Chapter 19: Ch. 19 – The Lies that We Weave

The next morning, Clarke, Finn, Murphy, Lincoln, and I made our way to Camp Jaha on foot while Indra and her warriors followed behind us on horseback. Before we left, I hooked the guns on the saddle of my horse, which was led by one of the Grounders in the back of Indra's group. We reached the edge of the camp an hour before midday, but I could not go with them inside.

"When you get inside, you'll have to convince your mom to come out and meet with me, so that I can explain what's going on. I'd also like for you, Bellamy, and Raven to come, but there can't be anyone else. We can stay within range of the Guard's weapons, but we must be outside of hearing range... and Clarke, any attack against Indra or Lincoln while we talk will end negotiations. Kane will receive whatever injury that they receive, and I won't be allowed to return, even after Mount Weather," I explained.

"I don't understand, how is Chancellor Kane going to be..." Finn started.

"I get it. Give me some time," Clarke agreed, cutting him off.

I nodded then stepped backwards towards Indra with my hands raised in the air. She put her sword to my neck then said something in their language. The Grounder who was leading my horse rode up and allowed them to take the guns back. Finn and Murphy picked up the guns then the three of them walked off slowly towards camp. Indra lowered her sword when they were over halfway there which meant that I was free to move again.

"I'm going to make a Stone Wall so that I can block the sight of my people when I prove that I have powers to the leader of this camp. I'll do it nice and slow, so you know that I'm not trying anything," I said.

"You don't trust your own people," Indra remarked.

"The Heda doesn't. If they betray my faith in them, she will use me as a weapon against them which is the only way that she will spare my brother and a few certain people when the rest of Skaikru bleeds," I replied, using some of Katye's suggestions of how to speak.

"Make your wall."

I nodded my head and walked a little closer to the tree line then knelt down. Pressing my hands into the dirt, I channeled my mana into the dirt and used my Stone Wall spell. Inch by inch, the wall took shape until it was taller than me, six inches thick, and had a V-shape that was big enough to hide a person. My head was aching from the strain, but I still had a little more work to do as I stood up.

"Are they behind their walls?" I asked.

"Yes," Indra replied.

"Alright then, I'm going to move this forward so that it can be in the right spot when the time comes," I said.

"Go."

I pushed my hands in front of me and the Stone Wall lurched forward. I took a step and repeated my actions, moving the wall one foot at a time. Indra and Lincoln followed me out of the shadow of the forest, but no gunshots rang out, which was a good sign. We walked until we were halfway between the tree line and the camp's walls then I stepped out from behind the wall and next to Indra.

It took ten or twenty minutes, but the gate opened, and Clarke, Bellamy, Raven and Abby walked out alone. What seemed like all of the Guard were lined up along the wall with their guns pointing at all of us. Raven was using a crutch to help her walk, but it was better than what I remembered from the show, so I had hope that I had actually made a difference with her injury. I could not help but pace as they walked up slowly since I knew that if it looked like I was going to run, Indra might order an attack. Once they neared, Bellamy ran up the last bit of distance between us and hugged me tightly.

"Hey, big brother," I chuckled as tears dripped down my face and I hugged him back fiercely.

"What mess have you gotten yourself into now?" he asked quietly in my ear.

"Oh, Bell... you have no idea," I replied as we broke our hug. After him, I moved onto Raven who had reached us and gave her a big hug which she returned. I held her by the shoulders and looked between her and Abby, asking, "You're fine, right? No permanent spine damage?"

"Yeah... thanks to you," she replied.

I let out a laugh of relief because something important had already been changed which made me so happy. "It good to see you as well, Abby," I said with a smile.

"I didn't know we were on a first name bases," Abby remarked.

"From my perspective we are, but I'll explain everything in a moment. Keep your backs to the camp," I said as I pulled out a piece of cloth then wrapped it around my mouth so no one could see my lips. "Sorry, I know this seems like a lot, but we can't let anyone find out what I am telling you. The Commander expects me to pull this off perfectly, or there will be consequences."

"If you are being threatened, O, we can..." Bellamy started

"Just shut up and let me explain, Bellamy. First thing is, Abby, Kane will be returned to camp in a few days. The Commander is going to explain the nature of the deal that I made with her to get us peace between the Grounders. He won't be harmed as long as Indra and Lincoln are not until I leave with them..." I started.

"Like hell you are leaving with them," Bellamy cut me off.

I flicked him in the forehead and snapped, "Did I not say shut up and let me explain?... Forty-seven of the kids that you sent down here are now locked away in Mount Weather which Clarke can back me up on because she escaped from there. I have a little less than a month to break into the Mountain and kill everyone, but our people and the Grounders that are prisoners inside."

"But there are kids in there, Octavia. You can't kill them all," Clarke said.

"Jus drein jus daun, blood must have blood... This is at the core of their culture, Clarke. You saw how they were bleeding the Grounders, with no regard that they were even human, and this has been going on for decades. Yes, there are innocent people in there, but when it's your loved one on the table, when it's your mother, you will realize that you can't always make a good decision."

"What are you talking about? How do you even know all of this crap?" Raven asked.

"If people are done interrupting me, maybe I can actually explain!" I snapped. "Mount Weather is a problem, sure, but I can handle that one. What I can't handle is the second Praimfaya that is coming soon! Look through the Ark records for a power plant built on the other side of the world a few years before the time when the missiles were launched that destroyed the world, Russia area, I think. The nuclear reactors are breaking down and are already releasing radiation into the atmosphere. Things are fine now, but obviously, we don't have long. The Grounders can't survive what's coming without us, but we can't survive without them!"

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Everyone, but Indra, was stunned by what I had revealed, yet Abby was the first to recover.

"Did they tell you this?" Abby asked.

"No... I lived through it once. I've already changed a few things that I could, like healing Raven and stopping Finn from doing something that would lead to his death."

"Okay, I'm done here," Abby said, not believing me.

"Mom, wait... Octavia can do things that you don't understand. I think she is telling us the truth," Clarke said in my defense.

"I can prove it," I said, remembering all of the facts that Katye had told me about to help convince them of this lie we had created. "To get Raven to the ground, you attempted to make a deal with Nygel to get a pressure regulator by trading her morphine..."

"How did you..." Raven started, but I was not finished.

"Nygel turned you in to Kane and, while you were locked away in Clarke's old cell, the Council voted on the culling without you, not that it would have mattered. Jaha came to your cell and told you what happened then cleared you to go back to medical because they needed your help with the sick. While you were out, you found Jake Griffin's recording for the Ark and played it for the entire station then warned them of the impending culling. Kane and Jaha were furious with you, but it proved that you and your husband were right that it would bring out the best in everyone because people volunteered to be in Section Seventeen, in fact, even more than you even needed. The very first man who volunteered had a daughter who was going blind, and he just wanted to do something to save her. You were back in your cell when we launched the three rocket-flares that you saw while drinking with Jaha..."

"You can stop... I believe you," Abby said, looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Abby... I know this because you told me the story when we lived in the bunker for six years together. When I lived my life before, I did not have the powers that I've shown you or these memories... neither did the Commander of the Grounders, but where she has had them from birth, I only regained my memories and got these powers when I came down here; don't ask me why because I don't know. We have both been working to make changes in this second chance that we have, and have already seen some successes, but they are minor compared to what is coming. I will take Mount Weather to ensure that there is a second bunker for more people to survive. If our people help prepare it, we are welcome to an even share of the spaces available as the Thirteenth Clan, but I will also tell you that there is a possible option of securing the remainders of the Ark to survive the radiation. It had been a plan originally, but we were attacked, and part of ship had been significantly damaged, so I don't know for sure if it would have worked... and I'm telling you because Lexa already knows about it too. We have to work together if we want to survive!"

Once again, my words stunned everyone, but Indra. Katye told me that she would give her story of events to Indra, Gustus, and Titus, so I was not surprised at Indra's reaction, or lack thereof. I waited for everyone to recover with my hands behind my back, more so to make sure my hands did not shake. Everything I was saying was true, but it wasn't complete and honestly, I was scared. I did not know if they would believe me, and without the expertise of Skaikru, I doubted that we would be able to last the six years underground, even with a second bunker. That was Katye's and my true deal, I would work on Skaikru while she kept the Grounders from killing us all.

"What do you need from us?" Clarke asked after several minutes.

"I've been allowed to reveal two of my powers to Abby, so that she understands that I can handle Mount Weather with the resources that I will ask for," I said as I gave Indra a look because Lexa would have told her that I had six. "If you will, Abby, step this way so that I can show you, but please make sure that the Guard can see you because I don't want any misunderstandings."

I walked over to the stone wall that I had made as Indra walked back so that she did not get too close to Abby, or anyone else. I stretched out a hand, so that it was hidden by the wall then manipulated the dirt to rise until it reached my hand.

"I can control dirt and stone, so the plan is to send me through the Reaper tunnels and literally drill into the side of Mount Weather, completely irradiating it because they are still living at radiation levels that existed before the first end of the world. I should be able to seal it back to the prior conditions, but I'm no expert in radiation, even after two lives. For the second power, I need an assistant... Raven, if you would be so kind," I said.

Abby looked among the group that had come out with her, but all of them had seen these powers, so no one was surprised. Raven walked over and I positioned her in the wall that I had made. I placed a hand on her abdomen, where she had been shot, and started healing her. The extra practice back at Tondc let me pour more energy into her wound than ever before. I overdid it a little and Lincoln ended up catching me when my knees gave out, but Raven's relieved expression was more than enough for me.

"When you get back to camp, examine Raven's wound. She'll likely fall asleep quickly, unless she is determined to be stubborn which wouldn't surprise me, but that isn't a bad thing. From what I've noticed using this healing power, I use my own stamina and the patient's stamina to speed up, or possibly reverse, the damage. I don't really know because these are new to me and, while I have an innate understanding of them, I don't know the science behind them.

"Lexa has given you three days, after today, to validate my claims as best you can. Kane will be returned on that final day, having been told the same information. What I need from you and the camp are members of the Guard to escort me that you trust. Most of Mount Weather's forces should be eliminated in my attack, but if I don't work fast enough, there will be people that undergo bone marrow treatments and gain our level of immunity to radiation. I will be sent with Grounder guards that will vouch that I destroyed the Mountain, but part of the deal was that I would not let be hurt, meaning they aren't going to fight necessarily. If you and Kane agree, then Bellamy and Raven need to be on the team that you send with me. Kane can come on the mission and lead it, within reason, but once I start, I won't stop until Mount Weather is destroyed because it will end the deal if I do, and I'm not going to let anyone ruin this chance.

"We'll stay here on the edge of the woods until Kane returns. If you have any questions, you are free to come and ask me, but only you four can come here, unarmed. If you need to send out teams to hunt, you can use the eastern woods, but no one else can approach within five hundred feet of me without risking attack from Indra's warriors. The morning after Kane returns, I have to leave and head for the Mountain, with or without your help. If you don't help, you are free to try and negotiate a new treaty, but Lexa won't be as kind a second time. Kane will explain the details of what happens after I handle Mount Weather because I don't know what we need as a people. I just trust Lexa enough to have faith that she isn't going to screw us over with the main deal that Kane is arguing."

"You know this all sounds crazy right?" Raven asked while giving me a look.

"Any crazier than pulling a bullet out of your spine with stone and healing the wound with Light?" I retorted.

"Fair enough," she smirked.

"If Lexa knew that we'd be helpful, why did she allow her people to attack us?" Clarke asked.

"Why did I throw myself off the same hill that would have killed me if not for Lincoln finding me? Why didn't I stop the Unity Day peace talk with Anya? Honestly, I had forgotten about Murphy bringing back the fever, but I still played my part once I did remember it... How could I let Raven get shot, trying to save my brother, when I knew that she should have lost the use of her left leg?" I asked as tears started to fall because I felt so guilty about everything that I had allowed to happen and the lies that I was still having to tell. "That's what you should be asking, Clarke. Originally, you did make peace with the Grounders, we became the Thirteenth Clan, then came the war with Ice Nation, followed by Alie, and then Praimfaya... I've killed hundreds in my past life trying to help our people survive... but it taught me that sometimes you have to do terrible things to save those you love and then put your faith in a forgiving god."

"Thelonious said that to me back on the Ark," Abby said.

I nodded my head, more tears coming down and replied, "Right after the culling... You tell it to me while I'm leading Wonkru in the bunker when we have to rely in cannibalism after all of our soybeans are wiped out due to a fungus infection two years into the six that we were forced to stay underground. I took the first bite, so that our people would follow! The beginning of our story may have started off the same, but I won't let it end the same, not while I still draw breath!"

Although I was not an actress, the looks of horror on everyone's faces told me that I had been convincing. While it was true that this had been their future in the show, the grim realization was that this was not a television show anymore. Clarke, Bellamy, Raven, Lincoln... they were all more than just characters to me now. If I did not step up and start leading them, we would end up facing all of the same horrors that they did in the show.

I pulled the cloth off my face and said, "Go back and find what you can to prove what I'm saying is true because I'm sure Kane will also want to know. Indra will leave a scout to watch for any of you and lead you to where we are staying. If you don't see any problems with Raven caused by my healing, Abby, I'd like her to come once a day at least, so that I can finish treating her... that is, if you are also willing, Raven. Let's go, Indra."

None of the four reacted as I walked away with Indra and even Lincoln was still too stunned to move at first. It took him a few minutes, but he did follow behind us eventually. We reached the small campsite that the Grounders had prepared, and I sat down by the fire without a word. Even if I had not lived Octavia's life, I knew the demons that haunted her because I could already feel them clawing at me. Some things could be prevented, but in this world, something else was bound to replace those voids.

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