❝i hate war. not just for the death and awfulness, but what it does to us. these decisions.❞

-morrigan, a court of wings and ruin

♛

AS I'M LED TO lockup, many eyes are on me. Probably because my expression stays smug even as I'm being taken away by the very guards I'm supposed to be in charge of. Jail time doesn't matter to me. After all, the most they'll keep me in is half a day.

Newman, who's probably my least favorite coworker in all of Alpha Station, is the one to swipe his key card into the gate and swing it open. Another guard ushers me inside. Then, seconds later, the metal shuts with a clang and locks me in.

My eyes sweep around carefully. All of the people in here are Grounders— from various clans, I realize, judging by the differing tattoos on their faces or peeking out from their shirt collars. A few are sickly-looking, pale faces or papery skin. Coughs muddle the air. One man is cradling his arm in his other. I recognize some of them; they'd been in Medical just days ago. I'd assumed Abby had discharged them, but by the looks of it, that hadn't been the case.

Dread weighs my veins. I can only assume who'd been responsible for this.

"Fallon?" I turn to see Lincoln among the familiar faces. His face is wrinkled in confusion. I hadn't seen him since our training session outside of the walls, which seems like forever ago. "Hakom yu kamp raun hir?"

"I punched Jaha in the face," I answer simply, using English because I don't know the Trigedasleng translation. "It was worth it. What about you?"

"Pike ordered these people into lockup," he informs me with a curl to his lip. "He said they're a liability. But they're sick— they need medical attention, and this will only make them worse. They could die."

He doesn't have to explain further. I know that even though Lincoln has proved himself to be one of us, his heart will always stay with the innocent and he'll do his best to help anyone. He must have shown his discontent in a manner Pike didn't like. Judging by the slight scabs on his knuckles, it was by using violence. He's usually an advocate for peace. I can only imagine what must have transpired for him to resort to such a thing.

"Good thing you have me," I mutter, turning my back to the guards and shoving my hand into my jacket pocket. I rummage around and produce a handful of pills meant to cure an everyday ailment such as a cough, sneeze, or slight fever. There are also some bandages and gauze in another pocket. It's not anything groundbreaking, but it has to help someone.

I approach a younger Grounder who's maybe about sixteen. She has a scar across her right temple from an old wound that either cut deeply or didn't heal properly. Her black hair is pulled back in intricate braids that frame her square face like a crown. As I come closer, her dark brown eyes narrow to slits in distrust.

"En's ogud," I say gently, raising my hands. "Ai's trana sis au."

"Osir na wich em in," Lincoln adds with a nod. He seems to be the advocate for the Grounders here, because as soon as he says they can trust me, the girl relaxes. She shakily holds out her arm and pulls up her sleeve. I can already tell that she's been bleeding due to the dark stain on her shirt. Sure enough, I suck in a breath at the sight of the long, jagged gash in her skin. It was most likely caused by a dull blade.

"Hod op," I say to her, standing up and heading toward the side of the cage. The two guards on duty are Reynolds and Nox. I pound on the metal, ignoring the sting it brings to my knuckles. "Hey! Can I get some water, or am I going to have to report you for depriving me of my basic human rights?"

Reynolds, an Asian woman with her dark hair in a pixie cut, sighs before jerking her head toward Nox. "Keep an eye on them."

I can feel the eyes of every Grounder prisoner on me as I wait, tapping my foot in a dramatic display of impatience. It takes Reynolds a minute to return with a small cup of water. She opens a small compartment in the cage, handing it to me. I take it without thanks and turn my back to her. A bitter prisoner isn't something to be suspicious about.

I dip a small cloth into the water and approach the girl again. "Disha laksen. Shof op."

Her expression doesn't change at my mention of pain or my order for her to stay quiet. I don't mean to be rude, but if she makes a sound, I could get my supplies taken away, and then these people would perish.

I don't waste any time in gently patting the wet cloth onto the line of dried blood. As it comes off, her skin becomes slightly dyed with red, as does the fabric. But she obeys my order and bites her lip to keep any cries of pain from escaping. She handles it like a champ, even when I have to dig slightly to get bits of dirt out of the cut. Someone beside me begins fake coughing in order to mask the sound of me ripping a piece of medical tape.

As soon as I patch her up, the girl yanks her sleeve down and averts her eyes from mine. I don't expect a thank-you, so I move on to another man, who appears feverish.

I work as quietly as I can, speaking only in Trigedasleng and having Lincoln help me when I'm unable to translate what I want to say. I treat whoever I can, apologizing profusely to those I cannot.

The sound of a struggle catches my attention, and I turn around, obscuring my supplies from sight. Someone punches in the code to the gate. When it swings open, they remove Sinclair's restraints and shove him inside the cell.

"Sinclair?" I ask incredulously, wondering what the former Chief Engineer could have done to be locked up.

"Hello, Fallon," he greets in an eerily calm manner. "Caleb told me that you hit Jaha— nice going."

"Thanks," I reply blankly. "What did you do?"

The older man sighs and puts his hands on his hips. "Pike is planning another raid, so I tried tampering with the Rover. I was obviously caught. Since Raven's still M.I.A, I put Caleb in charge."

I wince at the mention of Raven. With Caleb now in charge of the Engineers, he'll be too busy to investigate the Chip any further.

"Fallon Rivers," Reynolds says to me. When I turn around, I discover her standing near the gate with her finger hovering over the keypad. As if she's preparing to let me out. "The Chancellor is here to speak with you."

I suck in a breath as Charles Pike waltzes in, staring at the two guards on duty with a disappointed expression. "Is this any way to treat your Commander? If we imprisoned everyone who hit everyone, the whole Ark'd be in lockup. Release her."

Sinclair, Lincoln, and I all share a collective look of suspicion. This has to be another one of Pike's plans to get me to warm up to him, which will never happen. Could he have gotten word that Bellamy and I have reconciled? Does he think it's a proper time for him to suddenly act chummy with me? Even though I still hold a grudge on Lexa and the other Grounders for what they've done, I don't approve of his methods and never will.

I face Lincoln and quickly divert my eyes to the cup of water and back again. Then, as discreetly as I can, I hand him a few bandages and gauze. And I walk toward the gate as if nothing ever happened.

Reynolds unlocks the door just long enough for me to slip out. Pike doesn't look like he expects any gratitude, so when I turn toward him, he appears mildly curious. But my words aren't full of thanks whatsoever.

"I don't want to be the Commander," I spit lowly, "so you can shove that title right up your ass, Chancellor."

Pike's emotions are well-masked. He merely tilts his head back as I glare daggers at him, then begin to walk away.

"Very well, Miss Rivers," he calls after me, "but the next time I see you illegally treating prisoners, I'll hold it against you."

I hate that it works. My blood freezes in my veins for a split second, my heart stopping at the realization that I hadn't been as sly as I'd hoped. But Lincoln can do it. As long as he keeps the supplies hidden, those prisoners can still get the help they need.

--

"FALLON."

I jump at the sound of Jasper's pleading voice from around the corner. Seconds later, he appears around the bend and stops in front of me, panting heavily and fear in his glassy eyes. I haven't seen such an emotion on his face for months. It instills immediate panic in me. "What?"

"Where's Caleb?" he asks breathlessly, eyes searching behind me as if the mechanic is down this hallway. "Something's wrong with Raven. She's figured it out: the Chip doesn't erase pain. It erases memories."

I blink at him. His words are coming out so fast that my brain can hardly keep up. "What?"

Jasper groans impatiently and waves me along. He continues his rapid-fire explanation as I walk briskly alongside him.

"Raven wanted me to help her break into Pike's office," he informs me. "Apparently he confiscated Jaha's backpack-thing after you mysteriously punched him right outside of his room. And then I mentioned how this whole thing reminds me of Finn, and when I asked her about her necklace, she realized she can't remember anything about him. Like, at all. Not even his face."

"That's why Jaha didn't remember Wells," I mumble under my breath. "His backpack— what was it?"

"A chipmaker," Jasper replies. "Not sure how, but it makes the City of Light Chips."

"Yeah, I kinda got that from the name."

"The entire camp is going to shit," he continues with a sigh. "Lexa ordered a blockade, every Sky Person seen outside of the walls dies, all that exciting stuff. Two Scouts killed the guards on duty. Monty's mom thinks our supplies will last for two weeks if we start rationing again. It's like we're back in space."

I grit my teeth. Clarke claimed she and Lexa were working together, that only Pike was in the way of peace. But this is an entirely new low. If Clarke really has as much influence as she made it seem like she did, the blockade wouldn't be in effect.

And I don't mean for it to all go back to Clarke, but it does. She could have chosen to stay with us. But she believed she could help from Polis. Evidently, nothing is changing. A part of me continues to ache with loss. She's missed so much already, and she's only going to miss more.

"Then we're just going to have to do something about it."

-----

PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS BC IT'S IMPORTANT

this chapter is disgusting lmao especially at the end but!! i'm slowly moving fallon back into actual scenes of the show and not just ones made up in my mind

i'm already on episode nine!! tbh i can't wait for the later chapters of season three because that's when all of the subplots conflate (ahem *wink*) and everyone's back together

EXTRA THINGS I COULDN'T MENTION IN THE PLOT:

-i'm on ep 9, which means yes, lexa has been gone for like 2 hours, but nobody knows that

-tbh hannah is worse than pike tbh because she wanted to "float" sinclair but pike said no

-monty is actually the reason why sinclair was caught

TRANSLATIONS:

Hakom yu kamp raun hir? : Why are you here?

En's ogud. Ai's trana sis au: It's okay. I'm trying to help.

Osir na wich em in: We can trust her.

Disha laksen. Shof op: This will hurt. Be quiet.

aaaand check out what i made! just keep watching and you may see some familiar names pop up (;

-kristyn

https://youtu.be/PhYVp1fEpcg