𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅: 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐;
❛ 𝑹𝑼𝑳𝑬𝑺 ❜
↷ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅
❝ 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰'𝒎 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 ❞

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨?"

That was the question Gabriella Kane never got herself to answer correctly, even after all the times she was walking along the edge of ending it all and giving up and fighting for her and her people's freedom and home.

She was never as close to giving up as she was now.

All her friends and a big part of the army they needed to fight this war were gone ── locked away hell knows where.

The Mountain Man were probably already killing them, completely draining them of their blood and overusing their bone marrow.

And for once in her life, Gabriella had no idea what she was supposed to do.

Just sit there and wait for the full on battle to start? March into whatever place her friends were and demand their freedom, getting herself killed in the process too?

She had no idea. She only knew that leaving and sneaking out of here just to leave her people behind wasn't an option.

She would rather hand herself over to Cage than leave anyone she cares about behind.

"Let's go. Get up." Bellamy told her, putting his hand in front of her so she could take it and he could help her get up from her spot on the floor.

Gabriella didn't take it, only narrowed her eyes up at him, "Where do we even go from here? We got the acid fog down and lowered all of their defenses only to lose our biggest weapon 𝘢𝘯𝘥 the people we came to rescue."

"I'm sorry but did I just hear Gabriella Kane give up?" Bellamy scoffed, raising an eyebrow at her, "We went through a lot just to get this far. I, for one, am not gonna just sit here and sulk until I get caught and then killed. And neither are you. You're gonna get your stubborn little ass and finish what you started. You're not seriously gonna leave me hanging are you, Artemis?"

His words left her in silence for a few seconds. All she did was stare at him, gaping and not quite sure what to say until she cleared her throat and used the hand Bellamy previously offered her to bring herself to her feet.

"I wasn't giving up." she stated, letting go of his hand to pat his shoulder, "Besides, we both know that that little pep talk was just you avoiding to tell me what we both already know; you need me."

"Well, maybe I do." Bellamy's response made Gabriella's eyes widen in surprise momentarily before she recovered a second later.

"Good to know." she simply responded, before turning her focus to Jasper comforting a crying Maya on the other side of the room, her eyes softening at the sight.

"You think she'll be okay?" Bellamy asked her, his eyes now too glued to the couple.

"She's strong. She'll get through this."

"Sounds like someone else I know."

This time, Gabriella did smile.

-

Bellamy's plan was for all four of them to head to the Mountain Weather exit where they knew a part of the army was going to be using to get inside.

Gabriella and Bellamy were the first to step out, not expecting to only find Octavia and Clarke standing there, alone.

The sound of the door opening seemed to tear both girls away from the conversation they were having and Octavia was quick to jump into her brother's arms and sigh into his shoulder, "Bellamy."

Octavia's eyes only brightened when they connected with Gabriella's over Bellamy's shoulder and she didn't waste a second to pull away from her brother to tackle her into a hug.

"Gee, Tavi." Gabriella winced, but still smiled as she hugged her back, "You're crushing me. What the hell are you wearing?"

The brunette stiffened but her expression softened again at the lack of disgust on her friend's face, "Grounder paint. I'm Indra's second now."

"I have no idea what that means but I'm guessing it's a good thing." Gabriella chuckled with a grin, "I love the face pain by the way. It looks badass."

"I know right! Lincoln even── "

Octavia's words were cut off by Jasper's cough. Both girls turned away from each other to see Jasper narrow his eyes at the youngest Blake, "Monty and I don't get a hug then."

Chuckling, Octavia tackled both boys into a hug, "I knew it. You two are too scrawny to drill."

After the trio pulled away, Octavia's body stiffened at the sight of Maya in a hazmat suit, only for Jasper to calm her down in an instant, "It's alright. She's with us."

"We lost 𝘰𝘶𝘳 army of grounders so please tell me where the hell yours is." Gabriella said, turning to raise her eyebrows at Clarke.

"Gone." she stated with sad eyes, "Lexa made a deal with Cage to get the rest of her people out, then left. Please say you have a plan."

"Not really." Bellamy responded, only to have both of their eyes shift to Gabriella expectantly.

"Not this time."

Sighing, Bellamy spoke up again, "We need to talk to Dante. Maya says he's in quarantine."

"Clarke." Jasper exclaimed from the back, pulling the Griffin girl into a hug, Monty following shortly after.

Pulling away a few seconds later, Jasper marched over to his girlfriend, looking at the timer attached to her suit and informing them, "Thirty minutes." his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "We just changed it. That can't be right. It's her last tank."

"Then we'll find you another one." Clarke stated in fake confidence, making Maya shake her head.

"All the supplemental oxygen is on Level Five."

"Then we have to get you to Level Five." Jasper shot back.

"Level Five isn't safe for any one of us." Gabriella chimed in, crossing her arms over her chest, "Especially not Maya."

"We'll take the trash chute again. It will work."

Shaking her head at Jasper's words, Gabriella sighed, "We could get in easily there's no question but the risk of being seen and shot on the spot is too big."

"Gabi's right." Bellamy agreed, "Every soldier in this Mountain is in there. We'll never make it out."

"We can do this." Jasper told them stubbornly.

"Jas── "

"We'll split up." he cut Gabriella off and Octavia interfered before anyone could argue.

"Okay. You guys go for Dante." she stated, "We'll help Maya."

Swallowing thickly, Gabriella thought it through and then nodded, "Fine."

-

Splitting up so Gabriella was with Bellamy, Monty and Clarke while Octavia and Jasper were trying to get Maya another oxygen tank on Level Five wasn't the brightest idea, Gabriella knew that. But they didn't have much of a choice after the Commander betrayed them and left them for dead.

When the four of them stepped into the room Cage was keeping Dante, Gabriella mentally noted how it was completely white besides the few paintings hanging on the walls.

"Hello, Clarke." the old man greeted.

"Sir, we need your help again." Bellamy said, making Dante turn his attention to him.

Noticing his hesitation, Monty chimed in, "It's okay. Ella and I took out the camera from the junction in the hall. We can talk freely."

Gabriella gave the man a short wave and sarcastic grin when Monty said her name and kept looking around the room.

"No one's watching anyway." Dante said, raising an eyebrow at Bellamy and Gabriella, "Thanks to you, they're all on Level Five."

"You're not." Clarke said, stating the obvious.

"No . . . " Dante chuckled to himself, "I'm not."

"Please. We don't have much time. We need a way to get our people out of this Mountain without killing anyone." Bellamy said and Gabriella already had a feeling she wasn't the only one that knew there was a low chance that was possible.

Nothing comes without a price these days.

Clarke narrowed her eyes at the older man, "He's not gonna help us."

"You cut the power, risking the lives of everyone in this Mountain, 𝘮𝘺 people. Even the ones who helped you." Dante said, the anger in his voice clear.

"We knew they'd be safe on Level Five." Clarke pushed, walking to stand right in front of him, "We made sure not to destroy the turbines so you could repay them. We're the good guys here, not you."

𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 '𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴'. Gabriella thought, biting her tongue to keep herself from saying that out loud.

"Tell me, if we released your people and theirs, what would have happened to mine?"

Dante's words left Clarke speechless, so she turned away from the former president to look between Gabriella and Monty, "Can you get us into the command center? We need to see what's happening on Level Five."

"I don't know where exactly it is." Gabriella stated, turning to look at Monty, "Do you?"

"Yeah." Monty nodded, "No problem."

Bellamy sighed, "Let's go." he marched up to Dante and grabbed a hold of his forearm, "You're gonna help us whether you like it or not."

-

"I told you there's no one here." Dante stated once they rounded another corner, Monty leading them down the hallway and towards the command center.

"Yeah we heard you the first ten times." Gabriella shot back, still not letting her guard down and keeping her gun raised despite his words.

"Sorry if we don't take your word for it." Bellamy added from behind her.

"Why aren't you with your people on Level Five?" Clarke questioned Dante.

"After what I've done, they can be free. I can't. Deliverance comes at a cost. I bear it so they don't have to."

Gabriella drowned out Clarke and Dante's conversation as she helped Monty open the door by messing with the wire system.

"It wasn't Cage." Bellamy's words made Gabriella slow down and let Monty take over so she could turn to see what the eldest Blake was talking about, "It was your idea to make the deal with the grounders."

Dante didn't even try to defend himself, only nodded, which caused Gabriella to scoff and glare at him.

"We're in. I got them." Monty exclaimed and Bellamy didn't waste a second before opening the door with his gun raised warily.

"It's clear. He was telling the truth." Bellamy told them, allowing Gabriella, Clarke and Monty to come in while he tugged Dante into the room.

"Let's get the monitors up." Clarke said as she closed the doors.

Gabriella and Monty only shared a glance, before getting to work.

-

Once Monty and Gabriella were able to turn on the monitor so it shows what exactly is happening at Level Five live, the latter crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at the screen to go over everyone there.

"The command center is live." Monty told Bellamy and Clarke.

Gabriella's hands instantly shot over her mouth at the sight of Raven Reyes strapped to the table on the screen, getting ready to get her bone marrow taken out, "Oh, my gods."

"Is that Raven?" Bellamy asked, leaning closer to her to get a better look at the screen.

"Yeah." Gabriella confirmed, her eyes widening further as the camera moved to show Wells, Wick, Miller's father, Abby and Kane tied up next to the wall.

"Mom?" Clarke gasped at the same time as Gabriella furrowed her eyebrows and whispered to herself, "Jaha? Wick?"

Bellamy marched over to the radios laid out at the side of the table and marched towards Dante, "Tell them to stop. Now!"

"I won't do that."

Gabriella snapped her head from the screen to glare at Dante threateningly, "What do you mean you won't do it?"

Instead of Dante taking the radio from Bellamy, Clarke was the one to do it, speaking into it, "Carl Emerson, Mount Weather security detail, come in."

"𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?" came back his response.

"You know who it is. Give the radio to the president." Clarke simply said as Gabriella got closer to her and Bellamy to hear what was going on better.

Moving her eyes back towards the screen, Gabriella watched Emerson move through the crowd and off the screen.

"They're moving." Bellamy stated, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Not a problem." Monty said from his spot in the chair, "I'll bring it on the main monitor."

A second later, Cage's figure standing in an empty hall was the only thing visible and then they heard his voice coming from the radio, "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦."

Clarke took a deep breath before bringing the radio to her lips and announcing, "I have your father. If you don't let my people go, I'll kill him."

"Like that's gonna work with him." Gabriella commented, not being able to help herself, "The guy is a complete sociopath."

Soon enough, Cage's voice came through, "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮?"

In response, Clarke passed the radio over to Dante, who leaned down to speak into it, "Stay the course, Cage."

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵." Cage shot back, his voice slightly wavering.

"You don't know me very well." Clarke responded, making Gabriella narrow her eyes at her and think; 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘐.

Moving away from Dante, Clarke kept talking, "This ends now. Release my people."

"𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵."

"It would mean the end of our people, Clarke." Dante added for his son, his words triggering Clarke enough to snap back around with her gun aimed straight at his head.

"Woah, woah, woah." Gabriella said, her eyes wide in shock as she didn't even think twice before standing right in front of the gun, "Are you out of your damn mind? He's our only advantage. We 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 him."

"And I need his son to believe me."

When Clarke raised the radio back to her lips, Bellamy swooped in and pulled Gabriella away from the gun by wrapping his arms around her waist, something she surprisingly didn't fight against.

"Don't make me do this." the youngest Griffin said into the radio.

There was a few moments of silence, before Cage spoke again, "𝘋𝘢𝘥, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦."

"None of us has a choice here, Clarke." Dante said after he recovered from his son's quick betrayal.

"I didn't want this."

"Neither did ── " Dante didn't have time to finish his sentence because not even a second later, a gunshot rang through the air and Clarke shot him straight in the chest.

The old man groaned in pain as blood came pouring from his chest and through his white shirt, his limp body soon stumbling onto the floor, leaving everyone staring at it in disbelief.

"Listen to me very carefully." Clarke started into the radio, being the first of the four to recover, "I will not stop until my people are free. If you don't let them go . . . I will irradiate Level Five."

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵. Gabriella thought, her brain not even registering Bellamy's arms leaving her waist and moving to squeeze her shoulder. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵.

"Cage, listen to me. I don't want anyone else to die." Clarke added, her voice shockingly calm, "Stop the drilling and we can talk. There must be a way to get us all out of this. "

On the screen, Gabriella watched Emerson and Cage whisper something between themselves, before Emerson disappeared from the screen down the hall.

"He's coming here." she voiced, her hands already moving to the gun in her waistband.

"They deactivated my key card. Can you do that to him?" Bellamy asked, moving to stare down at Gabriella with furrowed eyebrows.

"No problem." the blonde nodded and moved to stand in front of the control board, taking Monty's previous spot. Biting her bottom lip nervously, she started going over the computers before reaching the files she was looking for and starting to disable Emerson's key card as fast as she could.

"Where's Cage going?" Bellamy asked, making Gabriella's eyes momentarily flicker to the screen and then back at the computer again.

"The dorm." Clarke said and Gabriella couldn't help but let her eyes move back to Cage entering the dorm where Raven was about to get drilled.

Clarke rushed to her side and narrowed her eyes impatiently, "Ella, can you do it? Can you and Monty irradiate the level?"

"I can." Gabriella snapped, moving her eyes off the computer and the sign that said she successfully disabled Emerson's key card, raising her eyebrow at Clarke, "But that doesn't mean I will. Clarke, think about this, okay? You know how many people we will kill by doing this? Thousands."

"There are kids in there." Bellamy chimed in, making Gabriella nod in agreement.

"I know."

Clarke's lack of emotion only made Bellamy's eyes narrow into a glare, "And people who helped us."

"Well, then, please, give me a better idea." Clarke pleaded, looking between Gabriella and Bellamy desperately.

Noticing both her frustration and hesitation, Monty squeezed Gabriella's shoulder and motioned for her to get out of the chair so he could take her place again.

Gabriella got up, her eyes glued to the scene of the guards removing Raven from the table and putting Wells in her place the entire time.

"What have I done?" Clarke gasped with tears in her eyes.

"Clarke, if we do this, there is no going back." Bellamy told her, but Clarke ignored him and turned to Monty.

"Figure it out."

𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵, kept ringing through Gabriella's head as her teary eyes were still stuck on Wells being drilled on the table on the screen.

Loud banging on the doors ceased Gabriella's train of thoughts and Monty's typing on the computer.

𝘌𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯.

"He's here." Clarke realized with wide eyes.

"Jasper." Monty gasped, "They caught him."

All thoughts of rational thinking went through the window when Gabriella saw Jasper being brought into the room with everyone on the screen.

Soon enough, both Octavia and Maya came into view too and Gabriella swore both she and Bellamy stopped breathing for a solid second.

When Monty stopped typing, Clarke glared down at him with eyes full of tears, "Why are you stopping?"

"Because I did it." the male engineer breathed out, "All we have to do is pull this."

Gabriella looked at the lever Monty was pointing at and took in a harsh breath. 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬.

"All hatches and vents will open, and the scrubbers reverse, pulling in inside air." Monty explained but Gabriella's attention turned away from him when Bellamy pulled out his gun and pointed it at the door.

"He's gonna blow the door!"

"Ella, Clarke, we are out of time." Monty said, making Clarke's hand move to the lever in an instant.

Gabriella took one more look at Raven and Wells and put her hand down on top of Clarke's, letting out a short breath of air, "Together."

Clarke's lips twitched into a small weak smile of relief and the two of them were about to pull the lever when Bellamy spoke up.

"My sister, my responsibility." his eyes shifted from his little sister being brought into the room towards Gabriella and he gave her a barely there smile, "Besides, you're out of your mind if I'm letting you do this alone."

Neither of them were aware of it yet, but when it came to Gabriella Kane, Bellamy Blake's morals always went straight out the window. Which only gave him a second reason to put his hand on top of her own on the lever.

"Together." Bellamy said, before all three of them pulled.

The monitor started beeping, telling them the air was starting to get inside.

Telling them that it was all over.

But at what cost?

"Let's go get our people."

-

Both Cage and Emerson were gone and the rest of the Mountain Man were dead. Including Maya.

The only thing going through Gabriella's head was how much Jasper was gonna hate her.

Nonetheless, she was fine with having him hate her as long as he was alive.

But having him not being able to look at her the entire way back to Camp Jaha? Gods, that broke her heart.

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯?" were the words he spat towards her and Monty with pure venom in his voice and if the sight of all those people dead because of her wasn't enough to make Gabriella want to break down and cry, it was that.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥." were the first words that left Kane's mouth when he got out of his bounds and walked towards her and Bellamy. But, did they?

She wasn't even sure what her definition of 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 was anymore.

Who was anyone to decide who's good and who's evil. Who's anyone to decide which of your actions judge who you are as a whole.

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴.

Gabriella hasn't allowed any tears to fall. Not yet anyway.

Hell, she couldn't look up the entire walk home. She couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with anyone. Her eyes constantly glued to the floor as she walked with Bellamy, Monty and Clarke by her side at the end of the crowd.

The three of them were the only ones that understood the burden of more than two thousand lives dying by their hand.

Now that everyone reached Camp Jaha, Gabriella was stuck by Bellamy's side at the gate, the back of her head resting on his shoulder as they both watched Clarke and Monty share a hug before the latter walking into camp alone. Leaving only the three of them.

How ironic it was that the original trio that led them through their first war with the grounders were the same ones that brought them out of a second one. Just with different grounders.

Bellamy moved his shoulder, causing Gabriella to lift her head to give him a strange look. He simply nodded towards Clarke, who still stood completely outside of camp.

"I think we deserve a drink." Bellamy sighed, one of his arms stuck on Gabriella's lower back as they made their way to stand by Clarke's side.

Clarke didn't take her eyes off Camp Jaha when she responded, for some reason not being able to look either of them in the eye yet, "Have one for me."

Clearing her throat, Gabriella nudged the fellow blonde and gave her an empty smile, "We're gonna get through this. 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, right?"

"I'm not going in."

Clarke's statement made both their eyes widen simultaneously. Gabriella really didn't know if she could handle losing anyone who was as close to her as Clarke was right now.

"Look, if you need forgiveness. I'll give that to you; you're forgiven." she started softly, finally showing the sadness she refused to show for the eight hour walk to here, "You can't leave. We need you. 𝘐 need you."

"Take care of them for me." was Clarke's response. Plain and simple. Refusing to show any type of emotion. Refusing to show weakness, all three of them knew she had.

"Clarke ── "

"No. Seeing their faces every day, it's just gonna remind me of what I did to get them here." Clarke cut Bellamy off shakily.

"What 𝘸𝘦 did." Gabriella exclaimed, "We pulled that lever together and we'll get through it together."

Clarke stared in between them in silence before sighing and repeating Dante's words from earlier, "I bear it, so they don't have to."

"Where are you gonna go?" Bellamy asked when all Gabriella could do was stare at Clarke in disbelief.

"I don't know." Clarke responded, her eyes turning back to Gabriella just as a tear fell from her cheek and before she knew it, she was wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

"May we meet again." she whispered in Gabriella's ear before leaving a short goodbye kiss to her cheek.

After realizing Gabriella wasn't gonna hug back anytime soon, Clarke pulled away and gave Bellamy a short hug too, before she turned away from them and walked away. Never looking back.

When Gabriella and Bellamy were the only ones left inside, she finally let the tears fall and before she could even think about what she was doing, she threw her arms around Bellamy's waist and brought their bodies flush together, crying into his shoulder.

Bellamy let out a sad sigh and wrapped his arms around her shoulders tightly, letting a few tears fall too.

"You're not leaving too, are you?" she asked him. Even though she meant it as a joke, her voice still crackled slightly, making her squeeze her eyes together to keep more tears from falling.

"Never. I'll be there every step of the way."

a/n: this chapter was a lot

so that's a wrap for book one! book two will be coming out sometime next week when I finish the prologue!

comment here if you want a dedication for book two, it will be called STAY HIGH

words: 4.1k
edited [ ✔ ]