A when the book ends, so if you have any questions to ask about this book, involving Dakota, or the plot, don't be afraid to ask.